Ok, I have to explain myself really quick; this chapter might be a little aggressive on Daryl's part and a little dark as well.

It hasn't been a good week for me at all, I went to the doctors Thursday morning and found out I have an Upper Respiratory infection and Bronchitis. Then Thursday night I was struck with something devastating. (may sound silly to some of you but it's serious to me) My cat is almost a year old and he got loose a few days ago and he usually comes back home after a day or two and this time he didn't. I found him outside my barn Thursday afternoon crying and he couldn't stand, someone had smashed his pelvic and spine and his little bladder… needless to say –I took him to the vet and I had to put him to sleep. I've never had to put one of my animals down so I'm still not cooping well. Coming from someone who will never bare children, my animals are my babies. I see them as my kids (I know I sound like a total nut job right now, but it's true) anyhow, I'm sorry to pour my sob stories to you all but it explains the "feel" of this chapter.

It may be dark and angsty a little and I apologize for that but I'm not having a good week right now.

Thanks for all the support and awesome comments, you guys are amazing!

I hope you are all having a great holiday weekend!

Chapter: 10

Losing you;

Everything is quite since you're not around –I live in numbness now in the background. I do the things we did before, I walk Haight Street to the store… and they say where's that crazy girl don't get drunk on red wine and fight no more, I don't see you anymore –since the hospital…

Carol didn't move much in the night –she was never one to toss and turn when she slept anyways. She didn't remember falling asleep really –all she remembered was crying and holding onto Daryl as if he was her lifeline. He never said anything to her last night; he just moved onto the bed and held her close to him. She never thought she would see the day when he finally got the hint and comforted her the way she needed to be. She was awake for a few minutes, her eyes fluttered open to hear the softness of his breathing and the gentle touch of his fingers rubbing up and down her arm. Her position did change in the night apparently because now her head was rested on his shoulder and the rest of her small body was pressed against his side.

Daryl knew she was awake –her breathing pattern had changed and he felt the tenseness of her body all the sudden. It caused his body to tense now –things were alert in his pants and now he was worried she would notice. He swallowed hard and felt her move finally as her head shot up slowly to look at him –her grip on his side was deadly. It didn't hurt or anything but he figured she was holding onto him because she feared he would get up and leave now that he knew she was awake.

She smiled at him faintly and blinked a few times –her head was pounding. She moved her head back down on his shoulder closing her eyes tightly feeling her headache increase. She felt his fingers stop moving along her arm as she frowned opening her eyes a little to see his hand move up to her upper arm to move her a little. She knew this was all too good to be true, but the night was nice feeling him this close. She knew it would all end as soon as he had time to think about what he was doing.

The plans I make still have you in them cause you come swimming into view and I'm hanging on your words like I always used to do. The words they use to lightly I only feel for you, I only know because I carry you around in the background…

"How's your head?" he said softly moving his body to sit up so his back was against the wall while he pulled the blankets up more around his waist. The frown on her lips was enough to make him sigh –why –why the fuck did she have to do these things to him? Why did she have to give him these feelings he had avoided his whole life?

"Spinning," she said closing her eyes bringing her hand up to her forehead touching it softly wincing in pain. She felt the bed move some as she opened her eyes to see him in motion to get up –yes it was all over too soon.

"Lemme' get you somethin'," he said feeling her hand on his forearm to stop him.

"Just…" she trailed off some shaking her head a little. "Can you… can you just hol –stay a little longer?" she choked out softly with fear in her voice.

Daryl swallowed loudly looking down at her –without a word he moved fully back onto the bed with his back against the cold wall feeling her hesitantly moving against him. She laid her head on his chest again as he pulled the blankets up around her shivering body. He hoped he was doing this all the right way –he had never held a woman in his life –this was his first time and he hoped that it was the way she wanted him to hold her. Of course he would never tell her that he's never really been with a woman –if anyone found out about that he would only be made fun of for it. A grown ass man who had never experienced those sorts of intimate things was only found in the movies and on television –it wasn't real life.

"Thank you," she finally whispered without moving.

"Don't mention it," he whispered back.

"I… I mean it," she said with a frown moving her head up to look into his tired eyes. "No man's… ever held me like this before," she confessed seeing his eyes widen a little.

"Whatda mean?" he said confused.

