Phew, I got this up! I was trying to upload this from my laptop but I was getting error messages so I tried my phone and it worked! Thank goodness for word processing apps with online features! I thought, since I've been a little late the last couple chapters, that I'd post this one a little early! Hopefully this is my edited version...if it's not, I apologize and let me know if there's a ton of errors. Maybe the site will work properly tomorrow! Anyways, enjoy!

Abby paced in front of the window as the sun continued to dip down, past the horizon. Daryl and Beth had left over twelve hours ago and had yet to come back and that concerned her. Daryl had taken the one pack with a few supplies for the two of them, in case they needed them while they were gone and leaving Abby with her own pack and their new dog, Jack. Jack lay on the ground at complete ease as she paced the floor, obviously having totally accepted her as his owner.

Abby had finally sat down on a kitchen chair when Jack suddenly got to his feet, growling with his hackles up as he trotted for the front door. Frowning, Abby got to her feet and followed Jack to the door, then squinted through the slit left between two boards that were nailed onto the door. What she saw between the boards, had her running for her pack, upstairs, before running full tilt back down the stairs and into the kitchen to grab what remained of the peanut butter and pig's feet.

In the graveyard outside was a group of six, very unfriendly looking men, heading straight for the house. From the look of them, they were not the residents of the house but had been living out in the wild for a very long time. Abby went to the back of the house, pried a window open, then managed to pry off a board. Jack stood at her heels as she worked, constantly watching her back until she got the board off. She poked her head out of the window to see if there was anyone in view, then picked Jack up and climbed out of the window.

She landed heavily on the ground, set Jack down then, ran as hard as she could for the forest. Once she'd made it to the cover of the trees, she pulled out her small pair of binoculars and looked back at the house while Jack whined softly at her side. The group of men were approaching the house now, guns raised. Seeing them more clearly through her binoculars made her feel like she'd made the right decision. They all had guns, a couple had shotguns and they moved with the certainty of predators.

Abby looked down at Jack. "Yer a good boy. C'mon now, let's find Daryl and Beth. We can't stay here; those guys are likely to want to investigate the hole I made. Let's follow the road, hopefully those two will comeback the way they left."

As Abby walked down the driveway, the sun set fully and when she came to the end, she stopped and looked in both directions, uncertain which way to go. She pulled out her flashlight and used it to look for any signs of which direction they could have gone. Abby was caught in the middle of her indecision when Jack whined softly as he nuzzled her hand. When she looked down at him, he was looking in a particular direction, wagging his tail. When Abby shined her flashlight in that direction, she saw Daryl and Beth tense with their weapons raised.

Abby sighed in relief. "It's me." She said as she turned off her flashlight and trotted towards them.

"What the hell you doin' out here?" Daryl growled. "Told you to stay back at the house!"

"Yeah well, the house got new residents." Abby said, instantly annoyed with his tone.

"Did they come back?" Beth asked, concerned.

Abby shook her head. "No, I don't think they were the people who lived there before. These people weren't the sort of folk who looked after a place like that, they looked like nothin' but trouble. So, I left before they saw me."

"Probably wise." Daryl mumbled while he stared down the driveway. "How many?"

"Six, all well armed and looked like they thought they knew what they were doin'." Abby replied.

Daryl bit his thumb as he thought, then shook his head. "It ain't worth it. We barely got any ammo and they ain't worth wastin' what we got on." Daryl sighed. "Looks like we're back to the woods."

"I took all our stuff, plus the peanut butter and Pig's feet, so all they gettin' is the cola." Abby said as she followed Daryl into the woods on the other side of the road.

"At least we got a walker alarm, now." Beth said as she followed them. "Jack seems smart enough to not bark when they're around."

Abby patted Jack's head. "Yeah, if it wasn't for him. I probably wouldn't have seen those assholes before it was too late."

"We should try an' put a good distance between us an' them before we hunker down for the night." Daryl said as he picked up his pace. "Let's head back to that town, hole up in a building for the night."

They had walked for quite some distance before Abby finally asked what she'd been wondering all afternoon. "What took you two so long?"

"Well…we ran into a little problem." Beth said from beside Abby.

"Problem?" Abby asked concerned.

"A group, just like you." Daryl said as he slowed down to walk in step with them. "They didn't know we were there but we had lay low for a while, until they moved on. No big deal, just a pain in the ass."

"Did you find anything, at least?" Abby asked as she looked at Daryl's back where the pack looked nearly full.

"I chose some books for you!" Beth said happily. "We found a bookstore, Daryl said you needed something to occupy yourself. We picked up some birthing books too, so hopefully they help."

