I hope you all don't mind learning more about Carol's father's girlfriend! :) It also has a little bit of Merle and Maggie, which I am glad you all are seeming to enjoy. Ar first, I was nervous to make them a couple in this.

Also, this chapter, honestly, was a struggle to write but I still hope you all enjoy it! :)

This chapter has been rewritten!

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Sharon had been a nice woman and nothing at all what Carol had expected of one of her father's girlfriends. When she had opened the door to greet the woman, she had expected to find a tall, blonde woman with perfect hair and a snobbish attitude. Her father was a handsome and could very well attract a woman like that.

Instead of a stiletto wearing hottie, chatting nosily on her cell phone, Carol was greeted by a woman of average height who wore a friendly smile when she saw Carol. Sharon had brown hair, instead of blonde, and in place of a haughty look and a blow off when she walked by, Sharon grabbed her in a hug as if they had known each other for a long time.

"You must be Carol," Sharon gushed as she held her at arm's length after their embrace. Her pretty brown eyes looked Carol over. "Marcus has told me so much about you!"

Carol smiled, a genuine smile, which she hadn't thought she would be doing this night, and almost thought of saying that her father hadn't said much about her, but knew that would be cruel. The last thing she wanted to do was to be mean to this woman. Already she could tell that she was going to love her.

At that moment, Carol's father walked into the room. "Hey, Shar," he greeted with a goofy smile and gave her a quick kiss on the mouth. Carol tried not to be too disgusted with the display of affection. However, for a moment, she couldn't help but think it odd to see her odd kiss a woman that wasn't her mother. She'd get used to it quickly, though.

Plus, she knew her mother didn't deserve her father, anyway. Carol was surprised at how butter she sounded in her head thinking about her mother. The woman who had given birth to her hadn't crossed her mind in years and she had been grateful for that.

Cassandra Spencer had decided, eight years ago when Carol was only ten, that she no longer wanted a husband or a daughter. She had packed her bags and left. A few months later, divorce papers came in the mail.

For awhile, her father had seemed lost. He had loved Cassandra dearly and had doted on her. Never, in a million years, had he thought she would betray him and their young daughter like that. It had been a devastating blow for the Spencer family, but they had been able to bounce back.

Since the day her mother had walked out, Carol hadn't seen or heard from her since. At first, it had hurt. What had made her mother to stop loving her? She had thought it was her fault, but as she grew up, she realized that it was her mother's loss. Carol knew she was pretty damn awesome.

"Carol, honey. Are you all right?" Her father tapped her gently on the shoulder and looked at her with concern. One of his arms was wrapped around Sharon, who looked concerned, as well. Carol knew she must have been looking off in space or something.

"I'm fine, dad," she said and smiled, hoping it was convincing. "I was just in my own little world for a bit. I'm back, now."

"Did this little world have Daryl in it, by chance?" Marcus smiled teasingly at his daughter.

Carol's face heated up and she jumped at the excuse. Her dad didn't need to know that Sharon had reminded Carol of what her mother had done to her family all those years ago. "Uh, yeah," she said, shyly. "I'm sorry. I was just wondering what he was doing, right now. He was supposed to get Merle out of the hospital today."

"Oh, that's right. Maybe after supper, you can take my car and check up on him. If you want."

"No, that's all right." She smiled at Sharon, a genuine one. "I want to get to know Sharon more and I can always see Daryl at school tomorrow and ask how his brother is doing."

"That's sweet of you, Carol. I'd love to get to know you some more, as well," Sharon gushed. "Is this Daryl your boyfriend, if I may ask?"

Carol nodded, her face, once again, turning red. It felt good to admit that Daryl was her boyfriend, now.

"I would like to meet him sometime," she said and looked to Marcus. "I'm sure he's a nice boy. He has to be if Marc is allowing him to date his lovely daughter."

"You're right. I only allow the best young men to hang around Carol." He winked.

"Well, I should probably get to the kitchen and start dinner," she said. "I'm sure you two are hungry. I know I am." With a last smile at the couple, she turned to the kitchen.

"Carol," Sharon's soft voice called after her. "Would you like some help? I'm not the best cook, but I could pass you things when you needed them."

Sharon's offer of help made Carol like the woman even more. "No, thank you. You two just relax in the living room and maybe, when it's time to set the table, you can help with that."

"Sure, I'd love to!"

Carol turned back to the kitchen, a smile still in place. She knew she was going to really like Sharon and hoped she stayed around for a long time.

The Parmesan chicken was delicious or so her dad and Sharon had told Carol so. She had never made the dish before, but knew that her dad loved Italian food and she decided she would give it a try.

She took a bite and found that it was actually pretty good. Maybe one day, she would make this for Daryl. He'd probably like it. He liked everything she cooked and wasn't really that picky to begin with. The thought of them sharing meals in her kitchen made her smile. Then, for dessert, he could pull her into his lap and kiss her breathless.

