AN: well I've been a little blocked the inspiration for this one shot came from my new little obssesion Outlander. FYI Carol is a hero in this, she saves Daryl. And Daryl is injured from torture. If those are triggers for you...you have been warned. This is darker than my usual.
Let me know what you think :)
I do not own or profit from The Walkkng Dead
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"You can't go on your own Carol"
Carol didn't look up as she continued to pack supplies in her bag. Rick stood behind her a worried look on his face.
"Watch me" she said determinedly as she dragged her boots out of the closet.
"I'll go with you" Rick said determinedly.
Carol sighed and turned to Rick, it was funny how she had expected this. A few months ago she would have doubted Rick, that he would give up, leave ...him...for dead she thought with a catch in her throat.
The safezone had been attacked, and the resulting chaos was unorganized chaos. They'd heard rumours, for months about a group terrorizing camps, leaving a bloody trail behind them, and a mad man who was their leader; Neagan.
Horrified survivors of other camps had started seeking refuge in the safe zone. Tales of Neagan began to take on a boogie man effect. They hadn't been prepared.
Deanna had her head in the clouds, the loss of her son and husband made her apathetic to the world. She'd been convinced without a doubt they were safe behind the wall, she had been wrong.
The safezone had fought of Neagan's group, and the herd he'd released but at a heavy price. Glenn was seriously injured as was Rosita and Carl...and Daryl was gone.
Carol squeezed her fist together remembering that moment in her mind, she and Rick and Abraham and Sasha had been making their way to a group cornered by the infirmary. She'd been too far away when she'd seen it happen before her very eyes.
A group of the safezone inhabitants overrun Daryl among them their arms bound behind their backs as Neagan had pushed them down to their knees. She knew what came next, the stories were horrific, Rick had held her back they were looking for a way through the herd.
Neagan had swung his bat at his first victim, the noise of the bat reverberating of the skull and tearing flesh had sickened her even from that distance, and she showed a momentary lapse of strength hiding her face in Rick's shoulder, as he restrained her.
Two more men were executed the same way as the group watched in impotent horror. Daryl was the last of the row, the last one in the line. Her eyes scanned the area desperately seeking some way through the herd and fighting which seperated them.
"Don't look Carol" Rick had said but just as she hadn't been able to keep her eyes away from Sophia that day at the barn, she couldn't tear her eyes away. He didn't deserve to die alone, even if he didn't realize she was with him.
His head raised then and he stared in her direction. She had a feeling like he saw her, like he knew she was there. A slight smirk creased his lips and he closed his eyes. Waiting for what was to come.
Neagan had lifted the bat and swung downward. Missing Daryl's head by a fraction of an inch. She watched as Neagan tore what was remaining of Daryl's shirt off, and ran his fingers across what she knew to be Daryl's scars. An evil grin had passed over his face and Daryl had been thrown into a waiting truck as Neagan's group retreated taking Daryl with them.
Rick had loosened his hold on her when she struggled, leaning over she'd vommited on the ground beside her.
It had taken a day to clear the rest of the walkers. The safezone residents still victim to her undercover routine had been shocked at the ferocity and determination she had showed to get it done quickly.
She hadn't slept, she needed to go before the trail went cold, she was leaving and Rick wasn't coming with her.
"Rick you need to stay here, and protect these people, they need you... And Carl needs you." She said.
Rick had stood in the doorway his eyes glassy with tears he wasn't quite able to shed "I can't let you go alone...he..he would never forgive me."
She smiled at Rick cupping his cheek "he'd never forgive you if you left Jude and Carl right now." She said.
"I know you would come...but right now you can't, Glenn can't either and Maggie's pregnant, Abraham is an emotional mess over Rosita and I don't trust Sasha's state of mind right now. It has to be me...can't you see that? " she said
"I'll go with you" Carol turned watching Michonne walk up the hallway.. "You won't be alone" Michonne finished.
She'd nodded at Michonne and smiled "Thank You."
In the end Aaron had joined them as well. Eric hadn't survived the attack on the safezone sadly. Carol had grown to like Eric and his sweet nature, she pulled Aaron aside when he offered to remind him that this was not a suicide mission and he smiled and nodded simply saying "he would do it for me."
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
So the unlikely three had departed the safezone, using Carol's and Michonne's limited tracking knowledge to track Neagan's movements. The mad men ran with a large entourage ...it wasn't hard.
"You need to tell him" Michonne said two nights later as they made camp in a old abandoned house.
"What?" Carol asked
Michonne rolled to her side a serious expression on her face. "You need to tell Daryl how you feel...when we find him. You can't hide it anymore, look what you're doing for him...you need to tell him." She said.
She was silent for a long moment. Michonne was right, she needed to tell him that she loved him, she had for so long. She was willing to go to the ends of the earth, to face any odds and there had never been the slightest hesitation. She loved him. The realization caught her breath in her throat and made her heart ache. She was stupid or in denial, never thinking it could be a possibility for them, she had wasted so much time.
"What if he doesn't feel the same way?" She whispered her voice catching on the tears in her throat.
"He does" Aaron responded from his spot at the window his head against the glass.
