I have absolutely no business starting a new story, not with how much I've slacked on my other ones. But this has been lurking in my brain for several weeks and MAYBE if i can get it out, i can finally finish some of my other ones. That and my flash drive with most of my documents was destroyed so that's been a bit of a dream killer -_-

I've never written for the walking dead before but i really wanted to give it a try. Daryl Carol all the way!

Also, if you have any ideas of what you would like to see in this story, let me know. I'd love to hear what you think!

Disclaimer- I don't own the walking dead or Caryl would have already happened by now. Obviously.

"Daryl wait!" The petite woman raced out the door after her friend, ignoring the loud slam of the screen door behind her. It was a warm night in the small Georgia town, the summer heat absent thanks to the setting sun hours earlier.

The young man stomped down the road, heading straight for the patch of woods at the end of the block, completely ignoring her voice until suddenly she was right behind him, hand reaching out to touch his shoulder.

"Why do you stay with him Carol?!" He shouted suddenly, whipping around to face her. She faltered and dropped her hand, stunned.

"He's my husband." She replied, unable to meet his gaze.

"He's yer husband-" Daryl scoffed, shaking his head. "Last I checked, husbands weren't suppost to beat the shit out of their wives." Her head shot up, eyes wide and she inhaled sharply.

"What? You think I wouldn't notice he was beaten' on ya?" Carol opened her mouth to speak, but couldn't say anything, eventually averting her eyes from Daryl's.

"I thought-" she started, but faltered.

"Ya thought what?!" Daryl's temper flared "Ya thought I wouldn't notice? Hell, the whole town probably knows! Damn Carol…"

Several moments of silence passed, neither daring to say a word, until finally Carol spoke.

"It's not that bad." She knew how he'd react, and when she saw the rage that appeared on his face she knew she was right.

"How can ya stand there n' say that when last week you had a black eye!"

"I can't leave him." She insisted, her eyes firm. She was stubborn; the most stubborn gal he'd ever met, there was no denying that…

"Why the hell not? Ya give me one good reason why ya can't leave that piece of shit!" He shouted, pointing an accusing finger in the general direction of her home.

"I'm pregnant."

There was dead silence as he stared at her, one hand still pointed towards her home, his bright blue eyes wide with shock as the news settled. She swallowed hard and blinked, and the spell was broken. Suddenly he launched himself at the nearest tree, slamming his fist into the trunk so hard she thought the trunk would crack.

"Daryl!" she cried out in alarm, racing over to inspect his knuckle.

"You're pr-" he turned away from her, his fists clenched. Blood was flowing freely down the hand he used to punch the tree. She stared at the bright angel wings then enveloped the back of that stupid jacket he'd worn since high school, staring hard enough to bore a hole in it.

"Did he force ya Carol?" She didn't answer the question, and that only made him angrier.

"If he forced ya I swear I'll beat tha livin' hell outa him!" he was shouting even louder now, and her refusal to answer was not helping.

"Damn it woman say somethin'!"

"I'm sorry." She didn't know what else there was to say, didn't know what to do. Turns out she didn't have to say anything. Pain rippled through her belly, almost sending her to her knees. She was less than 3 months along how could this happen? She let out a cry of pain and collapsed, the world going dark around her.

"CAROL!"

I can't lose this baby too…

-0-

Of course Carol recognized Daryl the moment she laid eyes on him and his brother. How could she not? He was different now, of course. He'd grown and changed, but his eyes were the same bright blue she remembered from over 12 years ago. But she was afraid, while he changed a little, she had changed a lot. So she kept her head down, averted her eyes and kept away from him as best she could. And with Ed always barking orders and keeping her busy, it was easy to avoid Daryl Dixon.

