AN:so not sure why I am doing this but this idea is eating my brain and I have to put it out there. This is a little dark, and I will warn you the first chapter will have some trigger warnings about domestic abuse and this fic will have a trigger warning throughout about cancer. If you don't like that, I understand bow out now. I would like to thank HaloHunter89 for all her help (her brain is amazing). This first chapter is longer for me not sure if they will all be, also I intend to take my time with this, I won't update everyday. As is my policy negative anons will be deleted and ignored. Please...please let me know what you think:)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

chapter 1

She was free, wonderfully, beautifully free.

Carol Miller looked out the window of the plane a half sob, half laugh, escaping her lips. She was free.

Ed, the miserable excuse for a human being was dead, murdered in jail,during some kind of riot. She didn't care how it happened,if she could kiss the feet of whomever had done it she would. She was thirty one years old and she felt as though she'd been reborn.

She'd met Ed four years ago when she moved to New York, much to the dismay of her Uncle Dale. Her parents had died when she was two, Dale and his wife Irma had been childless and more than happy to raise her. She'd had a happy childhood they'd dooted on her, but she'd wanted to get out of Georgia, wanted to see the world, wanted to become a famous singer.

What a joke, she'd met Ed the first week in town and her life had spiraled downhill after that.

She'd been naive at first, thinking he was the man of her dreams, twenty seven and no life experience other than a music degree from the local community college. He made her feel special and beautiful, but then things started to change, the jealousy started, and he started to complain about auditions she would go for. The excuses he made were all the same "that band is no good"..."it's all men"..."that nightclub is full of drug addicts." She thought at first he was just being protective, but it soon got to the point that she was asking permission to go to auditions.

Then one day, during a fight she couldn't even remember what it was about, he'd hit her. She'd been shocked, she thought he'd been shocked too. He'd cried and begged forgiveness on his knees his face pressed into her stomach, his arms around her waist.

She'd been twenty seven, naive and dumb...she believed him, and it only got worse, and worse. It got to the point where he stopped apologizing, where he would threaten to kill her if she left. She didn't care anymore if he killed her, but he discovered her Achilles heel. I'll kill Dale if you leave became his new mantra.

She was twenty eight, and naive but not so dumb anymore, she saw the coldness in him. The evil in his eyes, the madness. She was trapped and she had no one to blame but herself, she didn't want to burden Dale.

Music got pushed to the side, then surviving became a priority, she hadn't been sure why she even cared but she did. Something inside her told her to keep going.

She cut off Dale, she wanted to neutralize that threat from Ed, and it hurt, it hurt like a knife to her heart. He never gave up on her, once a month a letter would arrive, she would pretend to throw it in the trash without opening it only to fish it out later reading it in the middle of the night as she silently sobbed.

Two more years went by, she knew she had to get out, if he didn't intentionally kill her, he would accidentally in a fit of rage, she knew it, she saw it coming. He saw a change in her too, sensed it and suddenly decided it was time for her to stop taking the pill. She couldn't bring a child into this, she knew that now.

She made her way to a planned parenthood free clinic on the opposite side of town, she couldn't risk taking the pill anymore but asked about the birth control shot. They'd given her the paperwork without asking any questions about the black eye she was sporting. The nurse looked sympathetic, and handed her a tube of lipstick. Carol had looked at her in confusion as the nurse had said "open it" and left the room. She opened it and found a message inside from a network of women's shelters and emergency numbers . We will come anytime...you just have to call. She'd slipped the tube in her purse.

She'd managed to get two shots and they lasted about three months each before the unthinkable had happened. Ed had gotten sick (hungover) and she'd missed an appointment at the clinic. They'd meant well she knew that, when they sent a letter to remind her, only Ed had opened it, he'd been enraged. When she got home he'd cornered her and she knew that this was the night he'd kill her...she saw it in his eyes as his hands had wrapped around her neck, she'd struggled but had past out.

He thought he had killed her, and panicked he'd left before she woke up. She'd crawled to her purse and found the lipstick with the message and called the number. They came for her and when they saw her condition called 911.

