Daryl first had an inkling that things weren't as they had left it as soon as he and Carol approached the second of the double gates protecting the prison from the possible invasion of Walkers. He peered through the windscreen to try and make sense of what was going on.

"Ain't no sign of Walkers; no one raised the alarm; maybe Rick has them working on some sort of evacuation drill?"

"They all seem to be carrying stuff between buildings. It's unusual to see that many people milling around the courtyard; it's usually empty this time of day." Carol observed people shifting cartons and foodstuffs over from the administration buildings and through to D block. Daryl brought the truck to a rumbling halt next to their other vehicles and opened the door; only to close it again quickly as the stench hit his nostrils; making them twitch involuntarily.

"God Almighty! What the f-?"

"What is it, Daryl?" Carol slid over the bench seat closer to the driver's side.

"Imagine one of 'Lil Ass Kicker's worst nappies…." At Carol's arched look, Daryl continued – "And multiply it by ten… I think that we might have a major sewage incident on our hands."

"Oh, deep joy…" Carol remarked drily and waved her hand for him to stop hiding in the truck and let her out.

Daryl reached around to the truck bed and pulled out a small deer carcass that he and Carol had felled on their hunt. He hefted it onto his shoulder and strode across the courtyard in the direction of the administration buildings where most of their fresh meat was stored in the basement due to its cold, damp air. He could see a frazzled Hershel with a cotton handkerchief across his mouth; issuing instructions at the door. Hershel held up a hand to prevent Daryl from entering the building.

"Sorry, son. I can't let you through."

"What's goin' on, Hershel? I got fresh meat here that's gonna spoil if we don't get it inside soon."

"We've had a little incident with the mains drainage in here and over in 'D'. It's backed up all the way through the building. Tyreese used to work in city maintenance and he thinks it's a blocked pipe." Hershel repeated what Rick had coached him to say; hoping that he had got everything right. It had been tough to get everyone moved over within such a short space of time; but they had just managed it. Moving people back was going to be a little harder; Carl's enthusiasm for creating a little mischief had worked a little too well and they had nearly faced a very real problem with the drains before Tyreese had stepped in to fix it.

"We can't have our fresh food tainted by the smell so Rick ordered that everything perishable was to be stored in D. This means that everybody that currently has a bunk in D has moved over to share our cells in C."

"What about Medical? Can't Dr. S put some people up over there?" Daryl shifted the deer on his shoulder whilst trying to get a hold of the situation. Thinking over what Rick had also said, Hershel put on a pained expression.

"Medical's currently under isolation – not only are we having to deal with a sewage problem but a possible viral outbreak as well. Just after you left this morning, both Carl and Judith started to exhibit signs of what could be stomach flu….I'm sure I don't have to tell you how quickly something like that can spread in such close quarters as we now find ourselves in." Carol stepped forward, her face tight with concern.

"Are they both okay? Does Dr. S need any help?"

"Naw….he's got Bethie over there keepin' an eye on things." Hershel smiled and patted her shoulder. "Now don't you worry about a thing, I'm sure they will be just fine."

"Mebbe I should head in to see whether Rick needs a hand with the repairs." Daryl winced at the thought of wading through ankle deep excrement and prepared to step forward.

"NO!" Hershel met him at the door before he could step through. "Rick and Tyreese have things under control. Luckily Tyreese was able to spot the problem pretty quickly and doesn't reckon it will take too long to sort out…It's just the smell will linger for a few days…no sense in anyone else stinking like a sewer; the two of them are gonna smell pretty bad as it is." In reality, Tyreese and Rick had dealt with the matter of unblocking the drain that Carl had stuffed with litter pretty quickly. However ridding the place of the rotten eggs that Carl had found in the commissary was proving more difficult to deal with. He had been very efficient in spreading the eggs around in an assortment of hiding places; so much so that they weren't entirely sure that they had found all of his stash. The two men were currently sitting on the floor of the administration underneath an open window and trying to stem their laughter at how irate Daryl was getting with poor Hershel. Hershel had been the first person to volunteer in the plan to get Daryl and Carol together. It was he that suggested he act as door warden; after all, he said to Rick, he's not going to go all crazy over an old cripple is he?

"I hope they get it sorted soon, otherwise it's going to get real cozy pretty fast in C with us all double bunking." Carol muttered, shading her eyes with her hand as she looked over at the chaos in the courtyard.

"Why don't you head on over there now, Maggie was dealing with cell assignments; she'll have one of the other woman take that deer off your hands too, Daryl." Hershel ushered them over to the cell block where Maggie was indeed waiting with pleasure to give them the good news.

"Where do you think you're going, Dixon?" She crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot impatiently when Daryl tried to side step her to enter their cell block.

"I figured as I ain't got a cell, I don't have to go through you…I got my perch." Daryl pointed through the block to the area he had claimed for his own when they first moved into the prison. He was adamant that he couldn't stand being cooped up so had taken over the raised platform at the end of the block where it was previously used as a guard watch post.

"Ah….yeah, about that…" Maggie slowly opened the cell block door and gestured down to the platform. Daryl followed her motions with his eyes and felt his heart sink as he saw the mountains of goods piled into his once empty space.

"No, no and Hell no!" Daryl scowled over at Maggie and crossed his arms over his chest to echo Maggie's pose from earlier.

"Don't shoot the messenger, s'all I'm sayin'….We've all got to share, at least for a couple of days. Poor old Daddy's got stuck with David and you know how loudly he snores…" Maggie hid a smile at Daryl's belligerent expression; he looked like a little boy being denied a treat.

"Come on, Daryl. It won't be so bad; it's not as if any of us are strangers anymore." Carol smiled gently over at him, trying to calm the waters. "If Carl's in isolation then you'll probably end up with Rick."

"No, Rick's bunking in with Tyreese; Michonne's got Karen; David's with Daddy…"Maggie ran through the rest of the group, ticking them off with her fingers. Daryl felt his heart sink even further as she came to the end of the list; no, don't say what I think you're gonna say….

"Which I'm afraid leaves the two of you bunking together." Shit, she said it!

"Is this gonna be a problem with you, Dixon?" When neither of them responsed, Maggie poked Daryl in the arm. "Hello, earth to Daryl…I said, is this gonna be a problem with you, Daryl?"

"No, no problem." Daryl's voice felt strangled in his throat and he coughed to try and ease the restriction; feeling oddly like running a hand around his neck to loosen a too tight necktie.

"Good, Carol you okay with this? Not that you have a lot of choice in the matter, there's nowhere else to put you anyway." Maggie looked over to check with Carol, only to see the other woman calmly taking everything in her stride.

"I take it that I…we're… in my old cell?" Carol hesitated slightly when asking the question, it felt odd to change from an 'I' to a 'we' in the matter of minutes. At Maggie's nod, Carol quietly moved in that direction.

"What bug's crawled up her ass?" remarked David snidely, having overheard the tail end of their conversation and noticing Carol's suddenly quiet behaviour. Daryl whirled quickly around and shoved the other man back.

"You watch what you say about the lady…you get my meanin'?"

"Yeah….well she doesn't seem too pleased to be having you as her cell mate….I'd be glad to trade with…..Ooofff!" Daryl's fist in his mouth, prevented David from making the last part of his sentence heard. Daryl brought his fist back and shook it to loosen his knuckles.

"You were sayin'…?" He asked the other man quietly, deadly menace colouring his tone.

"Nothing, man, absolutely nothing." David wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and looked over to where Carol was placing her rucksack down on the bunk in her cell a little further along the corridor. He nodded his head once and spun on his heel to return back to the cell he was to be sharing with Hershel.