This one's for robinhardy.9028 who wished it was a little longer.

Daryl's Christmas Carol

He'd not stopped touching her all night after the kiss under the mistletoe. Daryl either held her hand or had his hand lightly resting at the small of her back or draped his arm around her shoulders as they sat at the tables or stood and talked with their friends. He watched her too, with that laser intensity he usually employed to track elusive prey in the forest, those few times they'd had to step away from one another, when she was called to adjudicate a dispute over a toy or be consulted about the next dish to be brought out from the kitchens.

From the looks of things he was staking his claim. He'd made a very public statement, kissing Carol in the doorway to the room that held practically the entire community, and by now the story of how he'd been injured climbing the tree for the mistletoe had made the rounds of the place as well. Glenn and Maggie had made good use of the stuff, as had Beth and Zack, and even Patrick and Carl had been dragged under it by Lizzie and Mikka for chaste pecks on the cheek that sent them into gales of giggles.

Rick had been laughing good naturedly at their antics when he saw Michonne come to the door, her body held stiffly as she scanned the room beyond the teenagers. She saw Daryl sitting at a table, his head down with Carol's mouth to his ear so he could hear whatever it was she was saying over the din of the party. Pushing past the kids, Michonne started striding purposefully towards the couple. When she saw Daryl's easy open smile and how he lifted the other woman's hand to press a kiss to the back, making Carol blush prettily, she faltered, confused by the tracker's demeanor. Rick started forward to intercept her, but Daryl had also noticed her and stood, drawing Carol up with him, keeping a firm hold on her hand, both of them smiling warmly at Michonne, glad she had joined the festivities.

"That how it is now? You done with me?" Michonne said icily, implying she had somehow been wronged, knowing it would make Carol jump to all of the wrong conclusions. She needed the tracker to find the bastard who had killed Andrea and she'd do whatever she needed to make him get back out on the road with her.

Daryl watched as Carol's expressive face went from absolute joy and contentment to fear, hurt and betrayal in a manner of seconds and he was furious at the swords-woman for making that happen. He shook his head back and forth in denial, his eyes on hers. The vertical line between her brows deepening, Carol huffed out a little sigh, wanting to believe him. He gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and rounded on the other woman.

"What the hell's wrong with you?" Daryl asked Michonne in quiet fury. People all around them went quiet, uncomfortable with the scene of confrontation. Rick stepped up then and after handing Judith off to Beth, got between Michonne and the newly minted couple.

"Before things get outa hand, let's all take a breath and move this discussion outa here, shall we?" Rick said evenly, putting his hand up in a 'hold your horses' gesture, not quite touching Michonne, who had crossed her arms in front of her defensively.

"Fine." Daryl bit out and keeping hold of Carol's hand, pulling her in his wake, headed quickly for the door to the Tombs without looking to see if Michonne and Rick were following. Carol grabbed one of the big battery powered Coleman lanterns at the entrance to light the way, hanging it from the wall bracket when Daryl finally came to a halt. Daryl backed Carol against the wall and gently held her chin in his hand.

"If she says anything happened between her n' me out on the road, she's lyin'." Daryl told her firmly, searching her face to see if she believed him.

"It's really none of my business." Carol said quietly, coldly, moving her head to the side, forcing him to release her chin.

"Like whatever you had goin' on with Rick ain't none a mine?" Daryl countered, squinting at her. Carol looked at him like he'd just started speaking Farsi and then she started to giggle.

"With Rick? Me…with Rick? Good lord!"

"He said…well, told me he kissed you."

"On the cheek—today—you were there!" she said. "You were jealous?" she reached up and put both her hands on his face, "You are such an idiot." She said fondly, tugging on the scrub of whiskers over his jaws.

"What? Why?"

"Because I love you. You're the only man I've ever loved." She told him simply, shaking her head at him and smiling so hard through her tears that the dimples creased her cheeks.

"God, Carol…" Daryl said, his heart melting. He had hoped, someday, she might feel the same way about him as he did about her, but to hear her declare it so openly so soon after he'd made his intention to court her clear to her and the rest of the group threw him for a loop. He leaned closer to rest his forehead on hers.

"I...I love you too." He whispered. "Have for a long time." And then he was kissing her again, her hands sliding around his neck to hold his face closer, fingers tangling in the long hair at his nape.

"Well, isn't that just precious?" Michonne drawled sarcastically as she and Rick came around the corner and found them in the clinch. "Didn't think the old gal would be so into sharing, but I guess beggars can't be choosers."

At the insult to Carol, Daryl released her and carefully pushed her behind his body as he took two quick strides forward and got into Michonne's face.