After a couple of hours of walking, they finally broke from the cover of the trees, walked across a field then onto the highway that led into the town. Daryl and Beth seemed to have an idea of where they wanted to go, for they walked straight for a building only a few blocks into town. They had their weapons raised as they walked down the street, dodging the walkers that wandered the streets.

When they finally made it to the door, Daryl opened the door and shined Abby's flashlight into the room. When he saw nothing immediately threatening, he motioned for the two of them to go inside. Once inside, he secured the door, then both him and Beth cleared the room with Jack trotting after them, while Abby sat on a desk, swinging her feet as she waited for them. After several minutes, Daryl finally came into the room and indicated for her to follow him.

They went into the back of the building where they entered a room where there was only one window and only one door, present, which gave them an alternative exit if one got blocked. The room was a fairly large office with a couch in one corner, a pair of plush chairs, and a huge desk with a grand office chair. Daryl and Beth shoved the huge desk against the door while Abby plunked down onto the sofa, dropping her pack on the ground beside it and stretched out.

Once the desk was pushed up against the door, Daryl dropped the pack down beside Abby's and started pulling things out of both packs as he sat on the edge of the couch. First, he pulled out the one and only blanket they had and draped it over Abby's legs, then pulled out a can, opened it then put a spoon into and handed it to Abby. He also opened a second can and handed it to Beth before he started pulling out the supplies they had found, showing Abby the books, then distributed the supplies evenly between the two packs.

"We should really find a third pack." Beth said put a spoonful of food in her mouth. "Oh! And one for Jack! They make those you know! Backpacks for dogs! They look like the bags you put on a pack animal."

Abby laughed. "That'd be kind of cute, he could carry his own food."

Daryl just shook his head as he continued to pack the bags back up, then grabbed a jar of pig's feet and a mug that had been in the office and dumped some of the jar's contents into the mug before putting it down for Jack to eat. When the two women had finished eating, Daryl threw the cans into a garbage can that sat in one corner of the room. Daryl finally sat on the desk, propped his crossbow against its side and laid back.

"You two get some sleep, its getting on towards midnight. We should leave first thing, in case those bastards come this way." He said and he folded his arms behind his head.

Abby didn't have the energy to argue since she was beyond exhausted and neither did Beth, as she pushed the two plush chairs together and curled up on them. Abby wasn't sure how long it had taken but she was pretty sure she almost immediately descended into a deep sleep.

The following morning, she woke to find Jack curled up on her legs, head on her hip, staring at her and the desk pulled away from the door with Beth sitting on top of it. When Abby sat up and looked around the room, she didn't see Daryl any where's.

"He went to do a little more scavenging." Beth said answering her unspoken question.

"I slept super long again, didn't I?" Abby asked in irritation as she stood up and rolled up her blanket.

Beth stood up, walked over to Abby and took the blanket from her and shoved it into the pack before sliding it onto her back. "Just a little, don't worry about it, you need the rest. C'mon, I'm pretty sure I know where he is."

Abby followed Beth out of the room then outside of the building then further into town, up to the local book store. She followed Beth inside, then down the aisles. They finally found Daryl, surprisingly, in the animal section.

"Whatcha doin' babe?" Abby asked as they approached him.

"You said we might be able to train the dog to hunt, thought there might be a book here for that." Daryl mumbled as he flipped through the pages. "Generally, they all say to start as a puppy but the rest of it seems easy enough."

"Do you think we can train him for that?" Beth asked hopefully as she looked over his shoulder at the book in his hand.

Daryl shrugged as he put the book back. "Maybe. Let's get goin', we've already burned too much daylight."

They left the building without further investigation, then headed down the street in the opposite then they had arrived on. It was midday and they were walking along, crossing over some train tracks when Beth suddenly trotted down the tracks. Abby looked down to where Beth was jogging, to see a sign nailed to a tree near the tracks. Daryl and Abby followed Beth and together they stopped and stared at the sign.

Abby looked over at Daryl. "What do you think?"

"Might be worth a look at least." Daryl said after a moment. "We need to find a place for you and the baby."

"I agree with Daryl, we should at least take a look." Beth agreed.

"Then it's decided. We follow the yellow brick road to Oz." Abby said smirking.

Beth laughed as Daryl rolled his eyes. "Yer such a dork." He said before kissing her on the temple, then continuing down the track.

