Her eyes opened slowly to the start of a new day. Carol awoke to a melancholy feeling inside her, considering yesterday a large portion of the group left to investigate the town. More importantly, Daryl was still gone. She sat up from her prison bed, looking around. She found Hershel holding Judith in his arms quietly.
" Hey, how is she? " Carol said.
Hershel replied with, " She's doin' alright. " Then, the baby began to cry. Hershel chuckled a bit and said, " I guess she's a little hungry too. "
Carol laughed with Hershel and said back to him, " Here, I'll take care of that. " Hershel slowly handed Judith into Carol's arms. Judith was plopped down into Carol's embrace with tears still pouring out of her eyes. Carol shushed her and rocked her as she walked over to the supplies room. As soon as she found a bottle, she slowly put it inside of Judith's mouth. Instantly, the whining child was put into a luxury of peace when the milk flowed from the bottle and into her mouth. Carol smiled happily at her success, and looked over to Hershel, who was also relieved and smiling.
As Judith fed on her bottle, Carol gazed into the small child's eyes. They we're bright blue, just like her daughters, Sophia. The tear ridden eyes inside the baby brought back bitter sweet memories of Sophia and her. She began to shake when remembering the loss of her husband, how she smashed his head in with an axe. She remembered the Cherokee Rose that Daryl gave her. The awful memory of Sophia stumbling out of the barn finally made Carol burst into tears. A few of the tears fell onto the baby, causing Judith to burst into her frenzy of tears again.
Hershel noticed the screaming and came into the cell where Carol was placed. He saw her crying and took Judith from her. He gave Carol a look of sympathy as he fled the room with Judith in his arms. She sat in the cold cell, her withering shoes touching the cold of the concrete floor. The warmth of her hands that we're now touching the opposite arms we're slowly warming her up. The hard calluses on her palm, the warmth of the touch that was sending comfort to her, reminded her then of Daryl. She missed him so badly the past two days, leaving her in a worse mood than she should be.
As she was wallowing in her own self-pity, Carol noticed the small, insanely quiet sound of metal clanking. Her eyes shot open, and stood up immediately. With too much hope than she should have, she dashed out of the room and ran outside, looking towards the entrance to the prison. Her worries began to fleet away as she saw Rick and Michonne heading back into the prison. With her hopes fulfilled, she ran back inside, telling the others about their arrival. Everyone happily got up and followed her outside. By the time they we're outside, Rick had been up to the entrance of the building.
" How did it go? I'm so glad you guys are back. Is the town safe? " Carol spewed out of her mouth. Rick, taken aback by Carol's outburst, stumbled a bit with his reply.
" Uh; it, it went alright. Carol, I have a bit of news, if that's okay. " Rick said.
Carol looked at him, shocked by his response. Her eyes darted around everyone, looking for her significant other.
Daryl.
" Where's Daryl? " Carol said, avoiding a response to Rick. He sighed, looked down, then put his hand up to his hair and pushed some of it out of the way. Michonne looked at the rest of the group and waved them to come back inside. Carol looked behind her for a brief moment and shot them a look, Michonne shooting one back to her almost instantly. Carol jumped a bit, then began to let the horrible assumptions take over her mind.
Rick, who was noticing her sudden panic, took his hand away from his face and placed it on her shoulder. He ushered her to sit down on a metal bench nearby. Carol followed, shaking with every step she took. Where's Daryl? Where is he? Maybe he stopped for a moment? Is he going to be here soon? Carol's brain rushed with anxiety as Rick sighed, yet again.
" Carol…I'm sorry. Daryl, the town, he's…stuck there. The town was bad. It's run by this guy called The Governor, and I just, god, Carol, I just don't know if Daryl is still alive. " Rick said. He pursed his lips together, not knowing what else to say to the horrified Carol.
Carol shot up out of the bench seat and ran inside instantly. Rick sat on the bench, alone, and put his face into his clenching fists.
