Daryl finished fixing the motorcycle a few minutes ago but continued sliding the wrench around the gears pointlessly. He had realized a several minutes before he finished his repair that his angle crouched there had allowed him to be able to see without looking like he was staring; it appeared that he was just looking at his bike. He couldn't stay there too much longer without arousing suspicion, he knew, but he had a nagging need to make sure she was okay and a few more minutes was all he wanted. He tried not to think too long about their last real conversation, the harshness of his words to her. It wasn't that he hadn't meant it at the time, he had. It wasn't that he didn't think that what he was saying was true, he felt it was at least mostly true. But Christ, it had really just not been necessary to say. Especially not like that. He was so angry that his best friend had been slipping away from him, and he'd gone and given her a fierce shove even further away.

He watched Carol chat with Jerry as she dug down into the gardens, trying to replant from the damage the Whisperers had done. Watched the way she looked up at him with that tight smile that never reached her eyes. He knew that bullshit smile. He hated that bullshit smile. He worried that she was indeed going to run. In so many ways, Carol was one of the strongest people he knew. In other ways, she was annoyingly vulnerable. And her habit of jetting whenever things got too emotionally real for her was the perfect example of that vulnerability. But he wasn't going to stop her. He wasn't going to ask her to stay. Didn't matter if some small part of him that he did not want to recognize wanted to stop her. He was nothing if not a man of his word, and his pride wouldn't allow him to go back on it.

LINELINELINE

Carol sighed, wiping a dirt covered hand on her apron before walking into her house. She tossed down her basket of ingredients she had gathered from the gardens and went to the bucket of water in the sink to begin rinsing them off. She was still missing running water but knew that it was only a matter of time until they got all those little niceties up and running again. They, not her, she thought reflexively and sighed. Nobody really needed her here. They had already taken from her example and had three other solar panels fixed. She technically shared hers with Daryl, who lived just behind her, but he never connected it to his house and always left it for her. She didn't discuss it with him. Wasn't really trying to have many discussions with him right now anyways. Although she was past the emotional breakdown part, there was still a sharp ache in her chest that she couldn't fully ignore.

She hated that he was right about her. Hated that she had already packed a bag that was sitting beside her bed, slightly hidden but completely ready to go. Hated that she had been slowly scavenging food that she knew would preserve somewhat and stashing it away in the highest cupboard. She figured it wouldn't take her too long to get enough to last her for about two weeks, and that was all the head start she'd need. She pulled a single carrot and single turnip from her basket and carefully tucked them into her rucksack in the top cupboard. Root vegetables lasted well but she didn't want to take too much when there were so many mouths to feed right now. She was rinsing off the mushrooms and greens she had found, along with the turnips and carrots that had remained in the garden, when she heard a knock at the door.

She turned to see Lydia standing on her front step. She stifled a sigh before pulling on a smile.

"Hello Lydia, need something?" she asked pleasantly as she pulled open the door.

The teen looked a little nervous, shuffling her feet and looking up at Carol with a half smile. "Hey, Carol. Just came to see what you're up to."

Carol resisted the urge to roll her eyes. "Who asked you to check on me?"

Lydia frowned, shaking her head. "Nobody."

Carol felt a wave of disappointment slide over her that she quickly pushed down. "I see. Well, come in." She moved aside to let Lydia indoors and went back to washing the vegetables.

"What are you making?" Lydia asked, pulling herself up to sit on the counter a few feet away from Carol. Carol felt a stab of annoyance at this but didn't want the hassle of telling the girl to get off her counter.

"Not sure yet. Not much here to work with, so probably a stew. Figure if I can get a rabbit or squirrel from one of the traps outside the gates I can pull up enough for everyone tonight."

"I never learned how to cook properly." Lydia said, watching Carol with interest now. "Most of the time we didn't even cook what we found. Even ate raw meat a lot."

Carol nodded, feeling a pang of sympathy for the girl but not commenting. "It's really not too hard. Its just about having some creativity and knowing how to find flavor in stuff you can scavenge. Right now, with what we have, its all about the creativity."

Lydia nodded. She watched Carol finish washing the vegetables and then pull out a cutting board and knife to begin dicing them up. "Do you think you could teach me?" Her voice was hesitant.

Carol frowned. "I'm not exactly a chef here, Lyd."

