(I've been struggling with what I wanted the next chapter to be the past two days. Sometimes I can write like crazy without getting stuck, other times I get stuck on the tiniest details. Plus, I couldn't concentrate for anything yesterday, so that didn't help. Here's to hoping this finally came out right. I'm still not sure I'm completely happy with it, but I officially give up on re-writing it, haha. Thanks for reading and reviewing!)

Currently, it was early Monday morning and Carol was getting ready to go to Greene Animal Clinic to put in her resume and interview with Hershel. She was a little nervous to say the least, but she was excited too. Her life was so vastly different than it was only a week ago, but she somehow found herself feeling okay with that. As she started putting on her make-up that morning she let her mind wonder to her weekend and to the boy still asleep in the room next to her.

After she kissed Daryl on the cheek at their front door Saturday night the two had gone inside and gone straight to their rooms. Once her head hit her pillow she was out like a light. It was the first time she'd gotten a full night's sleep in days. She supposed she had the alcohol to thank for that. It was also the first night she'd gone to bed without the image of her ex and his secretary flooding her mind. She wasn't focused on that when she stepped inside that night in the least.

Instead, she was focused on how great of a day she'd had. How much fun she'd had going around town with Daryl, how happy she was about meeting Maggie and Glenn and possibly having found a female friend here, how excited she was about more than likely having a job lined up at the vet clinic, how good she'd felt flirting with Daryl at the pool hall, and how it had honestly meant the world to her when he could have gone home with that girl and didn't because he somehow knew it would hurt her feelings because of everything she'd been through.

She'd meant what she said on the porch that night before she kissed him on the cheek. He was a really sweet guy. Maybe he did sleep around a lot. Maybe he wasn't the type of guy that would ever even consider being in a serious relationship, but she didn't think that made him a bad guy. In fact, she thought it made him more honest that most people. He didn't lead girls on, he didn't give them a false sense of love and security. He was with them for a night and he got what he wanted and they got what they wanted and that was it. Whatever girl he slept with wasn't going to have her hopes and dreams dashed by him six months down the line and neither was he. He was going to get off, the girl was going to get off, and then they'd both go on living their own happy little lives. Sure, maybe he didn't give a damn about these girls, but it wasn't like they knew him well enough to give a damn about him either. She couldn't mark him off as a bad person for that. She just couldn't.

There were things that made her see he was a really good person, though. The way he was fine with Rick bringing her into their home without hesitation because of the simple fact she was his sister. The way he'd taken her to look for jobs and bought her lunch yesterday, even though he didn't have to, then he'd let her spend the entire night with him. The way he'd been so concerned about Maggie and Glenn not driving home from the bar last night and how he still told them to stay safe even after he knew they'd be walking. Those were the little insights that had her painting a picture of who she thought he really was. A compassionate, smart, young man.

It was just something that seemed to make her want to sleep with him even more. She knew what she was getting with him, so she knew how to protect herself from getting hurt. She wasn't fool enough to believe there could ever be anything real there with him. He wouldn't let himself feel that with someone, and that was okay, hell she didn't want to feel that.

She was curious though, as to why he didn't want to feel it. Ed was her reason, she wondered what his was. Rick talked like he'd never had a girlfriend before, but something had to make him this way. Maybe it had something to do with why he got upset when she asked him if he ever went home and didn't wanna talk about it. Maybe there was some girl back home that broke his heart.

She was quickly interrupted from her thoughts when she heard a knock on the bathroom door.

"Hurry the fuck up. I gotta piss." Daryl grumbled from the other side of the door.

"I'm almost done." She called out, as she quickly applied some dark eyeliner.

"You been in there a fucking hour."

She snatched the door open, scowling at him. "You're a guy, you can pee off the back porch."

"Before you moved in I could piss in my own damn toilet whenever I wanted." He was wearing a mean look, but he quickly turned the corner of his lips up so she'd know he was kidding.

She playfully punched him in the shoulder. "I'd tell Rick to trade rooms with me so I could have the big bathroom all to myself, but I have a feeling our rooms being so close might come in handy one day." She winked at him as she walked past him.

