Chapter 5

He had a vague memory of waking through the night and feeling all caught up.

The table that was fixed into the small booth was to damn close and there was no way of moving around it. He thought about giving up and laying on the floor, but the kid was half sprawled over him and rest of her was on Carol, he knew if tried to move he would waken them both up.

Andrea had offered to switch with them, but Carol knew Amy was not doing well after the attack and she didn't like the idea of taking the girls bed from her. He understood Carol's reasoning, but when he woke up squashed between Carol and Sophia, he wished she had have taken the offer.

He remembered sinking down until his feet reached the other side of the booth, so he was able to put his feet up on the seat. He wasn't comfortable, he felt squished and twisted. But he had been tired enough to fall asleep and accept that it was just going to be another uncomfortable night. It wasn't something he was unaccustomed to, not in the new world or the one before it.

It was a surprise to him when he woke up again and realized that he didn't feel quite so uncomfortable, that he didn't feel all caught up anymore.

He opened his eyes and looked down to see that Sophia had moved to to other side of the booth and had her head propped up on his leg, which he thought was a pretty bold choice considering he could have easily kicked the girls head in by accident.

Carol had moved to.

She had turned her body around so that her legs were on the seat and the rest of her was curled up on his chest. He had both of his arms closed around her, holding her in place and his chin was resting on her head.

Between the two of them, they had him trapped there in the booth.

He didn't take a single second to savor the warmth of her body pressed into his, because his first thoughts where that he didn't think Carol would be ok with this. He hadn't done anything to bring this on, not that he remembered, but he still felt guilty being in the position with her when he didn't know if she would ok with it. She had only dumped Ed's ass yesterday and she had barely looked at him since then.

He decided that he need to slide her off him, or find a way to slide his ass off the seat without kicking Sophia in the head.

"Alright. I guess this is the last stop" Dale called out, making Daryl flinch as Carol sprung up. Dales voice had woken her but what seemed to have her more stunned was her position on him.
She looked down at the fabric of his shirt and her hands flattened over his chest. She looked like she was far to nervous to meet his eyes.

For a long minute neither of them moved. He was sure she thought that he had some how maneuvered her into the position. He didn't want her to think, even for a second, that Ed was right about him just trying to get laid.

He couldn't lie and say that he hadn't thought about it. He had thought about it far more then he would like to admit. But that wasn't what was most important here. Ed had hurt Carol, many times over, and now he had left those marks on his daughter, a kid who wanted nothing more then to ride her panic out in peace.

Truth was he wasn't sure what was going on between him and Carol. He had told her he wanted her, but she had never said she wanted him, she had only told him that he didn't know what he was getting himself into. She had kissed him back, but only for a few seconds and maybe he had even imagined it.
He decided that it didn't matter, not right now. She was his friend and that was enough. It was enough for him to put everything else aside and focus on what was really important and that was keeping her and Sophia safe.

"Mornin" he muttered keeping his eyes down at the yellow lino that covered the floor of the RV.

Carol cleared her throat and looked over to Sophia who let out a groan at the disturbance.

They both watched the kid stirring and trying to force her body to rise up, against its better judgement.

The RV had stopped and they had both finally pealed themselves of him, but now they were starring at him in their sleepy states. He dropped his eyes back down and refused to look at either of them, but he could still feel their eyes on him.

He cleared his throat and slide himself of the bench. "Im'a talk to Rick. See what's goin' on"

He didn't know which one of them he was telling and they didn't know either, so they both hummed in response.

For some reason, unknown to him, he stuttered out a sound and rubbed at his neck nervously. He wasn't sure what words he was trying to produce and maybe that's why they never fully formed.

He wanted to explain himself and tell her he hadn't meant for them to wake up like that, but he didn't really have an explanation why it had happened. He quickly decided that anything he had to say would most likely just make it worse, so instead of saying anything he coked out another noise before fleeing the RV and the awkward silence that filled it.

As everyone slowly piled out of their cars, he made his way over to the small forming group that looked like they were surveying the new area. It was the type of thing he didn't really get involved in, but now he felt like he needed to be involved, he wanted to know what was going on and what their plan was.

Carol and Sophia emerged from the RV and instantly made their way over to Lori and Carl, with Ed watching them as closely as he always had.

