InsaneJournal

Who: Daryl and Carol
What: More fumbling around each other because we know they move at the speed of molasses. Takes place directly after this.
When: Thursday, around 2 AM
Where: Castle Kitchens
Rating/Warnings: Overt use of fluff. And maybe some cursing from our resident foulmouthed Daryl.
Status: COMPLETE/Closed

It was late. Carol wasn’t normally the type of person that liked to stay up all that late, truthfully, but Daryl wasn’t back from work yet, which just made her wonder about how he was doing. Carol thought about Daryl probably a bit more than she should have throughout the day, honestly. That was what happened when you really cared about someone, though. Carol really cared about Daryl, and there wasn’t much out there that she wouldn’t do for him too (not that he needed her to take care of him or anything, but either way). So, rather than just going to sleep and getting up repeatedly...she’d dozed on the sofa in their shared sitting room for a while and spent some time awake too, waiting until he got home.

When the Land of Make Believe had become home, it didn’t really matter, but it was now and that was all that mattered, actually.

Carol was down in the kitchen now, actually. She’d thought that it seemed like a good idea to get a midnight snack, so to say. That’s exactly why she headed down to the kitchens barefoot and wearing her pajamas. Carol wouldn’t be down there long, she figured, and she had texted Daryl on her way down and he was on his way back. It was probably a bit silly that she was excited about the fact that he was on his way back. And she’d get to see him. It didn’t matter that he didn’t get why she was still up or anything. She was just glad that she was going to see him, even if she knew that thinking about that made her a bit like a teenager or something.

It was nice to feel like a teenager crushing sometimes; other times she felt kind of silly and too old for this kind of thing.

She had already made a couple of sandwiches; they sat on plates on the island with a spear pickle each and some potato chips. It wasn’t much, but it was late, and considering the fact that they would both probably go to bed shortly after eating....not a bad choice. Or that had been her logic, at least. She hoped that Daryl liked what she had put together, though she couldn’t foresee him being unhappy with any sort of food. Carol pulled two glasses out of the cabinet as she broke out of her thoughts. Daryl didn’t care, he was just glad there was food around, which is exactly how they all felt.

Carol hummed lightly as she moved to sit the glasses down onto the island counter, ready for Daryl to get home so they could enjoy their midnight snack. She wanted to spend a bit of time with him, and this seemed like a good way to do so. They had progressed from where they had been upon arriving. She was happy. Carol was smiling as she thought about that fact; it was so far from where she had been once upon a time, she just hoped that he was too, ultimately.

// \\ // \\ // \\

Daryl trudged up the walkway toward the large castle doors, his red rag in his hands as he tried to wipe away some of the night’s evidence from his hands and face. The door was nudged open with a well-placed elbow, and the keys hanging from his belt jingled as they were forced against the door as it was opened. Habit had him move toward the stairs before he paused, remembering the text conversation he had just had with Carol. He was somewhere between touched and exhausted, but he pushed aside his desire to hit the hay immediately and turned toward the kitchen where she said she would be waiting.

He tucked the rag into his back pocket as he peered into the kitchen, finding Carol moving about as she worked. He leaned against the doorway as he watched her, a smile he wasn’t even aware of starting to work its way across his face. This felt so strangely normal and warm. He felt... content. That was the fucking weirdest thing he’d ever thought in his life, but it was true. This place was so much better than what they’d all left behind, and for him, it was ten times fucking better than the shit he had even before the world decided to end.

In a way, he almost felt selfish being so goddamned warmed up to this place already. Merle was-- not here. And he wouldn’t be back home for a long time either, but the days and times that he thought of his brother was getting further and further apart, instead being replaced with thoughts of the woman in front of him. He averted his gaze, feeling like some sick pervert for starting too long before he rapped his knuckles against the doorframe he was leaning against.

“Hey.”

\\ // \\ // \\ //

The glasses sat near the edge of the counter as Carol hummed, considering what to pour the both of them to drink, actually. It was a bit late for anything with caffeine. Water would work or some sort of juice, maybe even milk. She was caught up in her dilemma. So much so, that she didn’t realize that her awaited guest had already arrived.

Carol startled at the knocking sound behind her. She hadn’t been expecting it, truthfully. She had been lost in her own world for the moment. She probably never would have let herself do that back in their own world, but here it was safe to. And maybe she had thought it would take Daryl longer to get here or something. Either way, she started and as she turned around to double check and be sure it was Daryl (just before he spoke), she knocked the glasses over onto the floor on accident.

