Sweet Junction

Fanfiction
Title:	Sweet Junction
Author(s):	theramblinrose
Date(s):	Published: Jul 16, 2013 Completed: Dec 8, 2013
Length:	560738 words
Genre(s):	het/au
Fandom(s):	The Walking Dead
Relationship(s):
External Links:	Sweet Junction at FFN Sweet Junction at AO3 Sweet Junction at Nine Lives
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Sweet Junction is a Daryl Dixon/Carol Peletier No Zombie Apocalypse AU written by theramblinrose. It was first posted to both Fanfiction.net and AO3 and then in 2014 to the Daryl/Carol Fanfiction Archive Nine Lives.

As of 12 December 2016, Sweet Junction is one of the most read fanfics at Nine Lives, with 43212 reads. It's also one of the longest Daryl/Carol fics at AO3. It also gathered almost 2000 reviews on FFN.

Summary

Daryl Dixon goes with his brother Merle to the very small town of Sweet Junction in an effort to start fresh, but he has no idea how much his life will change when he gets there. The story will eventually be a Caryl story, but other characters, both from the show and new characters, will be heavily involved. Some characters will be OOC as needed to adapt to my needs.

Author's Note

So this is a very AU fic. No Walkers here, and our stars are younger than they are on the show. It will eventually be a Caryl fic, but many of the characters we know as well as a few new faces will be playing large roles in it. It's going to take a while to get to the Caryl part, so shippers be patient!

Also, Carol does not have Sophia, I just thought I would let you know.

Some of the characters will be somewhat OOC, I'm adapting to them to my needs, and we're not exactly sure what they would be like pre apocalypse living in a place like Sweet Junction.

That being said, I do hope you enjoy. I'll try to update as frequently as possible without ignoring my other fics completely.

Please let me know what you think. I love reviews and I love hearing from you. However, if you're just some nasty little anon troll who wants to leave ungrounded mean and nasty comments without the courage to sign your pen name to it, your comments will simply be deleted.

I own nothing from the Walking Dead.

Reviews

what a fabulous ending!! I have to say, I think you're the best AU Caryl writer out there. You have a gift for keeping the essence of each character while taking them on an entirely different journey (I read Broken Mirrors a while ago and was hooked from start to finish!) Keep on writing, you rock!!

Its past 3am and my eyes sting. This is epic. I stayed up to finish, or get as far as I can go, and seriously; this rocks. I've seen too many where the Dixons charge in and rescue Carol from Ed but here she's got the balls to do it herself. I appreciate that like you wouldn't believe. Plus your characters are perfect, I'm too used to finding dull, one-dimensional impressions of the canon characters who are nothing but charming in a rough kind of way (M), or shy and gritty but with a heart of gold (D). You've built genuinely complex interesting people. There's often something about them that I'm not entirely comfortable with and that's the way it should be. I'm even warming up to Andrea and she wasn't my cup of tea either. Its measured as well, nothing has happened too fast, nothing is easy. If you could just give me this story on a constant drip until its done, that would be great.

Gorgeous. But I feel compelled to point out that drug is not the past tense of drag. Dragged is. People just keep seeing it and perpetuating the mistake. - flamingcabbage

Thank you...I suppose...I'm glad to see that the chapter was meaningful enough that that's what you were left with... - theramblinrose

Not sure how to read the tone of your response. I'm I wrong in thinking it's a little passive aggressive? Catherinegrace71 wasn't criticising you or your writing. I've enjoyed your stories also. But who a writer is as a person is important to me too. I know how much energy it takes, how much time.... But feedback is helpful. Sorry I'm yapping on. Know that this chapter and this story is engaging and completely what I love to read. Pointing out something that's not on the money isn't always a criticism. :-) please don't take this as one either!! Best wishes and happy writing!! - NotEnoughTimeOnMyHands

