Thanks to all the readers, followers, favorites & reviewers. It's been great reading your comments on the first 2 chapters. It's brutally cold here in the Plains today so it's been nice to have some fellow Carylers to keep me warm. Enjoy!


3: "You who lift me up from the gates of death."

"I saw this when I was on the run with Rick." Carol lied for Beth's sake as she pulled into the cul de sac driveway of a gated home in the hills of a well to do section of a town about 8 miles from the prison. She'd slowly been exploring the area between it and her former home, still drawn there, hoping perhaps that she'd see someone...all right be honest with yourself, Carol,... hoping she'd see Daryl back from the Vet school run or out hunting.

"Jesus, Carol!" Daryl exclaimed, and Beth lifted her head from his shoulder where she'd leaned for most of the ride, half asleep, mentally and physically exhausted.

"What?" Beth asked, blinking, and then she too saw what had so arrested Daryl's attention. All around the front exposure, at least the equivalent of half a city block, someone had wired the bodies of walkers to the fence, one after another, like a sick parody of handholding freedom fighters uniting en masse against brutal apartheid police with clubs.

"Oh God..." Beth said in a small horrified voice.

"It will keep them away." Carol said, her voice sounding rusty, staring at the gates.

"It will." Daryl said, immediately understanding.

"When I was here before, some of them were still moving." Carol explained. In reality she'd spent most of her first day here methodically finding the movers and ending them. The fence of the mutilated dead was an abomination and probably a biohazard, but alone with only herself as defense, it had been a compromise she'd had to make to stay safe.

"Have mercy on me O Lord. Consider my trouble from those who hate me. You who lift me up from the gates of death. Psalms 9:13." Beth recited.

Carol shivered at the eerily apt Old Testament quotation.

"You gonna have one a those for every occasion?" Daryl asked Beth dryly.

"Daddy did." Beth said, looking up at him with those luminous blues, her lower lip quivering. Daryl's lower lip curved up into a rueful apologetic frown.

"Shit-sorry, Beth." he muttered and he tentatively put his left arm around her shoulders and she snuggled closer to him. Watching them in the mirror Carol sighed and gave it a few beats before she made her next request.

"Beth—pull it through after I open the gate, OK?" Carol asked and got out of the car, leaving the engine running and Beth untangled herself from Daryl's arm and moved from the back seat to take over the wheel. Carol pushed open the tall metal gate after unlocking the large padlock holding the chains around the center posts together, blocking the action with her body, hoping Beth wouldn't wonder at how she'd been able to do it. She'd added the new lock after cutting through the previous one with the bolt cutters she'd found in the Cherokee. As they passed through, Daryl was impressed by the height of the brick and metal fence that ran all the way around the property, wondering why they hadn't come across it during their long winter wanderings after the farm. It might've made a decent B site for their evacuation plan. Leave it to Carol to find the safest place around.

Carol closed and locked the fence behind them, scanning the street, looking for any walkers or others who might have been attracted by the engine noise. Usually this was the part of coming and going she feared most, vulnerable by herself at the gate. It was a relief to have people with her again. Rick's mantra "people are the best defense against walkers," had rung in her ears when she drove away from him, alone. Beth stopped the Jeep, waiting for her, and Carol opened the passenger side door and slid in, fastening her seatbelt.

"Let's try all the way at the end,"Carol told Beth, pointing at the smaller house to the right of a large mansion. They saw no sign of either walkers or humans—Carol had found neither in her thorough inspection of the place, but they still proceeded cautiously.

Beth slowed and then brought the vehicle to a stuttering stop in the driveway of the small brick house. The garage door was down, but the man sized door beside it had a flimsy lock, promising a point of egress. Leaving Daryl and Beth in the car over both of their protests, Carol went in to "clear" the house. In reality in addition to inspecting the house for walkers again she was gathering up the few things of hers that she'd left after spending the last two nights there and putting them out of sight. When she returned and gave them the all clear, she opened the garage door for the vehicle.

