Tomorrow's gonna be a BIG day! LOTS of sightseeing to do on our day off. But I'm gonna try to keep writing while I'm here, so here's the next chapter!

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Carol jumped up from where she was sitting on the log that laid at the edge of the field when she saw someone emerge from the woods. Who or whatever it was looked pretty big and very unsteady, so she immediately alerted Glenn to check it out with the binoculars.

Shane looked up from where he was cleaning his pistol and squinted at the far off figure.

"That's Daryl," he said, matter of-factly. "He's got a deer."

"How the heck can you tell that from here?" Lori asked, looking surprised.

"Honestly, you people need to sharpen your senses," Shane shook his head and went back to cleaning his gun.

"Are you going to go help him carry it back?" Carol asked in surprise, "Looks kind of heavy."

"He can handle it," Shane said simply. Carol realized there was no point in arguing with him so she went back to the edge of the field to wait for Daryl to get closer, hoping to see Sophia tagging along behind him.

But Sophia wasn't with him when he came dragging himself into camp, a large doe slung over his shoulders like a sheep caught by the shepherd. He looked much like the first time she had noticed him and she couldn't help but smile. Daryl had provided again. He was the reason they weren't completely malnourished. However, the realization that he had been unsuccessful in finding her daughter took away the pride and happiness of the moment and she excused herself and went off to pump some water to get boiling for the venison they would be having later.

When she had filled the bucket with water she felt a mad urge to stick her head under the faucet. The ice cold well water felt amazing on her sun-heated skin and she knelt there for a minute and let the water and her tears mix together as they dripped down her face. She didn't notice anyone approach until she felt a hand on her shoulder. She whipped around and saw Daryl staring down at her with an odd look. She immediately stood.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "It's just so hot out today."

"Yep," Daryl agreed, looking up and squinting at the bright sun. Carol noticed he was covered in a layer of sweat and dirt, his shoulders and back splattered with deer blood. His hair was sticking out wildly from where she knew he had run his hand through it. He looked…like he was in his element.

"That's…uh…a pretty big deer," Carol said lamely. Why was it so hard to think of words when he was around?

"Not the biggest I ever bagged," Daryl shrugged and primed the pump so he could scrub the blood from his hands, arms and face. "But it'll do."

Carol scuffed the dirt with the toe of her right foot and watched as he doused his upper half in water, washing away the grime from the day's hunt. When he stood back up straight, his soaked shirt clung to his body and Carol noticed the curves of many work-hardened muscles. She felt herself feeling like she wanted to stick her tongue out and just drool…it had been a long time since she had noticed or even cared how good a man looked under their clothes.

Daryl didn't seem to notice her approving stare, he turned and looked at her with an angry, yet sad expression.

"I didn't find nothin'," he said, "Looked while I hunted and…"

Carol let her eyes rise from his chest to meet his eyes. They were guarded, as usual, but she thought she saw something close to…vulnerability in them.

"Daryl, it's not your fault," she assured him, that unexplainable look deep in his cold blue eyes was squeezing her heart and making her want to reach out and provide some sort of comfort. But she didn't dare do that again. "You're looking and that's all I could ever ask for."

Daryl continued to look at her for a moment longer before he nodded once and brushed past her, heading to the tents to retrieve the deer and hang it up to skin and clean. Carol followed close behind him, her eyes suddenly dropping to the back pockets of his faded and torn jeans…good Lord but he had a very nicely shaped ass! How had she never noticed this before?

Her admiration was cut short when she realized she forgot her bucket of water. Sighing, she turned around and went back for it.

When she returned, Daryl was pulling the deer up in a tree by its back legs with Shane. They tied it off and Daryl wasted no time in pulling out his buck knife and started to skin the deer from the ankles down to the neck where he cut all the way around the neck and then gripped the sides of its head and twisted…and twisted…and twisted some more until there was a sickening crack was heard and the head of the deer and the skin attached fell to the ground. Carol wanted to puke. Lori DID puke…right on Carl who then puked as a result. This seemed to amuse Daryl because she heard him laugh and she looked over at him quickly.

She had never heard Daryl Dixon laugh before. It was a very nice sound and higher pitched than she would have pictured, but it was his face that really got to her. His lips were parted into a wide grin, the white of teeth showing through them and his eyes were squinted in the corners from his merriment. He bent over slightly, placing a hand on one knee as he picked up his knife from the ground where he had set it to free his hands. His laughter continued for a moment until he looked up and noticed Carol watching him. Immediately the laughter melted off his face and was replaced with that same grim mask she was use to…but he couldn't hide what she had just seen.

And by God she wasn't going to let this be the last time she ever saw that smile.

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This is a short one, but my eyes are really heavy and my words are starting to jumble in my mind so…that means it's time to go to sleep! Gotta rest up for my adventures tomorrow! Review, let me know how I'm doing so far! Thanks for reading, readers!