Welcome to Living Things, this story will explore the thought of what if Carol and Daryl were married/a couple before the ZA? Of course I add another twist to the tale as you will get to once you've actually read the chapter. I used Linkin Parks album Living Things as inspiration for the titles of each chapter. So there being 12 songs on the album means that I plan for 12 chapters in total.

A big thank you to kathleensmiles here on for being my Beta for this story, she is truly talented and you should check out her stuff here and on Tumblr where she is known as kathleensmilesfandomstuff. She's truly so awesome for so many reasons.

Disclaimer: The Writer does not own AMC's the Walking Dead or Linkin Parks Album Living things.

Lost in the Echo

I can't fall back I came too far

Hold myself up and love my scars

Let the bells ring wherever they are

'Cause I was there saying...

~*LT*~

Carol glanced beside her where her daughter was sitting in the front seat with a road map, She was twisting the dials on the Cherokee's Radio so they could hear whatever news reports she could catch a hold of. They were waiting at the tail-end of a traffic-jam going to Atlanta.

She twisted the simple wedding ring as the road-block continued to be at a stand-still, the anxiousness to leave rising as the increased number of military planes and helicopters above increased. She only wished he was with her at the moment to touch him, cursing herself for getting slit up from him and his brother when he'd went to go scout out a clear path for them. He had handed her and Sophia each a handgun and a knife and headed off with his brother on the motorcycle, he hadn't come back when the first of many of the dead had spotted them and she'd been so scared she'd thrown the Cherokee in drive and hoped that he'd meet them in Atlanta like they'd planned.

"Hey Mama?" Sophia broke through her thoughts, bringing her back to the present.

Carol blinked "Yes Sweetheart?"

"Do you think Dad is going to find us?" it was an honest question, and the girl was scared to ask it, as if it would sound like she would doubt her father was still alive in the mess the world was devolving to.

"If there is one thing I know about your Daddy, it's that he will never give up until he does." Carol replied wrapping an arm around her as the girl dosed off.

~*#*~

They had met in the most simplest of places, the local gas station. She had to buy a quick galleon of milk that she had forgotten to get on an earlier trip to the grocery store and was unwilling to traverse to go there again just for milk. Sophia had been six years old at the time, happily holding onto Carols hand as they entered the store, rambling on giddily about her school day.

He on the other hand had just gotten off work at the garage in town, he'd stopped to buy cigarettes for his worthless ass of a brother Merle.

She'd let go of her daughters hand to take the milk from the freezer and by the time she'd turned around again, the little girl had run off.

"Sophia? Honey where'd you go?" Carol called, glancing around the aisle she was standing in, ears perked for little shuffling footsteps and giggling.

He was checking out when a tiny girl ran into his legs, falling onto her butt from the impact. His knee buckled a bit but otherwise he remained steady. Glancing to the ground, he saw the girl looking at him with ocean-grey eyes wide with fear like he was some kind of monster. A woman with a head full of dark blonde curls quickly appeared to scoop her off the ground. Her eyes matched the little girls and he assumed she was her mother.

"I'm sorry, I just let go of her for a second and she wandered off..." Carol was wary of the strangely silent, awkward looking man who took them both in before his eyes skittered away nervously.

"Tha's fine, jus' keep an eye on 'er," he replied shortly, paying for his things and leaving without glancing back.

Truthfully it was an insignificant first meeting, but all stories have to start somewhere...

The next time they met was at the bar. Her co-workers had finally worn her down to go out and have a drink with them finally and since Sophia was having a sleep-over at her friend Amanda's house she really had no excuse to not go out. She had dressed simply in a pair of jeans and red and white layered tank tops under her long brown jacket. Dark blonde shoulder-length curly hair tied up in a loose ponytail.

She'd only been in the bar for about twenty minutes when he entered and made his way to the counter. By this point she'd slipped off the jacket and had it slung over the back of the chair she was sitting on.

Carol could tell who he was by the way his gaze skittered around like at the gas station before he sat down. A split second decision and ignoring her coworkers she'd decided to try and have a chat with him.

"Hello again." she greeted sitting on the stool next to him.

"Hey." he replied

"My name's Carol" she smiled "I'm sorry for the other day."