He didn't draw attention to the fact that Ed was looking over at the Carol and Sophia and he honestly hoped it would go unnoticed by both of them. He didn't care for the way Ed leered at them and he doubted it would be nice to be on the receiving end of it, so he decided to ignore it, if they could do the same.

There was something, and he wasn't to sure what it was, about the way Ed eyed Sophia. It was very different to the way Ed looked at Carol.
When Ed got his sights on Carol, he scowled and raked his narrowed eyes over her. It was more then enough to make Daryl want to cave Ed's head in.
But when Ed looked at Sophia, there was a vicious smirk that fell over his face, and there was something about it that made Daryl's hairs stand on end and his stomach flip. He had noticed, more then once, Carol having the same reaction to the way Ed watched their daughter.

He stood with Rick, Shane and Andrea looking around the new camp site, while assuring he stole glances at Sophia and Carol every few minutes, just to assure himself that nothing had changed.

Rick had been the one who decided they would settle there, but he also assured them that they would keep looking for something better. Rick suggested, that when members of the group went on runs for supplies, that they would also keep an eye out for a safer place to live.

It was more then obvious to Rick now that they needed walls, but he didn't like the idea of dragging the group around the state to find them. Daryl thought that was easy enough to agree with.

There had been to much going on before they left the quarry, for him to pay attention to the fact that a number of people had gone off by themselves, choosing not to follow Shane and Rick any further then they already had.

What was once a group of twenty plus people, was now down to fourteen and he was pretty sure that less then half of them were able to fight.

Andrea seemed like she was more then ready to kill anything she needed to kill, even if it was just to keep her little sister safe. Amy seemed like a good kid. By looking at Amy, he guessed she was around eighteen, but when she talked she seemed a lot younger, and from what he had seen, she wasn't able protect herself.

Dale was able to defend himself, he was good with guns and had taken it on himself to keep an eye on Andrea, Amy and Glenn, though Daryl thought his watchful eye on Glenn was more as a friend then a protector.

Glenn was still just a kid, but he was ready to stick his neck out and he was also a slippery little weasel that could get himself out of any tight spot that he found himself in. No one needed to worry about Glenn. The boy fell into the small category as T-dog, Shane, Dale and Rick, that were more then able to defend the group and knew how to use weapons.

He in no way thought that Jacqui, Lori or Carol were unable to defend themselves if needed, it was more that they needed to be shown how and no one had taken the time to teach them.

The only three people he thought were more or less helpless against the walkers were Carl, Sophia and dear old Ed.
Carl and Sophia had the excuse of being kids, Ed's only excuse was that he was chicken shit.
When the quarry was overrun, even Carol, armed only with a shovel, had tried to fight. Ed who was armed with a knife and a gun had hid until the coast was clear, like the little bitch he was.

It made him nervous to think that out of fourteen people, only six were ready for what was ahead of them. And for all he knew, they were the last people left alive on earth. But it didn't feel like enough to survive against everything that threatened them.

Rick pointed out a spot close by where he thought they should set their tents up and explained that from now on, until they had the safety of walls, they should all stick close together, rather then spreading out like they had at the quarry.

The area was, without any doubt, better than the quarry. They were mostly surrounded by open space, so they hoped that they couldn't be overrun, at the very least they would have good warning before it got out of control. There was a stream nearby for them to use as they needed. It wasn't much, but it was a small upgrade from what they had.

As T-dog joined the discussion, Shane started talking about taking shifts through the night, something they should have been doing all along. He nodded along as Shane explained his ideas, trying to listen, while he watched Carol and Sophia out of the corner of his eye.

He thought, after this mornings awkward incident, that she was going to be pissed at him, or at least avoid looking at him. But that hadn't happened. Since she and Sophia emerged from the RV, she'd caught him watching her more then a dozen times and it only made her smile at him. He was pretty sure she was even let out a few laughs at his expense. He could handle that.

Shane and Rick were starting to wrap up the conversation when he had noticed Ed meander off behind the RV. Once Ed was out of sight Daryl noticed Carol make a quick move to grab her bags out of Ed's car.
She quickly took her belongings back her spot by Lori and they quickly fell back into conversation.

