Noxi: The Caryl reunion. Because I like to feel things twice.

Warning: Excessive Caryl feels, an abundance of love for Carol, and a blatant reminder that Caryl is always here.

Safe and Sound

He leaned his palm against the tree, the bark cutting into his flesh. A reminder that he was still alive. He watched Rick dig up the guns, and look towards him. He wasn't ready to go back there and risk their lives again. But he knew if they didn't take this chance, they might regret it later. He nodded slightly, telling Rick that he was with him, no matter where. His senses were numb but to every sound that echoed around him. He wasn't going to let one more goddamn person come at his people. He wasn't going to lose anymore of his people. He was tired of the pain that was forever circling his heart like a vulture ready to consume. He was going to make those assholes pay.

And then he heard the crack of a branch. He twisted, looking for the sound, ready to kill if need be. His heart stopped in his chest and the air froze in his lungs. He was dreaming. He was still back in Terminus. She wasn't real.

But she was. She was standing there like a goddamn vision, her eyes focusing on him. And for a moment, he thought he'd died.

But he hadn't and his chest ballooned in relief and he took off towards her as his eyes burned and his chest expanded. He had begun to lose hope that he would never see her again. He had thought that after everything that had happened, he would never feel alive again.

He should have have trusted her better.

He crashed into her, wrapping his arms around her and pulling her so close. Close enough for him to breathe the same air, to smell the sweat and dirt on her skin, to feel her heart beating fiercely against his. Close enough to know that he didn't want to lose her again, to lose the feeling of her body pressed tightly to his. It was, he realized, all he had been hoping for.

His hands gripped her tight, his arms pressing her even tighter against him as she lifted her off the ground, unable to control himself. The tears slipped down his cheeks, and his hands trembled and he couldn't stop the sob as it pushed passed his lips.

"Oh my god," he whispered against her neck, lips brushing her skin.

She was here. Carol was here, in his arms. She was safe.

He couldn't stop touching her. His hands against her back, in her hair pressing her head close, like he didn't want to lose this moment. All of his emotion, all of the things he'd never gotten to say, to show her settled in his bones right there as he rocked her back and forth.

Setting her feet down he leaned into her, not ready to let go. God he'd missed her. He missed the softness of her touch and the quiet in her voice. He missed her strong shoulders, able to bear the weight of everything the world threw at her. He missed the smell of her, and how it was the only thing he identified as home.

She was home and he had never been so grateful for someone in his life.

She was clutching to his back, her fingers pressing into the leather like she didn't know if this was okay but not able to hide the joy in her touch. She was crying - - - he could feel the uneven gasps in her chest and hear the soft cries in his ear. And the relief of knowing that she had missed him as much as he had missed her stitched up the hole that had been growing in his heart since she had been gone.

He pulled away, staring at her without shame. Memorizing the parts of her he was afraid he had forgotten but realized he could never forget those piercing blue eyes, or the warmth her gaze set on him. She was so alive and it was all he could think as he took her in, so much closer now. Not out of reach, but there for his fingers to grasp.

She reached up, hands on his cheeks as her lip trembled and he wasn't alone in the feeling. He wasn't alone and it was all he could do not to fall back into her arms and know that he had never lost home, feel her strength hold him up like it always had. He had been so afraid to lose the one thing he had come to love above all else.

He pressed his forehead to her shoulder and wept as her hands cradled his face. He had never thought he would love a touch so much as he did hers.

Carol.

I missed you so much teetered on the edge of his lips but he couldn't say it. Not here. Not in front of them all. It would ruin what he had already conveyed.

So he pulled away, and held onto the feeling that had shed light on his soul again - - - Carol.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed. Reviews and constructive criticism are very much appreciated.