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Need You Now

Chapter 54

Previously in the Past:
Sam was confronted by her parents and brother about lying and sneaking around with Daryl.




The Past: Sunday night, July 11th, 1999


Daryl sat on the couch, Sam’s head rested in his lap, fast asleep and snoring lightly. She’d cried in his arms, sobbed against his chest for so long that her tears soaked the pale gray material of his shirt, and finally gave him the details of the discussion with her family. After she had poured her heart out between the sniffles, Sam had laid her head down and within a matter of minutes was out cold, utterly exhausted after such a grueling day. Now, he was running his hand lightly across her golden hair that spilled across his lap and simply staring down at her while she fitfully dozed.

A glance at the clock on the kitchen stove showed him that it was nearly ten o’clock, which meant Sam had been there for a couple hours already and clearly wasn’t in any hurry to get home. As much as he hated the thought of what he was about to do, Daryl knew that it had to be done. If the argument with her family had been as bad as Sam had described, and he found it highly unlikely that she exaggerated what had happened, he felt that there was a good chance that her parents were waiting up for their daughter and worrying about her welfare. Unlike his parents, who’d rarely kept track of his and Merle’s whereabouts for days at a time, Sam’s parents loved their daughter dearly and would definitely be worrying about her; no matter how bad the fight had been that evening.

Easing out from beneath Sam, Daryl gently placed her head on the couch and went in to the kitchen to grab the old phone book that had been left in the house when he’d moved in. With the tattered phonebook that was missing its front cover and the cordless phone in his hands, Daryl quietly slipped out the side door and took a seat on the steps. Using the carport light just over his shoulder, he flipped through the book until he located the number for Sam’s parent’s phone line instead of her private one. He momentarily considered a cigarette to ease his nerves, but decided against it, wanting to get the call out of the way and do so as fast as possible. Punching in the seven digit number, Daryl lifted the phone to his ear and held his breath as he listed to the phone ring on the other end. With each ring his nervousness mounted and he silently wished he’d taken the time to have that cigarette before placing the call.

“Hello?” A woman answered the phone and for a moment, Daryl froze when he realized he didn’t know who was on the other end since Sam had said that the majority of her family had been at the house when she left. Was he talking to her mother or one of her many sisters in law?

“Um, can I talk to Mrs. Collins? Sam's mom?” Daryl asked after a brief pause, deciding to go with hopefully speaking to Sam’s mother instead of her father. When the woman on the phone stated that she was, in fact, Donna Collins, he said, “This is Daryl, ma’am. Daryl Dixon. I, um, wanted to let you know that Sam’s here…at my place. I didn’t, uh, want you to worry. She was, um…upset earlier and fell asleep.”

On the other end of the phone, half a town away, Donna Collins stared at the base of the phone hanging on the wall with honest to goodness shock plastered across her face. While she had been sitting next to the phone hoping that Sam would call and let her know she was okay, she had never even considered that Daryl might be the one to call instead.Quickly gathering her thoughts and pushing aside the surprise as best she could, she turned and looked at her husband, catching his eye, before saying, “Well, Daryl, I appreciate you calling and letting us know that’s Sam is okay. Her father and I have been worried. Before you go, could I get your phone number? Just in case I need Sam for some reason. I assume she won’t be returning tonight since you’re calling.”

There was a reason his number wasn’t listed, mostly because he didn’t want any of his brother’s shithead friends or enemies that had gotten the shaft from Merle to be able to contact him, but to deny his girlfriend’s mother the information to be able to contact her daughter would not help him get in her good graces. And, after hearing Sam’s woeful tale of what transpired with her parents that evening, he needed all the help he could get. Rattling off the number, he finished up with, “I’ll get her to call when she wakes up.”

“Thank you again. And, if you don’t mind, just let her know we were worried?” Donna nervously fidgeted with the phone cord and broke eye contact with her husband, who was pacing the length of the kitchen on the verge of exploding with the rage he’d only just gotten under control prior to the phone call. Once she heard the faint click of Daryl disconnecting the call, Donna returned the receiver to the base and said, “Jim, you need to calm down. This stress, the anger, it can’t be good for your heart. Sam’s fine, she fell asleep and he just wanted to let us know so we didn’t worry.”

“The hell I will!” Jim didn’t calm down, but did stop trying to wear a hole in the kitchen floor. Slapping both his hands down on the tiled counter, his face was blood red as he glared at his wife. “I can’t believe that son of a bitch had the audacity to call here! He’s not going to see Sam again, not if I have a say so in the matter.”

