Get Out of Jail Card

Daryl woke Aaron up early the next morning. The rain had stopped sometime during the night and he had promised the boy a hunt this morning. Aaron rolled out of bed without complaining and Daryl went back to the great room to wait on him.

Carol wasn't up yet. It was very early and she had been wore out the night before. Sometime today they needed to talk. His anger and hurt was still there but then he would hear Gabriel's voice telling him. Now risk your hurt feelings and listen to her when you are calmed down enough to listen. There are all kinds of jails, Angel. Don't lock yourself in to this one. He felt like he was back at the prison. Everyone he loved was walking around free and happy and he was locked up in a cell. Carol just kept going by and he could not quite reach her. The key was in the door but he kept thinking that it was safer in the cell. Nobody could get at him there, but Carol just kept walking by.

Aaron came out ready to go and they went out the back door and down the steps. He showed Aaron his snares and the boy was fascinated with them. Daryl taught him how to make a snare and Aaron made one almost as good as his. Aaron was good in the woods. He could walk quietly and he didn't talk much.

They were on their way back when Daryl asked, "You're a long way from home, Aaron. Why did you fall in with that crew?"

Aaron laughed, "I was guarding the docks like I was told to. Those sirens were blaring and this overloaded jeep comes barreling at me. People hanging out all over me. Carol sticks her head out and just tells me I have three choices. Run, go with them, and get shot if I tried to stop them. I picked go with them. I'll never be sorry about that. I loved the boat and I love the mountains. Do you think she would have shot me?"

Daryl looked out on the mist still clouding the mountains, "Yeah, you were a goner."

Aaron laughed, "I thought so too. She is a real determined woman, but she ain't been nothing but kind to me. I love her like a mom and nobody is ever gonna hurt her around me."

Daryl shook his head a bit, He had just been called out by this scrawny version of his seventeen year old self. This boy who knew the true Carol, determined and wilful but also kind and loving. The woman who picked up outside cats and made them inside cats. "Aaron, you made the right choice. You'll have a home with us. Carol loves you like a son. You gotta put up with the rest of us too though."

Aaron chuckled, "That little girl of yours is a talker. The boy don't say much, but he is smart. I never had a sister or a brother but I like those kids. I like everybody in that house, I'll do what ever I have to keep them safe."

"It's ain't all hunting. We got fields of crops that have to be tended. It takes a lot of work to keep our family going." Daryl was picked up the pace. He was hungry and wanted to get home.

Carol had made breakfast but was doing laundry. Daryl changed out of his wet things and hung them up outside to dry. Morgan, Eugene, Aaron, and Daryl ate breakfast as Carol went in and out doing chores. Michonne was making sure the children ate breakfast while she did the morning dishes.

Daryl put wood in the outdoor furnace. He put enough in to ensure plenty of hot water and then he and Aaron worked all morning in the greenhouses and the fields with the other men. He was kinda proud of how hard Aaron worked. He wasn't no slacker for sure.

They went back at noon for lunch. It was a warm day and they had opened the windows and doors and the house smelled fresh and clean. That afternoon they worked the fields along the river. The flat river bottoms had been plowed and planted with corn, wheat, barley, and oats. The South Carolina farmers had fields there and the local men had plowed and planted there. They went home in time to take hot showers before dinner. Morgan, Eugene, and Tyreese had worked on the addition this afternoon. Dr. Hakim had mentioned to Morgan that Michonne would need more rest as the pregnancy went on. They wanted to get the house in order.

After dinner he and Aaron did the dishes. Carol was checking on the plumbing and wiring in the new addition. She made Eugene take something out and redo it and he could hear Eugene complaining. She bossed Eugene around something fierce. Carl came by and asked Aaron if he wanted to go over and meet John and Greg. Alia and Matthias wanted to go see the horses and Carl said that he would take them. Carol looked at Daryl and he nodded. She followed them out to Carl's truck with a shitload of instructions. Daryl asked Michonne to watch the kids because he wanted to talk to Carol. She said, "You better control your mouth, Dixon. She's been through enough." He nodded.

He met Carol coming back in and said, "Let's take a ride and then we can talk without all these people".

Daryl saw her close her eyes a second and he knew she was dreading this as much as he was. "I'll get the four wheeler. You might get a jacket".

She looked surprised but walked back in the house to get a jacket. He walked back to the barns and got the four wheeler. They could go in a truck and he realized why he had chosen the four wheeler when they hit a bump and Carol held on tighter. It reminded him of when they had ridden Merle's old motorcycle after the fall of the farm. He liked the feel of her arms around him and her body pressed close.

