TWD : Love Is You

Chapter 6

Rick barely had time to blink the blurriness out of his eyes before Carl was colliding with his chest as he jumped on top of him and Daryl in their bed. Rick grunted softly at the unexpected weight against his chest, and he heard Daryl grumble a little at being so rudely disturbed from his sleep.

"Dads!" he shouted almost right in their faces like they weren't already awake.

Rick laughed softly and wrapped his arms around his son and leaned up to peck his cheek softly, "Good morning," he greeted him. He looked over and found Daryl awake and looking at him, a soft smile on his face, "Morning to you too," he said and leaned forward and pecked him on the lips quickly.

"Did you sleep well?" Rick heard Daryl ask their son as Rick tickled Carl's sides playfully.

"Yeah!" he said and giggled as he tried to grab at Rick's hands.

Carl laid down on Rick's chest, and Rick wrapped his arms around him. A small smile pulled at Rick's lips as his son settled with his face pressed against his bare collarbones, and Rick played with his hair as he looked over to meet Daryl's eyes.

Daryl smirked at him and scooted closer, resting his head against his shoulder and sighing softly. Rick was glad the man had calmed down since they had reunited yesterday. As soon as he had seen Daryl, he felt immediately relaxed, that everything would be okay because he had his husband and son.

But he knew something was off as soon as everyone had left them alone, Daryl was quiet and not acting like himself, seeming to flinch every time Rick had tried to touch him. It had been heartbreaking to hear Daryl cry and say that Rick was a ghost, that he was going to wake up and Rick would be gone.

"How did you sleep?" Rick asked his husband, removing one of his hands from Carl's back to take Daryl's hand and give it a squeeze.

Daryl shrugged, "Got a couple of hours," he said with a soft sigh, "No more or less than usual,"

Rick frowned, "That's not good," he murmured, shifting when Carl's hair began to tickle his neck, "Why aren't you sleeping well?" he asked.

"Don't know," Daryl told him, and then sat up in his bed, "Now come on, breakfast will be ready soon, and we need to talk about those guns with the others,"

Rick nodded in agreement, and sat up too, Carl falling back into his lap and grunting at being disturbed, "Let's get dressed, hmm?" he said to his son, and Carl nodded as he climbed off him, and then crawled over to where his own suitcase sat beside his bed.

Rick smiled after him, and then leaned over to Daryl, he cupped his cheek and pressed their lips together softly for a moment, and it deepened for a moment before Rick got a ball of socks to the back of his head.

"Come on! I'm hungry!" Carl exclaimed, pulling on a clean shirt.

Daryl chuckled softly, gave Rick a soft peck and then started ruffling through his own suitcase to find them both some clothes to wear.

  

Rick smiled as he walked through the camp, it was a few hours after morning, and everyone was up and about. Merle was chatting to Andrea as she hung out some clothes, and Rick suspected that Merle was more than likely hitting on her. Carl had gone to play with Sophia, and Daryl had left the camp to check traps that he and Merle had set a few days previous, and to hunt anything else that he picked up a trail of.