"Carol. Carol… wake up," Daryl shook her gently. She groaned but opened her eyes. "Get dressed, quick." He was already scrambling for his clothes in the dimly lit room. He figured the sun would be up soon, but it was still completely dark outside.

"What.. what's going on?" She asked with a yawn.

"Just hurry," he whispered. "Someone is outside… I think they are gonna try to get in."

"Shit," she replied reaching for anything she could find to put on. Somehow the two of them got dressed and snuck into the kitchen with their weapons ready, moments before the door flew open.

Daryl turned on the flashlight in his hand and shone it in the eyes of the figure who just came through the door. "Hold it right there," he snapped, aiming Carol's gun as the person well. It was just easier than the crossbow in that moment. She had her knife out and ready along with a little tiny pistol they had found in the house the day before.

"Woah, woah," a man's voice said. "We aren't here to hurt anyone." Daryl didn't recognize the voice at all.

"Abraham, I told you there were people living here," a female latino voice said saucily.

"Rosita, be quiet, I got this," he said back to her. "Really, we don't mean any harm. We were just looking for shelter to get a few hours sleep before we hit the road again."

"Weapons on the floor," Daryl said, moving closer. The man had bright red hair and he was wearing army pants and a tank top. The woman had on shorts, boots and a t-shirt. She looked young. He noticed there was actually a third person as well, a really awkward looking guy with what appeared to be a mullet. The room got brighter and Daryl realized Carol had lit the candles. He watched intently as the man named Abraham and the woman named Rosita put their weapons on the ground. "You too," he said looking at the third man.

"Oh no sir - e - bob, I do not carry weapons," he replied in a weird voice. Daryl narrowed his eyes. "My only weapon is my mind."

"The fuck?" Daryl grunted looking at the other two.

"We protect him," Abraham said. "We're on a mission to get Eugene to Washington, D.C."

"What's in Washington?" Carol asked from somewhere behind him.

"That's classified," Eugene piped up.

"Shut up Eugene," Rosita snapped at him. "Eugene knows how to cure this thing. He's a scientist. We need to get him to D.C. with the information he has."

Daryl was skeptical. "What's the cure?" he asked.

"That's classified," Eugene said again. "This time it really is," he added.

"Listen," Abraham spoke up. "We really mean you no harm. We just want to rest for a bit. We had a truck but a bunch of biters came along and Eugene proved why we don't allow him to carry a weapon. Shot up the gas tanks," he said, rolling his eyes. "So now we're on foot… until we can find another vehicle."

Carol walked up beside him and they looked at each other. Daryl wasn't very trustworthy, but he did believe he could tell the good from the bad. If these people were evil they would have ditched the useless oaf that can't shoot a long time ago. Which meant that they truly believed in him and did want to get him to Washington. Carol gave him a little nod. She agreed they likely weren't a threat.

"Okay," Daryl nodded. "You can sleep."

Carol smiled at them. "There's a bedroom down the hall with a bed and there's another room, but we moved the mattress from it out into the living room… that's where we're sleeping," she explained. "So it might not be comfortable, but it's safe."

"We really appreciate this," Abraham said. Daryl could tell his words were genuine. "We'll just get a few hours sleep and be on our way." He hesitated. "Can we… uh…" he motioned to the weapons.

"Yeah," Daryl grunted with a nod. They gathered up their guns and the three of them disappeared down the hallway. "Well… that was…"

"Weird? Unexpected? Interesting?" Carol finished for him.

"Little of all three I suppose," he replied. She moved closer to him and Daryl realized she wanted him to put his arm around her. He hugged her against his side. "You wanna go back to bed for a while?" he asked.

"It's still dark out… so yeah, maybe," Carol replied with a yawn. "But once the sun comes up… I wanna cook a nice breakfast for when they wake up." Daryl gave her a look. "We have too much food to take with us," she shrugged. "I bet they haven't had a good meal in a long time." She looked really excited at the idea of cooking for a bunch of people and Daryl wasn't about to turn down whatever she ended up making.

