So, here's the chapter that some of you may end up loving and others, I have a feeling, are gonna send me some flak over. Just remember this has been written for a few years now and this is just the way the story wanted to go. I was never influenced by anyone as far as what happens. Hopefully, whether it's going how you wished it would or not, you'll still find a little enjoyment out of it. Thanks for reading!

Chapter Thirty One

Carol looked up, meeting Damon's eye.

"You ain't stayin' inside like he said, are you?" He asked, his eyes going to the window anxiously.

"Of course not," she smiled. She took one of the rifles and handed it to Katherine. "Maybe you should wait in Merle's room with Sam."

Katherine took it but Carol could tell that she had no idea how to use it.

"Don't worry. Daryl or Merle can show you how to use one of these later," she said quickly. "I'm not exactly Annie Oakley now, but I'll get there and so will you."

Katherine gave her a skeptical look but carried the gun with her to the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

Carol grabbed a gun for herself and walked out onto the porch. Daryl and Merle were standing there at the bottom of the porch steps, weapons drawn, eyes staring towards the gap in the trees where the driveway was. Richard and Brody were standing further back towards the side of the house, both shifting nervously as they too watched to see who may be coming. Daryl and Merle both glanced over their shoulders. Daryl was glaring and Merle grinned.

"Get back in the house, Carol!" Daryl snapped.

She raised her chin and shook her head. "No. If there's trouble on it's way I'm not cowering in the house like some defenseless woman."

He growled at her but she held her ground. Merle winked at her and she gave him a triumphant smile. "Leave her be, little brother. If it gets ugly we'll need more fire anyway."

"Then she should have sent Damon out here," Daryl snapped. "Mind your own business, Merle."

"And you mind yours, Daryl Dixon."

Both men glanced back at her. Again, Daryl glared at her but Merle was still grinning. She offered them both a smile and then her eyes went back to the drive. From the corner of her eye she saw Richard and his son slip around the side of the house, out of sight but she didn't have time to think about it to much because suddenly a motorcycle appeared, it's engine rumbling loudly.

Her smile fell from her lips when she saw the person on the bike. He was a rugged looking man wearing a leather jacket. His arms were covered in tattoos and he was wearing an eye patch. Even from her stance by the door Carol could see the disfiguring scar that marred his face from hairline to throat. The only break in the long gash was the eye patch. She shivered.

Daryl was the first one off the porch and then Merle was just a few feet behind him, moving off to the side so they weren't walking close together anymore. The man put his booted feet on the ground and raised his hands, letting them know that he wasn't armed.

Carol had forgotten all about hearing more than one vehicle until a black truck came into view. Daryl stopped in his tracks and Merle followed suit. The man on the bike glanced back as the passenger side door opened up. The only thing Carol could really see then was a streak of a person running full force right towards Daryl. She raised the rifle but then noticed that he had shouldered the bow and just as the person made it to him, he was hugging her.

He actually lifted her off the ground in an embrace that she envied. He certainly wasn't hesitant when it came to touching this woman. It seemed to be a lot easier for him to touch this woman than it was for him to touch Carol. Daryl's arms were locked around the woman as she watched on in disbelief.

She took a step back, her mind spinning, wondering who these people could possibly be. It was obvious that Daryl had a woman out there that she hadn't known about. As she watched the woman's hands were on him, checking him over, smoothing his hair down as he dodged out from under her. He was grinning. She hadn't ever seen that before. Why on earth hadn't he mentioned this before now? They had done... things! She felt incredibly stupid. She didn't feel as though he had used her. She felt guilty because that night he had been doing everything he could to get away from her and she had insisted on relieving him of his burden. This was why he had been trying to walk away. He hadn't wanted to betray someone else.

She scowled. She was... the other woman? Even the thought left a nasty taste in her mouth. Why in the world had she pushed him so hard!

Suddenly her eyes were drawn to another scene playing out. Merle was trapped in an embrace too. Unlike Daryl, who had a tiny dark haired woman hanging off of him, he was being squeezed by a large burly man with a beard and long dark hair.

Carol felt like she was intruding so she slipped inside. Damon and the girls looked up at her as she closed the door. Before anyone could ask anything a loud whistle sounded from outside. Damon's mouth dropped open and him and Piper shared a look of complete disbelief before they were both sprinting towards the door. Carol didn't even have time to say anything before they were gone.

"Mom? Are you okay?"

Carol looked up and nodded. "I'm fine."

Sophia was watching her worriedly. "You look like you're going to throw up. What's going on out there?"

