How it was

Dealing with Carol

I woke up to find myself in a weird position. Or my head, rather. I had been propping it up against Daryl's shoulder. Daryl was asleep and had his head leaned back up against the wall. We had moved back in after our conversation outside and had talked for quite some bit before I had apparently dozed off with Daryl right behind me. I didn't want to move because I felt that Daryl didn't do this very often, even if it was by accident. And I was wondering about what we were gonna do about Carol. Or what Daryl was going to do about Carol, rather.

When I had first arrived, Carol had seemed like a nice person. She had even promised to help me learn the ropes of the group. It amazed me that she let this come between us after our countless numbers of one-on-one talks while doing laundry. But as soon as I had started hanging around Daryl and as soon as Daryl had started hanging around me, this tension had started building between us that I hadn't realized until a while after it had first started. At first, it would be little things like her snide comments that at first I just thought was teasing. Then, it changed to her completely ignoring me or telling Rick something that I never did. Rick knew that I never did any of those things, though, somehow. Maybe Rick had talked to Daryl about it after Carol had lied about something and Daryl said what he thought about it. Daryl was Rick's right hand man. But if that was true, how could Daryl not really know how Carol really was? No, it had to be something else. Maybe Rick just trusted me for some reason. I mean, I had been with them for quite some time. All my thinking had my head hurting and I just wish that I could lay here with Daryl like this forever. I inhaled his scent and tried to relax and remember exactly what it felt like to lay on Daryl like this. I wanted to be able to remember what it felt like during times if we ever did get separated for some reason. That way, I could always think about and remember at least what it was like. But just the thought of us being separated took this new toll on my heart that I had never felt before. I knew what was happening and I knew in my heart that it was my feelings growing stronger for Daryl. Obviously, my feelings were not all one sided. Daryl had proved to me last night that he did feel something for me. And if he hadn't, I wondered if he ever would have done so. My thoughts stopped when Daryl began to shift in his sleep. I probably should pretend I'm asleep. That way, I don't look like an idiot if he pushes me off of him. So, I closed my eyes, tried to relax, and tried to steady my breathing. I felt him twitch awake and acted as if that action had woken me up.

"Bad dream?" I asked curiously. He chuckled.

"Nahh. Just used to wakin' up like that I guess," he answered. It confused me a little at first but I eventually got what he was saying.

"You ready to leave? Who knows how far from the farm we are." He nodded and got up, helping me up after. We had just opened the door and walked down the steps when we saw Rick, Carol, Glenn, and Maggie approaching the cabin with guns ready to fire. When they saw us walking out, their guns immediately dropped. Well, actually, Carol hesitated a couple of seconds, then put hers down. I looked to Daryl to see if he noticed, too. He did.

"What happened?" Rick asked.

"Yeah, we've been waiting for you guys to come back but you never did," Glenn added. The whole time Rick and Glenn spoke, I couldn't help but notice how Daryl's eyes were stuck on Carol. He had this look of hatred and sadness in Hus face at the same time, but more hatred. If it hadn't of been me trying to tell, I don't think anyone would have ever recognized sadness in his features. I waited to see if Daryl would answer, but I could see that he was still upset and trying to inwardly hold himself back from doing anything rash. So, I did.

"I got upset and Daryl came to check on me. Then, a herd of walkers showed up and we had to run to escape." Rick nodded and looked at the two of us.

"Something wrong, Daryl?" Rick asked, sensing some tension. Daryl grinded his teeth together and shook his head no but never took his eyes off of Carol. I could tell she was becoming a bit uneasy under Daryl's cruel stare and I kept thinking to myself that she deserved it.

Rick turned around and motioned for everyone to start walking back to the farm,"Everyone spread out but stay close. Be ready for anything." Everyone but me, Carol, and Daryl turned around and started walking. I could tell that an argument was about to happen and I was becoming anxious. I would rather this happen back at the farm where we were somewhat isolated and better protected from all of the walkers in the woods. Daryl started the arguing and Rick and the others heard so they stopped walking.

"What the hell, Carol!" Daryl screamed angrily. I could tell at least he was trying to be a little quiet. She remained quiet.

"I ain't gonna keep ignorin' the way you been actin'," Daryl spat. I looked to Carol to see if she'd speak this time and saw that Rick and the others had finally made it back to us. I was surprised that Rick or one of the others had not yet interjected but I guess they were not sure how to stop it because they had no idea what was going on.

"Tell me, Daryl, what have I done?" She spat back angrily. I guess she was just trying to be sure he knew for real knew that I was the reason he was mad at her.

"Are ya' kiddin'? Why the hell ya' been harrassing Danae? Tellin' her a crock of shit!" He yelled back. He was obviously tired of her bullshit and I didn't blame him. I was tired of everybody getting in the way of everything. Especially Carol. I saw a hint of hurt in her eyes and for a second I thought she night apologize and Daryl might befriend her again but that never happened.

"Can we discuss this back at the farm? Can was all just get along till then?" Rick said trying to stop the growing argument. Daryl nodded and ushered me along with him. As me and Daryl began walking away, I saw Rick walk over and whisper something to Glenn and Maggie. I knew immediately what it was when the two of them began to position themselves behind Carol. Rick had told them to watch her until we got back to the farm. Smart idea, I thought, and I silently began to thank Rick for doing that.