The computer is up and running! I think the only thing that saved it was you folks and all the good vibes you sent me =) Anyway, thank you all for reading and reviewing. I hope you like this chapter! I've been a writing fool since I got my computer back so hopefully I will be posting for the other story tomorrow and if you're interested I have this one shot idea bouncing around my brain. It wont leave me alone. I was thinking about posting it within the next few days if you think you might want to read it.

From the Mouths of Babes

Chapter Sixteen

Dinner was very quiet. Rick and Shane talked a little about their fishing trip but other than that the strange feeling that had came over them was still there. Even Sophia and Carl were quiet. Shane never commented on the weird atmosphere but he must have sensed it too because when Lori mentioned dessert he was too eager to leave the house to even have any of it.

"I'm gonna go ahead and take off. Rick, I'll see ya tomorrow. Carol, it was real nice to finally meet you." He nodded to Daryl and then left quickly.

Daryl couldn't say he was sad to see him go. That little scene that him and Sophia caused was making him feel a little uncomfortable now. But he didn't have to feel that way for long. Rick and Lori had been sharing meaningful looks all night and finally both of them settled their gazes on Carol. He felt her tense beside him and without a second thought about it he slipped his hand into hers. Of course, her hands had been in her lap. He doubted he'd have done it there in front of all of them.

"Carol, you have to tell us what's going on," Lori said after a few heavy seconds. "I told you about that dream I had and it turns out Sophia is having them too?" she looked at Rick with wide eyes and shook her head slowly, "And you. You had one yourself. That's why you were acting so strange this morning and then you and Shane spent the day arguing."

Rick met Daryl's eyes from across the table. It was like looking at someone he had known all his life.

Carol tensed next to him and squeezed his hand a little tighter.

"Carl too," Sophia said quietly from Carol's other side.

Carl shot Sophia a look but Sophia ignored it.

"Carl, I told you I would keep my mouth shut but this is kind of serious. We don't need to keep this stuff secret." Sophia admonished quietly.

All eyes were on the boy now. Lori and Rick looked even more freaked out than they had before. "Carl?" Rick urged.

Carl sunk a little lower in his seat. "Me and Sophia dreamed about each other before we ever even became friends. It was right after Sophia's mom had her accident. This whole time we've been friends, it's been because we've been planning on keeping each other safe. Those things you guys dreamed about, they're coming. Why else would we all be dreaming about the same things? If Sophia and I stay together then she wont get lost and then dad wont have to shoot her in the head when she comes outta that barn."

"Oh my God," Carol gasped and then covered her mouth with her hand.

"Daryl, have you..." Lori looked down at her plate before she even finished asking the question. When she looked back up he nodded.

"Started around the same time for me as it did them two," he said as he looked down at his plate.

"What does it mean?" Rick asked, sounding almost angry.

"The kids are right," Carol said simply. "Those things... those walkers are real. We have to prepare now or we'll just end up fighting to survive all over again."

Everyone grew quiet after that, lost in their own thoughts as Lori served the pie that her and Carol had been working on. It was probably good but Daryl couldn't even taste it. It sucked too because he loved pie.

"What about the others? What about Morgan and his son?" Rick asked after a long time.

Lori frowned. "I didn't dream about anyone named Morgan."

Daryl remembered then what Rick had told Lori the day they had went to Atlanta to get Merle. There was a man and his boy that had saved Rick's life in the beginning. "You showed up on your own. Morgan and his boy stayed."

Rick scrubbed at his face with both hands, clearly agitated. "I just can't see this really meaning anything. The things that I saw in that dream, that couldn't happen."

Daryl felt kind of bad for him. He knew how it felt. "Then how the hell do you explain all of us knowin' one another already? And it ain't just us either. Carol's the one findin' everybody. Dale and Amy, Glenn. All of us are out there."

Lori looked up quickly. "Is he serious?" she asked Carol, like he'd sit there and lie about it.

Carol nodded.

"I don't know who the hell you're talkin' about!" Rick said angrily.

"You will." Daryl said around a mouth full of pie.

