GUYS! Who has seen the finale? OH MY GOD. Kick ass! Won't post spoilers, but damnnn. It excited me so much that I've decided to post this chapter. This was one of my very favourites to write, and a very important part of Dani's journey. I hope you guys like it, and review. As always, you are all awesome and I can not thank you all enough. Enjoy!

Since the very first day that the dead started rising, I hadn't slept for more than four hours at a time. It had probably been even less when Fae was still alive because she was too young and scared to take a watch during the night, even if I did sleep deeper beside her small body. Sleep became a luxury fairly quickly, back in those few months with her. I only ever succumbed to exhaustion when I physically couldn't take anymore and it only got worse when she was gone. So much worse. Nightmares meant that I screamed myself awake, alerting every walker around to my presence.

I did the same thing in the end: only slept when my body could physically take no more and I passed out, pulled under too deep to dream at all. Yet despite those months of no sleep, those days where I just collapsed on the ground from sheer exhaustion, every night that I had shared a bed with Daryl Dixon's warm, large body curled around me, I slept solidly. Even better than before, when I had been living a relatively normal and safe life. But tonight my eyes opened to the inky darkness that suggested early hours, as I had done so many times in the past three years, and soft cries, perceptible even through Daryl's snoring in my ear.

At first, I had thought that the cries had been my own because I had woken from the same nightmare I'd had on repeat since the day Fae died. Except it couldn't have been me because, despite the sweat clinging to my naked body and the terror making my heart pound, my teeth were clenched shut. I listened a little harder and found that it was Judith, crying out into the night, the sound ringing off the walls. My eyes wouldn't slide back shut so I stirred in Daryl's arms and worked myself free of his grasp.

His hands caught me just as I was free, bringing me tumbling back to the bedroll. "Beth'll get Lil' Ass Kicker," he whispered, trying to tuck me back in.

I glanced over my shoulder, smiling at his dishevelled hair and half closed eyes. "Beth needs a break, and I'm up now."

He grunted, pressing his face between my shoulder blades. "Fine."

Squeezing his arms once, he removed them from my waist and settled back onto the bedroll, pillowing his head with his arm. His hair was mussed, his eyes half lidded and his stance relaxed. All he needed now was to be shirtless, and I may not have had the willpower to start getting dressed and leave him. While I thought of him getting undressed, he shamelessly watched me as I got redressed, pulling on my pants and top, but forgoing my underwear and boots. "Keep looking at me like that and I'm going to send you straight back to sleep," I teased him with a smirk.

The left side of Daryl's mouth kicked up like it had a few hours ago, with my wrists trapped between his big, rough hands. He seemed a little more confident now, more willing to smirk and arrange his face into expressions that depicted his mood. Getting laid seemed to do him good. It certainly made me feel giddy, especially when he looked like that. "Stop," I groaned and hurried over to kiss him before I could button up my pants.

His neck tipped back to follow the movement of my lips and I moaned softly. Pulling back, I buttoned up my jeans as I spoke. "If you were shirtless, I don't think I could even contemplate leaving right now."

Daryl visibly tensed, his smirk sliding away and my stomach went a little funny at the pain that tightened his mouth. "Sorry," I whispered quickly. "That wasn't fair. I know you must have your reasons."

He was still for a moment before he nodded, but didn't make any motions to explain and instead chewed on the inside of his mouth. "I won't be long," I promised as Judith's cries got a little louder.

I didn't wait for a response before I dipped out of his cell, pushing aside the curtain hanging over the bars. The moment my feet pressed to the cold concrete, I regretted not at least putting my socks back on. I hadn't noticed the cold back in Daryl's cell, but I could feel it now. My toes numbed first where they tiptoed, and then the arches of my feet after as they settled. Judith's cries continued on, which meant Beth hadn't woken to them yet. I hurried along so I could get there before she did, a scowl twisting my mouth. Not because of Beth, but because I knew for a fact that the whole group were light sleepers.

You had to be, sleeping out on the open road where walkers could take a chunk out of you, or humans could steal your supplies. That didn't change when you got walls and fences, so I also knew for a fact that they would be able to hear Judith crying, and they were ignoring it, just expecting Beth to pick her up and deal with her. I couldn't necessarily blame Rick at that moment because he was out on overnight watch, but I knew that he had done it more than a few times himself. When I finally reached Beth's cell, I pushed through the curtain over the bars and glanced into the dim room.