"It's fine, it was nothin'."

It was hard to get him to respond to her after that, so with a sigh she went to go back to her coworkers. Hopping off the stool only to have his hand suddenly grab her wrist.

He wouldn't admit until later it was because her tanks had ridden up her back to reveal the scars her Ex-Husband had given her. They'd made him reach out to grab her, just to see if she was okay.

"Those scars...".

She shrugged "My Ex-Husband was an asshole."

His ice-blue eyes were wide in shock as he let go of her wrist.

"I didn't catch your name." Carol said, leaning back against the counter.

"Uh...Daryl Dixon." he rasped, his ears going red at the admission, as if she'd run away or turn in disgust.

She grinned "It was nice to meet you Daryl."

"Ya' know that ya' don't have to leave..." his cheeks were a bright red, from anger or embarrassment she didn't know but she smiled in return and got back on the bar-stool.

Carol talked about her daughter, and that she was the only good thing that had happened between her and Ed and that she'd finally had enough one day to leave.

He'd admitted that he was there because he was hiding in the one bar in town his brother had been banned from going into.

They took their time talking about their problems, and the rare happy moments they'd encountered in their lives. Mostly it was him listening to her talk, but he was just happy to have someone who'd talk and listen to him without the usual abuse.

Carol didn't notice her tipsy coworkers leave, forgetting that she'd ridden with them

Eventually they were kicked out of the bar after final call, both sober and trying hard to stop grinning like idiots over a new friendship.

"Damn they left without me."She scoffed, typical.

"Do ya need a ride home?" He asked "I've got my truck here if you want..."

Carol grinned "Sure."

~#~

She now stood outside of her car, the back tailgate open so Sophia and a couple other children from the nearby cars could sit and play cards together while the adults talked.

She'd learned the little boy Carl's mother was the beautiful, tall skinny woman who hovered around the man named Shane who she found was a policeman.

There was also the younger girl that had latched herself onto the two older children named Faith, whose father Ian leaned against the side of her Cherokee with a cane in hand. He was traveling with his older brother Wil and his sister in law Iris and had been going towards Missouri when they had been unhappily detoured back to Atlanta.

Currently Wil and Shane were arguing about getting off the Highway and find a spot outside the city to stay, Iris had rolled her eyes grumbling something about 'pissing contests' and had went back to their Ford Explorer to find some fruit snacks for the kids.

Wil had convinced her earlier and truthfully it would give her a better chance in finding her husband, who didn't trust the government much to begin with and preferred to live as near as he could to the wilderness as he could. She also trusted the former Navy man better then the hot-head cop who was on the side of waiting for the government.

Shane scoffed at something Wil had said and went off to see if the roadblock was easing off with Lori in toe. She snorted at the woman's need to follow the man and left her young boy Carl with Carol and the strangers that were now hovering around the back end of her car.

~*#*~

They had a simple southern romance over comforting late-night small talk, friendship, and shared pain. She helped him to open up and smile more, soon he was joking around with her and Sophia on his spare time and on his rare days off. While he helped her not to be so afraid anymore, giving her a sass that made him smile and others raise their eyebrows at.

Daryl had quickly bonded with Sophia, the two quickly becoming thick as thieves as his relationship with Carol progressed. The two left alone would get into some strange shenanigans for example: on hot day they could be found in the backyard as he would 'hunt' her down in some modified version of hide-in-seek with water guns. Or the time they'd decided to do the grocery shopping and came back with nothing she'd written on the list, but every kind of sugary material the little girl had talked the roughneck into buying.

He nearly was fully moved in with them when he'd asked the young girl for permission to marry her mama.* Not caring what Carols family thought and not caring if Merle excepted his choice of bride and her 'attachment' as his brother called Sophia on the first and last time they'd all been together for anything.

He got an enthusiastic yes from the girl and they were married at the courthouse with a simple ceremony. Neither wanted a big church wedding like her first marriage had, and he practically seized at the thought of wearing a suit. So jeans, clean work boots, and a shirt with sleeves for him and sundresses for her and Sophia had been their approximations of appropriate wedding attire.

