I must say, I think I may only have another week or so left in me. This story will be drawing to an end. That makes me pretty sad. On a lighter note, however, that means there could very well be another 20 or more chapters to go. I kind of hope so, but they are headed towards the last stop of their journey pretty quick. I don't think I've rushed this story so far and I wont rush it now just to get it finished. I really hate it when people do that! I just figured I would let you all know that, since some of you are probably wondering by now if I have any intentions on ending this EVER. So thanks to you all for reading and all your really encouraging reviews!

Chapter Seventy Four

Sophia glanced around at the group. Someone brought out beer that they had managed to pick up from the store they had raided earlier. Her mom and Daryl had been inside for hours, probably fighting about something from the look on her moms face as she had stormed off. The fire was warm, the four walls surrounding them kept off the wind and she couldn't help but smile to herself. It was good to see everyone laughing and having a moment where they could just breath.

"What's with the grin?" Duane smiled as he handed her a can of soda.

"Just thinking. This is really nice." She mused as she glanced across the fire and caught Merle's eye. Him and Maggie were sitting on a blanket someone had thought to bring out. He winked at her and then turned his attention back to whatever Maggie was saying.

Carl was sitting to her right. He didn't talk much anymore. Usually the person she talked to the most, when they talked at all, was Duane. Ever since that day on the road her and Carl's friendship had pretty much fizzled up and she regretted everything she had said to him. He'd saved Daryl and she repaid him by throwing a fit in front of the whole group. She missed him, even though he was always right there. She had even sucked up her pride and apologized for everything. He had accepted with a nod. That was three weeks ago or more.

Duane stretched his legs out in front of him, crossing them at the ankles and leaning back in his chair. "This is the life." He smiled and elbowed her in the arm. "Could you imagine staying here? This would be better than the farm. It would be a good place."

Carl shook his head. "Until more people showed up. People like Randal's group. This place would be too hard to defend."

Sophia glanced over at him. "Not everyone is like that." She said quietly.

He didn't say anything, causing her to sigh and sink further into her chair. Was he ever going to talk to her again?

As if he had read her thoughts he looked over at her. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

He sounded unsure and his eyes searched hers. She nodded eagerly as they both stood up.

"Bout damn time." Duane mumbled as he gave them both a grin earning a frown from herself and an eye roll from Carl.

She followed him until they were away from the rest of the group but still had enough light from the small fire to see fairly well. "What's up?" She asked when he didn't say anything right away. She really hoped that whatever it was it wouldn't just escalate into another fight.

He shifted from foot to foot and for the first time she noticed that he was carrying his backpack. Finally he handed the bag over. "I saw you earlier, while we were at the store." He mumbled.

She frowned and took the backpack he was holding out to her. She unzipped it and then crouched down so she could look inside at whatever it was he wanted her to see. All she could make out in the dim light were clothes. She glanced up at him, her eyes searching his face. "Clothes?"

He nodded. "I saw you looking but you didn't grab any." He shrugged as she started pulling out shirts and pants, things that didn't make sense to have in this new world. She looked up with a smile. "You even got the right size."

He shrugged but the corner of his mouth tugged up. "That was the easy part. I just grabbed the smallest I could find."

"You know I'm going to ruin all this out there on the road." She said sadly as she ran her hand over a thin long sleeved t-shirt with an abstract design printed on the front of it. It was white. Definitely not her color since most of the time she was sleeping in the dirt.

"I didn't pay for it. And you'll look real nice, at least for a while." He looked away then, towards the fire.

"I didn't think we were even friends anymore." She whispered, feeling a lump form in her throat that she tried to swallow down.

He dug the tip of his boot into the soft earth before finally looking at her again. She stood up then, not sure what to say anymore.

"Sophia, neither one of us are going anywhere. It's kinda like, the three of us against the world. I'm always gonna be your friend. Even when you act crazy sometimes." He shrugged. "That's just what women do."

"Those things I said that day, I didn't mean it." She whispered.

"I know." He kept his eyes trained on hers. "Oh, I almost forgot." he reached into his pocket, "I found this too, it wasn't somethin' that you were lookin' at or anything but I thought of you when I saw it." She could see his face flush bright red as he took her hand and dropped something into her palm.

