AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.

I'm going to have a lot going on in my life for the next few days with work and guests coming. I don't know how much I'll be updating anywhere, if any at all, but I'll be back. I'm not leaving…just getting ready to be quite busy!

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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Will could be a damn big pain in the ass and there was no other way to describe the man. Daryl might have avoided him altogether, but it wasn't that easy when they lived in "apartments" next to each other in the singles housing of Oasis where the walls were made out of cardboard, or close to it, and the place was so damn cramped that you could hardly want to spend your time in there to do anything but curl up in your shoe box and sleep.

Daryl figured they built the things that way because they were temporary housing. Most everyone that lived in the apartments didn't stay very long before they paired off, like animals on the ark, and ended up moving into the other available housing.

After all…there wasn't that much else to do with your time.

But Will was probably a lifer in the building. He was interested in every woman in Oasis…and Daryl knew this because he thought that Daryl wanted him to chat with him from time to time while he talked about the women that he liked…who ranged from the most settled matron among them all the way to the newest female to arrive fresh off the road…yet he didn't appear to have the balls to talk to any of them or he lacked entirely the ability to let them know that he was attempting…in his way…to move from his current state of being single into something else.

And Daryl figured that maybe Will just didn't have a damn clue what he was doing…or maybe it was just that there wasn't a woman desperate enough in all of the community to be interested in the guy.

Whatever the case, Will was apparently destined to live the rest of his life in the cardboard area next to Daryl's shoebox.

And some nights, he was destined not to be avoided.

Daryl had sat down with his plate to eat alone, which was what he wanted…since he could have easily chosen to eat with anyone available if that had been his desire…but Will moved from where he was sitting and sat down across the table from Daryl as casually as if Daryl had invited him over.

"I suppose," Will started without any leading into the conversation, "that you've heard that the planned second expansion will be branching out toward the river…that's undoubtedly to bring in the constant supply of fresh running water that will be in addition to what we already have…but it's also to provide the possibility of hydropower…which I've been researching."

Daryl picked at his food and wondered how long it would last…would Will follow him back to their housing? Would he even go so far as to follow him to the showers?

Daryl hoped not. There wasn't a damn bit of privacy anywhere in the stupid community…everything you did in your little cubicle living space was common knowledge because it seemed like the whole building knew if you farted…the only privacy he, or anyone else he imagined, got to take care of any of their "needs" was when they managed to wait out the rest of the population and get a chance to be alone in the shower house.

And Carol had pretty much fucked that up for him last night…and it was even more frustrating for Daryl to think that the image that his mind called up most often for just such a release was the woman that was taking her damn time in the shower house and finally driving him out because he couldn't think of a reason to stall any longer in hopes that she'd leave.

He wasn't really hoping that Will might accompany him tonight and block off his chances of ridding himself of some frustration…even if it annoyed him to no end that he knew that the reason she looked "fresher" the last time he'd seen her, in the words of his dining companion, was because she'd been rolling around with "him" for half the afternoon.

"There's no reason to assume that in addition to the hydropower and solar energy it wouldn't be possible to harness the wind power for alternative energy as well…but that's going to require more extensive research on my part…and the library here is somewhat lacking," Will continued…unaware that Daryl couldn't really give a shit. "I think it would be prudent to suggest a library run to the run committee for further materials…do you think that would be acceptable?"

Daryl realized that Will was directing the question at him by the way he looked at him with one eyebrow cocked and expectation on his face. And he would remain that way, Daryl had learned, until his question was answered.

"Yeah…hell…whatever ya want," Daryl said.

Will nodded his head, obviously pleased with the answer.

He wouldn't be the one to go on the run. They'd taken Will off of run rotations even before Daryl had arrived at the community. Apparently several people had gone on runs with him and more or less unanimously agreed that the man was better left in the community and not taken out. Daryl could imagine, without much of a stretch, why someone would rather leave Will to whatever it was that he was doing than attempt to go on a run with him…three days alone with the man might drive you to throw yourself into a herd of Walkers…even if you hadn't been considering something so drastic beforehand.

Will, satisfied with Daryl's response, turned his attention to his food for a moment and Daryl tried to eat twice as quickly as the man who took his time and ate the food like he savored every bite of it instead of like it, as it often did, left a little something to desire in regard to taste and served mostly to fill the gnawing hunger in your stomach.

"You got beans," Will said. "Good choice of protein…good for the digestive track…but your plate is uneven…Miss Carol's very nice. She would have given you both for a more balanced meal if you would have requested both. It's really the healthier choice and it provides variety."

"Yeah," Daryl commented, "she's a real peach."

Across the table from him, Will laughed to himself.

"She's a peach," he said. "It's funny because the state fruit of Georgia was the peach…though I suppose that such trivial things aren't in place anymore, even if they were never true to begin with. China was the largest producer of peaches in the world."

Daryl couldn't take it any longer and he'd done his duty of being as nice to Will as he had to at the moment. He got up quickly, almost choking on the last of the food that he shoved into his mouth.

"See ya 'round," he commented, not waiting on Will's response or any parting information that the man might have to share with him, and he disappeared, taking his tray up to drop it off and head back to the apartments to wait out the shower line for a while.

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Carol couldn't sleep, so she had eased out of bed so as to not disturb Tyreese and folded herself up on the couch in their little house, lighting one of the lamps just to keep from sitting entirely in the dark. She leaned against one of the pillows from the couch, large brown ones that were actually quite comfortable, and pretended that she was trying to sleep, even though she actually wasn't going to be sleeping at all.

