* Please review even though this story is finished! I am redoing this story. This is the second part of The New Dad.*

The sounds of crying, yelling, and wood rattling crept through Daryl's sleep. He groaned and rolled over so he was facing the crib. He opened one eye and saw Avery standing up in her crib. She was holding onto the railing and shaking it as she alternated from crying to yelling then back to crying. The last seven months had changed his baby so much he couldn't believe she was the same baby he had found out about 9 months beforehand.

They had celebrated her first birthday the day before. Thanks to Rudy's stack of calendars, Jillian knew when her real birthday was and they could also keep track of the days and weeks as they passed. Daryl closed his eye and tried not to move, hoping for a little more sleep. After she had gone to bed, him and Jillian had stayed up late celebrating her birthday in their own way and that way had involved a lot of touching, sucking, kissing, soft swearing on his part and moaning on her part. They had more than made up for their time apart.

" Da!" Avery yelled.

" Shit." He swore. She had seen him move. She had just started saying Da in the past two weeks and he really loved hearing her say it. He opened his eyes and smiled at her. Avery started jumping slightly and crying more as she held her arms up.

" Da!" She yelled. He threw the blankets off him and turned to his back. He ran his hand over his face. "DaDa!"

" I heard you, Avery! Give a man a minute." He said as he sat up. He got out of bed and walked over to her as she started jumping more and waving her arms. " You need to learn to sleep in." He said as he picked her up. He carried her over to the changing table and changed her diaper. Then he picked her up again and carried her back to his bed. He laid back down, setting her on the bed with him. He closed his eyes and patted his chest. " Lay with Daddy." He said. Avery sighed and laid her head down on his chest. He put his hand on her head and started rubbing it. Avery patted his chest as she looked at him.

" Dada." He smiled.

" Avery." He said as their bedroom door opened. Avery's head shot up and she put both hands on his chest as she turned herself around. She squealed as she pushed herself up. Daryl opened his eyes as Avery climbed onto his chest. She started clapping her hands as she bounced on him.

" You woke Daddy again." Jillian said with a smile. Avery started pounding on his chest with her hands.

" You're a rough baby." Daryl said. Jillian walked over to the baby who held up her hands and continued to bounce on him. She picked her up and smiled. Avery started tugging on Jillian's shirt, wanting to nurse.

" No, nursing, Avs." Jillian said. Avery squealed and tugged harder. " No." She said. She had cut Avery's nursing down little by little so she was only nursing at night, before bed. Jillian was hoping her breasts would dry up and was starting to notice a difference on them.

" If I tugged on your shirt like that, would you let me have them?" Daryl asked. Jillian laughed as she looked at him.

" You can have them when they are dried up." She said. He smiled as he laid in their bed and watched her.

" You let me suck them once before with the milk in them." Daryl said.

" Once, Daryl, once and only because you wanted to know what it tasted like." She said.

" I remember you liked it. You got pretty wet and fucked me good afterwards." He said. She laughed.

" I'm never going to dry up between you and her wanting on me all the time. You're as bad as she is." Jillian said. Avery tugged harder and tried to put her hand into Jillian's shirt. Jillian took her hand. " That's enough." Jillian said to her. Avery frowned and grunted.

" Avery, knock it off! Girls don't grunt and you ain't gettin to nurse!" Daryl snapped, making the baby look at him. She blew raspberries but stopped tugging. Daryl smiled at her.

" Get in the shower while I feed her. Rick, Shane, Glenn and Rudy are leaving today for the town and I want to see them off." She said as she set Avery down. The baby turned over and crawled to the bed. She grabbed the sheet as Daryl turned to his left side. Avery stood up and looked at him with a smile.

" Da." She said. He grinned and kissed at her.

" Avery." He said. Jillian came forward and took one of Avery's hands. She leaned down and kissed the top of Daryl's head.

" I will see you in a bit." She said. He smiled as he watched his girls walk away. Avery stumbling slightly as Jillian helped her walk.

XXXXXX

The group had gathered outside when the men were getting ready to leave. Daryl was holding Avery's thighs. She was sitting on his shoulders, her legs on either side of his head and her hands intertwined in his hair. Jillian had one arm around his waist and her head against his chest. The group was tense as after the goodbyes were made. They watched as the men piled into the station wagon and pulled away. Daryl and Nick had gone on the last trip a few months back so they weren't going this time. Daryl moved one hand to the back of Jillian's neck.

" Let's take the baby for a walk in the backyard." He said. Jillian nodded. Rudy had become a father figure to Jillian and she was upset. Daryl wanted to distract her, to help calm her down.

XXXXXX

The men pulled up to the outskirts of town. Quietly they all got out of the car and closed the door. Most of the walkers had wondered out of the small town but they still had to be careful. This trip they were going to go through the houses, looking for clothes, soaps, bottled water and things for the kids. They were also going to look for canned goods.

After an hour, everything had gone over well. They had broke into two groups and had things already packed up in the station wagon. Shane walked slowly into the next house he was going to go through. He heard movement from the upstairs and studied his gun. He took a deep breath and started slowly up the stairs. He walked quietly and quickly with sweat already starting to dip from his hair.

The movement from coming from a bedroom to his right when he reached the top of the stairs. He passed his hand through his hair then studied the gun again. He took a deep breath then started towards the room, not knowing what he would find. He used his gun to slowly push opened then door. There was a girl standing with her hands on her hips, looking into a closet there. Shane felt his shoulders dropped as he leaned against the door frame. He started to laugh, making the girl jump and look at him with wild eyes.

" Who are you?" She snapped. He held up his hands to show her he wasn't going to hurt her.

" My name is Shane. I'm here with a group. We aren't going to hurt you." Shane said.

" You're here with people?" She asked, her voice almost a whisper. " I haven't seen living people in so long."

" What's your name?" Shane asked.

" Maya." She said. Shane smiled and came forward. He stuck out his hand to her. She looked at his hand then shook it slowly.

" You are welcome to come with us. We have a safe place with food, running water, place for you to sleep." Shane said.

" I have a van." She said.

" You can drive it." Shane said.

" Can I really go with you?" Maya asked. Shane smiled at her.

" Yeah. Come on, I will introduce you to the others." He said.

Maya was had light blond hair and green eyes. She stood about 5 ft 6 in and looked very underweight. Shane was shocked that anyone was even still alive. She didn't look very dirty so wherever she had been staying she had a water supply. Her clothes weren't dirty but he was sure it was because she had been going through the houses and getting clothes just like they had been doing. Shane led her to the outside of the house where everyone was meeting. The other men looked just as shocked to see someone else alive. Maya decided to follow them in her van back to the house. Shane offered to ride with her but she refused to let anyone inside her van. Even when they got back to the house, she parked it far away then walked over to the group.