This was it. He finally got to meet the sister.

He had no idea how it made him feel, too tired to analyze, yet hyper aware of the meaning of the scene happening before his eyes. He wondered if he should step back and give them some privacy, but he caught a look from Carol, and decided to stay where he was. A walker could come in and she would be defenseless, he told himself, as she was giving herself up to grief. They had not come all the way here for her to be killed now.

He stood close as Carol talked to her sister, words escaping her mouth so quickly he could barely keep up.

"I told you I would be back, but I hate that it was so late. I'm sorry I put you through all this. You were the one, you saw what Ed was doing to me, and you tried to warn me, but I was too lost, and under his thumb, my head was not running right. Lord knows he had tried to smack stupid one too many times already…"

The guilt she expressed, like it was her fault her sister was lying in the ground was unbearable, considering how close she had been to being a dead woman herself, on a daily basis. Lilah surely didn't want her sister to apologize for what had happened…

"Sophia, my baby girl, she looked so much like you, it was a relief," Carol said at one point. "I would look at her and not see traces of her father. I would see you and hope she would grow up to be as fearless and daring as you were, when I was the opposite, a mouse trying to live one day at a time. Looking at Sophia made me feel closer to you. How I wished you had met her. She would have loved you. You would have loved her."

She choked on a sob, and said:

"Lord knows I don't believe in Heaven anymore, but if there is one, then I can only hope you have been reunited, the two persons who kept me alive in so many occasions. I hope you can see her where you are, and tell her that I was not always the woman she had known, a shell of a woman terrified by a coward who only felt a thrill when beating his wife."

He thought back about thoughts he had entertained when he had met with her again about a place where abused children found peace and solace. Maybe Lilah belonged there too in a way. Maybe she had entered anyway because this was who she had been, according to Carol.

The two sisters talked for hours, and Carol's tears dried up, as she concentrated on saying what she needed to say, and waited for her sister to answer before speaking again. She could have looked like she was losing it, but Daryl understood what was going on more than he would have expected. This was not about making amends, this was about saying her piece, and finding strength if she could, knowing she had seen her sister, and she had talked to her.

"Ed is dead. I didn't get to kill him. But he's dead, and I'm not. I survived. I survived him, and monsters, and more. I survived losing my baby girl, and the only thought that kept me sane was the fact that you would look after her wherever you both are, that you would take care of her the way you had tried to protect me but I didn't let you. I thought I was protecting you. It was not about staying a prisoner with Ed, it was about trying to get you as far away as possible from him, so that he couldn't ruin your life like he was ruining mine. I wanted you safe, and you wanted me safe, and none of us got what they wanted."

There was this tightening in his chest, as each word she said reminded him of something he had seen, or suffered. He could relate but too well, to Carol's story, to Lilah's and to Sophia's.

"I love you, baby sister, I love you still. I wish you were here so I could tell you, but I need to trust that you'll know. I love you. I'm alive. I'm free. I so wished you never died and I could tell these words to you in the flesh. I feel like I owe you so much. You saved me from the tombs. I know you did. You saved me every time I was about to give up."

Daryl felt like Carol would have survived each and every time, on her own, as she was the toughest person he had encountered in his life, but he also understood what she meant. He remembered when he had lost Merle, and he had gotten bit by a poisonous snake and had been struck with delirium for a stint. His brother had appeared, taunting him to stay alive, daring him to make it through, as if he had known that being compassionate and all "my poor baby brother" would not have fueled Daryl with the correct energy to actually make it.

Minds were crazy places, and Daryl was a firm believer in the fact that your survival instinct would dupe you into surviving if you were cut from that particular clothe, and Carol had told him about her hallucinations involving her sister when she had been on the brink of giving up. Lilah was more than just her sister, she had become Carol's alter ego, the devil and angel on her shoulder who knew what to say to her survival instinct to get her free and out of danger.

Siblings, hum.

Carol spoke some more, about the life she had lead with her old group, and for the first time, he heard her talk in agony about the people she had had to leave behind when Lazarus had decided to stop planting crops and to become God almighty again. He had always imagined and inferred that Carol may not have seen it but there had to be bad blood and dark feelings to deal with when thinking about that episode in her journey, and she seemed to finally see that things were not as simple as she had shown them to be. He didn't mind, as she was just realizing how unfairly she had been treated, at least in his mind, and her sister felt like the only person she could tell Lazarus was a dick to. Daryl wondered what would happen if they ever crossed paths again. He hoped Carol would kick Lazarus' ass and get him back for all the crap he had inflicted on her when he had decided to be self-righteous. Had he not tried to give the person he now considered a friend, the samurai chick, as a token to the governor to appease his foe? This spoke volumes about the kind of guy Lazarus could be. Sure he had been in distress as he had just lost his wife and was sort of forced to be the man, The Man, in capitals. He should have known before he had banished Carol, that there was always more than one side to a story, and while the dead couldn't tell their side of the story, he should have taken comfort in the fact that Carol had been looking out for the community and its children, amongst which were his.

Finally, Carol got up, and wiped her pants. She came to stand close to Daryl, and he didn't know what had prompted him to do so, but he took her hand, and held onto it, as she was still shaking, processing the emotions from having been reunited with her sister.

They stood over Lilah's grave for some time, hand in hand.

