A/N: And I'm back! I feel like I've been working on this story nonstop these days (and that includes the times that I should probably be doing my homework too, but don't tell any of my professors:)

This chapter was a fun one for me. I really got a chance to throw in some things about Carol's past that I think may have been possible in her life based on her personality. There's also some backstory on the Woodbury group in this one too. There's also mention of one of my favorite books of all time. Okay, on with the story! (and off to finish my school paper before the weekend starts!)

Disclaimer: I own nothing related to the Walking Dead or its affiliates. If I did, I'd be one happy woman!

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Ch3.

"So can anyone tell me what the significance is between Atticus and Boo Radley?" Carol looked at the small group of children sitting in a circle around her, waiting for a response. "No one?"

"I can." One older boy spoke up, looking annoyed. "They're both morons."

Beth scowled at him. "Now why would you say that?"

The boy scowled back. "Atticus is defending a guy who is obviously going to be killed and Boo is running around acting like he's the town hero when he's just a big scaredy cat."

Carol frowned. "That wasn't exactly what I was looking for."

A young girl in the front raised her hand. "Miss Carol? Why does everyone think that Tom Robinson hurt that girl? No one believes he didn't do it."

Carol sighed. She'd love to tell this child that racism was a thing of the past, but sadly even in the world they currently lived in, it was still rampant. Only now, it came down to the living not willing to help others like themselves because they were too scared to trust.

"People tend to believe what they're told in life is true, even if it isn't. Most people aren't brave enough to question it, but some are, like Atticus Finch. He knows that Tom is innocent even if no one else believes him, and he fights for him."

"But he loses."

"I think…" Carl spoke up from behind the smaller kids. "I think he knew all along that he would, but he still fought for what was right. That's what a decent man would do."

Carol smiled. "That's exactly right Carl. He knew he wouldn't win, but he did what he thought was right. It's what honorable men do."

"Daryl's honorable." Beth blushed, sitting next to Carol. "He always does what's right."

Carol tried not to laugh at the poor girl's obvious crush on Daryl. She'd been trying to tell him that he was honorable for a year now, but he never believed her. It seemed like all the years of abuse had tainted his self-worth and it was a crime to see him constantly putting himself down. She knew that if he hadn't been there all this time, none of them would have made it this far.

"All right, we'll pick this up again tomorrow, but for now let's call it a d-"

Before she could get the words out, the kids had scrambled from the small room they'd been in to the main door and out to the blacktop to play. Carol ushered Beth to go out and keep watch for them. They hadn't had a breach in the prison for a few months now, but no one ever wanted to take that risk when the children were involved.

When the group from Woodbury moved in, they had a lot of young people with them, so it was decided quickly that they needed to have some type of schooling during the day to keep them occupied. Most of the adults who survived through the Governor's attack were elderly, so it fell to the women of the group to take turns teaching the kids. Carol was the first to volunteer, along with Beth and Sasha from the other group. They each took turns working with the kids on writing skills, math, and history, and let the men handle things like defense and strategy. There were seventeen kids in all, so they were split into two groups by age. She currently had nine of them in the younger group, ranging from four to twelve. It wasn't always easy, but she enjoyed having some sense of normalcy again.

"School out already?" Daryl's voice floated into the room as she turned around and smiled.

"Yeah, they're out playing."

"They got it too easy." He grumbled. "They should be out there learnin' some skills."

"They need time to be kids too Daryl." She defended. "Just because the world is different doesn't mean they shouldn't have a chance to play."

"They being hard on you?"

"Not too bad. Having Beth around helps."

He nodded. "Beth seems good with kids."

"Beth has a crush on you." Carol smirked at him.

"No she don't."

"Seems to me she does."

Daryl made a face. "She's too young for that stuff."

"She's seventeen. She's right at the age for getting crushes." She gathered up some books sitting around. "Carl has a crush on her but she isn't returning the favor. I feel bad for the poor thing. He's been pulling away from her a lot. All he wants to do now is guard the prison."

Daryl nodded. He understood the boys frustrations. "When I was his age, I was more interested in huntin'."

Carol was mindful. "Well, some guys hunt for animals, and some hunt for pretty girls."

"S'pose so."

He knew that's how Merle'd been, but he never really understood why. Personally, girls scared the piss outta him.

"You taking Carl out to track later?" She said, disrupting his thoughts.

"Yeah probably. He's getting' pretty good."

"I'm glad you're teaching that part." Carol smiled. "I'll stick to reading and writing."

"You'da made a real good teacher I bet."

"I never told you?"

"Told me what?"

"I was one. I taught English to second graders." She rearranged the books on the shelf in the corner. "It was before I married Ed. I was fresh out of college."

Daryl looked taken aback. "You went to college?"

"Yeah, for four years." She smiled. "Some of the best years of my life."

"Well shit…" He sat on the edge of the make-shift desk. "Now I feel stupid."

"Why?"

He squinted. "I barely made it through the eighth grade."

Carol folded her arms, facing him. "I'd be happy to teach you if you want."

"Naw, it ain't gonna do me no good now anyway." He found a pencil and twirled it in his fingers. "I'm a lost cause."

"Well, you know where I am if you change your mind."

Carol instinctively put her hand on his arm, like she would have if she was talking to a student, but the look on Daryl's face told her that he was thinking something else entirely. She lingered for a moment but then let go, figuring maybe it wasn't a good idea. She was especially surprised when he didn't go running out the door immediately.

"So why'd you quit?"