Just then Lori's eyes widened and she stared at Carol. It didn't take long for him to figure out exactly what Lori was freaking out about now. If Rick kept dreaming just like Daryl and the kids had then he would soon know all about Lori and Shane. He was suddenly glad that him and Carol had a much simpler relationship, and maybe even a much deeper bond, since he couldn't imagine feeling about another woman the way he felt about her.

When he realized what kind of sappy shit he was thinking he scowled down into his empty plate.

"So what the hell do we do?" Lori finally asked.

"We get ready for it," Carol answered her quietly. "Monday morning I'm signing Sophia out of school a few weeks early and we're going to teach her how to protect herself. There's home school programs I can enroll her in so I won't have to worry about getting into any trouble. We've looked into buying a farm and plan on getting it secure. We can stock up on food and weapons. We can survive this. The two of you just have to accept it as truth."

"How are we suppose to believe this?" Rick asked, looking from face to face. "Do you know how crazy this sounds?"

"Rick, while I was in that coma I lived the entire thing," Carol said, her voice taking on an edge. "I lost my daughter. Daryl nearly died. His brother lost his hand. We lost Shane and we lost Lori."

Lori's hand went to her throat. "What?"

Carl's eyes grew hard. "You died when you made Maggie Greene cut the baby out of your stomach. I had to shoot you in the head to keep you from coming back as a walker," he said, sounding more like the boy Carol remembered. "We saved the baby but we couldn't save you. You or Sophia or Shane. Amy, Patricia. Morgan lost his son, dad, and then he lost his mind just like you did when mom died. Daryl was the only reason we didn't lose my little sister."

"Jesus Christ," Rick breathed as he covered his face with his hands. He looked haggard.

"It's true Rick. Everything he just said. I saw the same thing. Daryl too. From the looks of things by tomorrow morning Shane is going to be going through the same thing. It's hitting everyone."

Lori took a deep breath, trying hard to calm herself. "How long do we have?"

Rick looked at her, eyes wide. "You really believe all this?"

"Dad, if you don't start believing it then people are gonna die and it's gonna be your fault," Carl said quietly, like he almost expected it.

Lori looked from Carol back to Daryl. "So, you two are just going to pull Sophia out of school? And what? Teach her to shoot guns?"

"And track," Daryl said quickly. "If you keep dreamin' you'll feel the same way. Some of the shit we saw..." his voice trailed off. "You're gonna wish like hell you'd listened if you keep on tellin' yourselves that this can't happen. It's gonna happen. Now we gotta heads up and can save people. That's all she's tryin' to do is save the group." Daryl didn't miss the fact that Lori had bunched him, Carol and Sophia together like they were already a unit. He squirmed a little in his seat but he didn't comment on it or correct her.

"Lori, if you two need time to talk we can take Carl home with us. The two of you can work this out, but please don't ignore this," Carol pleaded.

Rick and Lori shared a look.

"Please?" Carl begged.

Finally Lori nodded. "We really do have a lot to talk about."

It didn't take Carl or Sophia long to get their stuff together, which Daryl was grateful. He was more than ready to get the hell out of there. It had been a weird couple of days for him and he really wanted nothing more than to get the hell out of the Grimes' house.

The kids were quiet as they drove down the dark streets. Even though he had been completely against it at first he was glad he had went with her. He never would have imagined that convincing Rick and Lori would be so easy. They probably weren't completely on board with all this craziness yet but they didn't have a choice but to put a lot of thought into it. That was something anyway.

"Do you think the same thing happened to Dale and Glenn? After seein' you, I mean?" Daryl asked in a low voice right before they pulled into her driveway.

She was looking out the passenger side window. "I don't know. Maybe." She turned and gave him a tired smile. "All this is giving me a headache."

He nodded. He knew the feeling. There were still a million questions that they didn't have an answer for but they would get through it eventually. At least it was proving to be easier than he had originally thought it would be. Somehow the whole group was just turning up out of the blue.

They made their way inside, the kids lagging behind a little. With their confession they seemed to have lost a lot of their steam. Those were some pretty intense secrets for them to be holding for this long. They were quiet now, walking close together, talking in low voices.

