A.N: Alright, here's the thing. I know there are alot of Daryl/OC stories out there... and here's another one! :D This is just my hand at the pairing. I tried very hard to make it not...ya know...suck. It's similar to a few stories already out there, but I swear I did not read them before I wrote my story, I had my story going since the 2nd season started, had it brewing in my head since before the 2nd season, and now I've finally got it typed out and I think it's not all bad, but ya know. It's up to readers whether it's worthy or not :) A review would be nice, but it's not required. I'm gonna base it off of views on whether I'll keep it going or not.

Worst Post Apocalyptic First Impression Ever

"Are you sure you saw smoke or were you dreaming?" JoJo asked for second time that morning, they'd been walking for hours, since sunrise, following a hopeless trail toward what Ben believed was another group of survivors, and possibly minor salvation. They hadn't encountered any human beings in over two weeks, they'd made contact with plenty of walkers, taking care of them as needed, they carried two shot guns, an aluminum bat and a trench knife passed down from generation to generation in their family. They'd do what they had to do survive, killing included and moved along, they wouldn't admit it to each other, but they were starting to fear they were the only people left in the world.

"Yes, Jo, I'm sure I saw it. Just another mile up this hill and they'll be there, I know it." Ben was speaking through his teeth, his jaw clenched as he trudged along the forest floor in the direction which he told his family. He had a fiery temper, from who he inheirted that trait from, they weren't sure, they all had a bit of a temper, Lacey and Ben the hottest tempered of them all. If there's ever a fight between those two, it becomes a war zone of verbal bashing before an eerie silence takes over from a span of 2 to 8 days.
Jo looked over his shoulder at his other two siblings, a small smirk on his mouth and a look calling for assistance, as well a constant look of exhaustion. They were all exhausted, tired beyond belief. They had two tents, one cot, four sleeping bags and a couple of blankets, it was safe to say no one slept comfortably through the night, especially with the constant fear of being bitten or devoured by a walker, or whatever those people who were dead and came back to life with a taste for the living were called.

Lacey just gave a shrug, even if there weren't other surivivors they'd still be able to make camp where they were for the night and then set off again the next morning, exhausted and scared.
An hour had passed and JoJo was at it again and Ben was very close to snapping, "It's okay, Ben, sometimes dreams seem really real. This one time I dreamt about this girl in my English 102 class-"
"Jo, just shut up! We're almost there."
"I'm just sayin', Ben. If there's nothing there, we won't be mad at you. Just like I wasn't mad about how that dream ended with me and that girl from English." JoJo winked and nudged his brother in the ribs with his elbow.
Ben was fuming, Lacey and Robert tried hard to smother their giggles as they walked behind the feuding two. Youngest vs. Eldest.
"Jo. I swear to God, if you do not shut up right n-"
"Woah!" Jo stepped forward, ahead of the group, picking up speed as he ran up the hill toward what ever had suddenly peaked his interest.
"JoJo!" Lacey shouted after him, one of their established rules, always stay within each others sight. And as Jo's form disappeared once he reached the top of the hill, he broke that rule. The three sighed, too fatigued to chase after him. "I swear, he always has to rebel." Ben grumbled.
"Wonder who he learned that from, Lace." Robbie nudged her with a grin, to which she rolled her eyes.
The three started up the hill at a slower pace, expecting their youngest to eventually come back to them, or they'd meet him up there at the top of the hill, but their expectations were extinguished a moment later when in the distance they heard a yell of what sounded like 'Walker!' and that's when they bolted, their burned out pace turning into that of demon speed in less than a second flat.
"He's not a walker! Don't shoot!" Robert's voice carried through the trees as he ran fastest past his sister and brother to the youngest of them who was about to shot down.

The family finally emerged to find themselves in a relatively large survivor camp site.
There was a huge RV, looking like it came from the 70's, a few other vehicles, two fire pits and a number of tents spread around the area. But what sent their heart fluttering to their throats was the sight of people. Living, breathing, non-dead-come-back-to-life people. The survivors stared at the Black family, and they stared back, they amount of shock equal from both parties.
"HA! I fuckin' told you!" Ben's voice suddenly shouted, making nearly everyone in the camp jump.
Lacey shook her head, mentally berating her brothers for creating the perfect first impression in this post apocalypic world. Walking dead infested Earth or not, manners were still applicable. She and Robert stepped forward, further into the camp while Ben and JoJo started arguing again, about what, no one was too sure.

