InsaneJournal

Who: Daryl and Rick
What: Body Swap
When: Backdated to the Bodyswap Plot
Where: Grimes Household
Rating/Warnings: None.
Status: Closed/Completed GDoc



Sleeping next to someone was different for Daryl, although he wasn't complaining. Rick's body was warm, solid next to his own and grounded him in a way that he didn't know was even possible. It was easy though, lying next to Rick, and Daryl was thankful for his friendship and most recently his companionship.

The alarm blared next to his head, and Daryl's eyes slowly opened, blinking twice as he reached up to slap the top of the alarm to hit the snooze button. A few more minutes wouldn't matter much would it? He rolled over, a gentle hand placed upon Rick's side. His eyes closed again, and he scooted closer to the other. Daryl fell back into the arms of sleep for ten solid warm minutes.

Finally he rolled the other way, turning the alarm off before pushing himself out of bed. He stretched his arms over his head, eyes still heavy with sleep as he made his way to the bathroom. Flipping the light on, Daryl didn't give himself a second glance in the mirror as he moved to go to the toilet. In his still sleep addled state, Daryl noticed that something was different, but the entire situation didn't quite dawn on him just yet. After finishing up, he went to the sink to wash his hands.

It was then that he glanced up at his reflection except it wasn't his reflection staring back at him. His jaw went slack as he tried to figure out what exactly was going on and why in the hell was he in Rick's body? He let out a long breath as it finally hit him; they were in the OC and that was why strange shit was going on.

After drying his hands, he went back into the bedroom, looking down at himself on the bed. "Looks like we got hit by some more OC fuckery."

~*~

Dreams could be something entirely different in the OC. Rick had gotten used to that being a fact rather than a point-of-view thing. No one had explained to him why things were different for dreaming in this place. They would have likely given him answers if they had them. It was fairly obvious not too many people knew who or what made Orange County different. There was every likelihood no one had any answers at all.

Rick wasn't looking for answers when he opened his eyes to stare up into his own face.

He was just looking for a reason not to go for the eyes.

"Daryl Dixon, you are one lucky sonofabitch. I just looked up into my own face and thought about taking out your eyes. You sound like you. Even when you're me. I'm you, right? Feel too bad to not be you."

Brushing his hand through his hair, Rick rolled his eyes. That mop? Yeah. It was all Daryl. There was no way it wasn't. He didn't mind the idea of being Daryl. They could make it work with the kids. All they would have to do would be act normal. Neither of them were too talkative which would come in handy for them when they had to play each other in front of Carl. Judith was too young to notice a change.

She was too young for most things.

"You wake up this way?"

It shouldn't have been a question. Rick knew if he'd woken up as Daryl, Daryl would have to have woken up as him. It was something to say all the same. Sometimes people only needed something to say. Hearing human speech was enough to make people feel better under some circumstances. These were good times. Rick didn't mind sharing his bed with Daryl. What sense would there be in him sharing his body?

~*~

"Good thing I was a piece away from the bed right?" There was a slight twist of his lips into a smirk, before he let out a long breath. "Yeah, you're me. Sorry for the aches and pains, man." Daryl hadn't been kind to his body over the years, and only recently had he started being concerned about his well being.

Being with someone you cared about changed a person to a degree. He wanted to be around for the long haul for Rick and the kids, so he'd started trying to make sure that he ate a little better, smoked a little less and do what he could to ensure that he was around for a good while.

Daryl moved to sit down on the edge of the bed, and reached up to scratch his blunt fingernails over his whiskered face. "Yeah, I did." He'd learned not to question the madness that was the OC and he had no idea how long it would last.

"Could check the network and see if it's happened to anyone else. Sure it has, but hell, maybe they've got some sort of idea if this has happened before." It wasn't out of the realm of possibilities knowing this place.

~*~

Skydiving was something plenty of people had done in their past. Rick felt their situation was a lot like skydiving in the sense that while others might have done it, experienced it, lived through it to tell the tale---they couldn't fully understand what it was to have done it until they were doing it. That was one helluva mindbender. Rick almost wished he could just lay back down, close his eyes, and wake up himself again.

It turned out Daryl couldn't do that sort of thing with the pains in his joints. Why hadn't Rick ever noticed how stiff his friend could be? Was he worried about appearing weak? They didn't talk about some things. Merle was one of those things they rarely approached, subject wise, but Rick knew he would have had definite opinions on his brother talking about aches and pains. Daryl was tight-lipped as a result of the people who brought him up.

"I got a feeling checking the network isn't going to help us much except to affirm what we already know: we aren't crazy. This is just more of the same."

Rick stood slowly, straightening while his back popped from what felt to be the crack of his ass all the way to the base of his skull.

"Daryl, I don't know how long this will last, what we're supposed to do about it, or if it's got some higher meaning behind it. What I do know? I'm installing a Jacuzzi tub for you to soak in at least three times a week."

~*~

"Most likely, yeah." Daryl lifted a shoulder, and shook his head. There likely wouldn't be any sort of new information on the network, just people freaking out that they woke up in someone else's body. Idly Daryl had to wonder exactly how many people had been affected, and if they were on the network as well.