"Quit?"

"Bein' a teacher."

"Oh, right." She started walking back to her cell and he followed behind. "I met Ed and we got married, but then he said he needed me to stay home to do the cooking and laundry like a good wife, and eventually he got his way."

"So he made you quit."

She sighed. "It was a tough job. I always loved the kids but I used to come home too exhausted to do much of anything. Ed didn't take well to that, so it sort of made the decision easy." She smiled. "Then I had Sophia, and I didn't have time to worry about anything else."

Daryl looked at her with hesitation. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"When did Ed start hittin' you?"

Carol was surprised to say the least. No one else had ever come out and asked. They'd always assumed it had been like that from the start.

"Not until after Sophia was born. He'd always had a temper, but he didn't actually hit me until she was about two months old."

"What happened?"

She thought back. "Sophia had colic and was constantly crying. Ed was working long hours and would go and stay with friends because he couldn't handle all the noise, so I was always on my own with her. One night, I went downstairs to make a pot of coffee, but I was so delirious that I forgot to put the pot underneath the strainer. When Ed came home in the morning to change for work, he found me asleep on the couch and coffee all over the place. I told him I'd clean it up but he said I couldn't do anything right and he smacked me. Eventually he apologized, claiming it was stress and that he'd never do it again." She chuckled dryly. "Well, you've heard the rest I'm sure."

"Did you think you deserved it?"

Carol sighed deeply. "At the time? Yeah, I did. Once you hear something enough times, it starts to sink in."

"You got that right." Daryl snorted, leaning against the door frame. "If I had a dime for every time I heard it, I woulda been a rich man."

"The hard part is convincing yourself that you don't deserve it." She said, taking his hand. "We can't change the past, but we can learn from it. You are a good man Daryl Dixon. Don't ever forget that."

He looked down at her grasp on his hand, and she could tell that now he wanted to run, but she wasn't going to let him. He'd been dealing with a burden on his shoulders for so long that he didn't know how to handle even the simplest compliment anymore. She was going to make sure that he knew how special he was, even if she had to tell him a million times.

"Stay here for a minute," She let go of his hand and started walking out the door. "I need to go check on something."

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Daryl couldn't remember being in a more uncomfortable position in his life. Still, it was his own damn fault. He'd been the one who'd asked Carol about Ed and the abuse. In a way, he'd just wanted to hear someone else's war story to have something to compare it to, but it only ended up making him feel more awkward and irritated.

Even though he knew it was true.

Carol was right. Once you heard something enough times in your life, it just stayed with you. It was like a part of you, for better or worse. He'd never had an easy time trying to convince himself of anything other than what he knew to be true. He was worthless. Even his own brother had basically told him all his life that he wasn't up to snuff. Carol was gonna have a lotta work ahead of her if she thought she could ever perusade him otherwise.

"Daryl?" Carol popped her head back in the door. She was holding Judith, who immediately grabbed for him. "Someone wants to say hi to you."

Every bit of conviction he'd just been feeling left his body the minute he saw that baby with her head full of hair and her big brown eyes. She always lit up when she saw him, and damned if he could figure out why. Everyone told him it was because she remembered how he rushed out to get her formula so she wouldn't starve after Lori died in childbirth. He couldn't imagine a little baby being able to remember anything like that, but he had christened her with her first nickname, Lil Asskicker.

Judith reached out for him and he lifted her over his head. She giggled and cooed like it was the best thing in the world. He'd never been around babies much before, but he believed that this one was his kindred spirit. They'd been through too much together for it to be anything else. Carol had known that this would be his reaction too. Anytime he was ready to fly off the handle about something, she'd hand him the kid and he would go all soft.

Damn, I really am turning into a pussy.

"How's my Asskicker doing today?" he said sweetly as he settled her over his hip. "Do I see some choppers in there now?"

"She just cut two teeth." Carol said, amused at the sight before her. "Hopefully the crying fits are over for the time being."

Without thinking, Daryl raised his pinkie up to the baby's mouth to inspect. He yelped loudly when she instinctively bit down on his finger. "Ow! Damn kid, you're as lethal as a walker now!"

Carol howled with laughter. "That's what you get for sticking your yucky fingers in a baby's mouth." She took Judith back in her arms. "Go wash up and we'll wait for you outside."

He headed over to the main washroom to wipe down some of the grime and dirt. He hadn't forgotten why he had been irritated, but it was more to the back of his mind now. He'd never be okay with what happened to Carol, but she was right. He couldn't change her past. He couldn't change his own past either. Suddenly it didn't matter so much anymore.

Wonder if they make baby's first crossbow…

A/N: I have to admit…I am totally impressed with myself for that last thought from Daryl. It just seems to fit his way of thinking…and honestly, I would totally go out and buy one for every child I knew if such a thing did exist. I took a lot of liberties with Carol in this chapter, but I hope everyone is pleased with what came out. Talking about abuse is never easy, but I love that she's a strong enough person now that she feels comfortable telling Daryl stories from her past.

I also went back and forth about how to describe Judith. She's only days old as of the end of season 3, and we don't really get a good look at her. I heard that the babies who will be playing her next season have blue eyes, but when I was watching the show, I heard Beth make a comment to Rick about how Judith had Lori's eyes, which were brown. I decided to honor the fallen mother and stick to the brown eyes, much like my own (wink wink). Anyway, hope you're all enjoying it. Stay tuned in, there's more coming up real soon…and keep sending reviews! I'm not ashamed to admit I am a review junkie