I just want to apologize for the shortness of this chapter. The next one should be longer! :) I hope you all enjoy, anyway.

Chapter Twelve

Guilt surged through Daryl as he looked down at Carol, who was grasping his arm and crying softly. He hadn't meant to upset her this much, but he had every right to know what was bothering her. One minute she had been laughing and teasing him about almost burning her house down, and the next, she had to the floor with tears flowing down her cheeks. Earlier that morning, Carol had a terrible nightmare, in which she had run out of her room screaming his name. Something had obviously gone horribly wrong in the dream and Daryl had wanted to know the details in hopes to make her feel better. He tried to not seem bothered when she wouldn't tell him, claiming that she had forgotten it. Daryl knew she had not forgotten it, but he could understand why she wouldn't want to say anything, Nightmares still plagued him some nights and he knew he would find himself reluctant to share them. Even with Carol. However, when she had crumpled to the floor, Daryl knew he had to know what was going on. There would be no more skirting around the issue, anymore. He wouldn't allow it.

It had been almost physically painful when he said that they couldn't get married. The words had tasted bad in his mouth, but he knew he had to get them out. Knew that if he didn't, they would continue in this cycle of Carol being overcome with something and for her to wave it off. This time, Daryl knew he had to do something, something that would hurt him, to make this all stop. Carol was the only woman he could see himself marrying, but he couldn't do it knowing that she may never love him or that she was hiding something painful from him. Daryl had his own secrets about his past, things that he didn't like to think about, but he would tell Carol when she was comfortable enough to know. Once they got married, he didn't want there to be any secret between them.

"I'll tell you, Daryl." Carol's soft voice, raspy from her tears, broke Daryl out of his reverie. "Please don't leave." That's when he realized that he hadn't given any sign that he wasn't going to walk out that door. He had been so deep in his thoughts; he hadn't even noticed that Carol's grip on his arm had tightened. In fact, he was sure that her nails were digging permanent crescent moon shapes in his flesh.

"I ain't leavin'." Carol sagged in relief, but when Daryl lifted a hand towards her face, she tensed and flinched away. This time, she didn't even try to babble out any excuses for the reaction. "I ain't goin' to hurt you. I would never hurt you. Ever." Carol let him cup her cheek, then, and even leaned in to his touch when he stroked the soft skin with his thumb.

"I know, Daryl" She sniffled. "God, I know. But, sometimes, I just can't help it."

"Was it your parents?" He asked. "Are they the reasons why you flinch whenever a hand is raised? Cuz I can understand that..." Daryl lowered his head; memories of his pa raising a hand to him flitted in the past. His first beating had occurred when he was eight and Merle had been out with some friends. Things had gotten worse from there.

"N-No. My parents loved me. They would never hurt me."

"Let's get comfortable before we have this talk." He wrapped an arm around her back and began to lead them to the living room. He waited for Carol to take a seat on the couch, before he took one near her.

"I was married before." Carol didn't take a moment to settle in before she started to speak. "His name was Ed."

"Did he...hit you?"

She nodded and wiped away a stray tear before it could slide down her face. "We were married for a year and a half. We were only married three months when he hit me for the first time. It wasn't long after that I quit school and stayed in the house most of the time. He cut me off from all of my friends and made sure I was alone in the world."

Daryl's fist clenched in anger as Carol told him about the son of a bitch who had thought he could hit his woman. At the time, Carol had not been his, but now that she was, he was not going to tolerate any prick ever putting his hands on her.

"One day, I finally left him and lived with a friend, Michonne and then, later, a cousin, until the divorce was finalized. I've been nine mouths without him." She gave him a weak smile.

"Have you seen him recently? Is that why you've been so upset?"

Carol tensed slightly and if Daryl hadn't had his eyes glued to her, he wouldn't have noticed. "No. Thank God. T-The nightmare I had earlier had him in it. I've-I've been having a lot with him lately and they've been making me a little jumpy."

"Why hide all of this from me?"

Carol shrugged. "I didn't think you would want anything to do with me if you knew. Never in my life have I felt more loved than I do with you and I didn't want to lose that feeling."

"You don't love me, though?" Daryl had to ask, even though he knew the answer. But now that he knew the reason behind the way Carol acted, maybe he would be able to change that and to let Carol know that it was all right to open her heart to a man, again.

"I-I don't b-but I will!" She grabbed his arm, almost as if she were afraid that he would run away. "I just need some time, though, but I know I'm getting there." Daryl felt his heart beat a little faster. "I care for you, Daryl. I care for you so much and I just know that soon it will turn into love." He couldn't help but smile widely. Those were the exact words he wanted to here.

"I don't want to wait a month to get married, anymore, Daryl." Carol snagged her bottom lip between her teeth. "Waking up in the middle of the night with you snuggled next to me, made me feel safe and wanted. I haven't felt that way in a long time and I don't want to go another night without you there."

"Are you sayin' you want to get married today?" He felt like his eyes were about to bug out of his skull.

"No, but I want to get married as soon as possible. M-Maybe in two weeks...or even less? I still need to get you a ring," she said, softly. Two weeks sounded pretty damn good to Daryl, but he allowed the rational side of his brain to take over.

"What about your family? Won't they find it odd that you're getting married in two weeks? I haven't even met your parents."

"They're both dead and I was an only child. I have no other family, besides my cousin and she would probably be too busy to attend, anyway. What about you?"

"Naw. My only family is in jail and won't be out for at least two years and there's no way in hell I'm goin' to wait that long to marry you." Carol beamed at his words and despite the heavy subject matter they had discussed only moments before, she looked genuinely happy and Daryl knew that was a good sign.

"So...two weeks?" Carol asked tentatively with wide blue eyes searching his. Daryl leaned forward and kissed her sweetly on the mouth.

"Two weeks it is and I can't fuckin' wait."

I know you all were probably expecting a longer chapter with everything that happened in the last one, but as you can see, Carol kind of scratched the surface when she talked about Ed and even lied to Daryl a bit, too. In the next chapter, it will be in her POV and you will see why. So please be a bit patient with our favorite lady. She has a lot going on and in the end, she doesn't want Daryl to get hurt!

Thanks for the reading!