Author's Note: Thank you for being awesome. Maybe the red dress will appear later on...

TWDTWDTWD

She knew she'd won the battle with Daryl about going to town when Rick added her to the roster. Even Lori seemed to come around, when Carol presented her with a pack of socks, several bras and a sweater. Daryl must have insisted on being paired with Carol everytime, though she never heard him or Rick say anything about the matter, because they always went together, occasionally accompanied by a third man. She thought that Daryl would ease up about it, when every time they arrived back safely, laden with supplies for the house but if anything, he got worse. He came up to her room every evening before her turn to go out, telling her of the multiple ways she could be useful if she stayed back in the house. His tone was beginning to sound more like pleading, something she'd never heard him do before.

Daryl knew he was failing when it came to persuading her to stay back. He couldn't explain it himself, but he became more and more protective of her with every trip out. She was becoming less fearful and the confidence in her own skills were bettering them everyday. He was becoming distracted. Everytime they went into Newtown, he found himself watching her like a hawk, instead of watching his own ass. He had a couple of near-misses that he would never have had normally. He considered telling Rick that he wasn't going to go out with her, for both their sakes but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He knew he'd be wearing a hole in the floor the entire time she was gone.

He briefly considered what all this meant. He tried not to think about feelings. The only feelings he felt comfortable with were anger and hate. He didn't know anything about this. He couldn't put a label on it. All he knew is that he didn't want her to get hurt. Hell, he didn't want anyone to get hurt, but especially her. He knew he would throw them all into the fire to stop her getting hurt.

But she wouldn't listen to him. She even laughed at him and it made him mad. She didn't take her own safety as serious as he did. He wanted to throw something at the wall everytime she shot him down. She pushed him for an answer as to why he was being so pigheaded about it all, but he couldn't give her an answer. It was his own fault. He made her this way.

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The weather had definitely turned and the group estimated that it was the beginning of November. The group's determination to stock up supplies for the winter months meant that every room in the house held some sort of stock. Carol's room was the biggest in terms of floor space, although as an attic, the majority of it couldn't be stood up in properly, so every wall edge was lined with boxes of tins, plastic drums of water and bags of toiletries.

There were only a couple more things to get hold of, some baking goods that she and the other women desperately wanted, like flour, sugar and powdered eggs, so she was accompanying Glenn, Rick and Daryl for that trip. It was agreed that they couldn't be trusted to get the things themselves and Carol was eager to see what they could find. Meals consisted of kills made that morning in the forest, rice and tinned vegetables and she was looking forward to picking up some herbs and spices.

The day after, T-Dog would be taking her place, in an effort for some more ammunition for the guns. Just in case.

Glenn was jumpy as always, before any run. He was excited by the potential stop into the library. Rick had agreed, books weren't essential, but there would be less to do over the winter months and it might stop everyone from going stircrazy. Lori had been wanting to start back doing some schoolwork with Carl now that they'd settled for a little while. Daryl didn't really see the point. The kid could read just fine and he was smart enough to know that one Walker plus one Walker equalled get your knife out and kill the bastards. Carl had been pestering him for weeks to show him how to hunt and he was considering taking him fishing, just to shut him up.

Daryl took over the driving for the way in. Glenn was chewing Carol's ear off in the back seat about comic books he'd left behind and hoping he could get hold of them in the library and she was sitting there nodding politely even though Daryl could tell from looking at her in the rear view mirror that she didn't have a fucking clue what he was jawing on about.

"Glenn, shut the fuck up man, you're givin' me earache." He growled eventually, as they rolled into town.

"Sorry. Just excited." He told them fiddling with baseball cap. "I think I might have forgotten how to read, it's been so long."

"It's the last thing we do here, Glenn." Rick warned the younger man. "Food first."

"I know, I know. It's gonna be fine, we've mastered the art of getting in and out of town."

It turned out, Glenn was right. Between the four of them, it was a lot easier, Daryl and Rick usually went first, taking out Walkers left and right to get them into the building. Carol and Glenn would follow, head straight to get the goods they wanted whilst the other two circled them, eyes peeled for any strays. Carol loaded up the back packs quickly, trying to distribute the heavy items evenly. Glenn got excited to find ketchup and loaded three bottles into his own bag, weighing it down further.

After tossing the bags in the back of the jeep they moved the car closer to the library. The back entrance had been boarded up, with no hope of breaking it down, unless they wanted to make enough noise to draw every Walker for miles. Daryl was all for giving up and heading back to the house, but he relented when Carol shot him a pleading look.

"Come on Daryl, it'd be nice to have something else to do." She told him, pouting her lips. It was an old trick, an underhand one at that, but it did the job. He let out a deep breath and sighed.

"It's your call." Rick told him, with a jerk of his head.

"Fine." He started the ignition on the car to bring it round the front of the building. The library had steps leading up to it, the doors the heavy kind that took some work to get moving.

Daryl hung out of the window of the car, shooting arrows left and right, popping off several Walkers, whilst the other three made a run to the building, once he retrieved his arrows and followed them, helping to shift the doors, that were stiff from lack of use.

It was huge and dusty inside, Carol had to resist the urge to cough, in case there were plenty of them, light streamed in from large windows that were set up high in the walls. This place had not been disturbed. She spotted a trolley by the reception desk, the kind where people put their returned books and she and Glenn used to pile up their spoils. Glenn and Rick stalked around, but there wasn't a Walker to be seen. Daryl and Rick made the first run back to the car, throwing books haphazardly through the windows and headed back to building to hurry the other two along. Glenn was in his element, picking up fistfuls of his favourite comics.

