Well folks, I can't believe it, but I have another chapter for you all. Three chapters in a week! I'm pretty proud of myself, and I have to thank my muse for being so forthcoming with her ideas. Hopefully I'll be able to keep things moving at this pace for a while!

So, I left you all with a bit of a cliffhanger last time, and I hope you all like the surprise twist I threw into this chapter. I had planned this little bit from the beginning, though not everything was set in stone. Hopefully I was able to deliver my vision properly.

Anyway, this chapter is a little shorter than the last ones, but I felt that this was a good stopping point. Let me know what you all think!

Thanks to all my new followers. I think I got more new people with the last chapter than any other, so thank you all so much!

Snowbird: Thank you for another wonderful review. Your words make me feel so good, and they definitely have helped me get these last couple chapters up so quickly. I'm glad that you liked how I handled the Bethyl situation, and that I didn't disappoint. The situation with 'the dairy' is far from over, though you may be surprised by what transpires in this chapter. I look forward to hearing what you think. Thanks again!

I also want to say thank you to jeanf. She has been an incredibly loyal reviewer, and her comments have helped me keep this story on track. So, thanks jeanf!

Oh, I don't own The Walking Dead, or any of the familiar people, places and things. Those belong to AMC and their original creatures. I do own my original characters, and ideas. I am only doing this for entertainment, and I am not making any money on this story.

Okay, now that I have gotten all that out, enjoy chapter twelve, and let me know what you think! Thanks for reading!

Chapter Twelve

Rick sat with Carl in the library, trying yet again to play a game of chess. Carl had taken an interest in the game right before Rick got shot, and they had learned how to play together then, but the years in between had left them both a little rusty.

They had gone out and checked the snares that morning, but came home empty handed yet again. Though they hadn't seen any walkers in the last few days, their traps were almost always ravaged by the ever hungry creatures. After that they had hauled water and boiled it for their drinking water, though Carl couldn't understand why they weren't just boiling the shower water. Rick didn't really have an answer for his son, and he simply told him that they needed to follow the instructions of their host. They had also made the repairs to the rope ladder, and cleaned house a bit. Cleaning wasn't something that either of them were very good at though, so they gave up on that task fairly quickly.

Now it was late afternoon, and they had played three games of chess in the last two hours. Now that they were on to their fourth game Rick was beginning to feel antsy. He was worried about both pairs that had left that morning and wished that the pairings had been different. Actually he wished that both Michonne and Beth had just stayed at the safety of the treehouse, but he had seen that he was fighting a losing battle the night before. He just hoped that Daryl and Emma would be able to care for their charges.

Emma had led them all out the first three days, and taught them how to avoid her snares and fall traps, so they didn't get hurt while they made their search. At first Rick had thought it was odd how many traps the woman had set up, and that she had them camouflaged from human eyes, but after she explained about her previous experiences with people coming into her area, he had understood, even if he didn't completely agree. He was impressed that a single woman had made it on her own for so long, and she didn't have to tell him what exactly happened to her when Joe came through with his old leader. It didn't take a great deal of imagination to know it hadn't been good for her.

After the first three days she had let them make up their own search parties and had then gone out on her own. She always came home with fresh meat, and he knew she was keeping her eyes open for signs of their people, even if she wasn't actively searching for them. Most of the time he went out with Daryl and Carl, while he left Beth in charge of Michonne. He knew that Beth had grown tired of her duty, but he only left her behind because he worried for her safety. Especially after what he had learned happened to her after she was taken from Daryl. He didn't want anything like that to happen again.

As soon as the two pairs had left that morning he had felt a nagging worry start up in the pit of his stomach. He had been able to ignore it for most of the day, but as the sun sank lower the feeling kept growing stronger and he could no longer push it aside. He was hardly paying attention to their game anymore, and when Carl groaned as Rick moved into checkmate after only six moves, he knew it was time to quit.

