Going into this chapter there are various time jumps, which are told by three dashes, which signify large jumps, and the two dashes signify smaller jumps. There are hints of how much time in each segment, but I just wanted to give a head ups. I have had this ending in my mind before I even started this story, and I'm quite taken with it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot

– – –

There's a funny thing about dying; some people fear it, yet there are some lucky few who embrace it. Funny as that might be to embrace death, to embrace the finality of the end. How brave you must be, just like her, but it wasn't the end she was embracing, not really. No, she was embrace the peace of it, that quiet goodnight, the softness there. That's why she was happy, that's why she wore a smile. She embraced death as an old friend, and was wrapped in peace like a blanket wraps a child, like this very blanket wraps you...

Light streamed in through the window, a soft cotton haze over the living room, and steam rolls up from the cup of "coffee" resting on the table beside the couch. Calling it coffee was too kind, but it did the job well enough. Greyson was wiggling, looking up with those big, blue eyes of his mother's, smiling for no other reason than to simply smile. Such a delicate new to this world smile filled the air with such unadulterated purity and genuine innocence—raw joy. There as nothing in this world that could compare to that smile. That damn, precious smile made getting out of bed so worth it.

Daryl had just finished changing his diaper, and he was now applying a bit of cream Denise had made to his bum, the cold ointment warming between his palms as he rubbed them together, the scent of herbs and perhaps lavender rising up to his nose as it always did when he used it. He looked down at Greyson with his white covered palms, soaking in his entire being and basking in the beauty there. There was the whole reason for all of it, that little smile that was what poets surely wrote about. Surely, how it not be? It was all the good and beautiful things in the world, right here wearing that smile and those eyes that reflected back at him a woman who he loved beyond this mortal coil.

He cleaned his hands now that Greyson was changed and pampered up, adjusting the pile of pillows for support on his back as he kicked his legs over the arm of the couch, making a little slouched seat on his thighs for Greyson. He set him carefully down and smiled at him.

"Good morning," he said as he always did to his son, who burbled at him and reached for him with both hands. He happily clasped both little hands in each of his hands and chuckled, releasing a sorrowful sigh. "Baby boy..."

I wish I could say it all happened for the best. I wish I could say it all made sens now, that it was all okay and settled. The wounds no longer ached. That would be me lying. It hasn't settled. It's not okay. I wish every day she was here with you and with me, and I wish begging and pleading and screaming would work and bring her back to us, but I know it's not possible. It's just you and me. My brother always used to say that to me—it's just you and me—and it always felt like the most comforting thing in the world, but hearing it now...being the one to say that it, I know now how bitter and awful it felt on his tongue. It tasted of bad luck and rust and sour. "It's just you and me, Greyson, and that's okay. Well...maybe not "okay", but we'll make it okay. Every day we'll make it more and more better. We'll make the most of just "you and me", and you and me are going to be okay one day."

Greyson's little lips curled upward in another toothless, gummy smile, and Daryl felt a shudder course through him at those blue eyes shining up at him.

"Yeah, that's right." His voice broke as tears rolled down his cheeks. "We'll make every...single...day better. We ain't gonna be consumed by nothin'."

– – –

Maggie stood outside the home, the breeze brushing hair into her face, and she knew it was time to sit down with Enid for a new hair cut, but she hadn't had time with the planning for the future and her own future growing inside of it. Three months now, and this little bundle was making itself known to the world. She already had quite the bump on her, and Glenn couldn't keep his hands off it. Neither could Enid. It brought such joy to her heart. Her precious, ever growing family. She couldn't survive without them and the warmth they provided her. Hmmm.

"Out here again?" Michonne held Judith's hand as they walked through the streets together.

"Yeah." Maggie nodded, hands in her cardigan pocket, and she squinted at the sun hitting her eyes when she turned her head to meet Michonne's gaze. "Always gonna be out here till he shows up."

"He hasn't come out since that first week," Michonne commented. "Only Denise gets in."

"You never know." She shrugged. "That's my godson, and I'm gonna be here when Daryl's ready."

"You have your own baby to worry about."

"She's strong," Maggie commented, her gaze moving back to the house that belonged to Daryl, the house where he and Carol lived as man and wife. The house where they should be living as man and wife, father and mother, grandfather and grandmother, but the world was too cruel for that, wasn't it? "She'll be fine."

"She?" Michonne smirked. "You're sure it's a girl?"

"I can feel it." She pulled a hand out of her pocket and set it on her stomach, smiling softly. "She's...like Beth in a weird way. There's...this feeling of utter closeness and connection I felt with Beth that I feel with this baby, and it's not a mother-child bond. It's...more."

"All right." Michonne smiled. "I have my own children to catch up on, so if you'll excuse me Carl asked me to Section Eight."

"Ooh, be careful there. Jesus and Morgan were dealing with the mud holes last night."

"We'll be careful. Won't we, Judy?" She looked down at her daughter.

Judy nodded with balled fist. "Careful."

Maggie chuckled. "Okay, go get 'em, Ass Kicker."

"Ass Kicker." Judy was dead serious and then giggled at her own words. "Go, go, go!"

"All right, go, go, go." Michonne chuckled and picked Judith up on her back, adjusting her legs through her arms. "Off we go. Hold on tight!" She darted off towards Section Eight.

Maggie stroked her belly and looked over at the door, pressing her lips together and sighing softly at the lack of movement inside the house. Daryl hadn't come out since the first week of Greyson's birth. He didn't let anybody in but Denise for check ups. Sometimes Neva, but that was only if Denise couldn't make it. It was discouraging. They all worried for him and wanted him to be okay, but he kept himself locked away. Him and Greyson. They had no clue what that baby looked like anymore. It'd been a long three months, and they could only imagine how that precious bundle looked. And it would appear they would keep on imagining...

––

Daryl rocked a crying Greyson in his arms, rubbing his back and bobbing him up and down carefully, his muscles moving on their own as his feet paced back and forth along the length of the living room. He didn't know what had him so upset. He had fed him, burped him, changed him. He didn't have a fever or anything; he was healthy, but not so happy. Daryl didn't understand. What was it he wanted so badly?

He picked up the blanket from the couch and wrapped it around Greyson, and Greyson began to calm. He chuckled and leaned against the back of the couch. "I should've known." He stroked his cheek with the soft blanket. "Don't smell like her anymore, though, does it?"

Four months old today. Daryl had been keeping track with the calendar Carol had kept, and he was planning on celebrating that mark tonight. He had a lot of plans for it, and he knew Greyson would love all of them. It would be a big evening, but he would finally get to meet all of his family. He had heard their voices and seen their pictures for months now, but now it was time for introductions. It was long overdue.

"You got a godmama out there who's dyin' to meet you." He looked over at the window where he knew Maggie was. He sighed and stood up. "Why not meet her now, eh? You're...tough. You ain't gonna get sick or nothin'. You're strong, like your mama."

Greyson hiccuped and nuzzled his head into Daryl's chest.

Daryl opened the front door and stepped outside, Maggie instantly moved forward at the sight of movement, and they met halfway. Daryl smiled shyly at her, and Maggie covered her mouth with her hand as tears filled her eyes. Daryl adjusted Grey so she could see his entire face, and Maggie couldn't resist crying at that precious little boy in his arms. He was a heart thief for sure. He had beautiful dark blonde curls, the same sapphire eyes of his mother, the same light skin and gentle smile. He had hints of Tobin that showed through, like his nose and jaw. God, he was beautiful.

"Here." Daryl handed him over to her carefully, and the moment Greyson was out of his arms, he began to wail. "Oh, no, no." Daryl frowned, not understanding why he as crying. He was so good with Denise and Tara. Why was he upset?

"It's okay." Maggie soothed. "I'm your Aunt Maggie, Greyson. It's okay. I'm family, and God, do I love you. Precious boy."

Greyson began to calm as she spoke, snuffling and gasping for air as he looked up at her.

"Shh."

Daryl relaxed and smiled. "He knows your voice."

"'Course he does." Maggie stroked his soft, light hairs. "I talked to him all the time in the womb."

"Smart boy." Daryl kissed the top of his head when Maggie moved her hand.

"He is." She turned a glare on him. "And you're not. What the heck were you thinkin' these last four months? Lockin' yourself away? And him? Away from people who love and care about you and would have done anything and everything to help you through this trying time?"

Daryl frowned again. "I—It wasn't like that."

"Then how was it like? Why is this only the fifth time I'm holding him in his entire four months of life? Why has half the town never even seen him? Do you know how upset Francine is? Tobin was a good friend to her, and she wanted to meet Greyson, spoil him, and she hasn't even gotten to hold him. Ever. Not to mention how upset Rick and Michonne and everyone in our family is. We...all lost Carol, and it's been so hard to heal from her loss. It's worse than anything I've felt in a long time, because she was always there. This unwavering protective force was gone from us, and the precious bundle she left behind felt stolen away from us. We were so worried about Greyson and about you, because it felt like we lost all three of you. I couldn't handle that, so...I waited out here for even a glimpse of either of you." Her eyes softened, and her voice was thick. "Daryl, we love you, okay? We are always here for you. You never have to hide away from us. If you need space, you only have to ask, but please, don't lock yourself inside that house again. I don't think anyone can bear to see you in such pain that you...can't even function outside that house."

He smiled softly. "Mag, it wasn't entirely like that. The first couple of weeks? Yeah, I couldn't even get out of bed for myself. I...couldn't eat or think or breathe, but I had Greyson who needed me, and Denise was right there, too. She and Tara helped me through most of the pain, and...while I don't think I'm really breathing easier, I still am breathing. I know I worried a lot of you guys, but it wasn't like I shut out the world for three months just because. Carol and I...made plans for after his birth, and we wanted to wait until he was four months old before he took him. Just in case."

"You...oh." She blushed somewhat and adjusted Greyson. "You coulda had Denise tell us that!"

"My bad, that was crippling depression over the loss of my wife. I wasn't really thinkin' 'bout y'all."

She lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too." He spoke softly and sighed, sitting down on the steps to his house, running a hand through his hair. "I...I'm not okay, not by a long shot, but he needs me to be okay, so I'm tryin'. I really am."

"I know." She sat beside him, adjusting Greyson on her lap, and he played with her necklace, trying to chew on it.

Daryl leaned forward, pulling his legs up and shaking his head. "I don't know how people do it." His voice broke. "I...lost the best part of me, and...I don't like what's left, Maggie. She made this part of me bearable, because she was there to force me to see it was good, it was strong, but...now it's all dark. It's sharp edges, and she's not here to make it better, to make me better, and I don't know what that leaves of me. I...miss her more than air or food or sleep or...anything." He dragged his hands through his hair as tears streamed from his eyes, and he couldn't stop the weight crushing him to nothingness. "It hurts so much. How is this ever going to get better?"

Maggie set a hand on his shoulder and compressed it, hard to try and get him to focus on anything other than the emotional pain drowning him. "I know how that feels. I've lost my entire family to this world; I lost my baby to it, but I'm still here. I'm...happy and loved and okay with how things are. I've hated and cursed this world and the people in it, but it made me feel no better. It...pushed away the people who love me and wanted to aid me through all of the agony, and that wasn't okay. That hurt as much as the losses, but...I let them in. I gave myself another chance, and...it's not as simple as just saying it; it's difficult. It's an every day process, but eventually you can breathe again. You can...live again, and all the losses and all the pain are just ...a part of you. As irremovable as your lungs from your chest, but that's okay, too."

"How is it ever okay?" He looked at her.

"Because you have this beautiful being filled to the brim with Carol's love and soul. He...will keep her alive in this world with us, and you'll always be reminded of her spirit through him. It's not enough, but you didn't lose her entirely." She wrapped her arm around Greyson's stomach and placed her chin on the top of his head. "She's here, too."

He chuckled humorlessly and rubbed at his cheeks, exhaling. "You're right—it's not enough."

"I know, but...he's enough. More than enough." She smiled at him. "He's precious and sweet, and he loves you. He needs you."

He sniffed, looking down at his son in her lap. "I need him, too. Without him, there's no point to anything."

She smiled sorrowfully. "That's not true. There's always a point."

"Carol was the point," he confided. "After everyone we lost...after everyone who ever meant anything to me died...she was the point, the driving force that kept me sane and alive. She wasn't...supposed to go. She wasn't supposed to leave me..."

"I know you don't believe in God or Heaven, and it might not be a comfort, but I know God has her with Him. And there's no way she wasn't right here with you, always. Her soul...whatever is left of it that isn't in this baby boy is with you always. That's how much she loved you. It...extends beyond bodies and life." She removed her hand. "Come with me."

"Where?"

"You know where." She stood up and supported Greyson from underneath his legs, extending her hand out to help Daryl stand.

He swallowed and accepted her hand, standing up, and she smiled at him. For a moment he saw Beth in that smile, and his chest ached at all that little girl hoped and loved and believed. She tried to show it all to him, but he wouldn't have it. He wouldn't make that mistake twice. Whatever Maggie wanted to show him, he would more than see it; he would experience it and take it to heart. He owed that to Carol and to Beth. He owed it to himself and to his son.

Maggie took him home. Everyone in their family was waiting on them—Glenn had spotted them outside on the porch and rounded everyone up—and everyone took a part of Daryl's pain as their own. Michonne embraced him and kissed his cheeks, giving him a teary smile and a look in those dark eyes that spoke more love and acceptance than he felt he deserved. Rick hugged him tightly, not letting go when it went beyond embarrassing and made Daryl feel like he was ten years old. He couldn't keep the tears from his eyes and fell to his knees when Rick finally released him. Glenn and Sasha went to him, Glenn set a hand on his shoulder then wrapped it around his shoulder and sideways hugged him as he wailed, and Sasha wrapped her arms around him from behind. Rosita moved to his other side and set a hand over his on the floor, and Enid dropped in front of him, hugging him and letting him cry into her shoulder. His sobs were so powerful they took the four of them who wrapped around him like a blanket of affection and comfort and acceptance to sooth him. It was warm there and forgiving, and Daryl wasn't crying for the emptiness in his soul; he was...mourning. He was...letting go for the first time since Carol's eyes shut. He...was moving forward, and it wasn't cold. It wasn't terrifying. It wasn't...isolated; it was fervent and hopeful and...home. It was family and beautiful, and he...he deserved it. He did. He deserved it. He told himself so over and over as the darkness tried to take him away from that truth. Carol had told him he was worthy and deserved love and forgiveness their entire relationship, fuck the darkness that tried to take that away. He wouldn't let it. He never would let it again.

Once Daryl had calmed down to sputtering gasps and hiccups, Eric gently adjusted him on the couch and hung his head, covering his eyes with a warm washcloth and stroking his hair like he did with Eli when she was upset. Daryl soon was able to breathe and the swelling in his eyes from his tears reduced, and Eric smiled at him when he removed the cloth.

The first thing he saw beyond that was Greyson playing with Judith and Eli, Enid and Maggie and Michonne were with them, Aaron was taking some pictures, and Carl brought down some toys from his room that Greyson could play with that weren't chewed on dolls—Eli's doing. She liked to chew things, Aaron and Eric had discovered, and they were looking into getting her something healthy to chew on. Abraham and Eugene were currently on a run, and Abe had promised to look for something for the girl. Sasha guilted him into it, but they'd take it.

"He's beautiful," Rick sat beside Daryl on the couch. "He looks just like her."

"He does," Daryl found himself saying, though he didn't recognize his own voice. It was strained and raw, sounding almost like sandpaper being scratched.

"Judy and Eli already adore their new playmate," Eric commented, folding the towel.

Daryl smiled a little. "Good. He...needs some friends."

Glenn and Carl were trying to get Greyson to play with the less damaged toys, and Greyson looked overwhelmed by all the options. Carl sat down beside Greyson and placed his toy by his feet, and Glenn just held back to wash him look at it and reach for it in intrigue. Aaron didn't miss taking a photo of Glenn lovingly observing the boy while Maggie laced her fingers together around his forearm, leaning against his shoulder to look on at their beautiful godson.

"Excuse me." Eric joined the group of babies and adults when Eli started to grab Greyson by the face. He wasn't worried she'd hurt him, but he was curious, so was Eli apparently. "Easy."

Eli wasn't used to this new face, and they watched as she brought Greyson's face closer, eyes so serious and trained on his face, and she blew a spit bubble at him. Greyson could only blink, and Eli giggled. She let him go and fell back laughing into Enid's thigh, Judith looked up at the noise, and Greyson's little face went pink as he began to cry.

"Hey, it's okay." Glenn scooped him up, standing up and rubbing his back. "It's all good, Grey." He smiled at him and could have sworn Carol was looking back at him as he began to calm. He swallowed hard and held him closer. I miss you, he thought to himself as he did so, closing his eyes. And I'll protect your son to my dying breath, I swear to you. I swear to you, Carol.

"Greyson!" came Francine's voice...

– – –

It had been five weeks since that lovely day where healing truly began for the entire family, Maggie would often be found playing outside with Greyson on the porch, and Daryl would be sitting on the railing, seen fiddling with some small, shiny object as he swung his leg over the railing. Michonne and Rick would drop by to check in on baby and dad weekly, Glenn and Enid would take Greyson out to see the new sections they were building, and Sasha would tell Greyson of the effort they were putting into building Section Eight and Five. Francine would explain the mistake of building Eight instead of Four, so they had to go with the original name instead of having it make any sense. Aaron and Eric would show Eli and Grey around the already built town, introducing them to the newcomers that Rosita and Maggie showed the ropes. Everyone would flock to the babies, as if they had never seen one before, and it made them relax to see life flourishing here. It became a part of their routine when showing around newcomers. Judith joined them when Abe found and repaired a stroller that could carry four toddlers. Hell, it could fit Enid, and she sometimes rode around with them jokingly when Carl didn't preoccupy her time—well, Carl and her duties.

Carl and Enid came running by with a few other new kids to play soccer in the new field Glenn and Francine had prepared, Rosita was sitting on the porch of Maggie and Glenn's house with Greyson asleep in the car seat beside her in the shade with some Eugene-rigged fan on him so he didn't overheat and Sasha was walking by with Spencer. Sasha stopped and handed her gun over to him to put back and joined Rosita and the baby.

"You look glum." She sat down and set a hand on Grey's cheeks to be sure he wasn't overheating. The shade and fan were doing the trick so far, but it was summer in Georgia, so better safe than sorry.

"I have a good reason to be." She exhaled. "He's good. I'm keeping an eye on him."

"I know. I just...haven't spent a lot of time with him. I'm on the wall pretty much every day. I need some Greyson time, too." She smirked and gently rocked the car seat.

"He's...like a lump." Rosita exhaled. "I don't get how people want one of him."

"I wouldn't mind having one of him," Sasha stated. "One of these days, but not now. I...have too many responsibilities to worry about a child."

"You and Abe?" She scoffed. "Better hope it doesn't get any of his looks."

Sasha didn't let that bug her. "Alexandria is a home where people can settle down and have families. We...are a safe haven, and it's okay to be human and resume life here. That's the entire purpose of this town. Home and security and the future. It's a new realm of possibilities. Don't sneer at someone's hope and future."

"I'm not sneering." The growl in her words nearly bit Sasha right in the face.

"What crawled up your butt and died?" Sasha demanded. "You're not usually this bitter, but you're making an extra effort today, so why? Is it because of me? Or me and Abe? Because I thought you made peace with that."

"I did, and this has nothing to do with either of you. This is my life being a fucked up disaster where nothing is fair or makes any kind of sense, because I am a fuck up!" She snapped and instantly regretted it, because it woke Greyson and he began to wail at the sharp hiss in her words. "Look at what you made me do." She picked him up out of the car seat and cradled him, standing to rock him with her steps.

"I didn't make you do anything, but...I am worried." Sasha was on her feet and gently grasped her arm. "What happened? You're clearly not okay."

Rosita didn't answer, just hugged baby Grey closer and kissed his forehead. He smelled so good. He was little angelic ball of innocent energy and trust, and it broke her heart that someone could come and ruin that part of him. She couldn't stand to let that happen. This world was so dark and messed up, and she couldn't stand to let him suffer as they had suffered, but it would happen. That's just how this world was with all things, and she couldn't bear to let that happen to...

"Rosita..." Sasha saw tears in her eyes, and she exhaled softly. "You're pregnant, aren't you?"

Rosita rolled her eyes and released a shaky breath. "Yeah, okay, I am."

"...when did you...? Who did you...?" She couldn't collect her thoughts. "Do you even want to talk about it?"

"No." She messed with Greyson's curls. "Yes. Maybe." She tilted her head back and laughed. "I don't even know. God, I'm a mess."

"Who's the father?"

"Eugene." Rosita snorted at Sasha's wide-eyed, open-mouthed, disbelieving expression and busted out laughing genuinely for the first time in far too long. She had to put Greyson down in his car seat and hold her stomach to keep her balance. She lowered herself down to her knees and looked up at Sasha when the laughter subsided. "I needed that. Your face... priceless."

"Well, at least you're laughing." She sat in front of her. "Seriously, Rosita, who?"

"Spencer." She adjusted the fan's neck to reach Greyson's face and peeked at Sasha. "I've been sleeping with him on and off since Abraham and I broke up, and I ended it, but apparently not soon enough."

"How long ago did you end it?"

"When Greyson was on his way was the last time. We made a gift basket for Carol, and we fucked around afterwards. I... It was more of a comfort thing than anything, and I don't regret it. We both needed to feel...something other than drowning in our own misery."

"Rosita, that was five months ago." Sasha frowned. "Is the baby okay? Are you okay?"

"I dunno. I... I wanted to talk to Neva, but I just stole some prenatal pills instead."

"Rosita, you've been on patrol and on the wall and out on runs since then. Why didn't you tell anybody?"

"Maybe I didn't want the baby," she whispered.

"That's bullshit!" She grabbed her arm and Rosita gasped as she jerked her arm hard. "You don't get to be selfish with this! This isn't about just you anymore, damn it. This is about that baby, too!"

"This world will ruin this baby, like it ruins everyone."

"We're making it so the world out there won't touch the lives were building in here. Can't you see that? Can't you...understand all the good we've done? All that we've overcome to keep this place safe and to keep it going?"

"So another Pentaghast or Wolf can come and take it? Another Gareth? Or—or Negan?"

"If they try, we'll stop them. We'll stop anyone who tries to knock our walls down." Sasha pulled her onto her feet. "You have people who care about you and don't want you to be in pain or see all the darkness all the time. You have Tara and Denise and Eugene. You have me!"

"We fucked the same guy. We have nothing more in common."

"We're family," Sasha retorted. "Like it or not, we are family, and I care about you. You deserve to be happy again, and I won't let you throw yourself away. Or this baby. I've been where you are now, and I won't let you...suffer through this alone. You and I will get through this together, and I don't care if you don't want me involved. I am, and I am not going anywhere. I don't run away anymore. Neither will you."

"I'm not running," Rosita weakly replied. "I don't have the energy for even that."

"Come with me." She picked up the car seat and guided Rosita towards the clinic, Rosita didn't fight, and she let go of her arm to hold her waist to keep her moving. She knew her brother would be this compassionate, and she wouldn't let such compassion die with him. She found renewed strength in this world, and the best parts of the old world, the best parts of people like her brother, would live on in her actions. There would be no more endings, only new beginnings, and she would work with Rosita to see that, too. She was still struggling, but she owed it to the good souls who were lost too soon to try every day to see that.

Denise took Greyson from his car seat and played with him now that he was awake and full of energy, Neva was in the middle of a checkup with Judith and Michonne. Judith was growing into a healthy, strong little lady, and Neva was so happy to see that during their checkup. Such a beautiful girl!

"Okay, we're done." Neva smiled at the child and mother. "She's...perfect. She's a good weight and height. She's learning and growing so fast."

Michonne smiled. "She is. Soon she'll be in school with the other kids."

"Making good grades, I hope."

Judith just shrugged and tried to jump off the gurney, Michonne caught her and set her on the ground and Judith ran over to Rosita and Sasha, smiling and dashing by to play with Denise and Greyson. Michonne chuckled and went after her, knowing whatever was going on with Sasha and Rosita wasn't her business, and Neva greeted them.

"What's wrong today?" Neva looked over Rosita. "Flu? Heat stroke?"

"Pregnancy." Sasha sat her down on the gurney. "Five months."

"Oh." Neva blinked. "I... Uh, congratulations. Let me get...uh, the necessary things."

Rosita lied down and sighed. "Don't."

Neva stopped. "I have to be sure the baby is healthy, Rosita."

"No, don't...congratulate me."

Sasha shook her head, and Neva nodded, returning to finding the set of items she put aside specifically for pregnancies. She just saw Maggie last week, so it had to be right here... Oh, wait, that's right. She moved them for Denise to have that space for Enid. She was joining them as an official doctor next week, and she had her own drawer now. Her name was on the door, too. Glenn had made it and showed it off when she graduated school. It was a touching father-daughter moment. It...warmed her heart.

"Okay." Neva slipped the blood pressure cuff onto Rosita's arm. "Let's do a check up on you first."

Rosita closed her eyes so they wouldn't see the tears there, Sasha grasped her hand, and Rosita almost snatched it back, but she didn't have the strength. She let Neva work on her—taking her blood pressure, checking her breathing and heart rate, so on—and Sasha held her hand the entire time. Her hand was this warm, persistent pressure on Rosita's, and it was so much more consoling than Sasha could ever know. She had pushed the world away these last few weeks, and for the world to yank her back...was reassuring and comforting. She didn't know how badly she needed it.

"Okay, now for baby." Neva rolled her shirt up, setting her hand on the mostly flat belly. She hmmed, and Rosita opened her eyes. "It's okay." She smiled. "I bet you're carrying high."

"What does that mean?"

"I've seen it with women the same build as you before. They carry the baby high, and the baby drops near the thirty-eighth week. Be lucky, you should be able to wear the same clothes until then." She squeezed out some cold gel onto Rosita's stomach. "It might mean you're having a boy, too, but no spoilers. Unless you want them."

Rosita didn't answer.

"All right. Let's take a look." She felt Rosita flinch when the probe made contact with the gel, and Neva looked over the monitor. She could hear the fluid, but she couldn't locate the heartbeat or even the baby. She didn't let her concern show as she skillfully searched for the signs of this baby.

With every passing second Neva could feel Rosita growing more and more tense as Neva didn't speak, and the only thing keep her from busting out of there was Sasha. Sasha was this unmoved force by Rosita's side, and she didn't let her emotions show in any way, and it kept Rosita grounded and still.

"Oh..." Neva let out a breath didn't know she was holding.

"What "oh"?" Rosita wasn't sure why she was crying, just only that she was crying and her throat hurt. It was dry and ached. She didn't like that.

"No spoilers." Neva turned the screen. "Here's the little hiding rascal."

Rosita's eyes fell to the screen to her baby all coiled up. "Fuck." It was...so big. How the hell was something so big inside of her? She... It... How?

"How far along is she?" Sasha inquired.

