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Chapter Two

Carol clutched the small cross that hung from the thin chain around her neck, rubbing the smooth gold, trying to calm her frayed nerves. She wished she didn't regret letting Sophia go out there but she couldn't help it. It was close to dark and she knew how dangerous the world could be in the dark even before the dead started walking. She had told Daryl that she trusted him and she meant it, she trusted him more than she had any right to, but trust or no trust, anything could happen out there. The herd that had stumbled through earlier had seemed to follow the road but any number of them could have taken to the trees without her noticing. Daryl was strong, but he was just one man.

Her eyes scanned the tree line, moving back and forth, looking for any sign of movement as she viciously wished she had told her daughter that she couldn't go. If she wasn't back soon she was going to ask Rick, or maybe Shane, if they would go out there to look for them, even though she knew it would be a waste of time to do so. They weren't trackers like Daryl. They didn't know the woods like he knew them but simply standing here waiting was driving her to near panic.

Then again, maybe if Sophia hadn't gone with him, something could have happened when those walkers showed up out of nowhere. It was a miracle that none of them had been killed. Maybe sending her into the woods with Daryl had saved her life.

She saw movement from the corner of her eye and turned her head so sharply that she winced at the pain in her neck. There, walking near the center of the road, was Daryl and Sophia. She took in a shuddering breath and nearly broke into a sprint to get to them but she remained calm, walking towards them like she hadn't been standing for hours looking at the damn woods and praying they would come out.

Upon closer inspection she was surprised at her daughter's bedraggled appearance. The knees of her jeans were ripped and Carol was sure she had skinned them, there was a tear in her shirt, her hair was full of burrs, face smeared with dirt and what looked like blood, but all of this was set firmly on the back burner in Carol's mind when she saw the smile on the girl's face, the light in her eyes and then, the girl unceremoniously held up a dead thing just as Carol halted a few feet away.

"I killed this," the girl beamed.

Carol made a face and then tore her eyes away from the unexpected look on Sophia's face to see Daryl studying her carefully.

Carol looked down, unable to hide the surprise on her face. "You killed that?" she asked, impressed.

Sophia nodded. "Come right out of nowhere and so I... well, I got scared and I kicked it."

"What is it?" Carol asked, almost sure that she didn't want to know.

"It's a rat," Sophia said, glancing at it. "Daryl said he'd cook it up and I could eat it if I wanted, that that's what I was suppose to do, but I'm not sure about it. It's my first kill hunting but it doesn't make a whole lot of since to take credit when all I used was my sneaker."

Daryl ducked his head, apparently not wanting either of them to see the grin on his face but it hadn't gone unnoticed. "If we were real hard up I'd say eat it, but you can toss it if you want."

Sophia held up the dead rodent, scrunched up her nose and then tossed it over the guard rail.

"Did you manage to catch anything else?" Carol asked as she fell in step with the two of them.

Daryl shook his head, glancing down at the girl. "She's gotta work on her stealth a little bit. Scared everything away."

Carol realized then that he probably hadn't had any intentions of hunting anything anyway. He had probably just wanted to get away from the rest of them, but taking Sophia with him had been a nice gesture. "How on earth did you manage to find a rat?"

Before he could answer Sophia looked up. "We found an old house not too far from here. There wasn't a whole lot inside but we checked it out anyhow. It came outta nowhere, ran right at me and I freaked out and kicked it."

Carol's head jerked up, her eyes widening at the possibility of getting off of the road and into an actual house. Their dreams of staying at the CDC had been shattered but that didn't mean they had to stay out on the road and the last time she had checked, the RV was nearly ready to hit the road again, but night was fast approaching and they couldn't all fit.

As if he could read her mind he squinted towards the others. "It probably ain't the safest place to hole up. There's windows, easy access for anything that wants to get inside, but I figure somebody should mention it to them. It would beat the hell outta sleepin' out here on the road."

"And by someone you mean me?" she asked with a small smile.

His eyes flitted to hers and then away. "They'd likely listen to you before they would me."

This bothered her. She knew that he was right and she hated it. Why the others didn't see this man's value was something that she would never understand, because he was a good man and he did a lot for the group and it always went unnoticed. The worst part was, he was guilty of the same thing. He didn't consider himself a valuable member of the group and would never admit that he was an asset.

"Sophia, why don't you go get cleaned up, okay. I found a few things and laid them out for you in the RV. You're a mess," she said, giving her daughter a small push towards the others. She noticed that Sophia's hand kept going to the knife that was still attached to her hip.

"Thank you for taking her," she said quietly, knowing that he would brush off her appreciation.

He shrugged lightly. "Ain't nothin' to teach a kid a few tricks. She's smart and she listens. Maybe that'll help keep her alive."

Carol swallowed hard. "We had visitors while the two of you were out on your hunt. A whole herd of walkers appeared out of nowhere."

He looked over sharply, his gaze intense as he seemed to check her over for injury, his body tense.

