AN: Here we go, another little chapter to keep moving along. Slowly but surely. I have to get part of this out because the story is driving me crazy…then I'm sure that updates here will slow down.

I hope that you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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FOUR YEARS LATER

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Daryl had only been working a few months at Sunny Meadows, but he was finally feeling settled into his job. He was finally feeling like he had a good feel for the place, not that it took long to get a feel for any of these places.

For all their natural and happy names…for all their nicely decorated courtyards and places designed for the show and benefit of the visitors…they were all the same and behind the scenes there appeared, at least to Daryl, to be very little that was natural and even less that was picturesque.

He made is rounds in the company of another man that worked there, Axel, and today he was getting to branch out some…getting to travel to another wing of the institution, a wing that he hadn't visited yet.

"These ones…these are the sad ones in my opinion," Axel muttered as he walked through the quiet halls with Daryl at his side.

Daryl glanced around.

"You mean to say you think anyone in here ain't a sad case?" Daryl asked.

"These are the lifers…doin' time until they run out," Axel said.

He shook his head as though he wanted to further express the gravity of the situation…as though the thought enough wasn't something that would let Daryl know how bad a situation it was.

"You mean they don't never get out?" Daryl asked. "Just stay here forever?"

Axel nodded, stopping and stepping to the side so that he could speak a moment with Daryl before they continued through.

"Most of 'em in here don't have families," Axel said. "Nobody cares if they get better or they don't…so they just stay here. Ain't nowhere else to send them…sad situations. I reckon the best part of it is that most of 'em…they don't know they're here, they don't care to leave…they don't know how pathetic their lives are."

Daryl frowned and shook his head to himself.

It seemed horrible to think that there were people that would be in a place like this and not care to get out…though he'd seen some real nut jobs in just the short time that he'd been working there, so he wasn't surprised entirely.

The worst thing, perhaps, was to think that they had no one.

Because he could have been in the same boat, if it weren't for his brother. There really wasn't anyone else that he could say would have given one damn where he was if he was trapped inside a place like this…trapped inside some unreachable place in his mind.

"It's a shame," Daryl said, following after Axel who had picked up his steps again, heading into the first of the rooms.

Axel sucked his teeth in response and directed Daryl to the rooms that he would take to clean in the short amount of time while the residents of the room were at "recess" for a short time.

Daryl nodded his head and made his way into the room, stopped immediately by the realization that he wasn't in there alone. There was at least one patient who hadn't made it to recess as she was supposed to.

Daryl cleared his throat and the young woman looked at him, tipping her head to the side before offering him something of a shy smile.

"You're not supposed to be in here," Daryl offered. "You're supposed to be outside."

The woman, sitting on the bed he assumed to be hers, her hands folded in her lap, shook her head gently.

"I don't want to be outside," she said. "I came back in. I prefer to stay here…"

Daryl shook his head, biting his lip to avoid a chuckle, and shook his head again.

"Don't work like that," he said. "Here…lemme walk with ya? OK? I'll walk you outside. It's a pretty day…you'll like the sun."

The young woman looked at him, but she didn't make any move to get off the bed and Daryl walked toward her, hoping that he could convince her to come without having to use any of the methods of "force" that they had for the patients who simply didn't cooperate with things.

Daryl held a hand out to her.

"I'm Daryl," he said.

She looked at him intensely enough that Daryl was almost taken aback. Many of the patients in here would avoid your eyes at all costs. They would turn their heads, even, from side to side, to keep from connecting their eyes directly with yours.

But she held her blue eyes steady on his.

And they were beautiful eyes…beautiful eyes in the beautiful face of a woman that Daryl couldn't imagine was even his age. So unlike the others that he'd seen here.

Daryl cleared his throat and waved the hand slightly that he'd offered to her.

"Walk with me?" He asked.

He noticed that in her hand she held a book, though he didn't bother to examine the thing for any length of time. He gestured toward it with his head.

"You can take ya book with ya…read in the sun," he said. "It's a real nice day for that…"

The woman seemed to consider it and with a move of his hand to reach down and coax her hand to join with his, she accepted his hand and stood, book firmly in the grasp of her other hand. He smiled to himself. There was always something satisfying about getting one of them to comply.

"Come on…we'll go out…just a little while. Sun's good for you, healthy," Daryl said.

She moved beside him, slipping her arm through his as though they were going to stroll, and Daryl decided not to argue with the suggestion. Strolling calmly through the halls with a beautiful woman, even if she was a patient, was far preferable to dragging her out through other means.

