So this is my first Walking Dead fanfic so I hope it's okay!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead.

Rick Grimes meets Daryl Dixon when his brother gets thrown in the drunk tank. Dixon comes down to the station to pick up his brother in an old beat up truck, toting his brothers bike in the back. He is cool, calm, strangely aloof, distrustful of the people in the station, a coarse-mouthed red neck but he is smarter than his brother and keeps his tone respectful while still managing to sound slightly insulting.

He doesn't say much to Dixon except to introduce himself and lead him over to where his brother is. He gets Merle Dixon out of the cell, processed and sent out in the not so tender care of his younger brother. He and Daryl never so much as says another word to each other besides introducing themselves. Most of Daryl's speech in occupied with answering his brother.

But before they leave, Daryl looks at Rick and Rick looks back at Daryl and then Daryl is gone. But Rick can't shake the feeling. It feels like he's met Daryl in a dream. He's never seen the man before but for some strange reason Daryl Dixon has fingers around Rick's heart and Rick can feel Daryl's back lining up against his, feel his tears soaking into his shirt, hear his dry, always unexpected humor, see the dark part of him and cradle it gently in his arms, can bury himself in that blackness and feel at home.

Shane hand lands on his shoulder snapping him out of it and for a moment Rick thinks that that strange moment is it, that maybe he hasn't had his coffee yet but when he turns and grins at Shane, follows him back in the station, Daryl Dixons fingers don't let go of his heart.

Daryl Dixion has never met Rick Grimes before the morning before he had to go fish Merle out the drunk tank but when he sees him, he pegs him as one of those people that he can respect but that he's not going to spend a lot of time around. He introduces himself and after saying gruffly to one of the other officers that he's here to pick up his brother. The officer hands him over to Deputy Grimes who just nods and leads the way to the cell where Merle is being kept.

Merle is hung over and clearly not in a good mood. Daryl is not looking forward to spending the day with him while he gets over his hangover. Merle is apparently not looking forward to moving, at all. Daryl gives a mental shrug and has Merle moving, and being processed out. All the time, Deputy Grimes works with a calm, efficient air. Even Merle's attempts to aggravate him don't work and Merle eventually gives up because even his own voice is giving him a headache. What did he drink anyway?

Pretty soon they're heading out the station and then they're in the parking lot and Daryl is all set to get into the truck but before he does, he stops and looks back at Rick. He can't explain why but something about Rick makes him feel like he's tracked Rick before, like he's stumbles across his path before, learned the way he thought by following him over miles and miles of territory, like Daryl knew his shoes size and the length of his stride, like if he'll slow down and be cautious when staking prey or the way his body would coil into motion when he's ready to attack, he feels like he's read his cunning in the paths he's taken, his kindness when he choose to leave a mother deer alone, his rage in the way he rips apart the predator that would attempt to take what's his, his tenacity in survival, his hunger and his desperation by the way he doesn't take breaks, the frightening, animal part of him and the cool calculating human by the sheer volume of what he's capable of doing and how far his trail goes. And Daryl is at home, following this trail.

Deputy Grimes looks back at him and then Daryl turns and climbs into his truck. Merle's presence instantly fills the space he's in and Daryl thinks that maybe he's drunk too much the night before as well because the tracks of Rick Grimes still flicker on the edges of his sight.

It's years before they see each other again, before Daryl rolls back up in Ricks precinct again, this time on a motorcycle of his own. He doesn't go looking for Rick, doesn't even step in the direction of the station instead he goes to one of the bars in town, settles in for a nice drink.

It takes him a minute to recognize that Shane and Rick are in the bar, apparently having an after-work drink. The two laugh and chat like the old friends they are and Daryl says nothing, doesn't look in their direction after that first glance and continues to nurse his drink. Half an hour later Shane leaves to hit the head and after a minute, Daryl feels eyes on him. He looks up and finds Rick Grimes staring at him.

"Daryl Dixon," he says and Daryl is startled because there's no reason why Rick should remember his name after all this time, but he does.

"Rick Grimes," Daryl says in reply and he sees in Ricks eyes light up with what must be the replica of the light in his. They don't say anything else and Shane comes back anyway. Daryl finishes his drink and leaves. The next day he is gone, roaring out of town heading wherever the wind blew and the hunting was good.