Beth had been learning to drive the old school bus they had brought from Woodbury and she wasn't used to a more refined vehicle, so when the red Cherokee rolled into the open garage she stepped on the brakes a bit too hard and Daryl grunted as he was flung forward in his seat, restrained by the belt, his knee jarred so it felt like someone was driving a metal spike through it.

"Fuck!" Daryl bit out the word before he could stop himself.

"Sorry!" Beth said, turning in her seat to look back at her passenger in apology, looking like she was about to burst into tears.

""S'all right, sweetheart." Daryl drawled smoothly, but then gritted his teeth against the pain, not wanting Beth to feel worse than she already did. He heard the sharp click of a seatbelt unfastening and saw Carol get out and slam her door behind her. The door next to him was wrenched open and her no nonsense clinical medical face greeted him.

"It hurts." Carol said in a low flat voice. Daryl scowled at her. Carol took a breath and huffed it out. "That's good—it means the nerves weren't severed." she told him, leaning in and reaching over him to unhook his seat belt, her hand inadvertently brushing against the fly of his stained and torn brown dungarees just as he shifted his hips forward and his hand lifted to unhook the belt himself, trapping her hand against him. Her eyes snapped to his, wide crystal blue, and she tried to pull her hand back, but only succeeded in dragging it against his full length, making his mouth come open in sensual shock and his hand reflexively closed around hers, holding it to him.

"How can I help?" Beth asked from the front seat, sounding anxious. Carol's body leaning in front of Daryl blocked the girls' view of what was happening. Which was what? Carol wondered, that he'd gotten hard for his "sweetheart" and the nurse had gotten in the way?

The hurt look that Carol's confused gaze devolved into cut Daryl to the quick—what was she thinking? That he got hard for just anyone? He opened his mouth to tell her something, anything—he wasn't sure exactly what—but then her gaze turned angry, her eyes flashing ice blue sparks.

"Come help me get him inside, Beth." Carol said carefully, emphasizing his girlfriend's name, clearly working to keep her temper in check. Daryl released her hand and she finished her task, unhooking his belt, albeit with shaky hands and then pointedly reached in and tossed his poncho over his lap.

"I'm so sorry Daryl!" Beth said again as she took the keys out of the ignition, unhooked her own belt and opened her door, coming swiftly around to Carol's side.

"Uh—s'ok, hey why don't you shut the garage door and then get the stuff outa the back—I'm gonna need a minute 'til this uh... knee stops throbbin'." Daryl asked Beth, looking at Carol the whole time. Beth looked anxiously between them, frowning at Carol's tight mouth, set in anger, but did as she was asked.

"Let me know when your knee's ready to go." Carol said sarcastically and Daryl gave her a slow full out sexy grin that infuriated her.

"Maybe it just needs yer tender lovin' care." he drawled, reaching for her hand again, but she snatched it back, looking back at Beth, who had finished with the garage door, darkening the space, and was now methodically unloading the gear she'd taken from the motorcycle.

"Keep your hands to yourself." Carol hissed.

"Darlin' whatta ya think I been doin' since the Turn?" he said sotto voce, in an aggrieved tone, arching a mocking eyebrow at her behind his fringe of dark bangs, enjoying the blush that spread up from her throat to her cheeks way more than he should. "My knee ain't felt the touch of another since I don't know when..." he added wistfully.

The man was impossible. How dare he flirt with her now?

"Liar." Carol whispered, much to Daryl's confusion, but before he could call her on it, Beth was there beside them, carrying the saddle bags, his bow and quiver.

"Where do you want these?" Beth asked.

"Set them by the stairs over there and then come back to help me with Daryl." Carol said, diverting her attention away from the man in question to point at the interior entrance to the house which was on the other side of the garage. Taking advantage of her distraction, Daryl grabbed Carol's hand again and rubbed his thumb slowly back and forth against her palm.

"I think ya could handle me all by yerself." Daryl drawled mockingly, his voice pitched low so only Carol could hear him.

"Stop." Carol breathed, willing her body to shut down its response to his teasing touch. For him this was probably just a slightly more intimate version of the elbow bump or shoulder nudge he often gave her when she mocked him with silly nicknames, she thought, trying to make sense of what had just happened, but for her it was as if she was falling off the edge of a cliff... He just held your hand to his rock hard cock, Carol!, the thought scurried around her tired brain like a mouse trying to escape a big black cat. In what alternate universe had she ever expected that to ever occur?

