So, my dear Caryl supporters. Not sure how popular this chapter will be...I am pushing some comfort zones, but bear with me...:)

Also, please review me if you get a chance. :) So, appreciated!

I don't own the Walking Dead, or the characters or stories...

Chapter 2

Tyreese POV

Tyreese had been circling the farm keeping an eye out for walkers and other threats. He was excited to almost be to Terminus. Maybe...just maybe Sasha had made it there? Maybe some of the others too! Maggie, Glenn, Daryl, Michonne, Beth...He wondered if Rick and Carl had made it? Ty didn't see how Rick could have made it...he'd seen the walkers and Governor overrun where Rick had been located...after that he'd lost track.

Tyreese scanned the area once more and started to head back to the house. That's when he saw movement within the trees. Not the shuffling movement of walkers, but the hesitant purposeful movement of people. They were not advancing, from what Ty could see, they were simply moving positions and observing. He didn't panic, and he didn't let it be known that he had seen them. Ty knew he had to make it back to the house and tell Carol. They had to move fast. It would be dark soon.

Carol POV

Carol had seen movement in the trees. A small sun reflection of something shiny...possibly a knife, and leaves moving without any wind. Carol had even caught the silhouettes of two men.

Carol saw Tyreese heading towards the house. His back was to the trees, so the men hiding didn't see Ty's face. Carol could and she could tell he had seen the men too. Ty's face had a hardness to it, but fear shown in his eyes. Carol was calmly watching the girls play outside. She was trying to keep up the appearances that all was normal. Judith was sleeping peacefully in the living room.

"Hey." Carol said to Ty. She smiled and lifted her eyes up to the big man. Carol pulled him into a hug and whispered, "There are men hiding in the trees. We have to get the kids and go as soon as it's safe." She pulled away from him and kept her smile. Ty looked over at the girls.

"Girls, it's almost time to eat. You've got about 20 minutes more, then come in the house." Tyreese told them. Tyreese and Carol sat back down on the steps. They sat close to one another so their words would not carry to the girls or anyone else that may be listening. Carol's mind was racing and she was forming a plan. A plan she knew Ty wouldn't like, but it was really the only option that she could come up with that had a chance of success.

"Listen Ty. I don't know what is going to happen, but if I'm right...the kids have to leave tonight." Carol told him. He nodded his head in agreement.

Knowing he wouldn't like the next part, she took a deep breath and added..."As soon as it gets dusk, you have to take the girls and Judith and go." Carol told him.

Ty looked at her like she was crazy. "I'm not leaving without you." Ty told her. His forehead crinkled in frustration and anger.

"You have too." Carol told him. "We can't let the girls fall into those men's hands. If they were good men, then they wouldn't be stalking us now."

"Do you know what you're asking me to do? You can't take on all those men. Do you know what they will do to you when they get you?" Tyreese told her in a panicked voice. Tyreese needed her to think this through. This option was most likely a death sentence for her or worse.

Of course, she knew what they would do...but it didn't matter to her. The girls, Judith and Ty's safety were all that mattered. If she had to die or worse to save them, then that was what she was willing to do.

"Ty, we are two days away from Terminus. You guys can make it. Lizzie and Mika are small but fighters. Stay on the tracks and rest off of them. You guys will make it. I know it!" Carol added firmly and confidently. She reached over and squeezed his hand tightly for emphasis.

"They will be more focused on me. You're stronger than I am and you look...no offense...scary as hell when your angry and fighting." she told him with a smile. "Most likely, people will leave you alone before they would me on the road or in Terminus."

Tyreese POV

Tyreese knew she was right and he hated it. His arms wrapped tightly around her in a bear hug. This world took everything good and crushed it. Part of him was already mourning Carol. This woman was a fighter, but her softness and care dictated whom and what she would fight for...what she was willing to die for...Ty hated and loved that about her.

Ty took a moment and did what he had wanted to do...he leaned down and kissed Carol on the mouth. For a second, he thought of Karen. He'd been enamored with Karen. A physical attraction that couldn't be denied. Karen was fire and passion. He'd fallen in love with the life Karen ignited in him.

