AN:hey you guys, I meant to get this out earlier, but I got called into work, so I'm finishing this on my break on my I-phone. Please excuse any mistakes and let me know what you think:)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 21

When millions of tons of angry elephants come spinning through the sky, and there was no one there to hear it, does it make a noise ~Terry Pratchett

Daryl walked along quietly enjoying the peaceful feeling of being in the woods. The sun was shinning through the trees, and for once it wasn't too hot.
He enjoyed the peace and quiet but missed Carol. Smirking to himself he muttered "Suck it up, Jesus Christ you've only been gone two hours." His mind though started to turn on him as worries began to form in his mind, visions of terrible things befalling Carol dancing in his head. She was right he was becoming too overprotective. Hell, he knew she could take care of herself, she'd survived much worse than holding down the fort for a few hours, she'd saved all their asses at Terminus, but he couldn't help it.

She stirred all the protective instincts in his brain that had long laid dormant. They were roaring to life with a vengeance. When she was out of his sight, he worried, like she would magically disappear; his own mythical unicorn. He wanted to hold on to her, he wanted to never let her go. Fuck..he wanted to marry her.

He stopped a little awe struck at that realization. Never in his life had he ever thought he would want to get married, his own personal experience with marriage had included watching his parents marriage destruct. Not a match made in heaven, not a ringing endorsement for marriage, that's for damn sure.

Carol's own experience with marriage, hadn't been a thrill ride either, even though she told him very little about Ed's actual abuse. He asked her about it a night or two ago, but she'd shook her head no, put her hand on his cheek and said
"He's gone, he can't hurt me anymore, telling you that will only hurt you."

If he was Carol, he wouldn't want to take a risk like that again on someone like him...but deep down in his gut he knew if he asked, she'd say yes.
He wanted to make it official, he wanted people to know that she was his. He wanted that smiling cocky smartass lieutenant to have a damn good reason to keep his fucking hands to himself.
Fuck it, he thought I'm doing it.

Making up his mind he suddenly felt the urge to turn around and head right back and get it over with. There were leaving the next day, may not have time to dry that deer anyway.

That deer had been driving him fucking nuts all week. Always returning to the same areas, always just out of his reach . Unfamiliar with the area he walked the same route everyday getting a feel for the landmarks. Had they been staying longer he would have ventured out. Got a feel for a larger area but there was not much sense in that now when they were only staying a week. As it was he headed into the woods off the road walked a semi circle and exited on the road a few miles up. He must have stumbled into the deer's territory because there were signs of it everywhere. That motherless proxy bastard was smart as fuck...his own fucking white whale.

He had made the decision to go back, when a noise up ahead got his attention as a flash of brown leaped into the bush.

You cocky little arrogant bastard, he thought with a grin as he followed it. Carol was right it was a matter of pride.

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Carol sat on the stairs of the porch not bothering to hide the fact she was staring at the entrance to the dirt road.

She turned when the door opened and a sleepy Beth came out to sit beside her.

"Anything?" Beth asked. Carol shook her head no.

Beth was serious for a moment then said with a slight smile
"They will all be fine including Daryl. It won't kill you to have a little faith"
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Rick stood with Glenn in the lobby of the medical center, waiting on Tyreese and Michonne. Maggie and Tara were doing one last check of the pharmacy.

"So Maggie and Tara seem to have gotten close, I thought Maggie would have a hard time with her being with the governor, or wouldn't like you becoming good friends with a woman" Rick said with a grin.

Glenn looked at him in confusion
"Seriously?...dude she's gay"

Rick looked surprised "Really?"

"Uh yeah, thought you might have figured that out in the train car with her yelling at Eugene that she likes girls and all" Glenn responded.

"Huh...I thought she was just trying to get Eugene to lay off"Rick said

"Even Daryl knew what she meant" Glenn paused and snorted "Daryl's got better gaydar than you!...if anyone should be jealous it's Daryl- I think she has a thing for Carol, and don't tell me you didn't know Daryl and Carol hooked up"

Rick grinned shaking his head "No, that's pretty hard to miss, especially when you're rooms right below them. I don't think Daryl got anything to worry about. Every freakin night, you would think they would take a break or,..." Rick turned as Michonne and Tyreese came bounding down the stairs, taking two to three stairs at a time.

"What the hell..." Glenn asked

"There's a herd on the highway headed straight for the house we gotta get back!" Michonne panted catching her breath as Glenn ran to get Maggie and Tara "There's got to be at least a thousand of them, maybe more, I think it's the herd we saw on the flu med run!"