"Sorry Carl, I think it's time to quit. I want to go have a little look around outside. See if I can find anybody out there before it gets dark."

Carl looked up at him with eyes that were far too old for his face, "Dad, it's not going to be dark for a few hours. The sun hasn't even gone down. What are you worried about?"

Rick knew he was probably being overly protective of the remaining members of the group, and he knew that he never would have acted like this before they lost the prison, but it all seemed so much more important now. "I don't know, Carl. I just have a bad feeling, and I want to make sure everyone is okay."

Carl nodded and started putting the chess set away. "Okay Dad, let's go have a look around."

Rick looked down at his son, and felt his heart swell with pride. He also knew that he couldn't take Carl with him, so he tried to explain it. "Carl, I need you to stay here and watch the house. If anything happened out there, I need you to protect our home base."

Carl rolled his eyes, "Dad, I know you're back to trying to protect me, but you need to stop worrying so much. I've made it this far, and I'm going to make it a lot farther, but you have to start trusting me."

Rick stared at his son, and not for the first time, he realized that he was right. He really did have to start trusting him more. He wasn't the child he was when this all started. He had, in fact, grown into more of a man than Rick had been when he was born. Finally he nodded, "Okay then. Let's go have a look. We won't go more than half a mile though."

Carl hopped up, and strapped his holster on as they headed for the window. As Rick looked down at the long shadows on the ground, he could only hope that his feeling was wrong, and that everybody would be home safe before nightfall.

Beth was tiring quickly and was hoping that Daryl would notice and relieve her of the duty of dragging the enormous buck back to camp. They had been taking turns for the last three hours, and every time it was her turn she felt like she couldn't make it any further. At this point she almost wished it was just the two of them still so she could ask him to set up camp and be done with the chore. That wasn't how it was though, and she knew that they had at least another mile before they would be done dragging the beast through the forest.

A moment later Daryl raised his hand, calling for a halt. Beth would have been relieved, but she knew that if he was going to take the buck he would have told her so. The silent gesture meant that he had seen or heard something that worried him, so she immediately dropped her hold on the large animal, and pulled the buck knife from her belt. She watched as Daryl scanned the area, his bow held at the ready, and she felt her heart begin to hammer in her chest. Even after all this time, the walkers scared her, and she always felt the anxiety crank up when she couldn't' see where the threat was coming from. That night in the trunk with Daryl had been one of the most frightening in her life, and she would never forget it. All those walkers slamming into the car, and trying to get at them inside, and she couldn't see any of them.

She looked around her as well, and within a moment the small herd broke through the trees and into her sight line. She reached her hand out, pointing at the oncoming danger. "Daryl!" she harshly whispered, trying to show him where they were.

He instantly saw them coming, and let his first arrow fly. Almost as soon as that one hit his target he had another arrow loaded into his bow, but Beth could see that the numbers of the herd were growing, and she didn't think they stood a chance. There were at least 20 half-starved walkers heading their way, and without a place to hide she didn't know what they were going to do.

She jumped forward, and tugged on Daryl's sleeve. "We need to run." She was instantly ready to plead when she saw that he didn't budge from his spot. Instead he just continued to methodically shoot his bow. He was taking them down quickly, but they were getting closer even faster. She tried again, this time laying her hand on his shoulder and pulling him backwards, as he reloaded his bow. "Daryl! We need to go now! We can't take them!" She knew her voice was shrill and loud, but at that moment she didn't care. The walkers already knew where they were, so she didn't know why she should worry about it anymore.

Daryl jerked his shoulder from under her hand, and practically snarled his words at her, "I ain't losin' another nice buck to those rabid fucks. We can take 'em."

Beth felt panic envelop her at his words, and she started shaking. What had come over him? He had never acted like this about food while it was just the two of them. She tried to get herself under control, but when she saw how close the walkers had gotten – less than ten feet away now – she could hardly keep herself from turning tail and leaving Daryl behind.

