I am so SO sorry this took so long to get to you! I was away for a week, and I just couldn't focus on this one while I was gone. I didn't want to rush it because I have a soft spot for this fic, for some reason. This chapter was actually the one that made me want to start it in the first place, so I wanted to do it justice. And, boy oh boy, I really hope I did!

Your reviews...I can't even, guys. The response to this story has been so incredible. I'm pretty sure I replied to all of you, except the guest reviewers who I can't respond to (dmm, you're hilarious!)...if I missed anyone, I'm really sorry!

SO. Let's get down to business. This third (and final) chapter takes place the night before Walker-Patrick is discovered, i.e. right after 4x01.

Also, there's a line in this story that I took from a song by Walk Off The Earth, it's called "Speeches"...amazing band, amazing song...and it just fit, so I used it : )

I feel like I should use a disclaimer: there's no actual funny business in this chapter, soooo...sorry 'bout that. I hope that doesn't ruin it for anyone ; ) I'm just so not a smut writer, and all I could think about was the post-coital cuddling that we'll never get to see on TWD.

ENJOY! And thanks a million for reading : )

The third time, he was gentle. And the third time was the last time.

They lay in the bunk of his cell, sated from their tryst and covered only by a thin sheet. Carol lay on her back and gazed up at her man as Daryl propped himself up on one elbow to give himself the best possible view of her.

He traced his fingertips along the length of her collarbone, his eyes following the motion. She watched him with an amused smirk on her face, delighting in his gentle touch.

His fingertips travelled up the column of her throat and along her jaw before he slid them into the hair at the nape of her neck, running his thumb along the soft skin underneath her earlobe.

"I love this spot," he murmured as his thumb traced a gentle circle on her skin.

"Yeah?" She couldn't wipe the smile off her face as she looked up at him.

"Yeah. It's so…soft. And it's mine." He brought his lips right up to her ear and whispered, "Ain't no one else gettin' their hands on this spot." And then he kissed that very spot. So gently.

"Judith does sometimes, when she's tugging on my ears," she murmured, almost incoherently. She shivered and heated up all at once. Goosebumps covered her flesh and he smirked as he heard her breath hitch in his ear.

But she couldn't help herself. The warmth of his lips pressing so tenderly on the delicate skin beneath her earlobe had her eyes fluttering shut on their own accord. The feel of his breath on her always reduced her to nothing. The same way his smooth, rumbling voice did. The same way his eyes did. His touch.

"I s'pose I can share with Jude," he retorted with a rueful glare.

She grinned at him and his smile lingered as he moved his eyes back to his hand and let it travel once more. His hand was spread wide on her skin as it moved back down her throat, coming to rest over her heart.

Carol watched his face in amazement as she contemplated this man. He was careful with her. His touches were always kind, always soft.

She realized, then, that Daryl was just a gentle lover. The way he touched her and moved with her made her feel like she was being worshipped, and it was unlike anything she'd ever felt before in her life. It was just his style. Like this part of him was a stark contrast to the man he let the world see. Here was his balance. The most intimate part of him was the complete opposite of what was on display.

And this part of him was only for her to know, and no one else.

She watched him as his splayed hand travelled back and forth across the expanse of her chest, his eyes soaking up the very image of her, his hand memorizing the feel of her. The warmth. His thumb coming dangerously close to the sensitive peak of her breast.

And she didn't mind being on display to him, not one bit. She didn't mind being under such intense scrutiny, having his fingers touch her in places she'd always kept hidden, having his eyes take in the parts of her she'd formerly been ashamed of.

His gaze stayed on the site his hand was currently exploring, but his mind was in overdrive.

Daryl couldn't believe his life, his luck. The woman who lay underneath him in his very own bed. He couldn't believe any of it. How she loved him, how he was okay with that.

How he loved her, and so fiercely that he would give everything to keep her safe and happy and alive.

It was something he'd never imagined for himself. Not before, and not after. Love was for other people. He had accepted the fact that he'd always be alone. That he just wasn't capable of giving anything to anyone else.

But her. Carol. She just happened. He hadn't even realized how badly he wanted to give her everything inside of him until he was already giving it.

