Trying to Make It Right

Bedtime and Serious Conversations

           Daryl looked at Rick as the other man settled his son in his tent for the night as the sun set, signaling the end of the day. A day that had gone by pretty quickly in the hunter's opinion, and he was looking forward to having a chance to get Rick alone at least for a couple minutes, if not for anything more than to just hold him and thank whatever force at work that he was his version of Rick, and not the man that had he had first met. Anything else that happened would be a bonus, but that wasn't likely to happen considering the looks he had seen shot at Rick over the course of the day.

         Rick had been working nonstop on one project or another since he had come into the camp, and Daryl hadn't had the chance to do much more than watch him because of Carl's odd behavior throughout the day. Behavior that had gone beyond the oddness that he had noticed before if he was telling the truth. So while Rick was setting up his campsite, taking stock of what he had brought into camp and setting up a perimeter along with his various other projects, Daryl had watched their son, unable to not comfort the boy he'd seen as his own the last time around. Hell the preteen had even kept him from taking a swing at his brother after the jackass had winded Rick earlier.

           Daryl wasn't stupid, he had seen the expression crossing his lover's face after Merle had pounded the too thin man's back without a care that the man had just woken from a coma not to long ago. That blow had hurt Rick and that fact had made the ex-cop/hunter's blood boil. He had fucking warned Merle not to do anything to Rick before he had left for Atlanta. Of course Daryl had been thinking that he was going to be bringing back a version of his lover that didn't remember the eight years that they had known each other, but just because Rick remembered didn't mean Merle could hurt him damn it. If anything his brother should have known not to touch Daryl's lover in a harmful way because the younger brother knew that the brother he had survived with so far wasn't the version who had lived this before. And this version knew just how much he cared for the dark haired cop that would become this camp's leader.

           Lori had thrown a fit when nightfall had come and Carl refused to leave his father's side and go to her tent to sleep like she demanded him to. Hell the woman had barely come out of her tent in time to help the others prepare the evening meal, and she had sulked the whole time she had worked because she couldn't catch Rick's attention no matter what she tried to do. Daryl felt himself tense each and every time she threw a wistful look in Rick's direction, knowing that his lover's ex-wife was going to be a problem and hating it at the same time. She had been going to divorce Rick while he was in a coma, so why the hell wasn't she jumping with joy now that he had ended their marriage? She was free to do and see whoever she wanted to, but she suddenly wanted Rick for her own again even if he didn't want her.

         Daryl snorted to himself, he knew why Queen Lori was so eager to hold onto Rick now that the world had ended of course. He wasn't stupid. She was the type of woman who needed to be protected and pampered, and she had to have status in whatever group she was surrounded by. Shane had been the defacto leader of this camp before her husband's grand return, and the fact that Lori had snuck into his pants made every bit of sense to the hunter. By sleeping with the Alpha Male of the group she was considered the Alpha Female and thus she had respect in her mind. Now with Rick back in the picture she knew the tide would be changing to her husband's favor because he seemed to have it together and she didn't want to lose her status when Shane was bumped down on the totem pole of rank. The others in the camp were sick and tired of her behavior though and Rick wasn't budging in his decision to leave her. Not that Daryl would let him go without a fight, one that she had no chance in winning.

         The hunter had to admit that he found Carl's behavior to be the most disconcerting change in this timeline so far to be honest, considering how the boy had taken his mother and father's 'separation' before, back at the Greene's farm. The young boy hadn't been friendly to him until much later in the time line either, and even then he hadn't become this attached to him for an even longer amount of time. Not until maybe after the prison fell and Terminus and Grady happened. But now? If Rick was unavailable, like he had been for much of today, than Carl latched onto him and he didn't leave his side for anything- not even his mother's screeching. He was broken out of his thoughts by Carl's sudden whimper. Anything he was thinking could wait until their son was settled down for the night and sleeping peacefully. If he had one of those nightmares where he woke up screaming both Daryl and Rick would be there for him. It was an unspoken promise between the two parents.