"Hey, ass kicker," he cooed to the little baby in his arms.

"Ass kicker?" Carol asked with a smile.

"What? S' a good name," he defended. He looked back at the baby. "Ya miss me?"

The baby gurgled up at him and Carol smiled. He was sat with baby Judith in his arms and she grasped Daryl's little finger in her tiny hand. He looked the happiest she'd seen him since the day he came back to the prison. Still smiling at Judith, he glanced up at Carol.

"You have any more nightmares last night?"

She shook her head. "No... None."

Daryl nodded. "Good."

At that moment, Rick came in. Daryl handed Judith to Carol and stood up to meet the man.

"We need you up in the guard tower with Tyreese," Rick told him. Daryl grunted and looked back at Carol holding Judith. "You alright?" Rick added.

He nodded. "'M fine." Slinging his crossbow over his shoulder, he walked back to where Carol was sitting. "I'll see ya later," he said then walked out of the main room towards the tower.

Carol looked after him. Despite the fact he had said he was fine, Carol knew how he really was. He had told her all about Merle- his own brother- at Woodbury. He had slid into bed with her last night and she had woken up with an arm draped across her waist. As she turned, she noticed he was already awake and staring up at the bunk above him. A sheen of sweat was visible on his forehead but Carol didn't want to say anything to ruin the moment so she rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, wishing they could stay in that moment forever.

...

Up in the guard tower, Daryl thought back to this morning. She may not have had nightmares but he definitely had. One had truly haunted him. He had been in the middle of a circle of walkers with Merle and, in one split second, he had shot him through the head so he could get away. He was without a weapon and the thought of killing his own brother had disturbed him. Why had he dreamt that?

"You okay, man?"

Daryl spun around and faced Tyreese. "'M fine."

Tyreese nodded. It looked as though he was thinking. "She seems real nice."

"Who?"

"The woman you were with this mornin'," he said, motioning with his gun to where Carol was stood not far from their cell block with Judith.

Daryl nodded, not sure of what to say.

"So... you 'n' her?..."

There was a pause.

Daryl's eyes widened. "No. Nothin' goin' on."

Tyreese smiled slightly. "Wouldn't mind talkin' to her myself."

Something twisted in Daryl's gut. He knew he had just said that they weren't "a thing" but he was slightly confused as to what they actually were. Daryl frowned and looked at Tyreese. He seemed okay but he wasn't taking any chances.

"She don't know you," was all he could say.

Tyreese glanced at him, clearly confused. "Hey, if she's yours, man, I ain't got a problem. She's yours."

"She ain't mine."

"So you want her to be?"

Daryl stopped. What did he want her to be? He glanced at Tyreese who was still staring at him. "Just leave it," he finally said.

Tyreese shrugged and continued to walk around the guard tower, looking out in the distance for any threats, leaving Daryl to think about Carol and why he didn't have the guts to say anything.

...

It was getting dark and Carol was making food for everyone with their supplies. They wouldn't last that much longer with what they had and, now that there was a bigger group, they were running out fast. She noticed Tyreese come in but not Daryl.

"Is he-"

"Still in the guard tower. Thank you," he said, taking the plate of food from her.

Once she had distributed the food out to everyone and eaten for herself, she took one bowl and started to walk out of the cell block. If she didn't bring him something then he wouldn't even eat. Smiling to herself, thinking of how selfless Daryl really was, she crossed the field into his guard tower. She saw him leaning over the railing, staring off into the distance.

"Hey," she said, opening the door, already knowing she'd caught him off-guard.

He span round but stopped when he saw it was just her. Handing him the bowl, she wrapped her cardigan around herself. It may be hot during the day but at night the cold whipped around them.

"You alright?" she asked.

"Fine."

"Daryl."

He looked at her. "What?" He had stopped eating.

"How're you really?" she asked, eyes scanning him. He seemed worn out.

"Didn't ya listen? I said I'm fine."

"And I said how are you really," she said flatly.

Her tone caught him by surprise and he smirked.

"What?" she asked, stepping closer to look at him.

"Nothin'. An' I am fine."

"Then why were you awake at the crack of dawn this mornin'?" she asked, knowing that it would stun him.

It did the trick and he stepped closer to her. "Look, I had one nightmare, alrigh'? Nothin' big. Everythin's fine."

"Really?" she frowned, crossing her arms. She had had enough of Daryl pretending everything was 'fine' all of the time. She wanted answers and she sure as hell wasn't leaving this guard tower without one.

He sighed and closed his eyes. "My nightmare was about Merle. I shot him to get away from walkers. Hell, I don't even know if he's even alive right now. It just freaked me out, is all. I never want t' do that. He's blood."

Carol took it all in. How much he had opened up to her meant a lot even if he didn't know it. "It's okay. You won't have to," she replied gently.

Daryl looked away and rested himself on the railing. She joined him and stood close so that their arms were touching. Risking it, she stole a glance up at him to see he was frowning and trying to look at something in the distance. Carol tried to follow his gaze and she noticed something- or someone- stumbling past the prison and hanging on to the fence frequently.

He looked down at her then back towards the moving figure. "Stay here."

She nodded and watched him exit the guard tower.

...

Daryl was cautious. He didn't know what this was- or who it was. Most of all, he felt concerned. Concerned for Carol and the group. He didn't know why she, above everyone, came into his head first but he shrugged it off and focused on the task at hand. As he crossed over to the gate he was aware that, whoever this was, they were hurt. Badly. He ran to the gate, crossbow held up so he could get a good aim and moved slowly towards the person. Once he got up close, the moon shone a little down on the grounds and onto the new figure. Daryl wavered. He dropped his crossbow. The other man saw him.

"Hey, baby brother."