But still, she couldn't help but sneak glances at him whenever she saw him. Admiring how well he'd changed since she'd seen him. He'd certainly aged well…

She had been 10, he 8 the first time they ever met. Riding the same bus to the worn down middle school in the small Georgia town. Come to think of it, that year was the only time she ever saw him ride the bus. He was the last person on, and even at that age the other children knew who he was and knew not to sit next to him. She was the only person who didn't block the empty seat next to her when Daryl Dixon climbed aboard the bus. When he reached her seat, she met his gaze, and to this day she'll never forget how bright blue his eyes were. She had yet to ever meet someone with eyes the same shade of blue as Daryl. He'd sat next to her, and from that day on they shared a bond, a bond she would later find out, could never be broken.

They didn't become instant friends, but sat together on the bus the entire year. He didn't say much, just let her chatter on and on about anything and everything, her parents, her favorite stuffed animal, the flowers in her mother's garden. Sometimes she sat with him at lunch, and sometimes he was missing from school for several days or a week and she sat with her friends until he returned, dark circles under his eyes and the faint shadows of a bruise on his cheek.

After that year ended, she didn't see him much until high school, just the occasional glimpse of him around town here and there until he reached 9th grade. She was 17 and two years older than him, but that didn't stop her from caring. She still rode the bus every day, and almost every day she saw him walking home from school despite the fact he lived far away enough to ride the bus. He wore the same leather jacket with angel wings and carried the same worn out back pack every day. In fact, she never saw him with a different one. People laughed and made fun of her, on yes, others ridiculed her for befriending the younger of the Dixon brothers, told her he was good for nothing, a trouble maker, someone she couldn't trust. But they didn't notice the shadows under his eyes, the thin scars on his body and the faint outlook of bruises on his cheeks. Not like she did, they didn't care like she did.

It took her a year to crack his shell. An entire year for him to learn she wasn't going to throw him under the bus like everyone else had. It took saving his life to get him to trust her.

It was a miserable day, a wet one. The kind you woke up too in the morning and just knew was gonna suck. She rode the bus to school that morning as usual, but didn't see him walking like normal. He wasn't at school when she got there, and he didn't show all day. She was worried sick by her second to last class, worried enough to ditch despite the fact she'd only missed school twice in her life.

She knew where he lived. Everyone knew where the Dixons lived, and avoided the place like they might catch something just by walking near the house. It was on a dead end, only a block or two from the modest neighborhood where she lived with her parents. It was sheer worry that made her get off the bus near the Dixon home that day. She could see the anxious and wide-eyed faces of the students on the bus as she got off, looking at her like they might never see her again. She was not to be swayed.

She avoided the house and headed straight through the woods, for the willow tree next to the creek she'd heard Daryl mention many times before. The house was quiet, but she avoided it none the less. The whole town knew of Will Dixon's famous temper.

"Daryl?" She called when the willow tree finally came in sight. It was a big tree, stretching over the creek like it had been there hundreds of years. "Daryl?"

"Well well well, if it ain't Ross."

Carol rolled her eyes at the sound of her last name coming out of Merle Dixon's mouth. She knew Merle all right, numerous occasions she'd walked out of school with Daryl to find Merle waiting for him, a cocky grin on his face and an attitude to match.

"Shut up Merle, where's Daryl?"

"Dunno, ain't seen Darylina around all day little missy." Carol tried not to let her fear show. She swallowed hard.

"He wasn't at school today, I'm worried." Merle laughed, as if that was a normal thing to do when his brother was missing.

"Dontchu worry about Darylina, he's prolly fine holed up somewhere." Carol grit her teeth and picked up a small pebble, hurling it at the older Dixon brother.

"Get out of here Merle, you aren't helping." Merle just laughed and let her be, his laughter following him until her disappeared out of her sight. Carol put Merle out of her mind and returned to her search of Daryl.

She checked around the willow, finding nothing, then made her way upstream, calling Daryl's name as she went and searching carefully for him. She searched for a long time, and if she hadn't been looking so carefully she would have missed it- the tiniest, smallest drop of blood on a rock in the creek. Carol was no tracker, but she knew Daryl was, and she knew Daryl would be well hidden, buried deep somewhere like he was planning on hibernating for the winter.

