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The Embrace	By : bonnyblonde Category: S through Z > The Walking Dead Views: 4558 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead nor do I make any money from the publications of this story

Chapter List
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- 2
- 3
Sorry for the delay, but it took Carol and Daryl a while to tell me where this little tale was going. Thanks again to RF for her lightning-fast, deadly honest beta skills!
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Chapter 2
Carol was startled by the loud clang of an iron gate being violently thrown open, but it wasn’t until she saw Daryl come storming around the corner that she really understood that she’d chosen an inopportune time to seek out a little solitude.
“What the hell you doin’, wanderin’ off on your own like that?” he barked, striding over to where she sat on the cold metallic steps that led to the guard booth. “Figured that you might have learned your lesson about disappearin’ without tellin’ a soul what you’re up to! Christ, you can barely stand by yourself and you decide to take a walk?”
He stood before her, one hand clutching her knife and the other tightened into a white-knuckled fist. Tension radiated off of him, from the quiver of the sleek muscles in his arms to the hard, thin line of his lips. It was a menacing look that she had gotten to know well but while it might have scared the crap out of someone else, she’d long ago come to understand that when he directed the brunt of his hostility at her, it was either because he was scared or because she’d forced him out of his comfort zone in some way. It was a defence mechanism and if there was anything Carol understood, it was the need to find ways to cope. Being beaten senseless by Ed on a regular basis had reinforced that for her like nothing else.
“I’m sorry, I wasn’t thinking…” she said quietly, trying to calm him down, but he wasn’t going to be derailed so easily.
“Damned straight you weren’t!” he shouted, pointing his finger accusingly at her. “Who knows whatcha mighta stumbled over, strollin’ around the place on your own? There’s always somethin’ crawlin’ out of a hole ‘round here. I told you I’d be right back! Why couldn’t you just frikkin’ wait for me?!”
“I’m sorry,” she repeated, slowly leaning forward so she could wrap her fingers around his wrist. He didn’t shy away like he used to when she touched him but he still eyed her warily. “Please understand – I shared that room with Lori. Her loss is still so new to me and with everything that she went through at the end...I got overwhelmed, looking at her belongings and thinking about her and the baby, and suddenly I just had to get out. I didn’t mean to upset you. I get it…I should have just waited close by.”
Daryl grimaced and cursed quietly to himself, seemingly torn between feeling guilty for hollering at her and the need to hold onto the head of steam he’d built up. “I didn’t think of that. Just figured you’d want to be somewhere quiet and familiar. But when I came back and couldn’t find you…”
Carol inched over to make room for him and tugged on his hand until he grudgingly lowered himself onto the same stair she occupied. “I’m not that easy to get rid of, y’know,” she said lightly, nudging his knee with her own. “I’m sort of like a cat with nine lives. I didn’t survive all those years with Ed just to pack it in now.”
He perched on the edge of the step, pointedly avoiding her gaze as he rested his elbows on his thighs and chewed anxiously at a thumbnail. Finally he seemed to muster enough courage to glance over at her, and her heart clenched painfully as she read the anguish in those denim-blue eyes of his.
God, this was a man who felt everything so deeply! She wondered, and not for the first time, how someone with that much empathy had managed to survive an upbringing like he’d had. Merle had proven time and again that he wasn’t exactly the sensitive type, which was more likely the rule rather than the exception in the Dixon family.
“This ain’t a joke! I thought you were gone when the walkers took over the place,” he finally blurted, his voice heavy with remorse. “Dead and gone. I wasn’t even lookin’ for you – I found you by accident. You could have died down there and I’d never have known it until...” He turned away, his fingers curling even more tightly around the knife’s hilt as he struggled for control.