He is back in a year, following the trail of Rick Grimes that has never left him and sometimes marches right beside him. Rick is in their patrol car, chatting to his partner while they discourage speeders and other potential lawbreakers by their presence, when Daryl drives by.

Their eyes catch for a brief moment and then Daryl is flying past. He ends back up in the same bar in the evening and an hour after he's been there, Rick comes through the door, orders a club soda and sits in the stool next to him.

"Dixon."

"Grimes."

Rick finishes his club soda in under ten minutes and Daryl is now down to one finger in his glass. Rick gives him a small nod and then he's gone, breezing out the door almost as fast as Daryl has flew past him that evening.

The next time Daryl sees Rick it's six months later, when Daryl is back in town. Daryl is just picking up supplies for his trip back out on the road. They just happen to espy each other when Daryl is coming out of the gas station store and Rick and his partner have pulled into the station for gas.

Daryl stows the food in the pack on his bike, glances at Rick once before he revs his bike and takes off. He feels Ricks eyes on his back for a long time afterward.

Two months after the last time Rick saw him in the gas station, Daryl Dixon breezes past his front yard on his motorbike. He doesn't see Rick, not at first, but he catches sight of him in the side mirrors after he's passed him. He slows but doesn't' stop and soon disappears from sight.

Rick keeps expecting it to go away but Daryl Dixon's calloused fingers just grip tightly onto his heart like they've never let go and never will. For the briefest of moments he feels a ghost of his hand resting on his shoulder and the weight of Daryl's eyes on him that somehow hold him up.

He doesn't see Daryl for eight months after that but his shoulder blades tingle like a second pair are pressing into his. On the ninth month Daryl breezes in again and he offers Rick a weary quirk of the mouth. Rick offers him a life-is-hard-what-can-we-do one in return because he's pretty sure Daryl won't take well to sympathy.

Rick finds him in the bar nursing what he apparently means to be his last drink for the night. Rick orders a beer and hopes Lori doesn't get annoyed at him for being out a little later than he is, what with her being pregnant and all. Daryl finishes his drink before Rick finishes his and walks out the bar but he pauses just before he exits. Rick finishes his drink and drives back home, eager to see Carl and Lori again.

The next time Daryl sees Rick, it's at Rick's house, seven months later. The place is shrouded with grief and part of Daryl wants to leave but Rick is in there, suffering from the loss of his wife. Died in childbirth he had heard. Rick's partner, Shane is on the porch, head in his hands and his shoulders shake while he sits with his grief.

It seems that Daryl has just missed the funeral and happily, all the other well-wishers. He walks up to the house but before he can enter Shane is on his feet, face streaked with tears but he has a hand on Daryl's chest and is demanding what he is doing here.

"I came to see Rick," is all he says.

"Rick isn't seeing anyone," Shane says.

"I'm a friend." Daryl says.

"Really?" Shane's disbelief is palpable. "Well I don't know you."

"Just let me in," Daryl said, already thoroughly fed up with the proceedings. "If he wants me to leave, I'll leave."

Shane looks him in the eyes and then lowers his hand and lets him in. "See that you do that," he adds.

Daryl doesn't bother to reply. He just walks in and makes his way through the house. He finds Rick in the living room, sitting on the couch. There's a baby carrier next to him with a cute sleeping child in it. Ricks head is in his hands and he is sobbing uncontrollably, shoulders shaking, breath stuttering, wild, heart tearing sounds coming out from him.

"Rick," Daryl says and Rick looks up. For a moment, he is frozen, then he is pushing himself up to stand but he doesn't quite make it before his legs gives way under him. Daryl catches him before he falls back onto the couch and lowers him gently onto it instead.

Rick clings to him and sobs. He feels his tears leak onto his neck and the sheer force of grief shaking through his body. Daryl holds onto him like he's never held onto to anyone before in his entire life and lets him cry.

"I don't know what to do," Rick says after a long time, still sobbing, "I don't what to do. I don't know how to do this. I can't do this without her. I can't do this without her! I don't know what to do!" his words are increasingly desperate and heartbroken.