She found peace at the shelter for the first time in years, but heartbreak too as the doctors told her Ed had damaged her voice box, of course he had she thought. One last punch in the face for good measure. Her voice settled out with a rasp to it, it was different, unique but every time she spoke all she could hear was Ed, calling her down, cursing at her and she couldn't sing anymore, her voice lacked the strength it was to soft, weak, she hated that most of all.

Ed got sent to jail and at the shelter they begged her to call Dale. She couldn't, not after what she had done to him, and she didn't truly trust yet that Ed wouldn't find a way to hurt him. He was still a monster in her mind, an all encompassing evil. Four months past and then came the word...Ed was dead. Murdered in jail, she was free, free forever, she could start over, it was exhilerating, she felt drunk. She called Dale.

They cried together on the phone, he begged her to come home, so she agreed. She wanted to come home more than anything. She was tired of being cold,she thought as she watched the snow swirl outside the window of the plane, she wanted to go home, she wanted to be warm again,she thought with a smile as she wiped a tear away from her face. A soft voice from beside her suddenly startled her out of her thoughts

"Are ya alright?"

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The lady beside him had been laugh crying for about fifteen minutes and he was starting to get concerned.

He had been watching her, a little fascinated by her face. She was deep in thought he could tell, studying the snow intensely, her face breaking out in a beautiful grin a joyful laugh escaping her and then it would be crushed and her face would fall, and tears would spill over her eyes. God she was killing him, her face when she would cry, was making his stomach churn. This was crazy, he didn't know this girl but he desperately wanted to make her feel better.

He just wanted to go home, get the hell away from NewYork and this snowstorm, and Merle and Andrea and all their fucking plans. It was too much, he had to go home to Georgia and the woods...to what started all this shit in the first place.

She was quiet, for a few moments and then without turning she said "I'm fine, thank you" while wrapping her arms around her stomach.

Her voice, fuck it was so soft and raspy sent chills running down his spine. He felt himself becoming even more interested. Fuck, what the hell was wrong with him?

"Don't sound fine" he said. Dammit just mind your own business, he thought.

She turned then to look at him and he was transfixed. Her eyes, were so beautiful and crystal clear blue under the shimmer of tears, and they were so sad.

"I'm Daryl" he said softly

"Carol"

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The door to the hotel room burst open as Daryl backed her inside the room his lips never leaving Carol's mouth.

They'd spent twenty minutes talking to each other on the plane, before it had been announced that the plane was grounded due to wheather. He'd been desperate to not let the moment end and asked to buy her a drink in the airport bar, she shyly agreed. He'd never met a women in all his thirty four years that intrigued him the way she did, that made him want more, that made something inside him scream mine. She just didn't know it yet.

They talked about nothing in particular, about everything. They were both from Georgia but she was from Atlanta. He was a redneck. She'd hesistated when he asked about New York and then smiled sadly "Just foolish dreams" she said sadly and that had broken his heart. She reminded him of a bird with a broken wing.

He'd asked her to dance something he never did, and she'd agreed, a beautiful flush crossing her face. The song had been slow and he'd held her close to him, running his hands up her back, his face nuzzling her neck.

"I want you" he said suddenly the words slipping out of his mouth

She'd been quiet so long he thought he'd fucked up, but then he felt her nod and her breathy whisper "ok"

He pushed her up against the wall of the room by the door, his mouth attacking her neck as his hands unbuttoned her shirt and shrugged her coat off her shoulders. Slow down his mind warned him but he couldn't, something in his heart kept saying mine.

Her shirt undone he pushed it off her shoulders and pulled down the straps of her bra as he slid his hands up her sides, and undoing it behind her. "Fuck" he groaned as he had her against the wall bare from the waist up. He palmed her breasts in his hands as he grinded his erection into her. She arched her back into his hands, whimpering when he took her nipple into his mouth, sucking and licking and nipping them both to a peak. "Your so beautiful" he rasped out. She made a noise then it almost sounded like a sob. He knew instinctively she didn't believe him. "Do you feel that?" He said bringing her hand down to cover the rock hard bulge in his pants "that's cause of you" she stared at him for a second and then tentatively squeezed.

