Title: What's Going On?

Author's Note: Please see the first "chapter" for all disclaimers. Sorry for the delay, I hope this story makes up for it.

Rating: M - for Dixon language.

Thanks: To my beta MidnightMoonWarrior

"Hey Carol."

"Hi Maggie." Carol replied, looking up quickly as she finished wiping down the counters in the kitchen. "How are you?" she asked, as she continued to clear away the trash left behind.

The last of the lunch crowd had left about half an hour ago and the dishes had been washed and put away. It was Carol's week to clean the tables and sweep up. She didn't mind, it was better than having to do everything: the prepping, cooking, cleaning up afterwards.

Beth and Maggie would help from time to time, but for the most part, it fell to her. Carol understood she did have more experience than both Maggie and Beth had, and they were trying. Now with more people, every able bodied person had to pitch in.

One week it was kitchen duty: prepping the food, cooking, serving up the meals or cleaning the tables and floors like she was doing now. Another week would be laundry detail, or working in the garden. They even started a school in the prison library for the children.

"I'm fine thanks." Maggie looked around. She wanted to make sure there wasn't another soul in the kitchen to hear what she was about to ask. "How about you?"

"Good thanks." She frowned, cocking her head to the right; there was something different in Maggie's demeanor. "Is something wrong?" she asked, noticing how nervous the younger woman seemed.

"No, nothing's wrong..." she left the word hanging, fidgeting.

Carol wiped her forehead, it was getting hotter and she wasn't buying Maggie's answer for a second. "Maggie, there's obviously something on your mind." she told her flatly, leaving no room for dragging out the pleasantries. She could not understand why Maggie wouldn't simply tell her.

"Carol?"

"Yes?" she said, folding her arms across her chest.

Maggie leaned against the counter. "What's going on?"

Carol shook her head. Of all the questions she might have expected from Maggie, this wasn't one of them. "What do you mean? What are you talking about?" she asked, confused

Maggie looked away for a moment. "Glenn, he told me..." She pushed herself from the counter, pacing slightly while seemingly trying to find the words and not having any luck. This is a mistake. "Nah, it's silly, I shouldn't have brought it up."

Carol sighed; she really didn't have time for this. She had so many things to do today, she still had to check on the vegetable garden they started, relieve Beth, wash her clothes. "What did Glenn say?" she asked impatiently, irritated more than curious, because it seemed as if the gossip mill had finally found its way to her.

Maggie took a deep breath, her eyes shifting from the floor to Carol. "He, he thinks Rick likes you." she said rushed, embarrassed. It didn't sound bad in her head when she thought about it, but saying it out loud, that was another thing entirely.

Carol laughed in relief, the sound bouncing off the tiled room.

She thought it was something serious. She reached out, patted the younger woman's arm and smiled. "Oh my Lord, is that all? I was getting worried over nothing." she shook her head at the absurdity of the situation.

Maggie started blushing.

Yes, she had started second guessing her decision to bring this up with Carol but after Glenn mentioned it, she could not help but watch them.

Glenn was right and it wasn't hard to notice once she started looking.

Rick was spending more time with Carol. He ate at least one meal with her or if not, he would talk to her for a moment or two during the day. In and of itself wasn't enough to make her think anything was going on. No, it took the Incident as she liked to call it that made her think otherwise.

Carol had gone for a walk with whatshisname… Brad, Beau, Bob… Brian.

Brian from Woodbury.

And everyone had heard about it, the slanted gazes and whispers were proof enough. Come on, the prisons small, you can't keep a thing like that a secret for long.

So she and Glenn had decided to keep an eye on her, just to make sure Brian didn't try anything and apparently they weren't the only ones who had the same idea. In hindsight, Maggie wasn't sure why she was so surprised to see the others.

She had seen both Rick and Daryl outside while Carol took a stroll around the inner gate of the prison with Brian.

Rick was conveniently checking the fence for any weak points, something she and Glenn had done the night before, while Daryl watched from the tower with his crossbow draped across his arms.

