He jumped to his feet and started pacing around the tiny space of his cell. On one hand, he wanted to throw her out, but on the other, her presence was calming him down. Merle, the attack on the prison, Rick and his delirious states, responsibility he felt for the group and on top of that his own feelings he couldn't quite comprehend, were too much even for Daryl.

Carol saw his discomfort and tried to change the topic.

"I heard what happened with Merle outside."

Daryl's worn-out expression deepened and Carol wryly congratulated herself for being so clever and thoughtful. Daryl sighed and sat down next to her again.

"I gotta to do it," he rubbed his eyes, "Merle can be really dangerous. I wanted the group to accept him first but then Glen told me what he did to him and Maggie...When I turned to him, he's just standin' there, grinnin' like an idiot as if it was a great fun."

Carol felt tears stinging in her eyes. Dixon doesn't cry but she does. She stroked his arm without thinking. He didn't flinch, lost in his thoughts. It encouraged her and she gently squeezed his hand. He realized that she was touching him and looked at their joined hands. Then he looked into her face but still didn't flinch away, thinking. Daryl Dixon truly reminded her of a wild animal sometimes. He was able to attack, kill within a blink of an eye, but didn't let anybody get close to him, afraid that somebody could hurt him more than he could hurt them. Carol knew him better than the rest of the of group and she felt that for some strange and unknown reason, he also trusted her and talked to her more than he did with the others.

They became close during those days on the farm, when they were looking for Sophia. At the very beginning, still in the camp, she had seen her violent husband Ed in Daryl. Daryl seemed ill-mannered, rude and dangerous. It didn't take long before she realized that all these attributes exactly fits to his older brother Merle and Daryl simly followed his lead. He listened to him and looked up to him as well as she looked up to Ed, although he was beating her regularly and always knew where to hit so the bruise wasn't visible.

Walkers solved the situation for Carol but Daryl had to solve the situation with Merle himself. Carol well understood the emptiness that was eating him up at the moment. When Sophia got lost and Carol saw her walking out of the barn as walker, what followed after the first shock was a deafening emptiness. When she had gotten over the worst bit, it was Daryl's presence she seeked instinctively. He didn't pity or patronize her and most of the time they spent on watch together, they kept silent. But that silence wasn't uncomfortable, she knew he was there if she needed, and it was exactly what she needed back then.

When she was lost in her memories, waiting for Daryl to continue, she realized how much they really had in common. They were both dominated, they had to quickly learn to take over the responsibility for themselves when they'd lost their relatives. Even pain was familiar to both of them. She stole a quick glance at the end of the old white scar on Daryl's back, whose end was peepeing out from his sleeveless shirt. She felt fresh tears in her eyes but she didn't want Daryl to see them. She'd noticed before that he was ashamed of his scars. He never changed the shirt when somebody was around.

She admired the man he had become. From younger brother of a violent redneck, he had turned into the man the whole group relied on. The man who managed to feed them and protect them. He saved her life more times than she could actually count. It was Daryl, who came back for her, when the group left her behind in chaos caused by a huge herd of walkers overunning the farm. And it was again Daryl, who kept looking and finally found her in one of the abandoned cells, when the walkers attacked the prison and killed T-Dog.

Daryl might have been fierce-tempered, but even though she knew how to push his buttons and she made him mad an immense number of times, he'd never hurt her and always calmed down quickly, when he spotted a tension in her eyes. He was loyal and although some started to think Rick is not able to lead the group anymore, it was Daryl who always supported him. Daryl wouldn't stand anybody telling him that, but he was good with kids. Carl kept pleading Daryl to teach him to fire the crossbow. And it was again Daryl who got the formula, when Judith was born. It saved her life and Carol would never forget the shocked faces, when dirty and tired Daryl was feeding and crooning to the newborn baby in his arms, calling her Lil' Asskicker. Daryl Dixon was a man of many faces and Carol must have admitted to her that she hadn't found any she wouldn't have liked so far.

She felt her cheeks turning red, thinking of him like that. He caught her starring at him.

"What?" he grumbled.

"Nothing, I just...," she was trying to come up with a reasonable excuse, why she wasn't listening to anything he said in the past minute or so.

"I said it ain't sure Merle really left...he still can be around. We gotta be careful, he could decide to take revenge. We musn't go anywhere alone. You especially, OK?"

"Why me especially? I am perfectly capable of..."

Daryl groaned: "Damn, woman, just promise me you won't be wandering around all by yourself. Period. I ain't able to look out for each one of you at the same time. Now when Rick is...when Rick needs time...and with Merle outside, it will be difficult."

She finally saw the huge responsibility lying on his shoulders.

"Daryl, I don't want you to think you need to save us all. We will make it as a group. We always have, this time it's no different." All of a sudden she gripped him by his shoulders and shook him gently to make him look into her face.

"And you did the right thing with Merle."

She saw the uncetainity in his eyes.

"Yeah, I brought him here, really good move."

She shook her head in disagreement: "You showed him that you are not little brother anymore, who listened every single word he said. You've got your own family now, who likes you and needs you. This is where you belong."

He wasn't looking at her but she knew he was listening carefully. He felt an urge to hug him but this was Daryl Dixon. She pulled away and got up.

"I'd better go to bed, otherwise I'll be useless tomorow. Good night Daryl."

She was almost out of his cell, when Daryl finally lifted his head.

"Carol, can I make you laugh?"