Title: Safe and Sound

Author: doctors gal1792 or hushsoundislove on tumblr

Rating: M

Warnings: Contains heavy spoilers for the mid season finale of season four, "Too Far Gone." DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS.

Summary: Harper, Daryl, Lilah, and Beth were separated from the prison group during the Governor's assault, including baby Oliver. Now the four of them are trying to make it on the road, surviving from place to place, while searching for their friends and baby. Danger is lurking at every corner as the world grows more volatile, and Harper's past is beating down the door, to haunt her once more. Sequel to my first "The Walking Dead" fic "Amazing Journey" so you DEFINITELY need to read that one first. Like if you have not read "Amazing Journey" I appreciate you stopping by, but I kindly ask you to leave!

A/N- I've been tossing around these ideas in my head for awhile...and I really wanted to finish "Somebody to Talk To" first...but I wanted to get this out and then next thing I knew...I had a whole first chapter composed. This will be my beloved Abbie's final Christmas gift because she has been begging me to write a sequel...so I did. Please let me know what you think. Xo

xx

Chapter 1

Thirty-Nine days, Twenty-Two Hours, Forty Minutes, and Twenty-Five Seconds

"Ma!"

"I'm here baby boy," Harper swooped down and picked up her son. "Momma has always got you."

The baby giggled and reached for his mother's hair, "Ma!"

"See, I knew he'd be over his fit once he had a bit of rest."

Harper turned to face Daryl, "You were right, of course."

Daryl took his sons hand into his own and he kissed the tiny fist, "I just don't know what we're gon' do about all this blonde hair he's got. Too much."

"Hey!" Harper fussed, "That is literally the only trait of mine that he has. The rest is all Dixon."

"I dunno," Daryl raised an eyebrow at Harper, "I'm sure he is more like his momma then ya think."

"I want him to be just like you though," Harper smiled and leaned over to kiss him. When she pulled back, Daryl's face had changed. The skin was dead and there was blood dripping from his face. He stumbled towards her and ripped the baby from her arms. She screamed.

–

"Harper!" Daryl shouted, "Wake up baby!"

"No, no, not my baby!" She sobbed, "Please not my baby!"

"Honey!" Daryl grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her.

Harper's eyes flew open and she looked around wildly "What-what happened? Where am I? Where's Oliver?"

Daryl sighed, "Baby you had 'nother nightmare."

Her eyes filled with tears again and Harper buried her face into Daryl's chest, "I just want our baby back."

"Momma?"

Daryl turned his head to the quiet voice who had just poked her head through the partition in the family size tent they were all sleeping in, "Lilah baby, it's okay. Momma just had a bad dream."

Lilah frowned, "Was it about Oli?"

"Yeah baby girl," He replied honestly, "It was." Daryl sighed as he held Harper tightly, "Just go 'head and get some sleep. We'll be up soon t'start movin' again."

Lilah nodded, "Okay Daryl."

Harper's body shook as she cried into Daryl's chest, "You were one of them this time. Then you took Oliver from me. Lilah was one." She looked up at Daryl, "I can't do this. I just can't keep going on thinking he is still magically okay."

Daryl took her face into his hands, "Oliver is fine. I know he is."

"How do you know that, Daryl?" She whimpered.

"'Cause I just do," Daryl said. He pressed his lips to her forehead, "Try to sleep. I'm not goin' anywhere, so just sleep." Daryl relaxed back into the sleeping bag, slowly pulling Harper down into the comfort of his arms. He was silent as he listened to her breathing until it became a deep breathing, and he knew she was asleep. Daryl's eyes stared up at the roof of the tent, slowly counting the drops of rain as they began, until they grew too numerous for him to keep a track of.

"Don't you worry boy," Daryl whispered, "Your momma and daddy are comin' to get ya."

It had been exactly thirty-nine days, twenty-two hours, forty minutes, and twenty-five seconds since Daryl and Harper had last seen their son. Thirty-nine days, twenty-two hours, forty minutes, and twenty-six seconds since they had stood at the prison gates, watched Hershel Greene be brutally murdered.

"Daryl?" Harper came running out of the prison. She had been keeping an eye on the kids who were in confinement, away from those who had been ill. Daryl had ordered here to stay with the others who hadn't been exposed to the illness that had killed so many of their friends. It had been hard on Harper Jefferson, who had become very stubborn; a side affect of being Daryl Dixon's girlfriend.