Maggie could understand why Daryl was out there – but Rick?

This was new.

She had always thought Daryl would be the one Carol would end up with sooner or later, Hell, everyone thought that. Now, there was a new wrinkle and she wanted to make sure Carol knew about it.

Nodding her head as she made her decision, Maggie took a deep breath, took the bull by the horns and hoped not to get gored. "No." she shook her head slowly. "I think he likes." Maggie stressed, before pointing directly at the other woman. "You."

Carol immediately scoffed at the idea. "Don't be silly." she turned around and went back to wiping the counter down. She jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder, but then relaxed and turned to give Maggie her undivided attention. "Maggie, I appreciate that you told me, but there's nothing going on. Honestly."

"All right, you don't have to believe me, just." she shrugged her shoulders. "Watch him, that's all I ask." she said before leaving Carol alone with her thoughts.

"That's ridiculous." Carol muttered to herself. Please, Rick does not like me. She shook her head. This wasn't elementary school – she wasn't going to get a note passed to her during class asking her to check "yes" or "no" to the question if she liked him.

In the old world, Rick would not have paid her any attention if they had met. Of course that may not have been true. He was a Sheriff. He probably would have recognized the signs she was being abused by Ed. Other than that, he would not have noticed her; a passing glance, perhaps asking if she was alright, and that would be it.

Carol could not see any way she would have met Daryl prior to this. It just wouldn't happen. She doubted she would have run into him while buying groceries or going to church.

And he certainly would not become the closest thing she had to a best friend ever.

She wasn't allowed to keep the friends she had in school.

No, she couldn't have them: "They'll put crazy ideas in your head, turn you away from your husband." Mother Pelletier had told her time and time again.

And male friends, she'd probably be dead by now.

Ed never let her out of his sight when he got home and his mother would call her periodically to check on her, under the pretense of making sure she was alright by herself.

Carol clenched her fists tightly as she thought back to all the times she had to hurry home if she had to go to the grocery store and if she was so much as five minutes late, she would both hear and feel it later on.

She knew that Rick and Daryl would never treat her how Ed did. She would not have to worry about trips to the emergency room or the lies she had to say: "I tripped," "I'm clumsy," or "I wasn't watching where I was going."

No, she was safe with both of them.

Carol did admit to herself, she had her doubts about Rick for a period of time, but she knew deep down he was a good, dedicated and honorable man.

Even if he did make mistakes, she felt his heart was in the right place.

Daryl...

Daryl was a conundrum in her mind. He was rough, ill-mannered, foul mouthed, kind, generous, loyal, and honorable and he had a gentleness that not everyone had the chance to see. And he was all of these things to a fault.

He was everything wrapped tightly in a standoffish persona.

It was his safety net.

Don't let anyone in and no one can hurt you.

Carol understood.

She had lived under Ed's thumb for so long she almost lost herself. The only reason she was still here was she had had to be strong for Sophia's sake. Now, with Sophia gone, that strength had to be used for herself and she was.

But this was something she'd never dealt with before and she did not know what to do.

Maggie's comments had confused her.

Neither Rick nor Daryl answered her question when she asked them the exact same thing Maggie had: "What's going on?"

Although she hadn't seen what apparently Maggie and Glenn had, she did notice that Brian had not asked her to go for another walk. He was always polite when he ran into her; but he never approached her again and she was too embarrassed to ask why?

And wasn't sure she wanted to hear his reply.

Daryl quietly entered the kitchen and saw Carol, he had seen Maggie leave a few minutes earlier. He could not understand why she stared at him as they passed each other in the hall.

When walked in, Carol was biting her lip and had a far off look on her face.

He wondered what Carol and Maggie could have been talking about. Whatever it was, it must have been serious.

He was about to turn around and walk away, but he'd already made up his mind he was going to do this.

Dixon's don't back down from nothin' he told himself.

He settled his nerves and walked towards her. "Hey." he called out, noticing how she jumped. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or nothin'. I got these." he said putting the skinned and gutted rabbits on the counter.

