Disclaimer: Not mine

A/N: I also redid this chapter a bit. i added more to the start of thechapter so if you read the first half you should get the new stuff. but it isnt a big deal if you don't read it.

Chapter fourteen

It's been about a week and a half since Natalie, Marlie and Daryl have been reunited with one and another and so far both Natalie and Marlie integrated themselves pretty well within the group. Some of the campers didn't like the Merle and Daryl all that much and because Natalie and Marlie were their family the camper's basically looked down on them for their relation. Natalie didn't care for the most part what they all thought of her, she spent too many years when she was younger wasting time on caring but what bothered her the most was when some of the parents of the kids told them to exclude and not play with Marlie. Thankfully Marlie didn't seem all that hurt, she mostly just played with Sophia, Carl, Louis and Eliza who were more than happy to play with her.

At the moment Natalie was near the water's edge with a few of the other women from camp doing some laundry which she learned was done twice a week. It was times like this where Natalie really missed her washer and dryer back home that had all those fancy options; it really would come in handy on some of the blood stains that Daryl somehow managed to get on every single pair of his pants. There was no doubt in Natalie's mind that a majority of the stains were either from Walkers or gutting animals that he had hunted down for the camp.

"I would love….love a washer right now," Natalie said as she scrubbed viciously at a blood stain that was on one of Daryl's pants. "How in the hell does my husband manage to get blood stains on damn near every single pair of his pants. I mean seriously, that's just ridiculous." She said with a shake of her head.

Hearing that Lori gave a small laugh, "Well he is a hunter," she pointed out to the younger woman. "Didn't he hunt a lot before all of this happened?" she asked waving her hands around.

Natalie nodded, "Yeah but only during the hunting season, and not to mention I had an amazing washer that could get almost any stain out." She stated with a shrug and sighed at the memory of her washer – some women wanted jewels and clothes for presents but not Natalie, she wanted appliances and new boots for camping.

Amy looked at Natalie with an odd look on her face, "So instead of fantasizing about having life like it was before Walkers you are wishing for a washing machine?" she questioned curiously.

"What can I say; I loved that fancy ass washer." Natalie said to her with a shrug which made her and a few of the other women laugh a bit. "I'm sure there are some modern appliances that you miss too." She pointed out.

At that Jacqui nodded, "I know I miss my car," she responded. "I had a sleek four wheel drive car with video for helping me back out. Mmhmm. That car was my pride and joy." She stated and closed her eyes and remembered the car.

While Jacqui was reminiscing about her car Natalie looked up the quarry and at T-Dog who was sitting in the back of the van that they were using to haul the laundry to and from the Quarry and back to camp so that they could hang them once they were clean . . . or rather as clean as they were going to get them.

"Hey T-Dog!" Natalie yelled up at the darker man. "How come you aren't down here helping us with some of these clothes?" she asked and glanced at him with a curious look on her face. "I know for a fact that some of these things are yours."

Amy nodded in agreement at that, "Yeah T-Dog, you and the guys of camp need to start helping with the 'woman' work." She said and used air quotes.

Hearing that Natalie scoffed, "Could you imagine Merle doing this?" she said and snorted in amusement at the thought of her brother in law doing laundry by hand, he would be growling and moaning the whole time and swearing up a storm about the fact that he had to wash clothes by hand.

"Oh dear lord," Amy said with a giggle. "That would be a sight. I would pay to see that." She said and then paused a moment to rethink that. "As long as I wouldn't get harmed by him for watching I would definitely pay to see that sight."

Andrea who has been sitting at the far end away from Natalie and has barely said anything to add to the conversations that they've been having, and she even rolled her eyes at what the group was talking about now.

"What do you say T-Dog?" Amy asked with a wide grin on her young face. "Want to come down and learn how to wash laundry by hand?"

T-Dog grinned at that and shook his head, "Nah I don't think I should step in, I mean I might mess up the system you girls have going on and not to mention I just got done doing watch and once you beautiful ladies are finished I am going to sleep for at least a few hours." He told them.

