From under the blanket

Carol woke up in the middle of the night feeling uncomfortable. They had been back for only a few days, and Daryl had already gone on another run without her. This time there had been no pretending, the awkwardness had kicked in.

They had left the rhinoceros garden in a hurry after realizing they had been gone long enough to worry the others. There was no time to… maybe talk? Carol wasn't sure they could ever talk about what happened. Things were better off left simple: they were there for each other.

She'd felt languid and drowsy on the journey back to the prison, holding on to Daryl on the bike. Her heart swelled with the feelings she had for him. He had given her a gift and she had accepted it with her heart and her body.

But after they arrived home to the prison, everything was weird. Like a different-brand-of-milk weird: it doesn't taste bad, but it's not familiar.

She found hidden meanings in everything, like when they were cleaning the sleeping bags from the trip and their eyes met... The way he caught her ogling at him as he sucked his fingers after eating, the way they accidently bumped into each other while trying to give the other passage in the halls. The way he chuckled at her when she once wore her red beanie at dinner, but then stopped because everybody was staring at him trying to figure out what the joke was.

Soon, they were avoiding each other completely. It was stupid, and Carol knew it, but she didn't know how to fix it.

She missed him.

She thought about going to the lockers and have a meeting with her friends: Mr. Water Bowl and Miss Carol's Right Hand, but she quickly dismissed that idea. Her need wasn't merely physical this time, she needed more than release.

She needed Daryl.

His arms around her, holding her with that possessive strength he had shown her while sharing his sleeping bag. His watchful gaze whenever she turned her head at him. Their private, relaxed, moments together.

So, Carol just stayed in her cell, curled under her thick, heavy blanket, lost in her own reflections of what her life could have been if she had found love… or if love had found her. Those thoughts only arose when she was not consumed by thoughts of survival. In a way, it was a good thing. It meant she felt safe.

When morning arrived, the prison was alive again. People were waking up and leaving the cell block to go on with their chores. They all left, until Carol was alone. No one came for her, and she knew that it didn't mean that they didn't care. They knew that from time to time everyone needed to be alone for a while.

Carol lost track of time, she didn't even remember if she dozed off for a little while, she only came back to reality when she felt a rush of air on her face caused by the sudden opening of her cell's improvised curtains. She looked up from under the warm blanket, thinking that maybe they had been ripped, when she saw Daryl standing there, looking at her and frowning.

"What the fuck Carol, why weren't you with the others?" he rebuked her.

"Good morning to you too!" Carol said rubbing her eyes. She cleared her sight and watched him carefully, sighing with relief at seeing him return safe and sound.

"Don't give me that shit… are you sick?" he started pacing back and forth. "You weren't at the yard when I arrived… You weren't at the kitchen, you weren't at the tower, you weren't at the pantry… or at the library…" he was raising his voice while waving his hands at her.

She slowly got up from her bed, walked towards him and hugged him softly, as if she was trying to calm down a crying baby. He immediately responded by shutting up and resting his head on the crook of her neck, taking a deep breath and letting her caress his nape.

"It's okay Daryl, I just needed to be alone for a little bit, I'm fine".

"You look ridiculous in that green shit you're wearing" he hissed against her neck.

"I love you too Daryl" she teased.

She thought that he would laugh at her words, but instead he pushed her away, holding her by her shoulders. He stared into her eyes, biting the inside of his lip.

"You do?" his voice was anxious.

She stared at him, smile fading from her face. "Of course I do…"

And then his lips crashed into hers, with the violence of the feelings that had been consuming him since arriving from the run: his fear of losing her. She responded with the same intensity, the intensity of someone who was tired of only surviving since she was born. She kissed him with the greediness of feeling alive.

Their teeth clashed, but they didn't flinch. She held on to him as he gripped her head with both hands, pulling her into him more and more. He growled into her mouth while his tongue invaded her, finishing each onslaught with the hard sucking of her lips.

Daryl continued to kiss her as he unzipped her one piece and slid it over her arms. It dropped to the floor and Carol stepped out of it, keeping on her tank top and panties.

"I need you" she whispered into his kiss. She meant it, in the broad sense of the word, forever until the world ended. Her hands reached his belt buckle, and undid it before unzipping his pants and pulling them down just below his buttocks.

She took his length in her hands, and it felt just as she imagined, hard, hot and smooth. Daryl stopped kissing her then, taking in the feeling of her small hands on him, as their eyes locked again. She circled his shaft with her hand and ran her finger over the head, where drops of his essence were already overflowing through his slit. Carol took her finger to her mouth, tasting his most intimate flavor, owning her shameless indecency and looking at him from under her eyelashes.

He had been on edge since they had started kissing, and at her shamelessness, he lost it. With a growl, he lifted her by her ass, her arms coming around his neck and her legs wrapping around his waist. As he held her effortlessly with only one arm, he used his free hand to push her panties to the side and lead her to his cock. With one hard movement he was inside of her, and they both cried out at the overwhelming feeling of being suddenly joined.

He had to stop for a moment to catch his breath, even without another thrust between them, he felt her nails digging into his back and her muscles contracting around his length. He walked to the edge of her small desk and put her down, legs still wrapped around him.

He quickly took her top off and pressed one hand on the wall for leverage, as he grabbed her buttocks with the other hand. He collided with her, thrusting hard while claiming her breasts, sucking on her nipples, as she arched backwards screaming in ecstasy.

Carol felt his release filling her as he trembled, moaning against her chest. They stayed that way, holding that position, panting. Their sweat mixed together in a beautiful glitter that covered their skins.

They were still joined when Carol felt him becoming hard again inside her. She felt his length swelling and throbbing while he was still resting his head on her chest. She was surprised at her own reaction, because the ache hadn't gone away. Her muscles immediately began their work sucking him in even further.

Daryl got up and carried her to the bed. He took off his clothes and her panties, moving with a haste that made him anxious and ungraceful. He turned her over, and the sight of her ass up in the air like that made him fully erect again. He took her from behind, ramming mercilessly into her as he held her hips.

"I love you Carol, I'm yours." he said between gasps as he thrusted slower, but harder, reaching deep inside her. "You have me. Don't ever disappear on me again" he commanded as he continued to drive into her.

The world stopped in Carol's mind right then. She saw flashes of herself, a little girl, not ever loved enough by her own father, a young woman settling for the love of a man who turned out to be a liar and an abuser… and everything seemed to vanish. It faded away like words written in sand as they're swallowed by crashing waves. There was only her and him, and the power of being loved back.

Her orgasm came quickly and unexpectedly, and as he felt her contracting around him he let go emptying himself inside her once more.

She dropped herself on the bed and he fell over her, both exhausted but sated. After a few moments she turned around and he shifted so that they laid on her bed facing each other with their bodies tangled together.

They would stay like that for a long time before returning to reality. But even the harsh truth of their lives shifted at the undeniable fact that they now belonged to each other.

For as long as the earth moved and there were still breaths to be taken.