A/N: In order to continue posting while I try to finish this story, I'm hoping to keep the chapters a little smaller. If they're too small, or even too big let me know and I'll see what I can do. Also, please keep in mind that Daryl is in his 20's in this story so he might not act as cynical and cold as he does in the show. Also, this story will deviate a little from the show, the plot should stay relatively the same but there will be some smallish changes.

Disclaimer: I do not now, nor will I ever, own The Walking Dead comic or TV show and do not make any profit from this story. This is purely for entertainment purposes, no copy-right infringement intended.

CHAPTER 3

The Asian man grinned and went to the door, opening it slowly and peeking out to make sure the coast was clear before slipping out and to his little Chevy Cavalier. Daryl and Merle followed, heading quickly for the truck and following Glenn's car back the way they'd come for about a mile before they came to what looked like a gravel access road leading into the woods. The road curved back and forth but moved steadily uphill until they finally came to a somewhat clear area with a good number of vehicles parked.

Glenn got out of the car ahead of them and waited for the two to come up to his side. "Let's not unpack you just yet. We have to talk to Shane, okay it with him first. He hasn't had a problem with any new people I've brought back so far, I think he just likes to feel in charge by saying he has to okay new arrivals. He'll probably be on watch or cleaning his gun," Glenn said, walking forward at a slow but steady pace toward the very top of the hill- a cleared area that had clearly been used as a campsite before the apocalypse too.

The camp sat at the edge of an old quarry that had filled with water enough to be considered a lake, and Daryl would venture to guess that there was even fish in that water. An old RV sat at the edge of the quarry wall, overlooking everything. On top of the RV Daryl saw an old man with a white beard keeping watch with a rifle. From the RV branched several cooking fires and a surprisingly large number of tents. There were women scattered around the camp, sitting around the fires talking, hanging laundry, wandering from tent to tent. Daryl only saw two children, little Mexicans by the look of it; they were sitting by a young woman who was probably their mother.

As they walked further into the camp, a tall muscular man with curly black hair noticed them and came to meet them, his hand on the gun at his hip. "Who's this Glenn?" he asked, his eyes going to the baby in Daryl's arms and then back to the faces of the two men.

"This is Daryl and Merle Dixon, and that adorable baby there is Keegan. I found them, well we found each other at the gas station down the road and I invited them back here. I know you have to okay it but I figured they could help protect the camp and we could help with the baby," Glenn rambled.

Shane looked over the two men again. They both looked grubby and as backwoods as any redneck he'd ever seen. But they did have a baby with them, and clearly they could use the help. "Alright, but you have to help around camp just like the rest of us," he agreed after a minute.

Daryl looked at his brother and then down at Keegan before answering, "that won't be a problem, we'll pull our weight. We'll even do some huntin, supplement the supplies y'all have already."

Now Shane grinned, "well alright, that sounds great. Glad to have you. Why don't you go grab any things you have and pick a spot, then we'll introduce you to everyone."

Merle started back toward the truck right away, but Daryl hesitated, unsure how he was going to grab supplies while still holding Keegan. Shane noticed his uncertainty and looked around quickly. "Molly!" he called. "Can you come here for a minute?"

A young woman with dark brown hair pulled into a bun similar to April's turned her head and jogged over, her shorts and tank top showing off her impressively supple body. Daryl quickly averted his eyes before she could catch him staring at her.

"What's up?" she asked as she came to a stop beside Shane.

"This is Daryl, he needs to go grab his stuff to set up camp but he needs someone to watch the baby. Could you just hold onto him for a little while so Daryl can get settled? If that's alright with you Daryl," he said quickly, looking at the sandy hair man.

Daryl held Keegan a little tighter for a second before finally nodding and holding the baby out to the girl. "He just ate a little bit ago, so he should be quiet for you," he said quietly as Molly carefully settled Keegan into her arms.

She smiled down at the baby before looking back up at Daryl and nodding. "I'll take care of him, he'll be right here for you when you finish up."

Daryl gave her a grateful look before retreating to the truck where Merle was just now slinging a bunch of bags over his shoulders. Daryl grabbed several bags that he was pretty sure were filled with baby stuff and then the two tent bags before following his brother back to the camp area. Merle looked around for a minute before nodding toward an area nearer to the trees and farther from the rest of the campers. Daryl grunted his agreement and set the bags down when they got to their chosen spot. As Merle started back to the truck for more bags, Daryl started setting up his tent. When April was with them he and Merle had shared a tent, but now they could have their own tents, which was a godsend in Daryl's opinion because a crying baby was a million times better than a snoring Merle.

"So where'd you guys come from?" a soft feminine voice said behind Daryl as he was putting the tent poles through the holes.

