This may be an odd chapter for anyone who didn't read "I Ain't Nobody". Daryl is going to have a little talk with Merle. It seems dead Merle enjoys telling Daryl some hard truths. So you have to work with me here. Daryl has started to separate himself him from the group. Rick is too self-absorbed to notice that Daryl is struggling. Carol is not going to bring him into the fold this time.

New Paths

Daryl took off for the woods the next morning after breakfast. He was going to skip the meal altogether but he found himself going into the house before he left. It was early but Morgan and Tyreese were working on breakfast and they gave him a cup of coffee and he sat down until they finished. The others began to file in and Rick and Carl sat down with him. Carl drinking coffee like a boss. The food was god-awful but some part of Daryl knew that he was just hanging around to see Carol before he left. She ignored him completely but he just wanted to see how she was this morning. There were times when she seemed her old self and then at times she seemed almost shattered. Times in which her only comfort seemed to come from Tyreese. He would put his arm around her and he had seen Carol bury her face in his shoulder. Something had happened out there and Tyreese knew what it was. Daryl was glad that Tyreese had been there for Carol, because he hadn't been.

Daryl hated Morgan. He hated him because Carol liked him. They were always talking and laughing together. He hated him because Morgan touched Carol too much. He hugged her and held doors for her and Morgan's eyes would light up when he saw Carol. Morgan would take Carol away from the group. He had seen Morgan look at Abe and Eugene with skepticism. Morgan wasn't going to follow those two yahoos because Rick thought it was a good idea. Morgan would take Carol and they would go off and live happily ever after because Morgan would be good to her. Just thinking that made Daryl want to drown puppies.

Daryl was glad to find out that the morning oatmeal was truly terrible. He was forcing it down when Carol showed up with Judith. She cast that smile in his direction and he almost choked on his oatmeal until he realized that the smile was for Carl. She came over and gave Judith to Rick and went back and got a bowl of oatmeal. Morgan said something to her that made her laugh and Daryl hated him some more, but Carol sat down beside of Carl and that meant that she was sitting across from him. She looked beautiful this morning and he thought of all the times that he had thought that and never said anything. That damn Morgan probably told her that over the fucking oatmeal.

Carol stirred her oatmeal suspiciously but took a spoonful. Her eyes widened and met his and Daryl laughed at her expression. She laughed and spewed oatmeal and he laughed some more. Then Carl laughed and Judith laughed and Rich used his shirt to wipe Carol's face, "It is like sitting next to Judith when she eats".

Michonne came in and got her bowl and they all sat waiting for her to eat her oatmeal. She stared at them with her mean face and then took a bite. She politely spit her oatmeal back onto the spoon. She unsheathed her katana and walked back to Morgan and Tyreese, "I have skewered men for doing less than this to me. I used to have a wonderful job and I drove a Porsche. Life now is just one long nihilistic nightmare, but I am not eating this shitty oatmeal". She dumped half of it on Morgan's head and the other on Tyreese's. She turned and walked out of the house.

"I'll go talk to her. Somebody can have my oatmeal". Carol jumped up and hurried after Michonne.

Morgan and Tyreese cleaned oatmeal off their heads and kept on serving oatmeal to the unsuspecting. Carl ate Carol's oatmeal and Daryl sat and thought about how he had felt when Carol's eyes met his. It was as if entire world consisted of him and Carol laughing and there was a bolt of joy that went through him.

Daryl left the house. He could see Carol and Michonne on the back deck laughing and he headed across the fields and into the woods. He felt the joy seeping out of him. Carol probably went back in and made more oatmeal and she and Morgan were probably eating it from the same damn spoon. Daryl kept walking. He missed her so much and she had been close enough to touch this morning.

He sat down on a rock by a small stream. Daryl missed Merle. He could be an asshole but he wouldn't be brooding by a creek. He would either hit Morgan or hit on Carol. That was Merle.

