A/N: Hello you beautiful wonderful lovely people!

I am in a VERY good mood today. Why? Because this story is practically writing itself and it's brilliant. I can't even honestly take credit for this thing anymore. I swear an unearthly creature is controlling my hands right now to type this thing and I am merely its pawn. Considering I had intense writers block not a week ago and was convinced I was never going to write anything worth reading every again, I am thrilled and shocked beyond measure, so I'm just gonna go with it!

The idea was something I noticed posted on Tumblr (aka the time sucking vortex I spend my life curled up in) by adelicateflower08 who suggested the idea of our duo curled up together in a cabin beside a fire while lying on a bearskin rug doing all sorts of dastardly deeds. Considering the ridiculous drop in temperature this past week throughout most of the US, I was holed up inside for nearly three days (as I'm sure many of you were) and started contemplating just what this whole scenario would look like and how one would go about describing it in words. The next thing I knew, it had practically written itself, and I was happily running outside into the negative wind chills to cool myself off;-)

So some of you had a very short glimpse of this already, and I think it peaked some interests (no pun intended…no I totally lied, pun intended) so I can't wait to see what the rest of you think of it. Also, a HUGE shout out to my girl Oohhshiny for letting me use her beautiful artwork as the image for my story. From the minute I saw it I seriously thought she had crawled up into my brain and picked this moment out from the story because it was perfect. Make sure to check out her other amazing art if you can too...okay that's all for now! LLACO!

Disclaimer: I own nothing affiliated with The Walking Dead, and I'm still convinced this thing wrote itself.

WDWDWDWDWDWDWDWDWD

Melting Into You

Carol couldn't believe it. She had once thought that witnessing the catastrophic events that wiped out nearly every person on the planet would have been the worst thing she would ever experience in her life, but apparently Mother Nature had an even sicker sense of humor. It was the only thing that could explain what was currently happening to her. Granted, it was January and the weather should have been less than tolerable, but she could count on one hand the amount of times that she'd ever seen a snow storm this bad in the state of Georgia. It had come out of nowhere and had probably already dropped at least a three inches snow in the matter of thirty minutes. If the apocalypse truly hadn't come yet, she really didn't want to stick around to see what else was in store.

It wouldn't have been as big a deal if it wasn't for the fact that she wasn't sitting comfortably in her cell at the prison watching it fall out the window. Instead, she was on the back of a motorcycle driving directly into the worst storm she'd ever seen. It wouldn't have been quite as bad if was sitting in one of the trucks instead…at least she wouldn't have been so wet and miserable. The only reason she was still holding it together at all was because she was with the only other person from the group that she knew would be able to handle something this monumental, and he hadn't started to panic yet…but if he did, they were both screwed.

"Daryl, this is insane!" She yelled into his ear as she clung to his waist with frozen fingers. "We need to stop and find shelter until it passes! We're going to wipe out and get ourselves killed!"

"I know!" He yelled back, snow whipping in his face. "I'm lookin' for a place! Keep your eyes peeled!"

That morning when he had asked her to go out for a quick run with him to look for some more baby supplies for Judith, neither one of them had expected anything this bad. It had been a bit on the chilly side, but Daryl still thought that they could get there and back quicker on the bike. The trip had taken them over the county line, but they were still probably a good hour away from the prison. They'd take off the minute he'd seen the snow coming, but the further they drove the worse it got. The roads were too warm to freeze up at first, but now it was getting dicey. He was going a lot slower than he normally would, trying to make sure that if they did slip and go down, it would instantly kill them both. She was trying to be his lookout, but the snow was pelting her in the face so much that it was hard to see much of anything. They continued up the back road, trying to be cautious of any major dips or turns that might be coming. Carol was still trying to look out onto the horizon when she felt the bike stutter below her.

"Shit!" Daryl laid off the gas and immediately began to brake. "Come on baby, don't do this!"

"What's wrong?"

"It's freezin' up!" He said, trying to control the steering. "It's not use to this kinda weather! Snow prolly got in the tailpipe or somethin'!"

"What does that mean?!"

