AN: hey, so this is an idea that came to me from a review that I got asking for a bdsm AU story. (You know who you are ;) anyway few things.

1. Bdsm is not my forte (I described my bdsm skills to Serpentinefire and HaloHunter today as "light Vanilla bdsm with feels.") if you're looking for hardcore bdsm I'm not you're gal.

2. This will be smutty, very smutty, I hope. Only between Carol and Daryl. No other character will come back into play romantically. PWP basically.

3. Everything between Daryl and Carol will be very obviously consensual.

4. First chapter has triggers for emotional abuse, a hostage situation, murder, and clausterphobia.

5. I'm not killing Carol or Daryl, first chapter is set up.

6. No anons please. Just pm me.

7. This will be more season 6 Daryl while Carol will be season 1-2 character wise. (She'll get stronger ...promise)

Alright, if that didn't scare you off, let me know what you think? I can't know if you're liking this unless you tell me :)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 1

God damn Merle.

Daryl stood in line at the bank his bones aching from getting off shift. A shift from hell. A murder victim they hadn't been able to save a multiple car pile up. The bank was ready to close, ten minutes or so left till closing time and here he was in line waiting when he should have been at home, taking hot shower and getting his ass to bed.

He had special permission to access Merle's account while he was in jail, but it had to be at a teller and he had to show identification.

He'd just come off of a 12 hour shift, the last thing he wanted was to have to come and get money so Merle could buy a new fucking bike from jail. Why the fuck did Merle need a new bike now? He wasn't due to get out of jail for another five months. Stupid thing would just sit in his garage for five months, but Merle had to have this bike. He didn't even want to know where the money in Merle's account came from. He was pretty sure it wasn't legal, whatever it was.

There was one teller on, and she looked tired. He didn't blame her. He felt like shit coming in at the last minute. He knew that meant she would probably have to work late.

She was pretty, he noticed off hand. Looked to be in her late twenties same as him. A mass of dark red curls framing her face. Her face was strained as she dealt with the customer at her window that was giving her grief. There was four people ahead of him, the three guys in front of him looked bored. Almost too bored.

"Is there a problem Carol?"

Daryl watched a short balding man walked to her window to deal with the customer who seemed agitated.

"You're damn right there's a problem." The asshole she was dealing with growled suddenly pulling out a gun and pointing it at the little man's head.

Fuck fuck fuck fuck fucking Merle.

Daryl watched as suddenly the three guys in line in front of him whipped out hidden guns.

Fuck, in his time as a paramedic, and before that the marines. Daryl had learned how to get a read on bad situations, and this was as bad as it got. These guys were not messing around. They meant business.

Daryl shot his hands up into the air and caught the eye of the cute red head, to do the same. Their eyes connected for a moment. She was scared, he could see it in her eyes, but she wasn't panicking.

The manager was a different story. He started yelling at the robbers, loudly. His face blustering and red, he made a dash for the countertop. Grabbing at something under the counter.

It was probably a panic button. Most hospitals had them. They had something similar in the bus (ambulance), anywhere people were prone to loose their shit.

It happened quickly. The dude at the counter, fired off a shot as the manager made the dash. Struck him square in the head as the cute redheaded shrieked. The blood splattered across her face.

Daryl dropped to the ground, hands behind his head as he heard two guards run in.

They never stood a chance. The men in front of him gunned them down.

His breathing laboured he tried to calm himself as he heard the redhead whimper.

"Shit!" The lead guy asked the redhead. "Did he press it?"

Daryl looked up and felt his gut clench. They had the gun to her neck.

"Yes...yes...he did." She whispered.

"Fuckkkkkk!" The lead guy yelled, banging the garbage can in front of him. "Fuckk! You idiots!"

He turned to the men behind him. "We don't have much time. Lock them up. Get this place secured. We need to get what we came for."

Xxxxxxxxx

Carol was in a daze, the panic threatening to bubble up. The sexy customer she'd been admiring before all this crap went down, had just had his hands zip tied and was shoved into a closet, they were zip tying her hands as well behind her back. She was trying not to let her panic overwhelm her. She was trying to stay strong, but as they shoved her in the maintenance closet locking the door, she felt herself come undone. Her breath started coming in stumbling gasps. She couldn't help but hyperventilate. She all but forgot the sexy stranger was there until she heard his voice.

"Hey hey... Just breathe ...sweetheart ok? Ya alright? Nice deep breathes." He murmured in the darkness.

"I can't ...I can't.." Carol gasped cursing herself for being weak. She was exactly everything Ed said she was, and more. Weak, she was pathetic.

