Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead or any other recognizable characters or figures.

Chapter Warnings: Dixon Mouth.

Chapter 12

Daryl moved awkwardly through the door, slipping his rain soaked boots off to join the other shoes that stood in the entry before he slowly stepped further in to the house.

"Sorry about the mess." Carol said as she moved about, picking up a jacket here and a stray book there.

"Ain't no big deal." He said, his thoughts drifting back to his untidy singlewide in Atlanta.

"Sit down." Carol said, gesturing to the couch. "Please."

He nodded and moved around, settling down on the couch as the lights in the room flickered above him.

Daryl listened as he sat, as the rain and hail thundered outside, to the woman putting her groceries away mere feet from him.

He worried his thumb nail as he waited, prayin' that the storm would end before she got to the bottom of that paper sack and knowing it probably wouldn't.

Another clap of thunder sounded and the lights flickered once more and then died as Sophia hollered for her momma from somewhere in the back and Carol let out a little yelp.

Daryl was on his feet before he could think about it as he found his way in the dark house to the kitchen where Carol was shrouded in darkness somewhere in the room.

"Carol?" He asked as he felt his way in to the blackness.

"Here." She answered and he heard the sound of cupboard doors opening and shutting. He reached in to his pocket, pulling out the lighter he kept stored there and flicked it once as the flame lit up the room just enough to see her kneeling on the floor. "I've got candles in here somewhere."

He let go of the fuel lever long enough to cross over to her and kneel down, holding on to the counter for support as he flicked it again and came face to face with the woman he had left behind.

"Found them." She said and they both stood up together, their elbows brushing as she set her haul down on the table and he started lighting them one by one as he avoided looking anywhere but at her. "Thank you."

"Weren't nothin'." He said quietly as he slipped the lighter back in his pocket just as another crash of lightening lit up the house and Sophia squeaked from another room.

"Momma!"

"In here Soph." Carol called before she grabbed a candle off the table and headed out of the door.

Daryl followed her, a knee jerk reaction, holding two candles of his own as they illuminated the blackness around them.

"The window's open!" Sophia called again and he heard Carol curse as they stumbled through the dark. Daryl contemplated waiting in the living room but as he watched Carol walk right in to the edge of the end table, banging her knee against the corner, he decided against it. "I'm sorry momma. I tried to close it."

"Isn't a big deal." Carol offered as they found the little girl in the first door on the left, trying to shut the window that sat above a frilly twin bed.

"Here." Daryl grunted, pushing forward slightly as he handed the candles off to Carol and reached to shut the window effortlessly.

"Thank you Daryl." Sophia smiled, reaching out to take a candle from her mom as the man shrugged.

It was then that he finally got a look at the room around him. The walls were a soft color, probably pink when there was light to see 'em, and there was a border around the room with some kind of cartoonesque animal dancing around it. He smiled to himself as he thought back to a room much similar to this so many years ago. The same room he had learned to sneak in and out of quite efficiently.

Carol admonished Sophia for the mess and, to her credit, the girl had the gumption to look embarrassed as the three of them headed back in to the hallway.

They were walking back towards the living room, Daryl bringing up the rear, when the lights flickered and came on again, the humming of the refrigerator filling the silence as Daryl's eye caught the family picture on the wall and his heart dropped like a stone.

"Daryl…" Sophia said and he looked down to the little girl, something like sadness resting in her eyes as he nodded and blew out his candle, handing it to her before he slid past her.

He didn't say a word as he slid on his still wet boots and walked out of the house and through the still pouring rain, starting his truck as he pulled out of the driveway too quick.

He was halfway back to the hotel before he realized the water on his face wasn't dripping from his rain soaked hair. It was from his eyes.


"It's one night Daryl." Carol said quietly as she hugged her knees to her chest.

"One night is too damned many." He argued as he lay across her bed, his voice an angry whisper.

"I know but…" she chewed her lip and reached up to pinch the bridge of her nose. "It's my parents Daryl."

"Fuck em." He growled but he regretted the words as soon as they left his mouth.

"Daryl." She groaned and stood up. "You said…"

"I know what I said. But I don't understand why it's gotta be him."

"My dad works with his dad, they've known the family for a while and it just makes the most sense. It's one night Daryl, please don't make this any harder on me than it has to be."

"On you?" He snapped, a little louder than he had intended before she shushed him. "Hard on you? Ya ain't the one gotta deal with the person ya love being with someone else."

She smiled then, her lips damn near reaching her eyes and he realized what he had said. Of course he had been thinking it, for a damn long while too but it wasn't something he had had the balls nor the bravado to just out and proclaim. Leave it to him to fuck it up.

"What did you say?" She asked, her voice light and airy.

"Ya heard me." He muttered, moving to sit up.

She moved so that her knees were on either side of his back, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and ignoring the way he tensed under her hands as she leaned down to whisper in his ear. "I love you Daryl."

He turned then, ignoring the goose pimples that flooded his skin as he grabbed her and pulled her around so that she was straddling him. "I love ya too."

And then her lips descended on his as his fingers grasped her thighs and she rubbed against him, moaning in to his mouth at the contact that only furthered his want. Her hands tangled in his hair as her tongue teased his lips, begging for entrance. He was about to grant it when the horn sounded three times outside and the two broke apart quickly as Daryl slipped his boots back on, opening the window as he waved his hand out at his asshole brother.

"Daryl, wait." Carol said as he started to slide through the window. She moved quickly, grabbing his shirt collar as she pulled him in for a kiss. "I am sorry, but he's a nice guy. I'll be safe, I promise."

He nodded then as he let her go and slid out of the window and across the street to his brother. He had wanted to argue, to tell her that there was something about the guy that didn't sit right with him. His gut instinct told him to keep Carol far away from the fucker and that was what he had intended to do. He had wanted to argue, but then there was Merle, needing help with some shitty scheme or another and he hadn't had a chance to warn her that there was something about Ed Peletier that reminded him of his daddy.

A/N: Sorry for the wait guys! I have two little biters born a year and nine days apart at the end of July plus a bonus baby with a birthday at the beginning of August. It's been a crazy few weeks for us! For the reader who was so kind to email me and point out that it's moving "sooooooo slow", thank you for reading and I promise it's going to pick up, very, very soon. ;) Some of you have figured things out and some haven't seemed to yet. I appreciate every single review and I would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! Thanks so much!