AN: OK, just so everyone knows, we're about to have a pretty big time jump. I told you before that this story would have a couple, and this is the second one. There will be flashbacks that take place from here out, but no worries because they'll be clearly marked.

I hope you enjoy the chapter. Let me know what you think.

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It took longer to get settled into the picnic spot than Daryl had anticipated, but it would be worth it if it was a nice day and Carol seemed almost instantly lighter than she had earlier in the morning.

Piece by piece, things were coming back to her, but they seemed to be coming back in pieces like dreams where she seemed unsure of what was reality and what was merely something that her mind thought might have happened. It didn't help much that Daryl himself was navigating uncharted waters with her because he didn't know any better than she did what was real and what wasn't.

But this morning she'd woken up upset. She'd started their morning off with something of an "attack" as far as Daryl would have explained it. She was remembering Ed Peletier Jr…or at least that's what Daryl thought it was. And this morning she'd finally made the full distinction between Daryl and "another man", though she didn't seem entirely ready to trust what she was thinking.

So he'd gotten her calmed as much as he could and he'd gotten her to get ready for the picnic. It had taken things off her mind while she packed lunch and he packed together everything from her knitting bag that Josephine Greene had for her…the repetitive action of knitting seeming to be something that kept her hands busy and made her mind clearer when she had the inclination to chat with him about her life.

And now that they were settled on the picnic blanket, Daryl thought that he might begin to pry the lid off the box of horrors to see how much she might remember about the man in her dream…the man that wasn't Daryl.

Carol sat on her knees, going through the basket to hand out food to them, and Daryl watched her.

She was much calmer now than she had been when she'd woken him up making a noise between a scream and a sobbing cry. Her hands had stopped shaking quite as badly too.

"Carol Ann…that man that you dreamed about," Daryl said. "Have you seen him before?"

Carol stopped what she was doing and looked at him a little oddly before she went back to what she was doing.

And suddenly he wondered…how much had she forgotten and how much was she guarding?

"Carol Ann," Daryl said, trying to keep his voice as level as he could while accepting the food that she offered to him, "you…might remember a lotta things, OK? An'…you ain't gotta be scared ta tell me nothin'…'cause it ain't nothin' for nobody ta get upset about. I ain't gonna get upset, an' you ain't gotta get upset…an' you don't gotta be quiet about things you wanna talk about."

She nodded her head in a non-committal way and continued fumbling with the food…obviously a little more agitated than before.

"Eat your lunch," Daryl said. "It's good…an' you didn't eat breakfast…gotta eat."

She sat back after a moment with her food, eating it like she wasn't enjoying it at all.

"I'm oddly proportioned," she said. Daryl raised an eyebrow at her, but she wasn't looking at him. "I'm ugly…and I have freckles…and I'm oddly proportioned. I shouldn't gain weight because that'll only make it worse...but I'll try…to make it better…for you."

Daryl swallowed through the egg salad that he was eating.

"You ain't oddly proportioned," he commented. "An' you ain't ugly…an' I like your freckles…don't guess there's nothin' you gotta make better…even if you could, but I don't think you could do nothing if that was the case."

Carol looked at him and didn't respond. It was written on her face now, though, that she was thinking about all of this. She wasn't simply rambling absentmindedly. She was remembering something or she was at least thinking about it. The lines between her eyebrows that were there now and had been missing during some of their conversations made a marked difference in Daryl's opinion.

"You're fine," Daryl said. "Just like you are…one a' these days…you gonna meet my brother. Then…"

Daryl broke off and chuckled, shaking his head.

"Then it's gonna be you that's sorry you ended up with me," Daryl said. "Merle's…well…he's not always easy ta deal with. But he's gonna like you, just as much as I do…and he's gonna be happy ta know you, even if you ain't always happy to know him."

Daryl had talked to her a little about his family, just enough to get her talking about hers a little, though there wasn't all that much to tell for either of them. Her family was gone…at least all of it that she knew about. And by now all that remained of Daryl's immediate family was his brother. There were some distant cousins…there was his newly minted pretend cousin, Alice…but there just weren't that many people that he bothered to make the effort to keep in touch with.

Still, he was sure that he knew Merle well enough that if he told him that this made him happy…that Carol made him happy and that he was sure that they were just going to be happier the longer they knew each other, Merle would be on board with it.

They weren't in the business of denying each other whatever it was that made them happy.

"Your brother is important to you," Carol said. "And that means that he'll be important to me…when will I meet him?"

