A/N: Hey Guys. So there's a big ol' break now until the next episode (wah), and I'm already having withdrawal symptoms. My brain immediately went "what happened next though? I MUST WRITE!" So I wrote. And I'm technically meant to be focussing on my final year of university, and actually writing my dissertation. But what can I say...I guess my priorities are wrong (right!).

So this wee one-shot is the immediate aftermath of the season 5 mid-season finale. Basically, I love Daryl's man pain. And I love Carol. And those two are just, like, meant to be together (don't judge me. I know they're fictional...but that love is REAL, bro!)

Anyway, I'm not a huge Beth fan, but got nothing against her either. And I get that her and Daryl definitely had some familial (cough not romantic. Like, at all. That's weird. cough) love going on so I get why he was all depressed about it. But no worries, Carol will sort him out!

OK I'm rambling, my bad. If you like this, please do leave me a review. Ta much me lovelies 3

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor am I in any way affiliated with The Walking Dead and its characters. Gutted.

Out Of The Shadow

With every step it felt as if gravity itself was increasing; his leaden legs struggling to lift his feet high enough to take the next step. It was like walking through quicksand, knowing soon enough his entire body would be swallowed, the air stolen from his lungs as he drowned in what vaguely registered as grief in his scrambled mind. His arms shook with the combined effort of holding back his emotions, and cradling her limp form.

His feet finally came to a stop in front of Maggie, crouched low and sobbing inconsolably as she desperately clutched at the asphalt beneath her. Through the blur of barely held back tears in his own eyes, he could see the confusion on Glenn's face as he held onto Maggie, his eyes flickering helplessly between his distraught wife and his sister-in-law.

Suddenly, Maggie's head whipped up from the ground as she felt him stand above her, and her eyes met Daryl's. All at once, Daryl felt the weight of the body in his arms become too much. He recognised the pain in Maggie's eyes; he was suddenly taken back to a time, so long ago now, when another blonde girl stumbled out of a barn as her Mother looked on helplessly. He could still feel Carol shaking in his arms, crouched in the dirt, pain swirling and twisting around their joined bodies, smothering them. Punching holes right through his gut.

The memory brought him harshly to his knees, the impact jarring up his spine and radiating from his skin as it scraped against the harsh concrete beneath him. He let out a silent sob. Before he could register what had happened, Beth was pulled from his arms, and he felt too weak to resist. As the weight was taken from him, a feeling of complete deflation overtook him, and he crumpled forward, his head falling into his hands, arms resting over his thighs as he sat back upon his feet. He could still hear Maggie's sobs, though they were strangely muffled now as she buried her face in her sister's hair.

His fingers tangled in his hair, tugging at it almost painfully as his mind flicked back and forth between this moment and the farm. Sophia's face. Beth's face. They seemed to morph and melt into each other, and all he could focus on was the feeling of complete failure that accompanied the image. He had failed. Again. He always failed. All he had to do was keep an eye on her. He should've kept her safe. He should've known better. He should've done…something. He could feel that his breathing was erratic, and he could feel the moisture pooling just under his closed eyelids. It was all too much.

He felt her approach more than he heard it. Was sure he was imagining it, until her hand gripped him, just where his cut off sleeve met his shoulder. It was suddenly all he could focus on, and the sense of relief was overwhelming. He let out a shaky breath as he calmed. He didn't have to look to know that it was she who stood behind him. He recognised the tender strength in the hand resting gently upon his skin. Opening his eyes, he swiped quickly at the bead of moisture that escaped each one, keeping his head low to the ground.

Refusing to look at the mess of blonde hair tinged with dark red blood just to his left, he lifted himself, pushing himself to his feet. Her hand never left his shoulder as he turned slowly to face her, looking at the ground, knowing that no matter how hard he tried to hide it she would see the devastation in his face. He felt her free hand cup his chin. Lifting his eyes up to hers, he was blown away. Through her own barely held back tears, it seemed like the intensity of her gaze spoke to his very soul. Through the pain and the sadness, the worry and fear that he saw there, he also saw something else. It looked like…hope. Some strange certainty there, as if she was begging him to see that they'd be ok. It was like, without even saying a thing, she was echoing his own words back at him. We ain't dead. We ain't ashes. They'd get through this somehow. But what he felt most, flowing from her entire body and engulfing him, was the sense of absolute togetherness. And for the first time, maybe in his entire life, he felt like he wasn't completely alone.

Her hand lifted from his chin to rest softly upon his cheek. The movement startled him from the tumult of thoughts rooting him to the spot, and he felt an overwhelming need to just be close to her. Without fear or reservation, his head dropped down to her uninjured shoulder as he burrowed his face in her neck, letting out a shaky sigh.

Her injured arm fell upon his waist, curling around his back and pulling him to her as the fingers of her other hand tangled in the hair on the back of his head, holding his face close into her protective embrace. His arms wound themselves tightly around her as he relaxed completely into her touch. He wanted to hold her tighter, to somehow convey how much he needed her in that moment, but he was suddenly reminded of the trauma her body had gone through in the past few days.

Without loosening his hold on her body, he reluctantly lifted his head from her shoulder to look into her eyes, as her hand fell from his hair to rest upon the side of his neck. He saw the bruising above her left eye, and barely healed scabs down her cheek. What other damage was she hiding? Was she in pain?

"Hey, you ok?" he asked her, his voice sounding rough even to his ears.

She smiled sadly at him, blue eyes shining.

"I'm ok," she whispered back.

He nodded, unable to look away as her thumb gently stroked his jaw line, as if she was trying to wipe away the tension there.

"We should move. Before we get surrounded," Rick's voice rang out, breaking the relative silence that had befallen them.

Daryl and Carol broke eye contact, stepping just slightly apart with hands falling to their sides as they watched Tyreese approach. As he passed Daryl, he stopped briefly, placing his hand on Daryl's bicep.

"I can carry her," Tyreese said quietly, eyes falling upon Beth, before meeting Daryl's again. Daryl glanced quickly at Beth, looking away and nodding at Tyreese, unable to look at her limp body any longer.

He heard Tyreese crouch down, lifting Beth's body out of Maggie's hold gently, as Glenn pulled his grieving wife into his arms, lifting her from the hard ground.

Daryl made no attempt to move. His gaze remained on the floor at his feet, body turned towards Carol as he heard the shuffling feet of rest of the group heading out towards the fire truck. After a few moments, Carol squeezed his arm gently where her hand had been resting against his forearm. His eyes snapped up to hers, as if he was suddenly brought out of some distant thought.

"Come on. Time to go," she told him gently. He took a moment to gaze at her eyes, marvelling not for the first time at how much she spoke to him without even opening her mouth. Suddenly feeling shy at the realisation he had been staring, he cleared his throat, eyes falling to his feet before rising back to her face.

"Can you walk?" he asked gruffly.

"Just about," she replied, the barest hint of a smile upon her lips.

He started to turn around as her hand drifted down from his forearm, across his wrist and fell into place entwined with his own. He made no move to resist, as he squeezed her hand lightly. He adjusted his crossbow on his shoulder and turned towards the fire truck, guiding her towards the rest of the group.

He noticed her limping, and turned around in time to see her wince with each movement. He grunted. Stubborn woman never admitted when she needed help. Releasing her left hand from his right and taking it instead in his own left hand, he wrapped his right arm around her shoulders, pulling her into his side and taking some of her weight. She squeezed his hand gratefully, and together they slowly made their way out of the shadow of Grady Memorial Hospital.

Review? Please? Pretty please? xxx