"Your mom sure forgot a lot of stuff." Carol looked down at the paper that Daryl's mom had given them as they pulled into the parking lot at the grocery store.

"I don't know why she didn't just have Merle go." Daryl put the truck in park and got out and they headed for the entrance. "I think they were trying to get rid of us."

"Why do you that?" She stopped in front of the shopping baskets and picked up two.

"I don't know, it just seems like she's keeping something from me. I ain't got no reason to think that. She's just been acting weird for the past couple of weeks," he shrugged. "Why do you got two baskets?"

"Because." She tore the list in half, and handed a piece and half the money to him. "If we each get half we can get out of here faster. And if we hurry we might even have time to make out a little before we head back home."

His eyes got big. "Well, what are you waiting on, girl? Get moving." He took one of the baskets from her.

She covered her mouth to stifle a laugh. "Daryl," she said and grabbed his arm. "I'm sure she's not keeping anything from you. And if they are I'm sure she'll tell you about it soon. I don't think they would deliberately keep anything from you that would hurt you."

He nodded. "You're right. Now get a move on. You're cutting into my make out time," he said, giving her playful shove.

Carol laughed as she walked in the opposite direction of him.

"Cucumbers…carrots…Tomatoes."

Where were the tomatoes? Carol walked to the corner of the produce department when she spotted them.

She was gathering several into a bag when she dropped one and it rolled across the floor. She chased after it. It came to a stop in of a dirty boot-clad foot. A man with at least a week old beard squatted down and picked it up before holding it out to her.

Carol reached out and took it.

"I think you dropped this." The man rose to his feet. He was at least a foot and a half taller than her, if not more. He had dark brown hair with streaks of grey in it and a beard to match. He looked to be in his late forties.

"Um, thanks." She dropped the tomato into her basket.

The man peered into her basket. "Making a salad?" he asked.

Carol nodded. "Yeah. Well my boyfriend's mom is."

"Well, that's very nice of you to go to the store for her. She must be a nice woman." He picked up an apple from a nearby bin and took a huge bite, dripping juice down his chin.

Is he going to pay for that? Carol wondered.

"Yeah, she is," Carol responded. This man looked familiar. She swore she had seen him somewhere before, she just couldn't remember where. He was giving her the creeps. And now he was staring at her chest. She needed to get out of here.

"I'd be careful if I were you." He stepped a little closer to her causing her to take a step back.

"Excuse me," Carol said, making a move to go around him.

"Some people can fool you. They make you think they're loyal when they're really just lying whores. So you'd better watch yourself," he said, leering at her in way that made her want to go home and take a shower.

Carol shuddered and hurried off in the direction of the checkout counter.

The man took another bite of the apple and then tossed it back in the bin.

Carol was heading to the checkout counter when she bumped into someone and almost fell backwards. She yelped and jerked away when two arms reached out to steady her.

"Whoa." Daryl looked at her with concern. "What's wrong?"

She shook her head. "Nothing. I just thought you were that guy." She shuddered again, thinking about it.

"What guy?" he looked around. "Somebody bothering you?" he was not the mood to knock somebody's teeth down their throat but he would if he had to.

"It was nothing," she assured him, placing a hand on his arm. "Some guy was talking to me in the produce section and he gave me the creeps."

Daryl narrowed his eyes and started in that direction. Carol caught his arm. "Don't. He's probably gone already anyway. He was just some weirdo." She tugged on his arm. "Come on, or we're not going to have time to make out before we go back to your house."

"Fine. But if you see him, you let me know." He said, taking her hand and leading her to the checkout counter.

After putting the groceries in the back of the truck, Daryl pulled Carol across the bench seat and she was now sitting across his lap with her arms wrapped around his neck. He had one arm around her waist keeping her from falling into the steering wheel. The other was laying against her jean-clad thigh, squeezing every so often.

His lips pressed against hers as she made little noises of contentment in the back of her throat. She ran her tongue along his bottom lip, seeking entrance to his mouth. He opened his mouth, slightly accepting, before slipping his own into her mouth. He groaned when he felt her suck on his tongue.

He pulled away slightly, kissed the corner of her mouth before trailing kisses down the side of her neck to suck on the skin just below her ear.

"Daryl," she whined and started squirming in his lap when he bit lightly on skin. She was going to have a hickey. But right now she couldn't care less. In fact, she kind of liked the idea.