Daryl shrugged.

"I gotta talk to him," Daryl said. "I'ma try ta see, though, when I can get him down here. He…moves around a lot. Works right now in North Carolina…but I'm hopin' he moves back to Georgia soon."

"But he'll come for the wedding, right?" Carol asked. "Of course he'll come for the wedding?"

Daryl nodded.

"If he don't come before then," he said, "then you can be sure he'll come for the wedding."

Daryl was quiet for a moment and then he spoke again.

"I was thinkin' about the weddin'," Daryl said.

He had Carol's undivided attention all of a sudden.

"I was thinkin' we could do…just somethin' simple? Get the judge to marry us, you know? Nothin' real fancy. I ain't one for big shows…" Daryl said.

Carol didn't look as disappointed as he thought she might. He wasn't sure when they'd get married or what she might remember by then, but he didn't want it to be one of those things where they had some kind of big white wedding and more of the population than they realized seemed to suddenly know more about her life than she did…and thought it was improper for a woman to marry in a big ceremony after the past that she had.

"Would that be alright with you? Nothin' too big? Just us an'…I don't know…my brother?" Daryl asked.

Carol considered it a moment and then nodded. She smiled warmly.

"That would be fine, Daryl," Carol said. "Whatever you want…it'll be fine. It's a wedding just the same, isn't it? It means the same thing."

Daryl nodded.

"Just the same," he said.

He cleared his throat and moved around, putting his trash back into the picnic basket. He dug through his pocket and came out with the ring box he'd picked up the day before after work.

He was disappointed in the ring, but the truth was that he simply couldn't afford more than the small, half carat diamond that he'd gotten…and even that was something he'd be paying on for a while. Still, he hoped it was enough for Carol, and he somehow felt like it would be since she was still wearing the yarn ring even though it was unravelling itself.

"Carol Ann," Daryl said, regarding the box himself instead of offering it to her at the moment. His stomach was churning over his lunch now as he considered it and verified for himself that he did mean it…he meant what he was about to say. "You an' me…we're gonna live for a long time…a real long time. An' we're gonna have…a whole lot more time in front of us than we got behind us. So…I want you to be my wife…an' I don't know when exactly…but one a' these days we're gettin' married…I might not be no good at bein' married."

He shook his head at her.

"I ain't never done it before…but I'm gonna promise you today that this ring…it ain't no nice one…but I'm givin' it to you ta keep, OK? Keep it forever…even if I get you a better one someday…you keep it forever…an' we're gonna try ta get ta know each other a lil' better every day. Try ta love each other a lil' bit more…every day…Do you want that?"

He'd sort of expected her to cry, or maybe be grinning from ear to ear, but she looked like she was stuck somewhere in the dead middle of those two emotions. Her eyes were wide and shiny with dampness, but no tears were falling. She sat on her knees, her hands folded in her lap.

"Well?" He asked. "You don't know me well…an' I don't know you well…it's only been seven or eight months since I first heard your name…so if you don't know if you're ready…"

"I like the idea," Carol said, "of spending forever with you. I…will try to be the perfect wife for you…"

Daryl chuckled.

"How about you just be you?" Daryl asked. "The rest oughta work itself out eventually."

Now her chin quivered, but she nodded at him and he opened the box for her, taking the ring out and beginning to apologize for it because it was a sore disappointment when he'd seen the other pretty rings that she could have had if he'd had more money.

But she stretched her hand out to him, her eyes still wide, the other hand covering her mouth.

And he rolled the yarn ring off her finger and replaced it with the diamond.

"I'm sorry…" he said again as she held her hand up to look at it.

"I love it," Carol said. "I do…thank you."

Daryl chuckled, his stomach still churning and his mind turning in disbelief and, at the same time, a happiness he hadn't even expected to feel with such impact.

"You think…it might not be too forward of me ta ask you for a kiss? Just on the cheek?" He asked.

And she lunged forward, for the first time, fully into his arms and surprised him by kissing him on the cheek first before she pulled away and allowed him…for the very first time of many, though he didn't know it yet…to press his lips to hers, softly.

And she allowed him, during the course of their picnic and their later stroll around the lake, to hold her hand and kiss her several more times.

And if Daryl was making the biggest mistake in his life, he was making it gladly because he was certain that life wouldn't be easy, but it would be everything he wanted it to be…and hopefully everything she might want it to be as well.

Together, they would deal with the past just as they would deal with the future…as it came.