Anna was tired. She had been having what she assumed were pre-labor contractions for the past few days and between the walking, surviving, and carrying of the baby, she was just worn out. Daryl had managed to get the attention of a boy who opened the gate for them. He was probably around 13-14 years old and wore a sheriff's hat. She found out his name was Carl and he was the son of the head of the group, a former Sheriff's deputy named Rick Grimes. Carl noticed how pregnant Anna was, and had an odd haunted look in his eyes, but said nothing. He addressed Daryl,

"Where did you find her? Are you sure she isn't with anyone else?"

Daryl responded "She was in the woods, by herself, no one else was around. Carl, look at her, I couldn't just leave her there, and I shouldn't have to justify myself to you, where's your dad?"

"Dad's out back tending to the crops, guess we are gonna need to step up since we will have more mouths to feed" Carl snapped.

"Hey kid, drop it, what was I supposed to do? You let me worry about this, now I gotta talk to your dad" Daryl said.

Anna said nothing and observed the conversation. The kid was angry, and she hoped that the others in the group might be a little more accepting. She was just so physically and emotionally spent that she just didn't know if she would be able to go back out and fend for herself. However, she would if she had too, this baby was all that she had left of the love of her life. It seemed that even though the country boy who came upon her in the woods seemed to understand her plight, the reaction of the teen had made her wonder what others would feel about her just showing up and invading their group.

Daryl turned to her and offered her an apology. "He lost his mom during child birth not too long ago, he had to put her down to keep her from turning, it has messed with his head a bit, but don't you worry, his daddy is a good man, this won't be no problem."

Anna looked relieved and hoped he was right. She smiled a beautiful happy smile and said to Daryl, "I don't know how I will ever be able to repay you, I know this has put you in an awkward spot. But trust me, I will make it up to you somehow." He smiled at her (as best as Daryl could smile) and simply stated "Only did what was right, I'm no knight in shining armor." She just shook her head and said "Well you are to me, you are heaven sent." He laughed at the thought of him, Daryl Dixon, being sent from Heaven.

"Well come on, we gotta talk to Rick and see about getting you settled in here. You probably would like to take a load off of those feet." She nodded and thought to herself…."If you only knew." She was pretty sure things were going to get better, she just prayed she wasn't getting her hopes up for no reason.

They walked around to the back of the prison; Daryl was purposely slow as to not wear her out anymore than she was. He felt sorry for her. She was alone, and he wasn't sure what had happened to the child's father. Was it a tragic loss, was it a horrific crime that had been committed against her, he wasn't sure. When Lori had been pregnant with little ass kicker, she had toughed out the pregnancy much better than he thought she would, but look at the final result. He barely knew Anna, but he certainly didn't want a similar fate to fall on her. Yes, women had been having babies for thousands of years without top-notch medical care, but cemeteries were also full of mamas and babies that didn't make it through the event. He already felt responsible for her well being, and maybe the fact that he surprisingly liked children made him even more sympathetic to her plight. Just because he had a shitty childhood didn't mean he didn't want the best for others. This was a New World, and this was a new Daryl Dixon.

As they looked down the hill, he saw Rick tending to the garden with Hershel. Both men looked up and stared as they saw the new face with Daryl. Rick immediately started walking towards Anna and Daryl with a stern look on his face. Anna became a bit nervous, but smiled her best smile and stuck out her hand as she said, "Hi, I'm Anna, you must be Rick Grimes." He looked at her with no emotion, and her heart sank a bit. "Daryl, we need to talk" was his only reply.