"Fucking great," Daryl muttered as it started to rain. He was relieved that it wasn't hard enough yet for him to raise his hood. Not a big fan of pneumonia, but he didn't want the hood to obscure his view; not only of the walkers but of the two people he was truly looking for.

When he had left the prison that morning, he had told Rick he was going on a run to look for deer and that he might be gone for two days. Daryl had taken the Land Rover so he could get farther into the woods before having to go on foot. He had packed a tarp in-case he did find deer on the way back. There was a meth cooker's cabin close to where he was standing that could be locked down tight and he hoped that's where they had holed up. He had been looking for them ever since this whole mess had started and after all these months Daryl had begun to give up hope on finding them alive.

A soft sound slightly to the right and ahead of him drew his attention. Nearly silent, if he hadn't spent a lifetime in the woods he wouldn't have noticed it. He watched as the arm of what could have belonged to a fourteen year old girl aim a crossbow pistol and fire, hitting a large rabbit. Still concealing himself, he watched as a girl and young woman reclaimed the bolt and rabbit. Relief flooded his system.

"You plan on sharing that cottontail?"

Dawn-Ray turned and aimed her Colt .45 at the man speaking to her. She didn't intend on sharing the rabbit and would kill this man if she had to. He was standing in the shadows and she wasn't about to take any chances with her daughter.

"You stick that thing at my face, you better pull the trigger," the man growled lowly.

She didn't recognize the man, but the voice was unmistakable. "Daryl?"

As the man closed the distance, she recognized the crossbow he carried and the way he moved. It was really Daryl, but he had changed. His hair was longer and he was fetchers were harder.

"Uncle Daryl!," the girl said with hushed enthusiasm as she hugged him.

"Hey Shorty, nice shot." He then turned his attention to her mama. "Holed up in the cook shack?"

Dawn-Ray nodded then added, "we need to hurry, bottom's about to fall out and it's gonna pour down for almost two days."

Daryl knelt down and made short work of the rabbit, tucking the heart, kidneys and liver inside before handing it to his niece who tucked it into her pouch as he buried the leftovers. "Let's move out; Darlene, you're between us."

A few minutes later, they were at their destination, and Dawn-Ray opened the crude lock, letting them inside. As Darlene poured water into a pan to wash her prize, Daryl replaced the three 2 bys across the door. A primative but effective lock. When he turned around Dawn-Ray was restarting a fire in the fireplace from embers as Darlene was expertly cutting up the rabbit. There were wild mushrooms and a large onion on the table waiting to be cut up and go into a cast iron skillet. He took a moment to really look at his family. Dawn-Ray had cut her long dark hair very short, she had also cut her daughter's brown hair equally as short. They had lost weight, and picked up a few scars along the way. Daryl realized that unless a person looked closely they would appear to be a young man and boy. Internally, he smiled at the choice.

"Want help, Shorty?" He asked with a slight grin.

Darlene smiled back before handing her uncle the knife. She hugged him tightly and whispered, "I missed you," before turning to get a small can of Crisco and a spoon. She placed a spoonful into the skillet and set it on the grate in the fireplace.

Dawn-Ray went over to Daryl and lightly sprinkled salt on the rabbit. "She's asked me at least once a month if I thought you were still alive. I'd tell her if anyone could make it, it would be you."

Daryl raked the mushrooms into a pile before looking at her and whispering, "Ask about Merle?"

"Daryl Dixon, you know you've always been more of a Dad to her than Merle." She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Hell he wanted me to get rid of her when he found out. Asshole."

Any other time, any other person, he would have "red-necked up" on the sorry sonofabitch bad mouthing his brother; however Dawn-Ray had always been the one exception to the rule. Daryl had never approved of her being with Merle all those years ago, even if it had been for only two weeks. Maybe while they were hold up here, he could get some answers.

"Are you done? Skillet's hot."

Daryl looked down at his niece and smiled slightly, "All your's." He watched as the girl took the cutting board to the fireplace and scrape it into the skillet where it began to sizzle. From the day she had been born, Daryl's heart had swelled with pride. He had loved feeding baby bottles to a child he secretly wished had been his. He had told Merle to shut up more than once over teasing him about it. Just then a loud crack of lightening, followed by a ground shaking thunder filled the area as the rain started pouring down. Like a lot of the backwoods elder women Daryl had known, Dawn-Ray could tell what the weather was going to do, and it had kept him from getting caught out in some pretty bad storms over the years.

