Hi my readers and friends! Here is Chapter 9 - I hope you enjoy the adventures I'm bringing the group through as they make their way to the prison. I am trying to keep it close to the trailer - some of you have noticed. Also working with some of the rumors going around to add to the fun. Please enjoy and hit that button! I love to hear from you! Kat

She was standing on her tip toes, pressing her breasts right into his chest. Her silken shirt slipped in his hands as they moved up around her waist to the front where her pert nipples poked up through the slippery material. She's not wearing a bra. His mind raced at the thought and it made his cargos tight straightaway. He fought hard to keep control of himself.

His lips drifted from her mouth, dragging along her jaw to her neck. He focused on how she was feeling because if he were any more aware of what was going on with him he'd lose it right there. Then he heard the way her breath caught close to his ear and how the tiniest of involuntary moans escaped from her throat.

Where the hell is her hand going? He asked himself, knowing full what she was going to do, just not believing it. She slipped her fingers past the buckle of his belt, loose, as the rations of food had been thin these days. Her fingers felt like velvet against his skin compared to his calloused hands and he growled, his teeth gritting against the feeling of pleasure.

Their mouths searched one anothers out again while he ran both of his thumbs very lightly across the tips of her nipples. It was when she clutched him in her hand and gave him a light squeeze that he broke it off, shoving away from her. Her whole hand was still in his pants up to her wrist and when he stumbled back, the momentum carried her forward with him, knocking his leg into the fold out chair.

"Damnit Carol". He cursed wiping the back of his hand across his mouth waiting – and trembling as she slowly slid her fingers up and out, her eyes on his the entire time. Her other hand snaked around her wrist rubbing it while she waited for him to say something. "Are ya hurt?" He asked.

The slight motion she made with her head told him no, but the pain in her expression said yes, maybe not her wrist, but she was pained in some other way. It took a moment to compose himself. He stalked around the chair, reaching for the thermos of coffee he'd brought up with him, guzzling more than a few sips. The caffeine made its way through him quick, it always had, not that he wasn't jittery enough as it was.

"I just thought – I'm 'sposed to be lookin' out for the group here." He said, and not too nicely, but for fuck's sake he was frustrated. "What the hell'd you come up her for?"

She uncrossed her arms long enough to point to the blanket that sat folded on the chair. "Thought you might get cold. I see you're back to sleeveless shirts." She said quietly, almost whisperin'.

"Shouldn't matter to you what I wear." He chided loudly.

Carol took a deep breath in and let it out slowly. When he extended his hand to her, he saw that she was already walkin' away, making a steady pace across the ridge. Soon she was out of sight, and it aggravated him because he couldn't keep his eye on camp, the woods, everything else, if he only had his eye on her, but in a moment he saw her thin frame moving through the shadows back to him.

"What the hell do ya think yer doin'?"

"I had to pee if you must know."

He felt his eyes roll and he glanced away, trying to focus on what he was up there for. Damn she was like a leaky faucet, always havin' ta piss.

"Do you want some company?" She asked which surprised him because he basically had just pushed her away again and besides that she hadn't gotten any sleep the night before.

"Aren't ya tired?"

The response he got was a slight shrug. The only chair up there was the one he'd brought with him earlier, but it happened to be one of the canvas chairs they'd grabbed on their first trip to the mall together, the kind that sunk in and gave your ass plenty of room to sit back at a picnic and relax. It even had a cup holder, though he'd found out earlier that it was too big for the thermos.

He took one last look at her, picked up the blanket and sat down, then stretched his arm out to her. The words, "Come here." popped out of his mouth before he could stop them from leapin' through his lips.

Hesitantly she scrubbed at the back of her neck with her sleeve, but then she put her small hand in his and he drew her into his lap. "Careful now," She giggled. "Don't wanna wind up on the ground together all tangled up."

He secured his arms around her small waist, resting his hands together on top of her thigh. "Oh I think we got the tangled part down pat." He breathed into her ear. His resolve was breaking again. Things were quiet for awhile aside from the breeze blowin' at them from the west and the occasional chirp of a cricket. The fleece blanket sat folded in between his hip and the chair. He pulled it out and placed it over them. "It's not that I don't want ya." He finally admitted. "It just wouldn't be right up here."

She turned her head slightly, breathing into his hair. "I can go back down to my tent."

When she wiggled to get up, assuming he didn't want her there, he locked his hands around her and squeezed. "Stay." He whispered. "Rest." His legs would go numb eventually, but he didn't wanna be alone right then and if he were to venture a guess she probably didn't either. As she relaxed against him, still smellin' sweet from the lingering soapy scent from her last shower, he eyeballed T-Dog's tent. One thing – other than what he and Rick had to do tomorrow was on his mind. What in the hell had she and Dog been talkin' about for so long? Every so often he'd rub his chin absently through her hair. He had to remember she was up there with him – and what they'd just been doin'. She'd only been talkin' to T-Dog.