"Just a bit behind Maggie." She cocked her head to the side. "It's hard to tell at this angle. Baby's really not letting me see a whole lot, but I'm betting a few weeks behind Maggie."

"Can you tell the sex?"

Neva looked at Rosita. "Do you want to know?"

"Why not?" She couldn't stop crying to even process this conversation, so what the hell?

"I'm betting it's a boy, but he's hiding shyly up there, so I can't be sure. Carrying high tends to mean boys, so it's a 70 percent chance."

"Looks like Eli has another boy to blow spit bubbles on." Sasha smiled at Rosita.

"God, I need a drink." Rosita covered her eyes as best she could with her one hand.

"I have grape and prune, but that's all," Neva said in all seriousness. "You have to take care of your body now, Rosita. I know someone stole some prenatals, and that was likely you. That's a good first step, but you need to reduce stress and risk. I'll speak with Spencer about wall rotation for the next few months, and I'll speak with Rick about putting you in the garden. The air and soil will good wonders for you and any prenatal depression, and I'll be stopping by to be sure you're eating properly."

"Don't talk to Spencer." Rosita shot up. "Please, don't talk to him and tell him about this."

"Why not?" Neva undestood immediately after asking. "He's the father."

"No, he's the fuck buddy that knocked me up." Rosita wiped the gel of her stomach and tried to stand up.

"What...?"

All three women turned to find Spencer in the doorway with Heath, supporting a new member of their community—Toni—who appeared to have twisted her ankle while on duty at the construction site. He nearly dropped the woman who was relying on him for support to stand, and Heath felt that and took more of her weight on his end to keep her upright.

"Here, let me help you with her." Neva stood up, handing Rosita a cloth to wipe the gel off with, and Sasha went to aid Neva. They helped Toni and Heath into the clinic beds, closing the door behind them and tending to Toni's ankle.

"You're pregnant." Spencer didn't move any closer to her.

"Yes, I'm a few weeks behind Maggie, and it's probably a boy, and I'm sorry I fucked up." She stood up and wiped her fingers off. "Look, I won't ask—"

"Don't have you."

"What?" Rosita frowned. "Were those words?"

He chuckled. "I'm still in shock. I—You don't have to ask me for anything." He approached her now and clasped her hands, actually smiling. "You're pregnant?"

"We just covered that." She narrowed her eyes at him.

He embraced her. "Thank you."

"What?" She felt so purplexed and smothered. She didn't understand this reaction. The only people who should be this happy about being pregnant together were Maggie and Glenn. They were so not Maggie and Glenn, so what the hell was going on? Did they smoke pot in construction now?

"Yes, thank you." He released her. "You're giving me a reason to live again, Rosita. I've been searching for a reason—any reason—to wake up in the morning, and here it is." He grasped her hips, thumbs brushing over her belly. "I...always wanted to be a dad. I just...put it on a shelf when the world went to hell, but now... now I have a real chance to be a dad and to...find a place in this world again. I can teach..this baby all the lessons my parents taught me. They can live on through this baby and... Wow."

Rosita searched his face and saw only truth there. "You're really happy about this?"

"I've wanted to die for so long now," he was almost crying, "because this world and these people don't need me. I convinced myself that no one needed me, and I should die, but...now I can fight back against those voices. I... We'll have a baby, and that baby will need us. I can make up for my mistakes with my family, and with you, raise this baby to be strong and to survive this world."

"With me..."

His smile faded somewhat and his eyes found hers. "You don't want the baby?"

"I honestly don't know what to feel right now."

"How long have you known about this?" he suddenly asked. "And why didn't you tell me?"

"I wasn't sure that I was, and I didn't know how I'd handle it, let alone how you'd handle it. I couldn't handle either reaction so I put it off until...I let it slip with Sasha. She dragged me here, and now I know. Now we know, and don't lecture me on being smarter or coming here sooner, I really can't hear it right now."

"I won't as long as the baby's okay. Is the baby okay?"

"The baby is just fine," Neva answered, coming back for athletic tape. "It has a strong heart beat, a good length for its age, and it's definitely Rosita's child."

Spencer laughed. "Thank you, Neveah. Thank you so much."

"Don't thank me." She was swept up by his embrace all the same. "I have a bad back!"

"Sorry." He let her go and made sure she was all right before moving back to Rosita.

"Just be careful," Neva advised. "Rest often, eat well and take care of each other. That's an order."

"Of course. I'll move her into my place right away, and I'll take care of her needs." Spence beamed. "I have all kinds of books on pregnancies. My mom bought a crap ton when she was pregnant, and you can read them. I've read all the books she had, but I guess it'll come in handy now."

"Wait, wait." Rosita turned to him. "Move her in? Take care of her needs? Her is right here, and moving is a stressful time for people, so no. And we aren't a couple. We...fuck now and then, and it made a child because of biology and a broken, old condom."

"Rosita." He lost his smile. "I just want to take care of you and be there for you."

"And that's very kind, but we aren't Glenn and Maggie or Rick and Michonne or Daryl and Carol. I am my own person with my own life, and you are, too. We'll work out this baby stuff later, but don't push me into it. I need time to cope and...just accept that I'm carrying a child at all. I didn't plan this or want this, and I need time." She couldn't breathe. "I feel...overwhelmed right now. I mean, Carol had a baby, and now Maggie's pregnant, and now me. I feel like it's repopulate the earth time, and it's my turn on the dial. I can't...handle this right now."

"Okay."

"Okay?" Rosita met his eyes and gulped.

"Yeah, okay." He nodded. "Take your time. I want you to be happy, too, Rosita. I want you to have a reason to wake up in the morning, too. Friends or fuck buddies, I care about you. I always will."

"Thank you." She offered a smile. "For now, I just need time so...if you'll excuse me." She walked out of the clinic to think, and she wasn't sure where these new thoughts would take her, but she was in it for the long haul. She had...no choice, really.

– – –

Daryl tossed Greyson up into the air and caught him, spinning around and tossing him once more. Greyson laughed and asked for more, asked to go higher, and Daryl caught him by his armpits and whirled around until they were both dizzy and fell to the ground. Daryl made sure Greyson landed comfortably on his chest and laughed as Greyson giggled and asked to go again.

"Aah, no, I'm old. Let me catch my breath," Daryl panted.

"Peas, Daddy, peas." He looked at him with shining, pleading eyes.

Damn con artist at nine months, shit. "Daddy can't. Daddy's old."

"Daddy!" He pulled on his collar.

"Chokin' Dad ain't gonna help him," Daryl laughed.

Greyson giggled and looked over. "Gie!"

Maggie laughed and entered the gate. "Hi, sweetie." She was heavily pregnant now and couldn't bend over to pick him up like he wanted, but he liked to hug her belly all the same. She would sit down on the steps, and he could hug her belly and say gibberish to it oh-so sweetly. He just knew that little baby was his friend, and he loved her. It warmed Maggie's heart. He was such a lovey little guy.

"Maggie, tell him Dad's old and needs a break."

"You're out of shape, Dad," Maggie instead said, sitting down to let Greyson hear her belly and hug it. "I'm out of shape, too."

Daryl sat up. "You're in good shape for as pregnant as you are."

She glared somewhat. "I want this baby out of me. It's been almost ten months."

"It hasn't. Grey's only nine months." Daryl watched his son attempt to walk over to Maggie, but he ended up half-walking and mostly crawling over to her and hugging her belly. "He's growing up so fast."

"He is." Maggie smoothed down his darkening curls as he kissed her belly and smiled when her baby kicked back in response. "They're going to be best friends."

"Probably." Daryl hopped up and moved beside her to get some shade. "How is she?"

"Fussy. I've gone to the bathroom more times today than in my entire life and pregnancy, and I've had gas and heartburn, and I'm pretty sure she's trying to hook her toes on my ribs."

Daryl frowned. "That's unpleasant."

"Yeah, it is." She exhaled. "I'm ready to induce and get her out of me, but I'll wait. I want her to be ready to meet us and Greyson." Though Neva was pressing for inducing labor due to baby girl being two weeks late, but Maggie would wait. How much more uncomfortable could she get? Shit, it felt like a competition, and she wasn't winning.

"Yeah." He picked Greyson up, who fussed and reached for Maggie. "Hey, don't. She's still right here."

He grunted and made a sour face.

Maggie giggled. "Looks like Carol, hair and height like Tobin, acts like Daryl."

"Shut up." He was laughing though. He was glad that some of him was inside Greyson, too. "So, Mag, I got a question for you."

"Ask away." She wiped the drool from Greyson's chin, knowing there was likely a nice wet kiss mark on her shirt.

"Do you want to take Greyson?" He met her eyes.

"What?" She froze. "You can't be serious."

"Not permanently, just for a couple weeks while I go on a run with Rick and Carl. We have to get some more medical supplies and baby items for you and Rosita and Grey. It's going to be for a few weeks, and I know how much he loves you. Plus you are is godmother. It's kind of your job, but I thought I'd ask."

"Oh." She relaxed. "We'd love to have him."

"Thanks."

"Who else is goin'?" She had heard of it, but she wasn't involved with planning. She was on leave from her duties until the baby was born. She wasn't upset with that decision given what happened with her first baby, and she was informed enough.

"Heath, Spence, me, Carl and Rick. Maybe Enid, but it's still in the air."

"I thought so." She moistened her lips. "I heard her and Glenn talkin'. They didn't fill me in, actually stopped talkin' when I entered, but I knew. I approve. I just wish they wouldn't treat me like I'm invalid. I know the risks, and I know Enid can handle herself. She'll do great."

"I'll keep an eye on her."

"I think she'll be keeping an eye on you." She smiled softly at him. "Dad."

He chuckled softly and set a hand on Greyson's head. "Yeah, I bet."

"Be safe out there. You never know what you'll run in to."

"I will be. I have somethin' to come home to."

"Don't you mean someone?"

He shook his head but didn't explain.

"Okay, well, I have to use the bathroom—again. Probably always. My bladder will never recover from this treatment." She kissed Greyson's head and helped herself inside to use his bathroom.

Daryl held Greyson when he wanted to follow Maggie, and instead of pouting, he just huffed and accepted his fate calmly, focusing now on arms wrapped around him. He smacked them like they were drums and giggled at the noises the contact made.

Daryl smiled and kissed the back of his head. He didn't have someone to return to. He made no mistake in his wording. He had something to return to, something bigger than any one person, something deeper than blood and heavier than any weight—love. He had love to return to. He had love from his family like Maggie and Rick, he had love from Abraham and Michonne, and he had unconditional love from the son in his arms. He had this massive, fervent, relentless feeling to come back to every time he walked out of those gates, and it meant more to him than he could ever put into words. He got him up the morning—his love of his son and his family—and it wrapped him up in his dreams—dreams of his love. Of the beautiful silver savior that came to him night after night, somehow easing the pain with each feather-soft touch and filling the cannon with each smile and kiss. She was here for him, and when he woke, they were there for him. He was never alone, and he was never not loved. Love was more potent than any body could hold, so it was always best to return to love, not a person. People were in bodies that could fall and be injured, but love? It was body-less and eternal and could not lessen or be tainted by the world. It was as strong as any wind and as subtle as any shadow. It was the perfect thing to return to, because it filled every person he knew to the brim, and he would protect them from any harm. Always, because of love.

"Dada." Greyson drooled, blowing spit bubbles. "Daddy!"

Daryl chuckled and ran his thumb across his lips to wipe the drool off, Greyson whined, and Daryl shook his head. He could never win with this kid.

"My bubble," he whined.

Daryl stroked his hair and inhaled deeply before attacking his chubby cheeks with raspberry kisses, Greyson busted out in giggled and happily kicked his little legs, and Daryl chuckled, freeing him momentarily of the assault. "My cheeks."

He pouted again.

"All right. Round two." He sucked in more air.

– – –

Rick and Carl were preparing the car with supplies while Daryl and Enid went over the medical supplies they would be taking with them just in case with Denise. Spencer and Heath had prepped the weapons and were saying brief goodbyes to their loved ones. Denise saw Tara and Rosita lingering, and finally Spencer approached.

"Hey." He squinted in the sunlight.

"Yo." Rosita crossed her arms, her bump only slightly prominent along her slender figure. She was carrying high for sure. She wondered when...the baby would drop. When she thought about it, for that matter. It brought a lot of stress, and that wasn't good for a baby, so no thoughts, no stress. It was shit logic, and she knew it, but she would duke it out with Denise later. Words. Very important, right? No matter what direction the world went, words were still vital to survival.

"How are you feeling today?"

"Well, I have heartburn, and I can't keep down the food I actually want to eat, and I'm positive I haven't taken a shit since last week." She narrowed her eyes and nodded. "In the morning, too."

He chuckled awkwardly. "I...I don't know how to help that."

"Denise is pretty much making ghetto laxatives for me later, so it's okay." She offered a smile. "Your kid's doing well. Well rested, won't let me set anything on my stomach—not even my hands—and likes to kick. Everything, expect for food. It senses the food and leaves the plate alone, but my hands? Tara's hands? Neva's? Nope, no, not allowed. Access denied instantly." She laughed softly. "Pretty hilarious, actually."

He smiled softly at the happiness that flashed in her eyes. "I'll have to make her something good to not kick off your belly."

"Her?" Rosita arched a brow.

"Yeah, feels like a her."

"You hardly are around "her", so how do you know?"

"Just a feeling." He set a hand briefly on her belly before his daughter could kick him away. "I'll see you when I get back."

She averted her eyes. "Come home safe...okay? Bring them all home safe."

He nodded. "Of course."

"Don't let Rick sing," Tara jested. "It'll kill you faster than any bullet."

He laughed. "Yeah, Daryl reminds us all to not bring CDs." He stepped back. "Take care of yourselves and little baby Grey for us."

"Mags is on baby Grey duty, but we'll check in." Rosita shifted her arms toward her bump.

He joined his group as they met up by the gate, Glenn handed the medical satchel to Enid, who embraced him tightly, and Daryl assured him with a look that he'd be her shadow and keep any walkers off her blindside. Glenn was glad to have him there, and he returned it with a similar look that said he'd keep Grey safe and fed and happy. A promise of fathers. It wouldn't be broken.

"Glenn!" Michonne shouted as she ran over to the group, having been with Maggie previously on her way to say goodbye to Rick and Carl. They had to drop Judith off with Sasha, since Aaron and Eric were busy with Section Eight, and Sasha was off and taking care of Eli and Grey already with the aid of Abraham.

He jolted and looked back, still holding onto Enid. "What is it?" He dropped his arm from her waist to draw closer to Michonne, but Enid caught his hand and followed him.

Michonne was breathless. "Maggie..."

Enid's hand tightened in Glenn's, and she felt her throat dry out. "What about her?"

Michonne inhaled and caught herself on her knees. She wasn't out of shape, but damn was her throat dry when she wanted to shout. "Oof." She straightened and met his widening, panicked eyes. "No worries. Her water broke."

"What?" Glenn gasped. "Her—she—where is she?"

"Eugene and Aaron are helping her here. I ran ahead to get Neva and you ready." Her eyes fell to Enid, who was about to depart for a weeks long run. "It hit her fast, but I don't think the baby will be here before you leave."

"I—" Enid cut off, pressing her lips together, meeting Glenn's eyes. She wanted to meet this baby who was a sibling to her, but she couldn't disappointed her team. She had been so pumped for this run, assuring everybody she was ready to be the team medic, and she wanted nothing more than to ditch them to be with Maggie. It was such an important moment for their family. How could she not be there? But...as for importance...how could she not go?

"It's okay." Carl was suddenly beside her along with Rick. "Stay. We'll be fine. I've...been taking some classes from Denise and Carol..." He glanced at Daryl before continuing. "Uh, Carol showed me some things, too. I remember them."

"I can't do that." Enid turned to him. "I said I'd go."

"And we got it covered," Rick gently replied. "Be with your family. You have siblin' on the way. We'll be just fine. And if not, we'll blame Carl."

"Better me than Daryl," Carl commented. "His solution to a wound was quick-thinking but ultimately awful. Prone to various infections, and it hardly stopped the bleeding."

Daryl sent him a slight glare, and Carl chuckled. "Stay with Maggie and Glenn. Francine wanted to join us anyway, you can cover her shifts. We'll make it work with Carl."

"Are you sure?" She felt somewhat guilty, but utterly thrilled to be here when her sibling was born, to help Maggie through this process and to be with her family at such a crucial and impacting moment.

"This baby won't wait forever!"Aaron shouted as he neared with Maggie and Eugene.

"Maggie!" Glenn let go of Enid's hand to bolt over to her and pick her up off her feet, gently guiding her towards the clinic.

"Prince Charming strikes again." Tara hurried after him to grab the things they would need for the birth, like the doctor Michonne had yet to notify.

"Hold on." Enid placed a kiss to Carl's lips before running after them. "Be careful, Grimes!" She shouted over her shoulder before disappearing into the clinic.

Carl blushed somewhat and avoided eye contact.

"You got that, Grimes?" Daryl mused.

"Shut up." He blushed even more and stomped off to the car.

Rick chuckled and exhaled, looking over Michonne slowly to remember her for when he was gone.

"Save it for when you get back." Michonne smirked at him. "Take care of our boy, okay?"

"Always. Watch our daughter." He kissed her forehead. "And yourself."

"Kinda planned on it." She chuckled and kissed him. "I love you, Grimes."

He smiled. "I love you, too."

Daryl inhaled despite the pangs in his chest and ambled slowly over to the group by the car to give them privacy, and he leaned against the sun-heated car, feeling it burning against his back as he did. He twisted the ring on his finger and felt the cool relief from the other dangling between his breasts. He looked upward at the bright sky and blew out a long sigh. A baby was going to be born today. It was going to be a good day. How could it not be? There was no room for you, he thought to himself, no room at all. Get out.

"Let's hit the road." Rick yanked open the driver's side door.

Daryl nodded to him and opened the passenger side, glancing back at his home, knowing his son was safely playing just a few houses away. He exhaled and climbed into the car, focused for what he had to do. What they all had to do. He was ready for what this trip brought.

– – –

Greyson slept curled up on Enid's belly, Enid was in and out of sleep on the couch, and Maggie was resting peacefully on the bed while Glenn walked the length of it, gently rocking the bundle in his arms. Maggie had given birth to a beautiful and healthy eight pound, nine ounces baby girl who was named Annie Faith Rhee. She was the picture of her father with the Greene family eyes and the nose, but that gentle smile, the rosy lips those soft coos escaped from, the cheeks were all her daddy's. She was the entire world in his arms and in his heart, and there weren't enough words or thoughts to put together how he felt simply holding his baby girl in his arms. His Annie. His everything. Their everything.

He looked up at Enid and Greyson and felt his very soul...exhale. His first child, his godchild, were perfect. Enid was beautiful and thoughtful and while bruised, she was a force. She was a warrior and a healer and a Rhee through and through. She was the missing link to their family, and now she was a big sister. She had grown into a lovely, passionate, crafty young woman, and he was proud to be by her side through that journey. He couldn't wait to finish with her, to see Enid become who she was always meant to be, despite how this world tried to break her. She persisted, and she endured, and she came out better for it. Through loss and heartache and depression and agony, she persisted and remained human and became...the type of person any parent would be proud to raise. A fiery soul that beat brightly for all she wanted to protect. He hoped she could pass that onto her sister, too. Perhaps help craft the type of soul Annie would have and what it would bloom for.

Maggie moaned softly and rolled her head to the side, eyes opening to a blurry image of Glenn and their daughter. She smiled instantly, widely, and marveled at the perfection before her. "Hmm."

"Hi." He returned her grin and kissed her forehead. "You should rest."

"It's for the birds." She reached a hand out to stroke her baby's head gently. "How is she?"

"Exhausted." He kept his tone low. "I just...don't want to put her down. I...I can't."

"She's not going anywhere." Maggie had hogged her for about five hours, so she had no room to talk. Holding that precious life in her arms and knowing it was hers and Glenn's combined, knowing it held the energy of their parents and grandparents, knowing it would hold the future...was like the shore after a terrible storm. She was gorgeous and tender and soft. She was this wiggly little human who Maggie loved so, so much, and she couldn't get enough of her. God, she could marvel at that baby for the rest of her life and be satisfied.

"I know. A few more minutes."

"A few more minutes," she agreed.

Enid jolted on the couch and groaned, wiping drool off her mouth and snuffling, looking over at Maggie and Glenn and Annie. "She okay?"

"She's great," Glenn assured her. "You should get some sleep in your own bed. It's late."

"I'm fine."

"At least put Greyson in his bed," Maggie suggested. "Otherwise he won't get used to it."

"Right." She adjusted the toddler who was out like the dead and scooped him up. "Well, since I'm going that way anyway, I think I'll turn in."

Glenn threw an arm up, Maggie giggled softly, and Enid stumbled out of the room. Glenn hurried gently to the doorway to be sure she didn't fall, and Enid made it to Greyson's temporary room and then to her own safely. He exhaled and cuddled his daughter closer, muttering about how her big sis was going to give him a stroke.

"C'mere." Maggie patted the bed. "Bring her here."

Glenn sat down in the patted area and adjusted Annie in his arms so Maggie could see her, too, and Maggie smiled widely at the sight of the newborn. She stroked her cheek tenderly with her fingertips, and Glenn caught her finger with his thumb and index fingers, squeezing affectionately. She leaned over and kissed his fingertips and Annie's cheek. She wanted to wrap the four of them up in her arms and never let this feeling of endless love escape her. She was so...blessed to have this family—husband, daughter, daughter, godson—and it was all hers. She found them, and they found her. They were a perfect puzzle. Truly.

"Thank you," Glenn whispered to his wife, who lifted her eyes from their child.

"For what?" Maggie looked into those deep orbs to try and find the answer, but all she could see was his affection. She could feel it like a warm embrace, and she basked in it.

He kissed her forehead. "For everything," he said even softer than his thanks. "You've given me back the world when I thought it was lost."

She reached up and tucked hair behind his ear, brushing her thumb across his cheek. "You did the same for me right from the start. I'm so glad it was you. It was always you."

Soft cries began to emerge from Annie's mouth, Maggie instantly made to sit up to comfort her, but Glenn stilled her movements and rose to rock her gently. Enid came back into the room at the cries, and Glenn wanted to tell her to go back to bed, but Enid wouldn't have it. She pushed her hair back and blinked hard a few times before blowing out a sigh and holding her arms out for the baby. Glenn was reluctant due to how little sleep she'd gotten, but Enid insisted. He carefully handed Annie over to her big sister, and Enid hushed her gently, carrying her over to the window to see the moonlight and humming softly the tune to Hush Little Baby.

"Hush little sister, don't you cry. You're all right, and we're nearby. We'll watch you grow and learn to fly. I'll hold your hand and keep the time, so hush little Annie, say good night. The world won't harm you any night. I'll be here to hold your hand. With Mom and Dad and Greyson, too. We'll be watching over you," she sang to the little girl, who's wails died down to hiccups and eyes focused on the singer. "So hush little Annie, don't you cry, you'll be fine and sleep tonight."

Maggie's heart warmed at the sight of Enid singing to her little sister, calling Glenn and herself "Mom" and "Dad", and her eyes burned. She thought it was silly to be crying, but her hormones were playing tricks on her. God, it was a priceless memory. She would cherish it always.

Glenn approached Enid as Annie fell back asleep, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, kissing her temple in thanks, and Enid smiled softly. "C'mere." He guided Enid over to Annie's bassinet, helping her place the newborn down, and Enid moaned sleepily. Glenn then guided her back over to the bed by Maggie and sat her down. She was too exhausted to argue and just curled up with Maggie. Glenn sat on the couch and pulled the blanket off the back of it down over him. He shook his head when Maggie started to speak; he was fine here. He could keep an eye on them and be there for Annie instantly, and Grey, too, if he cried for them. He was in the best place for both jobs, and in the best place he could ever be in in this life.

– – –

Daryl looked over the vacant lot, Rick and Carl were a few yards away, rattling the fence to draw any walkers away, and Spencer was jogging around the back with Heath to see if there were any holes in the back lot. He inhaled the fresh air, free of the mud and wood shavings. He lived far too close to Section Eight for comfort, but maybe it was just his heightened sense. It didn't hurt Grey, so he didn't worry too much.

He readied his crossbow despite not hearing or seeing anything, and he felt pushed backwards. He whirled around to find five walkers that came seemingly out of nowhere. He whistled to Rick as he busted open the face of the one closest to him, shooting the other with a bolt. Carl came running by with his machete and sliced through the faces of the two in the back, and Daryl finished off the last when he pulled his bolt free from the face of the other downed walker and thrust it into the face of the last walker.

"Close call." Carl pushed hair out of his face and shook the maggots off his blade. "I didn't even hear them."

"Yeah." Daryl freed his bolt and looked over the road for any signs of movement, but it was still.

"Dad and I will go inside. Spence will come back around to watch with you." Carl squinted a bit in the sun. "Just whistle if more than you can handle come. Heath'll be in earshot to alert us."

"Will do." He stood up and heard Carl returned to his dad. Daryl scanned the area, the hot wind picking up and instead of rot and gore, he could have sworn he smelled her. The scent of her skin fresh out of the shower, a faint mix of her shampoo and natural body scent, and his eyes stung. He gripped the bolt tightly and swallowed hard. "Carol..."

That sweet breeze came once more and then it was gone, gore and rot replacing it, the scent of mildew heavy in the air. He exhaled deeply and smiled to himself somewhat, feeling a pleasant weight from the ring on his finger, and the one around his neck, delicate and solid as the woman who once wore it. He steeled himself and turned back towards his mission here, but perhaps...it wasn't just him turning back to them. He didn't believe, but...he felt...her all around him. Like a blanket, cozy and protective and everywhere all at once. He must have heatstroke, but...to feel her so near, he'd welcome it. Always, especially in the coming years when things would be even more unsteady as he raised Greyson into a good man...

– – –

He grunted and tossed the knife hard into the target painted onto the fence, his body jolting forward with the movement, dark, unbrushed waves he called hair falling into his face, and his onyx eyes narrowed when he missed his mark. He growled in frustration and felt hands on his head, a calming pressure he was used to.

"I missed," he stated flatly.

"You'll get it next time." His friend offered an encouraging smile.

"Easy for you to say," the young boy retorted. "You have more skill than I do. You're older. Plus, your dad's like a total badass, and the stories of your mom... You're grandfathered in here."

"Hey, hey." Rosita added more of her weight to her hands, the boy groaned, and she pulled a hair tie from her wrist. "No bullying, and your mother happens to be just as good as them."

"It's the truth," he griped, ignoring her comment on herself, as she gathered messy waves from his shoulders to pull it back into a ponytail. "And he hardly messes up."

"You'll get better at it." Carl pulled the knives out of the target, looking over his small class. "You'll all get better. It takes practice, like anything."

"Keep your hair out of your eyes," Rosita instructed. "Okay? Or I cut it."

"No!" He jolted away from his mother and her threat. "Mom, you promised to let me grow it out!"

"Only if you took care of it, and you're not." She crossed her arms. "It's like a nest on your head."

