Sorry for the wait, but here's a longer chapter for you all. I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Nineteen

Carol wanted to spend the rest of the day in bed, like usual, but knew she had to get up and be productive. There was only two more days until she and Daryl would get married. The fridge and cupboards were in need of restocking, starting off their marriage as being a good wife wouldn't happen if she didn't have any food to cook for Daryl. Also, she was planning on having a meal ready for him when he came by after work that day. She needed to transition into the role of wife, soon. The last time she had been one, Carol hadn't wanted to do anything for her husband, and instead had been forced to do everything. However, she knew it would be different with Daryl. Carol wanted to cook for him, wanted to do his laundry, and wanted to lie next to him every night.

Climbing out of bed, Carol walked over to one of the dressers lining the wall of her room. Opening one of the drawers, she saw that it was half empty and that Daryl hadn't put any of clothes inside even though she had made room for them. His bag was leaning against the wall by the door, and Carol decided that she would put his clothes away for him.

"This will be the last time I put your clothes away, Dixon," she said opening the bag. "I'll do your laundry and cook you supper, but I will not clean after you." Inside the bag, Daryl didn't have much in the way of clothes and Carol hoped that it wasn't all that he owned. There were a few pairs of jeans, all with holes in the knees, and a couple shirts, almost all were a different shade of green and some were even missing sleeves. One of the shirts had a bloodstain and a hole in the side. The shirt he had shot himself in. Carol couldn't believe he had kept up, but there must have been a reason and she put it away with the rest of his shirts.

When she reached the bottom of the bag, she was startled to find that there hadn't been any socks or underwear packed inside. She had seen him wear socks, so she knew he owned some, but wasn't so sure about the underwear. Surely, he didn't go without. Did he? Thinking about him possibly going commando at the moment made her cheeks heat up. How could that even be comfortable?

Throwing his bag on the bed, she also threw away the thoughts of an underwear-less Daryl. Now, it was her turn to go through her clothes and pick out her outfit for the day. She couldn't go the store in her pajamas, no matter how bad she wanted to, sometimes. Carol picked out a simple pair of jeans and a light green shirt. Most of her clothing was simple and practical, since she didn't leave the house much. But it was better than the bagging, unattractive clothes Ed would make her wear. But with all her simple clothes, she realized with a start that she didn't have anything decent to wear for when she and Daryl got married. Even though it wasn't really a big deal, since they were just going to the courthouse, but Carol didn't want to just wear jeans and a t-shirt.

"I need some new clothes," she muttered to herself and threw open the door of her closet. Inside, various skirts, dresses and blouses hung up. None of them really suitable to go to a wedding, let alone get married in. The wedding dress she had worn when she got married to Ed had been burned. The moment she had gotten her own place, Carol had taken out the long, ivory colored dress and set it on fire. Even if she still had it, she would have never tainted her marriage to Daryl by wearing something she had walked down the aisle to Ed in. Daryl deserved better than that.

It looked like she was going to do some clothes shopping, as well. The thought made her a little giddy. Carol hadn't really gone shopping for clothes since she had lived with Michonne.

Michonne.

Carol hadn't talked to her friend in over a year. Not since right before Michonne had left for work the day Ed had driven by her house. Carol had left her friend a note, thanking her for everything, and by the time Michonne came home that night, Carol was gone.

A tear slid down Carol's cheek. She hadn't even known she had been close to crying. Michonne had been there during her first wedding, had even warned her against marrying Ed, and Carol wished that she could be here for this wedding, no matter how small it was. Michonne would have definitely approved of Daryl. That Carol knew.

She still had Michonne's number on her phone. Carol knew she could call her up. But what would she say? 'Oh, hey, Michonne, sorry I haven't spoken to you in a year, after you helped me through a lot. Want to come to my wedding? I promise it's to a better man this time.'

No, she couldn't call her. Not now, and probably not ever. Michonne probably wouldn't even answer, anyway.

Shaking those thoughts away, Carol quickly got dressed and headed towards the kitchen. She poured herself a bowl of cereal. As she did, she began to make a list of all the things she needed to get from the store. The lost began to get extensive and towards the end, Carol started to list non-food items, like prettier shirts (low-cut ones), tighter jeans, a suitable dress to get married in, and at the very end, she wrote lingerie.

Just writing the word made her blush for the second time that day, but for their first night together; Carol didn't want Daryl to see her in just a pair of boring cotton panties. She wanted to surprise him with something sexy.

