This chapter starts a storyline that changes everything. The romantic love between Carol and Daryl has always been integral to my stories but I am pushing the stakes up on this love. Is there a limit to their forgiveness and understanding? Will you the reader still love Carol if she does something that is contrary to her love for Daryl and her family? So this storyline may be a total failure but I am going with it. I hope you don't lose sight of the fact that I love fluff and mush, but if you'll hang with me I think that you'll understand. Carol does the hard thing, the thing that hurts her the most for those that she loves.

A Sister is a Forever Friend

Carol had been back home a month when the first vision woke her up in the middle of the night and drove her to go sit on the deck of their house for an hour. She thought that it was just a horrible nightmare but she couldn't control her tears and her abject misery. An uncaring April moon lit up the mountains and there was the faint scent of spring in the air. She finally went back to bed only to lie sleepless beside of Daryl until it was time to get up.

She almost told Daryl about it the next day. He was usually a good listener but he was out of the house the entire day. He was busy in the fields and with plans to defend them against the General's Army of the Carolinas. He had too much on his mind to add her bad dreams to his load she decided. It was a nightmare, but that didn't make it anything but a manifestation of her fears.

That night the dream came again and it was even more terrifying because some part of her saw more details in the vision. She struggled to wake up so that she could escape the sorrow and pain of the dream. Carol finally woke up and lay trembling in the bed beside of Daryl. She got out of bed and went again to the deck to try to sort out her thoughts. She knew it wasn't just a dream; this horror would come to pass if she didn't find some way to stop it.

Every night for the next week she had the same dream. It never got less painful to bear. Carol began to pray that she would have a vision of a way to change the outcome. Then, she after she had the sighting she rebelled against it. There had to be some way other than that to change the outcome. Some way that wouldn't make everyone she loved hate her. In desperation she "linked" with Emily and Jesse in hopes that the vision would be different. It was the same but they were against her interpretation of the vision. They wanted her to ignore what they saw and maybe they would find another way. Carol knew that they loved her and didn't want her to make the sacrifice that this required.

Christie was running the health clinic and Carol went to see her for confirmation of what Carol already knew. Carol was pregnant and she was sure that it had happened the night she and Daryl had been together after he rescued her in Allanvale. She was pregnant but she told Christie that she wanted to keep that secret for a little while. Daryl was concentrating on the coming battle. He didn't need one more thing on his mind.

Michonne was getting excited about the twins. She didn't talk much about it to anyone but the people who lived in their house. She had always been beautiful to Carol but there was an extra radiance to her now. The children were fascinated by the babies but wanted them out now so that they could see them now. Daryl teased Michonne about "goldbricking" to get out of the battle but he was surprisingly affectionate with her. He would hug her and tease her about being two arms full now. Eugene was obsessed with every detail of her pregnancy and Michonne was wont to say, "Shut the hell up, Eugene. If I wanted you to know that, I would tell you." Morgan was protective and loving and just adorable in his happiness. They were working to expand the house before the babies got there so that that most of the bedrooms were on the bottom floor. The shadow of the General and his army hung over all of them but their home was a happy place.

Emily and Brian had found the place that was to be the refuge for the women and children of McAllister Mountain during the coming battle. It had been a Catholic retreat ran by nuns about thirty miles away. It was so isolated that no one had thought to go there. In fact, there were four nuns still living in the retreat and they agreed to open their doors and allow the women and children to enter. They had strong walls around their main campus and a large lodge that could be used to house the visitors.

Michonne was in charge of the operation. She organized the shipment of food to the retreat. She met with the nuns and arranged housing. One of the sisters was a nurse and she worked with her to compile a list of needed medicines. Carol helped with everything but Michonne was in charge. Michonne drove the bus that carried the women and children to the retreat. Not all the women were going but the ones who weren't fighters or who weren't physically up to went on the bus. Maggie and Michonne went because they were pregnant. Temperance went because she had the twins to tend. Morgan, Daryl, and Rick went along to make sure that everything went alright.

Carol hugged and kissed Alia and Matthias goodbye with tears in her eyes. She broke down completely when she hugged Michonne goodbye whispering to her, "A sister is a forever friend". Michonne had hugged back even harder. She loved Carol. They had bonded on the trip out of Terminus, at the house in the foothills, and had become even closer since they moved on mountain. Carol was never going to forget fighting with Michonne at Indian Rock or the trip up the mountains trying to get there before it was dark. They had both lost children they loved and both were in their own way warriors, but more than anything they were sisters because they genuinely liked each other. They made each other laugh and more than anything there was a level of trust that could not be broken. They had each other's backs.