"I overslept and didn't have time to brush it." He looked over at his friends, finding blue and black eyes hiding amusement at his lie. He was really messy and didn't want to deal with it most of the time, but he liked having it long. Probably because he looked like a baby when Mom cut it short. Granted, he was only ten years old and was kinda still a baby to most of the adults, but that wasn't true. He was old enough. He was grown, even. Sorta. Ugh, if he had to argue about it then he wasn't!

"C'mon, let's go again." Rosita turned him around. "Annie, Grey, why don't you go on and meet Enid? You have class in a few minutes. We'll catch up."

Annie took Greyson's hand instantly and jerked him towards the clinic for their lessons, Greyson ran to keep up, and Annie giggled as they bolted down the street together to make it to class in time.

"I suck." Wyatt kicked the dirt, heaving a heavy sigh.

"You don't suck." Rosita grabbed a couple knives from the bucket, nodding at Carl to let him know she had this session, and Carl departed as she returned to her son. "You need practice. It's all about hand-eye cordination. You'll learn it with time."

"You do it so well, though."

"Because I've been doing it for years. You only just started. You expect too much too soon. You'll get a little better every day until you're just as good as—if not better—than the others." She planted her feet beside him. "Your dad is terrible at combat, but he's learning, too."

"Dad's a good shot," Wyatt argued.

"I said combat." She chucked the knife and hit the target spot on. "He's a decent shot. Sasha is better."

"So much better!" Wyatt's eyes lit up at the mention of Sasha. "She's amazing. She said she'd take me out with her to the course next week. I'm so excited. Aunt Sasha is so cool."

"What am I? Room temperature?" She cocked a brow at her son.

"You're my mom," he muttered. "You're all right."

"I'm all right?" She put a hand on her hip. "Just all right?"

"You're cooler than Dad," he offered.

"Everyone is."

"I haven't seen you fight or nothin'," he defended. "Sasha guards the wall all the time, and Dad lets me go out hunting with him now and then with Daryl and Grey. You don't let me do anything. You're always busy, too, with work and lessons. If you'd only see that I'm trying. I really am, and you don't have to be, like, embarrassed by me. I can handle my own. I'm really good with axes, just like Abe! If you watched me then you'll see, and we can—"

"Wyatt." She bent down to be at eye level with him and caught his chin gently between her thumb and index finger. "I don't take you outside the walls because it's dangerous. You know that. You're not ready to be out there. I don't care what Dad or Abe or Daryl or even Sasha say. It's my say, okay? And I know you're grasping it better than most, but I need more than grasping. I need confident and prepared, and that's why I'm training you harder than Annie or Grey. You're getting stronger every day, and I can see that. I'm so proud of you, too, and I want you to be ready to face that world. It's not just guns and glory like you seem to think. It's brutal, relentless and unforgiving. You can't just step back and unsee what that world chooses to show you. It's permanent, and it's damaging. You're not ready to open your eyes to what that world has in store for anyone who ventures out into it."

He lowered his eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry." She released his chin to stroke his cheek. "You are getting there, but it takes baby steps."

"But I'm not a baby."

"I know, mi amor." She brushed her thumb across the cheekbones his father had given him and placed a kiss there. "But you're my baby, mi cara, and I need you to be one hundred percent ready to face the outside world when the time comes. Can you tell me honestly that you're ready?"

He shook his head. "Probably not."

"No, but once you are, I will be the first person to take you out there. We'll go on a run—you and me."

His eyes lit up. "Really? Just us?"

"Just us."

He hugged her tightly. "Thanks, Mom."

"I'd do anything for you," she whispered into his messy locks, "you know that."

"I know." He squeezed her. "I love you."

She chuckled. "I love you, too. I'm so glad you're my son." She kissed his hair. "Let's wrap this up. You're missing class. Dad'll have a stroke if you get an absent."

"Ugh, that's coop duty!" Wyatt groaned. "The chickens hate me."

"Then focus and keep your form." She straightened his shoulders. "Concentrate.

He nodded and picked up another knife from the bucket.

Rosita watched him and his form for two tosses then stepped in to relax his shoulder and plant his feet. She wanted him to get better at protecting himself. She wanted him to be able to land in any situation and calmly looked it over and find ten ways out of it. She didn't want him to know pain or loss. She wanted him to be brave and loved and kind and soft. She wanted him to the best humanity had to offer, the best of what was left of her, and slowly he was growing into a man of his own that was very similar to what she wanted for it. He was his own self, guided by her and Spencer, and he was a good kid. She wouldn't trade him for anything in the world. He was gentle and thoughtful and stubborn and adamant. He was...her son, her purpose, her drive. He was the only man she needed in her life.

She had given birth shortly after Maggie to Wyatt Monroe Espinosa. She shared him with Spencer, but they weren't together. They didn't even live together. Spencer had fought with her for most of her pregnancy and Wyatt's infancy for her to move in with him, but she refused. She was content to live with Tara and Denise for as long as they would have her, and they were still happy to have her and her son. She wouldn't change their set up for anything. He and Denise were best friends, and she taught him so much about medicine and finding herbs if he had nothing, and Tara was a big sister to him. They were gaming buddies, and she brought out the child in him. And all the while Wyatt saw plenty of Spencer, and Wyatt never questioned how they chose to raise him—together and apart. It was simply their parenting style, and he understood it—an understanding he got from her, not his father.

Through raising Wyatt, Rosita got to know and respect a new side of Daryl. He, too, was raising a child alone—a rowdy boy, no less—and he was happy to lend a hand with Wyatt, even though he was a whole new type of rascal—unlike Greyson. Neva hit that one right on the head—hiding little rascal—and that was his current nickname. While he was a good kid, he was troublesome and liked to pull pranks. Too often Spencer and Rosita were pulled from their duties to tend to Wyatt's latest trick. Spencer found it funny, but Rosita wouldn't tolerate it. It was a healthy part of growing up, and it did her so much good to see such normalcy here, but he needed to learn that wasn't okay behavior. Especially in the chicken coop. Poor Annie wouldn't even go back in there after his last one.

"Whoa!" Wyatt jumped up in the air and laughed. "Mom, did you see that? I hit it! I really hit it! Yes!"

Rosita laughed. "Good job, mi cara."

"I have to tell Dad. He'll be so jealous. He can never hit the target!" He squealed and almost ran off but halted. "Um...can I go tell Dad? He's out in Section Five, but I won't cause any trouble. I promise. Mom, please, please let me go."

"Not right now, baby. Dad has important meetings." She collected the knives. "Besides you still have class you're late for."

"Okay." He heaved a massive sigh though, but helped her clear the area.

Section Five was the section granted to Spencer to tend to. Maggie was the main boss of Alexandria, but Spencer was like a mini-boss of Five. They handled most of the gardening now and pickling and making rations last as long as they could. Olivia was the second in command there, and they made a good team. They balanced each other out, and Spencer wasn't the shell of a man he once was. He had healed through the birth of his son and grew into his own man at last to show Wyatt what a good man was. He had grown up exponentially, and Rosita was impressed by the results. Everyone was, especially the ones who worked with him on a daily basis. They were proud to call him a friend and fellow worker. Wyatt was super proud of his dad, and Rosita was happy for him. Just from a distance. She and Spencer both agreed to just be friends and parents so as to not confuse Wyatt, and Wyatt understood. He was thrilled to just have his parents, and perhaps that simplicity would be enough. She hoped so.

Wyatt grasped her hand as they walked back to the shed to put the bucket of knives away then headed to the clinic to catch up on the lesson. Rosita found such strength and vigor holding onto his small hand, and she was grateful for having him in her life, even when she wasn't sure she wanted this life anymore. He had shown her it was worth it, no matter how much it hurt. It hurt like fucking hell, too, but...it was worth it. There was still beauty, and it wasn't all sour, bitter notes.

"Race ya." Rosita dropped his hand and took off like a shot.

"You're so on!" He dashed after her without protesting on her head start.

–––

Maggie looked over the wall fortifications once more while being sure that Sage had a good grip on his bottle, and she heard someone entering the office. She looked up to find Michonne and Denise there. She smiled and was reminded of their meeting to discuss the herbal plants growing in Five. They had medicinal properties and would be used in the clinic. That was the jest of the meeting, but there was more to it that Maggie wanted to explain, such as allowing each family to keep a portion in their own homes. That would require a class on how to properly used the herbs, and that's where Michonne came in.

"Hey, Sage." Michonne flashed a smile at the three-year-old who drank apple juice from a bottle to keep from spilling on Mommy's papers.

"Hi," he murmured, taking a moment from his juice.

"Glenn oughta be here to take him." Maggie sat down in her chair and placed Sage on her lap. "Eric is still on for babysitting, right? I haven't spoken to him since I asked, and I'd rather not go with Eli right now. I mean, she's...great and protective, but... oof."

"Wild child." Denise chuckled. "She's been outside the wall most of the day. Poor Greyson has been trying to keep her still, but she won't have it."

"He has a crush on her," Michonne teased. "It's so adorable. He's so awkward, and she's so...brash. He follows her like a puppy dog. Eric is already joking about wedding plans."

Maggie snickered. "He's barely twelve."

"I know, but Eric has little else to do now that his class graduated." Michonne sat down. "So he'll have Sage and Maya, won't he?" She smiled at the boy who looked away, far too invested in that bottle. "Did you spike that juice?"

"He loves fruit," Maggie commented. "Like, loves it. Glenn had to stop him from trying to eat the watermelon rind last night. He threw a fit but Annie let him have the rest of hers. We had hers cubed, because she's picky. She only eats cubed fruits, so, we'll just have to do the same with his."

"No," Sage shook his head.

"Yes." Maggie nodded her head at him as he continued to shake his head.

"Mommy," he whined.

"Sage," she whined back, and he fixed a narrow-eyed stare at her. "Neither one of us like it, but if you can do it, so can I."

"I want Daddy." He slid off her lap and waddled over towards the door that was gated over.

"See? I'm a bad cop. I can't win." She crossed her legs. "At least Enid and Annie like me."

"Daddy!" Sage dropped his empty bottle and held his arms up.

"Hey, buddy." Glenn stepped over the gate and scooped his son up. "What's up?"

"Mommy's being mean." He buried his face in his dad's shoulder and pouted.

"Why?" Glenn looked at his wife.

"I didn't want him to eat the watermelon rind," Maggie answered. "I'm a true mastermind of evil."

Glenn tried not to laugh. "C'mon, buddy, let's go watch the fish. You'll feel better."

"Don't let him get too close. Wyatt put a turtle in there somewhere, and it ain't too friendly."

"Yeah, he nipped Flynn last week on the toe. He refuses to come into Section One now. We'll stay by the benches." He climbed over the gate and headed downstairs to let them get down to business.

"How are the kids?" Denise asked now that Glenn was gone.

"Well, my babies are growing up too fast, and I'm not ready." She smiled bitter-sweetly. "Enid and Carl are...gonna move into Section Nine next week. They want to be the first family in that section to test the new houses. They're further out, and while in theory they ought to have the same functions as One through Eight, we can't be sure. They want to be sure it's all squared away, which I approve of. Plus, we did build another clinic there for Enid and her classes."

"Abe told me about it." Denise nodded. "He's so proud of it. They got the rest of the medical equipment from that hospital, and Eugene is using the salvageable parts for God only knew what. Francine tells me he's been up for three days trying to work on a communication device for runs. It's meant to be a mix of a phone and walkie talkie insofar as it won't need phone lines. She's been slipping him natural sedatives so he'll sleep."

"Is that why I found him drooling on my tower?" Michonne crossed her legs, recalling the sight of Eugene hugging a chuck of metal and drooling onto the oak of her tower. "It scared the newcomers. It's meant to welcome, and he looked like a loon. He came out of it talking in Latin, so that didn't help."

Maggie snickered. "We've got it under control. Rick and Abe have locked him out of his "inventing room", and he's been spending a lot of time with our new reader, Lillah. She's so fascinated by his inventions, and they're swapping ideas."

"Is that really a good thing?" Michonne arched a brow. "He did nearly set fire to Seven, and Olivia won't let him in Five."

"Yeah, but she's sweet on him. She's about to change her mind." Denise laced her fingers together. "He brought her flowers yesterday to apologize for the tomato plants he ruined."

"Aww." Maggie penned down a note in her journal. "Speaking of, I need to check on the flowers in Six for the wedding."

"Wedding?" Michonne inquired.

"Carl and Enid's. He popped the question in the field," Maggie smiled at the memory flashing in her mind, "and he'd asked with a ring he'd found on his last run. It was so beautiful. The flowers were all in bloom, and Enid was about to die from trying not to sneeze her head off." She laughed in thought. When Enid finally let it out, she sneezed about ten times and then blood gushed out. It was terrible, but Carl had brought a cloth in case it happened. God, that boy had more game than half the men here. Hers, included.

"Wow." Michonne gasped. "He didn't tell me that."

"Yeah, I overheard it. I said I wouldn't tell, but as moms, I had to. I mean...just yesterday she was sixteen and pestering me on how to keep my wounds clean. Now she's this young woman who's ready to move out and be part of a sacred partnership. My heart's torn up." She sighed. "I'm so proud and grateful, but she...is a part of me. I'm not sure how I move forward with a part of me missing."

"She'll still be close by," Denise urged.

"That's true, but it's not the same. I'll just have to adjust." She met Michonne's eyes. "He's going to tell you tonight. He's been dying to tell you, but he wanted it to be a surprise for you, too. She'll be yours through this marriage, and he wanted the timing to be right. For you and Rick and especially Judith."

Judith had been in the ass end of her beginning teenager years. She was a rebellious brat, to be frank. She fought with Rick all the time about him babying her, because she was a girl. She chopped off all her hair and refuses to speak to him until he lets her go out on her own run without him. She wasn't entirely in the wrong here, but she wasn't handling it well at all. She was young, and it made sense. Carl was as much a brat as Judith, and Michonne blamed Lori, which Rick found both amusing and heart aching. Lori left echoes all over those kids, and Judith was really shining through now.

She looked just like Lori now, her short cropped hairs a hue of honey given to her through her paternal father's grandmother, and her eyes were dark and keen and careful. Her smile full and warm and reflected Lori every time she showed it. Her body was still growing, but they had a feeling she'd come up to about Carl's shoulder once she was finished growing, and she was going to be a lethal beauty.

She spend hours and hours at the training field with Sasha and Aaron, joining Michonne and Daryl for their workouts, and she was a little bad ass. She was an archer, just like her best friend and second father, and she was a good ass shot with the bow Daryl had originally made for Grey, but it suited Judith more. She crafted her own arrows with his help, and she was starting to research poisons in case anyone else came and did what they'd done to their other homes—no one approved of this, but Neva helped her just so she'd be careful with it. It was mostly the hobby of Eli, who just so happened to be her best friend, and while they were a good balance, the poison wasn't approved by any parents on either side. They mostly read up on it and worked with the gardeners to be sure they had herbs to help create an antidote should one be needed one day. (Eric really wished Eli would just knit or something, but if the girl wasn't pouncing on Grey and Judy, she was lost in the world of books and all they had to offer, especially the dangerous things they had to offer.)

Judith adored Enid like a big sister, and they used to sing together all the time before Enid got too busy with treating wounds and teaching. It hurt Judith—they all could tell—but Carl had made time for them. He filled in where Enid couldn't, and they were planning on having Judith over now and then to let her know they were always a family, and she was always welcome. They were confident it would ease this huge change in her life, and Maggie thought of Beth every time she looked at Judy now. How could she not? Judith had almost the same flaxen hair as Beth, the same gentleness in her smile, and there was an edge to her in combat that reminded Maggie of Beth before they found the prison. Beth would be...amazed at the woman Judith was becoming, and Maggie made sure Judith knew of the light-haired girl who sang to her and who eased her nightmares and tears. Judith was fond of those stories, and Maggie...passed down Beth's knife to the girl. It only felt right.

"Are you okay?" Michonne reached over the desk to grasp Maggie's hand, and Maggie realized she had been silent, lost in those memories and in the smile of a beautiful soul that's gentle voice came to her in a warm summer's breeze and embraced her often.

"Yeah." She swallowed. "I'm...fine. What were we talking about?"

"Carl and Enid getting married and moving out."

"Right, he'll talk to you guys tonight, and it'll work out." She pulled out a smile. "He's determined to make it work out, so it has to."

Michonne returned her smile. "Thank you for being there."

"He didn't want me there, trust me." She laughed. "But...he has my approval, for whatever it means to him."

Michonne squeezed her hand and released it. "Okay, back to business."

"Right." She pulled out her plan for a monthly get together for the community. She wanted to be sure the vast community of Alexandria got a chance to know who exactly were their neighbors within these walls, and she wanted to get the opinion on the newcomers. She wanted to learn their work desires and thoughts on their new home altogether. She was excited about it. She might even find some help among them, which she sorely needed. She was leaving for Hilltop to speak with their new leader next week, and she didn't want to leave this place unattended. She listened daily to problems, and she didn't want a single voice to feel unheard, so she would leave Glenn in her place, but it'd be a good learning experience for anyone who shared her passion.

She couldn't wait to exchanged ideas and plans for the future with someone who wasn't half asleep because their toddler ran to him for "protection". It was entirely Glenn's fault for being the soft parent. She told him to not cut Sage so much slack so young, and there they were now. He was a daddy's boy, and he had Glenn wrapped around his little finger. It was the most precious sight Maggie could ever hoped to have seen. Although Annie did get jealous now and then since Glenn was too poop for their training sessions or to read books with her or to just hang out with her, but Grey had that covered. Big brother that he was. As godparents and friends of his dad, Grey practically spend half his life with them, and Annie adored him. She was so in love with him as her big brother, and he didn't know what to make of it, but he was just as fond of her. They were so close and protective of each other, just like Sasha and Tyreese, Amy and Andrea, and Maggie and Beth. They were siblings in every way but blood, and Maggie could see it did Daryl's heart wonders to know Grey had someone like that in his life. After he came home every day with new cuts and bruises from chasing after Eli all day, it was a sight for sore eyes to see that scraped-knee little boy on the steps of his house, braiding Annie's hair while she read A Wrinkle In Time to him. Maggie had a picture of it on her desk, one the last few their Polaroid had coughed out before it kicked the bucket.

"So, when do you meet Keela?" Denise made a supply list for the Hilltop. They treated goods and animals to be sure no one starved, and currently Hilltop wanted to trade coffee bean plants for a dozen chickens since a coyote got into their coop last week. Everyone jumped on the idea of having already growing coffee beans, so that was high on the list. That and vanilla. It was also for the coffee. Michonne insisted.

"At dawn in seven days. We'll be in talks throughout the day," Maggie replied. "The runners won't be coming that week since I'll be there, but if you need to contact us, Eli and Aaron are ready."

"Eli?" Michonne sucked air in through her teeth.

"She's ready," Maggie assured her. "When she's outside of those walls, she has a focus like I've never seen. She's...brutally protective after what happened with Eric last year, and she's cautious due to Daryl's training. She's not going to screw around. She wants to be a runner, so...it's a test. She won't fail."

"I need to schedule an appointment with Eric," Denise absentmindedly murmured. He had a be-weekly checkup to ensure his upper arm wasn't taking any strain from his "arm". Aaron and Eugene insisted. After he lost his lower arm in the factory... God, that day was awful.

Eli had been thirteen and emotional. She was so upset with her fathers, and she ran away. Worse yet, she dragged eleven year old Grey with her, and Daryl went into a panic. He tracked her down almost five hours later due to the girl taking a car, which she subsequently crashed and nearly ruined Grey's knee. She had carried him into the factory nearby without checking it first and was a mess of tears from the guilt, and Daryl found her with Eric, who had been following him without Daryl knowing.

Greyson had passed out from the blood loss, Eli was crying over him, and she didn't hear the walkers. It was easily over a dozen, Daryl tried his best to fend them off, Eli helped too, but she got cornered and fell into an office through the window. She was dazed, and Eric went after her while Daryl got Grey off the assembly line. And somewhere between the walkers and Eric trying to reach her, a trap set up by a group they would later deal with was triggered. His arm was crushed, his hip was busted, and he had a crack in his femur. He was barely conscious, but he stayed awake until Eli crawled over to him.

Enid and Denise had gone after them in case anyone had got hurt. They found the crashed car and Daryl outside trying to bind Greyson's wounds, Enid went to help him, and Denise found Eli inside with Eric. She had removed his arm, wrapped her belt around the stump and pulled him away from wreckage, begging him to wake up. She had cuts from her fall all over her, blackening bruises on her legs and sides, and she had broken her finger, but she was only concerned about him. She never let that compassion fade. It only burned brighter, and that was why Maggie was sure of her for this task. She was one of their best when she was outside the wall. She would be a fine runner, just like Glenn taught her to be.

"How is that mess?" Maggie tucked hair behind her ear. "Does it even work?"

"I don't even know. He only wears it to humor Abe."

Abe had fashioned this gaudy, wooden crossbow arm contraption for Eric, and it was too heavy for his small shoulder to handle. Abe didn't factor that in, just wanted to help, and it as a kind gesture. If not one that caused his shoulder to dislocate a few times. Good thing Eli wasn't afraid to force it back in.

"Sasha has him working on a better one," Michonne divulged. "It's lighter, and it'll work. Eugene is helping, and so is Lillah. It's for Eric's birthday."

"Aww." Maggie smiled. "I wish I could be there."

"You have more important things to do, and you'll be at the next one."

Keela was knew to power, and Maggie wanted to guide her down a path that was best for every person in their care. They had signed a sort of agreement that while there were miles between them, they were sister cities, and they would protect each other and aid each other forevermore. Keela had written it up, and together with Rick and Michonne and Maggie, they edited it to suit the needs of both groups as a whole. They signed it up, and copies were made to hang in the office of both leaders. It wouldn't be forgotten. Next week was the half year anniversary of that signing, and they had plenty to discuss on the benefits and drawbacks it provided. It was going to be a lengthy session, but that was good. It was for the future, after all. It deserved to take hours and days to ensure the safety and longevity of their home.

"If she has any puppies," Denise attempted to slyly slide that in.

Maggie grinned. "Tara wants brown and black if available, I know."

She blushed somewhat. "Have I mentioned it too much?"

"No, I have it written down in the itinerary. It's the want of my sister, so of course I'll ask." She clicked her pen. "If there's more than one, I think I'll give one to Carl and Enid as a wedding present."

"Hey, if you're giving out puppies," Michonne pointed to herself.

"C'mon, I already took four of her last litter to help with at the clinic! I can't take three more...if she doesn't have them ready."

The clinic was for the townsfolk who couldn't cope with everything easily or had endured a particularly challenging run. Gabriel worked there to help sooth with God, and Tara offered humor and compassion, and if that didn't work, puppies. There were four there currently: Sammy, Black Bean, Ty and Butter Butt. The kids at the time who were living there got to name them, and the dogs adored their names. They also adored their guests. They were very gentle and thoughtful. They were the best soul healers. Maggie couldn't thank Keela more for those pups. They were a gift.

"Oh, speaking of pets!" Maggie jotted down a note. "Keela wants some fish for the pond they dug."

"I have some in a bowl ready."

They turned to the voice to find Eli standing in the doorway. She was clean and didn't have a single bruise or sign of being outside the walls on her. No twigs or leaves in her hair, which was oddly braided back. Maggie knew it was Grey's work. He did Annie's in the same way. That boy probably stumbled off the porch to help her braid her hair.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but um, I have a message from Dad." She stepped into the room and added, "Aaron."

"What's going on?" Maggie stood up, worried it might be serious if Aaron couldn't come himself.

"We have a serious issue with your leadership," Eli stated. "Like a super serious issue with it."

Maggie could only stare.

Michonne rose and faced the child, arms crossed. "Excuse me?"

"Yep, issues." Eli stepped closer. "It's not just my dad who thinks so."

"Eli, you need to sit down." Denise walked over to the girl and slid an arm over her shoulder. "You don't know what his opinion means."

"I do. It means Maggie wears a serious face all the time and doesn't take breaks. It isn't good for her health, which is why we don't approve." She slipped out from under Denise's arm and tossed a mud pie at Maggie, who didn't even jolt, simply blinked and looked down it when splattered on the floor. "War has been declared!"

"Oh, come on." Maggie hung her head. "I told him—lightening the mood didn't include—"

"War!" Eli cut her off and smiled. "We meet in ten minutes to discuss change!" She laughed and ran out of the room.

"Ten minutes?" Maggie flicked a twig off her blouse and nodded, spotting Eli and Greyson running down the street with Annie. Oh, hell no, he has her child? Her child? Sixteen hours of pushing her out, and she picked Aaron? Uh-uh. "I bet he has Glenn on his side."

Michonne chuckled. "And Rick."

"You both know Tara started this," Denise added.

"Let's nail 'em." Maggie pulled her hair up and marched out the door. "War has been declared!" She jogged down the stairs to give Aaron a piece of her demands. She hoped it smacked him right in the face!

– – –

"Hey, Greyson." Daryl set his crossbow down on the dinner table, hearing a thud from the couch. He looked over to find his sixteen year old son hiding behind the cushions. He smirked. "The hell are you doin'?" Blue eyes quickly averted his, and Daryl narrowed his eyes now. "Grey?"

"S'up." Eli appeared beside him. "Daryl." She ran a hand over her hair and cleared her throat.

Oh, fuck. Daryl didn't want to deal with this. "Eli."

"It's not what you think," Grey started, standing up and wearing an unbutton shirt and an poorly adjusted belt. "We were studying."

Eli rolled her eyes and pulled her shirt back over her head, rising. "No, we weren't. We were making out. I don't study." She bit into an apple she grabbed off the table. "I listen in class."

Daryl shook his head. "I don't want to know this."

"Yeah." Grey dragged a hand through his hair.

"Button up." Daryl removed his belt and set it beside his crossbow. "You stayin' for dinner?"

Eli's brows rose. "Can I?"

"Why not? You're already makin' yourself at home." He walked into the kitchen to get a glass of water. "Just don't do it on my couch."

"We aren't going to have sex," Eli assured him. "I told my dads as much."

"What?" Greyson's face went beet red. "You told them?! About us? And that?"

She sat on a bar stool and mimicked his voice. "That? It's sex, Grey, and yeah. I tell my dads everything. And Judith."

"Judith?!"

She giggled and ate more of the apple, happy to have something sweet and moist in her mouth. She could still taste the soap Greyson used on her lips. It was homemade crud they all used, and it was effective, but tasted gross. The oils they added only helped scent, not taste. Bleck.

Daryl chugged the glass of water down and cleared his throat, looking from Greyson to Eli and trying to figure out what to say. Carol was the one who said. He just listened. He didn't know how to handle this. Shit, Carol made all the moves. He just...let her. "So...you two?"