Over the next few years, her little girl Sophia had grown from a skinny awkward child to a petite young teen who over the years had gotten Daryl's bit of attitude about things. He had been teaching her to hunt since they day Carol had agreed to marry him. He claimed that any daughter of his should at least know how to decently hunt and track, and the young girl had absorbed it like a sponge.

He'd never really got Carol to come out with him, but Sophia grew to love being outdoors with him. He got her her first bow and quivers of arrows, after being impressed she'd been able to track and find their quarry without his help.

~#~

"How are you holding up with all of this?" Carol asked the other woman Iris, as Shane and Lori were not back yet and the woman's husband had begun to entertain the three children with a story.

Meanwhile the brother Ian, watched the crowd, his cane held in both hands ready to shift and use as a bat.

The green-eyed red head shook her head, hugging herself as they watched the kids laugh.

"Scared out of my mind, I haven't been able to get a hold of my sister and my children back in Missouri...What about you? Did your husband...you know?"

Ice went down Carols spine, she didn't know if he'd fallen to the undead, but something in her told her it wasn't so and that he was trying his hardest to find her.

"We got separated...and they were coming for me so I j-just drove off..." She shook her head to say no, feeling the first tears run down her cheeks as she began to shutter finally letting her worry go in front of the other woman.

Iris's green eyes softened and she put an arm around Carol to calm her, and she willingly melted into the arms of the slightly older woman.

"I'm sorry I said that, I'm sure he is fighting to get back to you, that little girl, and the baby." She murmured, stroking Carols short curls as she continued to sob into her shoulder.

~*#*~

They hadn't really talked about it, but when it happened it happened, she'd fallen pregnant three years after they'd gotten married.

She was surprised, he was scared shitless, Sophia was excited for a new sibling.

Her only worry was that she'd miscarried before with Ed a couple times before she'd finally had Sophia. He'd reasoned with her, after all the man had abused her for their entire marriage up til she ran from him and got a divorce.

Things were going well from that point on, but as she grew her worry decreased while his increased, as the possibility became reality he grew more agitated. He never really wanted to tell her why, but she'd figured him out long ago and knew it went back to his father and brothers abuse to him as he was growing up.

At six months she finally gave in to the pressure of her coworkers and Sophia and found out what they were having. To this point Daryl was fine with either, since both the thought of a boy or a girl was frightening enough.

"I have no idea on how to raise a girl." he whispered one night, alone in the dark of their room. Finally admitting some of his worry, truthfully he hadn't been around many young children besides having a cousin or girl of Merle's hand him a kid and walking away. He'd grown better with Sophia's being such an easy kid to please. So what he really meant was that he had no idea on how to be a father.

"That's alright, lucky for you I've had a girl before." she replied with a smile as she took his hand and placed it on her bump, the child within pressing her foot hard against his hand.**

~#~

"Hey Carol, Iris told me that you were upset earlier." Ian limped up to open car-door, leaning heavily onto his cane for support he winced as he dropped down into a crouch in-front of her.

"It's nothing really, it's just that she'd opened a fairly new wound." Carol replied.

"She is good at doing that, at least when she's scared. My brother on the other hand just gets antsy and has to entertain." Ian motioned to where the man was teaching the kids some dance move that looked like he was was having a seizure standing up with his arms above his head.

"What is he doing?"

"Iris, I believe, called it the dance of the drunken giraffe." he snorted.

She chuckled, and Ian smiled in slight relief. He had blue eyes, not like her husbands icy color but of a gentler azure color she'd noticed his brother and daughter carried as well.

"Are you alright though? I'm a doctor, and it looks like you are well into your third trimester."

"I'm seven months along actually, and nothing has felt off, it's just I wish Daryl with me." She was quiet and left it at that, and he used his cane and the door to get himself standing upright then, knowing she didn't want to talk anymore as she stroked her belly.

"No pains? Any strange movements?"

"I'm fine," She insisted.

He nodded "Alright, if your feeling off you can tell me and I'll try to help alright?"

"Thank you, Ian and I will."

Just then Shane and Lori had come running as there was screams from far up ahead, wide-eyed and panting for air.

"What's going on?" She heard Wil ask as he came around the back to see what the commotion was about.