"Thank you Daryl." she replied, taking them off the counter and over to the cutting board. "These will make a nice stew." she told him.

"I know it ain't much." he said, rubbing the back of his head.

Carol shook her head. "Don't worry about that, we're all grateful to you for providing what you can. Thank you." she said.

Carol knew he did not take compliments say like Beth; whose smile was infectious. No, Daryl, he'd bite his thumbnail, shake the words off as nonsense and mutter something under his breath before leaving.

It was a shame that he did not think he was worthy of praise and she was trying to change that little by little and Carol knew one day, he would take it on face value.

She could not wait to see it happen.

Daryl wanted to high-tail it out of here. He could feel his cheeks start to burn, something he noticed more and more whenever she told him something nice. Quit being such a damn pussy his inner voice; which sounded not surprisingly like Merle, told him. "I spotted some tracks – deer tracks, when I was out earlier." he explained. "I'm thinking about leaving for a few days see if I can bring some back."

"Is it safe?" she asked, her heart beating rapidly at the thought Daryl being by himself out there. Although she knew he had done this for countless years, it wasn't the same anymore. Nothing was.

It never would be.

She doubted he would get any real sleep always having to listen for something out of the ordinary. He wouldn't be able to enjoy himself as he had in the past.

"I'll be alright." he told her, smiling to himself. He liked knowing she worried about him. Then again, she worries about everyone. He pursed his lips. "But I was wonderin'"

"Yes?"

"I was wonderin' if you'd like to come with me?" he asked, nervously, shifting from one foot to the other.

"Really?" Carol asked, surprised.

Daryl simply nodded. A part of him hoped she would say yes, while the other part was slapping himself upside the head.

What the Hell am I thinkin?

He couldn't take it back now, since he'd already asked.

He should have never done it.

Now he'd have to watch out for her while trying to hunt. "Woman, I wouldn't ask if I didn't want you to go." he told her. What the fuck are you doin? First you want her to go, then it's "What the Hell was I thinking?" Get your head outta your ass.

"Yes Daryl I would like to go." She would not question his sudden turn around when he spoke to her. This was her chance to re-kindle their friendship

"Fine, we leave first thing tomorrow mornin'. Might as well take enough supplies for two, maybe three days." he told her as he started to fidget.

"Of course." Carol replied, thinking about what she could take without depleting the provisions they had on hand.

Daryl turned and left without another word as he started feeling antsy in her company. He had no idea how he was going to handle being alone with her for two possibly three days.

It was different when they had the rest of the group around to diffuse any awkwardness he might have felt around her. It was easy to simply tell Rick he was going to scout around and there was no problem.

He could not do that now.

He sighed.

Daryl could hear his brother's voice in his head.

It's about time you did somethin' baby brother, before Officer Friendly stakes his claim on her.

'Shut up Merle.' he said silently.

Boy, you need to step up and show her what a Dixon's all about.

Daryl stomped through the halls trying to get his brother's words out of his head.

Carol watched as Daryl hurried away before wiping her hands dry. She wasn't going to wonder why he'd left so suddenly. It was simply Daryl's way and Carol knew this.

"I'll have to let Beth know." Carol muttered to herself. "I'll make it up to her somehow." Knowing with her leaving with Daryl, Judith's wellbeing would fall onto Beth's shoulders.

Perhaps one of the other ladies from Woodbury could take over the kitchen detail while she was gone?

There was enough time to check on the garden and perhaps wash a few of her clothes. Carol nodded as she went over the plans in her head. She went to the pantry and grabbed an empty burlap sack on the floor.

Staring at the cans of food they had, Carol couldn't wait for tomorrow morning.

The End.

Secondary Authors Note:

Thanks to all of you who have left comments on the story. I'm glad you've enjoyed the stories so far. I do a few more written, still need to be typed though.

I know what I want to happen, its just getting there is interesting. I want to do my best in staying in character, but something tells me I might end up straying, just a little bit.

But, my beta MMW will let me know if I haven't.

Thanks again.