Just a little one shot that has been brewing. If I had my way, this is how JSS would have ended, but since I don't own TWD people, its not up to me!

The scene as he reached the RV caused his stomach to clench and he started to sweat. He slowed the bike to a stop and grabbed his crossbow, quickly killing the walkers scattered around eating the fresh corpses that lined the side of the vehicle. He was about to yell out for Rick when he saw the man climbing down the ladder from the top of the RV.

"We gotta go Daryl!" Rick yelled, running past Daryl towards the motorcycle. Daryl turned to follow. He grabbed Rick and spun him around to look at him. The wild look in Rick's eyes did nothing to end his anxiety.

"What happened?"

Rick could barely catch his breath. 'These people, with W's on their heads, they attacked me. One of them had a jar of baby food. They were home."

Daryl wasted no time getting on the bike, Rick climbing quickly on back.

He was a trail of dust as he flew down the road, making the motorcycle go faster then he had ever made it go before. He could feel his heart pounding harder and harder in his chest, the sense of panic he felt almost over taking him, the same four words running through his head over and over. "I gotta get back" slipped through his lips, as he imagined the worst.

He thought of Rick and his panic increased. He automatically kicked up his speed. He remembered the look on Rick's face of pure torture and undeniable fear at the thought that there could be people attacking Alexandria, their home. Where she was….

He knew Rick was worried about Carl and Judith. So was he. But they both also knew that there were people in Alexandria who would protect both of them with their lives. Carol being one of them. If anything had happened to those children, it was because Carol was dead. The thought hit him like a brick and he almost lost control of the bike. Everything he loved could be gone. He needed to get to her. Now.

As they turned the last bend in the road before the gates, there was smoke rising in the distance. "Oh my god!" Daryl heard Rick say, and all he could do was concentrate on getting there.

Finally, they reached the gates. Daryl stopped the bike as Rick began yelling, "Open the gates!" After a few moments, Morgan opened the gates and what he saw as he ran through was worse then he could have imagined. All he could see was bodies and blood covering the streets of Alexandria. "Morgan, what the hell happened?"

"We were attacked. We took care of it."

"Have you seen Carol and the kids?"

"Carol killed a lot of people today. Then she went home."

And he ran. He ran past people with knives leaning over bodies, getting ready to ensure their friend did not turn. He looked at each bloodied face to make sure it wasn't the face he wanted, needed to see. As he checked each body, he felt relief that it wasn't her. But that relief lasted only a moment as he would look up and see yet another body not too far away. His heart was beating so fast that he felt dizzy and he was having trouble breathing.

When he reached their house, he ran inside and saw Carl with his head in his hands leaning on the island, dinner cooling in a dish in front of him on the counter. Carl looked up and the look on Carl's face was one of sadness. Daryl stopped short, afraid to hear the words that were going to come out of Carl's mouth. Carl took a breath and opened his mouth to speak.

"No!" Daryl yelled. "Please! Don't say.."

The sound of Judith crying through the monitor cut him off. The baby cried for a moment before suddenly stopping, followed by what Daryl considered the best thing he had heard all damn day.

"It's ok angel baby. Carol's got you. Don't cry."

The relief he felt couldn't be put into words. He ran upstairs, chest heaving, grasping for air. As he reached the top, he saw her gently closing the door to Judith's bedroom. She looked up, surprise and fear on her face. "Daryl what's the matter?" But she never got to hear the answer. He flew at her, grabbing her, hugging her tightly, while trying to catch his breath.

Carol stood very still in his arms, not sure how to react, letting him hold her close.

Daryl pulled away from her, leaving his hands on her hips, shaking her a little as he began to speak. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah Daryl I'm fine," she answered, pulling away from him and walking towards her room. He followed behind her, stopping her from closing the door in his face.

"What if you weren't fine?' he yelled. "What if something happened to you? I would never forgive myself if something happened to you and I wasn't here."

Carol took a deep breath. "I said I was fine. Today sucked Daryl. I'm tired. I just need to take a shower and rest for a minute. I don't need you to take care of me."

"If I lost you…if you were gone and I never told you." All of Daryl's strength suddenly left him and he sank onto the chair in Carol's room. He put his elbows on his knees and his face in his hands.

"Told me what Daryl?"

He got to his feet and grabbed her again, jerking her towards him. "I keep waiting for the perfect time. For things to quiet down. But there will never be the perfect time and things will never quiet down. All I know is that I don't want to take the chance of walking out those gates one more time without you knowing that I love you."

"Daryl…"

Daryl leaned in and kissed her hard and firm, like he had never kissed anyone before. When the kiss ended, he hugged her close. "I have never loved anyone but you." He pulled her closer again and grabbed her face gently with one hand. "I can't live without you. And I know you feel it too." He leaned in and kissed her gently on the lips.

Carol quietly laughed. "What the hell happened out there? I think you need a nap. You aren't making any sense."

"I'm trying to tell you that I can't live without you."

"Stop."

Daryl let go of her and crossed his arms. "Do you think I want this? I don't want to want you the way I do. That's why I took this job outside the gates. It scares the crap out of me how I feel. I've tried to stop but it hasn't worked."

"Obviously you haven't tried hard enough."

Daryl huffed. "You aren't serious? What if I died? You wouldn't care that we were never honest with each other?"

Carol laughed again. "Did you hit your head? What happened?"

"The town was attacked. You were in danger. There is a herd of walkers headed this way. We could both be dead before night fall. Do I need something else to go to shit before I tell you how I feel?"

"There's a herd headed here? What's the plan? We have to get Judith and Carl and the other kids to safety!"

"No. Not until this is done. I'm telling you I love you, and I want you to tell me you love me too. Then we can go and almost die….again….and see what happens from there." Daryl pulled her close again, loving the feeling of her body against his.

Carol sighed against his cheek. "You're pretty sure of this huh?"

"About you and me?" Daryl looked her in the eyes and smiled. 'Yeah. I'm sure about that."

"Fine. I love you. Now can we go and make sure our family is safe?"

Daryl kissed her again. "Yeah. We can go. But you know this means you're stuck with me forever right?"

"Forever? Considering that forever could be about 2 hours I can deal with that."

"I'm serious. There will never be anyone for me but you."

Carol reached up and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Good," she said, kissing him one last time before grabbing his hand and leading him down stairs to fight to live one more day.