He took a dirt road around the mountain and then up to a small meadow. He had found this spot one day while he was hunting and had always wanted to bring her here. She slid off the four-wheeler and looked in every direction. The hills were turning green and there were birds tweeting and flowers peeking out and they were at the top of their world and the last bits of his anger and resentment began to melt.

They sat side by side on a flat rock. Daryl said, "Tell me why you left?" He put his hand in hers and reminded himself that when you ask someone to tell you the truth you have to listen to it no matter how much it hurts.

She grasped his hand tighter and began, "It started with a nightmare. Michonne goes into labor early and something is wrong and there is blood and she dies right there in front of me. Christie tries to cut the babies out and they are all tangled up inside and dead. They are all dead. I have to put them down and I can't bear it." I wake up and go and sit on the deck. I think I will tell you about the dream but you have so much on your mind right them." He nods. His mind had been on gathering the fighters together then.

"I have the dream the next night and the next and that goes on for a week. I start praying for some way to change that from coming true. I begin to see visions of Savannah and a hospital there. It isn't all at once, just a little more each time. There are two doctors there who can change this. Chana and David Hakim. Their families are from Iran and they are Jews, but they have to hide that from the Nazis in Savannah. I have to go get them and bring them here."

"I didn't want to go. I didn't want to risk everything on the chance that I could get to Savannah alive, find them and convince them to leave with me, and then find a way out of town. It seemed impossible, but I had to try. I found out I was pregnant before I left and I knew that I was risking the baby's life too. Daryl, I couldn't live with myself if I didn't go." She fell silent for a minute and Daryl processed that Carol was pregnant and she went anyway.

"Why did you lie and say you were going to the retreat?"

"I knew you would never let me go if I told you. Michonne would find out and be angry with me. I might not go and then she would die and her babies too. Morgan could not bear to lose her and he would just give up. So, I lied. I am sorry but I would do it again."

"Jesse should have never taken you down there. He should know better." Daryl was still angry with her cousin.

"I would have went anyway. He just took me because he wanted to keep me safe as long as he could. He let me out and I found a car to hot-wire and got closer to Savannah. Blaine Parker was the corporal in charge of the patrol and he kept me safe too. Blaine drove me to Savannah and took me through processing. He talked them into giving me a little apartment in his building. I got a job in the ER of the only hospital in Savannah. I made contact with Chana and David. Blaine and his wife wanted out of Savannah too."

Daryl knew that there was more. He had known all along that somehow Mason Summers was in this and he had to get the poison out of his system. "Tell it all, Carol. I'll be angry and hurt but I will imagine worse if you don't tell me." Daryl could feel Carol tremble and he wondered how he could love anyone as much as he did her.

"I thought that I had made it. I had met David and Chana and Blaine and Lisa were going to help me. I still hadn't figured a way out of Savannah but I thought that I would eventually. A high ranking army officer died in the ER and they took statements from everyone. I was using the name Carol Peletier and I just said I didn't see anything." She stopped and bit her lip and then went on, "I was called to the supervisor's office one afternoon and Mason Summers was there. He had read the report and he decided to go check out Carol Peletier." She shook her head in frustration. "He questioned me about why I was there and I told him that Rick had been bitten and I just didn't want to be alone anymore. He believed me I guess, but then said that he was taking me somewhere for a few days. He was the most powerful man in Savannah and I didn't have a choice. He took me sailing on his boat. He taught me how to sail and to navigate. He had sex with me. I didn't want him and he knew it. He didn't expect me to. He brought me back to my apartment and I knew he was leaving the next day. He came by the ER before he left and gave me the keys to his jeep." Daryl sat quietly and looked off into the mountains.

Carol went on, "Mason took part of the soldiers from Savannah with him. There was a walker herd out in the southwest and most of the other soldiers went to fight them. I knew that was our chance. We loaded up the jeep. The sirens started wailing and I knew that a mega herd was coming close to the barricades. We were driving down backstreets and there was panic everywhere. We went to the docks and got on his boat and we left Savannah by sea. It took us two weeks to get to a place to land and we took the gasoline from his jeep and started home."

Daryl had listened. Carol was here beside him because Mason Summers had taught her how to sail and had given her his jeep. Mason had kissed her and touched her in all the places that he wanted to and then he had put his dick in her and fucked her. He had done that for days. Carol hadn't fought him or killed him in his sleep. She had submitted, but Carol was alive because she chose to survive. Would he prefer an alive Carol or a Carol who would chose to die rather than be dishonored.