"Come on T-Dog," Lori said. "It's not like it will kill ya. The walkers are plenty happy to do that instead." She joked.

At that T-Dog scoffed, "Yeah thanks Lori, that sure made me want to help with laundry." He said dryly. "But, as tempting as the offer is, I still think I will let you lovely, wonderful and beautiful ladies do the laundry. Since you all are so skilled at it and much better than any man ever will be."

Natalie shook her head at that, "You are trying to be charming but I see right through those words T-Dog. You are a wuss, do ya hear me, a wuss." She said to him. "You just don't want people to know that you can do womanly things, other than cooking that is." She stated with an amused smirk on her face. "I definitely think you should get your manly ass down here and let us show you how to properly wash a shirt the old school way."

One thing that Natalie liked about T-Dog was the fact that he didn't mind joking around with her even in the Walker infested Apocalyptic world, it seemed that a lot of people back in camp were always so serious and a stick in the mud and it's not healthy to be like that twenty-four seven. No matter what though, T-Dog was always up for a good teasing. Even though Natalie was related to Merle who was a racist pig at times and Daryl who just didn't like anyone all that much, but still T-Dog over looked all of that which Natalie appreciated.

"You wonderful and quite talented women do it just so well, and I don't want to take your fun away," T-dog laughed.

"I wouldn't call this fun," Amy responded dryly as she wrung out a shirt and handed it to Jacqui.

T-Dog gave a half smile at that, "I could make one wrong move and then all of you would be on me like a fat kid to cake, and I'm not in the mood to get my ass kicked by a bunch of badass women." He responded.

Hearing that made Jacqui snort, "Yes, because we all look so strong." She said sarcastically and wrung out a few more shirts before grabbing one of the laundry baskets that they had, standing up and then giving it to T-Dog. "Here, be of use and put this in the back of the van."

"Okay, that's enough," Lori said who was sitting beside Natalie and scrubbing one of Carl's shirt's on the washboard. "We got a heck of a lot of clothes to do so let's try and not waste time." She said.

Childishly Natalie turned towards T-Dog and stuck her tongue out at him before she turned back to the pile of clothes that she had in front of her and gave a sigh; they were hers, Marlie's, Daryl's and Merle's and both Daryl and Merle's were the worst off but it was to be expected. Those boys never really did learn how to try and not get things dirty all of the time.

"You know," Jacqui started as she wrung out another shirt to add to one of the laundry baskets. "I would definitely kill for soap, any kind of soap. I just want my clothes to smell somewhat clean instead of like stale water." She stated with a sigh.

"God wouldn't that be a treat," Andrea said who was sitting as far away from Natalie as she possibly could, like it's not obvious that she wasn't a fan of Natalie. "Plain old water doesn't get the stains out like soap would."

Natalie scrubbed hard at a stain that was on one of Daryl's pants, "So there's like no soap at all?" she questioned curiously.

At that Lori shook her head, "No, none left whatsoever." She said with a grimace on her face. "We probably should have tried to manage our soap use a bit better when everything started but didn't realize how much we would go through and how little would be left to scavenge for."

"I did the same thing," Natalie admitted. "Not with soap or anything, I didn't really have much of that and the last few weeks I didn't even want to chance stopping to wash our clothes." She told them with a shrug. "But food wise, I did not plan ahead well enough. And I can't hunt all that well to tell the truth, so a lot of the food I did find usually went to Marlie."

Hearing that Andrea looked at Natalie skeptically, "But you're the hick's wife and you don't know how to hunt." She said with a judgmental tone of voice.

Narrowing her eyes at Andrea and taking a deep breath, Natalie responded. "The hick, as you call him, has a name. It's Daryl so try and use it." She said heatedly. "And I didn't say I couldn't hunt, I just said that I wasn't that great at it a am nowhere near the level of Daryl. I may be married to the man but it doesn't mean that we have every single thing in common."