I could see Beth's blonde hair across her pillow, but her blanket was pulled up to cover her face. She must have been exhausted if she hadn't heard Judith by now. She usually jumped up at even a twitch. Leaning over Judith's crib, I gently scooped her up in my arms, taking a half filled bottle from the steel cabinet on my way out. Judith continued to cry as I hurried out with her, climbing the stairs to the catwalk to try and draw the sound from the others. I checked first if she needed her nappy changed, but she didn't so I bundled her in her blanket and pressed the bottle to her lips.

She immediately began to suckle away greedily, her cries quieting as I cradled her close to my chest. Her eyes were drooping only minutes after the milk trickled into her soft, wet mouth and I glanced around the block as I rocked her gently. Movement from below made me glance over the railing and I could see Glenn stumbling out, half awake. He hurried out alone, which meant that he was going to swap shifts with Rick, dawn now breaking out across the sky. Judith was now completely quiet in my arms but wasn't yet asleep because she continued to suckle.

As I glanced down at her, I understood what Beth had said about feeling sorry for her. The way in which her mouth worked the teat of the bottle made me wonder if she was desperate for the milk of her own mother, the clasp of a warm breast against her soft cheek. Made me wonder if she knew who her dad was, and if the reason she cried in Rick's arms was because she knew the truth: that both her parents were dead now. Just as I thought it, Rick came walking quietly into the block, looking tired and worn thin.

I didn't say anything to alert him to my presence, but you always knew when someone was around these days. His eyes snapped up to me where I was perched on the stairs, feeding Judith. They seemed to flicker between me, and his cell, undecided. I made no move to invite or deny him to come up but he seemed to decide the former because he made his way over to the staircase before he quietly climbed them. My stomach squirmed a little as he got closer. I didn't know Rick very well. I knew we had shared a moment, across the fire where he had granted his final decision: that I could stay. But I didn't know him any better than that.

We rarely spoke unless it was passing comments, such as a mumbled "thanks," and, "be careful." He seemed to slow down for a moment on the stairs as if he was rethinking his decision before he took another two firm steps and sat down on the stair directly beneath mine.

Judith's lips released the teat of her bottle and I gently eased it out of her mouth, noticing that it was all gone. "Hey," I greeted softly.

Rick took the bottle from me where I held it aloft. "Hey."

I wrapped Judith a little tighter in her blanket, cradling her closer. I didn't truly understand why. I guess I just knew, much like Beth that this was the closest I was going to get to ever having my own baby girl, my own child. "Beth's exhausted, and I was up," I offered by way of explanation for being out here with his daughter.

Rick just nodded, twirling the empty bottle between his fingers. "Thank you. You look after her just as much as Beth does."

I smiled, smoothing my knuckle over Judith's soft cheek. "Beth's doing so much more than me. You should thank her." The comment was a little sharper than I intended, but I was still thinking about the way everyone overlooked Beth.

Rick laughed quietly, and I looked up in surprise from Judith's face. She really didn't look like him. It broke my heart. "You don't bull shit," Rick explained his laughter. "You remind me of Daryl sometimes."

Tucking my chin into my chest, I hid the smile the comment brought to my face. Carol had said the same thing. "Could die any minute of any hour, Rick. Haven't got time to bull shit people. Beth deserves a hell of a lot more credit than she gets, from all of you."

I waited quietly after that, my chest sort of tight. Rick may have said he appreciated my lack of bull shit, but I didn't want to overstep my mark. He was still the decision maker, and he could still decide to toss me out on my ass. Although I was warmed by the fact that I may have some protesters now, like Beth, and Daryl. Maggie and Carol.

People who would fight for my place.

"I know. I just don't know how to tell her… how much it means." Rick's voice was soft, tired.

I glanced up at him where he looked down at his raised knees. I didn't know how to reply, but Rick didn't let me. "It was different, raisin' Carl compared to raisin' Judith, now."

I snorted quietly. "Of course it is, Rick. We're in the middle of the apocalypse."

Rick laughed beneath his breath. "More than that. So much more."

My stomach clenched a little tighter and I remained silent because I was sure he was alluding to the fact that Judith was more than likely not his. If Beth was too timid to ask about the situation between him, his wife and his best friend, then I wasn't going to make it known that I had my own inklings. I felt like he just wanted to talk though, so I didn't speak and let him do it instead.