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
They'd found Neagan's group the next day.
A long rambling caravan of prisoners and walkers seemed to follow his group wherever they went. It was too large of a group to be discreet. Even from a distance as they observed his group it was easy to see the cockiness that surronded his men. They didn't care if they were discreet, they didn't think they had too.
Their current camp was an old school, a fenced in area housing a herd of walkers they used as the most effective weapon they had.
They had prisoners, hopeless faced women mostly who seemed to have lost their will to live. Slaves only to the him of Neagan and his men.
They were celebrating that night, what Carol wasn't sure, but liquor was flowing freely and it seemed as though in the darkness it just might be their chance. To slip in unnoticed. It was the only option they could come up with.
From what they could tell the prisoners where being held in the basement and furnace room. It was easy to slip past the drunken celebrators and make their way down to the basement. I quick check revealed that the prisoners weren't even guarded.
They eased their way through the masses of bodies huddled on the floor, freeing those they could, most stared at them blankly.
"Daryl" Carol whispered desperately.
An older man spoke up "They took someone named Daryl up to the gym...that's where Neagan...likes to play."
"Play?" Carol asked a feeling of dread passing through her.
"I don't envy your friend"
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Michonne and Aaron lead those they were able to free out the back way and were going to meet her by the gym.
"Do not go in there by yourself" Michonne had warned.
She made her way to the gym, peering in the darkened doorway. The stench practically knocking off her feet.
The gym was empty other than a lump down at the end of the gym. Her heart did a turn in her chest as she saw the lump moan rolling over onto his side.
Daryl.
She rushed down to his side, pulling his head up on to her lap.
"Daryl" she whispered brushing the hair away from his face. "Daryl" she said more loudly hoping to wake him.
His eyes fluttered open, he was so pale and lifeless. Where was all of this blood coming from? She thought frantically as she checked his limbs for injuries. He gasped out in pain as she touched his back. She moved his shirt over to find he back a raw mess of welts.
"Jesus Christ" she murmured her breath shocked. "What did they do to you?"
"You shouldn't be here" he whispered suddenly "why are you here..? " his voice sounded panicked as she put her water bottle to his lips.
"We came to find you. Of course we should be here." Carol said
"No..I saw you...you were ok, you were safe...this was ok because you were safe...you have to get out of here, he'll be back soon." Daryl muttered as she stuck her knife in the lock restraining his leg.
"Carol...you need to listen to me.." He said suddenly alert "There's no time..you have to go."
"Well what do we have here?"
Shit.
She'd been so focused on freeing from the lock, that she hadn't watched her back.
She stood turning her knife at her side meeting a large balding man. He looked like one of Ed's balding fat friends. An assehole, she'd had plenty of experience with those. He was intimidating in an asshole type of way, she rolled her eyes at the bat wrapped in barbed wire. That was something Ed would do.
"I'm hurt...you don't like Lucille?" He muttered twirling the bat in his grip. "She had a real ball tearing up the back of your friend there..." He flicked something of one of the barbs "hmm think that was a piece of him there." He said with a grin.
"Yeah well seems to me Lucille is a real bitch, I'm going to enjoy throwing her in the fire when this is done." She muttered. Think, she though he was bigger than her but obviously drunk. It was the first time she had some large drunken assehole swinging things at her. Ed had preffered chairs or the broom, never a bat, but it would still knock him off balance.
Neagan cackled with laughter "I like you, ...you must be the redneck's women, he can take a lot of pain, can't he? He's been fun to break...just like you will be."
"What information could you possibly want from Daryl?" She asked in disgust.
"Nothing,..I saw the redneck's scars and I thought..now there is a man who can take pain, I wonder what it would take to break him...and I like to break things." He smiled an evil glare in his eyes.
She kept her back to Daryl, as he approached her slowly. An ebb of fear bubbled up into her stomach as memories of Ed floated through her mind.
When he lunged, he was surprisingly quick. Not as drunk as she thought. She was able to duck several swings, and swiped out with her foot, knocking him off his feet. Her knife at his throat she looked at him coldly.
"Your nothing but another assehole"
The sound of a gun clicking had her looking up, at three arm guards pointing there guns down at her. Suddenly she was flipped over, Neagan glaring down at her, "That may be so sweetheart but this assehole always wins." He said lowering his gaze leering down at her exposed cleavage.
"Let her go...and I'll do whatever you want..I'll beg...just let her go."
Daryl's voice rang out weakly from the floor.
Neagan turned with a grin "really...so seems I found your weakness, why should I let her go?."
"Because, I won't give you what you want, unless I know she's safe, that's all that matters to me." Daryl said his voice barely a whisper.
"Daryl...NO!" She cried.
"I need to know you're safe, that is all that matters to me, I love you Carol, you need to go." He whispered staring at her intently.
"No..no..no" she screamed as Neagan hauled her off the floor.
"Deal...boys take her out to the woods...and let her go." Neagan said his focus no longer on her.
She fought and screamed, and kicked, as the three lead her out to the door. "NO!" They opened the side door leading outside the school, and they were suddenly faced with a large herd, which had been released from the pens.