It was a thin gold chain, so delicately woven that she was almost afraid to pick it up. There was a charm on the end and when she moved it over to get a better look she gasped and her face lit up into a huge grin. The charm was a small gold crossbow.

"It's one of those Zodiac things, ya know. But I thought that it'd mean more than that to you. Because of Daryl and stuff. I just figured that you might have grabbed it yourself if you'd seen it but you didn't so I just grabbed it for you because..."

He finally stopped his rambling when she pulled him to her by the shoulder and hugged him tightly. She felt so much better than she had earlier, like a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders. She had her best friend back and, at least for the moment, they were safe and fed. He hugged her back just as fiercely as she hugged him, which made her feel even better. Whatever rift had formed between them was gone now. She hadn't realized how much she had relied on his friendship until now.

"Carl, you're the absolute best friend in the world." She said into his shoulder. In her excitement she reached up and was about to kiss him on the cheek just as he was turning his head to say something to her, causing her lips to land firmly on the corner of his mouth instead. She froze. He froze. She didn't even have the good sense to move. This was bad. This was really bad. She was standing here with a boy, a boy who had his arms around her and she had kissed him. Almost right on the mouth.

Carl was the one that snapped out of it first. He moved his face away but only about an inch and then turned his head so he was looking at her full on. His eyes were huge, she figured hers were too.

"I didn't mean to do that." She hissed as she stepped back.

He didn't say anything at first but then he nodded slightly. "It never happened." He whispered.

"Right. It never happened." She turned her head, dreading what she would see behind her, knowing that the entire group was staring at them just like the day on the road. But to her relief no one was paying them any mind. No one except a smirking Duane.

They both sat down on chairs next to Duane, keeping the boy between them. Sophia was blushing furiously. She thought she was going to be sick, especially when she glanced across the fire and saw Merle studying her intently. His eyes were narrowed. She wandered frantically if maybe he had seen what had happened. Oh gross. Gross gross gross! What if he thought she had done it on purpose? Jesus, why was she such an idiot.

She could have cried right then. She had just gotten her friend back and now it was ruined. Now she didn't even want to look at him. She realized that her fists were clenched and she forced herself to open the one that still held the necklace.

"That's real nice." Duane said as he leaned in to look more closely.

"Thanks." She whispered. "Carl got it for me today."

"I know. I was with him when he got it. It was suppose to be a peace offering." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes and handed it to the boy, turning her body away from him and lifting her hair. He chuckled and then clasped it for her. She tucked it into her shirt and leaned back in her seat. She dared a glance at Carl, who was looking straight ahead into the fire.

"You know," Duane grinned and then stretched, resting his elbows on each of their shoulders, "With you two around, I wont ever get bored. It's like watching television again. Don't never know what you two crazy kids are gonna get yourselves into next.

"Shut up, Duane." They said in unison then they glanced at each other and smiled.

"Shuttin' up." Duane sighed.

Carl laughed and the sound made Sophia calm down a little. Maybe he really did know that she hadn't meant to do that. Maybe she could still have her friend.

~H~

Carol collapsed on top of him in a boneless heap, the side of her face pressed against his chest. He could feel every ragged exhale as it cooled his feverish skin. The only sound in the room was their unsteady breathing. He felt like they had been in that room forever. He glanced towards the window, half expecting the sun to be shining through the glass. But all was dark and quiet. Calm.

She finally slid up and kissed him lightly. He had kissed her so much that his lips were actually sore but that didn't mean he had had enough. She had been right. He had put up a wall and had gone these last few weeks barely touching her. Not that he had much of a chance out there to do anything but stay on alert. But he was making up for that now, the best way he could. He ran a calloused hand down her back and held her tighter to him. She laughed and tried to pull away, to roll off of him but he just tightened his grip around her even more and then rolled so she was under him.

"We need to get back out there." She laughed as she ran a hand through his sweat dampened hair.

He smiled in the dark. Her voice wasn't even hers anymore. He couldn't help but to feel smug. "Ain't we had to look at those people enough?" He grumbled. His own voice was pretty rough, he cleared his throat.

"Daryl, we're both exhausted and covered in sweat. We're gonna kill ourselves if we don't get some water in us soon."

He growled into her shoulder but then raised up onto his knees. "Fine. Let's go rehydrate and then get our asses back in here."

