Hello! I have a concerned reader that is worried about one of the characters sleeping with someone else. That will never ever happen in any of my stories ever. It doesn't matter if it's AU or not, neither of them will ever be with another person physically or otherwise. I will only ever write Caryl. I have only ever written Caryl. All of my stories are only Caryl except for a Merle/OC story and even that has a heavy dose of Caryl in it. I am one of the few 100% Caryl shippers I know and I won't change that for a little dramatic effect. You have my word. I hope you aren't nervous anymore! Lol

Chapter Twenty Five

Carol couldn't believe how well the girls were getting along now. Piper seemed to be softening up a little, which was saying a lot because she was very open with her hostility. Now they at least talked to each other. Sophia was happy and it made it hard to think about what would happen to her once school started back up. Andrea had planted a seed of worry in her brain and it was growing quickly.

She had just gotten out of the shower and was heading down the hall when she heard Damon's voice come from the kitchen.

"Can we go see a movie? No partying. No alcohol. Just a movie?"

She came around the corner, entering the kitchen and everyone's head came up to look at her except Daryl's. Daryl just shrugged, his eyes on his phone. "Ask Carol."

"Why ask Carol?" Carol asked.

His head came up then, his eyes meeting hers. "Because it's damn near nine and that means they probably won't be in till midnight and I ain't givin' the okay for your kid to be out that late."

She frowned and glanced at Sophia before looking back at Daryl. "What would you normally do if Damon asked to see a movie this late?"

"I'd tell him to make sure his ass stayed out of trouble."

Carol sighed and looked back at her daughter. "Make sure your ass stays out of trouble."

"You guys can come too, ya know," Damon added, grabbing Sophia's hand and pulling her down from the counter.

They both shook their heads at the same time. "I hate the movies," Carol made a face.

"Me too. You three are on your own," Daryl said, looking back at his phone.

Piper grinned. "Are you two gonna-"

"Go, Piper," Daryl snapped before the girl could say anything else.

The three of them laughed as they walked out of the kitchen, leaving Daryl and Carol alone. She stared after them for a few long moments until she heard Daryl's chair move. He stood up and stretched and she caught herself letting her gaze run over him. When she looked at his face she realized that he was doing the same to her. She flushed. She was dressed in a tank top and sleep shorts but she felt naked under his gaze.

She cleared her throat. "You think they'll behave out there?"

He snorted. "Yeah. You can't keep her with you all the damn time. Summer ain't gonna last forever so she might as well get in as much fun as she can before the tough stuff starts back up."

She winced at the mention of her going back to school. On the drive here and then every second since they walked in the door she had been thinking about that. She knew what she wanted. She wanted to keep her job at the shop. She wanted to get her and Sophia an apartment somewhere. But was that what her daughter needed? What kind of hell was she going to face once she went back to school? And then, was she strong enough to deal with all of that and stay sober?

She was doing better. Better than Carol ever expected but how much of that had to do with the fact that her days were spent with people that she knew cared about her? It was different when she wasn't forced to deal with the other kids. And she had ruined her reputation. It was going to be so hard on her.

"How bad do you think it'll be on her?" Carol asked, following him to the living room.

He shrugged out of the leather vest and then sat down heavily on the couch. She curled up on the other side, tucking her legs under herself. He started flipping through channels on the television but then he finally looked at her. "It's gonna be real bad, I'm guessin'. The kids she was runnin' with started talkin' about her. They told everybody else she was sleeping with all of them for drugs. Everybody is gonna remember that. She dealt with it then cause she was fucked up all the time. When she goes back, she'll be dealin' with it all with a clear head."

"Do you think it'll drive her to do it all over again? Just to deal with the other kids?" Carol asked, feeling her heart break for her daughter.

Daryl shook his head. "I don't know. I'd like to think she would but to a sixteen year old, high school is kind of the universe, ain't it? But she's damn tough and the people she's got at her back are even tougher. Maybe it won't be as bad as I'm thinkin' it'll be."

She hated herself for the decision that she made just then but she didn't see any other way. Andrea was right. She needed to think about her daughter. She needed to do what was best for her and sending her back to that school, forcing her to look those kids in the eye, was the last thing she needed.

"Andrea got a job in Atlanta. A great job. I think it'd be best for Sophia if we took her up on the offer of moving with her. She can start at a new school with a clean slate." She didn't look at him. She didn't want him to see how painful those words were. She had meant what she had said to him earlier. He was her friend and she trusted and cared about him more than she probably had any right to. The thought of leaving him was causing a strange dull throb in her chest.

"That's four fuckin' hours away," he said, his voice quiet.

She nodded. "I know. But she deserves a new start and I'm starting to think I do too. Everyone here knows me. They know what I did and where I've been. I've been hiding behind you since the day after I got out of prison. I can't keep hiding."

He shook his head and his eyes went back to the screen without a word.

"What?" She asked, knowing he had more to say about it.

He shook his head again, refusing to look at her. "I told myself that I was done fightin' with you. Trust me, you don't wanna here a goddamn thing I have to say about the situation. Ain't none of my fuckin' business what you do." Anger laced his words but Carol was sure there was something else there too. She just didn't know what it was.

