This chapter gets a little tense. Hope everyone has a good morning! Thanks for reading =)

Chapter Twenty Eight

Ed was still gone by the time Carol and the girls got there. Daryl had tried to call him earlier to make sure he remembered that he was on probation. Carol knew what a coward Ed was and wasn't overly concerned about what he would do when he got home.

Piper was animated, talking about her grandfather. She talked the whole walk back to the house, keeping Carol and Sophia laughing the whole way. The closer they had gotten to the house the more she talked and Carol realized that the girl was perceptive. She knew how nervous Sophia was and was doing everything she could to lighten the mood.

"Buck thinks you guys are great. Everybody does actually. Some of those assholes are hard to empress too so that's really saying something," Piper said as they climbed the porch steps.

Carol smiled, wondering if she would ever get used to how these kids spoke. "He seems to be a really nice man."

Piper nodded. "He's the best. He used to worry about Daryl a lot. My dad was pretty bad before I showed up but he had to straighten up pretty fast because I was sick a lot when I was a baby. Can't be high all the time with a sick kid, ya know? But Daryl's another story."

Carol unlocked the door and hit the light switch, a frown forming between her eyes. She had seen how some of them acted and she didn't see how Daryl could be any worse than any of the other ones. "He doesn't seem too bad to me."

Piper tossed her bag on the couch. "Yeah, that's because you didn't know him before you came along, obviously."

Carol made her way through the house, double checking just in case Ed was there. She hadn't seen his car but that didn't mean she felt comfortable discussing Daryl so openly. "He couldn't have been that bad."

Piper shrugged, following her while Sophia slipped upstairs to take a shower. "It wasn't that he was bad. Not really. He was just kind of... I don't know. He's impulsive, which I'm sure you know that by now. And he has a crazy temper, but not like your husband does. His is more... It's kind of hard to explain. It's a protective temper, I guess. He won't tolerate people he cares about being wronged and if that means he has to break someones face in half with a crow bar then that's what he'll do. He's done it. Trust me, I saw it happen. But it isn't even all that that Buck worried about."

Carol met the girl's troubled eyes. "Well, if it wasn't all of that then what was it?"

"He wasn't focused." She made a face and shook her head. "I mean, he's always been so self indulgent, you know? No goals. He just did what felt good to him at that moment. According to Buck a man has to have something in sight to aim for but the only thing Daryl ever aimed for was self gratification. Does that make sense?"

Carol shrugged. "I suppose."

"Buck's goal has always been to be able to provide and protect his family. And he's done that and more. My dad's goal is to keep me from ending up in prison. I'm his focus. Daryl has always been aimless. Buck keeps him out of trouble and that's the only reason he isn't locked up right now. But ever since he met you he's changed. Hell, even Buck saw it as soon as he seen him. I saw it. My dad saw it. I'm not sure what the hell his goals are now but you can bet your ass it has everything to do with you. You woke him up."

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Carol asked after a few long silent moments.

"Because I don't think you're taking him very seriously and this is a serious issue. I don't want you to do anything to hurt him and I don't want him to backslide and be even worse than he was before."

Carol was speechless. It seemed insane to her that people seemed to think that she was capable of doing something like that to him. Already she cared about him much more than she had any right to. And he did seem to care about her too but people were making this out to be much more than it was. Weren't they? Did people really believe that he wanted to be with her? She cared for him and she knew he felt the same but his whole family seemed to think that they were actually in some kind of relationship destined for the stars.

She was starting to feel a headache coming on and she rubbed her temples as she leaned her hip into the table. When she opened her eyes Piper was sitting up on the counter, watching her carefully.

"Answer me this. Do you love him?" She asked.

Carol stared at her. "I barely know him."

"Bullshit. Answer the question. Whatever you say don't leave this room."

She didn't answer right away. Instead she thought back to the time they had spent together today. The easy way he touched her. She thought about that night upstairs. She thought about how, when she wasn't with him, all she could think about was how badly she wanted to be. It didn't seem to matter to her heart that they had nothing in common. That he was too young for her. That she was terrified that one day he would get bored and decide he just didn't want to bother with her anymore. She met Piper's eyes squarely and nodded stiffly. "Yes."

"That scares the holy fuck out of you, doesn't it?" Piper asked, her face serious.

"Yes."

Piper hopped down from the counter. "It shouldn't." She said before she left the room.

Carol stared after her, wondering what she had meant by that. For several long minutes she didn't move. Could they be right? Was there a chance that she could actually be with him? Not just like they were now but really be with him? She didn't have anymore time to think about it because the front door slammed and she heard heavy footsteps coming towards the kitchen.

