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The Embrace	By : bonnyblonde Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 4558 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead nor do I make any money from the publications of this story

Chapter List
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Thanks to all who are reading, and to the few who have been kind enough to either leave a review or rate the story. I truly appreciate the feedback - it really makes the writing worthwhile :) A shout out to my amazing beta, RF, who reviewed this not once, but twice, in our shared mission to tell a good story
Hope you enjoy
*****
Chapter 3
Daryl stared down at the top of Carol’s head as they took the stairway one slow step at a time, frowning at how suddenly her energy had seemed to lag. If he had any choice at all, he wouldn’t be leaving her when she had only just started to heal. Carol was the one who always stepped up to look after everyone else...who was left besides him to look after her when she needed it most? Herschel was still recovering, Beth and Carl had no idea how to care for someone, and Axel...well, he might have proven himself somewhat useful, but Daryl still didn’t want him around Carol when she was in this state.
Their options were sorely limited, though. His instincts told him that time was quickly running out for Glenn and Maggie. There was no question that he, along with Rick and Oscar, would have to leave as soon as dusk fell if they were to have any hope of bringing those two back home alive.
It still amazed him at times how much the group’s members had come to rely on one another, how quickly they’d bonded under such dire circumstances. He didn’t doubt for a second that the missing couple believed wholeheartedly that their friends – their family – would be searching for them.
That level of trust was utterly foreign to him before he’d met up with these folks. Unlike his fellow survivors, Daryl had been taught early in life that those who were supposed to care about you the most were the ones who could do you the most damage. In the end, it didn’t pay to give a damn about others; you let people mean somethin’ to you, you deserved what you got.
Given his history, then, it was astonishing to say the least that he’d gradually grown so close to Carol. Probably closer than he’d ever been to another person, matter of fact. He'd never known anyone who could see all the way through him the way she could....she wasn’t afraid to confront him when he was being bull-headed but was just as quick to comfort him when she sensed he was badly in need of it. It was both unnerving and reassuring at the same time, having someone who understood him like that.
What had Daryl really wound up now, though, was that he’d experienced a deep, fundamental shift in his thoughts about Carol since she’d risen from the dead. Where he’d once been protective of her, he was now possessive. The idea of leaving her on her own, even if only for a short time, set his nerves on edge. And he wanted to touch her all the time, needed to be able to make sure with his own hands that she really had come back to him, safe and mostly sound.
At first he tried to explain it all away as a natural reaction to a near tragedy – she’d almost died, so of course he’d be more watchful, more vigilant. But that didn’t account for the yearning ache he’d get in his chest whenever she caught his eye and smiled, or the unexpected chill that skittered over his skin when she happened to brush against him. Or the sudden, violent urge to pick up his crossbow and put a bolt through the eye socket of any other man who so much as glanced at her.
Where the hell had THAT come from? Oh, it wasn’t as though he hadn’t looked at Carol in ‘that way’ before...hell, as many hours as he’d spent with her, it would’ve been just plain weird if he hadn’t entertained thoughts like that once in a while. End of the world or not, he was as much at the mercy of those urges as any other red-blooded guy. But he’d handled it, so to speak, and had decided that neither of them needed that complication in their lives. There was no point in throwing everything else under the bus for the sake of relieving a little tension.
He might not be able to completely understand why his feelings had changed as drastically as they had, but what was becoming very clear to him was that he wasn’t going to be able to hold himself in check for much longer. The heart wanted what it wanted, as his mother had once told him, and right now there was nothing and no one Daryl wanted more than Carol Peletier.
Now if he could only figure out what do to about it, life would be a lot simpler.
His personal head trip was cut short when Carol suddenly stumbled on one of the steps and he had to tighten his grip on her narrow waist to keep her from falling. “I gotcha,” he said, quickly tucking her knife into the sheath on the back of his belt so he had both hands free to help her if needed. “Hold on to me, woman...last thing we need is to have you go ass-over-teakettle down the stairs.”
Carol rewarded his teasing with a quick smile before she slipped her arm around his hips and leaned into him slightly. He shut his eyes for a few seconds, sighing in quiet satisfaction at the feel of her body against his. The soft spikes of her hair tickled his jaw and he caught a faint whiff of the bright pink antiseptic soap she’d used to wash away the filth from her ordeal in the tombs. Funny how that fragrance held more appeal for him right now than any fancy perfume she might have worn before society had collapsed.

“You okay to keep goin’?” he asked, resisting the impulse to rest his cheek against the top of her head and breathe in her clean scent. Yeah, that was sure to impress, having him snuffling around in her hair like a dog on the hunt.
