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Chapter 5

Taking it to the next level.

Daryl was thankful for a quiet and uneventful night on the wall and for Glenn who was his extra eyes in the tower. To say he had been distracted tonight was a gross understatement. He kept re-playing his disagreement with Carol over and over in his mind, mentally kicking himself each time for being so stupid.

What was wrong with him? Why couldn't he just be honest with her? But he already knew the answer… he was scared. Scared of her laughing at him, scared of her rejecting him, scared of losing her, of opening up only to lose her to death and that scared him most of all. But he knew as long as he was stuck in this hellish world he would never allow anything to happen to her, to take her from his side.

Carol was an amazing woman, growing and changing every day. She had it all in his eyes, the whole package. She could be domestic – cooking, cleaning, and tending to their wounds. She could be gentle and caring, be the shoulder to cry on, the pillar of support; and she had proven she was capable of defending the group, and herself if she had to, when she had saved young Carl's life.

He could get lost in her blue eyes, shining with hope and affection for everyone in the group; and while she could at times get upset or act unsure just like any other person, he knew she had a soft spot for every member of their little group.

She was the true meaning of beautiful, not just on the outside but also on the inside. Daryl knew firsthand that was a hard quality to come by in a person even before the world when to hell, and now it was near impossible. But after everything she had seen, experienced, felt, and lost, she still held strong; she still held onto hope.

Moving down the hallway, he took a deep breath before unlocking the door to their room. He shut the door and was sure to lock it behind him. He then moved to the bathroom, lighting the lantern that sat near the door. Turning to place his crossbow against the wall, the first thing he noticed was that her cot was still in the centre of the room but his had been pushed against the far wall. Sighing, he decided to get cleaned up before deciding what to do.

After having a quick shower, he slipped on a pair of clean boxer shorts before heading back into the main room. He looked at her sleeping form and he briefly wondered if he should just leave his cot where it was until they had a chance to talk. But before he had even fully processed his thoughts, he found himself pushing his cot back next to hers.

Blowing out the lantern, he slipped in under his warm covers and stilled for a moment wondering if it would be alright for him to wrap his arm around her, or if it would only make her madder. Before he could make a choice, he felt her hand brush his arm, grasping it she slipped his arm around her waist and softly moaned at the feel of him pressed against her.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered in her ear. She smiled knowing he was apologising for being an idiot. Nodding her head he knew she didn't need any more of an explanation.

"It's okay, I will forgive you just this once." He laughed softly and before he could stop himself he pressed his lips against her neck kissing her softly, making her eyes shoot open in surprise. She briefly wondered how someone as rough and rugged as Daryl could have lips so soft and silky.

"Goodnight woman," he whispered laying his head on his pillow but still holding her close to his chest. "I love you," his mind whispered, but as much as he wanted to the words couldn't seem to pass his lips.

"Goodnight Daryl," she smiled. Closing her eyes with the memory of his kiss on her skin, she fell into a peaceful night sleep.

Carol had gotten up early to make breakfast. She ate quickly before heading off to a small exercise room in the prison. There she found Andrea, Michonne, Beth and Maggie waiting for her.

"Sorry I'm late, I had to get breakfast together before heading here," she apologised.

"That's fine Carol; we all only just got here anyway," Andrea smiled. "Now I have asked Michonne to help teach you ladies how to defend yourself. She is very well trained in hand to hand combat and has dealt with more walkers than anyone so listen to her well." The three woman nodded, eager to learn all they could.

They had trained for well over four hours learning all about kickboxing and martial arts. Both of which Michonne had been very active in before the walker virus had hit. They learned how to use all type of weapons from guns to pocket knives. "Everything can be a potential weapon," Michonne had told them – bats, knives, guns, rocks, hell even a well-placed silver nail file could be used as a weapon.

After that, Carol practiced every day for at least two hours. She would go over everything, determined to learn all she could. Practicing until it stayed with her, until it felt natural and she had surprised herself on just how quickly she adapted.

"You're a natural," Andrea had told her one day at the end of their session. That day Carol couldn't wipe the smile from her face.

Four weeks later.

Daryl returned from his morning hunt with T-Dog. For some reason, Michonne had told him she couldn't hunt at the moment, for a few weeks at least, but it hadn't bothered him too much. T-Dog was learning quickly how to hunt and he didn't talk his ear off in the early mornings.

Moving into the kitchen, he handed Lori his kills. She smiled thanking him as she moved around the kitchen and prepared to skin and gut the kills. He noticed two things very quickly; first, Lori was the only person in the kitchen preparing lunch, and second, he couldn't seen Carol anywhere.

"You all alone today?," he asked confused. He watched her back tense slightly.

"Uh… yeah Maggie and Beth aren't well," she lied and he could tell she was lying.

"And Carol?"

"Um… I think she is helping Hershel with the clinic." He nodded leaving her alone and heading towards the clinic.

He had been finding it harder and harder to spend any real time alone with Carol lately. She seemed to be spending all her time at the clinic helping Hershel, surely the man had it all set up by now. Opening the door to the clinic, he walked in and felt panic grip him at finding Hershel sitting in there alone.

He had a very bad feeling.

"Carol about?," he asked hoping the older man would say she had just left or was just in the store room.

"Carol? What would she be doing here?" Daryl heart started thundering loudly in his chest.

"She said she has been helping you in here most mornings for four weeks now."

"I'm sorry to say, Daryl, but the only help I have had here is young Glenn on occation."

"Shit!," he hissed fleeing the clinic and running full speed back to the kitchen to confront Lori.

"Where the hell is she? And no more fucking lies," he snapped. Lori turned to face a very angry Daryl and noticed Rick coming up behind him.

"What's going on here?" Rick asked wondering what all the noise was.

"Carol has been telling me she has been working in the clinic in the mornings for weeks now but Hershel says he hasn't seen her," Daryl replied.

"Okay so what does that have to do with Lori?"

"I asked your lady here where Carol was and she lied to me saying she was in the clinic and Maggie and Beth were sick." Lori looked down, knowing she was going to have to tell them the truth and hoping the girls wouldn't be too upset with her.

"My Maggie and Beth aren't sick, I saw them early this morning, they were fine," Hershel piped in. He had followed Daryl from the clinic knowing something was wrong.

"Lori, where are they?" Rick asked stepping forward.

"They trust me and they're fine; they are safe with Andrea and Michonne."

"I don't care who they are with or how safe you think they are, I want to know where the fuck they are," Daryl spat, his face red with rage.

"Andrea and Michonne have been training them, teaching them to defend themselves in the exercise room." All three men went to move to head towards the room, but Lori's next words stopped them dead in their tracks.

"They're not there," she said.

Turning to face her again, Rick spoke, "so where are they?"

"Andrea and Michonne felt they were ready for real life combat," she replied taking a deep breath. "They took them into the woods to fight walkers." Daryl felt the colour rush from his face; he was sure he must be as pale as a ghost.

Carol was out in the woods, getting ready to take on walkers. He felt fear and panic grip him. His heart pounded loudly in his ears, his palms began to sweat and before he could stop himself, he was grabbing his bow and running for the entrance. He had to find her before she got hurt, bit or worse – killed.