"Daryl, again?" Her father broke her from her daydream and knowing what she had been day dreaming about; she felt her face grow even hotter.

"I think she has it bad for this boy, Marc," Sharon staged whispered to her boyfriend.

Marc pulled his girlfriend close with an arm around her waist. "I think she has it just as bad for him as I do for you."

This time, Carol and Sharon both blushed.

Maggie woke up with a start and looked at the bright, red letters of the alarm clock by the bed. It read 11:46. Lifting her head and looking around a bit, she found that she couldn't see a thing. The room was pitch black and not even a sliver of moonlight shone through the dark curtains. Slipping from the blankets, she climbed out of bed but was stopped when someone grabbed her wrist and pulled her back in.

"Where do you think you're goin'?" Merle whispered into the soft skin of her neck, voice even more raspy with sleep.

"I have to get home," she whispered back. "My daddy is probably wondering where I am, if he's not already out looking for me. He must have noticed the missing shotgun by now."

Merle grumbled and reluctantly let go of her wrist. "One of these nights, you're goin' to actually stay with me the whole night."

Maggie leaned forward and found his lips in the dark. "How about once your ribs are completely healed, then I'll spend the night with you. Just sleeping, though."

He sighed in disappointed.

"I don't think I'm ready for that, yet, Merle. I'm a...I'm a virgin." She bit her lip. "So, is it okay if we wait awhile before we get to that step?"

The bed shifted and she knew he was sitting up by his grunts of pain. Then, his hand was on her cheek, gently cupping it. It was such a soft move, especially for someone like Merle who probably didn't know the meaning of soft.

"Maggie, we can wait as long as you want," he said, softly. Merle Dixon thought he would never willingly say that to a woman, but he was now. Maggie Greene was different than any woman he had ever known.

"So, how's Merle doing?" Those were the first words Carol spoke to Daryl when he came to her locker the next morning.

Daryl paused in front of her and rolled his eyes. "Can I at least kiss you or get a good morning before we start talkin' about my brother?"

"Fine," she sighed. "Good morning, Daryl." She went on her toes to peck his mouth, but he turned his face at the last second and she got his cheek, instead.

"Why did you do that? I thought you wanted a kiss!" She huffed and settled back on her feet.

"I want you to ask me for a kiss?" He crossed his arms and smirked smugly.

After a moment of glaring, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, Daryl Dixon, if you don't kiss me right now, I think I'll die!"

He pinched her lightly in the side. "Smartass," he mumbled before kissing her firmly on the mouth. He had been thinking about this all morning on his drive to school. He didn't care that they were in a public place and anyone could see them kissing.

Once the kiss ended, she turned from him and opened her locker. "So. Merle?"

Daryl sighed in resignation. "And here I was thinkin' that my kiss would be so mind blowin' that you would forget all about my dumbass brother."

"You have to try harder than that," she said and winked over her shoulder.

"I can try right now." He reached for her, but she stopped him with a hand to his chest.

"Uh uh, Daryl." She wagged a finger at him. "First, tell me about Merle. He did just get out of the hospital and I want to know how he's doing."

"He's doin' fine. Though, this mornin', he was hollerin' at me to rub his feet. I thought the bastard was dyin' with the way he was carryin' on." Carol hid a giggle behind her hand.

"There was no way in hell I was goin' anywhere near his ugly ass feet."

This time Carol laughed loudly. "I wouldn't go near them, either. Smart move." Once she gathered everything she needed from her locker, they started to walk down the hallway together.

"Besides, I've already done enough for his ass." His hand brushed hers and he wanted to grab it, but for some reason, he wasn't that comfortable with handholding in public, yet. He could kiss her, but not hold her hand. Made sense.

"Oh. Really?" She peered up at him. "What have you done for him? Sponge bath? Spoon fed him?" She giggled before she could continue on with her list.

"Hell, if I don't want to touch his feet, do you really think I'd want to touch any other part of him?" He shuddered at the thought. "Anyways, Maggie was over yesterday and took care of him. She was goin' to have him crash in his room, but it ain't exactly livable by anyone beside Merle, so he slept in my bed last night and I had to sleep on our small ass couch."

"You could have come over." She nudged him in the ribs. "My couch is way bigger than yours. It would have been way more comfortable." Daryl knew he would have been more comfortable on Carol's couch, but he probably wouldn't have been able to sleep. The whole time he would have been thinking about Carol in her bed and wanting to join her.

With everything that had been going on in his life, Daryl had forgotten all about the science project he and Milton had been working on for the past two weeks. It wasn't until their teacher handed back the results did he remember. They had turned in everything that Friday, but his mind had obviously been on other things. Like Carol.