"Carol Ann," Carol said finally. "That's my name…Carol Ann."

Daryl smiled to himself.

"Pretty name," he said.

They passed Axel in the hallway and Daryl nodded a head at him.

"I'm walkin' her outside," Daryl said. Axel nodded his head at him.

And as they made their way outside, Carol walking quietly and loosely at his side, Daryl found it hard to imagine that this beautiful young woman leaning on his arm was someone who was crazy…someone who belonged in an establishment like this…someone who deserved to spend the rest of her life, however long that might be, closed up tight behind these walls.

It was easy to forget that she was supposed to be a patient.

When they reached the courtyard area, the place where she would be better off to spend her time while he did his work in her room, Daryl moved his arm from hers and she stopped, standing in front of him, the book she carried curled now under the other arm.

"You should find a nice spot," Daryl directed. "Like over there…under that tree…read ya book. It's a nice day."

Carol looked around and then back at him.

"I'd rather go back inside," she said. "It's hot…and I don't care for the bugs."

Daryl almost laughed at the irony of it because, given the circumstances, he thought that was a perfectly sane reason to not want to be forced into the outdoor recreation.

He shook his head lightly at her.

"But it's better to get some sun," he said. "Besides…they keep bringing you outside an' you ain't gonna like how they bring you out here. It's better…ya know? It's better ta do it on your own than to get brought out again."

Carol smiled.

"If you weren't working," Carol said, swaying a little as she stood in place, "then I would ask you if you wanted to take a walk with me…around the yard."

Daryl smiled in spite of himself, feeling his cheeks burning hot. He'd never been really good with women, and especially not beautiful women, and this woman was one of the most beautiful that he'd ever seen in his life.

He had to try hard to remind himself that he didn't know her…she was a patient in a mental asylum. There was more there than met the eye.

He cleared his throat.

"But I am workin'," he said. "You could take that walk on your own, though…it's a nice day for that too, Carol Ann."

She smiled and nodded at him before she turned without a word and strolled, because there wasn't any other word that Daryl had for her gait, off in the opposite direction, her book hugged to her chest.

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Daryl hadn't meant to snoop, exactly, but he'd lingered near the beautiful woman's area…Carol Ann's area…a little longer than he had to. She had, from what he could see, very little to call her own, but nothing there looked to him to be something that any young woman might not have had…not that Daryl knew too much about young women.

When he'd finished with her room he'd followed his assignments around to the other rooms and finished his day off just about five o'clock when he'd made his way to the locker rooms to change his clothes and get ready to go home.

On his way out the door, he caught the attention of one of the receptionists, a friendly woman that he had chatted with from to time since his arrival, and pulled her to the side.

She was unmarried, a bit over opinionated, and from what Daryl had discovered, only worked the job because she liked working, being a single woman, because her parents had enough money that she didn't truly have to work a day in her life.

"Alice," Daryl said, catching the woman's attention as she was checking her reflection in a compact mirror instead of doing whatever it was she was supposed to be doing, "what information can you get me on a patient?"

"What for?" Alice asked, not putting her compact down.

"Curiosity," Daryl said. "Nothin' more…just curious."

She shrugged slightly and snapped the compact shut.

"Depends on who the patient is," Alice responded.

"Name's Carol Ann," Daryl said. "Young woman…lives over in the east wing…Axel says she's a lifer."

Alice hummed and nodded her head.

"I know who you're talking about," Alice said. "Lovely woman…"

Daryl nodded his head and Alice shook hers.

"She doesn't have anyone…no family," Alice said. "Never even had a visitor…she's been here for something like four or five years…"

"What's wrong with her?" Daryl asked.

"Oooohhh," Alice said, moving her body back a little. She shook her head. "I don't remember…I can't keep everyone straight…but,"

She leaned toward him and waggled her finger in his direction. Daryl leaned down on his elbows and leaned toward her so that she came close enough to meet him that he could feel her breath on his face.

"I can get you her file, no one so much as looks at those files anymore…not to the permanent ones," Alice said. "No problem…just…keep it between us?"

Daryl nodded his head.

"When?" He asked.

Allice shrugged.

"Give me ten minutes," she said. "Meet me out front…I've got a real craving for a burger…trade company for committing a crime?"

Daryl chuckled and nodded his head.

"Fair trade," he said. "Meet you out by your car."