It was a struggle but I was finally able to finish this chapter. Bear with me people. For the last couple of weeks I've hit the worst writer's rough patch I've ever hit in my life. It isn't just writer's block. Writer's block for me is kind of like a dam. The ideas piling up but not going anywhere. But now, I flat out haven't had the urge to write anything at all. And it has nothing to do with the show, because I don't watch it. It's kind of terrifying. I'm always writing something and now I just wonder around aimlessly. Lol It's sad. Anyway, hope you all are functioning better than me. Thanks for reading.

Chapter Twenty

There was a fireplace in the living and another in what was apparently called a game room. Between the two of them, in a house the size of the one they were now occupying, it was only enough to heat those two rooms. The weather was still warm enough that it didn't matter yet but Carol was afraid that eventually, her and Daryl would be forced to move out of their room and sleep in a room with a fireplace with the rest of them. That was the last thing she wanted to do.

The water pressure wasn't the greatest and she felt as though she were standing under glacial waters but she took her time anyway, scrubbing away the filth and grime that had accumulated over an embarrassing amount of time and breathing through the cold shock. All of them reeked to a degree and she would suffer through the cold to get clean again.

She took her time, toweling off and ignoring the banging on the door. There were plenty of other bathrooms but there were a lot of people in her group that wanted to rid themselves of their stench. She sighed contentedly when she put on clean clothes. And not just clean from a good scrubbing in a stream either. These were clean, soft.

When she finally opened the door it was one of the quieter girls that was standing there glaring at her. Her name was Michelle and at the moment she looked ready to mow Carol over to get to the shower. Carol raised a brow at her. "I promise I didn't use up all the cold water."

Michelle's lips twitched but she refused to smile. She looked mildly surprised though. Carol didn't usually make it a habit of cracking jokes. She usually didn't feel like it, really, but here lately, she was starting to feel a little lighter. Like maybe things would finally work themselves into place and she would be able to breath a little easier. It helped that they had a decent place and she wouldn't be spending another winter fighting frost bite.

And she didn't feel adrift anymore.

She went into the room she had claimed for her and Daryl and was surprised to see him sitting on the edge of the bed. His hair was damp from his own shower but he was wearing the same clothes that he had been wearing since they found each other. He looked up, noticed her examining him and shook his head.

"Don't start with me. I can't find a damn thing worth wearin'."

"There's all kinds of things you could wear," she said, pulling out the drawers and then tossing him a pair of khakis. He stared at them and then threw them over his shoulder, shaking his head.

Fifteen minutes later, in the very back of the closet, she found a couple of pairs of jeans that he didn't scowl at. It was something anyway.

"Who in the hell only wears fuckin' dress pants? I know regular pants ain't just for poor people. There's a bunch of you damn women and all of you found stuff to wear for fucks sake."

She raised a brow at him, leaning into the wall with her arms crossed. "I don't know. I guess because none of us are as picky as you. Beggars really can't be choosers."

"The hell they can't," he mumbled, looking down and undoing the buttons on his shirt.

She watched him shrug out of the vest and then the shirt before his fingers went to work his belt open. She swallowed hard, taking him in slowly, her eyes lingering on old scares, the trail of hair leading into his pants, lean muscles tensing in his stomach. She looked up when she realized that his hands had stilled on his belt and he was now watching her just as closely as she had been watching him.

She was torn. On one hand she hated herself for wanting him like this but there was nothing she could do about it. She had always wanted him. On the other hand it filled her with a strange kind of exuberance that she hadn't felt since long before the world ended. Love was a strange and dangerous, but sometimes wonderful, thing.

"What?" He asked, finally breaking the silence, and the eye contact, as his gaze roamed over her.

She shook her head and then she turned around and walked out of the large closet, leaving him alone to change. She wasn't planning on going far, though. She went to the door and turned the lock, knowing that there was a huge chance that someone would come looking for them. Probably Merle. But she couldn't bring herself to care about that at the moment. Despite the freezing shower she had taken her body felt flushed, anticipation causing her heart rate to shoot up.

She hadn't heard him following her but when she turned form the door he was right there, looming over her. He must have followed her right out of the closet because he was still wearing his old pants. She barely had a moment to register this, however, because the look in his eyes when she met them had her breath stuttering out of her lungs.

He looked just as desperate as she knew she did. Another step had him pressing her against the solid wood of the door, trapping her body with his. He ducked his head, catching her lips with his and eliciting a desperate sound from her. Wide hands gripped her waist as his tongue explored her mouth, fighting with hers for dominance.

Her hands were on his neck, his pulse throbbing heavily against her palm. The feeling was somehow comforting, reassuring, causing that deep loneliness that always seemed to dwell inside of her to subside. It happened any time he was close.

