Caryl Oneshots

High School (AU)

"Okay, class. Today we're going to be doing partner work," The teacher, Mrs. Meyers, said cheerfully, contradicting all the groans from her students. "Fine, fine. If you don't want to do that much work, I'll take some work out of it by choosing your partners."

Carol, in the back of the room, looked over her classmates. She was pretty shy, but very smart, and knew that no matter how anxious it'd be that she could still ace it.

"And it will go as follows... Marianne with Jackson, Thomas with Ethan, Carol with Daryl, Mickey with..." Mrs. Meyer listed off, but Carol didn't hear the rest of the names. She looked to the other person in the back of the room: Daryl Dixon.

Daryl had been in several of her classes and sat in the back in every one as well. He was shy, always in the shadows of his brother that was in much of the same classes due to his lack of brilliance. He had dark brown, greasy hair that he never styled with dark brown eyes and dirty skin. The guy always wore a long sleeved leather jacket with angel wings on the back.

From across the room, Daryl's eyes found Carol's. He knew who she was. She was the only girl Merle didn't hit on. The simple reason for that was because Daryl protected her.

Once, Merle had bragged at lunch how he was going to get in Carol's pants. She was a shy girl and Daryl admired her presence in the back of the room. So to keep his brother from hurting her, which could totally break her, he told Merle that him and Carol had a thing. As an older brother, Merle was kind enough to respect the 'relationship' that Daryl had made up.

The bell rang and everybody grabbed the paper along with their books, rushing out of the classroom. Carol scurried up to Mrs. Meyer's desk and got the papers her and Daryl needed. Daryl nodded at her as she gave a pleasant smile, but turned and walked out of the room to get to his locker.

Walking into the courtyard, Daryl set the plate with two huge slices of pizza on the concrete table. It had always been Daryl's duty to use the money Merle had somehow gotten to buy lunch and bring it to him like a servant. They had qualified for the free lunch program, but Merle wouldn't settle for any mac and cheese and mystery meat.

"So, Lover Boy!" Merle called, turning to Daryl and grabbing the greasy slice. "Heard you got paired with your girl. That'll be a fine time, huh?"

"Shut up," Daryl muttered, consciously looking about to make sure Carol wasn't near.

"What did you just say to me, Little Brother?" Merle asked, anger growing in him. He licked his fingers and stood up. Daryl looked at the table silently, feeling stupid that he had even said anything to begin with. Why couldn't he just shut his mouth? "What did you say?"

"Leave me alone, Merle," Daryl whispers as he stares at the tabletop. Making a big scene wasn't really his thing.

"Oh look, there's your woman right now," Merle laughed heavily, squinting across the courtyard to see Carol walking in to sit by herself at a small table by a shade- providing tree. "Fine, I'll drop the whole subject if you can get her to sit over here with you."

"What? Why?" Daryl asked, but he knew better to let Merle answer the question. Honestly, Daryl was quite shy and Merle knew that. He also knew that Daryl and Carol weren't together. He wouldn't risk hurting an innocent girl.

Approaching Carol cautiously, Daryl shoved his hands in his pockets. He accidentally cut his hand on his knife, and ripped it out, the blood flinging everywhere. "Daryl!" Carol shrieked, jumping up. "Oh my god, are you okay?!"

"Yeah, I think so," He blushed and held his hand out, showing her the blood. She ran around the table and came to him, putting a napkin on it to wipe up the blood with a painful expression. "I'm fine, it's just a small cut."

"You shouldn't have a knife at school, you'll get suspended," She whispered softly and put her hands over his, only the napkin separating them.

"I know, but I gotta protect people like you if jerks like my brudder come 'round," He laughed and she smiled.

"I don't need protection, especially from people like you," She retaliated. From the table Daryl had left, Merle sat confidently watching his little brother talk to Carol while devouring both slices of pizza. "If anything, you need protection from me."

"I do, do I?" Daryl tries to smile, knowing that at home when things got hard, all he'd have to do was think of Carol.

Because on this day, when Carol healed his cut, she also planted something in him. Their relationship quickly developed into something extraordinary, and with the help of Carol, Merle and Daryl were able to move out on Merle's eighteenth birthday.

But that's not where the story ended. In fact, many stories began that day. Stories that would be told to Meyer Dixon by her favorite uncle Merle for years after.