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The whole group was on the edge of total exhaustion. No one had any energy left, and Lori was in particularly bad shape, what with the baby. Daryl tried to stay out of the discussions of where to go next—he was the one of them all who had the least to worry about. He could take care of himself, by himself, if need be. The others all had people depending on them.

Well, he had Carol, if you wanted to look at it that way, but in a pinch, Carol could take care of herself, too. She was a lot stronger than she seemed—stronger than she knew, in Daryl's view.

But she needed people, so she stayed. And Daryl thought just maybe he might need people, too, so he stayed.

Today, while everyone paused for a rest and a wash before heading back in another direction they'd already been, he convinced Rick to come hunting with him. They all needed hot food and the protein that came with meat.

As they followed a set of railroad tracks, Daryl looked across a clearing and saw a prison. Multiple layers of fenced-in yard, with the prison lying within them. Too bad the yards were all filled with Walkers. If they could get in there, clear it out, reinforce those fences … that might be a place they could rest a while. Maybe long enough for Lori to have the baby.

Rick felt the same way, so they went back for the others, then set about carefully retaking at least the outer yard. There was a narrow walkway, fenced-in, all around the prison, and that was free of Walkers, so they cut through the wire fencing and got inside, hastily lacing the fence up behind them.

The Walkers from the outer yard and from outside banged against the fence as they all ran past, but it held.

Rick stationed the rest of them in the guard tower to cover him while he ran for the gate to the inner yard, latching it closed so no more Walkers could get in that way, and then they picked off all the Walkers in the outer yard.

The mood was high as they all came into the field. It was the safest any of them had felt in a long time.

They parked the cars just outside the gate, for easy access in case something went wrong and they needed to run. Inside the yard, they built a fire and sat around it, enjoying the momentary peace.

Daryl took watch, pacing back and forth on top of an overturned truck. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate what they'd found—he'd been the one to see it first, after all—just that bad things happened when people let their guard down. Rick was pacing the perimeter of the fence, looking for weak spots. He took his job seriously, Daryl gave him that. Without Rick, most of them wouldn't have made it through the past winter. But Rick needed a rest as much as any of them. More, maybe.

While everyone else sat around the fire, Carol filled a plate and carried it over to the truck Daryl was standing on, climbing up to stand with him while he ate. "It's not much," she told him, "but if I don't bring you something, you won't eat at all."

"I guess little Shane over there has got quite the appetite." He put some of the food in his mouth without asking what it was. None of them were too picky anymore.

Carol laughed. "Don't be mean." It was an open secret that Lori didn't know who the baby's father was, but that didn't mean they needed to twit her about it. "Rick's gotten us a lot farther than I ever thought he would, I'll give him that."

"Mm-hm."

"Shane could never have done that." He wouldn't have wanted to, either. He'd have left them all at the first sign of difficulty. She stretched her neck, her shoulder aching from the shooting earlier today.

"What's wrong?"

"It's that rifle. The kickback? I'm just not used to it." She rubbed at her shoulder.

"Hold on." Daryl put his plate down and gestured for her to turn around, then went to work kneading the knots out of her shoulder.

Six months ago, he would never have done that. He wouldn't even have thought of it. Carol smiled, proud of the progress he'd made and endlessly grateful for his friendship—he was the real reason she was still alive. Not only what he'd taught her about survival, but because the bond they shared gave her a reason to get up every day. She'd always been a caretaker, and Daryl Dixon, for all that he was so competent, needed someone to look after him. Someone to love him. Maybe not the way she knew the rest of the group thought they loved each other, but in a way that saw him for everything that he was.

After a moment, his hands stilled on her shoulder, and he took them away. "Better get back."

Carol looked up at the stars. "It's pretty romantic. Want to screw around?"

He frowned at her, then snorted a laugh. Having established that they weren't that kind of couple meant that Carol could flirt with him for fun, and she liked to, just to see how uncomfortable it made him.

"I'll go down first," he said.

Carol grinned. "Even better."

That earned her a roll of the eyes. "Stop."

"If I have to."

"You have to."

She laughed and let him help her down. It was nice to feel light and safe and … almost but not quite happy, for a change.