And so he couldn't keep the awe out of his stare, looking at her like she was some sort of miracle. Touched her so gently so as not to pop her like a bubble, to make sure she was really here, and she was staying.

He touched her now whenever he wanted to, and she was okay with that. Liked it, even. And she touched him too, whenever the mood struck her, and it felt so good that he wished time would just stop so it would never end.

But he knew better, in this world, that things were even less permanent than they ever were before. Especially the things you loved the most. He knew they could be torn apart any minute of any day, and so he lay there with her and tried to memorize every freckle, every dip and curve.

So that if her time came first, he'd have these memories to hold onto. And if his time was to come first, he'd recount every inch of her very being in his last moments before it was all over.

"What are you thinking about?" she whispered as her fingers came up to smooth out the worry in his forehead.

He looked at her face then, softening his gaze when his blue eyes met hers. He shrugged.

"Just...thinkin' 'bout you."

"What about me?" she smiled.

"I don't wanna lose you."

His face was serious - too serious - and it caused her to worry right along with him, her smile wiped away in one fell swoop.

"Daryl, I'm here. I'm not going anywhere."

"For now."

"Don't think like that. You can't." Her hand moved to caress his cheek.

"You ain't worried?"

"Of course I am. But," she paused, thinking of how to put it into words. "If Ed is what I had to suffer through, it was worth it. Every moment of my life with him...it brought me to you. And if we get ripped apart the second we get out of this bed, then at least we have this. You're worth it all. Every miserable part of it. This very second is worth it all a thousand times over."

He swallowed hard, a lame attempt at reigning in his emotions.

"I couldn't find your little girl." A simple statement, but she knew what he meant. The guilt he still carried with him. The worry he felt that she blamed him for it.

"Don't, Daryl. Please."

His hand continued its journey along her chest, her collarbone, her shoulder, her bicep, and back again. Over and over. But this time was different. It wasn't as soft, as carefree. She could feel his fingers twitching just barely with his insecurity.

She placed her hand atop his and stilled it.

"Daryl," she whispered firmly. He looked at her. "Sophia's better off wherever she is now. She wasn't made for this world, and that's okay. It's better this way. Every day, I look at Carl and Rick, and I just…I'm relieved that Sophia doesn't have to live this life."

He knew she wasn't just saying this to make him feel better. She believed it – she had to – or else her grief would eat her alive.

Daryl nodded, just barely, as he took comfort in her warm blue eyes. Drew strength from them as though she were offering him a drink of water in the middle of the desert.

"She brought us together," Carol said in a soft whisper.

His eyes flickered back and forth between hers then, not having ever thought of it that way.

"I couldn't keep Sophia safe, but when she disappeared, you…you gave me everything. I thank Sophia every day for that. For you. If it weren't for her…" her voice trailed off as she shook her head in an attempt to will away her tears.

Carol didn't want Sophia living the fear they all lived every day, running from the flesh-eating monsters they would never be able to escape. If it weren't for Sophia, Carol may have never found what she needed in Daryl. And she would be eternally grateful to her baby girl.

Daryl's head dropped and he took a deep breath as he pressed his forehead into her chest before placing a kiss between her breasts. Her fingers weaved themselves into his hair and she felt his breath on her ribs as he sighed, his hand squeezing the skin at her waist.

He kissed his way back up to her face, grazing his lips up her chest and along her throat before placing a lingering kiss on her mouth, his hand having moved back to his favorite spot beneath her earlobe.

She never thought she'd be given the chance to love and be loved like this. Never thought she'd ever get to feel so good. She must have done something right in her lifetime, or one of her past ones, because Daryl was the sweetest reward. Every miserable moment of her life before the Turn had lead her directly to him.

Where Sophia had been the only source of happiness before, the agony suffered the minute she watched her baby run off the highway was the last piece that bound her to Daryl. And every time he put his hands on her, she knew she could heal. She knew she was in exactly the place she was supposed to be, and that everything was as it should have been.

When they pulled apart, his hand continued its exploring. He ran his fingertips down her arm and weaved his fingers loosely through hers, bringing her wrist up to his face.