She was at a loss to understand whatever floodgates of expression had been opened up in him for some reason... Or maybe the reason was now walking back towards them; by doing what she'd never dared, taking the initiative and making the first move, had Beth had broken through his reticence, freeing something in him that Carol had never seen before?

"Knee settled down now?" Beth said with concern as she joined them, looking down at their held hands and then back and forth between the two of them curiously.

"Think I can manage." Daryl assured her, turning his hand to grip Carol's more firmly and holding out the other to Beth so that they could help him stand, balanced precariously between the two of them on one leg.

"I think this was the chauffer's house." Carol said, pointing to the many car repair tools arrayed around the garage in addition to a well outfitted woodworkers shop.

"Musta been a mechanic too—all the better—keep the vehicles in good runnin' order." Daryl said appreciatively.

"There wasn't—nobody was?" Beth asked, shrugging her shoulder to indicate their surroundings in general.

"I didn't find any people or walkers here—Carol assured them as they got Daryl to the three stair steps leading up to the landing that entered the house and he slowly hopped up them.

"Why would they leave? You said it...the gates...it keeps the walkers out." Beth asked.

Carol reached out her hand and opened the inner door.

"I don't know Beth—maybe they went out scavenging and got into trouble—could be any number of things." Carol replied, going through the door first.

"We'll go tomorrow, right? When it's light out again? To the place where we're supposed to meet up—the rendezvous point?" Beth asked Daryl. Carol and he exchanged a look over Beth's head. They had a lot to talk about before making that decision.

"If we agree it's safe. I'd like to get his knee stabilized before we decide, ok?" Carol asked Beth.

"But they might not be able to wait very long—what if we miss them?" Beth asked anxiously, closing the door behind them.

"We'll find them, Beth." Daryl assured her with more confidence than he really felt.

"You can't know that!" Beth rounded on him, pulling away from her hold supporting his shoulder and glaring at them both. "I have to find Maggie! She's my sister—you don't know! Just because you don't have any family anymore doesn't mean I shouldn't look for her!" she cried and both Daryl and Carol winced back at the casual cruelty of the accusation. It was true that the loss of Sophia, of Merle, had left them without any blood relations. Each death had devastated them both in their own way. To her surprise Carol felt Daryl's hand slip into hers and squeeze it tightly, as if to say, You're not alone, you have me. Carol squeezed back gratefully.

"I think we all need to get some rest." Carol said evenly, unwilling to argue with Beth, knowing she was letting her fears for her sister, her grief for her father—everything—get the better of her. "Please help me get Daryl into the kitchen so I can look at his knee." Carol asked levelly. Beth narrowed her eyes and glared at the older woman stubbornly and Carol again remembered how young the girl really was and pulled her hand from Daryl's.

Daryl frowned down at Carol, realizing she'd about had it with young Miss Greene, and used his most placating honeyed tone to try and get the girl to cooperate.

"Beth?" Daryl asked. "We're all in this together, right? 'Many hands make light the work?' Think that's from the Bible..."

"Or Cinderella..." Carol murmured, starting to get where the evil stepmother had been coming from. "But of course she had mice and birds and squirrels to help her."

"And a fairy godmother." Daryl added, nodding, looking back at Carol and giving her a tiny grin that turned up the corner of his mouth.

"Well, I saw a fireplace here in the living room—so watch out or you'll be on cinder duty, missy." Carol warned, regaining her sense of humor a little to tease Beth, who looked perplexed at the odd direction the conversation had taken.

"Guess that makes you Prince Charming." Beth ventured, trying to join in, making Daryl snort at her and Carol smile.

"How ya figure that?" Daryl scowled at her. First time anyone had called him a prince.

"You keep rescuing damsels in distress." Beth said, looking meaningfully at Carol, who missed the look because she was enjoying Daryl's discomfort, watching him squirm. Daryl slanted his eyes at Carol.

"Well, I think the queen here saved my bacon today." Daryl said, and Carol blushed.