Eli nodded. "Since last week. We got caught on the ropes course." She laughed at the memory. "The one for the kids? We were messing around with Wyatt and Annie, and his foot got caught. I went up to help, but... I didn't help the situation much." It was dark out, Annie was on the swings, and Wyatt was playing with the soccer ball. Eli had been planning getting Greyson alone, and he made the perfect circumstance. She pretended to be caught too, and they talked till Wyatt took Annie home then she made her move. Dad always said to ask first, but it felt right. She asked after that, just to be sure. She knew he liked her—the whole town had told her such pretty much all her life—but she didn't want to assume. She wanted to know. She wanted his approval. Which he gave.

Daryl nodded.

"I need to check on Harold." Grey excused himself to look in on the rabbit Keela had given him for his birthday and as a goodbye gift. He had spent the month there to learn from her since Maggie was busy with Judith and Sage, and Dad didn't want him to go, but he was sixteen. He was growing up, and he wanted to grow along with this world. After all they'd done to secure it, how could he not want to learn how to take care of it? Of them? He made a speech to sway him, and Dad gave in, though he came along for the first couple of weeks. He went home after the third week to give Greyson some room to breathe, and it was the best time of his life. He learned so much and experienced their routine and their hardships and success. It was incredible. And he got Harry out of it, so it was a bonus on top of a bonus.

"Do you love him?" Daryl asked once Grey was out of the room.

"I won't hurt him," Eli instead responded. "I'm fond of him. He's...adorable, really. He can drill a walker between the eyes at a hundred paces but can't ask to hold my hand at the movies. And he won't kiss me in front of other people, but he sure does like to..." She trailed off, remembering this wasn't Judith, but the father of her boyfriend. "I won't hurt him."

"Why now?" He leaned against the counter.

She set the half-eaten apple down on the counter and met his eyes. "Because he killed the spider in my room."

Daryl's eyebrows furrowed in extreme confusion. "What?"

"There's been a huge spider in my room for a month now. My dad wanted me to kill it, but Dad wanted me to put it outside. I didn't want to do either, because I hate spiders. They're gross and hairy and monsters. I wish they would die." She shook her head. "But, um, anyway, Grey dropped off my gun since I'd left it at the wall the night before, and he killed the spider. He didn't even ask, just looked at me and knew I wanted it dead. It was cool and kinda hot." He would wear a serious expression when he killed anything—spider, walker, bug, person—and while it shouldn't be hot, it was very hot. She wanted to jump him and kiss him then, but it wasn't the right time. He had spider goo on his hand, and she probably would have gone too far. She had no restraint. She tried, but the older she got...the more it faded. But he had high restraint. He wasn't ready. She would wait for him to be. She wouldn't force him to do something only she wanted. She knew him well, and he wasn't there. He was sixteen and still awkward. He still had more of himself to figure out before he shared himself fully with her. She was happy to wait. He was worth it.

"I care about him," she continued. "He makes me happy, and I feel things. Like bubbles in my chest, and it feels good. He makes me feel good, and I think I make him feel the same, so I want to keep feeling this way with him for as long as it lasts."

Daryl smiled faintly, tapping his ring finger on the counter once. "I understand that."

"I wanted to tell you, but you look so lonely all the time. I didn't want to make you jealous." She leaned over the counter, using it to hold her weight as she set her knees on the seat of the stool.

"Jealous?"

"You're happy when you're with him, like...hit the stars happy, and you don't look lonely. I was worried if you knew about us, you'd feel like I'm taking him away from you. I didn't want you to start to hate me because of that."

"I couldn't hate you."

"Lots of people hate me. I'm loud and impulsive and reckless. I'm the reason my dad only has one arm, and I'm the reason Grey has a scar on his knee. I cause a lot of chaos, and I don't mean to. I just don't think before I act."

"You're eighteen. You have time to learn."

"I'm eighteen in a walkers' world; I should have learned a long time ago." She met his eyes. "But I am trying. I don't want to worry him. He worries enough, like his mom, no doubt. So I'm trying to improve myself for me and my dads and Greyson."

That caught his attention. "His mom? He talks about Carol to you?"

"All the time." She smiled warmly. "He loves her, and it's so sweet how he talks about her. He...carries her in his heart, and he thinks highly of her. I don't think anybody could love her more—aside from you, of course."

That brought the ghost of a smile across his lips. "You're right there."

"Do you think she would have liked me? As a person, as someone worthy to be with her son?" She searched his eyes, trying to find an answer she truly wanted, and she swallowed. "Or would she not like me? Like most people..."

"Carol loved you," he informed her. "She was with you and Judy when she was still pregnant. She thought the world of you. You were a sweet child, a good friend to Judith, and now you're growing into an admirable adult. You take your duties seriously. You don't slack off because you've had a bad day. You're kind to the newcomers, even the ones who don't like you, and you're good to my son. I can see he loves you. He may not know it, but I do. He looks at you like I looked at his mother, and while I don't know what the future has in store for you both, I hope it's good things. You both deserve good things."

She smiled faintly. "I won't love anyone else." It wasn't a statement by her tone; it was a fact. "When I fall in love with him, there won't be anyone else after. I can feel it, you know? Like when it's about rain? Or when we used to play "War" and mud pies would come for me, but I'd know when to dodge."

"You're intuitive." Like your mother, his mind cruelly threw out at him, and he winced inwardly. "It's a good trait to have."

"My dad says the same thing—about it being good to have." She leaned back on the stool. "I'm not so sure. I feel things that I don't like, and it's weird. Like when you're dreaming, but you can move and know it's you. It's...surreal sometimes."

"You ever see or feel anything bad?"

She shook her head. "Not that I can remember. It's all...cryptic and junk. I'm pretty sure most of it is the cold zucchini leftovers I eat before bed every night." She laughed then. "That's what my other dad tells me."

"I can see Aaron saying that."

"So, she liked me, huh?" She smiled to herself. "I think I liked her. I'm not sure, but I think I dream of her smile sometimes. It looks like the smile I see in the pictures of the woman in Greyson's room. It makes me feel safe. Loved, even. I wish I could have seen it in person. I know Greyson would give the world to see her in person, too, but he knows better. I guess I'm just stubborn. Or stupid."

"...you're not stupid." This came out raw, the words barely chocking by the emotion swirling up in this throat.

She grimaced. "No, I am. To talk about her like this with you, I am. I'm so sorry." She slid off the stool and walked around the counter to hug him. "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking. If anyone wants her in person... I'm sorry."

He swallowed and set a hand in between her shoulder blades in a small way to accept her hug. He could feel his eyes burning, but he didn't want to cry. He hadn't cried about what happened in years. He was doing fine. He laughed. He explored. He lived. He was functioning as a human being and a father, and while sixteen years wasn't enough time to mend his broken heart, it was enough to begin the first layer of stitching, so why...?

"You'll see her again one day," Eli whispered. "I feel it."

"Dad..." Greyson walked over to them, Eli moved so that he could hug him, and Daryl wrapped his arms tightly around his son, unable to keep the tears away now. Greyson knew it was a difficult subject, so he went to his family for stories of his mother. He never talked about her with Dad unless he brought it up. He didn't tell Eli that. He supposed now he would have to.

Eli set a hand on Daryl's shoulder, and she hoped her words brought him some sort of comfort. He would be with her again, and while she didn't know when or how or if wasn't some weird food dream, she was sure it was something. It had to be.

––

"Hey." Eli was waiting by the gate for him. "You ready? I am."

Greyson nodded, not saying much.

"Is something wrong?" She tilted her head to the side.

"No." He checked the straps to the rifle on is back and cleared his throat. "We'll be back by tomorrow, and they'll be strengthening the walls. I don't like the smell of the mixture they use. I wish we could be gone longer."

"It's doable."

He shook his head. "My dad doesn't need to worry that I died out there, because you want to screw around. We have a two day mission to just round up some game. That's all. Nothing more."

She felt like he'd slapped her in the face, so she nodded, her brow flicking upward. "Fine. Let's just go." She turned on her heel and walked away.

They passed through the gates, a voice called to them before they were out, and Greyson was nearly knocked to the ground by Annie's embrace. She held him firmly, and he couldn't breathe. He didn't know she had such strength, but he was happy she came to see him off. He had to beg his dad not to, because he wanted him to get some rest and not worry so much about him. There was no stopping Annie, however.

"Be careful." She released him and met his eyes. "Sage will be so mad if you get hurt."

"Yeah, Sage." He chuckled. "I'll be fine. I have my gun, a knife, and backup. We'll be good."

"You'll probably twist an ankle at worst." Eli rolled her eyes at him before he could respond and walked through the gates so he wouldn't talk to her.

"You made her mad?" Annie frowned. "Why now? You have a run, and you shouldn't be mad at each other. Plus, she's your girlfriend. You're supposed to treat her best. You're not supposed to make her angry."

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"Because only you and her dads can make her angry. Everyone else gets irritation or a cold shoulder, but you three get her wrath if you summon it." She scolded him. "Make it right, Grey. Whatever happened, make it right, please. You need each other out there."

"I know how to handle this, but thanks, kid." He hugged her once more. "Take care of Sage. I'll see you later."

"Okay." She watched him catch up to Eli, and they fell into step together as they strolled down the road, a sizable distance between them. She shook her head and hoped they would be all right.

The pair walked the road for about twenties minutes before turning left down the old hunting road, Eli skipped down the rock steps, and Greyson told her to be careful. She actually humphed him and continued to do it, waltzing on ahead without waiting for him. He scoffed and caught up to her, nearly sliding in the mud. She aped his previous words and walked onward.

"Real mature." He knocked his boots against a tree before following after her.

"Okay, then how about suck my tit?" She threw an icy look back at him. "Is that better?"

"No. It's not. You heard Annie—we need to watch each others' backs out here."

"You watch my back pretty well, don't you think?"

"That's not how I meant."

"Had I known about that, I wouldn't have worn my fitting jeans." She stepped over a log and inhaled deeply. "Don't talk. Walkers'll hear."

"That's bull." He grabbed her arm loosely. "Look, I can explain—"

"No need. Go ahead and take all your bad moods out on me. It's completely justified." She jerked her arm back and ran ahead.

"Eli!"

"Shush!" She hissed. "We're hunting, so let's just freaking hunt. Being loud will scare the animals. I'd rather not have to kill another cow. I like milk."

He nodded and caught up to her. "Just...stay close to me."

"Ditto."

––

Maggie rolled her sleeves up to take over stirring for one of the older women who couldn't take it any longer, Enid came over and clipped them up for her with a smile, and Maggie thanked her. She took her position back on the other side of the wide bucket to add the rest of the ingredients in. This made it like super cement. Nothing broke this stuff. It was a thank you gift from Tanner, one of the new members of the construction crew and about a month settled into their community. She was a little nutty, but it was entirely in an endearing way. She was going to whip those boy into shape since Abe wasn't able to lead them. He was currently out on injury, so things were bound to change by the time he got back. Hopefully it was all for the best.

"How's everything?" Maggie asked through the mask she wore.

"Define everything." Enid shock the bag empty and squinted her eyes to keep the dust that kicked up upon the bag emptying.

"You and your husband." She put more effort into mixing it as it thickened. "It's been about five years since that day."

She smiled behind her own mask. "You're not asking me to make grandchildren, are you?"

"God, no." She laughed at that idea, nearly cringing at it. "I'm just checking in. It's been a few months since we met up for dinner. We should do that again sometime. Maybe tonight?"

"I'd like that. Carl has the wall this afternoon, so he'll be off before dinner." She lifted her eyes to Maggie's. "I've been meaning to check in on Sage, let him know who's boss. We both know Annie won't."

"She's too busy chasing Wyatt." Maggie rolled her eyes. "Spencer think she likes him, but it's not like that. She...is trying to mother him."

"Mother him?" Enid frowned. "Rosita does that."

"I know, but lately Annie seems to want a project, and apparently that's Wyatt. I think it's related to her school project. It's just something to do pass time, but she's taking it so seriously. She's keeping a journal on him and all this stuff. Glenn's a little worried, but she assures us it's purely scientific."

"Ooh, got a future head doctor there." Enid added more water to mixture to ease the stirring burden it was putting on Maggie's arms.

"I already told Denise she would have a different type of student soon, and she was stoked. I think she wants to get back to her roots. She's been trying for a while now, but with our growing population and small amount of trained doctors, we need her." She helped herself to a moment's rest, her arms already aching. Who needed dead weight when they had this? "Uggh."

"Some of the people that saw our signs have some medical knowledge. Mostly nurses, but we can train them for the rest. Neva and I talked about it. We want to give Denise a room in the clinic to assist them. Carl and I have set up her office, so all we have now to do is show her. It's a walk from home, but it's not like we can move her out there."

"Well, I hear things have been a bit strained with Wyatt and Rosita lately. He's growing up, and he needs more space to do it. I've been talking to Rosita about moving to a new place, but she's comfortable there." She began to stir before it settled and shrugged a shoulder. "I talked to Tara, and she wants to see a new part of town every morning. She's considering the move. We have an open house."

"That's awesome. It'll make our surprise even better if Denise agrees."

Maggie lifted her eyes. "Are you happy?"

Enid blinked and chuckled softly. "I am. It's...a good life with Carl. We have a good relationship, and our baby is going just fine. Steals our bed and the couch and tracks mud into the house, but we're trying to train him. Mostly, he's just too cute to yell at."

"You need to train him, or he'll get worse. Trust me, I have Luck as proof."

"Aww, how is Luck? I haven't been by to check in or do our daily walks."

"Loud and untrained and precious." She chuckled. "Glenn's the favorite. I just provide the food and snuggles and walks."

"Glenn falls sleep with food, so it's just about food. Luck favors you."

"I don't feel like a favorite in that house. Everyone loves Glenn. Still. Sage won't forgive me for the watermelon!"

Enid busted out laughing. "Still?"

"Yeah, still!" She laughed with her. "He glares at me every time I pull a quarter out of the fridge. He says he isn't when I tell him to stop, but it's hard to not see. He has those big brown eyes, and I can see just fine."

"I'll talk to him about it. I've changed his diapers. I have leverage."

"Don't blackmail your brother."

"That's the only good thing about having a brother."

"Yeah, that's true." She pulled the yardstick out of the mixture to let it thicken. "Annie feels like there's a hole in the house without you."

She hugged her arms. "I miss waking up with her, too, but I'm all grown up and married. I wake up with my husband now, and I... I see Annie all the time."

"It's the late night talks she misses most. I've run into her sitting in the kitchen with Luck and a cup of tea, just talkin' away to Luck. She'll say she misses you to him. It breaks my heart, because she had you for years and then...you're gone. Her best friend. I understand it, but she's still young. And I can't be there for her as a best friend. I'm her mother, and I can't be both. If I could, I would, but...it's not in the cards."

"This is a guilt trip so I'll stay over, isn't it?"

"No, I want you to...invite Annie over."

"Oh. Really?"

"Yes, really. She'd like to see the new houses, and I'm sure she'd like to get to know Carl as her brother-in-law and your husband now." Maggie pulled her mask down. "And honestly, if I can't get an hour alone with Glenn, I'm going to snap."

Enid snickered. "Knew it. You wanted something."

"Yes, my husband. Preferably tonight, so please? Sage and Maya have a sleepover at Sasha and Abe's, and I can't boot Annie's out. Grey's out on a run, and she's not fond of spending time with Wyatt beyond the study."

"It's fine. We don't have anything planned, and I've love to just sit back with Annie and talk like we used to."

"Maybe Carl can keep Rick company. I know how you to girls get. You forget the rest of the world exists and just chat away. It's sweet, but not so much for non-parental onlookers. It can be lonely. It would upset Sage that his "sissies" were ignoring him."

"Aww, I should apologize."

"Nah, he's fine with it now. He has school and lessons, so he doesn't think too much on it. Just the eternal watermelon grudge."

"Well, you were cruel for not letting him chew on it."

"Do you want to be a part of that wall? I'll use this to glue you here. You won't get to leave."

"I'm kidding. I'm kidding." She held her hands up.

Maggie yanked her mask down. "This has to sit for a few minutes. Let's grab a grape juice."

"Sounds good."

Maggie wrapped an arm around her and guided her over the coolers Olivia had set up by their strengthening team.

––

Eli snuggled closer to the hollowed back of the tree and inhaled the overpowering scent of rot. She didn't like it, but she didn't want to climb a tree. She was too exhausted from storming away from Grey like a child. She wanted to make a point, and it had been made. He was sitting on a rock away from her, keeping guard, and he hadn't said anything to her since he handed her dinner. A nice bowl of owl. It was rough going down. It needed...to be something else that was eatable, honestly.

She sighed and crawled out of the tree, exhaling and walking over to him. "Talk to me, dude."

"Will you even listen?" He cast his eyes towards the darkness.

"I wouldn't have asked if I weren't willing to listen." She set her hands on his thighs, he stiftened, and she sat down between his legs, using his thigh like an armrest. "Let's talk it out."

"Could you not sit there?" He tried to move a little but ended up falling off the other end of the rock. "Ow."

"You okay?" She was trying not to laugh, because what the hell was that?

"Don't laugh at me." He was blushing, but luckily she couldn't see.

"Why'd you do that?" She helped him stand up. "I used to sit like that all the time when we were younger."

"Yeah, well we're not younger." He dusted himself off.

"What? Do you like me being between your legs?" She said it innocently, but he knew if he could see her face it expressed anything but innocence.

"Eli, you know why. We've been down that road before."

"It's just a reaction. I like it."

"Yeah, well, I don't."

She inhaled. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"Yeah, it is. Or I hope it is." She sat down on the ground and stretched her legs before pulling them up to her chest. "I like to think it's my fault."

"That's weird."

"How is it weird? It means you want me. I like that."

He sat beside her. "Then why... Never mind."

"You know why. You're not ready for that, no matter how your body reacts to me. You have a lot on your plate right now, and I don't want to confuse things. I want us to be simple until I love you. Then once I love you, it's okay to get messy and complicated. It's supposed to get that way, I think. At least over certain things."

He pulled his legs in and rested his arms on his knees. "May I ask you something?"

"Shoot." She made a finger gun and pulled the trigger as she said it.

"Do you want me like that? I mean, you know I feel it. It's visible, but...do you feel like that?"

"Of course I do." She leaned against the tree. "I think about it a lot. I like how it makes me feel. I hope it feels even better when we're together."

"No pressure..."

She chuckled. "Keep focusing on school and life problems, kid."

"I'm not that much younger than you."

"I know, but if the old laws were in place, it'd mean a hell of a lot."

"You're only eighteen. Maybe, it's not like anybody has an accurate way of telling time."

"Then invent one."

"That's more for Eugene than me."

"You don't know what there is for you. You haven't even discovered what your passion is."

"Eli, all I know is that I want a future with you. I have my wall rotations and patrols, so it's fine if you're here."

"It's not fine. You need to find something you want to do. Something you love and are driven to get better at. I want to be a runner. I'm so excited about it that my heart stops, and my nerves lit on fire. I get to ensure communication between our towns, and I get to be included in any major changes by extension. God, my skin is humming just thinking about it." She gripped her shoulders and smiled. "I know I'll do well there."

"I don't know where I fit in, to be honest. My mom was both a warrior and a healer, my father ran construction, and my dad is a hunter. A tracker. I don't fit into any of those shoes. Trust me, I've tried. I worsened Annie's rash. I—I destroyed an entire unit in the clinic, and I'm pretty sure you're the real hunter here. I'm just the muscle."

"You're an awesome tracker."

"Dad taught me how. That doesn't mean I can do something with it. I want to belong, but I feel out of place here, like an accident. Maybe I was. No one ever says, but...they don't have to."

"Every baby before Annie as an accident." Eli shrugged. "You, me, Judith, Wyatt. We weren't on purpose. We simply are, and that's okay. We'll make our purpose with our parents' unconditional love. That's how I see it. My dads support me, and I'm a mess, dude. You know Daryl loves you more than anything. And don't get me started on your mom—"

"Why did you bring her up when you talked to him?" he cut her off, an anger to his tone. "Why do that?"

"I...had a question. Daryl had the answer."

"You shouldn't have brought her up."

"He's a grown man. He can handle the mention of her."

"He shouldn't have to."

"He isn't going to forget her or her loss simply because no one is talking about her. He always feels that, like his heartbeat. There isn't an escape from that." Her lips formed a line. "That's why you're mad at me? Over her? Over that?"

"He shouldn't have to be in pain, because you're curious. I know he feels it all the time, but he didn't have a breakdown about it until you asked."

"Maybe it was building up, and he needed that release."

"Bullshit."

"You're bullshit." She glared at him. "You're pissed, because I'm not scared of talking about her? That's utter bullshit. Carol's memory shouldn't be restricted to pictures and thoughts. It should be spoken of and often to keep her near."

"She's near without the mention of her life."

"No, that keeps her away. She wants you to know her, to talk about her, to feel the loss. The loss, not the pain, because that's the whole point of living. You feel the weight of living, and you embrace it all. If you don't, it'll just crush you and move on."

"It's killing him."

"He's surviving it, because of you."

"I took her from him, Eli. You don't know what that's like. He... he sometimes calls me by her name. If he just sees my eyes when I wake him up. If he hears me walking around upstairs and doesn't know it's me, he'll say her name. Like he's calling to her, and she won't come because of me. I ruined his life."

The next thing he knew was the ground being smacked into his shoulder. He rolled onto his back and found Eli on top of him, her nails digging into his shoulders, and she was trying to keep from yelling. He could tell by how strained her voice was. She was beyond pissed.

"Shut up. You don't know anything. He loves you and is grateful for you. How could he not be? You'll carry Carol and everything she ever was and could be with you throughout your life and to your children. She gets to have a piece of her live forever through you. You have no right to say that was a mistake—that you're a mistake. If that was true, she would have gotten rid of you. She didn't. She loved you. He loves you. People are grateful for you. They love you and care about you, and you don't get to wallow. You don't get to fucking wallow and make it all about you when it's not! People die all the time, and you can't help that! Carol happened to die the same day you were born, but that's not on you! It's just how that played out, just like me and my mom! She's gone, but I'm here. I won't let that hold me back from enjoying my life, because she had me. She brought me into this world, and I made my way here with the love and support of my parents. I'm here, and I intend to make a mark on this world for the better. That's what people do. What they oughta do, not think thoughts like that. Not blame themselves for things they had no control over."

"Eli—"

"You were a few minutes old, you prick. You had no say. You did nothing but breathe. Don't say things like that!"

"I—I'm sorry."

"You'd better be because there's a man back home that would be crushed if he ever heard you say those things. They're lies! You didn't ruin anything. Life is cruel, but we have no control over what life decides, only how we react. Daryl reacted by being the best damn dad he could, and he raised a good guy. Don't stomp on that, because you feel guilty over an error of the human body."

"You know a lot about her... why?"

"Because, you dummy, she made you, and I..." She trailed off and lifted her head. "Shit. Get up."

He was ripped to his feet by her before he could process what she saw, and she pulled him deeper into the woods. She knew this path by heart from her childhood, and they could get to the base she made in the tree with supplies she stole from construction. She was a crafty child, very easily bored with school, and she watched the construction crew from the window. She more about building than whatever the lesson of the day was.

"Here. Climb."

"Climb what?"

She took his hand and let him feet the ladder nailed into the tree. He went up first, and she followed, hearing the growls nearing. She wasted no time, having climb this so many times when she was young. She pulled herself up after him and was relief to see the wood was still sturdy. She was grateful for that. Less for the fact that she had left her backpack in the tree hollow, but if she was lucky, she would reclaim it with no trouble in the morning. She needed to not yell at Grey until then, and he just needed to stop being a dummy until then.

"What is this?"

"A twelve year old's version of a tree house." She shifted her feet. "Why do you think I left so often?"

"For kicks?"

"No, for this. I liked being out here building it. It was fun. Especially when I asked Abe on support, and he didn't know what I was talking about. He was a big help, though." Especially when Sasha distracted him, and he didn't properly lock the tool shed. Thanks Sash.

"If you hadn't yelled—"

"It was coming anyway." She huffed. "And we are so not done talking."

"I know in my heart and brain I didn't ruin his life, Eli, but it doesn't make the pain there any easier, okay? I don't need a pep talk. Or to be yelled out. I wanted to vent, and sure, it was depressing, but I didn't mean it. It just came out, because I'm upset. I'm allowed that."

"You're never allowed to determined how much better the quality of life will be for someone who loves you and cares about you if you're not there. You're real, Greyson, so if you weren't here, Carol would have miscarried. There is no other way to paint this. You died, or she did. Daryl still has pain in his eyes. And so would I."

"You?"

"Yes, you dipshit. I care about you. I knew you when you were a fetus. Sorta. I don't remember it, but people tell me about it. I see pictures of it. I would miss you. I miss you when you don't come to class, so yeah, I'd miss you."

"You miss me when I don't come to class?" The smile was apparent in his voice. Darkness or no, she didn't need it to know it was huge.

"You were sick, and I was bored," she tried to backtrack.

"Eli."

"I already said it. Don't make me repeat myself. You have death issues. Let's focus on that."

"I don't."

"You'd better not. I don't want a world without you. No matter how great Carol is. If I want her, you'd have to be there, too."

"I wish it had worked out like that."

"She's still with you, body or no. You love someone that much, it sticks. She's still here. Somewhere. On some other plane." She smiled softly. "I feel her when I'm with you sometimes, like..a warning. It keeps me in check. I just hope it isn't always there."

"That... that's actually comforting."

"I meant for it to be."

"Thank you, Eli."

"Thank me by shutting up...," a blush crossed her cheeks, "and holding me."

He chuckled. "Then come here." He wrapped his arms around her, kissing her hair, and she buried her face in his chest. It was the first time Greyson had really been able to hold her. He liked how she felt against him. She was small enough to fit against the curves of his body, and he liked all of it. He wanted to do this more often, but she wasn't the type to be still, so he doubted it.

"Could I kiss you?" Eli murmured against his chest.

"What?" He moved back.

"I just wanted a goodnight kiss. It's usually a forehead kiss by my dads, but since it's you, I'd prefer the mouth. Less weird."

He chuckled and lightly kissed her. "Good night."

She buried her smile in his chest. "Night."

– – –

"What do you mean, it works?" Maggie looked up from her desk at Eugene, who had supposedly gotten his communication devices working.

"I mean exactly what I told you. The device is opperational. I can't positively say how accurate the long-range capabilites are, but I can assure that the short range are excellent. I'll confirm the long range during the run Rosita and Wyatt are going on."

"Wow. I'm honestly surprised. It took you six years, so I thought it was just...unfeasible." She stood up and smiled at him. "That's great, Eugene. It could really help us out, save us time and people going forward with planning and expansion on the Hilltop's part. We might even be able to bring the Kingdom into this."

"I've supplied both Keela and Ezekiel with two of the coms. Eli and Jose departed to take them to each leader. Wyatt is currently testing the range. If it continues to provide a clear message then I'll allow him and Rosita to use them on their run."

She nodded. "Hold off on that. We'll test them in a different way if it can reach Keela and Zeke."

"All right." He handed the device over. "This one is to be yours."

"Thank you." She accepted it. "I really appreciate this, Eugene."