"Enough. Now you're gonna tell me what the fuck is goin' on with you, and you're gonna do it fast." Daryl said, out of patience. Michonne smirked and rolled her hips lazily as she shifted her weight so she could look around Daryl to face off with Carol. Using her hands to point at her own voluptuous figure, she raised an eye brow at Carol.

"You really think he'll be happy with your skinny white ass when he's been ridin' this fine booty for the last …how long's it been now sugar?" she asked Daryl in a warm honeyed voice, smiling indulgently.

"God damn it, Michonne, you lost your shit?" Daryl asked, starting to worry about her sanity.

"It was the scars and the tats—that killer bod's been lived in—you know?" Michonne drawled, continuing her frontal assault on Carol's trust. "My favorite is that through and through just above his waist…" Michonne reached out to Daryl, almost touching the place where the bolt had pierced his side when he'd fallen down the ravine looking for Sophia. She was obviously trying to prove that she'd seen Daryl's naked body, but her bluff was one move too far.

Carol came out from around Daryl and faced down the dread locked woman then.

"Did Daryl ever tell you how he got that scar?" Carol asked. When Daryl opened his mouth to speak, Rick silenced him with a sharp shake of his head.

"We were a little too busy with other things to be tradin' war stories." Michonne jutted her chin out further, sounding smug.

"Daryl almost died trying to find my daughter when she…" Carol looked over at the pained expression on Rick's face before she continued, "…when she went missing." She took Daryl's hand in hers. "When I was at my lowest point…that was when he proved to me that he was brave and kind and honest and trustworthy." She looked up at him, giving him a tight smile before her eyes went back to Michonne.

"He didn't find her, but he did everything he could, just like he will to find the man who killed his brother and Andrea…and I won't try to stop him…because I love him and I want him to do be free to do what he needs to do." Carol raised her free hand to take Michonne's, holding onto both warriors now.

Daryl sighed, finally understanding, marveling that Carol had figured it out before he had.

"You'd let him go—just like that?" Michonne looked at her disbelievingly.

"He always comes back to me." Carol said with a small smile and a nod.

"Like a bad penny." Rick said dryly, grinning from having the tension dissolved, making Daryl shoot him a mock glare.

"Nobody's ever…. nobody's ever loved me like that." Michonne said haltingly, in a small voice, seeming to shrink right in front of them, deflating. She looked sorrowfully at Carol. "Fuck. I'm so sorry, Carol…"

"We've all lost so much, so many…" Carol said, looking at the three of them, thinking of the ones they'd all had ripped from them in the last year, brother, wife, child, best friend, sister as both Andrea and Lori had been to her as well. "Had to do things we regret, things that give us nightmares… but we can't turn on each other—we're all we have left."

"No one can do it alone." Daryl said, echoing some of Andrea's last words.

"Never could." Both Rick and Michonne finished the phrase and looked at each other in surprise. Rick reached out and took Michonne's other hand so that they were all four joined together as one, but Daryl's sling tied arm kept it from being a complete circle.

"We ok?" Michonne said to Carol, asking for forgiveness.

"Why don't you buy my skinny old white ass a drink and I'll think about it?" Carol said haughtily, making Michonne bark out a laugh, quickly joined by the men. They released their hand holds and Rick took the lantern down to light their path and they headed back towards the sounds of "Jingle Bells." Beth must've decided to start the carol sing to keep people's minds off of whatever was happening in the Tombs.

"I like yer ass." Daryl whispered into Carol's ear as he sidled up beside her in the darkened corridor, smoothing his hand down the long line of her spine covered by the velvet dress, which felt almost unbearably soft against his rough skin. He knew her skin would be even softer and could barely hold himself enough in check to keep from finding the hem of her flowing crimson dress and lifting it ever so slowly to let his hand continue the caress against bare flesh. He settled for cupping one rounded velvet covered firm cheek in his big hand and giving it a squeeze, making her squeak in shock and stop walking.

"There a mouse back there?" Rick asked, chuckling.

"Y'all go on a head—we'll catch you up." Daryl called to the others and Carol leaned back against him. He slid his hand to her belly, moving her slightly to the left so that her bottom was flush up tight against the fly of his black jeans and she gave a sharp intake of breath when she felt the evidence of how much he liked her ass.

"Daryl—the carol sing…" she murmured, trying to remind him that they were expected to rejoin the group for the rest of the festivities.

"Uh uh, you're the only Christmas Carol I want." He whispered, sliding his hand up over her abdomen to cup her breast as his mouth moved to nuzzle at her neck. She felt overwhelmed with sensation—if he was able to drive her this crazy with only one hand….

"Be nicer in a bed." Michonne called back with a throaty laugh, "Just sayin.'"