"Daryl?" Carol called out softly, her eyes sweeping the creek for any sign of her best friend. Nothing. Tears began to blur her vision as possibilities ran through her brain. What if he was hurt and she never found him? What if he died alone, holed up somewhere?

Despaired, Carol sat down on a rock and began to cry, unable to hold the tears back, as they spilled down her cheeks. She cried for several minutes, until the tears wouldn't come down anymore, until her sobs turned to sniffles and she knew she couldn't sit her forever, not while Daryl was waiting.

"I'm coming Daryl. I'm coming." She stood up abruptly, almost slipping and getting soaked in the stream, but she righted herself and keep searching, pouring over everything around that one tiny drop of blood.

It took her several minutes to find it. A tiny, second drop of blood on the branch of a tree several feet ahead, then another, and another, until Carol found herself staring at a very smeared bloody handprint on a rock.

He was nearby, she just knew it. So she began to search again, and before long noticed a thin strip of black cloth through branches near a tree. She waded closer, her boots splashing loudly in the creek.

"Oh my-" He was there. Hidden in an embank she didn't even know was about beneath an ancient tree. And instantly she could see the blood.

He was asleep when she found him, blood smearing his forehead and still flowing from a wound on his skull. His nose was bleeding too, and she could see blood smeared and flowing from somewhere on his chest as well.

"DARYL!" Carol screamed and launched herself at him, caressing his face gently with her hand and getting it covered in blood.

"Daryl, you gotta wake up DARYL come one!" His eyelids fluttered open softly as she caressed his cheek and his baby blues met her own blue eyes.

"Car-" he was cut off as a groan shot through him.

"We have to get you to the hospital now." Carol insisted, trying to gently slide his arm around her shoulders. It took a couple tries, but she finally was able to get it as comfortable as possible and help him up.

"Can you walk?" She asked as he leaned heavily onto her.

"Thin' so." He mumbled. As quickly as she could one handed, Carol removed the thin pink sweater she had around her shoulders and gently pressed it to the wound on his head.

"Let's get you some help." They began hobbling through the woods, Daryl leaning onto Carol with a pink sweater pressed to his forehead.

It took them almost an hour to get out of the woods and to the hospital. They gave the nurses such a sight, tiny Carol dragging in the youngest Dixon brother banged and bruised with a pink sweater pressed to his head and Carol's hands covered in blood. A week or two later Daryl was finally released against medical advice. Neither Merle nor their dad came to visit Daryl, but Carol came every day, bringing her school bag with her and both of their homework as well. Insisting he keep up with his work so he wouldn't fall behind.

Daryl had two broken ribs, a concussion, a bruised nose and a broken thumb. But he had found someone to trust, and from that day on, Daryl changed around Carol. She didn't ask what happened, she didn't need to, and he didn't tell. But he began to open up to her, and suddenly, the pair was almost inseparable her entire senior year of high school, when Carol was 18 and Daryl was 16. That was the year he taught her to fish in the deeper parts of the creek, showed her the small wooden carvings he made without any instruction how.

But it all came crashing down right after Carol graduated, when both her parents were killed in a devastating car crash.

She shut down. If it hadn't been for Daryl, she wouldn't have survived. He was her knight in shining armor, her hero. He didn't say much, and Daryl wasn't the touching type, so he didn't, except when she needed it. But mostly he was just there, making sure she had something to live for.

And then Ed Peleiter came into her life. Carol was in college, slowly attending Georgia State while she healed after her parents. But she always had time for Daryl. He came over mostly in the evenings, in the house her parents had left for her. She helped him with his school work; encouraged him to finish high school like no one had before. Ed was charming, handsome, and played football for the school. He wooed her like no man had ever done before. (Like no man had ever dared or been able to with Daryl around) And when he'd been hurt in college and couldn't play anymore, said he needed her in his life. And just like that, within two years she was 20 and married.

Daryl had begged her not to marry him, he knew there was something fishy about Ed Peleiter, didn't trust him one bit. But she hadn't listened. Why hadn't she listened?