He groaned kissing her again as her hand started to jerk him a little through his clothes. He growled picking her up as she wrapped her legs around his waist. He backed her against the wall grinding and thrusting into her, before he carried her over to the bed throwing her down on to it. She propped herself up on her elbows and watched as he toed off his shoes then removed her own. He made his way to her waist and opened her pants peeling them down her body. Leaving her lying there looking up at him, wide eyed in her panties. He groaned staring down at her, he felt like he should say something, tell her this meant something to him. Fuck he didn't even know her last name, but he'd never been good with words and she was looking up at him like she needed him. He basically tore his clothes off, crawling up to her on the bed.

"Like I said ...Beautiful" he said pressing kisses into her neck. Trailing down her body. Pulling her underwear off and throwing them over his shoulder, settling in between her legs and flicking his tongue out to licking at her core. She gasped and slipped his finger inside her pumping them while his mouth sucked on her clit. He could see her hand fist in the bed and feel the tension in her body then she gasped out as she climaxed.

He was a little surprised to find that she had tears trailing down her face when he moved and she wiped them away quickly.

"You ok?" He said softly kissing her cheeks

"Perfect" and her smile just about broke him, he positioned himself inbetween her legs and pushed inside with a growl. She felt perfect, and warm like coming home. He went as slow as he could wanting to prolong it, remember this forever, but he soon lost control, pounding into her like he was trying to leave some invisible mark. To claim her. He felt her shout out her surprise at cumming again and he followed her. Afterward with his head lying on her chest he drifted to sleep with a grin on his face. He better fucking find out her last name.

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She sat by the bed her elbows on her knees, her hands covering her mouth, tears trailing down her face.

He was a beautiful man, she thought a she admired his chest, his arms thrown out in abandon, and she was grateful to him for what had just happened. He'd made her ...feel, she hadn't been sure is she would ever feel again. He made her feel special, beautiful. Given her an orgasm for the first time in her life she thought with a snort.

The airline had texted her they had a seat for her, she should go. She should do something, wake him up, something. In all likely hood this was a one night stand and it would be awkward.

Even if he wanted more she wasn't ready, she was broken inside, she had nothing to give him. She was empty.

Getting up she penned a quick note note on the hotel stationary before grabbing her bag and leaving the room.

Thank you, I'm sorry, Carol

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FOUR AND A HALF YEARS LATER

"I'm so sorry Carol, we've run out of options...it's time"

Carol had her forehead pressed to the glass of her daughter Sophia's hospital room watching as she played with Dr. Glenn Rhee the pediatric resident who stepped into the room so Carol could talk to Michonne, her doctor. It was Halloween and Glenn was dressed like a pirate, Captain Hook to be exact, all the kids on the unit had dressed as pirates or fairies. Sophia was dressed as Tinkerbell, she'd been so excited about the sparkly green dress and wings, Carol had even managed to find a matching green scarf threaded with multicolored shinning threads to wrap around her bald head. She and Glenn were pretending to have a sword fight with foam swords, and her beautiful face was so full of joy.

"Carol are you listening to me, it's time...you have to contact him, she needs a bone marrow transplant and no one else is a match...her dad might be her last hope." Michonne said "Do you know how to contact him?"

Michonne knew the story about Sophia's dad...about Daryl. Carol had confessed the story to her one night as the sat by Sophia's bedside wondering if she would survive the night when she had been hit by a nasty pneumonia that her wiped out immune system just couldn't handle.

Michonne had been surprised but had kept her secret.., never telling a soul, she was grateful for that.

"He has a brother, there might be other family...more people to test...can you contact him?"Michonne said softly

"Yeah...I know where he is."

AN: here's my word of reassurance anyone of you that know me know that I write HAPPY endings, just keep that in mind...review?