"Hey you gotta stay with me sweetheart. Come on.. Breathe ok? What's your name?" He whispered. He was directly behind her, whispering into her ear. She realized suddenly he was probably trying not to draw the attention of the robbers.

"Ca..Carol .." She whispered back, trying to calm her voice. "I can't...small spaces...sorry...sorry."

"Carol.. That's pretty. Don't have to apologize. It's ok. Calm your breathing alright? Take a deep breathe, in through your nose out through your mouth. Come on." He was breathing with her in her ear, softly. He moved his body so her chest could feel his breath moving in and out of his body. They stood like that for a long time. She was trying to sync her breaths with his.

"You're doing great sweetheart." He whispered.

Sweetheart.

No one ever called her by any endearments. She'd grown up in an orphanage after her parents had passed away. The closest Ed had ever come to endearments was bitch.

She stomped down memories of Ed. That nightmare of a relationship was over. She was ashamed she had stayed so long. Ed's mental abuse and manipulation she saw now had left scars on her soul that needed to heal. When he'd hit her, she'd been gone. No matter how much he'd begged.

This job had been a chance to start over, in a new town, new state. Life was determined to kick her in the pants. Suddenly she was filled with guilt.

"Oh my god Mr. Barnes, Steve and James." She whispered on a sob.

"Your boss, the guards?" He asked in the darkness.

She nodded. He put his head down on her shoulder for a minute.

"Well, they just might have saved our lives. Those guys weren't wearing masks. They weren't leaving anyone alive. Thanks to them we have a chance." He murmured into her ear. "You'll have a chance to be sad for them later. We gotta keep our heads together. Ok sweetheart?"

She nodded again. "What's your name?" She asked. She'd gotten a good look at him before the robbery had gone down. She was relatively new to the branch, but he definetly wasn't a regular.

"Daryl."

A giggle escaped her. This happened sometimes as a residual effect of a panic attack. "Our names rhyme..." She giggled again cursing herself for not being able to control it. "That will be funny when they announced our deaths on the news."

He snorted, "Staahhhp. We ain't dying today. Ok?"

"Ok...how are you so calm?" She leaned her head back against his chest. The warmth emanating from him was comforting. She wasn't to proud to admit she needed that now.

"I'm not, but I've been in bad situations before. I'm a paramedic, before that marines. I was in Afghanistan." His voice was warm and deep. She found herself concentrating on his voice. "You're breathing better." He murmured to her. She wanted to lean into his warmth. Everything about him was warm. She tried to focus on that. If her hands weren't tied she probably would be clinging to him with all she had.

There was yelling muffled from a distance. Flashing lights seemed to be bouncing off the frosted glass of the closet window.

"Oh god." She whispered again as she heard what sounded like gunshots.

"It's okay...just breathe. Assholes forgot to check my pockets I have a pocket knife. I'm almost free." He whispered. "Tell me about yourself. Ya got a ? Waiting on ya?" He whispered. She could hear him grunt softly as he worked at his bonds.

"No..., I'm new to the city. No family. All I got is an asshole ex who ..." She paused biting her lip.

"Who what?" He growled.

"Who hit me, so I finally decided to leave." She said softly.

"Did you kick him in the nuts?"

"What?"

"Did you kick him in the nuts? Hope so... asshole." He whispered as he grunted obviously working on his bonds.

"No, I was scared... A coward. I believed all his crap, he played with my head. I was ugly, useless, no one else would want me. I wasn't strong enough to leave." Carol sighed her eyes filling with tears.

"You ain't a coward." He stopped grunting and wiggling and she felt his hot breath right on her neck. He sounded forceful, angry. Suddenly his lips pressed a kiss to the side of her neck.

"Sorry" he whispered.

She turned to face him, she could see his eyes intense and on her in the dark.

"Don't be"

A shout broke the spell, there was a loud explosion, and the closet started rapidly filling with smoke.

"Fuck!"

He started wriggling more rapidly as loud explosions, started coming quickly.

"Swat must be coming in." He huffed as gunfire erupted and loud yelling. Suddenly the yelling was right in the hallway in front of them.

"Shit,"he muttered, as suddenly he was free. The gunfire was non stop now. Getting closer.

He grabbed her and hauled her to the ground as shots struck the door.

They fell to the floor on a bang. She lost her breath as his massive weight fell on top of her. Shots were being fired above their heads.

He was shielding her head and torso with his body.

Suddenly it was quiet. She could hear yelling behind the door of men calling clear. Daryl wasn't moving.

"Daryl..?" She said with a slight whimper nudging him to his side. Screaming for help Once she saw the rapidly expanding blood stain expanding across his chest.