AN: thank you so much! I appreciate the advice re Beth, I'm still deciding what to do with her, I have a bit of time before I have to decide so any and all opinion welcome:) I'm not gonna post lyrics with every chapter, the song's not that long, I just love love the lyrics! I admit it, I'm guilty of fan girling over Myles Kennedy, ( just a bit )I loooove him lol. Let me know what you think:)

I do not own or profit The Walking Dead

Chapter 3

Oh Starlight, don't you cry we're gonna make it right before tomorrow

Oh Starlight, don't you cry we're gonna find a place where we belong (where we belong)

And so you know, you'll never shine alone

Slash featuring Myles Kennedy ~ Starlight

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The mood in the house on their return was grim. Daryl had bounded up the stairs straight to Tyreese and Sascha's room, luckily he was awake.

Tyreese didn't even wait for Daryl to speak, he just nodded grimly and spoke"She was gone?"

Daryl nodded slumping into the chair beside his bed "Did you have a plan? Where you were gonna go? What you were gonna do?"

Tyreese shook his head "No, all we spoke about was heading north through Tennessee, I wasn't ready to give up and leave, I had to find Sascha, but well, when she thought you were dead, she was broken, she wanted to move right away, it was like she needed to get away, like it would make her feel better."

"She loves us, I can understand that"

Tyreese smiled "Nah man, that's not what I meant, I mean you Daryl, in particular. When she thought you were dead. I was there when she found the body with the poncho on it, I'll never in my life forget her face. If I hadn't already forgiven her already I would have then, the first thing she said to me was I'm sorry."

Daryl felt the ache in his gut intensify, trying to hold his emotions at bay. He nodded getting up going to his room. Fuck he would give anything right now to hold her, when he saw he saw her again, he was not going to pass up any chance to touch her, to love her.

He was leaving tommorrow to follow her, whether the rest of the group was coming or not.

Taking the bracelet out of his pocket, he stared at it, flipping it over in his hand as though it was some sort of magical talisman, that would materialize her out of thin air. God he could only wish.

A few strands of brightly colored thread braided together, it was incredibly small bracelet, she was so tiny, it was hard to believe the thing fit around her wrist. Taking the bracelet he knotted it around his ring finger on his left hand, tying the ends in and effectively turning it in a ring.

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They left the next morning, Abraham and Tyreese were able to travel. Rick and Daryl made it clear to Abraham, that while the were traveling North, Eugene was not the priority, finding Carol and Judith was. Daryl made it clear to Rick if he felt the group was slowing him down, he would leave on his own. The group was his family, but he was rapidly coming to realization that Carol was the other half of his soul. He'd been so fucked up in the head since the fall of the prison, the shit that had gone down with Beth and Joe, his guilt over Beth disappearance, everything had felt wrong, felt different, because Carol had been gone. She was the light that grounded him, he needed her. He wasn't stopping until he found her.

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One month later

She didn't know how much longer she could keep this up. Traveling with Judith on her own, this past month had been more difficult than Carol had ever imagined.

She had to travel by car, on foot with Judith was just to dangerous. The vehicle that she and Tyreese had found a red civic hatchback, ended up not being as reliable as she thought, it died about 3 days ago, in this hole in the wall town in Tennessee. She'd scouted out the town and felt it was a safe place to take a rest. The town appeared deserted, more than likely evacuated pre turn. The older style post office had a caged in room for parcels and packages. She'd cleared the place quickly and set her and Judith things in the caged room. The lock was missing so she'd pushed two bookshelves in front of the door.

"Better than nothing huh Jude?" She smiled over at a grinning Judith. Judith was a blessing. The easiest, most sweet tempered baby, she seemed to know how important it was to stay quiet. Carol fed and changed her quickly than settled her into a makeshift mail crate bed, before succumbing to her favorite nightly past time.

Slumping against the wall, she fell into a restless light sleep, her dreams haunted by him.

It was as though he was right beside her, sitting with her on the floor.

"I miss you so much...I'm so tired, I don't know if I can do this" she said smiling sadly at him

"Yes ya can, you said yourself- you don't give up. I know it's hard, but you have to do it, ya have to do it for me." Daryl responded

"But I want to be with you." She said through her tears.

He leaned forward and kissed her forehead "You will just not yet"