Written For: @carylscherokeeroses
Title: Spirit Author: @tigereyes45 Rating: T due to suggestive flirting Summary: Carol and Daryl sit in a box stand, waiting for some deer to show. A/N: Let me know your Ao3 account and I’ll gift it to you on there too. :)
Daryl sits back, hands hanging over his knees. His eyes are closed with his head laying back against the side of the box stand. It’s cold this morning. All night they’ve been sitting up here, watching for deer, waiting for a chance to bring some meat home. Watching their breath coming out in foggy huffs.
He’s glad she came with. Daryl never much liked these things, the box stands.
Carol took to her post like a bee to hunny. She’d sit in one spot for a long while, before getting up and shifting to a new spot and remaining in it for another hour or two. She’s doing better than he ever did in these things. Then again the last time he was in one of these for a whole day he was a kid. One who didn’t want to be up in a small box all day, let alone with his brother and dad.
It was a miserable time. He expected this to be pretty bad too, but so far it’s been pretty nice.
Quiet.
Usually when Carol’s quiet he can expect her to be planning something. It means trouble. Out here, there’s not much she can do. Not unless it’s too some walkers.
“How long does this usually take?”
“Minutes. Hours.” Daryl shrugs, opening his eyes. Carol was sitting in her spot, looking out across the field that runs between the two sides of this forest. If she looked far enough west, he knows she’d spy some distant buildings that used to be a city. They look better overgrown like they are now. “Depends on the day.”
Morning light flickers in through the openings. It catches on her white hair. She almost looks as if she could become a part of the fog that covers the ground below.
Gone without a trace like a spirit.
It unsettles him.
Carol huffs, and sets down the bow she’s been running her thumb along all morning. If Daryl had to take a guess at the time, he’d say it’s about ten am. Not too late, but he didn’t have high hopes of any deer coming by now that the sunlight was starting to fill the forest. Some could, but luck would have to be on their side.
These days it doesn’t really seem to be.
She walks, still hunched over. Her feet carefully step on the quietest of the wood panels. Her boot pushes his knees closer together. Daryl watches her carefully as she drops down beside him. He holds out an arm, and she presses her body right against his.
Carol lays her head along his chest, setting one of her hands under it. He can feel her cold fingers through his shirt. Her other hand snakes under his back. In this pose, they’re partially holding each other.
“You know, we could still fool around.” She jokes looking at him with such happy eyes.
It’s nice to see her smiling. If he could, he would give her a reason to smile every day.
“That’ll scare away the deer for sure.”
“Not like they were coming around anyways.”
Staring at her like this, he’s half tempted to take her up on the offer. Half. “Then you’ll tell the others why we came back empty-handed.”
She runs her head along his chest, looking back down at their entangled legs. “Best not then.”
He rubs her arm, and tries to warm her up. “Take a nap. The deer aren’t going anywhere.”
That earns him a snort. “They’re definitely not coming here.”
Daryl rolls his eyes. Getting her in a good mood seems to be all about getting her alone nowadays, but that’s alright. He doesn’t mind. Daryl leans forward, planting a kiss on the back of her head.
He wraps his other arm around her face. Her skin feels like snow beneath his hand, soft and cold as if she might melt and disappear. Daryl holds her tighter.
So long as she’s around. That’s what matters.