He accepted that both Sophia and Carol were as safe as they could be and that he could relax for the time being. Carol was with Lori and she looked like she was happy to have the distraction of settling in to the new space. A few feet away, Glenn was kneeling down talking to Carl and Sophia.
Sophia's expression was usually blank and often distant, but right now she looked like she was at least slightly interested in the book Glenn had given them. Rather then looking around nervously, which he assumed the girl was unable to stop herself from doing. Right now she flicked the pages of the book carefully and traced her small fingers over the pictures.

"Well, let's get set up. We can get everyone together a bit later on and come up with a solid game plan" Shane announced with a confident grin, before reaching out to smack Daryl's shoulder as he passed by.

The small group separated and T-dog weaved his way through them to reach him, looking as though he was in need of a good long sleep.

"Your bags are in your Truck. Crossbow too" He mumbled running his hand over his face in an attempt to wake wake himself up.

He thanked T-dog for driving his truck as they headed toward it and listened as T-dog jumped into a halfhearted chat.

He answered T-dogs questions about the old Ford as he sorted through the bags that had been dumped into the tray.
He knew Jacqui had made the trip with T-dog, but he doubted that the belongings that had been crammed into the small space belonged only to the two of them.

"Should we get it all out?" he offered, ready to start unloading the bags when he heard the commotion behind him.

He had taken his eyes of the girls for no more than a minute when he heard Ed's voice raise up followed closely by Glenn and Lori's.

His head spun to see Sophia shuffling backwards in the dirt on her hands and feet, trying to position herself behind Carol as fast as possible.

He didn't yell out or get a weapon ready. Once he saw the look on Ed's face it was more than enough to have him moving in their direction.

Carol was apologizing to Ed repeatably. She had both her hands in front of her as she stuttered out her words, telling him that she 'hadn't realized she had taken it'.
He didn't know what she was apologizing for or what had Ed so angry, all he knew was what Ed was getting ready to do.

Daryl could see that Ed had his fist had pulled back, with the obvious intention of hitting Carol, but he never got the chance to make the move. Ed barley had more then a second to notice that Daryl was approaching because he'd been deafened by his own voice, that had grown louder and deeper before it was too late to react to what was coming at him.

Rather then throwing a punch at Ed, Daryl pounced forward and latched his hands around Ed's throat and tackled him to the ground. In the few second's he had a hold of him he took the opportunity to near choke Ed to death.

He knew it was less than a day since Carol had told him not to get in the middle of her and Ed's business. But he couldn't take much more of this shit from Ed.

Ed treated Carol like he owned her, like she was a disobedient dog that had gotten off its leash. He was going to hit her in order to pull her back in line. Ed needed a taste of his own medicine. If people really did need to be knocked around in order to be obedient, then he would beat the holy hell out of Ed and see if the prick could take the hint.

It was over. She wasn't Ed's to mess with anymore.

He wanted to hurt him, but more then that he wanted scare him. He wanted Ed to see just how easy it would be to squeeze the life out of him. It was only a few seconds before Rick, Shane and T-dog pulled them apart, but Ed knew now how simple it would be for Daryl to kill him if he had to.

He was panting and lunging forward, wanting to get his hands back on Ed again, but he froze still when Carol called his name. He looked over at her and growled in response before he put his hands up and stepped back, conveying to T-dog that he had no intention on making another move.

"What's going on" Rick demanded standing between them, using his hands to keep them at a safe distance from each other. Rick looked at Daryl for answers, but he remained silent, huffing and puffing, while keeping his eyes fixed on Ed's.

"He was going to hurt Carol" Glenn announced while Lori nodded firmly at his side.

"We told you to stay away from her Ed, we haven't even unpacked yet and your starting this shit" Shane groaned out, glaring at Ed as he held him in place.

"She took my tent. I'm not going to have some red neck trash sleeping with my wife in my-.."

"Fine" Daryl spat out before Ed could finish.

He quickly shook himself free from T-dogs light grip a knelled down, grabbing the tent bag that had caused all the chaos. He walked passed Rick and shoved the it firmly into Ed's chest .

"Take the god dam tent. But this ends here. You don't look at her and you don't talk to her".

For a second, Daryl could see the flash of fear in Ed's eyes, it was only a second before Ed reigned it in and glared at him again, but the fear was still there, lingering beneath his hardened stare.

Shane started to explain to Ed again that he needed to keep his distance from Carol but Ed's eyes were still caught on Daryl as he stepped back and headed towards his truck.