This grudge, and or hatred that Andrea has for Natalie just because she is married to Daryl is getting really old, really fast and half of the time she is holding herself back from strangling the woman. The only reason she hasn't straight out bitch slapped the woman was because she would rather not cause problems in camp and because of Amy. You would think that a woman like Andrea wouldn't judge someone because of who they were married to or associated with but apparently Natalie was wrong, she had hoped after a few days that she would warm up to her but it wasn't to be so.

"You and your-" Before Andrea was able to say what was bound to be an insulting comment Lori interrupted.

"So," Lori started looking at Natalie as she was scrubbing quite harshly on a stain that was on a shirt. "How long have you and Daryl been together?" she questioned.

At that Natalie paused a moment to think how long they've been together, most days it seems like they've always been together and she barely can think of a time when they haven't been together. To Natalie, the moment she met Daryl was the start of her life and then once Marlie came around it was as if she had everything that she would ever wish for.

Smiling Natalie answered, "We've been together for about seven in a half years, give or take a few but we've been married for around five in a half or six." She answered. "We didn't get married until I was a few months pregnant with Marlie."

"Was it romantic?" Amy asked with an excited look on her face. "Is there a hopeless romantic under that rough and grr faced exterior that he puts on?" she asked jokingly and looking at her expectantly.

Natalie couldn't help but shake her head at Amy, it wasn't obvious at all that the girl was a teenager – all teenage girls love talking about weddings and imagining their own someday. Even with an apocalypse going on there would be no changing that fact. Natalie did it too when she was around fifteen/sixteen years old and gossiping with her friends.

Smiling Natalie answered Amy's question, "It was romantic for us and that's all that matters." She replied to her. "We didn't have a big extravagant wedding, or even have all that many people there. We just had the people who were important to us there. My mom, sister, brother in law and niece came down from Minnesota, my grandparents who lived over in Arizona came over, and then a friend or two from back home and some that I met here were there. Then of course Merle, and a few of the friends that Daryl had and that was it." She said with a serene smile remembering the day perfectly, one of the best days of her life.

"Your dad didn't come?" Amy asked with a curious look on her face.

At that Natalie gave a sad smile, "My dad died before I even found out I was pregnant," she told her.

Hearing that Amy gave an apologetic grimace, "I'm sorry I shouldn't have –"

"Dearie, you didn't even know about it." Natalie told her with an amused smile on her face. "It was a long time ago anyways. It's fine." She told her with a tight smile.

Natalie may have loved her dad, but she didn't always agree with his actions or things that he said all of the time. She always had conflicted feelings when it came to him; at times she loved him, other times she was bitter and angry and other times she just wanted to hit him upside the head. He wasn't the best dad around but he definitely wasn't the worst, especially when compared to her husband's father.

"Where was your wedding?" Jacqui asked curiously since none of the other women were saying anything.

"Near the woods that were behind our house," Natalie said with a smile on her face. "It was perfect. I had a simple white dress, a bouquet of colorful flowers that me and my friend picked up from the local grocery store that sold flowers and wore a pair of my high tops and I was good to go. It fit the two of us perfectly. I wouldn't have changed it for anything, and even if we had all of the money in the world I would have still had our intimate wedding compared to an extravagant one any day. The only one who really needed to be there was Daryl, it could have just been him, me, Merle and my sister and I would have been perfectly happy and content."

Natalie really would have too, even if she had all the money in the world to have any kind of wedding she wanted she would still have chosen the one she had with Daryl in the back yard near the woods. It was intimate, beautiful and wonderful. She had a simple white dress that was technically not even a wedding dress and she wore her favorite high tops that were a bit scuffed; and Daryl had worn his nicest pants, and a shirt that didn't have the arms ripped off, even a tie which was more than Natalie was expecting. Even though neither of them dressed up all the way like the Bride and Groom are supposed to do on their wedding days it fit them.

Hearing all of that made Amy smile, "So tell us about the honey moon," she said with a waggle of her eye brows.

"Amy," Jacqui said admonishingly and shook her head at the younger girl. "Give the woman time to think, you're shooting question after question at her." she stated and then looked at Natalie, "You don't have to tell us anything you know. If you don't want to." She told her.

