So sorry about the delay. I had no internet! I was in caveman mode but I'm back and here's that last chapter. Sorry for those of you that were worried about me but I really do appreciate the concern. I'll have something else ready to post here soon. I have a few one shot prompts I need to work on and then the bigger stories that aren't finished hopefully will be soon. At least one of them anyway. lol

In case I'm not around I hope you all have a great Christmas, or whatever else you may celebrate this time of year. And be safe this New Years!

Chapter Eleven

Carol woke with a start, sitting up in bed and jerking her head towards the window. She was a light sleeper, learning early on in her marriage that she needed to be, so the soft tap on the glass was enough to jerk her from sleep.

She threw the covers back, fear gripping her, twisted her stomach painfully. Her only thought was of her daughter and she contemplated going to the kitchen to get a knife. Then she remembered how Daryl had come to her window the night before and her heart gave a painful squeeze.

She reminded herself for the second time in as many nights that anyone that wanted to hurt her or Sophia wouldn't be tapping on the window. They would be trying to break in. But even as she told herself this, she still refused to let herself believe that somehow Daryl had decided to come back. But even as she was forcing her hopes from soaring, she was pulling the sheer curtain aside.

Her trembling fingers worked the lock loose just as he raised a hand in a half hearted wave. Her head was spinning, hoping against hope that he had changed his mind. Hoping that he hadn't simply came back because he forgot something or wanted to steal his shirt back. She slid the window up and leaned out, still unable to believe he was standing there in all his bruised up glory. "What on earth are you doing here?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "Can I come in?"

Instead of telling him to walk around so she could let him in she nodded and stepped back, her heart pounding hard in her chest. She couldn't believe he was actually here. She had been so certain that she would never see him again. She had nearly mourned the man and now here he stood.

He pulled himself in through the window like a pro, as silent as a cat and then stood up, rolling his shoulders. "Hey," he said, his voice hushed.

She grinned and threw her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. His head dropped to her shoulder, his breath leaving him in a huff as his arms wound around her tightly. "Can you tell me why you're here now?" she asked, unwilling to loosen her hold on him.

He raised his head and even in the dark, even though his face was bruised, she could see his face turning red. "I left. We drove half the fuckin' day and then I guess I realized I couldn't keep doin' it. So I took off from a truck stop and now I'm here."

"To stay?" she asked, hoping to God he was going to tell her yes even though she didn't know how they could make it work. She couldn't move him in here with Sophia. Not so soon after meeting him, no matter how much she knew she cared about him.

He nodded and seemed to be searching her eyes for something. "I get to keep my job and the boss has a little place for rent above his garage at home that'll do till I can get somethin' better."

She grabbed the sides of his face and pulled until his lips were on hers. He kissed her deeply, his arms tightening. It would be so easy to do what they always did and sink into one another, forgetting the outside world for a while but she wasn't going to let that happen. Even when the kiss grew hungrier and her hands itched to touch him. She broke the kiss, cupping his neck to keep him from starting it up again. "So, you're staying? For good?"

He nodded and then his hands stilled at her waist. He looked like he was desperately wanting to say something but was having a hard time spitting it out. "I'm stayin' for good as long as I have a reason to stay for good," he finally muttered almost nervously.

She swallowed hard, searching his eyes in the dim light that filtered through the curtain. She knew him well enough now to know that he really was struggling and she wasn't going to make it any harder on him. "If you're asking if I want you to stay then the answer is yes."

He blew out a frustrated breath and then shook his head. "I don't mean just to keep messin' around, though."

She smiled at that, terrified that she would wake up and none of this would be real. "As much as I would like to think that I'm so incredible in bed that it would drive men to flip their lives upside down, I kinda guessed that you weren't talking about messing around."

He kissed her quickly. "Actually, that's part of the reason if we're bein' honest here."

She laughed at that and pulled his face back to hers, reveling in the feel of his strong arms around her, the heat from his body chasing away the chill she had felt all day.

"What about your little girl?" he asked, breaking another searing kiss.

Carol shook her head. "She wants me to be happy and I think if the two of you get to know each other, you'll get along great. She was a little upset that you left."

His brows went up at that. "Damn."

"Does this mean we're actually dating?" she asked, knowing it would get under his skin.

Sure enough he made a face. "That sounds stupid."

She laughed. "So if I meet some man that's interested what am I suppose to tell him?" she could do this all night. She needed the lightness after the day she had had.

He scowled. "Then you tell him to go on somewhere unless he wants me to kick his ass."

She grinned. "You sure about this?"

He gave her a quick nod. "If you are."

"Oh I'm sure, trust me. Today was horrible. You're a hard man to try to forget, Daryl Dixon."

He snorted, shaking his head at her before dropped his hands. "My place won't be ready till tomorrow. If you don't want me crashin' here that's okay but-"

"Stay," she said quickly, even the thought of him leaving had her feeling uncomfortable.