"Did you bring any of your stuff with you?" Carol asked Daryl as she helped Carl out of his backpack.

Sophia's head snapped up, "You're staying with us?" she asked curiously.

Daryl wasn't sure what he was suppose to say. The girl didn't seem too upset by the prospect but he didn't know what the hell the appropriate response would be. Instead of answering her he looked over at Carol, who only offered him a smile. With a shrug he watched the girl closely.

Sophia looked down and seemed to take in this new information before she looked back up. "You have another shot, you know. I'm glad you aren't wasting all your time."

He didn't really know what she meant by that but he nodded anyway. At least she didn't seem pissed off that he wasn't leaving.

"Sophia, why don't you go ahead and show Carl your room. It isn't too late for a movie or a game and then we'll get him settled in the guest bedroom," Carol said in a tired voice.

When the kids left the room in a hurry she turned to him. "You alright?" she asked, tilting her head to the side and studying him intently.

He nodded. She looked worried. That wasn't really surprising considering, but she looked more worried than usual. "What?"

"I'm waiting for you to realize that this is all too much and then leave," she said quietly.

His first reaction was to get pissed off. If he hadn't taken off on her yet then why was she still waiting for it to happen? And then he remembered the farm. After they had realized that Sophia was a lost cause he had gotten pissed off and moved his camp as far away from her as he could get. Of course that had a little to do with other things as well. The anger faltered as he realized he had really never given her a reason to believe he wouldn't run. He even left her at the prison when he had found his brother. She had no reason to have any faith in him at all.

He shook his head. "Ain't plannin' on goin' anywhere. Not till you kick my ass out."

"I never kicked you out of my cell. I don't plan on kicking you out of my house," the smile she gave him was a mischievous one. She went to the kitchen so he followed her.

He was unsure what he was suppose to do now that they were here and Sophia was here as well. Where was he suppose to sleep since she had given the guest room to Carl? He supposed he could sleep on the couch but he doubted he'd do much sleeping at all. She grabbed two glasses out of the cabinet and then filled them with ice.

"You wanna drink?" she asked, holding up a bottle of bourbon.

He nodded and she poured the amber liquid into one of the glasses until it was half full. He squinted at her. "You tryin'a get me drunk now? I done told ya I wasn't goin' anywhere."

She shook her head and surprisingly enough put the bourbon back on the shelf and poured herself some tea. "No, but I figure after the night you've had you might need a drink."

He snorted and took a long swallow. "Last night was a lot weirder than this."

She leaned into the counter and crossed her arms over her chest. "And here I thought you enjoyed all that. You could have told me that it was weird Daryl. I woulda stopped." She bit her lip to keep from laughing as he felt his face heat up until the tips of his ears were burning.

He scowled at her. "That ain't... shut up," shaking his head in frustration he downed the glass. This was their thing. She teased the hell out of him and he grumbled at her to shut up. It was strangely comforting. He stared down at his boots for a while before he looked up. She was closer than she had been before. The thought of what had happened the night before had him wondering about something else. "Where am I 'spose to sleep while I'm here?"

She frowned, all joking momentarily forgotten. "I never even thought of that."

"Ain't right to just crawl in your bed with your little girl home," he said as he sat the glass down on the table. "I'll take the couch."

She sighed heavily and took a step closer. He watched her, feeling that mix of nervousness and anticipation swirl around in his chest. "Fine. You can take the couch," she mumbled and then she actually looked like she was pouting, her bottom lip pushing out slightly.

Without another word he grabbed her by the hips and pulled her towards him, kissing her hard, causing her to gasp a little. He shouldn't be doing this right now. Sophia could come in and see them any minute but he was sure he would be able to hear the kids if they were headed towards the kitchen. So he deepened the kiss, slowed it down and then pulled her closer.

His hands trailed down from her hips to her thighs and he worked quickly as he slid the material up her legs. As soon as he felt her soft skin his self control once again crumbled. She seemed to have that effect on him. His breath came out in a rush when he moved his hands around and realized that whatever she had on under that dress was lacy, low slung on her hips and didn't do much to cover her ass up.

