A/N: Don't own (although I'd love to have my very own Norman Reedus :D) don't sue!

Lyrics are from 'Rain' by Patty Griffin

Apologies for the uber late update, things have been somewhat hectic with switching jobs and whatnot. Secondly, I cannot wait to catch this fic up to the show and write certain death scenes and ensuing reactions :D Thirdly, I'm toying with the idea of a festive Daryl special. Just for fun.

Rain

Chapter Twenty Six

It's hard to listen to a hard, hard heart
Beatin' close to mine
Poundin' up against the stone and steel
Walls that I won't climb
Sometimes a hurt is so deep, deep, deep
You think that you're gonna drown
Sometimes all I can do is weep, weep, weep
With all this rain fallin' down
Strange, how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I'm holding on underneath this shroud
Rain
It's hard to know when to give up the fight
Some things you want will just never be right
It's never rained like it has tonight before
Now, I don't wanna beg you, baby
For something maybe you could never give
I'm not lookin' for the rest of your life
I just want another chance to live
Strange, how hard it rains now
Rows and rows of big dark clouds
When I'm holdin' on underneath this shroud
Rain

"'Scuse me?"

Carl trembled under Daryl's dark glower, but he straightened his spine and tilted his chin defiantly.

"She doesn't want to see you." He repeated in a quavery but rebellious voice. "She's still sick."

"She's not sick. She's hungover. Self inflicted." Daryl leaned a little closer and increased his glare. "Move."

"No." It came out as a bit of a squeak, but Carl had squared his stance just as Cassidy had taught him when expecting an attack.

Daryl didn't know who was more surprised, him or the boy.

"What's going on?" Rick demanded, scenting trouble.

"Cassidy doesn't want to see him." Carl blurted before Daryl could say anything.

Rick looked surprised.

"She's still not talking to you?"

Daryl scowled and Rick flushed. He moved past Carl into the dimly lit room. Cassidy was half-sitting up in the bed, frowning at Carl's back in the doorway. He'd sat by her for the rest of the day while she recovered, getting her fresh water and cool damp towels and even tucking back her hair when she threw up. She had tried to send him away but he wouldn't listen and honestly, it was quite nice to be looked after for once. He'd just brought her some broth when Daryl had followed him to the room.

She looked up at Rick tiredly. She looked drawn and exhausted and he had a feeling it was more than just the hangover.

"How you feeling?" Rick asked, sitting down on the edge of the rumpled bed.

She sighed, pushing her hair away from her face and avoiding his penetrating stare.

"He's pretty attached to you." Rick glanced at the door where his son and Daryl were still glaring at each other.

"Which one?" Cassidy smiled grimly.

"Hey!" Carl shouted as Daryl shouldered past him roughly.

"Come on, Carl." Rick beckoned to his son. "Let's get some dinner."

Carl tossed a look at Cassidy over his shoulder and she winked at him. Daryl barged into the bathroom without looking at her. She knew he was mad at her for not explaining what was wrong but she felt ridiculous, blubbing at him like a little girl. And a little part of her thought that he should know what had hurt her without her having to explain.

She heard him washing, banging around moodily. She swirled her spoon around in the broth miserably. How did any of this even happen? She felt hatred twist in her gut. Then anger. She was so angry at herself for getting so attached. She wasn't quite sure when she'd gone from fond sex with someone whose company she enjoyed, to whatever it was that was now twisting her guts into knots every time she saw either of them.

The spoon clattered against the plastic bowl as her hand trembled angrily at the thought of Carol. Maybe she'd just been around these people too long. Maybe she should leave. Would Lochie leave Rick behind? She knew it was sliding further away from just a crush, even if Lochie didn't yet. She was still pondering the complexities when Daryl emerged. His hair was damp, dripping onto his shoulders and staining his shirt. Her stomach fluttered, heat pooling into every inch of her body. This would be so much easier if she didn't still want him so much.

