Author's Notes: Thank you for your reviews, I try to respond to everyone, so please log in so I can do so! One more chapter to come and we wrap this baby up!

She moved back into the sick bay and by the fifth night spent in the cell alone, Daryl was completely certain he'd fucked up so bad, it would never be fixed. He wasn't used to Carol not fixing things. She always solved everything. Forgave every mistake, soothed every pain, talked away any worry.

She completely avoided him. Almost like he wasn't even there.

He need the time apart from her too. Needed to wrap his head around what had gone on. The sickness, the deaths. What he did. He should never have jumped on her like that. Not when she was tired and sad. Not when he was such a mess. He needed to apologize.

But she wouldn't give him a chance.

He'd come back from a long morning's hunt, covered in sweat, dirt and blood, three days after they'd last spoke. Took the steps three at a time up to their cell and stopped with a jolt at the doorway when he realised things had been disturbed.

The bed was made, all the corners tucked in. He'd not bothered before, didn't see the point. The clothes he'd dumped on the concrete floor the day before were folded and hanging off the back of the top bunk and more importantly, some of Carol's stuff was missing.

Clothes, mostly. Her blue shirt, the one that had been on the wall hook, that was gone. She'd had lotion on the bedside table that was missing, as well as the book he'd seen her reading before the sickness really got going.

That made him angry. Angry that she running away from him, without giving him a chance. That she was feigning a busy workload to avoid him, yet still had herself time to finish up a book.

Most of all, he was angry that it was all so fucked up. So completely fucked up and that was down to him. Just him. He comforted himself with kicking the bed frame, letting it clatter against the wall noisily and sending the children who had been playing down the walkway scattering.

By that fifth day, he was practically spitting at anyone who dared glance at him. She'd kept going back into the cell when he was away, tidying up, taking things away and putting them back.

He caught her, the last time, her pace almost a run as she darted back into the sick bay, Caleb locking the door behind her as she slipped into the block's depths and out of sight.

"Lemme in, Dr.S." Daryl got right up to the glass and if it hadn't be separating them, he would've definitely been right in the other man's face.

Caleb had the grace to look sorry as he pulled the key from the lock and Daryl's cheeks burned at the thought of the other man knowing what was going on between him and Carol.

"I can't risk you getting sick, Daryl. There's still a chance-"

"Bullshit. I know that Maggie was in here this morning. Ain't worried about her gettin' sick, are ya?" He exhaled, the glass fogging between them. "I just wanna speak to Carol, for five minutes. Send her out."

"She asked not to be disturbed." The doctor back away, ready to turn his back completely, but he jumped when Daryl thumped the glass with a heavy fist.

He wanted to rage at the other man, smash the glass and scream, but he took a deep breath, moved away from the door. Caleb looked at him hesitantly but Daryl just turned away, took a moment to breath in some more before moving towards the exit.

The keys jangled behind him and a split second later, the door creaked open. When he turned around, it wasn't the doctor in the doorway, but her.

Carol backed herself up against the door, her hands behind her, gripping the door knob.

"I need some time to work and I am tired. I'll come find you later." There was no preamble in her words, a well rehearsed line, Daryl suspected. She struggled to meet his eyes.

"That mean maybe I'll see you in another five days or somethin'? You ain't gonna give me five minutes of ya damn time?" Daryl spat bitterly, stepping back from her.

Carol's face pulled together, grimacing at him. "People are sick, Daryl. We've all-"

He didn't let her finish, turning his back on walking away. And Carol exploded.

"I can't keep doing this, Daryl! You can't keep walking away from me when it gets hard."

Daryl stopped, listened to her sigh but couldn't turn around. "What's the point? What's the point in waitin' on someone who ain't even gonna give me five minutes?"

"Five minutes?" Carol started forward, grabbing him by the shoulder for him to face her. "Five minutes? I give you every damn one of my minutes, Daryl. There's not a moment that goes by that I don't think about you, what you think and how you feel." She let go of him like he'd burnt her and tossed her head and he could see them glistening, even in the poor light. "And for you to dare tell me that I am the shitty one, for wanting some time to myself, to figure out how we can make this fucking work, us, after you treating me like...like I didn't even exist."

If he even had words in head to answer her, Daryl couldn't've uttered them. Carol had floored him with her fury. He watched her warily, waiting for her next move.

Carol watched him back and it was clear she was expecting a response.

She shook her head, rubbed her eyes wearily. "What am I to you, Daryl?"

He couldn't answer her. Hadn't ever thought about it before. What was Carol? She was his friend, he could say that now. Could say that about a lot of people though and he wasn't fucking them. She was family too, but he didn't share a bed with any other member of his unusual family. But he'd never thought about calling her something else. He was sure it was a well known fact - after all, Rick and Tyreese and caught them at it and it was no secret that they shared the same tiny cell.

"Because sometimes I don't know whether you and I...if it's just me. Like, you go along with whatever I want. I don't want you to have sex with me because I'm offering it. I know life has been unkind to you, long before the turn, but I need to know things are going to get better because I don't know if I've got it in me for much more, Daryl."