Something red, she wrote right next to it. Carol wanted Daryl to lose his mind with want when he saw her. Even though she knew he would feel the same even if she was in a pair of boring, white panties. Daryl wanted her. He had never hidden that fact, and last night had definitely shown Carol that. It had been awhile since a man had felt that way about her.

The brake pads on the charger needed to be replaced, all four of them, the oil needed to be changed desperately, and when Daryl had started the engine, it had made a weird screeching noise he had never heard before. Mr. Peletier liked to ride his vehicle hard, it seemed. Looking at the mileage, he saw that it was high, even for the year it had been made. It was a nice car, but he was lucky it hadn't fallen apart while he was driving.

Climbing out of the driver's sear, Daryl called over to Jim, who was working on another vehicle. A rusty truck. "Hey, Jim, do I have any other cars to work on today? This one is going to take me awhile."

Jim looked over and ran an appraising eye over the Charger. "Really? Looks to be in great shape."

"Yeah, on the outside, maybe." Daryl wiped his hands on the red rag always hanging from his back pocket, and walked up to Jim. "I'm surprised the guy was able to get it into the shop."

The lanky man picked up the clipboard resting on one of his toolboxes. "We have no other appointments for the day, but we still can get walk-ins, and there are two other cars we need to check out. They just need oil changes, so if you do one real quick, you can work on the Charger for the rest of the day."

Daryl nodded. "Sounds good. I'll get started on the oil change, now, and hopefully by lunch I'll have made some progress on Peletier's car."

"If you need any help, just holler." Jim was already head first in the engine of the truck.

"Will do!" Daryl said over his shoulder as he walked over to a tiny red Toyota parked in the back of the garage. It was clearly some teenage girl's car. Multi-colored beaded necklaces hung from the rearview mirror and the seats were covered in large, pink flowers. The oil change wouldn't take him longer than an hour, and soon he'd be back under the hood of the black Charger.

Carol didn't get going right away. Instead, she scrounged what she had in the fridge, and made Daryl a lunch. With running late that morning, she knew he hadn't had time to make one, and since he didn't have breakfast, either, she knew he would be starving. Plus, she knew she should be getting use to making his lunch, since she would most likely be doing it every day after Friday. It had been awhile since she had made lunch for anyone but herself. Not since Ed.

Shuddering, Carol placed Ed in the back of her head. She hated that she thought of Ed every time she thought of marrying Daryl. It needed to stop. If there was a man more different than Ed, it was Daryl. Hands down. It seemed more and more like fate that she had saved Daryl from the bottom of that ravine. But why couldn't she tell him that she loved him, yet? Why did the words always get stuck in her throat? Had Ed scarred her so badly?

"You need to stop thinking about him, Carol," she muttered and quickly threw Daryl's lunch into a paper bag. If she didn't hurry, she would miss his lunch break. "He's not going to hurt you, anymore." However, her words didn't sound convincing, at all. With a huff, she grabbed her keys, purse, and Daryl's lunch and headed out to her car. A visit with Daryl would definitely clear her mind of Ed.

"Dixon!" The sound of his name echoing through the garage startled Daryl and nearly caused him to bang his head on the undercarriage of the Charger.

"Yeah?" He called back, slightly annoyed. He felt, for sure, that he was close to figuring out what where that weird noise was coming from.

"You got a visitor, and it's your lunch time." Their boss called from his office door. Next to his door was another door that lead out to the front of the garage. When all the mechanics were busy working on vehicles and a customer came in, they would ring a bell, and Charlie, the boss, would go in and assist them.

Daryl immediately abandoned his work, knowing exactly who was visiting him and practically ran to the front of the garage. Skidding to a stop before he bumped into the counter, he saw Carol sitting in one of the waiting room chairs. She looked up at him with a bright smile and stood.

"I brought you a lunch," she said and held out a paper bag. Daryl walked around the counter to kiss her before taking it.

"Thanks." His stomach growled as if to say thank you, too. "So, what are your plans for the day?"

"Well, I was thinking I could stay here for a little bit while you eat, and then I have a whole bunch of shopping to do."

"All right." He smiled and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "There's a place out back where I eat, but we'll have to go through the garage." When they went behind the counter, he bent down and grabbed something from a shelf. A pair of goggles.

"You'll have to wear these while we walk through. Charlie's rules." Carol put the goggles on and giggled, knowing that her hair had to look a mess.

"So, are you working on a car, right now?" She asked when they walked into the garage. Daryl saw Jim straighten from where he was still bent over the truck, and gave him a smirk. He would definitely be asking questions later.

