Hello! I should probably be ashamed of this chapter but the story was so heavy at first that apparently, when I was writing this, I felt the need to lighten things up a little. And what better way than to embarrass someone? Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Twelve

Daryl couldn't keep the shock off his face. "Are you serious?" He couldn't believe it. There was no way that her daughter was here.

"I am. I didn't believe it myself and I was looking right at her. Damon tripped over her in the hall before she got trampled before they ever even left the school. He talked her into going with him and Piper. She's here. We don't have to leave."

Merle and Piper were asleep and Damon and Sophia were still outside, leaving Daryl and Carol alone in the part of the cabin that served as a kitchen. They were unloading all of the supplies that were in the back of the truck. "Damn," he muttered, shaking his head. "That's crazy." He followed her back out the door to grab the last of the bags.

"It is crazy," she said, still looking a little dazed. She reached for a bag and he grabbed her wrist, stopping her before he lost his nerve. She looked up, eyes questioning.

"I acted like an asshole earlier. Ain't none of this shit your fault and that apology I threw at you was bullshit" he said, speaking so low he thought maybe she hadn't heard him.

She seemed to weigh her words for a few moments before opening her mouth to speak and he hated that they were back to this. He didn't want her to think he was going to snap at her every time she said the wrong thing. He really was an asshole. He had always been an asshole, but at least with her he was trying to reign it in at least a little bit.

She smiled. "I understand why you got angry. I just want to make sure you know that everything you've done for me, everything you were willing to do to help me get my daughter back, I really appreciate it. Even if you are an asshole sometimes, like I said before, you're a good man. Trust me, I can spot a bad one from a mile away."

He realized then that he still had his fingers wrapped loosely around her wrists and he dropped his hand quickly. "Alright. Can we be done with all this mushy shit already? I'm ready to eat."

She laughed, the sound causing the corner of his mouth to turn up. "Yeah. We can be done with the mushy crap, Daryl. After we eat you can show me where the hell I can get cleaned up. I feel disgusting."

His eyes slid down to the oversized tee shirt she had been wearing since yesterday, and then over the shapeless pants. When she had hugged him earlier he had gotten an idea of what she was hiding under those clothes and he wouldn't mind... His eyes went to the suitcase that she had taken from the car on the road, shutting off any thoughts of what her body may or may not be like. That was none of his goddamn business. That was off limits. That wasn't happening. Ever. Like their goddamn lives weren't already complicated enough without him thinking about fucking her. He already knew that Merle was going to give him a ton of hell over her.

But he hadn't been thinking about fucking her. Just getting her out of her clothes. Now he was really in a bind. "Here," he muttered, reaching out to take one of the bags from her, not realizing the suitcase was in his hand. It slipped out of his grip and slammed into her side.

He felt his face flush and then he ran a hand through his hair. She was staring at him, wide eyed.

"Sorry," he said quickly, grabbing the suitcase and leaving her standing there looking after him.

He heard her hurrying after him and cursed under his breath. He needed to get his shit together and it was hard with her always right there. "You won't be staying here, will you?"

He glanced at her before he sat the suitcase down in a corner. "I thought it was pretty obvious that we'd all be stayin' here." Surely she wasn't thinking of leaving.

"I mean here. You have the shack all to yourself so you probably won't be here all the time," she corrected.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Back and forth probably," he said, stacking more canned goods into the cupboard above the rough wooden counter.

"I'll go through this suitcase and figure out what I can use. I can probably share a lot of this with Sophia."

He snorted.

She looked up as she sat down on the floor, pulling the suitcase closer to her. "What?"

"She dresses like you?" He raised a brow.

"What's that suppose to mean?" She asked, frowning at him.

He just shrugged. "You kind of dress like a bag lady."

Her mouth dropped open. "That's mean. I dress for comfort. I have no one to impress."

He smiled slightly, checking the other bags and grabbing a bottle of Coke. "That's good."

She scowled and unzipped the suitcase. He could see how red her face was. He sat down in one of the hard wooden chairs and sighed. He watched her as she started pulling out items. His brows shot up as she held up some kind of sexy little half shirt. "When I glanced in this thing I just saw some jeans and shirts. This is..."