"May I?" Judith was already on her feet and holding her hands out for the object.

"Here. Be careful."

"Of course." She inspected it and sat down at her desk. "It looks heavy, but it's not. It feels a pound or two heavier than walkie. It's held together well. You can hardly see any loose wires. I wouldn't take it out in the rain, though."

Maggie smiled at her partner in office. "Oh, yeah? What else?"

Before Judith could continue in came a group of little kids with flyers for their production tonight. Michonne thought it would do the kids good to perform plays and out on shows of their now and then. It helped lower the walls and anxiety of the younger members of their town. It brought smiles and laughter in the other members, and it was an all around good time. Whether the play sucked or not, it was piece of what the world and life was like before. It meant everything to the elderly folks here, and it eased a world-worn heart like no other to see kids being kids and just giving their all out there on the stage. It was precious, a winning idea, and Michonne was happen to help direct. Although the kids were starting to get a hang of it and wanted to give it a shot, which was what tonight was. A purely kid written and driven show. It was called Frog Jam. No one was sure if they meant music or the food. It would be interesting, for sure.

"Will Zeke be here to see the show?" Magda asked, a young Northerner who's family had shuffled their way here. She was a sweet girl and the mastermind behind their show. Maggie also suspected she was blown away the Ezekiel's last visit with Shiva. She might have to ask him to come down and do another reading for the kids. They couldn't get enough of him.

After Eli and Judith found the Kingdom on a run, they were quickly brought into hers and Keela's agreement. Jesus admitted to know of the Kingdom, but he didn't want to make any introductions. A lot was going on on both sides, and he had been busy assisting Keela in securing their town. Maggie didn't have a problem with. She was just happy to have someone else at the talks—a fresh set of eyes—and it didn't hurt that he was a corny guy. The kids loved it. He made them feel so safe, like a King from a storybook. Shiva only added to that appeal. It brought the entire town joy to see those once traumatized into not speaking kids smile and laugh and cheer for Ezekiel. He was a good man, a gentle soul that seemed to sooth the kids in a way Tara or Gabriel couldn't.

Thankfully he wasn't all words and soothing gestures. When they came into contact with a sizable group that tried to take all they had worked for, the three of them fought back. The destroyed that group, erased them from the face of their earth. They had taken some losses from each community, and they had a ceremony to honor them and to mourn. People spoke on behalf of their lost loved ones, people brought flowers and homemade goodies, people were united and there for each other. Strangers became friends, and eventually, over time, some became lovers and left town to be with their partner. Maggie seen several people leave for the Hilltop or the Kingdom to be with the ones they loved, and she had greeted several people as well. Her and Judith both. Greetings were easier, but Judith insisted on saying goodbye and wishing friends the best of luck. It was a bittersweet moment, but knowing there were choices and love and places beyond there for people to go felt like a small slice of the world had been reclaimed. Alexandria, the Hilltop and the Kingdom were winning their war against the dead. People were winning. That did so much good. It was a lovely fact.

"Not tonight, sweetie." She bent down and grasped one of her braids. "He'll stop by soon, and I'll be sure to bring him by the school, okay?"

"With Shiva, right?" Thomas pleaded. "Please, he has to bring her! She's so awesome!"

"I'll ask, but no promises, all right?"

"Yes!"

Maggie chuckled. So much for no promises. Shiva would have to join them. "All right, I have business, but I will see you all tonight for the show. We're all so excited to see what you came up with on your own."

"We'll make you laugh!"

"You'll love it!"

"I only have a small part!"

"You have to come and see it! Front row!"

They all started to talk over each other and the rest was drowned out, Maggie laughed light-heartedly and hushed them, guiding them out into the hall towards the door. She spoke with them on the way out and assured them she would be there front seat with Glenn. They were all so ecstatic. They ran down the street towards the stage to rehearse. She was looking forward to seeing what exactly Frog Jam was. It couldn't be too awful. Right?

––

"We have to go soon," he said when her lips briefly left his. "That play's tonight. We promised—"

She kissed him. "I know what we promised, but I don't want to go tonight. They'll run it againt tomorrow, so we can just...stay in bed and hang out."

"No one hangs out in bed." He pushed himself up. "I promised the kids I'd be there to support them."

"Will they honestly notice if you're not there?" She set a hand on his neck. "I haven't gotten to see you in weeks. I've been so busy with runs, and you with the school training. I really want to spend tonight with just you. My dads are out, and we have the whole place to ourselves."

"I don't want your dads coming home early to find us...like that. Especially since we haven't done this before. I don't want to be interrupted."

"Okay, that was one time, and they just wanted to know if you wanted chili, too."

"That's not the point."

"I know, but I wanted to point that out. If you hadn't left your shoes downstairs, they wouldn't have known, and we could have had a very good night."

"But we didn't, and there's about a million other reasons they could have come up here. Let's just stop bringing it up."

"Then when, Greyson? If it's not my dads, it's yours. It's not like there's a place we can go and do this all romantic and la la la. We have jobs. I have to leave in two days for another run to the Kingdom. You have that exam with Michonne tomorrow. It's four hours." She searched his eyes. "I don't want to rush it, but I want...to be with you. I miss you. I feel like I haven't been with you since I got back. You're somewhere else. What's going on?"

"Nothing's going on. I'm just... I missed you too."

She groaned and climbed off her bed, removing her shirt for a less wrinkled one.

"What? You don't want me to miss you?"

"Do you even like me?" She whirled around, adjusting the hem of her sweater. "Honestly? Am I just a fun thing to mess around with? Is there someone else you want? Because all you ever do is avoid this. You don't even get excited about it anymore. You just...deflect. If I wanted to date Daryl about forty years ago, I'd build a time machine. That way I'd at least have legit ice cream Dad always talks about."

"I don't deflect."

"Yes, you do." She crossed her arms. "And I don't want to argue this with you. You have kids to tend to. I'll just hang out with Wyatt. He hates the shows. Maybe we could find something to do." Like leave the town for a bit. If her boyfriend was going to put up his walls, she had to make herself feel better by scaling a different set of walls. Physical walls.

"You're blowing off the show? For Wyatt?"

"No, I'm blowing off the show, because I don't want to see it. I've watched them rehearse, so I've already seen it. I'm good. Wyatt and I can blow off some steam outside the walls, kill some walkers. Do...something."

"Well, have fun."

"You, too." She walked out of the room, grabbing her coat and shoving her feet into her tennis shoes. She was out of the house before Greyson was out of her room, and she ran to the wall. She knew Wyatt would be at the show. He had a thing for Annie right now, and he would be there to talk to her. So it would just be Eli and the woods, just like childhood. Just like the rest of her life apparently. No one wanted to let her in, not even her dads. They had secrets, too. As a kid she wondered what they were and if they would share them with her, but after all this time, she knew they wouldn't, and she wouldn't figure them out. Not even his secrets, the ones she wanted to know, the ones she wanted him to trust her enough to speak to her about. The ones that burdened him so that she could help. He wasn't going to let her, though. Not now or ever.

She ran through the leaves from the past falls, her hair loose and blowing back in her face when she made sudden stops. She felt herself feel the air around her, not the fear, not the danger. She spun herself and reached for the sky. She wouldn't allow herself to come back down.

For hours, she wouldn't let herself return. As the sun began its descent, as her shadow began to fade, as the wind began to chill, she didn't stop. She moved alongside the breeze, among the leaves that crunched under her feet, and among the trees that stood ever stationary and grand. She was among them, alongside them, but never with them. She was an outsider. She did not belong. Would she ever?

She whirled around, her foot catching in a tree root, and she cried out at the sickening crunch her muscles gave as she crumbled to the ground, her ankle caught. She knew it wasn't broken, simply twisted—again—and she cursed. She pulled it free gently and rotated it, sucking in a air sharply at the pangs it shot through her lower leg.

"Ooooh." She blew out air and looked around, realizing only now she was miles from Alexandria. She swept the hairs that blocked her view out of her face and pulled her knife from her hip holster. She tore through her shirt thick and wrapped it tightly around her ankle, forcing herself to stand up using the assistance of the tree. She huffed out more air and stumbled towards home.

Geez. I really need to be more aware, she thought to herself. People were busy with the play, if anything happened to her, there would be no immediate search party. People didn't notice her anyway. Sure, she had fire red hair and skin just a shade darker than snow, but she blended in well. She liked that. She didn't want to stand out, however that hurt her in this instance. Oh, well. She knew the way home—mostly—and she wasn't afraid of whatever this world wanted to throw at her. She could take it.

A hand clamped down on her shoulder, she gasped and slammed her elbow into the rib cage of the unknown attacker. He groaned, and she halted, knowing the sound.

"Greyson?!" She spun round and found him wheezing, holding his side. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know you—Wait, why are you out here?"

"Dying..." He wheezed, sure she had bruised a rib. "Jesus."

"Is that a joke, or are people really dying?" she pressed.

"It's...mostly a joke." He rubbed his side with a wince. "You lied."

"How?" She cocked a brow and folded her arms over her chest.

"Wyatt was at the play. You just left without telling anybody or signing the check-out sheet." He turned a foul glare on her. "Do you know how stupid that is? You could have been killed!"

"I can protect myself."

"Then why is your shirt around your ankle?"

"I didn't say I had spectacular balance."

"Eli, you need to be more careful. We're too old to be doing this."

She scoffed. "We've always had to be "too old". We were never young, Greyson. We just had smaller bodies."

"What?"

"I never got to be a child, not like our parents. I had to be a warrior. I had to be a survivor. Sure, a couple rounds of ball is all well and good, but I wanted more. Forgive me for acting a bit "young" now when no one is breathing down my neck so I can be "safe"."

"That's stupid. Being reckless isn't what being young is about!"

"Well, it can't be this." She stepped back, ignoring the pain sprouting inside her ankle. "It can't be."

"I know it's rules and work, but that's life. We'll make something better of it. Something great."

"It's not home. I'm fine with rules and work, but I can't..." Her voice broke. "I can't help but feel like I'm wrong there. I can't...put words into it, but I see it sometimes in the older groups. Grandma says I'm being silly, but nobody ever mentions certain things. Like my mother. Or my father."

"They're dead. What is there to talk about?"

"You have plenty to talk about when it comes to Carol, plenty of pictures and stories, but me? No pictures, not one story, just...whatever you wanna call that birth story. A lie? Yeah, that seems right."

"Eli." A heartbroken sound.

"Am I a product of something foul? Is that why I had to take extra steps to get a gun? To get my first knife? To go on runs? To not be supervised on the wall? They say I'm talented yet watch me, so why? I have done nothing wrong, and yet...I see Morgan watching me. Always watching, like I'm a time bomb."

"He wants to teach you," Greyson revealed. "He's wanted to teach you since you were a kid. Dad told me so. He trained my mom, too. It sounds kinda cool."

"He doesn't want me to kill then."

"Why would you want to?"

"So I can keep you safe." She moved towards him. "If people came after us, I want to feel confident that I can keep you safe."

"I can keep myself safe."

"You don't like to kill."

"Who likes to kill? People or walkers. They're all the same."

"No, people are much worse." She scrutinized his eyes in the darkness. "I won't let people hurt you."

"Why don't we simply watch each's backs? How about that?"

She exhaled. "Fair, I suppose."

"Let's go home." He smiled at her. "Wrap up that ankle. Get you some food."

She nodded, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "What, no piggyback ride? I'm wounded."

"Those are for Annie," he responded with a chuckle. "Besides I had to help with the grand finale for the play, and I think I have the impression of an eight year old's knee on my back. Several."

"Oh." She laughed. "Here, let me help you."

"Thanks." He put his weight on her, and she stumbled, and they toppled onto the leaves. He laughed and rolled onto his back. "Oh, that's a knot."

"Oh, that's a knot," she aped him, rolling onto her side. "Grandpa."

"I am. I'm falling apart." He smirked, finding her eyes in the darkness. The moon was shining overhead now, but its rays streamed through the thick tranches and fractured. She seemed to have a white aura, pronounced by the darkness and the branches, and he felt in that moment that his heart had been beating for hers for far longer than he could ever know. He prayed it reached forward into the future as well, because to feel like this...had to be a future. It was too much for the present or past to hold.

"Eli?"

"Yes?" She moved messy hair from her face, the moonlight glowing against her cheekbone, and she blushed when his thumb traced that reflection ever so slightly.

"May I kiss you, Eli?"

"Why are you asking?" She was turning red, and she'd never been more grateful for the dark.

"Why shouldn't I?"

"You're a nerd." She turned her head away, feeling her heart racing beneath her breast, and she heaved a sigh. "Asking for a kiss..."

"Could I have it then?"

"Could you have it?" She chuckled lightly, an airy sound, and she leaned over to kiss him. "You don't have to ask." Her lips brushed his in a feather-soft kiss then pressed down as her hand found his hair in the leaves. There was a faint taste of punch to his lips, and she suspected he'd noticed she was gone right after the play was over. The hint of cracks creeping along his bottom lip that she moistened with her tongue said he'd been out here for a while looking.

He grasped the back of her hair, feeling the braided knot that had slowly come undone through the course of the day against his palm, and he untwisted it, letting them fall against his upper cheekbones. He loved her hair. It was always either a complete mess or a clean with a braid meeting in the back. The strands were smooth and smelled of flowers. He wasn't sure how, but it wasn't like the oils that were put into the soaps, but she always smelled of sweet flowers. He could smell that for the rest of his life.

He used to ask his dad how he knew he loved his mom. He'd unusually be cleaning his bow, and he'd drop a piece or a part and blush, and Grey would laugh. He really wanted to know, but Dad always gave a kiddy answer, so he asked again when he was eighteen. Dad told him the truth. It was a long journal from place to place, encountering new people and bonding more with the original group. He wasn't sure when he'd started to feel for her exactly, but he knew once he recognized his feelings, there weren't going to fade. He wanted her in any way she would give him, and Mom felt the same. He was sure there were more details, a rough patch, but overall that was the story, wasn't it? Love being nurtured through travels and hardships, love blooming at an inopportune moment but thriving despite it all. Love surpassing death. It had to surpass everything, because...how could it not? To see that love still in his dad's eyes, it had to be eternal. And perhaps Greyson found one of his own.

"Keep this up, and the trees will be blushing." Eli brushed a bit of saliva from his bottom lip.

"Trees don't blush."

She chuckled. "Oh, yeah? Just wait til I'm done." She kissed him once more. "C'mere."

She guided him out of the woods and into an open area. Tall brash bent and brushed against them, tickling any exposed skin, and he repressed a laugh. Eli smirked at him and laced her fingers through his, guiding him through the maze the grass had made of itself, and soon she found her way out of it. She scanned for movement then pulled him along, and they jogged over to a form in the darkness. He could make it out as they neared: a cabin.

"C'mere." She slipped through the crack in the door and tugged it further open for him, he followed, and they pushed it back shut. "I found this place when I was out with my dads. It's seen better days, but most of its still intact."

He looked over the worn and semi-rotting walls of the cabin, spotting waste at the table that was so cold no bugs would touch it. It was probably molded to the plate, if he was being honest. He didn't dare touch it. He didn't want to know of those were bones or...beans? He couldn't tell, so he joined Eli in the middle of the room.

"The couch against the door? Doesn't that mean someone's been here?"

"Not for years." She found a lantern and lit up with the matches she kept in her boot. "Ta-duh! Privacy." She held it up and smiled at him.

"Easy on that ankle. You lead me here, and you shouldn't have. You're bound to worsen the sprain."

"It stings, but I'm okay. And you're missing the point."

"Am I now?" Her earlier smile caught on his lips, and he chuckled. "You mentioned privacy, but to do what with, Eli?"

"Eli, Eli, Eli." She clicked her tongue against her teeth and shook a finger. "Must you ask?"

"With you?" He caught her hips when she turned to leave. "Always. It's how I get any answers."

"Come with me." She took hold of his right hand and guided him through one of the three doors in the cabin, pulling him inside where a bedroom lay. The ceiling had given around most of the room, a view of the night sky beaming down on them, and Greyson was impressed that the bed itself hadn't be covered by rubble. It even looked freshly made. Wait a minute.

"Did you...?"

"Maybe." She dragged the word out some and set the lamp down on the night stand and sat down on the chest at the foot of the bed. "You said you didn't want to be interrupted."

"How'd you know I'd find you?"

"I didn't." She rested her hands on her knees. "I crash here from time to time. It's nice—expect for when it rains then it sucks."

"If it's rained on that mattress—"

"There's a curtain under that blanket." She patted it, and it crickled. "It's good for holding in heat and keeping the rain off the bed. It's a little lumpy—the bed—but I don't think we'll notice."

His brows rose as he tilted his head and moistened his lips. "Huh."

"W—Whoa!" Eli was about to ask him what was wrong when the chest sank in from years of weather abuse and her weight, and she fell smack into the center of it.

"You okay?" He was instantly by her side, helping her out of it.

"I've had better days." She minded her foot and the wood to avoid further injury. "My ass is gonna feel that for a couple weeks."

"Want me to kiss it and make it all better?" he mused.

"Why, are you into that kind of thing?"

He scratched his upper lip. "All I know is that I'm into you, Eli. The rest doesn't matter."

"What if I'm terrible? And some hot, young thing comes to town and blows you away?"

"I think if any "thing" comes to town, we'll kill it." He laughed at her expression. "And beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I don't care about looks. I care about you. Only you. I have since I was, like, ten. That isn't going to change."

"And if we don't get a happy ending? What then?" she whispered.

"Then we'll have this." He weaved his fingers through her hair, pulling her closer by the back of her head, and he kissed her with the depth of his love and with not intent other than being completely one with her. Perhaps then he could feel whole for once in his life.

Eli brushed her nose against his when his lips left hers. "Don't let go." It was said with fear and anxiety, and he calmed them with a tender kiss.

"Never."

– – –

Happy Birthday. Today our son is twenty-four. He's a man. An amazing man with compassion and medicinal talent similar to yours. He wears a smile almost every day. He loves to help the kids out down by the school. He teaches them gym and plays with them. He makes them laugh, like an older brother to look up to. He helps to normalize things. He... he helps with Mag and Judy to get them settled in. He adores it. He suits better anything else he'd done. He's great at it. He has a warm heart that everyone trusts, but he has instinct enough to know when to pull his heart back and to keep a person or persons at a distance. He's a good man, a fine warrior, and most importantly, above all else he is alive and happy. Real happy.

He's gotten involved with Eli. The young girl, granddaughter to Neva, who was the only other survivor from the attack. He's been following her since they were young, and while it didn't always work out for the best, they have grown to be respectful of each other. He's in love. He hasn't told me. Maybe not even her, but I know. She's the reason he smiles every morning. I'm a bit jealous 'cause you used to be the reason behind all of my smiles. Now there are few, and they're for Greyson when they do appear. He doesn't know how rare they are, but I suppose when I'm around you and our son, they aren't as few as I think.

Anyway, Eli is a...curious one. She's grown into a beautiful woman, always has her hair either braided or down, and if it's braided, it was done by Greyson. That's one hint to how I know they've been spending their nights together. She happens to show up early the next morning, hair cleanly braided, smiling, and there's always a blush on Greyson's cheeks. Like me, he gets embarrassed about that kind of thing. Barely looks up from his eggs. Eli has no shame. She even makes jokes that further embarrassing him, and while it's a bit awkward sometimes, it reminds me mostly of you and the prison. Our talks. You had no shame, either. Although Eli isn't quite as smooth as you. Girl's jagged around all the edges, and I used to worry Greyson would get cut, but he's just about the only one who can get close these days. She isn't fond of the newcomers, so she stays close to the family, close to her fathers and friends and Grey. I must've rubbed off on her. (You wouldn't agree with that, would you? Not now. After everything.)

Today is very special. Greyson has chosen what he wants to do. No more rotations from job to job; he wants to help the newcomers and the kids. He has gotten Maggie's approval, and the kids are bouncing off the walls with joy to have him. Eli is close to share in that joy. I believe he's off with her now, celebrating today as his birthday and as the day he chose his career. I don't blame him. I'd be with you, too, every second I'd spend with you if we had as much time as them. I wouldn't waste a second of it.

The nights are easier now. After twenty plus goddamn years, they'd better be, right? Well, not entirely. I can sleep through most the night, but the dreams still come. The nightmares. I save you so many nights in my dreams. I hold you and our son, and we're here now together to gently guide him into adulthood. You're by my side, holding my hand, and everything makes sense. It's peaceful. It's the most peace I've ever known.

But some nights aren't so kind. It's a horrible twist my mind plays, imagining how quickly you could have turned, what you could have done to those in the room, to our son, but it wasn't you. It wouldn't have been you. It was a dark and hungry thing under your skin, and it tortures me in my dreams as much as the other version of you I see. Either way you are gone, and I must suffer seeing you in those dreams. Smiling at me or snarling at me, and I want to give in. I want to reach out and let you have me in both ways, but I wake. I wake to tears, or to find Greyson has heard me struggling and came to check on me. He stays with me on those nights until I can sleep, but mostly we talk. He tells me of Eli and of the kids. I tell him of you and of the past. He likes that. It makes him smile to know more about you. I'm running out of stories, and that breaks my heart more than you can know. How can stories of you come to an end as well? They shouldn't. And yet...they have. Haven't they?

It all remains the same here. We have Sections now as we'v expanded. We had letters, but they reminded us of the prison and of Terminus, so we switched them. It was an idea from some book Enid had read. There are ten now, all either filled with buildings for teaching and healing, or animals and crops, or waiting to be decided on. The walls are stronger than ever, and while our supplies for building are low, Judy is confident that we'll be fine. She has a plan with Keela, Maggie and Zeke. I have a good feeling on it. That girl was born for this. Ass Kicker will see this new world out. Just like the rest of the young ones. I'm proud to have known them and to continue to know them. I have no say, but I would and do entrust this world each and every one of them.

Wyatt is fierce. He has the fire of his mother, the talent of calming others like his father, and he has the skill of both protect and lead. He is just like Rosita, but he looks like Spencer more now that he's grown. He stays close to Annie, and while he did have the most obvious crush on her, it's passed. They're good friends, better partners in business, and they really enjoy hanging out with Denise and learning from her. Wyatt wants to guard, but he does like to learn tricks to calm the older folks and the easily startled newcomers. He'll do great.

Annie is...so much more than her appearance. She was small in built, mirroring her mother in combat and her father in negotiations. She spends time with Morgan and mediates with him almost every morning. She spends her afternoons tending to the crops and pulling weeds. She seems so harmless, but corner her or someone she loves, and this...badass comes out. She was no fan of guns or bows, no. She liked spears, like the ones Hilltop crafts. She went with Maggie during one trip to settle an argument among leaders, and she devoted herself to learning how to use it. It sometimes is an over decorated walking stick, but she was lethal with it if she has to be. She was quick and had unwavering aim. She was deathly in dodge ball, too.

As for Sage, he was a little thing, still. He'd like to act like he's a big, grown man but he wasn't by any means. He's a little squirt who favored his dad in most ways. He didn't want to learn how to fight. He wanted to learn how to grow—food, livestock, etc. He wanted to assist with the animals and the fields more than with the wall, but he did learn basics should the worst occur. He kept a machete with him but insisted it was soley for chopping down corn stalks. Only seventeen and so sure of himself. A wisdom Maggie suspected her grandfather had given him. If that were true, he would be vital to the survival of humanity. He could bear that burden. He could endure more than he knew, though hopefully it was nothing too strenuous.

And again with Eli. She was a runner, graduated top of Glenn's class. She dealt with most of goods being carted to and fro, and she made sure everyone got everything they needed. She was protective as all hell of those in her team, and she was good at leading a small group. She had no trouble with killing, or she'd like the world to think. I've seen her break down a few times in our bathroom when Grey's not home. She comes to visit at all hours when she's not on a run, so when he isn't there, the bathroom is safe. She's starting to let me comfort her and to talk about it. She's even started going to her dads for support. Aaron was grateful. He knew she'd been having a hard time, but she wanted to put on a good front. We were all glad she saw the light.

Oh, and Judith Ass Kicker Grimes. She was following Maggie with leading Alexandria as a whole. She was brilliant. She studied with Abe and with Sasha to learn of construction and the necessity of the towers. She's read all the books we could find on building, and she has a natural ability to lead. She's aided the expansion more than most, and she even helped put up the wall to ten. She's working now to expand Hilltop with Keela so that more people can be spent her way, as the Kingdom were filling up quickly, and the built houses here are fill. She's multitasking so many jobs and handling it without so much as a sweat. Maggie is by her side and helping her along with a few other understudies, but honestly I believe she could handle this single-handedly. I'm glad she won't, but it is good to know that Lori makes kids to cope and to build and to restore. She gets to live on in that, too.

You never met Maya, along with the others, but I don't think I've mentioned her at all. I'm sorry. I forgot. I've had a teenager and then a young man to chase after, but now I'm done chasing, so here's Maya. She's the daughter of Abraham and Sasha. She's fifteen. She and Sage are good friends and often go fishing together. (We build another pond, but for fishing purposes. It sometimes doesn't work out when winter comes, but there are plenty of other sources to get fish from.) They perform together—Sage plays guitar and Maya taught herself the violin. She's very skilled, and she applies those skills at the wall. While she's not such a good shot with a rifle, she's an amazing with a .45 and talking people down if they want to kill her rather than join us. She and Grey head that greeting committee (Judy's nickname), and she's calmed many people. The dogs help, too, of course, but we have to ensure they won't endanger them, and Maya has killer instincts on people. She won't hesitate to nudge a pretender who has men coming in to attack us in the night. She's gotten most of them before they could even come up with a lie, but some do slip through. We're capable where she fails, and she knows she can't and shouldn't catch them all. She's only fifteen yet so much talent. She's won't allow her parents to protect her. Not when there are others who need protecting more.

He lowered the pages and studied the grave marker, swallowing hard and feeling his heart racing from the memories and the sting of bittersweet pain they brought along with them. "I wish you were here," he whispered, his lips cracked from the changing weather, his signature goatee grey and growing. His eyes were clouded from tears, the bright blue that was once there a little duller, worn from use and age. He felt like a damned faded picture when he looked at himself in the mirror in the morning. Wrinkles here, colored spots there, white, so much white. He chuckled. They matched now, but she still wore it best.

"I want to hear your voice more than anythin'." He would trade every possession for just one moment of her laughter. He'd trade his soul to hold her, but he had a job to do here. A son to raise. Well, a son had been raised, and now...now it was all too lonely. It couldn't be helped, but he felt like it could be. Maybe.

He folded the letter, leaving most of it unread, tightly wrapped with a rubber band, and he placed it inside the box he had carved for her. It was made from a maple tree that had fallen by the cabin they once stayed out before Greyson was born. He had shaped each side, sanded it, carved on the top and face, and he had glazed it so the weather couldn't destroy it. It had her name on the face written by Greyson when he was five, and it was followed with I love you, Mommy and some X's. Greyson was still so proud of it today and often sat down by her grave to trace the words and to speak to her for hours about things Daryl didn't dare eavesdrop on. He loved her so much and knew she was with him. He wouldn't let anybody change his mind on any of that. It made Daryl pleased to know someone else was fighting to have Carol in their life. That her memories were more than just his to breathe life into.

