Carol remembered the first time she set eyes on the Dixon brothers. She remembered automatically checking to see where Sophia was at and she remembered the tension and unease that suddenly filled their camp. The two brothers had looked like the type of people you cross the street just to avoid but add to that the weaponry they had with them and they were near terrifying.

People had been scared of having them stay but also equally scared of turning them away. So people let them be. They stuck with each other and were always a little way away from the rest of the group. Merle had an edge to him, even when laughing and joking (in his own disgusting way) he always seemed as though at any minute he'd just flip. Daryl was the mystery out of the two of them. He had a temper but he was quiet, watchful and he didn't interact with the others as much as Merle did. Thinking back it was almost as though Merle purposefully kept Daryl and the rest of the group separate.

You may have got Merle at the camp without Daryl but Daryl never stuck around if Merle wasn't there. Shane hadn't liked that but there was nothing that could be done. A lot of them may not have liked them but they needed the Dixon's skills and manpower but the Dixons... they didn't need them nor did they seem to like them that much. Irritating them, as well being like poking a bear with a stick, would just lose them one of their best survival resources. As long as they were keeping the camp safe and well supplied they were a necessary evil as far as most were concerned.

She'd never really thought about these things before. If it wasn't for her need to keep her mind occupied with something else other than the thoughts and images of her daughter being out there on her own, possibly being torn apart by the walking dead then she probably would never have took the time to consider it.

Carol remembered the day Rick Grimes had shown up. She remembered when the majority of the group had sat around the fire and how Daryl and Merle had seemed like an afterthought. Anyone who volunteered to tell Daryl or take responsibility was treat as though they'd just asked to be used as walker bait. Amy had even suggested lying to Daryl about it. In all honestly Carol had felt similar to the others. She was scared of Daryl's reaction. Not really for herself but for Sophia and the people at camp she cared about. She didn't want anyone to get hurt.

If someone had told her then that one day in the future her little girl would be lost and the person who would be keeping her hope alive, the person who would be doing everything in their power to find her, would be Daryl Dixon she wouldn't have believed them for a second.

Slowly she felt as though she was beginning to understand certain things about the youngest Dixon.

She recalled a moment, the day Sophia had gone missing, when they returned to the road and Daryl had found some rags lying on the motorcycle. He never struck her as being much of neat freak but he sure seemed annoyed at Dale for putting them there. It was days later when she was thinking back that she realised he had told Dale to keep his dirty rags off his brother's motorcycle. Not his. His brother's. And sitting here with Sophia's doll grasped in her hand she felt as though she really did understand. Her daughter adored this doll. She took it to bed with her at night and when she got up in the morning she'd always have it clasped in her hands. It was one of her most treasured possessions and now Sophia was lost to her the doll felt some what sacred. It felt as though it held her daughter's memory, her love. Carol remembered Merle always tinkering with that bike, keeping it clean even though he didn't seem to care much for his own cleanliness and his reactions if anyone else approached the bike were near territorial. Daryl may not come out and admit it (even to himself), he'd probably think it were sappy but Carol knew the sentiment was the same. His steadfast refusal to leave that bike behind showed that.

Yes, if anyone in the group understood her situation it was Daryl.

She looked up from Sophia's doll when she felt silence fall over the gathered group. They'd been talking amongst themselves while waiting for everyone to settle and finish their breakfast. It was time to decide what would be done today. The usual topic of who would go out and continue the search for Sophia was of on the agenda but there was another thing to discuss. Last night, before they'd all gone to bed, Shane had brought up Daryl's ear necklace as well as Andrea's mistake and Daryl's famous temper. Just like when Merle had been left behind people were worried.

It was Shane that spoke first.

"I think he's lost it. Not like he had it much together in the first place. But cutting the ears off walkers and wearing them. Then there was the way he was talking when he got back to camp...He sounded paranoid. And if he's not completely gone then this just shows he's capable of it."

Rick sighed before responding.

"We're all capable of it. Especially in the circumstances we're living in. He'd lost a lot of blood and it looked as though he'd hit his head. I don't think anyone in that state would be thinking too clearly."

"You were up there when Hershel was stitching him up. You saw those scars. The guy is damaged. Probably been screwed in the head long before the dead started walking."

Carol thought of the flower back in the RV. She thought of the man that had gave it to her awkwardly telling her its story. She remembered him telling her that she didn't need prayer because Sophia was going to be fine and she recalled him leaving the farm to continue his search almost as soon as he could even though she'd kept him awake almost all night crying.

"I trust him." she said, everyone's attention now turning to her.

Shane scoffed.

"Just because he's been going all out on his search for your daughter doesn't mean you can ignore the safety of the group. He's always been dangerous. Might have been better if we'd lost both Dixons at once."

"He flinched."

"...What?"

She took a moment to contemplate whether she should really bring this up but she felt as though she needed to make them understand.

"When I took him some dinner last night I went to kiss him on the forehead to thank him for all he's done. He flinched away. I don't think for a second he was scared of me hurting him because well... if he's not scared of the walkers. I just don't think he was used to it. Maybe didn't understand why I'd do it."

"Yea, he had a shit life before everyone else's life went to shit. That isn't really helping dispute the fact he's damaged goods."

"Daryl was raised different to the rest of us. He's a survivor. Whatever he went through before we met him he survived it. All of this killing, hunting and living this life we've been left with seems to come easy to him. We all came from different backgrounds. We're learning new ways of life. We're all adapting. He's learning the things that come naturally to us. He's trying."

There was silence after she finished while the people around her seemed to consider what she had said.

"I agree."

"...Andrea..." Shane said with a level of incredulity

But Andrea pressed on with what she had to say before Shane could say anymore.

"That night we went out looking for Sophia we came across a walker hanging from a tree. Daryl didn't seem that bothered by it; he was just going to leave it there. I wanted him to kill it. He did. He wasted an arrow on something that didn't help his survival. He's changing or maybe we're just starting to grow on him but either way we need him."

"I trust him too," T-Dog this time "He went out of his way to save my ass. He'd been safe where he'd been hiding but he saw me in trouble and he helped me. Then when I was hit by that infection he broke into his brother's stash. I'm part of the reason his brother isn't around any more and he still did that for me. He's alright by me."

Glenn nodded his agreement and looking around the circle it was obvious no-one else but Shane was going to voice any disagreement. Carol felt relief flood through her.

She turned her attention back to Rick just in time to see a small smile of approval flicker across his face before he nodded and said,

"Right. Now that matter is settled, we have a new area of focus for our search... Same groups as yesterday unless anyone has any objections."

Carol sighed. Another day of sitting on edge hoping that there'd be at least an answer when the search party came back. But today she wasn't just going to be left with just laundry and cleaning to keep her mind from imagining the worst. Today she was going to have to find a way to keep Daryl Dixon from doing himself any further injury.