Carl put Judith into her car seat on the bus and hugged Michonne goodbye with tears in his eyes. Carol bit her lip and pretended that she didn't see his wet eyes. Carl had come by almost every day and checked on Michonne. One day he brought her some cheese in a can and laughed at her when she squirted it into her mouth. He gave her a going away present of some cocoa and comic books that he had found on a run. Carol knew that Carl would always bear the emotional scars from the death of his mother in childbirth. Carl loved Michonne and he was afraid for her have babies in this world. Carol turned away and stared at the mountains.

Carol met with Jesse and Emily after they waved the bus goodbye. She told them that she had made up her mind to go the next day. Emily had hugged her close and said, "You are my sister too. I understand and I'll try to make Daryl understand." Carol had nodded, "I would do this for you, Emily. For so long I only had Sophia to love. Now I have you and Michonne and I am not going to lose either of you."

Jesse put his arms around both of them, "Carol, I'll go with you as far as you will let you. You are both my sisters and our children will be cousins. You can back out now and we'll never let the others know. Together we can find another way to make this come out right." They all felt the spark of life that was Carol's unborn baby. Carol was risking too much and the outcome was so uncertain.

Carol shook her head. "I can't wait any longer. She is almost six months now. Just tell Daryl that I decided to go to the refuge so that I can be with the children. He won't worry so much then. Tell him that I love him and always will." Her voice broke a bit, but she met his eyes bravely.

That night the house was too empty. Carol had fixed dinner for the men and they ate in silence. The place was too quiet without the children. Carol and Daryl took a long walk that evening and he told her the plans for the defense. She listened carefully and said, "I know that will work."

That night Carol cried in his arms after they made love and he held her close to comfort her. She had been sad all night and he thought that he understood. He thought that she was missing the children and he rubbed her shoulder and kissed her, "It won't be long until everyone is back under one roof, sweetheart."

Carol kissed him back, "I believe that too. That is what I want more than anything else. We all have jobs to do to get that to happen. I love you, Daryl and I trust you to do what you need to do to make that happen. I hope you trust me that much."

Daryl nuzzled her neck, "You know that I do." He moved his hand down to her ass and drew her closer to him. "I can't get enough of you tonight".

Carol ran her hand down to his ass and pulled herself even closer, "There isn't anything stopping you from having some more of me." She sucked his nipple and felt his enlarged cock push against her slit and she pushed against it. "I'll just take what I want and you can take what you want." He pushed himself all the way in and Carol savored the feeling of being connected with him in this way. She wanted that feeling to last for as long as she could.

Later they went to sleep still entwined. Carol slept through the night for the first time in over a month. She woke up to find that Daryl had already left for some meeting with another group close to Ashville. Carol showered, packed, and placed her wedding rings in a tiny wooden box and put the box back in her dresser. Jesse was waiting when she went outside. He drove quickly and he dropped her off at a place that she had determined was close enough to Savannah for her to get there on her own. "Daryl is going to kill me when he finds out."

She nodded, "You tell him that I decided to go stay with the children and not to worry about me. I left him a note so he won't get too worried. I have to do this. It is the only way to save her. Michonne dies and her two babies will die with her. Morgan will fall apart and this time he won't get put back together. I am going to go find someone who can perform the surgery that will save them. I'll find some way to get them home. This is not a suicide mission. I can do this. I don't know if Daryl will ever forgive me, but I can't live with myself if I don't try."

She kissed Jesse's cheek, "You take care of those I love while I am gone, please. I will come home when I find them. I see them clearly and have a good idea where they will be."

Jesse hugged her, "I wish I could go with you."

Carol rubbed his cheek, "There wouldn't be a Welcome Wagon waiting for you, Jesse. I love you." She grabbed her loaded pack and got out of the car.

Jesse rolled the window down, "I love you too. Send us a message over the Psychic Hotline if we can meet you somewhere."

Carol waved goodbye and took off in the direction of Savannah, Georgia. Jesse waited until her figure disappeared from view hoping that she would change her mind and come back. He waited even longer and then drove home to Emily's house. He was staying there while Temperance and the babies were away.

Carol found a car and hot- wired it. It had enough fuel to take her fifty miles closer to Savannah. She was stopped by an army patrol and then taken to a processing center in Savannah. She was in.

AN

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The next chapter will be longer.