10101

When night came, they started setting camp, not too far from the precious grave. They had been walker free ever since the bee encounter, and she didn't want to jinx them.

She went to look for some wood that would creak if walkers did come their way, and when she got back, as light was about to disappear, she noticed Daryl, on Lilah's grave, talking in a low voice.

She didn't want to interrupt, but she couldn't help but overhear, no matter how low he spoke for she had relied on her hearing for too long to keep herself safe, whether it was from Ed coming home drunk or from walkers coming to try and have a bite.

"If you see a burly guy, who's a very big dick, and will tell you he has one of those too, that's my brother Merle," she heard Daryl tell Lilah. "He's got a big mouth but if you've met him, then you know how he really is and how his big mouth runs so that he doesn't have to be real maybe. If you see him again, just tell him… Tell him Darylina is okay. That I'm not alone, and I'm not in danger. May even be in good company. That goes for your sister as well, won't let anything happen to her, not under my watch. But to Merle, tell him I understand. Don't know how much forgiving I can do, how much he is owed and how much I have in me, but I know better."

She felt warmth in her belly, from the fact that he was trusting Lilah with some of his secrets. If he couldn't talk to her, she was glad he could tell Lilah at the very least.

Merle had been his companion most of his life, and she could only picture how hard it had been to adjust to a life where Merle was not around anymore.

"If you see Ed, clearly you've gone the wrong direction, but do knee him in the balls on my behalf before you find your way back to wherever you and Sophia are. Your sister is free of that jerk, doesn't mean you should deprive yourself from taking a pound of flesh. Only fair, hum?"

He didn't say anything for a moment, and from the way he was standing, she could tell he had noticed she was back.

"Your sister is safe with me. Take care of my brother, if you have the courage to deal with that asshat."

He hesitated for a moment, then put a hand on the grave, and said:

"Thanks, Lilah."

She got on her side of the mat that they shared and he walked slowly back to his. It was his old mat, the one where they had slept when with the marauders. At some point, it had even begun to feel like their bed, if it made any sense. Her mat had been lost when she had been seized and claimed.

She didn't say anything, not wanting to make him feel self conscious about what she had heard, but she couldn't help feeling elated by some of the things he had said, about having her back. You didn't go to your companion's dead sister's grave just to tell them lies, right.

So she laid down, and wondered where they would go next. She heard Daryl scratch his throat, once, then a second time a short time later.

Though this was not the way they usually did things, she turned to face his back, and was reminded of the pain it exhibited.

"My pop," he started, "was an asshole. The apple didn't fall too far from the tree with Merle and I, I suppose, but we never got to be as bad as he had been…"

And he opened up. He told her in his words, his grunts, about the life that had been his before the world had been turned upside down. He told her about his alcoholic parents who had never been there except to be abusive to the two kids they never seemed to have wanted to have in the first place. He told her about being born when Merle was a teen, and how hard it had been to connect. He told her about the way he now saw that Merle had tried to protect him from their father, how he had joined the army, thinking that if he removed himself from their poisonous equation, their father would lose his favorite toy and not go look for another one. He had been wrong of course, and while Daryl hated the guy, and also hated Merle's naivety on that topic, he was able to see the sacrifice, now that he was older, the way his brother had hoped he was the only one eliciting those thoughts and those torturous urges.

"My back, I don't see it. I never see it. But people do. It's a dead giveaway to what I suffered, and I hate it. I hate what it stands for. I hate that I was a victim, that I never got to have the last word. Mother killed herself when she burnt down our house. Father killed himself in a car accident, drunk as a skunk. I was left living in his cabin because there was nothing else to do, waiting for Merle to come back, never wanting him to come back. Anger issues, you know?"

She sighed and knew there were no words she could say to fix what he was feeling. Instead, she thought about what he had missed, growing up. Gentle touches, gentle words. Proof of worth. She could relate to all of that. She let her instinct take the lead and very carefully, slid closer to him. She knew he could feel her coming closer, and she hoped he would trust her. He flinched but didn't move.

Very carefully, she came closer and put one hand on his shoulder, the other one on the small of his back. He was still tense, but he let her go on, and she decided to push her luck. She put her lips on his back, through the shirt, and very lightly, and lovingly, she kissed the top of his back, where she knew some of his biggest scars were. This was not the magic kissy she used to give Sophia when she had hurt herself as a child, though it was a bit similar. She just very reverently, and respectfully kissed his back. He flinched the first time but then relaxed, as she kept on kissing him on the scars he carried like a badge of dishonor. She decided to give them the respect they deserved, and hoped he would get it, that his scars were nothing to be ashamed of and she certainly didn't feel any less of him.

She felt him move, and he grabbed the hand which was on the small of his back, and held it so it would be around his waist. This was all the acceptance she needed, and still carefully, she put her cheek on his back, falling asleep against him. He rubbed her hand and fell asleep too.

When they got up the next morning, they went back to stand in front of Lilah's grave, both lost in thoughts.

Words were not needed. Not right this second.

They didn't touch, didn't hold hands, but they felt connected. Slowly, they started walking away from the grave, saying goodbye to her sister and maybe his brother one last time.

Carol hadn't wanted to go into the house where she had lived when younger, not feeling like she could take it if it had been trashed, which was almost a given. She could only take so much that day.

They walked for a while, and stopped at midday, when they tacitly decided to chose a direction where they would be going next, as a team – as partners.