•eighty-two•
Beatrix
After my talk with Deanna, she decided to assign me a job. Surprisingly to nobody, I was to work in the infirmary with Lucas and Pete, the community's current physician. I didn't know a lot about him, yet, though, but I'm definitely excited to meet him and go over the medicine.
When I came out of Deanna's house to send Baxly in, Daryl was waiting there to lead me to where our houses would be. Lined up perfectly, three in a row, sit three beautiful two story houses.
"Which one do we get to stay in?" I look up at him, my hand still clinging to his.
"That one," he points to the one on the right, the smallest of the three. Even though it was the smallest, it is definitely still huge, with two stories and a garage. "Might finally get that honeymoon after all."
"Wait, you mean we get that one to ourselves?" My eyes widen. "Like, just us?"
"Yeah, unless you want someone else to live there," he nervously scratches the back of his neck as he looks down at me. "I think they all felt bad for us so they gave us the house to ourselves."
"Oh my gosh, no! This is perfect!" I exclaim. "Before I get too excited, I need you to pinch me. Are we sure this is real?"
"Real as it can be, I guess," he shrugs and I throw my arms around him.
"This is so exciting! But what about everyone else? Do they have to stay in the other two houses?"
"For now, yeah. After we get settled in Rick says we get those two houses over there, too," he points to the other side of the street. "Or more if we need them. Said they have like twenty empty houses or something stupid like that."
"Well, what are we waiting for? Can we go in?" I suddenly feel like a kid waking up on Christmas morning, begging her parents to let her go see what Santa left the night before.
"Course," he mutters, following after me as I pull him up onto the porch and into the house.
"This is just like the house I was looking at buying in Atlanta," I gasp once I walk in. "After I accepted an attending position at Emory, obviously. It has the same floor plan and everything."
"You we're gonna buy a million dollar home?" He raises his eyebrow at me as he looks around the room. He must have already been in here to check for anything, because if he hadn't he'd be on much higher alert.
"Well, yeah. Daryl, do you even know how much money surgeons used to make?" I ask, pilfering through the drawers of the huge kitchen, smiling when I see that they're fully stocked. The pantry is, too.
"Do I look like I know how much surgeons used to make?" He crosses his arms, leaning on the door frame as he watches me.
"Touché," I say, going back to admiring the granite countertops, black cabinets, and black appliances. I don't think I could have build a better kitchen myself even if I wanted to. "I had one contract offer me eight hundred and fifty a year, for my first year. By the time I had a tenure it would have been over a million."
"Shit," he says, surprised at my life before. He always is. "You don't miss it?"
"Oh, I miss it every day," I frown as I walk forward to wrap my arms around his waist. "But I wouldn't go back if I could. The world now sucks, but if all of this hadn't happened, I'm not sure I would have met you. That's not something I'm willing to bargain with, either."
"You think if you met me in the real world you'd still marry me?" Daryl asks, looking at me, and I can just see the same, sad child that he used to be in his eyes. I never met him when he was that young, but I could only imagine he'd have the same look on his face as I'm getting right now.
"Yes, of course, Daryl," I smile, leaning up to softly kiss his lips. "You know that. You know I was never really materialistic, either. Don't question that."
After our little talk, I pull away so that I can explore the rest of the house. I basically open every door, in awe of the whole thing. You never see a house this neat, organized, clean and fully stocked these days. I mean, everything is already in here. They have books, furniture, sheets, food, appliances, clothes, and even hygiene products.
"Oh my god, Daryl!" I scream once I open the garage door. "It's an Audi. They have a fucking Audi in this garage!"
"Like the one you used to drive?" He asks, running up beside of me to look at the car.
"Just like the one I used to drive," I squeal, giddy that I'll be able to at least sit in one again, if not drive it. "Daryl, can we talk?"
"About what?"
"I'm really sorry. I know my emotions have been all over the place lately, and my mood has definitely changed way more and way faster than I change clothes. It's just all of the pregnancy hormones," I frown. "They really mess women up. They can go from hot and bothered to stone cold to crying their eyes out in five seconds, and they just can't help it. I just can't help it. I'm not myself, and I know I'm probably hard to be around. I'm just sorry."
"You ain't hard to be around," he frowns back at me, following me upstairs to look at the bedrooms. "Even though you can be a pain in my ass sometimes."
"I can be a pain in everyone's ass sometimes," I laugh. "But seriously, the hormones are still there even if the fetus isn't. It should all go away in a few days, though, and I'll be back to normal. I really am excited about this place, though. I really want it to work out. I want it to work so bad I can't stand it, Dare. I want us to be safe here and make a decent life here."
"We can," he nods, following me into the master bedroom.
It's huge, of course, with a California king bed in the middle of the room and a huge TV on the wall. There are two doors off to the side, and they each lead to a half bathroom, connected by one shower in the middle, like a jack and Jill bathroom with a connecting two head shower, if that makes sense.
