Author's Note: I love all you guys! your reviews, messages and support keep me going. I'm not sure if I can even bear to watch the mid season finale. I'm so angry and sad about possibly no resolution to the Carol situation and even more if Daryl doesn't react. Even if it's to get angry at her. I just want to see emotion out of him, especially about her. Someone needs to give a damn about that woman, because the show doesn't appear to.

Anyways, I'm glad I got such a good response to the Caryl chapter. It is so easy to write them and I think it shows in my writing. There is a confession in this chapter, but it may not be what you expect or enjoy. But don't fret, things are going to be progressing with Caryl. He's determined not to lose her. Please leave your feedback and I'll update again tomorrow. Same bat time, same bat channel

XOXO Pamela

10. Confession

After leaving B Block, Carol gathered some clothes and went straight to the showers to wash away the sweat and grime from her work. She also hoped she could wash away the feeling of Daryl's body against hers, his lips on her, his hands touching places she thought he would never discover. The water mixed with her tears and they joined together, swirling down the drain. She cried, sobbed, cursed herself out loud in the privacy of the stall. It took a while for her to get herself together. Finally, she composed herself enough to get out, towel off and get dressed. She realized the water may have washed away the product of her physical exertion, but her emotional exertion was another matter entirely. The lust, the ache, the guilt all warred inside her.

She got back to her cell and collapsed on the thin mattress. What was she going to tell Rick? That she almost let Daryl have his way with her? Because, the truth of it was, she was seconds from giving into her desire for him. She pondered how far she would have let it go. Would she have just let him kiss her? Would she have let him peel off her clothes and lick the sweat from her breasts? Would she have let him fill her like no man has filled her in years? She threw a hand over her eyes as she pictured all of those scenarios, and want shot through her. She pressed her face into her pillow and the memory of Daryl's touch lulled her to sleep.

She was awoken by a gentle shake and opened her eyes to see Rick sitting on her bed. She came close to throwing the pillow over her face and refusing to get up. The guilt bubbled up and she needed to get herself in check and think about what she should say to Rick. If she told him the whole truth, he could very well end up in an all out brawl with Daryl. After Lori and Shane's betrayal, she didn't think Rick would stand idly by and allow something like that happen once again. She didn't care what happened with her, she could deal with it, she just wanted to make sure the two men's friendship wasn't put at odds. The group couldn't afford turmoil between the two alpha males. She had a brief flash that she should just end things with Rick and go back to her lonely existence, but the thought of losing the caring sheriff grieved her immensely. She knew then that she loved Rick, but could never love him fully until she let go of Daryl.

"Hey, I see you got some beauty rest. I guess your project with Daryl wore you out?" Rick brushed his fingers through her short hair. "I want to say how much I appreciate what you said to Carl this morning. It's good to see him doing normal things, looking forward to things a teenager should look forward to. For so long I was so frightened of what he has seen, done, I was terrified I was losing him. But today was so brilliant. It made me hope. Hope that maybe we can have some semblance of a life here, he can have a life here." Rick spoke with emotion and Carol grasped his hand that was stroking her hair.

"We do have a life here. A life you made possible. He knows that, I know that, everyone here knows that. Most of us would be dead if not for you. You came back from losing Lori, stood up and brought those people back and gave them hope. You gave us all hope." Carol hugged him tightly. She buried her head into his neck and whispered so quietly she wasn't sure he would hear here, "You gave me hope and I love you for it."

She realized he did hear here when he stiffened. Carol was terrified. She knew she shouldn't have said it, especially after her encounter with Daryl and now she had thrown that bomb out there. She swallowed the lump in her throat and pulled back.

Rick's face was unreadable. He then carefully leaned forward again and placed his face against hers, so his lips were at her ear. "Me too, Carol. I love you too." He whispered those words directly into her ear and she didn't miss one syllable. Carol felt her heart soar then but then plummet right back to earth when she realized she still didn't know how to broach the subject of Daryl.

Her dilemma was worsened when the man himself cleared his throat right outside the cell. Rick and Carol pulled apart and her cheeks flushed and she felt unbearably hot. "Can I come in?" He asked from behind the privacy curtain.

