'Get out of the truck!' Daryl told Carol.

'No,' she sat staring into space.

'Fine, Joey can just stay at pre school all night,' Daryl told her, 'Get out of the truck before I drag you out,'

'No,'

'I warned you,'

'No,'

Daryl walked around with his keys in his hand because he knew she would lock it the moment he moved from the drivers seat. He popped the lock and opened the door.

'Come on, Joey's waiting for you,' Daryl's tone was softer, he held out his hand and she finally took it. She mutely walked behind him with him towing her along into the pre school to get him. Joey was beyond excited to see them both come and get him.

Daryl did all the talking, the teachers could see Carol was still visibly upset, she managed to get a hello out to their credit no one tried to engage her too much in conversation. Most of the teachers had gotten to know both men over the past 4 years Joey had been coming and going picking him up. A couple of teachers had shown up to Merle's funeral, Daryl had spoken to them. He wasn't sure if any went to Rick's because they were so out of it themselves. Carol managed to get Joey to the toilet before They took him out on a road trip.

They were on their way to the town Rick grew up in. Daryl had an idea Rick would have left Carol enough money to leave her and Joey set up for life. Merle had done so, he doubted either man thought they both would go at the same time. It was a two hour trip, they didn't try keep Joey awake, they let him sleep, Daryl finally asked.

'What do you want to do next?' he asked.

'What do you mean?' she looked over her shoulder, Joey was sound asleep holding his doggie, with his finger in his mouth, she looked at him, he was so like Daryl asleep. He was quite cheeky looking too.

'Well you don't need to go back to work, you can do anything you want now, or we can,' he kept his eye on the road, 'I don't know if I can...' he coughed to clear his voice, it was hitching a little, they hadn't talked at all. They just been surviving, 'I don't know if I can... you know,... go into work on Monday,'

'The garage?' she said quietly.

'Yeah, thinking, ... thinking of asking Tyreese if he wants to buy it,' He told her, his eyes didn't leave the road. 'Don't know, they ... fuck Carol I don't know what we should do now,'

'I miss them, I miss them so much,' Carol told him.

'I know, I know,' Daryl told her, they were inching towards Rick's home town, he knew emotions were going to be high pitched again, he wanted to give her something else to think about, 'Before I come back, I was running a farm for a guy, a couple hours west of here, I liked it,'

'You want to go farming?' Carol looked at him.

'I just think... I just think we need to keep our minds open, I think we could take some time,' Daryl told her.

'You want to leave?' Carol tried to understand.

'No I don't want to leave, I just think we, you and me, we don't need to rush into anything,' Daryl told her. 'I know I don't want to go back to the garage, I can barely go into the house, but what ever you want,'

'I want Merle and Rick to come back,' Carol told him.

Daryl glanced at her, he started to slow down they were driving towards town, he just knew they couldn't sit around the house with all the walls closing in around them.

'Think about it, Joey could have a dog, or a pet cat or something,' he glanced at her, 'a brother or sister maybe?'

'I can't believe you, they're dead and your moving on,' Carol started crying.

'We ain't dead though, we not going to forget about them, never said we going to forget about them,' Daryl drove down the main street looking for the hotel he'd booked, 'He raised me, I ain't never gonna forget him, ... Fuck Rick and I were friends since we were kids,... never gonna forget them... they won't want us like this, barely living,'

'I don't know, I don't, I'm just can't think,' Carol told him. 'I'm gonna try, I'm gonna try,'

'You don't have ta do anything you don't wanna, just... its not good for Joey,' Daryl parked and pulled her to him in the front seat of the truck, in the car park of the hotel. 'I'm trying Carol, I'm not saying this week or next week we pack and go, we might not even, just wanna ... we just need to talk about stuff, stop shutting me out,'

He kissed her, a brief kiss, he didn't push it. 'Come on we go upstairs, order room service,'

'Can we afford it?' Carol wondered. He chuckled, she realised she'd been funny and crack a slight smile. He lifted Joey into his arms, who was grumbling and grabbed a couple of bags to take in. Carol took the other one and a bag full of Joey's gear and followed Daryl in.