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

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

Daryl carefully listened to her words, gritting his teeth at the facts that she was presenting. They were all valid. All true statements. Dr. K had described it as a soda-pop can bursting its top except it being the eyes, ears, and mouth and he could only fathom that that would have been the likeliest of outcomes for David and Karen. None of those that had been sick had gotten any better from the medications that they had already utilized.

His head snapped up when she talked about the people she didn't want sick. His name was in that list and it surprised him some. He'd known that there had been something between them but what it was he could never sort out. Could never understand what it was that kept them coming back to seek out comfort in the other. His eyes fell on her hands as she spoke of her guilt and he saw nothing there but her markedly dirty hands sans the blood she thought was still there.

"That weren't his decision t'make." Daryl replied after a pause, his eyes searching hers out for a split second before returning to the ground, fingers still fumbling with the jasper. "Shouldn't just fall onta one set o' shoulders neither."

Daryl felt like he was back at square one. He didn't understand what it was he was looking for in searching for Carol, whether it was some sort of closure or some rationale behind why it was she did what she did, which he got, but he still didn't seem satisfied with any of it. He toed his boot into the ground still keeping a keen ear on any shambling noises but hearing nothing as of yet. "What made ya think it had ta come ta this? Why didn't ya come t'me t'talk?" He finally blurted before he had a chance to backpedal. He waited with bated breath for her reply not knowing what to expect.

Carol's heart nearly stopped at his question. His voice echoed, reveberating in her ears and she wanted nothing more than to put her hands over them and to make it stop, but he had every right to ask that question. It was one that she herself wouldn't allow herself to fathom, but now she had to. She owed him an explanation. He'd come all this way to look for her, save her from her own ill seated fate, and she was coming up short on the why.

The only reason that came to her mind simply this. "I didn't want you to be a part of it. I wanted your hands clean when it was all said and done. I wanted you to be able to present yourself to the others as…as the good guy." Her throat closed up some, causing the last of her words to somewhat feel choked in her throat as she forced them free. "It was my decision. I let you down. I let everybody down…" But in the back of her mind, she kept thinking that she hadn't known that when she'd made the choice.

She let out a shaky breath. "They were suffering, Daryl. I didn't plan it out. It wasn't…pre-meditated." She closed her eyes, hearing a snarl and a groan off to her right and tensed, reaching for her knife. The movement was swift and easy and the walker was taken out before either of them even knew what had happened. She pushed it off of her, freeing her knife and let out a loud hiss, "I saw what Patrick did to Cell Block D, and I didn't want it to happen again. Karen and David…they were on death's door."

She barely even acknowledged the walker that she'd taken out as she kept talking. Her hands covered in blood now. It made her quake inside and she felt sick. Her lips quivered and she swallowed back the feeling. "And I know your heart. You don't want to lose nobody else…and I took two people from you."

And for the first time since it had happened, she whispered, "I'm sorry…" And tears fell down her dirty cheeks, staining them with tear streaks.

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