The bike came to a rolling stop just a few yards up the road and sputtered before going dead. He hit the kickstand and twisted around so that he was looking back at her. "It means we walk from here."

"Shit."

"Yeah…shit." He got up off the bike, turning to help her get off as well. "You see anything while we were drivin'?"

Carol brushed the snow off the bottom half of her legs. "It was hard to see anything at all, but I think there was a house up in the woods about half a mile back."

"We'll give it a shot." He said, grabbing his crossbow and gesturing for her to follow. "Let's go."

They trudged their way up the road, both wet and nearly frozen through. It felt like it was taking forever just to go ahead a few steps with the way the wind was blowing around. The snow on the sides of the road was already starting to pile up pretty good, making walking even more difficult. Carol was thankful she had worn her extra thick socks and her Doc Marten boots because her feet were about the only thing on her that weren't wet at the moment. She had, however, wished she'd worn a hat. The ice was dripping down her neck and making her even colder. She shivered violently, trying to shake the snow back off again. Daryl turned back, noticing how pathetic she looked.

"We're almost there." He pointed up the hill. "I see it now."

They finally made it to the sloping driveway just below where the house was perched. Because of the angle, it was extremely treacherous and Daryl was doing his best to find his footing before making any sudden moves. He told her to walk in his footsteps so that she didn't slip, but there were still a few hairy moments where he almost had to catch her from falling back down the hill. By the time they got up to the doorway, Carol was immensely relieved. The house looked fairly old but still in decent shape. None of the windows were broken, and most of the outside looked fairly untouched. She could see a chimney sticking up from the side and a pile of wood stacked up just on the side of the house.

"There's a fireplace." She breathed. "Thank god."

It took Daryl a minute or two to get the door open because it had been nailed shut from the outside. He pulled the planks out easy enough, but the door hadn't been opened in so long that it was now frozen shut. After some gentle prodding, followed by a few large kicks on Daryl's end, they made it inside. The house was pretty dark, but they both had flashlights and Daryl had his crossbow aimed and ready to take down anything that might've come at them. Everything was covered in thick dust, signaling that no one had been there for some time. The floors were wooden and creaked loudly as they walked along the floor into the hallway, trying to keep an eye on the corners and doorways in case something unexpected might surface. They circled the entire first floor, surprised to find no stragglers.

"Looks pretty good down here." Daryl said, pointing his flashlight back at her. "I'm gonna go check upstairs. Go and see if there's any wood in the fireplace and bring maybe bring some in from outside. If it's soaked through we're gonna need ta let em dry out." He threw her his trusty lighter. "If ya can get it goin', use this."

"Okay." She turned to walk away but turned back. "Just be careful. If you run into trouble, you call me."

"I'll be fine."

"I mean it Daryl."

He rolled his eyes at her before heading for the staircase. "Yes mom."

Carol sighed and headed for the door. Under normal circumstances she would've smacked him for being stubborn, but she was pretty sure that if she attempted to hit anything right now, one of her fingers might just break off in the process.

Going back out into the cold to grab firewood was even more annoying than Daryl's comment, but she tried to do it as quickly as she could, grabbing as many logs as possible before her hands started screaming from the cold, then ran back in slamming the door behind her. Daryl hadn't made any noise from upstairs that she could hear, so she made her way into the large living room and went directly over to the fireplace to see what kind of situation they had. By some divine miracle, there were already two partially used logs on the hearth. It would at least get things going until they could dry out some of the other pieces better.

Carol quickly cleared off the ashes from the previous fire and checked the damper, then began looking around for something she could use as kindling. The twigs and leaves from outside would never work but if she could find some newspaper that would be idea. Looking around, she managed to find an old yellow pages book and started ripping out the pages, crumpling them up and placing them on the grate. Pulling the lighter back out, she lit the papers, waiting until they started to catch onto the logs before opening the damper again. She was just standing up again to go look for Daryl when he came walking into the room. He had a bundle of blankets and towels in his hands.

"How'd it go?"

"Not too bad." He said, putting them down on a chair and setting his crossbow on the table next to it. "Only found one holed up in a bedroom. Old lady…looked like she'd been there for a while. Prolly died in there and turned."