()()()

He let out a low growl, watching her carefully as she walked off. She had on skirt that was just above her knees and a button up dress shirt that was buttoned up one button too high in his opinion. He stepped in the bathroom and went to pee, cutting the shower on as he did. When he was done peeing he stripped his clothes off and let the hot water soak his body.

After she'd kissed him on the cheek Saturday night he'd tried like hell to avoid her Sunday. He wasn't sure what exactly it was that he felt when she'd done that, but the way his heart sped up and his palms began to sweat was definitely a foreign feeling to him. And it was one that scared him shitless, because he didn't know what the fuck it meant. He decided he needed some fresh air. Some time to himself.

He'd gone to Hershel's farm and spent hours in the woods with his crossbow Sunday. He'd came home just before dark and brought a slew of squirrels with him. He bolted straight from his bike to the back porch and started cleaning them. When he'd finished he'd gone straight to his room and started working on homework. Carol and Rick had been gone when he got home from hunting. They'd gone out to eat with Maggie and Glenn. Rick had dropped her back by the house around dark and then gone to the library to work with a partner on a project for one of his classes. Carol had ended up coming and knocking on his damn door to bring him some food they'd picked him up from where they ate at.

He should have just taken the food and said thanks. His head told him to take his food and say thanks and to just stay in his damn room the rest of the night and fuck around on his laptop. It would have been the smart thing to do. Instead, though, his dumb ass somehow ended up asking her if she wanted to watch Netflix with him. Of course she smiled and agreed and the two had ended up watching shows and talking.

And it wouldn't have been that damn bad if they'd have just gone in the living room. He could have sat in the recliner and she could have sat on the couch and it would have been just fine. But nope, they didn't do that. They stayed in his damn room and watched the shows on his fucking laptop…in his damn bed of all places. His bed that he'd never allowed a female to be in before.

He didn't know what it was with her, but he couldn't think clearly around her. Hell, he couldn't stop thinking about her period. Even when he was hunting he'd think back to some damn moment he'd shared with her the past few days. Now, here he was in the shower, thinking about her again. And of course she'd had to wink it at him and add that suggestive comment.

Thinking back to her comment and the way she winked at him, it suddenly hit him. He'd never been around a girl this long that he wanted to fuck, but hadn't had the chance to do it yet. That's why he couldn't stop thinking about her. He just needed to get with her and get it out of his system. Some other girl wouldn't do either. It had to be her so he could stop thinking about her. Stop wondering about her. Sure, Rick would be mad if he found out, but Carol had said herself that her brother didn't need to know everything about her. If she wanted to sleep with him and he wanted to sleep with her then it wasn't any of Rick's damn business.

()()()

When Daryl got out of the shower and put on clean clothes he started on his way to the kitchen. Carol and Rick were walking out as he was walking in.

"I'm gonna take Carol to the clinic." Rick said, stopping in the door way. "You'll be able to take her home this afternoon if she gets the job, right?"

Daryl nodded and turned to look at Carol. "Yeah. You can just ride home from work with me."

"Thanks." She said, giving him a small smile. "Oh, there's sausage biscuits in the microwave for you. There's jelly in the fridge for them."

"Thanks" He said, giving her a small smile of his own.

"You ready?" Rick asked, looking to Carol.

She nodded, but suddenly remembered she left her phone in her room. "Shit, let me get my phone."

"I'm gonna go ahead and get in the car. I'll see you later on." He told Daryl with a wave.

Daryl walked over to the microwave and grabbed his food. He noticed Carol run out of the hallway out of the corner of his eye. "Hey?" He called out.

She stopped and walked towards the kitchen. "Yeah."

He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I just wanted to…uh…to say good luck this morning…and to say you look really nice."

Her eyes lit up and she couldn't help the smile that spread across her face at his words. "Thanks, Daryl. I'll text you and let you know how things go." She started to walk away and paused before heading out the door. "Oh, and if you think I look nice in this, you should see what I look like without it."