A/N – Thank you for the review everyone! You're all so awesome. I hope you like this somewhat short chapter! Please read and review.
Chapter 9 – What Wouldn't I Do For You
Carol had stepped into the lobby of the building at the same time that Daryl had breezed through. She hadn't gotten a good look at him but she could tell he was sullen and cross. She'd intended to go right after him, to find out what had happened, but she was distracted by a familiar face coming through the door.
"Andrea!," Carol cried, rushing forward, enveloping Andrea in a hug and barely even noticing Merle as he slipped inside and headed out of the lobby area and away from all the people.
"Ooof," Andrea exhaled as Carol hugged her and then, "now that's a welcome." Andrea flashed a smile at everyone before frowning. "Where's Shane?"
Carol paled and Andrea seemed to notice. Their eyes met and Carol shook her head. Andrea's face took on a sad look of acceptance and she nodded slightly.
"How'd you make it out of there?," Carol asked. Everyone seemed to be listening to the two of them and Andrea took a step back and motioned to the other woman with her.
"My savior, everyone, her name's Michonne… she's a lawyer just like me but not nearly so cutthroat," Andrea said with a wink. Everyone murmured their greetings at the stranger in their midst who still held the handle of a long bladed sword.
Carol smiled and Andrea grinned, raising her eyebrows and moving closer so that only Carol could hear. "Tough crowd, huh… not nearly so cutthroat… come on, the woman has a sword."
Carol smiled, let out a giggle and hugged Andrea again. "I'm so glad you're alive."
When they separated, Andrea spoke seriously, "me too."
"I never got to thank you… you saved my life, you know," Carol said softly, her eyes losing a bit of their glimmer as she remembered that they'd nearly lost Andrea because Carol wasn't able to protect herself.
Andrea shook her head, waved her gratitude off. "We're all together now… that's what matters."
"What happened? How did you find us?"
Andrea frowned. "It was a total accident. You can thank Merle Dixon… if he hadn't been making so much noise brawling with Daryl, I'd never have even known they were there."
Carol bit her lip. "They were fighting?"
"Oh yea, a total brawl. So you have to tell me where the hell Merle came from…"
Carol smiled softly. "He found Sophia."
Andrea looked taken aback. "Sophia? She's alive?," she said breathlessly.
Carol nodded excitedly. "She is. She was with Merle almost the whole time, looking for us."
Rick said something then that got Andrea's attention and she motioned to Carol that they'd talk later. Carol glanced around the room and took note of who was where.
"Where's Sophia?," she asked Carl who was standing against the wall.
"Went after Merle," he said, looking nervous as if he might get in trouble.
She nodded, "good," she said and went to walk past him but he interrupted.
"I told her she shouldn't go…"
Carol looked at the young boy and realized just how young he was in comparison to her daughter. They were the same age but somehow Sophia had grown up in her weeks away to be years ahead of where Carl was emotionally.
"You missed her," Carol said matter-of-factly and Carl shrugged. She remembered how much Carl had moped in the days after Sophia's disappearance, how Sophia had been who he'd asked about after he'd woken up after getting shot, how he'd lashed out at her when they all thought Sophia was dead.
"She'd rather hang out with Merle than me now," Carl said softly, looking down.
"If you had a choice between hanging with your dad or with Sophia, who would you pick?," Carol asked and he looked up at her.
"My dad."
Carol nodded perfunctorily. "Right… well Merle… Merle is kind of like Sophia's dad now so sometimes she's going to hang with him."
Carl nodded and Carol gave him a small smile before heading down in the direction she'd seen Daryl take off to.
She exited the back door that was ajar and headed to the storage area that she'd slept in the night before. Sure enough, she found him inside, pacing and muttering angrily to himself. She stopped in the doorway and rapped her knuckles against the metal frame, hearing the ting-ting metal sound echo in the empty space.
Daryl stopped and looked at her.
"The hell ya want? Ain't ya done enough…," he snapped, his eyes narrowing and he advanced on her, moving forward to within a foot of her and looming in that angry, threatening way. She remembered the stance from the night he'd yelled at her back at Hershel's by the campsite he'd made to keep away from the group.
He'd done the same thing then… gave her a smart-ass remark and stalked around her like a predator intimidating, cornering its prey.
She stood in the doorway, crossed her arms over her chest and met his eyes.
"You'd think you'd have worked out some of this aggression in town with Merle," she said calmly.
He blinked at her, eyed her through narrowed eyelids. "Ya think this is aggressive… I can show ya aggressive," he sneered but he didn't make a move.
Carol smiled slightly and stepped forward in the small space between them so that now she stood just inches away from him.
"I'm not scared of you, Daryl."
His face clouded over and he backed up a step to put some distance between them.
She smirked and took a step forward, her eyes still locked on his.
He frowned and took a step backward.
She took another step forward closing the distance again and this time his lips pulled together in a small smile.
"Ain't scared, huh…," he said quietly, his eyes shifting uncomfortably.
Carol shook her head. "Nope. Now what happened today?"
Daryl shrugged.
"Don't shrug at me. What happened today?"
Daryl raised his lip in a snarl and glared, but simply said, "I ain't gonna trust 'im. Nothin he does is gonn' make me trust 'im."
Carol furrowed her brow. "I trust him, Daryl."
Daryl frowned.
"I trust him," she repeated, "I have to. For Sophia. She needs him so I trust him."
"Nothin is gonn' make me trust 'im," Daryl said stubbornly.
"Do it for me?," Carol said, stepping forward a little bit more so that there was hardly any distance between them at all, so close that she could feel the body heat radiating off of him. Her head was tilted up so that she could look him in the eyes.
He had a deer in the headlights look on his face and he was silent long enough that she thought maybe he didn't hear. "Please, Daryl… could you do it for me?," she repeated.
Daryl's eyes stayed still on hers for a moment and then he gave the smallest of nods.