"You're like a teenaged boy, you know that? All hormones."

He dipped his head down nipped her thigh. "You complainin'?" He grinned.

She sucked in a sharp breath. "Definitely not. But we need to get out of here. Someone said Glen got beer."

He reached up and traced her lips with his middle finger his nose skimmed down her ribcage. Her lips parted and she moved her head up slowly until the tip of that finger grazed the back of her throat. "You really tryin' to get me out of this room, you're goin' about it the wrong way." he growled.

He moved his finger in and out of her mouth until she caught it with her teeth.

"That wouldn't be very nice, woman." He laughed and then kissed her stomach once before sliding off the bed and feeling around on the floor for his clothes.

"I'm surprised you gave up that easily." She mused as she stood next to him. He handed her her jeans and she slipped them on, he wasn't gonna bother trying to find her underwear. There wasn't any light and he had no idea where they could have gone.

"Beer." He grunted as she heard his zipper.

"So all I have to do is mention beer and you'd abandon me?" He could hear the smile in her tone as he shoved her sweater into her hands.

"Nope. Gotta make sure them dumb asses out there ain't getting' shit faced. We're safe as far as I can tell but not so safe that we let our guard all the way down."

He caught her around the middle as she went for the door. He really could have stayed in this room all night. He wasn't done by a long shot. "An hour. We'll stay out there for an hour. As long as they ain't all drunk then we come right back here and finish what we started." He growled into her ear.

"You finished what you started twice already, Daryl. And I finished what you started more times than that." She laughed. "And you also finished what you started out there by the road. I'm not feeling very sorry for you right now."

He kissed her neck and then finally let her go. "Damn Merle is probably wasted. Best get out there now." He grumbled. "One hour." He added as they made their way down the hall.

~H~

Merle was nervous. He hated feeling nervous. Shit used to never make him nervous before but that was before. This was now.

"What's the matter?" Maggie asked as she pressed into his side.

He just shook his head and took a long drink from his bottle. Of water. He wasn't drinking any of the beer that Glen had managed to grab. No one was drinking heavily but everyone was drinking a little. Well, not everyone. Hershel and Lori declined and so did Beth. Maggie was going to drink but he had taken the beer and shook his head. It earned him a glare from her but he didn't care. This was his chance. He was going to take it and he wasn't going to have her drunk.

"And tell me again why we ain't drinkin'?" She asked glumly as she watched T-dog and Rick finish off theirs and grab another.

"Can't. Some of us need to keep a clean head in case somethin' happens." He said wisely.

"And you volunteered the two of us to babysit? Daryl isn't drinkin' and neither are some of the others."

"Daryl is in there neck deep in Carol right now, he ain't payin' no mind to what the hells going on out here." Merle grumbled.

Maggie giggled. "At least someone around here is gittin' some."

"You tired?" He asked suddenly.

Her brow furrowed. "You wanna go to bed? Waste all this freedom for sleep? I thought the point of not drinkin' was to keep watch?"

Fuck no he didn't want to waste the night sleeping. He didn't want to waste it setting out here with all these assholes either. He turned around when he heard the glass doors to one of the apartments slide open. His brother and Carol came out, him leading her by the hand.

"Are you assholes getting drunk?" He grumbled as he sat down on the blanket next to Merle.

Merle held up the bottle of water and frowned. He almost laughed when Daryl's eyes widened.

"You ain't drinkin'?" He asked, shock clear in his voice.

He just shook his head and stared back into the fire.

"He's makin' us babysit even though no one else is really gittin' drunk." Maggie pouted.

Merle glared into the flames. He didn't want to look at his brother anymore. He had that smug look on his face that Merle knew meant he had guessed right about what they had been in there doing. Three fucking hours? He could almost smell the sex on the boy. This was total bullshit. He stood up abruptly, pulling Maggie up with him. He shot a glance across the fire.

"You alright for the night boy?" He asked Duane.

Duane gave him a nod that Merle returned before he turned around and headed towards the door.

"Where are we goin'?" Maggie asked as she picked up her pace to match his long determined strides.

"Bed." He growled.

"I ain't tired." Maggie argued.

He shot her a dark look and then felt the corners of his mouth tug up. "I ain't either."