"Both of ours—I should've thanked you for that, Carol." Beth said apologetically, finally coming over to help with moving Daryl.

"You're welcome, honey." Carol said, remembering all of the time she and Beth had spent together over the last year caring for Judith and the other little ones, preparing meals, practicing weapons training, and setting up the prison library. The hours she had spent listening to Beth go on and on about Zack and her relationship when Maggie couldn't take it anymore. She really did love the girl and wanted what was best for her...she just wasn't sure what was best for her was Daryl...how could he be with Beth and yet behave so outrageously just now in the car? She'd expect behavior like that from Merle or even Shane, but Daryl?

Daryl's long lean body was pressed against her, supported by the women's shoulders under his as they slowly made their way through the living room area to the kitchen. Carol had him sit up on the sturdy pine kitchen table and turned on the big battery powered Coleman lantern already setting there. She'd found it in the station wagon when she'd cleaned it out transferring her things to the Cherokee. She'd also found the personal belongings of the young couple that it had belonged to and had to school herself to stoicism to be able to sort through them looking for anything she could use to keep herself alive. Carol could still see the poor girl's chewed off leg, bent from serious injury, on the other side of the garden gates, a last horrific reminder of how dangerous this world was. And then Rick had expelled her from her paradise, the safety behind the fences and gates of the prison where everyone she loved had been. She looked down at Daryl's knee. If this didn't heal correctly he'd be in the same sort of danger, unable to run...

"Beth, make sure all of the blinds are shut tight and then light the oil lamps I saw in here and the living room, please. Oh–and here." Carol said, handing Beth a flashlight, "So you can see better what you're doing, right?" Night had fallen quickly as they had moved into the house interior and with the curtains drawn it was very dark in the two rooms. She wanted to attract neither the living nor the dead with any sort of light.

"Then you can bring our stuff inside, Ok?" Daryl asked and Beth nodded and started on her tasks. "Hey— " Daryl said, and Beth stopped and frowned at him, "Be careful—watchful—ya never knew what might be just around the corner." he warned, handing her his cigarette lighter for the oil lamps, fussing like a mother hen.

"Always." Beth said and to his surprise she came to stand in front of him and after setting down the lighter and flashlight on the table, she put her hands on his shoulders and then kissed him on his scruff covered cheek. Carol turned away, not wanting to witness a tender moment, but she was the next to be surprised when she felt Beth's hand on her arm, tugging her back into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad we found each other." Beth said and leaned up to kiss Carol's cheek. Then she released Carol from the embrace and reached out to clasp hands with both Daryl and Carol. "Can you imagine if one of us was out here all alone?" she said, with unconscious irony, holding both of their hands tightly. "But I should have known," she said, smiling at Carol, "Daryl always finds you—it's like there's this invisible thread between the two of you, isn't there?" Beth said, "He'd go riding through the gates of hell to get you if he had to," and she smiled beatifically at them both, pulling their hands together in front of her and placing Carol's smaller inside Daryl's larger calloused one. Then she picked up her two light sources and walked away to begin her task of further illuminations.

Carol's eyes were fixed on the sight of her hand together with Daryl's. She had no idea what had just happened. Daryl interlaced his fingers with hers and raised her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss to the back of it, his moustache and chin whiskers tickling there. He reached his other hand out and lifted Carol's chin so she had to meet his determined gaze, her look of total confusion telling him that he had some explaining to do.

"Smart girl, our Beth." Daryl said softly.


Awww... Beth ships Caryl.

I enjoy how Daryl has turned the tables on Carol—flirting with her until she utters "Stop." in the same way he always responded to her teasing.

I also like the irony that Carol thinks it was Beth's hug in the cells that jumpstarted Daryl's libido, but in reality it was the thought that he'd lost Carol when Rick announced that he'd left her behind.

They are in a dire and dangerous situation out on the road on their own, but they need to take time to rest and recharge here in the relative safety behind the 'gates of death' so they can make a plan for their next move. Beth of course wants to find the others, but it's not quite so clear cut for Carol. Daryl feels responsibility to help and protect them both and so he might have some hard decisions ahead...