Celebrating Carol
written for @laurellibra
Title: Celebrating Carol Author: @theresnosafeharbor4myships Rating: PG Summary: Daryl, Judith, and RJ surprise Carol for her almost-Christmas birthday. A/N: Happy holidays, LauralLibra! I hope you're having a blessed season and that you enjoy this little bit of lighthearted Caryl. Merry Christmas! :D
“Okay, Jude, can you measure the cinnamon while I slice the oranges?”
“Sure.” She opened the silverware drawer and took out the measuring spoon before grabbing the small canister of spice from the cupboard.
“And what can I do?” RJ asked enthusiastically, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet.
Daryl pulled one of the kitchen barstools over and set it in front of the stove. “You can put some of the cranberries,” Daryl pointed to the small container of fruit, “into the pot, but be careful.”
He stood next to RJ and watched the kids about their tasks as he quickly cut orange slices to add to the red wine he’d just set to heat on the stove.
“What’s this called again?” RJ wondered, gently plopping cranberries one by one into the pot.
“Mulled wine,” Judith answered before Daryl could. She stood on the other side of her brother, carefully sprinkling cinnamon from the measuring spoon into the warming liquid.
“Why’s it called that?”
Judith shrugged and looked to Daryl for the answer.
“Dunno. It just means there’s extra stuff added for flavor.”
“Is it good?”
“I never tried it before,” Daryl answered honestly, handing a wooden spoon to RJ to stir the concoction as he dropped the orange slices in. He snagged the small container of cloves off the counter and added a few of them to the drink.
The kids peered into the pot as RJ stirred. “One more thing, Jude. You wanna measure in one tablespoon of maple syrup?”
She nodded and moved to get the sweetener as Daryl hovered over RJ for safety’s sake.
“Why didn’t you never tried it?” RJ asked.
“’Cause I never thought it’d taste good.”
“Then why are we making it?”
“It’s a present for Aunt Carol,” Judith responded, turning the tablespoon full of syrup upside down over the pan and watching the sweetener ooze slowly into the mixture. “For her birthday.”
“But I thought it’s Christmas time.”
“It is,” Jude responded.
“But isn’t that Jesus’s birthday?”
“Yeah, but Aunt Carol’s birthday isn’t the same as Christmas,” Daryl explained. “It’s just close to Christmas.”
“On a different day,” Jude clarified.
“How do you know it’s her birthday?”
“’Cause she told us.”
“When?”
Daryl’s mind immediately flashed to those first nights at the quarry, a hundred lifetimes ago. Several in their party, including Carol, Lori, and the kids, sat close to the campfire as the sun dropped below the horizon, making way for the cool of the evening. He would’ve moved closer to the warmth, but Merle would’ve given him hell for it, so he stood in the shadows on the periphery with his pain-in-the-ass brother, arms crossed in frustration, eyeing the group of people who’d bonded together for safety.
“What do you miss the most?” Sophia’s voice, barely audible, reached his ears, and he watched her and Carl huddling close together.
“Watching cartoons,” Carl answered. “Playing baseball. Pizza. And going to lake with my friends. We were supposed to do that a few weeks ago for my birthday.”
“When was your birthday?”
“October 12th. When’s yours?”
“July 7th.”
“Oh, that’s close to my mom’s. Hers is—”
“Your mom’s what?” Lori wondered, having heard herself mentioned and turning her attention from her conversation with Carol to the kids.
“Your birthday is July 5th,” Carl finished. “Right?”
Lori ruffled his hair. “Yep. Why?”
“We’re just talking about stuff we miss,” Sophia answered, somewhat forlornly.
“Like school?” Carol asked, half hiding a smirk.
“No way!”
“Come on, Sophia, let’s get outta here before we give them any other bad ideas!”
They took off running towards the RV, and Daryl turned his attention to the two women, ignoring Merle’s grumbling about the kids kicking up dust while he was trying to clean his gun.
“You’re an Independence Day baby, huh?” Carol asked Lori.
“Yeah, never really got a party of my own. It was always lumped together with the 4th.”
“I know how that is. My birthday’s December 22nd.”
“Brutal,” Lori sympathized. “You must’ve hated that as a kid.”
Carol’s answer was lost as her beast of a husband joined them around the campfire and she drew up the walls around herself.
The old memory shot an arrow of fury and pain through his heart. He looked at the two kids staring at him, waiting for an answer. And yet still so much to be grateful for.
“Long before you and your sister were born,” he stated, covering RJ’s hand on the spoon with his own, ensuring the stirring happened to focus on the present.
“When was that?”
