Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"She didn't mean it!" It echoed through her mind. "She didn't mean it! It was an accident! A stupid accident!"

Yes, it had been an accident. It was a horrible, horrible accident. She didn't mean it—of course she'd meant it. Who wouldn't mean it? He was a vile son of a bitch. How many times had he abused her? How many times had she convinced herself it would get better? That she loved him and that would be enough to get her through this rough patch? It's been seven years. It wasn't a rough patch. This was his nature. She knew that. She'd always known that. She didn't want to believe that she'd walked into this trap—this sham. Married, but unloved, abused verbally and physically, trapped with a man who only saw her as a possession. She was lower than a human being to him, and the power he got from her drove him to beat even harder the next time. He thought of himself as a god, and all she wanted to do was push him off his pedestal and send him crashing down an endless cliff, out of her life forever. But she would never have the strength for that.

Carol Peletier sat in the emergency room at one o' clock in the morning, waiting for news on how Sophia was. It had been a long day and the evening had turned that long day into a nightmare. Her worst nightmare. It was the one she'd feared for a seven years, praying each night that he would never turn on her. Sophia was only a child, barely eight years old. Her birthday was in three weeks, and Carol had it had it all planned out. She was no longer sure if Sophia would even want to celebrate her birthday.

She had prepared Ed's favorite dinner. She needed to butter him up to ask for the money for their daughter's birthday party. It was going well. He was drunk enough to be pleasant, but...something happened, and he just snapped. Carol had never seen it happen so fast, so out of the blue. She had no idea what caused it, but she sure as hell wouldn't forget it.

He threw his plate against the wall and shot out of his seat before she could even blink. He grabbed her and just started shouting. He threw her into the kitchen, Sophia must've heard his plate shatter and woke up, because she was in the doorway in her pink jammies, holding her teddy bear, yawning. She saw what Ed was about to do, and she screamed. She screamed, 'Stop, Daddy, stop!'. She dropped the bear and ran over to them, grabbing his arm to try to stop him, but he threw her back. She began to cry, 'I hate you, Daddy! I hate you!' And Ed turned his angry on the screaming seven year old. He was so angry, and Carol begged him to not hurt Sophia, but it was too late. He kicked her into the China cabinet, and she stopped crying.

He left the house angrily, slamming the door shut, and Carol asked her neighbor and best friend, Lori Grimes, if she could drive them to the hospital. Rick, her husband, had demanded to know what happened when he saw the little girl—blood in her red hair, her little cheek bruising, urine soaking through her pajamas—but Carol didn't reply. She was too hysterical. Lori took them to the hospital, leaving their son, Carl, with their babysitter Beth Greene, and Rick went to find Ed.

Lori returned with a cup of hot tea from the shop a few blocks away. "Here, honey." She sat down beside her.

"Thank you." Carol drank the herbal tea, her hands shaking.

"She'll be fine." Lori set her hand on Carol's knee. "Honey, you need to tell me what happened."

She met Lori's concerned brown eyes and shrugged. "I—I don't know. Ed and I were having dinner, and Sophia hadn't been feeling well, so I put her to bed. She must've tripped over one of the dog's toys. I forgot to pick them up." She set her head in her hand, sobbing. "I'm so stupid."

Lori didn't believe any of it, but she couldn't control Carol's every move. When the time was right, Carol would tell her. She had to believe that. "Shh, it's not your fault." She rubbed her back.

"I'll be back." Carol left and went toward the bathroom, but she turned toward the exit instead of the bathroom. She dug through her purse, almost frantically, and found the pack of cigarettes. She pulled one out, but her hands shook too much to light it.

"Allow me." A man took the lighter from her and lit her cigarette. He pulled a cigarette out of his pocket and used her lighter then handed it back.

"Thank you." She couldn't see his face well.

"No, thank you. Have a nice evenin'." He walked off, pulling out a cell phone.

She calmed down as she smoked. She took her time, not wanting to deal with Lori's questioning eyes. She knew Lori knew. Any idiot knew Ed put his hands on her. She didn't have answers for anyone, and if she did, she wouldn't tell them. She could handle Ed looking down her, but not her friends, her family, not even the Korean pizza delivery boy Glenn. She was one look short from snapping, and she didn't want to snap. Ed would beat her if she raised her voice at him, beat her if she looked at him wrong, took any opportunity to push her down the stairs just because he liked to see just how badly he could wound her, see if he could kill her. Ed would kill her, and she was powerless to stop. Too many years had she been the focus of his angry and annoyance, and she believed every insult he paid her. She let him do this to her, and all she could do... All she could do is pray. God, did she need strength, more strength than she had now.

She waited a moment before going inside, spraying a bit of perfume to mask the scent of cigarette smoke. She returned to the lobby and found Lori talking to Dr. Subramanian. She caught the last of the conversation, about Sophia's condition.