"They just bombed Atlanta." Shane replied vaguely, as Lori quickly ushered Carl to their Grey car.

"What?" she said shocked as the people around them had started to get more rowdier then before.

"We need to go now before they start to attack the highway." Ian spoke to both his brother and to the cop.

"Right, I'll lead. Carol you and Sophia follow in your Cherokee, while you Wil and Ian follow from behind.

Wil didn't argue as he helped his brother limp back to their Explorer, while Iris swooped to close the tailgate to pick up the confused eight year old faith and run her back to their car. Sophia ran around a slid into the passengers seat.

~*#*~

Carol had watched the broadcasts and seen the terror the was spreading throughout the country, finally happy and moving on from her and Daryl's terrible pasts she was horrified that the end was coming now of all times.

Daryl had seen the same broadcasts, and instantly shifted deep into his protector mode, and made a plan for them to sneak out of town before what he coined "the Eaters" got too close. He decided they would leave the following morning before dawn, hoping not to draw attention. She started to pack the essentials like clothing, baby supplies, food, and their few picture albums while he focused on the guns and ammo they owned. He'd given her a strange look as she placed the albums in her suitcase but said nothing about it.

They spent the night packing things into her Cherokee, which was now packed and ready to go in a moments notice. Letting Sophia sleep as they silently got ready, keeping a watch out for any of the infected, they had planned to drive to his grandfathers hunting cottage deep in the mountains. Which would be a grand plan except that Carol was seven months along with their unborn daughter. He resolved that Atlanta and its refugee camp would be their other choice if the Cabin was overrun and the most probable to find a doctor at if need be.

That was until the sound of Merle Dixon's loud-ass motorcycle came peeling down the street. He came screaming up to the house yelling about the dead people coming and needing to be in Atlanta. Throwing the plans of the hunting cottage out the proverbial window.

"The fu- Merle?"Daryl grumbled, glancing around to see if he'd gained any attention of the rumored undead from the area.

"Come on baby brother get ya wifey and kid at lets go!" the older brother

With a glance towards each other Carol rushed to rouse Sophia while Daryl scanned the area with his shotgun in hand. Merle was shouting again about taking too damn long getting a prompt 'shut up jackass' from Daryl.

Finally Sophia stumbled out of the house, clutching to her mothers arm like all those years ago in the gas station. Daryl ushered them to the Cherokee and Merle ran to his motorcycle both peeling off into the night as the infected breached the neighborhood.

~#~

She was the first one to notice the arguing pair of men on the side of the road and had honked at the Caravan of three to stop.

He heart skipped a beat when it was Daryl, and he had a crossbow in hand that she'd never seen before with his leather vest with the angel wings on the back. His brother Merle had his arms crossed and was listening to whatever Daryl was spewing at him.

At the sound of her honking her horn he had stopped in the middle of the argument to gap at them. She stopped only a few feet away and eyes met. Daryl let his anger facade drop for a second to reveal relief before he sprung into action. There had been Walkers coming towards them, after hearing the brother's loud argument and he had no interest to be stuck with him again without knowing where his wife was.

They didn't have the typical movie-reunion with the lovers running towards each other and embracing as the world was hell around them. There wasn't the time, he'd ran towards the Cherokee she'd moved over to the middle so he could hop into the drivers seat. He shoved his new crossbow and arrows into her and Sophia's hands and slammed the door shut and putting the car into drive so they could follow the Ford and the policeman tiny Grey car.

Merle had shouted at the group of cars as they started driving away, throwing a mini-fit before jumping onto the motorcycle to follow them, like hell they were leaving him behind, and like hell they were taking his brother away from him again.

When he finally calmed a little he let one hand go off the steering wheel to latch onto hers, the quaking in his hand was the only tell to his distress. So Carol placed both of their hands over the spot the youngest Dixon was kicking leaning her head on his shoulder as her other arm went around Sophia.

Carol could only hope that they'd make it through this, together.

TBC

R&R

Notes:

* My step-dad asked me before he asked my mother to marry him, I'm drawing parallels between my life and this story.

**A modified Conversation my Redneck step-father and my Caryl shipping mother had when they found my 3 year old sister Josie was to be a girl.

Anybody pick up the Doctor Who reference?