I do not own the Walking Dead or its characters.

Wow! You guys did not like my little cliffhanger. Well, you did, but you still hated me for it, Lol. As always, Read and Review.

Enjoy!

Merle and Daryl reached Carols door at almost the same time. Merle flung open the door and Daryl charged past him, his eyes searching the room for her, gun in hand. Merle went immediately to the window, making sure it was still locked, baseball bat in his hand. Daryl looked around the room, not seeing Carol he began to panic.

"Carol! Shit! Carol?"

Then he heard it, he tried the door handle on the small closet sized bathroom, and it was locked. He could hear her in there making coughing, choking sounds. He didn't know if she was in there alone or if someone had her in there. Sure it would be a tight fit for tow people, but it could be done. He pounded on the door with his fist.

"Carol, open up. Dammit Carol, say something!"

Herschel came in, shotgun at the ready. "What the hells going on?"

Merle answered, still checking the windows around the room, under the bed, anywhere. "Don't know. Go lock you and the girls in your room. Anythin tries ta come in that aint me or Daryl, shoot it!"

Herschel hurried out of the room, calling for his girls.

Daryl continued banging on the bathroom door. Still no answer, just the sounds of her retching and sobbing. "Carol, you don't answer me I'm breaking down the goddam door!"

Merle reached the closet, turning when he heard the wood on the bathroom door splinter from the force of Daryl's foot. Daryl steeped over the splintered wood into the bathroom, gun in front of him. At first he didn't see Carol. He opened the curtain to the small shower, swearing loudly. He pulled the curtain closed again violently, ripping it through a couple of the shower rings.

He finally spotted her out of the corner of his eye. She was wedged in between the wall and the toilet. He wasn't sure how the hell she had gotten in there, it looked impossibly tight. He crouched down to where she was. Her face was pale and sweaty, her eyes rimmed with red. Sobs still shook her body, but no sound was coming out of her. He realized that she had been in her puking her guts out. He reached out and took her chin in his hand, rubbing his thumb lightly along the side of her face.

"Hey lady. You alright? Scared the shit out of me. Carol honey, look at me please."

She continued to stare at the floor. He heard Merle come up behind him.

"I'm gonna go get the girls ta sit with her. Ya need ta see what's in the closet."

At the mention of the closet, Carol pushed Daryl out of the way so hard he landed on his ass, barely out of the way before she was vomiting in the toilet again. He knelt behind her, rubbing lazy circles on her back.

"Carol, what happened?"

She inhaled slowly; resting her head on her arms still perched on the toilet seat. "He was in here Daryl. How did he get in?"

Daryl sat back against the shower, running his hands through his hair. He had failed her. He told her she would be safe in this house. Hell he thought she would be. With him, Merle, Herschel the house was like a goddamn fortress.

Beth stopped at the bathroom door, taking in the sight. She cleared her throat and Daryl looked up at her.

"Go on. I got her."

He looked over at Carol, her head still in the toilet. He nodded and Beth squeezed in the small room as he left, going to the closet. Merle and Herschel stood in front of the now open closet. Daryl peered inside and felt his insides clench. Now he knew why Carol was getting sick. There in the closet was the decapitated body of what looked like a dog. A rope had been flung over one of the bars in the closet and the animal had been flayed open so that the insides of it were clearly visible. Daryl closed his eyes, clenching and unclenching his fists.

"Merle, you touch the handle when you opened it?"

"Hell no. Used my shirt."

Carol and Beth stepped out from the bathroom. She seemed a bit more composed but she still looked deathly pale. She walked over to him, oblivious of everyone else in the room. She wrapped her arms around his waist and buried her head in his chest. His arms instinctively went around her, and he placed a kiss on the top of her head, murmuring something into her hair.

"Ok. Maggie, go call Glenn for me. Have him get Rick over here. Meantime, no one touch anything in this room, ok? Lets all go downstairs. Merle and I will check the rest of the house."

Herschel saw Carols arms clench tighter around Daryl.

"Daryl, you stay with the women, I'll go with Merle. I know every in and out of this house. We will find where he got in."