"Dare, this is like the house of my dreams," I smile looking at it. "I hope that we can stay here forever."
"I'll tell you what," he says, stepping closer to wrap his arms around me. "If this place turns out not to be a trap, and we can end up living here forever, we can have a baby. Hell, we can have thirty babies if that's what you want."
"We can have thirty babies?" I squeal, giddy with excitement.
"All right, thirty was an exaggeration," he defends, but I put my finger over his mouth to shush him.
"You already said thirty. No take backs," I giggle, moving my finger so that I can kiss him. "Thirty little Dixons. Can you imagine?"
"We'd need a hell of a lot bigger house than this," he smirks, kissing the top of my head.
"We'll cross that bridge when we get there," I promise before turning and walking into the bathroom. "Now, I don't know about you, but I am way more than ready to get a shower and get all of the blood and grime off of me. If you come with me, I'll even wash that nasty vest for you."
"My vest is not nasty," he says defensively, following me into the bathroom.
"Daryl, it's covered in mud and blood. I hate to break it to you, but it is disgusting," I laugh, pulling my shirt up and over my head as I turn on the hot water. "Oh my god, hot water! I haven't had hot water since, I don't know, the CDC?"
"Me neither. Now we really can save water and shower together," he laughs, pulling his boots and socks off.
"I forgot about that!" I laugh back at him, remembering back when we barely knew each other and he threw me over his shoulder, carrying me off to his room like he was going to fuck me. "You thought you were such a hard ass."
"I was a hard ass, thank you very much," he pulls his shirt over his head and throws it to the floor. "I still am."
"Sure you are," I smile, then pause for a moment. "I need to warn you, Dare. This isn't gonna be pretty. There's dried blood all over me. I haven't had the chance to clean it off yet."
"Hey, look at me," he uses his finger to tilt my chin up to look at him. "It's all right. I'll help you get it off."
I let out a sigh of relief before pushing my pants down, and sure enough, there's dried blood all over the pants, so I'm sure there's a lot more between my legs. I turn my head and walk into the large shower, watching as the water flowing towards the drain turns a disgusting shade of brownish-red. Daryl steps in behind me, turning his shower head on as he watches me look at the floor.
"Trixy, it's all right," he says, snapping me out of my thoughts, though I still watch as the water from Daryl's side changes colors too, except his is more brown and dirty than red and bloody. "Do you want to give it a name? Ya know, so we don't have to call it an it anymore?"
"Caroline," I say after a moment of thinking, watching as the water becomes less and less red as it runs to the drain. "It was a girl, I can feel it. I'd like to call her Caroline."
"Caroline Dixon it is then," Daryl reaches for me, pulling me into a hug under the warm water. "How'd you know it was a girl?"
"I just know," I shrug my shoulders. "Mother's intuition, I guess. Can we stop talking about it now? I really want to enjoy a nice shower with you."
Instead of responding, Daryl just kisses me on the head and pushes me lightly back to my side. I smile at him as we both stand under the water, wetting our hair. I reach for the bottle of shampoo, unable to stop myself from moaning at the smell of lavender filling my nostrils as I work it into my scalp. My hair is dirty and tangled, so it's hard to wash it properly, but I do my best and wash it six times. Six times might be a little excessive, but I haven't had a shower like this in well over a year, maybe even two at this point. I'm not sure.
Daryl shampoos his hair, and conditions it after I scold him for not even knowing what conditioner was. I make enough bubbles with our soap that they end up all over the floor. My smile doesn't fade for the whole shower, and by the time we're both clean, I don't want to get out.
"Can we take a bath, too?" I look up at him, doing my best to produce a good puppy dog eye look. "Please, Daryl. I'm not ready to get out yet."
"If you want," he sighs, and I smile. I can tell he isn't into it, but I am, and he's going to do it for me. I squeal with excitement, stepping out of the shower to turn the bath on, which is sitting on what will presumably be my side of the bathroom.
"I wonder if they have bubble bath," I say to myself, digging through the cabinets. "Of course they do. They have everything."
I pour the bubble bath into the bathtub and tell Daryl to get in first. He sighs, but climbs in anyway, opening his arms for me to follow him in. I gladly do so, sitting in between his legs and leaning back on his chest.
"Think you put in enough bubbles?" He asks, causing me to laugh. There are enough bubbles that they almost overflow the bathtub. I can't even see any of the water, just a sheet of white bubbles.
"I love you, Daryl," I turn my head so that I can kiss him. "Thank you for this. I needed it."
"I love you," he mutters, wrapping his arms around my shoulders to hold me close.
I close my eyes, trying to just enjoy the moment. Moments like this don't come around often in the apocalypse, so when they do, I like to appreciate them as much as I can before something comes along and fucks it up. Naturally, I knew something was going to fuck it up, but I just didn't expect it to happen so soon.
"Where are you two love birds at?" I hear Merle's voice come through the house, and Daryl groans. "I hope you two ain't up there bumping uglies, 'cause I'm coming up."
