A short update, let me know what you think :)

Merle looked over at Daryl for the third time that week and he knew something was up and it wasn't good. Daryl had been in a nasty mood since Saturday afternoon, which was bull shit because he hadn't come home Friday night.

That meant one thing, he got laid on Friday night, so why the fuck was his mood so bad? That boy was so hard to figure out. Merle watched as he threw his wrench down and stalked off towards the radio, now what the fuck was his problem?

That fucking song came on, the one they had danced to and it pissed him off. He slid out from under the car, stomped over to the radio and changed the station.

Merle looked over from where he was working on a car as well.

"What's the matter, brother? Some girl step on your dick?"

"Fuck off Merle," Daryl snapped.

"No need to be so nasty," Merle answered, "What's wrong with you?"

"Just trying to work something out in my head," He sighed.

"About whoever you were with last Friday night?"

"Yeah," He shrugged, what was the point of even hiding it.

"So call her, didn't ya get her number?"

"It ain't gonna work out," Daryl replied with a shake of his head.

"Why not?"

"She's married," Daryl replied, "I ain't getting involved in that shit."

"Ya know brother if she fucked you, you know she can't be happily married," Merle pressed.

"Don't care, she's married," Daryl said, "It just sucks cause I really liked her."

"Tough break man," Merle said, "You know the best way to forget a woman is getting under another one."

Daryl shook hus head, Merle meant well, but he just didn't get it at all.

/

"I don't regret it Tara but it just wasn't meant to be," Carol said as they walked down the hall in the hospital they both worked in.

"It's a damn shame, Carol, you deserved something nice."

"I met him too late," She sighed as they both arrived at the nurse's station to start their day.

/

One year later.

Carol walked up the steps to the house with the baby in her arms and knocked on the door, it had taken her months to work up the courage and it was now or never. A voice yelled something like "What do ya want" or "We don't want any" not his voice. She knocked again and shifted Sophia to her other hip as footsteps pounded towards her on the other side of the door.

The door swung open and a man stood before her in a white tank top and jeans, not him.

"What do ya want sugar," The tall man said and then he noticed the baby in her arms, "Oh hell no! I know I don't know you."

"I'm looking for…"

"Not me, I ain't never seen you in my life sugar." The man said holding his hands up.

Carol nodded, "No, I don't know you either, I'm looking for…"

She watched as the man's face broke into a grin.

"My brother?" The man said with an amused look on his face, "Are you looking for him?"

"Is your brother Daryl Dixon?"

The man looked her over, smiled at Sophia as if she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and then let loose a ferocious merry laugh.

"He is," He replied, still laughing as he held the door open for her, then he turned and yelled into the house, " Hey, Daryl you got company and you best take some Tylenol before you come see what's waiting out here for you."

The man smiled a sweet smile at her and she laughed as she heard Daryl yell back "Fuck the hell off Merle"

"Come on in sugar, you look like you need a coffee."

As Carol stepped over the threshold she saw him come around the corner pulling a dark t-shirt over his wet head, he had just taken a shower. Her eyes raked over him and she remembered why she had been with him that night. He was beautiful and so was this baby.

He stopped short and looked at her, then at Sophia, who was just about three months old now. It had been almost a year since she last saw him, and it had taken her three months to work up her courage to come knock on his door.

"Carol?" Daryl said in a daze, "What are you…" But then he knew, his eyes grew soft as he realized she was holding his child in her arms. He also noticed the fading black and blue mark on her collarbone and all the dots suddenly connected for him, "You divorced now?"

"I'll just get some coffee for ya'll," Merle said as he exited the room through the doorway Daryl now stood in, "I'll be right back, don't start without me now."

"Can it Merle," Daryl hissed and then he approached her, and Merle made his way into the kitchen. "What did he do to you?"

"He did what you think, because…" She stopped and then started again, "She isn't his, she's yours."