They followed the tracks until the sun began to set. Daryl decided to clear an old warehouse that was directly beside the tracks and called it a night, inside the warehouse was a bunch of dead vehicles and nothing else, not even an office. Daryl checked all the vehicles to make sure they couldn't be made to run but most were missing parts and more importantly, all of the batteries were dead.

The following morning, Abby managed to get up at the crack of dawn for the first time in at least a month, probably partly due to the uncomfortable truck bed which she slept in with Daryl. Once again, Daryl set a brisk pace, determined to reach Terminus as quickly as possible.

When the sun had set once more, they were in the middle of nowhere, so Daryl opted to continue going, hoping to find a roof to put over Abby's head. Previously, he'd just camp out but with every passing day, Daryl was becoming more and more worried about her. She tried to soothe him, telling him they had many more months before the baby would be there but he'd started to read those birthing books, last night and he was currently more worried with her miscarrying. They were plugging along, stumbling through the dark, when a shout drew their attention.

Abby looked at Daryl. "That sounded like a kid."

Daryl nodded. "I'll go check but you two, stay back; let me handle things."

They followed Daryl as he trotted through the woods, back towards a road where a group of people could be seen in the dim light of the small fire. Daryl stopped just short and indicated for them to stay. Daryl slowly inched forward, crossbow raised, Jack hot on his heels, instead of waiting, both Abby and Beth inched forward also, staying just out of sight.

Abby stopped right on the edge of the forest, as Daryl snuck around to the back of the dead vehicle parked on the side of the road. There were seven people easily visible and it looked like there was two more behind the vehicle, just barely seen from underneath the vehicle. When Abby squinted at the shapes, her heart suddenly stopped.

Standing looking face to face with another man, holding a gun to his head, was Rick and sitting on the ground was Michonne, also with a gun to her head. Daryl was inching to the far side of the vehicle, where the other two people remained hidden from her view. Abby bent close to Beth.

"You got bullets, right?" Abby whispered.

"Three." Beth answered. "Is that Rick and Michonne?"

"Yeah. You think you can shoot the two nearest us?" Abby asked.

"Yeah." Beth said nodding firmly.

"Okay. I'll take the one on the far left then the one aiming at Michonne. Hopefully, they'll be too shocked to react." Abby said quickly.

"Okay." Beth agreed.

On the third tap, all hell broke loose. Abby hit each of her targets perfectly, Rick responded like she thought he would, disarming his attacker and shooting him while she heard an angry growl then saw Daryl attack someone behind the vehicle. Beth hit her first mark perfectly but only shot her second in the arm and had to shoot him a second time to kill him. Abby and Beth broke the cover of the trees, guns and knives ready but no other enemies presented themselves.

"Abigail?" Rick's voice choked out suddenly.

Abby shoved her gun back into its holster and ran to meet Rick as he trotted towards her. He hugged her tightly and kissed the side of her face repeated, then suddenly another pair arms appeared around her, much lower than Rick's. When she looked down she saw Carl's face buried into her side.

"Carl." She whispered as she wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

After a few moments, Rick stepped back and looked around as Carl continued to cling to Abby, face buried into her jacket. Beth stepped forward and hugged Rick as Michonne came over to hug Abby also.

"I told you, Daryl." Beth said smiling happily towards Daryl, as he came out from behind the vehicle. Jack trotted up to Beth, and lied down by her feet.

Daryl grunted as he looked at the bodies, making sure they were head shots. "I told you two to hang back."

"That was before we realized it was them!" Abby said annoyed, indicating Rick and Michonne. "You couldn't single handily take them all out, not to mention the risk to Rick and Michonne's lives."

"It's okay, it turned out." Rick said raising his hands in a peaceful gesture.

"Sorry, we're just tired, or I am anyways." Abby said with a sigh. "Not that I need your help with my marriage." She mumbled.

"Have you eaten? We have food." Carl asked finally pulling away from her. "You get cranky when yer hungry." Which, earned a snicker from Rick and Daryl.

"We have food too, kiddo. Don't worry about it." Abby said as she smiled down at him as she ruffled his hair. Even in the short time they'd been apart, it was shocking to see how much he'd grown.

"He's right, you should eat." Daryl commented as he finally walked over to them.

Abby smiled at Daryl tightly, then grabbed his hand and started dragging him away from the others. "We'll right back."

Rick and Michonne looked at them confused but didn't make any comment as they walked off, followed by Jack. When they were out of ear shot, Abby turned and put her hands on her hips.

"You are not going to say a thing to my brother, Carl or Michonne about me being pregnant." Abby said firmly.

"We can't not tell them!" Daryl hissed quietly, now he was getting annoyed, making Jack whine nervously.