"Hey!" Amy said looking at her. "I want to hear some juicy details, there isn't anyone here in camp that can be my eye candy or even have the possibility of dating so I'm living through you people." She told her.

At that Lori shook her head, "Teenagers these days." She joked.

Shrugging Natalie went on with what she was saying, "Our honey moon was one of the best vacations I've ever had, Daryl planned it all out by himself and wanted it to be as romantic as he possibly could make it." She started but was soon interrupted by Andrea.

"What kind of Redneck can afford a Honeymoon?" Andrea asked snidely.

Before Natalie responded to that she closed her eyes, took a deep breath and then counted to ten, "For your information Andrea," Natalie said harshly to the other blonde woman. "I was perfectly happy with my life that Daryl and I had together. It may not be up to your standards and you may look down on my family because of the redneck tendencies we have but we're happy being like that and that is all that matters." She told her. "Some-" she stopped herself before she could say something nasty, she did not want to get into another fight with Andrea she's been trying to keep those to a minimum.

Andrea looked at Natalie, "Go on, finish what you were saying." She said to her with a wave of her hand."

"No," Natalie said with a shake of her head. "It doesn't matter." She told her and then looked at Amy, Lori and Jacqui. "Anywho as I was saying," she said with a quick glance at Andrea before continuing on with what she was saying. "Daryl planned a trip to New Orleans, I've always wanted to go there but never have been able to reason with myself a good reason to go out there but Daryl, the damn secretive bastard, planned our honey moon there." She said with a soft smile on her f ace in reference to her husband and the trip that he planned for her.

"Did you go during Mardi Gras?" Amy asked with a grin as she wiped at a bit of water that splashed up onto her face.

Natalie smiled at that and scrubbed harshly at a stain that was on one of her shirts that she really liked, it was plaid and she loved plaid. "No we didn't go during Mardi Gras, and in fact we didn't even make it into Louisiana." She said to her. "We took my car, which was a 1968 GTO but when we were on our way there and a few states over my car decided to break down. We were in a smaller town in Mississippi and what needed to be done to my car required a car part that was hard to come by, and even if we had been in a bigger town there would have been a mighty bit of issues trying to get the part. Finding car parts for classic muscle cars is expensive and can be hard to do," she explained to them and wiped at her sweaty brow, it was hot out there by the water. "We got it to a mechanic and they said that it would be at least a week or two before they were able to get the part, so we ended up staying in that town…Waynesboro. It was an amazing honeymoon."

Hearing that all of the girls looked at Natalie skeptically, wondering how their car breaking down in a small town equaled an amazing honeymoon but to each their own. Amy thought it sounded downright boring, to be stuck in a small town when they had originally been planning on going to New Orleans.

"No offense hun," Jacqui started as she handed another basket to T-Dog who was basically sleeping in the back of the van. "But that doesn't sound like an amazing time; it actually sounds like a terrible honeymoon."

When she said that to her Natalie couldn't help but laugh, "It might have been to most people but it was one of the few times that we were able to spend alone together….just the two of us." She replied. "No Merle to interrupt us for the ten thousandth time, and trust me after the third or fourth time of him interrupting us during sex it just got annoying rather than embarrassing. No work calling us in or something along those lines and just complete 'us' time. It was one of the best couple of weeks I've ever had."

"What did you two do there?" Lori asked. "Other than the obvious." She said with a girlish giggle.

Natalie grinned at that, "Oh we spent a lot of time in the bedroom," she said with a waggle of her eye brows. "But we really just spent time together, the parks, the woods, they had a small thing going on in town, like a fair or something so we went to that." She told her. "It was an art/music festival it was amazing there. But for the most part it was just the two of us talking, enjoying one and another's company and talking about the future. About the baby, thinking of names, what we needed to have done before she was born and things like that."

"It sounds like you had a good time then," Jacqui said to her with a small smile pointed towards the younger woman.

"It was, the best." Natalie responded.