We know it's been forever since we updated this story; there have been changes, both within the TWD universe and within our own group that predicated the delay. We are attempting to re-start this, though, and hope that at least a few of you might still be interested in a slightly altered version of events following the fall of the prison. Thank you for those who have returned to read, hello to any new readers, and welcome to our lovely friend Jessaly, the newest contributor to our work! :)

Carol cinched the bandana around her mouth and nose, protecting her lungs as best she could. Dr. S wasn't sure how this strain of influenza was spreading through the group, but she was going to take every precaution necessary to avoid exposure. She had too many responsibilities, too many promises to keep, and so getting sick was simply not an option.

Carefully balancing two bowls of broth on one arm, Carol lifted the key to unlock the gate to the tombs only to realize that it was already open. She frowned, knowing without a shred of doubt that she'd secured it when she'd last brought down fresh water for Karen and David. It was just as important to keep folks out of the isolation ward as it was to keep the patients in – alive or dead, every infected person represented a threat to the entire group. The newly dug graves in the prison yard were testament to that very fact.

She'd only taken a few steps into the corridor when she picked up the unmistakable scent of blood filtering through the dank passage. Carol's first thought was that either Karen or David had bled out because of the infection and had died. She's seen Patrick's and Charlie's gory corpses, had noticed the strange blossoms of blood on the faces of some of the walkers at the fence. But there was no sound of tell-tale hissing or groaning coming from the cells that would signal that either of her patients had turned. In fact, there was no sound at all and that itself sent an ominous shiver up her spine. Something was off.

Carol stopped and carefully set the bowls on the concrete floor. She crouched quietly, holding her breath and listening intently. There was nothing to hear and so she crept forward through the darkness. The coppery smell grew stronger and then Carol gave a gasp as she stepped in something thick and slippery in front of David's cell. She only had a moment to catch a fleeting impression of puddles of crimson splashed around the tiny space before her feet shot out from beneath her and she fell hard against the stained cement.

Her hands were covered in the warm sticky residue, and she could feel it soaking through her khakis as she used the bars to pull herself up again. She hardly noticed though, as she stared with shocked disbelief at the gruesome trails of blood that led from both the cells and down the hallway, the macabre streaks of red disappearing around the corner.

Her heart thundering against her ribs, Carol drew her knife and stared at the blood, trying to imagine what could have possibly transpired in the shadowy depths of the isolation unit. If she was smart, she'd go for reinforcements – it was beyond foolish to investigate on her own. But what if by some miracle, Karen and David were still alive, and she cost them their lives by hesitating? They'd lost too many people already...

In the end, she felt she had no choice but to follow. The bloody smears disappeared beneath the door to one of the fenced-in areas where she assumed convicts had been allowed a few moments sunshine during their incarceration. When Carol shoved the heavy door open, a flash of heat hit her and she stumbled back into the doorway, gasoline fumes stinging her eyes and rendering her temporarily blind. Billowing smoke that stunk of scorched flesh and singed hair burned her lungs and almost brought her to her knees as she tried to blink away the tears enough to see.

A youthful gasp of shock greeting her arrival. "Carol! Ma'am...!"

Carol swiped at her eyes with her wrist and was finally able to make out the wavering images of Lizzie and Carl. Lizzie was splattered with blood from head to toe, and Carl stood staring at her dumbfounded, clutching a gas can in his hand. On the ground at their feet, two bodies were engulfed in flames, their clothes curling into darkened edges as the fire consumed the combustible materials first.

"Oh my God! What have you done?!" she rasped in horror, throwing the door all the way open and pushing both kids away from the smoldering corpses.

Carl gave Lizzie a hostile sideways glance before meeting Carol's eyes. There was remorse on his face but a fierce determination, too. "Did what had to be done. Better for them this way – they were suffering. Better for the rest of us, too, that they're not around to kill anyone else."

"We had to," Lizzie added insistently. "You said I'd have to act fast every time we're threatened because it's life and death! Ma'am, you SAID!"