Daryl leans back a little to get some leverage and then shakes Rick slightly. "Hey," he says and Rick looks up at him, eyes wide and wet with tears. "We'll figure this out okay?" he expects it to take a few seconds for what he's said to penetrate Ricks brain but he understands it right away.

"Okay," he says, shakily, "Okay."

Then he rests back his head on Daryl's shoulder and keens. Daryl holds him for a moment while he shuffles the broken pieces of himself into a pile and then Rick lets go, swipes at his eyes and stumbles brokenly towards the bathroom.

It is at this point that the overly cute child decides to wake up.

When Rick sees Daryl next, after having a long talk with Carl, he is sitting in a chair in the living room holding a sleeping Judith. An empty bottle is resting on the coffee table.

"Didn't know you knew how to feed a child," Rick says in lieu of anything else. "It's not so hard, besides Carl googled it before he went up to talk to you," Daryl drawls. Rick takes a moment to reflect on the picture in front of him, of a hardened man in biker jacket, holding a tiny child dressed in white. It feels good to have a brief moment where he is not actively concentrating on the hole inside him.

"Why don't you get some rest?" Daryl says, "I'll hold the fort here. It's not like she's heavy."

"You sure?" Rick asks because he is tired, even though he feels like he'll never sleep again. He doesn't think it's a good state to be in while taking care of the baby though, not Lori's baby, not the last piece of her. He feels the tears and the crushing despair crash back onto him and he barely hears Daryl reassure him in quick, careless sentences before he's turning around and heading back upstairs, back to their bedroom.

When he wakes up in the morning from a sleep he never expected to have he goes in search of Judy. He finds her and Daryl in the spare room. Judith in lying on her stomach, resting on her blanket whilst Daryl is curled up along the edge on the bed, preventing her from rolling off the edge in her sleep. A pillow is on the floor and Daryl's boots are still on his feet. Clearly, he'd only meant to stay on the bed while patting Judith to sleep but had fallen asleep himself.

"I didn't want to wake him up," Carl says from behind him. Rick jumps a little but turns to look at his son. Carl's eyes are red and he is looking like he might break apart at any second. Still he looks at Rick steadily and says, "I figured he'd need the sleep."

"That's okay," Rick says. He pulls Carl towards him, deposits a kiss on the boy's head and then says, "How about we make some scrambled eggs huh?"

"Okay," says Carl. As they're heading down the stairs he asks, "How much do you think Daryl eats?"

"More than both of us, that's for sure," Rick replies.

"More than Shane?" Carl asks.

"Sure," Rick says.

They've just finished with the eggs when Judith's cry pierces the house. Rick charges up the stairs while Carl heads over to make a bottle of formula. The wailing baby cry is somewhat soothed but Judith is hungry and wants everyone to know. Rick runs into the room to find Daryl sitting on the bed shushing Judith runs back down to help Carl finish make the bottle and then he back up the stairs with Carl in tow. Daryl hold out his hand for the bottle and Rick hands it to him, watches as Judith hungrily takes the rubber nipple and begin sucking down breakfast.

Its only a short step to realize that they'll never see Lori do this. A few minutes later he realizes that he is standing there with tears running down his face. Carl is sobbing softly next to him and he pulls his son into a hug as they grieve for the wife and mother they'd lost and that Judy had never known.

They are broken out of their grief fugue when Judith gives a small burp. Daryl looks in disgust at the tiny patch of frothy milk she had brought back up on his shoulder and hands her over to Rick.

"Diaper duty is yours," he says. And Carl has recovered enough to screw up his face at the thought.

"There's eggs downstairs," Rick tells him and Daryl nods and brushes past him. Carl thunders down after him into the kitchen and Rick is left with Judith yawning in his arms.

"Come on darling," he says to her, "Let's change that pamper."

A few minutes later Rick joins them with a freshly changed Judith. Carl and Daryl are both eating, Daryl heartily, Carl nibbling on the eggs. Daryl looks up as Rick enters the kitchen and their eyes catch and hold.

Rick can feel Daryl Dixon's fingers around his heart, feel his back resting against his, even when there a hole inside him and his world is consumed with grief.

They'll figure things out just like Daryl said.

And Daryl nods in affirmation of the truth in Rick's eyes.

Review please!