"Harper," Daryl turned around and saw her running over to him. He took her hand into his, "Quiet." He pulled her over to the prison gate where the others were standing, armed, and holding assault rifles behind their backs.

"What is going on," Harper asked as she took a gun from Daryl.

"It's the Governor," Daryl whispered, "He's got Michonne an' Hershel."

Harper squinted her eyes and saw to her horror, a katana-Michonne's katana, held against Hershel's neck. Then there was Rick, standing down in the fields, pleading with the Governor. He was making a convincing case and everything seemed to be working out. But then, Hershel was falling over, Beth and Maggie were crying out, Rick was shooting, and then the tanks began to fire towards the prison again, taking down the fence and everything they had worked hard on during the last few months.

Harper stood by Daryl and they fired their guns, fighting for their home and Hershel. Every time she tried to get down to the field to help Rick, Harper would get pushed back by the oncoming assault of the Governor's men. She dived behind one of the sheds that she had helped Daryl to build in the spring time, and fired off her weapon to the oncoming walkers, turning back to see Daryl just as a walker was about to be upon him. "Daryl!" She screamed. He reacted and the walker was dead in a second.

"Get the kids!" He shouted back at her, "Get them and get the Hell out of here!"

Harper got to her feet and began to run towards the back exit of the prison, where she knew she could get to the safe room where the kids were. But Tyreese was there, with Lizzie, Lilah, and the others. "Lilah!" Harper shouted, "Where is your brother?"

"Mom!" Lilah ran over to her mother, swinging her gun behind her back, "I don't know. We left him with Judith and went to get guns to help."

"Lilah!" Harper cried in despair, "Where did you leave your brother?"

"Over here," Lilah took her mother's hand and lead her around the prison, the pair ducking whenever gun fire came their way. But when they got to the spot, there was nothing but two empty car seats. One was Judith's, and it was filled with blood, and the other was Oliver's.

"Oh God," Harper said, "Oli!" She screamed out, "Oliver!"

"Mom!" Lilah cried and she raised her gun to protect her mother from the oncoming walkers.

There was an explosion and Harper turned to see the tank was down and in the distance she saw Daryl shoot off an arrow into the chest of the man who had been inside of the tank. He turned and ran towards them, "Where is the baby?"

Harper shook her head, "I don't know Daryl, look," she pointed to the empty car seats, "He was unbuckled and removed."

"Shit," Daryl stared at the seat and then jumped as the prison began to explode on it's self, "We've gotta go." He picked up Lilah and ran towards his bike, "Let's go."

Harper ran after him, "But Daryl, what about Oliver?! We can't leave him!"

"We just gotta hope that someone has him," Daryl turned and saw Beth running towards them, "Beth! Have you seen the babies?"

Beth shook her head, "No."

"Get in the truck, take Lilah with you, and follow us," Daryl instructed, "Keys should be in there."

Beth took Lilah from Daryl, loaded the child into the pickup truck, and then the four of them were quickly speeding away from the prison. They drove, for what seemed like hours, until finally Daryl knew that Harper couldn't hold on for much longer. From the way her body was shaking as he drove the bike, she was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He waved a hand signal to Beth and pulled the bike off to the side of the road. The engine died, he kicked the stand down, and Daryl quickly turned to take Harper into his arms, "Come 'ere," he whispered.

"We have to go back," she sobbed, "We have to find Oliver. He's going to be terrified and he needs us. We need to find the others."

The truck door slammed and Beth came walking over to them, holding Lilah's hand as she did so. "I tried to go back inside to get the kids," Beth sighed, "But that entrance was blocked off."

Harper looked up at Beth, "Oh Beth baby," she quickly pulled herself from Daryl's embrace and pulled the younger woman into her arms, "I'm so sorry."

Beth choked back a sob, refusing to lose it on the side of the road, but images of her father's death were haunting her, "We need to get off the road," she told them, "Figure out how we'll find the others."

Harper nodded her head, "Okay." She bent down and hugged Lilah, "Baby you did so good back there."

Lilah was crying too though, "I shouldn't have left Oliver. I should've put him on the bus so he'd be safe."

Harper shook her head, "You did what you thought you had to do." She kissed her oldest again, "Get in the truck and we'll try to find a place to stay."

