A/N: Daryl makes it back to the prison after the events of "Made to Suffer' and Carol is there to welcome him.
Nothing Sure
"This ain't exactly what I meant by staying safe," he snarls in her direction as he yanks his knife from the back of the walker's skull and shoves it back into the sheath.
Shit. That didn't come out quite right, but he damn near had a heart attack when he came limping out from the treeline only to see her barrelling out of the gate to meet him. Carol smiles anyway, throwing her rifle over one shoulder and tucking the other under his arm like she thinks he can't make it another 100 yards.
"Didn't hear you complaining when I took out that other walker on your heels," she says lightly.
He snorts and maybe he is a little weaker than he lets on to himself because his arm snakes itself around her waist, ignoring the burn along his own side where a nearly spent bullet had scored him.
"S'a good shot," he admits. "Woulda been better if you had taken it from inside the fence."
Her eyes flash up at his and then drop and there's something there that makes his breath catch and his chest tighten.
"I had to be closer. I had to be sure," she says and now he can hear it, the
effort it's taking to keep her voice even and he wants to comfort her but he doesn't know the words.
Ain't nothing sure in this world, they both know that, but he lets himself lean on her a little more as she leads him to the prison gate.