Chapter 26: Phone Call

"How'd you do it?" Merle asked, as Daryl leaned back in the recliner in Carol's parents' living room. The Masons had gone to the store to pick up a few things for dinner, and Carol was upstairs on the phone having a long-distance conference with the producers of Apocalypse, California over this surprising spinoff announcement and the contract negotiations. He knew she'd be busy for at least an hour, so he'd decided to relax and watch some TV. But when his cell phone had buzzed in his pocket and Merle's number had shown up, he knew that it must be important, because Merle didn't often call him unless he needed money, a place to stay or a ride, and Merle knew damned well he wasn't even in California.

"Do what?" Daryl asked, running a hand over his face.

"How'd you get that pretty gal to agree to go on a date with your sorry ass?" Merle asked. Daryl snorted.

"Why d'you wanna know?" A pause. "Merle?"

"Look, it ain't your fuckin' business."

"Hey, whoa. You're the one callin' me. What the hell you wanna know for?" He heard a strangled sigh on the other end of the phone, and he rolled his eyes. "You tryin' to get back in Paula's good graces?"

"Paula? Fuck no. She's back with her ex. He's been slippin' it to her for the past couple weeks. She don't want nothin' to do with me now. Good riddance anyway." He snorted, and Daryl shook his head.

"So this is about Michonne then."

"Pfft. No." He wasn't convincing.

"She ain't interested," Daryl pointed out. "She's happy with Rick."

"Officer Friendly? What's he got that I ain't?"

"Uh, he ain't a chain smokin' binge drinker with hot temper. He don't make stupid choices when he's mad or drunk or on havin' a bad day."

"He ain't so perfect. M'sure he's got a few skeletons in his closet. His first wife left his ass, so somethin's gotta be wrong with him."

"Didn't his wife cheat on 'im with his best friend?"

"Whatever," Merle muttered. "Look, how'd you get her attention?"

"I dunno," Daryl muttered with a sigh. "I stopped on the side of the road 'cause somebody was broke down. Just happened to be her. And I think she woulda pepper-sprayed my ass, but I think she kinda liked me." Merle snorted at that. "Yeah, uh, she didn't trust me, but I didn't know who the hell she was. She thought I was helpin' 'cause I saw a fancy car and thought I'd get some money out of it."

"What a bitch," Merle snorted.

"Hey, asshole, she didn't know me," Daryl pointed out. "But I helped her, took her to Michonne's. She invited me out for coffee, it ended up being drinks and a game of pool, and the rest is history."

"So ya didn't really say nothin' to her?"

"We just kinda clicked," Daryl said, shrugging as he saw her come down the stairs with the phone still at her ear. She gave him an apologetic look before flitting off to the kitchen. He just smiled at her, and he leaned back into the recliner again. "Best thing that ever happened to me was her car breakin' down on the side of that freeway."

"You gonna need a flashlight?"

"What for?"

"To find yer balls, baby brother."

"Fuck you. Look, Michonne's happy with Rick, but if you're that crazy about her, then maybe you better tell her."

"I been tellin' her."

"By actin' like an asshole every time you see her? Try not bein' an asshole. Hell, try not puttin' her boyfriend down every time, too. Maybe if ya act like a decent guy instead of a prick…"

"Catch more flies with honey than vinegar, right?"

"Yeah, somethin' like that," Daryl snorted, a little baffled he was trying to give his big brother relationship advice. At that moment, Carol came padding into the living room, kicking her shoes off and putting her cell phone down on the chair-side table. Daryl held his arm out, and she climbed into his lap, curling one arm around his neck as his arm curled around her waist. She smiled at him before burying her face against his neck and inhaling the scent of him. She smiled into his neck when his throat rumbled against his voice. "Alright, look, I gotta go."

"You about to get laid?"

"Get yer mind outta the gutter," Daryl snorted.

"Later, baby bro."

"Yeah, alright. Bye." He ended the call and put his phone down next to hers.

"How's Merle?" she asked, stroking his neck with her fingertips, cocking her head to the side as he leaned his head back to look at her.

"He's lovesick for Michonne," he said with a grin.

"Oh God," Carol laughed, shaking her head. "What a mess."

"Yeah," he said with a shrug. "But at least he's focused on somethin' other than Paula. They were bad for each other, y'know?"

"Mmm," Carol said with a little nod. "Well, maybe this'll give Merle a reason to get his act together."

"Maybe," he said thoughtfully. "So? How'd your conference go?"

"Ugh," Carol groaned, burying her face against Daryl's neck, hugging him as his hand moved up and down her back soothingly.

"That bad?"

"They gave me two options."

"Shit," he muttered, gently stroking her back. "This ain't good, is it?" She shook her head and finally pulled back to look at him.

"They want a spinoff for Olivia. Badly. They thought I'd be all in for it, but the truth is, I'm in my zone right now. The people I work with, the writers, the crew. It all works. We play off of one another, and I don't know how I feel about starting over, starting something new. And they're talking about killing Jake off, which would really piss off a lot of fans. This would be their way of kind of solidifying the Jake/Olivia romance. If Jake dies and Olivia goes off on her own, well people would be rioting."

"Yeah, I could see that," he said with a little nod.

"But the spinoff would be picked up for at least three seasons to start off with." She frowned. "Or if not, they want me to sign on for another three seasons of Apocalypse, Now, making Olivia more prominent than she already is, and that would mean more filming, more press, more interviews, more conventions." Daryl gently stroked Carol's cheek, and she shook her head. "I like the way things are now." She sighed and chewed her lip hesitantly.

"You're worried 'cause we were talkin' about havin' a baby."