"You think she's yours now. Just like that" Ed growled through his teeth, catching the attention of everyone. He shook his head as he continued on his way back to his truck, not bothering to look back.

"All I know is she isn't yours Ed"

Carol and Lori stood by the RV while the kids went back to their book, though Sophia's interest had obviously changed. He noticed her fingers picking at the knee of her pants, pulling at threads as her eyes cautiously wondered around the camp.

Carol didn't watch him put his tent up with shaky hands, but he caught her attention when he silently walked over to her.

She stopped talking to Lori and froze as he gave her a nod and leaned down to snatch up her and Sophia's bags from the dirt. He didn't offer her any explanation and she didn't ask for one, she just watched as he took them over to his tent and put them inside.

Once he had put their things away he unrolled his sleeping bag by the tent's entrance and sat himself down on it. He then begin the process of shuffling through his bag and pulling out each item, one by one.

He ignored the sounds of her approaching. He didn't know if she wanted to talk to him or get something from one of her bags, so he decided to stay quiet and continue on with his search.

"What are you doing?" she asked standing over him, holding herself together, like she was going to fall into a million pieces if she let go.

He consciously refused to look up, deciding only to focus on his hands pulling out his belongings that had been packed away with care.
She was upset, he could hear it in her voice. He was still far to worked up to deal with that right now. He was pretty sure if he looked up and saw her expression it would be enough to push him back over the edge, and he was likely to kill Ed if he was pushed any further today.

"Lookin for my smokes" he mumbled as he snatched out another shirt, trying to keep it neatly folded, something he was sure Carol was responsible for.

"That's not what I'm talking about"

He nodded and continued looking through his crap.

"Yeah, I know" he answered quietly, as he began searching the pockets of the pants he had just pulled out.

"Daryl..."
He stopped with a sigh and forced his eyes up to see her fearful discomfort hanging over him.

"Are you just gonna sleep out here on the ground?" she asked, almost making him laugh.

"No, I'm not planning on sleeping out here" he confirmed, watching her brow crease in confusion to his answer.
He shook his head lightly, "I'm gonna stay awake, keep watch" he added firmly, before she got the wrong idea about his intentions.

Her face softened at his answer and her body seemed to relax, even if it was only slightly.

He looked back down and pulled out another pair of pants to check. He heard her let out a rough sigh, making him uncomfortable.

"Front pocket" She said breaking the silence.

"What?",

"The cigarettes. I put them in your front pocket" she explained quietly as she turned and started making her way back to Lori.

He opened the front pocket on his bag to see the crinkled pack sitting there. A small grin passed over his lips as he looked up to watch her leave, his eyes needlessly lingering on her ass as she walked back to the RV. Even though though the voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to stop.

Daryl knew the discussion wasn't over, just by the tone of Carol's voice. She just didn't want to be standing there with everyone looking at her. As he pulled his eyes from her, he looked over to see that they were watching, even if they were pretending not to.

He growled a little to loudly at his audience before he ducked his head back down and quickly shoved his things back into his bag.

He didn't like being the center of attention and he didn't like being the source of peoples entertainment. But they didn't have TV anymore and he figured that what was happening between between him, Carol and her asshole EX husband was as good as they could get.

It was just something he was going to have get used to, or learn to ignore.

Carol was tired and Sophia had already begun drifting off, leaning into her side while she starred into the fire. She had overheard Daryl talking to Rick about taking watch at night. But other then that she hadn't heard Daryl say anything else.

He had taken his dinner from Lori with a forced smile and a nod, she had seen his eyes occasionally dart between her and Ed, especially when Ed moved from his position in front of his tent. But other then keeping a very close eye on her and her daughter, he hadn't moved or talked to anyone.

Daryl didn't really seem to be expecting anything from her. He seemed quite happy for her to go about her business on her own, as long as she appeared to be safe.

To her surprise, Ed did seem scared of Daryl. It wasn't that she didn't think that Ed didn't have reason to be, just that maybe he was to stupid to see Daryl as a threat when he seemed to think of himself as some kind of god among men.
No, she didn't know what Daryl expected from her, just as she didn't know what she expected from Daryl. She hadn't expected him to jump in before Ed had the chance to hit her again. She hadn't expected him to have so much anger built up over something that she had become accustomed to, something that no one had ever physically tried to stop before.
And she hadn't expected him to hand over his tent for her and her daughter to sleep in, while he assured they were both safe to do so.

