Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to The Walking Dead – except a bunch of merchandise. But I'm having a LOT of fun filling in some of the gaps in the story.

Season 2, episode 6

The Greene Family's farm, night

It had been another disappointing day. Though really, she didn't expect them to come back with Sophia at this point, every time the search parties came back without her, Carol's heart broke a little more. Just when she thought that she couldn't possibly feel more miserable, more alone… she did. When Andrea and Shane had come back and said that "the place was overrun," that had made it ten times worse. Not only was her little girl still out there, somewhere, but the place where they'd thought she might be was full of walkers! It just didn't seem possible that she'd successfully avoided them for this long… as much as she wanted to believe that she had. The uncertainty was slowly killing her, she was sure of it. This had to be what it felt like to die of a broken heart.

She lay in her tent, not even the slightest bit sleepy. She tried to convince herself to close her eyes, even though she knew what images waited for her if she did, but they would pop back open again of their own accord. She'd barely slept since Sophia had been missing – she couldn't even conceive of how long it had been anymore – days? Weeks? – and yet, despite the fact that she should probably have been exhausted, she was fully awake. Suddenly she couldn't stay in her tent any longer. She sat bolt upright, and was on her feet in seconds. She pulled on her boots and made her way out of the tent. Looking around the camp, she saw that everything was just as it should be. She imagined that the others were all sleeping peacefully, except Dale, who was once again on watch atop the RV. She considered relieving him, but decided against it. No need to call attention to the fact that she wasn't sleeping. They'd all started worrying enough about her insomnia without her making it more obvious.

Slowly walking the short distance to the firepit, she sat down on the hard ground directly in front of where the fire had been hours before, hugging her knees to her chest with her left arm and leaning her head down so that her chin was resting on her knees. She picked up a twig from the ground in her right hand and poked at the embers that had been put out hours ago. It was just something to do, something mindless to occupy her hands. She tried to keep her mind on nothing, but it was hard to do when what she was doing with her hands required no concentration whatsoever. She found herself thinking, once again, of Sophia, imagining what she might be doing or where she might be right at that moment. No matter how hard she willed the thoughts to stop, they kept coming until she wanted to scream. The desire to scream became so strong, it suddenly seemed like the only way to make the images go away. But she knew that she couldn't wake the entire camp without a damn good reason, so she just jabbed more and more violently at the embers, then the ground, with the stick in her hand, until it finally snapped in half. How symbolic, she thought, because she felt as though she was about to snap as well.

She was looking around her for another stick when she heard a soft noise behind her. Wide eyed, she wheeled around only to see Daryl approaching her slowly, limping just a little. What in the world was he doing up here in the middle of the night? she wondered. He didn't even come up to the main camp during the day if it could be avoided! He lowered himself down onto a small section of log that sat near the firepit, not far from where she was sitting. Neither of them had spoken, they just sat looking at each other. There was a look on his face that she couldn't quite read, like he wanted to smile, but was holding it back. She continued to look at him in confusion. Finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Daryl, what in the world are you doing here? It's the middle of the night!"

He shook his head slowly, chuckling a little bit. "Ya know, I could ask ya the same thing…" Realizing that he was right, she joined in, slowly smiling.

"Okay, you got me there, but my tent is right there," she pointed to her tent. "It's not quite as weird that I'm out here in the middle of the night. What would make you wander all the way up here, Mr. "I'm gonna try to rest and heal?"

He shrugged and looked at the dirt, where his heel was now starting to grind an indentation. "I had a feelin you wouldn't be sleepin, so I just thought I'd come an check on ya. And apparently I was right." He paused, then added, "An besides, I been restin an sleepin all the goddamn time, a person can only sleep so much 'fore their body just wants ta stay awake for a while."

Carol's mouth had dropped open about midway through his answer – right around the time when he said he knew she wouldn't be sleeping and had come to check on her – and she stared at him, unable to believe the words that she had just heard him utter. He had dragged herself up here, in the middle of the night, to check on her? It sure as hell didn't happen to her often, but Carol was speechless.

When he didn't hear a response of any kind, Daryl raised his eyes cautiously to look at her where she sat on the ground. Seeing the expression on her face, he smiled just a little. " 'S not a big deal, okay? Was good to walk just a little." She just shook her head at him, unable to believe that someone would do that for her. He was full of one surprise after another, that was for sure.

"Why you sittin out here in the dirt instead of bein in bed like everyone else, anyway?" he added, once again shifting the focus of the conversation from him to her. It made him much more comfortable not to have her focusing on him quite so intently... She acted like every little thing he did for her was a big deal, which he just couldn't understand. He didn't feel worthy of such gratitude. It's not as though he'd found Sophia, for goodness sake!

