AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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Carol hadn't finished her cheeseburger and fries, but she'd given it a pretty good effort, and Daryl wasn't going to scold. She was still visibly shaky, and she was quiet. She smiled at him, when she noticed him looking at her, but it had seemed like words just needed a vacation for a bit. Of course, Daryl had felt oddly the same way. His mind was spinning with words, but none of them seemed quite ready to get organized and come out of his mouth in a way that would make any sense at all.

They'd simply enjoyed the silence together as they ate in the truck at the Dairy-O.

The first words they'd exchanged had been sparse and only necessary to cement the dessert order. Daryl had taken their trash and left Carol in the truck while he'd gone inside to request the dessert to share. When he got back to the truck, Carol looked a little lighter than she had before. Like him, maybe, she was starting to settle in with her thoughts.

"Look at this," Daryl said, sliding into the truck. "This is a damn thing of beauty. And I got 'em to load it up with cherries."

Carol smiled that smile that made Daryl's heart pick up and his stomach grab. It was the smile that confirmed that he'd done something good. He'd done something wonderful. He'd done something damn near award-winning.

And all he'd done was tell them to be sure they put a whole handful of cherries on there instead of the sad little one that usually rolled down the side of the dessert creations.

"You didn't have to do that…" Carol insisted.

"But if I hadn't," Daryl said, "then I'da missed out on that smile right there. And I wouldn't have wanted to miss that for the world. You asked if you could have the cherry. Now you can have all of 'em."

"You spoil me," Carol asserted.

"You oughta be spoiled. Every damn minute of every damn day," Daryl offered. He spooned up a big bite of the desert, careful to try to get at least a small amount of everything in the creation—complete with a cherry. He offered the spoon over in Carol's direction. She eyed it, eyed him, and then laughed to herself.

"You're going to feed me?"

"Why not?" Daryl asked. "Here—before the ice cream melts."

"We're in public!" Carol said. The smile she couldn't quite swallow back didn't say that she truly hated the idea.

"We're at the Dairy-O," Daryl said. "What they gonna do? Kick us outta the truck I pay for? Just one bite? It's kind of a thing for me…"

Carol gave him a half-annoyed look that he didn't believe for even half a second. She leaned forward, accepted the bite of food, and then hummed in satisfaction. Daryl smiled to himself and situated the bowl so they could both reach it before he offered her a spoon.

"Now I have to eat the rest myself?" She teased. "You're setting up expectations that you're not following through with, you know."

"If you want me to feed you the whole thing," Daryl said. "I will. Every bite."

"I know you would," Carol said. "But—I don't want you to. I'm teasing."

"I guess I know that, too," Daryl said. "Here—get your cherries." He rolled the ones around to her side of the bowl where they'd come tumbling down the whipped cream mountain to his side.

"You can have some," Carol said. "I can't eat all of these. I'm already a little full."

"I believe in you," Daryl teased. "You gotta believe in yourself. Here—I'ma help you out. I'll eat this one."

And, just like that, whatever moment they'd both been going through where words had simply seemed to freeze between them had passed. There was no tension in the truck cab at all now. They ate ice cream in silence, but it was a different kind of silence. It wasn't the silence that came when brains were too busy. It was the kind of silence that happened when brains realized they didn't need to be busy. There was no need to look for the right thing to say. When they had something to say, they would say it—and, somehow, it would be right.

"Mmmm…I can't eat anymore," Carol said, finally swallowing what she'd clearly deemed her last bite and nudging the bowl that Daryl was holding in his direction. "I mean it. I'm done."

"You OK?" He asked.

"I'm fine," Carol said quickly. "Just—that's it, you know? I won't feel fine if I even eat one more bite and…I don't want to ruin how I feel right this minute."

"That ain't what we want at all," Daryl agreed.

"It was good, though."

"It's a start," Daryl said.

"You're still hungry?"

Daryl laughed to himself.

"No. I'm actually—like you said—I'm just about to the point where I gotta toss this in that trash can over there 'cause I'ma be sick if I keep on eatin' it. What I meant was it's a start to celebratin', but it's just a start. We got so damn much more celebratin' to do."

