This was a prompt from Halohunter that I couldn't put off. There is a possibility that it has already been done in this fandom but I haven't heard of any stories like it so I ran with it. Anyway, hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading.

Chapter One

The clouds hung low, oppressive, bloated with the heavy weight of rain that the skies refused to part with just yet. The atmosphere was thick with tension and Carol tried to hide her anxiety as she made her way to the eerie wooden structure. She was flanked by two of the most capable men she had ever known and she had complete faith in herself when it came down to fighting for her life, but still a deep nervousness gnawed at her. Her nervousness didn't have a clean and cut explanation.

There was simply the feeling of... wrongness. A wrongness that had nothing to do with the typical dangers they faced all the time. The air was too still and it felt charged somehow, thick.

"Why the fuck are we even here?" Merle growled, not for the first time.

Carol glanced at him. She would have laughed at the look on his face but she didn't much feel like giving him a hard time. Not when it was clear that he felt the same wrongness that she did. Instead of laughing she simply shrugged. "Because we need to keep our meds stocked. There's a lot of good to be had from natural remedies, herbs, plants, roots. This seems like the type of place that could have something useful and maybe no one else has thought about raiding it."

She hadn't even been sure the place would still be standing, or that it would indeed contain anything that could be deemed useful, but they had to try. It would be a waste if they missed out on something just because it was a long shot. They had driven past the place several times on different runs but she had never thought to check it out. It was, or had been, a shop that sold occult items and there was a chance they could have something that she could take back to the prison.

Merle grunted as they paused in front of the door. It was intact, which was a good sign. There was always a chance of walkers inside but the three of them could easily take them down. He had his gun in his good hand and nodded for Daryl to open it but their caution wasn't needed this time. The place was bare of any beings, living or dead.

"We ain't gonna find shit in here but dust and probably murder victims from before the world ended," Merle complained once they started their hunt. There were no windows in the place and the gray light that seeped in from the open door didn't do much to brighten the room. They turned on their flashlights and shut the door behind them.

Daryl hadn't said anything in a while and Carol knew that he was avoiding anymore conflict with his brother. The two of them had been at each others throats for most of the trip and it had finally ended when a small herd of walkers came up on the three of them as the two brother's were fighting. Carol had been between them, trying to get them to calm down, when a walker had appeared behind her, grabbing her upper arms and nearly sinking it's teeth into the side of her neck, Dracula style.

Luckily Daryl had ripped the thing away from her and killed it for good while she and Merle fought off the other ones. Daryl was visibly shaken from the near miss but Merle seemed to have already forgotten the incident. As for Carol, well, it had been a close call but she was here and alive and in one piece so it wasn't something she planned on dwelling on. Even if she could still feel the cold rotted fingers digging into her arms.

"You okay?" Daryl asked, his voice hushed.

She looked over at him and offered a lopsided smile. "I'm fine."

He nodded, not pressing the issue, but she noticed, as they searched the shelves full of strange vials and jars, all marked, that he constantly glared in his brother's direction. It hadn't been Merle's fault exactly. All of them had done something foolish. The two men shouldn't have been fighting in the first place and she should have been paying attention to their surroundings.

"Think I found a jar full of foreskins," Merle called from the other side of the room. He was peering into what looked like a black cookie jar. "You hungry little brother?"

Daryl growled but didn't reply.

Merle chuckled. "You could take some back to your fearless leader and share with him. Seems like somethin' you'd do. Share a bowl of dicks with the big boss man."

"Why don't you shut your fuckin' mouth for five minutes, Merle," Daryl snapped. "You've done enough damage for one day."

Carol groaned but didn't say anything. She found several large containers of turmeric root and hurriedly shoved them into her bag. So far the bag was already half full of useful things so she didn't regret stopping. She was tired of them constantly at each others throats, though. Maybe if they finally beat the hell out of each other they would get it out of their system. This had been brewing for a long time. Maybe since Daryl was old enough to walk.

As the two men argued back and forth she started lighting candles until the room was filled with a soft flickering light. It added to the eeriness of the little shop but at least they could save their batteries.

Daryl bristled at her side and she looked up at him. His face was a mask of fury but she had tuned out their bickering so she wasn't sure why he looked so angry. "You think maybe you wouldn't be so fuckin' miserable there if you'd try not to treat people like shit? Nobody there owes you a damn thing, Merle. The way I see it, you owe us."