"Got some time before supper's ready. Why don't you get out of those wet clothes and clean up a bit? We got plenty of water, and a bar of lye soap." She was relieved to see her childhood friend alive and well, and since she had intended on cleaning up for her own dry clothes thought Daryl might want to as well.

"Where am I gonna keep dry clothes, my quiver?" His words had come out harsher than he'd meant, but that has always been a Dixon trait.

"There's some in the dresser." Dawn-Ray had known Daryl long enough not to notice the small outburst.

"Ain't wearing that tweaker's crusty assed shit! No telling what's crawling on it," he said waiving his arm off to his right.

"It's not crusty! I washed it myself, and you ARE going to wash up or you are NOT getting any of my rabbit, Uncle Daryl!" The last few months had been wearing hard on Darlene, and to hear the only other person in this hellish new world that she looked up to say he was not going to at least clean the blood from his hands was the last straw.

He stared at her dumbstruck for a second. The young, barely teenage girl standing there, anger in her blue eyes and hands knotted into fists, looked more like his brother in that one instant than she had her whole life. Daryl blinked a couple of times before spying an old quilt.

"I'll tell you what, you get me a pan of water, some of those clothes you washed, and your mama holds that quilt up behind me I'll take a bath. Okay?"

Seeing her shoulders sag with relief as she hurriedly set about getting something for him to wear, Daryl looked at Dawn-Ray and sighed. "Goddamn she's got Merle's temper."

"At times," she agreed, "thankfully that's the only thing she got from him."

It didn't take him long to wash up and get dressed, telling Darlene it was okay that there was no underwear for him. "I'm not gonna wear another man's draws, don't care how clean they are." He also added that she did a nice job of cleaning the clothes. He then returned the favor and held the quilt for Darlene and Dawn-Ray, swearing to Darlene that he wouldn't peek. However with the inviting smells from the skillet had his stomach roaring as loud as the thunder, Daryl did threaten to "drop the quilt and get some of that cotton tail if you two don't hurry up!" Dawn-Ray knew he was teasing, but also knew if he was as hungry as he looked, Daryl would do it in a heartbeat.

After they had eaten supper, Darlene yawned and said she wanted to go to sleep. She hugged and kissed her mama 'night then did the same to Daryl. Before he released her though, he thanked the girl for a perfect supper, which made her blush. After she lay down on some blankets on the floor and was asleep, her mama and uncle moved to sit on the floor in-front of the fireplace and talked.

Daryl explained about the group and the prison, and that he had been looking for them since the begining. That he needed them to come back with him. His shoulders felt as if the weight of the world had been removed when she agreed. He then looked into her eyes and said, "There's something I need to know."

"Knew there was something eating at you, what is it?" She looked into his deep blue eyes and waited.

"Why were you with Merle anyway? I don't get it." He bit back the words asking why it hadn't been him.

"It wasn't my idea," she said after a moment of collecting her thoughts. "You remember when Merle started slinging that new meth, Blue Fire?'

"Yeah, I remember," Daryl wasn't completely sure where she was going, but with Ray Madison being one of Merle's best customers, he didn't like the feeling in his gut.

"Pop just had to try some, but he didn't have the money Merle was asking... So the piece of shit traded me to him for those two weeks. For a dime bag." There was no more anger in her at her "father's" actions, it had become merely a fact of her life that she didn't speak about.

"Are you fuckin' shitin' me?" The only thing keeping his voice hushed was the sleeping girl a few feet away. "You were barely 16!"

"Yeah... At least Merle gave me enough pot to keep me relaxed, so it wouldn't be so hard on me." There was no justifying Merle excepting the trade, but Dawn-Ray had been grateful for the dope.