"I don't want to fight with you but I want to know what you're thinking," she said in a quiet voice. What she really wanted was for him to reassure her that maybe staying was the best choice.

He didn't look at her but at least he spoke. "It ain't no concern to me what you do, Carol. I'm just some guy that stuck his nose in your business."

His words stung. "That's not true."

"It is now," he said firmly. He stood up and tossed the remote onto the coffee table and walked past her without meeting her eyes.

She waited for a while for him to come back but he never did. She tried to think about something else but her mind kept going back to his words.

It is now.

What did that even mean? As strange as it seemed, it almost felt like he was breaking up with her. She shook the thought away. Everything was so convoluted between them and she hated it. She swiped at her eyes and stared at the television but she didn't pay attention to anything that was on.

~H~

He wanted to go back out there and smack her right upside her stupid head. Dragging that kid to Atlanta wasn't going to solve a goddamn thing. Sophia was tough and she'd make it through those first rough months back at school. Carol mentioned that she'd been hiding behind him since she had gotten out of prison but in his opinion, hiding was a lot fucking better than running. And that was what she was doing.

He was trying to teach Sophia how to stand up and be strong. He wasn't teaching her that when things got hard, tuck tail and run to the nearest fucking city. What the hell was that woman thinking? He wanted to go scream that right in her face but he wasn't going to. The fucking gash her words had left in him was fucking deep and it was that moment he realized he was getting way to goddamn invested in this... whatever the fuck it was.

He didn't need this. He had a boy to take care of already and taking on the problems of anyone else, no matter the reasons, had been a fucking mistake. Because now he was going to have to watch them both walk the fuck away. Why the fuck had he been stupid enough to let his guard down and let this woman into his life in the first place? If there was one thing he knew for sure it was that you couldn't trust people. Not anyone. About the only people he trusted at all was Damon and Piper. Even Merle and Buck had let him down so many times that he couldn't even let them in.

He folded his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. And the worst part, the part he hated the most, was that he wasn't sure if she was right. Maybe this really was what Sophia needed. Clean slate. Fresh start. He had to keep reminding himself over and over again that it didn't matter how he felt. It didn't matter what he thought about the situation. He had to let Carol do what she thought she needed to do.

He just hadn't expected it to fucking hurt. Pain wasn't something he could deal with and it morphed into the one thing he was accustomed to. The one emotion he knew how to deal with and that was anger.

A tap at the door had him raising his head and glaring. He knew the kids weren't back. Hell they hadn't left long ago. Carol stepped into the room and he forced himself to keep his eyes from roaming over her. Her shorts were way too fucking short and it wasn't a secret that she wasn't wearing anything under that thin fucking shirt. He was pissed and didn't need this distraction.

"What the hell do you want, Carol?" He asked, keeping his tone clipped.

She sat down on the edge of the bed, keeping her back to him, and drew in a shaky breath. "I want to know what you think would be the best thing to do. You obviously have an opinion. I want to hear it. I can listen without fighting with you."

He didn't want to tell her what the best thing would be because it would possibly be that he had to tell her that she should make a move to Atlanta. "She ain't mine. Too many goddamn lines are getting blurred here. You make the call. You think it's best to move then move." This fucking sucked.

He finally looked over when he heard a quiet sniffle, his heart leaping painfully in his chest. He couldn't deal with any crying shit. He didn't know how to do it. He was used to her bullshit. Her attitude, her anger, her teasing crap. He wasn't used to this at all.

She wiped her cheeks and then surprised him when she laid down next to him. "I think I need to try. If it doesn't work I could always figure out a way to come back," she whispered.

He stayed perfectly still, not offering her anything at all. No words. Definitely no physical comfort because he was reeling. He didn't want her to fucking leave. The thought had his throat feeling thick. He looked down sharply when her head was suddenly on his chest and she was sniffling again.

"Don't do that," she hiccuped.

His eyes went wider. "Do what?" He croaked, completely out of his comfort zone.

"Don't just get mad and shut me out. You hate me for coming in and complicating your life, don't you?" Her voice was pathetic and if it was under any other circumstances he would have made fun of her for it but this was serious. He knew exactly why she was so upset, because he was too, even if he didn't understand it.

He moved so he could cautiously put his arm around her and then he brought his other arm out from under his head. He sighed heavily and trailed his fingers down her arm, since now it was draped over his midsection. "I don't hate you for anything."

They stayed like that for a long time before he felt her start to relax. Her breathing evened out and he didn't have the heart to tell her to get the fuck off his bed and go sleep on the couch. He refused to admit to himself that he liked having her there. And now it kind of felt like time was slipping between his fingers. He might as well enjoy her company while it lasted. Some time soon she would be living it up in the big city and him and this stupid town would be nothing but an almost fond memory.

With the light on and the door open wide he felt his eyes grow heavy. With the weight of her head tucked under his chin and the warmth of her body pressing against his side he fell asleep, trying not to think about how much he would miss her.

Miss them both.