Carol frowned. "Poor thing. Probably didn't have anyone else."

"She's one of the lucky ones if ya ask me." He kicked off his boots and handed her a towel. "We gotta get outta these clothes and get warm. You get to check out the food situation?"

"No, I just got the fire started. You want me to go look?"

He rubbed the towel across his head, making his hair go in every direction. "I'll do it. Just stay here and get warm."

Carol obeyed, running the towel over her own wet head. Luckily her hair wouldn't take long to get dry, but she could already feel it starting to curl up at the end, which drove her crazy. She chuckled, remembering the days when she'd had long curly hair down to her shoulders. It had always been such a pain to try and tame, so one day she'd just come home and cut it all off. Ed had been furious, but it'd had it incentives too. He couldn't grab her by the hair anymore when he got angry, and he was careful not to hit her in the face because it would be too noticeable without anything to hide it behind. After consideration, a bit of curling around the nape seemed like a small price to pay. Hell, maybe she'd even let it grow out again now that she didn't have to worry about anybody hitting her. None of the people at the prison had ever seen her with long hair before. It would be a shock to them for sure.

"Not much luck on the food front." Daryl's voice cut through her thoughts as he came walking back into the room, holding up a bottle. "But I did find something just as good if not better."

Carol gasped in surprise. "Wine? Where did you find that?"

"Top shelf in the kitchen. It was hidden behind some other things." He gently tossed it from one hand to the other. "Guess they forgot it was there and no one else found it."

"What kind is it?"

He squinted, trying to read the fancy writing on the dusty label. "I can't even pronounce it."

She grabbed the bottle out of his hands. "Oh wow…it's Akhasheni. That's very good wine."

"Never heard of it."

"It's grown locally in the state." She said, remembering her visit to a vineyard years before with Ed on one of the only romantic getaways they ever took. "Georgia is one of the oldest wine producing regions in the world. They say that it actually dates back to Neolithic times."

"Swell." Daryl grabbed it back, ripping the foil from the top. "Now how do we get the bastard open?"

"You didn't check for a corkscrew?"

"Didn't get that far." He admitted. "Just saw the bottle and came back."

Carol rolled her eyes. "You stay here this time and I'll go look for one."

He walked over to the fireplace while she went in the other direction and headed for the kitchen. Truthfully, it was probably the only room in the house that looked like it might have been trashed. The back door hadn't been nailed shut like the front had, so it was partially bent in from where someone had tried to knock it down. The cabinets had definitely been raided, and most of the dishes and silverware were gone or smashed as well. Carol walked around carefully, making sure she didn't step on anything that could pierce the soles of her boots. After a few minutes of searching the drawers, she found exactly what she had been looking for. She made her way back to the living room, but was more than surprised by what she saw when she got there.

"I found one but I- OH!" Her eyes widened at the site in front of her. "Sorry…should I leave?"

"What?" Daryl, who was standing in front of her clad only in a worn wife beater and low-riding ripped up jeans, seemed confused by her statement. "Just airing it out the wet stuff in front of the fire so it gets dry quicker. You should do the same."

Trying her best to keep a calm appearance, she walked over and handed him the corkscrew. "We're gonna have to drink out of the bottle. Hope that's okay."

"Works for me." He pulled the cork out and took a long swig before handing it back to her. "Here. It'll help warm you up quicker."

Carol took a long swig as well, marveling at the fact that she was probably drinking the last bottle of this particular wine left on the planet. It had a slight tartness but it was smooth and flowed down the back of her throat like velvet. She could taste a hint of a chocolate tone as well. It was wonderful.

"All right woman, start strippin'."

Her throat immediately constricted, causing her to choke loudly on the last gulp of the liquid. "E-excuse me?"

"Clothes…get the wet ones off before you catch a cold."

