I DO NOT OWN THE WALKING DEAD, OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS, EXCEPT FOR LORENA, ETC ETC, THEN THE FAT LADY SANG, AND THEN WE ALL KISSED.
I doubt that was a good disclaimer, but I think you guys get what I'm saying.

This takes place after Sophia got lost. Let's just pretend everyone was already settled at Hershel's farm before Sophia got away.

By the way, I'm still trying to overcome my fear of televised zombies so my description of them, if any, probably sucks.

I wanted to focus more on the human aspect of the story because my life kinda sucks but I like seeing people happy. This is a world where everyone pretty much loves each other.

Oh, and my only writing coach was English class, so I'm not a professional writer like many of you. I'm going with the flow. Be gentle. I've never done this before. Please love me!

Rated M for future lemons, but I've never done anything erotica before so it might be watered down lemonade. We'll see.

And review so I can know whether or not to post the other chapters.

Chapter 1

Daryl parked himself on his usual secluded log away from the rest of the group and began with his daily afternoon ritual. He would take out a small notepad/pen set and write unaddressed letters anonymously. He was never much of a writer, but since he's lost quite a lot over the years, he figured it would be the only way to express his repressed emotion and reach out to someone – someone who was no longer there. While on his search for Merle a few weeks ago, he found the set in the warehouse and slipped it in his pocket, making sure the guys didn't take note of it. The group knew nothing about his ritual; they just assumed he went hunting twice a day instead of the actual one. Come to think of it, the group knew nothing about Daryl. Sure, he was a protector, a warrior, and at times he did show signs of compassion towards Carol, who had grown to be the family figure he missed out on his entire life – but asking for anything more than that was a stretch. Surprisingly, a part of him wanted to at least tell Carol about his past, but decided against it considering the recent loss of Sophia weighed on her enough. There was a huge chance they would never even find the little girl, and the group was starting to accept that. Carol didn't need to carry his pain too.

Before the virus broke out, Daryl was finally starting to live a content life. He was finally starting to push the memories of his absent mother and drunk abusive father behind him, because after all, they were merely memories and he was given a second chance at a life. Very few people get the privilege to do so. He was living the closest thing to an American Dream as possible. Merle was steering away from drugs and started a construction job in downtown Atlanta that Daryl hooked him up with. Although given other lucrative opportunities and was even offered a promotion to Construction Manager, Daryl enjoyed being in the middle of the job so much that he kept his initial paycheck as a foreman. He had no desire to be bumped up the hierarchy chart. He wasn't a firm believer in any type of god, but he did feel very blessed – it is very seldom that people find what they're looking for and stick to it. He also met someone in the midst of his self-discovery process. Lorena Kaufman, a New York native who moved to Georgia just a few years prior to meeting her. She was the most brilliant woman he ever met, with a heart of gold and looks that could seriously do a number on a man's heart, among other respected areas. She had respectably long jet black hair with green eyes and an olive complexion. She was reasonably tan for someone who was mostly of German descent, but she had descendants from Sicily, which helped her out considerably in the skin tone department.

He met her while doing a reconstruction project on her house that was previously damaged from a passing tornado. She lived fairly close to the Dixon brothers but had to drive out to Roswell, a town relatively close to Atlanta about 40 minutes out for her job. She came home late every day due to extensive rush hour traffic and had no choice but to leave her spare key in the mailbox for Daryl and the crew. The reconstruction would take longer than Daryl expected and worked overtime to make sure it was done in a timely matter. After an extremely long Friday at work, Lorena came home to unwind, not expecting Daryl to still be there two hours after he was supposed to pack up for the day. She stepped back from her front door in order to bring herself into full view and called up to him, "Everything alright with the roof? You're here much later than expected!" Daryl quickly turned around and suddenly felt like he had done something wrong and needed to provide an explanation. He struggled to get his sentence out. "Nah, I mean - sent the crew back at normal time, but this is going to take way longer than I hoped, and…. I want it done fast. If a storm, you know, comes, I mean, your interior'll be destroyed." She flashed him a smile. "Don't be so defensive, I was saying that with concern, not suspicion. Give me a minute, I'm coming up there", she said enthusiastically.

Taking into account he must have been up on her roof in the sweltering heat for 12 hours straight, she brought him up a huge pitcher of water. She also brought her usual Friday night unwinding material – a bottle of Jack Daniels and a glass. Daryl eyed the whiskey and playfully said, "I reckon the water's for you." Lorena chuckled, "You can have yourself a nice glass of Jack after you hydrate yourself the right way. You've been up there for hours."

If Daryl would have known this night would be the night that changed his life forever, he would've mentally prepared himself a lot better. Then again, the best things in life are unexpected. The two of them sat on her roof for almost 5 hours, drinking and talking about absolutely everything they could think of. Their conversations flew naturally and there was no way Daryl was restricting this to roof meetings forever. After their third "roof date", he officially asked her on a real date and was relieved when she didn't even remotely hesitate to oblige. Their one date turned into a weekly ritual for them, and everything between them happened so naturally, from their first conversation to their first kiss. Lorena had an almost unbearable past with her previous boyfriends, and Daryl normally deleted a woman's number before he could even ask for her last name. What they shared together was something rare for the both of them. They shared everything. After a year of steady dating, the two of them could easily recite each other's life stories from start to finish. There were absolutely no restrictions in their relationship and there was nothing they couldn't share with each other. Both parties were very much aware of the rarity of that. More time passed and they were engaged. Unlike most engaged couples, Lorena and Daryl actually continued to live in their separate homes, not for traditional purposes, but Merle was still saving his well-earned pennies to get his own apartment and Daryl would have never skipped out on his brother like that. Lorena respected this, especially since her and Merle had an amazing relationship as well, and besides the fact, she lived within a 10 mile radius from them anyway. Unfortunately, it was her job in Roswell that kept her distanced. Little did she know her job in Roswell would bring the word distance to a whole new level.

The outbreak rapidly spread its way through Georgia, but was initially recognized as a deadly flu. Lorena was never one to be a hypochondriac or excessively worry about certain diseases, so she let this one run its course until everyone was done panicking. However, this did not run its course. On week two of the alleged "flu outbreak", Lorena got a first glimpse of what the rest of her life would look like. She was sitting at her work desk while she heard a startling scream, followed by the sounds of what seemed to be hissing and gurgling. Undoubtedly confused by this, she stood up to see what the commotion was, only to watch a co-worker and close friend of hers be ripped apart by another human being, only this human being looked nothing close to human anymore. Following that, the fire alarms were rung and the sprinklers were turned on in order to get everyone to exit the building as quickly as possible. Still shaken and confused, Lorena had no time to process what just happened as she ran out of her workplace and to her car.

Daryl was enjoying his well-earned day off with his big brother while he heard his cellphone vibrate. He despised the damn thing, but Lorena insisted he get one due to her newfound obsession with texting. He flipped open the phone and saw a simple but frightening text from Lorena saying "This shit is serious babe. Been evacuated. Heading home now. Should be by you in two hours tops. I love you."

Daryl was unprepared for what came next – he never heard from the love of his life after that.