Merle sat and listened as Daryl recounted every detail of the last four days with him. He exhaled deeply and ran his hands through his short hair. "I can't believe that bastard put his hands on her. If I ever see him, I'll teach that son bitch a lesson."

"Ain't a single part of me that don't wanna beat the bastard within an inch of his life. I didn't wanna come back home yet, all I can think about is her running into him down there and me not being there."

"Hey, she'll be fine. She's tough as hell and she's smart." Merle said as he placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.

Yeah, she better be." He growled.

Merle paused and shook his head. "She's right though, you can't just go hunt the asshole down. You'd do something stupid. Get yourself locked up and end up not being able to see her again."

"I know that. That's why I dropped it."

Merle let out a small chuckle. "I bet you sure as shit wish you woulda listened to me and drove back home that night to talk to her. I tried to tell you the day would come when you'd regret it."

Daryl glared at his brother and jumped up out of his seat "You trying to say it's my fault that this guy hit her?"

"Calm down, now. Ain't what I said." Merle said, sternly and jumped up as well. Now the two were standing just inches away from one another. "I just meant because now you know she felt the same way about you. That's all."

"Shouldn't you be trying to make me feel better?" "You suck as this." He scoffed.

"I ain't here to paint you pretty pictures and tell you stories about rainbows and butterflies. That ain't life. It's tough, you should be used to it by now. You made your damn bed back then and you had to lay in it….and it looks like you're gonna have to keep laying in it just a little bit longer."

"What's your point?" He spat, narrowing his eyes.

"My point is, you better just use that bed just for sleeping for the time being. Can't no good come from the shit you tried to pull this weekend…..You're dick got you into this mess in the first place."

()()()

Carol had been on edge ever since her run in with Elaine. She was terrified that she would end up telling Ed she had seen her, and even more terrified she'd tell him that she'd saw her kiss Daryl. The last thing she needed was for Ed to think she'd left him to be with another man. He was extremely possessive and jealous when they were together. She'd contemplated calling Daryl and telling him about her run in with that woman, but she decided against it. She was sure he'd probably drive back down there if he thought there was any chance that Ed would show up and cause trouble, and she already felt like she'd inconvenienced his life enough those four days he was with her. So when he'd called to let her know he got himself and her car home safe, she just didn't mention anything. Luckily for her, the next two days went by without incident. Ed never showed up and her dad was discharged. Lori and Rick had offered to let her parents stay there with them, but things were so cramped in that house to begin with. She just didn't see it working. Maggie and Glenn then offered to let Carol and her parents stay there and it made a lot of sense because there was so much room. Her plan was for them to all three stay there until the weekend and then she'd hopefully have a place. She had some listings that she was going to check out and Daryl had volunteered to go with her. She hadn't been at Maggie and Glenn's but a few hours now and her parents were already in bed, but she found herself unable to sleep.

"I haven't had a chance to ask you yet, but how are you?" Maggie said, as she entered the kitchen where Carol was sitting reading the paper.

Carol just shook her head and let out a nervous laugh. "Let's see, my dad almost died six days ago, then when he recovered he told Daryl I'd been engaged, Daryl got mad that I didn't tell him and we had a fight, I lost it and let him know how upset I really was with him and told him Ed hit me, he grabbed me and held me while I was crying, I hit him repeatedly, he told why he left that morning and that it was because he was scared and in love with me, I told him I had been in love with him too, he kissed me then we almost had sex until I saw the bruises I left on him while I was hitting him, he told me he's still in love me and wants us to be together, I told him I love him too but need some time, then to I had to stop him from finding Ed while we were down there and on top of everything I have to go back to work tomorrow after not having a minute to process any of this…I'm one more surprise away from a mental breakdown." Carol said, exacerbated. She sighed and laid her head down on the table.

Maggie scooted her chair closer to Carol and wrapped an arm around her. "I'm sorry I asked. I'm mentally and emotionally exhausted from just hearing it."

"Try living it." She huffed.

Maggie sat in silence with her friend for a few moments, keeping her arm draped around her for support. "Are you and Daryl okay?" She finally asked.

