He missed her so much. He curled up in a ball of tears on her bed. His bottle of whiskey was spilling all over the place. His cigarette burned a hole in her blanket. Rick said they had given up. Everyone who didn't make it back was dead. They left Carol. He tried to make it look like he was ok. He hid in their cell. He closed their makeshift door. And he curled up on her side of the bed and forced himself to cry. Well, he didn't have to force too hard. He could smell her on her pillow. It made him want to hold her. But he couldn't.
They were worlds apart.
It was almost dawn. Glenn opened the gate for her. She was exhausted. She was looking forward to hugging Daryl tight.
"You weren't here, but he fell apart"
She looked back at Glenn
"Some of us are scared that he offed himself...we didn't wanna know"
She ran into the prison. Rick stood up, "Carol you're ok?!"
She shoved past him. She ran to her cell. Daryl was collapsed on their bed. She had a panic moment. She sat behind him and tried to see if he was breathing. Then he lightly snored and she was relieved that he was sleeping
She pulled the bottle of whiskey from his hand and closed the bottle. She grabbed the cigarette butt from the blanket and threw it away. He rolled over in his sleep. She pulled his shirt off since he hated sleeping with it on. Then she covered him with the blanket. He winced.
"Wake up, darling" she whispered in his ear. She always woke him up by saying that.
He whimpered and his lip trembled in his sleep. He didn't think she was real. She stroked his hair until he was lulled awake.
"Carol?" he whimpered.
"Baby, relax, I'm ok...and tired, can I go to sleep now, honey?"
He practically lunged at her and hugged her tight. He cried into her shoulder.
"C'mon, love, let's go to bed, we're both tired"
He pulled away from her and kissed her before laying down and pulling her back into his loving arms.