"You sure?" he asked and she could tell by the tone of his voice that he was asking about more than tonight. He wanted to know if she was sure she wanted to give them a real shot, even though on the outside it probably looked like a long one.

"I'm absolutely sure."

"Sometimes I'm an asshole," he said, forcing her to take this seriously but she already was.

"How many women have you beaten, Daryl?" she asked, needing him to understand that she knew who he was and she could handle it.

He took a step away from her, looking at her like she'd slapped him. "What? You know I'd never put my hands on-"

"I know. So I don't care if you come over in a bad mood and act like a jerk sometimes. Do you really think you'd be the first guy that did that? You care about me and I care about you. We aren't perfect but this could work."

"Does this mean you expect me to buy you jewelry and flowers and shit?" he asked, making a face.

She laughed and shook her head, still unable to believe that this was actually happening.

"What if I get off work late and I'm tired and all I wanna do is go to my place and pass out. You gonna throw a damn tantrum if I don't stay stuck up your ass?"

"I don't expect you to do anything you don't want to do. We'll go ahead and agree now that neither one of us know what we're doing but we'll respect one another and try our best. Does that make you feel better?" she asked, her hands gripping his shoulders, her feet moving backwards towards the bed.

"Yeah, it does."

"What about me?" she grinned. "If some woman hits on you are you gonna tell her that you have a woman that'll kick her ass?"

He chuckled at that and kicked his boots off on the way to the bed. "I don't get hit on."

She frowned. "Lying is off limits, Dixon."

"I ain't lyin'. I don't guess I put off very good vibes. Most people keep their distance."

"Those poor fools," she laughed quietly.

"You'd have done the same. The only thing that got me where I am now is your clumsy ass slippin' in a puddle of Ben and Jerry's."

"I'll be sure to send the company a proper thank you letter. You really were an ass that day."

He pulled his shirt off and tossed it in the corner of the room. "And here I thought that was peak performance."

She hummed in agreement and then watched as he stepped past her and flopped down onto his back, groaning loudly enough for her to cast a nervous glance towards the door. She didn't get into bed with him yet. "So, we're really going to do this?"she asked, her tone serious now.

He crossed his arms behind his head and stared at her for a long time before he spoke and when he did she was surprised at his reply. "I've spent most of my adult life runnin'." He raised up onto his elbows, his eyes boring into hers with an intensity she wasn't used to. "And I ain't never really minded much. Leavin' this time felt like somebody punched me in the gut. Like I got the wind knocked outta me. And it was like that till I decided that I wasn't runnin'. Then I felt okay. I felt good. The difference between this time and all the others is you. And I figure, that's gotta mean somethin', right?"

She bit her lip to buy some time because his words left her a little speechless. They weren't said to be pretty. He said them because it was the truth. It was how he felt and she could relate because she felt the same. She nodded, since no words would come to mind at the moment.

"You just gonna stand there and stare at me all doe eyed all night or you comin' to bed?" he asked, moving so he was under the blankets. "I've had a long ass day."

"You aren't the only one," she muttered, slipping under the covers next to him. Her head barely grazed the pillow before he grabbed her, dragging her halfway on top of him and pulling her face down to his. She kissed him greedily before pulling away and grinning down at him.

"I need to get some damn sleep. I'll be out before she wakes up in the mornin'," he said quietly, his hands running slowly up and down her sides.

She bit her lip and then shook her head. "When you wake up just go out the window and come around to the door. Ill make breakfast. If you're serious, and I really hope you are, you'll have to get to know her. We're a package deal. But she's a really great kid and I think you two will really like each other. If I didn't then this wouldn't be happening right now. And that would really suck. Because today was a really hard day," she whispered.

He let go of her so she curled up into his side, his arm pulling her closer. She breathed him in and then yawned loudly, causing him to chuckle. "I've spent my whole life dealin' with Merle. Trust me, I can handle a kid easy."

She smiled to herself and willed her mind to slow down so she could sleep. They could talk about it more tomorrow but tonight she just wanted to fall asleep knowing that he was there, and he wasn't going far when he did leave her house.

~H~

Just a few hours after finally falling asleep Daryl woke from a dream that would have been a shoe in for a filthy Hustler magazine article. This had been the first time that he had stayed over that they hadn't fooled around. Hearing her tell him that she really did want all this had left him feeling relieved but the walk all the way here and all the worrying he had done all day had drained him and all he had really been able to think about after his head had hit the pillow was actually getting a good nights sleep.

But after that damn dream sleep was the last thing that he was thinking about. Her body was fitted snug into the curve of his own, his arm locked around her middle and her ass conveniently pressed firmly against his groin. When she shifted in her sleep he was barely able to repress a groan and sank his teeth into his bottom lip, waiting for her to be still again.

