God, she was freezing. She had every item of clothing she possessed on her body, as well as the blanket and a sleeping bag and still, she froze. Carol had always thought that the Georgian winters were mild, but when they were spent living outdoors, it may as well have been Siberia.

She needed to rest. She'd been up all night the previous night with Lori, who was desperately trying to pretend she was alright, despite the contractions. Carol thought they were just false alarms, well, she hoped. It was too soon.

So now it was her turn to get a full night and the moon was already high in the sky and still her eyes wouldn't close for more than a moment.

Lori snored lightly beside her and Carol let out a sigh. It was no good. Maybe a short walk, just around the camp, would clear her head.

Daryl was on watch, she could see him sitting atop the truck as she unzipped her sleeping bag and tugged it around her as a second blanket before she made her way to the truck, giving him a smile as she passed him.

"Where the fuck you off to?" He growled at her, shouldering the crossbow and jumping onto the car bonnet.

"I'm not going out of sight." She shrugged and turned away. "Just can't get to sleep."

She heard him jump off the bonnet onto the grass, his footsteps ever so lightly catching up to hers.

"Ain't gonna get to sleep whilst ya walkin'. Go back, don't need to have to worry where your ass is as well."

She stopped in her tracks, brow furrowing at his annoyance with her. She hated irritating him.

"It's so cold." She pushed her face into her sleeping bag, feeling her warm breath push back onto her cheeks.

"Well, get back to the fire." He told her impatiently, reaching out and pushing her on her shoulder to get her moving.

She gave him a reproachful look and sighed before heading back to the campfire.

She wished she didn't irritate him. She knew it wasn't her personally, he gave them all short shrift most of the time, but she took it personally. It was as if he didn't want to be part of the group anymore.

She didn't blame him. Sometimes she didn't want to be part of the group either.

She watched him as he took up his watch point on the truck again and every so often he would glance her way, sighing audibly when they caught each other's eye.

Eventually she forced herself to pretend, so that she wouldn't have feel like a total disappointment to him and to avoid a telling off in the morning when he caught her yawning.

She heard Glenn get up from nearby after a little time, him muttering something or other to Daryl. Then the thunk of someone coming off the truck.

She kept her eyes shut even when a figure loomed on front of her, the shadow of him visibly through her eyelids, blocking the light of the fire.

She heard the soft thud of his crossbow as it hit the earth and felt the movement of him stepping over her and slumping behind her prone and cold body.

"Shuffle back." He muttered in her ear and her eyes snapped open, heading turning to look at him. He only looked back at her impatiently. "Come on."

She did as he asked, pressing her back into his chest, lifting the blankets to let him slid in with her. His arm slid around her waist, tugging her that extra inch closer. She tried not to flinch, because the contact was so unexpected. So strange, to have it come from him.

He hitched his leg over both hers, tangling them up in a mess of limbs and drew her hands to her waist, under his palm.

"Now, fuckin' sleep." He ordered grouchily in her ear, before settling his head in the crook of her neck.

She tried to steady the pounding of her heart, forced herself to relax and as she did so, she realised the pounding wasn't hers. It was his. It was his heart beating rapidly against her back and she was stunned.

It was frightening for him, to be this close, but he did it anyway. Not for the first time, she wondered if she knew anything about Daryl Dixon at all.

When she woke in the morning, she was toasty warm.