When Daryl left that morning everyone expected him to come back with supper and baby formula, but that wasn't all he found. This discovery is going to test his mind, his strength and his beliefs. With all his attention focused elsewhere, what will happen to his budding relationship with Carol and his rapidly developing friendships with the rest of the group? Caryl.

Sorry this chapter took so long, I hit quite a block and wasn't sure how to finish the end so if it seems a little wishy-washy... sorry.


They had asked about Daryl. The group and the children had all asked after Daryl when Carol finally left his cell, it was pretty obvious to everyone she'd been crying to but after the way the redneck broke down, nobody could blame her. Her heart had been wrenched horrifically.

Daryl's grief could be heard from prison's exit, it unnerved many of the group and when Rick walked in the cell block, he made Beth and Carl take the twins elsewhere so they didn't have to listen to their father's hysterics. The little ones didn't really understand what was going on in the block, but the sudden loud noise had set the pair on edge, making them cling to Beth's legs.

After at least half an hour of some clearly potent agony Hershel hobbled from his cell with a small medicine bottle in his hand.

Rick examined the bottle label for a moment and frowned in confusion, he wasn't entirely sure why Hershel handed them over. "It's a sedative." The older man said calmly. He gave them to Rick because he could get to Daryl faster than the man with one leg, the quicker these high dose sedatives were administered, the sooner Daryl would be able to find peace.

His hysterical but warranted tears were almost completely unbearable for everyone, nobody wanted to hear such a strong, independent man become so absorbed by grief.

So Rick took them up to Daryl's cell, what Rick saw was never going to leave him. The image of Daryl clutching at Carol as his emotions poured out would be forever burned in his mind, he had never witnessed such a painful scene not even during his work in the force.

He had no idea why Daryl was so devastated but he figured it had something to do with his traumatic ordeal at Woodbury.

Rick had seen some pretty horrific things in his life time but he never saw anyone quite so deeply disturbed. He had seen drunken car wrecks that ended lives, he'd seen cases or child abuse that compared to Daryl's looked minor but there had been nothing like this.

Daryl's scars and his pain was without a doubt one of the most horrific things Rick ever set eyes on, the way they twisted around his body and littered his skin made Rick shudder. The newer scars on his sides looked terribly painful and it made the group leader feel sick to his stomach, the man who'd caused that mutilation was just a few cells away.

There was at least another half an hour of heart-break before the sedatives began to take effect, then the sobbing simmered to sniffling and hiccuping before Daryl eventually gave in and let his exhaustion take over.

When Carol stepped out of the cell and in to the block, everyone was looking at her. Looking to her for answers. To help heal everyone's shared pain.

As Carol slowly moved toward the stairs and sat down, she was bombarded with endless questions and worries. The group all wanted to know why Daryl was so traumatized all of a sudden, was it Woodbury? Was it because of the Governor? Something else?

It was Rick who finally stopped all the question with his hand held out, allowing Carol a moment of peace to recollect her emotions. Everything was incredibly overwhelming. The woman took a deep breath as she lifted her head and met the leaders eyes, he was imploring her to give them details but Rick was not pushing Carol verbally.

"They... experimented on Daryl at Woodbury, those scars on his sides... they're from the Governor. He has more over his legs, but won't let anyone look." Carol said in a weak little voice, if Daryl knew she was revealing his secrets, the man would flip out. "When he escaped with Merle, Merle went back to Woodbury and took the twins from the Governor but wouldn't let Daryl bring them here so he..." Pause. Take another deep breath and brace. "Daryl had to kill Merle."

The reaction from the group varied from understanding to shock and sympathy towards Daryl. Maggie looked heartbroken as she carefully sat on the step beside the older woman, her hand reaching out to cup Carol's and show unwavering support, but it wasn't Carol that needed everyone's support. It was Daryl.

Maggie squeezed Carol's hand as she sighed and rubbed her head. Most of the group despised Merle for his outrageous drug-fuelled actions but they knew how dedicated he was to his little brother, the group knew Daryl loved Merle indefinitely. He spent months after Merle disappeared looking around every corner, checking every building they stopped in, just to see if his big brother was there.