"Yeah, we'll walk right past it." He guided her to the right, where his work station was located. "Here it is. A 2005 Dodge Charger. It's been a pain in my ass all day." When Carol's eyes set on the vehicle, she seemed to freeze and her eyes grew round.

"What is it? Carol?" He stood in front of her and gently gripped her shoulders. "You okay?"

She shook herself out of it, and gave him a reassuring smile. "Sorry. I just thought it looked familiar, but there are tons of them on the road. Right?"

"Yeah," Daryl said. "Let's get out of here before we get surrounded by every fucker who works here. Once they get a whiff a beautiful woman is within close proximity, it'll be a bitch to get rid of them." Daryl steered her, then, to a door that led outside.

Together they sat down on a blanket Daryl had grabbed from his station and enjoyed the lunch Carol had made. She had declined half the sandwich, but snaked on the bag full of red grapes she had. They chatted comfortable with another, and when Daryl was done eating and saw that he had five minutes left of his break, he pulled Carol onto his lap and began kissing her.

After a few minutes, he reluctantly pulled back to allow her to get up and they cleaned up their mess. Walking through the garage, again, he noticed Carol didn't even look in the direction of the Charger and instead, kept her focus elsewhere. There was something there, he knew.

"Thank you for visitin'," he said, kissing her one last time. "And thank you for the lunch. I appreciate it."

"Well, this isn't the last time I'll be here." Carol smiled. "You'll probably have to reserve a pair of those goggles for me."

of those goggles for me."

"Will do." He pulled her close one more time, and kissed her cheek before she turned and left the building.

An hour later, Carol was scanning the list in her hand and checked off everything she had on her list. Her cart was almost full, and the only thing she needed to get was some ice cream. She hadn't wanted to get it earlier, knowing that it would melt by the time she got to the checkout lane. After placing one more can of green beans in to her cart, she turned and headed for the end of the aisle. The frozen section was on the other end of the story.

However, she didn't get very far when someone grabbed her left hand and yanked it off the cart.

"Well, what is this?" That voice. It sent shivers down her spine.

Ed.

"Let go of me." Tears pricked her eyes. Oh God, he's found me!

Ed didn't listen and brought her left hand closer to his face, examining the ring in her finger. "Getting married, again, so soon? And here I thought you were so broken up over our divorce."

"I divorced you," she hissed and tried to tug free, but to no avail.

"Are you marrying that backwoods trash I saw you with at that restaurant? He may have cleaned up nice for that night, but there's no mistaking what he is." He began to twirl the ring on her finger and she closed her hand into a fist so he couldn't take it off.

"It's none of your business." She hoped she sounded braver than she felt.

"That's where you're wrong, honey. You're mine, and I can't allow you to be married to someone else." He dropped her hand. "Does this man know about me? Does he know how much fun I had beating the shit out of you?"

Carol wanted to throw up.

"I bet he doesn't. You know, I bet he hits you, too. If he was smart, he'd smack that smart mouth of yours very often."

"Daryl would never hurt me!" She blurted before she could stop herself.

"Oh, Daryl, is it? Now, we have a name." He smiled, and Carol went instantly cold. "Hm, interesting. Well, I'm going to leave you, now. But this isn't the last you've seen of me." He turned and walked down the aisle. Leaving as silently as he came.

Carol wanted to run. She wanted to leave her cart right there, run to her car, drive home and lock all the doors, but there was something she had to know. She had to know if that car Daryl was working on was his. She left the cart in the aisle and rushed to the front of the store, where the whole front was made of glass, and watched as Ed made his way through the parking lot. There were only a few cars in the lot, and her breath caught when it looked like he wasn't going to stop at any of the cars. But he did. It was shiny blue Toyota. She breathed a sigh of relief, her breath fogging up the glass. Daryl wasn't working on his car, and Ed didn't know where he worked. Daryl was safe.

Despite all that, it still didn't lift the dread that settled over Carol. Ed was here. Ed knew she lived around here, somewhere. Ed wasn't going to give up until she was his, again.

This chapter did NOT go the way I had planned! This was supposed to be the wedding chapter, FINALLY, but as you can see, that didn't happen. Don't worry, though, even after the encounter in the store, the wedding will still be on. Carol will just be a little more weary of everything. And if thing go as I plan, then the next chapter will be the wedding chapter. Hopefully things will finally go as planned.

Thanks for reading!