My neighbors the Dixon's

Chapter 32

2 months later~

"I'll get it" I yell running to the door knowing exactly who it could be as Daryl checks on the turkey in the oven.

"Merry Christmas!" Carol says and I hug her happily when I answer the door and she passes me a gift bag and a batch of cookies.
While Merle was staying away when all the shit kicked off with Micky and those twats that tried to kidnap me he stayed at his friend of a friends Ed, turned out he wasn't a very nice guy, beating his wife in front of their 5 year old daughter. Me and Daryl had a shock of a lifetime when Merle returned, Carol and Sophia with him.
He was good to them though, Daryl helping him get a warehouse job and fix up their house a bit.
Daryl moving in with me so Sophia could have his room which was now pink.
Sophia was a shy little girl, I wasn't surprised with a dad like Ed though she loved Daryl and we had bought her out of her shell a little.
I pull away from Carol and look down at Sophia.
"Merry Christmas Sophia, What did Santa get you?" I ask her with a friendly smile.
She's clutching her doll tightly and looks up to me
"Santa got her a barbie house, didn't he Sophia" Carol says and she nods with a smile and Merle chuckles and I move away letting them inside and Merle passes me a large plain cardboard box, small punctured holes around the top and I share a secretive smile with Merle.
"Hey there munchkin, What you got there?" Daryl asks Sophia as he enters the room and smiles at his brother and Carol.
Sophia looks at her doll and holds it up.
"It's a dolly" She says and Daryl leans down and takes the doll
"That's a cool doll, why don't cha look at the tree" He says nodding towards the corner of the room at the tree Daryl and Merle struggled to get from the woods and in here last week.
Sophia turns and her little face lights up at the pile of presents all wrapped in pink for her and Carol places her hand on my shoulder and gives me a thankful smile.
"Daryl look! Look Daryl, a barbie" Sophia yells excitedly as she rips her first present open, all shyness gone now as she gets excited.
"Hey Sophia, want to watch uncle Daryl open his present?" I ask putting the heavy box down and she looks at it.
Sophia looks to Carol and Carol laughs as Daryl gives me a weird look and walks over to me
"Thought we weren't doing gifts" He says and I smile
"More like you said we weren't doing gifts and yet you still bought me the necklace" I point out and he looks at the box curiously
"Just open it already brother" Merle says sounding excited himself.
Daryl bites his lip and walks over to the box on the settee and pulls on the thin ribbon bow keeping it closed and he pulls the cardboard lid open and his face shows shock then he looks to me, a face to say -are you serious-
I laugh and walk over to the box to see the sleeping new born husky inside with a Christmas bow on her pink collar.
"Thought you could do with another hunting buddy" I say and Daryl laughs and one arm hugs me.
"She peed on the carpet" Sophia says with a scrunched up face causing us all to laugh and Carol to wrap an arm around her
"And Merle had to clean it up, huh Soph" Carol says with amusement and we laugh at Merle's annoyed face
Ghost suddenly comes in to the living room after napping on the kitchen floor where he fell to sleep watching Daryl prepare the turkey and walks straight up to the box, sniffing at it.
We all watch and Daryl looks worried though I smile at him reassuring him it was all ok.
"Remember when I said Sophia wanted a sleep over with Ghost, I lied. I wanted to see how Ghost would react to her" I admit and we all watch as the puppy wakes up and bumps noses with Ghost and Ghost starts licking her cheeks and I watch the smile on Daryl's face.
"Can I go open my presents now?" Sophia asks and Merle picks her up
"Course you can baby girl" He says taking her back over to the tree and Carol follows.
"Will Santa bring me a puppy next year Mermer?" Sophia asks Merle using her adorable nickname for him and me and Carol share an amused look
"If your a good girl you can get anything you want" Merle says and I look back to Daryl to see him picking the puppy up out of the box
"This Ghosts?" He asks putting the puppy on the floor and I shake my head
"Nah, they won't be here for another 5 months yet" I say and he nods
"So, what you gonna name her?" I ask looking as Ghost watches the white eyed husky look around the room wearily.
"Pookie!" Carol says teasingly and I laugh as Daryl scoffs
"How bout I name her Carol, kinda looks like ya with the light hair" Daryl teases back and Carol laughs
"What do you think Sophia?" Daryl asks kneeling down to stroke the dog.
Sophia looks at the puppy and smiles and crawls over to her, kneeling next to Daryl and fusses the puppy
"Hmm" She says pulling a thinking face and Daryl smiles
"How about Storm, the day Mermer bought her there was a strom" she says grabbing her dolly
"Storm huh?" Daryl says looking to Merle and Carol, them all smiling
"I like it" he says and Sophia smiles at Daryl and Daryl picks the white puppy up
"How bout it Storm, ya like that?" He asks and the puppy licks his nose and Sophia ewws and me and Daryl share a smile and he stands up and walks over to me, the newly named puppy still in his arms.
"Thank you" he says and I smile and he leans in for a kiss.
"Auntie Hayley, your pregnant!" Sophia yells causing Daryl to pull away from the kiss and stare at me wide eyed and I look to Sophia alarmed
"What?" I ask in shock and Merle laughs
"Mer said kissing boys gets you pregnant" She says matter of factly and I see Daryl un-tense his shoulders and glare at Merle
"Worried there little brother?" Merle teases with a loud laugh and Daryl smirks and looks to me shaking his head
"She's gonna be the death of me" He mutters leaning in for another kiss and I laugh in to it.

"So, you changed your mind about Christmas yet or do you still believe it's a load of bullshit?" I ask him quietly as he pulls away and looks at the cute small puppy in his hand, a lot smaller than ghost was when I had him.
"Meh" he shrugs and I laugh and he looks from Storm to me.
"Thank you" he mutters and I smile softly at the man.
"For more than just my new buddy" he says bouncing the puppy slightly
"For everything, you are one amazing prissy bitch!"
I scoff a laugh and refrain from slapping him playfully
"And you're one amazing red neck, with a nice butt" I say giving it a squeeze and walking away to watch Sophia open the rest of her presents.

"I see the way you look at her, you gonna tell her, pookie?"
"What?" Daryl scoffs not looking away from Hay ignoring the pointed yet amused look Carol is giving him.
Daryl looks down at Storm to stroke her as she nibbles on the button on his new shirt Hayley got him.
"Uhuh, sure" Carol teases and Daryl nudges her and they watch as Sophia orders Merle to put her new Frozen DVD Hayley had bought her on and Daryl knew it was going to be a long day but he kinda hoped every year would be like this.

He caught eyes with Hayley's and she smiled at him at the way Merle was protesting against putting the film on and Daryl gives her a small smile in return thinking Carol was right and maybe, just maybe tonight will be the night he sucks up the courage to tell her he loves her, hell he's loved her since the first night he shared her bed.