Author's note: This is my first story ever. So please don't be too harsh on me
English is not my first language and this is my first time writing anything, so Darluvscaryl & sjstew27 helped me with some corrections and rephrasing. Thank you a LOT ladies
Also, thank you to you too Upsgirl88, for convincing me to try this!

…

Chapter One

It had been three weeks since Aaron was injured on a run with Daryl, and according to Rosita, it would be another three to five weeks before he would be fully healed. During their last run, Aaron and Daryl were cornered by a dozen walkers in a drug store, and Aaron's foot ended up being crushed when a shelf fell over onto it. Even though, technically Rosita was not a doctor, she was the closest they had to one, since the whole Pete incident took place. She was doing well, but they really needed to find an actual doctor.

A week before Aaron's accident, the group inside Alexandria was attacked by a group who called themselves The Wolves. They had built an army of walkers and they were having fun carving Ws on their foreheads. The group was able to fight them off, but at a cost. They lost a lot of good and innocent people and a big part of their wall was damaged. Abraham and his crew were doing the best they could to fix it and Glenn and Tara were helping out by going on runs as often as they could to find supplies for the rebuild. Everyone was trying their best to help, including Eugene who was working on creating ammunitions. However, it wasn't enough. They needed to find more people for their community, because they were exposed and vulnerable to human or walker attacks.

Deanna set up a meeting with Daryl about the whole Aaron situation.

"I know Aaron is still injured," Deanna told him. "And believe me, if it wasn't for our current situation, I would ask you to wait until he was fully recovered, that being said, we can't afford to wait right now. You need to go out and recruit."

"You want me to go out alone?"

"No. It's not safe for anyone to go out alone," she replied. "I trust you. You choose the person that is best suited to go on this run with you."

"Al'right," Daryl said "When do we leave?"

"I'd like you to go as soon as possible. Preferably tonight or tomorrow morning."

…

"Me?" Carol was surprised by Daryl's request.

"Yeah, you. I still ain't trusting a lot of people here. Rick and Michonne should stay here for protection, Glenn and Tara are doing runs everyday, Sasha has the look out tower, Abraham has to build the wall, Rosita is still taking care of people and I still feel like Maggie is dealing with her losses, and would be too fragile to go out on runs. So that leaves you."

"Oh, I see I was your first choice," she joked, trying to sound offended.

"You in or not?" he said, while hiding one of his half smiles she loved so much.

"Yes, of course! Let me just pack my stuff. When do we leave?"

"Tonight, if possible."

"That soon huh? Ok, well let me get start packing and then we can go," she said with a big grin on her face.

She was actually pretty excited to go out, as it had been a while. Sometimes she felt trapped behind those walls and missed being outside of them. She also missed being with Daryl because ever since they got to Alexandria, he'd been assigned as a recruiter. They were seeing each other less and less and they barely even talked anymore. He was always out and when he was home, they were both busy, and then he would leave again. It felt weird to her, because since this whole thing started, she'd always been with Daryl. With the exception of the couple of days they were apart after the prison fell, they hadn't been apart from each other more than a couple of hours. She missed her best friend a lot and that was another reason why she was excited to go on this run.

…

"So, you're sure we have everything?" Carol asked.

"We only need food, water and weapons, really. We wanna have enough space if we find people," Daryl replied.

"Right, of course," she said. 'What a stupid question,' she thought to herself. "I guess this trip is making me more nervous than I thought. I assume we're ready to go then?" she asked to make sure.

"Yeah, just follow me with the car."

…

They had been gone for a couple of hours with no issues, except for a bumpy road they had passed a few miles away. Everything is going smoothly, she thought, as Daryl motioned for her to stop. As she opened her door she heard, "You've got to be fucking kidding me!"

"Maybe I spoke to soon," she mumbled under her breath. Carol got out of the car and walked over to where Daryl was stopped.

"What's up?"

