It was still dark when Beau awoke to Lily's gentle shaking and immediately grabbed her gun. For a moment she had forgotten where she was and assumed the worst. Lily put a finger to her lips and beckoned for her friend to follow her. Beau did a quick scan of the area out of the sun roof, just to be safe, before giving Lily the okay to climb out. Raif and Dinah still slept peacefully, the former out cold in the passenger side seat and the latter curled up in the warm patch left by her mother.

"I was thinking maybe we could help out," Lily said. "These folks are heading out to look for that little girl and I figure the least we could do is send them out with a good breakfast."

"We've barely got enough for ourselves, Lil," Beau reminded her. "We don't have enough to feed another dozen people."

"We could scramble eggs and look for some sweet potatoes. And we've got more grits than we could eat if we never found another box."

Beau couldn't argue with that. The grits they had taken with them months earlier were still far from depleted and boxes were strewn about the car. She selected her gun from the trunk and tucked it into her waistband. Lily handed her a wicker basket and the two took off for the surrounding woods. It wasn't long before Lily found and yanked up a good haul of sweet potatoes for Beau to rinse in the stream. As she washed the dirt from them Lily walked along the side of the water.

"Keep close," Beau said warningly. "We got what we needed out here. We just have to pick up some eggs from the coop on the way back."

"The farmer barely allowed us to sleep on his property, do you really think he'll appreciate us taking his eggs?" Lily asked. She bent down and lifted up several off-white eggs. "Especially when there's more protein in duck eggs."

She gathered the eggs from several nests, gathering so many she had to carry some in her shirt before they headed back to camp. They were pleased to see no one else was awake yet and went straight to cooking. Lily chopped the sweet potatoes and talked Beau into sparing some oil for home fries. By the time people began crawling out of their tents a buffet had been set up.

"What's all this?" Carol asked, yawning widely.

"Breakfast." Beau replied as she dug out an old coffee maker out of the back of the truck. "We figured if y'all are going to be out looking for that girl you should at least have a proper breakfast."

The rest of the camp clambered out sleepily towards the picnic table where the small feast had been laid and began filling plates and thanking the cooks. Daryl stretched out of his tent and made his way over to the fire where Beau was attempting to make a pot of coffee.

"Mornin'," he grunted as he handed over the pack of cigarettes. "Had to give one to T-Dog for a light."

"It's cool, I should have left you matches or something, sorry about that," she said. "Thanks for holding them."

"Thanks for makin' breakfast, it's better than the shit Dale usually cooks up." Across the camp Dale peered over at the two as if he had heard his name over the early morning rumblings of his campmates. Beau laughed and waved to him. Daryl had a slight smirk on his face.

"You should finish eating if you want to head out soon," she said. His smile fell but did not return to his usual scowl as he wolfed down the rest of his meal.

It wasn't long before the Greene clan was drawn out by the noise and smell. Lily eagerly beckoned them over. The younger members grinned widely and hurried to get their share, but Hershel was less inclined.

"You made breakfast," He pointed out flatly.

"You should have some, Dad," Maggie said, countering his exasperated look. "It's really good."

Hershel reluctantly filled his plate and sat next to Beth at one of the few formal seats that had been set up. The rest of the group stood or sat on the ground. Beau felt this would be a convenient time to plead her case to the old man.

"Coffee?" She offered as sweetly as she could. "It's not great, but it's hot."

He declined, but his daughters and the Atlanta survivors quickly downed the pot.

"If it would help y'all could take the dogs with you when you go out searching today," she said. Hershel looked as though he might interject but she cut him off. "I know you said we'd have to leave today, but I was hoping that you'd reconsider if we pulled our own weight."

"I'm sorry, but-"

"The dogs are trackers, Saxon's even got some bloodhound in him," Beau pushed. "And I'm a nurse, I can help out with Rick's boy, or the little girl when she's found. We've got plenty of medical supplies. Raif can help hunt and Lily is probably the only person left who can properly identify edible plants. We're not asking to stay forever, just for now."

Beau and her group looked to Hershel hopefully. Maggie nudged her father. He finally sighed.

"You can stay here for now," he relented. Beau grinned widely at Lily and Raif. "But you will be expected to earn your keep. You can make camp with Rick and his group for now, but I must remind you that this is temporary."

"We appreciate it," Lily said excitedly.

"My farm, my rules," he recited. "I expect y'all to respect that if you want to stay here."

"You have my word," Beau told him. Hershel clearly did not value her word but halfheartedly resumed eating. When he finished, he left without a word.

The breakfast feast was soon over and the search parties began to disperse. Andrea, Jimmy and T-Dog left with the bloodhound and blue rags to identify their search, followed by Rick and Shane with the splotchy cur Raif adored. The boy watched sulkily as they left.

"Ya'll be careful out there with Rex," he said to them before turning to Beau. "If my Catahoula ends up dinner for some piece of shit walker there's gonna be hell to pay."

"Be nice," Beau told him. "I'm sure they'll all come back safe and sound."

He scowled and headed back to the SUV, slamming the door behind him.

Carol approached Lily after the meal, laundry basket on her hip. The younger woman was scraping plates into the compost with Dinah, who was happily sloshing in a puddle. The sight of mother and daughter made her chest tight but she continued on.

"That was real nice what you did," she said. "Cooking for all us like that."

"It was no problem," Lily replied. "It's the least we can do to thank ya'll for your hospitality.

"I know I speak for everyone when I say we really appreciated it," Carol said, adjusting the basket. "I wanted to tell you today's laundry day. Lori and I usually do it and I wanted see if you had anything that needed washing."

"It's fine, I would hate to be a burden."

"It's no burden," Carol told her sincerely. "It helps to have something to take my mind off of… everything."

"I'm sorry about your daughter," Lily said. "I'm sure they'll find her."

"Thank you," Carol said softly. She put on a brave face and continued. "I know you made breakfast this morning but I was hoping that you and your friends might help us cook dinner tonight. I think it'd be a nice way to thank the Greene's and get to know each other better."

"I think that's a lovely idea," Lily told her with a smile. "Raif has been going on about Georgia hogs since we met him. I'll see if he's up to hunting without his dogs for once."

Daryl made his way over to the stables, the shaggy dog he had taken to at his heels. He had always gotten on better with animals than people, but this mutt was particularly agreeable. He made a mental note to ask one of newcomers what its name was.

"Hey," a voice said as he entered the stable. Beau was leaning against the box stall of a black and white mare. She reached into her pocket and tossed him a red lighter.

"What's this for?" Daryl asked after briefly inspecting it.

"I figure you might need a lighter at some point. If not for cigarettes than at least for fires or something," she told him. "I stocked up long before all this shit started."

The hunter muttered his gratitude before picking out a saddle. Etched into the leather was a name: Nellie. The brown horse several stalls over had the same name carved into a wooden nameplate on the bottom half of the Dutch door. Beau knelt down to pet the dog while he saddled his horse.

"You didn't pick the bloodhound," she noted.

"Andrea and T-Dog need him more than me," he said. "Besides, I like this one better. What's his name?"

"Her name is Duchess," she replied. "And she's much cuter when she's had a haircut."

"I don't need a cute dog, just a good one," he ruffled the curly mop atop the dog's head before mounting his horse. "I'll be back with her before sunset."

"Be careful, I'll be pissed if you come back without her." Daryl rolled his eyes and trotted out of the stables. Beau couldn't help but admire him as he passed. Not that she would ever admit it, she resented the sleeves covering up his well toned arms. She was relieved he didn't mention anything, but from behind she couldn't see the smirk on his face.

Chapter 4 is well under way, sorry about the wicked long break!