At no time over the past two years had Anna thought her husband was dead. Not even for a minute. If anyone could survive this hell-on-earth, it was Daryl fucking Dixon. Anna knew her man, knew that he was better equipped than most to handle the world the way it was now. She may have doubted that she would ever see him again, but she never doubted that he'd survived, that he was still out there somewhere. So she wasn't surprised, really, when she'd turned to find him standing there. Relieved? Yes. Overjoyed, elated, euphoric? Absolutely. Surprised? No.

He was filthy, like most survivors who'd been on the road a while. He looked older too, so much older than the two years they'd been apart. There were dark circles under his eyes, worry lines that hadn't been there before, and she could see a little gray in his scruffy facial hair. But he had never looked so handsome.

He'd introduced her to the man he was with, "Rick" she vaguely remembered. It was hard to concentrate with Daryl so close, his deep voice in her ear, his arm (...his unbelievably muscular arm...) around her shoulders. They'd exchanged some quick pleasantries and no one was surprised when she dragged Daryl off of the tour to have him to herself.

She could feel his eyes on her the whole walk to her house. They didn't speak; the things that needed to be said were too heavy to be uttered in the open street. Instead they walked in silence, fingers laced together, Anna trying desperately to calm her pounding heart. Part of her wanted nothing more than to drag Daryl upstairs to her room and do what they did best, what she'd dreamed and fantasized about, what her body had ached for in his absence. But she knew she couldn't. Not right now. It would be selfish.

The steps to her front porch appeared quicker than seemed possible and she stopped short. She suddenly felt like she was standing on a ledge and she knew once she stepped off, everything would change. Daryl halted beside her, looking down at her with a silent question. Anna returned his gaze, staring up into his eyes, finding fear and uncertainty in the deep blue hue.

"Sit with me," she said softly, pulling him down to the steps with her.

Daryl adjusted himself next to her on the top step. He glanced behind them at the house and then back down at Anna. She knew he was confused, wondering why she hadn't taken him inside. She also knew, having known this man almost her entire life, that he was probably jumping to all sorts of conclusions. Doubting himself. Doubting her. She could see it easily and it made her frown. He hadn't changed; he still carried the scars - both visible and not - that Will Dixon had given him. With a sigh she ran her hand across his forehead, pushing aside the dark locks of hair, and trailed her fingers down his cheek.

"What is it?" he breathed, his voice strained.

Anna swallowed and stepped off the ledge. "I never went back to Georgia. I didn't look for you. I didn't even try," she began, the shame and regret hanging heavy in her words.

But Daryl shrugged it off. "Wouldn't have found me anyway. Better you got to safety."

"I wanted to look for you. I wanted to so bad…" Her voice broke and she looked away to blink back her tears. The decision had almost killed her and it had eaten away at her soul every day since.

"Hey." His arms were suddenly around her and he crushed her to his chest. "It's OK. It ain't your fault. We're here now, ain't we?"

She pulled back so she could look into his eyes. "I didn't have a choice. I would have come, but I really didn't have a choice." She needed him to understand. It would destroy her if he hated her for her decision.

In an instant Daryl's face changed and she could feel his muscles tense under her hands. "What happened?" he practically growled. "Did someone-"

Anna shook her head frantically, even as she smirked. She couldn't help it. She'd almost forgotten how quickly his moods could change, how fiercely protective he was. "No. No. Nothing like that." He seemed to relax a bit. "I wanted to try to make it back to Georgia. I knew you thought I was gone and it was killing me. But I had to make a choice. I had to make the safer choice. A soldier at the hospital took pity on me, he let me and a few others escape. One of the orderlies, he said his family had found shelter near D.C. It was the hardest thing I've ever done."

"It's OK. I've seen some shit. Glad you weren't there for it."

"No. You don't understand."

"Then explain it. You ain't makin' sense, woman."

Anna clasped Daryl's hands between her own and stared down at where they joined. With a heavy breath she said, "I was three months pregnant. When everything started."

He went deathly still. It didn't even look like he was breathing. His eyes were wide, his jaw slightly slack. Anna rushed to explain further, babbling, stumbling over her words. "I-I was going to tell you when I got back from Raleigh. I just wanted to be sure first. But then everything went to shit. When we spoke, I thought I was never getting out of that hospital. I didn't want to burden you with… I wanted to spare you the added grief."

Daryl still sat in stunned silence until finally he blinked. Once. Twice. He gently pulled his hands from hers and ran them over his face. After a torturous silence, he looked at her again with tears in his eyes., "Did you… Did… Is it…" His voice was so soft, almost inaudible, and he was having a hard time finding his words. But Anna knew what he was trying to ask.

She stood and reached down for his hand. "Come with me," she said, pulling him to his feet.

Inside, Mrs. Craddock was perched at the kitchen island, nursing a cup of tea and working in her crossword book. She looked up, surprised, when she saw Anna.