"Look, Daryl," Milton said and slid the paper over to him with a smile. "We got an 'A'."

"Of course we did," he said and looked over the paper before handing it back to his friend. "You did most of the work."

"No, I didn't. You helped a lot, too. Plus, you were the one who had to go into Merle's room to retrieve that plant you put in there. That took courage."

Daryl shuddered. "Don't remind me," he mumbled. After that incident, he had hopped right into the shower and washed the stink of Merle's room off. He was extremely lucky that Maggie had not gone in it the day before.

"So. You and Andrea." Daryl wanted to change the subject and that was the first thing that had come to his mind. He hadn't seen his friend since Friday and hadn't gotten a chance to talk about what had happened to him over the weekend.

Milton blushed. "What about you and Carol?" He shot back.

Daryl raised his eyebrows at the quick comeback. The normally shy guy was coming out of his shell. "Well, it looks like we both got lucky with our women this weekend." Realizing, too late what he had said, he quickly tried to back track. "And by that, I mean in a totally, non-sexual way." He groaned and placed his face in his hands. It was almost as if his brain had been replaced with Merle's.

"Oh my God, if I hear my friend Eva talk about Ed one more time, I'm going to stab my eardrums out," Andrea complained and practically collapsed against Carol's locker.

Grabbing the brown paper bag that contained her and Daryl's lunch, she looked over at her friend. "What does she keep saying? I didn't know there was anything to say about Ed Peletier, except he's a pig."

Together they started to walk down the hall and to the courtyard where they would have lunch. "She keeps talking about his damn football scholarship and how one day he's going to be playing for the Atlanta Falcons or any other pro football team." Andrea stopped in the middle of the hallway and looked at Carol. "He's going to a freaking division two school. The chance of him making it to the pros is like zero percent and I saw him play once at his old school. He wasn't that good."

"So, who is this Eva girl to him? A girlfriend?" Though, Carol didn't know why anyone would willingly date Ed.

"No!" Andrea threw her hands up in exasperation. "She's probably just someone he smiled at when he passed her in the hallway. You would think with that nasty bruise on his face, girls would run away from him and not attach themselves to his hip."

Before Carol could respond, a few students ran past them. They looked down the hall and saw there was a group forming at the end of it. Carol got a sick feeling and Andrea's eyes widened, knowing what Carol must have been thinking.

Daryl.

The moment Daryl saw Ed saunter in his direction; he knew he wouldn't be able to keep his anger in check. The prick had put his hands on Carol and had marked her perfect skin. He had hurt her and he had done it in hopes that it would help in blackmailing her to sleep with him.

Ed smirked when he saw that he was drawing closer to Daryl. The bruises around his eyes were a bright yellow, making him look pale and sickly. Daryl only had a moment of satisfaction at his ugly appearance before Ed opened his mouth.

"Well, hello there, Daryl." The words weren't threatening, but the way they were said was sarcastic and smug. That was what made Daryl's blood boil even more than before. Then, all he could see what Ed putting his hands on Carol and he saw red.

"You son of a bitch!" He lunged at the jock and shoved him against the lockers. One arm was pressed against his neck.

"Get off me, you fucking hick!" Ed managed to screech out before Daryl placed more pressure on his neck. His next words came out in an undignified squeak and Daryl may have laughed if he wasn't so pissed and pumped up with adrenaline.

"You fuckin' put your hands on Carol, you asshole!" He grabbed one of Ed's hands that had tried to swat at him. "You put bruises on her arms. That shit ain't okay."

"The bitch deserved it!" Ed roared so loud the hallway grew quiet afterwards. Many of the students may have liked Ed, since he was popular, but it seemed that they didn't like that he had put his hands on a girl. Especially one that they all knew was sweet and hadn't deserved it.

However, Daryl couldn't believe the bastard had the gall to say that aloud and to him. He wanted to grab Ed's head and slam it into the metal of the locker. Repeatedly. But before he could, someone grabbed his arm. He was about to shrug it off, viciously and then, saw who it was.

Carol.

"Daryl," she said, eyes pleading. "You promised."

"Yeah, Daryl listen to your b-" Daryl slammed a hand over Ed's mouth before he could finish his sentence, which was favorable to him because if he had finished it, Daryl knew nothing would have been able to stop him from kicking his ass. Not even Carol.

"Come on." She tugged at his arm. "Let's eat some lunch and cool down."

He reluctantly let go of Ed, who almost slid to the ground and fought for air. They were both lucky a teacher hadn't come out to see what all the commotion was.

"Two weeks," Carol whispered to him as they walked down the hallway. The crowd parted to let them through.

Daryl sighed. How the hell was he going to go two weeks without beating the shit out of Ed Peletier?

Thanks for reading!