As the two entered the building, they heard barking from behind them and were astonished to see a large sandy dog running for its life down the street. They backed up into the building in fear though, spotting the dozens of Walkers chasing it, stumbling and hobbling for food.

They looked at each other and back out onto the road. The single minded Walkers hadn't even spotted them. Then they heard the scream. It was behind them. It was female. Daryl felt his heart pounding as he raced down the back of the library and thought he was going to vomit when he saw the sight before him.

Carol lay on the ground, tears rolling down her cheeks, clutching her thigh, which was surrounded by a pool of blood. Glenn was struggling to pull the heavy carcass of the Walker he had just killed from her feet.

"Fuck!" Daryl threw his crossbow to the ground and knelt beside her, fumbling at the torn material of her pants leg, trying to get a look at the wound. He was panicking, trying to push her hands out of the way to see clearly. "Fuck, did it bite you?" He shouted at her, ripping the leg of her trousers. She didn't answer him, she was gritting her teeth in agony her bloody hand digging painfully into his shoulder.

Rick was talking to a shook up Glenn at the same time, trying to find out what happened. He was shaking profusely, rubbing his red hands on his jeans. "It's not a bite. I swear, it's not. I caught her with my knife!" He blurted, picking up the fallen weapon from the floor.

"Carol, is he right?" Daryl was screaming at her now, all he could see were pools of blood. "Tell me what the fuck happened?" He put a bloody hand to her chin, forcing her to look at him, her teary gaze focused on her leg, finally she nodded.

"It came from nowhere, it fell on her and I tried to stab it before I pulled it off, I caught her leg!" Glenn's words came tumbling out but Daryl ignored him, he pulled the scarf from around Carol's neck, tying it around her thigh. She groaned as he pulled it tight, to stop the bleeding.

"I'm going to fuckin' kill you." Was all he said to the younger man. He pulled the bow from her back, handing it to Rick, who had picked up his crossbow, allowing him to pick her up easier. She was light in his arms, one hand behind her knees, the other her back, she clung to his neck as he raced from the building, the other two close behind him. He pushed books out the way to slide her onto the back seat, using his own body to cushion her. Rick jumped in the driver's side, putting the car into drive and racing out of town.

TWDTWDTWD

Her tears had subsided by the time the reached the town's edge, replaced with sharp intakes of breath and hissing everytime they hit a bump in the road or turned a sharp corner. The tourniquet seemed to be doing it's job, the blood had soaked through the scarf but wasn't going any further.

Daryl sat with his back against the door, she was sandwiched between his legs, clinging to his pants legs everytime the pain became unbearable. He didn't know what to do, what to say. Ultimately, he was relieved. She hadn't been bit. When he thought she had, his heart stopped. He wanted to vomit, pass out, die with her. Anything. He could see the wound when he tied the tourniquet, a long cut around 7 inches and he didn't think he could see it going too deep. Despite her pain, he was glad. She hadn't passed out from the blood loss and that was a good sign. Hopefully Hershel would be able to patch up the wound quickly and cleanly and give her something to take the pain away.

"It was an accident." She breathed at him weakly. She could feel his hands clenching around her wrists as she grasped him. "Glenn saved my life."

"He nearly fuckin' killed you." He told her, shooting a mutinous glare at the young man in question, who turned and gave a reproachful stare.

"I'm so sorry Carol, I...I just wanted to get it off you, I panicked." He told her, twisting in the seat to look at her.

She smiled weakly. "It was an accident. I would've got bit otherwise."

Daryl snorted and she pressed her hand to his, so he bit back the retort that was on the tip of his tongue.

They beeped the horn as they pulled up to the house, a few seconds later T-Dog and Hershel came running to the doors to open them, their faces dropping when they saw the back seat of the car. Daryl opened the door before the jeep even stopped, carrying Carol from the car to the house. Hershel shouted at him to take her to the dining room and began barking orders at Beth and Maggie for supplies, as Rick filled him in on what happened.

Within two minutes, the entire group had converged in the dining room, whilst Daryl cut away the rest of her trouser leg on the dining room table. The group all spoke over one an other trying to find out what happened and eventually Hershel yelled at them all to get out, leaving only Maggie to help him.

Daryl didn't move and he'd've loved to see the old man try and make him. Hershel just looked at him, telling him move up the top of the table, near Carol's head. Tears began to fall again as the veternarian began cleaning up the wound, the sting was unbearable. Daryl murmured comfort to her as best he could, placing his hands either side of her face to soothe her somewhat.

Eventually it was over and Hershel ordered him to take her up to the attic. Lori and Beth came up behind him and he wanted to tell them to fuck off and leave him with her, but they carried bowls of water and he realised they were going to clean her up. He excused himself, promising her he'd back in minutes and went down to the bathroom to scrub her blood from his hands.

When he heard them coming back down, he went up, dressed in a fresh shirt. She was lying on the bed, dressed in a nightdress, the blankets pulled up to her waist. She seemed sleepy, the medication Hershel had administered already kicking in. She smiled when he shut the door and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Thank you for today."

"I haven't fuckin' killed Glenn yet." He told her.

"Don't." She pleaded, reaching out for his hand. "I'll take a stab to the thigh over a bite any day of the week."

He didn't respond, but he let her take his hand. She looked pale and frail in the bed. He decided she was never going out the house again. He'd always wondered what he was surviving for. Now he knew, he was alive to protect her.