The glasses hit the floor loudly, shattering the quiet around them (pun intended). The woman squeaked in surprise at what she had just done, feeling a little bit stupid. She hadn’t meant to do that and she’d made a pretty big mess. That was going to have to be cleaned up, for sure. There were chunks of glass everywhere around her. And Carol knew that in order to clean it up she’d have to be careful about where she stepped.

“Hey...sorry, you surprised me.” Carol told him, sheepishly, as she brought a hand up to her her head, running her hand through her hair a bit as she stared at the mess she had made. She would have to find a path through...somehow.

// \\ // \\ // \\

Daryl could only watch as the glass was knocked off of the counter and fell to the floor with a nice loud crash! He simply raised an eyebrow at Carol as she stood there, looking sheepish and startled by something that had been a disaster waiting to happen in the first damn place. He shook his head at her sadly before he turned to look out into the corridor outside the kitchen, checking to see if anybody was around to hear and wonder what the fuck that noise was. He wasn’t really looking for any damn people trying to butt their noses into his business. Now that he wasn’t having to live, breathe, change, bathe, and every other goddamn thing within the vicinity of eight other people, he was finding it nice and easy to reclaim some privacy back into his life.

Satisfied that they were still very much alone, he turned to survey Carol for a moment. “Wasn’t tryin’ to scare ya. Told ya I was comin’ soon, dinn’t I?”

His eyes remained on her for a long moment before he realized he was staring again and he averted his gaze, scanning the kitchen instead for some sort of broom or dust bin to clean the shit up. No reason to leave the damn glass all over the fucking floor for one of the little ones to wander on through and cut up their damn feet.

\\ // \\ // \\ //

Carol felt a little silly for being startled, but really here it was much safer than back in their world. Back at the prison if she had done that the consequences could have been much worse than they were here. Daryl seemed to check to make sure that no one came running after the huge crash that she had caused before he spoke. Carol couldn’t help but laugh a little bit. “I know, I guess I thought I had a minute or two more.”

Carol nudged a particularly large chunk of glass away from her foot with her toe. She could see Daryl looking around and figured she might as well help him so that she could clean it all up. “There’s a door, there should be a broom and dustpan in there.” Carol pointed the hiding place of the cleaning equipment. She figured that Daryl could hand her the broom and she could clean while he got started eating, maybe.

At least Daryl wasn’t Ed, though? And the fact that Carol wasn’t just completely blubbering at the moment after breaking some glass was definitely a sign of growth. If she had done that when Ed had been alive, he would have been pretty upset and it would have lead to violence. Now, though, it wasn’t that big of a deal. Sure, that meant a few less glasses, but it was okay at the same time. It had been an accident. Carol hadn’t realized, in a long time, how far she had come, but she had come much further than she realized for this to be the situation at the moment.

“Much as I’ve been in the kitchen over the years you’d think I’d be a little more graceful, huh?” Carol joked, waiting on that broom.

// \\ // \\ // \\

“Ya’ve gone soft,” Daryl responded easily as he went to the closet that Carol pointed out. “We all have.” It was hard not to when they all went from surviving from minute to minute to suddenly going weeks without a damn thing happening. Even the shit that had fallen on their goddamn heads had been child’s play in comparison to what they fuck they were used to.

He pulled open the little door and stared into it for a moment, realizing what he was doing, before he gave a small shrug and reached forward to grab the broom and dust bin. He had never been the tidiest fucker around, but the work had definitely never been below him. He had been his own caretaker from day one. Cleaning was part of that deal. He turned back toward her and took half a step toward her before his lowered blue eyes caught sight of her bare feet surrounded by the glass.

An annoyed growl sounded from the back of his throat. “What the hell d’ya think you’re doin’?” he snapped, a lot harsher than he intended. The broom and dustbin were dropped on the counter next to him before he crossed to her in two large strides. “Tryin’ to cut up your damn feet? No-- don’t move.” He stopped her before she could even try to back up. He knew the glass was scattered fucking everywhere and moving her exposed soles would only make it easier to get injured. “Here.”

His hands landed on her hips, fingers digging a bit too deeply into her skin, before he hoisted her up off the ground and settled her on the counter, taking the place of the cup she had broken. He hadn’t even thought about the action before he did it, and he still didn’t register the closeness or touching that had just taken place before he was pulling his hands back. He turned to grab the broom and dust bin before he moved to start sweeping the shit up.