When her hands traveled down, fingertips tingling against the smooth contours of his chest, he suddenly gripped her hips and lifted her easily, giving her no choice but to wrap her legs around his waist. The thin material of the pants she had found did nothing to alleviate the feel of his erection pressing against her heavily. She moaned softly against his lips, her body humming with a need that surprised her. It shouldn't have surprised her at all. Not after what had happened in the room in that warehouse. She knew the places that his body was capable of taking hers, but this painful ache inside of her was new, so it was still shocking.

"The bed," she gasped, pulling her mouth away from him slightly.

He nodded and backed up so she wasn't pressed into the wall anymore but he didn't put her down, their lips met again, his hands slid down, gripping her ass hard as he made his way, more sure footed than she would have imagined, to the bed in the center of the ridiculously large room.

He unceremoniously dumped her onto the bed. The sun was going down but there was a light in his eyes, like a fire, burning hot when their eyes met. He smirked, like her quiet desperation was somehow amusing to him, and then he quickly slid her pants down her legs. Gripping her behind the knees he pulled her to the edge and then he dropped, his head dipping quickly between her thighs before she could even think to react.

The heat of his mouth clashed with the heat between her legs and she stifled a cry when she felt him taste her deeply, fully, and with a satisfied sound that vibrated through her. He pushed her legs wider, his tongue greedily exploring her in ways no one ever had before, shocking her into silence as her body trembled under his hands. Her own hands fisted the sheets, eyes rolling back in her head as electric sensations wracked her, the pressure building almost against her will because once she came, he would stop and she didn't want him to stop because this low burning pleasure was driving her out of her mind. Her thoughts were splintered, her body shuddered and she could have sworn she heard him chuckle darkly, feel his hot breath washing over her before his mouth came back for another sinful assault.

Against her will her back arched slightly off the bed and she waited for the onslaught to come. He sensed it, reaching up and clamping his hand roughly over her mouth and then pushed two fingers into her. Her eyes slammed shut, her heels digging into the mattress and pushing herself further into him as white light exploded in her mind. She could no longer pinpoint exactly what he was doing to her because all she could focus on was the exquisite pleasure that nearly bordered on pain.

When he moved away she stared blankly at the ceiling but from the corner of her eye she saw him swipe the back of his hand across his mouth.

"You alright?" He asked, his voice low and husky but sounding a little concerned.

She nodded and then heard the sound of his belt tearing away from his pants.

~H~

Merle climbed the stairs to the attic, where he knew he'd find Cassidy. She was like the fucking bat in the belfry every time they found a place to stay and he didn't think this place would prove to be any different. The attic wasn't finished but the floor was solid so he wouldn't have to worry about falling through. Whoever had built the house had been smart enough to know that they at least needed to get the attic's bones ready to be finished because rich people were into doing shit like that. The more room, the better.

He turned on the flashlight because the windows up here were small and dusty and the sun was setting quick. The light cut through the gloom and then stopped when he spotted her standing sentinel at the back window.

"Hi, Merle," she said without even turning.

He grinned, holding the flashlight so her ass became a beacon. "How the hell did you know it was me?"

"Because it's always you," she said, glancing over her shoulder. "And you're the only one that would point a flashlight right at a woman's ass. Your brother has better manners."

He shrugged. "Cause he's preoccupied. All I got on my hands is time."

"Fair enough." She said, a ghost of a smile gracing her lips before she turned back to stare out the window. "I was just about to go find you anyway."

He snorted, sidling up next to her. "Just can't stay away, huh?"

She shook her head. "Don't flatter yourself, Merle. You're not nearly as pretty as you think you are."

"You wound me, woman," he grumbled, squinting out the window. "What was you needin'?"

She nodded towards the glass and then pointed. "That look like smoke to you?"

He elbowed her out of his way so he could get a better look. He didn't see anything at first. Twilight was washing out the colors of the day, bathing everything in a purple hue lined with dark shadows. He scanned the horizon and then scanned it again before he finally saw it. Towards the middle of the woods, someone had themselves a campfire going.

"Don't look too far away," she said quietly.

He glanced down at her and then back to the window. "You thinkin' what I'm thinkin'?"

She met his eyes, that strange glint giving hers a feral glow to them that had his pulse quickening. "No reason me and you can't take ourselves a nice moonlit stroll through the woods, now is there?" She asked, barely able to contain her excitement.

"None at all."

"Go load up. I'll meet you in the back," she said with a grin. She turned and walked away, leaving him standing there staring after her. He'd never met such a bloodthirsty person in all his life. And goddamn if that didn't turn him on more than anything ever had in his life. But he shook the thought. She was too goddamn fucked up in the head for him to mess with. She was damaged and he needed to remember that. She'd never look at a man the same after what had happened to her back there. The only reason he was able to spend as much time with her as he did was because he was the one that had finally saved her ass. She trusted him.

He sighed and headed for the door. None of that meant that the two of them couldn't enjoy a killing spree every now and then, though. At least there was that. He had a partner in crime and that was a rare find for a man like him.