An older man with a white beard and fisherman's hat stepped forward to greet the newcomers, he seemed like the sort of constantly friendly kind of man, given any situation, even in this unbelievable situation. "Hi there," he started, but Lacey had her focus on two people behind him, a man and woman who seemed much more awestruck then the rest of the camp and before anyone could register what was happening a boy ran forward as he cried out, "Lacey! Robbie!"
Lacey's knees almost buckled as the boy ran full steam at her, recognising every little freckle on his face and those particular blue eyes he shared with his father, she couldn't believe how stupid or tired she must have been to not recognise Lori and Shane when they stared her and Robert down.
"Oh, my God." Lacey gasped and fell to her knees as Carl finally reached her and hugged her tightly, then moved to Robert who quickly picked up the 10 year old boy and squeezed him just as tightly as the boy did.
"Lori." Lacey whimpered and felt a wetness on her cheeks as she and the slightly older woman stumbled toward each other and broke down into a pitiful mess against one another as they hugged.
"Who's this?" Lori pulled away a moment later, wiping her tears away to take note of the thing, or rather, someone, on Lacey's back that prevented her from giving her friend a proper hug.
"That ain't yours, couldn't be. Last time I saw you your stomach was a flat as it is now." Shane stepped up next to Lori to ask the burning question. For the moment it seemed like it was just the Black's, Lori and Carl Grimes, and Shane Walsh reuniting again, forgetting that their was a camp site around them filled with an audience watching them like some sort of live soap opera.
"I can explain." Lacey laughed and brushed her tears of happiness away with her sleeve, she laughed again realising she'd been crying. She was never a crier, the only time you could see Lacey Black crying was if something was really hilarious and she'd completely lost her mind on the floor as she laughed until tears streamed down her cheeks. That was the only time she'd allow people to see her tears, other times she'd cry...well, she made sure she was alone.
"You'd better, girl. Come on, bring those no good boys with you, and meet everyone." Shane chuckled as Ben stuck his hand out to shake the officers, Shane reciprocated, and the handshake turned into a half hug as the Black's followed Lori and Shane to the large fire pit.
"Somebody shoutin' 'bout a walker up here?" a voice pierced the momentary celebration, and all bodies and eyes turned to the speaker. A man with a crossbow and a very irritated, yet somehow at the same time, worried, look stood at the tree line where there were tin cans on string, creating an alarm barrier around the camp.
"Nah, everything's alright up here, Daryl. No walker, just some more survivors." Shane explained with a rare grin, but it went unseen by the hunter.
The man with the crossbow scoffed and rolled his eyes, grumbling as he walked back into the forest, "Screamin' 'bout stupid shit...no god damn walker... more mouths to feed..."
"He seems nice." JoJo spoke up, not a hint of sarcasm in his voice, but a smirk pulled at his mouth when a few quiet giggles followed his comment. JoJo, ever the joker. Everyone moved to the fire pit to sit down and meet the new people...

"Andrea, Amy, Carol, Sophia, Carol's husband Ed is back in their tent, Jim, Jacqui, Glenn, T-Dog, Dale, and the rest are down by the quarry." Shane had taken it upon himself to do the introductions, gesturing his hand to each person he named, resulting in a small wave, nod or greeting from said person. He turned to the Black's. "Ben, Robert, Lacey and JoJo Black...and..." Shane trailed off at the sight of the baby, a girl, they could tell by the small pink splotches of clothe behind the dirt and grime.
"Oh, Honey." Lacey smirked. The group gave her a strange look before Lori spoke up, "And where did Honey come from?"
"On our way to these forests, we walked along the highway out of Atlanta, there was a girl, couldn't've been older than 16, laying under an overpass with this little gal. We ran to help her, but when we got their the girl was already taking her last breaths, she told us to keep her baby safe, and then she was gone. We didn't know her name so we started calling her Honey."
A quiet collective 'ooh' echoed around the circle. "What about them hounds?" Shane nodded.
"That yellow lab, we call her Blondie, German Sherpard, she's called Rocket. That Old English, he's Blue." Ben pointed out to the three dogs sitting loyally near the Black's feet.
The Black family had never owned a pet, not even a fish. Though they remember begging their parents for a dog, or a cat, even a bird, anything, they never got one. Even when they finally got a house of their own no animal was ever adopted into their family. Lacey was the dog lover, while the other guys preferred cats, claiming they're easier to take care of... though JoJo did mention something about a hedgehog once. The boy was peculiar in his interests, there was no doubt about that.
"Where'd you get them?" the young blonde girl, Andrea's little sister, Amy wondered.
"In the city. We passed through there a week or so after it started." Robert explained, "Found Blue first. Then Rocket found us, and Blue led us to Blondie. All abandoned." Carl looked up at Robert from his lap, "Are they nice?"
"Very," Lacey nodded, "Rocket's a great guard dog. Took down 3 straggling walkers on our way out of the city, but she's a total snuggler."
Carl laughed, so did a few others.
"How long have you been out here?" Dale, the old man with the beard and the hat asked. As well as friendly he seemed the worried, fatherly type.
"Probably the same as you. We stayed in the town a little longer after it started, headed into the city and gathered as much supplies as we could get, then headed to the forest. Last night Ben said he saw smoke and decided to find where it was coming from and then we found you." JoJo explained as he scratched behind Blue's ear.
"Speaking of supplies..." Lacey stood up, keeping Honey planted on her hip as she dragged a hefty looking duffel bag toward the rest of the group. Grunting slightly as she wondered how Robbie made it look so light.
"We have food, and a couple tents, if you let us stay we won't take up too much room and we can offer extra rations."
"Lacey, you silly girl." Shane laughed, "We're letting you stay no matter what."
"Extra food," Andrea sighed and chuckled, "You're life savers."
"I think tonight we should have a little celebration..." Lori threw the idea out, and slowly but surely the rest of the group agreed, "Welcoming the Black pack to our group." Shane nodded and put an arm around Lacey's shoulders.