They went back to bed. Daryl was going to sleep on the couch but Carol rolled her eyes at him and held up the blanket for him to climb in. He felt his cheeks get red, but he got in beside her. She snuggled close and her warmth had him asleep in minutes. When he woke again it was daylight and Carol was already gone. He yawned and headed for the bathroom to take a piss and brush his teeth. Once he was done he wandered outside to see what she was making for breakfast.

She had used the pancake batter and was making some sort of little fried biscuits. "Cornbread biscuits, sorta," she shrugged. "Should be tasty anyway." Daryl reached for one from the plate she was piling up as they finished cooking. "I'm only letting you steal that to taste test it for me," she warned with a smile. Daryl popped the entire thing in his mouth. As soon as he started to chew he groaned. "I'll take that as a good sign," she commented, adding more biscuits to the plate.

"Holy fuck, this is even better than the pancakes," he mumbled with his mouth full of the fluffy cornbread. He couldn't believe she could make something so delicious with limited supplies.

"I found some panko bread crumbs too and a couple cans of salmon. Not really breakfast food, but I'm gonna try to make salmon patties," Carol said, thinking outloud. "Hopefully everyone likes fish." Then she held up a can and grinned. "Canned potatoes. I'm gonna cut them up and fry them in this lard."

Daryl's mouth was watering already and he seriously considered making a lot of noise to make sure their guests didn't sleep too much longer. Carol knew him too well already. "One more biscuit, but that's all until everyone is ready to eat." He nodded eagerly and looked for the biggest one. It was gone in seconds. "So I was thinking about something…" Carol started.

"You wanna go with them," Daryl finished before she even had to say it. He'd actually had the same thought himself. There had to be a reason they were going to Washington. Maybe there was still some semblance of civilization there. But fuck, it was a long, long way. Would they even survive the trip?

"What do you think?" Carol asked "We have all these great supplies, but we can't take even close to half. If we join them that's 3 extra people to carry stuff. But… do you trust them?"

"I think I do," Daryl grunted softly. "I don't get any crazy vibes. And they seem committed to getting that Eugene guy to D.C." He looked at her for a moment and he realized that if he said no he wasn't being fair to her at all. Daryl was a loner, he'd been like that his whole life. But Carol deserved to be around people and if he had to put up with a few extra bodies for her to be happy - he would. "Let's do it," he nodded. "If they want the help we'll join them."

The smile on Carol's face told him he'd made the right decision even if it turned out to be the wrong one. She continued cooking and he hung back, just watching her. The night before was incredible. Sex had never been like that before for him. She was so gentle and patient, but it was very obvious she enjoyed it too. He had fully intended on waking her up with his head between her legs that morning, if it wasn't for their untimely guests. He wanted to lick her pussy so bad - he just knew she would taste so amazing. His eyes were watching her cook, but his mind had already stripped her naked and he was touching her sexy curves.

"Daryl… hey, hellllllloooooooo? Daryl…"

"Huh? Yeah, what?" he muttered, finally realizing she was talking to him. He couldn't hold back the blush and he hoped she wouldn't notice he was starting to get hard.

"Where were you just then?" Carol asked, giving him a flirty smile.

"Oh, um, I was just thinking what supplies we should take if we can take some extra stuff now." They had filled two packs with the essentials, but there was still piles and piles of things they had gathered they would have liked to take as well. "Did ya need something?" Daryl hoped he'd been convincing.

"Mmm, hmm," she said, giving him a look. She knew exactly where his mind had been because for some reason she could read him like a damn book. "I just wanted you to pass me that bowl," Carol said, pointing at the ceramic bowl beside him. She giggled and went back to her cooking. Daryl made sure to stay in the present the rest of the time.

About an hour later they were carrying everything into the kitchen table. Daryl heard Abraham waking up Eugene, "Hey, time to get up." Then the three of them emerged.

