Safe Keeping

We Ain't All Like That

            Where are we supposed to go now?" Carol asked as they drove down the road. Sophia had fallen asleep about an hour ago and was now leaning against her mother.

            "Dunno," Daryl shrugged, "Try ta find somewhere safe I guess."

            "Do these places even exist anymore?" Carol asked, "I mean, that's what the CDC was supposed to be right?"

            "We'll find somewhere," Daryl said.

            Carol didn't say anything, but looked down at her sleeping daughter. The CDC had been one night of bliss. One night where she felt she and Sophia were truly safe. Now that feeling was gone again. Well, mostly. She looked over at Daryl.

            "Sorry about before," she mumbled and he glanced at her. "When I grabbed your hand."

            "Don' worry about it," Daryl replied gruffly.

            "I jus... I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable or anything..."

            "Ya didn't," he told her, "So don' worry about it a'right?"

            Carol nodded, "Thank you." They drove in silence for a while before Daryl finally spoke.

            "How're ya doin'?" he asked her.

            "I'm fine," Carol said automatically and he glanced at her again, eyebrows raised.

            "I don't know how I am," Carol answered after a moment. "Everything seems to have happened so fast lately and I just..." She shook her head and then turned to look at him.

            "Why are you protecting us?" she asked and he looked startled by her question.

            "What?" he asked.

            "Why are you protecting us?" she asked.

            "I told ya I would-"

            "Yes, but why?" Carol questioned him, "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful. Knowing Sophia is safe is all I want in this world right now. But why do you care so much? When you first joined our camp you and Merle couldn't have cared less about any of us. Now you're going out of your way to protect me and my daughter. Why?"

            "I just... I..." Carol had never seen Daryl this flustered before and she couldn't help but think it was rather cute.

            "I know what Ed used ta do ta ya," Daryl finally said and Carol stiffened, "No one deserves that."

            "So all this is out of pity?" she asked.

            "No!" he exclaimed and she hushed him, looking down at Sophia. Daryl glanced down too and was relieved to see she was still sleeping. No way he could've said any of this if she could hear him.

            "If not pity then what is it?" Carol asked.

            "I just... I wanted ye ta know that we ain't all like that," Daryl said and he could feel his face burning at the admission. "I want ta make sure ye an' Sophia ain't ever hurt like that' again." Carol stared at him for a moment.

            "And how are you going to do that?" she asked quietly. He glanced at her, his hand reaching out slightly before he pulled it back. Carol reached out her own and gently laced her fingers with his.

            "Okay," she nodded.

            He breathed a sigh of relief and nodded too before focusing his attention back on the road and the cars in front of them.

Writing Caryl before they're actually Caryl is so hard! I've written fics with Caryl relationship and Caryl friendship, but this is my first attempt at writing them when things are still kind of awkward so I hope I'm doing alright so far.

Also, the whole point of me writing two Walking Dead stories at the same time was so I could write one where Daryl has his son from the start and the other where he finds his son later on. I've actually written the chapters containing that part of the story, but I'm not really sure if I like it here. I like the idea of, but I'm not sure if I'm actually going to do that now. I will upload the stuff I wrote, but I might just turn that into a short 4-part story and not include it in this. What do you all think?

Finally, I've added the most recent character death from Season 5B to the poll in the first chapter (I've also listed them below) so you guys can vote if you want this person to live. I've been waiting a couple weeks to make sure people had seen the episode so if you haven't yet be warned that there are spoilers at the bottom of the list.

Amy (Dixon Family Matters)
Ed (Dixon Family Matters)
Andrea
Sophia
Merle
Lori
Hershel
Dale
Patricia
Shane
Jimmy
T-Dog
Jacqui
Jim (Dixon Family Matters)
Otis
Lizzie
Mika
Oscar
Axel
Bob
Zach
Beth
Tyreese

Thanks so much for reading! Let me know what you think! And sorry about the obnoxiously long author's note!