Daryl stayed silent.

"I said I'll see you later and I meant it." Carol gave a firm nod of her head and turned back to the door, not waiting for anything more from him.

Six hours later, the sun was just about to go down, but Daryl was still working the fence. The supports they were using to boost their security really needed two men, but Daryl didn't care to ask for the help.

He'd been called up twice for dinner, but he ignored the shouts, didn't stop for anything. Couldn't stop. Couldn't stop thinking about Carol and what she said to him.

She was wrong in thinking that he was...whatever he was with her because she'd swept him up in it and he didn't know how to say no. He wanted Carol. He wanted to share her bed, share her body, share her secrets. He didn't do things he didn't want to do. Everything she had wanted, Daryl had wanted just as badly.

He never realised that she might not have known that. He often felt like she was inside his head, the way she was around him. Daryl had never been one to talk about feelings. And Carol had never asked him to. Not until today.

"Hey. Need you to come on inside, it's gettin' dark." Rick's voice drifted down from the top of the bank and Daryl looked up briefly to see his shape outlined by the fading sunset.

"Ain't done here." He grunted, turning his attention back to the support beam that needed sawing to fit the fence.

"I know." Rick stepped down towards him. "But we got a couple of old timers in the tower tonight and they're liable to mistake you for a walker." Despite his words, he took hold of the edge of the length of wood, holding it steady for Daryl to saw through cleanly.

They worked together silently for a few moments, until the beam took its place supporting the chain link fence.

"Carol was looking for you, not more than a half hour ago, pretty upset looking, if you ask me." He kept his tone light, conversational.

"I ain't askin' you." Daryl grunted, tossing tools into the box at his feet.

"Yeah, I know that, too." He stepped back, let Daryl throw the last of the equipment down noisily. "It can be fixed. It can always be fixed."

Daryl stopped and scrutinized Rick. He stood there, a look of concern etched on his face, but Daryl didn't think he knew the ins and outs. Because he was pretty sure if he did, Rick would not be pussy-footing around him. No, Rick would definitely chew him out if he knew how much he'd upset Carol.

"Can't be fixed. Shouldn't be fixed." He muttered, picking up the tool box and his crossbow and striding past him, back towards the prison.

"Why? You don't think Carol is worth it?" Rick's voice changed to slightly incredulous and he picked up his speed to match Daryl's.

"Hey!" Daryl stopped and shoved Rick on the shoulder before walking on. "Don't talk 'bout her like that. Ain't like that all. She's better than me, deserve more than I got."

Rick opened his mouth to protest, but Daryl cut him off with a glare. "I don't need my ego stroked. I ain't blind, alright? This is 'bout me and her, nothin' else. Ain't nothin' to do with anybody but me and her."

"You might be right, think that women might be better than most of us. But you got what she needs. Just need the stones to give it." Rick gave him one more hard look, before disappearing into the darkness of the prison.

Carol might've been looking for him, but he did not see her at dinner. He ate quickly and quietly. Tried to ignore a couple of the more curious gazes in his direction. When he went back to the cell, he immediately recognized that Carol had been in there.

Her clothes folded neatly in the corner, her book back on the bedside cabinet. On the bedpost, her jacket hanging over his and her lotion sitting on the shelf.

Daryl sat on the bed and waited.

She turned up at nightfall, her hair sticking damply to her forehead, towel thrown over her shoulder.

"Hey." Carol moved from the door way to sit on the edge of the bed and she took the time to fold her towel neatly.

"Hey." God, he wished he could find the words he needed for her. He'd been a dick. The worst kind of person for Carol. He was sorry. More sorry than he'd been about anything. But he still didn't know if that would enough. "I-"

"Before you say anything, I was wrong to say that I didn't think you cared about me, because I know that's not true. But I meant what I said." Carol sighed and put the towel aside. "I love you."

Daryl stared at her agape. If he'd expected anything from their talk, it had been a rant about how shitty he was. Definitely not declarations of love.

"I don't want anything back for telling you that. I've loved you a long time now."

"You deserve someone better. I want this. But what I did..." Daryl shook his head and looked to the ground. "It ain't good enough. And me sayin' that you ain't got time, that ain't right either. "

"No. That night wasn't good enough. Not for me, but not for you either. You know what you did. And I know that I shouldn't have spent all that time avoiding you, instead of being honest about needing to clear my head. We both deserve better, Daryl. We can be better, I believe it."

And she did. He could see it, when he looked back at her. Earnest, hopeful. Carol loved him. The thought of that made his stomach churn. Not the bad kind, the nervous, fluttery kind. It was an exciting thought. And even though he couldn't say it back, he knew that he loved her too.

Carol shuffled closer and took his hand in hers. Her fingers were cold and he rubbed them with his own to bring some warmth to them. "We can move on from the past. It will get better."

From that moment, Daryl believed her.