She felt his hand moving from her thigh to her shirt, and he stopped just before he reached her breast. He pulled back slightly and looked into her eyes, asking permission. She gave a slight nod before dropping her head to his shoulder and breathing in his scent. She felt him slide his hand up until he was cupping her breast on the outside of her shirt. He gave a small squeeze and she shuddered.

He pulled back. "Did I hurt you? I'm sorry." It occurred to him she may not really want his hand their or maybe he squeezed too hard. They were also sitting in the middle of the parking lot where anyone could see. He made a move to pull his hand back but she grabbed it and placed it back where it was.

"Don't stop." Her cheeks were tinged pink and she looked a little breathless. "You didn't hurt me. I liked it." If it was possible, her face seemed to get redder.

He smiled and gave her a small squeeze while he pulled her closer to him and kissed her again, this time with a little more enthusiasm. She trailed her fingers up to touch the exposed skin of chest where he left the top few buttons of his shirt undone.

He groaned when her fingers touched his bare skin . She rubbed circles against the skin, her nailed scraping gently.

He moved his hand to her other breast to give it the same attention. He moved back to kiss that spot he had been kissing on her neck. She started squirming on his lap when she felt his lips behind her ear. He felt the front of his pants tightening from the combination of her moving around in his lap combined with the feel of her breast and the sweet taste of the skin or her neck.

He pulled away from her. "Carol." But she didn't seem to be listening. She had dropped her head and was kissing the hollow of his throat. He let out moan before he could stop himself. "Fuck." He pulled back from here. "Carol, we gotta stop," he said, although he really didn't want to.

"Why?" she said, moving back to kiss him some more.

He shifted slightly in his seat so she could feel the reason that they needed to stop.

"Oh," she flushed a bright red and slipped off his lap until she was sitting next to him. "Sorry." She scooted back to passenger side of the truck.

He tilted her chin up so she was looking at him. "Don't be sorry. Felt good." He kissed her quickly. "This just ain't the best place to be doing that." He felt embarrassed for having said that but he couldn't have her thinking she did anything wrong. He shifted in his seat trying to adjust himself without actually touching himself. He was not doing that in front of her.

She grinned. "So it felt good, huh?" She watched him shift in the seat again. "How good?" she asked, leaning forward to breathe into his ear. And then just because she felt like it, and knowing the effect she had on him making her a little brave, she bit his earlobe.

"Stop." If she kept up looking at him like that there was no way he was making it home with his dignity intact.

She grinned wider but slid back into her seat. Her phone beeped and she pulled it out her purse. "It's a text from Merle."

"What's he want?" He put the keys in and started the truck.

"He says he's starving to death, and wants to know where we are." Before she could respond, another text came through. "Now he's wondering if we ran off and got a hotel room." She smiled mischievously. "Should I tell him we're late because you were busy giving me a hickey and feeling me up?"

"No," he yelled as he made a grab for the phone when she started typing. If she did that he would never hear the end of it.

"And, send." She gave him a shit-eating grin when he pulled the phone out of her hand. He looked at what she had written.

On our way. Be there in a few.

"You think your real funny, don't you?" He handed the phone back to her. He wasn't mad, he should know she wouldn't actually tell Merle that. She was funny. She was beautiful, too, and she didn't even have to try. Especially when she was laughing, her nose would scrunch and her eyes would twinkle.

"I think I'm hilarious," she giggled and put the phone back into her purse.

"Yeah, you are." He reached across the seat and took her hand. "You're sexy too."

When Daryl and Carol arrived back at the house they found Merle sprawled out on the couch watching Real Housewives of Atlanta, of all things. Sophia was on the other end curled into a ball, clutching her bear and sound asleep.

"'Bout time ya'll got back. I'm about to starve." He sat up and muted the TV. "What took so long?"

"Wasn't gone that long." Daryl took the bags from Carol and brought them to the kitchen.

Merle stood up carefully so as not to disturb Sophia. "Figured y'all ran off and got a motel room. But I don't guess you were gone long enough for that."

Daryl came back in the room and slapped Merle in the back of the head. "Watch it."

Merle rubbed the back of his head. "Didn't mean nothing by it. Meant it as compliment." He dropped his arm around Daryl's shoulder and addressed Carol "When the time comes for you two the seal the deal, it ain't going to last too long, especially for a guy. Just the way it is." He turned to Daryl. "This is why you gotta make sure she's taken care of first."

"Oh my god." Carol covered her face with her hands and turned around to make sure Sophia was still asleep. The last thing she needed was for her to go to daycare repeating the things that Merle said.