Knowing Daryl was in indescribable amounts of emotional pain did not sit well with anyone in the group, along with being an impeccable hunter and fighter, Daryl had also become a great friend and part of their tight-knit family. Nobody wanted the strongest member of their group to suffer, especially not after everything he'd done for them.

Daryl had searched day and night for her Sophia, he spent days at a time tracking and hunting food for the group, on the farm Daryl would work tirelessly when not looking for Sophia. The man worked to keep the prison free of walkers and worked consistently to keep Carol and now his children safe. "The Governor has got to go, it doesn't matter what we do with him, he's just got to go..." Maggie said looking between Rick, Hershel and Carol. They never should have let him in the cell block, the man was a dangerous murderer, they should have let him die. It would have been safer that way.

Rick very gently nodded as he rubbed his forehead trying to shift the rapidly developing headache. Between Judith's crying, Daryl's sudden hysteria and the weight of the group holding him down, Rick's mind was really beginning to suffer.

Carol lifted her head automatically at the sound of tiny feet in the cell block, the fake smile the woman plastered on her face would have been believable if the group hadn't seen her moments before, the children came bounding from the cell with Beth and stopped just short of the stairs. Their eyes were scanning the group for one person in particular, they both frowned in tandem when they could not find their father. "Where's Daddy?"

Archer and Imogen both turned to Carol, their eerie Daryl-ish eyes met hers, the question burning in their eyes. Where is our Daddy?

"Daddy's sleeping, so you've got to be quiet." Carol replied to both children while bringing her finger to her lips, the shushing sound that followed made both Archer and Imogen giggle and try to copy Carol with very little success.

Before she knew it Carol had started a trend, the children repeatedly hushed and shushed each other, giggling before either one could finish. The small carefree moment seemed to lift the now low morale of the group, even if it was for just a few minutes.

For the first time since the children had arrived Carol really studied them, taking in their behaviours and comparing them to their fathers. There were things Carol had seen Daryl do that the children had clearly done since birth, like his slightly unusual body movements.

Using the back of their hands to brush their hair away or biting their bottom lip when concentrating or nervous. The one thing Carol could definitely say came from Daryl was the way the children never sat still, like Daryl who would rock from foot-to-foot or drum his fingers, the children copied him.

Daryl's constant movement was from instinct, to stop him from becoming vulnerable to an attack but the twins, their constant movement was engrained in their personality. It wasn't because they were hyperactive children, it was because they were Daryl's children.

They also had his fearlessness when it came to confrontation.

The twins did not cower away when confronted, they cried when scared like normal children would but never cowered. Both children stood their ground like Daryl would.

"Archer hungry. Imogen hungry." The little boy suddenly announced grabbing at Maggie's hand as Imogen clutched Carol's tightly, Maggie was surprised Archer grabbed her, the only time he ever showed any interest in Maggie was his first few hours in the prison. But that was only because Daryl was in another cell.

Carol smiled gently and squeezed Maggie's other hand looked between the two children. "Would you like some soup?" The woman asked as she pushed herself to her feet.

After sitting down for just a few minutes, Carol was suddenly exhausted and wondered how she was going to get through the rest of the day with the Dixon twins. Beth had already spent hours with them but there were still plenty more hours left in the day, they still had bundles of energy to spare.

The twins bounced with excitement at the prospect of the watery, flavourless soup as if it was the best thing they'd ever tasted making Carol smile a little.

She almost wished Daryl had been there to see how well his children were doing, but he couldn't, Daryl was too busy dealing with his own issues.

Carol almost couldn't believe the way Daryl broke down, it was like the reality of Merle's death suddenly pummeled into him. It was almost as if Daryl had finally acknowledged Merle was not coming back this time, this time his big brother was gone for good. Never to return.