"Damn right, boy. I wouldn't waste my time hitting Morgan. He ain't the damn problem. It's your and your serious lack of testicles." Daryl could almost see Merle standing there and that is exactly what he would have said. Daryl looked around. There wasn't anyone around and he needed to talk to somebody. Better a dead Merle than nobody.

"You had lots of women, Merle, but you never were with anybody like Carol. She isn't one of your bar tramps." Daryl figured that if you were going to talk to the dead, there was no rule that you had to be polite.

Merle snorted, "Morgan treats her like she is a lady, a woman, and a warrior. She is all of those things and you never showed her that you knew that. You are pissed off that Morgan is looking at those titties and that ass, but you never let her know that you thought she was beautiful. You are just a damn dog in the manger. You don't want to fuck her but you don't want him to fuck her. "

Daryl had the mental image of Morgan and Carol having sex. "Shut up, you don't know shit. I do want her, but I thought she didn't want anybody. That Ed had treated her so bad that she didn't want to be with anybody like that. She would tease me once In a while about sex but she was just joking around".

"She has been hurt and so have you. You both got a t shirt for letting someone treat you like shit. Carol needs a gentle man, but there ain't a woman alive who gets pissed at a man for showing that he wants her. Morgan is a good man. A gentle man and he would be good to her. The thing is that she liked you first." Merle's voice was unexpectedly gentle.

"That was before I didn't search for her. I just thought she was gone, like everybody that I love. They just leave me".

Merle snarled, "Stop that fucking whining. You can't change what you didn't do, but you can realize what it has cost you. It has cost you Carol. I don't know that you can ever get her back, but you can't do jack shit until you start thinking about being the man that she needs."

Daryl said, "I don't even know how to start." He could hear the self-pity in his voice.

Merle shook his head. His mother must have hit the sauce way too much when she was carrying Daryl. "What does Carol need?"

Daryl thought about that for a while. Dead Merle was way more patient than he had been when he was alive. "She needs a man who loves her. She needs kindness now particularly because she has been through something that has really hurt her. She needs to be treated respectfully and she needs to be with someone who values her strength. She needs a man who will show he wants her but will never push her to give until she is ready. "

Merle said, "Morgan could be all those things. You had better elevate your game pretty damn fast. Get your ass back in that house and find a way to be near her. Show her that you can be that man. Don't tell you can be, because she ain't buying what you are selling right now. Clean yourself up a little. Carol will notice that, but don't expect it to come easy."

Daryl said, "I love Carol." He had finally said it and he waited for Merle.

"I know you do, but that don't mean shit unless you start acting like it. Try thinking of love as a series of actions instead of how you feel. So act out your love and I don't mean sex. That might come later. Listen to this, you can't love Carol and be Rick's bitch. Following him and following Beth, and following Joe has put you in these woods talking to a dead man. You wanted my advice and I gave it. I ran out of chances but you still have one or two left."

Dead Merle disappeared and Daryl shook himself. It was scary how real it had seemed, but he felt better. He washed his face in the cold water in the stream. He was going to hunt until he brought food back. Then, he was going to tell the outside cat that he needed to be an inside cat because it was awful cold and lonely without Carol.

TWDTWDTWD

Carol had laughed with Michonne about the awful oatmeal but she had resisted the impulse to go fix it. She didn't have to fix everything. It was bad oatmeal but maybe she could come up with something better for dinner. She wished they could stay longer but tomorrow they would probably be back on the road and having a good dinner might help to dissipate the memory of that oatmeal. She hadn't meant to look at Daryl this morning but they had always joked

about the terrible oatmeal made by Mrs. McLeod at the prison. Daryl had actually laughed when she spewed the oatmeal this morning.

Carol said, "I know that you scarfed up some candy bars yesterday. You either share with me or I am squealing".

Michonne narrowed her eyes at her, "Blackmail. Pretty damn brave for a woman without a sword."

