Broken

Chapter 7

A/N: Come on guys! You can't honestly think I'd kill Carol! You should know me by now! Never would I kill her! Only in dream form ;) Anyway, this will be the last chapter of Broken, as I have a great idea for a new AU fic, which I'd love for you to read that as well! You don't have to, but you know, you can hehe! Thank you for the kind reviews and all that! Enjoy the end of Broken!
McBrideReedusLover.~

"Carol please..." Carol opened her eyes when she heard someone call out her name. It sounded like Daryl. She looked toward the cell door to see if he was there, but he wasn't. She rubbed her eyes and got out of bed. Careful not to wake the others, she headed for Daryl's perch. She saw him turning in his sleep. She quickly made her way up the steps to Daryl. "No..." She heard him say. He was dreaming. She knelt down beside him, and watched him for a moment before she tried to wake him.

"Daryl." She called softly. He didn't respond, and she could see tears starting to run down his face and onto the cold cement floor. "Daryl." She said a little louder, and touched his shoulder. Still, nothing. "Daryl wake up." She shook him slightly. Carol almost had a heart attack when he shot upwards. He was breathing heavily and looking all around, obviously scared. "Daryl, it's okay, it's me." She placed her hand on his shoulder. She gave him a small smile when he turned to look at her.

"C-Carol?" He asked, his heart still racing. Was it just a nightmare? It seemed so real.

"Yes, it's me. It's alright, you were just dreaming." Carol scooted closer to him.

"You ain't bit... right?" He couldn't shake the image of the bloody bite wound on her side. He couldn't shake the image of her as a walker, and he couldn't shake the image of his knife plunging into her forehead, ending it all.

"Bit? No... No I'm fine." Carol had figured out what his nightmare was about, and it broke her heart that he had been so scared and worried over it.

Daryl wrapped his arms around Carol and brought her close. He just needed to hold her for a while.

Carol was a little startled as he pulled her toward him, but soon relaxed. It felt good to be in his strong arms. The longer he held her, the more she wanted to stay there instead of going back to her cell. Daryl laid back down on the makeshift bed, and brought her down with him. She gave him a sweet smile, and he smirked at her. Carol raised a brow when she saw him smirk. "What?" she asked him.

"Nothin'." Daryl continued to smirk.

"Daryl, what is it?" Carol pretended to whine. That earned a laugh from him. She wanted to know why he kept staring at her like that. It wasn't until he kissed her that she realized what he was thinking.

"So nice of you to join us." Andrea laughed as Carol and Daryl entered the room.

"Ah shut up." Daryl growled as he took the bowl Beth handed to him. He sat down at one of the tables, and Carol followed him.

"Next time, you might want to go to the guard tower." Andrea suggest, a huge grin on her face. She burst out into laughter again as Carol looked away, clearly embarressed.

"Alright, we shouldn't pester them." Rick walked into the room and looked at Andrea. "It's not their fault. They were probably too caught up in the moment to think about where they were." Rick and Andrea both started to snicker. They were having too much fun with this.

"You know Carol, for a small woman, you sure are loud." Andrea and Rick started laughing as Carol's face turned more red than it already was.

"Like we haven't heard you 'n Lori goin' at it before." Daryl snapped back at them. That got Rick to shut up, but it just made Andrea laugh harder. She was in tears from laughing. "Or you 'n Shane!" He added, and then she shut up too. This time, it was Carol's turn to laugh. "Assholes." He growled and threw his bowl in the sink before walking away.

Carol tried to calm herself. "It serves you right." She pointed to Rick and Andrea before following Daryl out of the room.

"Don't tell me you're going to the guard tower!" Andrea called after them.

"Shut up!" She heard Daryl shout, and they started their laughing fit all over again.

"No way!" Daryl growled at Andrea. She had just finished explaining to them that they should go pick up the people from Woodbury and bring them here. "Y'know how many more mouths that is to feed? Hell we're barely survivin' on our own!"

"But they are good people Daryl! They'd be good for us, they could defend the prison with us. We'd be almost unstoppable!" Andrea argued.

"You don't know that. We killed their precious Governor, how do you know they ain't gonna kill us and take over the prison?" Daryl glared at her.

"I highly doubt that. The Governor wasn't good to them in the end. They'll be good for us." Andrea pleaded, and looked to Rick. She knew that what he says goes.

"Fine." Rick sighed. He could see the anger and reluctance in Daryl's eyes.

"Fine?" Daryl asked. "You mean you're actually gonna put us in danger, make us sleep with one eye open again?" Daryl didn't want more people here. It was more dangerous, sure, they'd have more defenses, but what was the use in all that in the long run? They'd eventually run out of food, and they sure as hell wouldn't find a whole lot of food in the future. In the present, it seems like an alright idea, but down the road, it would spell disaster. Plus, he had Carol to protect, she was already too thin, and with less food to go around, that wouldn't go well either.

"They could be of use to us Daryl. We're going." Rick spoke, and headed inside the prison to tell the others of their plan.

Daryl muttered to himself when he felt a hand on his arm. He turned to see Carol. "You know, it could be good for us Daryl." She spoke softly. The amount of anger he had died down when he heard her angelic voice. "You just have to have a little faith." She gave him a small smile.

"And look at it this way, there will be more noise with all those people here, and we'd be less likely to hear you!" Andrea couldn't help herself.

"Do you want a fuckin' bolt through your skull? Cause I'll gladly do it!" Daryl snapped. She shut her mouth and quickly walked away.

Carol opened the gate as she heard Daryl's motorcycle down the road. He, Rick, Andrea and Michonne had gone to retrieve the Woodbury people. As the bus was parked, Carol closed the gate and hurried over to Daryl. "How did it go?" She asked.

"Fine I guess. A lot less people than I thought, guess that herd got to 'em." Daryl slung his crossbow over his shoulders.

"Well, we'll make the ones who survived feel welcome." She smiled. She looked over at the bus and saw two familiar faces. "Is that..."

"Tyreese, yeah. He and his sister were on guard there, almost shot 'em. But then once Rick said why we were there, they wanted to come with us. They seem like good people." Daryl concluded. He wrapped his arm around Carol, just in case. He wanted people to know she was taken, and that they wouldn't get any ideas. He smiled when she kissed his cheek, and together, they walked into the prison with their new family. What would happen in the future, they didn't know. All that mattered was there once broken family had now been repaired. Rick was a good leader, they had Andrea back, and most importantly, he and Carol finally admitted their feelings. Their life had been slowly repaired, but all the pain and suffering, was definately worth it.

A/N: Thank you all for reading this fanfic! I love you all! Please, R&R lovelies!
McBrideReedusLover.~