Searching

The next day's journey found them in the foothills of the western mountains. The terrain was hilly but it was obviously good for farming by the many empty farms found along the highway. There were good size towns nearby for scavenging and they stopped that night at a building supply store that had been looted but Morgan and Elijah had put up sections of privacy fencing along the front of the store. There were strong chain link fences around their outdoor merchandise area but Morgan and Elijah had blocked that off as well. It wasn't dark inside because the building had lighter panels on the roof.

The men cleared the store. There were only two walkers inside and those were thrown out the back. They moved in quickly. Large sections of the store had been untouched. There was a semi parked out back and Tyreese and Daryl went through it. They found propane stored in portable containers suitable for grills and outdoor heating.

The patio section was rearranged to become a large living room. They used the fire pits that were fueled by propane to warm the place up a bit and used a gas grill to cook. Carol and Michonne had wandered around the store a bit; they had not talked since last night.

"Do you think this area looks like a place to stay?" Michonne asked. She had grown up in Atlanta and she and Andrea had survived that first winter by Andrea's skills honed by camping with her father. The winters up here would be colder and longer.

Carol shrugged, "The further we get from the highway the better. It will be cold but the houses will be designed for it. People who live in the boondocks lose their electricity all the time and they have generators for those times. Water is plentiful. I think we should look around here." Carol paused to look at the glass backsplash in a model kitchen. She had put one like it in her kitchen. Ed would always start a project, get frustrated and go off to drink with buddies, and then she would finish it while he was gone hopefully for days. "What are you going to do?"

Michonne shook her head, "I hate to leave Carl, but I think this trip is a fool's errand. I haven't made up my mind. Rick will leave Judith behind and if Carl will stay for her then I will stay. I love that boy."

TWDTWDTWD

Maggie had dragged Beth off to the lumber section for talk. "Beth, you can't stay here. Glenn and I are going and you are going with us."

Beth looked at the big sister who she had always envied. Maggie was always so strong and resourceful and she had depended on that strength. "No, I am not going. I am an adult now. Daddy's gone and I have to make decisions for myself. I am staying with Carol. We'll take care of Judith together."

Maggie had watched Beth becoming even closer to Carol since Terminus. "Carol? You know what she did to Karen and David? You are not staying here with a cold-blooded killer and that is final".

Beth said, "Shut the fuck up about Carol. If you could get your head out of Glenn's ass long enough you would know that Carol is a kind woman. She would never kill in cold blood. They were dying and suffering."

"She isn't your family. I am all you have left. We need to stick together". Maggie felt responsible for her sister now that their father had been killed. He would expect her to take care of his baby girl. "And stop using that language. Daddy would wash your mouth out with soap."

Beth softened a bit at the thought of Hershel, "Don't play the family card, Maggie. You never asked about where I was when we were separated after the prison fell. I was out there with Daryl and got kidnapped by a crazy man. I got raped and then discarded to be walker food. Carol found me along the side of a road wandering around with a stick to protect myself. She took me to a safe place. She washed me, found clothes to cover me, and fed me. She and Morgan hid me and Judith in the safest place they could find. They left me a truck with fuel in it, weapons, and they went off to save you and the others. Carol came to me later and I told her everything that happened. She helped me deal with that because she is kind. "

Maggie gasped, "Beth, I didn't know".

"That is because you only care about Glenn. I used to think that was romantic and I hoped that I would find love like that. I don't anymore. It's selfish and a little sick. I love you, Maggie, but I don't like you very much. I am staying because I want to live. I want a home. I want people I trust around me".

"It's Elijah, isn't it? He is going to stay and you are staying because of him". Maggie's voice was certain.

"I am staying for me. He is a friend, but I am through looking for a grand love of my life. That's your thing not mine. I have to learn how to take care of myself and I am going to do it here." Beth walked away.

TWDTWDTWD

Daryl, Elijah, Tyreese, and Morgan were checking out the store for useful supplies. "We could load some things on that box truck out back," Elijah had found fork lifts in the back bay. "What kind of place are we looking for?"