"I was a great dad, for Carl. Did the night feeds an' the nappies an' everythin'."

I smiled and Rick smiled too, his eyes glazed with the memory. Then his face turned to Judith's sleeping one and the smile slipped, his eyes churning with things that would never be unseen. "She's not mine," he whispered quietly, so much so that I almost missed it. "Lori was havin' an' affair with Shane, my best friend… my partner, before…"

He stopped, and I thought he was going to leave it there, hanging between us until he continued. "Even afta' she knew I was alive, afta' I came back."

My stomach dive bombed because I didn't understand why he was telling me and what I was meant to do or say in this situation. Did I make out like I knew? Did I feign shock? But Rick had said he appreciated my lack of bull shit and from the very day I had met that man I had levelled him with a look that said he wouldn't rule me, wouldn't decide my life.

"I know," I whispered in the end.

Rick's eyes flashed to me and I worried for half a second that he was going to kick off and demand who had been gossiping about him, but he simply nodded. "I think everybody does. Afta' I killed Shane, an' I lost Lori."

I nodded because I knew this too, that losing his wife had nearly sent him steam rolling off the deep end, and that Carl having to put her down before she became a threat had broken his heart. Beth had said that was why he started rising with the crack of dawn, why he asked her daddy about planting crops and took both Daryl and Glenn on runs to find any living animals.

"Do you hate her?" I whispered and I didn't know who I meant myself, his wife or Judith, his possible daughter.

Rick shook his head, though. "No. I loved Lori. I love Judith. I loved Shane. But the world changed, and the people changed. Emotions ain't the same. They mean more, now."

I nodded, and again it sounded similar to what Carol had said earlier, about words not being good enough. Rick sighed and turned to face me once more, locking eyes. "I know you know, but I want you to stay. You're good for us. A piece that's bin' missing. You're good for Daryl. You look out for Beth, you look after my daughter… you show my son how to be a boy again."

My cheeks flushed at the compliments. This was the most Rick had ever spoken to me and it was making me flustered like I never usually was. He seemed like such a hard man to please, after the things he had been through. Worse than the others, in terms of trusting. I was pretty sure that if Daryl hadn't had vouched for me, then Rick probably would have shot me on sight.

"You've bin' doing things around this place like you don't even plan 'em when I've been churnin' over ways to put 'em in place since we got the prison," Rick spoke again, clambering to his feet.

I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything at all. Daylight was breaking through now, and Rick seemed so bone tired that it was possible he would skip his usual routine this morning. He reached his arms over after tucking the bottle into the crook of his arm, and I passed Judith along, making sure she wasn't too jostled in her blankets.

Before my arms pulled back -me and Rick both cradling Judith- he caught my eye again. "Thank you," he whispered, sincerely.

"Thank you, for letting me in."

To your home, your life, your family, and your children's lives. Rick knew that I didn't just mean the prison. He nodded and I removed my arms from Judith, settling her into his. One person at a time. We walked down the stairs together and I whispered a quiet goodnight. Carl popped out yawning to get up with his Dad, but Rick sent him back to bed. As I made my way back to Daryl's cell, I was grinning ear to ear. One person at a time. I had thought that just a handful of days ago, lying in bed and laughing at Glenn's moaning.

Now, look at where I was. All these people had just tumbled in, one after the other. Worming their way into my heart. Beth, and Carol, then Maggie and Daryl, and now even Rick. I had to take a second to breathe, to really mull it over. What this meant. All these new people that I cared for. The things I would do for them, and the things they would do for me. How two people had told me that I was just like Daryl, and how Beth positively rooted for us. How Maggie could see it before me: how much I cared.

My chest was rapidly getting tighter but I fought away the panic and held onto the golden light unfurling inside me. It wasn't a death sentence, to love these people, and it wasn't betrayal. My dead little sister and mom weren't going to be forgotten just because I had found more people to love. They were going to be there forever, giving me the strength every day to live on. I pressed my hand flat to my chest for a moment, massaging away the pain as I pushed beneath the sheet hanging over Daryl's cell with my free hand.

