It took a couple of months, but with hard work and lots of elbow grease the group had managed to make the building habitable, the walls were reinforced, watchtowers were set up, a barricade outside the walls had also been built as added protection. Two rowboats had been repaired and used for exploring the lake and for fishing. Runs had been made and a small town that had been mentioned in the brochure had been found half an hour away-it had long been deserted with very little salvageable save building materials from some of the fallen down buildings. They had widened the perimeter of their runs and brought back stores of gas which they placed in the outbuildings for emergencies. Targets had been set up in the small orchard and shooting practice went on daily for all the women and Carl-Rick and Daryl had insisted that everyone be comfortable with cleaning the weapons, loading and unloading them. They had found a few abandoned houses across the lake, some wealthy person's summer home, and scavenged these for weapons and ammunition. They had rigged up a shed for drying and smoking venison and fish they had caught. As the season changed to fall, they had worked at stockpiling enough firewood to get them through the winter. They had fixed the lobby and dining room up as overflow sleeping areas in case they all needed to stay on one floor- if the winter was too bitter it would make more sense for them all to stay on one floor where they could keep the lobby fireplace going full time to keep them all from freezing.
In their runs, they had expanded their searches to areas three hours away and eventually they met up with people who had been on their own since the virus hit, or had been in groups that had been attacked by hordes or by roaming bands of renegades who reveled in the fact there was now no one in authority to prevent them from looting, raping, torturing or murdering anyone they came across. When they came across these survivors, extreme caution was taken to ensure they didn't invite anyone dangerous into their community. By mid November, their original group of fourteen had increased to thirty. There had been a few children added, but mostly adults –younger men-had joined them. These men had brought additional help in protecting the grounds and making repairs to the building as well helping to increase their provisions for the winter. One addition to their group, a young woman named Michonne, had been found after having been on her own for months. She was strong and fearless in her dealings with the walkers they had come across on their runs and was a regular member of the watch teams they had formed to ensure constant monitoring of their perimeters.
As Lori approached her delivery date, Isabeau had set up an office area as an infirmary and birthing suite. She had stockpiled linens, and the men had scavenged everywhere they went on runs for any type of medical equipment she named on their lists. Isabeau had the basics she would need, but if they ran into any difficulties during the delivery she would be at a loss as to how to proceed. It would have to be a natural birth, no epidurals would be available, but women had given birth without medication for thousands of years. What worried Isabeau was the possibility of the baby not being in the right position, or just a prolonged labor with no progression. She knew if a cesarean was performed neither Lori nor the baby might survive. As the date for the delivery approached, Isabeau found herself unable to sleep and started keeping watch with Daryl on the nights he was scheduled. He knew why she was unable to sleep, so he kept silent and waited for her to confide in him.
Although they shared the same room, Isabeau and Daryl rarely slept in the bed at the same time as Daryl usually took the night watches. Occasionally he would come in for a watch early enough to lie down beside Isabeau for a short while before she rose and helped out in cleaning the rooms, stocking food, helped out in shooting practice or any of a number of other things. Sometimes Daryl would awaken Isabeau and they'd go out early in the morning to hunt or go out in a rowboat to fish. They quickly picked up on each other's physical tics and learned to anticipate each other's thoughts while out hunting or on watch. The group noticed that while Isabeau talked less, Daryl now spoke more, although he would never be called a chatterbox. They also noted that Daryl had learned how to be protective of Isabeau while still respecting her independence and thus there were fewer flare ups of her temper towards him. In turn, she had learned to accept his sometimes overprotective nature and realized her anger only served to hurt his feelings and make both of them miserable.
Merle had surprised everyone with his continued attention and protection of Carol and her daughter. Although they could not be called an actual couple, there was a very strong friendship and respect between Carol and Merle that was healing to both of them. Merle could still be a jerk, however it happened with less frequency. Carol's influence could also be seen in his more respectful attitude toward his baby brother Daryl. Merle seemed to acknowledge that his guilt over abandoning Daryl to the care of their physically abusive father had led him to behave in just as cruel a manner as their father had. His teasing was far less frequent, and he began complimenting Daryl when he returned from a successful hunt or fishing expedition or run outside the walls. Merle would always be rough around the edges but with Carol's influence he had become far more tolerable to the rest of the group.