Merle took a few steps closer, his own cold fury written in the deep lines of his forehead as he glared at Daryl from under his brow. "What? You want me to strut around in there like you! You want me to hold my head all high and proud because I made a useful fuckin' lapdog outta myself? You don't know shit about how life is for me in that shit hole. If it was my choice we'd never go back. I'm there cause that's where you are. You and your big ol happy family. But trust me you little mother fucker, I get it. You just made it clear as crystal."

"What the fuck are you even talkin' about?" Daryl asked, running a hand through his hair, clearly upset.

Merle smiled but it was a dangerous smile, full of venom. "If you don't know then I ain't gonna waste my time explaining it to you. How about we just agree to stay the hell away from each other from now on, huh? I'll leave you and your people alone and you won't have to be burdened. You just keep in mind that before all this, I was the only goddamn person in the world that ever gave a fuck about you."

Carol knew exactly what was wrong with Merle and she felt bad for him. Daryl hadn't even realized that it was more hurt that was fueling Merle than anger now. Daryl had excluded him. His words you owe us had caused Merle to visibly flinch. Daryl had separated the two of them with his words, like Merle was and always would be an outsider. Through his own anger and stress, she doubted Daryl even realized what he had said, and that probably made it that much worse for his brother.

Carol wouldn't ever pretend that Merle was her favorite person in the world. He was rude and abrasive and sometimes even cruel, but she could see that there were times that he really did try. All he wanted was to be near his brother... a brother that seemed to look down on him just like the rest of them did.

"Do you think that maybe you were too hard on him?" she whispered once Merle turned away.

Daryl looked down at her, his eyes quickly flitting away. "Just because he's an asshole, you just about got killed today. I'm fuckin' tired."

"He tries, Daryl. That wasn't the fault of just him. You were fighting too and I wasn't paying any attention to-"

"So that was my goddamn fault?" he asked, speaking louder than he had meant to.

"No. All I'm saying is, I don't think either of you have any idea how it is for the other and maybe if you-"

Her voice cut off as an ear slitting crack of thunder sounded, shaking the walls, causing the jars to rattle on the shelves, causing her very bones to vibrate. Impossibly the candlelight flickered and half of the flames extinguished though there was no draft. The peel of thunder tapered off, leaving Carol feeling shaken and she realized that she had gripped Daryl's arm with both hands and was now huddled into his side.

He looked down at her, his brows raised but his body wasn't tense. She laughed slightly, embarrassed at herself for getting so spooked but she took her time letting go of him. Briefly their eyes met, their gazes locked and for just a second she thought that maybe she saw something akin to longing in his eyes. Something she was all too familiar with.

"What in the fuck was that?" Merle bellowed, breaking the spell and causing her and Daryl both to jump, to pull away, to allow the stubborn masks to fall back into place.

She shook her head. "I have no idea but I think it's time we get the hell out of this place."

"That wasn't no kind of goddamn thunder I've ever felt. How the fuck does thunder blow out the candles in a closed up room?" he asked, like he hadn't ever heard her.

The answer was, no kind of thunder could do that.

"You feel that?" Daryl asked after the three of them started for the door.

For a second Carol was unsure what he meant but then she did feel it. It was as though the temperature in the room had dropped twenty degrees. She rubbed her arms briskly, trying to stave off the chill. Merle was the one that yanked the door open, stepping out of the building and into the gloomy day. Daryl had a hand on her lower back, this being one of those rare moments when his worry for her overrode his need for space. Despite the strange thing that had just occurred she smiled slightly. She had become one tough cookie since the two of them had met, but it still felt good to feel so safe in the presence of a man. Even if the man was painfully clueless of her feelings for him.

The trip home seemed to take longer than it should have, since the truck cab was filled with tension and she was trapped between two angry Dixons. The only real solace was the fact that Merle was the one driving this time and she took note that there was a good four inches of seat between Daryl and the door. He was sitting as close to her as possible, his fingers drumming restlessly on his thigh as he cast sideways glances her way.

The man was absolutely adorable but she forced herself to remain stone faced as she stared out at the storm raging outside truck.