A.N: I'd just like to thank anyone out there who is reading, following or reviewing this story. I'm so pleased that you gave it a chance and that you decided to stick with it. Your feedback and support means a lot to me.
Okay, we're going a little off script here. That first sighting of Carol when Daryl returns to the prison was a gap that I had to fill. Hope you enjoy it!
As far as timing was concerned, he and Merle couldn't have picked a better time to return to the prison. The instant that he cleared the tree line and saw the walkers swarming over the grounds, he had felt a sinking in the pit of his stomach and known that he never should have left them. In their first show of agreement since he had unleashed his temper in the woods, he and his brother had both seen the Governor's hand at work in what waited for them. In a typical 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' move, Merle forgot his animosity toward Rick and recognised the merits of a combined approach when dealing with common foe. Though he was a jackass in more regards than Daryl could count, military experience was ingrained in him and Merle knew a tactical advantage when he saw one.
They had moved fast, survival instinct taking over, both he and Merle rushing forward to save Rick from an onslaught of walkers outside the fence. Finding the sheriff out of ammo exhausted and somehow more fragile than he had been when they left him outside Woodbury, Daryl watched his friend with concern, always keeping track of his brother and their surroundings. He tried to figure out the dynamic, tasting the emotional currents on the air and simultaneously riding a wave of adrenaline that made him want to tear something apart. The perimeter fence had been breached, gates torn clear off by the forward momentum of a truck that had blasted straight through the gates to deliver a truck full of shambling reanimated corpses to their doorstep. As far as statements went the Governor had made a powerful one right there, reminding them all that he was a man unburdened by morals and hell-bent on retaliation for his imagined slights.
They had to move carefully, Merle watching his back while he kept Rick moving, knives and bow at the ready in case of trouble. With every step Daryl felt the tension in him building, sure that something was wrong. The outer walls of the prison were too quiet, other than the truck that sat outside the cell block, doors still open as if it had been abandoned in a hurry, there were no signs of life. Where were Glenn and Maggie, Carl, Beth and Michonne? Above it all though, one thought forced its way to the surface, where was Carol? He fought the rising tide of dread inside him, if any one of his family had been hurt during this attack he wouldn't stop until he had made a statement of his own and the heads of the Governor and his men were on spikes around the walls of this prison.
Carl was in the yard when they got there, eyeing Merle with barely concealed suspicion until Rick nodded that he should open the gate and let them in. It was fortunate that the look Daryl gave his brother was enough to warn him away from making any smart mouthed remarks. If he wanted a place with them, Merle was going to have to learn to play nice, even if it killed him. As soon as they had taken stock of the situation inside, he was going to make sure that his brother made amends with the others, any other course of action would be insupportable to him. Daryl wanted his entire family where he could see them, where he could know without doubt that they were safe.
They were all there when they stepped into the cell block, gathered around Hershel who was leaning heavily on one crutch and another, smaller figure curled up in one of the hard plastic chairs. Gaze moving from one face to the next, he looked for the one that he always sought when he came back from a hunt, for those bright sapphire eyes that always made him feel like the world wasn't falling away from under his feet. It wasn't until Maggie moved to help her father into a chair nearby and Glenn moved with her, keeping his own body between his girl and Merle, that he was able to see what they were so focussed on.
A shrouded figure lay on the ground, hastily wrapped for burial by the survivors, its hand gripped tightly in the bloodstained fingers of another member of the group who was the centre of everyone's attention. Daryl died a little at what he saw in that chair, heart and breath stopping as his brain shorted out on him. Carol didn't look up, didn't move, didn't even seem to be breathing as Beth cleaned the blood off from her skin with gentle movements. She didn't respond to anything that was done or said to her, simply stared at something no-one else could see. The blood in his veins turned to ice as he searched for the source of the bleeding and found nothing that would account for the red stains that seemed to cover every inch of her, then turned to gasoline as snippets of conversation began to permeate the fog that hung over his consciousness.
She had been standing right next to Axel when he was shot and the blood that painted her skin belonged to the man who had inadvertently saved her life. Listening to Maggie describe how Carol had taken cover behind his body, using the prison inmate as a shield against the gunfire that the Governor's henchmen had rained down on them, he couldn't breathe again, just couldn't physically draw enough air into his lungs. Unaware of cranking his hands into fists until he felt Rick's hand land on his arm, he reined in his anger by force of will, knowing that it had no place there, conscious of his brother at his side even though Merle seemed as captivated by the tableau in front of them as he was.
As if she sensed his presence, Carol's face lifted toward him, her eyes seeking him out. Dimmed by pain and shock, those eyes locked with his and her pain swept through him as surely as if it were his own. He wanted to push Beth out of the way and take over where she left off, wanted to wrap his arms around her, he wanted to carry her back to her cell and watch over as she slept with his bow aimed at the door, because he saw clearly what the others didn't, what they couldn't: she was hanging by a thread, the slightest knock, a wrong word and she would shatter. "You're back," she remarked, voice barely above a whisper. It was the sweetest sound he'd ever heard.
Daryl cleared his throat, shuffled his feet slightly, uneasy with the words that suddenly wanted to flow out of him, wishing that this reunion could have taken place anywhere but under the noses of the rest of the group. "I'm back," he confirmed, keeping his voice level, hoping she could read the words he wasn't saying in his body language and his eyes. He wanted her to know that he was back to stay, that he wasn't leaving again unless they told him to, that even if Merle were to up and leave, he would be staying. Under the weight of that stare he forgot about the people around them, the world narrowing down to her eyes and the acceptance he found there.
She straightened her shoulders, and offered the younger Greene sister a slight smile of thanks, rebuilding herself right in front of him. Holding his gaze as Beth continued to clean Axel's blood from her skin, she seemed to take a deep breath and release some of the rigidity from her muscles. "Good."
