A/N: 01/08/2015 This is it, guys! The final haul! :D

I'd like EVERYONE to know that NO, this ISN'T an official scene from the show (at least not the last half). Although I'm sure we all WISHED it was, it's just something from my imagination. I imagined Daryl being pretty shook up from Beth, and I imagine there would/should/could be a deleted scene where Carol comforts him.

wildcow258: Yeah, it was pretty bad. Pretty good for us Carylers, but pretty bad for Daryl :( Thank you for your review, I hope you like the ending to this! :)

Poppy P: Wow, it was Norman Reedus's birthday yesterday? Wow. I don't keep up with that stuff, but cool to know! And haha yes, be ever-so-grateful for your wonderful husband XD Thank you! I almost omitted the 'gones' in there because I thought it was corny, but I'm glad I didn't since you like it so well. lol, Daryl's quivering lip. That's funny. Hope you enjoy the end! :D

Terp4Life: Aww, thank you! Yeah, I plan on going back and reading the entire thing from start to finish and then deciding on whether or not the changes were believable and fixing any typos and whatnot I come across. And hm, you're right, none of the chapters were called Badass. A valid point ;) I hope you enjoy the last chapter! ^^

Reading time: 8-9 mins.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Chapter twenty-three: Home~

He was able to keep his promise, but only half of it.

After going back to the others and getting a rescue team assembled, they headed back to the city, and, with Noah's help, the hospital where Carol and Beth were being held. They'd captured a few of the underling cops while they were out patrolling the area, and Rick planned to do a hostage trade with the woman in charge of Grady Memorial and the care of Beth and Carol.

They'd made it pretty far, too, so far.

They'd discussed the situation with their captives (apparently even they didn't like the woman in command), negotiated with the others, and before he knew it, they were inside the hospital, doing the tradeoff. The air was so thick with tension in that tiny hallway you'd have to cut it with a chainsaw, and he'd watched intently as Carol was brought forward, only half-conscious, as Beth pushed her along in a wheelchair. They'd made it safely across the small but neverending gap between Rick's group and theirs, and he exhaled in relief.

Everything was was going perfectly.

Until it wasn't.

The leader of the Grady group, the woman, had changed their deal. Instead of simply trading her deputies for Carol and Beth, she wanted Noah as well. She was losing Beth, she'd said, and she wanted Noah to replace her and resume his place as her ward. He didn't like that idea. Rick didn't like that idea. And Beth really didn't like that idea.

The young blonde marched up to her, that tiny, familiar spark of Carol flaring up with all its passion and glory, and said something that he couldn't quite hear that shook the older woman to her core. And then, in a moment that surprised everyone, she stabbed her in the chest with a pair of medical scissors.

He should have been proud. He would have been proud, if he'd only had the time to enjoy it.

Just milliseconds after the initial shock of having scissors stuck into her skin, the ex-cop pulled out her pistol, aimed it at Beth, and fired.

Everyone's eyes widened in shock and terror as Beth hit the ground, and his reaction had been almost immediate. His eyes were absolutely overflowing with tears, but it didn't make him any less capable of drawing out his own gun and blasting that horrible woman's brains out.

Around him, the others lifted their weapons, but the woman's followers insisted they didn't want a fight. It was only about her, they'd said. Just her. No one else. They could leave. And that's what they did. They left.

He carried Beth's lifeless body out of the hospital just as Maggie arrived to see her sister's limp form in his arms, and as she fell to the ground in grief and they both cried over their loss, he couldn't help but wonder how.

How could it have ended this way?

They'd done everything right; how could it have gone so wrong?

A thousand thoughts and a million regrets passed through him over those next few hours, and in those neverending moments he'd thought he might die from the incredible pain and sadness tearing an ever-expanding hole in his chest. Why couldn't he ever protect the people he cared about? Why? First Sophia, then his brother, and now this. It was just so wrong. It was all wrong. Everything was wrong...

Daryl gasped as another sob broke through him, and Carol gently shushed him as she held his head against her unbroken collarbone and slowly rocked him back and forth from her place in her wheelchair.

They'd been like this for a while now - he couldn't be sure of the time, but his head ached and felt swollen to the point of exploding, and Carol's lap was absolutely drenched in tears and snot, so he'd bet quite a damn while - and he was still so shook up over Beth's abrupt and unexpected passing that he couldn't even find it in himself to thank her endlessly for the much needed support.

"Shh, shh, shh..."

Carol softly cooed to him, running her fingers through his hair. "It's alright. You're gonna be okay. You're gonna make it through this."