"You don't have to make a big deal…"

"You don't want a big deal?" Daryl asked. He could hear some hesitancy in Carol's voice, but there was something going on there—that much was clear. He could see it around her brows. He held a finger up. "I'm gonna throw this in that trash can, OK? But—I wanna hear you. So, don't think I'm tryin' to…get outta the conversation or nothin', OK?"

She smiled to herself, a bit more tight-lipped than before. She nodded her head gently.

Daryl quickly tossed the ice cream, wiped his hands on the few remaining napkins and tossed them, and lit a cigarette before he got back in the truck and rolled down the window to keep the smoke from bothering Carol—immediately aware that such a thing might bother her, now.

She was simply waiting on him, patiently.

"Now—I was askin' if you were sayin' like for real you don't wanna make a big deal, or were you sayin' it like well, we don't gotta make a big deal, but you really do wanna make a big deal?"

"Can I tell you the truth?"

"I hope to hell you always do," Daryl said.

She seemed to be screwing up some courage, so Daryl gave her a moment. It was long enough for her to get side-tracked a little.

"Aren't we going home?" She asked.

"You cold?" Daryl asked.

"Not really," Carol said.

"Then we'll sit here a minute or two," Daryl said. "I wanna hear the truth, and I can pay more attention to it if I'm not tryin' to drive, too. Go ahead. What do you need to tell me?"

"It's not so much that I need to tell you this as…it crossed my mind."

"I can't wait to hear it."

"I don't want you to be—upset. Or offended."

Daryl's stomach rolled slightly, but he reminded himself that they had promised each other honesty and as much transparency, as it became relevant, as they could possibly have between them. They shared everything, no matter how difficult or embarrassing it was, as it came up. If he put limits on things just because his feelings might get hurt a little, then they would be starting down a slippery slope toward not telling each other the whole truth, and Daryl didn't want that.

This relationship was fairly new and they still had a great deal to learn about each other. Some of that, without a doubt, was going to be at least a little messy on both sides.

"I won't," Daryl said. He teasingly offered her his hand, pinky outstretched. "Here—I'll pinky promise you. You can say whatever's on your mind. I want to hear it."

"When I—found out before? That I was pregnant?"

Daryl's stomach clenched hard and his pulse quickly picked up. Carol was about to tell him something about the last time, and he knew that nothing she had to say about that would likely be easy—not for her to say nor for him to hear.

He didn't let her in on his feelings. Not right now. His discomfort, he knew, came only from not liking to imagine her suffering, but he didn't want her to think that was a reason to hide even the smallest part of herself from him. He hummed to acknowledge her words and keep her going.

"Ed was excited, at first. Right in the beginning. For just a moment, almost, it was like—it's what he wanted. Everything he could possibly imagine he wanted. He wanted to be a father."

"But somethin' changed that?" Daryl asked.

"I guess," Carol said. "I mean, honestly, I don't know exactly what changed that. Maybe everything changed it."

"Everything?"

"The appointments meant that doctors would see me often and, Ed didn't like people minding his business."

Daryl swallowed against the feeling that tightened his chest and throat.

"You mean he didn't like people commentin' on the fact he was beatin' his wife." He lit another cigarette.

"Something like that," Carol said softly. "But—there was more."

"Like what?"

"It's a lot," Carol said. "I mean—I think I changed. My personality changed. He said I changed. I was—moody."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"So? Who cares? Hell—I'm moody an' I don't even got the excuse of…of makin' a whole fuckin' person. Do you realize that? Like today on that screen? That's a whole person. Just—it's just there where it weren't before and we did that. We started it. I guess. You're doin' it, but…"

"But I couldn't do it without you," Carol offered, her hand coming over and catching Daryl's free hand. She squeezed his hand and he realized, in that instant, how much he needed and wanted that touch. He squeezed her hand back. "You're not moody," Carol said after a moment. Daryl laughed to himself.

"I can be," he said. "But go ahead. So, he didn't like somethin'. He didn't like that you got moody."

"My body changed," Carol said.