For some reason that thought struck her in a weird way, and she almost completely forgot what was going on around her. Just a few hours ago she had believed she was madly in love with Daryl, and she would have happily stood at his side while they fought to the death, but now she was considering leaving him behind to save her own skin. When she realized what that meant she felt ashamed. It didn't matter if they were in love or not, she needed to stand at his side.

With that realization she got her fear under control, and it wasn't a moment too soon. Daryl had resorted to bashing the walkers in the head with his bow, and he was about to get bitten by one that had made its way around his side. She raced forward, and plunged her blade into its rotten scull. The feeling of her blade going through the softened bone never failed to make her stomach churn, but she ignored the feeling and continued to stab walkers as they got close enough.

She knew that they were about to be overrun, and she couldn't help the feeling of despair she had in her heart at that moment. It seemed cruel that they would find each other again, and find a sanctuary, only to die together in the forest. If they were going to go out like that then it should have happened the day after the Governor attacked. It would have at least saved them a lot of heartache in the interim.

The horde had been thinned to only about ten, but they were winded, and she could see that Daryl was regretting their valiant stand by the look on his face. She was ready to give up in that moment, but then there was a gunshot, and the walker closest to her dropped to the ground. She didn't have time to look in the direction the bullet came from, but all of her strength returned to her, and she began fighting like a mad woman.

Her blade plunged into three more sculls before all the writing bodies had gone still, and then she fell into Daryl's arms. She was simply thankful that they had survived another dire situation, and she couldn't fathom being parted from his side right then. Then she heard footsteps making their way towards them, and she pulled away slightly. The two people walking in front didn't surprise her all that much, but the ones that followed them were absolutely shocking.

Rick felt his heart jump into his throat when he heard the gunshots ringing a short distance off to the north. He knew it wasn't Beth or Daryl, because he had unhappily noted that neither one of them was carrying a gun. That meant there were only two possibilities so far as he could tell. Either Emma and Michonne had headed north on their way back for some strange reason, or there were other people in the area. While it was possible that the unknown people were other survivors from the prison he couldn't imagine why they would be shooting… Unless they were in trouble.

He realized that it didn't really matter who was shooting the gun, there was obviously trouble out there, and he needed to get to it as quickly as possible. He didn't even have to say a word to Carl, they both knew what needed to be done. Less than a second later they were racing through the woods, their guns drawn and aimed in front of them.

It took them a few minutes to get to the source of the sounds, and by the time they arrived the gunfire had stopped. When the silence had reached his ears he didn't want to think about what it could mean. He just hoped that whoever was in danger had survived the fight. They were close to where he thought the sound originated from when a walker came shambling toward them. He didn't even pause his stride as he shot the reeking being in the face.

A moment later they entered a clearing, and found the source of the gunshots. There were five people with their backs to him, and then he spotted Daryl with his arm around Beth's waist on the far side of the group. He immediately saw that there wasn't much tension in Daryl's frame, and Beth had a wide smile and teary eyes. Seeing that they were both alright, and that neither of the seemed concerned by the other group took a weight off his shoulders, and he took a moment to look more closely at the people with their backs to him. Suddenly he once again felt his heart hammering in his chest. He immediately recognized Michonne and Emma who stood at the front of the little group. Though Michonne still had her back to him, he could see a smugness in her posture, and it made him want to grin. Emma had been right that she was ready to go out, and he was greatly relieved to see that she was alright.

He then began to look at the other three people, but he didn't get very far before Carl started racing forward. "Carl!" Rick yelled. Though he thought the situation seemed safe, he wasn't ready for his son to go racing into the middle of it.

The sound of his voice made everyone turn his way, and he suddenly understood what Carl had already realized. Though one of the large men was unfamiliar to him, the other two faces belonged to people he would never forget. Standing before him were Tyreese and Carol.

He stood stock still for a long moment, and then he followed Carl's lead, breaking into a run to close the short distance between himself and his lost family. As he moved forward he felt his face break into a grin that was so wide it almost hurt.

