Hey! Sorry for the delay! I'm trying to keep myself ahead on this story so I've been taking my time posting. I'll hopefully be updating for the other story tonight too. Fingers are crossed. Don't be too discouraged about this chapter! Remember what I said before. It's a Caryl fic. Not just a Carol fic ;) Maybe this will ease your fears a little and those of you that guessed spot on can do a victory dance. There were a few of you. Thank you all, again, for reading and reviewing! I appreciate it more than you know =)

Awake

Chapter Five

Carol could feel the mattress under her back now and she wondered where Daryl could have gone. She'd had the strangest dream that she wanted to tell him about but he wasn't there. If he had been in the bed then she wouldn't have had the room to lay on her back without laying halfway on top of him.

She smiled at the thought and then tried to stretch. He must have gone out for an early hunt. He did that sometimes when the weather was good. It had been good for quite a few days. She frowned when her arms didn't want to obey her commands. Her legs didn't either.

She opened her eyes and gasped. She wasn't looking up at the underside of the top bunk. She was looking at a plain white drop tile ceiling. She was in a room she vaguely recognized. Sunlight was streaming through the windows. It looked strangely familiar to heralso but she knew she had never seen this room in the prison. She inhaled deeply to try to calm her thundering heart. The smell was off. It was unfamiliar. She was used to the smell of dirt, Daryl's sweat, harsh soap and blood. She smelled none of that. Most of the time even her own clothes smelled like him.

She felt weak. She had to wonder if she had gotten herself hurt. Maybe they had been on a run and she had gotten injured. But that couldn't be it. The last thing she remembered...

She almost sat up. She had been with Daryl. Really been with him. They had actually slept together. She remembered every single thing. The way his hands had felt on her skin. The taste of his lips on hers. The feel of him when they had finally...

She couldn't sit up. She was too weak to sit up. Daryl had woken her up and they had left the prison. She remembered that. Merle was there. They had ran into Merle and him and Daryl had started fighting about something. They had been fighting over her but she couldn't remember what it could have been about.

She was weak, she was delirious, she was... oh god! What if she had been bitten? Were they waiting on her to die? She noticed then that her throat was burning from thirst. It felt as though fire was licking it's way up to escape from her throat. Her tongue was dry and thick and stuck to the roof of her mouth. The longer she lay there the more she realized that her throat and the agonizing fatigue weren't the only things wrong with her. She ached. Her stomach ached and her head was throbbing slightly.

She heard a door opening and her eyes flicked down. Her breath caught in her flaming throat.

Sophia.

Carol's eyes filled with tears and she opened her mouth to speak but it was too dry. Sophia hadn't even looked in her direction. The little girl that Carol had missed so very much was now right in front of her, frowning and carrying her backpack. Her shoulders were slumped and she looked so tired. She walked to the chair and plopped the backpack down, rummaging through it and finally producing a thick book. She clamped a pencil between her teeth and pulled out a notebook. She walked over to the far wall and collapsed to the floor with her legs crossed. She opened the book, still frowning with the pencil in her mouth.

Carol could barely breath. She remembered having recent dreams like this but this didn't feel like a dream at all. There was no Daryl calling her back to him. There was nothing but her little girl sitting on the floor with her homework.

"Come on Sophia," Sophia muttered to herself as she bounced the pencil's eraser off the offending page and the sound of her daughters voice was probably the sweetest thing that Carol could imagine hearing. There was no music, no sound that could have pierced through her soul like that sound. A sound she hadn't heard with her own ears in over a year. A choked sound finally escaped her parched lips and Sophia's head shot up, eyes wide and filled with so much hope that Carol nearly had to look away.

"Mom?" She leapt from the floor and rushed to the bed. Her hand came out and touched the side of Carol's face hesitantly before hugging her gently.

Carol breathed in the scent of Sophia and felt her eyes fill with tears once more. She blinked them away over and over, hating them for being there for fear they would cause her to not be able to look at her daughter for as long as she would like. This had to be a dream. She must have been injured and dying and this was the kind of hell her mind was throwing at her. When she awoke she would have the fresh pain of losing her daughter to deal with all over again.

But it couldn't be. She was too real. She felt so solid and she smelled just like she always had. Like her favorite strawberry scented shampoo and Sophia. Just a sweet smell all her own.

"I was so afraid you weren't going to come back. I thought maybe... I thought maybe I'd lose you." Sophia muttered shakily as she raised her head from Carol's chest.

Carol met the girls teary eyes and felt her face crumple as her own vision blurred before her once more. She had to pray that when she blinked the tears away that Sophia wouldn't disappear and be replaced by a cold brick wall. She tried to clear her throat so she could say something to the girl that had haunted her memories for all this time but it felt like she had swallowed razor blades. She winced at the pain and then realization dawned on the little girls face.

"Crap! I need to go get Rhonda! I'll be right back!" Sophia ran out of the room before Carol could do anything to try and stop her.

