Up was down, and down was up. Left was right, right was left. Everything in his life was backwards and upside down and Daryl only knew one way to make everything right again. He had to find Beth.

"Come on. Nothing's gettin' past that door tonight Daryl." The soft voice called from inside the garage they had pushed the old truck into.

Daryl ran an exhausted hand through his shaggy, greasy, hair. He climbed into the bed of the truck where Carol had set the moldy blankets out for them. Obsessively he prepared for sleep, laid down his bow and unsheathed his knife, curling it into his hand. The hand holding the knife went behind his head and the other went across his eyes.

He listened to Carol prepare for night in a similar fashion.

They laid in silence. Time passed.

"She's not twelve."

Daryl grunted in response to her breath of a whisper. "She ain't some scared little mouse. She's got fight in 'er."

He didn't move, but she did. Carol turned her head and he could feel her gaze fixed on him. He could almost hear her eyes narrow, studying him.

"Daryl…" She dropped off. He waited patiently for her to continue. She moved her head again turning to once again stare at the ceiling. "What makes her any different? She's still a scared little girl."

He flexed his fingers, before slowly removing the arm covering his eyes. He fixed his gaze on Carol, and she turned to study him once more. He knew she was carefully watching, every twitch of his lips, the subtle creasing of his brow, after three years together she knew all his tells.

"If God is real…. If the heavens ever did speak, she's the last, true, mouthpiece." His hand found its way to his mouth as he turned his head back to the ceiling. "I was in a dark place. She pulled me out."

"Daryl, you have to prepare yourself for the possibility that she's not there. She might not even be alive." Carol gently reached up to touch the hand by his lip. Daryl sat up quickly. He propped his elbows onto his spread knees and buried his fingers in his hair.

"She's alive. I know it. Carol, without her, I'm…." His head sank, defeated.

Carol sat herself up, wrapping her arms around his sagging shoulders. "She's out there."

"Course she is. Beth ain't gon' let nobody stop her from getting what she wants." The corners of his mouth just barely, twitched upwards. He shrugged Carol off and went to lie back down.

Carol remained upright, steeling herself. "You know, after what he did to me, I never thought I would be able to trust a man again. I trust you Daryl. With my life I trust you." Carol took a deep breath and reclined herself onto her side, facing him. He cracked an eye open and studied her. "Every day is getting more bleak, a fresh poison each week. Who knows how much longer anyone has in this world." She reached over and laid her hand on top of his. "I don't know what I would have done had you not been there Daryl. Reminding me, even if you were trying your damn hardest to fight it, that there are still good people, good MEN, left." Carol tightened her grip on his hand, before letting go and lifting it to brush the hair off his forehead. She leans in and presses a kiss to his dry lips. "I will always love you for that."

Daryl bowed his head, burying his head in her shoulder, as she again wrapped her arms around him. Minutes pass as they both lose themselves in thought. Finally, he separates them, fixing his gaze on the woman before him once again. "Carol, I can't give what you want."

"I know." She smiles gently, smoothing his hair. "That's not my place in your life. That place, it belongs to her."