Donna blinked and stared at her husband, took in the inflamed color of his skin and the bulging vein in his forehead and mentally willed him to calm down. After a mild heart attack five years ago, the last thing he needed was to let himself get this worked up over something that would eventually not be a problem once Sam returned to school. She highly doubted that once her daughter got back to campus, a good three hours away from Collins, that she would keep up a long distance relationship, as she was usually pretty busy due to the full load of classes she took each semester. Calmly, she walked over to stand next to her husband and placed a hand on his back, rubbing it soothingly in circles, and said, “The harder we push to keep them apart, the harder they’re going to push to stay together. Sam’s going back to school in a month, honey. Once she gets back there, with her classes and friends, she’s going to forget all about this Daryl guy. We just need to be patient, set some ground rules and wait it out.”

With a derisive snort and another smack of his hands on the tiled counter, Jim shook his head at his wife in disbelief. The logic she was spouting, the solution to their problem, was to wait it out? “Sounds like a load of bull to me, Donna.”

“Just give it a chance, if it looks like it’s not working, then we’ll try it your way.” Donna watched helplessly as her husband stormed out of the room, no doubt towards his study and the half-filled bottle of bourbon in his bottom left hand desk drawer he thought she didn’t know about. Walking around to the other side of the kitchen, she opened the drawer by the phone and took out a roll of tape, pulled off a tab and used it to fix the scrap of paper with Daryl’s number on it to the wall. Saying a silent prayer that things would start to look up, she flipped off the overhead light and headed upstairs to go to bed; calmer now that she knew where her baby girl was and that she was safe.

Across town, Daryl squashed the cigarette out under the heel of his boot before gathering up the phone and phonebook and heading back inside the house. He eased the door shut with a barely audible click, locked the deadbolt and turned off the carport light. Glancing over at the couch, he was pleased to find Sam still laying there fast asleep. Laying the items in his hand on the counter, he kicked off his boots, left them in the middle of the kitchen floor and headed over to pick Sam up and take her to bed. As gently as possible, he slipped his hands beneath her like he’d done earlier in the weekend and picked her up, tucking her tightly to his chest. He angled her body to get through the archway to the hall and used his elbow to flip off the kitchen light before heading to the bedroom.

The fact that Sam didn’t wake up during the trip to the bedroom, barely stirring when Daryl laid her down on the bed, was proof positive at just how mentally and physically exhausted she was. Not wanting to take a chance at waking her up, Daryl crawled on to the bed beside her without bothering to undress either of them; Sam having already shed her sandals earlier in the evening. Pulling the lightweight blanket over the top of them, he reached back and clicked off the lamp before wrapping his arms around Sam and holding her tight. Lost in thought, worried about the outcome from her family finding out the truth about him and that Sam had been lying to them for weeks, it was a long time before he drifted off to sleep.

The next morning, they were woken up by the shrill sound of his alarm clock blaring away on the dresser across the room; where he had to keep it to ensure he had to get up and turn it off, instead of just slapping the snooze button repeatedly. Daryl slid his arm out from beneath Sam’s head, got off the bed and stumbled sleepily over to the annoyance and turned it off. Scratching his head, he turned around to find Sam sitting up in the middle of the bed, looking at him with worry in her eyes.

“Oh my god, my parents are going to kill me! I can’t believe you didn’t wake me up!” Sam flung the cover off and started to scramble off the bed.

“It’s okay. I called them.” Daryl reached out to Sam, placing a hand on her shoulder to keep her from running out. Hoping his words would calm her down a bit, ease the level of panic he could see mounting in her expression and hurried movements, he was a little surprised to find out that he only managed to cause the opposite effect. When she stared at him with wide eyes and her mouth gaping open, he mumbled, “What?”

“You called my parents? My parents? Jim and Donna?” Sam repeated the question once more, turning it over and over in her brain to make sure she was comprehending just what Daryl was saying. Perched on her knees in the middle of the disheveled bedding, she scrubbed her hands over her face to wake up a little more and asked, “What did they say?”

“Your mom said thanks. Told her I’d make sure you called when you woke up.” He stood at the end of the bed and stared at Sam, trying to figure out if she was going to freak out over him calling her parents or take a deep breath and calm the fuck down. “She seemed fine. Worried, but fine. Don’t think it was a problem…me calling.”

“My mom? Calm?” Sam sank down to sit on the bed instead of kneeling and laughed; a cynical, disbelieving laugh. “Donna Jo Collins doesn’t do calm, Daryl. Calculating and well mannered, but calm? Not so much.” Flopping backwards on to the bed, she stared up at the ceiling and focused on the flecks of glittered scattered throughout the speckled popcorn like texture. “I’m doomed.”

