Title: Misled
Summary: She could never escape the shadow of her past so easily as having her vile husband dead in the ground, he would always be just behind her in a way that the others and their normal lives wouldn't understand. Not like he did.
Notes: This story came about when I started to think of how the Caryl shippers see the innocent sweet things that those two characters do and see it as potential and how the other survivors may also interpret it in the same way.
I thought it might be fun to write something based on that. I can't say that this is going to be a Caryl fic for you shippers, but I can't rule out that it won't be either! It depends how the story takes me.
Additionally, if you're reading any of my other fics at the minute, I haven't abandoned them, I just have to be in the right mood for the right fic. So I'll likely be getting back to them sooner or later.
Reviews inspire the muse.
The grass crunched slightly underfoot.
Daryl and T Dog were walking the camps perimeter. Rick always had two people on guard together and a roaming patrol worked much better in the colder weather. They had decided to give one last wider sweep of the area before heading back to camp.
The sun was rising and by the time they got back, breakfast would likely be cooked.
"You know man, I don't mind this outdoor living but during the winter it sucks. We need to find some place inside."
Daryl nodded slightly in agreement. He preferred outdoor living, but even he would pick somewhere out of the elements right now.
They headed back to the camp in silence but Daryl felt T Dog's eyes upon him, glimpsed the way his lips twitched with an unspoken question and before they got to the camp, the question spilt from T Dog's lips. "So are you and Carol... you know?"
He stops walking as he asks the question and Daryl is forced to stop too, to shoot him a look of uncertainty. "What?"
"Together? Like Maggie and Glenn, like Rick and Lori? You know?"
It seemed Daryl wasn't sure still if his perplexed look was anything to go by. "Glenn and Maggie are lovestruck kids and Rick and Lori are fucking married."
T Dog felt that he'd made a mistake with the question. "Never mind, it was stupid," He started to set off back towards the camp again. "We were just wondering..."
"We?" Daryl repeated, stopping T Dog in his tracks. "What the hell?"
T Dog could have kicked himself. "It's not like that. And you know, it doesn't matter either way, I mean, if you guys were..."
"Everything okay?" Rick asked, walking from the camp towards the pair, startled by the fact they'd stopped away from the camp. They could both tell from his expression he was expecting them to give him bad news.
"Everything's fine," Daryl said. "Didn't spot no walkers or people."
T Dog nodded his agreement. "Breakfast ready?"
Rick nodded as they all headed back towards camp. Daryl mulled over T Dog's words until he had to say something to Rick. "You think somethin's happening with me and Carol?" They all stopped as he asked, but Daryl indicated that T Dog wasn't required any longer and he headed back to the camp, mentally kicking himself.
"Come again?"
"Somethin' T was saying."
Rick looked after the retreating man before turning back to Daryl, his face open. "I didn't really think much about it. But I think the other women might have talked about it. You know what women are like with gossip." And it wasn't until the words were out of his mouth that Rick thought that maybe Daryl didn't really know what they were like. Rick tried to read Daryl's expression, wasn't sure if he saw anxiety there or not. "I wouldn't worry about it."
"I ain't worried 'bout nothin'," Daryl barked back, walking towards the camp, his step quicker than before.
Rick tried to match Daryl's pace without running after him and they both reached camp around the same time.
Almost everyone was eating breakfast, a couple of people had finished. Rick took a seat by Carl as Lori handed him his share of breakfast.
Carol had already dished up and handed T Dog his breakfast which he was tucking into and she dished up Daryl's portion and moved over to him with it.
He hadn't sat down with the others, standing with his crossbow still over his shoulder the way he often did, watching the perimeter.
"Here," Carol said, holding the bowl in front of him.
"I'm not hungry, give it to Lori or the kid. I'll get somethin' later," he said. He didn't want to meet her gaze. He added quietly, "But thanks."
Carol stood awkwardly for a moment before him, thought he looked slightly flushed and couldn't quite place it but she stepped away and handed the food to Lori who knew better than to argue with Carol with eating more food. Lori ate half and passed the rest to Carl.
Daryl stood waiting for everyone to finish up and for them to get moving, all the while, his mind kept going back to what T Dog had said. Rick didn't seem to have thought much about it, but he acknowledged that others were talking about it and the idea made Daryl uncomfortable.
What was there even to be discussing?
He liked Carol, probably more than he liked the majority of people here but mostly because he knew when she looked at him, there was part of her that understood where he came from, even if he'd never spoken a word of his past. It was in her eyes, her demeanour constantly. She could never escape the shadow of her past so easily as having her vile husband dead in the ground, he would always be just behind her in a way that the others and their normal lives wouldn't understand.
Not like he did.
He knew having that looming figure in the back of your mind your whole life, whispering poison into your ear, telling you how worthless and useless you were, it wouldn't go away no matter what you did, even surrounding yourself with nice new normal people.
They were the outcasts. The were abnormal. The freaks, the unwanted, the shunned section of society. The part that nobody really wanted to acknowledge. That street in your town where you never went, the street where the bad things happened, the house where the creepy guy lived.
They were everything all these normal people hoped to avoid. Avoid meeting, avoid becoming.
They were, in many ways, their worse nightmares come true. More feared in life than any dead man walking. To be on the poverty line and not have enough food in the cupboards to fill yourself. To have a child that was in constant danger in their own home. To be in danger in your own home, that one place the rest of them would consider to be a safe place.
"Hey?" Rick said, breaking Daryl from his thoughts. "Ready to go?"
Daryl simply nodded and followed Rick.
