I don't own any of the characters or the original plot.

1. Hiding

Daryl almost couldn't believe it. He'd found her again. After everything that had gone down lately; learning of Carol's banishment, the fall of the prison, losing Beth, fuckin' Terminus… and she had saved them all, saved him. Of course, she'd been doing pretty well with the whole "saving him" thing long before they were forced out onto the road again. Not that he still wasn't messed up – he knew he was – but Carol had been helping him turn into the person that he was now. Since the people from Woodbury had moved in, things had started to change between him and Carol. Slowly, their relationship turned from one of pure friendship into something more. Being private persons, they decided to keep it to themselves for a while. They soon perfected the art of stealing kisses when no one was looking and embracing in dark corners of the prison. They'd even managed to make love a few times. It had been completely awkward and still the most wonderful feeling Daryl had ever experienced. He knew that this woman would always love him and that she'd continue helping him become an even better person. At least, he'd known that before. Now… now he wasn't so sure.

He'd respected her wishes and hadn't pressed the issue when she'd said that she didn't want to talk about what had happened. He'd learned from Tyreese that Lizzie and Mika had been with them, and now they weren't, so it wasn't very hard to figure out why they weren't. Tyreese had also asked him if he knew about Karen and David; if Rick had told him about them and Carol. Daryl had tensed up and nodded, worried about what Tyreese might say.

"It's fine. Me and Carol, we're okay", he'd offered and Daryl had let out a sigh of relief. He wasn't going to hurt her. One less thing to worry about.

Still, there were plenty of other things that did bother him. Like the fact that they hadn't really spoken since their reunion after Terminus. She'd barely touched him since their embrace in the clearing. And whenever he sought out her eyes, she looked away, directing her eyes at anything but him. He didn't get it. He thought she'd been happy about finding him again. Fuck knows he was happy to see her. When she stepped out from behind those trees he'd lost his breath completely. There was nothing but her and he knew that him running towards her like that was very un-Daryl and might cause suspicion from the group, but damn it all, he'd missed her. Because you love her, a tiny voice inside of him quipped. Yeah, what about it, he thought. I do love her, but maybe I don't want anyone else to know that yet. Maybe I want it to be just the two of us, for a little while yet. No prying eyes or nosy questions. So he hadn't kissed her, but hell if he hadn't wanted to. Instead he'd tried to put all of his feelings into the hug. When she'd pulled back, and looked at him, she'd seemed so sad. He could see love in there, no doubt about it, and happiness at having him back. But beneath all of that, there was a deep sadness reminding him of when they'd lost Sophia. So he'd let his head fall back onto her and whispered her name, just to let her know that he was there. That he'd always be there. The question was, would she?

This morning, Carol had still been sleeping when he woke up, so he'd gone out to do some hunting. He'd bagged a few squirrels and a rabbit, which was something at least. He was coming back from his hunt, closing in on their campsite when he'd heard a noise. Stopping to listen he recognized it almost immediately. Someone was throwing up. He knew it wasn't really his business and started to walk away when he heard it; a sob. A sob that belonged to Carol. So he moved closer to the heaving sounds and soon came upon his woman, crouched on the ground, holding on to a large rock as she heaved. No one had had very much to eat recently, so there wasn't much coming out, but she couldn't seem to stop. He knew she might not have heard him coming so he stopped a few paces away from her and spoke to her in a gentle voice.

"Carol, ya alright?"

Carol gasped and turned her head. Daryl thought that she looked like a deer caught in the headlights. There was that sad look again, but more than that she seemed afraid.

"Daryl, you scared me. I'm fine, just hungry and I guess my stomach couldn't handle being without food for so long. But I see you've fixed that". She nodded at the dead animal slung over Daryl's shoulder.

"Yeah, not much but it's somethin'" he said, still eyeing her suspiciously. He didn't buy her explanation at all and he could tell that she knew that. "Ya sure ya're okay?".

"Yes, Daryl, I'm fine".

"Ya'd tell me if ya were sick or somethin', wouldn't ya?".

"I would, but I'm not. Come on, let's get back to camp and cook up some of those squirrels".

She rose from her spot in the leaves and took the animals from him. Then she started walking back to camp without another word to him. Daryl watched her retreating form and decided that he was going to keep a close eye on her from now on. Something wasn't right with her and he was sure as hell going to find out what it was she was hiding.