Kissing Carol didn't mean he loved Karen any less. This apocalypse fucked up lines of right and wrong. That small part of Ty that had fallen in a little in love with Carol had moved him forward. So, he had kissed Carol. Knowing he probably would never get another chance too. Knowing they would only ever truly just be friends. Knowing Carol and his hearts belonged to others. Still he kissed her.

The kiss was closed mouthed, and she did not pull away. Carol let him kiss her, but he knew her heart was not in it. Maybe if she had reciprocated, but she hadn't. She held the kiss out of politeness and care for him.

Pulling away finally, Ty asked Carol..."So, what's your plan?"

Daryl POV

Daryl stood shell-shocked as he hid in the trees with Scout. He'd watched as Tyreese had circled the house, and as Carol had watched over the girls. It was like they were a little family. Earlier, he had caught the smiles exchanged between Ty and Carol. Jealousy coursed through Daryl. It angered him that she shared those smiles with Tyreese. Maybe Daryl was more angry at himself. Thinking of Beth and how he had acted with her. Daryl knew it had been way out of character for him. Almost as if someone else had taken over for awhile.

Truthfully, Daryl felt as if he had betrayed Carol and their bond. That he had cast feelings for her aside for a quickie emotional fulfillment with Beth. He'd focused so hard on Beth, because she had distracted him from his pain in losing Carol...losing Herschel...losing everyone else.

Maybe he'd let himself become lost in her ideal vision of the world on purpose. Daryl had never been so affectionate with anyone before...but he found Beth emotionally safe for him. The affection he had shown Beth was really the affection he had wanted to show Carol. At the time, he had covinced himself that Carol was dead. He KNEW she was dead. He'd lost his chance with Carol. Wasted his chance. Ty obviously wasn't making Daryl's mistake.

Daryl thought of the differences between Beth and Carol. Where Beth was a kid, Carol was a woman in every sense of the word. Her actions, her thoughts, the responsibilities she took on at the prison, taking on those little girls were decisions made by a woman. She continually gave of herself. Carol gave to him and he had pushed it away each time. Regret...regret...regret...rolled through Daryl. His stomach hurt because of it.

"Boss says that the woman is his, but damn I'd like to hit that!" Scout whispered to Daryl. Luckily, Daryl's face was hidden. Scout couldn't see the curl of disgust in Daryl's lips. "Says he wants the big fella alive to watch. Wants us all to watch. It'll be quite a fuckin' show I reckon'." With that Scout spit a wad of tobacco from his mouth onto the ground. "The girls are ours."

Daryl could hear the eagerness in the man's voice. It took every ounce of control he had ever learned not to go ballistic and kill the mother fucker! Daryl wanted to take his knife and twist it into Scout's gut. Unfortunately, the other men of this fucked up group weren't far off, and they kept checking in with them every ten minutes. Joe kept them pretty organized.

There had to be away for him to stop this...Daryl knew if he killed Scout and ran for Ty, Carol and the girls... they would just get caught, and there was zero chance of any of them making it out alive or unharmed. Think Daryl! Think! That's when he came up with an idea. He knew Carol. She would always be watching for signs of trouble. So, Daryl made a few moves to give away his position. Nothing obvious, just a few leaves moving. A glint of sunshine off his knife. Scout never noticed. He prayed and prayed Carol would see it.

Daryl had watched as Tyreese approached Carol and she reached up and hugged him. They held each other for a few seconds, longer than Daryl liked, then he saw Carol and Ty set down on the steps with their heads close and spoke quietly to one another...intimately.

Daryl couldn't tell if she had seen his giveaways in the trees. Ty and Carol had spoken for a while, he had heard Ty tell the girls it was almost time to eat, and then he pulled Carol into a bear hug.

What the fuck!? Daryl cringed. Then he saw the big guy lean down and kiss her.

What the holy FUCK!? Daryl's blood boiled. Scenes flashed through his mind. Carol and him at the quarry, the fights, the Prison, the runs, the laughs, the tombs, her threat to Merle, her holding onto him as they rode his bike, the teasing...Carol liked him first god damn it! He was going to do his best to save Ty and them...then he was going to kill Ty himself.

to be continued...