In the thick of the woods surrounding the pond Merle kept a steely eye on the glow of the light and the shadow of his brother standing guard. His vision still hadn't returned to normal since he'd taken the blow to the head by whoever'd been travlin' with that blond bitch he recognized from Atlanta. She must've split off from the group. When he cornered her – alone near that small shack off the beaten path, he thought maybe he could talk her into tellin' him where his brother be hidin' out and with who, but he hadn't counted on her keepin' her lips zipped.

She'd been shocked to see him there, ugly stump and all. He knew perfectly well how to use the knife that he could lock on the contraption that covered the end of his arm and he used it well when the situation called for it, but it'd only been when she'd struggled against him that he wound up slashin' her arm. Stupid bitch deserved it anyhow he reasoned after he'd woken up to a geek stumblin' across the forest ready to chow down on his ass.

Now he knew where Darylena'd been all this time. And from what it looked like, he wasn't cryin' the blues like a pussy over his long lost brother Merle, no.

It took every bit of gumption to hold himself back and watch what played out in front of his bleary eyes. There his baby brother sat, then he paced. Then the woman came up, the plain lookin, scrawny one with the wife-beatin' asshole of a husband he'd had some run-ins with a time or two back at the original camp. He and her kid were nowhere in sight, but he'd spotted her earlier with the chinaman, a young, sweet young thing he'd never seen before and - the nigga. Oh his blood pressure pumped through the roof when he'd laid eyes on him. Clumsy bastard droppin' the dammed key, the whole damned lot of 'em leavin' him for dead.

He couldn't wrap his head around why Daryl would be standin' guard for these people. It made it hard to believe he'd ever come lookin' for him. Though these people could have him fooled him, coulda told him he was dead once they got back from the city. He'd tried to find his little brother. Thought he'd come close a few times.

When fall began he found a strange sign up on the highway on the windshield of a '68 Mustang, looked like it asked for a Sophia to wait there. That woman, her kid's name was Sophia. Could be any Sophia or so he thought until he wandered the vicinity about three miles out, found a farm with some of his brother's gear there. It'd been overrun by geeks. The ones still up and walkin' were easy to take care of. And the ones that'd been put down - few of 'em scabby bastards had his brother's bolts lodged in their heads. That's when he found and followed the bike trail through the woods and back out to the highway, goin' from there. Tonight was the first he'd laid eyes on his brother in over eight, nine months.

His top lip curled up off his teeth when the scrawny woman took Daryl's face in her hands and laid a lip lock on him. And he felt the same sense of puzzlement he'd felt when mama had gone back to their daddy only days after Daryl's mama had gotten killed.

He turned his face away from the scene as it got more intense, feelin' like a peepin' tom. What the fuck' goin on? First the dead rise and now Darylena is mackin' faces with some bean pole? I've entered the fuckin' twilight zone.

He processed it for a bit leanin' back against a thick oak, almost fallin' asleep. When he turned back; she was in his lap, leanin' in, all sleepy like.

Merle yawned himself. Now that he found where they was campin' he figured on where they was headed. The watch towers poked high above the trees. He reckoned he'd keep an eye on things. Make sure no geeks or anythin' else got 'em 'fore he did. Not even the gov himself.

Feelin' her warm body pressed into his while she slept was as good as it got in this shitty world. And as safe as they figured that prison bein' he couldn't stand to think of losin' all this open space. He'd spent most of his waking moments outdoors many of his sleepin' ones too.

Thinkin' back there was a time or two when Merle had been back from doin' time in the sage house before he got hauled off to juvie, where he'd taken him out for days campin' near the house. It got him out of the shit hole anyways. Merle hadn't been the most patient brother in the world but there'd been times – a few times that he'd tried. Most of those times had been before the drugs, before he'd done hard time. His thoughts scattered like a startled flock of birds when he saw T-Dog crawl out of his tent and climb the ridge.

He stood almost toe to toe with Daryl who glared at him for a good minute or two before he said anything. "I can take over. Ya want me to carry her down for ya?"

Daryl stood lifting her easily. "I got her." He growled leavin' the thermos up there and takin' the blanket with him.

T-Dog only shook his head as Daryl passed by him. Daryl had no reason to treat the guy that way. They'd spent months together with minimal drama. Why would he suddenly be upset about Carol talkin' to T-Dog? He reached the edge of the fire and twisted, checking out his tent, which was only half erected. It would be a squeeze, but once he opened and laid her inside her own on her neatly folded sleeping bag, tucking it around her, he found room to wedge his way in next to her. There was no extra pillow and though the air had a chill to it, he folded the blanket they'd had over them earlier into a make-shift pillow. After a bit of wrestling to get himself situated he curled up on his side facing the tent wall and fell asleep. He hadn't realized how tired he really was.

