"I'm going to guess that you didn't come here for the dancing." Eric looked Daryl over, smiling when the man snorted and ignored the comment. "Did Carol make you come?" She had been one of the people to set up the whole event, a community party to celebrate surviving the latest danger to face Alexandria.

"Who else?" That didn't sound good; Daryl might do a lot of the things that Carol wanted him to do, but he was starting to sound a little surly.

"Gonna stand in the corner all night?" He wasn't sure why he was here either, when he could be talking to someone a little more animated. Someone willing to contribute a little more to a conversation. Someone who didn't consider a grunt to be a satisfactory response to a question.

Daryl shrugged, "Maybe."

Eric laughed, and Daryl gave him a dirty look. "Sorry, but you look like an angry cat when you do that."

Daryl continued glaring, and missed Aaron's approach. "Alright, now what are the two of you up to this time? Did you tell him about the homebrew that Heath brought?" Aaron turned to catch Daryl's eye, "He makes craft beer. It's pretty good."

"I hadn't gotten that far. I was hoping to break through the scowl first." Eric smirked, "But Grumpy was not cooperating."

Daryl shook his head, closing his eyes for a moment, "Not grumpy, just don't like parties."

"I could go get Carol. She looked bored too. I think that she's been smiling too much and she could use some of your attitude to combat it." Eric waved to Carol and she started walking over, "You could ask her to dance."

"I don't dance." Daryl crossed his arms over his chest. "Why don't the two of you go dance, and leave me alone."

Aaron grinned, but he took Eric's arm and started leading him away, "Be nice. We'll bring you a beer later."

Carol arrived at his side just as they reached the other side of the tables. "I thought they wanted something. You okay?"

Daryl grunted, "I don't know why I let you talk me into coming to this thing."

"Well, if it's so horrible, you could always leave." She shrugged, watching the few couples on the dance "floor" that was between the food and the tables.

He looked at her for a few moments, trying to read her body language to see if she was being serious, or if she was being flippant. "You could come with me."

"Not after I helped organize this thing. Everyone seems to have to come to me with all of their problems." She frowned, "I don't know how much longer I can keep up this act."

"Then don't. It's ridiculous." He jerked his chin toward the people milling around the tables, "If we're here for the long haul, they need to know you are capable of doing more than coordinating outfits and baking casseroles. What's to gain from the helpless act?"

She shrugged, "True, and it does get boring. I just have so much practice at it, even before all of this happened. When people think you are weak they don't look too hard."

"But these people need you to be strong." Daryl turned away from the party, staring down at her intently, "There are too many weak people here. They need to know that anyone can be strong. Anyone can change. Anyone can defy their stupid rules and that they can't just look at someone and know anything about them anymore."

She returned his intense regard, "Someone said something to you about the vest again, didn't they?"

"Nah, just the same looks. You know I don't like parties." He shrugged and she grabbed his arm.

"Alright, come and sit with me at a table. Have a drink, eat a little, and after that you can go home and I will never nag you to come to another community event, ever." She ignored his sudden grin, "I'll even walk home with you and that will be my excuse if anyone asks why I left early."