Undefined

A/N: Hello all! Here is my contribution to, what I'm sure will be, a rash of fics covering the Caryl reunion. Best TV moment ever, by the way! I don't own anything pertaining to The Walking Dead. Hope you enjoy!

Carol is preternaturally quiet as she watches them. A group of her friends – her family- and a few strangers gathered around a bag of buried weapons. She can hear the unrestrained violence in Rick's voice and the weariness in Maggie's.

Terminus is burning. Carol doesn't regret that. She doesn't regret killing them. She doesn't regret using the walkers as weapons as humans. Instead it fills her with an empty satisfaction. They will never hurt anyone like that again. Another thought, one that warms the hollowness within her, is that she has protected the people she loves. They are alive, when she had been sure they were lost forever. Maybe that's enough. She could leave. She could tell Tyrese where they are and send him with Judith to meet them. She wouldn't have to say goodbye again. She wouldn't have to hear Rick send her away from her family again.

She looks for Daryl, sees his back facing her. She had been terrified when she had found the crossbow in the Terminus inventory. Terrified that they had killed him. That she was too late. Without a second thought she had collected the weapon, intent on returning it to its living owner. Now her hope is rewarded as she watches him and he is real and he is alive. He is right there, standing in front of her. The wings on his vest flex as if they are a part of him. She knows exactly what the material of that vest would feel like under her fingers. She knows what the cloth would smell like if she leaned her head against his shoulder. And she aches for his arm around her shoulder, she aches to make him duck his head and blush, just a bit, from her words alone. It doesn't matter why. Love is there, and does not need to be defined.

Love is there. Or it was. The thought that has haunted her since leaving the prison strikes again. Perhaps he will hate her now. She thinks perhaps she deserves it, her own inner voice whispering "Murderer." In a corner of her mind Carol can see it. His face twisted in betrayal. His hands clenched. His voice raised. Even the mental image sends a punch to her gut. She can't lose him too. It was why she had hesitated before returning to the prison, only returning in time to follow Tyrese and the girls. That is the thought that presses her forward, she had hesitated once and regretted it.

She takes in the scene and processes her thoughts in seconds, adrenaline still present in her veins. And so she moves forwards towards the group, wondering if it will be a welcome reception, or a harsh dismissal. Knowing that, at the very least, she can reunite Judith with Carl and Rick and bring Sasha to Tyrese.

Leafs crunch as she crushes them underfoot. She takes a few more determined steps forward, towards judgment or welcome she doesn't know. Those steps feel like confession. They are as loud to her as a plea for forgiveness.

Daryl hears her first. Of course he does. His instincts refined as they are from hunting and tracking. She sees the moment when he realizes it is her. The moment when his lips part slightly. His hand falling from the tree trunk. She wants to move towards him, and takes a step. Then another. Suddenly so, so tired.

She doesn't expect what happens next. Moments are snapshots in her mind as he runs towards her. His arms reaching out without question, fear, or doubt. And then they are around her and she is lifted into the air, her head spinning from unexpected happiness. Carol knows this man, she knows how much it costs him to reach out, knowing his every touch is doled out with care. When he embraces her she comprehends exactly what that means. When his hand lifts to tangle in her short hair tears fill her eyes and a breathy mix of a sob and a laugh falls from her lips. The rest of the group falls away. She is safe here. Safer than she's ever felt before in her life.

She wants to see his face, she wants to see that he is okay. That he is whole. So she pulls away slightly, standing there in front of him, her hand pressed to his shoulder, connecting them still.

It's a long moment. The moment their eyes meet. She had not expected this, something in him has broken open and she can see it laid bare there before her. When he cannot step away from her, when he moves close once more and his head falls against her heart it is a benediction, a prayer. She doesn't want to let him go. But she has too, this much emotion displayed in front of so many people will hurt Daryl later. She cannot let him break in front of them. Some part of her acknowledges that even as she sees Rick approaching behind Daryl. It is time for her to face Rick's judgment once more. So she presses her hands to Daryl's face. Lifting his head, resisting the urge to kiss his cheek as she had done once in a farmhouse, so long ago. She feels wetness on her face, and wipes away her tears.

Standing before Rick she doesn't know what will happen. He is her judge, her jury, but she wants him to be her friend. Daryl shifts slightly, rocking on his feet and she can read his anxiety.

Rick looks at her as though seeing her for the first time, his gaze filled with a profound sort of wonderment. As if they hadn't survived so much together already. "Did you do that?" Terminus. Walkers. Saving them. Eventually she nods. His arms open. Her sins may not have been forgotten but in this moment she is forgiven.