She stood in the shadows, shifting from foot to foot as she hesitated. The adrenaline of the last few hours was wearing off, leaving her light-headed; the combination of that with her own nervousness created a tumult within her. Her eyes drank them in, a balm to her soul; and yet she couldn't quite bring herself to announce her presence. Holding off – even for a minute – was one more minute she could pretend that nothing had changed.
But everything HAD changed. The horrors she'd seen inside Terminus; the terror she experienced while on the road alone; the weight of Lizzie and Mika on her soul – the Carol that waited beneath the leaves was far removed from the Carol that had left the prison that last fateful day. And even that Carol was a new one, born from the adversity of the last year. Honestly, she was re-born the night that Ed died; again when Sophia walked out of that dreadful barn; and once more when Daryl found her fading away in the Tombs. Now, standing here, she crawled from the cocoon of her ordeal and watched the group begin to settle together.
No more than ten paces away, Daryl stood with his head down, not quite believing it was over. He thought this was what it must feel like to ride a roller-coaster [for he never had]; the highs of finding common ground with Beth and reuniting with Rick, Carl, and Michonne in time to save them – contrasted with the lows of losing Beth, the hell he'd endured while traveling with the nomads, and the helplessness that almost consumed him in the train car; and now he was flying again. Never one for small talk and camaraderie, he shifted to move further into the woods when a flash of movement caught his eye.
Not an animal, not an enemy…but her. His eyes blinked in disbelief for a moment, his brain not quite believing what he saw – but his body was already in motion, crashing through the brush to capture her in his arms. She went willingly into his embrace, returning his fierce clutch with one of her own. He couldn't hold her tight enough, couldn't get close enough; and for a moment, he staggered backwards as he lifted her to him.
Caught in his powerful arms, Carol gave herself one moment, then another, to simply soak up his enthusiastic joy. She laughed to herself as Daryl desperately clung to her, but she couldn't keep herself from watching the rest of the group and trying to gauge their reactions. She felt his grasp loosen and looked back to Daryl, only to see the normally recalcitrant hunter's face fill with emotion. He dropped his face to her shoulder, and simply wept.
There were no words.