"No way! No!" Daryl snapped. "Hell, no!"

Carol gestured for him to keep his voice down, glancing over to the booth where Noah was crashed out on the vinyl seat, but he was oblivious to the world. Indicating the far side of the diner with a jerk of her head, she led them away from the sleeping young man. When she turned to face him, Daryl knew he was in for a fight. "You know it's the only way," she insisted.

The night before, the two of them had scrambled to follow the car with the white cross – the car that could lead them to Beth. He'd driven recklessly over the broken roads, desperate not to lose them. They'd stayed with the car all the way back into Atlanta, until it disappeared into a staff parking lot at Grady Memorial Hospital.

At first light, they scouted around, discovering the fences and armed guards. Getting in unseen would be next to impossible, and there was no way in hell they'd approach these people openly, whoever they were. They didn't even know for sure if Beth was inside. So they settled in on the roof of a nearby parking structure to watch and try to figure out what the hell to do next. After discussing and dismissing a dozen possibilities, they decided to fetch Rick and the others for reinforcements, but as they were leaving, the crack of gunfire echoed through the eerie silence of the city streets.

Beth and a young man were making a break for the fences, fighting their way through the walkers attracted by the gunshots. The boy limped heavily, but Beth covered his escape through a gap in the chain link. Before she could follow him out, men in police uniforms came. They tackled her to the pavement and dragged her back inside in restraints, confirming their fears about the kind of people they were dealing with.

Carol and Daryl rushed to the street and caught up to the young man who was cornered in an alley behind some dumpsters. After killing the walkers pinning him in, they took Noah and ran, holing up in a diner a few blocks away from the hospital. The uniforms must have assumed he wouldn't make it far with his injury, because no one came looking.

Noah told them everything he could about the hospital and the people who controlled it, and afterward Daryl was even more certain they needed to go back for the group. But Carol got that look on her face and laid out her own plan – she would let herself be taken and bring Beth out from the inside.

"Like hell it's the only way! If we go back for the others, we can fight our way in." Daryl kept his voice lowered, but fear gave his words a razor edge.

"We can't, and you know it. They have the advantage in numbers, training, and firepower. They know the building. We don't."

He pushed himself away from the counter he'd been leaning on and paced restlessly across the black and white linoleum. "Then I'll go."

She shook her head and crossed her arms. "Won't work. If they took you in, they'd be too cautious – maybe keep you under guard." She pierced him with her sharp eyes. "They won't expect trouble from me."

His furious pacing didn't seem to be enough to burn off his frustration. He growled through gritted teeth, resisting the inevitable. "Then we'll both go!"

"You can't go with me. Assuming they didn't just kill you straight out, they'd be even more careful with two of us. I'll go in, and you can take Noah to Rick and bring back help."

Lashing out, he smacked a stack of plastic menus, sending them spilling across the counter and onto the floor. "We can't split up again! I won't!"

"Daryl, it'll be okay," she soothed, reaching for his shoulder to try and still his pacing, but he shook her off.

"I just got you back! I can't lose you again!" All the pain and rage and fear he'd been swallowing up since the day the prison fell cracked loose in his chest. He'd never felt so powerless in his life than over these past few days. All the terrible things that had happened and that were happening now... If he could just do something. Snarling and clenching his fists until his knuckles ached, he fought against the onslaught of feelings, trying to get it all back under control. This was not the time for a fucking meltdown.

Then a pair of cool hands came to rest on his cheeks. He forced his lids open to find her there looking back at him with so many things shining there in the clear blue of her eyes – fear and pain, but strength and determination, too.

And other things. Things he knew she'd be able to see mirrored in his own eyes beneath his fear of losing her. Things they didn't say. They didn't need to.

Still, it stunned him when she leaned up and pressed her lips to his. In his shock, he was slow to respond, but she didn't pull away. Finally, it registered what she was doing – that she was kissing him.

Jerking back, he blinked down at her, disoriented by the powerful new surge of feelings she'd added to the storm already raging inside him. In that moment of confusion, everything in his already chaotic life turned upside down, and he was lost.

Meeting his panicked eyes, she repeated, "It'll be okay."

And somehow he believed her.

She brushed her fingers over his cheeks, calming the storm. It would be okay. Carol was strong and smart and downright dangerous when it came to protecting the people she loved. She would go into that hospital and bring Beth home no matter what. And he would be there and ready to help her if she needed it.

Slowly, he lifted a hand to smooth the hair at her ear. Leaning forward with a certainty he'd never felt before, he returned her kiss, putting all those unsaid things behind it. Her fingers twisted into the shirt at his chest, and he knew she felt the same. When he eased back, he nodded slightly, accepting her terrible fucking plan. "You just better come outta there in one piece, or I'm tearin' it down brick by brick to find you."

Her lips twitched in a suppressed smile. "I will. I promise."