"You're home early," she said, sounding pleasantly surprised. Then her eyes landed on Daryl.

"Mrs. Craddock, this is my husband, Daryl," Anna explained quickly, before the older lady could jump to her own conclusions. Mrs. Craddock had been in the safe zone since the beginning and consequently still had the mindset of the old world. Anna knew what she and Daryl looked like to outsiders; they had dealt with the sideways looks their whole lives. Thankfully, Mrs. Craddock seemed nothing but overjoyed at the revelation. Her face lit up and she clasped her hands over her chest as tears sprang to her eyes.

"Oh my goodness! Bless your hearts! What a happy day!"

"Yes, a wonderful day," Anna tried to be polite, but she was anxious and she could feel that Daryl was, too.

Mrs. Craddock knew it and with a nod and some dramatic hand-flapping to quell her happy tears she pointed them upstairs. Anna gave her a grateful smile and Daryl nodded at the emotional woman before they headed up the steps.

At the top of the landing, Anna could hear the familiar coos and gurgles from the nursery and she picked up her pace. Inside, she found her happy toddler standing up in the crib, arms extended over the bars and little fingers reaching out eagerly for her.

"Ma! Ma!"

"There she is! There's my sweet girl!" Anna cooed, scooping the child up in her arms. Her little head swiveled around immediately, thoughts of her mother gone once she noticed the man in the doorway.

Daryl stood at the threshold, eyes locked on the little girl in Anna's arms. His expression was blank and for a brief moment Anna was worried he wasn't happy at the news. But then their daughter beamed at him, that wonderful, sweet smile that disarmed everyone blessed enough to see it, and she squealed, "Da!"

Daryl broke out of his trance and in two strides he was beside them, lowering his crossbow to the floor and carefully pulling the little girl into his arms. She went happily, giggling and clinging to him and Anna was glad she had managed to save a picture of Daryl and showed it to their child every day of her life. He wasn't a stranger. She knew him.

"This is Fiona," Anna said softly.

"Hi, Fiona," Daryl whispered.

"Hi," she replied in her tiny voice and laid her head on his chest, just under his chin. He hugged her to him as tears slipped silently down his cheeks. Anna's heart melted. She wished she could keep this moment forever, put it in a box and take it out and look at it whenever she wanted.

That night, after the beautiful chaos of the day had wound down and Fiona was sleeping peacefully in her crib, Anna watched from bed as her husband carefully propped his loaded crossbow by the bedside table, just within arm's reach. She watched as he shrugged out of his vest and sat at the edge of the bed to remove his boots. It was a scene she'd watched hundreds of times, but she couldn't remember ever being so happy to see it before.

"Still don't seem real," Daryl spoke over his shoulder as he dropped his second boot to the floor.

Anna smiled. She knew exactly how he felt. She crawled out of the covers to snuggle his back. "Feels like I'm gonna wake up and it'll all have been a dream," she whispered.

"But it ain't."

"No. It ain't a dream. You're here. And I'm here." She punctuated every sentence with a kiss, her hands exploring the muscular arms that had developed so much in their time apart. He'd been living hard, that was for sure. She knew he'd been through much worse than she'd experienced. He'd tell her about all of it, she knew, but right now she just wanted to make him forget.

It seemed like Daryl was on the same page and they didn't waste any time. There was nothing slow or gentle about it. Every touch, every breath was desperate and neither of them lasted very long. But it was perfect. It was them. They laid tangled together in the sheets for long time after and whispered to each other like they did when they were kids.

Anna told him about her journey to Alexandria and the kind people who'd risked, and in some cases lost, their lives to get her and her unborn child to the safety of the walls. Daryl told her what it had taken him to get there, everyone he'd lost, everything he'd seen and done. Without having to ask, she knew it was the first time he'd spoken of any of it. She listened silently as he laid down his burdens and gripped his hand tight between her own when he told her about the little girl, Sophia, and what had happened to her. She listened as he told her how her brother-in-law had cut off his own hand on a hot rooftop in Atlanta and cried when he told her how he'd died. She cried a lot as he spoke, silently sobbing for him, clinging to his arm, burying her face in chest. He'd been through hell but in the end he was here with her where he belonged.

They fell asleep in each other's arms and when Anna woke a few hours later to Fiona's cries, Daryl was already halfway out of bed. "Go back to sleep," he said with a kiss to her forehead, "I got this."

So that's it! Short and sweet! Thanks to everyone for reading! Sorry it's taken me so long to finish this. I had planned to have it done in a few days but the short and long of it is that my dog got sick and then very quickly declined to the point we had to put him down. I was kind of a wreck and all my creativity seemed to have left with him. But we're adjusting to life now without our sweet boy and we just got a new puppy, which is another reason I haven't been able to finish this! She's a total spaz! I would really like to do a full length story about Daryl & Anna if I have the time. Would anyone be interested? Let me know! And thanks again for R&R!