Eugene was still rubbing his eyes but the smell of the food caught his attention. He froze and looked at the spread on the table. "Well butter my buns and call me a biscuit, I do believe that is cornbread," he gasped in shock.

Carol chuckled. "Well it might be a little different than what you're used to, but this guy seemed to think they're pretty good," she said, gesturing towards him. He nodded in agreement.

"What is all this?" Rosita said in awe.

"I made breakfast," Carol replied proudly. "Come, sit. I hope you don't mind salmon."

"I feel like I'm still dreaming," Abe mumbled, taking a seat. "You are a freaking goddess," he said, looking at Carol. "Uh, I don't even know your name," he added.

Daryl hadn't even realized they hadn't made introductions. "Carol," she replied with a grin. "And that's Daryl," she nodded towards him. Daryl grunted an acknowledgement. Carol started to pass the food and they made a bit of small talk while they were eating. The group had been on the road a while. Lost some friends along the way. They knew they had a long road ahead but they seemed determined and confident.

Daryl glanced over at Carol and she gave him a little nod. It seemed like the right time to see if they wanted company. "You guys interested in a couple more helpers?" he asked.

"Shit yeah, you serious?" Abe looked thrilled. "You wanna leave this place?"

"We've only been here for a couple days," Carol explained. "We're headed west… but…" she looked at Daryl again. "We really don't have a destination in mind anyway." It was the sad truth. They hadn't actually talked about it, but they were really just wandering aimlessly. At least joining this group they had a goal and a destination.

"We would love to have you both," Rosita said with a smile. She'd seemed rather subdued, and Daryl thought she seemed cold, maybe even bitchy. But when she smiled it seemed to melt the walls she had up. Eugene didn't speak, he was too busy stuffing his face with cornbread and salmon patties. Daryl couldn't blame him - the whole meal was fucking amazing.

Once they were all finished eating there wasn't much left. Carol wrapped up the few biscuits and tucked them into her backpack. "I wanna head down to the creek and see if I can get a couple more rabbits before we head out," Daryl said. He looked to Abe for approval, unsure of when he wanted to leave.

He nodded. "Sure, maybe head out in an hour?" Daryl nodded back.

"I'm gonna come too," Carol said standing up. "There are piles of stuff we gathered in the dining room," she said, pointing. "It's stuff we thought would be useful to take and extra food we couldn't fit in our backpacks. You guys wanna go through it and take whatever you can carry?"

"Eugene, you're gonna have to take that Starship Enterprise model you were trying to steal out of your backpack," Abe said, giving the scientist a look.

Daryl couldn't help but chuckle at the instant pout on Eugene's face. He started to leave and could sense Carol following him. She didn't speak until they were in the woods. Anyone else and he would have told them to shut the fuck up because there was no way he was going to find any animals with the chatter.

"Are you ok? I mean… are we okay? After last night?" Daryl froze and looked at her. Was she really wondering if it had been good for him? "I just wanna… I wanna make sure you don't think it was a mistake." The uncertainty in her face was something new, but what they had shared the night before was also something new and something huge for them.

Daryl opened his mouth but couldn't speak. He didn't know what to say because he was sure the words would come out all jumbled or in the wrong tone of voice and he would end up freaking her out. So he didn't speak, instead he bent his head down and kissed her. Carol sighed and knowing her lips were parted Daryl slipped his tongue into her mouth. He kissed her deep and passionately, pulling her body flush against his. He was so turned on he could have taken her right there in the woods. She probably would have let him too. When they had kissed long enough that Daryl was certain he'd answered her question he broke away, unsure of what his raging hormones would make him do if he didn't stop.

Movement in the distance caught his eye. "Don't move," he whispered in her ear, lifting his crossbow with Carol still hugging his body. He fired a shot and hit the rabbit right in the head. "Got it," he said, looking down at her with a smile. It was the start of a good day.