AN: Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed. Please keep your comments coming. They make my day.

He woke up slowly, her warm body still wrapped around his. He was more relaxed than he could ever remember being before, until he heard the faint sound of his name being called. Followed by Carol's. He glanced around and found that the room was now dark, the sun having set long ago. He hated to disturb her, she looked so peaceful. But he had to. He untangled himself from her arms and reached down to shake her gently by the shoulder. "Carol, come on, we have to get up. Somebody is looking for us."

He smiled when her blue eyes flickered open, a little pout coming to her lips. "I don't want to move. I'm so comfortable. Lock the door and lay back down with me. Please?" she grumbled, half joking, half serious.

He leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. "I love you woman, but we have to get out of here. It's really late. They're probably freaking out wondering where we are."

She surrendered. She stretched herself out on the bed for a moment, groaning as she finally sat up. Daryl retrieved their clothes from the various places they had been thrown, and handed hers to her before putting on his own. She stood up after she had slipped her boots back on, moving to close the disheveled bed, but Daryl stopped her.

"Leave it. I have a feeling we're going to be coming back here real soon."

She smiled at his statement, and stretched up to kiss him, his hands moving to rest on her hips. They both startled as the voice calling their names got louder, getting closer to their hiding place.

Daryl grabbed her hand and pulled her alongside him as they reluctantly left the room. Once they were out in the hallway, they only had to go around a few corners before running right smack into Glenn, who was just about to call their names again. He stepped back, startled by their sudden appearance. On closer inspection, he was even more surprised by the fact that their hands were clasped tightly together. Seeing the look that was on Daryl's face, he decided to ignore that part for now.

"Where the hell have you two been? We've been searching for you for hours. Rick is losing it."

Daryl was about to say something rude, but Carol spoke up first. "I'm so sorry Glenn, we were just exploring the prison a little bit and we kind of fell asleep. I asked Daryl to go with me. It was just a stupid mistake. I'll go apologize to Rick right now." she said, already moving in the direction of the cell block. Daryl didn't say anything, just gently pulled his hand from hers as they walked silently, Glenn following close behind, more confused than anything.

When they reached the cell block, Daryl could see that Rick was pissed. He was pacing back and forth along the catwalk, mumbling softly to himself. When he spotted them enter, a brief flash of relief washed over his face, quickly followed by a look of anger. "Just where in the hell were you two? It's after midnight. I've had every person in the group out looking for you. What the hell were you thinking, going off alone without telling anyone. What if something had happened?"

Daryl could understand his point, but it didn't stop the small bubble of rage that was beginning to form in him. He bit his tongue as Carol finally spoke.

"I'm sorry Rick, this is my fault. I made Daryl come with me. It was thoughtless and I should have told someone where I was going. Nothing bad happened, we just fell asleep. I'm sorry." she said quietly, hey eyes downcast.

Rick threw his hands up. "You're sorry? That don't really make me feel better Carol. Everyone put themselves in danger to look for you, and all you can say is you're sorry. It was a mistake? No Carol, it was just plain stupid." he yelled.

Daryl watched her flinch back from his words and the bubbling rage inside of him boiled over. He stepped forward, getting right up in Rick's face. "You ain't ever gonna speak to her like that again, do you understand me? You have no fucking idea what the hell happened. Ain't none of this her fault. We needed some time alone, and I fucked up and let us fall asleep. That's it. It was my doing, and if you wanna get all tough and yell at someone, yell at me. But I'm warning you right now, you ever call her stupid again, it don't matter that we're friends, I will shoot an arrow so deep in your ass it's gonna come back out through your balls."

Rick stepped back, in a small state of shock. Daryl hadn't spoken to him like that in such a long time that he had almost forgotten how intense the man could get. He looked at Carol, and when he saw the look on her face, he immediately regretted almost every word he had said to her, at least the way he had said them.