Daryl had been clutching at her so hard Carol was pretty sure she had bruises forming, his grip on her skin had been unbelievably strong unlike the grip he had on his own emotions.

Daryl could usually hold his emotions tight and only express himself when he chose too, but his grief had finally got the better of didn't ever want to see something like that again, she had experienced the pain of losing her baby, so she knew how it felt. Maybe that made Daryl's pain more horrific for her, because she knew exactly what undeniable grief felt like.

Gently Carol grasped the children's hands and without another word to the group, she strolled towards their makeshift kitchen in search of some broth-stew-soup like substance for the children.

The whole time she was warming the food, Carol kept a very cautious eye on both children, they were a naturally very curious pair. They liked to climb on the tables or sit in all the boxes lying around, it was nice to see them having so much fun but it wouldn't be long before their curiosity led them astray.

Carol turned to the children with an overly enthusiastic smile and held the now lukewarm liquid up, Imogen immediately clapped with excitement prompting Archer to copy her as they scrambled towards the table.

"Careful..." Carol said gently as she placed Imogen next to Archer on the bench. "...It's a little bit hot." The children both stared up at Carol for a second before turning back to their soup, Archer began blowing against his food frantically trying to cool it down.

Imogen giggled at her twin brother and began copying him, Carol couldn't help but laugh at the way Imogen held her little spoon. She was definitely Daddy's little's girl sharing his odd body movements which made Carol slightly curious but she never asked, why did he move that way? Did he hold himself at odd angles and move slightly strange as an adverse reaction to the abuse he suffered as a child?

The chance of Merle being abused as a child was pretty high too, but he didn't act like his little brother. Merle never did the things Daryl did, he never shifted foot-to-foot to protect himself, but that was probably because the drugs and drink had dulled down his natural survival instincts.

In the walker world when she wasn't avoiding the dead, there was a lot of time spare to observe people, more specifically Daryl. One day she would find the courage to ask a few questions about the past, but not now. Not while Daryl was so incredibly fragile.

Carol was disturbed from her Dixon related thoughts when the cell block door slid open, for a moment nobody stepped out but then Carol heard the familiar sounds of crutches against the floor.

A handful of seconds later Hershel appeared at Carol's side as she stood behind the children, watching them as they played and ate on the prison bench. By the look in the old man's eye, Carol knew he has some burning questions about both Daryl and the children.

Carol didn't know how much more of this questioning she could take, everybody wanted to know things about Daryl she just couldn't share, not without hurting him and herself in the process. She wanted everyone to know how deeply disturbed by everything Daryl was but he didn't, Daryl did not want everybody in the group to know about his bitter past.

"I'd like to check the children over when they are finished, especially the little girl after everything they've been through." Hershel said looking towards Carol for her approval, he would have asked Daryl himself had the man been in a better emotional state.

Carol slowly nodded only meeting Hershel's eye when he thanked her. "Do you think its weird they don't talk much?" She asked in reply.

That was something else she observed since Archer and Imogen's arrival. Sure the children spoke to each other when they were playing and they spoke when they were with Daryl, but they never really said much past that. All in all they were seemingly very quiet children.

Hershel shrugged a little and cast his eye down to the twins, switching between eating and excessively blowing the soup. "I don't think it's that odd at all. They're Dixon's, Dixon's don't like to talk much. They seem to be developing fine despite the world ending, I can see why you are concerned, but don't be."

Carol gave a gentle smile towards the man before busying herself with cleaning the makeshift stove. That way she didn't have to look Hershel in the eyes when he asked about the twin's father, when Hershel didn't actually say anything, Carol felt her nerves becoming more frazzled and couldn't help speaking up. "...Please, don't make me sedate him again." She said quietly, her hand stilling as she cleaned up. "The look on his face was unbearable."

"It was just to calm him down, I don't think he'll need anymore after this." Hershel said honestly sitting down beside Imogen on the bench, the little girl silently glanced at the man before turning back to her twin as they finished their dinner and held the bowl out to Carol, letting her know they were done. Carol beamed down at the children and replaced the children's bowl's with beakers of orange juice, watching them grab the beakers excitedly. "He's tough enough to deal with this."

