As Carol shot the last bullet and it landed in the walker's brain, she felt the fear grip at her. She felt it's cold, dark hand grab hold of her heart and lungs and just squeeze. She was at a loss of breath and faltered in her footsteps. Andrea shot the walkers that were near her, but she too ran out of ammo, and so she ran off. The bag of weapons slung over her shoulder made it more awkward for her, but at least she could still get away. Carol felt even more alone as she glanced up the drive to see the receding tail lights. She was going to die…and finally join Sophia. Something she'd been dreaming of since the young girl had walked out of the barn. But just as she was about to collapse to the ground she heard it. The rumble of Daryl's motorcycle. She looked up and saw him speeding towards her. "C'mon! I ain't got all day!" he snapped. Carol released a sob and ran to him. She climbed on and for the first time in a long time. She didn't feel alone, and hell, she even felt wanted.


Daryl shot nearby walkers from his safe position on his motorcycle. He was mainly still there to watch the barn as it burned and lit up the farm. Even from this distance he could feel the heat and it was causing a sweat to break out on his forehead. He turned at the sound of some more groans and shot oncoming walkers. He looked around the farm; at this spot it seemed that everyone was safe. But was Carol? He had last seen her with Andrea, and Andrea was a fair shot, but she wasn't the best. Did they make it out okay? He froze at the sound of a scream. He knew that scream. He sat back down and kicked the bike into gear and raced towards Carol. Obviously she wasn't safe. She was in danger and as he neared her, he saw her letting go. But the sound of his bike snapped her back to reality. "C'mon! I ain't got all day!" Daryl snapped. Carol ran to him and Daryl could not be more pleased. If he had left, and she was still there, he would never see her again. And he would never be able to protect her and keep her safe. This time around, he wasn't going to fail.


Carol sat beside Daryl at the fire a week later. Since the disaster at the farm, she had gotten closer to Daryl. She didn't like it when they were far from one another. She felt unprotected. Unsafe. Vulnerable. Three things Carol hated most. But still, Daryl never met her eyes. He glanced at her when she was looking at him, but never did their eyes meet. Carol knew the saying that the eyes were the windows to one's soul. But what was Daryl so afraid of? Carol simply wanted to help heal him. She could see it. She could see that he was also from an abusive home, and she simply wanted to help him.


Daryl looked up at the stars, his hands folded gently beneath his head and his legs crossed at the ankles. He could hear everyone else as they slept. Especially the woman lying just inches from him. He turned his head to look at her and saw her curled up in a ball. Not from being cold he could tell, but as a precautionary. He tore his eyes from her once again and looked back up at the night sky. He sighed lightly as he thought of the past month or so. So much had happened and it was hard to grasp it. In just the past month the only person he had left went missing and then he had failed to find him. Then, he assigned himself a new mission, protect Carol and her kid, and he couldn't even do that. He had been making his way to where he had last seen Carol and the kid when he'd found T-Dogg, bleeding out on the road. He saw Rick with the two women and children and figured they were in safe hands so he stopped and saved T-Dogg. But he had been wrong. The kid had run off. He shook his head to clear the thoughts and turned to look at Carol one last time.


Carol was unable to sleep. She had goose bumps all over her skin, but it wasn't from the chilly air, it was from fear, and her senses being so heightened. She finally opened her hazel eyes only to lock them with chocolate brown ones. She blinked a couple times to rid the sleepiness from them, only to realize it wasn't a dream. She was afraid at first because of what his brown eyes showed her. She saw the fear and anger within them. But as she shoved passed them, she saw what he had been trying to do. She finally saw what others had begun to notice. The way his eyes softened when they looked at her. She finally tore her gaze away from his eyes and let her's trail down his face to see what it showed her. It was still a mask. It refused to give up what the eyes could reveal. Disappointed by this, she looked back up at the eyes to decipher more of what was being shown to her. But as she did this, she stopped looking for the inner Daryl and just looked at his eyes. She noticed how there were light flecks of hazel in there and right around his pupil was a dark brown. She couldn't help but fall in love with these eyes and they were the last things she saw before sleep finally took over.


