The next day Daryl woke up and Carol was next to him. That was a good way to start the day, she hadn't been around much lately and he couldn't remember the last time they spent an entire night together.

She was laying on her stomach reading a book. He looked over towards her and he looked at the cover. It was 'Lord of the Rings' which he had read already. He actually was the one who told her to read it. He rolled over and peered over her shoulder to see what part she was at. She was half way done already. That was impressive, but then again he barely saw her recently.

"What? I've been doing a lot of reading." She said taking her glasses off and putting them on the night table.

"That what you were doing when you weren't calling me?" He asked half kidding and half not. He liked when she called him and he had missed her.

She nodded. "I just felt…"

He didn't mean to start this conversation and he didn't want to push her. He respected that she needed space and truthfully, he was happy she had spent the three weeks home reading and not looking for someone else.

Part of him had thought it was going to be over and that made something deep inside of him ache.

That was the problem with undefined relationships. You never knew where you stood. It was exciting and scary all at the same time.

"It's ok Carol. I get it."

She had just left a douche bag and she wanted to be alone and free, he got that. He just hoped he wasn't getting sent down to the minors, because he wasn't done with her yet.

"Glad you're back though?" He said smiling and leaning down to her.

He was just about to kiss her but he didn't get a chance to because his phone rang. He reached over and grabbed the phone before it woke Maggie up.

Merle's voice bellowed through the phone. "Where the fuck did you go in the middle of the night?"

"I'm with Carol."

"You take off in the middle of the night to go fuck your girlfriend." Merle said and it was so loud Carol heard him. "You asshole."

She giggled against Daryl's arm and he put his arm around her.

"Last time I checked I'm over twenty one."

"Coulda left a note is all I'm sayin." Merle grumbled into the phone.

"Fine, next time I will."

"Oh, next time, what you moving in there?" Merle said.

"Fuck off Merle." He said and hung up the phone. Then he rolled back over to her so that he was on top of her and between her legs,

"Where were we?" He said leaning down to kiss her softly.

"Well, you were saying some smack about me reading. What did you think I was doing?" She asked.

"I didn't know, but I know it wasn't my business what you were doing."

"I just needed to think things over." She said. "I felt like a jerk, truthfully."

He rolled off of her and sat his head up on his hand.

"Why." He asked. "Because of us?"

She shrugged. "I was cheating and I was worried about what you thought about me all of the sudden and I was afraid you were falling in love with me."

"Shit that's a lot of shit to have on your mind." He laid back on the pillow. "No wonder you bolted, I don't even blame you. Do you want me to be in love with you?"

She hesitated for a few minutes and then blew a puff of air out, this was what she had been thinking about. When Merle brought it up, it made her think. She couldn't stop thinking about it.

She started coming to him for sex and all of the sudden she was worried about what he thought about her cheating, with him. That wasn't part of the plan and then Ed hurt her and she knew she had to leave him.

Somewhere along the line, she started to depend on Daryl and feel differently.

She might as well tell him.

They had some of the most important conversations with each other in bed. That was how this whole thing started. It was only fitting, she supposed, always returning to the scene of the crime.

She reached over and took his hand and squeezed.

"Are you?" She asked.

"Carol, I've never been in love before, I don't even know what it is. I spent my whole life up until now not getting involved with anyone."

But he wanted that now, he wanted everything with her and he supposed that was what love was. It felt good and bad all at the same time. That's what people always said love was, terrifying.

"Ok, I understand." She let go of his hand. She knew what love was, she had been in love before. She loved Ed in the beginning, she had loved others too. She knew what it was, what it felt like.

It was stupid of her to think she could give her body to someone and not love them. Maybe the first time when they were drunk, but after that, it was more. Even if she didn't like it or would admit to herself.

"No, ya don't, I couldn't stand it last night, I couldn't sleep and I had to see you." He said and he took her hand back, this time intertwining their fingers. "It's all new, I want to take care of you and protect you. I never gave two shits about anyone before, except maybe Merle and that was on a good day."

She looked over at him, their faces so close together that they were sharing breath practically. He was rubbing his thumb over her hand on top of the sheets they were under.

"Then you showed up with those bruises and I got to tell you, I saw red. I wanted to kill him for hurting you and then you were distant and I missed you."

"I got spooked." She said.

"Still spooked?" He asked and she nodded. "Good me too. Means we're on the same page."

"So what do we do?"

"For starters?" He rolled back over on top of her and ground his hips into her. "I'm going to show you how much I missed you, then I'm taking you out for pancakes."

The end

A/N: I had no idea this was going to end right here. It feels like it's done. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Thank you again and special thanks to Magenta's Nightmare for always beta reading my nonsense. I love you!