And so it was decided, and the rest of the day, Lacey and JoJo got acquainted with the rest of the group, while Ben and Robbie set up the tents and went out into the woods with Glenn and T-Dog to get some more firewood.
"She's gorgeous..." Lori gently bounced the little blonde girl on her knee, "How have you been feeding her?" she asked, the thought had occurred suddenly.
"Formula and baby food," Lacey nodded, "her mom was stocked up on it, a entire backpack full of it."
"Nice to know she was prepared." Lori mummbled and looked back to the baby, she pulled the girls fist from her mouth to inspect the inside, "Looks like she's teething. She's probably around 5 or 6 months."
Lacey just nodded, a silence between the two, aside from the gurgles and other little sounds from Honey, "You know...I thought it would be the worst mistake ever to bring a baby with us...She'd be like a siren to the walkers, and bring them right to us..." Lacey shook her head with a small smirk, "but she's so quiet, hardly cries loud enough for anyone to hear from 5 feet away...it's like...it's like she knows what's going on...like...I don't know." she shrugged with a laugh.
"Maybe she does know. Maybe she can sense how everyone else is acting, especially you, since you're basically her mother now."
Lori noticed Lacey swallow before replying, "Yeah."
Lori grinned, "It's weird. Isn't it. Motherhood?"
The younger girl nodded, "Babysitting Carl wasn't anything like this." Lori chuckled next to her. Her memories recalling the numerous times Lacey would call Lori while babysitting, asking her endless ridiculous questions in the most worried of tones, though there was never any danger, Lacey just worried and worried when in the presence of baby Carl.
"I mean, this isn't even my baby either, I didn't go through the nine months, then the delivery. She was sprung onto me... and it's like... this weird sort of... instinct... took over."
Lori nodded, still grinning, "Yeah. That's being a mother for ya."
Lacey faked a shiver, and the two laughed.
"Ah, shit. S'that a baby?...Fuck. We're so fucked now." that hunter from earlier had emerged from the woods, interrupting the two women in the moment of peace. Lacey noted the rope of squirrels hanging from his arm. She winced before glaring up at the redneck, "Excuse me, but for your information she's a very quiet baby, and her name is Honey."
"Honey? What the hell kind of name is Honey? That's a stripper name, s'what that is." he spoke as he took a seat near the fire pit across from the women. Lori put a hand on the ash blonde's arm, hoping to calm her before her temper got the best of her.
"And I'm sure your name is reputable?" Lacey quickly shot back, a quiet sigh of defeat sounded from next to her, and Lori's hand recoiled.
The hunter pulled the squirrels from his shoulder and put them on the stones of the pit.
"Daryl Dixon."
Lacey tried to smother her smirk as she rolled her eyes, "Oooh, I see. Far more prestigious. My apologies, Mr. Dixon."
Lori eyes looked between the hunter and her closest girl friend, knowing both their personalities this would definitely end badly.
"And what's your name, darlin', something just as slutty as your kids?"
Lacey's smirk disappeared as she narrowed her eyes at the man who started skinning his kills.
"Lacey."
The man snorted a laugh and went back to his work.
Lacey glared but refused to keep the ridiculous agrument going, she decided to take the high road for once, instead of fighting a battle to the very end, she chose a cease fire.
She just rolled her eyes and looked to Honey who was reaching out a small chubby hand to her.
She smiled as she took the tiny hand into her own and murmured a gentle 'Hi, there.' to the girl.