Inside, Carol sat in the same exact bed she woke up in . The covers we're still as they we're when she woke up, and her facial expression was the same. She stared at the wall with deep emotion, seeing her beautiful Sophia's face, right alongside Daryl. He was holding her on his shoulders, and Sophia was giggling. Carol watched more as she noticed the faux image of Daryl started to move his lips. " I'll take care of her. " He motioned, looking up to Sophia. Sophia then raised her small, clean hand up, and waved to her mother, sitting on the bed.
Carol was now weeping into her hands as the image of Daryl and Sophia disappeared, leading her back into her cruel, sickened reality. She cried harder each time the image re-appeared on the wall as her cracked fingers revealed it. The moment carried on as a tired Carol lay her head back into her hands, which was soon interrupted by a worried Andrea.
" Uhm, hello, Carol. " Andrea said. Carol ignored her and wiped away her tears, attempting to make herself look alright. Andrea frowned a bit more at the sight of her, but continued talking to try to make her feel better.
" I brought you some dinner. " Andrea held out her arms with a prison tray, holding a bowl of warm soup accompanied by a slice of meat. The fork, spoon, and knife on the tray clinked as Carol took the tray from Andrea, still having not said a word to her, and nodded in a way of thanks. Andrea gave a short smile back and nodded as well before leaving Carol's prison cell.
As Carol sipped some of the soup down, she looked back up to the wall and saw the image again. She stared, more and more, longer and longer, before looking back down to her tray. The spoon was dirtied by the soup's remains, and the fork was in the same condition, but the knife glistened in the bleak ray of sunshine that managed to sneak into her room. Carol examined it with great intention, picking it up and twirling it in her fingers for a moment. She looked back up to the wall, revealing a playful Sophia and a caring Daryl. She held the knife up in front of the image, seeing her own reflection in it. I'll be right there.
Rick still sat in the same spot in the bench, thinking of the lost loved ones: Sophia, T-Dog, Dale, Lori, and Daryl. He ran his fingers through his growing hair, sitting in the silence of the prison. It was finally a sunny day in the middle of this winter, still cold though. The sun shined down on him, only making it harder to see when he opened his eyes from the cage in which his hands held. He sighed yet again, and again, and began breathing very hard to try and break the silence. He tapped his foot, clicked his fingers together, anything to get these images out of his mind. In the middle of his clicking, he heard another, different, faint click. He shot up out of his hand, nervous that a walker might have gotten inside the prison.
Click.
Another click shot through the silence. All of a sudden, there was an army of clicks, each one with another, new tone. Rick finally came to the conclusion that there was something here desperately trying to get into the prison, unlike the walkers who occasionally slung their useless bodies against the chain fence. He got up, running to the front of the prison with his revolver in hand. He saw a moving figure which was shaking the fence, then started to hear faint words as he got closer to the prison entrance. The moving figure seemed different from the ones he usually saw.
When Rick finally reached the entrance, the words became insanely real to him. He made them out, which almost made him laugh.
" Let me in here, you stupid fuck! I'm all battered up and you're just gonna stand there and look at me? Let me in! "
Daryl.
Rick, shocked, confused, and relieved, immediately let Daryl inside. Daryl stumbled in and almost tripped, Rick catching him and helping him up. Daryl had cuts all over his body, especially the ones around his wrists. Rick didn't know what to say to him, so he came up with a pathetic introduction, " What happened there? "
" The fuck you think happened, I was held prisoner there, you, you don't need to; " He was cut off by coughing up blood onto the concrete flooring. Rick put a hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him. Daryl pushed him off, standing upright as if nothing had happened to him.
" Where's Carol? " Daryl said, staring Rick in the eyes , his patience slowly running out. He began to remember Merle, how he lost him, and how he was reunited at the prison. He could only hope he'd be reunited with Carol after losing her while he was gone.
" She's in her cell, why do you need to kn- " Before Rick could finish his statement, Daryl had pushed him to the side, knocking him on his back, running into the prison.