The tent was waiting for her and Sophia to use as soon as she could work up the courage to use it. The idea of making her way to bed made her nervous and those nerves had nothing to do with Daryl sitting outside of of tent.

She could feel Ed's eyes on her every time she made the slightest movement, waiting to see what she was going to do. As if her getting into Daryl's tent was making some statement about her and Daryl, rather than just admitting she was tired.

She didn't know what was going on between her and Daryl. What she did know was that he was her friend and he was willing to help her. Daryl had seemingly made it his mission in life to keep her and Sophia safe, without wanting a single thing in return.

She had eaten dinner with the rest of the group. Throughout the meal she hadn't been able to stop thinking about when he'd kissed her. Even if the kiss had only lasted for a few moments. A part of her wished she had been braver that day, that she had of allowed her lips to linger on his for a few seconds more. But she wasn't brave. She never had been.
In amongst the others chatting, she finally heard Sophia's faint voice beside her asking if they could go to sleep. She smiled and nodded as she took her hand, knowing she should have gone to bed earlier, Sophia was tired and so was she.

She had been dragging out the simple task of walking across the camp towards Daryl, mostly hoping that Ed would go to sleep first. Then she wouldn't have to do this in front of him and anger him more than necessary.

She said goodnight to the group and led Sophia over to their tent, knowing that Ed was watching them every step of the way and praying that he didn't decide that it was cause for another fight.

Daryl didn't look at them as they approached, he continued to fidget with his crossbow and steal glances at Ed. Daryl had been doing this all day and mostly she found that the looks were subtle, but right now they weren't. Right now Daryl's glances at Ed were threatening, as though he was using his eyes as a warning.

Sophia let go of Carol's hand and walked ahead to yank down the zipper making Daryl's head turn slightly in her direction. From the light of the fire Carol could see the two beds already made and their bags carefully placed in the corner of the tent.

Sophia paused and met Daryl's eyes.
"Wont you get cold?" she asked cautiously, still gauging the man's reaction, as if she was half expecting him to snap at her.

Daryl shook his head and gave her a small confident smile. "I got the fire, I'll be fine".

Sophia accepted the answer and returned a hint of the smile that Daryl had offered, before making her way into the tent.

Carol knew everyone, including Ed was still watching but she decided to be brave, instead of falling asleep wishing she had of been.
She knew that Daryl had been uncomfortable when he woke up this morning and found her laying all over him. He looked as though he was actually afraid of her, maybe he even thought she didn't want him to touch her. But that wasn't the case. She had been the one who crawled her way onto him when he was sleeping. She had been seeking out a more comfortable position and she had found one.
She had avoided him all day. But she didn't want him to think that it had anything to do with him. She just didn't want to cause him or the group any more trouble then she already. And any attention she gave Daryl was sure to cause trouble. But right now she just wanted to give him some assurance, no matter how small.

Daryl's eyes had dropped back down to his crossbow, giving Carol a chance to get by him without any interaction, but she stopped at his side. She let her hand fall onto his shoulder and rest there.
"Goodnight" she whispered, watching him tense and freeze from the light touch.
She was a second away from taking the final step into the tent when she felt his warm hand cover hers.
"Night"
He barely breathed the word out before he gave her hand a light squeeze and slowly let it go.

She was overwhelmed when she crawled into the tent. The sweet grin Sophia was wearing was enough to make her heart flutter. Her daughter dropped almost playfully onto the bed that Daryl had made for her and she couldn't help but smile at the sight.

She had been so worried about Ed's reaction to her going into Daryl's tent, but she forgot that once she crawled into the small space, Ed would disappear, even if it was only for a short time.

For the first time, in a very long time, she wasn't afraid to close her eyes.
She didn't have to wonder if she and Sophia were safe from Ed. That thought was only enforced as she watched Daryl's silhouette, created by the fire.
She watched his body shift in the direction of noises, no matter how insignificant they seemed. His posture stayed stiff, showing her just how alert he was.
There was a big part of her that felt horrible, she didn't want him to be put into this position. He didn't deserve to be dealing with all of her problems. He had been driven out of his tent and now he was being deprived of sleep. She would never have requested any of these things from Daryl or anyone else, but she was willing to accept anything he had to offer to ensure that Sophia was safe. She could also accept that this was what Daryl wanted.