Abby took a deep breath, trying to not get upset, to not cry, which was becoming harder lately. "I will tell them, just nottonight, okay."

Daryl sighed tiredly, as he ran his hand through his hair ever growing. "Okay, fine but can you at least tell Ricktomorrow?"

Abby nodded. "Fine, but I think it should be a private conversation. I don't know how he'll react."

Daryl sighed again. "Yeah."

They went back to the group, just as Michonne and Carl climbed into the back of the dead vehicle, while Beth was already in the front passenger. Rick was sitting down on the ground by the front tire and looked up at them as they walked up to him.

"Everything okay?" Rick asked as he tried to study them in the dark, the fire having been put out.

"Well aren't you nosey." Abby said, then bent over and kissed himon top of the head. "We'll talk about it privately in the morning, okay? I'm gonna crawl in there with the others and get some sleep. Goodnight."

"Talk about what?" Rick asked looking between the two.

"Goodnight, Rick." Abby repeated as she walked over to the driver side door.

Daryl opened the driver side door for her, which earned him a kiss, before she climbed inside. Carl and Beth both must've been exhausted also, as they were both fast asleep already by the time she'd crawled inside. Carl had snuggled up to Michonne, which surprised her somewhat and Beth laid on her back with her head back against the reclined seat's head rest. Michonne looked up at her when she climbed inside, nodded her head then put her head back again, to continue trying get to sleep. Abby followed Beth's example by reclining her seat but turned onto her side, then quickly drifting off.

They next morning she woke to Daryl gently shaking her shoulder and calling her name. When she finally woke up, she sat up and smiled at him as she stretched.

"Mornin'." She said as she stifled a yawn, then took her thick jacket that he must've pulled out of their pack.

"C'mon sleeping beauty. Let's get you fed so we can get going." He said once she'd slid on the jacket, and offered her his hand, as she swung her legs out.

She took his hand and slid out of the vehicle, the air instantly chilled her despite the jacket, giving a strong indication that fall was nearing the end. When she came around the front of the vehicle, she saw the other three sitting around a fire that had been rebuilt on the road. Rick looked up at her curiously, as Beth brought over a can of vegetables that had already been cooked.

"It ain't like you to sleep in." Rick commented as her and Daryl sat on the ground with the others.

Abby shrugged. "I guess I'm used to bein' better fed an' sleepin' more than two hours a night, which, up until recently was all we were getting." Abby said brushing off the comment. "So, have you three been together since the prison?" Abby finally asked as she started eating.

"Carl and I were, Michonne found us several days later. What about you three?" Rick said.

"Actually, yeah." Beth replied. "I think we were pretty close to being the last ones to leave, there was no one living there when we left. I originally was on the bus but I noticed Judith and several of the other kids weren't on the bus so I went to look for Judith. When I couldn't find her or the other kids, I came out and the bus was gone but Daryl and Abby were still there."

"We thought we found a place to hide out for a while but we got run out of the place a couple days ago by a heavily armed group of men." Abby continued.

"Where was this place?" Michonne asked, her curiosity peeked.

"I think it was the groundskeepers house in a cemetery." Beth replied. "Someone had been living there up until recently. The house was all clean, the windows all boarded up."

"What's with the dog?" Rick asked eyeing him up, suspiciously.

Abby and Beth both grinned. "That's Jack. He's our living walker detector. He's come in handy over the last couple days." Abby said as Beth gave him a vigorous scratch down the sides. "Took him about a day to warm up to Daryl, so don't take it personally if he doesn't trust you."

Carl reached over towards Jack holding his hand palm up, to let the dog sniff him, then when Jack showed no inclination to be aggressive, he petted him. Jack wagged his tail as Carl continued petting Jack, making him grin widely.

"He likes me!" Carl said happily.

"So, it would seem." Abby said, laughing as she set her now empty can down.

Daryl got to his feet and picked up his pack. "C'mon, we're burning daylight. Y'all can talk on the road."

"Well somebody hasn't changed much." Michonne said as she stood up, taking her pack and sword with her.

Abby chuckled as they all got to there feet also, earning strange looks from Rick and Michonne when Beth took the other pack, while Abby carried nothing but her pistol and knife. They walked into the woods until they made it back to the tracks and continued on their previous path. Apparently, Rick, Michonne and Carl had also seen the sign and had decided to follow the tracks, which gave Abby hope that maybe some of their other friends may have seen it also and were heading in the same direction. When they stopped for a break, Abby dragged Rick by the hand, off into the woods and away from the prying eyes of Michonne and Carl, followed closely by Jack.

