This is the last chapter of this story. I am sorry it took so long to finish, please let me know what you think xxxxxkrissy

Travis arrived and got out of his car in a hurry, the shop wasn't too far from Carol's house and Sophia's text had a panic sound to it. He told Merle he would be back as soon as he could and Merle was already laughing when he left. Sophia sometimes over reacted, that was true, but she was still getting used to her mother dating Travis's father.

Travis was thrilled, she had brought his father back to him, back to life.

But Sophia was in a panic now. God only knew what was going on now.

She had simply said get over here and he didn't know what he was going to face.

Travis had an idea of who was involved in this situation and it was confirmed as soon as he got there. He felt like the father, chasing the teenage son, not the other way around, as it usually was.

The first thing he noticed was his father's bike in the alley, then Sophia, Carl and Judith who were still glued to the window and he figured that was trouble.

The truth was his father hadn't come home the night before and he kind of had a clue about how this was going down, but clearly Sophia didn't.

Travis came up behind Sophia and now he saw what the big deal was. His father and Carol were dancing slow now to 'Love Hurts' by Incubus in her living room. That was her music, not his and Travis was astounded. His father didn't even know who Incubus was, to his knowledge and he smiled at that. He knew that his mother would be happy about this, wherever she was. Carol was a good person and she made him happy.

Love hurts, but sometimes it's a good hurt and it feels like I'm alive, Love sings, when it transcends the bad things. Have a heart and try me, because without love I won't survive.

"Do you believe this Trav?" Sophia said.

He did a double take because he had never seen his father dance that way with anyone before. It was slow and sweet, the way he danced with Sophia at the dance. They were holding each other so close and whispering to each other, Sophia turned to him and just shook her head.

"I think they're…"

"Yeah." Travis touched her arm and nodded. "He didn't come home last night."

"What are we going to do with these two." Sophia said as she started to stand and she lost her footing and crashed into a bush next to the window. It was not quiet and the other three tried to duck, but they had been made.

"Heads up." Travis said as they watched Daryl and Carol turn towards the window. They had been made for sure, and it was too late to run.

To their utter shock Carol and Daryl both started laughing and walking towards the window. They laughed even harder when they saw Sophia laying in the bush. Carol's laugh was music to Daryl's ears and he intended to listen to it for many years to come.

"She takes after you, I think." Daryl said nudging Carol and she smiled at him. "Very graceful, she is."

Five minutes later they were all standing in the front yard, and Travis was brushing mulch and leaves off of Sophia's back and it was going all over the place. It was two days before Christmas and that Monday they were all leaving on the ski trip. Carol and Daryl would be responsible for not just Sophia and Travis, but Carl and Judith were going along as well.

There were a few other parents going as well and a lot more kids. Lori would come for a few nights, but she had just found out she was pregnant again and wasn't feeling so well. It would be alright though because finally, Daryl and Carol were on the same page.

And they were in the same book now too.

Carol and Daryl had made peace with each other in a grand way and he had remarked that maybe they were acting like teenagers instead of the teenagers they were going to chaperone. He was well aware that they might always bicker, and maybe even fight, but that was kind of fun.

He had admitted that to her somewhere between that first frenzy of lovemaking and when he woke her up in the middle of the night for more.

That had made her laugh, her merry laugh that made his heart gallop across his chest and that was when he realized he adored her. Whatever he had against her was totally unfounded and he apologized to her more than once in the last month or so that they had been seeing each other.

She forgave him easily, she understood that he had been in pain and not channeling it the right way. Then she whispered to him that fighting with him made her blood coarse through her veins like a freight train that was going off the rails.

Off the rails was a good way to describe it and he agreed. This relationship was not going to be boring, not in the sack or in the kitchen. No matter where they were there would be fireworks, of that neither of them had a doubt.

Merle had apologized to her too, on a night a few weeks earlier when he and Daryl too her and Andrea to the movies. It was all falling into place, after being out of place for so long.

"You ok there Sophia?" Daryl asked and she turned to him.

"Are you gonna teach me to snow board or what?"

The end.