Daryl bit back the natural reaction that bubbled up in him. He thought he did well to not even make a face. He didn't like the idea of Ed having anything to do with Carol's body—not in any way, shape, or form. He accepted it as fact, but he didn't like to think about it.

He squeezed Carol's hand.

"Gotta change," Daryl said. "It's doin' big shit—but big shit. Growin' a whole person. Keepin' it safe. Givin' it food and everything. Turnin' it into everything it's gotta be and, hell, gettin' ready to keep on takin' care of it when it gets here 'cause you're gonna be one of them good Mamas. Them damn good Mamas."

Carol smiled to herself.

"But it's not all sexy, Daryl, and—it's not all very attractive."

He could hear the genuine concern in her voice.

"Everything about you is sexy," Daryl said.

"I'm being serious, Daryl," Carol said.

"Me too! I'd be all over your ass right now if it weren't for the fact that you'd say 'oh, Daryl! Get off me, we're in the parking lot of the Dairy-O and someone'll see your naked ass stuck up against the window!'"

Carol snorted and quickly covered her mouth.

"Is that what you think I sound like?"

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Not really," he admitted. "But it was there, and I used it. My point is—I think you're sexy. I think everything about you is sexy. Even the shit that you're like—this ain't sexy. I been watchin' you throw up half the night for a while 'cause I don't wanna leave you to throw up on your own. You told me that weren't attractive."

"Please don't tell me you're about to say it is…"

Daryl finished his cigarette and rolled up the window. He laughed to himself and cut his eyes at her playfully.

"I thought you accepted my—kinks or fantasies, or whatever the hell you wanna call 'em."

"I do," Carol said. "Just like—you accept mine. But are you going to tell me that's a thing for you now? You think me throwing up is attractive?"

"Maybe it ain't attractive, but it ain't like—it don't change nothin'," Daryl said. "I don't know how to say what I want to say. I don't give a shit. You throw up. People do that. Now we know why, but even when we didn't? I didn't care about shit except I hated you was sick. You told me that I wouldn't think you were attractive while you were on your period. Hell—the fuck did it change? Just means we gotta get a couple towels and take a hell of a shower afterward to not look like we're both part of a murder scene. My point is—shit's gonna change. I get that. It's gonna change any damn way. One day? My dick prob'ly ain't gonna work one damn bit an' my ass is gonna be wrinkled and shit. Does that mean you ain't gonna love me?"

"I'm always going to love you," Carol said. She laughed to herself. "Even if—your dick doesn't work and your ass is wrinkled."

Daryl shrugged his shoulders.

"So—so let me love you just the same. All the time, just like I want to. Like I do."

"I guess I just…was thinking about it," Carol said. "And—I don't want you to think that I'm comparing you to Ed…I know you're innocent of his crimes, and I don't mean to say…"

"But you know what you know," Daryl said, interrupting her. "At least until you learn somethin' different. And—you're scared that things are gonna be what the hell you know. And I'ma want to celebrate for a while and then…"

Carol nodded when Daryl broke off, unable to say anything more, really, to finish what he was meaning to say.

"Are you angry or…hurt or…?"

"No," Daryl said, realizing it was the truth. "I'm just thinkin' you only know what you know. And I got a lot to teach you."

"It's not your job, Daryl, to answer for everything that Ed ever did. It's not your job to try to undo all of that."

"No, it's not my job," Daryl said. He lifted her hand and kissed her fingers. "It's my choice. And it ain't like all this shit is one-sided. Because every damn thing good I do for you? You always make sure that it all comes back on my ass ten-fold. Hell—I'm practically bein' selfish. I got a shit ton to teach you, but we both gonna have a damn good time while you learnin' it."

He winked at her and she smiled warmly and sincerely. It was the smile that went all the way to her eyes and made her nose crinkle.

"I love you," she said. "I really do."

"Good thing. I love you, too, and I sure weren't lettin' your ass go off lookin' for some other person to love. Especially not with my damn kid in tow." He laughed to himself when Carol laughed quietly. "Come on. Let's go home," Daryl offered, resting her hand on his thigh to make it clear that he liked for her to keep touching him, and cranking the truck.