Author's note: This takes place during the winter of time skip between seasons 2 and 3. I think it's weird that there ship name would be Caryl, because that would be Carol x Daryl, and would still be pronounced like Carol? Anyone else with me on this… anyone?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but the story itself.
The day had started out like any other; Daryl had gotten up early and headed out to the forest to see if he could possibly shoot something for the group to eat. The weather was colder than he was used to, and it was harder then he thought it would be to hunt in the snow. Well, that wasn't exactly true it just wasn't what if was used to. Nothing seemed to be what he was used to any more.
Still it wasn't anything that he couldn't get used to; adaption is what kept a man strong. That's what his pa had told him after his ma had burnt herself to death. Of course that had happened right during that first week when his pa had suddenly demanded supper on the table when he got home, and Daryl had never cooked in his life before that. He got his assed kicked each day until he started producing food that was actually worth eating in a few more weeks; it was kind of sad that he had never worked harder in his life then when trying to teach himself how to cook.
Still, now he needed to work hard to make sure everyone got something to eat; a little more then something for Lori to. She needed to be able to support that baby and as the bump of her stomach grow larger it looked as if the rest of her was try to rot away. Not to mention that Carol had taken to giving Lori half of her share as well, and Carol was stringy enough as it was. He had saw her try to shoot a gun the other day and bruise from the force she was gripping it. God, he had been worried that her hand might fall off while trying to hold the thing up; and it had been a hand gun!
Everyone else could use some food in there stomach as well, a mouthful of rabbit only seemed to last for moments before stomach would start to plead for more. Last week Carol had passed out do to exhaustion for a few minutes, if that had happened everything would have been over for her. She needed and was relying on him to bring her something filling; a deer would be a blessing from god.
Yet, he had been out here for hours and was getting too far away from the camp; he didn't like leaving Carol for this long without checking in on her. Every few hours he would come and just peek at her since the passing out incident, wanting to know that she was okay. That woman had gone through more than any woman should ever have to go through. Dealing with a husband that hit her, no doubt giving in to his every whim so he wouldn't touch their daughter as well. It sickened him to even think about it, the abuse with no way of ever getting away from him.
Last time they had spoken for a few minutes, Carol had hinted that Ed had never even let her leave the house unsupervised. Daryl had asked once if she had ever had any friends or even tried to talk to one of Ed's friends. She had replied with a "they knew and liked to laugh about it." By the look in her eyes he knew that there was way more to that story, but his wasn't quite ready to ask her about it yet, already sick knowing that so many people knew and no one ever tried to help her.
Carol was an angel who deserved to be away from that bastard of a husband, but none of that would matter if she starved to death. He just wanted to see her happy and have her come up and lean against him while he was out on watch. Not that that had happened ever, but sometimes he pictured it happening, when he was feeling particularly lonely and cold. Still, she sometimes sat next to him while they were eating whatever none existent meal they were having that day. Those were the days were Rick sat down next to Lori and fed her every bit of his portion. Daryl thought that was a bad idea, but was shocked to see that even if they weren't able to speak to each other at the moment, Rick was way more concerned for her then he was for himself.
It was really touching, but stupid. Of course stupid didn't mean that when Carol had passed out, Daryl had fed her his own meals for the next three days. Woman needed her strength and he wanted her to be around for quite a bit longer, like a long time longer in fact.
Finally, Daryl spotted a deer through the trees and he readied his crossbow; he could already see Carols smile when he hauled the thing back into camp. She would drop everything she was doing and start getting everything ready for it to cook. Daryl smiled at that thought, hell it been almost a month since he had brought back a deer. It would feed everyone for several days, and he didn't mean a mouthful of food then move on for the day, he meant a good feeding were they ate as much as they could then complained from the extra weight of their stomach.
Of course, that wasn't what he was thinking about as he drug the deer back towards camp; it was that last time he had brought back a deer, and Carol had given him a hug in her joy. He couldn't help but hope she would do it again; last time it had caught him off guard but this time he would make sure to grip her back tightly, maybe even swing her around a bit. His smile widened, he could wait for that to happen.