"He was so amazing through all of this with my dad. I mean, he was just there for me in every way. He'd hold me at night, he let me stay attached to his hip during the day. He never complained, not once. I basically had to force him to leave before I did…..When we talked about everything, really talked about it, his reasons made sense in this fucked up way. It still hurts and it doesn't change it, but I get it in a way….knowing how he was raised….knowing who he is."

"Do you wanna be with him?" She asked, softly.

"I do, Maggie, I really do….but my head and my heart are so screwed up right now. I'm sleep deprived and I'm exhausted and I've still got a lot of stuff I'm dealing with. I don't wanna jump into anything and risk it not working out….If we do this, when we do this, we both have to be 100% in. Because I can't handle losing him again."

()()()

Between working three 12 hour shifts, helping out around Maggie and Glenn's and trying to keep her eye on her parents, Carol hadn't felt like she'd had a moment to herself all week. She hadn't gotten to see Daryl much since she'd come back. He'd been by to have lunch with her once, but they were so busy at the shop it was hard for him to get away long enough to go eat with her. She had texted him a little bit, but their hours were so different and she was so exhausted by the time she got home each night she'd fallen asleep pretty quickly. Today was Saturday, and she was off for the first time in days. She and Daryl were going to look at places around town that were for rent. She had the deposit ready and was very hopeful to find a place and get moved in next week.

Daryl pulled up on his bike and saw Carol sitting on Maggie and Glenn's porch. He'd really missed seeing her and talking to her this week, and he was glad that he was going to get to spend a lot off time with her today, even if it was just going around to look at places. He gave her a smile as he joined her on the porch. "You ready to go?" He asked.

"More than ready." She said, retuning his smile.

He nodded. "Listen, I know you got a lot of places picked out that you wanna see, but I think I found one you might really like." "Do you care if we check it out first?"

She threw her hands up in the air. "As long as I get to spend the day with you and I don't have to think about anything stressful, I don't care where we go."

()()()

They'd taken his bike since he hadn't told her exactly where they were going yet, and he seemed to want it to be a surprise. As soon as he rounded the corner and made his way up the hill, she knew exactly what neighborhood they were going to. It was the one she and Rick grew up in. Once they reached the bottom of the hill, she couldn't help but look over to the house she grew up in. It was different now. The shutters were no longer blue, now they were gray. The house had a metal roof, and not shingles. The privacy fence was still there, but she couldn't see if the pool was. The yard was neatly cut, just like her dad had always kept it and the bushes were trimmed too. She felt a little shocked as he turned into her driveway. "This was my house." "What are we….what are we doing here?" She said, stunned as he switched the bike off and moved the kickstand up.

"Dale stopped in at the shop the other day. He saw it was for rent and told me about it. I figured you might want it." He told her softly.

Her mouth gaped open as memories of her childhood flooder her. She thought about the times she and Rick used to race their bicycles down that hill, how Daryl would sneak over and coming swimming with her during the middle of the night when they were teenagers, how Andrea got so drunk one night that she couldn't go home so Carol decided to sneak her into her place and she'd ended up vomiting in the bushes, how Lori had taken about thirty pregnancy tests in her bathroom and they had to burn them all in the fireplace so no one would fine them. She loved that house, and she'd been heartbroken when her parents sold it. "Have you talked to the owners?" "Is it in my budget?" "How many other people are interested?"

"It's in your budget and I told the people who own it that you grew up here and how important it was to you. They said you had first choice on it."

She put a hand over her mouth and tried to fight back tears of happiness. "Yes, of course I want it." She told him as she ran to him and threw her arms around his neck. "I can't believe you did this."

He smiled to himself and threw his arms around her too. He was so excited for her and it made him happy to see how happy it made her. He squeezed her tight and ended up picking her off the ground. She let out a scream and a laugh. "Come on, let's check out the inside. The landlord said it's a little different."

"I don't care how different it is. It's still the house that I grew up in and I still want it." She told him, as she took his hand and headed for the door.