Big thank you to everyone who has read so far and to those who reviewed, Also a big thanks to Jaded79 for beta-ing this for me. Hope you enjoy, let me know your thoughs?

Chapter 29

Come back to me

Carol slowly stirred in her bed. The first thing she noticed was how dry her mouth was and the second thing she noticed was that her head was pounding. Slowly sitting up, she groaned feeling like hell. How much had she drunk last night? Daryl walked in moments later. Sitting on the bed next to her, he handed her two panadol with a tall glass of water.

"Thanks," she sighed; had he stayed the night? She fought to re-claim her memories from the night before as she swallowed down the two pills and drinking down all the water before handing him the glass. "I better get up; I'm meant to be training the new recruits today."

"Michonne dropped in and said not to worry, she has Eric doing it."

"Rose, I should pick her up."

"Tammy dropped her off this morning, she is taking a nap in the lounge room at the moment and we are fine together." Carol sighed, leaning back against the headboard. "Tammy's a lovely woman, how did you meet her?"

"I found her, her husband Theo and their twelve year old granddaughter Jessie running from a group of walkers on a highway near here, I was able to save them but I was too late to save their daughter and her husband," she explained.

"Well at least you saved them." Carol nodded smiling.

"You should rest today, get some more sleep and we'll talk tonight," he said standing from the bed.

"Talk?" she asked looking confused, he turned smiling.

"You don't remember the deal we made last night?"

"Deal?" she asked confused, shaking her head. He laughed softly at this, moving and placing a soft kiss on her lips surprising her.

"I'll remind you tonight," he smiled walking out of the room and leaving her to rest. That's when it hit her like a ton of bricks, memories flashed before her eyes.

"Come on Daryl," she whispered at him huskily grasping his hand and slipping it inside her thong. "I ache."

"Is that how you like it?" Daryl groaned, she only moaned in response. "Is this what you wanted?"

"Oh God," she whispered when she felt his thumb begin to circle her clit, while two of his fingers continued to thrust into her welcoming heat. Arching her back again, she wailed in release.

Slipping his fingers from her heat, Daryl couldn't stop himself from licking his fingers clean.

She felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment as she buried her face in her pillow gasping in shock. She had thrown herself at him, but then she sat up realising he had loved every second of it. A proud smile came over her features, hoping that this meant they could finally try to repair things between them. She was feeling better already.

Carol slept for the better part of the day not waking till lunch time. Daryl made her lunch and she was glad her hangover was finally going. She couldn't say the same for Andrea though, who still looked like hell. Carol spent the afternoon with Rose and Daryl just enjoying the afternoon as a family, but once dinner was over Carol laid Rose in her cot to sleep and returning to the lounge room, she saw Daryl sitting waiting for her.

"Do you want a coffee?" she asked nervously but he stood shaking his head.

"I want to talk," he spoke grabbing her hand.

"What about?"

"About Rose, about us… Carol I want us to be a fam…" his words were cut short by someone frantically banging on her door. Moving fast, she opened it to see Michonne, blood covering her shirt and hands.

"Oh my god," she gasped at the sight of her. "What happened?"

"It's Tyrese," she spoke sounding panicked and out of breath. Both Carol and Daryl moved fast heading outside.

"Tammy, can you stay with Rose? She is sleeping," Carol called to the older woman who was sitting on her front porch.

"Of course," she nodded heading to Carol's house.

They made it to the front gate, Carol could see the men crowded around someone and when they parted, she was almost sick at the sight in front of her. There laid Tyrese, covered in blood, chunks of flesh missing from his arms and legs; he had clearly been mauled by walkers.

"Tyrese," she gasped dropping to her knees next to him taking his hand in hers, she could feel his skin burning up as he writhed in pain. "What happened?"

"It was Warren's brother," he spoke looking at her.

"The rebel leader?" she asked shocked.

"Yeah, he found out what we did to his brother and came for payback, we thought we could handle it without you, we didn't want you going out injured," he tried to explain but he was growing weaker and he knew he was only moments from death. "He shot me once in each knee, he said he wanted you to feel his pain, then the walkers came, I tried to get away but there were too many," he coughed, blood spraying from his mouth.

"We found him, put the walkers down but it was too late commander," Jake spoke stepping forward.

"He is coming after the ones you care about… he said he was coming for Rose," Tyrese told her, she felt her heart rate speed up at the thought of this monster getting his hands on her daughter. "I'm sorry Commander, I tried to stop him but I failed you."