"Ed never once held me like this," she confessed once more.

"None of yer' other boyfriends…" he trailed off hearing a sigh come from her lips. Why did he even ask that question? He didn't want to know the answer to it –he wasn't the jealous type by far, he had never had a reason to be jealous but hearing about her past endeavors with other men didn't really play too keen on his curiosity either.

"Ed was the only man I had ever been with." That was the truth.

Daryl felt his breath hitch a little – they had way more in common then he ever thought possible.

"… and I… oh God!" Carol started to speak out when she put her hand over her mouth stumbling out of the bed quickly feeling Daryl do the same. Carol took no time as she stumbled down the steps and down the hall into the bathroom. She caught glimpse of the light outside and it was still slightly dark out, so she really only slept a few hours but it was much needed.

Daryl heard her regurgitating in the toilet as he slowly made his way into the bathroom to see her head ducked inside of the porcelain bowl. He stood there for a moment not sure what to do –she didn't have hair to hold back or anything. He held her most of the night even if she didn't ask for him too, he knew it was what she wanted –but now he didn't know what to do.

"Uh, ya… ya alright?" he asked her softly standing behind her seeing her lean her head on her forearm that was leaned against the seat.

"Everything alright in here?" Lori said suddenly appearing in the doorway. Her eyes widened when she saw Carol on the floor leaning against he toilet. She went to her on instinct and leaned down next to her looking up at Daryl, "what happened?"

"Woman had too much to drink," he said quickly rubbing the back of his neck. He started to back out of the bathroom when he noticed Lori motioning with her hand at the sink.

"Could you wet that wash cloth for me?" she said rubbing Carol's back.

Without a word Daryl ran the cloth under the cold water and rang it out before handing it to Lori. He watched as Carol leaned back some and Lori put the cloth to her forehead. Carol didn't usually have much color to her anyways but right now she looked so pale –it worried him. But he kept telling himself it was because she had a hangover and it was normal. When neither of them spoke out he made himself scarce and walked out of the bathroom leaning against the wall next to the door. He figured this was girl time or some shit –he did his part –he comforted her and that was all he was going to do.

So what now you go back to being an ass hole to her? She aint yer' woman or nothin' so why should it bother me so much when she's hurting… teach her the crossbow and leave her be. Don't get attached to her… no sense in doin' that.

He chuckled at his thoughts rubbing his eyes from exhaustion before hearing Lori laugh slightly as she spoke.

"I'm the one whose supposed to be throwing up, not you!"

Daryl furrowed his brow and peaked inside the bathroom to see both women on the bathroom floor. One was lively and smiling while the other… she looked so pale and sick. Daryl wanted to rush to her and comfort her again, his feet wanted to move but his brain restrained.

No way. No way in hell I'm gettin' attached to her! This emotion bullshit is too much.

D/C/D/C/D/C

After throwing up in the bathroom this morning, Carol felt like a fool for last night. She had made such an ass out of herself in front of Daryl. But one thing he never did was make fun of her –if anything he stayed quite and held her. That was the most incredible thing she had ever experienced –it was more intimate then she could have ever imagined. Daryl Dixon was gentle and sweet –he never spoke or made fun of her –he was just there for her doing what she never thought he had in him.

But now he was avoiding her.

She sort of expected it from him –she knew from the moment he put his arms around her and held her last night that once it was over he would go back to being his old self again. She hated to think she was right because she thought she was making progress with him but as suspected –it was too good to be true, just like everything else in her life.

She was slacking slightly on the house work that normally was done during the morning hours but luckily the other woman understood. It was when she rounded the corner to the living room she stopped in her tracks and heard the men talking about what happened yesterday when Daryl and the others went into town. Daryl had tracked a few steps and it wasn't from Walkers, it was from humans and they were fresh. Maybe a few days after they had originally went to the town, but it was getting late and Daryl didn't want to risk searching without more men out there with them.

Carol was happy that there were signs of Andrea –she had saved her life and she wanted more then anything to tell her how grateful she was to her for that. She only hoped that when they found her she was still alive and well. But she wondered what the other tracks were that Daryl had found –there was no one else from the group missing. Jimmy and Patricia were both taken out by Walkers back at the farm; that didn't leave anyone else.