He hated to but he had to put a stop to this, but unfortunately she didn't have the same idea, her mind was obviously just as clouded with want as his was. She made a small sound in the back of her throat when he slipped his thigh between her legs, pressing harder against her. If they didn't stop now then he was going to be in a world of pain when they finally did.

He broke the kiss as quickly as he had started it and looked into a set of wide blue eyes. "Gotta go put some ice on it, woman. Can't be doin' anything like that," his voice was low and husky even to his own ears.

"Right," she whispered as she stepped back. "I need to get you set up anyway. We have a lot to do tomorrow."

The mood quickly faded as he narrowed his eyes at her. This couldn't mean anything good for him. She had said the same damn thing the day before when she had forced him to go with her to talk to that dumb ass realtor guy about that overpriced farm he was trying to sell them. Or sell her. She was the one with all the dough.

"I've seen that look a thousand times, Daryl. It isn't scary anymore," she said dryly as she crossed her arms over her chest again. "And besides, I think you'll like your job anyway."

He didn't trust her. "My job?"

She nodded and then risked getting close again, wrapping her arms around his neck. "Your job is to go to the gun show. Take your brother with you."

He frowned but his arms went around her instantly. "What the fuck for?"

She grinned. "Cause I'm sending you there to stock up. I figure if we hit up every one that we find then we'll be ready by the time everything goes to hell. It'll give you a chance to try to get through to your brother too."

"What about you?" He asked, still slightly suspicious. Surely he wasn't going to get away with doing something that actually sounded like fun.

"Me and Sophia are going to practice," she winked.

One eyebrow shot up. "Practice?"

"I'm taking her to the quarry to learn how to shoot."

He nodded. "Sounds good. Even though you ain't the best shot."

She scowled. "I'm not awful."

"You almost shot Rick."

She rolled her eyes and slid her hands to his shoulders. "I've gotten better since then."

"Mom?"

They jumped apart like they had been burned. He looked at the two kids standing in the doorway and then down at his feet. Sophia was wide eyed and Carl, the little jack ass, was grinning behind her.

"I was just coming to tell you goodnight," Sophia said quickly as a blush turned her cheeks pink.

He glanced back up and she was staring right at him, her face was unreadable. Standing behind her Carl was still smiling.

"I'll get you two settled in then. I need to get Daryl some blankets and a pillow."

"Why don't you just share a bed? You guys shared a cell and a bunk," Carl said as he glanced from Daryl back to Carol, a smug look on his face.

"Are you serious? Shut the hell up," Daryl growled.

Sophia shook her head. "He told me about it before. I knew about it anyway. Just because I wasn't there didn't mean I still didn't dream. I dreamed about the farm and the prison both. The two of you don't have to hide anything."

Daryl wanted the floor to swallow him whole until her words penetrated through the embarrassment he was feeling. He looked back up at her. "What do you mean you saw it all?"

She shrugged, "I saw everything but it wasn't like I was there anymore. I was just kind of watching."

"Okay, enough talking about all of that for now. Time for bed. Daryl, I'll bring you your stuff in a few minutes," Carol said hurriedly as she ushered the kids out of the room. She glanced back at him, an apologetic look in her eyes.

He gave her a nod and then watched as she left the room. He made his way to the living room after he was sure he wouldn't have to look at Carl. Sometimes he really wanted to kick that kid's ass. He knew that even if Carl didn't deserve it yet he definitely would eventually. He needed his ass kicked. He shouldn't have even been thinking like that since he only knew Carl from those dreams. Technically he was still the happy go lucky punk from the quarry. He wasn't the brooding violent man child from the prison. Maybe he wouldn't have to be if they could convince the kid's parents to get their heads out of their asses and start preparing for the end of the world. Dumb asses.

He sat down on the couch and kicked off his boots. He felt exhausted but he hadn't really done shit all day. He figured it was because of all the emotional bullshit he was still having a hard time sorting through. He still felt torn in half. He figured maybe this was what it felt like to have that split personality disorder. He was still himself but then he was someone else too. That other Daryl, the man he had been at the prison, that was a man who lived through a whole lot of shit. He was who he was because life tossed him into that world and he had changed there.