“I’m tired, is all. Not paying attention to where I’m going,” she answered. “I’ll be fine after a bit of a rest.”
In another few steps they’d made it to the landing and he fumbled with the heavy key ring with one hand while holding fast to Carol with the other. Finally he found the right one, fought with the lock for a few frustrating seconds and then swung the door open before them.
“Sorry. It ain’t much but I figure it beats sleepin’ behind bars,” he muttered sheepishly, realizing how dismal his tiny room really was. He reluctantly let go of her and subtly kicked some of his dirty clothes under the console so they’d be out of sight. Settling down on his haunches, he shook out his bed roll and straightened the blankets for her.
Carol followed him into the narrow booth, hugging herself tightly as though she were cold. She sat down in front of the control panel and idly swivelled the chair from side to side as she peered through the blood-smudged windows. “So why’d you move in here? Wasn’t it comfortable on the catwalk?”
He laughed to himself. “Don’t know about you, but I’d pretty much had enough of Glenn and Maggie goin’ at it like rabbits while I was tryin’ to sleep. I know they figured they were being quiet, but there ain’t no secrets without proper doors. Nothin’ bounces sound around like concrete walls. Grabbed me a mattress and bedding from one of the empty units and found myself a bit of peace ‘n quiet in here.”
“I don’t blame them,” she replied quietly. “Life’s an uncertain thing nowadays...they’re lucky to have one another. What they share probably keeps them sane.”
“Don’t mean I wanna listen to it.” He punched the pillow a couple of times and tossed it to the head of his makeshift bed. “There you go...you got the best room in the place. I can close up the blinds on the windows manually, it’ll be dark as night. I got the only key, so you can be sure no one will be disturbin’ you.”
“Maybe you could leave a bit of a gap so I have a little light,” she said casually, flicking the lifeless switches in front of her back and forth. “I don’t think I want to be left in complete darkness again for a while.”
The tremor in her voice instantly caught his attention and he glanced at her, noting the troubled expression on her face. After what she’d gone through, he should have known she’d be skittish about being locked up alone in a dark room. God, he could be such an idiot sometimes! “I’ll stay here until it’s time for me to go. It’ll be okay...you can close your eyes for a while and not worry.”
“I’m sure you have better things to do with your time than keep the bogeyman at bay for me, Daryl,” she stated determinedly, though the tremor wasn’t entirely gone. “Leave me my knife and I’ll sleep like a baby, I promise.”
He shook his head, knowing that even if she actually meant it – and he doubted that greatly – he wasn’t humanly capable of walking away from her right now. “Rick can handle things well enough all on his own…he’s got Herschel patching up our visitor and it’ll be a while before she’ll be ready to hit the road. Besides,” he said with a mischievous grin, pivoting on his heels to look up at her. “I wanna be sure you won’t go sneakin’ off again. Already got another rescue pencilled in for today; not sure I could handle more than that.”
Rather than laughing at his words, Carol’s neck and cheeks abruptly flushed crimson with embarrassment, and he felt like even more of an asshole. “God…I just…I hate that you feel like you have to watch over me like that,” she confessed irritably, swinging the chair around to face away from him. “You’d think after all this time and after everything you’ve taught me, I’d be able to stand on my own two feet. You shouldn’t have to be constantly saving my butt.”
Daryl grabbed the chair’s cheap plastic arm, sudden anger surging through him as he twirled her around fast enough to make her inhale sharply. “Don’t do that!” he snarled, his teeth gritted in frustration...whether because of her lack of confidence or his own fraying control, he wasn’t sure. “You act like I’m doin’ you a huge favour or somethin’, comin’ for you whenever you need me. It ain’t like that!”
Carol had pressed her hand to the base of her throat as though he’d truly frightened her. “What are you talking about?”
He took a deep, bracing breath, trying to rein in his emotions enough to speak. He was so close to letting the truth spill out and yet he couldn’t seem to find the right words. “I don’t have another person left in the whole world ‘cept you, Carol. If you fall, where will that leave me?”
Her gaze softening with sympathy, she reached for his hand. “You wouldn’t be alone. The rest of our group...”
Growling in mounting exasperation, he shot to his feet. “You’re not hearin’ me! Why do you think I’m even here? Coulda made it on my own if I wanted, coulda left y’all behind and gone lookin’ for Merle. I didn’t stay for the ‘group,’ okay? I stuck around for you! And yeah, at first it was ‘cuz I felt bad for you and your little girl, bein’ on your own with no one to protect you, but then you started lookin’ out for me too! With everything you did, you went ‘n made me care about you more even though I knew better, and now...”