"I remember." Daryl vividly remembered those two weeks, remembered walking in on Merle with his jeans down over his ass, fucking her on the couch that he slept on sometimes. The slightly glazed look in her eyes, telling Daryl that she knew what was going on, but didn't care. Then Merle looking at him laughing, "Hey little brother, wanna ride when I'm done? She's still nice and tight." Anger began to run through him at the memory, until he felt a hand on his arm.

"It's okay, really. Darlene is the only good thing to come out of him, and the best thing to happen to me."

"Why'd you name her that anyway?" He had always wondered about her name.

"Well, Merle wasn't the Dixon brother I was interested in." A deep blush spread across her cheeks as Daryl's eyes widened slightly.

"Should'a said something."

"Didn't figure you would want one of your brother's left overs," she shrugged her shoulders.

He leaned in close to her face, "You were never anyone's left overs, and I still do."

Before she could lose her nerve, Dawn-Ray leaned in and kissed him gently, briefly.

The kiss was a welcome surprise for Daryl, and it left him wanting more, so much more. He licked his lips, then glanced at his sleeping niece.

"She knows it's safe here. A bomb wouldn't wake her tonight, but when we're on the road...poor kid hardly sleeps." Dawn-Ray stared at his profile, still handsome, still made her heart want to pound out of her chest. He turned back to face her and kissed her, like she had him, but longer. She hummed against his lips as she squeezed his crotch, which made him gasp and his eyes roll back slightly.

Quickly Daryl placed his hand over hers, holding it immobile. "I, never..." His voice failed him, suddenly shy at the admission he was attempting.

She placed her free hand on his cheek and looked into his eyes. "Never?"

He shook his head slightly, "I was either too wasted to get it up, or the girls Merle kept around were diseased skanks."

"It's been a very long time for me, we could learn together."

Dawn-Ray's voice was soothing to him, and it helped that she didn't make fun of the fact he was still a virgin. "Where do we start?" He'd seen it done, but wanted to do it right and not the crude rutting he had witnessed and heard.

"Like this," she whispered as she kissed him, this time opening his mouth slightly and gently sliding her tongue inside. As he relaxed, she started squeezing and stroking his crotch again. Once she felt his erection straining against his jeans, Dawn-Ray pulled back slightly, smiling. "We need to get out of these," she said as she unbuttoned his pants.

Their clothes were quickly shed and they stood there a moment looking at each other, Daryl's eyes glued to her breasts in disbelief that this was real. She took his right hand and placed it on one breast and smiled as he began to stoke it slowly, awkwardly. Slowly she traced her fingertips across his collar bones and whispered.

"I want this to be nice for you. Is there anything you want me to do to you? Anything at all?"

He stood there frozen for a moment, with his hand still on her breast, wondering if he should ask for something he had been dreaming of for so long.

"Would you...mmm... suck me off?" Daryl was half expecting her to say no, or to be repulsed by it, instead she leaned in and kissed him again.

She pulled back and smiled at the dreamy look in his eyes. "Help me put my bed down, and I will." Dawn-Ray put her hands behind his head, as his hands settled on her hips.

"Where is it?"

Daryl followed her gaze to a chair with a few worn blankets on it. He stepped out from her embrace and walked to the pile, giving her a nice view of his backside. She couldn't figure out why he never went shirtless, he was lean and toned. The two demons tattooed on his right shoulder, the scars criss-crossing his back?

"That bastard," she hissed. Growing up close to the Dixons, she had see the old man beat his boys more than once. It would appear that after Merle left, Daryl took the full brunt of his rages.

Daryl froze in his tracks. He had never wanted her to see the scars, and today had forgotten about them. His first impulse was to put his shirt back on and tell Dawn-Ray this had been a fucking stupid idea, but he'd had feelings for her since he was 12. Any chance of doing that, or thoughts about it were crushed when she encircled his body with her arms and held him tight. He breathed deep, placed a hand on top of hers and leaned into her accepting sanctuary.

"I didn't know it had gotten this bad," she whispered before kissing his shoulder.

"Nobody knew." He turned his face slightly towards her. "Not as bad as what you went thru." He turned in her embrace, looked into her eyes and placed his palms on the sides of her face, his fingers wrapping around to the back of her head. "We both made it, we're here and alive."

