"So that's it? You just decided you're gonna stay and we ain't gonna talk about it?"

She wasn't going with them.

She told him no less than zero point nine seconds ago and after staring at her like she'd grown seven heads his shock had morphed into anger. He paced the tiny space, boots creaking the wood floor beneath his feet as he counted steps from the kitchen to the living room. Trying to calm down. Trying not to completely loose his shit because she had to be insane if she thought he'd just say this was no big deal and drive off without her.

Carol was standing in the middle of the room, her eyes following him as he walked the open area between spaces. "I don't know what else there is to say."

Daryl stopped pacing a moment, his face perplexed, hand raised with a pointed finger as if he were about to drop an important piece of information on her but a moment passed and he just shook his head and restarted wearing a rut into the floor boards.

"You don't? You ain't got a clue why I'm having trouble with this?"

Her mouth opened but no sound came out, as if she were searching for the right words and failing. Resignation at not being able to grasp them just yet fell over her face as she finally spoke.

"I have a chance for a fresh start here. I need that, Daryl. I need it so badly that I'm willing to do this incredibly hard thing."

He tried to process what she was saying through the anger that washed over him in waves. He knew she'd been struggling, saw it plain as day no matter how well she thought she'd been hiding it but cutting ties completely wasn't the answer. Couldn't be the answer.

She'd tried that once and he'd stopped her. Now she was trying again and he had no idea how to change the outcome this time. The terrifying thought of this actually becoming reality halted him in his tracks only a few feet from her, his own mind betraying him and conjuring up all he reasons why she thought she should stay and they all lead back to him not being good enough to make her go.

Old habits died hard and self doubt was at the top of that list, breaking free occasionally from box he'd been trying to stuff it into all his life. He took a deep breath, attempted to focus instead on what she was saying and not what he was interpreting.

If she'd thought she'd found sanctuary here, in all the ways that mattered, who was he to tell her it was wrong. Still, the urge to make her reconsider was strong and he was weaker than he'd like to admit.

"You could have that fresh start with us."

"That's just it. I can't."

"You could have it with me."

There it was. Cards on the table. Heart on his sleeve. As blunt as he was capable of being when it came to talking about anything other than surface feelings. These six words he'd just spoken may as well have been an entire book with the effort they took.

She stared at him, head tilted just slightly and he was convinced all the air had been sucked out of the room and he might not survive the moment in-between his own words and her reply. She was considering it, but the thought didn't last and she turned from hopeful to resigned in the span of a few short moments.

"I can't expect you to stay. They need you. You have responsibilities, loyalties, people who care about you. It wouldn't be fair of me to even think it."

"You're making choices for me. What about what I want? "

She was shaking her head at him now and he knew the conversation had reached a stalemate. He'd had her for a moment and now she was adding bricks to the wall again faster than he could even reach for them.

Her voice was quiet, barely a whisper above the sound of his own heartbeat in his ears. "There's a hundred and one reasons why you need to go. You belong with them and I belong here. Don't make this harder, please."

They stood a mere foot away from each other in this tiny space that barely held enough room for the two of them at once, yet the distance was palpable as they locked eyes. He deflated, his shoulders sagging against the weight of the moment. Gave a short nod and left the room without looking back.

"You see this shit coming?" Faith was performing the completely unnecessary task of moving lumber from one side of the barn they'd stored it in to the other. Hefting up several boards at a time and just barely resisting the need to toss them down.

She was angry. Xander watched her work from his spot against the barn door. Not daring to get too close for fear of getting a board to the head by accident.

"Can't say that I did."

"What the fuck are they thinking?" She hefted several more across the space as her voice rose an octave.

"That they found something better? That they'd be safer there?"

She laughed. Letting the wood fall from her grasp into the new pile. Her arms opened wide in an attempt to encompass the entire farm in her next statement.

"They live with a bunch of slayers! They've never been safer. What the actual fuck?"

She was right of course. If there was anywhere safe anymore it was here with roughly two dozen super powered women at your side. But they didn't know that. He could hardly blame them for seeing walls fifteen feet high and assuming option B was a better choice.

"Do they know they live with hot chicks with super powers? Because we may have left that detail out of the brochure."

Faith glared at him as she grabbed the last board. "Stop tryin' to be rational. This is bullshit and you know it."

"Yeah, it is. But it's their bullshit stupid choice to make and we can't force them to stay here. It'll also, and I hate to bring this up, but I will…it'll also relieve the burden of Buffy having to tell the others about your immunity, or at some point the whole shebang."

She was perched on the pile now, one leg stretched out in front of her and the other bent on a board as she regarded him. "Fine. That part makes sense. I just…" She clenched her fists a moment in barely contained annoyance. "I want to tell them. I feel like if they knew they'd realize the error of their fucking ways. Those people in that Stepford compound are gonna get everyone killed. You saw it. You know I'm right."

"I did and you are. But we can't just tell them, that's not how this works. We've done what we can for them, Faith. Now we need to set them free and hope they come back."

She squinted at him. "Did you just throw a remixed quote at me?"

"Maybe. Did it work?"

She smirked. "Maybe, but when we have to ride to the rescue and save all their asses from the next big bad don't think I won't be saying I told you so."

"I'd be disappointed if you didn't. Anyway, Carol said she's staying. That's something, right?"

"Yeah. Except Dixon is being top level stupid about leaving."

"Wanna lock him in the basement of the house until everyone's gone? For his own good?"

She huffed out a single laugh. "Don't tempt me. They need more help than any couple I've ever met. In another world I'd be asking Red to do a love spell on them."

He smiled. "She would too. Got pretty good at doing those without any negative fallout, remember the first one? With the guy who turned into that giant toad because it wasn't true love?"

Faith snorted at him. "He was ribbiting all over the Council building for like two weeks before she could figure out how to turn him back. We were about to weld together a fucking cage for him before she got that shit straightened out."

They were both laughing then. Good memories weren't a hard thing to come by, they had stockpiles a mile high and the days of them being too hard to voice were long past but the reality of their current situation settled back in fast and the air suddenly was somber again.

"Let this play out. See what happens. Could be ok."

She nodded and pushed off the pile of boards to follow him out of the barn. "I hope you're right."