This started out as a role play between myself (nolongeraxburden) and happyblueink (gunslingerdixon), and it was mutually decided upon to share with the rest of as a fanfiction. So here it is! Enjoy!

If y'all are interested in following us just go to: nolongeraxburden. tumblr .com or gunslingerdixon. tumblr .com

Also: we own nothing in regards to The Walking Dead. All rights belong to the copyright holder.

He wanted to stop when the sun had come down but he didn't. Daryl knew if he did, he wouldn't find her. Shane's words echoed in his mind of when Sophia had been lost. 48 hours. Carol wasn't lost though. She was just gone. Weren't like he could read her mind or anything. Probably a fool's errand he was running, but that wouldn't stop him. No. He wouldn't just give up.

Daryl remembered when the walkers had taken the tombs that day in the prison. Lives that shouldn't have been lost were taken from them in an instant. He'd chalked up Carol dead the minute he'd laid eyes on her pistol abandoned with no rounds on the ground. The scarf that was left behind had been the only remains of what he'd thought had been her. Not a single hair had been stuck in its threading. He remembered the dingy feel of its silken material between his fingers wondering why it's warmth was gone. Why hadn't he gotten there sooner?

But then he'd found her.

He'd paced the length of the hall several times after sending Carl and Oscar back to the cell block, her knife still clutched tight in his hand. Daryl knew that there was something hiding in the depths behind the door. He imagined a walker gnawing on one of her bones or her gnawing on something else, with those pale lifeless eyes he'd been accustomed to seeing all too often. He'd made a quiet resolve when he'd found the scarf, but then he'd found her. An underestimation of what she was capable of.

He wouldn't make that same mistake. Daryl couldn't afford to just let it go like before.

He'd continue despite the dying beam of his headlamp. The sun would come up soon enough. He just needed to keep going. There was no telling how long Rick had been at the prison before he'd shown up or how far she had traveled if she had traveled any further than a few miles of the area. No telling and no knowing.

He'd keep going till he couldn't no more.

The need to relieve herself was so great that she had no choice after several hours of trying to sleep and hold it until the day dawned. She crept slowly from the comforts of the car, even if it had been stuffy and hard to breathe, and she'd wanted nothing more than to strip off her clothes and go naked because of the heat. She quickly moved about two to three feet from the car and squatted to relieve herself. She was out of the car no more than two minutes when she pulled the door closed quietly behind her. There would be no more sleeping for her that night. And so she was left alone again with her thoughts.

She snapped the ponytail harder on her wrist to keep herself in check. She wasn't going to break down again. She couldn't. It served absolutely no purpose other than to let her resolve crumble all that much more. She laid back again, closing her eyes and just begging the day to dawn just a little more quicker than all the other days before. She was so lost in her prayers and begging that she almost didn't make out the sound of an approaching engine.

It sounded like a motorcycle, and more specifically Daryl's motorcycle. Her head came up, spinning around to look out the dirty back glass for any signs of light or life other than the dead walking around. The sound disappeared, making her all that much more certain that she'd been letting her mind play tricks on her. He wasn't coming. He was safe and sound back the prison with the others where he should be, where she wanted him to be.

She fell back against the seat with a loud huff and propped her feet on the dash and put her head on her knees. It was times like these that she wished she had one of those ipod things that Rick and the others sometimes used when they had been farming close to the fences and needed to drown out the moans of the walkers that piled up at the fences. She needed something, anything to drown out her own thoughts.

It was only for a moment that she let herself wish that Daryl had come back to the prison, found her gone and heard Rick's reasons, and that he had set out to look for her anyway. It was a romantic notion, and that's when she had to shake her head. They were friends, best friends, but she'd killed two of their own. And it didn't matter the reasons behind it. If Rick hadn't accepted it, she couldn't expect Daryl to either.

Then she heard the roar of an engine again. And this time, she wasn't imagining it as she turned in her seat and saw the approaching headlights. She didn't know what to do. She couldn't risk his life or hers by coming out of her hiding spot just yet. She knew there was at least three walkers in the yard and that had only been her count before the sun had set. There could be more by then. She thought about honking the horn, but it could cause many more to come and find her. And put in danger whoever was out there at that time of night riding the roads on their motorcycle.

She wouldn't allow herself to get her hopes up that it was Daryl. No. He was safe and sound back inside the prison wall. Where he needed to be.

Please review and let us know what you thought! Cheers!