The crack was audible, and Daryl couldn't help but wince. There'd been many mornings when the same thing had happened to him, and well, those mornings he just moved a little slower if he woke up before anyone else.

Laughing, he shrugged. "Ain't no thing. I'm used to it, and besides, I can always soak in the tub if I really get to hurting." The worst had been during the snowstorm in December. Daryl's joints had been stupidly stiff, and he'd had so many issues waking up in the morning and just getting out of bed.

"I'll go start breakfast. Figure grits, eggs and toast should do the trick, right?"

~*~
"A man can get used to nearly anything. Doesn't mean he has to," Rick countered as he moved to the bathroom to take care of his morning business, "I couldn't find a thing to complain about in that spread. Make Carl help if you need it. I'm taking a hot shower to try to get to going."

Who knew a man could need a hot shower in California weather?

Rick wasn't going to do any complaining in the future about aches or pains. He had nothing to whine about in comparison to what Daryl dealt with every day. They weren't too far in age from one another, but Rick wondered at how Daryl felt older than he did himself. It seemed unfair to a degree he didn't want to think on too hard.

Life wasn't about fairness.

They both knew enough to attest to that fact.

He paused at the door to the bathroom to look over at Daryl, "You fine with me using the shower?"

It went without saying they had enough trust in each other to avoid worrying overtly about the body exchange. Rick wasn't so much asking if Daryl cared if he took shampoo to his hair -along with some conditioner as it sorely needed it- as he was gaining permission to touch the man's body as if it were his own. No matter it was his own for the time being. Rick was a man who asked permission. He was old-fashioned and unapologetic in that sense.

~*~

Shaking his head, Daryl chuckled softly. "Yeah, I know." It was still a fact of life that Daryl would hurt regardless of what he did at this point. It was fine though, in his opinion, and he had learned how to cope with it.

"Sure I can manage." Well, Daryl thought he could manage. He wasn't much of a cook, but it was hard to fuck up grits and eggs. Unless he managed to somehow walk away from the stove and the grits stuck to the pot he was using.

Daryl's brows furrowed slightly as Rick asked him if he was okay with him using the shower. He understood why Rick had asked him the question, however, he figured that Rick would know that he had no issue with him touching his body.

They'd been intimate. Rick had touched Daryl in ways that no one else had and made him feel as if he deserved to be loved. "I don't mind. You won't mind when I want to take one after breakfast will you?" He asked, returning the favor since it felt only right.


~*~

Somehow it felt more embarrassing to imagine Daryl having to tend to his body than doing the same with Daryl's yet Rick couldn't quite pin down why. He simply nodded, a stiff, jerky motion. It would work out. He didn't think it was so much of a problem really. They'd been together. Naked. Sex resulted in nudity by sheer matter of necessity though Rick had managed a few bouts with his wife where they'd more rearranged their clothes than removed them.

"Fine by me. You know if I don't wash that hair of mine it starts me looking homeless in a day or two."

Rick wanted to thank Daryl for being there for him. He wanted to tell him he appreciated his understanding, his acceptance of the insanity of this place they'd found themselves in, his consideration for Rick's old-fashioned ideals. There were too many things he owed a thank-you to Daryl Dixon to list so Rick simply offered a sheepish smile before ducking into the bathroom to start up the shower running hotter than he usually preferred.

He'd need all the help he could get to have Daryl's body relaxing its soreness to start off the day.

"Don't let Carl talk you into anything sweet! He can eat an egg sandwich on toast. Be healthier than some Pop-Tarts or cereal or jelly for sure."

~*~

With a roll of his eyes, Daryl gave a nod. "I realize that, and I hope everyone realizes that I do wash my hair every day." He couldn't go a day without washing it or else it looked like hell. He couldn't help that his hair was naturally oily, and that was only made worse by the fact that he worked outside and sweated all day.

A small smile graced Daryl's lips, and he too felt much the same way that Rick felt. He was just glad that he'd swapped with Rick instead of some random stranger. That would've been bad, he was sure of it.

He paused halfway to the door, chuckling softly. "Yeah, I'll try not to let him." That would definitely be a dead giveaway that he wasn't the real Rick. "I'll have food ready by the time you get out probably, and it won't be sweets." He wouldn't ruin Rick's kids by feeding them improperly. He'd only had junk to eat when he'd been a kid cause it was cheap, and now he felt like he was paying for it.

~*~

"Thanks, Daryl. I do appreciate all you do. You. I appreciate you."

Rick cleared his throat as he nodded in affirmation before moving into the safety of the bathroom where he would be alone. Emotions were hard for him before the Dreams. There had always been a distance between Rick and the world; Lori previously spent most of their relationship making up for his taciturn behavior and now it seemed Daryl was starting to do the same.

Oddly enough, Rick found he wanted to talk more to Daryl than he ever had with his wife.

She'd been one in a million: Lori.

Daryl Dixon was different from even that in he was completely unique. There was absolutely no one like him even in a million. Rick smiled as he stripped his borrowed body bare, comfortable enough to go about his business matter-of-factly rather than worrying any longer about whether or not Daryl cared he was soaping his skin up instead of his own. Rick found himself amused as he bathed, tense muscles loosening under the hot spray of the shower, and, for the moment, he felt hopeful they'd make this thing work out.

No matter how long it lasted.