Daryl nodded as Herschel left the room, Maggie following him. Merle walked over to Beth. He stopped in front of her and saw the fear on her face. Someone had broken into her house. After what happened to Maggie and what was happening to Carol, he could see she was just waiting. Waiting for something to happen to her. He reached over, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She closed the distance between them, sighing as she laid her head on his chest, and looked up at him.

"Don't worry about nothing Angel. We'll get this son of a bitch." He tilted her chin up, kissing her lightly on the lips. "Besides, only thing ya should be worried about now, is me goin in the basement with yer pa. Mans got a damn shotgun."

The house had been checked. First by Merle and Herschel then by Rick and Daryl. The crime scene techs had been through already, dusting for prints and taking a shoe impression found outside the old cellar. Merle had discovered that the lock on the door had been smashed. The thing was old and rusty anyway. It wouldn't have taken much skill to do it. Herschel sat on the couch with Carol's hand in his. He kept apologizing to her over and over again, saying he should have remembered that the lock needed to be replaced.

Daryl was amazed at how Carol had handled it after her vomiting jag in the bathroom. She had made lunch for everyone, including the tech guys. Now she sat with Herschel, Maggie and Beth, reassuring Herschel that she didn't blame him. Daryl was sick of Carol dong all the reassuring. He should be able to reassure her. Tell her they found Ed, or he was dead, or at least something that would give her some closure and keep her from being scared of her own shadow.

As night fell, everyone in the house seemed a bit on edge. They were all gathered in the living room, the evening news was on, but no one was paying any attention to it. Herschel yawned and stretched his back.

"Probably time for everybody to be getting to bed. Everyone had a long day."

Herschel looked at his girls and nodded hs head towards their rooms. Beth and Maggie sighed. "Night everyone."

Carol stood and pulled her sweater closer around her. It wasnt cold, she just seemed to have a perpetual internal chill. "Night Beth, night Maggie."

Beth looked toward Merle who gave her a wink. Maggie walked over and gave Glenn a quick peck on the cheek, knowing her daddy was still watching. Merle went towards his room, motioning to Glenn.

"Come on kid, I got a couch in here ya can crash on."

Glenn nodded and followed him. "Thanks."

Carol continued to stare out into the darkness. "I don't understand."

She said it so softly that Daryl barely heard her. He stood and joined her sitting on the window seat, pulling her to sit between his legs.

"What?"

"I said I don't understand. I mean, he hates me Daryl. Every day of our life together, he told me he hated me. Told me I was good for nothing, a slut, a whore. He never loved me. Not ever. Why can't he just let me go?"

He pulled her back into him, so her back was resting on his chest. "Men like that don't know how to love, they also don't know how to let go. He thinks of you as his property. It would kill him to see you happy Carol."

"I guess that one reason to do it, huh?"

He chuckled. "Be happy? You should be able to be happy. And if it kills Ed, well that's a win win. But I promise, Im staying right here until we find him, understand? Illl stay in your room. On the floor if I have to, but Im not letting you out of my sight."

"Well, my my Daryl, what a sacrifice on your part. But you don't have to sleep on the floor."

He tipped her chin up, looking at her blushing face. "I don't?"

"No, you don't."

He leaned in close, closing his eyes and tracing her bottom lip with his tongue. He felt her lift her head to meet his mouth. The kiss started off slow, torturous, sweet. But after a minute he couldn't control himself. He lifted her so she was straddling him on the window yrseat, never taking his mouth from hers. She brought her legs up to hug his hips, pulling him closer into her core. He could feel the heat coming from her body, and he bucked up into her, wanting more of it. Off in the distance he thought he heard a phone ring, but as she rocked against his hardness his mind went completely blank. It wasnt until Glenn flew out of the bedroom with Merle on his heels that the kiss broke apart.

Glenn looked embarrassed, but he hurried into the living room, cell in his hand.

"Just got a call from Rick."

"Yeah, and?"

Now the guy looked nervous, his eyes flitting back between Carol and Daryl. "A body was found in Culver County two days ago. Vic had been dead for two days before that. Rick just got the call, they ID'd the body. It's Ed."