It is a colloquial use of the term. Sometimes I use it, other times I do not, just as I sometimes write in "dialect" and other times I do not. It's simply variation and experimentation with language. And you are correct. Feedback is helpful, especially when it's constructive. In some cases, and I'm sure you could agree, it's frustrating if you're writing and the only feedback that you receive is something based entirely on your use of a colloquialism. Especially, in the case of this story, when it's your first attempt to write anything AU for a fandom (years ago). In many cases it is seldom what's said, but rather how and when it's presented. Best wishes to you, as well, and happy holidays. - theramblinrose

I get that entirely. In this case I think the number of words in feedback greatly outnumbered the number in praise. Though I think the choice of word was very supportive. But it's easy for an observer to be flippant (again I want to state that I have also written fic and I know it's hard). Change of dialect and colloquialism is a great tool when reflecting your characters and their personalities. Drug seemed to appear more in the prose than in the dialogue. That's maybe why I noticed it where I did. But again, I've commented on many of your stories, enjoyed them very much. I have also changed and developed in the way I write and I don't think that ever stops. Happy writing! Right now I'm working my way through your back catalogue, happily drinking in everything I find!! - NotEnoughTimeOnMyHands

A little disappointed in the birth, but. Also, I don't know if this is true for all hospitals, but it's super important for a baby to be laid with it's mother for an extended amount of time in order for the baby to be able to smell and acquaint themselves with their mother. Unless the parents have signed a form stating otherwise, this is always done as it's believed that skipping this ritual can cause developmental issues for the baby (and possibly can cause postpartum in the mother.) Although I don't know if you already knew all that and that's what you're setting us up for. It made me so sad to read how unprofessional her birth was (from the way you wrote the hospital staff) as I'm a mom and wouldn't stand for it. Neither do I believe Carol would either - she seems like she might've even been an AP mom to Sophia.

its good, but odd that you wrote they took the baby away, they never take the baby away to another room to wait for a mother to deliver the afterbirth, no offense in your writing but its the only thing that stood out here like WTF

sorry but your story was great up till the end, disapointed in the birth that you wrote they took the baby away then can't beleive you wrote they let the baby be taken to the nursery this is Daryl we are talking about he's not going to let that baby go. Be bonded to it more than he ever had - Nzc

Since you felt the need to comment twice, I thought I'd respond.

First off, they do indeed take the baby away in some situations and in some hospitals, particularly if the mother delivers in a temporary location and they're about to transfer her. The birth here was actually based on an actual birth.

Secondly, I'm terribly sorry that your reading of 155 chapters was disturbed by the fact that a detail of this magnitude in the work didn't match your personal experience. There is, however, nothing I can do about that, so please accept my apologies that I assumed through all the various possible birth scenarios (and I've been witness to 6 that all went very, very differently) you could suspend disbelief if this wasn't your particular pick. - theramblinrose

it is bitter sweet to see the end of this and I am looking forward to the next part. I have loved this story from the start, especially the way you write Caryl and Merle/Andrea. I have eagerly awaited for chapters to come out and sighed with happiness when they did. thank you for sharing this wonderful story and good luck on all of your future projects! you write it, I'll read it :)

Ramblin Rose was the first author I discovered and I get lost in her stories. I loved how she just built Carol and Daryl (and Merle and Andrea and Michonne, etc) so well over the many chapters. By the time things happen to them, I was invested.

Okay, when I saw the blurb for this particular story I was a little hesitant. Add on that it was updated with surprising speed and regularity, and red flag number 2 went up in the air. Luckily, I got over myself and actually started reading the story and was... blown a way. the ramblin rose is a wonderful author who does an absolutely fantastic job of writing these characters. Class and socioeconomic position is a huge thing in these stories; something that I didn't know I was missing until it showed up. There's a lot floating around the internet about how representation is important (it absolutely is), but I didn't know how much I needed/wanted to see some of my and my family's experiences in print. And yes, this story is massively AU (no walkers, fyi) and plays a bit fast and loose with certain characters backstories, but the whole is blindingly impressive and absolutely worth a read.