Daryl's strong hand was taking Harper's again and he was kissing her, doing anything he could to comfort her, "Come on baby."

She climbed onto the bike again and they drove for another hour, until finally, Daryl spotted a long since deserted country church. He and Harper went in and made sure it was clear while Beth waited in the car. When at long last, they had dragged every last dead walker out of the church, Harper retrieved her daughter and the small broken family, settled in for that first long night.

–

It was still raining when Daryl wanted to get up and head out the next day. He sat in the corner of the tent making arrows while Harper slept. There was no way they could ride the bike in the rain. He knew Harper would agree if he asked her, but Daryl was well aware that Harper was not taking care of herself, and while the threat of illness had seemingly passed, he really did not want to expose her further to getting sick.

"Daryl?"

He turned his head as the zipper in the other side pulled down and Lilah stuck her head through, she was fully dressed now, looking more and more like her mother as each day passed, "I'm hungry," she mumbled.

Daryl grabbed his bag, "Come on over here so Beth can rest," he whispered while beginning to dig in his bag for a can of beans. He sighed, seeing there were only two cans left in his bag, they were going to need to go on a run. Daryl knew he could go hunting, but in this weather there would be no point in killing anything he could cook. "Here," Daryl said as he took the can out and opened it, "I'm sorry, they're gon' be cold."

Lilah sat down beside Daryl, "It's okay." She took the offered fork from Daryl and began to eat out of the can.

Harper groaned in her sleep and began to twist in the blankets. Daryl darted over and shook her gently before she could go into a full blown nightmare mode. She sat up and looked at Daryl and then to Lilah, "Thank you Daryl," she said quietly, "For stopping it before it began."

Daryl pressed a kiss to the top of her head, "Yeah."

Harper rubbed her eyes and sighed, "Did you get enough sleep baby girl?"

Lilah shrugged, "Yeah."

"We should get going," Harper mumbled.

"It's rainin'," Daryl pointed out.

"I know but," She shrugged and got up, reaching for her bag so she could begin to dress, "I was thinking that maybe some of the group who knew where the cabin was, may have gone there."

Daryl frowned, "As in The cabin? Where you're-"

"Where I killed my father?" Harper cut him off and nodded, "Yes. I mean," she sighed, and pulled a tee shirt out of a bag, "Can't hurt to look can it? It's not like we're far."

Daryl looked at Lilah, who was watching her mother and Daryl interact closely. "Little girl, can ya go eat in the other side so your momma and I can talk?"

Lilah nodded, "Not like I can't hear you over there though," she pointed out, walking through the tent again.

"My ten year old, the sass queen," Harper sighed and she began to change out of her clothes.

"Harper, I dunno if you goin' back to th' cabin is such a good idea," Daryl said, "Perfect opportunity for lott'sa bad memories to pop up."

"If it means possibly finding our son though," Harper began to pull her jeans up and over her hips, "Or the others, it would be worth it. I can deal with my emotional trauma bull shit later. Hell, we may even find Carol there." She knew Daryl still had a lot of pent up anger towards Rick about the Carol situation. Harper didn't totally agree with Carol about the whole Karen thing, but a part of her understood. Carol wanted to protect the others from getting sick and Harper justified it to herself by saying Carol was protecting her children. Both Daryl and Harper equally had been upset that Carol was gone and they had vowed to find her while searching for their son.

Daryl scowled, "I hate when ya use her 'gainst me."

Harper sat down beside him and kissed him gently on the lips, "But you know I'm right."

"You're riding in the truck though," Daryl said.

She frowned, "Why?"

"As long as it is raining, you're ridin' in the truck with them, 'cause I don't need you goin' and getting' sick. You ain't takin' care of yourself and ya know it," Daryl told her, a sternness to his voice that Harper was not accustomed to.

She rolled her eyes, "Daryl, I'm fine."

"Harper you're ridin' in the truck and that's final," He told her.

She scowled, "Fine."

Daryl smiled and kissed her again, "Thank you."

It took less than an hour for the four of them to be dressed, packed up, and have the tent taken down. In those thirty-nine days on the road, you learned quickly to be able to take down tents, no matter how big and complex they were. Daryl loaded the items in the back of the truck, which he covered with the tarp that was used to protect his bike from the rain, and then they were headed up the highway, towards Harper and Lilah's old cabin, and towards their past.

Xx

A/N-Thoughts? Should I continue?