AN: Caryl fic; I've shipped this for a while, but haven't tried to write a strictly Caryl fic before. The title comes from a quote from Mary Wollstonecraft; "Taught from infancy that beauty is woman's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison."

It felt like a slap to the face, even though she hadn't been physically touched. She had enough of that in her life from before, and wouldn't stand for it ever again. The emotional hurts were worse in some ways because to even show that they had injured you gave them power, so those hurts had to be carefully hidden away. Carol kept her face blank, and stood at ease, waiting for the couple to pass so she could move again, hopefully before they saw she had been there.

The people from Woodbury had been innocent of most of the things that their Governor had done. Most hadn't a clue what he was doing at all, though the ones who died on the road were proof for how much that had helped them. Not at all. The Governor didn't seem to care about their fates as long as they were doing as he told them, and when their usefulness was over it no longer mattered whether they lived.

When the people of Woodbury were brought back to the prison there was an attempt to open their eyes to what Rick and the others were like. These were not the monsters that had been painted by the former Woodbury leader, they were just people trying to survive. Gradually that message seemed to sink-in and now most of the former townspeople had tasks or chores to do around the prison, fitting in and augmenting the small society that was growing. Society meant that certain things began again, and Carol didn't appreciate that one of those things was a circle of gossips who seemed to live for the drama and chaos they could create. Stupid people who had too much free time, so they filled it with trouble.

She told herself that she shouldn't care what they might say about her, but it did hurt. It brought back those insecurities that had plagued her while Ed was alive, and even after. There were times when someone had made a comment, maybe not intentionally, but it reminded her of all the reasons that she wasn't as good as they were. Like that stupid red blouse she had wanted, until Lori had made her feel guilty on the highway, as though she didn't deserve nice things.

Carol sighed, stepping out from behind the water tanks, and continued toward the small cooking station. She should be used to the comments about Daryl as well. They spent a lot of time together still, being able to trust one another in a way that the Woodbury people didn't understand yet. It led to speculation, and then jealous, hurtful comments when Daryl ignored their flirting. He didn't have to deal with those comments, or dirty looks, or he didn't notice them perhaps. Men often missed such things between women. Carol felt it all though.

It wasn't that she thought that there was any chance that Daryl might care for her in that way, she joked with him about it sometimes and he always dismissed her comments out-of-hand. So she tried to let it go and pretend that it didn't hurt to hear the comments about how he could do so much better than her. He was a good man and he did deserve better; someone who wasn't so scarred and broken by loss. Someone younger and prettier probably too.

She sighed and looked down at the cement of the prison yard as she walked quickly toward the grill. And then came to an abrupt stop as she bumped into someone.

"Hey, you okay?" Daryl had her by the upper arms, steadying her as she wavered on her feet.

"Sure, fine." She looked past him, "Just in a hurry."

He scowled and glanced back at the grill and the people already sitting at the picnic tables. "Hurry to do what, feed a bunch of lazy, ungrateful people who can't even bother to do for themselves? Any one of them could have started dinner, but they're all just sitting there waiting for someone else to do it for them." He squeezed her arms, "Screw 'em, take the night off. I got something on my last run. If you come to my cell I'll share it with ya."

Carol looked up at him, watching as he squinted into the fading light over the prison fences past her shoulders. He seemed serious, "Alright."

He seemed to hesitate before letting her go, looking at her in a way that made her wonder if there was dirt on her cheek, but finally he stepped away. "You should take a break tomorrow. Michonne and I were going to do a run, you should come with us."

"That's hardly a day off, but it might be a nice change of pace." Carol nodded, waving to Hershel as he saw them entering their cell block. "I could ask Beth to take over some of the meal organization."

Daryl grunted, opening the outer block door for her, "Maybe Beth could assign a bunch of the lazy ones to do some real chores. Or maybe that's something the Council could do." He slowed his pace as they approached the guard post he had claimed as his room. The windows were mostly blocked by towels and sheets so that he could have some privacy, but he reached over and opened one so that the fading natural light could come through. It wasn't very messy, but he shoved some clothes off of his bunk and reached underneath to pull out a small box.

When he opened the box and showed her the stash of candy bars he had saved Carol laughed, clapping her hands together in delight. "As much as I love chocolate I don't know that it is a very balanced meal."

He gave her a dirty look and handed her one of the bars before shoving the box under the bunk again. "Cause we used to have so many balanced meals out on the road." He took her shoulder again to switch places with her inside the small room, and pointed at the bunk, "Sit. I have the rest in my pack still."

She watched as he pulled out apples, catching the one he tossed at her, a jar of roasted peanuts, and a bag of beef jerky. "Road food." Carol nodded, accepting the rest of what he offered and moved over so he could sit next to her. "I have to admit, I sometimes missed the jerky. It was so easy."

"Easier than cooking for a bunch of people who never help, you mean." He gave her a long look, "I ain't blind."

Carol had just bit into the apple, and she froze for a few seconds before chewing and swallowing. He was staring at her and she wasn't sure what she was supposed to say, or even what he was referring to specifically. "I know."

Daryl snorted, leaning back against the wall behind the bunk, "I don't think you do, but I'm gonna make sure that changes. Promise you'll come with us tomorrow. It'll be good for you." He grinned around his bite of jerky, "You could stab something."

She laughed again, "That is a good selling point. Alright, I'll come out on the run tomorrow."