So, a couple of reviewers said it could be a multi-chapter story, and I thought 'Why the heck not?' As far as I've thought (not far, heh), I'm planning it to span just over a year, by which point it should align with the earliest chronological one-shot from my 'The Farm' arc. Hopefully I'll get out a chapter a week, but that may be pushed out to one every ten days once term starts again. Enjoy! (Reviews are addressed and replied to at the end.)
Carol woke up in the middle of the night to Daryl's panicky gasps.
"Daryl?" She was instantly awake, her hands flying to his good arm and rubbing soothingly. "It's okay, it's okay…" She hushed him. She reached up to stroke his face gently, and he stilled without waking.
She propped herself on her elbow and watched him for a moment. His eyes were tightly shut, brows drawn together. He tossed a little and ground his teeth with anxiety. She reached to smooth his forehead free of his frown, and his eyes snapped open in the half-light provided by the unusually bright moon. He lay completely frozen, gasping, staring with glassy eyes up at the ceiling.
She waited for him to come out of the in-between sleep stage, but he lay stock still until she rubbed her fingertips across the furrows on his brow.
"Shit!" He exploded, flailing violently. His closed fist thumped her upper arm and she sucked in a pained breath, but didn't move away.
"Daryl?" She tried again. "You're okay…"
"Carol?" He croaked, sitting up with his broken arm strapped to his chest. "Oh fuck, are y'okay?"
"I'm fine," She rubbed his shoulder calmingly. "Are you?"
He didn't look fine. His eyes were still a little wild, and his chest was heaving as he reacquainted himself with the room they'd taken last night. He shrugged unevenly and shook his head. "Beth got taken." He said. "It was just me an' her an' then I lost her."
"I don't understand." Carol shifted closer and tucked against his side. She lay her head on his shoulder and rubbed his arm reassuringly. "Lost her?"
"Walkers came bustin' in, I sent her runnin' out the other side'a the house. Got out there and there was this car takin' off… Followed it all night, lost it at an intersection. I just sorta… I just sat down and stopped."
"Oh, sweetheart." She sighed.
"I lost her." He mumbled dejectedly. "Can't even tell Maggie what really happened. Just said 'she's gone' an' she probably thinks her lil' sister's dead 'cause a me."
"If she's alive, we'll find her. You know that, right?"
"All sorts'a shit can happen to someone alive out here…" He croaked. "Gives me nightmares. Thinkin'a what could be happenin' to her… Wonderin' if she might be better off dead, even if means she's walkin' round out there." His voice trembled. "She's just a fuckin' kid." He swallowed thickly.
She pressed up closer to him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders. He wrapped his good arm around her waist and pulled her tightly to him. He buried his face in her hair and moaned with grief.
"I pretty much killed her." He whispered.
"You saved her for so long," She shook him gently. "Don't you ever, ever, think anything that happens is on you. We've all done horrible things and made hard decisions, and even though it hurts you have to carry on, okay? Don't dwell."
He looked at her and she felt her heart break at the agony in his eyes. "I didn't find her." He searched her face, looking for judgment or scorn. As always, she was just looking back at him, all soft and sweet and worried for him.
"You will." She cupped his cheek. He lay back down, hissing at the pain in his arm but unwilling to relinquish the comfort of her warm body against his.
She shifted until she was curled tightly against him, holding him.
They both lay awake in the darkness, unable to sleep, but finding some respite in each others presence.
They walked for almost a whole day, a motley, limping group wearily batting aside walkers and dragging their feet through the leaf litter. Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, and Bob had a little water left over, and at five in the afternoon they stopped at a group of abandoned cars to drink and rest. Abraham, Eugene, and Rosita began clearing cars of anything useful, and after insisting Daryl sit down, Carol joined them.
"He told me about what you did." Eugene said by way of greeting. "How you got left behind for putting those dying people outta their misery."
"Rick?" She asked, crawling backwards out of the car she was digging through.
"Daryl." Abraham leaned on the hood of the car. "He was so out of it when you showed up, he was sitting on the floor in there goin' on about you like the sun shines outta your ass…" He grinned. "Poor bastard thought he'd lost his damn mind."