He got to Tyreese first, and wrapped him in a tight hug. "You made it! Thank God!"

Tyreese smiled at him, and pointed at Carol, "We wouldn't have made it very far without her." Rick instantly felt the weight of leadership hit him as he realized just who the two returned members of his group were. Tyreese had said he would kill whoever hurt Karen, and now he was traveling with her. He simply didn't know what to make of it, and could only hope that if Tyreese ever found out what really happened to Karen he would be able to forgive Carol.

Then the other part of what the large man had said sunk into his mind and he looked up at him inquisitively, "We?"

Tyreese didn't get the chance to answer the question, because at that moment a familiar wail rose from his back. Rick felt his body go limp, and his knees abruptly met with the thankfully soft ground beneath him. He saw Tyreese grin down at him, and then Carol was helping him pull the large pack off of his back, and Carl was standing at Rick's side, his hand painfully gripping his shoulder.

When Carol handed Judith to Rick, he could hardly see her due to the tears that were filling his eyes. He had known that his daughter was dead. He had accepted it and moved on, but now here she was looking up at him with her big eyes, and he couldn't handle all the emotions that filled him. It felt like the moment he learned Lori was dead, except it was in reverse. Now, instead of losing something, he had gotten something back. Someone back.

In spite of the tears that filled his eyes he was able to see Carl hovering over him, and he could feel him carefully touching his sister. Rick understood that his son was as filled with disbelief as he was, and he was thankful that he wasn't the only one having trouble understanding what was happening.

He was pulled from his thoughts by Tyreese's deep voice. "The walkers were almost on top of her when I found her. I don't know what made me go back that way, but I think God was lookin' out for your little girl that day."

Rick found his voice that moment, and turned his tear stained face up to his daughter's savior. "Thank you Tyreese. I don't know how I could ever repay you for this."

Tyreese smiled down at him. "You don't owe me nothin'. You would have done the same for me if I was in your place."

Rick nodded, and shifted Judith so he could hold her with just one arm, so he could wipe the tears from his face. He felt Carl wrap a hand around his arm and help him up as he struggled to get his feet back under him. Once he was upright and he could see more clearly, he reached a finger out to Judith, who immediately grabbed it and shoved it into her mouth to chew on.

Carol walked to his side, and gave him a small smile. "She's teething and she'll chew on anything you put in front of her." She reached out and lovingly smoothed the young child's hair. "She's happy to have her daddy back, I can tell."

Rick could only manage to nod his head, but Carl was doing a better job of keeping himself together, in spite of his tear streaked face. "How did you guys find us? Have you seen anybody else?" Carl's voice was breathless when he asked his questions.

Carol squeezed Carl's shoulder and shook her head, with a wide smile on her face. "I think we better get out of the area before more walkers show up. Then once we're safe we can talk about everything."

At that moment Rick notice Emma walking towards them, her face unreadable. "She's right, we need to get back to camp. We'll probably have a herd on their way through here by dark." After she had said her short speech she started off in the direction of home without a backwards glance.

Rick had grown accustomed to her mannerisms over the past week, but he thought she was acting odd, even for her. He decided to ignore it, and instead he took the helm of leadership once more. "Is everyone alright? Was anyone bitten?"

Everyone answered affirmatively to his question regarding their wellbeing, but Daryl called out before Rick could set them on their way. "We got a big ass buck o'er here, and we could use some help with it."

Tyreese promptly headed toward Daryl, with the other large man in tow. Rick didn't know who this new person was, and that made him lightly edgy, but he decided to push the feeling aside until he could meet the young man.

Once Tyreese and the other man had gotten the deer slung between them, they all headed out. Rick was surprised to see Emma waiting for them 100 yards off, but as soon as she saw that they were headed her way, she set off at a brisk pace. He had no idea what had caused her to behave so oddly, but he intended to find out.

Thanks for reading! I hope you liked it!