Carol closed her eyes and clutched her stomach, fighting back nausea as her own words were thrown back at her. "I meant the walkers, Lizzie...not this. Never this. They weren't dangerous; they were just sick. This was murder..."

Carl's expression darkened and he took a step towards her. "It was too late for them already," he snarled, giving Lizzie what looked like another warning look.

"You told the kids that we had to trust our guts," Lizzie said quietly, reaching out to take Carol's hand. "Please don't be mad at us. I knew in my heart..."

"Shut up, Lizzie!" Carl snarled. "Just shut the hell up!"

Carol tugged her fingers from Lizzie's grasp and stumbled away from them, pressing her forehead to the cold cement block wall and fighting back her tears. She had only herself to blame for what had just happened; she'd been so focused on teaching the children at the prison what they needed to survive that she'd failed to think through to what the end result might be.

"You need to go. Both of you, just leave," she coughed, shaking her head in disbelief. If Rick knew what had happened, that both Carl and Lizzie had conspired to murder two of their own, he'd lose whatever shred of sanity he had left.

"Are you gonna tell?" Carl asked softly, and for the first time sounded like the youngster that he truly was. "My dad, I mean..."

"I'll take care of it, but you need to go now. I'll figure something out." Carol waited, hearing Carl drop the empty gas can to the ground and then listening until the door to the tombs closed behind them again. Only then did she turn around and forced herself to see what was left of Karen and David, knowing that what Carl and Lizzie had done had the potential to tear their group to pieces...

"There's no way you coulda known what they'd do," Daryl said, his breath warm on her neck. He hugged her closer as the memories of that day chilled Carol to her very bones. "It's the world that's fucked up, babe – you told me that yourself. None of us would have seen that comin'."

"I'm the one who trained them, though," she replied, her stomach in knots as heavy guilt settled in once more. "I was so determined to make sure none of the children would be as helpless as Sophia was when she ran away...but people still died. People who deserved a chance. They might have made it, they could have held on until you and the others got back from the vet college..."

"Or they mighta been dead from the virus by the time we returned. They mighta got free, attacked one of the kids...attacked you when you went to look in on 'em. Or they coulda spread that virus to even more, and then all the drugs in the world wouldn't have made a damned difference. I ain't sayin' that what Carl and Lizzie did was right, but you beatin' yerself up over somethin' that was beyond yer control don't make sense either."

Carol was grateful that Daryl was so quick to absolve her of responsibility, even if she wasn't ready to grant it to herself. "All that to say, though," she went on, "is that I'm not sure what we say to the others if we find them. Let them go on believing it was me, if they want. It's enough for me that you know the truth."

Daryl remained quiet for a few seconds, his fingers grazing her skin as he traced faint circles on her bare midriff. "I know you wanna go back to the prison to check on what happened with the kids...but whatever we find there, however that all turns out...I think afterwards, we should stay put for a while."

She turned over and propped herself up on her elbow. "What do you mean? You don't want to know what's happened to everyone else?" she asked, brushing his hair back from his eyes so she could better read his expression.

He stared back up at her and then gave a shy shrug. "Ain't that I don't care, but none of them has come lookin' for us, have they? I got you, Carol. That's all I want. Why risk everythin' searchin' for the rest when we already have each other?"

Carol had always assumed that eventually, everyone who had fled the prison would reunite and whoever had survived the attack would work together to find a new, safe haven from the ravages of the world. Daryl more than anyone had come to love the security and affection of being part of a large family, people with whom he felt he finally belonged. That he was willing to sacrifice that for her made her love him all that much more. "Do you really want that? Or are you afraid of how some of them might react when they see me again?" she challenged gently.

"That might be part of it," he admitted, caressing the curve of her hip, "but even before the stuff with Karen and David happened, the group...it didn't feel like it was workin' anymore. Seein' how Rick went to pieces when the Governor attacked, watchin' everyone scatter and not hardly thinkin' of each other as they ran..." Daryl shook his head. "Whatever we used to have, all of us together, just ain't there no more. I think we could be happy, you an' me on our own. I'll keep you safe, Carol. I swear it."

