AN: Leave a comment if you want this to be a multi-chapter! I will only do so if I gain enough comments. C: also, leave me your prompts in the ask box! I will take prompts from detailed to words to quotes- whatever your heart desires. I will post periodically in the Caryl tag.

He wouldn't say it out loud, but he loved snuggling. And Carol knew it.

Every chance he got when they were alone and safe, he would snuggle up to her; not that she was complaining because he was like her own personal heater. After sex, snuggling. Before bed, snuggling. Struggling to get him up in the mornings, snuggling. Snuggling was the answer to all his problems. If he was mad, she could shut him up with a kiss, but he was really just a giant teddy bear after he had gotten past his initial fear of physical contact. She had to admit she loved it too, because it was one of the times he was most capable of showing his affections for her. When he was snuggling her, he would do the little things a couple should do with each other that he didn't normally because everyone else was around.

He had come home late. She could hear him dragging his precious crossbow as he ducked into the little shack they were occupying the group had built up for now. He had supplied little bits of furniture to make it a little more homely, trying to impress her no matter how many times she tried to reassure him he didn't need to try so damn hard. He ignored her, as stubborn as a bull just like her when it came to something he set his mind on.

She listened as it prattled around when he hoisted it onto the rack, humming to himself a little. She opened her eyes from the little mattress in the corner of the room, tucking the blanket over her nose, watching him kick off his shoes. She quickly squeezed her eyes shut when he turned and started walking toward her, luckily before he noticed she was awake. She enjoyed spying on him a little when he came home late because she knew he would be too tired to give her much of a kick, so she settled for silently drooling over the eye candy that was his body. She listened for the faintest noises of his nearly silent footfalls. He paused, seeming to assume she was asleep as she had intended, pulling the poncho over his head and kneeling down. She felt surprise course through her when he draped his beloved poncho over her small, delicate body. She made a noise of happiness, curling into herself, and he felt himself smile involuntarily.

As he turned away, she opened her eyes, watching him shed his vest and then begin to strip out of his clothes down to his boxers, seeking the pair of pajama pants she had scavenged for him after complaining his clothes were filthy when he came back. He grudgingly accepted them, and had become accustomed to leaving his shirt off after becoming more comfortable with the relationship, but on the condition that his back never faced the door. She agreed happily; and he was like an oversized heater so in the cold she made sure he had a clean shirt to sleep in. It was only autumn, though, so there was no need for it yet, as it was still fairly crisp and warm and he got up early on anyway.

He crawled onto the mattress beside her, pulling the blanket over himself as well, and started to settle when she rolled over. She threw her arms around him, surprising him though anymore he didn't jump or flinch, pecking his lips. He nuzzled her, kissing her back just a little, giving her a tender butterfly kiss. Then, his arms curled around her and pressed her to him, curling up around her with his knees pressing the small of her back, as if he could protect her from all the danger in the world except himself. His hair was a slight shorter now after nagging from Carol, just enough that he could see better.

Carol nuzzled her head under his chin, curling her fingers against his chest, closing her eyes again, listening to his heartbeat as he exhaled contentedly. "How was your day?" she murmured, feeling his calloused fingers tracing her spine under the blanket, her body quivering to welcome the touch. "Did your hunt go well?"

Daryl hummed just a bit in response, before murmuring in response, "Yeah, caught a lot of squirrels... Rick thinks we should try to aim for some place that might be colder. But we only talking about it right now." He shuffled closer, snuggling her, burying his face in the crook of her neck and she purred at his warmth.

"If you think it's the right thing to do," Carol whispered, tracing her fingers over his chest. He didn't say anything, and she assumed he had fallen asleep, before gasping a little when he playfully licked her neck, nuzzling her again, allowing a more vulnerable side of him to come out. He tightened into a firmer ball around her, her curled up position allowing it easier, cocooning her against him, his arms tightening around her.

"How was yours?"

"It was okay," she said softly, her fingers creeping up to curl around his neck and play with his hair. He couldn't force down the resulting catlike purr, enjoying it when she played with his unruly locks. "I missed you, pookie..." She tugged on his hair a little, causing his drowsy purrs to increase. She playfully pouted at him a little when he opened one eye, the blue reflecting in the moonlight brilliantly. "Should call in sick tomorrow!"

"Missed you too," he said muffledly, kissing her jaw. He ran his hands up and down her back, snorting and responding, "Wish I could. We haven't had nearly enough time together lately. But Rick pushed my watch forward a little bit, I get a few extra hours in tonight..."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah..."

Carol smirked, hooking a leg over his hips and pulling him on top of her, growling, "Well, can the archer come out and play then?"

She asked him even as she was curling his fingers in his pants, and he knew he didn't have much of a decision. One slender flick of her finger over his crotch had him wide awake and nodding rapidly, kissing her with more fervor this time and running his hands down the silky skin, growling back, "Anything for you, my queen."

Later, they were snuggled up to each other with Daryl curled tightly around her again, Carol playing with the slim expanse of chest hair. He was purring softly, the rumble of his chest soothing her. He sighed as she moved closer and kissed him, returning it and leaning his forehead against hers, the blanket bundled tightly around them and Carol now wearing his poncho, pulling his pants up. They always cleaned up in the morning so she didn't have to worry about getting up, and neither did he. They had both agreed that while any new life might be difficult and rough on them, and though Carol had suffered so much tragedy already, Daryl had said if it was what fate decided it to be, they should accept it and she trusted him. He wasn't worrying about it and she wasn't either.

He rumbled with a louder purr before it began to dim, snuggling her as she fell asleep, whispering, "You're safe in my arms."