Carol couldn't seem to talk so Rick gave her a look and answered for her, "Come on in, brother." Carol winced at the endearment.

Daryl pulled the curtain back and came into the cell, zeroing in on Rick, but not before he looked pointedly at Carol. "Carol tell you we got most of them supplies organized in B block? Now the only people that can access them are those of us with the master sets of keys. I do wanna assign some of those guns to people. There's some powerful weaponry in there." He stood with confidence, not bothered by the sight of Carol in the least, it seemed.

"That's all you, Daryl. You know you don't have to ask my permission for what you want." Rick kissed Carol on the cheek and got up from his seated position on her bunk. "I'll catch you later. I've still got a little bit more male bonding to do with Carl. He found an old Auto Trader magazine and wants to check out the kind of cars he'd like to find. Did Carol tell you she wants to get him a car if he does well with his driving lessons?" He asked Daryl.

"Nope, she sure didn't. We didn't seem to do a lot of talking while we were in B block. We were a little caught up doing some things." It was then he shot a knowing look to Carol and she wanted to disappear. She couldn't believe what he was doing. He clapped a hand on Rick's shoulder as the man passed by. He watched Rick leave the cell and then slowly turned to face her. "Obviously you didn't tell him about us since he didn't punch me in my face when I walked in." He then shocked her further by coming over to her bunk and plopping himself down next to her, like he had done dozens of times before. But that was before Rick, before their embrace in the cell block, before everything had changed.

She scooted her body to the opposite side of the bunk and eyed him angrily. "I was going to tell him but you interrupted us. I can't keep that from him, I love him!" She tried to get up from the bunk but he stopped her forward momentum by laying his arm across her legs, grasping her knee.

"Love, huh? When you decide you loved him, when you were trying to play momma to Carl or when you were letting me touch you, kiss you? Is that when you decided that? When you had your eyes rolled to the back of your head while I had my hands all over you?" He punctuated that statement by running his hand from her knee up her thigh, his fingers grazing her inner thigh.

Carol snatched his hand and hissed, "What the hell is wrong with you? We are not doing this again. What has possessed you, Daryl?" She stood up and he sat back on the bunk, crossing his ankles and getting more comfortable. "You need to leave." She stated angrily.

"Nope, I'm bored. I always come hang with you when I'm bored." He picked up one of Judith's stuffed hippos and started tossing it in the air. He was insufferable.

Carol was fuming. She felt like a child but she stomped her foot and Daryl laughed. A full out chortle with teeth! Carol couldn't help herself, she felt the anger fading at that wondrous sight. She half heartedly scoffed, "Screw you Daryl Dixon. You are enjoying making me squirm." He laughed even harder. "This is not funny. This situation is so beyond not funny! Stop!" She couldn't help herself and covered her mouth to hide the smile that was threatening. It was so easy to go back to their usual ease with each other. God, how she had missed that.

Daryl stopped laughing but the smile didn't leave his face. "Come sit, woman. I brought a couple of shirts that need your TLC. You sew and I'll just sit here and keep you company. I promise to keep my hands to myself. Like old times." He scooted back down a respectable distance.

She sighed dramatically and grabbed her sewing basket from her dresser, sitting herself down as far away from him as she could get. "Stay in your zone, Daryl, or I'll stab you with my needle." She waved the implement at him to emphasize her threat.

He smirked and nodded his head. "Yes ma'am. Imma just gonna close my eyes and take a cat nap while you're working on my shirts. No handsies, I promise." He grabbed the pillow and propped it under his head.

Carol began mending his shirts. She didn't understand why he didn't just get more shirts on the runs they went on. There were plenty of stores and houses that still had usable clothing. She cut her eyes to look at the familiar hole in the knee of his pants. Daryl was a man who didn't like to go out of his comfort zone. That's why she wondered why he went so far out of it today so intimately with her. She couldn't dwell on that. She loved Rick and he loved her and that was that. She put that thought of the day out of her mind as she concentrated on the delicate task at hand, listening to the handsome man next to her begin to snore ever so quietly.