"Mrs. Peletier?"

She cringed at the name. "Yes, that's me."

"Your daughter had a minor fracture to her right arm, and she'll need to keep it in a cast for a few weeks and then a sling, but all in all, she'll be fine. You can see her now."

"I should call Ed, let him know."

Lori hid her annoyance at the mention of that bastard's name. "Of course. I'll go to Sophia, and you can buy her something from the gift shop." She squeezed Carol's shoulder and started for the room.

Carol went to the gift shop and found a cloth doll with red thread hair in pigtails, blue thread eyes and a pale pink dress with black shoes. She bought it with the little money she had and went to Sophia's room. Lori was on the bed with her, and they were laughing.

"Mommy." Sophia sat up, her arm in the cast already. It seemed to make her look smaller.

"Hey, sweetheart." Carol kissed her forehead. "How do you feel?"

Lori saw Rick motioning for her to come here, and she slipped out as Sophia answered and Carol gave her the doll. She closed the door. "Did you find him?"

"Yes. He's drunk, so I drove him home. They're stayin' with us tonight."

Lori nodded in agreement. "She lied about what happened, so I don't know what really happened."

"Figures. She never did like us gettin' involved." He sighed. He hoped this didn't end with Carol died and Sophia in the state's custody.

"Sheriff Grimes?"

Rick turned. "Detective Dixon."

Homicide Detective Daryl Dixon stood less than ten feet away. His hair was in a clean cut now, his blue eyes as intense as ever, and he wore his usual black jeans and leather jacket. He was working a case in town. More than seven children had been abducted and murdered in the past two weeks, and it went over Rick's head, so they called in their best. Daryl didn't have a partner, so Rick had agreed to act as one. He wanted to keep an eye on him. The other Dixon wasn't known for following the law. In fact, Merle Dixon was locked up for his fifth DUI.

"Good to see you, Detective." Rick shook his head. "What brings you here?"

"Called your partner, told me you'd be here, so here I am." He peered into the window and saw the woman who couldn't use her own lighter and her little girl. "What happened to her?"

"Stairs," Lori replied, not fond of the Dixon brothers, whether or not this one the good the side of the law. "She tripped over a toy."

"Looks more like someone did it to her," he observed. "Not stairs."

"Well, aren't you just intelligent?"

"Lori," Rick softly said, "go help Carol."

"Fine." She went into the room. "Ready to go?"

"Yes, we are." Carol tucked hair behind Sophia's ear.

"Good. Y'all are stayin' with us tonight. Carl has a bunk bed, so you'll have plenty of room."

Carol took Sophia's hand, and they exited the room, Carol's purse knocked against the doorframe and fell open. Carol saw the pack of cigarette peeking out, so she handed Sophia to Rick, and a man helped her gather up her things. She quickly threw them into her purse and thanked him, joining them as they left.

Daryl could tell she was an abused woman by the way she held herself. He dropped his eyes and saw a burgundy wallet just inside the hospital room they had exited from. He bent down and picked it up. Opening it, he found the I.D. of one Carol Peletier. Reckon she'll be needin' this. His phone rang.

"Dixon." It was the medical examiner. "I'll be right there." He stuffed the wallet into his pocket and went to his car. Guess I'll give it to her later. He got in the car and went to the coroner's office.

––

Carol helped Lori prepare breakfast, and they all enjoyed lumpless pancakes and hash browns, and as the clock ticked, Carol didn't want to go home. All she wanted to do was pack up what little money she had hidden away and take Sophia far away from Ed and this life. If she ever left Ed, he would kill her. She knew he would kill her. If she stayed, she had the same fate. God, she needed strength.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay?" Lori asked for the fifth time since breakfast. "I could use some help cookin' chicken. Always burn the wings."

"No, it's a school night, but thank you."

"You're always welcome. You and Sophia both."

"Thanks." She picked Sophia up. "I'll see you later."

She nodded. "Bye. Bye, sweetheart." She frowned as they left, and Rick leaned in the doorway to the living room. "Don't you have to work today?"

"I do. I had to make sure Carl got changed. He has ideas on what to get Sophia for her birthday."

"Good, because all I wanna get her is a gun for Carol to shoot Ed right between the eyes," she muttered. She kissed Rick on the cheek and went to clean up the dishes from dinner. They still had issues to work out. She wasn't sure if they could work them out, but she was willing to try. She hoped they wouldn't be here in five years.

Rick's phone rang, and he answered it. It was Shane. They had another victim. Rick cursed and left the house, going to the same dump site. Son of a bitch!