She shrugged. "I dunno, just felt like it I guess." Looking back at him, she saw that he was looking at her funny, as if waiting for more of an explanation. "I couldn't spend another second in that tent. Couldn't even get my eyes to close. So I came out here and this was just where I saw down, not for any reason. I was sitting here poking a stick at the embers for a while… just something to do…" she trailed off, remembering what had become of the stick. She continued slowly, looking back at the embers as she talked, "…til I started jabbing the stick into the ground, a little too hard, I guess… and it snapped," she finished with embarrassment. "Guess I had more frustration than the stick could handle."

He shook his head at her again, chuckling under his breath and watching her carefully. "Why dontcha get off the dirt and let the sticks feel safe again until mornin? Ya know we got chairs," he indicated several lawn chairs strewn around the campfire area, "got benches…" he leaned his head toward the spot next to him on the log that was used as a bench, along with several others nearby.

She gave him a quizzical smile, stood up and brushed herself off. "Oh, worried about the plight of the sticks, are you now?"

"Pfffft," he grumbled.

She walked over to the log bench and sat down beside him. There was more than enough space for the two of them to sit there without it feeling crowded. She liked hanging out with Daryl. They just seemed to click. She'd been trying to figure it out for a while now, without success. In the end she'd decided the why didn't really matter. Her world – hell, the whole world – was so full of horrible things right now, who was she to question anything that made the bad parts seem not quite so bad?

Without warning, sitting there next to him reminded her of sitting beside him against the red sports car, and along the guardrail of the highway. Her breath caught in her throat for a second, and she took a deep breath to steady herself, grasping the log under her with both hands to hold herself upright. He looked over at her quickly with concern. "Ya okay?" he asked.

She just nodded, closing her eyes for a minute. "They kinda sneak up on me sometimes, when I'm not expecting them," she explained. "Memories, images… certain thoughts… they just startle me for a second… Especially when I'm not keeping my mind occupied by concentrating on something else. It's been happening a lot here, since..." She didn't need to finish her sentence. He nodded. He really couldn't imagine how hard everything had been for her, and yet all he'd seen her do was constantly try to help everyone else. To keep herself busy, to feel needed. It made perfect sense when he thought about it that way.

They both grew quiet, lost in thought yet again, but it wasn't an awkward quiet this time. She realized that she hadn't grabbed her sweater from her bag before she came out of her tent, and she shivered just a little against the night air. It wasn't cold, exactly, but it wasn't quite warm either. " 'F we're gonna be here a while, we could build a fire, least a little one," he suggested, having noticed her shivering.

"Sounds good," she agreed, smiling at his thoughtfulness.

She jumped up from the log to grab some sticks. He started to push himself up as well, but she held up a hand. "Stop right there. You're still on the injured list. You get to build the fire, but I'm getting the sticks." He was about to protest, but the look on her face was determined, so he slumped back down on the log to wait. He didn't have to wait long though, because there was a plentiful collection of tree branches of all sizes scattered around the camp area, and Carol was back in a few minutes with more than enough.

It was only a few minutes after that that they were enjoying a small but warm fire and the firelight that came with it. Carol had always loved to watch campfires, fires in fireplaces, any kind of small fires really. The light from the flames was mesmerizing. That was probably her favorite thing about them, and suddenly the night didn't seem so ominous or her head so full of demons. She scooted herself forward off of the log to sit on the ground again, now leaning her back against her it. She held out her hands, palms open, towards the fire and enjoyed the warmth.

"Back in the dirt again, huh?" he teased her.

She just grinned. "Wanted to get closer to the heat. This was a great idea. I could sit here and watch the fire all night." He was pretty sure it was the biggest smile he'd seen on her face since at least before Sophia'd been missing, if not since he'd known her. He knew it was only temporary, but he was glad she could have a break from the sadness that haunted her.

They sat and watched the fire for a while, the light and warmth bringing a sense of peace much bigger than the small fire. Eventually Carol turned sideways towards him, folded her legs under her, and rested her arm, bent at the elbow, on the log. Then she laid her head down on the log, using her arm as a pillow. There was the faintest tinge of color on the horizon to the east, and Daryl couldn't help but think that it was probably about the same time of day – almost morning – as it had been when she had finally calmed down enough to go to sleep the night she'd broken down in the RV, up on the highway. Her eyes were starting to look heavy. "This is perfect," she said, closing her eyes. Their little fire was almost out, but the glowing embers still radiated a slight warmth.

"Get a little bit of rest, okay? It'll be morning soon," he told her.

"Mmhmmm… but I'm not moving from this spot. You can't make me," she replied, still not opening her eyes.

"Wasn't thinkin of it," he chuckled quietly. He stood up slowly, and carefully stretched. "Be right back," he whispered, unsure of whether she was still awake enough to hear him or not.

"Mmmhmmmm," she replied, eyes still closed. He walked the short distance to her tent and got the thin blanket that sat folded there. He walked back to where she was now mostly asleep by the fire, and laid the blanket over her. She smiled and pulled it around her. "Thank you," she whispered.

After stomping out what little glow was left of their fire, he sat down next to her, "in the dirt," as he'd called it, slouching down low and leaning against the log they'd been sitting on. Before too long, he was asleep too.