Aaron was a mess. Two bullet wounds to the shoulder, one so deep, Carol had began to think that he might not make it. With no Pete, it was down to her and Rosita to dig them out, to try and patch the man up the best they could, with all the chaos going on around them.
It was only when she took five minutes to wipe the blood from her hands and she looked up to see the hard stare Deanna was giving her from across the room, that Carol realised that her cover was blown. Nobody was going to believe the den mother act when they'd spent the last couple of hours watching her dig shrapnel out of Aaron like a combat medic, barking orders left, right and centre and in one particularly tense moment, threatening to put a bullet in Simon, one of the new guys, who'd burst in uninvited, ranting about something she didn't bother to listen to.
But right now, she couldn't care less what Deanna thought. Not when she could see the state Daryl was in just outside.
"I want a word with you." Deanna grabbed her by the shoulder as Carol made for the door, but she only shrugged her off.
"Later. I've got things to do." She didn't care about placating or sugar coating. Deanna was not important.
Daryl paced up and down the garden path, kicking at the odd loose stone.
"Daryl." Carol reached out and stopped him, mid stride. "He's gonna be fine. You did a good job, he'd have died without you."
Daryl looked at her, eyes red and angry. "I should've seen it comin'. They came too easy."
"You couldn't have known that they were going to shoot at you." Her hand slid down to his forearm and she turned it over to inspect the wound there.
"Well I fuckin' should've! It's my goddamn job!" He snatched his arm way and continued his angry pacing, stopping only to kick the wall ferociously. "They were on there way here! Coulda killed everyone!" He was spitting with rage, but Carol knew what it was. Daryl was deeply upset by the day's events.
"Yeah, but they didn't! They never got here and they're dead, so you did your job. Now I need you to come inside, so I can do mine and patch you up."
"Can't…I need to find Eric - tell him.." Daryl drifted away, one hand tugging at his hair.
"Eric is inside holding onto Aaron's hand. They're fine." Carol reached over and tugged him back. "Sit." She nudged him into falling back onto the bench by the door. "I'm going to get a kit, we'll clean you up back at our house."
Daryl only nodded limply, slumping back against the seat.
Carol managed to avoid Deanna as she dashed back into the medical centre, gathering up all the necessary equipment to disinfect and stitch Daryl's arm and she almost got out of there entirely, until she got to the door.
"Carol." Deanna's arm blocked her exit. "I want that knife hiding under your shirt and if you have the gun you threatened to use, I want that too."
She saw Daryl stand to attention in the corner of her eye, stepping forward in anticipation of intervening.
Carol sighed and turned to face Deanna square on. "Deanna, you are having neither. I have work to do. I understand you'll want to talk about some things that have taken you by surprise. We can do that tomorrow. Right now, I am only interested in Daryl and Aaron." She pushed past the other woman and jerked her head from Daryl to the direction of home. "Come on."
Daryl followed her quietly.