He glanced up to see the girl, Molly, standing nearby, bouncing Keegan and looking right at him. "Ah, just a small town some while north of here. Don't expect you've heard of it. You ever take care of a baby before?" he asked wanting to know if he'd done right by letting this woman hold his kid.

Molly smiled down at Keegan, "yeah. My um… neighbor… had a baby a few years ago and I babysat sometimes. But most of my experience is from the day care I worked at part time. We took care of babies all the time, that's actually the only area I worked in because I was so good with them. Although I have to admit, we never had a baby this young with us. Usually the mothers waited a few months before sending their babies to day care."

Daryl nodded, intrigued that there was someone who had experience with many different types of babies. He did notice that she sounded kind of off, like the topic was touchy for her and hard for her to talk about. "Well, his mother didn't have much choice. She got bit about a week ago." He didn't really know why he didn't tell her that April had been committing suicide at the time of her bite, but for some reason he felt it wasn't the business of any of the people here.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I lost all my family before this happened, my dad to cancer and my mom in an accident. So I know how it is to have lost everyone," she replied quietly. There was that tone of voice again, that made him think she was holding something back. But it wasn't like it was his business to know anything about her, let alone her family history.

"What do you mean? He ain't lost everyone! He has me and his uncle to take care of him; he ain't some helpless, orphan kid that got left behind by his parents!" Daryl snapped indignantly.

Molly's eyes widened a little, "I…I didn't realize he was your baby. I'm sorry. I just assumed that you were all traveling together and when his mom died you just stepped up…"

Daryl snorted derisively. "Well he is mine so don't go thinkin you can just up and adopt him because he's got no parents."

Merle came back before Molly could say whatever she clearly wanted to. "Hey Sugar, don't think we've met," he said cockily.

"I'm Molly, Molly Sinclair. You're Daryl's brother?" she asked, shifting her feet uncomfortably.

"Sure am Sugar, name's Merle. I see you've met Daryl and Keegan there. You got kids?" he asked as he set down the last of the bags from the truck.

Molly shook her head, "no. I'm still pretty young and was too busy going to school to become a teacher to have a relationship that would turn into…well this. But I do love kids," she said looking down at Keegan with an expression that Daryl could only compare to sadness.

Merle grinned. "Teacher huh? Detention?" he asked.

"Merle!" Daryl snapped, frowning at his brother, but Molly just laughed.

"No, I'm going to school to be a history teacher. My interest is in ancient civilizations but I have branched a bit so I can teach other areas in case my major doesn't bear very good job opportunities."

"Well damn Sugar, you are way too fine to be teachin anythin, let alone history!" Merle exclaimed.

Daryl felt his face getting red in embarrassment of his brother's behavior. "Merle, you wanna get started on your tent while I start goin through our bags? I figured we could just add our food to the rest of camp's and just keep the things we need."

Merle stared at Molly for a few more seconds then nodded, "sure thing little brother."

Once Daryl had sorted out all the canned food they'd collected on their way and then set aside all the baby formula, which was in much greater stock than the canned stuff, he grabbed one duffel bag to throw all the food into to give to the camp.

"That's a lot of formula," Molly observed.

"Yeah, well we didn't want to chance runnin out and not findin more, so every time we stopped we grabbed all we could," Daryl explained, putting as much formula in a second bag as he could before putting the last of it in a third.

Finally he was done and stood up straight to stretch his back, unknowingly giving Molly a great view of his flexing arm and shoulder muscles. As she was admiring his undeniably good looking physique, the baby in her arms began to squirm. Looking down, the first thing she saw were the most beautiful blue eyes she had ever seen as they looked back up at her. A tiny arm wiggled out of the blanket to grab some of her hair that had fallen from its bun and she smiled down at him.

"I guess nap time is over," Daryl said, walking toward Molly and Keegan, his crossbow back over his shoulder as an ever-present precaution and the diaper bag near his feet. Molly looked back up at him, still smiling, and felt her breath catch a bit when she realized that Keegan had most definitely inherited his father's eyes.

"Yeah, I think he might be hot though. It would probably be alright to take him out of that blanket for a while," she said quietly, casting her eyes down as she moved the baby back into his father's arms.

Daryl nodded and carefully maneuvered the blanket out from around the baby and threw it inside his tent before looking around for Merle. "You done setting up that tent yet Merle? We should get this food to that Shane guy and let him introduce us to people," Daryl said, reaching down for the diaper bag. Before he could reach it, Molly leaned down and grabbed it, giving him a reassuring smile.

Merle appeared from inside his tent and gave Molly another cocky grin as he straightened up. "Alright little brother let's go meet the neighbors."

This is much shorter than I had planned it to be and not very much happens, but you do get to meet Molly, so that might make up for the shortness. I have a link on my profile that shows what I picture Molly looking like. Review and let me know what you think!