"So, I take it we're gonna have that talk you were talking about last night." Rick said smirking but she could see some concern in his eyes.

"Okay, stop assuming the worst right away." Abby said as she crossed her arms.

Grimaced as he rubbed his head. "Sorry but you sounded a little ominous last night and prying information out of Daryl was like trying to pull my own teeth. Then you drag me away from the others, like you're worried I'm gonna freak or something."

"Well, I am sort of worried 'bou that but not how you think." Abby sighed.

"Out with it, already. You've made me wait for half a day already." Rick grumbled tiredly.

"Well…geez, talking to Daryl was easier." Abby said as she dropped her chin to her chest.

"Abby!" Rick scolded.

"I'm pregnant!" Abby finally blurted.

"Pregn…" Rick stopped mid-word, then stared into space.

"Yyyyeah." Abby said. "Hence the not carrying anything and Daryl constantly shoving food in front of me."

Rick took a deep breath. "H…how far along are you?"

Abby studied her brother, trying to get a read on him but she didn't think he knew what he was feeling. "Ten weeks…I think. We just found out a little over a week ago."

Finally, he pulled her into a hug. "I want to be happy for you, you've wanted kids for a long time...but with the way things are right now."

Abby pulled back and looked him in the eye. "I know, trust me, I've been thinking things through a lot lately. Daryl's pretty freaked but he's determined to do everything he can for us." She said touching her stomach. "Can be pretty suffocating sometimes, he's a natural worry wart."

"Does Beth know?" Rick asked with a sigh.

"Yeah, she knows. We didn't know how things were going to turn out and I knew she'd do everything she could to help us." Abby replied.

"How are you feeling?"

Abby sighed. "Tired, always tired. Like you said, I've never been one to sleep in but lately that's all I do. I'm hungry all the time too, but I don't know if that's because I'm not getting enough food or just because I'm pregnant."

Rick chuckled. "Probably both. C'mon, we should get moving again. Maybe this Terminus has doctor's, the sooner we get there, the better."

Abby grabbed Rick's arm as he turned to walk back to the group. "Can we wait to tell Carl? Wait until we find out if this Terminus place is for real? I don't want him worrying that I'm gonna end up like Lori." Rick winced. "Sorry."

"No, its okay. Trust me, it's crossed my mind too but Lori had a history of…complications. Hopefully, you won't." Rick responded. "C'mon, Daryl isn't the most patient of people."

When they were on their way once more, Abby walked side by side with Daryl and Beth as Carl and Michonne were constantly trying to best each other at various games, which was slowing them down, much to Daryl's irritation, Abby decided now was the best time to talk about her conversation with Rick.

"So, I talked to Rick." She stated.

Beth looked over at her "How'd that go?"

"Uh…not sure yet. I don't think he knows yet. Part of him wants to be happy for us but with our present situation and with what happened to Lori, he's a little worried." Abby answered.

"Understandable." Daryl mumbled.

"Yeah and that's why we're keeping this away from Carl for now." Abby said firmly. "At least until we figure this Terminus thing out."

"Not Michonne?" Beth asked.

"No, it's okay if she knows. I haven't told her yet though, Rick might do it." Abby said.

"Michonne seems to have gotten really close with those two." Beth observed.

"They'd probably say the same about you. Surviving terrible events with others seems to either strengthen bonds or sometimes tear them apart."

"Like Shane." Beth said sadly.

Abby sighed. "Yeah."

Carl suddenly trotted up to them and wrapped his arms around Abby's waist. "So, when are you going to teach me to shoot with a sniper rifle? You still have it, right?"

Abby chuckled as he came up beside her, in between her and Beth. "Yeah, I still got it. It's disassembled in the pack Daryl's carrying. It hasn't been a lot of use lately."

"Yeah, it's a waste of a bullet, especially those kinds of bullets. They're a lot harder to find…but you'll still teach me, right? I'm taller and stronger now!" Carl said trying to stand tall and prove his point

Daryl scoffed. "Keep tellin' yerself that small fry."

"You better watch out, Daryl. I'm gonna be bigger than you and dad, just you wait." Carl said confidently.

Daryl scoffed again but Beth looked at them. "Hey, he's almost as tall as me and neither Rick nor Abby are exactly short. So, be careful Daryl, he's gonna be putting you in head lock before you know it."

So did you think I'd let Beth get abducted? FYI, the warehouse that Daryl, Abby and Beth sleep in, is the same as the one Daryl stay's in with those guys. It's supposed to be the day after.

-Shockra