As for the top, Daryl had gone through many, many tries to trace it, but it wasn't as easy as Greyson's big, sloppy words. His hands were steady and good for hunting and shooting, but not art. No, it was something Maggie had to help him with. When he asked, she simply beamed at him and joined him in the workshop. She traced the curves and spaces perfectly, and Daryl couldn't thank her enough. She hugged him and kissed his cheek, saying all he had to do to repay her was not mess it up! He didn't. He got it etched in perfectly. So on the top of the box that was already branded by her son was a Cherokee rose. It was left uncolored and natural, and it was here that he left letters for the past twenty four years. These letters were filled with Greyson as he aged and their family and the town, as if the words could be absorb from the box into the grave and somehow if possible reach her. Their love, Greyson's life, the thriving of their home—all of it—could reach her and console her. They had made it. Sanctuary. A haven. She'd made it, too, and he wanted her to know that. He truly hoped she knew that.

"Dad."

He looked over, seeing Greyson with Eli, and he felt a fleeting moment of confusion. It appeared that Greyson had been looking for him—Eli, too. He straightened his spine, nearly groaning as it popped, and Greyson smiled and jogged over to him. Eli in hand. "Dad."

"Yeah?"

He knelt down by the grave, pulling Eli carefully down with him, and he laced his fingers through hers. "Let's do it together this year. All of us."

"I already read the letter." Daryl pressed his lips together to keep the guilt from spilling out, but Grey shook his head. "Then what?"

"We have letters of our own." Eli pulled it out of her jacket and held the folded slip of paper between two fingers. "I'd be honored to join you. If you'll let me."

"Of course," Daryl and Greyson said as the same time, both sharing a chuckle at the unison answer.

"You're in this family, girl," Daryl assured her. "Go on."

"Okay." She moistened her lips and glanced at Grey before releasing his hand to unfold the paper. "I don't know you, but I hear you helped raise me for a time. I have dreams of it—of your smiling face—and it does my heart good. They tell me you loved me, too, and I can only imagine how much I'd love you. With how much I feel for the boy you gave me, it must be...a great amount. To hear of others speak of you, you must have known a lot of great love, and I hope you know that the purest comes from right here." She looked from Daryl to Grey. "From your boys, who are boys no matter what age they are."

Grey chuckled and blushed sheepishly.

"And...I want you to know that I will keep his heart beating until my stops." She met Greyson's eyes. "You gave everything for him to have a chance, so I can do no less. Right?"

"Eli." He set a hand on her knee.

"Right." She cleared her throat. "I don't know if you're in Heaven or someplace in between, but I wish you peace. I wish you joy. I wish you everything this world took from you and more. Thank you for allowing this day to be more than an ordinary day; thank you for making it the day Greyson came into the world. Much love to you, Carol Dixon. Dream well."

Daryl smiled and set a hand over hers. "Thank you."

"Annie came up with, like, all of it." The tears he saw there against jade orbs spoke of just how much that was a lie. "Um, do I put it in there? Or is that not okay?" She gestured to the box.

"Go ahead." He nodded. "Fold it tight."

"Okay." She did as instructed and placed it inside with the others. It looked like it was filled with mints, but they were all letters folded to the max. She loved his love for her, his dedication, and she couldn't resist hugging him. She'd never hugged him so quickly or randomly before, but she was too emotional to not. She apologized afterward, but he said it was okay.

Greyson had pulled his own letter out and smooth it out over his thigh, Eli made a jab about it while coolly wiping her eye, and he nudged her rib. "Hey, Mom, it's me, your son. I don't know how to really greet you. I guess it's because I never had the chance. Not officially anyway. I do know you held me. Dad tells me about it, but it never seemed to be enough. I wanted you to hold me and kiss my hair, kiss my bruises, rock me to sleep. I wanted you to stand by me through my first lesson with a gun, to help me through my nerves that first day of aiming practice. To cover my ears when I first fired a gun like Rosita did to Wyatt and Michonne to Judith. I had Maggie there, and while I love her dearly, she wasn't you. I know it's selfish of me, but I wanted you, my mother. I still find myself wanting your presence in my life, and while I sometimes think I do, I mostly feel like I'm crazy."

His voice broke with a dry laugh at his own sanity, Eli frowned and ached at his letter, and Daryl felt tears in his eyes that he couldn't hold back. "But now that I'm older, now that I don't need your hand or your arms to hug me, I do still want them. I long for them on my down days, but I have Eli's hands and Dad's arm. I have my friends and Annie and Sage who are like siblings. I have your blanket to wrap around my shoulders for warmth, and I have your picture to keep you in my mind.

"I grew up, Mom. It was a long road. I didn't raise a lot of hell, but it was its own sort of hell without you. I'm making peace with it now, and I know that you would have stayed and raised me if you could. I know that somewhere...somewhere you are watching over me. Be it in Heaven or somewhere else, I know you're there, as close to us as you can be. I'm not crazy to believe that, and I won't let anyone try to make me feel like that. It's a piece of you Dad and I get to keep until we meet again. And we will. I know I'll get to hug you one day, be kissed on the forehead by you...so thank you for my birth, Mom. Thank you all that you did for me. I... I love you...so much."

The letter shook in his hand as tears rolled down his cheeks, Eli kissed his cheek and rested her chin on his shoulder, stroking his hair, and he closed his eyes to calm himself. He turned and buried his face in her shoulder, and she held him.

"I'm sorry. I thought I'd be okay to read it." His voice was raw, and his lips trembled.

"You don't have to be sorry." Daryl tenderly took the letter from him and folded it. "It was beautiful, son. She would have loved it."

"Thanks, Dad." He smiled. "Some birthday, eh?" He wiped at his eyes. "Jesus."

"C'mon. Let's go back to the house. I caught a deer yesterday and have whipped up some venison strew. It's really good. My dads loved it." She helped Greyson stand up. "We can have it with my dads. I mean, they're off today."

Greyson helped Daryl to his feet out of courtesy, though Daryl didn't need it—yet. "We have dinner at my place," he replied. "You can bring the stew, though."

"Are you sure? It sounds like a dad-son thing."

"We'll come over to yours." Daryl adjusted the strap to his crossbow, finding it loose. "I'll meet you both there. I gotta make a stop."

"Really?" Greyson looked him over. "You sure?"

"I'm sure. Now go and warm up some bread. I want some."

"Dad just made a fresh loaf for the strew." Eli smiled. "It oughta still be warm."

"Sounds damn good." He nodded his head. "I'll catch up. Go on now."

"Thanks, Dad." Greyson caught Eli's hand and went on ahead to Aaron and Eric's house.

Daryl looked once more to the grave and crouched down. "Remember wen you taught me how to make cookies for him? Well, I honed my skill. I made him a cake today. It's a bit bittersweet, but Aaron and Eric can help me decorate it. That was your area. I'm lucky I didn't char the damn thing." He shook his head and inhaled. "Thank you...for giving me this life, Carol. Our life. Even with you gone, it'll still be our life. Our son. We did pretty good. Tobin helped. A little, I guess, with the height and shit, but it was mostly us."

A chuckle to himself. "I...should go, but I'll be back with fresh flowers in the spring." He rose and walked off.

Aaron and Eric had set the table, greeting their daughter and future son-in-law (eventually they knew it was coming) with hugs. Greyson helped carry in the pot of stew while Eli and Eric readied the bread, and Aaron heard a knock on the back door. Eli took the bread to the dining room, and Eric cleaned the bread knife off while Aaron opened the door. It was Daryl and a birthday cake. Eric jumped on the chance to decorate it, and Aaron laughed.

"He's been growing those edible flowers for years, but now he has a use for them." He leaned over the counter. "And we can use the berries for color."

"And for icin'?" Daryl asked.

"Hmm."

"We can use whipped cream," Eric reminded them. "We just have to whip it, add the berries and flowers to it, and voilà—birthday cake."

"So creative." Aaron marveled at his husband.

"I try." He smirked. "Leave this to me. I'll excuse myself just before we're done and throw on the finishing touches. C'mon."

They joined the birthday boy and Eli, who had taken the most the moment alone to share a kiss, and Aaron threw a cloth napkin at them. She jolted and threw it back almost immediately, blushing horribly, and Greyson put such intense focus on smoothing out the napkin in his lap. Eric could only laugh, seeing Daryl so in the young man, and Daryl rolled his eyes, but there was a smile on his lips.

"So, any big plans?" Eric asked nonchalantly.

"Dad," Eli warned.

"What? I wasn't pressing for an engagment. I'm not that type of parent. If I wanted information on that, I'd ask Annie."

"Annie would know before me?" Eli turned a glare to Greyson.

"What?" Grey had been focusing on his strew and bread, which had been amazing, so he had no clue what they were talking about. "Annie?"

"Thanks for listening in." She crossed her legs and sighed. "I guess Annie would know first. She is attached to your hip."

"Annie would know what?" He was confused.

"She might ask for him, too," Aaron mused.

"Ask for what? For whom? What is going on?"

"Don't heckle the birthday boy," Daryl stated. "And pass the bread, er...please."

Eric smiled. "You like it?"

"Yeah, it's real good. The crops are doin' real good." He drank from his glass. "I haven't been out to see 'em, since it's late winter and all." The ground was wet with melting snow, and he didn't want to deal with the cold mud. He had his share for today.

"End of," Aaron corrected, "but yeah. They rations and pickled goods are tiding us over well this year. The increased livestock has helped. We can thank Sage for that."

"I already did." Eli straightened in her chair. "I brought him a bowl of stew and some bread for lunch. Better than pickled beets or whatever he was gonna have. He hugged me." She smiled. "He's such a weird kid, but he's kinda awesome, too."

"Yeah, we can all agree with that." Eric picked up the pitcher of tea and poured himself more. "I think Maggie popped out a plant-being, not a human being. He gets on with them better."

"Nah, he's a great conversationalist." Grey poked at a carrot in his bowl. "You just have to catch him at the right time. He doesn't sleep much in the winter to be sure the crops won't have any issue regrowing. After what happened before, I can't blame him, but there's little we can do if the earth doesn't want to grow anything."

"You don't like the carrots?" Eli noticed his picking while their parents went on to talk about other things.

"No, they're fine." He pocked it through with the fork and ate it.

"Don't eat them if you don't like them." She reached over and began to pull them from his bowl. "You can have my potatoes instead."

"Eli, no, no, it's okay." He stopped her. "It's fine. I'm just... Well, to be honest, Mag and Annie made me huge lunch, so I'm not that hungry. I didn't want to say anything, but I'm pretty stuffed still."

"Oh." She stilled her hand. "That's okay. You don't have to eat it."

"But I want to."

"It's not healthy." She poked his belly. "Don't eat it. Digest the lunch first. You might have room for dessert."

"There's dessert?"

"Probably. I mean, it's your birthday." She poked him again. "Hmm, getting a little thick, Grey."

"I'm not."

"Uh-huh." She helped herself to a piece of a carrot from her bowl and chewed on its soften texture.

Dinner went by smoothly, Aaron and Eric always did like having Greyson and Daryl over, especially now on such an important day. True to his word, Eric did slip away and decorated the cake. Daryl brought it out while Eric poured cups of coffee, and they sang to Greyson. They didn't have candles, so Eli struck a match and had him blow that out instead. Then they attacked the cake.

Daryl looked at Greyson as Eric handed him the first evenly slice piece of cake, and it was worth it to see his face lit up at that. They always talked about cakes for birthdays, but they hadn't grown any wheat until lately. Daryl jumped on the chance, and he used some of Carol's tips to help him with replacement ingredients. He could see that Greyson liked it, and it healed his heart. He was more pleased by that than by eating the cake itself. It was pretty good. A little dry, but the berries were juicy. It was...really good.

Daryl looked up from his coffee when Greyson sat beside him. "Hey."

"Hey." He couldn't hide his smile. "Thanks, Dad."

"For what?"

"You know for what." He rested his hands on the table. "But I'll say, just so you do know."

"Grey—"

"Thank you for raising me, for being my dad. Thank you for teaching me about my mom and my father. Thank you for the survival lessons and for never making me less than anyone. Thank you for everything you've ever done and given up for me. I couldn't have ask for better dad. I'm glad that I got to spend another birthday with you." He gripped his dad's shoulder and inhaled. "I love you."

"You make me cry, I'm punchin' everyone," Daryl mused.

Greyson laughed. "All right, all right, but I mean it. You...taught me everything, and I'm grateful to have you. We don't share blood, but what we have is stronger. Tobin would be proud of the man you've helped me become."

"He'd be proud of you," Daryl murmured. "So would Carol."

"And I know that, because you kept them with me all these years. I'm thankful for that, too."

Daryl set his hand over Grey's on his shoulder. "I'm thankful for you, too, Greyson. You can't imagine how much."

"Hey, hey." Eric set a hand on Daryl's head, ruffling up his hair. "No tears. It's a good day. It's a birthday."

Daryl rolled his eyes at him, a tear slipping free. "It's a good day now that we have coffee." He stood up. "Hands off. I'm no horse."

"You sure? Have you brushed that thing lately? The horse's are softer." He followed him into the kitchen.

Eli pounced and wrapped her arms around Greyson's shoulders, kissing his cheek. "Happy birthday, Greyson Dixon. By the way, we're all super happy you were born."

"Me, too." He set his hand on her arm and stroked it with his thumb.

She pushed hair from his ear. "We can celebrate on our own tonight."

"Eli," Aaron called.

She whipped around, heart skipping a beat and paled. "Yes?" Did he hear that?

"Help me find a game to play. We'll beat Daryl and Eric tonight while Grey keeps score."

"Ooh!" She hurried over to him. "Oh, we have to pick a good one."

"Why can't I play? It's my birthday."

Eli and Aaron looked at him and answered, "Sore loser."

"I am not!"

"You're an extreme sore loser." Eric rejoined them with his coffee topped off. "I can keep score a round, but if you throw a fit, I'm in."

"All right." He rolled his sleeves up. "Can I pick the game?"

"No," Eli and Aaron said.

"Birthday."

"Look, we'll play a game tonight that'll make you forget about this," Eli remarked without thinking.

"That was more than I ever wanted to know." Daryl sat down beside Eric.

"Same." Aaron selected a game and stood up. "I'm going to forget that."

"Same." Eli felt cold embarrassment course through blood, and she looked at Grey like she wanted to crawl under a rock. Fuck balls.

He snickered and dropped down beside her on the floor by the coffee table, kissing her temple, and she wanted to bury her face in a hole. "Don't worry, we'll play a game that'll make you forget about this," he murmured into her ear, and she covered her face with her hands.

"Okay." Aaron slid the game over to Greyson. "Set it up."

"Sure." He began to unpack it innocently, like he hadn't just said something that sent Eli over the a cliff of curiosity and embarrassment. His mother's child.

"All right, Eli and Aaron, Team Raleigh, vs. Daryl and Greyson, Team Dixon." Eric set his coffee down and used the pressure of his hand to keep the notepad still as he wrote.

"You good, babe?" Aaron glanced at him, not wanting him to think he was babying him due to his handicap.

"I am a shitty writer with my left hand is what I am." He smiled. "Guess I could use my right toes."

"Dad, no!" Eli squeaked. "Please, I hate feet. Annie used to climb all over me when we were kids. I can't handle feet. Bleck!"

"Then shitty handwriting for the win," Aaron softly announced, leaning over to hiss Eric's cheek. "Let's play. First pick and roll goes to the birthday boy."

"Whoo." Eli lifted her coffee cup up.

Greyson chuckled and went ahead with his picks, Eric made a note of his piece, and Aaron took Eli's coffee so she wouldn't spill it on the floor. She looked offended, but she did jumpy on caffeine. It made Daryl laugh, and Aaron nudged her. She made a face, and Eric busted out laughing, dropping the notepad, and Greyson glanced up when it fell, already lost in the game. It was going to be a good night. A good birthday. One of many.

– – –

They were pulled from their duties to help Aaron with a run, and no one complained. It had been a boring couple of weeks, and they could use something else to do. All runs had been suspended due to the rain that had plagued them and nearly ruined their crops, but it had let up some. Enough for Aaron to get permission for this run. They were going to look and collect any mobile homes—trailers, RVs—anything that was in good condition. They were going to be pushed against weak points in the wall and built on for stability. They were also to house the new group they had. They had run out of housing, so Rick and Michonne were housing them for now. It wouldn't last much longer, especially with the rain keeping everyone cooped up in the house, so they hoped they could find something good.

Annie and Wyatt were in the middle of the group while Aaron and Maya took point, and Greyson and Eli watched the rear. Eli wasn't entirely focus on the mission, so much as the sticky heat coating her skin. Greyson didn't seem to mind it, but it was grossing her out. She couldn't put her hair in a high enough bun to keep it from rubbing against the back of her neck. Ugh. She couldn't wait for a shower.

"So, how much further?" Eli called out.

"As long as it takes." Aaron returned. "And hush. This is uncharted area. We need to be careful."

"Yes, sir." She put her hands on her hips and looked over the empty houses through the trees. "I bet they paid big bucks for those wood holes."

"Huh?" Greyson looked up from the map of the area he'd found. "Probably."

"I wonder what it was like to own a house like that." She smirked. "We could do anything in our own house."

"Head out of the gutter, Raleigh," Wyatt called back.

She blushed. "I mean, like parties, you creep."

"Sure, ya did." He winked at her.

"Wyatt." Annie scolded him. "Stay focused, all of you. This is serious."

"Yes, Mom." Eli wiped the back of her neck and drew in stale, humid air. It choked her. "Maybe we should go shopping."

"For what?" Greyson pinned out their location.

"For a trailer." She peeked at him. "I mean, we're all grown up, and I love my dads, but I need space to grow. It'd be...kinda nice to wake up with you. We could do breakfast every day, and we can have dinner. We could do that in bed without rules. We can...just hang out without anyone interrupting."

"Yeah...that'd be nice," he murmured, distracted.

She sighed. "Thanks, Grey."

He stopped walking and reached for his knife, drawing it.

"What is it?" Eli stepped in front of him, her knife ready.

"To the left," he whispered. "Can you hear it?"

It wasn't a walker. It didn't sound like one. The movements were too rushed and careful. It wasn't tripping over feet. It was steady. It was a person, but Greyson wasn't sure if was one of theirs, a straggler from another group, or trouble. He hoped it wasn't trouble. Trouble meant threats or worse.

A gun fired, the group spun around to find Eli and Greyson crouched down behind some trees, and they broke off the road to take cover. The person Grey heard came running through. It was a young girl. She wore a ball cap with torn up clothes and a ripped back pack. She looked back to shoot and tripped. Greyson moved out of hiding to help her up out of habit, and Eli groaned before following suit and moving in front of him somewhat.

"Hey, easy."

She pulled her gun on them, and Greyson held his hands out. Eli wasn't so willing, but Greyson set a hand on her hip and tapped it three times—a stupid signal they'd made up for runs—so she lowered her gun and sent him a sharp glare.

"I'll deal with that." She thrust a hand towards the walker and marched off to kill it.

"It's okay." He lowered himself down beside her, looking at her up close she couldn't be more than ten years old. She had cuts along her bronzed skin, her hair matted and flying everywhere. She was so small for her age, body weight likely at a five or six year old. God, he could see her bones. "I'm Greyson. Who are you?"

She looked over at the woman who bashed the geek's head in, moving to stab the other through the eye, and she shook her head, smacking Greyson with the butt of her gun and running off as quickly as she came.

"Hey!" Eli ran after her, but Greyson told her to stop. "She hit you."

"She's just a kid. She's scared." He wiped the blood off his cheek. "Good hit, though."

Eli set a hand on his cheek and studied it. "Won't need stitches." She pulled out a smile. "Shame. You'd be hot with a scar."

"Oh, please."

"What just happened?" Aaron joined them. "Who was that?"

"It's nothing." Eli holstered her gun. "It's dealt with. We have a job, so let's get to it. I'll take the rear with Annie. Greyson...is distracted, so let's keep him in the middle with you. Maya and Wyatt take point."

"I can take point," Aaron argued.

"I know, Dad, but Maya is out best tracker. And Wyatt has the best vision. He can spot movement from yards away. And my boyfriend here needs a talking to." She forced the smile now, fixed it like a glare at him. "I'll be with Annie."

"I don't need a talking to," Greyson assured him. "She's just... Eli."

"Well, Eli has a point. You cannot afford to be distracted during a run. That's how people get killed." He locked his eyes with him. "Okay? So head up, eyes open, ear listening. Got it?"

"Yeah, er, yes, sir. I got it."

"I'm no sir, but good." He patted his cheek. "C'mon."

They continued onward, Eric marked a few trees with houses they should check out before heading back, and they didn't encounter the little girl again. Greyson searched for her, Eli and Annie both knew he was, so they helped out, and Aaron often found himself repeating every sentence since three of them were dreaming apparently.

"We'll make camp here." Aaron guided them into a house. "I'll clear it."

"On it." Wyatt went inside without asking for permission.

"Or we'll clear it." Aaron went after him and cleared the lower level. "It's good."

Greyson sat down in the corner, bag by his side, doodling a sketch of the girl. Eli fanned herself with a paper fan she found on the wall, dropping on the dusting couch and coughing. Annie laughed at the sight, eating her snack of cubed apples, and Wyatt joined Eli, embracing the dust. Maya rolled her eyes and kept an eye out the window while Aaron started a fire in the fireplace to cook something.

"Okay, new seat." Eli struggled to stand up and spotted Greyson. "Locked on."

Greyson felt her body before he saw her, and he jolted when she ended up in his lap. He lowered the notepad to her lap. "I'm a chair now?"

"Yep." She smiled. "You okay? You seem distracted."

"Yeah, it's that girl. I... She was so young, Eli. I have to get her out of here."

"You don't know who comes with her. She could be in with a larger group."

"Who starve and let her rot in her own body?" He squinted his eyes, lips pressed together. "No."

"You don't know what they use her for. It could just be part of a role she's used to playing."

"I don't buy that."

"Greyson, little girls have never been just "little girls". They are objects to some men. They use them for terrible things. That girl could be bait. They could starve her and beat her and throw her out into the woods to find people. To lure them in so they bring her back to their homes then her men move in and destroy. Do you want that to happen? Because it could."

"I know you don't trust anybody, but I do. I see a little girl and see only a lost child who needs help and food and medicine."

"Fine." She stood up. "Whatever."

"Eli."

"Don't." She walked away. "Just don't."

"What'd you do?" Wyatt hung off the couch. "And also can I have your apple? Answer the second one first. I'm starving."

"I'm working on the fire," Aaron called out.

"Apple," Wyatt held his hand out. "Please, sir, I need some more."

Greyson chuckled and tossed his apple at him. "Don't ever say that again."

"Yes!" He bit into it. "I won't. Gracias, amigo."

He nodded and gripped the notepad, eyes landing on Eli who sat now with Maya by the front door. He knew she had bad experiences with some groups when she was out on runs, but they couldn't all be like that. That was just a child. He would prove it to her. It was just a kid who needed their help. He had to help her. They had to.

"Let there be dinner." Wyatt hopped up. "I'll go grab something up."

"I'll come, too." Annie picked up her knife. "We need more sticks for the fire."

Their dinner was gamy and a bit dry, but it went down like anything else, if not taking more effort. The girls went to sleep in the bedrooms, Wyatt passed out on the couch, and Aaron took first watch. Greyson sat by the fire, unable to sleep, and he looked over the poor sketching of the child. He didn't know how to find her, but he knew that he had to. He could track her, but he'd have to splinter off from the group. Dad would kill him. Eli would kill him, but his gut told him to do this. He had to.

He wrote out a note to Aaron and placed it on the bed where he was to sleep, promising to meet up at the trailer park in two days if he couldn't find her, and he climbed out the window. He scurried away and back down from where they had been.

"Greyson Toby Dixon."

He stopped in the middle of the road and turned with a hand raised to block the light coming at him from the flashlight. "Bright much?"

"Idiot much?" Eli smacked his shoulder. "What the hell, dude? I came to apologize and possibly cuddle, and you're out there looking for a lure?"

"She's not a lure. We're not fish."

"Okay, then bait."

"Eli."

"Don't Eli me. You know as well as I do that the chance of her being a lure are just as high as her being a normal kid."

"Okay, fine, they are, but I have to try. I have to bring her safety if I can." He met her eyes. "You know me. This is what I do. I can't ignore her. She needs somebody, and I've decided that's me. That's us."

"Yeah, girls don't want a man to decided that they're the "somebody" they need. It's gross." She hit him in the face with the light. "But...I can score some loot and watch your ass, so I'm here."

"You'll come with me?"

"Well, you've been doing a lot of squats, so it'd be a shame if no one watched it." She walked by him. "Besides it's much cooler in the night."

"You're going to tell my dad?"

"Fuck yeah."

"I'm twenty-eight."

"So? You need to be lectured."

"People break off all the time in runs."

"Yeah, but for a lead on supplies, not child bait."

"Well, regardless, I'm glad you're here." He fell into step beside her. "Even if you want to watch my ass."

"Through here." She smirked at him, lowering her eyes when he walked in front of her. "Hmm, could be a little higher."

"Hey."

She laughed and kissed him. "Focus." She patted his chest. "Seriously, if we're going to find her."

"You first."

"I am." She pulled her gun from her holster and continued backtracking.

––

They spent the later part of the night finding her trail, and as the sun began to rise they saw signs of where she had been. Eli frowned at her lizard on a stick remains, and Greyson sighed and hoped they found her soon. Eli was disinterested in finding the girl, but she would stand by him. She looked for any clues that the kid may have deviated from the path, but there none. There was nothing after a point, and Greyson suspected she was covering her trail. Eli didn't like that.

"Smart kid." He looked over the area. "I can't tell."

"Me either." Eli pushed off a nearby tree. "We need sleep. We're running on fumes, and if we don't sleep, we'll get sloppy. I don't want anybody to get hurt, because of that, so rest. There's some houses up ahead."

"Lead the way."

"My ass is top shelf, so sure." She couldn't help but laugh at herself, and he kissed her. "Mmm. I seriously cannot wait to get home and just...be in bed all day with you."

"All day, huh? Like we don't have jobs."

She pouted and bit his chin, he jerked back in surprise, and she was about to speak when movement caught her attention. "Fuck." She couldn't count how many were coming from the distance. "Run."

Greyson didn't have time to look back before she was hauling him off towards the houses for shelter. They moved at the same hastened pace, drawing attention from some walkers on the road, but Eli didn't care. They were already weak and on the ground, becoming one with moss and the dirt. She pushed Greyson on, and she spotted a house to seek refuge in.

She ran into the house for shelter, Greyson pulled the door shut behind them, a walker in the porch heard the noise and went to see what caused it. Immediately it began to throw itself at the door, drawing attention with the noise, and to be frank, the glass window on the door didn't fucking help.