" A good size dwelling with wood stoves and a good distance from a main road". Morgan wanted a place that most scavengers might overlook.

"I think a farm with a good barn so that we can have a place to store supplies. Maybe with well water." Tyreese had spent summer with grandparents who raised much of their own food.

Daryl could see Carol and Michonne and let his attention be drawn away. He didn't care if it was a broken down double wide and a falling over outhouse as long as Carol was there. "We need to find a nice strong house, but let the women pick out the place. They'll know what we need better than we do." Carol would choose well. He wanted her to have whatever she wanted.

Morgan saw Michonne and Carol headed in their direction. Damn good looking women. Michonne was all polished ebony and Carol was polished ivory. "Have you two picked out the kitchen of your dreams yet?"

Michonne muttered, "The kitchen of my dreams has a maid in it fixing my dinner."

Morgan laughed, "Better settle for a man who likes to cook". Morgan had loved to cook when he had a family. He had always cooked their holiday meals and did most of the cooking for the family. "What about you, Carol".

She thought about that beautiful kitchen in the house that she had lived in with Ed. It had everything, but it was still a cage. "I don't need all that stuff: I just want nice people like you at the table." She smiled at all of them. "And then make all of you do the dishes".

Daryl said, "You cook and I'll do the dishes". It was meant as a light heartened comment but everyone stared at him for a second. He had been a little too serious with that comment.

Carol flushed slightly and turned away, "I had better get dinner started. Daryl, I'll leave you the dishes".

Daryl held his ground, "You cook and I'll do the dishes".

Michonne thought to herself that was the sweetest marriage proposal that she had ever seen. Daryl was pushing past all those fences that had held him back from going after Carol in his past.

TWDTWDTWD

Carol did cook dinner and Daryl and Morgan did the dishes. Afterward they all gathered around the propane fire pit and discussed their future plans. Abraham wanted to get back on the highway to DC but Eugene said that they could wait here a couple of days while they searched for winter quarters. "It would only be courteous to stay here and provide adequate protection while you are searching for appropriate housing. You freed us from Terminus and possible death. We will honor that by staying here until you are in a secure environment".

"Well, who the hell is going with us when we go?" bellowed a belligerent Abraham. "Come on over here and let me see who I can count on."

Rick, Carl, Glenn, and Maggie moved over to stand beside of Abraham, Eugene, Rosita, and Tara.

The others stayed put. Michonne was still up in the air, but she was hoping that Carl could be persuaded to stay here and help take care of Judith. The bond between Carl and his sister was strong.

Rick thought that he would have a talk with Daryl after this. He needed him. He needed Michonne too. Glenn and Maggie were good fighters. He was glad that Beth was staying because she would take care of Judith.

TWDTWDTWD

The next morning Morgan, Michonne, Carol and Daryl left to go on a scouting run. They were taking a video camera with them and filming possible sites to settle. That afternoon Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, and Beth were going out in a different direction.

Michonne drove and Morgan rode beside her. Carol and Daryl were in the back seat of the small suv so that Carol couldn't really shift anywhere away from him. He and Morgan had charted a course westward closer to the mountains and away from the highway. Michonne followed their directions and in an hour turned off the highway and followed a two lane road. They looked at houses and farms but they all seemed wrong to Daryl. Carol wasn't overly enthusiastic about them either. There were houses and farms out here that would do but to Daryl they seemed to be too visible. He wanted somewhere more private.

Daryl noticed a rough looking access road that was winding around the hill. "Let's look up there." They agreed to go on foot and they turned the suv at a wide spot up the hill and walked on. It was steep and rough and there wasn't any signs that anyone had traveled up the graveled road for a long time. Eventually they got to the top of the hill and the land flattened out on both sides. There was a farmhouse at the end of the road. It was quiet up here and Carol made certain that her knife and gun were handy.