"I need chocolate and I need it now. I could use a sword too, but I won't blackmail your for that. You'll find me one because you are my friend and I need another weapon". Carol grinned at Michonne.

"I'll grab my stash and meet me in the barn. Daryl is out terrorizing the local fauna about now. Meet me there in five". Michonne scurried off and Carol went toward the barn.

Carol went up to the hayloft and sat down where she could see the fields behind the house. A striped cat peered out from behind a hay bale. It regarded her steadily and finally meowed, "Come on, kitty. You can't have any chocolate but you can sit on my lap and tell me your troubles". The cat inched toward her and finally purred against her side.

Michonne came up the stairs. "Is that a cat? It is a tabby too." The cat looked at Michonne and waved its tail disdainfully. Michonne laughed. "You are gorgeous. You rule your barn and you can survive anything". She handed Carol and candy bar and opened one for herself.

Carol leaned back against a hay bale. "What are we going to do today?" She looked at Michonne expectedly. She bit into the candy bar and moaned, "Oh, my God, that is good".

Michonne smirked, "Let's grab a ride and take off and see if we can find you a sword".

Carol said, "I think the sword store is between the Dollar General and the Winn-Dixie. Where is South Carolina can we find a sword?

Michonne thought, "Probably we could find lots of swords but they would all be 150 years old and belong to weirdoes who do civil war reenactments".

They both took a moment to think about why anyone would wear wool uniforms in the heat of a southern summer and reenact battles. "Wasn't there a martial arts business in a storefront in the town we passed through on the way to this house?" Carol asked. "I bet we can find one there".

Michonne started to give all the reasons why there wouldn't be a weapon there, "Sure, let's give it a try. Let's take Morgan and Tyreese with us. Not because we need them, but they'll need to get away from the scene of their crime against cooking".

Tyreese and Morgan were happy to make a clean getaway and they left in the truck. Michonne drove and Carol sat in the front with her. Tyreese and Morgan were just glad to get in the truck and they grabbed a few gas cans in case they found some gasoline.

There found walkers as they came back to the little town, but Michonne was able to navigate around them. She parked the truck in the middle of the street and she and Carol hopped out. Morgan and Tyreese guarded the truck and Michonne and Carol approached the storefront. The door was locked but Carol picked it open. The place was empty and they didn't find anything that Carol could use. Carol kept searching through the desk and the papers on it, "Let's find this address".

Michonne looked at it. "We passed that street on the way in I think. Oh, you think that whoever ran this place took his weapons home."

The house was a beautiful old home with a wraparound porch and balconies at the upstairs windows. Morgan went with them this time. He and Michonne led the way. Carol was content to follow. The front door had been forced open and they entered cautiously. The house was dusty but that didn't mean that it didn't have walkers.

There was a walker in the parlor and two in the kitchen. Carol found her sword upstairs hanging on two large bolts. It was short but felt right in her hands. Michonne thought that would work for her. There were two others hanging there and they wrapped those up in a blanket and took those too. They found some brandy in a cupboard and they wrapped that up too.

The town seemed to be picked clean and they went back to their temporary home. Michonne worked with Carol, Beth, and Sasha with the swords they picked up.

Daryl returned late in the day with some dead animals. Michonnne had made it a practice never to look too closely at his contributions to their food supply. He agreed to grill the meat and Carol and Michonnne made rice to go with it.

It was a pleasant evening and Carol and Michonne had the early watch again. Carol packed her bags and knew that tomorrow would find them on new ground. Daryl had packed his bag and moved back into the house. He figured that Michonne had been in the barn because he saw the candy bar wrappers and probably Carol too because those two were thick as thieves.

Daryl had said goodbye to the cat and gave it some scraps left from tonight's meal. "I wish you could go with us, but you are probably safer here. I'd stay with you but I have to look after Carol. She just doesn't know it yet."

AN

Daryl is going to have to do more than give lip service to win Carol back. I am not convinced he can do it, but the muse says that he needs to be in the story.

I appreciate your reviews.