He almost laughed - she was treating him like a little kid, like Sophia - but couldn't find it in himself to give her a reason to let go, no matter how selfish it was.

Carol was injured, he shouldn't even be touching her right now. But the thought, however true, didn't stop him from being coddled like an infant.

He supposed that maybe that was what he loved most about her; even though she felt like absolute shit - broken collarbone, bruised ribs, head probably pounding with medication - she still put other's needs before her own. She was a true mother. Better than his, better than Lori. Hell, better than all of them.

Another sob escaped him, this one significantly quieter than the last, and Carol stopped her slurr of comforting words and just held onto him, trying not to wince when he coiled his arms further around her waist.

It was so hard not to cling to her in his distressed state - he wanted to be gentle because she was hurt, and he wanted to hold onto her with all his might because he was.

It was a difficult impasse, but though he knew Carol wouldn't mind too much if he gave in to the crushing strength of his grief, he didn't dare bring harm to another person he cared about. He would die first. No, he was perfectly content escaping the horrible world around him within the gentle confines of Carol's loving arms, and if he had to refrain from being as rough as he was used to in order to stay that way, if only for a few more minutes, that's exactly what he would do.

The silence, accompanied only by Daryl's quiet, fading sobs, became comforting and warm.

Whether it was because all the crying had drained the life out of him and there just wasn't room to feel anything else, or because Carol was there, was uncertain. He liked to think a little bit of both.

But now, with his mind clearer, he couldn't help but think; what were they going to do now?

They didn't have a home anymore; the church had fallen, and it wasn't safe any longer. And they didn't have a destination or purpose, either; Eugene had lied, he wasn't a scientist with the ultimate cure. What did they have? Any of them? Really?

But he already knew the answer.

They had each other.

Sasha had her brother, Rick had Carl and Judith, Maggie still had Glenn. But what about him? He didn't have anyone. Not Sophia. Not Merle. Not Beth.

But he still had her.

Carol.

And if she died, if ever a time came when she couldn't soldier on and pull through, didn't make it for whatever reason, he would be truly and utterly alone. He would have no friend, no confidant. No one to laugh with, or cry with. No reason to stick around with the group other than the loyalty and thinly stretched friendships he'd formed.

But it also didn't matter.

Because from that point on, he was going to savor every second of time he had left with her. Every secret, every smile, every glance, every laugh, every fight. He didn't doubt that at some point she would be taken from him, either by her death or his, and he planned on taking every ounce of her in like a shot of moonshine or a damned artistic masterpiece.

Because he didn't know how much time they had, how many more hours they'd be allowed in each other's presence, how many more seconds they'd be granted before things went to Hell. And as he sat there cradled in her arms, he swore on Beth's grave that he was going to enjoy every waking moment with this woman who was somehow still alive when all the odds were stacked against her, like he should have done with everyone else he'd lost.

Beth would have wanted that, his happiness. And so would Merle. And though he hadn't been fortunate enough to get to know her while she was still alive, he bet Sophia would want her mother to be happy, too. Carol had grown so much over the time they'd known her, from the moment they'd met on that highway to the moment they were sharing now.

To some, she was a mother.

To others, a survivor.

To Daryl Dixon, she was home.

A/N: The last line had kind of a dual meaning; Carol was home, with them where she belonged, and she was also home to Daryl in the sense that 'home is where the heart is' and all that :)

This was pretty hard to write. The only thing I really knew for certain was the ending, but I think it turned out okay. With this out of my system, I should be able to hurry up and update all my other fanfics before the month is over.

Just for the record, I AM going to keep this story open. Although it says 'completed' in the status, I may very well add onto it with any other Caryl moments from the remainder of season 5. So if February comes around and you see a good scene worth writing about, you can check back here and see if I thought the same (which I probably did) ;)

I've also got 2 or 3 other ideas for Caryl fanfics, one of which I've got the first 5 chapters finished (it's an angsty but heartfelt 'Axel lives' story) and hope to get posted here real soon. So IF you liked my writing enough to try out another Caryl story from me, stay tuned for the remainder of this month (though probably within the next week or so) ;)

I'd like to thank my legs for supporting me, my arms for constantly being by my side, and my fingers; I can always count on them.

LOL sorry I couldn't resist.

But seriously, though, thank you for:

1. Looking

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8. Not checking this out and accidentally clicking

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10. And...ten XD

Feel free to fave and review, or both, or neither, or nothing at all :D

'Til next time!