"...a mausoleum of all hope and desire..."

"I give you a mausoleum of all hope and desire, which will fit your individual needs no better than it did mine, or my father's before me. I give it to you, not that you may remember time, but that you may forget it, for a moment, now and then, and not spend all of your breath trying to conquer it."

- Dale Horvath, "Vatos" TWD: S1

It had happened so fast.

They'd been on their way back to the ASZ, Carol quietly frantic about the threat from without and within, when Aaron had found them.

Daryl swung the bike up next to the driver side window of the old red beater car, cutting the engine so their voices could be heard.

"We need to head back out—now." Aaron said, his usual placidly warm expression marred by a deeply furrowed forehead and frown.

"With all that's going on?" Carol said before Daryl could reply.

"Sasha just came back in—told us she found more walkers with the W carved into their foreheads." Aaron explained.

"She was out alone? Again?" Carol gave an angry exclamation. The sharpshooter's aim was never in question; her lack of good judgment in these solo forays however, was a sore subject.

"Damn it. Where?" Daryl asked, as always, on alert. He felt Carol's hands on his waist tense, gripping tighter.

"Southwest; same direction we found the last bunch—but a lot closer this time. Deanna wants us to see if there's anybody out there pushing them...makingthem..." Aaron said, looking uncomfortable. The idea that there was some unknown force moving towards them was what Daryl had been warning him about since their first trip beyond the walls.

"Shit." Daryl bit out, lowering his head. The last thing he wanted to do right now was leave again, but it was also his duty to their new community to be out there as part of the vanguard.

None of them said anything for a minute or two, Aaron and Carol both knowing it took Daryl a bit to fully process.

"You have to go—we need to know what's coming—it'll help convince Deanna." Carol finally said.

"Convince her of what?" Aaron asked, sounding bitter. "That there are threats she can't even imagine? Eric and I have been trying to get that point across since the beginning. Losing Aiden is the first thing that's finally got her head out of her ass."

Both Carol and Daryl stared at him in surprise. Aaron had always seemed to hold the leader of the ASZ in high regard.

"Let's just say Maggie and my talk with her should've been refereed by the good Father." Aaron said.

"Had a come to Jesus moment, did she?" Daryl said wryly. "'bout time."

Combined with what Rick had done in confronting Pete, finally Deanna had been forced to face reality. Sequestered in their little walled city since the beginning, they were unprepared for the kinds of things that the group of which Carol and Daryl were a part of had already survived, at great personal cost.

"I'm coming with you." Carol said in a tone that brooked no argument. Daryl looked like he was about to try anyhow, but was forestalled by Aaron's quick interruption.

"Carol? I know. That you're..." he looked down at her boots, her knife, handgun and the rifle she carried at her back. "...more than Junior League material." he quirked her a smile and met her eyes. "Maggie told me what you did for the group at Terminus. I know that they need you back there—I need you back there-for Eric."

Their friendship may have been new, but Carol understood the depth of Aaron's feelings for his partner. They had that same bone deep devotion that she saw in Maggie and Glenn, who she used to envy watching their easy intimacy, wishing for that with someone too.

Daryl reached his left hand down, pulling hers from his side to the front, flattening it against his tensed abs, holding it tightly.

"The meeting's tomorrow night. Rick's gonna need all the help he can get." Aaron reminded them. "You need to be there to speak to it."

Though Maggie, Glenn and Michonne would vouch for him, Carol knew better than anyone the folly of thinking banishment was the best solution. She sighed as Daryl shifted uneasily in his seat.

"And your people—Tara's still out of it and then there are Rick's kids?" Aaron added, his last best argument, reminding her of the vulnerability of those they loved.

Carol's stomach lurched, thinking of Judith, Carl... Sam...

"All right. We're only a mile or so from the gates." Carol said decisively, nodding in agreement with Aaron and releasing her hold on Daryl so she could slide off the bike.

"No way." Daryl said, refusing to let her hand go. He looked up at Aaron. "I'll take her back. I'm only goin' with you if I know she's safe inside."

The two men stared each other down until Carol snorted at them.

"Fine—let's go then, we're wasting time." Carol put her right hand on Daryl's elbow and slid it up to grip his bicep through the leather sleeve of his jacket. She didn't take it as a slight to her ability to protect herself that Daryl wanted to get her safe inside the walls. What would take her a careful hour to trek they could drive in a few minutes and then he and Aaron could be on their way.