The tightness was easing until suddenly it was very much there again, accompanied by a very thick tightening in my throat that made me gasp aloud into the quiet of the cell. Daryl had taken his top off. His back was faced to the door, waiting for me, I knew. He didn't move or speak as if he were sleeping, but I had seen the way he tensed as I gasped. He was awake. Of course he was. I would have woken him even if he was sleeping because he was a skilled hunter and a light sleeper. I swallowed heavily, trying to regain my composure because I knew that he didn't want his shirt off for a reason and yet he had done it anyway.

Just like the hug, he was putting himself way out of his comfort zone because I had mentioned it. I hadn't demanded, I hadn't asked and I hadn't begged. But Daryl bent over backwards to make even off-handed requests happen. The blanket covered none of his upper body, but pooled around his naked waist and exposed the whole of his back. His scarred back. His tattoos. My throat convulsed again and my fingers slid upwards, gripping it to keep any noises inside that would make him fly off into a rage, and stop pretending that he was sleeping.

He didn't have to tell me how he got them. He trusted me enough to show me, and that was truly all that mattered. The stories behind them, they could come another day, when he was truly ready. I wished he hadn't forced himself to do this for me, but I was overwhelmed with gratitude and respect for him anyway. He was so much more than he allowed himself to believe he was.

So much more.

I walked quietly over to the bed, and quickly stripped my clothes. I lifted the blanket, getting a flash of his bare ass and slid in, pushing him towards the wall. Daryl shuddered as my breasts and stomach pressed into his back, so tense it was difficult to mould myself around him. I didn't know what to say, because if I expressed how much it meant he would think I was pitying him. I didn't know if avoiding the topic would fluster him, as if I were ashamed of his scars and tattoos as much as he clearly was. There was a toss-up for a split second inside me to fall back on sarcasm, avoid the subject or approach it.

Then I thought back not five minutes ago to my talk with Rick. He said I was like Daryl, and that I didn't bull shit. Carol had near enough said the same thing, and Daryl valued her opinion -put stock into her- so maybe he would appreciate me just being me. My hands softly rubbed over his arms and I wrapped them around him from behind, hitching my leg up onto his bare hip. His rough hand fell onto my thigh, sending sparks of awareness across the network of my skin and coaxing goose bumps, no longer pretending to sleep.

"You are amazing," I breathed into his ear.

Daryl snorted but his shoulders relaxed and I grinned. "So much more than you think. So much more."

"Ya such a girl," he groused, squeezing my leg but he sounded okay.

"I think you get off on me being younger than you, Dixon," I teased, my hands dipping forward to rub his chest, my eyes rolling in my head at how damn good it felt.

Daryl's head turned just slightly to look at me over his shoulder, through a string of his hair. He was smirking again. "Nah, you get off on me bein' older."

I balanced on one elbow and pressed tighter against his back, glancing at him beneath my lashes. "Maybe."

He groaned and shoved at me so that I was suddenly lay on my back, my thighs wrapped around him and both of us so mouth-wateringly bare. "Don't push it, Dani."

A shudder rolled through me. "Love it when you say my name," I said with a cheeky grin.

He smirked again, hair hanging around his face. "What's ya whole name?" He suddenly asked, surprising me.

"What's yours?" I challenged, tilting my head.

Daryl shifted onto his forearms so that he could sweep his thumb over the stitches in my forehead. "Ya know it: Daryl Dixon."

"Danielle Sanders," I whispered quietly, my family name like a burning throb in my chest, right over my heart.

"Like it," he whispered back.

I grinned. "I like yours too."

Daryl's head dipped into my neck, breathing hot air against my pulse. My hands drifted to his back, smoothing around and over his scars. He jerked and tensed, relaxed and shuddered in alternating patterns but not once did he tell me to stop, or shout at me, or kick me out of his bunk and his cell, so I kept going. All of a sudden, he was thrusting his cock against me, pressing against my centre where I was still slick from our fucking a few hours ago. I hummed in approval, spreading my thighs so that his cock slid from my clit all the way down through my wetness, the head of him pressing against my opening.

Daryl groaned in my ear, his hand fisting my hair again and tugging my head back. "Hav' to be fast, others are gonna be up soon. Ya wanna?" He whispered hotly.

My nails dug into his shoulder blades and he swore, plunging into me hard and reckless.

I gasped, lifting my legs higher on his hips. "Yes, and so much more."