Her heart turned over in her chest at his earnest promise. "We'll look out for one another, Pookie. And after this last trip to the prison, we'll let the past stay where it belongs and then make a life for ourselves."

Although he gave her a smile in response, the prospect of a final visit to the prison left haunting shadows in his eyes. "If it's gotta be done, let me go by m'self," he pleaded quietly. "You tell me where to check and I'll do it. If there's any sign that the kids made it out of the prison, you know I'll be the one to find it. I don't want you there, not even for a minute."

Carol tipped her forehead against Daryl's, sighing unhappily. Given his shaky condition, it was her that should go on alone, but she knew exactly how quickly the conversation would go downhill if she even hinted that he might not yet be physically capable of protecting either of them. "If I asked the same thing of you, what would your answer be?"

He huffed. "Somethin' along the lines of 'Fuck that shit,' probably."

She leaned in and brushed her lips across his, giving him a kiss that she hoped he'd feel all the way to his heart. "We'll live or we'll die – that's the reality we'll continue to face every day," she murmured against his mouth. "But whatever happens, we're going to be together. I won't be left behind again, do you understand me?"

He kissed her back softly and his hand slipped around to clutch her ass, pressing her against all his wonderfully firm muscle. "If I lose you now..." he rasped, his eyes flickering open to meet hers.

She pressed her fingertips to his lips. "Fuck that shit," she teased with a mischievous smile. "You're not getting rid of me that easily, Dixon."

His tongue darted out and skimmed the skin between her fingers, sending a surprisingly erotic jolt through her body. She trembled slightly and he must have felt it, because his pupils grew larger and he gazed back at her in hopeful anticipation. "Would it...is it too soon to...Carol, I really want to be with you again..."

"I really want that, too," she breathed happily, tenderness flooding her soul. That he was still so uncertain about it all made the moment that much more touching.

He closed his eyes and pressed his lips to her palm. "God, I love you..." he whispered, his stubble tickling the inside of her hand even as the heat of the kiss spread through her veins like warm honey.

Carol brushed his lower lip with her thumb and he licked her again, sending tingles up the length of her arm. She shivered and smiled. "I love you, too," she said, gently tugging her hand from his so she could press it against his heart. "Always."

He shifted his hips and then she could feel him getting harder, his cock kicking against her navel as his excitement grew. She leaned in, kissing the hollow of his throat before she flicked at his stiff nipples with her tongue. He hissed through his teeth and he arched his back, his fingers threading through her hair as he forced himself further past her lips.

She wriggled further down and forsaking his nipples, licked her way along the centre of his chest, blowing on the damp trail she left behind and sending minute tremors across his hot skin. Reaching his waist, she caught the musky scent of their earlier love-making and whipped the sheets off of his hips, gasping in appreciation as she exposed him completely.

While she'd had the chance to feel for herself all that Daryl had to offer, she had been too lost in the moment to properly appreciate how incredibly sexy he was, laid out on the mattress like an offering. He was beautiful in his arousal, all the way up his long, thick shaft to his purplish, engorged glans. As she stared at him, a clear pearl of fluid welled from the tiny slit and she took his satiny-smooth member in hand, opening her mouth and spreading her lips over his pulsing head. When she spirited the droplet away with the tip of her tongue and sucked him even further in, his hips bucked and he groaned deeply. An answering rush of warmth surged from her body and coated her inner thighs, so strongly did her body answer to the call of his.

"You don't gotta do that..." he protested weakly, his fingers trembling where he grasped her shoulder.

Carol straddled his knees and lifted her head slightly, lapping at him slowly and coaxing more pre-cum from his pulsing tip. "I want to do this," she assured him, exhaling over his rigid flesh and smiling wickedly as she drew another low moan from his throat. "I love the way you taste...the taste of us together."

"Fuuuuck..." he growled, his thighs twitching with restraint as she started to stroke him, relaxing her jaw and taking more of him in with each helpless thrust of his hips. She explored leisurely, tracing a slow path around the flared ridge of skin, swirling and teasing until he squirmed in frustrated pleasure beneath her.