"Must've hit something on that bumpy road back there and the engine stopped. I'll check if I can fix it, but I might have to abandon my bike again," he said while kicking the bike. "Dammit!" Carol knew he missed Merle's bike, that was left back at the prison. He was so happy because he got to build a new one, but now, he might have to leave this one, too.

"Look, if you can't fix it here, we can just hide it somewhere in the woods and come back for it later. Maybe you'll be able to fix it back home," she said as she tried to comfort him the best she could.

"Yeah, you're right. It's just a damn bike anyway." he replied with a little sadness in his eyes as he thought about Merle. She gently touched his arm in a compassionate way and he looked at her with a thankful smile. They both knew each other so well, most of the time they didn't even need to talk to understand what the other was thinking or feeling. "Well, we better get going."

"Yeah, let's go."

They both got into the car and Daryl started driving first when they agreed they would take turns.

…

Carol had fallen asleep when Daryl nudged her to wake up. They were parked in front of a little cabin that looked like it had been abandoned way before the world ended.

"We should hold up here for the night as it is too dangerous to be out any longer," Daryl said, as she rubbed her eyes trying to wake up. She nodded in agreement and they both got out of the car and took whatever they were going to need for the night. It was actually chilly and Carol was so grateful she thought about bringing extra blankets.

When they entered the cabin, they did a quick sweep that only took a minute as the cabin only had two rooms. The bigger room had a kitchen and a bedroom area with a sofa and the smaller one was the bathroom. Carol decided to change the bed for the night because they actually had clean sheets and blankets. While she was doing that, Daryl was looking through their bag for something to eat. He decided they would have turkey jerky and some of Carol's cookie she brought with them.

When Carol took the covers of the bed, there was a doll with a blue dress and blonde hair. Carol froze when she saw it because it was like something hit her in the chest. The doll looked so much like Sophia, it was eerie. She fought back the tears that were threatening to come out because she didn't want to cry right now; especially not over a stupid doll. She looked up and saw it was too late, because Daryl had seen her and was now looking at the source of her sadness. He immediately understood, like she had earlier with him, and he took the doll and threw it in a corner, hiding it. She was grateful he did, because she didn't have the strength to do it herself and didn't want to see it anymore. She thought that being away from all the children back at Alexandria would give her a break from thinking about Sophia, Mika and Lizzie, but fate was being cruel to her.

…

They ate their jerky in silence, but Daryl kept watching Carol. He was wishing he could read her mind, because he wasn't stupid, he knew she was not just thinking about Sophia. Something else was tormenting her and he didn't know what it was. He knew it had to be about the girls as she had told him that what happened was worse than them just not making it, but she never did tell him anything beyond that. He could see it was overwhelming her from the inside and wished she would just let it all out. He thought she trusted him enough to talk to him, like he did with her when Merle died, but he realized he might be wrong. It was painful for him to accept that his best friend didn't trust him enough to share this with him, but he wouldn't push her, not yet anyway.

…

When they were both done, Carol proposed to take the first watch, since she had already slept a bit in the car anyway.

She sat at the table, looking outside. It looked so peaceful as there were no walkers in sight. Her mind drifted again to that awful afternoon at the grove; like it did most nights when she was alone with her thoughts. This time she let the tears fall. Carol didn't know why she had kept it inside this whole time, and figured it was just easier to pretend she was fine. It actually felt good to let herself feel it after all this time.

Carol didn't even realize he had woke up or how she missed hearing him, but next thing she knew, Daryl was taking her in his arms. His touch was so comforting, she just let herself melt in his embrace and cried even harder as he gently stroked her back and her hair. After what seemed like hours, Daryl broke the hug and she instantly missed his touch. She wished they could've stayed in each other's arms all night. He placed a comforting kiss on her forehead, like she once did to him, and told her to go sleep, as he would take the next watch.

She went to sleep in peace, like she hadn't done in what seemed like an eternity. She was also happy and relieved to see that she hadn't lost whatever she had with Daryl. They may have spent more time apart from each other since they got to Alexandria, but this just showed her that they were still as close as before.