That was where Carol let out a sigh, she wasn't so sure. He would get through Merle's death, but there was no way he was going to be the same Daryl as before, he had already changed so much since the day he walked in camp with Merle and all these changes must have overwhelmed him, not just Daryl but his babies too.

Their father was normal one minute and the next he was angry or hysterical, those emotional changes must have been heartbreaking for the twins too.

They were never sure when they could approach Daryl or not, his emotions scared had to find a way to change that, find away that helped Daryl express his emotions in a way that wasn't so angry and aggressive.

Imogen swiveled around on the bench and shimmied off, holding her now empty beaker out to Carol. The little girl looked exhausted and weary despite her laughter and happiness not so long ago, that must have been why the little girl held her arms out, desperate for Carol to hold her. Her endless amount of energy had almost depleted again.

Without hesitating Carol picked the little girl up and pulled her close, letting Imogen snuggle in her neck for comfort. "You should take a look at her before she falls asleep." The woman said looking down at Hershel, despite having complete trust in the group's doctor, some part of Carol didn't want to let the tiny girl go. She was worried how Daryl would react when he found out his little girl had been near another male. After finding Axel in Imogen's cell, Daryl had become exceptionally protective over the children, but especially Imogen in particular.

Daryl was still concerned his babies was under threat, he hadn't let Axel anywhere near the cell block since it happened and if he swore if he ever wandered across the convict, he would end his life.

Carol didn't want Daryl to think she had pawned his daughter off on someone else, even worse, Carol didn't want Daryl to believe she was putting the twins in danger. With Daryl's current mindset, any thought was bound to be slightly confused and mixed up."I'll be quick." Hershel said gently trying to give a reinforcing, positive smile to reassure her but a small part of Carol still felt apprehensive.

Imogen didn't make a sound when Carol handed her over to Hershel, she just switched so she could snuggle into the old man instead. Carol watched in slight nervousness as Hershel looked in little ones eyes and checked her pulse, their was not a lot they could do without a full doctors equipment but Hershel did his best.

Through the whole examination Archer watched in interest, jumping down from the bench and table to stand beside Hershel and his sister. Imogen protested a little when Hershel started to remove her socks and shoes, she pouted and frowned when he explained what was going on but Imogen quickly adapted and let Hershel get down to business.

Archer proved to be far less cooperative than his sister, through the entire examination, the little boy squirmed and wriggled in both excitement and evasion. "Cold hands. Cold hands!" He kept yelling as he tried to push Hershel away. Carol couldn't help but think Daryl could hear them and would storm down any minute to take the twins away, despite knowing Daryl was nowhere near consciousness.

"Come on Archer, I think Imogen is ready for a nap." The woman didn't mean to seem like she was taking the children away from Hershel, Carol trusted him but just the thought of Daryl finding out made her heart rate quicken. She was scared Daryl would lose his temper, there was already a light purplish bruise on her arm from the last time his aggression took control.

That time was especially painful for Carol to remember, not because of the physical pain but the emotional pain that came with Daryl's accusation. The sheer force of the pain when it barreled into her was almost unbearable, it was almost as if Daryl had ripped her heart out and crushed it in his hand. But he was so angry he just didn't know what he was saying or doing.

Nobody else in the group had ever blamed Carol for her daughter's death, except Daryl. He even went as far as to blame her twice in the peak of his anger, as soon as Daryl recognised the things he was saying were not fair, he took them all back. But by then the damage was already done.

Neither adult said anything to each other as Carol began to lead the children back into the cell block, Archer skipped beside Carol as she carried a dozing Imogen in through the door. She considered carrying Imogen back up to the perch so she could rest for a while but Archer seemed to have a different plan as he dashed up the stairs as fast as his little feet could carry him.

