AN: Here we go, another little chapter here.

If you've never read anything of mine before, you should know that sometimes I borrow things from the comics and sometimes I borrow them from the show, but for the most part I pretty much just create the world and story that I want.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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"There's water just off the road and down that hill," Michonne said to Rick as she appeared, as quietly as she'd disappeared some time before, out of the woods that lined the road they were travelling. "I don't know how far it runs. It might be best to go ahead and fill up here. We can sanitize it later."

Rick let out a quick whistle to draw the group to a slow stop as they walked along, some lost in conversations and others lost in the worlds that their minds created for them.

When they'd slowed, he walked toward the middle of the group where Carol and Daryl, standing side by side since Daryl hardly ever let the woman out of his sight, were both waiting to hear what was going on.

"Water just down there," Rick said, pointing off in the direction that Michonne had come. "Michonne thinks it's best if we fill up here. If the creek runs out, we don't want to have to backtrack and we don't know when we'll find more."

Daryl nodded at him, quietly accepting the plan.

"If we stop now," Carol said, "then we lose fifteen…twenty minutes. This late in the day? That's a lot to spare if we want to secure some place to sleep."

Rick looked between them.

This was how it all went. Always there was some conflict. There wasn't a single decision that ever got made that was just simple.

It was one of the reasons they hoped this promise land they were heading toward really existed. It would mean a chance to put life on the road behind them, and that would be welcomed to anyone who had survived in a land of constantly looking over their shoulders for Walkers and people alike. It would mean putting an end to making decisions that meant one of your needs could cost you another.

They needed water. They needed to make good time to get closer to their destination. They needed a shelter to pass the night when the Walker population seemed to move the most and were the hardest to see. They needed food, but they only ate when they stopped.

Rick considered his options for a moment, entirely aware that everyone, no matter where they'd stopped, were staring at him.

They were staring at him for the answers, but they'd also blame him if he gave the wrong one and they either ended up without water or ended up spending the night in some tool shed sleeping one on top of the other while their stomachs growled in protest of three or so missed meals.

"We split up," Rick said finally. "Daryl…you can take a small group down to gather water, just enough people to carry it and keep the group safe. Carol? You and I can go up ahead with who's left. Try to find a place. Secure it."

"If we don't find you?" Daryl asked.

Rick shook his head.

"We won't go off the main road," Rick offered. "If we find something and get it secured before you show up, we'll put someone out by the road to wait. We won't be hard to find."

Daryl stared at him, finally nodded slightly that he was OK with that idea and then looked at Carol.

He always looked at her in these situations.

And even without words, Rick knew what he was asking.

Was she going to be alright? Was it OK if he went with a group to get water while she went ahead to secure a place?

Was she going to be alright with Rick?

Rick felt his stomach lurch even at the realization of what the silent exchange meant. It reminded him of how unfairly he'd treated her. It reminded him that he still hadn't really done or said anything to make it right. It would be, until he did, something like an elephant in the room. They all knew it was there, everyone could see it, but no one openly said a thing about it as if it were something you could somehow miss.

"We'll see you up the road a piece," Rick offered as soon as he saw Carol give the slight nod of approval toward Daryl.

They remained still for a moment as Daryl picked the people that would go with him and they gathered all the water containers that they could carry from every person that wore one tied, somehow, to their body. Then they started off in the direction of the recently located creek while Rick and the others headed on for a while to try and find a place to stop.

"I was hoping for house," Rick said, keeping pace beside Carol, his view of the road ahead really just that of Tyreese's back as he walked a few feet ahead carrying Judith while she slept. "Like the one we had last night. Everyone can spread out a bit."

"We can hope for whatever," Carol offered. "But on this span of road? We'll have to take what we can get. It won't be long we'll be hitting the interstate for most of the way. Stopping at night's going to cut time off our day because there won't be anything just on the road."

At least she was talking to him. Rick felt like some days that was more or less a hit or miss thing.

"Slower travel," he said. "But each mile is a mile less between us and Virginia."

She didn't respond, but she also didn't react negatively. She didn't change the pace of her steps by going forward or dropping back. She wasn't rejecting the somewhat friendly exchange of conversation between them, she simply didn't have anything to respond when he spoke about Virginia.

Rick hadn't missed that she never seemed to have anything to say when any of them spoke about Virginia.

And in a lot of ways, that made his stomach lurch slightly.

"There's no telling what we'll find when we get there," Rick said. "This great place that Noah talks about might not be there. Everyone might have left. Moved on. But even if they did, what they left behind? We might be able to build something. If it's got walls? We'll do better than we did before."

"You mean at the prison?" Carol asked, her tone empty of emotion.

"Yeah," Rick said. "Better than at the prison."

