They had only been in Alexandria for a few days now, almost a week. Everyone seemed to be settling in now that their unease subsided. However, that didn't mean they weren't ready just in case something happened. Something always happened, the people in this town couldn't understand that though. They were lucky they had walls protecting them this whole time. Still, Daryl couldn't understand how they could be so clueless, he stayed in the house mostly, so he didn't have to talk to any of them. have a little space to get away from it all for about two days straight. They had tried to get Daryl to take the last room in the house, told him the same things he'd been hearing from them for hours on end.

"Maybe having your own space will be good for you Daryl." Carol had said when she had started unpacking his one bag into the room. There really hadn't been much in it though, a single change of clothes, weapons and a book. "You can relax for once." He hadn't slept in that room yet, he's stayed mostly to the porch and the living room.

His family had stayed together their first night and then had broken apart slowly into the two houses. He stayed with Rick, his kids, Carol, and Michonne. It was a big house with rooms for everyone. Michonne and Carol had seemed plenty happy about that. They had talked about how nice it was to

He'd never been in such a nice house before. Hell, he didn't even know people that owned houses like this before the turn. He had grown up in a shitty house that was more of a shack, then his mom died and the house burned down, they moved to a trailer home, which was worse. He had eventually saved up money to rent a crappy apartment after he left home. It had been about the same size as the living room he was currently situated in. He looked around the room once more from where he was lying on the couch. There was a clock, nice furniture, book shelves with books, everything looked clean and expensive.

He felt out of place with his dirty, torn up clothes and his crossbow leaning against the couch next to him. He hadn't showered yet, Carol was trying to get him to, actually now everyone was dropping him hints about it. He wouldn't though, he knew they didn't really care, they just wanted him to make a good impression on the town people and Deanna.

He didn't need their approval. They didn't know shit. They always gave him looks when they saw him on the porch. He could tell they didn't think much of him, like people before the turn, he was redneck trash once again. He thought he'd never see that look again, that tell tale look that said 'I'm better then you, you should know your place'. He heard them talking about him sometimes, they weren't as quite as they thought they were. They mocked his clothes, messy long hair, and attitude. He heard one lady talk about how she didn't understand how Rick let someone like him live in the same house as his kids.

He sighed and pushed himself off the couch, pacing over to the bookcase. He skimmed through the books for about the tenth time since he woke up today. He liked reading since he was a kid. It was a way to forget about what was happening around him, like going to a different place. It was the closest he was going to get right now to outside the walls, Rick didn't want him to go far yet. Maybe he could find some kids books to read to Judith. He flipped through some books but none of them seemed to catch his attention.

"Anything worth reading?" Maggie. He turned to face her, he hadn't even realized she had come in the house. It was official, this place was slowly getting to him. He grunted and dropped the book he had onto the shelf. Maggie raised an eyebrow at his eloquent answer. " You could come over to our place and check out those books, maybe you'll find something better." he shrugged and flopped back onto the couch. He heard her moving closer, her head popped over the back of the couch as she looked down at him. "Maybe you should get out of the house, get some air," she paused waiting for a reply, nothing came, "come on, you can help me get some stuff from the pantry."

"Can't Glenn help you?" he swore he saw her smile get bigger when he answered, he should have stayed quite.

"He's busy and you're not doing anything." He rolled his eyes and got up. He never had a sister, but he was confident that's what Maggie qualified as.

"What are we getting?" He ignored the look of satisfaction on her face and followed her out of the house. Outside was nice, or it was until he felt eyes on him. It was like they thought he was a circus attraction. He shuffled closer to Maggie and pulled out a cigarette to calm his nerves. He was pulling out a second by the time they got to the pantry, which was impressive because the pantry wasn't that far away. He leaned against the wall as Maggie read off a list of things they still needed. Most of it was clothing, then laundry soap, and lastly some extra bedding. She handed him a basket as he finished up his cigarette and instructed him to get the bedding. They needed some extra bed sheets, some quilts and pillowcases. He tried to get ones that matched but he was pretty sure they were all slightly different shades of green.

He turned back once he was done to where Maggie was and saw her shifting through some clothes. She held out a black t-shirt, inspecting it as he stopped next to her.

"Will this fit you?" He snorted and looked at her, trying to find any hint that she was joking. She wasn't, she patiently waited for an answer. " You need new clothes Daryl, you only have two outfits and they're both starting to fall apart." She was right of course. She seemed genuinely concerned about them falling off his body at any given moment, which was a real concern at this point. He reached out and picked up a different shirt, a dark grey button down. He held it out to Maggie for her to take. "What's wrong with what I picked out?"

" 'S small," he gave a half hearted shrug, " easier to take the sleeves off of this one anyways." she elbowed him in the ribs with a small chuckle.

"You should try leaving the sleeves on for once, maybe you'll like it." He gave her a small push back. She took the shirt and they went through the pants. That took a lot of negotiating on his part and was overall kind of painful for everyone involved but they finally got a pair and headed back to the house after they marked down what they got.

They saw Tara in front of the houses with Eugene. They were talking about some type of game that involved having to mark up the yard. Huh, they had a yard now, that was weird to think about. Maggie handed off the clothes and took the bedding from him as they went into their separate houses. Once inside Daryl found Rick and Carol had come back from wherever they had been earlier. Carol seemed interested in the bundle he carried.

"New Clothes? How did that happen?" She gave him that little smirk that always made him feel wary about answering back.

"Maggie." Rick was giving him a look now too. "What?"

"Just glad you got out a little is all," Rick gave him a bit of a once over, "we've been kind of worried about you." he snorted and set his new clothes on the counter. Carol immediately took them and looked them over.

"Blue jeans!?" she raised an eyebrow at him. "since when do you wear blue jeans. ?"

"Maggie," was his clipped response, he had other things to talk about, " what are ya talkin' bout. I'm fine." Rick gave him a stern look like he was a kid lying about taking the last cookie from the jar.

"Oh? That why you've been hiding in the house since we got here? " Daryl was pretty sure if he rolled his eyes one more time today they were going to roll right out of his head.

"Ain't nothing to do man, cause you won't let me hunt." His plan was to basically wear Rick down to the point he would finally cave and let Daryl go as he pleased. He smirked at the exasperated look Rick threw him. It was going well so far. He guessed it would be a couple more days before his brother relented, but he would in the end, otherwise he might become homicidal and Rick must have sensed that.

"Just give it a little more time Daryl, and then you can leave. We don't know these people, we're starting to, but we need to make absolutely sure the group is safe here with them." In case something happened he needed to be here to help protect. Rick didn't say it but he knew that's what he was really talking about. Daryl bit his thumb and nodded, it was easier to agree then fight him on this, not that he would, he could see the reason behind it all. He could get past the discomfort, he would for his family. They liked it here, they wanted it to work. Who cared what the towns people thought of him, right. He only needed his family and he knew they couldn't care less about where he came from, what he did before all this, his heavy accent, how dirty he was, or his messy hair and clothes (although Maggie had been very persistent about those blue jeans).

"Okay." Suck it up Dixon, they need you here. He saw Rick nod and Carol handed him the new clothes back after she folded them. He tucked them under his arm and turned and walked through the living room toward the room Carol had designated as his, picking up his crossbow on the way. He shut the door and dropped everything on the floor as he slumped onto the bed, looking at the ceiling. Just a couple days, you can do this. With that thought he closed his eyes and wished for the unpleasant feeling growing in his stomach to go away.