"This will push that back. A lot. I mean, we could do it, but my schedule would be crazy, and I want time to be with you and to be a family. I don't want work to take over my entire life."

"What do you wanna do?" She opened her mouth to speak, but he stopped her with a soft kiss. "Hey. Look at me." She sighed and nodded, and he threaded his fingers with hers. "I want ya to be happy. I want ya to do what you wanna do. Not what you think you should do."

"Daryl, I want you to be happy, too. You're my husband, and I love you, and we're in this together. This isn't just you or me anymore. It's us. And this is a big decision."

"I've seen you," he said, tucking a strand of her hair, wild from sleep, behind her ear. "You love what you do. You're in your element on that set. You love it."

"I do," she murmured.

"And if ya wanna wait a year, three years, ten years, I can do that, 'cause I got you." He kissed her softly. "I love you." She sighed then, leaning in to kiss him. "And, I dunno, we can get a dog. That'll be good practice." Carol laughed and shook her head before her smile turned more serious, and her fingers curled into his shirt.

"I don't want the spinoff," she said softly. "I want to finish out this show. I've been there since the beginning. I want to finish out this show the way it was planned from the beginning." She shrugged. "We all know spinoffs usually pale in comparison anyway." Daryl chuckled and gave her a little kiss.

"Then that's what you do. You ain't gonna have no regrets?"

"Nope," she said with a smile. "None." She sighed then, standing up and reaching for his hand. He took it and stood with her.

"Where we goin'?"

"Oh, we're home alone, we've got the place to ourselves for at least another hour."

"Why do ya say that? Your folks'll be back soon."

"You've never seen my mother grocery shop, have you?" she teased, kissing him softly. "We've got at least an hour. Come on." Daryl chuckled then, and he gave her hand a squeeze before following her up the stairs and to her old room, content about the future and ready to spend it with her.

...

The tile floor was cold against his bare feet, and he shivered, tugging his boxers back up his legs before flushing the toilet. When he returned to her room, Carol was wrapped in her bathrobe and sitting on the edge of the bed with a grin on her face and her phone in her hand.

"What?" he asked, grabbing for his sweatpants and his shirt.

"Oh, I just got off the phone with Michonne," she giggled, standing up and shrugging off her robe and grabbing for her bra and panties, slipping them on as Daryl tugged his shirt over his head.

"Yeah? Everything ok?"

"Oh, it seems your brother showed up at her apartment with a tool box and asked her if she needed a hand with her plumbing." Daryl's face went pale.

"He didn't."

"Oh, he did," she laughed. "What on earth did you say to him?"

"Oh, hell, he called askin' about how I got you," he snorted. "I told him 'bout how your car broke down and I stopped to help."

"So, from that, he decides to take his tools over to her place and hope that there's something that needs to be fixed?"

"Well, hey, he's tryin'," Daryl replied with a shrug, as Carol wiggled into her jeans. "He ain't got a chance with her, though."

"Well, I don't know," Carol said with raised eyebrows, pulling her blouse over her head and running her fingers through her hair. She settled down on the bed, and he joined her, scooting up with her to rest against the pillows, his bare feet cool against hers but warming by the moment.

"What makes ya say that?"

"Michonne likes Rick. She does. But I don't think she's a hundred percent sold on the idea of spending a lifetime with him. He's nice, yeah, but a nice guy isn't always all a woman wants."

"Don't tell me she's actually thinkin' about…Merle?"

"I don't know, but she thought it was kind of cute."

"Cute? Merle?"

"Hey, Dixon men can be pretty charming without even meaning to be. I know this from experience. You charmed me right to the altar barely a month after tapping on my window for the first time." She winked at him. "I was sold after the first date. I just didn't want to give you a swelled head."

"Gave me a swelled head on the first date, if I recall," he teased, as she laughed and curled up against him, burying her face against his neck and kissing him there.

"You're impossible," she sighed.

"But ya love me." He kissed her. "And I love you." He curled his fingers with hers, and she smiled. "They'll be home soon. We should get up."

"Yeah," she said with a nod, yawning and blinking back the pull of sleep. "But I'm good here."

"Yeah," he agreed, placing a kiss to the side of her head. "Me too."

...

Apocalypse, California star Carol Mason and hubby Daryl Dixon are new parents! Shortly after arriving back in L.A. from holiday in Georgia, they adopted a bouncing baby girl. Hold on, folks, things are not as they seem. The Mason-Dixon family have welcomed an adorable Australian Shepherd puppy! On her social media account, Mason finally broke her silence to thank her fans for their love and support and asked the media to respect her privacy. She gushed about how happy she is despite the many changes in her life these past few months and even posted a sweet snap of her hunky husband with their new pup. She captioned it 'not exactly the baby you all were expecting, but we love her!' She capped off the cheeky comment with a winky-face emoji and raised eyebrows suggesting that the pitter patter of baby feet might not be that far off.

Mason recently signed on for another three years with Apocalypse, California, so Olivia O'Connor fans rejoice! Your favorite action star isn't going anywhere any time soon, and her real life counterpart seems to be slowing down and settling into married life after that whirlwind romance. Here's to many happy years of wedded bliss for our favorite TV badass and her handsome husband.

The END

...

Author's Note:

I wasn't going to post this today. I really wasn't. I decided yesterday that I was done, and I wasn't going to write anything else for a long while. But I tossed and turned last night and decided I needed to give Spotlight and ending. And I was already working on this chapter before, so I figured it was time. So I finished it, and here it is, and I hope it was worth it. I'm sorry if it's not the ending you were expecting. This will be my last fanfic update for a while. I will eventually finish Heart Song and maybe write other Caryl fics again, but I need a little time to find the joy again and be happy with myself and my writing. Thank you all for reading.