"Hey you look at me," she snapped making him look at her. "You have never failed me, not now, not ever… you are one of the bravest and best soldiers I've ever had the honour to command." He nodded as he saw tears slip from her eyes.

"I want you to be the one to do it," he whispered handing her the gun. "Please don't let me hurt anyone," his voice begging her. She held the gun, hands shaking, she looked at him as his eyes fluttered shut and she realised he was gone.

"I'm sorry," she whispered placing the gun to his head and pulling the trigger, making sure he was at peace. Standing, she turned to look at Michonne.

"He said we thought we could handle it, did you know about Warren's brother?" Michonne took a deep breath, knowing better than to lie to Carol, and looked up at her.

"There was an attack last night so this morning we went out to track him."

"Why didn't you tell me?" she demanded to know; Daryl could see the rage rolling off her in waves.

"Hershel said you shouldn't be out in the field for two weeks and I knew if I told you, you would go out." Carol couldn't stop herself, her hand coming up, back-handing Michonne so hard the woman fell to the ground. Michonne looked up at her, Carol saw blood dripping from her mouth.

"Don't ever keep anything from me again," she hissed. Michonne nodded silently before standing up again. "Our brother was taken from us tonight," Carol spoke addressing the whole group of men that stood around the fallen body of their brother.

"Not from walkers, but from a force much more evil and unpredictable… a human being. But we will make it right, we will avenge our brother," she spoke as the men cheered in response to her words. "Gear up!" she ordered turning and running back to her house.

Daryl was hot on her heels, he could see she was devastated by the loss of Tyrese. It clearly cut her deep, but she was burning with rage as she moved into the house to see Tammy nursing Rose who must have been woken by the sound of the gun shot.

"What is going on Miss Sophie?" she asked standing.

"There was an attack, Tyrese is dead," she told Tammy, moving to wash the blood from her hands.

"Oh my god," the woman gasped holding Rose close to her. Daryl walked in, watching as Carol put on her bullet proof vest and started grabbing her weapons.

"Don't do this," his voice begged her.

"I have to," she replied not looking at him, grabbing Rose she held her tight. "I love you my baby," she whispered in the child's ear kissing her on the cheek before handing her back to Tammy and heading outside. She barely got off the front porch when Daryl grabbed her arm forcing her to stop.

"No you don't have to; you want to… I understand Tryese was important to you…"

"It's not what you think, he was like a brother to me, he helped save me that night at the Governor's compound when he shot that guard" she explained "I have to get justice for him"

"I understand but please think of Rose."

"All I do is think of Rose, why do you think I do this? I fight so hard to try and make this a better world, a better world for our daughter so that maybe one day when she is old she won't be haunted by the fear of walkers or psycho rebels, because there won't be any more." She tried to get him to understand.

"You really think you can rid the world of walkers?" he asked her surprised.

"Maybe, and maybe it's a pipe dream but it's a dream worth fighting for… so that when she is old enough and meets someone and falls in love, she can have a family without fear of losing that beautiful child like I lost her sister." Daryl felt his heart break at the thought of Sophia, the memory of her stumbling out of that barn still haunted him to that day but now he truly understood why she fought so hard… she just wanted to make a difference, to make this world better, a world worth living in and he felt pride flow through him.

What an amazing woman she had become.

"I'm coming with you," he turned to grab his gear but her words stopped him.

"No you're not," she could tell he was about to argue. "You need to stay here and protect Rose, he told Tyrese he was coming for her, and with you, Rick and Andrea watching her, I can go out there and hunt him knowing without a doubt that she is safe, that is how you can help me." He nodded, hating that she was going out without him but he had to think of Rose first.

"Just come back to us safely." She smiled moving up the stairs, pulling an envelope out of her vest.

"I will but if by some chance I don't, please make sure you give Rose this," she asked handing it to him. "I do it every mission, just a bit of peace of mind for me." He nodded.

"Okay."

"And this," she whispered handing him the engagement ring he had given her over a year ago.

"I can't believe you still have this," he looked at her surprised.

"I keep it in my vest at all times, my way of having you close to my heart… I remember last night," she whispered looking up into his eyes. "And when I get back we'll have that talk." He smiled nodding, moving forward fast he placed his lips gently on hers kissing her with everything he felt inside before they parted.

She smiled at him one last time before turning and getting into the SUV that waited for her and he watched as she drove outside the wall, praying she would come back to him and their beautiful Rose.