––

Carol watched Sophia scratch at the cast in the den and exhaled deeply. She returned to her bedroom, finding Ed had left for work, and she was relieved. She dug out the hidden money and counted it. She'd been saving up for two years, and she had almost a thousand dollars. She'd taken a few part-time jobs when things got really bad, and when Ed worked long hours. It was rough, and she had to spend some on hospital bills, but the Internet was a useful thing, and she did what she had to do. It was getting them one step closer to getting out of here, away from Ed forever.

There was a knock on the door. She peered down the hall and saw the shadow of a man against the stained glass. She knew Ed had a key, so he wouldn't knock, and surely Rick was at work. She didn't know Shane well enough for him to ever be invited inside, so who was it?

She tentatively checked the door. She found a tall, dark-haired, blue-eyed man with a leather jacket, black pants and possibly a sleeveless black leather shirt. He smelled of leather, and it was oddly attractive. He looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't place the face. He had a face no one could forget.

"Who are you?"

"Daryl."

"Can I help you?" Daryl...? Daryl No Last Name?

"No, but I can help you." That husky Southern drawl made her skin tingle in a way it hadn't tingled in ten long years. "Carol Peletier."

"Uhh, how do you know my name?"

"Mommy," Sophia came out of the den and walked over to her, looking up at the stranger. "Hi."

"Hey." He half-smiled at her then pulled out the wallet. "This is yours. You dropped it at the hospital."

"I...didn't know I dropped it. Thank you for returning it." She took it from his hand, her fingertips brushed his wrist, and a jolt ran through them both. She smiled and stepped back inside. "Uhh, would you like to come in? For a cup of coffee?" Ed's going to kick your ass to next Thursday, Carol! He always finds out when you have anyone over! Don't do it! Get out of here now, strange handsome man!

He started to decline, but she wouldn't let him. "You returned my wallet, most people wouldn't, so please, let me at least give you a cup of coffee." Are you out of your mind? Oh, good Lord!

"Fine."

She picked Sophia up and placed her back in the den. "Watch some cartoons." She led him to the kitchen, he noticed instantly it was too overdone, and that meant either her or her husband were too into appearances. That wasn't a good thing either, not from the vibe she was giving off.

"Do you like it black, with sugar, or cream?"

"Black." He sat down on the stool and wondered why anyone would buy such uncomfortable piece of wood? Damn.

She handed him a marble blue mug, he noticed a hand print on her wrist, and she immediately covered it once she saw his lingering eyes. "So, Daryl...? You don't have a last name?"

"Dixon. Daryl Dixon."

"Oh, the detective!" She smiled warmly at him. "I was impressed by how you handled that case with the serial arsonist."

He stared. Whenever he told someone his last name, the first and last thing they hear is Dixon. His brother was known for so many things—assault, petty theft, armed robbery, drunk and disorderly, drunk driving, assault and battery, resisting arrest, etc—and everyone put him in the same category. He always looked up to Merle and tried to be just like him in a horrible way. It wasn't until... Well, he just had to change his life. He enrolled in the academy, made detective by his second year, and had been sober for ten years. It surprised even him, but sometimes there are things you just have to change your life for.

"What?" She tilted her head to the side, holding the green marbled mug to her lips and taking a drink.

"Nothin'." He cleared his throat and took a drink of the coffee. "You oughta be more careful."

"I was flustered." She averted her eyes. "If anything ever happened to her, I don't know what I'd do."

"You married?" He nodded at her rings.

"Eleven years in March." She could hear just how unhappy that sounded, so she laughed lightly. "Seems like just yesterday we got married." She wished she could go back, slap that stupid girl with high hopes and tell her to run, very fast and very far. If only it there that easy. "What about you?"

"Nah, ain't the marrying type."

"So she said no then?"

He checked his watch. "I gotta go."

"I was only joking. I didn't mean to hit a nerve." She met his eyes. "Thank you for returning my wallet. I appreciate it, really." She set a hand over his, he flinched and stood up. "I'll walk you to the door. I have to check on Sophia anyway."

"Thanks for the coffee. Keep an eye on your belongings, and be careful."

"I will, and you're welcome."

He nodded and padded down the steps, she watched him get out his keys and started to close the door when she saw Sophia walking across the street toward Lori and Carl, a car was speeding down the road at the same time. "Sophia!" She bolted out of the house, Daryl saw the little girl instantly, and he reacted. He dropped his keys and ran. He grabbed the girl by the waist and hauled her out of the way.

Carol waited for the car to pass and ran over to them. "Sophia." She took her from Daryl. "Are you all right?" She looked her over then looked up at Daryl.

"Yeah, just fine." He panted. "She's fine, right?"

She nodded then turned to her daughter. "Don't you ever do that again!" Carol scolded Sophia. "Do you hear me? You don't ever go outside without asking me first!"

Sophia nodded, eyes wide at Carol, who had never raised her voice at her daughter before.

She hugged her tightly then stood up and hugged Daryl even tighter. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I can never repay you." She held Sophia's hand tightly.

