AN: this is roughly edited i'm Just happy i'm Writing again :)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 3

Three nights ago

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"Daryl, slow down."

Daryl flipped Merle off as he downed another shot. "Man you ain't my mother." Daryl groused as he felt the burn of the alcohol flow through him.

The knight Angels were partying and tonight was the night he was going to do it, he was going to forget Carol. He needed to forget her, or he wasn't going to survive much longer. He was going to break, he was going to call her, he was going to walk across broken glass on his hands and knees if he had to begging her forgiveness. He needed to let go of her and they only way he was going to was if he was rip roaring drunk.

She was everywhere, and it didn't help he was keeping tabs on her. Every night when she worked, he waited down street, following her silently in his truck making sure she got to the bus stop ok.

It was dumb, and probably stalkerish, but the area where the studio was was shit and the thought of her walking to the bus stop had made his stomach cramp in dread. Thank god the company was on hiatus. He knew all the details of her schedule. He knew the company breaked for a few weeks to give the touring dancers a chance to rehearse. She mentioned auditions for the Swan Lake to him about 3 months ago, but she'd changed her mind, decided she needed a break, that she wasn't prepared to put that time into getting ready for the audition. She should be going into a vacation stretch of about 6 weeks, starting yesterday. Merle was starting to get suspicious about where he went every night, Daryl would never hear the end of it, if he found out.

Tonight he was going to forget her. Her face, her body, her smile, her eyes, her laugh from his mind even if it meant losing his soul. She was his soul, there was no denying it, tonight he was going to make sure there was no going back.

That bridge was being burned to rubble.

That was when he saw her, Carol, well not really, but she was there, standing there in a white dress, watching him with those eyes, those eyes that hurt his heart they were so sad. She was perfect in every way. Innocence and class and grace beauty,standing there and he wanted nothing more than to reach out and touch her. But she wasn't real.

He slumped down to his chair, staring at her as Merle started fooling around to two girls that were marvelling over Merle's muscles and taking pictures.

Carol was walking towards him, smiling softly that smile that was only for him. The room melted away, he was transfixed watching her. It didn't matter suddenly, none of it, his past, his insecurities, none of it mattered. He needed Carol to breathe. He reached out and grabbed her hand, pulling her down to his lap, burying his face in her neck, but it was wrong, it was all wrong. She smelled differently, it wasn't her smell.

"Hey Handsome." The women on his lap purred and the hallucination in his mind shattered. This wasn't Carol. He stood in a huff, dumping the girl on the floor, practically running to the door and out to the alley. He still felt like he could not breathe.