Carol watched her go silently. How could all of this feel so real? Her heart was still hammering as she waited to see if her daughter would come back or if this was all a cruel trick that her mind was playing on her. While Sophia was gone she lifted her hand in front of her face. Her wedding ring was there on her left hand. They were soft, not one callous, her nails were perfect ovals. She was amazed at how hard it was to even lift her hand to her face.

She was suppose to be strong. Not as strong as Daryl but...

Daryl...

She was starting to feel panic fill her. Where was he? Where was her group? Her and Daryl had left them. That's right. They had left the prison in the middle of the night.

"I can't stop it. Just remember. Remember all of this." His voice was fading. "Remember me." He pulled her face towards him then, kissing her. His lips were soft but desperate. She closed her eyes, oblivious now to the strange audience that was watching them. "They're comin', Carol. Don't forget..."

"He's gone!" She all but shouted to the empty room as her throat screamed in agony and her heart lurched at this realization. He was gone. She was here and he was... where was he? How could this have happened? If she was here then he should have been here with her. He was always with her. Always, unless he was on a hunting trip. Or a short run. He couldn't be gone. He wouldn't have left her. He loved her. As ridiculous as it was to fathom she knew it was the truth. He loved her and he had kept her alive, kept her safe, found her when she was on the brink of death, came back for her. He had asked her to leave with him.

New tears sprang to her eyes now. This was reality. Daryl Dixon didn't exist. She had lost him. These tears were formed from pain, unlike the happy tears that stung her eyes when she had seen Sophia. These tears were bitter, burning. Like acid on her face. He was gone. He had never been hers to begin with.

"Remember me."

His gruff voice demanded. It was in her head but voiced so clearly he could have said it right into her ear and it wouldn't have been more clear.

Just before she was sure the grief would drive her insane the door opened once more and Sophia walked in, tugging the hand of a heavy set black lady. The woman looked at her in surprise.

"Oh my. Mrs. Peletier, we've been waiting on you for a long time now!" The woman said as she walked up to the bed. She checked some readings on a machine that Carol hadn't even realized she had been hooked up too.

Sophia was at her side again, holding her hand, tears still racing down her freckled cheeks.

"I bet you're parched. I can't give you anything to drink just yet, ma'am, but I can bring you some ice chips when I come back with the doctor, alright?" She patted Carol's hand and then hurried back out of the room.

Carol couldn't force herself to look away from Sophia. She knew now she wasn't dreaming. This was all real. Very real. A sickening thought crossed her mind then and she eyed Sophia, looking for bruises. She had been with her father. Ed wouldn't have been able to keep from unleashing his violence on someone and if Carol hadn't been around then surely it would have been her little girl to take the brunt of that violence. She looked for bruises but she didn't seem to have any. Once she got her strength back she would examine her further.

"How?" She croaked and then winced.

"You were in an accident. You were hit by a truck. You've been here a long time. I didn't think you were going to wake up." The girl cried and Carol tried to squeeze her hand but she didn't have the strength.

Carol didn't remember any of this. She didn't remember getting into an accident.

"A few times you almost..." Sophia's voice trailed off but then she lifted her chin and wiped her tears away with the hand that wasn't clutching Carol's. "A few times they weren't sure you wouldn't make it. You just started giving up. But you came back every time. You just wouldn't wake up. They ran so many tests and everything came back just fine. They just said that you would wake up when you were ready."

When she was ready? That was what she kept hearing people say to her. That she was ready, but she hadn't understood what that meant at the time.

"How long?" She whispered, whispering didn't hurt her throat as bad.

"Three months. You've been asleep for three months."

"Has he hurt you?" She whispered, feeling weaker and weaker every second.

Sophia shook her head. "He hasn't. I wasn't sure at first what would happen and I was afraid he'd do the things to me that he's always done to you but he didn't. He's just always real quiet. I even saw him crying a few times. Sometimes it's a little like I'm not there. I stay here a lot. I go to my friend's house other times. But I've been real good. I go to school every day and I do my homework when I'm suppose too."

Carol felt her lips turn up in a small smile and she tried once again to squeeze her daughters hand but she just didn't have enough strength in her.

She was happy to hear that Ed hadn't hurt her, she saw the truth in her daughters eyes. But the thought of him neglecting her, forcing her to take care of herself like that really made her angry. He had probably just turned to the bottle. She didn't even want to think about that at the moment.

How could she go back to that? How could she look at that filthy man after being with someone like Daryl? She wouldn't. She would go home, throw him out and file for divorce as soon as she was well enough. She was not the person he most likely still thought she was. She had fought off the dead and she had fought off starvation and the elements and countless other things. She would not bow down to any man, especially a wife beating coward like Ed Peletier. Never again. Had it just been a few days ago that her and Daryl had sat in their cell and she had wished that Ed were alive? Just so he could see who she was now?

"They're comin', Carol. Don't forget..."

Jesus, it was as though he were in the room with her.