Eli grabbed Greyson's sleeve and led him to the downstairs bedroom, the one at the end of the hall, and they threw the door shut, leaning against it as they listened to the walker unyielding pound away at the door. Eli looked around the vacated room to find only a washer and some discarded blanket scraps.

"Help me." She pulled it down onto its face, and Greyson helped her move it to block the door. "Hear that?"

The stained glass design on the door busted and the ravenous groans filled the house as more and more walkers were attracted to what secrets lay just inside. Eli covered her mouth with her hands and giggled, Greyson eyed her, and she stumbled back against the wall, her head hitting it. She rolled from side to the side then set a hand on the wall and stopped giggling by covering her mouth once more.

"You think this is funny? Seriously?" He thrust a hand to the door. "It's not funny. It's serious. It's dangerous, Eli." He hissed at her in a low tone.

"I know it is." She straightened up. "I know, okay? But come on, it's funny. Like they're trying to break in by slamming against the doors. We used to do that when we were kids! We would crowd around your house door and beg for Daryl to let us to have some cookies. It reminded me of that. I'm not totally reckless."

"I think you are."

"Oh, boo." She put her hands on her hips. "I'm as ready as anybody to take them on should they get this far."

"We won't let them. We'll go out through the window and meet up at the point." There was little point in trying to find the girl. She was gone—long gone—and staying out here exposed would only get them killed. He couldn't live with that. He'd let the girl go so they'd be safe. It wasn't a fair trade, but it'd be made.

"It's glass, Grey. We can't go through without busting it and getting their attention." She made a sweeping gesture to the windows. "We'll have to bust through the screens if the windows do open anyhow."

"Well, we can't just stay in here."

"It's cozy." She removed her backpack and stretched her arms. "Mmm, reminds me a bit of my room. Save for the lack of everything, you know."

"Get your pack. We need to get out of here."

"Relax, Greyson." She closed the space between them, wrapping her arms around his shoulders. "Relax, okay? We'll be fine. We've been warriors since birth. We kicked life's ass to be here. We'll be fine. Trust me."

"I do trust you, but you tend to be on the crazier side of life."

"Because I know how fleeting it can be." She pushed his backpack straps down his shoulders and cupped his cheeks. "You need to be more in touch with the moment, okay? Who knows what tomorrow will bring, but right now? We have each other, and it's amazing. Being here with you...is amazing, Grey." She leaned up and kissed him lightly, pulling back to scan his eyes. "Isn't it?"

"I agree with you, and I care about you, too, but now isn't—"

"Now is exactly the time." She locked her eyes in his. "Now is always the time to act, and I want you right here, despite the danger, despite the dust that makes your eyes all watery. I want to be distracted from it. Distract me, Greyson." She kissed him again, harder, and he tried to fight it, to not comply, but her soft tongue traced his bottom lip, and his mouth opened to hers. She pushed up on the tips of her toes and plunged her tongue into his mouth, weaving her hands through his soft, curly hairs.

She slid a hand down his side and moved it around her waist, pushing him back against the wall, and he stumbled some, gripping her for support. She smiled against his lips and broke their kiss to meet his eyes. Her light eyes swarmed with desire, and he felt like he was being crushed by the weight of it yet falling deep at the same time.

Eli gasped suddenly when Greyson caught her cheeks in his hand and smacked her against the back wall with his body weight, his hands moving to her hips to gather up the hem of her shirt. She moaned and gasped when his leg parted her thighs and rubbed against her in just the right way. She helped him with her shirt, reaching down to his belt to remove it, and he caught her mouth when she tried to pull away, causing her lungs to burn even more. She whimpered and felt a flush across her cheeks, and he pulled away, allowing her to gasp in air.

"You have shit time to get horny, you know that." He yanked her belt out of its loops, jolting her forward, and she grinned darkly at him.

"Life or death situations get me hot, what can I say?" She laughed and hmmed, biting down on her lip. "Don't you feel it too?"

"I feel your hand," he commented, leaning down towards her. "And my feelings for you, but this isn't ideal."

She lowered her eyes. "Am I wrong...to want this now?"

"No." He rested his forehead on hers. "You're not wrong. You could never be wrong, not when you make me and everything...feel so damn right."

"Cheesy asshole." She chuckled and met his eyes with a light glistening of tears. "You mean it?"

"I love you, Eli." He searched her eyes. "Since I was ten years old, I've loved you."

"Greyson..."

"And one day when you're ready, I—"

She cut him off by kissing him, her hands working his jeans to avoid that subject. She was nowhere near being reach to broach that subject with anyone. She was too young to think about settling down. The world to shit or not. They were adults and could be free and righteous and good, not tied down by love before they can truly know what it means. She knew he was genuine, and it terrified her. She wasn't ready to be deeply and truly loved by a man. She wasn't ready for babies and rings and vows. She wanted childhood promises and tender touches and passion. The rest could come later, but for now she wanted to savor this moment with him and every moment they may have together. If they were still so close and felt so right and so good then yes. Yes, of course, she would be with him in that way, but for now she couldn't. Or...she wouldn't. Not yet. Not anytime soon.

––

The pounding had stopped, something else had gotten the walker's attention, and Greyson and Eli had long since forgotten about then. They were sprawled out on the floor of the laundry room, Greyson placing kisses along her shoulder, and she inhaled, rousing from sleep.

"Hey." She sent him a sloppy grin. "Morning."

"It's probably evening, but who cares?" He kissed her, stroking her cheek. "We need to go."

"But we made it so cozy." She sleepily chuckled, biting her bottom lip. "Mmm."

"C'mon. Aaron's waiting."

"Don't mention my dad right. I am basking, okay? No dad talk. Just kiss me again. Please."

He chuckled and obliged, kissing her deeply, and she wrapped an arm around his neck, parting his lips and groaning. He pulled back. "I don't have toothpaste."

"Yeah, gross." She sat up. "Crud."

"Get dressed."

"Why do I feel like if I look at you, you're dressed?"

"Because I am."

"Damn. I missed the second best part." She stretched her arms, popping her spine and moaning at how it felt. "Okay. I'm up." She dressed and combed her fingers through her hair, pulling it back.

"They can't be so far away. We can meet them at the entrance of the park."

"Sounds like a plan." She drank from her water bottle and kicked in the window.

"We could use the front door."

"Yeah, but I already did it. I have to commit." She knocked out the sharp shards and slipped through, stretching once more once she was out and withdrawing her knife. "Bend your knees, or you'll land on that sweet ass."

He landed on it anyway.

"Smooth moves."

"I'm taller than you, and I'm not as...nimble."

"Ooh, there's a word." She winked. "Don't make me take you back up there."

"Eli."

"I was kidding. We have to meet Dad, but when we get home, you can poun—"

"Eli." He turned her around to see what he was seeing.

The little girl was climbing out of the window of the house a few doors down on the opposite side of the road, looking worse than before. Eli yanked him down to the ground, he grunted at the contact, and she crawled closer to the bushes to keep an eye on the girl. Greyson followed. They watched her looked around for walkers and people then head down the road. Eli and Greyson pursued her, closing the space enough to read the stickers on her backpack. Apparently she wanted to vote for Obama. Eli wasn't sure if was a sport's team or a food...thing. Hell, people had shit called Ovaltine back in the day that wasn't a some type of shape. Weird.

"I should approach her," Grey whispered.

"No. She'll just run."

"We can't know that, and we can't follow her forever."

"Yes, we can. We can follow her back to her masters and know I'm right, and that this is stupid risky."

"It's not stupid risky. It's worth it risky."

"No, what we did the laundry room was worth it risky. This is so stupid risky."

"Just trust me, Eli." His eyes sliced into hers. "Okay? I have a good feeling about this."

"Your cheek remembers what happened last time, but fine. Go and greet her. I have your back."

"Thank you." He kissed her lightly to take the edge off her anger, but he had a feeling it didn't work. He stepped out from the car he'd been hiding behind and caught to the girl, hands out with no weapons visible. He made sure to loud-en his steps, and she jumped, pulling out her gun. "Easy, easy."

"You again." Her voice was young, definitely that of a ten-year-old, and she was glaring. "Why?"

"I just want to help you."

"And why do you think I need help?"

"Don't you?"

"I don't want your help." Her eyes cut over to the car where Eli was hiding. "Or yours!"

Eli popped up. "You sure? We have good benefits."

"Benefits?" she spat. "The cost will be higher."

"There's no cost, other than pulling your weight. It's chores mostly, going to school."

"I don't want your help. I won't be used. Don't follow me."

"Why not? Why don't you want help? I don't... We wouldn't hurt you. We'd help you. We... You could have a family there, a life."

"I had a family, and they were taken from me by people who wanted to "help us". I don't want anyone's help. I'm better off alone."

"Dude, no one's better off alone." Eli joined them, her gun holstered. "We really do want to help and not hurt you. We have a doctor who can look over your injuries, and we have a school. You can learn to read and write. You can have a better life there."

"Better defined by someone who's been condition to accept the terms of this "home"." The girl shook her head. "Leave. If I see either of you following me, I'll shoot first."

"Wait—" Eli stepped forward, but the girl cocked the hammer, and Greyson grasped her waist. "Little bitch."

"Eli." He hissed at her ear, "Don't."

"She shoots you, babe, and I jump her." She was growling. "Walk on then, but don't say nobody tried to help you."

She flipped her off and took off like a shot.

"Ugh, I don't like her." She huffed. "Let's get my dad."

"Yeah." He glanced back at the girl who was becoming smaller and smaller as she ran in the other direction, and he turned around as Eli walked forward. He inhaled and apologized for what the world had done to the girl before falling into step with Eli.

––

They caught up to their group at the meeting point, Aaron pulled her aside instantly to inspect her, and she blew off his remarks, but he held her tightly. Her heart ached at the worry there, and she assured him she was great. She felt a little hurt he didn't trust her to take care of herself. He could see that too, so he stroked her cheek and smiled softly, confidently.

"I know you're strong, but as your father, I worry."

"I'm fine, Dad. Promise. The only thing I had to worry about was the pull out." She laughed and glanced over at Grey who apologized to Judith and Annie for making them worry. She caught a look of confusion in her dad's eyes. "My machete. Pulling out my machete. It's in a tight sheath, and it's super new, so..." Yeah, that didn't sound better.

He sighed and shook his head. "You and Grey, huh?"

"I started it," she replied. "I always start it. I wouldn't get any if—I mean, yeah." She crossed her arms and felt her cheeks burning.

"I know you're an adult, and I trust your partner, but please, don't do this now. Not even Maggie and Glenn did it on runs."

"Not from what Enid tells me." She smirked. "And we were totally careful. We were inside a house, and—"

"I don't want details."

"I wasn't giving any. Just trust that he didn't throw me against a tree. We're safe, Dad. I have too much I care for to be stupid about that. You and Dad and Grandma are the world to me, and I wouldn't worry you like that. I'll stay close from now on. Promise."

"All right." He glanced at Greyson. "You really like that boy?"

"He's easy on the eyes." If not on her body, which she totally approved of. "And he has those blue eyes I could stare into for days."

"You and Daryl both." He smiled faintly.

"What?" Her brows furrowed.

"He has his mother's eyes, and Daryl...could have spend an eternity looking into her eyes, but life isn't that fair."

"Oh, right, Carol." She looked over at Grey. "Huh, guess we both have that in common. We both lost our moms soon after birth. I guess that's why I feel so...pulled to him. We have a common bond. Plus kick ass dads."

He chuckled. "Thanks, kid."

She smiled. "Anytime."

"Let's get a move on." Maya took point and headed forward. "Mags will be upset if we don't keep schedule."

"Yes, Abe Jr." Eli saluted her and fell into step with his dad, glancing back as Annie climbed onto Greyson's back. She rolled her eyes and turned forward. "Can't she walk now?"

"Jealous?" Aaron smirked.

"No, they grew up as siblings. It's weird. She's so clingy to him for someone she views as a bro."

"She twisted her ankle helping me avoid being bitten," Aaron informed her. "She saved my life."

"Oh." She looked back once more time. "Go Annie."

"And they are like siblings, which is why Grey takes such good care of her. He loves her, and just like his mother, he takes care of the people he loves, no matter the expense."

"I guess he does." Even that little girl. He didn't even know her, and yet he wanted to save her. Sadly, not everybody wants to be saved. Guess he learned that the hard way. It's a hard pill to swallow, but Greyson was getting his first taste. She hoped it didn't stick to his throat too badly...

––

Greyson brushed down his horse, assuring her sweetly that she was a good girl, and it was okay. She didn't like the brush he used, but it was all he had. He would find some way to make it more enjoyable. Maybe consult Eugene. He was always hatching up some new plan, some wacky invention. He could put their heads together to some up with something great for Oso.

"All done." He smiled at her, rubbing her snout. "Want an apple? Or a carrot?"

She seemed to nod her head with a neigh.

"Okay." He laughed at her eagerness and handed a ripe red apple over. "I know they're your favorite."

She devoured it, happily chomping.

He wiped his hands on his jeans and set the brush down on its shelf, turning to find Eli watching him, leaning against the beam, wearing a shirt knotted above her belly buton and shorts that were far too short. "It's not that hot."

"No, but it's going to be." She pushed off the beam and kissed him when she neared, leading him blindly backwards towards a familiar pile of hay covered with a blanket. She tipped them over so they fell, and she straddled his lap. "I missed you at church today."

"Really? At church?" He pushed up on his elbows.

"Town meeting," she corrected. "Still missed you. What kept you?"

"I had some stuff."

She frowned and brushed his bangs aside. "It wasn't about that kid again? I thought you had come to terms with that."

"I did. I have. It...wasn't about her. It was work. Wyatt and I helped Section Six's newcomers. Those girls and their aunt? We helped them move in."

She nodded. "You helped them?"

"They had some luggage and some canned goods. We had to take them over to Spence and Olivia, and we had to move a bed in." He didn't like the look in her eyes. "You can't seriously be jealous. We just helped. Wyatt has a thing for the blonde, but you know—"

"She's younger than us, all cute and rosy cheeks. I bet—"

"You're ridiculous." He caught her hips and locked eyes with her. "You are the only woman I have eyes for, okay? Only you. Don't be so insecure."

"How can I not be?" She averted her eyes when tears flashed here. "I'm possessive and the worst kind of spontaneous. I—I can't commit. I have a poor personality, and I try to improve it, but I don't think it gets any better."

"You're nuts. You're...amazing. You help the kids all the time, and you and my dad are like best friends. He adores you. And so do those kids. There are plenty of guys who want to be with you. You're impressive and beautiful, and insecure, but it can be adorable."

"Won't you get tired of me?" she whispered.

"No, I love the spontaneity of your actions, and I like how dedicated you are. You really care about guard rotations and making sure shifts are covered. God, I can only imagine your determination on runs. And...so what if you're not sure of yourself? I am sure of you. I'm always gonna be sure of you until you're sure of yourself, too. That's what I mean what I say I love you. I love all of you, Ellie. Every flaw, every freckle, every poor personality trait—all of it. It's you, and God, I adore you."

She smiled and hugged him tightly. "Ditto."

He rubbed her back. "We have a BBQ in an hour to celebrate the water system Judith and Eugene put in place. I told Dad I'd help set up."

"It's only a few minutes away," she reasoned. "We still have time."

"I swear you only want me for sex." He chuckled, but there was a sense of dread there.

"Sometimes," she admitted, and his heart dropped, "but mostly it...makes me feel closer to you than anything else. You fit me so well, and to be with you like that feels...a bit addicting. I mean, I can bring you to your knees with just a few touches, and it's so empowering. Not to mention what you do to me." She chuckled. "I feel like I belong in this messed up world when we're together like that."

"But only like that?" He frowned now.

"Well, it's more potent."

"Eli..." He averted his eyes. "You could feel that way about anybody else if you'd just slept with them."

"I don't know that."

"Yeah, but I do." He moved her off his lap and stood up. "It's not me you're feeling—it's the high of an orgasm."

"What? That's not true." She looked at him, but he didn't look at her. "Greyson."

"I have to help my dad." He patted Oso on his way and walked out.

"Greyson." She tried to catch him by the door. "Greyson! You can't be serious." She ran after him and caught up to him, the knot in her blouse coming undone and covering her torso, nearly covering her shorts, too. "Wait a minute."

"No."

"Why not?" She moved into his path and glared. "You don't get to dump me and then walk away. What did I say? I thought you'd be happy to hear that. Isn't it part of that romantic shit you like?"

"No, it's not romantic to hear the only time you feel close to me is when we're having sex, Eli. It's like a kick to the head, because I love you. I actually, really fucking love you, and you don't love me. You think you do, but you don't, and I can't handle that. I thought you'd come around, but clearly not. I need time to think, so please just give me space."

"Greyson, that's not true. I do care about you. How could I not?"

"But do you love me? Could you love me?" He searched her eyes, and the swarming panic answered his question. "I gotta go, Eli."

She wrapped her arms around herself and stumbled backwards as his figure got further and further away from her, and she covered her mouth with her hands as her eyes burned. She stood there, alone, once he was out of sight, and she turned back on her feet, her boot scraping the gravel. She returned to Oso and wrapped her arms around her neck, sobbing. She didn't know how to react to this, but Eli swore she placed her head on her shoulder as a gesture of comfort.

––

Five weeks had passed since the BBQ, Greyson helped the newcomers settled into their routine, helping the little kids get from class to work and have fun. He played with them on the basketball court and taught them a few tricks. He loved the School Section for this purpose. It was filled with two school buildings for the different age group and learning gaps, a court for basketball and assemblies. He was happy the day he got assigned here. He didn't teach, but he did drift from class to class to be sure they settled in nicely, and when there were no new groups, he helped out with the construction team and with watch on the wall. He was one hell of a shot with his dad and Sasha's help. He was one of the best. He probably got that from his mom.

He caught the basketball as Liza threw it back at him, catching him off guard. It nearly smacked him in the face. "Dude."

"Oops." She grinned at him. "Your class has moved on, Teach."

"I...was thinking." He shook his head and did a double take on her. "Wait, don't you have kitchen duty?"

"Nah, I'm off today." She swooped in and grabbed the ball, bouncing it and tossing it into the hoop. "Play me?"

"I have a couple rounds to make."

"Oh, come on, the world won't fall apart if you don't nod at some people." She reclaimed the ball and tossed it once more at him. "One game. Winner takes all."

"What "all"?"

"Win and find out."

"I can't. I really do have rounds." He set the ball back inside the netted bag with the other sports balls and set it inside the shed. "Sorry."

"It's all right. I'll walk with you. It's this or watch the kids, and I think they don't like me." She rubbed her neck. "Doesn't help that I'm terrible with kids."

"You're not terrible."

"But I'm not you." She fell into step beside him. "You have a gentliness with the kids that I only see with moms. You're very compassionate."

"They're our future, and they deserve to be children and to be loved and care for." He adjusted his shirt so that it was tucked behind his knife. He didn't want the kids to see it and fear something bad was going to happen. That was for another day. Today was just fun, just play, and soon they would be shown how to wear and use these weapons. He would be the one to teach them, and he would teach them well. They would be able to protect themselves and their families.

"Bet your mom raised you like that."

He swallowed hard. "My mom died when I was born, so it's just me and my dad."

"Oh. I'm so sorry." She set a hand on his arm. "I didn't know."

"It's okay. Not many people know." He shrugged, causing her hand to fall off. "I know she loved me, and I love her, so it's...bearable. It's not okay, but bearable. That's what Dad says now. He used to say we'll be okay one day, but how would we? To not have her here? It's only just bearable now. I miss her, and it's so wacky to miss someone you never really knew. I mean...my chest aches when I think of her, like...the world's gonna fall out from under me, and I can't breathe. I'm suffocating."

"It must be hard."

"It's not, though. It's...nice to now that I was loved so much that that love stays with me today and reminds me of that physical loss." He smiled somberly. "I know my mom's still with me...somewhere in some plane or anything, and I'm glad."

"That's cute."

His brow twitched. "So...what's your story?"

"Not like yours and the people here. I was born in the woods, my mom did her best to take care of me, but she died when I was about eight. I had to learn how to take care of myself. I met some people along the way that I watched for weeks before actually introducing myself, and we took care of each other." She tucked her hands in her pockets. "And the found Alexandria about...oh, seven months ago?"

"We haven't really hung out," Greyson pointed out. "I think this is the third time I've even talked to you."

"Your ex made it impossible to get close."

"Eli's not so bad. She's...pretty great once you get to know her."

"I bet a lot of guys have gotten to know her." She chuckled sourily and rolled her eyes.

He stopped walking. "Excuse me? What did you just say?"

"I've heard the rumors about her. She only used you." She met his eyes and halted in walking. "She's been over at Wyatt's every night since you dumped her. One guess what they're doing."

"They're friends. We've been friends since we were seven."

"You're so sweet, Grey. You know that?" She smiled at him. "You're really one of the goods guys. I didn't think there were any of you left, but you're going to get hurt with her, you know that, right? She's bad news. She'll only let you down."

"It's not any of your business who hurts me."

"It could be."

He shook his head. "No, it won't and isn't."

She stepped closer. "Don't be like that. You never know what you like until you try. You just need someone better than Eli."

"And you're "better"?"

"I know what I feel for you, and it's not only physical attraction." She smirked seductively at him. "Just give us a shot."

"No."

She caught his wrist and invaded his personal space, and he gulped, obviously uncomfortable with her being so close. "Please?"

"Look, I already—"

"Back that blonde ponytail up," Eli growled, standing behind Greyson with Wyatt and Annie on either side of her.

"Eli." She stepped back. "What are you doing here? I—I thought you were on a three week run."

"We got back early." She crossed her arms. "And I'm right here now, because I came to talk to Greyson."

"You did?" He turned to face her, feeling Liza's hand slip into his, and he gulped even harder when Eli noticed. "Okay, Eli, it's not—"

"I'm sorry," she blurted when Annie pushed her forward gently. "I know I'm not like you. I'm not the emotional type of lover. I've talked it over with Wyatt and Annie both, but... I'm not going to be that kind of love with you. I don't mix well with words, and I'm not logical and focused like you, not unless it's in a fight, and love isn't a fight. Not the kind of fight I can win with a gun or knife, anyway.

"That's not the point." She shook her head and met his eyes, concentrating on the subject. "I love with my body, okay? It...understand these things better than I can. I'm not keen on relationships and stuff. I've tried for you, because you have the great love of your parents, but not me, okay? I don't know what my parents were really like. I'm not the product of true love or fairy tale crap like you and Annie and Sage. I'm just a person with two supportive, awesome dads who really care about me, and I'm shit with words. I thought you understood what I was saying with my body, but... I was wrong, and I still don't know how to say those words, but I want to try. If you're going to be with...her then I want to try and let you know so you know there's choices. I'm a choice, if you want me to be, because I do feel all the same things you do. How could I not? You're, like, the best part of me. You make me make sense, and in this entire weird ass world, we found each other and make sense of what that means. I don't want that to be brief; I want...all the time sense and logical and love with words and bodies and whatever that means."

"Eli..."

"But if you want...whatever her name is then okay. That's whatever it is, and that whatever is not my business, so...you do you, I guess."

Liza let go of his hand at the moment he pulled hard to free it and wrapped Eli up in his arms, she jolted in shock, and he held her tightly, kissing her shoulder.

"For someone who can't speak love, you said it an awful lot."

She didn't comment, just wrapped her arms around him. "Blame Annie. She made me be honest." He smiled at Annie, who grinned back and nudged Wyatt in the rib to give them a moment. "This doesn't mean we're married or anything, just...us." She buried her face in his shoulder.

"That's fine by me. I love being an us with you."

"Does this mean I can use your mom's blanket when I get cold?"

"No."

She grinned and hugged him tighter, closing her eyes and thanking whoever for her friends and their presistence. She would have regretted this for the rest of her life without them. She was grateful to not have to. And maybe that blanket could one day be used for their kids. Maybe.

– – –

Eli curled closer to Greyson on the bed when she woke to the sun smacking her in the face. She groaned a complaint and pulled his shirt up, slipping underneath to block it out. That woke up him, and he was startled by the massive lump until he felt her face on his torso.

"What are you doing?" he laughingly inquired.

"That light is rude. Tired."

"Just close the curtains." He rolled over to stand up, but she protested. "What? You want it dark."

"Yes, but I want you more. Stay and keep me warm."

"You're ridiculous."

She kissed his hard belly. "Deal with it."

He shook his head and saw his dad in the doorway. "Dad, good morning."

Eli shot out from under his shirt. "I was just looking for warmth. I swear." She moved hair out of her face. "All we did was cuddle. He's the little spoon. Ironic, right?"

"Eli." He stared at her, begging her silently to shut up.

"I'm sorry." She cleared her throat. "I'm, like, thirty, and still get jumped when Dads appear."

"Yeah, you're both too old to pretend you're teenagers." Daryl smiled softly. "I have some news for you two. Let's have breakfast."

"I am starving. We got in so late last night." Eli shot out of bed and pulled her knit cardigan from the end of the bed on, following Daryl downstairs to food.

Greyson joined then ten minutes later after a bathroom break and found a plate already made. "Thanks. It looks good."

"It is." Eli was on her second helping. "So, what's the news? You look...stern. Did something happen while we were gone?"

"Yeah, somethin' happened." Daryl leaned against the opposite counter. "It's pretty serious, too."

"Dad." Greyson dropped his fork. "A—are you okay? Is it Maggie? God, is it Glenn?"

"No, it has nothing to do with anybody but me." He smiled thinly. "I made a decision."

"What kind of decision?" Eli glanced at Greyson before meeting Daryl's eyes.

"I'm moving out."

"What?" Eli gasped. "Is this because of me? I know I'm over here a lot, but I can stop. We can meet out...there. I know it's a lot to have three people in this house when you only get food for two, but I can help out. If you want me to. You don't have to move out."

"Dad, you can't move out. This is your home. You and Mom lived here. It's everything to you." Greyson pleaded. "You just can't leave it."

"I can leave it. It's just a place, Greyson. I'll be fine without it." He drank from his cup. "Besides this gives you and Eli a home."

"A home?" He shook his head. "Dad, we... This is a home with the three of us."

"Nah, it ain't. It's me and my son and his girlfriend. It's awkward for all of us. It's all right that I'm leaving. I'll be Rick and Michonne, Judith moved out to live with Annie, and they're looking forward to having me. It'll be like old times."

"But, Dad, you can't just... do this." Greyson stood up. "We can work this out."

"It's been worked out. You two take the house, make your own memories in it, and I'll be with Rick and Michonne and Eugene." He was less thrilled on that, but at least Eugene could humor him. Maybe. "You'll be thankful for it."

"If you're sure about this," Eli started.

"I've already moved my things," he started. "While you were gone, I moved out. I just wanted to stop by and greet you, tell you of this decision."

"You—you just packed up and left? Without consulting me?" Greyson scoffed. "I don't give a damn how old I am—this is our house, and I should've had a say in who stays or goes."

