This story hasn't been updated in months and I feel like a complete ass for taking so long. When I moved out, I lost cable, so I didn't get to watch the show as often as I would have liked. So, eventually, it became harder to imagine the characters and create new scenarios. But I'm starting to catch up, so hopefully I can keep the updates coming on a regular basis!

I'm actually pretty proud of myself...I updated two different stories and began a new one on here, all in the span of a few hours! Maybe being sick and stuck at home isn't such a bad thing! Please don't forget to leave a review and let me know what you thought! Enjoy!

"What do you mean by you 'found Merle'?" Rick crossed his arms over his chest, a look of concern suddenly appearing on his tired features.

Daryl, Celeste and Maggie had wasted no time in waking up the rest of their group. Living under the circumstances, everyone slept lightly in case of a sudden intrusion of walkers. One simple shake was generally all it took to wake someone nowadays. Within a matter of minutes, everyone was awake and assembled within the kitchen to be briefed on Daryl and Celeste's experience earlier in the night.

"I mean he's very much alive and pissed that we left him on that roof back in Atlanta." Daryl told him. "And he's with a group of men that don't seem to be the friendliest bunch."

"Did anyone follow you here?" Glenn asked, looking between the two who had run into Merle.

Celeste shook her head. "Not that we could see, no. But they had a horde of walkers to worry about first. Once they're done with them, I'm sure they'll try to find us."

Rick cursed under his breath and went over everything silently in his mind. He hadn't known Merle for very long but one thing Rick was sure of that the older Dixon brother wasn't the type of person to let things go. He wouldn't be happy until he killed each and every last person in Rick's group of survivors. Rick had taken the role of leader and it was his job to protect his own at all costs. The last thing he wanted to do was spill the blood of other survivors, but if he was left no choice it would end up being one easily made.

Finally, Rick broke the silence that clung to the kitchen air. "Maggie, Glenn, Daryl and myself will be keeping watch from the roof and second story windows. I want the rest of you down here with loaded guns. Keep an eye out for anything suspicious and let someone know if you happen to see something."

The group did as they were told and separated accordingly. Celeste closed an eye to peer through the cracks of wood boarding the window with the other. She couldn't see anything, no cars approaching, no headlights in the distance. But that still didn't mean they were safe. For all she knew, the men could be sneaking up on the other side of the house.

The thought made her shiver and made her mind race with possibilities of what they could do to them if they managed to get into the house and take it over. Would they kill all the men and keep the women for themselves? Or would they just slaughter everyone, dispose of the bodies and claim this house as their own safe haven? There were too many possibilities, all of them being options Celeste wanted nothing to do with. She didn't want to be capture, tortured, raped and killed. She wanted to live to see another day, wanted to survive encounters with walkers until they finally vanished magically from the face of the Earth. She wanted to live long enough to thrive in a repaired world and have a husband and children. She had always told herself she had plenty of time to achieve all she had dreamt of, but now her days seemed numbered. And with a group of angry men after them, she could have even fewer days left than she had hoped.

No one moved so much as an inch throughout the remainder of the night. Each survivor stayed glued to the window they were assigned to watch and stayed on full alert until they heard a set of footsteps coming down the stairs. They turned, one by one, to find Rick standing at the base of the staircase, his hands on his hips as he let out a tired sigh.

"The walkers might have taken care of them." He suggested as a possibility as to explain the uneventful night.

"Only Merle can kill Merle." Daryl reminded everyone as he came to a stop beside Rick.

Rick nodded but didn't verbally acknowledge what Daryl had said. "We need to keep on watch, regardless. My fear is that this place is no longer safe. If they know what we have and know where we are, there's a pretty good chance of them coming here. It may be tomorrow, it may be five weeks from now...either way, it's a chance I don't want to take."

"So what do we do?" Celeste asked. She felt so nauseous that it took everything she had in her to maintain her composure. They had come too close to death, again, and it was beginning to take its tole on her. How many close encounters could she stumble across before one of them finally claimed her life? Dying didn't scare her, it was how she was going to die that did.

"We figure out our next move. We stay on guard. We expect the unexpected." Everyone listened to Rick and followed what he said. They had come to depend on him as their leader, had come to respect his decisions though some times they may have felt otherwise. At the end of the day, everything Rick did was for the better of the group and they all knew it. They just had to trust him. It was all he ever asked for.

They had lowered their guard only slightly. There were still people armed and ready at each window on the second floor, but the others were allowed to go about their day as normally as possible. It was a far cry from what a normal day would had consisted of before walkers posed a constant threat, but it was normal enough.