D/C/D/C/D/C

Daryl jogged down the steps of the basement to get his crossbow and arrows. Usually he would have gotten it first thing in the morning or it would have been with him while he slept –but last night he was distracted. He did the unthinkable and now he … well he didn't regret it or anything but it brought up a whole mess of questions he didn't want to answer right away. But the more he thought about it the more he wanted to ask himself all those questions and get the answers.

"Fuck," he mumbled under his breath at his thoughts before grabbing his jacket and jogging back up the steps. The plan for the day was for him, Rick, Glenn and Hershel to all set out to the town and investigate. When he got to the empty kitchen he opened the back door and stepped out running right into Carol.

He had been avoiding her all day; he didn't want to hear anything she had to say about last night. He wasn't in the mood to be made fun of for what happened –he knew he was no good at comforting people. Although she was fine with it this morning –and so was he even though he wouldn't admit to it –he knew it would only take little time for it all to set in.

"Hi," she said softly hugging her sweater around her body. Daryl watched a little color come to her face as the wind blew.

"What are ya doing out er'?" he said with concern seeing her smile faintly.

"I needed some air," she whispered rubbing her arms up and down as she hugged herself.

"How are you?" –after a few minutes of silents they both spoke out.

Carol smiled at him seeing the irritated look on his face.

"I feel much better, thank you," she said sweetly seeing him nod.

Behind him he could hear the other men coming out the door with their weapons. Rick nodded to Carol seeing her faint smile fade quickly, "Lori said you were sick this morning, feeling better?" he said trying to sound concerned.

He had nothing against the woman –or anyone in the group for that matter. He just wished some things didn't happen the way they did. The CDC, Sophia, Dale, Shane… everything that went wrong he wished he could fix it all to gain some of their trust back.

"Much better, thank you, Rick."

He smiled quickly and nodded to her then looked to Daryl seeing the confused and concerned look on his face. He didn't know what was going on with him lately but Daryl was the only one in the group he knew he could turn to, too have his back. Sure he had the others but Daryl was now his right hand man and hoped he could continue to count on the hunter.

Without a word the men started for their vehicles.

"Wait," Carol said quickly biting her lower lip seeing everyone turn to look at her. She noticed the sour look on Daryl's face when he narrowed his eyes to look at her. "Let me come this time," she pleaded seeing all the men wear the same defensive look.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hershel said concerned.

"You'll need an extra set of eyes," she said truthfully.

Daryl growled softly biting his tongue –he wasn't going to say shit to her this time. If she wanted to play stupid and come along –then let her. He wouldn't tell her what to do; he had no right to anyways. He was done trying to play nice –it wasn't his style.

"Let 'er!" Daryl said finally as Rick and Glenn looked back to him with wide eyes. "She's shot a crossbow… once," he said motioning his hand towards her seeing the hurt look in her eyes. He wanted to be sorry for what he was saying but he couldn't be –he was angry because she was so bold to actually want to go out there with them. Spite his words and thoughts –he knew deep down inside no matter how hard he tried to deny it –he would do everything he could to protect her. He even told her that once or twice before –he didn't want to go back on his word now; but he also didn't want her challenging him either. "She knows how ta' defend herself, let 'er come along," he said turning his back to them all.

Carol felt her bottom lip and chin quiver slightly –he was such an asshole sometimes to her. Lucky for her she was immune to having a mean bastard in her life –Ed was the perfect example. She wasted years with his abusing, sorry ass –he was never once nice to her. She shook her head at her thoughts –comparing the two of them was like comparing apples and oranges –they had one thing in common and that was it; nothing more. Daryl was so much more –he was so much of everything she wanted.

The others said nothing to her as she slowly stepped towards them all. They took Glenn's car and T-Dog's truck. Daryl slung his leg over his bike and glanced to Carol who stood a few feet away unsure of herself. The plus side of her coming along –he could keep an eye on her. The downside of it all; he would have to keep an eye on her.

It was a double-edge sword either way.

He huffed throwing his jacket at her seeing her flinch slightly as she caught it.

"We aint got all day," he said revving the engine watching her hurry towards him.