But him... he hadn't lived all of that. Not really. If he thought about it too hard it caused his head to spin. He couldn't focus on it too much because if he did then it scared the hell out of him. He was a believer in a lot of unexplained things. He believed in ghosts and aliens and big foot and chupacabras. But this? This was one of those things you hear about on talk shows and you know the people are full of shit. You know things like this didn't happen to people. But it was happening to him.

He sighed and then unbuttoned his shirt. He was about to lay down when he heard a sharp knock at the door. He stood up quickly and glanced towards the hallway where Carol and the kids had disappeared. He didn't see any sign of them so he went to the door. The only person it could be was Ed's stupid ass and he was planning on breaking the bastards jaw. He knew she wanted him to stay the fuck away from her and Sophia. The dumb ass knew he was there so Daryl didn't get why he would even bother.

He yanked the door open without even glancing out to see who was there. He was actually surprised at who he found standing on the threshold.

"Merle? What the fuck are you doin' here?" Daryl asked as he opened the door wider so his brother could come in. Usually he could tell if Merle was on something just by looking at him but the man looked stone cold sober.

"How ya doin', little brother?" he asked in that raspy voice of his.

Daryl shrugged and motioned for him to come in. To his surprise Merle did. Daryl shut the door and they stood there awkwardly for a few long seconds before Merle broke the silence.

"I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Didn't want'cha to not have a place to sleep."

"M'fine, Merle," Daryl said as he sat back down on the couch. He didn't want to fight with his brother tonight. All he wanted to do was go to sleep. In Carol's bed. With Carol. He gazed longingly down the hall.

"You still goin' crazy?" Merle asked as he took a seat in the chair across from him.

Daryl sighed. "I ain't gonna get into this with you tonight Merle. If that's what you had planned then ya might as well go on home."

"It ain't," Merle said as he glanced around the room.

They both looked up when they heard someone coming down the hall. Carol walked in with a load of bedclothes in her hands wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt. She stopped in her tracks, eyes widening at the sight of Merle sitting there looking at her. At least the t-shirt was long, nearly as long as the dress had been but Daryl couldn't help but notice that she still blushed deeply.

"Hello, Carol," Merle said quietly, keeping his voice low and pleasant even though his eyes narrowed at the sight of her.

"Hi, Merle. How are you?" she said with a forced smile.

Daryl looked at his brother. "I'm gonna go to a gun show tomorrow mornin'. You wanna go?"

Merle tore his eyes from the woman and looked at him. "Ain't never been one to go covet, little brother. If I can't buy'em why the fuck would I go look at'em? And if I'm rememberin' correctly, your woman ain't one to hesitate to pull a gun on a man. I don't know if I feel comfortable goin' to a gun show with a psycho. Might not prove to be too healthy for Ol' Merle." His eyes narrowed as they flicked back to Carol.

Daryl was about to tell him to shut his mouth but Carol spoke before he could.

"I wont be there," she said quickly. She didn't sound like she was too upset that Merle called her a psycho.

"I 'spose I can tag along then. So long as she ain't gonna be there," he grumbled.

Daryl snorted. "It ever cross your mind that if avoidin' her is what you wanna do then maybe you shouldn't come over here to her house?"

"Well how the hell else am I suppose to see you?" Merle glared at him like he couldn't believe Daryl was defending the woman.

"I don't know. How bout not kickin' me out in the first place, dumb ass."

"If you woulda just agreed on getting' yourself checked out I wouldn't have had too. You're both fucked in the head!" Merle snarled.

Daryl glared at Merle as Merle glared at Carol. "You really come over here to check up on me or did you come here to start some shit?" he asked his brother.

Merle shook his head, a rare look of defeat gracing his rugged features. "I'm worried about you. I didn't come here for any trouble."

Daryl sighed heavily, "You comin' with me in the mornin' or what?" he asked.

Merle stood up from the chair and looked down on him, his face unreadable now. "I'll be here in the mornin' then."

Daryl nodded and then watched as his brother walked towards the door.

"Night, Carol," he grumbled without turning.

"Night, Merle," Carol said, almost sadly.