Daryl had been thoroughly surprised when his brown eyes had met her hazel ones. He had sworn she was asleep, but it was obvious she hadn't been. Why else would he be looking right at her? Her eyes wide as she searched his, the way he was searching her's. He could see all of the pain and loss in them. And then something else. Something he'd never seen directed towards him. He'd seen it countless times. He'd seen Lori looking at Rick that way, Maggie looking at Glenn that way, hell even Andrea glancing at Shane that way. But it was unfamiliar to him. He watched as her eyes moved to the rest of his face and he had the opportunity to actually look at her eyes. They were gray, and had green and blue flecked in there, which is what gave them the hazel color. As her eyes met his once again he saw her eyelids slowly begin to droop before finally shutting and blocking her eyes from him. Daryl let out a small gasp at this. He wasn't done! He had done it. He had opened that door and now he wanted to venture through it more. He wanted to see more of her, and let her see more of him. But it wasn't that simple was it? It would never be that simple.


Carol woke the following morning feeling as if all that had happened the night before had been a dream. An amazing dream, but a dream nonetheless. She sat up to see that Daryl was gone. She sighed a little to herself. She couldn't just ask him if it had truly happened. She would never allow herself to do that. She looked around the makeshift camp at the others who were awake as well. She finally stood up and stretched a little, a small yawn escaping her as her eyes met Lori's.

"Good morning." Lori said quietly as she made her way over to Carol.

"Good morning Lori." Carol said with a mall smile.

Lori sighed a little and looked up at the sky. "It seems to me that we are in need of true shelter for the day." She said.

Carol followed Lori's glance and saw the thunderheads rolling in. "I agree." She said. She looked around to inform Rick, only to find him still sleeping. "Should someone wake him?" she asked.

Lori looked over at Rick and then at Carl. "Carl…" she said and nodded her head at Rick.

Carl nodded and walked over to Rick and gently shook him. "Dad…time to get up." He said.

Rick sat up slowly and looked around with wonder. "Where's Daryl and Glenn?" he asked.

"Daryl went hunting and Glenn went to look for some shelter." Lori said quietly.

"Why?"

"It's going to storm." Carol said.

Rick looked up at the sky and nodded a little. "Of course." He said.


Daryl returned to camp with a couple of rabbits to see that it had been all packed up and everyone was pacing. "I got some food." He said quietly, refusing to even look at Carol. How could he? If he did he would be tempted to look into her eyes. And now was not the time for that. Even though that's all that had been plaguing his mind since he'd woke up. He just wanted another peek. But now was not the time for that.

"Thank you Daryl. But we'll eat it when we get to this place Glenn told us about. A storm is coming in and we need proper shelter." Rick said as Glenn got in the car he and Maggie had been in.

Daryl nodded and walked over to his motorcycle. He got on and took up the rear, and followed everyone out of camp. His eyes were locked on the back of the head of one of the people in the backseat of Rick's car. They soon pulled up to a barn. "I swear, I already checked it for walkers and closed the entrances so none could get in. It'll be safe. There's dry hay to lie on, and a huge pile of wood in there to use. We'll be good for a little while." Glenn said.

Daryl nodded and led the way in, only so he could get to skinning the rabbits so they could finally have a meal. His stomach grumbled as he sat down and pulled the rabbits out. As he pulled the knife out he felt her eyes on him. He fought it all he could but finally looked up at her to find out that she was sitting right next to him. "Hi." He finally said. He wasn't sure he'd ever said that to her. Never. But he could start couldn't he?


Author's Note:

So what did you think?

I hope y'all liked it. :)

Keep reading and reviewing!

Yours Truly,

~Daryl-Dixons-Gurl~