"Merle, go the hell away," Daryl yells, almost breaking my ear drum in the process of trying to get his brother to go away.
"What the hell does this door—" Merle walks into the bathroom, his eyes wide once he sees us sitting in the tub. Thankfully, the bubbles cover up everything so he can't see anything but our heads, but I still want him to leave. "Aw, look at you two, snug as two bugs in a warm, wet rug."
"Get the fuck outta here, Merle," Daryl lifts his arm, pointing at the door. "We're busy."
"I can see that, baby brother, as much as I didn't want to," he smirks, humping the air, and I roll my eyes. "I'm here on official business, though. Rick sent me."
"Sent you for what?" I ask, not really buying it.
"He wanted me to tell you that just because you two are all married and domesticated now, that doesn't mean you can just forget your roots now, baby sis," Merle holds his chest like he's hurt.
"You are such a drama queen," I laugh at him. "What did he really say?"
"Damn, neither of you are any fun," he shakes his head. "He said we're all sleeping in the same house tonight. The one in the middle. Says we can't be too careful here."
"All right, we'll be over when we get out," Daryl tries to shoo off his brother again. "Now get the fuck out."
"I'm leaving, I'm leaving," Merle grumbles, leaving the bathroom and shutting the door behind him.
"Did we not lock the door downstairs?" I sit up, turning to Daryl with bubbles clinging to my shoulders.
"We did. Asshole must have picked it," he shakes his head.
I giggle again before pushing myself to get up out of the bath and grab us each a towel. I hand Daryl his and he stands up and drains the water before stepping out of the bath. We each dry off, then walk into our respective closets. I find some clothes that look like they'll fit me good enough, throwing on a pair of sweatpants and a random T-shirt. They're a little baggy, but they'll do.
"I gotta put my other clothes back on," Daryl says, walking into my closet with just a towel hanging loosely off of his hips. "These are too prissy."
"Daryl, you are absolutely not putting those nasty clothes back on your clean body," I frown at him, walking into his closet to see if I can find him something. I pull out a pair of jeans and a plain black shirt for him, knowing he wouldn't even think about wearing anything else. "You can wear this. I'll wash your vest tomorrow, I promise."
Daryl grumbles, but he puts the clothes on and keeps his mouth shut. Smart move, Daryl. Smart move. He then picks up his crossbow, slinging it on his back so that we can walk to the next house over and prepare for bed. We don't even bother knocking on the door when we get there, just walking on in.
"Holy shit, Rick!" I exclaim as everyone turns their heads to us at the door. Rick completely shaved his beard and somehow managed to get a haircut. "I forgot what you looked like under all of that Sasquatch. Can you hook Daryl up with wherever you got that haircut from?"
"Sure thing," Rick winks at me, knowing damn well Daryl wouldn't cut his hair for anything. "I'm glad you got him in the shower. I didn't think he was gonna wash himself off."
"Trust me, he didn't want to," I joke, walking in to sit at the table by Carl.
"Didn't look like he was forced to me," Merle laughs, earning a scowl from Daryl.
"Oh, Merle, don't tell me you went in the bathroom on them," Carol frowns at him, already knowing the answer.
"I sure did," Merle looks very proud with himself, and most of us can't help but to laugh at the guy. He used to be racist and gross and funny, but now at least he's just gross and funny. "They were all cuddled up in the bathtub like they were in some eighty's rom-com."
Everyone except for Daryl laughs, probably because he's embarrassed that everyone knows our business now, but I know he has to think it's at least a little funny. It's not like Merle actually saw anything either, so I think it'll be okay. Our laughs are interrupted, though, by a knock at the door. We all instinctively reach for the knives strapped to our sides as Rick opens the door to reveal Deanna standing on the porch.
"I was just dropping in to say hello and see how you all were settling in," Deanna gives us all a warm smile. "I didn't realize you were all staying together. That's smart."
"Nobody said we couldn't," Rick answers with a shrug.
"No, I get it. You're family, and you're playing it safe," Deanna steps in, shutting the door behind her. "It's amazing how so many different people with so many different backgrounds and experiences can come together and call each other family with no prior knowledge of one another. It's beautiful."
"Everyone said you gave them jobs to do?" Rick says, more of a question than a statement.
"Yes, I did! That's just how it is around here. Everyone pitches in. Looks like communism won after all, huh?" Deanna seems happy with herself. "I gave you one, too, I just haven't told you yet. And Michonne. I'm narrowing in on something for Sasha. I'm just trying to figure those Dixon brothers out, but don't worry, I will."
"Good luck with that," I snort, and Deanna smiles. "It's been over two years and I still haven't."
"I think I'm exceptionally good at reading people, Doctor Dixon," she winks at me, and I smile back at her. "Well, I hope you all have a good night. Tomorrow you can have the day off to get out and explore, get a feel for things. You can start your jobs the day after."
"Thank you, for everything," Maggie smiles to her as Deanna waves, shutting the door behind her as she leaves.