A/N: I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter posted, and I apologize that it's mostly exposition and not action/dialogue. I'm sort of breaking the very important "show, don't tell" writing rule (I used to teach Creative Writing – I told my students that rule all the time!), but I kind of needed a placeholder chapter here. I know where I'm going with this (for the next couple of chapters, anyway), but I needed this chapter to get there. I hope it's still enjoyable! Please keep the reviews coming – I love hearing from those of you who are reading my story.

Bliss. In her life before the walkers had destroyed the world, Carol had never truly known happiness. She'd been happy when she was with Sophia, but her happiness was always colored by a fear of what Ed might do to both of them. She'd certainly never expected to find any kind of happiness again after Sophia's death. What she found with Daryl in the next few weeks, however, was beyond anything she'd ever hoped for. They still lived with a constant fear of attack, they still struggled to survive, and they still had to deal with the annoyances of making a life with the others in their group. But they had each other, in a way she'd never imagined.

Rick finally caved in and made the decision that everyone would move to the new houses with running water. Carol was overjoyed, especially when she and Daryl claimed their bedroom. Maggie and Glenn took another bedroom in the same house, and Andrea rolled her eyes and made a snide comment to Michonne about lovebirds shacking up. Andrea, Michonne, and T-Dogg took the next house. Rick, Lori, and Carl shared another house with Hershel and Beth. They were more spread out now, but everyone agreed that was what they needed. They were tired of being on top of each other, of sleeping on couches and floors. These houses had running water and plenty of room, and they hadn't seen a walker in the neighborhood in several weeks. They were beginning to almost feel safe, but they stayed vigilant and made sure that someone was on watch at all times.

Since the walkers had first started appearing, in those early days when Carol thought her life would surely end any moment, she had always dreaded the night. Darkness meant a heightened level of fear, after spending the daylight hours terrified out of her mind already. But now Carol couldn't help looking forward to nightfall. All day, while working on making their home nice, while doing laundry, while looking after Lori, Carl, and Hershel, Carol counted the minutes. Night meant being close to Daryl, sleeping next to him, making love to him, letting him hold her. Their bedroom was more than a refuge: it was heaven.

"Did you ever love anybody?" she asked him one night. "In your life before?" She was lying half on top of him, his arms wrapped around her and her head on his chest. She looked up to see him shaking his head.

"Nah."

"No one? Ever?"

"There were women," he said. "Girls. They didn't mean nothin.' And there weren't many. I didn't have much time for stuff like that."

"What were you spending your time on?" she asked, idly stroking his chest.

"Survivin,' I guess."

"Well," she said, looking up at him again, "I'm glad you survived."

He smiled down at her, then lifted her up a bit so he could kiss her softly. She wanted to know more, but she was careful not to push him for too much information at once. She was gradually getting to know him better. She tried not to think about the fact that they might not have much time together, that in this world no time at all was guaranteed. Their current safety felt permanent, but Carol knew that was unlikely. She planned to enjoy it as long as possible, however, and part of that was allowing herself to believe that she and Daryl had their entire futures to be together. She didn't fool herself into believing that he was thinking the same way. Daryl had probably always lived in the moment out of necessity. She couldn't imagine him breaking the habit now. Not Carol, though. She'd never lived in the moment. She'd always planned ahead, hoped for a better day. Now that it was here, she was trying to fully experience it. She never could have imagined that she would find happiness after the world had gone crazy, when death was everywhere, touching everything, even her own daughter. Even with Daryl, she could never be completely happy without her Sophia. Sometimes, late at night, they talked about her a little. Daryl asked questions about her, wanting to know more about what she was like. Carol could see that he would never forgive himself for not finding her, no matter how many times she thanked him for looking. So she answered his questions, even when it was painful to talk about her. She shared memories of Sophia as a baby, as a sweet little toddler. She gave Daryl a picture of Sophia that was all happiness and light and left out the fear she and her daughter had shared because of Ed. Daryl knew all about that anyway. Some nights he held her while she cried for her daughter, and he cried for her too. Carol knew he was also crying for Merle, the only family he had, and maybe a bit for the mother he'd lost as a young child. She didn't force him to talk about any of it.

With Daryl, Carol got to know a side of herself that she'd never brought out before. She'd known it was in there, somewhere, but now she had a reason to unleash her sexual side without embarrassment or shame. Daryl's attention to her body allowed Carol to finally discover what she really liked, what made her feel good, what she liked doing to him. She'd had orgasms before Daryl, of course, but they'd mostly been on her own. Daryl may not have had much experience with women before, and Carol certainly had very little experience trying to please a man, but together it felt easy. They'd known how to make each other feel good from their first touch. Maybe that was because they'd waited so long to act on their attraction to each other and the tension had built up so much that any contact provided release. Regardless, she knew what they had together was good, and rare. Andrea and Rick were both right with their "lovebird" and "love nest" comments about the house Daryl and Carol shared with Maggie and Glenn. The younger couple couldn't get enough of each other either, but all four of them were still responsible members of the group.

Carol had begun working with Michonne and Andrea to learn how to better defend herself against walkers, and though she still feared she was a weak link, she knew she was in fact growing stronger. She wanted to be both strong and useful. Carol was serving as a sort of apprentice lately to Hershel, learning how to take care of the group's medical needs and making every effort to learn how to assist with Lori's childbirth. She was nervous about that, but she was more than willing to assist. She was the only person present besides Lori who had ever had experience giving birth, after all. Sophia's birth was in a hospital, though, with drugs and an OB, not a natural birth with a veterinarian attending. Poor Lori.

Carol had also started teaching Beth how to play the piano, and she was learning quickly. Many evenings, everyone gathered in their house and listened while Beth sang and Carol played. Carol could feel Daryl's eyes on her the whole time, and she often had difficulty focusing on the music because all she could think about was what they would be doing in bed later. She'd never known it was possible to feel so much desire, to want someone so much that he consumed your every thought. For several weeks they didn't even have an argument, as hotheaded as they both could be. She wondered how long it would be before she did something to piss Daryl off, and her answer came when she did something that nearly got her killed.