They'd been on foot for hours before they stopped for a break.
All of them were hungry by then and they shared the few canned goods between them. The supplies were dwindling fast and they needed to try and find more food before they all starved.
Without having a permanent base set up Daryl didn't have a lot of time to hunt. And with the harsher conditions he knew there'd be less choice out there for hunting.
They ate a mixture of carrots, peas and stewed steak. It was good enough, but the quantity they all consumed was hardly enough to satisfy any of them, especially Lori and the baby.
Once food was consumed and everyone rested, they continued onwards. The route they took had been across fields recently and they'd walked close to a hedge but they were coming up to a wooded area. It gave them more shelter but it also meant they needed to be more alert. Anything could be lurking behind the trees and plants.
Daryl lead the way and they walked through the woods in single file, like they had when they were searching for Sophia. Lori needed to rest shortly after they started in the woods having some pain in her stomach. They found a tree that had fallen and she sat on it while the pain coursed through her body. The others did what they could to assist her while Daryl looked around the woods. There was a sharp rise just ahead and they couldn't see very far. Anything could be beyond it.
After thinking it though a little, Daryl approached Rick.
"Was thinkin' 'bout checking out the rise just ahead, see what's beyond it."
Rick looked where Daryl was indicating. It wasn't very far away from where they stood but Rick took the time to really appreciate the sharp rise. Lori was struggling right now and he didn't want her to climb it if they was no point. Seeing what was beyond it would be helpful and Daryl would never be out of sight.
"Good idea." He agreed.
Carol was behind Daryl suddenly. "You want me to come with you?" He startled slightly at her, she was perhaps the only one to notice.
"Won't be a minute," he said, setting off before they could discuss it further. She frowned as she watched him go before returning to sit beside Lori.
"How are you feeling?" Carol asked her.
"A little better. The pain's starting to ease a little. I think it's cramp maybe."
Carol offered up a smile before turning her attention back to Daryl. Lori noticed the frown on her face. "What's wrong?"
"It's probably nothing. I just feel like... do you think I annoy Daryl?"
"What? Why would you say that?" Lori's hand stopped rubbing her stomach as she reached out to touch Carol's shoulder.
"He just seems to want to keep his distance. I don't know what I could have done."
"Listen to me, it's not you, okay? Sweetheart, you are doing fine and if he's got a problem with you..."
"That's not the problem," Rick said, joining the women. They both looked a little perplexed at Rick joining in on their conversation. "Something he said to me earlier. T Dog let slip that some of the group had been talking about you two, you and Daryl, and how close you were. I think he was a little bit... I don't know, worried isn't the right word but... I don't think he was thinking about how it came across to other people and now he's aware of it... " Rick didn't seem to know how to say what he assumed Daryl was thinking. "I think he's worried that maybe he's mislead you?"
"Mislead me?" Carol questioned.
"You mean because we all thought that they were getting close that Carol would too?" Lori helped Rick out.
"Exactly."
"Oh," Carol exclaimed. "Well that's silly, but I can see why he might think that." She looked up to where Daryl was walking, he was almost half way up the rise now and it looked like it would be awkward for the rest of them. "That's not going to be an easy conversation."
"You're going to talk to him about it?" Lori questioned.
"Well I can't have him keep avoiding me."
"Why don't you go to him now? At least you can have some privacy?" Lori suggested.
Carol looked back to Lori. "What about you?"
"I'll be fine. Go on."
Carol parted with a smile, taking the gun Rick handed her and pushing it into the back of her jeans.
The path Daryl was taken was clear and easy to follow and it wasn't until she had to start climbing up the slope that she slowed down.
Daryl didn't look surprised when he turned to see her as she was half way up and near the top, he grabbed her wrist and helped pull her the last part of the way.
Despite the cooler temperature, she wiped sweat from her face from the exertion.
She didn't say anything at first, just looked at what was ahead. "Is that a hut up ahead?"
Daryl nodded. "Ain't seen any movement, hoping that it's gonna be empty."
"That would give everyone a break." Carol agreed. Silence fell between them and she was reluctant to break it at first, worried that however she approached the topic, he'd take it the wrong way. "Rick told me," she started. It was all she needed to say.
And although she could tell he knew what she was talking about, words weren't forthcoming from him. She knew she'd have to do it for him.
"I don't know where their crazy ideas come from, but in the last few months I've lost my husband and my daughter. And I've lost friends too. And I don't want to lose anyone else."
He looked at her then. "I didn't wanna hurt you... You know, if you did think..." he let the words trail off.
"I like having someone who understands me. I love those people, but it's hard to talk Lori about certain things, she doesn't know what it was like to be married to a man like Ed. Just knowing that someone else knows without having to try and explain anything, it means something."
Daryl looked away from her, back towards the hut. He got it. There was no hard feelings and screw what anyone else thought, as long as he wasn't somehow getting Carol's hopes up of something he was fine.
"I think I should go on ahead and check it out, make sure it's safe."
Carol turned to the hut. "Rick won't like you going alone."
"That's why you're comin'. Ain't no point draggin' the rest of 'em up here if it ain't no good to us."
"But what about..."
"Don't worry about them, they'll be fine. Lot better if they know there's a safe place just a little way off," Daryl reasoned.
And it made sense to her, she nodded and smiled at him. "Okay then, let's go." She glanced back round towards the rest of the group and indicated that they were pushing onwards. Rick really had no choice but to acknowledge her and watch as she disappeared with Daryl.
A/N: There's a possibility that I might write more. But I also might not.