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- EXILED -

- CHAPTER ELEVEN -

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- 12 Days After Banishment

- The Prison

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Carol leaned against her car as she waited for Daryl and the others to return from their council meeting. She picked, nervously, at the callus on her right hand as Carl stared at her, seemingly unsure of what to say.

When she and Daryl had driven up into the prison yard, the boy had greeted her with a hug and a smile and he had not left her side since. Even when everyone else ventured inside the prison, Carl stayed, and Carol wondered what exactly was on his mind.

"I'm sorry," he finally whispered and Carol turned to look at him, shocked by words.

"For what?"

"I got you kicked out of the prison."

Carol immediately leaned over and threw an arm over his shoulder. "No, you didn't. I did that all on my own."

"But, you were protecting me…"

"Maybe so, but I was the adult and I chose my own actions. What happened… between me and your dad… that wasn't your fault."

Carl nodded his understanding as he kicked the dirt at his feet.

"Was he very mad?" Carol asked, seeing the sadness that edged her young friend's features.

He shrugged. "I think he was more disappointed than anything else."

Already knowing how the events had played out that day, because of Daryl, Carol didn't make Carl elaborate. "Is it better now?"

"Yeah."

"Good."

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"I don't even know why we're having this meeting," Glenn spoke up, "she didn't do anything wrong and this is where she belongs."

Daryl gave a sigh of relief, thankful that his old friend had been so quick to defend Carol. "We're here," he revealed, "because Carol wants to make sure that everyone wants her here. If not, we're gone."

"We?" Hershel asked, a slight grin on his face.

"That's right," Daryl confirmed proudly. "Me an' her, and the girls if they wanna go. I won't be stayin' here without her. And she won't be out there without me."

"So it's all or nothin'?" Tyreese asked, finally joining the conversation. "Is that you or her speakin'?"

"That's all me, man," Daryl growled out. "Matter 'o fact, she tried to get me to come back without her. That's how much y'all mean to her. She said I was needed here and she was gonna stay out there on her own, but I said no. And, I meant no. And, that's the way it's gonna stay. So you all do what y'all think is best. But Carol and me? That's a done deal. We're either here, or we're somewhere else. But, wherever it is, we'll be together."

Sasha crossed her arms before finally speaking up, breaking the tension that was quickly working its way into the room. "Well, I can't say that I like how things happened with her and Carl and Ty, but… Carol was always a good member of this community. We're stronger with her than without her."

"I agree," Maggie said softly. "She's important to this place and to the people here. I say she stays."

Michonne nodded her head in agreement. "Maggie's right. I vote that Carol stays."

"As do I," Hershel said as he crossed his arms and looked around the table.

Glenn leaned back in his chair and gave a slight grin. "You all know how I feel about this. She stays," he said firmly. "She's family."

"Ty?" Sasha asked as she turned to face her brother. "What's your say on this?"

It took a few moments, but finally the big man seemed to find the words he'd been searching for. "After Karen, I wasn't in my right mind for a while. Carol seen it firsthand, so I understand why she woulda been scared for Carl. I mighta done the same thing if I thought somebody might hurt someone I loved. She was wrong for her actions, but I can't say that I don't understand them, cause I do." He looked straight at Daryl then. "I… ain't got a problem with her being here."

Daryl gave a sigh of relief as all eyes turned toward a bearded man who had quietly been taking in the whole situation.

Michonne was the one to finally speak up. "That leaves you, Rick."

"I'm not a council member," he said shortly.

"Neither is Ty," she snapped back. "But, this concerned him and it concerns you, and that's why you were asked to join in."

"What do you want me to say?" Rick asked, his eyes moving from one person to the next. "She lied to me. She lied about my boy and about Karen and David. I don't know that I trust her."

Daryl felt his hand twitch at the lawman's words, but tried to keep his anger in check.

Rick dropped his head then, rubbing his thumb against the palm of his left hand. "But, I guess she could say the same about me."

"So what's your decision?" Hershel asked.

Rick shook his head in disbelief. After all that had been said and done, Carol's fate had once again been placed firmly in his hands.

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"They've been in there a while," Carl informed Carol as he began to pace in front of her.

"I know," she said softly, pushing herself off the car and beginning to pace right alongside him.

"What's taking' so long?" Carl half-yelled as he threw his hands in the air. "What are they waitin' on?"

"Me," came the voice from behind them and both Carol and Carl turned to see Rick standing there. "They were waitin' on me."

Carol sighed as she took in the man in front of her. He looked tired and Carol, despite herself, wished that she could make things better for him.

"Carl, why don't you go inside and help Beth with Judy?"

"Dad," Carl began to protest, but was quickly shot down with a glance that told him not to push his luck. So he turned, wrapped his arms around Carol one last time and then headed inside the building.

Rick moved slowly toward her and Carol felt herself tense. "I think we need to talk," he finally announced, pointing toward the far end of the prison yard, away from wandering eyes and ears. "Care to take a stroll?"

She was nervous, to say the least, but she knew that Daryl would never let anything happen to her. "Oh hell, why not?"

A few minutes later the two reached their destination: the graveyard.

Rick let his hand run across the worn wood that marked Lori's grave. "I've lost count of the visits I've made to this grave since you've been gone and I can hear Lori in my head givin' me hell for what I did to ya, every single time."

Carol smiled slightly at the mention of her friend. "I know you miss her."

Rick nodded. "Everyday."

Carol plucked a dandelion and twisted the stem between her fingers. "I'm sorry that I lied to you. I had good intentions, but I did things all wrong. All wrong…"

Letting the small flower crumble in her hands, she watched then as the seeds lifted into the air and were carried away by the breeze. "Oh well, you know what they say about the road to Hell and good intentions, though."

"Yeah."

"But…"

"But?"

"How could you just leave me like that?"

"I thought I was doing what was best," Rick defended. "You told me that you killed them, Carol."

"I know what I told you," she said somberly, wiping at the tears that seemed to come from nowhere. "But did it really deserve that punishment? Do you have any idea what that was like?"

Rick dropped his head then, feeling his chest tighten at her question. "Yeah, I do. I was alone once, remember? Before I found Lori and Carl and the group at the quarry."

"That wasn't the same," she told him as she began to pace.

"Why wasn't it?"

"Because you were searching for them, not knowing where they were. I knew where you all were and yet told to never come back. You told me that I had to stay away."

"If you'd just told me," Rick accused.

"Would you have believed me?" Carol questioned. "Or would you have thought that I was making it up to be able to come back to the prison? And, how was I to know that you were just gonna leave me out there? I trusted you, Rick! I trusted you and you left me!"

"I know! I screwed up!" he yelled as he stared at her. "We both did, remember?"

"Yeah," she said hoarsely, hurt evident in her voice. Then there was quiet, both of them regretting where they now found themselves.

Carol was the first to speak. "I hate this," she whispered.

"Me too."

"We used to be friends and now look at us."

Rick shook his head in frustration. "I don't know how to make up for what happened, Carol. I can't change what I did, just like you can't change what you did. I… wish we could."

"I do too."

"Look, we've both screwed up. We both did what we thought we had to in order to protect the ones we loved." Rick fidgeted with his belt before continuing. "I'm hoping that we can come back from the things we've done. I think second chances and forgiveness should always be an option between friends, don't you?"

Carol looked at him, stunned by his words. "What are saying?"

"I'm saying that I'm sorry, Carol. I'm saying that I was an ass and that I hope you can forgive me. And…"

"And?"

Rick moved then and wrapped his arms around the small woman before him, feeling her return the embrace when he finally whispered into her ear, "And, I'm saying Welcome Home."

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