"Rick did what he thought was right…" Carol said, unable to shake her loyalty even now. "It wasn't though." She steeled herself. "We used to have a council because he didn't want the burden of being the leader… Not until it suited him, anyway." She shrugged.
"He's the only one who doesn't worship the ground you walk on, ma'am." Abe said sincerely.
She swallowed her tears down. "Really?" She squeaked.
"You're a sweet lil' thing," He shrugged with a chuckle. "I can see why."
He placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and headed towards the other with the bag of supplies they'd found so far.
"I thought maybe you two were together." Rosita commented.
"Me and Daryl?" Carol asked, glancing over at him.
"Mm hmm." She hummed cheerfully. "How two people can be so obviously made for one another but not be doing the nasty is beyond me."
Carol choked a little. "It's not like that!" She protested. "Daryl is my best friend… I'm pretty sure it's mutual."
Rosita snorted. "Please. He wouldn't stop telling us all about you… He thought you could be dead and his voice got so husky it could'a pulled a dogsled."
Carol laughed at that. "I shouldn't be laughing." She pulled herself up. "I've killed four people in the last three weeks." She admitted.
"Four?" She asked.
"My adopted daughter, she… She wasn't well. She killed her sister and was going to kill Rick's baby." Carol sniffled and wiped her tears away. "I had to do something."
"Oh, honey," Rosita came around the car. "Don't cry."
She hugged Carol tightly and petted her hair whiles she sobbed.
They slept in the cars that night. They had enough tinned food to each have a few mouthfuls, and them piled into vehicles to sleep. Abraham and Maggie took watch.
Carol curled up on the bench seat next to Daryl and he slung his arm around her. Carl hesitated outside the door a moment.
"Can I sleep in here tonight?" He asked.
"Of course you can." Carol patted the space next to her.
"Somethin' happen with your dad?" Daryl asked.
"I just… It's weird, y'know?" Carl scuffed his toe on the asphalt. "He bit that guy's throat out." He whispered. "And he keeps looking at me like I'm going to drop dead or something, and it's just… Weird." He fidgeted.
"Get in," Carol instructed, reaching for him. He went willingly, scooting near to her and snuggling into her arms. "You can sort it all out with him in the morning. Does he know you're here?"
Carl nodded.
"Where's your hat?" Daryl asked.
"Left it with Judy… She likes the rattles on it."
"Sweet boy," Carol whispered as she kissed his hair. "I'm so glad you're okay."
He hugged her back. He eventually dozed off leaning against her, and she smiled as Daryl hugged her from the other size and sighed sleepily. The feel of security that came from sleeping in the cars was apparently enough to have him let his guard down, rather than sitting up to protect her like he did the night before.
Carol woke the next morning with her arm numb from the elbow down, where Carl was leaning against her. The sun was just rising above the trees and there was the barest hint of frost around the edges of the windshield. There were two dead walkers on the road that Maggie or Abe must have killed during the night.
Daryl sighed in his sleep and shifted, his shoulder nudging her in between the shoulder blades. Carl began to stir and sat up, rubbing his eyes.
"I'm gonna go check on Dad." He whispered, and slipped quietly from the car.
Daryl flinched in his sleep as the door shut and jerked awake. He looked down at her blearily, and she realised he hadn't slept much.
"Trouble sleeping?" She turned to face him.
He hummed affirmatively.
"Nightmares?" She asked, leaning her cheek on his shoulder.
"Yeah. Did I wake you?" He murmured. Rosita was right, she mused, his voice was so husky she could die sometimes.
"No, I don't think so." She returned.
They sat in silence for a while. His hand crept up to toy with a hole in the sleeve of her jacket as they waited, neither of them willing to leave the relative warmth of the car to brave the chilly morning air.
Finally, though, Carol's rumbling stomach broke the silence and Daryl disentangled himself from her.
"Gotta piss." He offered by way of explanation.
"I'll go find us something to eat." She said. "Don't jostle that arm too much." She reminded him.
"Yess'm" He teased. He exited the car and headed for the trees.
In all honesty, Daryl didn't want to leave her side at all. As he trudged behind a large tree to relieve himself, he couldn't ignore the residual warmth from her body that seeped through his jacket.
