A/N: Alright folks, I haven't done any writing in quite a few years. Be patient while I get back in the groove, I can assure you this story will get much better as it goes. Also, I do happen to live in Alaska, so no flaming my method of how she survives. :) believe it or not, this is all possible stuff. This is also a Daryl/OC fic. So all of you Caryl lovers please don't flame. I am as well a Caryl shipper. I love that couple but, this has been floating around in my head since I began watching the Walking Dead and I have just now gathered the nerve to put this little story out in the public. Be gentle with me, I'm rusty. :)

Also! I own nothing of the Walking Dead. So Please! Read, Review and most of all enjoy! Based on the amount of reviews I get determines if i continue. Thanks!

Chapter One:

It would snow soon, she knew it. The trees were bare again, and there was that familiar chill in the air. Winter would be hard this year, but not impossible to survive. Abby sat on the edge of her balcony, staring out over the empty overgrown yard surrounded by trees. In the distance if she listened very hard she could hear the very faint moaning of walkers.

Glancing down at the pit bull snoring at her feet, Abby sighed. She'd have to make another trip into town for more food for her quiet companion. It had been a whole year since the outbreak and Abby had lost her husband, her parents and one of her brothers. She'd be damned if she would lose anything else. So she clung to the last remaining things of her former life. It was the only thing she has left of him. Of her Michael. A gray and white pit bull that didn't know what dangers lay just beyond the carefully placed walls around the property she lived on, and a fair haired little boy that she had promised to take care of.

Before her husband had been killed they had blocked off their road with old cars and tires ensuring no walkers would make it through. They were lucky for the thick Alaskan forest surrounding the house. The instinct driven dead couldn't make their way through the undergrowth.

Blue eyes scanned the yard again, and this time she shivered, pulling her sweater closer around her body. Standing, Abby nudged Lily with her toe and the large dog hauled herself to her feet and followed Abby inside the house.

"Joshua?" Abby called into the emptiness of the house. She knew the young boy was there but habit wanted to make sure. The little boy was her whole life, he looked so much like his father.

"Abby! Someone is here! People! Actual people!" Abby's brows knitted as her step-son came bounding out of the back of the house a smile gracing his lips.

"Stay here with Lily." Abby ordered and scooped up the rifle that sat against the wall by the front doors. She heard Joshua protest as she was walking out but knew he would listen.

Abby walked the length of her covered porch, glancing at the blocked off windows to her garage. She remembered the day she had nailed that plywood up to keep the dead out. She remembered how scared she'd been and how Michael had assured her that nothing would harm her. He would protect her. He had. He had protected her and she was responsible for his death. Pushing that out of her mind she found herself at the end of her driveway looking up at the makeshift wall connected to a chain length fence that wrapped around her property. Abby stepped into view and gasped.

"Rick?"

"Abigail, good to see you." The man before her didn't look like her brother. He was weathered, worn and scruffy. Abby licked her lips nervously scanning his group. They looked like they'd all seen better days and what surprised her the most was the unmistakable sound of a baby cooing in the arms of a short haired woman.

"Are you going to let us in?" Rick asked gruffly, knowing his sister was taking in the scene before her. It had been years since he had seen her, years since he had spoken to his baby sister.

They looked sorry, dirty and exhausted. Rick had made the decision at the prison to move on at Carol and Hershel's request. And honestly Rick was surprised they had made it without any deaths, but the further north they got the colder it became and the fewer walkers they came across.

Abby didn't say anything but with wide blue eyes she vanished and a moment later a large wooden gate was opening.

Daryl licked his lips and gave Rick a look he knew all too well. He didn't trust her.

"Rick, what... How...?" Was all Abby could stammer as she watched her brother stride into her yard before her. "And where's.. Lori?" She added to which Rick ducked his head and didn't say anything and suddenly Abby knew. "Oh God... Oh no..." She slung the rifle across her back and took him in her embrace.

Rick wrapped his arms around his sister and cleared his throat, "Abigail this is my group. Glenn, Maggie, Hershel, Carol, Beth, and Daryl." He gestured to everyone as he spoke.

"You remembered Carl?" He asked slowly and Abby nodded.

"Just a little guy last time I saw him." She noted.

Rick cleared his throat again, "This is Judith.. My daughter."

Abby turned those signature blue eyes on her brother and then turned them back on the woman holding her niece. Tucking dark hair behind her ear, Abby stepped forward.

"May I?" She asked.

Carol smiled gently and handed the baby over to the younger woman. Abby gathered the bundle in her arms, feeling tears sting at her eyes. She missed her brother so much, and thinking he was so far away and she would never again see him was something that she had accepted long ago. Now he turned up with a whole group of people and a brand new baby, Abby felt as if she would cry.

"You can of course stay as long as you like. I have plenty of room." With a jerk of her head she turned on her heel and led the way along the porch and up the tall staircase to the second level of the house where she lived. All the while holding this beautiful, surprisingly healthy baby in her arms.