As Daryl entered, the looks of everyone's faced brightened up. They all shot questions at him, greetings, stuff that only made him more pissed off. He angrily grunted, not being able to remember where Carol's damn cell was, so in attempt to relieve some steam, he yelled out, " Where is Carol's damn cell?! " Hershel stepped out of the shocked crowd and pointed his crutch into the direction of the cell. Daryl ignored everyone else and shot his body into the hallway where he was directed.
He slowed his pace down when he heard slow and heavy moans coming from a cell close to him. He stopped in his tracks, listening harder. Another, long, exhausted moan shot out of the cell nearest to him. Daryl threw his body into the correct cell this time, his crossbow wielded and ready to shoot anyone who was messing with Carol. The next second, the crossbow was dropped to the ground, by Daryl's loosened fingers. He slowly walked up to the bed, where a cut, open, bleeding wrist hung over the sheets. They we're dirtied with copious amounts of blood. Carol's hopeless eyes winced open and she felt him touch her, hold her. The warmth of his rushing hands covered her in relief from the agonizing pain shooting from her slit wrist.
" Daryl…Dar.." Carol whimpered. He shot her a glance and said, " Shut up. You're gonna be just fine. "
Daryl rushed into the main room of the prison which held all the other inhabitants. He yelled to Hershel, " Old man, I need some help here, hurry, get her some bandages, you're gonna need some stitches as well. "
Carol opened her eyes to the smell of dirt and blood. Her vision was blurry for a moment, so she couldn't tell who was awkwardly hovering over her. Her eyesight slowly adjusted to reveal a concerned Daryl watching her. She smiled, seeing him there in that moment. He shot a smile just as heavy back, and looked at her bandaged wrists. After his eyes went away, she noticed how badly he was beaten up, then remembered everything that had happened. Woodbury.
" Daryl, oh my god, are you okay? What did that governor guy do to you? How did you get out? Can you tell me- " She was hushed by a callused finger now perched on her lips. He looked down into her eyes, scanning over her body.
" You don't worry about me, worry about yourself, you little chaos causer…" Daryl said as he had his hand on her forehead now. They exchanged long looks for a moment, then, out of embarrassment, he jerked his hand back and set it in his lap. Daryl then crossed his arms, attempting to look like the ''big strong man who saved Carol''. She giggled at his attempts to remain cool and rested her head back. The image that she had seen on the wall earlier appeared again, right beside Daryl. Sophia was all alone now, but she still carried a bright smile on her small, youthful face. Sophia nodded and pointed her finger out to Daryl. Carol followed her daughter's orders and looked back up to Daryl. He was still sitting there, watching her, smiling. The second Carol looked back to the wall, the image had disappeared. Sophia wasn't there anymore, Sophia was gone, she was dead, and Carol couldn't do anything about it. But then, in that moment, she remembered her smiling daughter that appeared to her a moment ago. She was at peace now. She also remembered her small, petite hand raising up and pointing towards Daryl. What did that mean?
Daryl tapped Carol's shoulder slightly. Carol turned her head up to him, looking him back in the eyes just as intently as he was. He raised both of his hands up to his chest, revealing his bandaged wrists. " Look, we're matching. " Carol laughed a bit. She understood now what Sophia was trying to tell her. She wanted to leave her at peace as well, and she sent the best angel in Heaven to do the job for her, Daryl. Daryl looked around the room, yet again embarrassed by the moment, frowning at the thought of his softening. He grumbled a curse word under his breath. Then, suddenly, his head was moved away from its position, and his lips we're locked with Carol's as she pulled him closer to her. Daryl's eyes shot open, and for a moment he fought back, trying to escape her grip. Finally, he couldn't manage to break away from this love curse, and fell back into the deep emotion of the moment; the warmth of Carol's healed lips. He then put his hand up to her small head, running his fingers through her hair, holding her close. They shared the moment together as if nothing else existed, nothing had ever happened. At that moment, they we're at peace. Warm, loving, and caring peace.