"I'll be here." Aaron nodded to them both, but then spoke directly to Carol in a quiet sincere voice. "Thank you."

Carol nodded back and Daryl jump-started the bike. She resumed her hold around his waist with both hands, her front flush to his back and this time leaning the side of her head against the wings adorning his leather vest.

"The range of the walkies is at best ten miles—hope we won't have to push out beyond that, but if we do I'll mark a trail." Daryl said to Eric and Deanna who stood next to Carol while Daryl did a quick check of the supplies in his saddle bags. Carol handed him a fresh canteen and Deanna passed him two boxes of ammo, one for each of the guns he carried, which he stowed as well.

"I know you and Aaron know what you're doing out there, but hear me when I say we can't have you bringing trouble to our doorstep—you see them? Whoever these people are? marking the dead? Gather as much intel as you can, but do not engage them." Deanna said in that calm but forceful way in which she always gave orders.

"Yes ma'am." Daryl said dryly, sounding as if he wanted to pop her a mock salute but thought the better of it.

"We'll hold down the fort...you two watch your asses out there." Eric said, clasping arms with Daryl.

Daryl looked up at the walls—yeah; fort was about right—wall you in so you think you're safe and tight, but they could become a tomb just as easy...and then nodded back at Eric who let go and backed away, trying to give Carol some privacy to say her goodbye.

However it seemed that Deanna was not up on the latest relationship gossip in the Zone.

"One more thing, Dixon—" the older woman began, but Daryl had already snaked his hand out to pull Carol close, wrapping her up in a tight embrace, his forehead resting on her shoulder.

Eric touched Deanna's arm, and she briefly glanced up, stepping back towards him, but then her eyes automatically went to the fascinating scene playing out in front of them.

Neither of the couple spoke—they had no need for words. Each understood how the other felt, knew their heart's desire intimately. They'd been apart before, would be again, but they always found their way back to each other.

Daryl lifted his head and raised his hands to cup Carol's face so he could press a kiss to her brow. She smiled at him and he chuckled at her and then he kissed her full on the lips, deeply and thoroughly as if he could express everything he felt for her in that one action. After, he continued to hold her close.

"Aaron's waiting." Carol said softly, finally breaking the spell, always the practical pragmatic one.

"Be back soon as we can." Daryl assured her and she nodded, as much of a goodbye as they would utter.

Daryl released his hold on her and stepped back, dipping in his jacket pocket for the expensive Wayfarer sunglasses that Aaron had given him as a joke when he'd found them in a car they'd scavenged on their last trip out. In his head he could hear Merle's obnoxious cackle calling him a "pussy" or worse for wearing them as he pulled them on. Fuck it—they protected his eyes and made it easier to see in the Virginia glare—he'd wear whatever the hell he wanted to.

Carol gave him a little grin when she saw the defiant scowl that donning the shades had put there.

"Bad-ass." She mouthed and he responded with a grunted chuckle, swinging his long leg over the bike and then starting the Frankenstein's metallic monster. Carol opened the gates and watched him roar through, taking her heart with him.

"You and Mr. Dixon seem to have left something out in your interviews." Deanna said, strolling up to Carol as they watched the Archer speed away.

Carol pulled the locking mechanism into place and then the heavy screen for the gate closed and turned to face the other woman, but before she could reply, Eric interrupted.

"My fault—mine and Aaron's—we sort of...well, we did a little post-apocalyptic match making!" he said impishly.

"So you weren't together—before? Out there?" Deanna asked, her gaze narrowing as she looked at Carol's hybrid costume today—half housewife, half Lara Croft, the black leather jacket, boots and khakis contrasting with the floral blouse and pearl earrings.

"Who had time for anything like that?" Carol said mildly. "Out there? It was about day to day survival, nothing else mattered. Daryl was good to me—protected me. Kept me alive-kept all of us alive and fed when he could. Here? Here we have time to breathe, to wonder, to hope, to desire for more..."

"Once we scraped a few layers of grime of off him, house trained him and found out he had a thing for Mrs. P, the rest was easy." Eric smirked. "Our love rubbed off on him."

Deanna smiled indulgently at the former recruiter. She understood very well why Aaron had been so keen to draft Dixon for the post Eric had been forced to vacate by his injury. True love was a rarity that she knew they needed to cultivate in this new world order. The miracle that she had come through the first two years of the plague with her husband and sons was something she would never take for granted again. She didn't know what she would've done without Reg to get her through the last days after Aiden...