“Crazy woman,” he muttered under his breath, but it was almost said with an affectionate edge to it.

\\ // \\ // \\ //

He wasn’t wrong. They had all gone soft in comparison to how they had been before coming here. It was sort of inevitable. There weren’t massive amounts of brainless walking corpses walking around here, which meant that none of them needed to be on their guard all the time. They didn’t have to be ready to fight at a moment’s notice. It was nice. It was spoiling them all too. Carol, for the most part, hoped that they never went back home. Her hope, though she never said it, was that eventually everyone in their group would wind up here in the Land of Make Believe and that they could live here safely.

Carol didn’t want to have to reacclimate to living in a post-apocalyptic world, even if she had gotten used to it.

Carol saw that Daryl had found the dustpan and the broom, which meant the mess would be cleaned up momentarily. The woman had been about to hold her hands out for the two items when Daryl snapped at her. She blinked in confusion for a moment, saying nothing in hopes that he would elaborate--and he did. Carol laughed a little, not taking his tone personally. He probably didn’t want an answer, but she couldn’t help but say something. “Well, I wasn’t planning on breaking a glass when I came down here--” Carol cut herself off as Daryl indicated that he was going to do something.

And then he was touching her. It was definitely a surprise, considering how much he didn’t want to be touched in general. It wasn’t the most gentle grip that he had on her hips, but it was definitely enough to make her cheeks color. They were so close to the counter that there wasn’t much option other than him to be in her personal space. He’d been close in order to pick her up like that. And it’d happened without much explanation about what he was going to do. So Carol was a bit tripped up for the moment, unable to think of what to say. Instead she just brought her hand up to her cheek, feeling the heat that seemed to be coming from her face after that having happened.

Carol felt a little bit silly because he just went right back to doing what he needed to. He was going to clean the glass up himself. Even if he wouldn’t see it that way it was sweet that he didn’t want her to cut her feet up on the mess that had shattered all over the floor. And she still couldn’t manage to pull her eyes away from him. She was staring and only half aware that she was even doing it. Her mind was still on how warm his hands had been on her hips, and just how close he had been.

It was easy for her imagination to look at that snapshot in time and go a little crazy. She was trying not to let that happen, though. It wasn’t that big of a deal. He had only been helping her keep from getting cut up. Still, though, it was sweet. And even though he berated her there was a certain fondness in the way that he did it. It was done in a way that only Daryl could manage it. “Guess I should wear my shoes if I’m leaving our place.” She finally said, though it wasn’t quite as joking as she might have managed if she hadn’t been thrown off balance by what had happened.

// \\ // \\ // \\

A few well measured sweeps of the broom was all that was needed before the majority of the glass was swept up into the dustbin. Later, a maid or cleaning lady may end up finding little slivers of glass under the cracks of the countertops, but Daryl wasn’t that worried about this shit. He just wanted to get it cleaned up enough to make sure that Carol didn’t bust her feet up. She was being careless, walking around barefoot like that. Back home, they practically slept in their shoes, knowing that at any moment, they would have to take off running. It was just another sign of them growing soft, and Daryl thought back to the idea of keeping up their shooting and training to make sure they didn’t lose their edge. He would have to talk to Rick about that later.

Daryl dumped the glass into the trash bin before throwing the broom and dustpan into the closet. “You’re good,” he said to her, shutting the door, letting her know that she could hop off. But out of pure instinct, he moved back over to her before she could move and grabbed her once more. Fingers digging back into her skin to an uncomfortable level as he lifted her up and slid her back to the ground with a gentleness that his hold lacked.

And that’s when he finally noticed it. Having forgotten to take a step back to give her space as he set her down, Carol was left pinned between his body and the counter, impossibly close. As soon as it registered, Daryl froze. He didn’t know what to do. He realized what he had done, lifting her up like that without a damn word from her, tossing her around like she was his damn thing to do with what he pleased, and he felt sick. But at the same time, he felt warmed by her close presence. He could hear and feel every damn breath she took. He could see every speck of color in her eyes. Fuck, he could even smell her. Was she wearing perfume?

Heart beating incredibly fast in his chest, Daryl found he’d forgotten to breathe. He didn’t know what to say or do, so he just stood there, like an idiot, like a deer in the headlights about to be run over by an oncoming SUV. Impending roadkill. That’s what Daryl fucking Dixon was right at this moment.