Morgan was looking at the place from a military standpoint. There were fences and they could be reinforced. The barn was close by and from the size of the meadows there might be others around. The house had wraparound porches like an old farmhouse but it wasn't old. There was an outdoor furnace and a standby generator fueled by propane.

The house was locked but Daryl picked it open quickly. Morgan and Daryl went in quick with Michonne and Carol right after. They searched the place thoroughly but it was empty. Carol looked over the kitchen. There weren't many pots and pans. It looked as if a family might stay on weekends and she figured that this place might have belonged to someone who worked in some city and came here to relax.

Morgan looked at the electrical work and examined the plumbing. The house was in good shape. There was a well that worked on an electrical pump and one in the yard that worked by hand. The barn was empty but clean and dry. The back of the house had a porch and a wonderful view of the nearby hills. There was an orchard with a few apples still hanging on. Michonne followed him outside, "What do you think?" she asked.

"It looks good to me. There is a gas cooking stove and we can get hot water from the outdoor furnace. I go with the happy wife-happy life theory. What do you think?"

"We've looked all day and this is the best one yet. Let's sign the mortgage now." She smiled and they turned back to see what Carol and Daryl thought.

Carol and Daryl had gone through the four bedrooms on the second floor. The master bedroom had its own bathroom and a good view of the mountains. There were another smaller bedroom with its own bath and the other two bedrooms shared a bath. The ground floor had a family room, a formal dining room, and a large kitchen. There was a large pantry and a powder room. The finished basement had storage on one side and the other had been used to show movies.

Daryl was getting bored with the looking at houses. They were all starting to look alike anyway. They were getting this one. He liked being this close to Carol and watching her eyes light up at some feature of the house, but he had started to pay more attention to her ass than how big the room was. He had been lost in lust since they went through the master bedroom. It was a lot more entertaining to think about rolling around on that bed with Carol than looking at faucets. He had spent so much time suppressing his feelings about Carol that once he accepted that he loved and wanted her it had become difficult to control his wayward thoughts.

Carol sensed that Daryl was losing interest, "What do you think?"

Daryl tried to think of a safe answer, "This is a great house. I love it". He had wanted to say, "Let's go upstairs and check that bed out, or you have the sweetest ass".

Carol beamed at him, "I think so too. Do you think we could get that generator going?"

That was the thing that kept happening lately. Carol beaming at him made him want to go out and slay a dragon or get a generator going. "We'll find a way to get it going if this is the house that you want".

Morgan and Michonne came into the house. They liked the place too. They locked the house back up and walked back down to their suv. Carol and Michonne sat in the back and chatted about the house and the two men got in front.

The others liked the house and they decided that they would go back tomorrow. Daryl and Morgan went that afternoon to a propane dealer and searched around until they found a propane truck fully loaded and they filled up the tank that went to the stove. They lit the outdoor furnace and were happy to see that it didn't give off much smoke. They put plywood over the ground floor windows. They spent the evening cleaning the house and after dark they went downstairs and opened up a bottle of whiskey and talked to each other.

The large group back at the home improvement store were quiet that night. Carol, Michonne, Sasha, and Beth went through the store to pick things that they wanted to take with them. Elijah and Tyreese carried things to the box truck. Bob and Glenn went on a run for medical supplies for both groups.

Carol couldn't get to sleep that night. Her bed was a cushioned wicker couch and not very comfortable. She wondered what it would be like to sleep in a bed in a house for months. She still thought that Daryl would go with Rick at the last minute. He was just making sure that they were in a safe place and then he would answer the siren call to follow Rick.

She turned and thought what it would be like to be in that house with Daryl all winter. He would be outside hunting and working during the day but at night he would be in that house. She had seen that look he gave that bed in the master bedroom. It was almost possessive. She had walked to the window and pretended great interest in the view. Daryl wouldn't be in that bed tomorrow night; he would be on his way to DC with Rick.

AN

It pains me to say that Carol and Morgan will never be the passionate alternative to Caryl. It seems that the muse has a soft spot for a Daryl trying to win Carol's heart.

Please review.