"And perhaps Daryl has rubbed off a bit on Carol?" Deanna offered, forcing her mind away from the sad thoughts that threatened to overwhelm her and pointing to Carol's rifle and clothes instead.

"Safer on the bike-out there." Carol gestured vaguely beyond the walls, and then added in a 'just between us girl's' voice, "Daryl insisted...he gave me the jacket this morning—not quite my style, but he seemed so happy to give me a gift... I couldn't say no."

Deanna noted the warmth and soft blush on Carol's cheeks as she spoke about Daryl, remembering the tenderness the gruff man had used in how he spoke to and touched her. She found herself nodding slowly in approval.

"Well, I'm happy for you both...and sorry for you two that Aaron and Daryl have to be out there right now, but it's important work they're doing." She addressed the last to Eric as well as Carol.

"Thank you." Carol smiled, but then took hold of Eric's wrist, turning it so she could see his watch. "Is that really the time? If you'll excuse me—I really need to go get changed and cleaned up so I can get to work on time."

"Have a good day, Carol. Thank you for all you're doing for us here." Deanna said warmly.

Carol nodded in reply and then gave Eric's arm a squeeze before she took off at a brisk pace, heading for the pantry/armory to return her weapons.

"Tobin know yet?" Deanna asked Eric when Carol was out of hearing range.

"You think he'll cause a problem?" Eric asked.

"Only if he doesn't know and runs afoul of Dixon when he comes a calling on her. Why don't we make Tobin's reassignment to the garden project sooner rather than later? I'd rather not have him going outside the walls with a gun just now."

"I'll see to it." Eric assured her. Though Maggie had taken on the official Aide de Camp title for Deanna's cabinet of sorts, Eric was her go to guy for Human Resource issues, his new job assignment.

"Can I bum a ride?" Deanna asked, feeling a wave of weariness hit her all of the sudden. This was going to be a long stressful day waiting for any word back from the mission she'd sent Aaron and Daryl out on. Tomorrow's town meeting to discuss the fate of Rick Grimes also weighed heavily on her heart.

Eric smiled and reached back to grab his crutches from where he'd leaned them against the town wall beside them.

"My chariot awaits." He said smoothly, and they headed towards his golf cart.

They paused when they heard the hollow thud of someone or something pounding against the metal walls, an irregular beat, then recognized the low guttural moans of the dead. They exchanged a look and then turned as one to find the lonely figure in the clock tower. The sun glinted off Sasha's rifle scope and then they heard the fine high pitched whining howl of the silenced weapon and the jolt of each impact as she picked off the walkers outside one by one. They waited until the last moans and thumps were gone before they spoke again.

"Ten." Eric said.

"Eleven." Deanna corrected with a sharp negative nod.

"Getting bigger groups—more of them every day. You really going to send him out there?" Eric asked, both knowing of whom he was speaking.

"I'll do what I have to do. You and Eric know that better than anyone. You had to carry out my last decision on that account." Deanna reminded him. She wondered what had become of them, those she had banished so early on, doubting they could still be alive, hoping she'd never have to see their decaying corpses banging to get back in, trying to create a necropolis, a mausoleum out of the place from which she'd expelled them.

"They'll fight you on it. His whole group." Eric warned. "Dixon for starters." Then his face clouded and he added accusingly, "That's why you sent them back out so soon—isn't it?"

"We need all the intel they can gather on this new threat." Deanna said in a reasonable voice that gave nothing away. Dixon may be a loose cannon, but she was under no illusions that any of the rest of his group would be any easier to control if the decision went against Grimes. Not even Daryl's new seemingly harmless girlfriend.

That a man like Daryl Dixon would choose her out of all of the women available to him here and in his own group had the leader of the ASZ reevaluating her initial judgment on just who and what Carol Peletier really was...maybe Deanna had finally found someone who played her cards even closer to the vest than she did.

AN: I had this started last week, before the season finale so I finished it up today. I know where it's supposed to go, and parts will parallel the events of that episode, but hopefully give my presently low Caryl feels a bit of a boost by including more of what I wanted to see and hear from the both of them, LOL!

Love to hear from you if you have time. Happy start of the long hiatus, Lord help us & protect us from the trolling.