The door opened, her and Sophia both watching as a man in a white coat came in. He had short salt and pepper hair and a trim beard and mustache. He plucked the glassed off his nose and let them drop onto his chest.

He gave her a tired smile. "Mrs. Peletier, it's about time."

The nurse came in after him with a foam cup and a spoon. She fed Carol a few pieces of the chipped ice and Carol was certain that she would pass out from the pleasure of her parched mouth and throat finally getting some sort of liquid. A few more small pieces was all she was allowed before the doctor pulled up a chair and sat down next to her bed.

"Has Sophia filled you in on what's happened to you?" he asked.

"A little." Carol whispered. Her throat felt much better just from that little bit of moisture. "I was in an accident. I've been asleep for three months."

Rhonda took Sophia by the hand and walked her towards the door. Carol felt herself start to panic until the woman turned with a smile. "I'll have her right back after the doctor is all finished with you."

Carol wanted to argue but she didn't have time. The woman had Sophia ushered out and the door closed before Carol could gain the strength to say a word.

The doctor nodded. "You've been in a coma. A very deep one I might add. We ran tests and although your brain didn't seem to be injured, you simply refused to wake up. We had several scares where your vitals dropped and we were unsure if you would pull through. The damage that you sustained in the accident have long since healed. Broken leg, broken ribs, two fractures to your right arm and one to your left. You slept right through all of that."

She noticed that he kept glancing at her as though he wanted to say more but wasn't sure how. She frowned. "Is there something else?" She croaked.

He sighed. "Not anything to worry yourself over really. I'm just a little curious about something."

She nodded slightly. "What is it?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I was curious. You see, one of the tests we ran on you was a test to monitor your brain activity. What we found was... strange."

Her frown deepened. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, it wasn't normal. It was as though you were awake. You were stimulated as though you were out on the street talking and walking. There were times that it was as though you were living some very exciting life, but it was only in your head. By any chance, do you remember anything that you've possibly dreamed? It would be fascinating to hear."

Carol thought about the quarry. The farm. That long winter on the road, the prison. The death of Sophia, the people who had seemed to become engrained into her heart, the losses and the triumphs and the kindnesses and cruelties of that post apocalyptic world. She had fought and had won. She had discovered herself in that place. She had finally found a real family, she had found her niche. She had found love in that desolate place and she had blossomed there like an orchid in the muck.

"I don't remember." She said as tears blurred her vision. Thoughts chased one another around in her mind. She had always said that she would give up anything to have her daughter back, and she didn't regret saying that now. But she ached for her family. She couldn't accept the fact that they weren't real. She didn't feel guilty for the longing that she felt inside.

"I'm sure you must feel exhausted but there was one more thing." he said, sounding disappointed that she couldn't regal him with tales of her strange dream. "There were times, especially for the past few days that it seemed like you were back. Your eyes would be open and you would actually be focused on things, but after no longer than a minute of these bouts of consciousness, something yanked you right back under. In all my years of dealing with coma patients, this is the strangest by far."

Daryl. He had tried so hard to keep her there. Her eyes stung more and there was a lump in her throat she couldn't swallow down. The doctor patted her hand and then promised to return in a few hours. He left her alone.

How was she going to go the rest of her life and never see Daryl again? How could she face everyday without somehow teasing a laugh from him? She didn't think she could. How could she be so in love with a figment of her imagination? It hurt so much that she heard a sob escape her lips and she brought her shaky hands up to her face. Those shattering sobs wracked her tired body as she mourned the loss of a man that had never really been there. What a cruel joke this was.

"Mom? Are you alright?" Sophia laid a hand on her shoulder. She hadn't even heard the girl come back in.

Carol swiped the tears away. Crying was for pussies. That's one of the lessons she had learned from him. Pick yourself up and move the fuck on. She was not a pussy. She took a deep calming breath and blew it out slowly before meeting her daughters eyes. "I'm just fine, honey. I'm just a little... confused right now." At least that was an honest answer. She was very confused right now.

Sophia reached up and wiped away more tears and then left her hand there on Carol's cheek. "I'm glad you're back, mom. And life is going to be much better now, you'll see."

Carol covered her daughters hand with her own as she felt her eyelids growing heavy. "How is that?" She asked.

"All that money that you are gonna get from that truck that hit you." She said with a smile.

Carol frowned. "What? What are you talking about?" She was trying to fight off the dizzying exhaustion long enough to make sense of what her daughter was telling her.

"The truck that hit you was some kind of company truck or something. The driver tested positive, whatever that means. I guess the company he worked for has to pay you a lot of money for causing you to have to be in here for so long and all the broken bones and stuff. Now maybe daddy won't be mad all the time."

Carol shook her head in wonder. She supposed that this should have been good news to her. She figured she would learn more about it when she was finally able to speak to Ed. Maybe Sophia had misunderstood. She had spent over a year not worrying about things like money. It seemed so very trivial now. But then she had to remind herself that this wasn't the world she had created in her head. This was a different world. And maybe having a bit more money would prove to make their lives better, like Sophia had predicted.