AN#1: Thank you for all the nice reviews! I realize now you guys are right, ignoring a nasty anonymous review is they way to go. I am the type of person who hates letting someone have the last word( as my hubby can attest to) so when i saw it I hastily released what I had written for chapter 10 (even though it was incomplete) as a "screw you" to the anonymous reviewer lol. That being said when I said I've never written- I mean never, so constructive criticism is welcome. English grammar is always an issue for me- as I said I went to a French school. Ch 10 and 11 were initially to be one long chapter- let me know what you think:)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead in any form.

Chapter 11

God is really only another artist. He invented the giraffe, the elephant and the cat. He has no real style, he just goes on trying other things~ Pablo Picasso

Rays of moonlight floated down from the dormer window, catching flecks of dust floating in the air that shimmered in the moonlight like prisms. The still quiet made the scene appear like a painting to Carol, or maybe a dream. The past few hours had certainly seemed like a dream to her. A beautiful dream come true.

She was lying on her belly arms crossed below her head which was turned towards him. He was on his side facing her, head propped on one hand the other tracing an invisible pattern on her naked back with his finger tips.

The first time they had been together had been fast and furious, and the second had been slow and heart achingly sweet. She never knew what she had been missing all her life.

Daryl's difficulty with expressing his emotions did not seem to be a problem for him with intimacy. If anything she'd been surprised with his constant need to be close. From the way he would band one arm tightly across the small of her back while the other tangled up in her hair. To how he would seemingly try to mold his body around her own. He seemed to prefer to be on top, and would press his forehead to her own, staring at her intently as he thrust inside of her. After the second time they had made love he had stayed strewn on top of her for a long time, his head pillowed on her chest, the two of them still connected,refusing to be parted.

She had been lying on her belly watching him watch her, for awhile when spoke.

"Talk, it's all mucking around in your head,let it go."

She been in awe if his understanding of her needs , and then she had talked. She had told him everything. All the while his fingertips tracing his continuous pattern on her back. She told him how she had repressed her grief of Sophia's death, how he was the only thing that had kept her going afterward.

She told him of her longstanding feelings for him, and how she had been suffocating at the prison, overwhelmed by the need to keep her head down, keep going, do everything,save everyone, she'd lost herself.

When Ryan had died and made his life changing request she'd been paralyzed with fear. Two more children to care for, to keep alive, she hadn't wanted to love them.

She spoke of how she'd gone to check on Karen and David, David had been dead already, Karen suffering so greatly she acted without thinking and then burned the bodies to stop the spread. She had been planning to confess all,but Rick and Tyreese's confrontation had scared her into remaining silent.

Rick had asked her if she had done it, she answered truthfully, but he hadn't wanted to know anymore. She was deeply ashamed of what she had done, she didn't want to make excuses to Rick.

She knew when Rick asked her to go on the run, what he had planned, it would have made more sense to take Maggie. She'd been on guard, defensive the whole time, thinking he planned on killing her. But then he'd done something worse, he'd sent her away preying on her feelings of inadequacy unleashing Ed's evil ghost in her ear. So she left without a fight.

One night alone she knew she'd made a mistake. She'd gone back to the prison horrified at the scene in front of her.

" I saw you, you know that day at the prison going into the woods with Beth. I called to you but you didn't hear me. Then I saw Tyreese with the three kids, I couldn't catch you both. I couldn't leave him alone with all the kids, it was the hardest decision I ever made." She sniffed " in the end me being there, I'm not sure if it mattered. But I was grateful you weren't alone, what happened when you lost Beth?"

He told her about how after the prison he's been ready to give up, her loss had been new to him and combined with the monumental fall of the prison it had been too much.

"Beth made me have faith again"

"I'm glad she was there for you"

"Yeah she's a good kid, but when I lost her, I was feeling the guilt and ran into this group. This guy Joe, was a lot like Merle and I don't know I just, followed him? It was easier you know? But I didn't know what they were capable of." He sighed and told her about the confrontation with Rick, Michonne and Carl.

"Oh Pookie, don't ever doubt yourself, you're a good man, you always do the right thing in the end. You're every bit as good as Rick you know. In my eyes better." she said softly.

He felt himself choke up at her never ending faith in him. How she made everything ok, everything right. Two weeks ago he would have said he didn't deserve her, he couldn't remember now why he ever thought he deserved to be unhappy.

"I wanted you, for so long you know? I don't know when it started, maybe at the farm? I spent so many nights wanting you, but I couldn't get out of my own way. Thank you for waiting for me" he grinned" I know I took my god damn time" she chuckled nodding her head.

He grimaced when he rolled over "My old ass ain't used to sleeping on a real mattress anymore. It's too damm soft."

"That wasn't a problem a problem earlier" she said with a cheeky grin

He stared at her confused for a a few moments before flushing brightly

"Stop"

"I don't know Pookie I may have to rethink this whole cougar thing, I hear younger men have much more stami..." She shrieked and giggled as he quickly rolled her on to her back. Positioning himself on top of her. She could feel the evidence of his desire for round three on her thigh.

"You were saying?" He said as began to leave a trail of kisses up the curve of her neck.

"Nothing" she said winding her arms around him "absolutely nothing".

AN: please let me know if you liked it:)