(Just another idea I had. Not sure how far I'll go with it and things may seem very OOC because they are all going to be a lot younger here. Hope you guys enjoy. Oh, & Merry Christmas! And Carol's maiden name will be Peletier in this, because I have no idea if they ever gave her a maiden name in the story and I really don't want to make one up.)

Twenty- four year old Carol Peletier ran a hand through her newly cut auburn hair as traveled along I-16 west. It was still a strange feeling to her, having short hair, almost spikey hair. All of her life her hair had been at least shoulder length and it was very wavy. She'd just cut it a few weeks ago.

At the time, she wanted a change. No! She'd needed a change.

Carol had recently broken up with her fiancée, whom she had been with almost two years, after he became physical with her one night. Actually, it was technically the second time he had gotten violent with her. The first time he'd come home angry and drunk and pushed her around because he said their apartment was dirty. He apologized profusely and swore he'd never do it again. She'd forgiven him and believed he'd just made a drunken mistake.

The next time he had gotten angry at her because she decided to buy herself a new car. She'd been driving the same Jeep Grand Cherokee that her parents had bought her in high school ever since she moved to Savannah for college six years ago. It was on its last leg and had left her on the side of the road several times. She'd been a RN for two years now and made good money, honestly she made a lot more money that her fiancee' Ed did. He just worked as a repo man for a furniture company and made $10.00 an hour. So, she had been saving money for a while and decided to buy herself a newer car. She'd fallen in love with a dark blue, six speed Camaro that was only two years old and had one previous owner. She could easily afford the payments on top of their rent, so treated herself and got it.

At the time she assumed Ed would have been happy for her and thought that he'd like the car, too. She couldn't have been more wrong. He'd flown off the handle saying she had no business spending that much money on a car and shouted that she was a stupid bitch. He went on to tell her that she needed to take it back because once they got married and started having kids she would need a much bigger car and that she'd need to quit her job to raise their kids anyway. That had led to a huge argument and she refused to take the car back. He'd slapped her, slapper her so hard that it made the back of her head hit the side of the wall she was standing in front of.

That scared her, it scared the hell out of her! How fast he could lose control and just transform himself into this raging monster. She realized she couldn't marry him after that. She realized it would only get worse from there. She couldn't have kids with someone like that, she'd seen firsthand what it did to people.

So that night when Ed went to sleep she called one of her best friends from high school, Lori, and told her what happened. Lori immediately told her to leave and asked her to move back home.

Home.

A place she had moved away from when she was 18 years old and rarely came back to visit.

Her parents had retired shortly after she started college and sold their house. They ended up buying an RV and hitting the road. They would come visit her in Savannah often but they didn't live in King County anymore.

Her friend Lori, her boyfriend Rick, and their friend Shane had moved to Athens to go to school at University of Georgia. Her friends Glenn and Maggie had gone to Georgia Tech. Michonne and Andrea had moved to Atlanta to attend law school at Emory.

Carol still loved and cared for her friends deeply, but things just changed after high school They each had to go on and purse what was best for their own lives and they all ended up going in different directions.

However, Rick, Lori and Shane were done with college now. Rick and Shane worked in King County as police officers after getting degrees in criminal justice. Lori had gotten a degree in business and had opened up her own little café in town. Glenn had gotten a degree in engineering and was working in town and Maggie had gone into nursing like Carol. Michonne and Andrea were fresh out of law school and trying to make their mark as lawyers in their hometown

Pretty much all of her close friends from high school had returned back to their hometown and reconnected, all except for one anyway.

Daryl hadn't.

Not that she'd heard of anyway.

He had been her best friend since she was 8 years old up until she was 18. He'd moved to Virginia the summer after they graduated to live with his brother older brother, Merle. His brother had been stationed in the military up there and once he got out he landed a good job there. Daryl didn't exactly have the grades to get into college like his friends did and he didn't wanna be stuck in their home town by himself for ever, so he decided to go live with Merle. Besides, he and his dad had a pretty bad relationship and there was no way in hell he wanted to live with the man one second longer than he had to.

Over the years Carol hadn't seen her other friends often, maybe once a year if she was lucky. But Daryl? She hadn't seen Daryl in six long years. Not since the night before he left. And to be honest, part of the reason she didn't' come home often had a lot to do with him. Memories of him and their childhood filled that town, flooding to the forefront of her mind any moment she set foot on King County soil. She couldn't look anywhere without being reminded of him the friendship they once shared. They'd been practically inseparable growing up, where one was the other was right behind.

She really missed him. Even today. She hated herself for it, but she did. She knew she always would. The bond they had, it was one of those rare things you don't come across too often in life.

Sadly, some things can break even the strongest bond.

So Carol avoided that town and she avoided the memories. But after everything with Ed, she knew she couldn't stay in Savannah anymore. She hadn't made too many close friends since moving there. Truthfully, she hadn't let herself get close to many people since she moved away from home, other than Ed anyway. She needed to be somewhere she knew people, somewhere people cared about her. So Maggie had gotten her a job at the local hospital where she worked and Carol was now making the three hour drive from Savannah to King County to go back to the only place that had really ever been her home.