Seven months on the road did nothing to dim his urge to keep Carol safe. If anything, the urge to protect her only grew stronger during those long days and nights. Through the depths of winter, he kept her near to him under the guise of overseeing her training, standing watch at her side, slipping her a little extra at meal times when he could and sleeping close enough that he could keep watch over her but not so close that she felt crowded when they all bedded down for the night.

Somewhere along the way, he realised that the way he thought of her had changed. His entire adult life he had been a loner by preference, only able to tolerate the company of his brother, yet somehow this quiet little woman had got under his skin and to his surprise he found that he liked her there. He grew to like the feel of her gaze on his face when she looked for him returning from the hunt, the warmth of her manner when she joked around with him during their night patrols. Gradually he came to accept the casual touches that were so much a part of her nature without flinching and to accept that he could flirt with her a little without fear of humiliation.

She never admitted that she was cold, not even when the first snow fell and the temperature dropped during the night. Even wearing layers of clothing, he would catch her shivering when she thought he wasn't looking; he would notice that long after they went inside she couldn't get warm. On the coldest nights he took to sleeping huddled beside her, initially keeping layers of blankets between them so that there was no danger of their skin coming into contact, gradually growing comfortable enough in her presence that he no longer felt panicked by the proximity. He would do a lot of things for Carol that he wouldn't even consider doing for the others, his way of paying back all the kindnesses she'd done for him.

It took a long time before he was able to put his finger on why he felt differently about her to Lori, Maggie or Beth. She was different to the others in many ways, but what made all the difference to him was that when she looked at him she saw more than a socially awkward redneck. The others might have valued his skills, but she made him feel like he was worth a damn. Sometimes when she looked at him in the soft way of hers, Daryl felt like every thought he'd ever had, good and bad, right and wrong, was laid bare for her to see but if it was, she never turned away.

Carol's acceptance of him, her concern for him and the flashes of dry humour that she seemed to inspire in him with surprising frequency, made the rest of the group look at him differently. She had accepted him and because she had, so did they. By the end of the winter, he could no longer remember why he had ever felt that he didn't belong with the group.