"Look at him, stomping around like a big old bear with a sore head." Lochie scoffed as Daryl stomped past with a face like thunder, scattering Glenn, Maggie and Beth like skittles as they scurried to get out of his way.

Rick glanced up from the map he was perusing with a frown. He watched Daryl's departing back, then followed Lochie's gaze to Cassidy and Carl going through some basic exercise stretches in the shade of the hotel.

"Thought we were supposed to be worrying about them?"

Lochie snorted and flapped her hand dismissively at him.

"Nah, that's nothing."

Rick looked from Cassidy to Daryl doubtfully.

"I remember what she's mad about." Lochie announced smugly. "She'll get over it."

Rick studied Cassidy and Carl absently. Her lean body was displayed by her raggedy shorts and vest as she contorted her limbs to pull on her muscles. Realising he'd been staring, Rick turned hastily away, flushing pink. Lochie eyed him in amusement.

"Don't worry, everyone else is drooling too." She jerked her head towards Glenn and T-Dog, pausing in their assessment of the pool filtration system to gawp covertly.

Maggie sidled over with a question for Rick, staying to see what Lochie found so amusing.

"Aren't you jealous?" Lochie asked her curiously as Glenn dropped a heavy fan onto his toe in his distracted state.

"Nah." Maggie shrugged, eyeing him fondly as he apologised profusely to Hershel. "I'm pretty sure she isn't after anyone else any time soon. Besides, she'd eat him alive."

"There wouldn't be much left after Daryl got through with him." Lochie observed.

"He's got more self-preservation than that." Maggie winked and went to save Glenn from himself before he did himself an injury.

"They're cute." Lochie sighed wistfully. "I wonder if T-Dog is single."

Rick frowned, the line between his eyes deepening. Lochie caught his strange expression and she shifted uneasily at his scrutiny.

"I was joking." She said stiffly. "T-Dog's lovely but he's my homeboy and that would just be weird." She flashed him her bright grin but his face remained dark. "What do you care anyway?"

Rick didn't reply, just continued to stare at her in that disconcerting manner, as if he were seeing her for the first time.

"I hope she gets over it soon, we're rapidly running out of alcohol."

"You shouldn't have done that." Rick pounced on the safe topic immediately.

"Why? I'm old enough to drink, Sheriff, I swear. I'd show you my I.D. but I left it at home."

She fluttered her eyelashes at him.

"It's dangerous." He said sternly. "You could have been attacked if you'd wandered away from camp."

"We were drunk, not stupid." Lochie snorted. "If I recall I was quite content on the diving board before you harshed my buzz."

"I'm surprised you remember anything about that night, the state you were in." Rick grumbled, feeling heat flush over his body at the memory of her in that bikini.

"I remember practically everything, thank you very much." Lochie sniffed haughtily.

"Everything?" Rick lifted an eyebrow.

"Yes even the rant about Daryl and his many flaws. I'm pretty sure there were some dirty secrets about them I was never supposed to tell anyone." Lochie wrinkled her brow as she tried to penetrate the hazy fog of memory.

"You are a mean drunk." Rick grumbled, rubbing his arm where she'd punched him in jest and left a large purple bruise.

"I was angry. Dumbass redneck breaking my girl's heart. Don't know who he thinks he is. Just because he's got an ass like that doesn't mean he can go around fu-"

"Okay." Rick interrupted before she could get into full flow. "He's a good guy."

Lochie swore loudly and Rick shook his head at her reprovingly.

"I don't know what happened-" He held up his hand to cut her off before she could start. "Yes I got the x-rated drunken version, but I don't think it's our place."

Lochie sighed.

"You're too good, Sheriff. Anyone else would have kicked some sense into that woman by now but you… you just keep waiting."

Rick gaped at her, completely thrown by the lightening change of topic.

"I can't believe she's still giving you the cold shoulder." Lochie continued, her eyes narrowing as Lori approached Carol a few feet away. "I'm not a fan of violence against women, especially pregnant ones, but don't you just want to grab her and shake her?" She fell silent and a naughty glitter appeared in her eye. "Well there is a solution. I could slap her until some common sense or moral decency shakes loose."