Since his late teens, Daryl had never been much for lengthy conversations; it was no surprise to him that again words failed him. He kissed her deeply, experimenting as he went. Keeping his left hand on the back of her neck, his right arm went around her shoulder and pulled Dawn-Ray tighter to him. He was rewarded with soft moans and her embrace tightening. Slowly he placed soft kisses along her jaw line.

"You're a fast learner, Daryl Dixon."

He looked at her and smiled. "Mmmm, only when I have to be, or if it's something I like."

"I hope this is something you like." She caught her bottom lip in her teeth.

"What do you think?" He smirked at her.

Dawn-Ray stood there watching as the light from the fireplace was reflected in his face. A sight she had always enjoyed growing up, and the memories of his laughter around countless bon-fires made her smile.

"I think we need to get my bed fixed, or we'll be standing here when Darlene wakes up."

"Gotta point," he agreed.

Quickly he had the blankets and they arranged them on the floor so there would be a little cushion and a couple to cover up with. As they were arranging them, she took a moment to admire the way the flames were playing off his back. The way it accentuated the muscle structure covered by the thin layers of skin.

"Anyone ever tell you, you have a cute ass?"

Daryl looked at her blankly, then shook his head. "Naw."

"You do. You're a handsome man, Daryl." She smiled as his cheeks and forehead turned crimson. "Lay down." He lay in the center of the pallet and she lay beside him, positioned so that she was looking into his face. Dawn-Ray could feel his entire being vibrating. "You nervous?" He nodded. "Me too. Daryl?"

"Hmmm."

"Breathe."

He was about to tell her he was breathing when her lips closed around his voice box, her tongue stroking it. He gasped for air and felt liquid seep from his cock. This was normal when he jacked off, but now he wondered if it was during real sex. With eyes wide open, staring at the cobwebs on the ceiling, he held Dawn-Ray tighter to him as her mouth and tongue left trails of liquid fire. Her hands roaming his torso, playing with his nipples. He looked down and saw her mouth close around his right nipple and exhaled noisily as his right hand ran through her short hair.

"Oh, that feels nice," he whispered then grunted as she set her teeth on it and drew up. Daryl nodded at her when she looked up at him, knowing that she was concerned that it might have been too rough.

He closed his eyes again, focusing on the sensations Dawn-Ray was releasing with-in him. When she suddenly stopped and held still, Daryl silently cursed himself for not paying attention to the sounds around them. The raging wind and rain, branches popping outside. Had she heard something he had been oblivious to.

"What's wrong? You hear somethin'?" He set up and was reaching for his knife, crossbow, anything he could use to protect them. Had she heard walkers at the door?

"Nothings wrong," she whispered, trying to get him to relax and lay back down. She felt bad for worrying him by looking at the tattoo over his heart.

"Then why'd ya stop?" Confused and his heart pounding, he had started wondering if getting laid was really worth it.

"I'm sorry, I...was just looking at this tattoo."

"What?" He'd had it for 15 years, and since no one ever saw it he wasn't expecting any kind of reaction from her.

"Whose Norman?" They had known each other almost their entire lives, knew the same people and she couldn't remember a Norman. Friend or family, and certainly not one deserving a place over his heart.

"Shit. That all?" He muttered as he lay back down, right hand under his head. He saw how bewildered she was and pulled her back down to him. "He was my little brother."

"Didn't know you had a little brother."

"I was two or three when mom got pregnant again. He didn't make it." There was no sadness in his voice, but like her a quite acceptance at certain parts of his past.

She kissed his lips tenderly, silently vowing never to mention Norman up again, unless he did first. Moving down a little lower, she softly kissed his tattoo, then ran her tongue around the nipple under it. Daryl moaned and Dawn-Ray knew she was back on track. Slowly she worked her way down his torso, tracing patterns on his skin with her tongue and smiling as she felt his muscles tremble. When she reached his navel, Dawn-Ray kissed it then dipped her tongue inside. She felt Daryl catch his breath and felt his body shift as he propped himself up on his elbows, watching her.