"No one was hurt," she added quickly, her throat constricting painfully at his reaction. If she didn't know any better, she'd have sworn he'd been afraid she'd been hurt.

He finally nodded stiffly and fell back into step beside her, walking much closer than he had before learning about the walkers.

~H~

Someone had to keep watch since the place wasn't very secure and Daryl volunteered the first round so the rest of them could settle in for the night. In a few hours he would rouse one of the others and then he'd find himself a corner to curl up in.

The house wasn't much but it had been abandoned since long before the turn. At least there were a few sturdy pieces of furniture, beds and it had a roof. That was as much as they could hope for in their current situation. He had overheard Rick talking to Carol about the girl staying in their room with him and Lori. The man was efficient, if not a little blind to what kind of woman he had married, so Carol had been grateful that the kid would be bunking with the Grimes clan. Rick also kept a hell of a gun on him so Daryl felt a little better about it too, which he wasn't even sure why. The kid was nothing to him, really. Well, that's what he kept telling himself anyway. The truth was, he saw a whole lot of himself in the girl. Or who he had been at that age.

A scared little kid, confused, unsure why things had to be the way they were. Always fearful, never knowing when the hammer would fall. And that was her life before this nightmare.

He'd also meant what he said to Carol. She was a smart girl and she paid attention to everything he had shown her out there in the woods, even though he knew that she wasn't exactly comfortable out there. Of course, he hadn't gotten any game but he hadn't expected to actually hunt after he had agreed to take her along. After checking out the property he had instructed her to find their tracks and, to his surprise, she did so quickly. She had lead them back to the road, only going off course a few times. He had been impressed and when he had told her as much, she had seemed surprised and then embarrassed at the praise, but happy to hear it.

But at least now he knew if something happened and they all got split up, she would have a chance of finding her way back to the group. It made him feel useful anyway and Carol had seemed to appreciate the effort. That was always a plus.

He was still unsure how she felt about what had happened between them. He still felt like a fucking chump, but there wasn't anything he could do about it now. It was done and over with and it was likely something that he would just have to put behind him because he wasn't going to approach her again and he knew that if she hadn't brought it up by now, she wouldn't. At least she didn't seem to hate him for what he had done, or thought that he had pressured her into it or forced himself on her. He had been worried about that but then she had said something before him and Sophia had gone into the woods that had chased away that particular fear.

She trusted him.

That may not have been a very big deal to most people, but he wasn't most people and the thought of her trusting him with the one thing that she loved the most in the whole goddamn world made him feel good about himself. That wasn't a feeling he was used to, but he wouldn't mind getting used to it. It was nice to have someone look at him and see someone that was more than the little brother to a mean tempered criminal. And that's all he'd ever been. Merle Dixon's lacky. Not that he didn't love his brother, because he did, with everything in him, but it seemed like, without Merle constantly whispering in his ear, he was becoming more his own man.

He shook his head, snorting at the thought.

Movement in his peripherals caught his attention and in a matter of seconds the bow was raised, his finger poised over the trigger and he found himself staring into a set of wide startled eyes.

"Jesus, fuck, woman!" he hissed, lowering the bow. "Don't sneak up on somebody that can put a damn bolt through your skull!" He regretted his tone the moment he saw her flinch, her body tensing as though bracing for something unpleasant.

She cleared her throat as he lowered the bow, his hands almost shaking from the close call. "Sorry. You didn't eat," she said, like that was a perfectly acceptable excuse to sneak up on him and nearly get herself killed. To hell with safety if there's a chance Dixon's stomach might be empty. Jesus!

His eyes scanned the darkness, his ears straining to hear the crunch of feet plowing through the dry overgrown lawn. He almost told her that he didn't need her coddling him and he would eat when he was ready to eat but he bit back the words, reminding himself that she wasn't here to coddle him at all and that she was probably the only person here that gave his ass a second thought. Just then his stomach, which had indeed been empty since the day before, decided to rumble at the prospect of food.

She smiled slightly and he flushed but knew she couldn't see it in the dark. "I found this in a box in one of the cars and thought of you. I guess I stole it but it isn't like there was enough to feed all of us anyway." She help up a large bowl, brimming with something that he couldn't make out. Steam curled up from the bowl and the smell had his stomach snarling and his mouth watering.

"What is it?" he asked, taking the offer.

She let out a nervous little laugh. "Just some Denty Moore. But I figured you'd appreciate the stew a lot more than the soup the rest of them dined on." Her shoulder went up in a light shrug. "Besides, you do more than your share for everyone. You earned it."

He leaned his back against the tree and spooned in a mouthful, groaning as he chewed. "I don't remember canned stew tastin' this damn good," he muttered, still chewing.

"Then I'm glad I resorted to being a criminal so you could enjoy a meal that you didn't have to go hunt for." She crossed her arms over her chest and looked up, her eyes scanning the ocean of stars above them. Without any artificial ambiance the sky looked like something you would find on another planet.

