(For those of you who love flashbacks, there are many more to come! The story being told will leave no questions unanswered once it is finished. You will all eventually get to see what caused the rift in their friendship. This is slow moving for now, but it will eventually pick up the pace. One thing I find interesting about writing is that I sort of enjoy the build-up and the awkward moments that lead to a relationship. I'm not a patient fan of that while watching shows, but reading/writing them are somewhat more fun to me that way. Anyway, here's the next one. It's kind of a filler, but it serves a purpose.)

Carol had just clocked out of her shift to go to lunch when one of her co-workers came up to her.

"Carol, there's some guy here asking for you." The young woman said.

"Who is it?" She asked curiously.

"He just said he's an old friend. He's got blue eyes, brown hair, a goatee and a hospital band around his arm. He's pretty cute." She chuckled. "Do you want me to tell him you're still here or that you already left for lunch?"

She contemplated it for a second. She was leaning towards telling him she was already gone, but with her luck she'd bump into him once she left anyway. "Tell him I'll be right out."

()()()

"Hey." He said nervously as she walked up to him and offered her a small smile.

"What's all this?" She asked noticing the bag he held in his hand and two cups of iced coffee.

"I asked Maggie when your lunch shift was after she took care of my arm. There was a Starbucks across the street and I know how much you used to love it."

"So you got me two coffees?" She asked with raised eyebrows and a sly smile.

"One's for me, smartass." He smirked. "Is there somewhere we can sit down and eat?"

As much as she wanted to say no, she couldn't with him sitting there in front of her smiling like that. She'd always loved his smile and it wasn't something he did all the time. He usually wore a serious, sullen look. "Follow me." She said and noticed that his smile grew even wider. "Don't feel special, it's only because you brought Starbucks.

She led him to a set of metal benches outside the hospital. It was in a nice shady area and that was a good thing, because despite the fact that it was fall, temperatures were still in the 90's in Georgia. He handed her the coffee and she looked it over. He'd brought her favorite and she was slightly touched that he still remembered.

"Iced Caramel Macchiato is still my favorite." She said taking a sip. "Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem." He said as he slid his fingers up and down his cup. "Mine's still…"

"Iced white mocha." She finished for him. "With an extra shot of espresso and no whip."

He took a sip of his drink and nodded then reached into the bag for their food. "I got us food from somewhere else. None of that shit at Starbucks looked worth a damn. It's just subs, but I figured it'd be better than the cafeteria food here." He'd gotten a philly cheesesteak for himself loaded with extra jalapenos and a turkey melt for her.

"The food wasn't so bad yesterday, but I have to admit, this is better."

"There's a place near where I lived in Virginia called Jersey Mike's, ten times better than this."

"We had one in Savannah too. It wasn't too far from my apartment. I'd go there a lot, it was really good." "So, did Maggie get you all taken care of?"

"Yeah, they gave me the tetanus shot and she made the doctor come check it over. He told me to just keep using butterfly stitches and not to get it wet and wrote me a prescription for antibiotics." He turned his arm over so she could see the fresh set of butterfly stitches that had been applied.

"See, it wasn't so bad."

"Easy for you to say. Maggie ripped the old ones off. It hurt like a bitch." He said with a scowl.

The two of them sat and made small talk while they finished their sandwiches. Nothing important, just about her working in the NICU now instead of the ER and all the plans him and Merle had for their shop. He told her that they were getting things set up this week and it would officially open next Monday.

"I gotta go, my shift is about to start back up, but thank you for lunch and the coffee. You really didn't have to."

"Like I said, it was nothing."

"I guess I'll see you around." She said. "Goodbye Daryl."

"Why don't you come by the shop sometime on your lunch break this week?" "It'd give you a chance to catch up with Merle and see what all we're doing to the place."

"I don't know…"

"I'll buy you coffee and lunch again." The look in his eyes and the way he said it made him look like a kid begging for an expensive toy for their birthday.

"I'll think about it."

()()()

"I see your "old friend" came by for a visit today. Jacquie said with a smirk as she used her fingers to imitate quotation marks when she said the word friend.

"He fell last night and cut his arm. He had to come to the hospital today to get a tetanus shot and get it checked out. He just stopped by because he was already here." She replied dismissively.

"Mhm. I'm sure." She laughed. "At least it looks like you two made up from whatever happened to make him drop those drinks when he saw you and you run out of that café."

"We didn't make up. I'm just being civil. This is a small town. I'm going to run into him whether I like it or not."

"You looked pretty friendly eating lunch together."

"He brought me food. I was being polite."

"Whatever you say, sweetie." Jacquie told her and patted her on the shoulder. "I've been wondering, is his name Daryl by chance?"

Carol froze in place. "How'd you know his name?"

"I mentioned to T-dog what happened at the café. He said he'd bet all the money in his wallet that the guy you ran into was Daryl Dixon."

"Did he say anything else?"

"No. Just that the two of you were best friends growing up and as far as he knew the two of you hadn't seen each other since the night before he left for Virginia at Maggie Rhee's party.

()()()

When Carol headed to the parking lot that night she saw Maggie headed for her car. She jogged over to catch up to her.

"Hey, I wanted to say thanks for getting Daryl in and out pretty quick today."

"No problem, but at the rate you keep asking me for favors, you're going to owe me big time." Her friend said with a grin.

"You name it and you got it. I really do owe you for everything."

"It's what friends are for." Right?" To help each other."

"Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Did Daryl bring you lunch?" Maggie decided to ask.

"He did. He said you told him what time I'm supposed to eat."

"I did. I hope it was okay."

"It was fine. He knows where I'm staying, if he didn't come by at lunch he'd have just stopped at Rick's later on if he wanted to see me."

Maggie nodded. "You missed him a lot, didn't you?"

"Maggie…"

"I think he missed you too and that he feels really bad. I know that doesn't excuse what he did or change things, but it has to count for something."

"It does count for something, I'm just not sure what."

"You said you owe me, right?"

"You're gonna use that to ask me to be friends with Daryl again?" She said confused and almost annoyed. "Last night I had to beg you to work him in today."

"I didn't even say what I wanted yet and you're assuming it has to do with him." She said with a look.

"I only assumed that because we were talking about him." She corrected her. "What is it then?"

"I want to have a get together at the house this weekend. Michonne and Andrea are off and so are Rick and Shane. Lori closes after lunch Saturdays and isn't open on Sunday, Glenn's not working and neither are we. It's been years since we've all gotten together and it can also be a welcome home party."

Carol cut her eyes at Maggie and looked at her suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing." She said innocently. "I just want things to be like old times for a night." "So, will you come?"

"Why not. I don't have anything else to do."