Smoothly she repositioned herself between his spread, bent legs and looked up at his eyes. They were wide and fixed on hers. She stroked the top of his right thigh, and felt his quad muscle tremble. When she kissed the inside of his thigh, Dawn-Ray heard his breathing become ragged. She knew he wouldn't last long this first time, but now wondered if he would last long enough for her to put her mouth on him. Merle had given her some bad experiences with this, filling her mouth with a load of bitter, very salty cum that left her wanting to gag at the taste. If Daryl did last long enough to do it, she decided that she would swallow all of it, no matter how bad the taste. She wouldn't hurt his feelings by spitting it out.

With one last kiss to his thigh she moved up further, to where he wanted her to be. Smiling she took in the sight he was giving her. Thick and vein covered with just enough loose skin on the shaft for her to know how much of a cheap skate his old man had been. Not wanting to spend the extra $500 when they were born, neither brother had been circumcised. Brushing her fingertips against the shaft brought a sharp inhale of air from her old friend, and made her smile. She looked down at his sack, then back to his face.

"Damn, Daryl. Always had some balls about you, now I know why." Her remark got a smirk, and a slight relaxation of his body; which is what she wanted.

Dawn-Ray encased his shaft with her hand, as she licked across one of his balls. His leg muscles jerked, he grunted and she actually heard him grind his teeth.

"Daryl," she looked into his wild, feral eyes, "you need to breathe and relax. It would have been bad enough before if you broke your teeth, but now..."

He nodded knowing she was right, before a broken tooth could mean an infection that he could get drugs for, at worse trading for it to be pulled. Now it could easily mean blood poisoning and death. Turning wasn't on his to do list anywhere in the near future. Closing his eyes, he forced himself to take a few deep breaths and try to relax. He heard Dawn-Ray's voice telling him to think of something soothing. The most soothing thing he could think of that didn't involve her was that hot shower he had taken at the CDC. Hot water soothing his tired muscles washing miles of filth and gore down the drain. Was so nice and relaxing. When he felt his tense body relax and he could take several deep breaths, Daryl opened his eyes again.

She wondered what he had thought of to become so relaxed so quickly. Definitely was going to ask him about that later. When he gave her that twisted little grin of his, she smiled back and placed her hand back around the shaft. Using her thumb she spread the pre-cum around the head as she heard Daryl mutter "yeah."

Just as she was ready to lick across the head, she looked into his eye once more. "I've very rusty at this, can't promise how good it will be."

"Like I'd know what a bad one would be like. You'll do alright." He ran his fingers through her hair, happy she was even willing to try.

Daryl thought he was going to loose his mind when he watched her lick across the head, a long slow lick. When she closed her lips around it, the heat from her mouth made him think she was going to burn him alive. He watched as Dawn-Ray took more of him into her mouth, slowly sliding downward, then back up. He felt her cough against him when she was about half way down him, but when she swallowed against him and took him the rest of the way in he gasped. His breathing ragged he desperately tried thinking of the pristine white tiled shower at the CDC. The hot water on his body, but when she cupped his sack, she joined him in the memory. Going down on her knees under the shower head, sucking him deep as she wrapped her arms around his body.

"Fuck," he muttered as his balls tightened up and his hips jerked a few times as he spilled everything into her mouth. "Shoulda warned ya," was the closest to an apology he was capable of giving her.

"So'k, there wasn't time." Actually she was surprised that he had lasted 4 full strokes with her mouth. When she cupped his balls she felt them tighten and draw up slightly, and knew he was about to loose it. Readying herself for the vile taste about to overwhelm her, Dawn-Ray was actually surprised that it wasn't that bad. Very salty, yes, but not bitter. It had more of a clean taste, one she didn't mind. She licked a drop off her bottom lip and watched as Daryl groaned at the sight. "You actually tasted good."

"I did?" Never in a million years did he expect to hear a woman say his dick or cum tasted good.

,

"Yeah." She lay on top of him, placing her hands under his shoulders, and kissed him deeply.

Daryl held her tight and groaned at kiss. There was a new taste to her, and he didn't want think about what it really was, but it felt so right to him. He rolled them over onto her back, then pulled back slightly.

"Know, what I'm going to do?" There was so much mischief in his eyes at that moment. "I'm going to lick and kiss you all over."

Rain fell harder and the wind howled around their little heaven.