He ran the tip of his nose around the delicate skin of her wrist and inhaled.

"You smell so fuckin' good."

She rolled her eyes playfully. "Do not," she admonished.

"Do, too. Better than everyone in this goddamn place." He placed a kiss on her pulse point. "I could smell you all day long," he chuckled, realizing how ridiculous that sounded.

She snickered along with him. "Go home, Daryl, you're drunk."

"I'm serious."

"You're not thinking straight. I think I just blew your mind with that last little move I pulled."

"That was a good move," he smirked, raising his eyebrows as he remembered the ecstasy that was twenty minutes before.

He put her hand down gently at her side as he spoke, "I ain't done here, though. Be still. And stay quiet."

She smiled as she watched him shift a little lower on her body, easing his way between her legs. She didn't hesitate to accommodate, opening them wider and then squeezing a bit when he was settled, holding him there.

He placed his hands on the swells of her hips and kissed the skin on her ribs, right underneath her breasts, before continuing his journey south.

"What's this one?" he asked as he traced a finger over her long scar.

They had come this far, able to mention the marks on their bodies with one another, if they were genuinely curious. They'd taught each other to be proud of how far they'd come; what they'd endured to make it this far.

She smiled at him, though he was still looking at her scar, tracing it softly with his index finger. She wasn't sure she'd ever get used to this kind of attention from him. That her body was the source of this wonder and curiosity. Awe, even.

"That's my C-section scar."

"Did it hurt?"

"I didn't feel a thing. I was frozen."

"You had a fuckin' baby, Carol," he said as he looked up at her with admiration.

"Yeah," she chortled, "So glamourous."

"It's fuckin' amazing."

She smiled, tears prickling her eyes though she managed to hold them back. "You're fuckin' amazing," she retorted, nudging his side with her knee.

"Shut up, this ain't about me."

And then he continued his lavishing, kissing the tip of her C-section scar before moving on.

"How about them stretch marks?" She asked, lifting her head to watch him nuzzling the crease where her thigh met her hip bone. "My amazing pregnancy gave me those, too."

"Beautiful," he mumbled.

Her breath picked up as his mouth made his way to the sweet spot. So agonizingly slowly. She could feel her skin heating up as his breath grazed over the path he made in her thigh.

But then he stopped abruptly and her head shot up to look at him, and he grinned.

Her jaw dropped as he moved his way back up her body, coming to lie at her side, propped up on an elbow as he had been before.

"Asshole," she accused, the shock still on her face.

"Watch that mouth of yours," he teased. "Wasn't it you that said we had to be up early tomorrow mornin'?"

She huffed and rolled her eyes. She did say that. And she was certain they would have been asleep at a decent hour if he hadn't enticed her into sleeping with him the first time that night.

"Hey, you're the bossy one, not me. I'm just following orders," he defended as he pulled the blankets up around them and blew out their candle.

"Real nice, Daryl," she said, rolling her eyes as she adjusted her position, though he couldn't see her. "You sure do know how to talk to a lady."

They settled into their sleeping position, and he pulled her in tight, her back pressed tightly to his chest.

"You ain't a lady, you're a warrior."

She giggled and he smiled into her neck before he continued.

"You're the toughest son of a bitch I ever met."

"I had a good teacher."

"Partner," he corrected. "We're in this thing together."

She took his hand that lay across her belly, lacing her fingers in with his and bringing his hand to her mouth. She pressed her lips against the back of his hand.

She sighed before she spoke. "I fuckin' love you, Dixon."

"Fuckin' love you too, woman."

They slept soundly that night, and woke up with the sun.

They had barely been fully dressed when they heart the gut-wrenching scream from the prison courtyard.

"Walkers in D!"

They sprang into action faster than they knew they were capable of, and they didn't know then that their lives would be irrevocably torn apart.

I know. How depressing...I think my hopes for this reunion are a little too high. I'm setting myself up for disappointment, I'm sure. I've talked myself into thinking they were basically married before they were separated, ha!

Thank the heavens for fan fiction : P

And thank YOU again for reading! oxoxox