The elephant was alive and well. He walked along with them, taking up enough space that Rick almost felt crowded even in the open highway. He was almost thankful when they were stopped by the appearance of five or so Walkers that needed to be taken down because it gave him a moment to regroup and gather himself up.

There was so much he wanted to say to her. There was so much that needed to be said.

The problem was that he knew, and he knew this had always been hard for him, that it was going to require him, to a certain extent, to swallow much of his pride. He was going to have to choke it down and admit that he'd acted wrongly. He was going to have to admit that he'd done it from a place of fear, and not as much from the place of "protecting the group" that he'd said he'd done it from.

Carol wasn't going to accept any less. Not now. Not this incarnation of who she was.

The woman at the rock quarry that would have gobbled up any scrap of apology that she received from anyone and thought it was the greatest thing ever? She was gone and Rick knew it.

But that didn't mean that he was accustomed to asking forgiveness, either.

Still, he kept putting it off. He knew it needed to be done. He knew that he wanted to do it, but he kept putting it off. He made excuses to himself that he knew were excuses.

There were too many people around. It wasn't the right time. She wouldn't want to hear it in front of anyone, but there was hardly ever a chance to be alone with her because it seemed that someone was always there.

Daryl was always there.

And Daryl was important to Rick. His feelings were important to Rick. He'd seen how torn up the man was when he'd told him that she was gone. He'd seen how happy he was when she'd shown up outside of Terminus.

He might believe that Daryl was in love with her, but every time he'd hinted around about it and every time he'd more or less asked him directly, he'd gotten dismissed by Daryl.

Yet Daryl hung at her side and followed her constantly since they'd left Grady Memorial. She was always close to him and to Tyreese, both men "watching over" even when she slept like they needed to be on guard for her safety.

Maybe they were protecting her from Rick.

And he kept telling himself that he'd tell her he was sorry…but he'd do it later. He'd do it tomorrow.

Even though life these days had taught him that those were the most dangerous words that he could even dare to think. There was no promise of later and there was no promise of tomorrow.

Waiting for tomorrow had kept him from saying what he needed to say before. Eventually, though, the tomorrows ran out.

"You're looking forward to Virginia? Aren't you?" Rick asked. "Getting off the road? Getting a break from the constant strain?"

"We should try to find something tomorrow that runs," Carol said. "Some cars. We probably won't get any farther than we did last time before they die or run out of gas, but at least it cuts down on a few miles and a few days."

Rick sucked his teeth and finally reached out, catching Carol's shoulder. She stopped her steps for a moment, but it wasn't long enough to really alert those walking near them that they should stop too.

"Carol, I need to talk to you," Rick said. "I think we need to…we just need to find somewhere. We need to find some time when we can talk."

Carol stared at him, furrowed her brow, and shook her head slightly.

"What is there to talk about, Rick?" She asked.

"Carol…" Rick said.

But she kept walking then. Apparently she'd talked all that she thought she needed to at the moment. Rick, realizing that she was effectively ending even his request to chat with her about what had happened had to double step to match his pace with hers again.

She was more rigid now. It was clear in her carriage that she was tense at the very thought of speaking about it. And the worst thing was that she might not understand that he didn't want to "talk to her" to criticize her more for her actions. He wanted to "talk to her" to ask forgiveness for his own.

"Carol, please," Rick said. "Just…ten minutes? You can spare that."

"Ten minutes is a long time," Carol said. "When we don't have a roof. There's hardly any food. There's no water. We need to sleep because we're trying to walk from sun up to sun down. Ten minutes is a long time for talk these days."

He could have pointed out that most of what they did these days was walk and talk, other activities dotted in here and there, but that wasn't really what this was about. He couldn't blame her, though.

Well, he could, but he was tired of that. He wasn't going to put this on her, even if she was being somewhat difficult.

"Carol," Rick repeated, not letting himself be put off. "Tonight? After everything is secured? We're settled in? There's food, there's water, and there's rest ahead? I need to talk to you. I'll take my watch with you. You'd have watch anyway. I'll just take mine with you and let Daryl and Michonne take theirs together later."

"I guess you've got it all figured out, then," Carol offered. "You see that chimney? Over there? If the house it was connected to is still there, it might be best to take it for the night. It's not too far for everyone to come carrying water. And there's a good chance that we won't make somewhere else before it's too dark."

Rick wasn't sure if he felt triumphant that she was, essentially, agreeing to talk to him—even if, in a way, he was roping her into it—or if he felt slightly defeated because she acted so entirely disinterested in anything he had to say. Of course, he could convince himself that she had every right to act that way until she heard what he had to say. She had every right to feel angry with him before he apologized—and even after—but he could hope that she would soften to him once again when she heard what he had to say. She'd have hours to hear it when they took watch together.

Now, if only he actually knew what to say.