She stirred and sat up a little when she heard Tyreese. He shuffled into the room, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, and looked at her like he was confused before he finally sat down on the couch near her feet.

"Just can't sleep or something wrong?" He asked, his voice thick with the sound of recently haven risen from his own sleep.

Carol stared at him a moment. There wasn't any use in lying…he could usually figure out when she was lying anyway.

"How can you do it? How can you just…forgive me…for what I've done?" Carol asked.

Tyreese nodded his head slowly at her. It wasn't the first time she'd asked the question, even if she varied the way that she asked it from time to time.

"My answer still hasn't changed," Tyreese said. "But…we can talk about it again…I'm not sure how it is that I couldn't forgive you. Carol…I know you…and I know that you did…what you did…because it was all that you felt that you could do. You had to do what you felt needed to be done. And that's what we've all got to do now."

Carol had heard the words and all of Tyreese's variations a good number of times. She required him, probably more than he would have liked, to hash and rehash the issue…because she wasn't always sure that she deserved the forgiveness that was offered to her.

Tyreese moved closer to her and she shifted around, coming to curl against him on the couch instead of against the cushions and he hugged her against him.

"What's got you stirred up tonight?" He asked. "What happened?"

"Nothing happened," Carol responded.

"Something happened," he replied. "It's been a while since we've been down this road…so what happened to get us back here?"

Carol sighed.

"It's Daryl," she said. "When we went on the mission…I tried to talk to him…and…"

"Did he do something?" Tyreese asked, his voice rising a little.

"No…I mean nothing happened," Carol said. "It's just…Tyreese…he hates me. He really hates me…and there's nothing I can do about it…"

Tyreese was quiet for a moment and Carol didn't speak either. She just rested her head against his chest and took in the feeling of him trailing his fingers on her arm.

He hummed after a moment.

"And it bothers you," Tyreese said, "why? Because you love him?"

Carol sat up a little and shook her head.

"I love you," she said. "I loved Daryl…as a friend…"

Tyreese chuckled and raised his eyebrows at her, keeping her at just enough distance from him to see his face in the dim light.

"Love is love, isn't it?" Tyreese asked. "Besides…it's not like I expect to be your only love…your first love…I don't even expect to your last. I would hope I'm not…if I go before you."

Carol understood what Tyreese was saying…after all it wasn't the first time that they'd discussed this either. And she was fine with the concept of coexisting love…the concept that you could love many people and you weren't restricted to the one. She was fine with all of the things that they'd turned over and over since they'd started their relationship…when it came to Tyreese. When she thought about herself, though, there was something ingrained in her that made her feel guilty because she couldn't offer him the mythological ideal of the "one love".

"You know that I loved my wife," Tyreese said. "And you know that I loved Karen…and you know that I love you," he continued. "Do you really think that I'm going to be angry with you because you loved Daryl…or you love him…and it hurts you that he can't forgive you for something you had to do? I loved Karen…but I loved her enough that I would never have wanted her to suffer. So…in some ways…I'm happy that you stopped her suffering…"

"I did love him," Carol admitted, appreciating the fact that even with that confession, Tyreese pulled her back to him. "But…it was never…we were never anything but friends. He could never look at me as anything else."

"His loss," Tyreese responded.

Carol pulled away again and shook her head at Tyreese.

"I don't want you to think…" she said.

But she couldn't even bring herself to finish it. She didn't want him to think that there was anything going on between her and Daryl. She didn't want him to think that she was that kind of person. But even if she'd said the thoughts that were running through her mind…thoughts that she knew was fueled by the long dead voice Ed telling her that she was that kind of person and accusing of her all the imagined unfaithfulness that he accused her of committing…she would have found them ridiculous.

Because she wasn't that kind of person, and even if she were…Daryl had never thought of her that way and he certainly wouldn't now. Not now that he barely even spoke to her because he thought she was such a terrible person…he thought she was everything that Rick, so long ago, had accused her of being.

"I love you," she said, deciding to change the direction of what she was going to say. "I just don't want you to think that I…"

Tyreese shook his head and stopped her talking.

"Carol…I'm not threatened," he said. "And I don't think that you're anything that you're thinking I might. I hope…for your sake…that Daryl forgives you. I hope that he can come around…and that you can be friends with him. If you care about him…then you deserve that. I'm not threatened."

He chuckled after a moment.

"Are you?" He asked.

"By who?" She asked, furrowing her brow.

Tyreese laughed again.

"Just checking…" he said. "Come on…better get to bed…we're both working expansion tomorrow and no one needs to be falling asleep on the job. Feel better?"

Carol wobbled her head back and forth to indicate that she couldn't say she was feeling better…at least not entirely…and she couldn't say that she wasn't. She was feeling better, yes, on an overall plane…but it didn't take away the fact that she was still bothered by her guilt and by Daryl's clear reminder that it was there and that it should be there.

"A little," she said.

Tyreese nodded his head.

"Enough to sleep and get on with it? We've got things to do…and tonight…that means sleep," Tyreese said.

Carol smiled softly at him and nodded her head.

"Yeah," she said. "I can sleep…"

He got up then from the couch and reached a hand out to her, tugging her up from her position and leading her back into the little bedroom so that they could both curl up and try to steal what few hours of sleep the night still had to offer them.