The guards suddenly dropped, bullet holes to the head, and she saw Neagan exiting the side door to see what the commotion was about.
He was cornered, drawn down, the side of the school, more than fifty walkers following him. The sound of his bat tearing into the flesh of the walkers, was soon drowned out as they pulled him under in a feeding frenzy.
The swoosh of a familiar sword cutting through the air snapped her out of her fog as she and Michonne raced for the gym
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Daryl was asleep on his stomach, the best he could manage it in the car, his head on her lap. He hadn't woken up after they found him in the gym, it had taken everything they had to fight their way or carrying him.
His breathing was fast and shallow, and she had peeled his shirt off of him to find his back a horrific mess. He had screamed once in his unconsciousness, when they had placed him on his back. She clung to him with all she had. The drive would take hours, she wouldn't sleep, she'd make sure he didn't roll.
She shivered at what he'd been willing to do, for her. To make sure she was safe.
He murmured her name, over and over in his sleep, like a prayer, like a happy memory, as she brushed his hair away from his temples.
"I love you too" she whispered
Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Two weeks later
He was an angry, angrier than she'd ever seen, lying flat on his stomach his back exposed to the world, like a wounded animal he seemed to snarl at anyone who came near him.
He hadn't spoken to Rick in days, she knew he was mad that Rick had let her go after him at all.
She devoted the last two weeks to him, gritting her teeth when he was rude, trying to remember what he had gone through.
The last night had been rough, they had argued she wasn't even sure why. She needed an hour to herself so when Michonne had said to sleep in she'd take him his breakfast she had accepted, then woke in a panic, what if he needed her?
She trailed to his room, opening the door to find him sitting up, his back to the door, the scaring was brutal...but he was alive, they were proof he had lived. She could weep in relief everytime she saw them.
"You came back" he muttered knowing it was her.
"Of course" she said softly. The house was eerily queit as the rest of the group had departed for the day.
"Why" his voice cracked as he said, like it got stuck in his throat. So they were finally addressing it...the elephant in the room. They hadn't spoken of his deceleration it had been avoided at all costs.
"Because I love you too" she whispered.
His head bowed, like he couldn't fathom such a deceleration. She walked around to stand in front of him at the bed. Her arms coming lightly around his shoulders careful not to hurt his back. She suddenly found herself enclosed in his grasp, as he clung to her tightly.
"I want..." He muttered
"What do you want?" She whispered
"Fuck, I want to make love to you until I forget everything, I want to hold you, I want to curl up and cry...I don't know what I want." He said with a half laugh half snort.
"That's okay...we have time, and we are alive."
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Two weeks later
He healed like she knew he would, quickly. It wasn't easy though, she learned his rhythms of when he was in pain, or not feeling well, or haunted by nightmares.
She'd taken to sleeping in the same room, in the same bed. Things hadn't progressed to the point of intimacy, he wasn't able yet, but they held each other at night and he started to chase away her nightmares too.
The house was queit again, it was nightime and the group was at welcoming party. The first one since the attack.
She padded into the bedroom surprised to find him waiting for her a bright flush crossing his face.
"Why Pookie you look like you are up to something." She said with a grin and felt her heart construct in her chest at the bashful look he sent her.
He bit his lip "The power and the water is working...I think that big jacuzzi tub is calling our name" he said blushing as he mumbled it out.
One benefit of living in these luxury homes she thought.
She tilted her head with a grin "I think your right"
The moonlight was streaming inti the bathroom, they left the lights off, it was bright enough as the jets came to life.
He was sitting in only his jeans on the side of the tub, watching her awkwardly.
She lifted her shirt up and over her head without a second thought. This was Daryl...she had no hesitation.
He watched her undress like he was transfixed, hypnotized. She saw more longing in his eyes then she'd ever seen.
She took off her pants and underwear smiled at the way he'd hissed fuck under his breath.
"Do you need help?" She asked walking over to him naked, totally unashamed.
He nodded a wicked grin filtering through his face as he slowly stood. She found the button of his pants sliding the zipper down, tantalizing him as she brushed her fingertips past his erection. Figures she thought with a grin no underwear.
Carol peeled his pants down his legs, slowly, leaning down nuzzling and nipping at him when she went, before slowly standing up. He drew her into him then. His face in her neck as he ran his fingers up her back. Hugging her close his hands on her back arousing her more than she's been in her life.
He leaned back, and smiled "ladies first" he said nodding to the tub.
"Well I hope"so she said with a grin.
He settled against an incline in the tub, and crooked his finger at her, as she made her way to him.
They'd kissed, several times but it hadn't gone further than that. She settled on to his lap as he kissed her, and it felt like the most natural thing in the world to grasp his erection in the water and bring it to her core. He groaned as he pushed his way into her body. The feeling of being complete hit her full force.
The water lapped gently, he stared at her the entire time, as it seemed to go on forever. It was slow out of necessity because he was still healing, but it was sweet because that's what they were to each other. The object of affection, a miracle to be treasured as the water and the heat lapped around them.
She could feel it lifting off her this weight on her shoulders as they rested afterward still connected. He had proven her wrong. You could still save people. They saved each other.