The first two years of their marriage were peaceful, passed by way too quickly. Daryl graduated high school the same year she married Ed, and she was the only one who was there to cheer him on.

Daryl became moody and withdrawn after she graduated, spending less time with her and more time in the woods and with Merle than he used to. She'd go for weeks without even seeing him and then he'd appear out of nowhere with a fresh bruise on his face and a story to tell her while she patched him up.

It wasn't until after her first miscarriage that the beating started.

It hadn't been planned, not at all. But Carol was still devastated. She hadn't even gotten to tell Daryl yet when it happened, even though she was barely a month along. Ed changed after that, starting with verbal abuse, and then swiftly progressing to physical abuse.

She never told Daryl about the problems in her marriage, didn't want him to worry about her when she knew he had problems at home. But then, when she was 23 and Daryl was a hot headed 21 year old (the fact that he legally able to drink may have had something to do with it, not that it had stopped him when he was younger) she made a mistake that would change both of their lives forever.

"Daryl…" His eyes were so blue she found herself lost in them. He was staring at her face, watching her. His hand reached up to gently touch his finger tips to her face.

"Daryl, this can't happen again."

They were alone in his room, curled up on his bed, a blanket draped loosely over them. His father out at the bar like he was every night and Merle was in prison for drugs again. It was just the two of them, she could feel Daryl's warm arm wrapped around her bare flesh. She never meant for this to happen.

"I want to tell you something." She said softly, she could feel his face against her neck, his soft breathing as he curled against her. She had to tell him, tell someone before she burst.

"Ya got somethin' ta say just say it." He mumbled against her flesh. Carol took a deep breath; mentally preparing herself for the outrage she knew was coming.

"I had a miscarriage." She said softly. She felt him stiffen behind her, his hands curl into a fist. She knew he wouldn't be happy.

"When."

"Couple weeks ago." She replied softly, fiddling with the edge of the blanket in her hand. He didn't have time to react before the tears began to fall and the sniffling began.

"It was so early on but-" she broke off as her sobs interrupted her "I wanted that baby and now that it's gone-" this time Daryl interrupted her, pressing his lips to hers, cupping her face in his hands.

"I haven't had anyone to talk to about it." She breathed softly after they broke apart, the tears still streaming down her face. He wiped them away with his thumbs in a very un-Daryl like gesture.

"I'm sorry Carol." Was all he said, and that was all she needed. She buried herself in his arms, and he let her, offering the comfort he was always giving her.

They stayed curled together for a while longer, until Carol knew she had to leave, to go back to her husband even though she knew she would never forget this night. He watched her dress, before pulling on a pair of jeans and forgoing a shirt. She had seen his scars many times now. Carol tried to ignore his bare upper torso, knowing the long hours he spent hunting helped carve his body like Michelangelo's David.

"Daryl…" she turned to face him. "We can't do this again. I'm married and I just cheated on my husband." Daryl's answer was to lean down and kiss her. She snorted after he pulled away. Typical Daryl. He never followed the rules.

Carol was pulled back to the present as she watched Daryl march into camp with his crossbow over his shoulder and several squirrels tied to his belt. She had to bite back a laugh; he still had that old crossbow? That thing had to be 100 years old by now…

She watched Daryl toss the squirrels to Dale, not even saying a word before he marched over to the tent he shared with Merle. Carol watched him go, trying not the stare at the muscles in his arms as he left. Oh yes, she remembered those arms. There was no way she could ever in a million years forget Daryl Dixon.

He was Sophia's biological father.

I'm sure you all saw this coming, you guys figure everything out lol

like i said, this story has been burning in my brain for weeks. I can't promise regular updates, but will try my best to continue on with this story. I know Daryl seems a little off character, but I changed his personality a little bit from his childhood due to his relationship with Carol. By the way, does anyone know how old Daryl was when his mother died in the fire? I don't recall them saying.

Anyways, reviews help! So does constructive criticism...