AN: ok, this is the last chapter I am setting it up for a sequel possibly once I see how 7b goes. Sorry if this makes any of you mad. I really want to know what you think of this. Another AN at end of chapter.

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead

Chapter 13

Two Weeks Later

This was wrong, this was all going wrong.

Daryl sat at her bedside, watching, waiting.

"Godamn it Carol...wake up." His head was aching. A hundred fiery explosions battling inside his head as he warily second guessed himself for the millionth time. How could he have let this happen? Not matter what the others said. No matter how they reassured him, Daryl knew, it was on him. He should never have left her alone. He should have known.

The Hilltop doctor, said she would be alright. She would be okay. He had to remind himself of that.

Neagan was dead. Carol had taken him, and the guys to Rick. The Hilltop and Alexandria had worked together, it was Merle who had told them about the Kingdom. The three groups had been successful, and Neagan's compound had been over run.

Daryl had been caught, with Rick in Neagan's last stand. He'd been ready. They wouldn't get to him in time. He'd been ready god damn it to face the bat, to atone for what he'd seen and done, since joining Neagan's group. She had no right to take that away from him. It was enough to know. To know that she was safe. That Carol would live.

He k ew in that moment, every choice in his life would always bring him back to her. Fate would find a way. Twisted and turned in whatever way they had tried stumble apart, they would always be drawn together. It was meant to be. He could see that now.

If he had stayed at the quarry life would have unravelled in a different direction. A spool of thread that would have gone from a different pattern. But he would have loved her. That was meant to be.

He Daryl Dixon had been meant to love her, Carol. He could run from it, but he always came back to had been for years hadn't he?

That wasn't right. Was it? His head was so messed up.

He reached for her hand bringing it to his finger tips. This was okay, because she was alright. Carol, she hadn't been there, she was safe. She hadn't seen what had happened to Glenn in the line up. It didn't matter what happened to him. She had been safe.

His eyes blinked as the room suddenly changed around him.

"No..."he gasped. Reaching for her hand. His heart shattered around him like glass, as she wavered and disappeared from view. "Don't leave me." He whispered. But she was gone.

A deep aching hole opened in his chest as he pulled his knees to his chest. Bending in on himself in the fetal position. His ribs ached from the recent beatings. Carol was gone. It had all been a dream. Holding her, loving her, being with her.

Fuck...Merle. He choked on a sob as images of Merle's grotesque snarls as a walker filled his mind. Merle was gone, and so was Carol. He had made it all up in his head.

Images flashed through his head. Sophia coming out of the barn. Holding Carol back. Finding her in the toombs. Carrying her to safety. Losing her time and time again. Never showing her how he felt. Never knowing how it felt to touch her, to loose himself inside her body. To love her. He'd let it all slip away.

It was meant to be and he'd been so scared. It had always been meant to be. No matter how hard and fast he ran. No matter how scared he was. It was meant to be. Her, Carol. She was everything.

He stared around the cell, the stinking sweats gagging him as the remnants of the latest dog food sandwhich choked him.

He wasn't to blame for all the bad things that happened. He could see that now. Everything was a choice. He made choice that lead him to where he was now. If he could take some back, he would. Pain shot through his gut as the image of Glenn's face shot through his gut. He'd only ever wanted the best. He'd only ever tried to do what's best, for all of them. He wasted so much time trying to earn her love when he already had it.

He was such an idiot. The silence in the room was an oppressive agreement.

The note slipped under the door, a matchstick folded within it. Go Now.

Grim determination settled into his bones, his back straightened as he felt it then. The raw desire to finally set things right. He was going now. He was going straight for Carol. He would never let her go.

AN: I'm sorry been wanting to do this for awhile. This was all in Daryl's mind. Sorry sorry sorry. I understand if u are ticked :/ I am once I see how season 7b goes write a sequel or epilogue. But everything in this story that was not cannon was a dream. The continuity errors are my mistakes.