"Now, listen." Merle stepped a little closer to her and pulled Daryl along with him. "I know Daryl here's a virgin. If he wasn't I would know about it." Daryl tried to duck out from under Merle's arm but he held tight. "Now you got a kid so I know you ain't no virgin, but you might as well be." He turned to look at Carol. "You got pregnant to first time you had sex. Now that guy was an asshole so you don't even have to count it if you don't want. You can be like one of those born again virgins or something."

"Merle, shut the hell up." Daryl knew Carol didn't like talking about what happened back then.

"Alright, alright." Merle held his hands up in defeat. "My point is, if you need any pointers you know where to find me."

"On that note, I think I'm going to go see if your mom needs any help." Carol turned towards the kitchen.

"Hold up." Merle grabbed her arm tugged her back. He was grinning.

"What?"

Why is Merle staring at me like that?

He reached out, took her chin in his hand, and turned it at angle towards the light. If it was possible, his grin only got wider.

"Damn, little sis," he chuckled. "That's some hickey you got there." He turned to Daryl and released Carol's chin. "Nice work, didn't know you had it in you. I say that'll be there a week, tops. You can trust me, I'm an expert on hickeys. There was this one time-"

Carol slipped out the living room and into the kitchen before she could hear the rest of Merle's story. She thought about taking Sophia with her so she wouldn't wake up hearing something she shouldn't, but decided she was sleeping pretty soundly. When she got like that nothing would wake her.

"Need some help?" Carol asked Mary, who was stirring a bowl of potato salad.

"Yes, thank you. I know neither of those two will help." She nodded towards the sack on the counter. "Can you make the salad?"

"Sure." Carol washed her hands in the sink and began drying them on a towel. "Sophia wasn't any trouble, was she?" She put the vegetables in the sink so she could rinse them.

"She was an angel. Went to sleep almost as soon as I put her down." She wrapped plastic around the potato salad and set it aside. She sat down at the table. "Bring that stuff over here, I'll help you."

"Good. She didn't sleep well last night and earlier she refused to go down for nap." Carol gathered up the vegetables, dropped them the salad bowl, and took a seat at the table. They worked in silence for a few minutes before Mary spoke.

"You know, you're really lucky." She dropped the sliced cucumbers into the bowl.

"I am? How?" Carol began tearing up the lettuce.

Mary looked off into the distance. "Did you know I was seventeen when I had Merle?"

Carol nodded. Daryl had told her that when she got pregnant with Sophia.

"You had your family to help you when you got pregnant. I didn't have that. That's how I ended up married to a man like Caleb Dixon."

"Your parents wouldn't help you?" Dale had been so supportive of her when she told him she was pregnant and had helped in any way he could.

"No, they didn't like that I was dating him in the first place. So when I got pregnant they pretty much told me that I had made my bed and I had to lie it. When Caleb asked me to marry him, it had seemed like to right thing to do."

"Was he-" Carol began, unsure of how to ask what she was thinking.

"Abusive?" Mary finished for her, and shook her head. "No. He was one of the sweetest boys in town. Somewhere along the line he changed. Maybe it was because we got married so young and the stress of bills and a new baby. Maybe it was all of it. Or that's what he was always like underneath, and I was just too young and in love to see it. By the time I realized what he was really like I felt like it was too late. I didn't have anyone to help me. I felt trapped. I had started drinking to help me forget about how bad life was. But I don't regret it – not completely – because I got Merle and Daryl from it." She looked at Carol who looked like she wanted to cry. "Don't, sweetheart." She stood up and put her arms around her. "I didn't tell you any of that to upset you."

"I know. I just hate that you had to go through that." She wiped her eyes on the dish towel Mary handed her. "I just feel the same about Sophia. I hate that I slept with Sophia's father but I don't regret it because I got her out of it and I wouldn't trade her for anything."

Mary nodded. "You understand. Carol, I know how much you care about my son."

"I do." She wasn't sure where she was going with this. But she was beginning to think Daryl was right when he said his mom was keeping something from him.

"I'm going to have to tell him something that isn't going to be easy for him to hear. I'm not sure how he's going to take it. He's not going to be too happy with me when I tell him. And I just need to know that you're going to be there for him when I do."

"Of course I will." Carol had a bad feeling about what she was going to tell Daryl. She just hoped it didn't hurt him too badly.

Mary patted her on the shoulder. "Good. Now go tell them dinner's ready and I'll finish up."

Carol nodded and walked out of the room.