“Until I changed into one of them and came looking for fresh meat,” Carol finished for him, both touched and saddened over his deep distress. She edged closer, pressing her thigh against his in a covert attempt at comfort. “None of us could have known what would happen that day. I don’t blame you for any part of it and I won’t have you blaming yourself. No one could have done more – no one has ever done more – for me than you have, Daryl. You’ve been my guardian angel. Come to think of it,” she teased gently, trying to draw his mind away from such dark thoughts, “I don’t believe that those wings sewn on the back of your vest are there by accident.”
Daryl huffed dismissively and shook his head but she saw the ghost of a smile on his lips. “Been called a lot of things in my life but ain’t nobody accused me of being an angel before,” he said gruffly.
“Sometimes when the world seems darkest, people can’t recognize the blessings in their lives for what they are,” she replied, resting her cheek against his bare upper arm. “But I’ve always known you were something special, even if there are those who can’t see it.” It was heaven having his warm, smooth skin against hers and she closed her eyes with a sigh of weary contentment.
He remained silent and it gradually occurred to Carol that she may just have revealed a little too much of her heart in what she’d said. She walked a frustratingly fine line when it came to Daryl Dixon, ever fearful that he might figure out that what she felt for him went way beyond friendship. While she secretly yearned for far more where he was concerned, she was unwilling to risk the closeness that they did share already. After everything they’d been through together, she would rather die than ruin a good thing. If telling him of her love drove him away from her – and she was almost certain it would – she knew she’d feel utterly alone in the world, and she didn’t think she could survive that.
But the problem was that while she had a few more years under her belt than did Daryl, Carol wasn’t yet so old that she couldn’t appreciate his lethal grace when he hunted, or the enthralling flex of his arms when he brought his crossbow up for a shot, or even the way tendrils of hair on the back of his neck would start to curl when the humidity was high. Combined with his amazing and surprising capacity for compassion and loyalty, was it any wonder she had fallen so hard?
No. If all he ever had to offer her was devotion and companionship, she would take it and be grateful for it. When every day was spent just figuring out how to survive long enough to see the next sunrise, it seemed selfish and small to want or expect more than he’d already given her.
“Carol? Hey...”
Her head snapped up at the sound of Daryl’s voice and she blinked blearily, realizing that she’d nearly fallen asleep. “What’s that?”
“You dozed off. Told you that you shouldn’t be running around yet,” he rebuked mildly. He slipped an arm around her waist and helped her to her feet. “You’re gonna have to get some rest. That woman who showed up at the fence is takin’ us to where Glenn and Maggie are bein’ held an’ we’ll need you to watch over the others when we go get ‘em.”
Although Daryl and the others frequently made trips from the prison for provisions, her heart stumbled in fear at the idea of Daryl riding off to face whoever had abducted the young couple. She wished she could beg him not to go, that Rick and the other men could handle the rescue on their own, but she knew that there was no hope of success without him. Rick might have been a cop but Daryl was a tracker and a hunter, far stealthier and more observant than anyone else in the group. Those facts were small consolation, though, and did nothing to ease the sting of having him leave without knowing for sure he’d come back again.
“Leave me be, I can look after myself,” she said with sudden petulance, miserable at thought of his imminent departure. “I’ll go have a nap in Beth’s room – I’m sure she’ll be glad of the company until her sister is rescued and back with the fold.”
“Nah, they set up the baby’s things in there for now,” he said cautiously, frowning a bit at the change in her tone. He slowly turned her around and firmly guided her up the stairs. “Won’t be any sleep to be had there – that l’il ass kicker can make a fuss when she gets goin’. I got my stuff laid out in the control booth; you come crash there for a few hours, least ways I’ll know where you’re at and that you’re safe.”
She gave in, unexpectedly drained of both the energy and will to fight him; in fact, she decided that there was no better place to recover her strength than stretched out on the very spot where Daryl slept every night. After all, she thought wryly, it was probably as close as she’d ever get to sharing his bed.
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More to come! Things are sure to heat up, don't you think? Would love reviews/ratings! Take pity on the poor author!
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The Embrace