A/N: This is the final regular chapter. A short epilogue will follow, hopefully in not too long. As always, thank you thank you thank you for the love you have given to this story. I am very grateful.

Disclaimer: Copyright for The Walking Dead belongs to AMC, et al. My writing belongs to me, as do errors.

Title: "Bands"
Chapter: "Bands"

It was like each hour of the day was marked so that he would not forget. While he was eating breakfast, he saw the Greenes come back from their morning ritual. Beth looked tired. Her hair was damp, and she had gathered it into two ponytails secured with bands low near her neck. He felt himself blush a little when he realized she must have showered. She was wearing a light pink shirt, tied up in front, and a white tank top underneath. He was very surprised because she wasn't wearing her boots today. Instead she had on a pair of scuffed, light blue Converse low tops.

She had looked over to him and smiled. That made hour one awesome.

After that Carl helped get Judith ready, and took her down to D Block. If he couldn't take watch, there wasn't a lot else to do. He decided to finally check out some of the stuff that he could read to make himself useful.

It looked like it was just Eli there at the moment. The other kids probably had some chores this morning, or he knew they sometimes had lessons outside.

"Hey, E. Where is everybody?"

The boy looked up, surprised. "Carl?"

"Yeah. Um, so…where did everyone go?"

Eli stared at Carl for a beat or two. "Oh, yeah, right. Sorry. I think they might be out with Daryl talking about knives or something?"

"Why aren't you there?"

Eli shrugged his shoulders and turned the page of the book in front of him. "I dunno." He turned a page again, and Carl knew he was faking. Nobody read a book that fast unless it had pictures.

Carl gave Eli his best version of the look his father used when he was trying to get Carl to confess to something. It made Carl all squirmy and it never failed. He always ended up spilling his guts.

The kid was getting twitchy. He was chewing his lip already. Whoa, that was fast. Carl must be better at this than he thought. He continued to stare, extra stare-y.

Finally the kid lost it.

"Ugh! Fine. I… it's just. Um…"

Carl raised the stare-stakes. He quirked an eyebrow.

That was it. The kid was a goner.

The words spilled out of Eli so fast, Carl wasn't sure he caught them all.

"Idon'tthinkDaryllikesmeandhebeatyouupyesterdayeventhoughIthoughthelikedyou…"

"Whoa! Dude. Slower." But Carl didn't drop the stare yet.

Eli breathed deep and started again. He pointed at Carl's eye. "I heard that he beat you up yesterday." Suddenly the kid was looking anywhere but at Carl's eye. "I mean, I thought he liked you. And, uh, I don't think he likes me. Because he yelled at us this one time to get away from his bike, and later at supper he pointed his crossbow at me when he came in. And he had this really mean scowl on his face –"

Oh, man. The word was spreading. He'd almost forgotten how awful he must look. And this poor kid was missing out on learning from Daryl. That was something a person shouldn't miss – though when it involved punching… Carl dropped the stare.

"Look, E. Daryl didn't beat me up. He – he was training me. Sometimes you get hurt, but you can't learn if you are too scared to try." Maybe he should sweeten the story. "And, he uh, he told me that I had really good instincts when it was done."

"You still talked to him? And he let you live?"

Carl laughed. He definitely needed to spend more time with this kid.

"C'mon. We'll go together."

"Ar – Aren't you scared for your sister?"

"Nope. She loves Daryl. And if she can take it, then I'm pretty sure you can."

Hour two: made.

Hour three: Daryl + Knives = Excellent

Daryl was packing away the equipment. Eli had kept Carl between himself and Daryl the entire hour, but he'd survived. Beth was making sure that everyone knew where they were going. Eli was supposed to go find his Grandfather to help with some car thing. The spacey girl was heading back to read, and the silent one was staying with Daryl to do some target practice with a pistol. The smaller kids hadn't been out with them.

Carl still had Judith. She was starting to act a little fussy. Great. Probably a diaper. Or…maybe she was hungry. That would be better.

He had nearly reached the door to C when he heard Beth call his name.

"Carl! Hey! Wait!"

For her? Anything.

Beth had reached them and stopped, glancing around at the courtyard. She seemed a little nervous. Judith bounced and kicked, turning to Beth's voice and burbling.

Beth smiled and reached for his sister. Carl gladly handed her over. Not that he especially wanted Beth to have to change Judith. But…then he wouldn't have to…

She rearranged the tiny girl on her hip, holding her with one arm while she dipped the other hand into her front jeans pocket. She pulled something out that looked colorful.

"Here. Uh, I, um…I made it for you. Last night."

What she handed him looked kind of like a bookmark. It was striped with lots of colors and was about an inch wide.

"Uh, thank you? What is it?"

Beth laughed and adjusted to hold Judith into her normal "chair" position – looking out on the world while she was still held close and protected.

"It's a..." and she started the nervous looking about again.

"A?"

"A friendship bracelet. You know, you give them to your friends so they have something to keep with them…and remind them…of you."

The bookmark suddenly looked so much cooler. It might be the coolest thing he owned. Yes, definitely the coolest.