"That ain't you," he said, shaking his head. Not that he wouldn't mind seeing her... he shook the thought before it could even finish running through his mind.

"Shut up," she grumbled. "What the hell?" She held up a pair of fuzzy handcuffs. "You've got to be kidding me. All I wanted were some clothes." She sounded distressed as she sat them down on the floor next to her. "Of all the suitcases in all the cars we went through, I had to take this one."

He would have been embarrassed himself but he was having too much fun watching her get more and more uncomfortable. It took his mind off of the pain he was feeling over the loss of Odin and June and he welcomed it, regardless of how uncomfortable it was. He sat down next to her on the floor and reached in, grabbing the first thing his hand wrapped around. When he pulled it out he made a distressed sound and instantly threw the offending object.

"Oh my God!" Carol cried when she saw a rather large rubber phallus roll across the room.

Daryl grimaced and rubbed his hand vigorously over his pant leg. "Throw that thing in the garbage!"

"I'm not touching it! You do it."

Of course, the bedroom door opened and Merle stepped out. Instantly Carol threw the hot pink thongs she had in her hand into Daryl's lap just as Merle was watching the incredibly large thing roll towards him. Merle's head moved slowly, taking in the two of them sitting in front of the suitcase, Daryl with the thongs in his hand and the handcuffs and a long thin whip sitting between them.

"That isn't mine!" Carol blurted quickly when Merle's eyes, wide and disbelieving, landed on her. "There is no way I could even use that thing if I tried! It's huge!"

Daryl groaned. "He don't need to know what will and what won't fit in there, Carol." But it was good to know regardless.

She stood up quickly, shoving everything back into the suitcase and staring down at him with wide eyes. "Can you not make it worse?"

"What? It ain't like all this is my shit!" His face was burning as hot as hers and he felt like a kid that had gotten caught doing something dirty.

"It isn't mine!"

Merle sighed heavily, shaking his head. "Well, I'm glad to learn you got a little freak in you, little brother, but you two need to put your toys away before the kids come back. And I ain't touchin' that big rubber pecker either. Draw straws if you have to but get it the hell outta here." He went back into the room, closing the door firmly behind him with a look of complete disapproval on his face.

Daryl felt the heat pouring off his face but he looked up at her, meeting her eyes even though he wanted to go hide in the trapper's shack after this. "You still gotta find you some clothes if you want me to show you where you can get a bath."

With a weary sigh she reluctantly reached in and grabbed some jeans and a shirt. Nothing was made of lace or silk so that was good. Good for her anyway. He cleared his throat and stood up as she stacked her change of clothes on the table. "I'm serious. I am not touching that thing. It's likely used," she said with a scowl.

He looked down on the floor, his face flaming even more. Footsteps out on the small porch had them looking up at each other sharply. Carol crossed the room but really didn't want to touch the thing. The door opened, her and Daryl reached for it at the same time and then their foreheads smacked together painfully, Carol lost her balance and Daryl grabbed her by the waist to keep her from falling. Sunlight streamed in then as the door opened up so Daryl kicked the thing, sending it rolling under the counter by the far wall.

"Just leave it," she whispered, still gripping his bicep to keep her balance as she rubbed her forehead with her free hand. "I'll get it later."

"Mom?"

She let go of his arm then and he dropped his hands from her waist and took a step away.

"Hi, honey. I was about to find something to fix to eat," she smiled, knowing her face was red.

Sophia shared a look with Damon and then they both looked at her. Damon nodded in greeting and then his eyes shifted to Daryl and he raised a brow.

Daryl shouldered his bow and met Carol's eyes briefly. The sun was going down and he could hear Piper stirring above them in the loft. Merle was still in the bedroom but he was sure the man was awake. What they needed to do was sit down and figure out what they were all going to do now.

He also wanted to talk to Damon alone. The boy looked okay now but he knew how Dixons did things. They buried it and then it would explode at the most inopportune time. He'd seen it happen a lot. Hell, it happened to him a lot.