He stopped abruptly, clenching and unclenching his trembling hands. His heart was thudding hard against his ribs but it wasn’t from anger. It was because he’d just stepped over the line – hell, charged over it - and he knew there could be no going back.
Carol slowly rose from her chair and stood before him. “And now?” she prompted gently, catching him unawares by framing his face with her small hands. He was left with no choice to but to stare down into her beautiful, inquisitive blue eyes.
He swallowed hard, summoning his courage. “And now I’m thinkin’ that maybe Glenn and Maggie got the right idea. They’re stronger with one another than they were by themselves, y’know? And if somethin’ happens...well, there would be sadness and grief, but at least there’d be no regrets. Rick...it’s rippin’ him up inside, not makin’ things right with Lori before she died. I don’t wanna be sorry I didn’t have the guts to take a chance.”
Her eyes widened in surprise and she gasped as understanding finally dawned. “You’re talking about me...about us! You want us to be together?”
Daryl bowed his head until their foreheads were touching. “I don’t have a clue how to make this work. Last thing I want to do is go and mess things up.” His hands came up and gingerly rested on her hips. “You gotta help me. Christ, I can’t even tell you what’s happenin’ inside of me...”
“Then don’t talk,” she sighed tremulously, blinking back tears that had suddenly welled up. “Just show me.”
As their breath mingled, he carefully, shyly brushed his lips across hers...it wasn’t really a kiss at all, just the barest of grazes. All the same, that brief caress was enough to set fire rolling through his veins, slow and smooth but scorching hot as molten glass. He caught Carol’s soft moan in his mouth and smiled at the realization that she wanted this as badly as he did. It was what he’d been waiting for all this time and he hadn’t even known it until it was almost too late.
She pressed closer, her lean body melding against his in a perfect fit. Feeling braver, he deepened the kiss, teasing her lips with small nips and licks until at last she submitted and opened her mouth to allow him a better taste. Sweetness like summer wine awaited him and he groaned in pleasure as it danced over his tongue, her essence flooding him with need and making him instantly hard as stone.
Daryl was so caught up in the sensations sweeping through him that it took a few moments for him to notice that Carol was suddenly trying to push him away, her palms flat and resisting against his chest. Breaking off the kiss, he stared at her through a haze of desire, confused and irritated that she’d put the brakes on long before he was ready to do so.
Breathing hard, she pulled back from him and touched her fingertips to her kiss-swollen lips. “What’s wrong?” he rasped in puzzlement, trying to catch his own breath. “Why’d you stop?”
Her expression was a mixture of hope and wariness. “You have to swear to me that this isn’t a one-time thing, some kind of knee-jerk reaction to my close call. I couldn’t do that, Daryl...not with you. It would be worse than never having you at all.”
She sounded heartbreakingly vulnerable, and it finally struck Daryl that although it had taken him forever to figure out what he wanted, Carol had been very certain for some time about how she felt. Even as that fact sent his spirit soaring, it humbled him to know how long she must have kept it to herself, knowing him well enough to see he simply wasn’t yet ready to accept her love. Smart play on her part, given the way he’d reacted to some of the things she’d said to him in the past. On that basis alone, it was a miracle that she still felt about him the way she did now. He promised himself that he wasn’t going to take her for granted again, ever.
“Havin’ you disappear and then finding you again...that was just my wake-up call. This thing between us has been a long time comin’. From this point on, you’re mine,” he vowed with fierce resolve.
Throwing his previous caution to the wind, he cupped the back of her head with one hand and kissed her hard, claiming her with more than enough passion to drive any lingering doubts from her mind. Greedily exploring the sweet softness of her mouth, he coaxed whimpers of longing from her that sent bolts of heat straight to his throbbing cock. Then she boldly slipped her hands beneath his shirt and he gasped out loud as she skimmed her fingers lightly over his twitching abdominal muscles and smooth, damp skin.
When the need to breathe finally forced them to draw apart, he looked down to see her slowly, sensuously lick the last of his kisses from her lush lips. The sight was almost enough to send him over the edge like some horny teenager, and he squeezed his eyes closed and gritted his teeth as he fought for the last shreds of control.
“So, Daryl,” Carol purred as she looped her arms around his waist. “This place of yours, it’s pretty romantic. Wanna screw around?”
~*~*~*~*~
Sorry we didn't make it to the 'big event' yet, but be patient with me...I want it to be worth the wait!
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The Embrace