He looked back over his shoulder to find Carol and his sister, the little boy then grinned and headed straight towards one of the cells. Daryl's didn't have chance to catch the little boy and prevent him from potentially disturbing his father from a well deserved sleep, she almost let out a sigh of relief when Archer stopped in the doorway, staring in at Daryl like he'd never seen him asleep before.

"Daddy." Imogen whispered slightly, stirring in Carol's arms trying to reach for the sleeping man. The children wanted to be near their father for a little while but the man was too exhausted, they would surely wake him up and his emotional trauma would pile up again. "Want Daddy."

It wasn't fair to deny the children their father, they had been denied access to each other so many times before, Carol didn't have it in her to tear the family apart again.

Carol gently sidestepped around Archer and walked to the bed, Imogen's eyes opened as if she felt Daryl's presence and the little girl smiled, her blue eyes sparkling with delight as Carol placed her down.

Within seconds of Imogen touching the bed and despite his artificially unconscious state, Daryl's arm sluggishly wrapped around the tiny girl, pulling her close so his body could wrap around and protect his baby girl. It amazed Carol how even in such a deep sleep, the man was pretty aware of everything going on around him. Or maybe it was just the connection he had with the twins, their bond allowed him to know when his children were nearby.

Disturbed from her thoughts Carol watched Archer as he sprang forward on to the bed, scrambling over Daryl's legs making him grunt disapprovingly. Archer then nestled in beside Imogen and the wall of the cell, it took no more than a handful of seconds for Daryl's arm to extend and wrap around the little boy too.

Carol couldn't help examine the little family bundled on the even tinier bed, joined together and holding each other, Daryl's strong arm was holding his family together even if he couldn't hold himself together.

The man didn't look at peace as she expected but he also didn't look extremely distraught like before. Daryl appeared as he usually would... he was just man was frowning slightly as he slept, like he wasn't really battling his inner demons, he was just ignoring them. Daryl wasn't being passive but also he wasn't being aggressive either. Daryl was just being Daryl.

Even as he slept the children were Daryl's main priority, he kept them protected at all costs, after the recent walker scare it came as no surprise. Finding a walker in the cell block really frightened Daryl, he couldn't remember jumping the undead creature but his body showed all the signs.

Pulling the children close to his body, shielding them from incoming attacks and his subconscious mind even went as far as balling his hands into fists, that way he could swing at anyone near whether they were living or dead.

Carol sighed when she saw the previously very active Archer's eyes close heavily. She didn't want to leave the children with Daryl incase they woke him up, but at the same time tearing the twins away from Daryl was bound to make all three very anxious. Carol couldn't help the smile that developed when she saw Daryl's eyes flutter open for a second, he settled on her before closing his eyes again and squeezing the children a little closer.

They were the only remains of his blood relatives, they were the only Dixons to survive the outbreak so he had to hold them close, protect them from the big bad world until they were ready. The scene before her made Carol melt a little inside, Ed had never been so loving and dedicated when it came to Sophia or any other children for that matter, seeing a man so openly loving towards his children when love was such a difficult emotion for him to grasp. It did things to her that were not acceptable to think about with Archer and Imogen around.

The woman quietly moved from the family cell and directed herself to Daryl's perch, as she glanced around Carol couldn't help but notice how messy the place was. Daryl's post-apocalypse organising skills were lacking slightly.

Daryl was going to freak when she was finished or at least stumble in confusion, like he did when Carol had cleaned up the RV. Thinking back, Carol couldn't decide what was better. The way Daryl stumbled through the RV like a deer in headlights because it was clean or the way he nearly dropped what he was chewing on, just a piece of dried grass or a reed, she wasn't paying much attention at the time.

That was the day Daryl showed her real genuine kindness, as rough as his voice still sounded when he spoke there was something about his tone, something that thinking back probably made Carol's loss just a little easier. He was gentle, he even gave her a flower to give her hope they'd find Sophia. It was both a good and a bad day for Carol and Daryl. It was the start of a real friendship and a powerful bond.

Daryl had done well by Carol to ease her through her hard times and Carol would be damned if she didn't do the same for him.