\\ // \\ // \\ //

Carol would remember to keep her shoes on if she left their room from now on. Though, this wasn’t as bad as it could have been, ultimately. Her feet were still in good shape, though, which was just luck at this point. She had been through worse than a few pieces of glass in her feet, but she was definitely glad that Daryl was here and she didn’t have to deal with it, actually. So, Carol watched Daryl as he quickly dealt with the broken glass on the floor. He didn’t exactly put forth the image of the man that was going to clean things up on a regular basis, but Daryl did whatever he had to do without complaining much. That seemed to include sweeping up broken glass for her at the moment.

It was comfortable for her to sit there in silence too, as he cleaned up. She didn’t need to fill up the kitchen with talking at the moment. And when Daryl let her know that he was done she gave him a smile. She had braced her hands on either side of her, readying to hop down before Daryl’s hands were on her hips again. She could smell him with him this close. And she was sure that he could smell the soap that she used, a simple moisturizing shea butter bar soap. But she could definitely smell him. The mixture of elements that made up a smell that was purely Daryl definitely wasn’t unpleasant as far as Carol was concerned. Though, he probably was ready for a shower at this point, seeing as he had worked.

She didn’t want the moment to end, really. She didn’t mind that her back was back against the counter. She didn’t feel threatened because it was Daryl. If it had been any other person she might have pushed them away or felt uncomfortable, but that wasn’t the case for him because she had a lot of trust in him. That didn’t mean that her face wasn’t feeling just a little hot and that her heart wasn’t beating extremely fast in her chest.. In fact, she found it a bit difficult to swallow too, with this proximity. She felt a little like whatever she did might scare him away and that was the opposite of what she wanted to do. After a few long moments, Carol knew she had to say something.

“Thanks.” Carol gave him a genuine smile, fighting back the nerves and butterflies before she risked reaching up and putting her hand on his arm, lightly giving it the smallest bit of a squeeze. If she could try and make things a bit easier in this moment she definitely wanted to, though she’d be lying if she said that she wasn’t thinking about the proximity or the possibilities at the moment. “I, uh, made sandwiches….” She informed him, though she wasn’t looking at the sandwich, she was completely focused on Daryl, finding herself unable to look away.

// \\ // \\ // \\

Her voice finally broke whatever spell he was under, and with his cheeks the color of blush, he backed up several steps before turning away so that he could lock his arms against the opposite counter. He took several deep breaths in through his nostrils, trying to get his thundering heart and heated body under control. What the fuck was with him? He was not going to let his mind play fucking tricks on him. That wasn’t right. Carol deserved fucking better than for his mind to be trying to go down this road.

He gave a grunt in response to the sandwiches along with a quick jerk of the head to show he heard her. Daryl reached out to grab the plate before he headed toward the doorway. “C’mon, ‘fore ya hurt yourself.” He managed to leave the unnecessary harshness behind as he led the way into the hallway and toward their room.

But even now, he could feel the imprint of her body against his skin, and he had a feeling that this feeling wouldn’t leave for a while.

\\ // \\ // \\ //

It was somewhat disappointing to have Daryl move away from her, the spell of the moment having been broken. She knew that the moment couldn’t have lasted forever, though. Nonetheless, it was still a bit colder without his warm body there so close. Carol took a deep breath and then opened the fridge grabbing two bottles of water rather than fooling with any more glasses (she didn’t want to accidentally break anything else tonight). The air from the fridge was cold and the bottles were cold in her hand too. It was sort of the needed break to clear her mind after what had happened.

He had been trying to help, to keep her from getting hurt. That didn’t mean that there hadn’t been a heat, or a spark, as he had done it, though. She was pretty sure that he had felt it all too. He had stepped away rather quickly.And it had definitely seemed like he had been taking a minute. Carol was well aware that he cared about her. She knew that the two of them had started down a new sort of path for the both of them. Navigating it was still a bit tricky, though, and getting further and further was going slowly, but it was a nice pace, she felt. She didn’t mind the way that he had handled her, and she just hoped that he didn’t feel bad or upset with himself for it. She was glad that he cared enough to make sure her feet hadn’t gotten torn up.

Carol gave Daryl a bit of a smile as he behaved exactly like Daryl Dixon, ushering her on and still being caring in his own way; she was sure that he didn’t see it like that, though. Carol grabbed the sandwich that was her’s, balancing it as well as the water bottles before she followed after.

Bit by bit things were happening that let her see new sides of Daryl. She knew him, but she was still learning more and more about him. She still liked every bit of him that she knew, though. And she still wanted to continue forward because she cared about him.