"Greyson, I'm old. Actually, this time, and this home is lonely. It's not you two; it's memories. I don't want them following me around, so I'm going to live with Rick and Michonne. There are no memories there for me, so I can make new ones. Y'all can do the same here. Have your kids here. Get married here. Life here. It's what I want, really. I lived my life, now it's your turn."

Greyson closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Grey." Eli rose and rubbed his arm. "He has a point."

"I know." He dropped his hand opened his eyes. "I'm not happy about your method, but I understand."

"Good. Now eat your pancakes."

Greyson smiled. "You...eat the pancakes."

"I did. They're good."

Eli smiled and kissed Greyson's shoulder. "Look on the bright side, we have a home. We can get a dog now." She raised her eyebrows. "Huh? Keela has a new breed."

"I...don't want a dog."

"I'll take a dog. Sign me up." Daryl chimed in, "I want anything she has."

"I'll get one for you." Eli has a run down there tomorrow. "And for us."

"No, dog." Greyson shook his head. "Not yet."

"How about some grandkids?" Daryl looked over the card Eric had given him to help ease the news to them. "Or some...grandbabies?" He tossed them into the sink then. "So helpful."

"Well, about that." Eli sat down on the stool, and they both zeroed in on her. "It's just a maybe."

"A maybe?" Daryl didn't realize how excited this would make him. Holy shit, he would be a grandfather?

"Eli, are you serious?" Greyson took her hand.

"Of course I'm serious. I don't know anything for sure, but I spoke to Enid, and we'll have an appointment tomorrow. She has to help the new class today, so...I'll know then."

"Oh, my God." He embraced her.

"It could be nothing." She didn't want to excite him for nothing.

"It could be something." He caught her cheeks and kissed her. "We could be parents, Eli."

"I'm well aware. Why do you think I've eaten fifteen pancakes? It's not hunger. It's stress." She exhaled. "Hmm. Yeah, stress."

"Don't stress. You'll be a great mom."

"You will be," Daryl encouraged.

She smiled lightly. "Maybe."

"Maybe," Greyson aped her. "Yes."

She rolled her eyes and turned back to her breakfast. "I should've told my dads first."

"No way." Greyson tucked hair behind her ear. "We'll tell them together."

"Maybe round all you up so we can tell you. That way no one gets jealous?" She looked from Daryl to Greyson. "Deal?"

"I have no expression on a good day," Daryl jested.

"Grandpa Dixon." Eli chuckled. "You have plenty of expressions."

"Don't call me that." He shook his head.

"You have the hairs for it."

"All right, I'm leavin'." He set his cup down. "Let me know about this kid thing, all right?"

"Of course, Dad." Greyson smiled. "I love you."

"I'm movin', not dyin'."

"I still love you." He hugged him tightly. "Don't be a stranger."

"Never." He smirked at him and headed out.

Eli turned on the stool. "Are we ready for this?"

"Who knows?" He drew in a deep breath. "Ready or not for babies, I am...so ready to be with you for all of my days. I don't want anything more than to have you and whatever life we build together."

"Sounds like a proposal." She shook her head and licked syrup off her finger.

"Maybe because it is."

"Oh, come on, Grey. I'm in boxers, a tank top and licking syrup off my finger. That's not romantic."

He caught her hips. "I thought I was the romantic one."

"Exactly. Where the romance?"

"How romantic does forever sound?"

"Not at all. If I have kiss you with morning breathe again—" he kissed her then, and she groaned. "—I won't need morning sickness. For a wedding gift, I'm stealing Michonne's stash."

"Is that a yes?"

"Of course it's a yes." She rested her forehead on his. "I always would've said yes."

"Would you have, though?"

"Shut up." She laughed and kissed him. "Big day today."

"A lot of changes to come." He rubbed her outer thighs. "Are you really okay with it? Moving in with me? The marriage?"

"We practically live together now, and it's just a name change. A combination of my favorite things."

"Like our baby." He chuckled. "Man, that's weird."

"Try carrying it. I've talked to Grandma and to Rosita and Maggie. To hear them tell it, I'm in for an interesting journey here."

"Grandma..." His lips few a line at how she hugged herself at the mention of Neva. "I'm sorry."

"She was at peace. It's not okay, but it's better than other ways." She sucked in air. "Let's finish breakfast, okay?"

"Hey, I love you." He caught her gaze. "Your loss is my loss. If you need anything, I'm here. Your dads, my dad—my godparents. They all love you and are here for you. Morgan, too. They were close."

"I'm grieving, but I'm coming to terms with it. It's just hard, because there's so much she could've taught me about this. Kept me calm. What's Dad gonna say? Breathe?" She snuffled. "Would Maggie be there? Really?"

"Michonne and Rosita and Sasha would be there if you asked." He kissed her chin before kissing her lips twice. "I'm gonna be there. Books in hand, ready for the guts and visceral."

"Do you know how this works?" She couldn't help but laugh.

"I do, but I had to make you laugh. It's the best medicine."

"You ever meet Archie in his backyard? That stuff's pretty good, too."

"Eli!"

She laughed. "I'm kidding. He hordes that shit."

"That's not comforting."

"I am joking." She caught his cheeks. "I love you, too. I know you mentioned it in there somewhere, and I'm ready and excited to start this new life with you."

He sat down on the stool next to hers. "It's already been...interesting, so I wonder where this will lead us?"

"Definitely towards insanity, especially if the kid takes after me."

He narrowed his eyes. "Maybe we should get a dog."

"Nope, no dog."

"You offered it."

"I always offer to get a dog. You have a broken arm? Get a dog. You're sick? Dog. You want to hike more? Hike to get a dog. It's what I've been doing for five years now."

"Why?"

"Why not? What solution can't a dog fix, honestly?" He pointed to her stomach. "Okay, but it can better the situation."

"One thing at a time."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise." He grasped her hand. "Nothing can surprise us now."

She nodded and returned to her breakfast. They would handle anything that came their way, as they always had. They had grown up, matured. They wouldn't be caught off guard. And if they were, they would make the best of it. That's all anyone could do anyway.

– – –

Well, things were not so simple as one thing at a time. Eli and Greyson did get married a few weeks after the appointment. Daryl had given him his and Carol's rings, allowing Eli to have the necklace as her fingers couldn't currently fit the ring, and Greyson cried. He knew he would, but it was a happy time. Eli didn't bother with dresses or anything, just Greyson and their parents. Of course that didn't stop her friends from showing up with flowers and food and noisemakers. At the end of the ceremony, Annie and Judith dumped a bucket of flower petals on them, and Aaron managed to get a photo of it. It turned out nice, like the rest of the ceremony. It took place on the grass as no one had planned for it, and it was a nice enough day. They passed around the goods, and Enid brought a cake, and it was a big, semi-fancy picnic. At the end of which, Eli dropped a bomb: she was having twins.

Yes, twins, and nine and half months later, Daryl was a grandfather to two beautiful girls. They were exact opposites. The older one had light blonde hairs and green eyes and didn't cry even once. She was just content to be cleaned and rocked. And her sister came out kicking and screaming, with a dusting of red hairs on top of her head, blue eyes that she'd gotten from her dad, and she did not like to be held. She adored the bath, but the rest was a big no from her.

She calmed down after she'd eaten, though, and Aaron then new it was Daryl's grandchild. He only glared, because he was busy holding the oldest twin, and Eli smiled at the sight of her family. She announced the names of them then. The blonde baby girl who seldom when whined was name Carolyn, and Daryl smiled down at her, greeting her by name, and Greyson kissed her temple. He told them that the fussy fire pot was named Laurel, and Aaron kissed Laurel on the nose and welcomed her to world.

That was seven years ago. Things had changed immensely since then. People had dead. People had been born. People were moving town to town, crops were thriving, and battles were being fought. Not everybody wanted to make peace and settle down, so they fought. They had wins and losses, but ultimately Alexandria still stood. It was still a home to many, a safe haven in the storm, and people were proud to live and work here.

Michonne was in charge of the guards who kept order. She was often found with her five-month old granddaughter, Katelyn, as Enid and Carl had moved her into their home after Rick died a year ago. He never got to meet his granddaughter, but Michonne showered that baby with enough love for both grandparents. Kate was so in love with her family and the world. Carl couldn't have ask for anything more in a child, and Enid couldn't have asked for a better family. Them and the others who were fighting for dibs on babysitting. It was...worth it. It was definitely worth it to jump start the world again. They had more cables to attach, but hey, they had time. They had time.

Sasha had retired from her post to let Liza take it over. She was often by the pond, watching the waters and visiting her daughter, who had moved to the Kingdom a few years back. She returned often to keep tabs on her mom since her dad was gone, and she was talking her into coming back to her. Sasha was considering it, and no one could blame her. They would happily see her off, or keep her company as long as she wanted them. Though it was clear to see she leaned towards going. That was her baby girl, after all, and her only blood family. It made sense.

Rosita was still living with Tara and Denise, and they were like a married threesome. They were always together, always laughing and sharing parenting over Wyatt and his reckless behavior. Spence was around to assist, but it took the whole team with that boy. They didn't mind. Tara saw a bit of herself in him, Denise saw trouble, and Rosita saw him being a little asshole. She had to chew him out so many times last week you'd think he was seventeen, not thirty-seven. He played it cool—too cool—and Rosita had to go after Spencer. They together straightened Wyatt out, and he'd been doing better. He had a crush on Maya now, and he was trying to get her attention when she came to town, but no, nope. He had bad timing, and Tara was thinking of hooking him up with someone. Rosita protested, but the boy needed some kind of love. Denise just tried to keep the peace, and Spencer was curious to know who would want to date Wyatt. It began a running joke, though he didn't mean it like that.

Annie was now taught a class to teach others how to handle mental illness. She was doing well with it, and her students were quick studies. Denise dropped by for lectures now and then, and Judith was always near by. She claimed it was for "research purposes", but Annie knew Judith knew plenty of ways to deescalate a situation. The class became used to Judith's fixture, and sometimes she would bring Ray along. He was the product of a one-night stand that Annie deeply regretted, but he was the best thing that came out of it. He was their little bad ass, her ray of sunshine. She'd had him four years ago with one of the newcomers who...definitely put the moves on her and made to use her. Sadly, it didn't work out for either of them, as she became pregnant, and he...wasn't in..erm town anymore. She didn't want to go any further into detail, so he simply was gone to Ray, and Judy filled the space in perfectly. So what did it matter?

Sage was still managing the crops, though now he taught classes on how to grow food in case these walls should fall, and they scatter to the wind. He taught that class with Maggie and a dear friend, Jaymie. They were best friends, some thought they were closer, but they never said. They tended to their crop and helped expand the mind of little ones who wanted to learn, and they were blissful. Sage often dropped by to bring his parents fresh produce. He was a caretaker to them, even though they didn't need it. He wanted to help them out as much as he could—as did Annie. They tended to their parents and made sure they had plenty of fresh food and leaves for tea. They made sure they were comfortable, and that Ray got to spend plenty of time with them. It was...home, and Maggie felt blessed to have these children and her husband. As did they all, save for Sage who bickered with Ray. (He liked to make up facts on the plants, and Sage just had to correct him. It went on for hours. It was adorable at first, but after the seventh time, Annie just picked Ray up and carried him out of the house. Sage followed. They had to bring Jaymie into help. That did work, but now they both do it, and it's special kind of hell.)

Eugene had taken in a few apprentices to help with his work as his hands grew too shaky, his eyes to weary, and they a lot of goofy gadgets around their town. Some spread to the Hilltop and the Kingdom, but most were just art to look at. Eugene was happy to see science living on in these kids, and he was happy to have Olivia by his side to view that art with. It was more than he could have hoped for—courage, continuity, love. A peace in his old age. He was...settled. It was a good life. Well, now it was a good life. It was hell before that. Hell and blood and death, and if he could trade anything to find this sooner, he would've. Courage or not, this...was worth more than what they endured. Perhaps he only felt that way because they endured. Ah well, that was for someone else to decide. He had to get back to work.

Aaron and Eric had began knitting some necessity for the cold and for comfort, and they made their granddaughters plenty of clothing items. They drowned them in these gifts, but the girls loved it. They timed it so it wasn't just spoil them rotten, and that made Eli and Greyson happy. While they mostly knitted or play games with their granddaughters, they often walked arm in arm around town. It was always changing: a new face, a new headstone, new crop, new livestock. They were changing Aaron and Eric were thrilled to see. They were changes that made a future long after they were gone, and it also was good for the joints to walk around. And boy, did they have a big track now. But how else were they going to catch up to two seven year olds? Gotta keep in shape.

Morgan could be found by the cemetery. He tended to the headstones, keeping them feel and flowers fresh. He built a house out there and kept mostly to himself. He did come now and again to visit Carol's granddaughters, and he saw her spirit in Laurel. He taught them a few moves at their insistence, though they were mostly jumping about. It did his heart good to see them bust a move and try so hard to get it right. He couldn't help but adore them. Carol would have loved to know them. He loved knowing them and Eli and Greyson. He always meant to visit more after Carol passed, but it was a hard time for all. It had passed, and now...now he visited. He brought gifts for the girls, words of wisdom for the Eli and Grey, and he also made a delicious apple butter no one could resist. He had to share it with someone, and Eli did made the best rolls. An excuse, but he hardly needed one.

As for the towns, they had new leaders to introduce. Judith, Henry, WD would be introduced at the next meeting in the Kingdom, and Maggie, Zeke and Keela would officially resign. Judith lead in all but name. She fully intended to look to Maggie for advise, but Maggie knew she could thrive with the aid of the others. She wanted time for her husband and grandbaby. She trusted this alliance to Judith and to the others, and Judith was ready to prove herself. She had her mom to look to, if she really were struck, and her brother. She would rely on them and be there, and Maggie was proud of that. Rick would have been proud of that. Michonne and Carl were. The ones who were lost had so much to proud of. The ones who survived didn't waste their life, and the ones who were lost would always be remembered. That was the motto of Alexandria, where survivors shape the future and the ones who were lost kept them driven. They wouldn't let this world crush them. Never again.

And for Dad? Well, Dad was visiting Carolyn and Laurel, on his way to see Mom, and Eli was itching to get to the wall. They had their hands full today, that was for sure.

"Grandpa!" Carolyn hugged him tightly.

"Hey." He squeezed her tightly. "Where's Laurel?"

"I'm here." Laurel was hiding behind her mom.

"Why are you hidin', short stuff?" He narrowed his eyes at her.

"Because I tried to cut gunk out of her hair that someone," Eli sent a glare to Carolyn, "put there. I had to cut her hair short. She doesn't like it."

"Lemme see." He held his hand out. "Let Gramps be the judge of good or bad. I've lived a lot, seen a lot of bad hair."

"Don't laugh."

"I can't. Trust me, I've tried. It's like coughin' up flour."

Carolyn giggled and held onto his arm.

Laurel smiled a little at the joke and stepped out. She used to have hair down her back, but now it was above her shoulders. She looked like Sophia for a flash, but Eli and Greyson's features settled in, and he smiled softly. "It's bad! Don't laugh!"

"It's ain't bad." He waved her forward, and she edged closer and closer until he grabbed her and tickled her. She exploded into laughter, and he held her. "It looks real good. You look real classy."

"Classy?" She smiled. "That's...good?"

"It's good."

"Thanks, Grandpa." She hugged him and kissed his cheek. "You're classy, too."

"Classic, maybe."

Eli snorted a laugh, and Daryl smirked. "C'mon, girls, it's time for class." She pointed to their books. "Dad's gonna take you. I have to get to the wall, light an arrow on fire, burn stuff."

"You're not burning "stuff"." Greyson came down the stairs. "If it works, it's fireworks. If not...well, then you'll be burning stuff."

"Whoo!"

"I wanna come." Carolyn pouted. "I like fire stuff."

"You can check out the finished product." Grey scooped her up. "Maybe make some yourself one day."

"Could I?"

"You can be anything." He kissed her cheek. "Even a bird, but be careful, the flying's dodgy."

"Don't tell her that." Eli shook her head.

"I wanna be a bird!" Laurel announced. "A pretty bird, like those red ones at the pond!"

"A cardinals," Eli gently reminded her.

"Yeah, like that! It'd be cool. I'd be so pretty."

"You are so pretty." Daryl patted her stomach. "You're beautiful. You came from a beautiful woman, so you can't be anything but beautiful."

"Mommy has bad days," Carolyn told him.

"Oh, my God." Eli smacked a hand to her face, and Grey leaned over and kissed her cheek. "Defend me, don't kiss me."

"I love you, and you are beautiful. You do have bad days, but it's mostly temper."

She sighed. "I get to burn stuff. It's gonna be a good day." She said this to herself.

"Go give her a hug." Daryl nudged Laurel, who ran over and hugged her mommy. "I have plans of my own, so I gotta go."

"Aww, no!" Carolyn frowned. "Don't go."

"I have to, but don't worry, you have school, so you won't notice I'm gone."

"That's not funny."

"I never said it was. Now hit the books. Get an education." He kissed her temple while Grey still held her. "You too, short stuff."

"Yep." She bobbed her head yes.

"Let's get going. See tonight for dinner." Eli grasped one hand from each girl. "Bye guys. Love you."

"I love you, too," Greyson called to them. "I'll see you tonight."

"Bye, Daddy. Bye, Grandpa!"

"Bye." Daryl waved and chuckled at them. "They're gettin' big."

"Too big, Eli says. I... God, they were just babies yesterday, and now they're girls. They talk and scream and sass—dear god, do they sass." Daryl laughed. "But I love them more than air. If that's possible. I...I didn't think anyone could feel this happy."

"Get used to it." He removed his crossbow. "Here, fixed the strap."

"Dad, I told you—I'm not good with it."

"Maybe one of them will be."

"Probably Laurel. She's obsessed with weapons. I'd worry, but Eli has it under control. Supposedly."

"They'll be fine. Just be there for 'em, raise 'em and love 'em. It's all you can do. The rest is them."

"I know." He accepted the crossbow. "Thanks, Dad. She'll love it in eleven years."

"And not a year sooner."

"Right?" He chuckled and set it carefully on the couch. "I have to meet Wyatt for a hunt. We're lookin' for sheep. We have a few, but we need more females."

"You goin' or just advisin'?"

"Both. He heads out before me. We have family night, so I gotta be here for that. I leave in the morning."

"Stay safe."

"I will. I have...so many reasons to come back for." He smiled. "I'll be back in a week with no sheep probably and cold to the bone. We can...have some venison stew and talk, just like before."

"The girls wouldn't sleep, so you dragged me over to help put them to bed."

"Eli pushed them out of her body. I couldn't wake her up. She'd probably kill me."

"Lucky I didn't." He smirked. "All right, be sure the girls don't find those boxes I made for their birthday, okay? It's top secret."

"You have my word, Dad."

"I should go now, but you take care out there. Be safe." He hugged him tightly. "And keep an eye on Wyatt."

"I will." He rubbed his back and released him. "Walk out with me?"

"Sure. I'm headed that way."

He walked him to the gate, Wyatt greeted Daryl, and Daryl returned the greeting with a head nod. He watched them discuss something Grey had made notes on, and he went his own way to the cemetery. He spotted Maggie and Glenn on their porch, cuddling up with a blanket and Ray, reaching a story to their grandson. He saw them like that most days, sometimes his granddaughters would be there. Maggie and Glenn were enjoying this side of life, now too. He was relieved to know there was more to this life than work. There was a life to be found after. It was encouraging.

He found her grave easily, sitting down with some effort and exhaling. He set a hand on the etched name. It was only a few week old this marker, but he liked it. It was a good wood, sturdy. It would withstand time, and people would always know her name if they came. Her granddaughters would know. Of the beautiful woman they came from.

"Thirty-seven years." He bobbed his head. "We lost Rick and Abe, a handful of the older folks, but we've gotten many more. It's...a real community here now. Your son loves it. The girls. They run through the town, meeting all the new people, just smiling and waving. So open and trusting. Like kids before...only they have knives in their belts and an escape route plastered in their mind. Guess it can't all be like before, which is good. Real good."

He scratched is chin and hummed, eyes narrowing as a warm breeze blew over him. "Hmm. I put the letter you wrote me all those years ago in his pocket. He'll be able to read it now. It's done me all the good it possibly can, so it's his turn. It's their turn. I wouldn't trust it to anybody else."

Another breeze rolled over him, and he closed his eyes. It was a nice day. He lied down on the grass beside her grave and looked at the sky, his body sinking into the soft grass.

"I've been thinking about you a lot," he told the air, thinking of them. He was ageless in that moment, simply as young as he was in those memories, and he couldn't ask for anything more. "Eli said I'd see you again, and I do every night in my dreams. I don't know if they help or hurt me anymore. I just...don't know.

"Our granddaughters help me. Eli and Greyson help me. They keep me going. They always have, but now... I'm tired. They're all grown up. The girls aren't, but they'll get there with their parents by their side. They'll survive this world better than any of us could. I know it." His eyes shut, and he exhaled once. "Greyson is...all grown up, leading a good life with a family that loves and supports him. He has all we wanted for him. He can survive anythin'. Just like you. Resilient..."

I love you...

His eyes opened to the bluest sky he'd ever seen, and those eyes never shut again. His chest grew still as his heart slowed and slowed until it stopped, his lips parted as the last air escaped through them. He was just a body there on the ground then. There was nothing there to weigh him down. He had done all he could for the ones he loved, kept the promise he made, and now...peace beyond the pain.

– – –

Sunlight rained down across his face, the warmth of it coursing through his body, bringing along a joy that caressed his cheeks. A hum of happiness that bubbled along his spine. A tingle of bliss that sparked throughout his entire body. That sunlight heated the grass beneath his body, each blade parting for his limbs; they parted, not bent, at his weight, and they held him there. Floating. Free. Peacefully uplifted. It felt...like being whole. Like being with her and their son.

There was a giggle at his ear—the sound was that of honey pooling into a jar, petals twisting in a breeze, echoing gently in a cave. It was all too familiar yet so rare for him to hear. The laughter brought along with it hands. Little hands with small fingers that brushed his hair, mussing it as they went, and it wasn't a romantic gesture. It was sloppy and a bit rough. He could feel fingernails at his scalp, and he inhaled the scent of floral fabric and rich earth. It was a scent he didn't know, but he had no issue with the little fingers in his hair or that laughter. It was calming. It seemed to glide over the holes in his very soul, filling them with the sound.

Tug. There was a tug on his forearm—more little fingers. They pulled once—twice—three times, an urgency there, a child-like impatience that increased with each tug. Yet the tugs themselves weren't hard. There weren't meant to rouse him, simply alert him of another present. It felt like a dog chewing on his pant leg for play almost. It brought a smile to his mouth as the tugging came once more, a chuckle of his own twisting inside his chest and bursting to the light as it escaped through his parted lips. He couldn't help the smile now as it widened and covered his face, and the holes in his soul that had been filled with laughter seemed to seal over-complete. Filled. There was nothing more missing.

His eyes opened and narrowed at the bright overhead sun. He saw blonde hairs to the right, a braid sticking out among the neatly brushed mane, the richest of honey smile across the face of a girl lose too young. The beauty in the smile spoke of endless joys and true peace; however the bright light of the sun blocked her face, but he knew who it was. He had known her for many months, and she him, so when his hand raised to cup her cheek, she merely laugh and set her own small hand in his.

The other hair that came into his view was a faded auburn, cropped close to the shoulders, the white of her smile reflecting brighter than any sun, those freckles popping up along her jaw. Her shoulders shook at another laugh that escaped, only he didn't hear this laugh. He did feel the tear that landed on his cheek, melting away into stardust when it touched, and it spoke of regret. It spoke of apology and of mistakes.

He shook his head and reached up with his other hand to grasp hers on his head, her smile trembled but brightened. He wanted her to know what happened was by no means her fault. They were overwhelmed. The world was overrun. The events that occurred were unavoidable. Sooner or later...that bitter soon or later would have come. And who could say that later would have been gentle? It could have been like so many others who were torn from them—brutalized, unrecognizable, tormented until the last cold moment of consciousness faded. No, it was okay now. It had happened, and the rest had been laid down and buried gently in the earth.

A new sound entered his range, he shot up like a tree at the sound of it, both girls laughing at the sight and standing to embrace where it had come from. Daryl climbed to his feet, eyes surely fooling him as they found her, and he exhaled with...relief, with love, with joy, with agony, with...life. There she was.

It was all white lights around them, but there were wildflowers all around, the brightest of grasses covered the spaces in between the flowers and beyond all that was white and shimmering. But that didn't matter as much as the woman standing with a two precious, pure souls in each other, smiling at him. His family.

Sophia. She had not aged a day past twelve, looking as she had the same day they had lost her. Only lighter now, somehow. She was clean from the grim of the world, eyes sparkling in a way he had never known them to. Smile bright enough to light the world on fire, and it was directed at him. A thank you. A hello. A welcome. A...gesture of love and kindness as well as many other emotions he couldn't recognize at the moment.

Mika. She was holding onto Carol's arms that was around her chest with both hands, grinning from ear to ear, eyes twinkling and laughing as they had in life. She was spotless from the stains of her death, practically bouncing up and down to urge him nearer. She hadn't aged a day since he'd last seen her, the little girl still so little. She held a joy that seemed to only burn brighter, and she wasn't holding it back. It was on display for the world to see, and for him to have—have as they all seemed to partake in her joy. And why not? She was a beacon of it.

And...the woman between the young girls, the one who wore a sly smile, whose eyes danced playfully yet affectionately at him. She was the picture of grace—but he'd always thought so. She held herself confidently, as though she knew this moment would come, and she knew he hadn't. He wanted to laugh at that, and she smiled as though to join him.

He pushed hairs back from his face and stumbled forward, the ground rippling at his feet, but once he got going, he ran. The girls jumped in opposite directions as he drew closer, taking Carol up in his arms and holding onto her tightly for fear that this was yet another cruel dream, and he would wake up alone in a cold bed. He couldn't bear for that to happen, so he squeezed his eyes shut and begged so softly, "Please... please..." He didn't know who he was begging to, but surely someone would hear. Someone would listen. "...please... please..."

It felt like years since he'd held her. His arms keeping her body still against his, a racing coursed through his chest, and his lungs tensed with each second, become more and more unsure instead of certain. Then her voice broke the silence and the rest fell the wayside.

"I've been waiting for you," she stroked his hair, her voice as soft as velvet, "pookie."

He closed his eyes as tears felt to rose up in his eyes, but none fell, none burned across the lids of his eyes, merely the sensation.

"Now...we can watch over them together," she whispered, "always."

"Welcome home." Mika grasped one of his hands when he eventually was able to release Carol, and he shuddered, but smile back at the young girl.

"And thank you." Sophia took his other hand and one of her mother's. "Thank you."

Daryl sputtered as laughter filled his chest and burst into flames so wondrous they did not hurt. He simply widened his smile and said, "We're home." Home to be together. Home to watch over the rest. Home to be their protection. Home to simply be. Home.