She cackled evilly, leaping down from her seat on the bonnet of a broken down truck literally rusted into the ground.

"No." Rick grabbed her hand, not pulling her back but exerting enough pressure with his pleading eyes to make her stop.

"Why do you let her do this to you?" She asked, more gently than she had intended.

"She's my wife."

He seemed to be silently pleading with her to understand something, something he wasn't quite sure he understood himself.

"Are you sure?" We're all clinging to the past in one way or another. Let go, Sheriff."

He wasn't sure if she meant his marriage or his grip on her hand, either way he wasn't quite sure he could do either.

"You think you have to be this person; saviour, husband, leader. You're trying to live up to something no one could ever possibly be." Lochie took a ragged breath, slipping her hand out of his grasp. "Just be Rick Grimes. No titles, no responsibilities. Just you. It'll make you feel better." She took a step away, feeling a little delicate. "Don't lose yourself, you might not find it so easily one day."

What the hell was going on? First Cassidy was acting like a crazy nutjob, now Carol kept appearing all over the place wanting to "talk". And Lochie kept giving him that awful wide-eyed kicked-puppy expression. He had no idea what to do. All these women were driving him up the freaking wall! Cassidy wouldn't even speak to him. Forget that, she wouldn't even look at him. Every time he got near her, her back went all rigid and her eyes went all flat and black. Occasionally he'd catch a glimpse of her when she thought no one was looking, her face would be a heartbreaking mixture of confusion and melancholy that made his insides turn to ice. He knew he'd hurt her, he just didn't know how. She'd withdrawn from the others too. Well from the only people she bothered with anyway. Carl had taken to watching her morosely across the fire when they ate.

Daryl watched her cleaning Vera slightly apart from the others. Every time he woke up he felt anxiety clutch at his stomach as he waited to see if she'd left in the middle of the night or not. Strangely, she still shared his bed. She wouldn't touch him though, and he'd given up trying to draw her in that way. He was bewildered. He wanted things to go back to the way they were, he didn't understand what he'd done to shatter something deep inside her. As he watched, Lochie sidled over to her with some supper. Using the darkening gloom of twilight as a cover, he crept over to them.

"I know you love him but you need to talk about it. I really don't think he knows what he's done. I don't know about Carol but I'm sure he doesn't think of things that way. He was just being there for her after Sophia…" Lochie's voice got a little shaky and she seemed to take a few deep breaths. "Please don't do this. I know you're ill-equipped to deal with heartache but this really isn't the way."

"Maybe I do love him, maybe that's why this is best."

Daryl stared at Cassidy's profile, completely thunderstruck. No one had ever said they loved him before. He'd never told anyone that he loved them before either. Did he love her? He tried to think how he felt when he saw her, when she woke up all tousled first thing in the morning, when she teased him or answered him back. He felt a whole spectrum of unfamiliar emotions swirling through his chest. Maybe one of them was love. He did know that the few days when she hadn't been talking to him had been the most miserable since he'd met her. He knew that every time he realised that she wasn't talking to him all over again, that he couldn't just saunter over and whisper something thoroughly inappropriate in her ear to see if he could make her laugh, his heart seemed to stutter and a fresh surge of misery crashed over him. Was it love to want to spend every conscious moment with someone? To feel as if you were missing a limb when you couldn't talk to that person? He felt uncomfortable just thinking about it. Emotions weren't his thing. What he knew was that he needed to talk to her again.

He was drawn out of his reverie by Lochie walking past him. Cassidy was still sitting there, Vera carefully packed into her case on her knee. As always she seemed to know he was there. He sat down on the ground besides her in silence, searching for the words he needed.

"You're not in love with Carol, are you?"

Stunned by the ridiculous question, he stared at her.

"'Course not!"

"She's real attached to you."

Daryl felt heat flushing up his neck and he shook his head.

"I'm serious, Dixon. If anything happens between you two…"

"Nothin' is going to happen." He promised firmly.