“Alright, enough questions.” He turned off the stove as the wine barely started bubbling and playfully swatted the kid’s butt. His curiosity would go on forever if he didn’t nip it.
“Yeah, we gotta get everything ready for Aunt Carol,” Judith said excitedly peering into the pot of now-mulled wine.
“What for Aunt Carol?” Carol’s voice came to them from the hallway.
She must’ve come in through the back door. Judith pushed the messily wrapped gifts to the edge of the counter, and she and RJ stood up straight as Carol came into the kitchen.
“Surprise! Happy birthday!” they sang out.
“Happy birthday,” Daryl chimed in, noting the pink flush in her cheeks from the cold.
Her eyebrows rose, and a small smile graced her face as she peeled off her jacket and folded it onto one of the kitchen barstools. “What’s all this?”
As a quick, unspoken hello, Daryl grasped her hand as he passed her, moving to the cupboard over the sink to grab cups for all of them as the kids explained. “Uncle Daryl told us it was your birthday, and we wanted to surprise you!”
From the corner of his eye, he saw her look at him briefly before fixing her attention on the kids again. He hung the handles of three mugs onto the fingers of his left hand and grabbed one more cup with the other, knocking the cupboard closed.
“Well, I’m certainly surprised!” She saw a few haphazardly wrapped gifts on the counter and a steaming pot of something-or-other on the stove. “You did all this for me?”
He turned back to his family, the kids nodding furiously and beaming at Carol, then excitedly taking up their gifts for her and setting them on the dining room table in front of her chair. He moved in close to her, the right side of his body nearly spooning hers as he leaned closer, his lips at her right ear. “There’s nothin’ I wouldn’t do for you,” he whispered.
Those words in that husky whisper of his sent shivers racing down her spine. Before she could recover, he placed a quick kiss against her neck, then walked to the island and set the mugs down.
“Aunt Carol, you okay?”
Judith’s question made Daryl glance up at Carol, who stood where he’d left her, frozen in place, staring at him. He winked at her before turning his attention back to serving the mulled wine.
“I’m okay,” she finally answered, though it sounded a bit breathless to him.
The kids tugged her by the hands towards the table. “Come on, we got you presents!” RJ exclaimed.
“Alright, alright.” She allowed them to pull her to her seat at the table. She sat down, and the kids scrambled into their chairs, one on each side of her. Daryl set a mug of steaming liquid in front of her with a small flourish, and she looked up at him questioningly.
“We made you mold wine!” RJ told her, and Daryl and Carol both barely refrained from laughing.
“Mulled,” Jude corrected emphatically, then, questioning herself, turned to him. “Right, Uncle Daryl?”
“Yeah, mulled. Aunt Carol’s favorite.”
“Can I try some?” RJ asked.
“No way,” Daryl answered, grabbing the kids’ cups off the counter. “But you can have apple cider.”
“Yum!”
“Yum!” RJ mimicked his sister, as Daryl set a cup down in front of each of them.
He took up his mug full of the seasoned wine and held it out towards Carol. “Cheers. To a happy birthday.”
She clinked her cup to his, her eyes bright, a pleased smile on her face. “Thank you.”
He leaned down to kiss her cheek as the kids lifted their mugs to toast her. “Happy birthday, Aunt Carol!” Judith exclaimed.
“Happy birthday and Merry Christmas!” RJ clinked his glass twice to Carol’s before slurping down a large gulp of cider.
“Thank you.” She looked at each of them in turn, her eyes lingering gratefully on Daryl, who now sat across the table from her. “This is very sweet of you.”
“And we have presents too!” RJ enthused. “But you can only have your birthday presents now. Christmas presents on Christmas.”
She gave them a surprised look. “Separate presents!?”
“Yeah, it was Uncle Daryl’s idea,” Judith told her.
Carol tilted her head slightly in inexpressible gratitude, and Daryl couldn’t stop staring at her, her pink cheeks, tear-filled eyes, loving expression. “Love you,” he told her simply.
“I love you,” she responded, and his heart beat faster, same as it did every time she said those words to him.
“I love you, too,” RJ told her, breaking the moment of intensity.
She chuckled and reached for his hand, then looked at Jude and did the same. “And I love you both.”
“You wanna open your presents now?” RJ asked excitedly.
“Yes, of course!”
“And then we can have cake, right, Uncle Daryl?”
He nodded as Carol’s eyes went wide. “There’s cake too?”
“Lots of dessert waiting for you,” Daryl promised with a twinkle in his eye, though his expression remained neutral.
A smile flirted on her lips. “Well then, let’s get started so we can get to the good stuff.”