Celeste was in the kitchen, preparing a can of beans to bring upstairs to Daryl. He had been up there almost the entire day and had never once emerged from his room. She had no doubt he was starving. Come to think of it, he hadn't had anything to drink, either. She walked across the kitchen floor with a bowl of beans in her hand and grabbed an unopened water bottle from the table. It was warm, but it was still water. None of them were in any position to complain about the temperature of the water. At this point they were lucky to have any at all.

She smiled at the other survivors as she walked by, making her way up the stairs and towards the room Daryl had been in charge of keeping an eye from. She was sure that he would be fast asleep when she walked in, after all he hadn't slept yet and it was already well past noon. Could he really sit at a windowsill without falling asleep for so many hours?

It wasn't until she opened the door that she realized he could. He was up against the window, leaning on one knee as his gun pointed out into the field beyond the fence of the house. She paused for a moment before she closed the door behind her with the base of her foot.

"If you're here to bother me I suggest you get the hell out of here." He warned, never once taking his eyes away from the horizon.

"Actually, I came to give you some food and water since you haven't eaten for hours and you're not a robot. You know, the whole 'requiring this stuff to live' thing and all." She rolled her eyes as he glanced over his shoulder at her.

His body relaxed slightly, but his hands never moved from the gun. "I guess I've been a little busy with making sure we're not ambushed to care for...what is that? Beans?" He wrinkled his nose at the smell of them. He had eaten them so much since the world had gone to hell that he knew for certain the world would be a much better place if beans had ceased to exist. Of course, that meant they would have a significant shortage of food, but at this point it was something he wouldn't mind. For the time being, at least. Anything to vanish them from his sight for awhile.

"Oh, I'm sorry, did you want me to go pick up Italian food from the restaurant down the street? Right, excuse me for a few moments while I place a takeout order." She couldn't help but roll her eyes again.

She knew he hated eating beans, hell, they all did by now. But at the end of the day, none of them were privileged enough to live the life they were living several months ago. Even the smell of beans was enough to make a few of them gag. They were well aware of the fact that if they didn't eat it they didn't eat anything at all. It was pretty much: shut up and eat the beans or die. Needless to say, all of them had chosen the option of shutting their mouths and eating the canned beans.

"I have to keep watch." He reminded her, turning back to face the open window.

"Glenn and Rick are at the windows of either side of us. I told them I was bringing you food, they're going to cover for you until I tell them you're done eating." She paused for a second. "Just don't be an asshole and take three hours to eat. They still need your eyes out there."

Daryl wasn't an idiot but she figured she'd warn him regardless. He did a quick look on the horizon to make sure there were no oncoming vehicles or bodies before he finally stood his sniper rifle against the window. He got to his feet and stretched as he walked towards Celeste, taking the bottle of water from her hands. He silently rejoiced as the water poured down his throat, quenching a thirst he had been to proud to ask for assistance with.

He had nearly finished the entire bottle when he finally tore it away from his lips and screwed the lid back on. "Put down the beans." He told her.

She laughed under her breath. "Yes, master. What else would you like me to do for you?" She placed the bowl down on the table beside the bed and bowed her head in a mocking fashion. "Will that be all my Lord requires of me?" She knew he hated when she was so sarcastic with him, but the truth was, a small part of her enjoyed frustrating him. She loved getting under his skin as much as she loved being underneath him.

"Take off your clothes." He told her simply.

She had been expecting a smart ass remark from him. Instead, he had said that. She nearly choked on her own tongue. "What?"

"Take. Off. Your. Clothes." He said it slower this time, as if certain she hadn't comprehended what he said the first time.

She placed a hand on her hip and scoffed under her breath. "Why don't you come here and make me, Dixon?"

Before she could get another comment in, Daryl closed the space between them. He tossed the water bottle onto the bed and grabbed a hold of Celeste, pulling her face into his. His lips found hers and it wasn't long before his tongue had found a way into her mouth.

She didn't resist, didn't fight. There was no use. Her body was constantly aching for his touch, her his tongue and for him to be inside of her. She's learned to restrain herself whenever they were around the others, but when they' were alone, all bets are off. It was hard not to kiss him, forget about how hard it was to prevent herself from jumping on him.

His hands tore feverishly at her clothes in an attempt to rid her of them. He didn't have time to take it slow and make it romantic. She deserved to be romanced, he knew it, but with this new world they had found themselves stranded in, there wasn't time for it. If they managed to find a cure and make it out of this alive, he would give her whatever she desired in life. All the flowers, all the presents, anything she wanted. But for now, all he could give her was himself.