"Carol, I'm sorry I said those things to you. I didn't mean to get so angry, it's just that with what happened to Lori, and to T-Dog. I need to know where everyone is. We all thought we lost you once, and when we couldn't find you tonight, I panicked. We all love you Carol, you're family. I'm sorry I got so upset, but I worry about you. Can you please forgive me for the way I spoke to you?" Rick said sincerely.

Daryl felt himself begin to calm as she looked up, and nodded. Rick pulled her in for a hug, squeezing her tightly for a moment before releasing her. "Thank you Carol. I'm just glad you're back, safe and sound."

Rick looked at Daryl then, and nodded, eyes expressing his apology. Daryl simply nodded in return, accepting it. The air in the room was tense. Everyone was gathered around, but no one really spoke. Deciding that he would be the one to break the silence, Glenn grinned as he spoke. "So guess what, when I found these two, they were holding hands."

Carol could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she heard his words, and she quickly looked at Daryl, readying herself to stop him if he tried to punch the young man in the face. He just stepped closer to her and took her hand back into his own. He glanced at her for a second before turning his glare on Glenn. "Yeah, we were. Somethin' wrong with that? You and Maggie been sneaking all over this prison since we got here, doing a whole lot more than that. You got a problem with a man holding his woman's hand?" he said.

Glenn was still smiling and when he heard Daryl call Carol his woman, he just laughed. "No problem at all man. I was happy to see the two of you together. We've all been placing bets on when you two would finally hook up, and it looks like I just won." He looked around to the rest of the group, and put his hand out. "Pay up people. You each owe me a pack of candy. Don't care what kind. I'm not picky."

Everyone grumbled and made their way into their cells, coming back out with various packages of sweets. Glenn was quite pleased with himself as he collected his winnings, his hands overflowing with stale chocolate bars and bags of skittles and gummy bears. Even Carl emerged from his cell, barely opening his eyes as he dropped his last pack of M&M's on top of the pile and made his way back into his room, mumbling under his breath.

Everyone seemed in better spirits, bitching about the loss of their candy, but smiling and laughing. They began to break apart, saying goodnight to each other as they each made their way back into their cells.

Daryl and Carol were left standing together in the middle of the catwalk, in a bit of a state of shock.

"Daryl, am I still asleep?"

He glanced sideways at her, noting the confused expression on her face. "No, you're awake. Why?"

She smiled softly as she looked at him, her expression changing to one of amusement "I thought I was still dreaming. That was not how I pictured that going. No one even seemed surprised. They were betting on us, for goodness sake. Has it been that obvious this whole time? Were we that transparent?"

He leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. "You were. I'm pretty damn good at hiding my emotions, if you haven't noticed that by now."

She looked up at him, trying to look annoyed but still smiling. "Hey, I'm good at hiding things. I kept Lori and Shane's secret, I didn't tell a soul when I caught Maggie and Glenn sneaking around back on the farm, I didn't even say anything when I saw Michonne kissing Rick. Hell, I've been hiding bruises for months now."

Her words suddenly brought him back to reality. The bruises, her cancer. He had almost forgotten about them for a moment. He watched her smile fade a little bit as she realized what she had said. But he didn't get angry or upset. He just leaned in and kissed her again, before pulling back and smiling at her. "I'm sorry. You are very good at keeping secrets. Forgive me for doubting you?" he said sincerely.

"You're forgiven. Just don't do it again."

They slowly walked through the block, still hand in hand as they made their way to her cell. He stopped when they reached Glenn and Maggie's room. He smirked at her, before releasing her hand and creeping quietly past the curtain. She heard the sound of a fist meeting muscle, followed by a loud yelp and the sound of Maggie laughing. He emerged a second later, and dropped three Hershey bars and a bag of M&M's into her hand. He just grinned as she smiled at him, quite happy with her gift. "I read somewhere that chocolate is good for you when you're sick. Since we're the reason why he got all that stuff, I figuredt he wouldn't mind sharing"

She raised an eyebrow as she looked at him. "It didn't sound like he wanted to share."