The fact that they had actually managed to sleep without ripping one anothers clothes off first had been a good first step into this relationship. But now he was in actual pain and all he could think about was relieving it. It wasn't like he could take care of it himself and he couldn't just trudge off to the bathroom and take a cold shower without the risk of waking her kid up, so he tried hard to just ignore it.

And that didn't work because the woman wouldn't fucking be still and she was unknowingly rubbing her ass all over him. He gripped her hip hard just to try to still her but then he realized that the shirt she had slept in had ridden up and his hand was on her warm bare skin and that didn't help matters at all.

She mumbled something that he didn't catch and then covered his hand with hers. Just his luck her hand moved his up, over her side and around until he had ample access to her breasts. He pressed his forehead into her shoulder and tried hard to think about anything other than her body. But that wasn't easy because she wasn't cooperating.

"Are you awake?" he whispered as her hand guided his back down to the juncture of her thighs. The last thing he wanted was for her to wake up and think that he was trying to cop a feel while she was asleep.

Another languid roll of her hips against his groin had him cursing viciously under his breath but then he heard her sleepy laugh and he found himself scowling in the dark.

"How long have you been awake?" he growled.

She kept moving his hand down until he jerked away, gripped her leg and forced it over his hip. She was tormenting the hell out of him and she knew it. He took the liberty of sliding his hand into the front of her underwear, taking note of the fact that she already soaked.

"I was tryin' to be a nice guy and spend at least one night actually sleepin' with you and you've been fuckin' with me ever since I woke up," he grumbled as his fingers explored her.

"I was in total agreement until I woke up and realized that you might be having a... uh... hard time with that idea." He could hear the laughter in her words but also a desperate edge. She reached up, her fingers threading through his hair just as he moved his hand and started easing her underwear down her hip.

He tore at his own jeans like they were on fire, trying to keep a firm grip on her so she didn't move. Once he was finally free of his restraints he moved so he was on his knees. She got the hint quickly, rolling onto her stomach. He gripped her hips and hauled her up before she even had a chance to do it herself. Telling himself that he seriously needed to calm the fuck down he lined himself up, but before he could do anything she moved on her own and he found himself biting his tongue as that familiar warmth enveloped him.

She buried her face in the pillow, cutting off a sharp cry and he was forced to keep himself still, his breathing already ragged just from the relief he felt of being inside her. His hands smoothed over her hips, her waist and then back down again before he allowed himself to start moving. Thankfully her bed was solid, the mattress firm and silent because his restraint only went so far. He kept his movements steady for a while but she seemed to be getting restless. She pushed back into him harder, causing him to growl low in his throat, but he got the hint.

He pushed her head down further hauled her hips up higher and slammed into her hard and fast. He slipped one hand around, finding his mark easily and once again was rewarded when she cried out, thankful for the pillow because it muffled her voice enough that it wouldn't carry outside the bedroom.

He felt her body grow tense and then he let out a relieved breath. He wasn't going to last much longer and it was, for whatever reason, an unspoken rule of his that she had to get off first, preferably more than once. More than once wasn't happening tonight, however. His breath rushed out of him and he stopped moving into her, letting her body drain him as his fingers kept up their steady rhythm until she was spent.

As soon as he moved she collapsed, rolling over onto her back and then pulling him down so hard that he crashed on top of her. He didn't even have time to right himself before her lips were on his. After that he didn't even bother trying to keep him weight off of her.

When she finally ended the kiss he was almost ready to go again but then she yawned, causing him to laugh lightly. He was still pretty damn sleepy himself so he untangled himself from her and rolled over to his own side of the bed, but he dragged her over with him.

"I have to work tomorrow but after that I'd like to help get you settled into your new place," she said, pulling the blankets over them both.

He nodded. "Sounds good."

"Are you really not nervous about officially meeting Sophia?" she asked, her words almost slurring. He could tell that she was already on the brink of sleep.

"I ain't worried. Maybe if she'd been pissed off about me bein' here when she came home but since you said she wasn't, I don't see it causin' any problems." He almost felt as though he actually should be nervous about actually spending time with the kid but he was looking forward to it. And that was another reason that he knew that whatever this was, it was real.

He was almost asleep when he felt her stir again and he cracked one eye open, glancing down.

"Daryl?"

He hummed a reply, letting her know he was still awake but not awake enough to actually use words.

"I'm really happy you came back," she whispered.

He felt the corner of his mouth turn up and then he rolled onto his side, pulling her closer. "Me too," he muttered into her hair before sleep really started pulling him under. Unlike every other night since he had been a kid, he was actually able to drift off without the constant underlying anxiety and uncertainty that plagued him. Life suddenly seemed full of endless possibilities and he was able to rest easy, somehow knowing that whatever he had to face from this moment on, he wouldn't ever face it alone.

And it was the best goddamn feeling he'd ever felt.