She shook her head. "I don't know. It's safe enough if you want to go see." She really wanted to be alone for a few minutes and collect her thoughts. Sophia looked as though she wanted to say more but she left, closing the door behind her.

She took a deep breath and thought about how she was going to approach this subject with him. There was no way in hell she was going to sweep it under the rug. Maybe she had pushed him a little but all he had to have said was that he had a woman out there somewhere and she would have totally respected that.

She spun around when the door opened and he stepped in, his eyes scanning the room until they landed on her. He smiled, shaking his head.

"I can't fuckin' believe this is happening," he said quickly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She snapped, ready to throw something at him.

"What?" He frowned, taking one more step towards her before she backed up. "I didn't have time to tell you anything. You saw for yourself they just showed up. Damon damn near had a heart attack."

"So... she's close to Damon?" She didn't know why, out of everything, this stung so much.

Daryl shook his head. "It's his fuckin' mom, Carol. Yeah, I guess they're pretty goddamn close. What's wrong with you?"

Carol's mouth dropped open with an audible pop and then she closed it quickly. She glanced at the door and then back at him, her mind spinning again. "His mom?"

Daryl nodded. "Yeah, that's June and Odin." He narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell did you think it was?"

She shook her head. "I didn't know. I saw you with the woman and thought... I thought you had a wife or girlfriend out there and you were just reunited with her. You aren't the most approachable man, Daryl. I assumed she was someone close to be able to touch you like that."

"You thought what!" He asked, his face looking slightly pale.

"I thought that the woman was a girlfriend, or a wife. I didn't know!"

His mouth dropped open and then he scowled. "What the hell is wrong with you! Do you think if I had a wife out there that I would be up here doin'... stuff with you!"

Her face flamed and she looked longingly towards the door. "I didn't know."

"You're a real asshole, you know that?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry! It just looked like-"

"That woman raised me you sicko!"

"Don't call me that! How was I suppose to know you didn't have someone out there?" She snapped.

He threw his hands up. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe cause less than an hour ago I had my fuckin' face buried between your legs? Jesus!"

Carol's head came up when she heard a low chuckle and she gasped when she saw the bearded man standing there with Merle. "Oh my God."

"Goddamn it," Daryl shook his head and threw her a murderous look.

Suddenly the woman pushed her way past the two men. "Daryl Dixon, that was rude. I expect that sort of talk from your brother but never you." Her dark eyes, the exact same shape and shade as her son regarded her and then smiled.

Carol looked away, too ashamed of herself to return the smile.

~H~

Daryl couldn't fucking believe she would think something like that about him. He was a lot of things and he knew it, but he wasn't the type of guy that would cheat on a woman and he wouldn't go get a blow job from somebody a week after he lost a woman. She was crazy for thinking that. He watched as everyone filed into the cabin, pulling up chairs and leaning against walls. He stood next to Carol and kept giving her dirty looks. At least she looked ashamed of herself.

"I'm sorry," she hissed, leaning her head closer to his so no one would hear.

"Yeah, you need to be sorry," he snapped.

"I didn't know," she whispered.

"You should have." He wasn't letting her off the hook for this one. He was genuinely offended.

"Well, maybe if you talked to me more, I would know, but as of right now, I don't know that much about you."

He turned his head slowly, giving her a pointed look and took a little satisfaction as a blush stained her cheeks.

"That is not what I was talking about," she snapped.

They grew quiet once Odin started explaining what had happened.

Apparently they hadn't been at home at all when everything went down. They had been at the garage where they all worked when an announcement came over the radio. They had taken off, heading towards the school but got caught up in the traffic. When Merle had gone to their house he had seen two bodies but they had been too far gone to recognize. He had just assumed that it was June and Odin. It could have been some neighbors or someone that had gone into the house to get away from the things chasing them.

Merle hadn't thought to check the garage after he saw the bodies. Odin and June had gotten trapped in their truck when they came upon a road block and that was when Randy and his son showed up. Randy and the boy, who looked to be around Damon's age, had killed off all of the dead that had been working on clawing their way into Odin's truck. The four of them had spent the week trying to make it to the cabin. It had gotten a lot worse after those first few days because more people had been trying to escape on the back roads.

After a while, when the shock finally wore off, Daryl realized something. Richard and Brody hadn't come back inside yet. As a matter of fact, when the others had arrived Daryl hadn't seen the man or his son out there at all. He hadn't really thought much of it but they should have showed back up by now.

He left the others talking and went to the window.

"Merle!" He barked, unable to believe his eyes. "We have a problem." He shook his head and cursed. The white SUV was gone.