Daryl listened to her laughter echoing through the streets of Alexandria, a scowl fixed on his face as he tried hard to concentrate on cleaning his crossbow. He turned to glare at the pair sat on the steps of the porch opposite him, Carol and the new guy, James. He and a small group of survivors had joined the community a little over a month ago, Carol and James immediately hitting it off. They had barely left each other's side since that first week, always joking and laughing, he'd even seen them walking round linking arms.

His eyes narrowed again as he watched Carol throw her head back at something he had said, he used to be the only one who could make her laugh like that, lately they had barely even spoken. He had to admit that he had been avoiding her, he had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to control his temper whilst James was with her and the last thing he needed was her being angry with him for hitting the guy.

He studied their moves carefully watching as his hand landed on her knee as they continued their conversation, his thumb gently caressing the material of her jeans. She seemed content with the action, the closeness. He didn't understand why she wasn't batting his hand away, she had barely known him five minutes! He hated to admit it but he was jealous. Insanely jealous. They may not have been an item but he had always thought of her as his person. The only one who truly understood him and now this new guy was stealing her away from him.

James watched the hunter shooting him death stares from across the street. "Geez your boyfriend always act like this when you make a new friend?"

Carol glanced up and locked eyes with Daryl, his head immediately shot down to stare harder at his crossbow, as if she may not have seen him giving them the evil eye. She chuckled to herself and turned back to James. "He's not my boyfriend."

"You know you keep saying that but I'm not sure I believe you, you're seeing the way he's acting right?"

"Yes but he's just very…" she racked her brain to find the right word to describe Daryl's behaviour.

"Possessive?" James offered.

"Protective." She corrected, smiling at the grumpy man across the street. "I've had possessive before, he's not like that."

James nodded accepting her answer, he looked back at Daryl who shot back another icy glare. He was starting to genuinely worry he was getting the crossbow ready to put an arrow between his eyes. Carol didn't miss the brief flash of nervousness across his features as she watched the exchange between the two.

"Hey," she curled her fingers comfortingly around the muscles of his bicep, "Just let him sulk, he'll be fine."

Daryl gritted his teeth as he watched him flashing her one of his charming smiles. He really hated this guy, he clearly thought a lot of himself. He drove himself crazy with thoughts of what the two might be getting up to when they were alone, wondering if he touched her the way he so often dreamed of. Did he get to hold her whilst she slept and kiss away the stress and worries each fighting day would bring? He'd never seen him come home with her at night or leave her room in the morning, he was pretty sure he would've known if James was staying overnight in his house.

His train of thought was broken by Tara yelling at him from down the street. "Dixon! Come on dude you're supposed to be on watch already, we're waiting on you here!" Shit, he'd forgotten it was his shift. He gathered his things and stomped his feet heavily down the steps of the porch, not missing the hint of a smirk on Carol's lips. What the fuck is she smiling about he thought, scoffing and shaking his head he stormed in the direction of the front gates.

A few hours later he returned to the assigned house he shared with Carol and a few others, whilst he hadn't done anything physically challenging that day he felt exhausted. His brain had gone into overdrive and all his thinking had left him emotionally drained. He couldn't wait to shower off and lock himself away in his room where no one would bother him for the rest of the night. He had just started to make his way up the stairs when a sound from the kitchen stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Ohhhhh, right there. That feels so good!"

That was Carol. He heard her moan again and something inside of him just snapped. The thought of her having sex with James made him sick anyway but for them to be going at it in the kitchen? In his kitchen! In the middle of the day when anyone could just walk in on them, when the kids could just walk in on them? He was suddenly furious. Flying down the few steps he had climbed he advanced down the hallway ready to blast the pair for being so inconsiderate.

"Ya gotta be fuckin' kidding me!" He shouted, his face contorted with rage as he charged into the open kitchen. Once in there he was met with the stunned expressions of Carol and James, fully clothed, his hands stilled on her shoulders where he had been working out the kinks and sores. Daryl's expression turned into one of confusion and embarrassment as he took in the scene before him. It was just a massage. Now it was Carol's turn to glare at him, her mouth pressed into a thin line, one eyebrow raised questioning his outburst.

"I'll uh… give you two a moment." James said as he awkwardly backed towards the exit.

"Yeah you do that," Daryl snarled.

"I'll catch you later," Carol said softly giving him an apologetic look, as soon as he had closed the front door she spun on her heels to face the hunter. "What the hell is your problem?!" She yelled.

"You! You may not have been doin' what I thought you were but Jesus Carol could you at least cut it out with the public displays of affection and shit!"

"What did you think we were doing?" She questioned.

"Well you were moanin' like a fuckin' porn star so what do you think?"

Carol face flamed, her mouth hanging open at his accusation. And what did he mean by public displays of affection? She was trying to think of a response but was lost for words so she sat and continued to listen to him go off on one.

"Ya gotta be more careful Carol we don't even know these people. You don't know if he can protect ya! I mean if you wanna keep fuckin' and all then who am I to stop ya, non a my business. He's younger and good looking and shit but I bet he wouldn't stick by ya when it counted. You've barely even left his side since he got here!"

Carol felt as though he was ranting to himself now more than her, watching him pace back and forward as he spoke, arms gesturing wildly.

"Ya must be pretty good at hiding it though. I've never once seen you sneaking him in and out of here, so where is it you go huh? Over to his place? His group not mind ya goin' at it? I bet ya-"

"He's gay."

Daryl froze at the revelation, "What?"

"He's gay," she repeated. "You have more chance of fucking him than I do."

Daryl couldn't believe it. He had been so certain there was something going on between them. Every smile, every touch, it had all seemed so flirty. "Ya sure?" He asked.

"Mhm. You know Steve? The blonde in his group that joined Abe in the construction crew?" Daryl nodded. "That's his boyfriend, been together since college."

Daryl felt like an idiot, everything he had been fussing over had all been in his head and now he had made a massive fool of himself. She must've thought he was pathetic.

"You seriously didn't know that?" She questioned. "I mean, they are the ones pretty big on the PDA. Where have you been this last month?"

Too wrapped up in his own goddamn mind to notice anything else going on around him is where he had been, listening to the little green eyed monster on his back.

"I'm such an asshole," he mumbled, dragging his palm over his face.

She walked over to stand in front of him, gently taking the hand covering his face and pulling it away. She gently moved some of the stray strands of hair out of his eyes and caressed his cheek with the pad of her thumb.

"Yeah you are," she agreed. She was smiling though, relief washing over him to know she wasn't really angry. "It's nice to know you care so much though." She reached up on her tip toes to press a soft kiss against the corner of his mouth. With that she turned on her heel and left him alone in the kitchen to process the whirlwind of emotions he had experienced in the last half an hour.