"Ya know..." Lacey inhaled deeply through her nose at the sound of the redneck's voice filling the air again, she bit her tongue to keep from lashing out 'Yes, I bet I do know! You hillbilly twit!'.
"You look familiar...I think I've seen you somewhere." Daryl mummbled as he pointed his knife at her lazily. Lacey eyed the knife and fought a growl.
"Really?" she asked with a pinch of arrogance as she lifted her gaze to look at the man.
His blue eyes were scanning what he could from his position, he nodded, "I've seen you before."
"And just where do you think you've seen me?" that arrogant tone growing stronger, if Ben were there he'd tell her it was their mother's high and mighty voice she was using.
"Can't place it yet, gimme some time to think, girl." he scoffed and went back to skinning, occasionally glancing up at Lacey every now and then.
"Well, this is thrilling, really. But I'm gonna try and put Honey down for a nap." she stood up and Lori passed Honey to her, the girl and her baby starting for their tent.
"There it is!" Dixon's voice cried out triumphantly. Lacey rolled her eyes before turning around, waiting for his explanation of where he knew her from. She knew whatever he said was going to be wrong, since she'd never seen or met him before in all her 13 years in Georgia.
"Couldn't ever forget an ass like that." Daryl laughed.
Lacey's stomach dropped, those that had heard the comment stopped and listened.
"That swanky place called the...shit, what was it called, something fuckin' stupid...umm..." everyone seemed to be on the edge of their seats as Lacey's face flushed and her heart pounded. Pleasure Theatre, her mind brought the memories back instantly, she winced as Daryl's voice boomed out again, "The Pleasure Theatre," he laughed, "Stupid name, hot chicks. But you," he pointed his skinning knife at Lacey with a smirk, he let out a low whistle, "I saw you there."
JoJo was looking between Lacey and Daryl, his eyes confused and questioning.
"You were the girl in that giant ass martini glass." the hunter kept rattling off facts, and Lacey's face grew brighter.
"How the hell could someone like you get into a club like that?" Lacey hissed, the embarrassment almost becoming too much for her, tears blurring her vision.
"It was my birthday. Merle did something nice for me, for once." he shrugged, but then looked up at her, that smirk growing wider as he looked her up and down, the mental image of her undressing provovativly in front of a crowd of 150+ men to some old 20's inspired music, before climbing up into that ridiculous glass and splashing around before tantalizingly removing her last two articles of clothing, and just barely showing them all what the wanted before the curtains closed and her act was over, the memory was fresh in his mind now. "Oh how nice it was."

Lacey looked around, trying to blink the tears back, trying to come up with something to say, but- her heart just about stopped, Ben and Robbie...
Ben dropped the wood into a pile, before stalking dangerously over to his sister, "A word?"
She gulped before asking Lori to take care of Honey for a moment. The two went into one of their tents, and it began...
Lori and JoJo were aware this would be 'the battle of the century', the red color of anger in Ben's face mirrored the red embarrassment filling Lacey's cheeks. Their tempers were matched in fierceness, and their vocabulary vast for a rude, hurtful bashing, but this was different. This was a secret that no one knew about, Lacey hadn't told anyone about her secret side job, knowing this is the consequence she would face.
"You said you were working at that diner in the city, waitressing and washing dishes! I expected better from you, Lacey. All our lives I've tried to have the best for us, so we wouldn't drop to those kind of lows. Why didn't you tell me! I wouldn't have let you go out there like that! Exposing yourself for money?..." Ben's explosion seemed to hit a stop, and was waiting for a response.
"...It...it was a nice club. I mean-" Lacey winced, her mind still stuck in that mega embarrassed state that she could even muster an articulate sentence.
"Nice club! Hundreds, hell, maybe even thousands of men saw you, completely naked. What about Keenan? Hm? Did he know? What would he have thought?"
"It was before Keenan. There were some college things I had to pay off and I didn't want to ask you for more money 'cause you said we were already struggling. It was only for a month and a half."
There was a long pause, people outside listened, though they knew they shouldn't, but...they really couldn't help themselves, the tent walls were as thin as paper and Ben was beyond loud.
"...Lacey...I...I'm just...I'm not mad... I'm just very disappointed in you."
And like a firecracker Lacey was back, that embarrassed tone in her cheeks and voice replaced with fury.
"Disappointed! Who the fuck do you think you are! Dad! You're not! You think you're the only one that remembers them? I was nine when it happened! I can still remember them, and you're nothing like Dad, or Mom. Oooh, good only Benny, Ben knows best. What-the-fuck-ever."
A few women gasped outside.
"You're not Dad, Ben. As much as you try you're not him! So stop trying to be him, 'cause you're not! You're my brother, sure, you're the oldest, but that doesn't give you the right to treat me like a child! We're siblings, we're supposed to be there for each other, and not judge each other when we do something shitty. You're not a parent, you're certainly not mine, or Robert's or JoJo's. And until you realise that, you stay the hell away from me."
The tent flap opened right after that, everyone averted the gazes and tried to act as if they didn't hear anything.
Lacey stomped over to the pit and took Honey, sending a fierce glare toward Daryl, "Thanks a lot." she spat and made her way toward the other Black tent. Loyal as ever, Blondie followed, and Lacey quickly zipped up the flap behind them.

"Nice job, asshole." JoJo spoke, looking at Daryl before glancing around at the quiet, awkward camp. If there was ever a good way to make a first impression in the post apocalyptic world, that certainly was the opposite of it.