"Better not." A hint of her old attitude was back in her voice and something below his stomach jumped at the sound. "You don't even want to know how I'd punish you."

Carol passed by them, deep in conversation with Hershel and Daryl felt Cassidy tense besides him.

"Look, redneck." Cassidy paused, her brow was wrinkled as she struggled for something. "I care about you." She finally managed to get out, sounding as if every single word was being physically dragged out of her by rusty iron hooks buried in her chest.

Daryl scrambled for words, for anything but he was coming up empty. His mouth had gone dry and no amount of swallowing was easing his condition. He licked his lips.

"Don't go all soft on me, redneck." She interrupted before he could dig his own verbal grave. "We both know that purty mouth weren't made for nothin' but sweet talk and dirty behaviour."

Daryl flushed to the roots of his hair, his face burning hotly as she smirked at him.

"I think I liked it better when you weren't talkin'." He snapped.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're just so damn purty when you pout sweetbutt."

Daryl uttered a string of obscenities and flounced off into the dark. Cassidy allowed herself a small heartfelt smile. At least she hadn't cried all over him. Her smile flickered when she saw Carol sitting with Lori nearby. First thing's first, some ground rules were going to have to be laid out. She didn't know who that woman thought she was, but if she thought she was getting her hands on her man… she had another thing coming. Cassidy frowned. Had she actually just thought that? For real? Jesus H Christ. A few days without speaking to him, a minor bout of jealousy and this is what happens. Unbelievable.

"You're talking again!" Lochie squealed, bouncing over to her. "We should celebrate."

"The hell we should." Cassidy grimaced. "Don't tell me there's any alcohol left around here."

"When have you ever known me to be unable to procure alcohol?"

Cassidy scrutinised Lochie's wide-eyed innocent expression carefully.

"You hoarded some, didn't you?" Lochie blinked although her smile didn't falter. Cassidy grinned. "Well you have two options; spar with me or tell me what happened with the sheriff that night."

Lochie went from red to white and back again faster than a traffic light. She eyed Cassidy uncertainly, then her eyes narrowed and a sneaky glint appeared in her eye.

"Okay, we can do the girly talk thing but it works both ways." She leaned closer to add in a conspiratorial whisper; "You have to spill."

Cassidy glared at her.

"Sparring it is then."

"Can I come?"

Lochie jumped a foot into the air, whirling on Carl standing innocently next to her.

"You've been hanging around her too long." She complained sulkily, embarrassed that a kid had gotten the drop on her.

"Can I?" Carl repeated, completely unrepentant.

"You can watch and then I'll work with you a bit." Cassidy watched him scamper off happily to get them some fresh water. "I think we've been a bad influence on that kid."

Lochie leaned around her to eye his departing back thoughtfully.

"Nah. Look at the squares keeping an eye on him. Badly. We're the best thing that ever happened to him." She declared wisely, looping her arm through Cassidy's.

Piratejessieswaby – all in due time

Eternalshifter – no there isn't a chapter missing, it was just sort of a behind the scenes look concerning those glances between Carol and Daryl that are really pissing me off :)

Syria13 – the chant is memorised, sticking pins into a Lori doll obviously worked so I'll dig out a Carol one

JDMlvr1 – ah secrets :D I'm seriously hoping something happens to Carol, the woman needs to be rescued too much

Saphireblue987 – thanks very much, here's an update for you. I liked writing them too :)

JTellersOldLady – well I couldn't keep them apart for too long, there'd be hell to pay from my readers :) I really hate how woman are portrayed in the show, they're either psychos (Michonne) or whiny trying too hard bimbos (Andrea) or useless damsels in distress (Carol and Lori) only Maggie is even slightly interesting and worth noticing.

LadyLecter47 – me too. Hope the hurricane didn't affect you too badly. Hope you like the update

Adriana Afton – thanks a lot

Kaleiburzz – yup she does have an accent, but not the stereotypical accent British people usually have in American shows that no one in England actually has lol glad you're liking it