"Is she okay?" Lori asked, holding Carl.

"Yes."

"What happened? I just saw—I'm not even sure." Lori set a hand over her heart. "God, I stopped breathing when that car almost—" She couldn't finish.

"Returned a wallet, saved my daughter—Are you sure you're a Dixon?"

He actually laughed, and Lori was stunned. When she made a similar joke at the cookout last year, he got offended and left the conversation. She got lectured by Rick for an hour. She'd rather have gotten a ticket.

"Sophia, thank him," Carol instructed.

Sophia met his eyes and smiled. "Thank you."

He crouched down. "Ain't nothing, just be careful, little lady." He was stern, and she giggled at him.

It was Carol's turn to be stunned. Sophia hardly ever laughed around men, because the only man she was constantly around was a bastard who yelled at her and started at her in an inappropriate way when he got drunk. Carol didn't want to see that look when he wasn't drunk and when Sophia was a teenager. It made her sick.

"Oh, shit," Lori said under her breath as Ed pulled up.

Ed instantly saw Carol and the man talking, and he recognized the smile she wore. He parked and crossed the street, pulling out his business smile. "Carol." He put his arm around her, she instantly tensed, and Daryl saw the shift in her. Ed tightly grasped her hip. "We haven't met. Ed Peletier."

"Daryl Dixon." He shook his hand. "It was nice meeting you, Carol, Sophia."

"Wait." Carol stepped out of Ed's reach and into Daryl's personal space. "Would you like to come to dinner on Sunday? Lori and I are cooking for a few friends after church. After what you did, you have to come."

Daryl wasn't a churchgoer. He didn't believe in hopin' and prayin', and he sure didn't believe in no God. He didn't want to attend church, but the thought of Sunday dinner instead of takeout was appealing to him. "What time?"

"Seven." She smiled.

"I'll try to be there. Have a nice day, and be careful." He looked at Sophia, but he meant it for Carol. He didn't know her at all, but he got the feeling him being there would cause her more than a few cruel words. "Mrs. Grimes." He tipped the baseball cap on Carl's head then crossed the street and left.

Ed led Carol and Sophia back to the house, Carol put Sophia in her room, and she found Ed behind her when she closed the door.

"What the hell is Daryl Dixon doin' in our house?" He grasped what little hair she had and jerked her away from the door. "Huh?"

"What makes you say he was in our house?"

"Damn whore. You ain't even gonna deny it." He slammed her face into the supply closet door then threw her to the ground. "Damn bitch. You think you're gonna cheat on me?" He kicked her hard in the ribs. "Huh? Answer me!" He slammed the heel of his boot into her hip, and she cried out. "That's better."

She tried to stand up, but she couldn't. She began to crawl away, but he grabbed her ankles and dragged her down the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Served him my coffee?" he roared. "That hillbilly gets served my coffee!" She rolled over as he grabbed the back of her neck. "I hope you liked it." He forced her onto her back and poured the hot pot of coffee that had only filled two cups out of twelve on top of her, and she screamed, feeling the scorching liquid burn the flesh of her torso and arms. He let the coffee pot drop beside her, the glass shattered, and she protected her face. He stared down at her, his fists clenched. "Clean up this mess." He sat down on a chair by the door. "Now! And you'd best get a new coffee marker before I go to work."

She stood up on shaky legs and began to pick up the bigger pieces of glass. She threw them away then got the broom and dustpan from the hall closet and a rag and cleaner for the floor. She held back the tears as she made her way back to the kitchen slowly, her entire body throbbing.

"Can't your fat ass move any faster?" he complained.

She swallowed hard and stepped into the kitchen. Crouching down to clean up the mess of glass and coffee, she swept up the glass then wiped the floor clean as he watched her closely. She felt him moving behind her, he grabbed her neck and lifted her face up so she looked up at him.

"If I find out that hillbilly is here while I'm at work," he threatened, "I'll kill you and him." He tightened his grip on her neck, and she couldn't breathe. "No one touches you. Only me. Ain't that right?"

She choked out a breath.

"What was that?"

"Only...you."

"I thought so." He released her. "Clean yourself up and make me something to eat." He went to their bedroom.

Carol pulled herself up on shaky knees and dragged herself to the bathroom. She looked over the damage. She had a bruise running up the right side of her face, her bottom lip was bleeding, so she assumed she'd bitten when he slammed her head into the closet door, and she had bruises forming on her torso, but she didn't feel like she had a broken rib. It's broken before, so she knew what it felt like. The coffee left a red burn across her torso and upper arms. Long sleeved shirts and pancake makeup were her new best friends.

She removed her ruined clothes and set them in the trash then took a shower, wincing as it stung her torso and arms. She cried her eyes out, letting the shower drown out any of the noise.