A/N: 12/26/2014 Sorry it took over a week for me to update, I got overwhelmed with Christmas stuff (Merry belated Christmas, btw!).

I Love Fanfics: Hey there! Again (lol)! Thanks for your review, I hope you like this chapter. And I will! :D

wildcow258: Hey, thanks for the review! Come up with any ideas on Carol's departure? Anyway I totally understand about your feelings on Bethyl. Most Caryl fans aren't Bethyl fans too (I'm probably one of the few people on Earth who ship both) so it's cool. Thanks for being nice about it though :)

Prettyprincess45: Thanks again for your review, I love making people laugh ^^ And oh, okay. May I ask why you don't ship Bethyl anymore? I can't think of a single pairing I ever just 'stopped' shipping :/ Anyway, prepare! For Carol is about to make her daring escape!

Guest: Hi, lisarosered! I love Caryl too! I hope you had a fan-TASMICAL Christmas, and I also hope you like this chapter! ^^

Reading time: 8 mins.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Chapter eleven: Lessons with Merle and Daring Escapes~

The sound of screaming and yelling was hardly ideal for anyone to wake to, let alone Daryl Dixon.

He had barely opened his eyes when Carol's high-pitched voice jolted him awake and he fell off the couch in his panic.

He fumbled getting up, clawing at the tops of the couch and coffee table as he hurried to straighten himself and see what was wrong, his bandana twisted halfway around his face in the wrong direction.

He watched, confused as Merle dragged Carol into the apartment and shut the door, hissing at her to be quiet.

"Hush up, woman! You don't keep yer mouth shut I'll break yer teeth in! Now shut up!"

Ignoring Daryl completely, Merle dragged a crying Carol past the closet and all but threw her into the bedroom, shutting the door and turning to look angrily back at his brother.

"What in the Holy HELL were you THINKIN'?!" He shouted, and Daryl jumped at his seething tone.

He had never seen Merle this angry before, not since the time he'd almost gotten himself killed messing around with his motorcycle when he was twelve.

"What kind of a DUMBASS doesn't tie up the hostage before goin' to BED?! Who in their right MIND-"

"HEY!" Daryl shot back, ready to defend himself. "I wasn't the one passed out DRUNK in the bedroom! So don't you go blamin' this on me-"

"Aw, please," Merle waved him off. "This has nothin' to do with me! I wasn't the one who wanted to keep 'er here in the first place! You were!"

"Don't go puttin' this on me! I didn't ask you to kidnap 'er like some psycho!"

"But you did ask me to keep her here! So that one's on you, little brother!"

"Hey, I didn't-"

"There's no need to shout," Merle said, suddenly dropping his voice to a normal volume. He must have been thinking of the neighbors. "Now let's talk about this like normal gentlemen. Now, you and I both know that I'm...more experienced, in these matters-"

Daryl scoffed. "Pfft. What 'matters'? Don't nothin' matter to you."

"Matters of the heart, son. Now-"

"Pssht. More like matters of your-"

"Anyway, I know women. I know what they like. And I know what they don't. And what they don't like is-"

Daryl burst out laughing, though there was nothing humorous about it. "Oh, my God! Don't tell me yer about to give me a goddamned love lesson!" He spat out the word 'love' like it was poison. "That's real rich comin' from you!"

Merle held out his arms. "Little brother, please. I'm so good, I can read women just by lookin' at their hands and nothin' else. For example-"

Just then, Carol emerged from the bedroom.

Both their heads turned to look at her.

And then at the barrel of her gun.

"If she's holdin' a gun," Merle continued, putting his hands up along with his brother. "Chances are, she might be upset."

Carol's eyes flitted to him in irritation, but kept her mouth shut as she kept Merle's gun pointed at them and rotated towards the front door.

She stopped just beyond the hallway (if you could even call it that, it was a pretty damn short hallway) and the Dixon brothers now stood by the television, just beyond the blow-up mattress and coffee table.

"...I won't tell the police," she said, looking directly at Daryl. "I owe you that much."

Backing carefully away, she reached behind her and groped for the doorknob.

Daryl took the smallest step forward, desperately wracking his brain for a reason she should stay.

"Y...you don't even know where you are," he said.

She smiled at him, a small, soft gesture. "I know where I'm going. And that's good enough."

She opened the door, backed out into the hallway, briefly looked from side to side to see if anyone was around, and said, "Goodbye, Daryl."

He opened his mouth to say something, but found that nothing was coming out.

Goodbye.

Carol shut the door and severed their eye contact, her light footsteps pounding in his ears as she ran down the hallway, out the door, and out of his life forever.

Merle dropped his hands, a chuckle rising from his throat.

"Well don't that beat all? Here we are, kidnappin' 'er so I could get my gun back and you could finally experience the pleasures of woman, and now we're back to square one! Shoot, you'd think you at least woulda hit that before things went to shit! Haha! Man...I remember a time..."

As Merle continued his one-sided conversation, Daryl stared forlornly at the door, trying in vain to see past the scratched wood to the space where Carol had been standing moments before.

He knew he should have been happy about it - Carol was safe, and neither of them would go to jail for what they'd done (who could ask for a better turnout than that?) - but the fact was that, in all honesty, he wasn't. It was selfish and maybe even a little insane, but he wished he could have had more time with her. Which technically translated to 'he wished she wouldn't have found that gun so he could keep her locked in his shitty apartment a little longer', but still. His intentions weren't nefarious, so that had to count for something. Right?

Either way, Carol was gone now, and she wasn't coming back.

He honestly had no idea what he was going to do now; what had they done before she'd come into their lives? Really? He couldn't recall a time before Carol. Not that it mattered. Merle was sure to think of something. He always did, so why lose faith now.

Amidst his depressing thoughts, Daryl was vaguely aware of Merle clapping him on the shoulder.

"Ah, don't worry, little brother. You'll get over her. Other fish in the sea an' all that. Now...what's in the fridge?"

He left to gravitate towards the kitchen, apparently satisfied with their 'heart to heart' talk, and as he opened the refrigerator to choose between ketchup, mustard, leftover takeout or age-old pizza, Daryl knew deep down that his big brother was wrong.

He'd never get over Carol.

He would spend the rest of his miserable life wishing and regretting and fantasizing and doing anything BUT getting over that woman.

Because even though he didn't have the first clue what love was, he was pretty sure it started with sweaty palms and queasy stomachs and dysfunctional brain cells and all that shit, and he was way past that. And by Dixon standards, if you still wanted to see the girl after you'd gotten what you wanted, you were in deep. So one could only assume that in his case, he was head over heels.

No, worse than head over heels. He was practically infatuated. Obsessed. A hopeless romantic. And to his knowledge, there was no way to cure or get rid of it.

He wished he could have said something, anything to help her realize that she was far more than some random woman who'd just happened to get the short end of the stick on her way home one night, but he couldn't.

Because Carol was gone.

And she wasn't coming back.

A/N: Poor Daryl :( Don't worry, this is not the end. I'm surprised none of you guys commented on the fact that Carol went to bed in the previous chapter without being tied up ;)

Anyway, the next chapter will have them reunited (though temporarily) with a cameo from Michonne! I'll try and have it out before the year is over!

Oh, and btw, what did you guys get for Christmas? Don't hesitate to share in a review (if you're comfortable, of course) I love reading stuff like that :D

Til next time!