Words they come and memories all repeat, I lift your head while they change the hospital sheets and I would never lie to you no, I would never lie to you no… I felt you long after we were through, we were through. The plans I make still have you in them cause you come swimming into view …

D/C/D/C/D/C

Once they got to their destination in town, they all parked the vehicles close by in case they had a run in with any Walkers. They picked up a few extra things they would need back at the house; every time they came into town they got a little bit of everything. It was the safest way of getting in and out without staying for a long period of time.

"This house up ahead is where I tracked 'er," Daryl said as the five of them walked in a circle up the deserted street. "Signs of life everywhere –but none as resent as this," he carried on. He could feel Carol at his side watching him closely –he wished she didn't look at him that way. This was not a time to be distracted –and the one thing that always distracted him was her. "I'll take the back end of the houses, Glenn and Hershel you take these streets," Daryl said nodding up ahead.

"I'll stay close and keep an eye out," Rick said as they started to split up.

Carol instantly went with Daryl whether he liked it or not. He didn't say a word to her until they got to the back of the fenced in houses. "Take this," he said handing her a gun without looking at her. It was the small pistol he got last week when they first found the house.

"I can't shoot," she said quietly.

Daryl turning and glared at her shoving the gun in her hand, "aim for the head and pull the trigger," he said quickly turning away from her keeping her behind him. He knew if worst came to worst she would do as instructed. He had faith in her –although they only had one day of training he knew she had it in her if need be.

Daryl lost track of Andrea after a few houses until they made it to a smaller house towards the end of the street. He stopped in his tracks after a few steps hearing a clanking noise up ahead of them. He looked back to see Carol scared to death holding the gun with both of her hands. He wanted to comfort her –but it wasn't the time for that and he knew it. He motioned for her to get closer behind him and as she did so he turned his attention to the fence in front of them. He peaked through a broken slat to see the unthinkable; two Walkers chained up to the fence.

They had no arms or mouths.

"... 'the fuck?" he whispered hearing Carol's breath hitch as she looked through the fence with him. He pulled his crossbow forward and looked through the fence hole, "follow me and stay quite," he said softly breaking more of the fence getting the attention of the Walkers.

Carol took Daryl's hand when he held it out for her to cross the broken bottom part of the fence. He let go of her hand quickly as they got closer to the Walkers seeing them pulling on their chains that were wrapped around their necks. Although they had no mouths their human scent probably roused them in some way.

"Who the hell would chain these things up?" he said softly more to himself then to her as he examined the Walkers from a far.

"Do you think whoever did it is still around?" she asked looking around quickly.

Daryl shrugged and pulled his crossbow out eyeing the target as he motioned for Carol to stand back. As she stepped back she watched Daryl get into his stance before she watched him get tackled to the ground. She hadn't even blinked and someone was on top of him –it happened so fast!

Carol acted on instinct and leaped forward to the cloaked person on top of Daryl and before she knew it she felt the sharp pain penetrate her side. Her eyes widened as she dropped the gun moving her hands to her bloody side.

"Carol!" Daryl yelled out punching the person in the face sending them back as he pulled his crossbow off his shoulder and crawled to Carol who had just fallen to her knees holding onto her side.

"Michonne, no!"

Andrea yelled out rushing towards Daryl and Carol. She watched the horror on Daryl's face as he put his hand over top of Carol's adding more pressure to her wound while he cupped her face with his other hand.

"Don't you die on me, woman!" he yelled at her looking into her paling eyes. "Com' on, damnit! Stay with me!" he yelled out some more hearing the others in the distance scrabbling to get close to see what was going on.

What the fuck just happened?

…and I'm hanging on your words like I always used to do… the words they use so lightly –I only feel for you, I only know because I carry you around… In the background.

I added the song at the last minute… I just thought it fit the chapter? It's by 3EB-The Background –very good song!

But I hope you all liked the chapter, sorry for the cliffy at the end but the next few chapters will tie it together. It's not my best work I will admit that and again, I apologize for that suckiness that is this chapter –but I tried my best. I think I stayed in character and I hope I didn't make anyone hate Daryl for being such a jerk but it suited my mood and where the story is going.

Chapter: 11 will be coming soon I promise. Thank you to all that have stuck by me so far with my story –it's got a long ways to go and I hope to continue to keep you all interested in it.

Reviews would be nice, they're ALWAYS greatly appreciated!