Ed came into the kitchen and she felt her eyes grow wide. He looked horrible. His jaw was swollen and bruised and his bottom lip was sporting several dark stitches. He glared at her. "Where the hell is Sophia?"

Carol felt her heart start to race in her chest. "She's upstairs. What happened to you?" She asked, knowing very well that this was Damon's handy work but knowing she couldn't let him know that she knew that.

"She didn't tell you? She had her boyfriend jump me from behind because I was trying to get her to come home!" He roared.

Carol shook her head. "Ed, leave her alone."

"Or what?" He screeched, turning back around to face her and taking several steps closer. "Do you not see what happened to me today? Do you think for a second that I'm gonna let her get away with that?" He started undoing his belt.

"Ed if you touch her-" she glared right back. He could do what he wanted to her but if he laid his hands on Sophia she would kill him. She wasn't a violent woman but she refused to let him lay a hand on her daughter. Ever.

"You won't do shit!" He turned on his heel and stormed out of the room but Carol was hot on his heels.

~H~

Piper was perched on the desk next to the door, schooling Sophia on the positive influence that classic rock would have on her life when she heard the commotion from downstairs. Piper glanced at the door, her expression one of mild annoyance at being interrupted. Sophia was less calm. She jumped up from the bed, terror gripping her.

"Sit down," Piper said in a hard voice. She took her phone out of her pocket, fiddled with it for a second and then sat it down next to her.

Sophia sat down, her heart in her throat and her hands shaking. He was stomping down the hallway now and she could hear her mother's frantic voice but couldn't make out the words from the blood rushing behind her ears. Her eyes flicked over to Piper, who was still sitting on the desk by the door. She was surprised to see that Piper looked bored.

The door crashed open and Ed lumbered in, his face made more hideous by the swelling in his jaw and lips. Sophia cringed, scooting back on the bed.

"Ed, get out!" Carol nearly screamed, grabbing his arm.

Ed didn't even look back at Carol. He picked her up and hauled her out of the room and slammed the door, locking it quickly. He turned back to Sophia and took a few steps closer. "You think you're cute? You think you can sic your dog on me and that be the end of it?"

Sophia shook her head and tried to scurry across the bed but Ed was faster than she expected. He grabbed her hair, twisting it painfully. Carol was pounding on the door but her words were lost. It was clear that Ed still didn't know Piper was in the room. He hauled her up off the bed and roughly pulled her until she was pressed against him. She tried to squirm away but that only caused him to smile, the stitches in his lips stretching. His eyes were half crazed and then she felt his hand on her waist, moving up.

"You have no idea what I can do to you, do you? And nobody can do a damn thing about it bec-" He cried out and then fell to his knees, dropping his hold on her hair. She backed away, her mind feeling numb and her body trembling fiercely.

Piper was behind him and somehow that was the reason he was on his knees. Sophia thought now would be a good time to run but Piper had other plans. Before Ed could get back up the girl's hand snaked around, the light catching the glint off of a knife that was now pressed against his throat. Sophia saw when Ed realized that he wasn't in control of the situation anymore. Piper pressed harder and a thin stream of blood slipped down his throat.

"Hi, Ed. You really should have checked out the room to see if you two were alone."

When Ed recognized her voice he knew that he had made a critical mistake. He knew who Piper was. Sophia hated the man but she wasn't sure if she could watch her friend slit his throat. She was frozen in place. Her mom was still banging on the door.

"Your uncle never said that I couldn't discipline my daughter," he roared, his eyes wide with fear but unable to keep his idiot mouth shut.

"Is that what that was? Cause it looked to me like you were about to do a little more than that you sick fuck. You know what them guys do to pigs that put their hands on little girls?" Piper's voice was loud.

The banging on the door stopped and a strange tense silence filled the room. A few seconds later the door crashed open and Daryl stepped into the room.

"Get her the fuck off me!" Ed yelled, unable to turn around to see who was there.

Daryl took in the scene quickly. When his eyes landed on Sophia they hardened. "You okay?"

Ed tried to move at the sound of the voice but Piper, eyes narrowed, pressed even harder, causing him to cry out again and more blood to flow. Sophia felt dizzy.

Carol came in then, taking in the scene much less calmly than Daryl did. Daryl grabbed her elbow gently. "Get her out of here. Go wait by the truck."

"What the hell is this!" Ed yelled.

Daryl glanced at Piper. "Let him up," he ordered.

Pipers eyes snapped up, flashing. "Fuck you! No way. You didn't see him pawing her. I want him." Her voice was a low growl, her eyes seemed to glow from within from rage.

"Piper, you ain't killin' a man tonight goddamn it, give me the knife."

She shook her head. "No. And by the way, Ed. Buck, the big boss man you haven't met yet, he's on the phone. He's heard all of this."

Carol led Sophia out of the room then.