Lunacy Fringe [COMPLETE]

Part 13

I'm coming back today as I'm posting this to add this author note. I finished this story guys. Chapter 19 will be the last one and I just finished it. I just need to edit it. I feel sad it's over but I'm excited now this book is closed so I can start the sequel to Let The Flames Begin because I'm so hyped to get on with that one now.

Also, don't come at me for the timeline for what I do in this chapter. TWD timeline is fucking insane. I researched the shit out of it and even tried to digest a tweet AMC confirmed that makes no sense to me about how little time has passed since the start of the outbreak to Alexandria. So honestly, if this time doesn't make sense, I give no shits. I'm making it up as I go.

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Carol gasped as she walked into Daryl and Zoey's house, staring at the girl with a slack jaw.

"What the hell happened to you?!" she frowned, rushing over and setting some ingredients on the counter as the girl blinked her blue eyes at her. She was covered head to toe in flour and the kitchen looked like a tornado had ripped right through the place.

"In my defence, I did tell you I couldn't bake worth shit," Zoey said sheepishly, giving her a wary smile. Carol snorted and shook her head. To her credit, she had vehemently warned her that she couldn't bake. But Carol had thought the girl was simply being modest. Zoey was a very good cook. Carol had often been invited over for meals with her and Daryl, and Carol was often left impressed with her skills. Baking though, well that seemed to fall short of that skill. When Zoey had baked with Maggie, Carol was unaware that Maggie had given her the simplest tasks to complete after herself finding out just how bad the girl was.

"What's... you have batter in your hair," Carol muttered with a wry smile making her blush.

"Look, go upstairs and just shower, get ready for the party, I'll rescue the cake," Carol said as she shoved her lightly towards the stairs.

Zoey didn't need telling twice. She knew she would fail at the task of baking the birthday cake and she hadn't been wrong. She was happy to get the fuck out of dodge and just get ready. It had been just over a month and things had been going well. Things were calm, or as calm as they could be during the fucking apocalypse. Her relationship with Daryl was blossoming more and more every day and despite the dead walking around, she couldn't remember being this happy before.

They hadn't had sex yet, they were still taking things somewhat slow in that department. It didn't stop them doing other things like a couple of horny teens though whenever they got to bed at the end of the night. They had passed the hurdle of being fully naked with one another. It had been hard for her to deal with but Daryl had been patient. She had done it in her own time and even though she was still majorly self-conscious. He worshipped her naked marked up body with such reverence that she found herself feeling comfortable with him, even with all to see.

Daryl had started being more affectionate with her around others too. Before they were even a thing, when neither of them even knew what the strong bond between them meant, they had both been close, not hiding it as they didn't realise it was what it turned out to be. But once they realised they cared for each other, once they became a thing, Daryl had withdrawn a little in public with her. She hadn't been offended in the least. He was a private person and it didn't take a rocket scientist to see how guarded he was with others, how he kept them at arm's length. Maggie had told her he hadn't been interested in anyone since his group had known him and it made her feel special that he had been interested in her. But with time he started to warm up again slowly, holding her hand, wrapping an arm around her. He even kissed her briefly in the street a few times. All in all, progress was being made and things were looking up.