Carol had to remind herself that he wasn't trying to be sexual and that it was merely concern for her health, but hearing those words come out of his mouth directed at her were affecting her body more than she would've liked to admit. She handed him back the bottle and began to remove the outer layers she was wearing, amazed at how much of it had been soaked through by the snow despite being protected by his back for most of the ride. After removing her jacket and scarf, she also removed her sweater and a lightweight knit shirt underneath it, leaving her in just a double layer camisole and her bra. As soon as the cold air hit her skin, she immediately regretted it, but it was either that or be wet and cold. She also kept on her socks and her cargo pants, which she refused to take off in front of him despite being frozen at the bottom from walking through the snow. Daryl reached over and grabbed a blanket off the chair, handing it to her to wrap around herself so she didn't get more chilled.

"Grabbed the cushions off the sofa and put 'em in front of the fireplace to sit on." Daryl announced, grabbing his own blanket. "Figured we'd get warmer down lower to the ground. That okay?"

"It's fine." She walked over and plopped herself down on one of the larger cushions, seeing he'd also brought over some smaller ones as well. "I just want to be able to feel my fingers and toes again."

Daryl sat down on the cushion next to her, reaching out his hand to hers. "I can help with that if ya want. Just gotta scoot over a little."

Carol had no idea what he had in mind, but she wasn't going to argue if it would help her get warmer. She inched over closer to him until the sides of their legs were touching and he turned her shoulders towards him, grabbing her hands in his. Carol felt her heart flutter slightly at the idea of being this close to him. She and Daryl had touched plenty, there was no denying that. In fact, he was usually the first to instigate it, but somehow this felt entirely different. It might have been strictly survival in his mind, but she was having a hard time trying to convince her brain that this was all it really was.

It got even harder when he took her hands and sandwiched them between his own, bringing them up to his mouth. Her eyes widened as she felt his warm breath blowing gently against her raw skin, trying to return their normal sensation. He did this a few times before pulling them back again and rubbing them vigorously between his own, trying to stimulate circulation. He even went so far as to do each individual finger and knuckle almost like he was giving her a mini hand massage. He brought them back up to his mouth once more, blowing more heated air on them before placing them back in her lap.

"There, can you feel 'em again?"

"Yes…thank you." She was feeling a lot more than her fingers now. "You didn't have to get so elaborate just for me, but it was nice."

He looked over at her again, giving her one of his rare but precious side grins. "Can't be gettin' blamed for lettin' your fingers fall off now can I?"

"No, that wouldn't be good at all." She laughed, turning her face back to the now growing fire. It looked like he had added some more wood while she had been gone as well. "Oh, is that from outside?"

"Yeah. The one wasn't too bad so I threw it on top. Should be all right for now but the rest need to air out." He let the blanket fall around him as he got up, going over to where his boots and crossbow sat on the other side of the room. "I'm gonna go check and see if there's anything else we can use from down in the cellar. Maybe there's some food down there."

Carol turned around to look at him. "You can't possibly be warm yet. Why don't you just stay here for a few minutes before you start tromping all over the place and get pneumonia."

He blew a razz at her, once again not thinking about common sense or his own health. "I'll be back in a minute. Don't get your panties in a bunch."

"They're already in a bunch." She snipped, feeling feisty. "They're frozen to my backside right now. You wanna help me with that too?"

It was hard to miss the look of surprise that crossed his face, but Carol basked in its glow. She waited, hoping he might have a witty comment to throw back at her but he simply grabbed his crossbow and flashlight, looked back once quickly and walked out of the room.

Dammit...he was harder to crack than she'd ever anticipated.

A/N: Considering the people reading this story probably aren't experts on the subject of motorcycles and lighting fires (although there may be some winos out there I'll admit) I hope no one finds any major gaping holes in my theories on these subjects. I honestly have no idea if motorcycles can freeze up like that, but for the sake of needing to make the characters stop and find shelter, I say they can. I looked up how to light a fire because I've honestly never done it, and as for the wine stuff, that's all supposedly true based off of what I read about vineyards in Georgia and their origins. If you don't believe me, google it;-)

The next chapter will be from Daryl's POV…I know you're all wondering just exactly what our boy is thinking of this whole situation, so you're gonna get it. Man, I love delving into that man's mind…yes that sounded naughty, and no I'm not taking it back (hehe)

Okay…off to the writing cave! *whooshes away*