Set the morning after 2x07, I've been haunted by the idea of Carol and nightmares, but just knew writing it from within the grieving mother would prove too much for me, so the idea of taking the outside view returned and Lori was glad to give her perspective once more.

Lori and Andrea both looked on helplessly as Rick tried to calm and restrain the grieving mother. Carol was lost in whatever nightmare she'd woken with and the screams simply would not stop.

The way in which the woman wailed for her lost child drew Lori's hand to her own stomach to lie with hesitant protectiveness over the new life developing there.

"She's going to draw every Walker within a hundred miles down on us if she doesn't stop," Andrea exaggerated the radius a bit, but voiced the same concern that they all had.

Sensing that the blonde was leaning toward the same action Shane had encouraged, that of forcibly shutting the other woman up, Lori bit her lip and turned to exit the RV. Her steps took her to the edge of the camp so her eyes could scan the edge of the woods she knew he had gone into at the break of dawn.

She cursed the fool for having slipped off at such a vital time, but knew she'd say nothing when he returned. The role he was taking on here was one she'd known he wasn't altogether suited for, but she was grateful someone was willing to make the effort.

"Do you think she'd settle down for me?"

"No, baby," Lori answered her son, wrapping an arm around Carl's shoulders without taking her eyes from the forest. "She'll be glad to see you later, though, after she's settled."

They stood there for a few minutes and she sensed Carl squinting off in the same direction her eyes were scanning.

"What are you waiting for?"

The answer broke into the clearing at just that moment and the relief she felt had Lori's arm clenching for a moment around her son before she released him. It was obvious that the sounds from the camper had carried across the distance from the way the man was running to cross the open field. Lori wanted to both warn and scold him, but he raced past her before she could even think of words to speak.

In the brief moment it took her to follow him into the Winnebago, Daryl Dixon had already managed to push Rick aside and take over the attempts to control the other woman's grief.

Andrea and Rick both stared on in amazement as the redneck knelt on the bed and took hold of Carol's violently twisting and tear streaked face. Lori, though, simply moved to her husband's side and took his hand to urge him out. She knew that this moment needed privacy and was all to happy to give it to them, as just the touch of those hands on her face had already quieted the grieving woman more than any other attempt.

Silently, Lori ushered the observers from the camper. She cast one last look back, though, and almost smiled at the awkward way that Daryl froze when Carol suddenly threw her arms around him and sought his shoulder as the place for her lessening tears.

She stepped down and quietly shut the door to the RV behind her, letting her hand rest against the metal for a moment as she gave thanks that she had been right. For whatever reasons he had, Daryl had chosen Carol as his and he'd see to her as the situation needed.

The man might not know how to comfort, but Lori knew that he was willing to learn. He'd make mistakes, as he had by leaving to hunt that morning, but maybe she could help him with the little things like that.