“If you say so.” Daryl grumbled as he walked around the side of the bed and leaned over to kiss Sam’s forehead. “Really seemed fine to me. Maybe things ain’t as bad as you imagined them?” The minute the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake and stood up quickly. No woman liked to hear that they were overreacting or being hysterical, and while he hadn’t said those words exactly, Daryl was fairly certain that point had come across judging by the look on Sam’s face. “Didn’t mean it that way. I just meant that maybe things ain’t as bad as you thought once they calmed down.”

“You think I’m being crazy, don’t you?” Sam frowned at Daryl, her forehead crinkling in the most adorable way that he wisely decided not to point out at that exact moment. “You don’t know them! They were mean and hurtful, and dead set against us seeing each other. So, pardon the heck out of me when I say that you don’t know what you’re talking about.” Scrambling off the bed, Sam was determined to storm out of Daryl’s bedroom with the same head of steam she’d stormed out of her parent’s house, but was stopped mid-escape when his arms circled her waist and pulled her tightly back against him.

“Said I didn’t mean it that way. Ain’t no reason to go off with your panties in a knot.” Daryl growled against Sam’s neck, his breath warm and moist against her skin. “Don’t want you storming off all mad at me just ‘cause you’re pissed at your parents. Ain’t no reason to take it out on me…was just trying to do the right thing by calling your mom.”

Sam’s anger deflated in the comforting hold of arms, his breath was warm against her skin and tickled the fine hairs on her neck, his scent washed over her and together, all those sensations pushed away her anxiety. Leaning in to him, Sam raised her hands and placed them over his. “I’m sorry. You’re right, I’m freaking out and taking it out on you.”

“Ain’t no big deal.” Daryl kissed her cheek and sensibly decided against cracking a joke about how big of a deal it actually was to hear a woman say that a man was right. Smiling against her skin, he held her for another moment before regrettably having to let her go. “Go on and call your mom if you’re gonna hang out around here today. I gotta get to work.”

“As much as I would love to hide out here, I should probably go on home and face the music.” Sam grimaced as she used the ponytail holder on her wrist to pull back her bedraggled mane of hair. “Thanks for letting me cry on you.”

“It’s what I’m here for, ain’t it?” Daryl shrugged and turned around to face the dresser once more and started opening drawers to gather clothes for work. Once he had what he needed, he turned back to Sam and said, “Don’t mean I liked it…seeing you cry.”

“How about I try not to do it again?” Sam smiled and wrapped her arms around him. Easing up on her toes, she brushed a kiss across his lips and hated that they couldn’t spend the day together. “Can’t make any promises though. I’m sort of a crier.”

“Maybe we just try to make sure them tears ain’t ‘cause of me.” Daryl kissed her forehead and brushed aside a lock of hair that hadn’t made it back in to the ponytail. “Call me later. Let me know how it goes?”

“I will. Probably won’t be able to see you for a couple of days.” Sam poked out her bottom lip and pouted like a child who’d just been told they couldn’t have a second helping of dessert. “Let them calm down some, you know? Plus, I’ve got library duty this afternoon and Mom mentioned something about going over to Macon tomorrow, if that’s even still in her plans after yesterday. But, maybe we could actually go out to eat one day? Like in town, all official and stuff?”

“It’s a date. Just let me know when.” Daryl took hold of Sam’s hand and walked with her to the living room, where she shoved her feet in to the sandals she’d left by the couch. Once she had on shoes, he unlocked the door and proceeded to walk her to the car; all gentleman like. Leaning down in to the car, he kissed her once more, a soft brush of the lips to say goodbye. “Love you.”

“Love you, too.” Sam smiled up at Daryl as he shut the door and ached to jump out of the car, run back inside his house and beg him to take the day off to spend it with her. But, the mature and levelheaded Sam that was amazingly still inside of her knew that she’d have to face the proverbial music with her parents at some point and that she might as well go ahead and get it over with. Waving goodbye to Daryl, she put the car in reverse and mentally put her big girl panties on as she made her way to the other side of town to her parent’s house.

Notes

Thank you so much for the reviews last week! Loved them so much.

Comments

@aphishinthec


Wow! Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it again. :)

Serenity Serenity
12/1/16

I binge read this too over thanksgiving weekend and literally could not put it down. I was a constant reader when the updates were regular, but sadly am the worst at remembering to review. Excellent story to binge read!!

aphishinthec aphishinthec
12/1/16

@Tripper


Squee! Glad you liked it just as much the second time around. :)

Serenity Serenity
11/28/16

So, I may have just gorged myself on this story and read it all over again in a few days. This is one of my very favourite stories of all time. So freakin' good. Thanks again for this wicked story!

Tripper Tripper
11/25/16

@Lunabelle4


Thank you so much!

Serenity Serenity
11/14/16