When she hummed, he jerked beneath her and grew even harder, crying out as she teased the little flap of skin on the underside of his shaft. With her free hand she caressed his balls, running her finger lightly over the thin seam between them and weighing them gently in the palm of her hand. Daryl whimpered and writhed on the sheets, gently kneading her hair in one fist while he clung desperately to the mattress with the other.

The further he lost himself to his passion, the more turned on Carol got, and the throbbing between her legs grew every bit as insistent as the throbbing of the straining length against her tongue. She debated for a moment whether or not to take what she was doing to its logical conclusion, but the thought of having Daryl buried deep within her when he was so achingly, amazingly aroused was simply too tempting to resist.

She let him slip from the sweltering confines of her mouth, kissing his glossy head softly before she rose up on her knees and positioned herself above him. His breathing was harsh as he watched her, his lids at half-mast in sleepy fascination as he slid his hands up the length of her thighs. Grasping him firmly in hand, Carol began to lower herself, sucking in a sharp breath as she caught him snugly in the slick grip of her pussy.

As slowly as her shaky self-control allowed, Carol sank down on him, revelling in the delicious, stretching stroke of his cock against the clenching walls of her sheath. The pleasure was so intense that she was left feeling dizzy, and she leaned forward to clutch his wide shoulders to steady herself. They both moaned as he finally filled her completely and she fought to draw in enough breath to continue.

"So good," she panted, trying to give her body time to adjust to his enormous incursion. "My God, Daryl...you feel so good..."

She began to move, slow on the upstroke and then down more forcefully, purring with pleasure as she took him as far into her body as she was able. She was so sensitive inside that she could discern every ridge on his thick shaft, could feel as the broad head of his cock spread her wide from within and tested her very limits. The crisp hairs on his legs rubbed against the back of her thighs as he began to twist and thrust in response, and he plucked at her nipples as her breasts swayed above him.

"Touch me," she prompted, swivelling her hips and shifting her position so he was riding a little higher on her. "Like I showed you...between my legs..."

Daryl unerringly felt his way to the intended mark, the rough callus on his thumb providing just the right combination of pressure and friction on Carol's throbbing clit to make her pulse race. She tossed her head back and practically sobbed as she set a feverish pace, taking him as fast and hard as she could while she chased her release.

"Carol...babe...I can't...I can't stop it..." he ground out apologetically, biting at his lip even as he suddenly thrust upward so strongly that he nearly sent her flying off the bed.

"Right now...yes, oh God..." she pleaded breathlessly, the slap of their flesh so loud that it almost echoed off the walls around them. He pounded into her with in a nearly wild flurry and she clung to him desperately, the familiar tension curling slowly but surely in her core. She flung her head back as her orgasm swept through her, blinding light flashing behind her eyelids and her body spasming uncontrollably around him until he came, his shout of ecstasy almost deafening in the small room. She milked his seed from him until he couldn't take it anymore and basically lifted her straight up off his hips, pulling her flush against him as they both shuddered from the intensity of the experience.

Her body was still vibrating pleasantly when Daryl suddenly hugged her so tight that he nearly squeezed what little breath she had left from her lungs. Lifting her head from his chest, she cupped his sweat-kissed face in her hand and looked at him quizzically. "Daryl, what's wrong?"

"I want you to know," he said, his expression one of firm resolve, "that I'll do anythin' to keep you from gettin' hurt again. Don't care who it is. If I hafta, I'll die for you."

She kissed him then, almost tasting the sadness on his lips. One more day, she decided then. They both needed one more day together, not just so he could recover more fully but so she could be sure they were ready to face whatever might await them at the prison. "I'd die for you, too...but I'd much rather we choose to live for one another. I've waited far too long to call you mine, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let anyone take that away from us. Trust me, okay?"

"Okay," he replied, but she could tell from the tightness of his embrace that he was afraid to take her at her word.