He reached down to unbuckle the front of her jean shorts, pulling them down to her feet the moment the zipper was undone. He brought her underwear down with them, desperate not to waste any time. He pushed her back so she fell onto the bed, propping herself up with her elbows as she watched him unbuckle his own pants.

When they were undone enough for him to slide them down his legs, he did so without hesitation. He leaned over the bed, placing a knee on either side of her as he leaned forward and found her mouth once again. He slid his tongue into her while his fingers explored lower down her torso. Her back arched and a moan slid into his mouth the moment he slipped a finger inside of her. He growled in his throat when he realized just how wet she was. He had barely touched her and yet, here she was, ready to take him into her.

He felt the warmth of her wrapped around his finger as he slipped another one into her, thrusting it in and out, drawing more moans from her lips. He loved the noises she made. Whenever he was doing something that made her make those moans and bite her lip he never wanted to stop. If he could close his eyes and die listening to her sounds he would die a happier man than he could have ever imagined. Never in his wildest dreams could he have ever imagined having sex with a woman like Celeste. It drove him crazy to know that she was his, even if it had taken this long for her to find him.

Her body thrashed underneath his as he continued to penetrate her with his fingers. She felt herself on the edge of an orgasm and bit down gently on his shoulder as if to prevent herself from making too much noise. He heard her moans intensify and could feel her tighten around his fingers. He continued to thrust them into her, rubbing her clit with his thumb the whole time. He whispered into her ear to push her over the edge.

"Come for me, Celeste. I want to feel you come all over my fingers." He urged her in a rugged voice. He didn't have to tell her twice. Just hearing him say it was enough to send her body convulsing around him. She arched her back, her eyes shut as she rode the orgasm for as long as she could take it.

She barely had time to recover from the shattering feeling when he slipped effortlessly into her. She shut her eyes even tighter, biting her lip to try and prevent herself from screaming loud enough to be heard. The last thing they needed was Rick or Glenn bursting into the room to catch them getting it on. She knew that and yet it was still nearly impossible to keep quiet.

She hadn't had many lovers in her old life. Actually, she only hand a handful of them, and nearly all of them had been men she was in a serious relationship with. She was sure she had felt everything there was to feel when she was in bed with them, yet being with Daryl had managed to show her all she was missing. None of her past lovers could leave her knees shaking with a simple glance. None of them could make her forget about every insecurity she had about her body long enough so she could completely let go. Only Daryl could do that to her.

She felt him slide into her and moved with his body once his pace quickened. She knew exactly what was happened and she couldn't care less. They had nearly died and could be on the verge of an ambush. Daryl needed to feel alive, to be reminded of all they were fighting for. And she was the perfect reminder.

When he was with her, inside of her, all he wanted to do was live through this nightmare in hopes of creating a future for the two of them. They didn't have to find a nice house in the suburbs to settle into, to get married and have a couple of children running around them, but he wanted something with her. Even if it meant her finding love with someone else and going her own way, he wanted to at least know she was happy. If she couldn't have that with him, he would gladly step aside so she could have it with someone else. As long as she got everything she had ever deserved, he would be happy. Even if it wasn't with him.

He gritted his teeth as he continued to thrust into her. The way she tightened around him, how wet she was, it was enough to drive him mad within seconds. He knew he wouldn't be able to hold off much longer, not with the noises she was making in his ear.

He felt her body tense around him again and knew she was on the brink of another orgasm. He kept himself steady, told himself to hold on just a little bit longer. But once he felt her convulse around him, he knew it was no use.

With a heavy groan, Daryl buried his head in Celeste's hair as he felt himself explode inside of her.

Once she had stopped tensing around him and he had finished filling her with him, he pulled away, looking down at her as she lay underneath him. Her lips were swollen, her eyes were heavy with lust, and her breasts moved up and down frantically as she tried to catch her breath. Perfect. She was perfection in the midst of a disaster that had consumed the world around them.

He leaned down and planted another kiss on her lips before finally tearing himself away from her. She watched him as he got to his feet and fumbled to put his pants back on.

"You'd better eat your crappy beans. You might need your strength for later."

Whether it was for another encounter with her or to be prepared for an oncoming attack, Daryl didn't know. All he knew was that he had better not take any chances and shut up and eat his canned beans.

Thanks again for reading, guys! I really appreciate it!