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Daryl opened his eyes into complete darkness. It had to be the middle of the night, he did not remember coming home from his spontaneous hunting trip, he did not remember falling asleep, and he surely did not remember how Carol had ended up in bed next to him. He saw the moon reflecting off of her silver hair, she looked so peaceful as she slept. They had been so upset with each other, how in the world did she end up next to him? He tried to move without waking her but as soon as he did the slightest twist of his abdomen to rise from the bed he looked over at her to make sure she was still asleep and she was staring at him. "Hey you" she cooed while stretching her arms above her head. Daryl replied "hey, what you doing here? I don't remember a thing from last night, last thing I remember is storming off after Shakespeare McGee felt like he needed to interject my fight with a damn monologue"
Carol simply looked at him, she sat up and for the first time Daryl realized she had nothing on under the sheet. She let the sheet drop the slightest bit to give him an inclination as to what was not under it. He could see the curve of her breast and she began to speak, "Daryl, you know good and well why I'm here. I'm here to be with you. I'm here to love you, don't you know that? I love you, I love you, baby. Do you know that I've always loved you?" She dropped the sheet, exposing her breasts to him. Daryl couldn't breathe, he couldn't move. All he could do was stare from her chest to her eyes to her lips, back to her chest. His jaw had hit the floor, he couldn't move; Daryl had zero game. "Don't you want to do that for me? Why'd you give up Daryl? Why didn't you fight for me? Do you want to be with me? Do you want me to be with him? What do you want Daryl? Fight for me. Fight for us. It's always been us, Daryl. What do you want? WHAT DO YOU WANT!?"
Daryl woke up abruptly from his dream in a cold sweat. What the hell? He had returned from hunting around midnight, everyone was asleep. He had heard someone moving around and as he passed their tent to go to his own he saw Ezekiel going back inside his and Carol's tent. Ezekiel met Daryl's stare and the two men sized each other up, the feeling Daryl had as Ezekiel ducked back into the tent and zipped it from the inside finally snapped everything into focus. He had never fought for Carol, he had protected her, provided for her, but he had never been a man of honor for her in the way she deserved. It was still early, he had to come up with a plan, he had to try.
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The camp was bustling as the sun had come up. You could feel the tension in the air, not only amongst some members of the group but also he could feel the tension between himself and Carol. He had to fix this, but how? She caught him staring at her all throughout the morning, every time she would turn to look at him he would look away. Where did she go wrong? Where had she misred the signals? They both continued to keep themselves busy well into the afternoon. She sensed his presence before she saw his shadow come over her. She looked up and the sun provided a halo around the silhouette of his long and tangled hair. He reached his hand down to her and she took it, helping her off the ground. "Can we talk?" he asked, and she simply nodded. Carol was brushing the dirt off of her pants as they began to walk away, Daryl was nervously biting his nails. Before either one of them was aware of what was happening Peter had grabbed Carol and had brought a knife to her neck. Daryl saw the fear in Carol's face, his heartbeat beating out of control, the nerve of this fucker. "You never came to find me yesterday Dixon, you never gave me my gun back. I don't get my gun back, you don't get your girl back. That's the deal, it's not gonna be any other way."
"Your gun is in my tent man, I don't give a shit about that. Go take it, it's yours. Let Carol go, let her go now!" Daryl began eyeing him and inching closer.
"Why did you lie to me, Dixon? You told me you'd come find me yesterday, next thing I know somebody is telling me you took off into the woods."
"I did not mean to lie, I forgot, I was upset. I've had a lot going on lately. We can end this easily, let her go! NOW"
Peter got distracted by a sound in the woods, Daryl took the opportunity and lunged towards him. He pushed Carol away and was putting all of his weight on Peter, Carol went running and returned with some rope. They soon had Peter's wrists tied together and Daryl jerked him up by his arms. He was kicking at his heels to get him to walk faster. He took him to the infirmary tent and told them to "watch him, don't let him move, he doesn't go anywhere until I get back. He put a knife to Carol's throat. I mean it, nowhere until I get back."
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They had walked down to the river, "you alright?" he asked as he moved closer to her to get a better look.
"I'm fine, thank you" she responded as she lit a cigarette.
"You're talking to me ya know, ya don't gotta lie to me" he began pushing around dirt with the toe of his boot. He kept looking at her, she was beautiful, she was not invincible.
"What did you want?" she asked him. She kept smoking her cigarette and she finally turned to look at him. He saw the tears in her eyes, this woman was full of strength and 0 bullshit.
"Give me a chance?" she was staring at him, it was almost like she was rendered speechless. He's doing this now?
"Daryl, I don't have time for this. Give you a chance for what?"
"You almost died back there, I couldn't ever lose you, I'd die! I want to be with you, I want us to be together. I love you, Carol"
The breath was knocked right out of her. She had to lean over to brace herself against her knees, she began sobbing and she collapsed. He ran to her, he sank to his knees and wrapped his arms around her, he was rocking her, soothing her with his words, all of a sudden she realized her position and she flipped. She angrily began wiping at the tears on her face and she pushed him away from her.
"Daryl, you want us together as what, besties, fighters, partners, lovers? I've waited to hear you tell me you love me for years, it has to take another man wanting me to get you to confess? You've had my heart since the day you tried to save my little girl. I waited and waited for the right time and it seemed to never be the right time, for YOU!"
Daryl was crying now, was reaching out for her.
"You saved me from Peter, we've saved each other a million times. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for that. You can't worry about me anymore, Daryl. I'm going to marry Ezekiel, that's what is best. It's the next logical step, and we can actually teach Henry some semblance of what the world used to be, a normal family, a home...even love." She looked down as she voiced the last part, she couldn't meet his eyes. Now it was his turn for the wind to be knocked out of him, "you're doing what? You're going to marry that asshole?"
She stomped her cigarette out with her boot "it was a beautiful dream, Daryl. I'm sorry", as she went to walk away he ran after her, grabbed her arm turning her around to him and he kissed her. He kissed the life out of her. She was working against him, she was resisting him...and then he finally felt her go limp in his arms and she gave in, she was kissing him back, and then she moaned and he died a little death. She put her hands in his hair, running her fingers through his long strands and he locked his hands on her hips, grounding her body against his. In that moment all the past and the future was forgotten, this moment was a culmination of their love to each other. Her mouth opened to his prodding and a frantic mating began with their tongues. The electricity that they each felt from the other was like nothing either of these abused people had ever felt in their lives. They were lost in this moment until they heard Ezekiel frantically calling, "Carol, Carol, CAROL! Where are you?"