He wasn't sure about what had happened to her when she had been with Ty and the girls, only that Mika had died, and Lizzie had become so volatile that Carol had had to put her down.
Ty forgave her for Karen. They were closer than he had ever seen them, always stopping with an encouraging word or smile for one another, but at the same time, Carol was utterly broken.
He wasn't sure how to fix her.
She smiled at him when he returned from the woods with a few squirrels dangling from a string, then frowned whilst she tried to work out how he'd managed to catch them.
"Bob set snares last night." He offered. She relaxed and took the squirrels from him, preparing to skin and gut them to cook for a lean breakfast.
He looked around for something to do, but he was almost useless with his broken arm and it was starting to throb already.
With a sigh, he began to build a small fire for the squirrels to be roasted over.
They sat around whilst they planned their route.
"Where are we even headed?" Glenn asked.
"We need to find somewhere to stay during the worst of winter." Maggie added.
"We need to head to the city." Carol suggested. "We have a better chance of finding supplies there."
"What about the walkers?" Daryl chimed in. "They're worse in the cities an' we're down at least one fighter." He gestured to his own broken arm.
"I agree with Carol." Sasha said.
"Me too." Said Bob and Tyreese.
"What about Washington?" Asked Rosita. "Abe, Eugene? And Tara, I thought you were coming with?"
"We ain't gonna make it just on our own." Abe said. "We need to regroup after winter and try again. Any chance we could tag along?" He asked Rick.
"I don't see why not. We should take a vote on where to go." Rick replied.
Daryl snorted. "We gonna vote?" He asked. The combination of pain and exhaustion had worn his patience right down, and on top of the unresolved conflict between them about Rick's treatment of Carol, Daryl was spoiling for an argument. "Gonna re-establish the council, huh?"
"Yes," Rick replied evenly. "We'll vote."
"An' what if you don' like what we got to say?" Daryl bit out. "Gonna leave?"
"Daryl." Carol murmured. "I'll deal with Rick about that later."
"Like hell you will." He snapped. "I ain't gonna let him do anythin' to you!"
"He won't." She replied quietly.
"I can see…" Rick began. "I can see we got a few issues to resolve… But we need to decide where we're goin' and get moving. We can talk on the road."
"Atlanta." Carol said.
"Atlanta." Everyone echoed, except Rick and Maggie.
"I have to find Beth." She said.
"We go that way," Daryl pointed, "an' it'll take us back to the area we were in last time I saw her. We gotta find her 'fore we go." He said.
"Anyone else?" Rick asked. Nobody responded. "Aright then. We can take four cars, maybe five. Let's find some working ones and go from there."
The group dispersed. Carol lingered with Daryl as he lurched to his feet.
"Sorry for snappin'." He said softly.
"It's okay." She replied. "I'll find you some more painkillers."
"Naw. They make me loopy an' I gotta stay awake." He disagreed.
"Your job is to heal, Daryl. We can't make it without you."
He sighed. "Can't even drive… Fuck, I hate bein' injured."
She rubbed his good arm. "Consider it compulsory rest." She smiled. "You've earned it."
He followed her to the same pickup truck they'd slept in last night, now running and with gas in the tank, and climbed in beside her. She looked a little nervous behind the wheel of such an old fashioned truck, but when he patted her knee reassuringly she smiled at him.
His bad mood lifted, just a little.
To the three people who left me lovely reviews, I've decided to make this into a multi-chap! Thanks for the inspiration!
To 'Guest', I appreciate your feedback, and from what I can tell you didn't like the way I portrayed Rick? I have to say, I felt he would abandon anybody, absolutely anybody, to keep his kids safe. He would've thought they were all going to die in Terminus, and so to have not only Carl, but Judith as well, back with him, would be worth more than anything to him. I didn't mean it to come across as 'Rick doesn't actually care about anyone except himself', just that Rick would leave Daryl just like he left all the other survivors at the end of S4, where he just grabbed Carl and ran without searching for other survivors, to keep his children alive and safe. Thanks for providing me with a bit of intelligent debate and taking the time to review with your opinion! As you can probably tell, I'm not as big on spoilers as you seem to be… So anything that happens after S4 is purely speculation!