"Where – I mean, how do I wear it?" It wasn't like he'd ever owned a bracelet before.

"If you'll come sit with me on the bleachers, I'll help you with it." With that she turned and started in that direction.

She knew he would follow her. Which, of course, he did.

The fourth hour was certainly the best hour since he'd had to leave his house with his Mom and Shane. It was probably the best hour of his life.

Beth had taken Judith down to D to get her bottle. She had left Carl in the C common room, still staring at the band on his wrist. She had explained all the colors, and it was amazing. She was amazing.

How exactly did his life go from picking a fight to getting something like this – from the girl he liked! – in just one day? In the back of his mind he heard something whispering about "too good to be true," and "it always dies." The voice tempered his enthusiasm. It was right. So many colors on the band were for dead people. But he would never be without their memories.

He watched the various people in their community drifting through the C back towards the cafeteria. He still felt pretty good, even though he could tell that his eye was causing low murmurs as people pretended very hard not to be looking at him.

One of the group was the guy that made Judith's rocking cradle, Roopati Lasu-something. Carl took a deep breath, recalling his thought about offering his thanks. He glanced at the band again. He could do this.

Carl rose and made a few quick paces to match the formerly large man's stride. Roopati looked over and gave a nod. He didn't say anything, but raised his eyebrows and gestured toward his own eye.

"Oh, yeah. This. It looks worse than it is. I, uh – I needed a little…training – with Daryl."

The old guy smiled and chuckled. "I suppose that is true." He spoke with a lilting accent that made it sound like he was sort of always asking a question.

"Yeah. So, hey. I…wanted to talk to you. I – it's about – well…"

Roopati was smiling – but in a way that Carl knew the man was poking fun at his stumbling words. Carl took a breath.

"That is, I wanted to tell you 'thank you.' For Judith. I mean, for making the rocking cradle for my sister. She, ah, she really likes it."

The smile altered slightly to a genuinely happy look – which, given the man's uniquely wrinkled face, made it impossible not to smile back.

"I was happy to do it. She is quite welcome. Koi baat nahin."

"What?"

"It is Hindi. 'Don't mention it.'"

"Ok. Good. Right."

The old guy slapped him good-naturedly on the shoulder.

"Time to eat, young man. Get the nutrients to help you heal from 'training.'"

Carl moved ahead, passing by the slower moving bodies. It had gone better than expected.

He moved through the line quickly, preoccupied with him own thoughts, and not noticing the murmurs as much in the din of the dining room. He scanned the group and found Carol. She would probably want to know how he was doing.

Weaving a path in her direction, Carol noticed him and patted the seat beside her. As he slid his tray to the table and sat down, she said, "Hi, handsome. That's one of the best shiners I ever saw."

Carl ducked his head and grabbed his fork. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't rub it in."

She smiled and laughed, but in a way that he didn't mind.

"So, you look like a different person today – even without the shiner."

"It has been the best day. Like, I don't even know if I ever had it so good." He shifted his wrist to feel the texture of the band even if he wasn't looking at it.

"I see. What is that that you're wearing? Looks new."

Around a mouthful of some pretty gooey and gross boiled barley he managed, "Ift ish."

Carol pushed her barley around, but speared a bean instead. She bumped his shoulder, and they both chewed.

He was just about to try another forkful, hoping it might be better than the last, when his dad moved out of line and toward their table. Rick gave Carl a nod, which he returned. Instead of sitting down, though, Rick stayed standing and cleared his throat.

Carol was gazing up at him, and looking for all the world like the cat who ate the canary.

"Hi, Carol."

His dad was speaking louder than necessary, and it drew the attention of those at close-by tables.

"Hello, Rick. Are you going to join us for lunch?"

"Ah, no. I, uh. That is, I'm not eating until the second round. I was hoping I could ask you something."

Carl squinted his eyes. Exactly what was his dad up to?

Rick slanted a glance to Carl and then returned his eyes to Carol. He cleared his throat again.

"I was wondering if you would be able to take a walk with me this evening. Early, maybe right after supper?"

"Sure, Rick. Anyone else going to be joining us?"

His dad narrowed his eyes at her. Very low he said, "You're gonna make me work for this, aren't you?"

"This is courting, you know. Our merry band does like a spectacle," she replied just as softly.

Rick cleared his throat again, even louder this time, and instantly became the center of even more attention.

"No. I was hoping it would be just the two of us. Would you please accompany me?"

"Yes. I would love to."

"Good. Let's meet in the courtyard. Until then."

Rick nodded at Carl again, and tried to hide a smile when he looked back to Carol. For her part, Carol was beaming. Obviously she had found the whole thing entertaining. Carl could hear the buzzing as the diners started to speculate about what this meant.

As Rick was walking away, she spoke again. Though she wasn't looking at him, Carl knew she was talking to him.

"Is that okay with you? That I spend some private time with your Dad?"

Carl finally managed to swallow the barley lump in his throat. Was it okay with him? He still wasn't completely ready for this.

"I probably will be. Eventually. I guess."

She bumped his shoulder again. And it was enough.

Hour five had gone pretty well, all things considered.