Lydia split a grin then. "I've never seen anyone complain about your food, Carol. You're probably the closest to a chef we have here. I won't be any trouble, and I can help you out a lot as you teach me."

Carol thought a moment. She really didn't want to take in another kid, didn't want the bond, didn't want the responsibility but…it was just cooking lessons. And she did owe Lydia her life.

"Go run and check the snares. If we caught anything, I'll show you how to skin and clean it without losing any meat." Carol offered. She wasn't surprised when Lydia immediately hopped off the counter and scurried off. She was surprised, however, when the teen returned less than twenty minutes later holding not one but two dead rabbits, a cautious grin on her face.

Carol was delighted. There would definitely be enough to go around, and she could probably even slip away a small chunk of meat to dry out to pack into her rucksack, using her treasured secret stash of salt to help preserve it.

Lydia stayed with her for the rest of the afternoon, and Carol found that she didn't mind the company. Lydia took direction well, was a fast learner and enthusiastic without being overly talkative. When she showed up the following day, Carol found herself being somewhat pleased instead of annoyed.

LINELINELINE

Three days later, they were running even more low on supplies, Carol and Lydia having scavenged everything in the last few days and the snares having not pulled up anything. Lydia was again sitting up on her counter, and Carol found she didn't mind, and Carol was sitting at the table pondering what to do when she heard Lydia's stomach growl.

"Sorry." She murmured.

Carol thought a moment and then, decisively, stood up and went to the upper cupboard and pulled out her rucksack, which she had put enough in that she could have left soon.

"I think its time to dip into the emergency stash." Carol said softly, opening up the fabric and showing Lydia the food. "So what do you think we can make with this?"

Lydia went through the ingredients softly with her hands, a few ideas running through her head but instead of these what came out of her mouth was, "Why did you have all this tucked away? Are you planning on leaving?"

Carol stopped what she was doing, momentarily surprised that she had been so easily figured out. She thought about lying but rashly decided against it. "Yes. I was just trying to get enough to last me a couple weeks in case I couldn't find anymore."

Lydia looked up at her then, her wide brown eyes holding a mix of betrayal and understanding. "Do you have to?"

Carol found she couldn't answer.

"Because I'd really like it if you stayed." Lydia added quietly.

Carol fought the urge to snap back some defensive remark, the "I'm not your mama" response so ready on her tongue. Honestly, the past several days had been easier for her to be there. She felt more of a purpose, even if it was a small purpose of teaching a wild girl to cook. A purpose, a distraction, maybe even a friend. It helped.

"Come on, let's get some dinner made for everybody." Carol's tone left no room for argument, but Lydia took comfort that they used almost half of what Carol had saved up.

The following day they had a squirrel in the snares, and Carol used up more of her stash to fill out the meal. The day after that, they finished it and she tossed aside the empty rucksack to use for something else later. The amazing day that Daryl brought back a small deer, she even showed Lydia her stash of salt and started teaching her how to season, taking her out to rummage for herbs that grew locally.

Lydia didn't ask her if she was going to leave again, and Carol wasn't one to rule it out completely. But she found herself unpacking things slowly and not creating a new stash of food, even as she and Lydia helped the others plant more.

LINELINE

It was two weeks since the day Lydia had knocked on her door that she knocked on another. Daryl came over, opening the door wordlessly and letting her in. Lydia leaned back against the wall and smiled at him.

"How's the cooking lessons going?" he asked gruffly.

She smiled. "Good." She waited to see if Daryl was going to ask anything else but he stayed silent. "I snuck in and checked her room again. She unpacked her bag. She's not leaving."

Daryl nodded. Lydia went to leave but stopped when Daryl reached a hand out. "Hey uh…thanks. And thanks for not telling her I asked you to go over there."

Lydia grinned at him then and shrugged. "No problem. Actually, I'm going to keep going. I like cooking with her. Carol said that when we get our supplies back up, she's going to show me how to make cookies." And with that she left, looking a little more cheerful than he had seen her since Henry died.

Daryl watched for only a moment before deciding to go try to get a hunt in before dusk hit. He figured some meat would help out their efforts. He smiled a little to himself. Carol wasn't running again and he hadn't been the one to stop her. Daryl was nothing if not a man of his word.

LINELINELINELINELINELINE

Please review. I'm hoping that I got the characterizations right, I felt really iffy on Lydia especially. Also there were some definite parallels to Sam, I realize that but that could also have been some motivation as to why Carol gave in this time.