She didn't make a move to leave him to his meal but she didn't say anything else either. He wasn't sure what to do so he continued stuffing his face but then realized that just maybe, she hadn't gotten a good share of dinner herself.

"You eat anything?" he asked, his brows pulling together in a frown.

She smiled and shrugged. "I had enough. Sophia was still hungry after she finished hers so I gave her half of my share, but it did the trick."

He dropped the spoon into the bowl and shoved it towards her. "Here," he said, wishing he'd been in there earlier because he knew that she had been left with the damn scraps.

She shook her head. "Really, I had enough."

"Eat some of it or I'll dump it out and we'll both starve."

She frowned but took the offered bowl. "You're bossy," she muttered but she took a few bites herself and then handed it back.

They passed the bowl back and forth after that, neither of them saying anything. She studied the sky and he studied the darkness beyond their own little area. The silence wasn't heavy but it still made him fidgety. He saved her the last bite and when he passed the bowl over he remembered something.

"When me and the kid were here earlier she mentioned you liked to read." He reached into his back pocket where he'd shoved an old yellowed paperback that he had found in one of the upstairs bedrooms. He handed it over.

She took the book and then smiled, her eyes lighting up and catching the moonlight. "Thank you."

He shrugged.

"I was meaning to get some reading in while we were at the CDC but I didn't get a chance..." her voice trailed off and a memory flitted through his mind. She had dropped a book when he'd ran into her in the hallway. So, he was the reason that she hadn't had a chance to read.

His face grew hot and he knew that she was flushing too, even though he couldn't really see it. Now that it was right there, almost out in the open, he thought that now would be a good time to say something but he had no idea how to go about it. He was still worried that she'd felt somehow threatened into doing it and he hated the thought of never knowing if that was true.

"Yeah, about that..." he muttered, rubbing the back of his neck nervously.

She looked up, meeting his eyes briefly before she looked away. She looked troubled and he knew then that he really had made a mistake.

"I..." God he didn't know what the fuck to say.

She offered him a small smile that didn't reach her eyes. "It's okay, Daryl. I know what it was and if you're afraid I'll start bothering you or expect anything to come of it, you don't have to be. You were drunk and I just happened to be the person you ran into, that's all. Not exactly your lucky night." She forced a self deprecating laugh. "You're completely off the hook."

She thought he regretted it. Which, she was right, of course, but she seemed to think he regretted it for all the wrong reasons. She thought he had just happened upon her by chance and had, at the spur of the moment, decided to have sex with her.

"I guess I should leave you alone, go and try to get some sleep," she said quietly as she took a step back, looking very much like a woman that wanted to escape her embarrassment.

He didn't know what else to say. Well, he did, but he couldn't find the words. With one more lingering smile she turned. By the time she had taken five steps he knew that he had to say something now or things between them would only get worse. And he couldn't stand the thought of her walking away feeling so bad about herself.

"Hey," he called, keeping his voice from carrying further than it had to.

She halted, her back ramrod straight, but she didn't turn.

"I was..." Goddamn it Daryl, just spit it out.

She glanced over her shoulder, her expression questioning.

"I was lookin' for you," he said, glad to be rid of the words once they were finally out and hating that this was so goddamn hard for him. It shouldn't have been. He should have been able to tell her everything but life hadn't prepared him for situations like this. It hadn't prepared him for feelings like this and he didn't know how to deal with all of them. If Merle was around he would have choked them all down, ignored them like he had back at camp, but Merle wasn't here and he was on his own and-

"What?" she asked, turning so she was facing him again.

He leaned further into the tree, somehow taking solace in the shadows there. "You. I wasn't just wonderin' around. I was lookin' for you."

"Me?"

He nodded, realized too late that he was in the deeper shadows and she wouldn't be able to see him so he cleared his throat. "Yeah."

"Why?" she asked, perplexed.

Surely she wasn't that clueless. Surely she didn't need him to spell it out for her. "Cause... I don't know. I just was. And I don't want you thinkin' that you had to." God this was so fucking horrible. "I just... I wouldn't have gotten mad if you'd have said no."

She stared in his direction for a few long moments and then finally she seemed to find her voice. "For what it's worth, I never would have said no. That's the last thing you had to worry about. I guess sometimes we all have itches that need scratched." She smiled slightly, almost sadly, and turned, walking back towards the house.

She still didn't understand and he still didn't know how to tell her. But he knew that he had to try. At least now he knew that there was something there. She assured him that she wouldn't have turned him down and that had to count for something.

"Fuck," he mumbled, pushing away from the tree and starting another round of the property. Words weren't his strong suit, even though he knew someday he'd be able to spit them out. What he could do until then was show her that it was more than that. She hadn't just been there to scratch an itch. Hell, if that had been the case he could have scratched it himself. It would have been a hell of a lot less complicating.

He had a lot on his plate with this woman. But eventually, he knew, it would be worth it.