When Carol woke early the next morning, nearly everything ached. However, when she tried to move, she felt a large weight on her. As she looked down, she saw that, some time in the night, they had both slipped down the wall and Carol was lying at an odd angle with Daryl resting still on her shoulder but lying partly across her. She smiled at him snoring lightly. Then something seemed to disturb him. His grip on her top tightened and a frown cut down his forehead. He turned his head into her shoulder more and thrashed weakly.

"Daryl?" she whispered.

Another thrash.

"Daryl?" A little bit louder.

His eyes flew open and he pulled her in tighter before gazing around his surroundings and realising where he was. The grip on her top slackened and he sat up, rubbing his eyes. She sat up with him.

"Are you alright?" she asked quietly, letting him wake up first.

He nodded then looked at her. "Are you?"

She nodded back before a crash cut off her next words. Daryl was immediately alert, pulling on his boots and picking up his crossbow. Making his way out of the cell, she closely followed whilst straightening her top taking out the creases left in by Daryl's grip. He checked over his shoulder and made sure she was close behind him before continuing. Once there, she saw Axel and Merle advancing on Tyreese and another man from his group. Carol groaned and Daryl heard, looking hard at the scene in front of him.

"Stay here," he told her before making his way over.

Carol nodded. That was really all she could do as she watched the scene unfold.

"You wanna lay off us!" Merle shouted, pointing at Tyreese.

"Well you wanna leave our people alone! Especially Sasha!" Tyreese stressed, towering over Merle.

Carol recognised what must have happened and she groaned again. Merle, Axel or both had probably tried it on with Sasha.

Axel stepped in. "C'mon, mister, all we have here is a seventeen year old an' her older sister but she's got her a boyfriend an-"

"There's an older woman but my little brother here has his sights set on 'er," Merle interrupted.

Carol's throat tightened.

"Just leave it," Daryl said as he stepped in. "Jus' go back to your own cells," he added, looking at Tyreese and the other man. "We'll sort this out."

Tyreese pointed into Daryl's chest and said, "Make sure it doesn't happen again!"

"Hey, man, you can't just walk up to him an' do that!" Merle said, pushing Daryl out of the way by his shoulder.

"It's fine," Daryl reassured him. "Just go back-"

"No, it ain't fine! You watch ya manners!"

"I'll watch my manners when you leave our group alone!"

Merle's mouth twitched into a snarl and, before Carol could process what was happening, his left fist swung across and hit Tyreese squarely on his jaw. The man from the other group of survivors threw a punch back and a brawl started. Carol was stood there numbly until a fist collided with Daryl's cheekbone. She snapped out of it and ran over but the men were pushing and a way in was impossible.

"STOP IT!" she shrieked, quite unaware of where her voice came from.

The four men, with Daryl in the middle slightly unconscious, stopped still and gazed at her.

"So you do have a voice," Merle laughed.

Carol pushed past them all and took Daryl's arm, leading him away just as Rick and Glenn burst through into the room followed by Maggie. Daryl resisted her grip for a short time until (with his hand on his cheekbone) he walked with her.

She glanced at Rick on her way out and said, "There was a fight. Axel and Merle tried to…" she trailed off. "With Sasha."

Rick sighed then looked at Daryl. "Is he okay?"

"Fine," Daryl grumbled.

…

He didn't need to be babied and yet Carol was standing over him checking his face for bruising and cuts back in her cell.

"I'm fine," he said, reaching out and placing his hands firmly on her hip bones that stuck out.

He briefly saw her face flush red and then he removed his hands. It looked at though she let out a huge breath.

"Oh," she said, slightly blushing again. "I have something."

Daryl frowned. "So why are you telling m-"

He stopped as she reached under her mattress and brought out his poncho he had picked up in a house they had settled in for all of thirty minutes.

"Thanks," he said, taking it from her. He paused. "Why'd you have it?"

She swallowed and looked at him.

"When I thought you weren't going to come back… I…" she trailed off but he continued to stare at her until she continued, not meeting his eyes. "I went up to your perch and it was there so I took it."
"Why?" he asked.

She sighed then said, "I thought I wasn't gonna see you again. I didn't want someone else to get a hold of it an' throw it out."

Daryl looked down and the corner of his mouth flicked up quickly in a smile. He felt oddly happy at what she had said then he thought back to what Merle had said yesterday. What did he want from Carol? Daryl cast his eyes up and down Carol's body and then at her face. Despite what others said, he always felt she had quite a pretty face. He smirked when she had told him what Axel had said about her being a lesbian because of her hair.

"Daryl?"

He focused back in after completely been lost in thought about her looks. Saying that, looks where nothing big to him.

"What?" he asked as she sat next to him.

"Does your face hurt?" she asked, touching his cheek lightly.

He thought then shook his head. "No. 'S fine."

They were staring at each other and Daryl only noticed it after a minute or so had passed by. The she sighed.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"Are you happy with Merle here?" she asked. Her eyes spoke volumes.

Daryl shrugged. "What can I do?"

"You could ask him to-"

"No. I can't! He's blood! I ain't just gonna ask him to leave! I jus' got him back! I can't help that he's a dick! I wish he was dif'rent but he ain't! He's my brother an I…" He stopped, realising how worked up he was.

He was on his feet and stood in the middle of the cell. Carol slowly left the bed to stand in front of him. She removed his hands from where they were kneading his eyes and placed them back at his sides. Her hands felt surprisingly warm and they didn't leave his own. Daryl wasn't used to opening up to anyone but he had slowly come to the realisation that he trusted Carol. Over the winter and through their time here she had looked out for him and listened. They had told each other stories, laughed and maybe even flirted a little. Daryl looked down at her then swallowed.

What the hell, he thought.

Before she could start speaking again, his hands moved to her face, bringing her face close to his. He paused slightly then pressed their lips together.