"Carol!" He shouted as soon as he saw her crossing his yard, leaving the house and probably heading for her own. She looked up and waved when she saw him and turned to walk toward him.

"We finished with the canning, so I was about to head for home to make dinner for the crew." She held up a hand to shield her eyes from the sun. "Did you need anything?"

"Yes. I need the truth about something." Aaron shifted the bag to his other hand and pointed at the neighbor's house, "About Winters; Olivia said that he was complaining about something the other day. Did you threaten him?"

She looked at him for a long moment, her face completely blank, and he wondered how he had never seen this side of her when he was watching Rick's people out on the road. She was cold inside in a way that scared and worried him sometimes, but he knew that she honestly cared about Eric and that she protected people she cared about. "I did. He needed it."

"Because he did something to Eric? Olivia mentioned that too, but she didn't have details." Aaron looked toward his home, in case Eric had noticed that he was back and chatting in the yard. The windows were all clear though, so they had a little more time.

Carol looked back at the house too, and then glanced at the fence separating the yards. "He doesn't want you to know about this. Now that you do, I'm not sure if I should be the one to give those details. I don't even know all of them myself, just enough to know that Eric has been upset about it and Winters is a coward who needed to be reminded that there are those who are stronger than he is and who will do something about him if he causes problems."

Aaron frowned, "Stronger? You're going to beat him up?"

She tipped her head to the side, giving him a look that seemed reserved for small children and those who were a bit slow mentally, "You don't have to be physically stronger to harm someone, just mentally prepared for it. I've found that there are a lot of things that I am willing to do, and that makes me stronger than someone who flinches from those tasks." She hesitated slightly, "You are strong in that way too, and so is Eric when he is willing to admit that to himself. But right now? He's more willing to take the abuse to spare you from it."

"So it is abuse." Aaron nodded, "I thought that it might be."

"Every form of abuse can cause pain and suffering. I don't think Winters has ever crossed that fence, but even cowardly bullies get brave sometimes." She shrugged, "Now that you know something is happening, maybe you should ask Eric about it."

He nodded again, "I will. I should let you go."

Carol smirked, "Don't fool yourself, you wouldn't be able to stop me." She shook her head, glancing back at the house again before walking away.

Eric was still in the kitchen, putting the last of the jars into their pantry, and he accepted the small bag of supplies without a word. He put those things away as well, before getting a cup of tea and sitting at the breakfast nook. "I don't even want to look at another carrot for a month."

"Well, we have plenty of other things to eat I guess." Aaron helped himself to a cup of coffee, and sat down across the table from Eric. "Olivia was chatty."

"She always is. Anything interesting happening in our little community?" Eric didn't seem to have a clue about what she might have told him, and Aaron tried to find the right words to relay her gossip.

"She said something about you actually." He blew on the coffee, even though it wasn't going to cool any time soon. "Something about you and Carol."

Eric grinned, "Are they saying that we're having a torrid affair? Because you know that isn't true."

"No, it was more like, Carol was defending you from Mr. Winters and he was complaining about it to anyone who would listen." Aaron glanced up at Eric, "I didn't know that you needed defending from him."

"I-." Eric stopped and fidgeted. "I didn't want you to know."

"Obviously, but now I do know. Or at least I know that there is something that you should be telling me. I'd like you to do that now. Please." He winced, not liking how harsh he sounded.

Eric shrugged, "There isn't much to tell. It isn't hard to guess what I worry about, and he just says those things out loud. Add a couple insults and that's all there is to it."

"But it was enough for Carol to threaten him? It upset you enough to piss her off, and for her to call it abuse." Aaron set his coffee cup aside and took one of Eric's hands, "I know that you've always said that you can take care of yourself, and I know you can. I know that you've also said that you don't want me to fight your battles for you, but it isn't the same thing when you refuse to fight for yourself. He's hurting you; whatever he is saying is hurting you. I can't just let that go and hope he'll stop because Carol told him to stop."

"I know." Eric squeezed his hand, but stared at the table top. "I just don't want trouble, and I didn't want you to worry about me when you should be focused on your own safety out there."

"I would worry no matter what. This just makes it worse because he could have done something and I wouldn't have had a clue until it was too late."

Eric frowned, "I doubt he is going to do anything drastic. So far all he's done is talk, and I can leave the yard. I do leave the yard when he starts talking and he's never followed me."

"Yet. That kind of thing can change, quickly. You know that. We've both had friends who had to deal with assaults." Aaron sighed, "For some reason I thought that things might actually have gotten better for us. It seemed like people had gotten over some of the sexism and racism, and I thought that homophobia might be a thing of the past too. Wishful thinking. Will you tell me what he said?"

"Would it make a difference to know the specifics?" Eric sipped his tea and fidgeted again, "I don't want to repeat the things he said."

"Alright, but I am going to talk to him. Tomorrow."