Daryl shrugged as they continued to walk. "Just needed a little convincing. Don't get your panties in a twist, I only punched him in the arm. Didn't even hit him that hard, don't know why he yelled like that. Maggie thought it was pretty funny."

They finally came to a stop in front of her room. She pulled back the curtain to enter, but he hesitated. She stopped when she felt it, and turned around to face him. "What's wrong."

"Nothin, I just… are you sure you want me in there? Bed is kind of small and you know everybody is gonna be teasing you when they see me coming out of there in the morning." he said quietly, shuffling his feet.

"Daryl, what happened to your little show of bravado. I don't really care what anyone thinks and I know you don't either. Let them tease, I can always get you to punch tem for me like you did Glenn. And as for the bed, I could always sleep on top of you. There would be a whole lot more room then."

He could feel his cock twitch as a vision of her on top of him, naked and writhing, entered his mind. He pushed his other thoughts away as he kissed her hard, pushing them past the curtain and into the room, coming to a stop when her back collided with the wall. He could feel her wince, and he pulled back, seeing the pained look on her face. "Shit, Carol, I'm sorry. Did I hurt you? I kind of got carried away."

She shook the pain away and looked up at him with a spark in her eyes. "I'm fine. It's okay. I like when you get carried away. Don't stop." she said, crushing her lips back against his. They fought for dominance, their hands roaming all over each other's bodies as they kissed. He pulled away from her for just a moment, trying to catch his breath enough to speak. "Are you tired, do you want to stop?"

She gazed up at him, heat radiating from her flushed face as she panted out her answer. "Not tired…Slept before… don't need it…need you…." She quickly unhooked her pants and slid them down over her feet, kicking them to the side. She left her shirt on, not wanting the cold stone wall to be the only thing against her back. Daryl placed his hands on the wall, watching her as she slipped her panties off and ran her hand down between her legs, showing him what she wanted. He placed his hand over hers, seeing the way she touched herself, hearing her whimpers whenever she touched her clit, feeling her begin to shake as she repeated the motion, again and again. His eyes were locked on hers as he gently pulled her hand away, and replaced it with his own. He could feel how hot she was, how wet. He slipped a finger inside of her, collecting some of her moisture before moving the tip of his finger to her hard little button. He had never done this before, and he tested things out, rubbing slow circles around it, pinching it lightly, flicking back and forth over it until he could feel her begin to tremble. He sped his motions up, his hand practically vibrating against her as she bit her lip and closed her eyes, trying to contain her cry. Her orgasm hit her hard and she nearly collapsed to the ground, but Daryl dropped his other hand from the wall, and moved it to her ass, supporting her as the aftershocks of her pleasure hit her. She finally stilled and her breathing began to even out. He was about to release her when her eyes opened and she looked at him, just as hungry as before. She reached out and unbuckled his pants, roughly pulling them down his thighs, freeing his swollen cock from its restraints. She lifted her leg and wrapped it around him. "Please, I need more."

That was all he needed to hear. He lifted her up, her legs wrapping tightly around his back as he entered her in one sharp thrust. Her arms wound themselves around his neck as she kissed him, sucking and biting at his lips as he moved against her, pounding himself into her again and again, harder and faster until he couldn't take much more. She was right there, and she whispered hotly into his ear just as her orgasm struck her. "Come for me Daryl."

That was it. With one final grunt, he spilled himself into her, panting as he tried to hold her weight when his arms became weak. She slowly unwrapped her legs from his waist and lowered herself down , her feet gently meeting the floor as he collapsed against her, resting his head in the crook of her neck. When they had both pulled themselves together, he pulled his jeans back up, tucking himself back in as he carefully pulled up the zipper. He brought her along with him as he laid down on the bed, pulling her close as he spread the blanket over them. They didn't speak, they didn't need to. They had said enough that day. Right now they were together and that was all that mattered.

Thanks for reading. Working on the next chapter right now. Hopefully if will be up in a few hours. Please review!