Daryl made his choice. "I know damn well you would do it all again to save Michonne and her babies so I ain't asking for no false repentance. I would take you over my knee and spank you but we both might enjoy that too much. I have had weeks of being scared and angry and I just want a get out of jail card now. I put myself in jail so I reckon I can kick myself out. Come and sit on my lap and we'll talk about the first thing that pops up."

Carol smiled at him, "That maybe the oldest joke in the world. Cave men probably told it to cave women and they rolled their eyes." She got up tentatively and sat down on Daryl's lap. He put his arms around her and kissed her sweetly.

"I better hold you now before you get too big and crush my legs. We're going to have a baby?" Daryl kissed her again. "It was that night in that damn barn I bet. We conceived a baby in a broken down stinky barn? Damn kid will be white trash meth head for sure".

Carol pinched him for the insult to their unborn offspring and that crush his legs remark. Then she leaned against him and just held him for a while. "So you can handle what happened?"

Daryl kissed her silver curls, "He never saw the you that I see, he never touched the you that I touch, and he never had the love that you give to me. I can handle it. It is in the past. You know that your son Aaron warned me today that nobody was gonna hurt you around him. I have to be good or that scrawny boy of ours is gonna whip my ass."

Carol laughed, "He is a wonderful boy and we're going to give him a chance to grow up and have a happy life." Daryl kissed her again and her body reminded her that it wanted to be with him. She kissed him back and his tongue slid into her mouth and teased her tongue a bit. His hands were pushing up under her shirt and she reached down and unbuckled his pants.

"You do like to have sex outdoors, but at least we aren't on watch." Daryl pushed her off his lap gently and stood up and started taking his clothes off. She hesitated a second but took off her shoes and her jacket. Daryl pulled her top over her head and stripped off his pants. He was naked except his boxers and he pulled them off. He put his shirt up around her back and then sat back down on the rock. She straddled him with the shirt still covering her back. He leaned back on the rock and she looked into his eyes and knew that he saw how much she loved him.

Later they talked about the battle. Daryl had picked a spot on the road to Coulter Gap because he figured that was where the General would go first. They had scouts on the road coming up the mountain. They let the soldiers go in and surrounded them on the way back. Summers had surrendered without a shot. Jesse and Tyreese had negotiated a truce. Summers would surrender all his weapons and supplies in exchange for his men's lives. He had expected to be shot but Tryreese had let him go with his men. They left nearly two weeks ago and hadn't been seen or heard of since.

Carol said, "He kept talking about clearing out the Nazis but the walkers did that for him. He will go to the fall back location and lead those families on the buses. He and his men will protect them while they start all over. He is never coming back here. He is really going to try to make amends. Can he come back from what he has done?" She didn't know, but she hoped so for the man he could have been.

"Let's go home and rescue Michonne from the clutches of Alia and Matthias. We ain't going to tell her why you did this? Daryl just wanted to know the plan.

"Chana is in charge now. She is going to hook up an ultrasound and try to get some readings. We'll need to do some runs to get surgical supplies." Carol was sounding more like her old self.

"One of us is gonna stay home and outa trouble for a while. You can run our world from the house. Those kids can sleep in their own bed tonight too. Big Poppa's in the house." Daryl started the four-wheeler and smirked at her, "Hurry up, I ain't got all day."

Carol climbed on and held on tight, "You never get tired of saying that".

Daryl laughed, "I went from being the angry mean redneck to the hero when we roared out of there with those walkers biting at our heels. You held on tight all night long. If I had known your inclination for outdoor sex I woulda found an empty barn somewhere. Certainly woulda worked for me."

Carol thought about that, "I was a burden. You should have shoved me off the bike, but I would have been in that hay loft with you if you only asked. I adored you then and I still do. Let's go home, Pookie."

Daryl eased off the mountain carefully. He had his wife with him and she was pregnant. He was glad that he hadn't released his anger last night. He was going to go see Gabriel and give him a big hug even if he thought hugging men was a pussy thing to do. It just felt so damn good to be out of jail.

AN

Daryl's anger was running out of steam the night before. I was going to write a big dramatic scene like the one in Season 2 and then I realized that Daryl has changed since then. He had too much to lose by pushing Carol away. I have often wondered why they rode around all night long to get to the highway when it was just a hop, skip, and a jump from the farm. It's not in my skillset to write that scene. I am just opting for setting the scene and letting the reader fill in the blanks.

I appreciate your reviews.