Hours later the sun was up and shadows danced as people moved around outside the tent. He kept his eyes closed trying to get an idea of where he was. During the night Carol must've scooted out from inside her sleeping bag and opened it up to cover them both. He also noted that he was sharing her pillow, lying face to face with her. She scrunched hers up in her sleep and as he watched as she wiped at her eyes with her finger tips.

"Sophia baby." She whispered.

He could feel her breath on his cheek and moved to touch her, maybe offer some comfort that he hadn't before. All that anger was gone now and what was left inside him felt like a hole. He hadn't known the little girl long but she'd been a part of Carol. Fragments of the thoughts that ran through his mind while he'd searched for the girl came rushing back. The look on Carol's face if he'd come across the field with Sophia on his back or even walkin' next to him smilin', ready to greet her mama. The appreciation not only from the group that he was worth somethin', but the idea that he and Carol – had he really thought of it that far back? Without thinkin' he reached out to swipe a tear from her eye before it dropped on the pillow, but bumped her hand first. Carol's eyes snapped open in shock, "Ed, No! Get the hell away from her!" Her arms flailed, she kneed him hard in the groin and all his air went out over her shoulder with an "oomph" noise. He tried as much as he could to keep her from knocking down the small space they were in and then he realized it was a confined space. Quickly he worked to free himself from her and unzip the tent.

Beth and Carl sat on a log near the fire watching with open mouths as Lori rushed over.

"She need's ta wake up." Daryl groaned, trying to pull her out by her feet.

"Sophia!" Carol cried again. "Walker, need the gun." She reached to the back of her pants. Thank Christ it wasn't there. Lori got behind her, patting her back, trying to move her out of the tent.

"Watch it, you got the kid there in the sling." Daryl warned her. "She got me good." The pain still fresh between his thighs.

"She's comin' out of it." Lori said.

Daryl got in front of her as she took her first breath of air outside of the tent. Her eyes locked on his. T-Dog and Rick made it down off the ridge having seen the struggle they were having. Maggie and Glenn stood back with the kids while Herschel came to check her out.

"She's awake." He announced.

"Thanks doc." Daryl drawled, putting a hand on her shoulder, stroking her cheek. "You alright tiger?"

Her breathing was quick and uneven but slowing down. Her eyes darted around to everyone in the group. She looked embarrassed as fuck.

"Hey, it's okay. Just had a nightmare is all." He told her gently, leaning into her as Lori eased her forward into him. Finally she put her arms against his chest, burying her face against him.

It isn't the best place to have a meltdown but shit happens. He thought.

When she brought her chin up to look at him and him only, he knew she'd be okay. Then she turned around staring past Lori and saw the tent which was twisted at the front and the back end pulled down to the ground. She bent her head to his as he helped her stand. "We're gonna need a bigger tent." She told him through her tears, a sheepish smile on her face.

Carol's escapade in and out of the tent made it a little bit tricky going on the expedition with Rick just after breakfast. Not to mention he couldn't shake the thought that eyes were on him the entire time they took the path to the prison and not dead, hungry eyes either. No, someone was trailin' them, he was sure of it.

"So." Rick said before they stepped out of the clearing to get a good view of the sector that he was intent on making safe. "What's up with Carol?"

Daryl pretended to squint against the sun, but it really struck him as odd that Rick would ask. He hadn't back when he'd been pissed at him about the mess with Andrea and Michonne. That was behind them. Hopefully they'd come to their senses and catch up with them soon. He figured they would before now. Even if they made it back to the cabin, they'd see they'd taken off and know where to look.

"She was dreamin' about Sophia is all." Daryl explained.

"I mean between you two." Rick said before Daryl was even finished talkin'.

Daryl blew a long breath out his nose. "In all honesty I don't know." He admitted, though he knew he was a lyin' sack of shit. Anyone could see what was happenin'. Problem was, as much as he respected Rick and the choices he made regarding the group, what was going on with Carol was none of his business.

Rick flashed him a look of disbelief and added a little snicker in for good measure which brought Daryl's blood to a simmer.

"Listen, you wanna talk goin' in there and clearin' this mess out, make it safe for everyone? That's fine. Let's leave the rest lie."

Rick's smile faltered. When he made no move to step forward through the clearing Daryl did, but as soon as they stood side by side giving the crowded prison yard a good once-over Daryl nudged his arm. "Things any better on your end?" Anyone could see that the arguments and heated conversations that had gone on for months between he and Lori were dying down.

"They seem to be." Rick told him. "And once we get in there? It's perfect."

Daryl didn't know about perfect. But once they got it cleared? It'd be safer, and that's what they needed.