First of all, thank you for all the kind reviews and hanging in there with me. Second, I'm really sorry about the waiting time between chapters. I've been fairly busy and I've been pretty well brain dead when it comes to writing. Still trying to find my creative juices. I really do miss all of this though, so hopefully I can figure something out. And as a forewarning, the rest of this story is gonna jump around as I try to wrap it up.

"Ya gotta name him eventually."

Maggie looked down at her son cradled in her arms and smiled. She was sitting on the bed with her back propped up against the wall, Daryl beside her.

"I know. I will. I just…"

She bit her lip. Yes, there was a part of her that didn't think she would be where she currently was. That part of her assumed the worst, that either she or the baby wouldn't make it. Or both. But everything did work out. It just took time. Time to recover. Time to get a bit of a grip on the whole situation. She had lost a good amount of blood and passed out after giving birth. And now, after a couple of months or so, she had gotten the hang of things—when and how to feed him, change his diaper, put him to sleep…

But one of the reasons she couldn't bring herself to name him was because of the world they lived in. The odds of him surviving weren't very likely. It would just hurt that much more to place a name on him. Regardless though, he was her son and she was attached to him from the first moment she laid eyes on him. She had to be more positive. They had gotten this far.

Daryl made his way off the bed and looked back at her. "You wanna try and get some rest?"

"It won't make a difference. If he cries, I'll still wake up." Maggie paused, "Motherly instinct. Besides, you could use some sleep, too."

Daryl scoffed. "M'fine."

Maggie appreciated all of the concern Daryl had been showing lately, but he looked about how she felt: exhausted. He had stayed with her every night and helped with the baby in every way possible. When he cried in the middle of the night, Daryl got up with Maggie to try and put him back to sleep—which was usually in Maggie's arms. It felt like such a change for Daryl. It was like he was the baby's father. Maggie could already tell he was extremely protective of him, too.

Carl peeked into the room just then. He offered, "I could watch him."

"That's okay. Don't worry about it." Maggie forced a smile. "How's Judith?"

"Still a little stuffy, but better." Carl shrugged. "She's asleep."

Judith had come down with a cold earlier on, making the past few days even more difficult for everyone. Having two fussy infants was never easy but the house was fortified enough that it was never really a problem with the walkers. But with the weather warming up and the snow melting, the walkers were sure to start multiplying again. Their population seemed to have thinned out over winter.

"Thank you. For everything. Both of you."

Maggie could see it on Carl's face every day. He wanted to move on now that the weather was better. He hadn't given up on finding the others. It was his dad out there, after all. Somewhere.

Carl smiled. "It's what we do."

"What about Miles?" Maggie was sitting on the edge of the bed next to Daryl staring over at her son. They had made a small bed out of blankets where he slept on the floor. Carl and Judith were probably asleep for the night in the next room over.

"For what? A name?" Daryl questioned.

Maggie shrugged. "Yeah. Or is that too… cliché? Maybe it's just stupid… I don't know."

"Sounds fine to me. A name's a name. He's your kid."

Maggie vaguely nodded, biting her tongue from saying that he was partially Daryl's, too. Maybe 'Miles' wasn't Daryl's biological son, but there had to be something there. She had seen the way Daryl was around him.

"Did you ever want a kid?"

Without missing a beat, Daryl replied, "Never."

"Never?" Maggie turned to face him. "You never had even the smallest inkling?"

"Nope. Too much of a pain in the ass." Daryl chewed at his thumb.

Maggie playfully hit him in the arm. They were both slightly grinning and even though Maggie knew what he meant, it took everything she had to bite her lip and prevent herself from saying something along the lines of 'I don't think you were doing it right'. She didn't want him to take it the wrong way and there was only so much joking that Daryl would let slide.

Maggie glanced back over at her son and allowed the silence to fill the room momentarily. She was surprised at how well he slept. It wasn't like he had any idea of the world around him though. He had everything he needed: food and a clean diaper, both which he received when he started crying, letting everyone know.

"I've been thinking…" Maggie started. She turned her attention down to the floor in front of her. "Maybe we should leave. The weather is a lot more manageable and—"

"No way. You crazy? You want to take him out there where we'd have no protection against walkers? He starts crying and it'll attract 'em."

"We made it just fine with Judith, how would this be any different?" Maggie tried to argue, knowing that she was losing before she even began. "Rick is out there somewhere. And I'm sure he did exactly what we did. He had to have stayed put through the winter."

"Judith is a lot older. And Rick don't have a baby to slow him down. He could have traveled through."

"So, now having a baby is a hindrance?" Maggie stood up to face him, crossing her arms.

"You know what I mean."

Maggie tried to hold somewhat of a glare but ended up dropping her arms back down to her sides and sighing. There was absolutely no reason to argue and if they kept it up, they'd end up waking Miles. Luckily, they had both kept their voices down.

"I know what I'm asking and I know the dangers. I'm just saying we've faced them before and I'm still willing to try and find Rick. We have his kids with us. That's their dad out there. That has to mean something."

"I'm not sayin' it don't." Daryl got to his feet now. "I'm sayin' were all better off here because at least our safety is guaranteed then. We got protection here and we don't have to leave unless it's mandatory. We step foot outside this place and we're back to watching each others' backs. From looters, from walkers."

"They could attack us here just as easily. Can you just admit that?"

Daryl sighed. "Not as easily, but it could happen. Yeah."

Maggie found herself staring at Daryl's eyes, which strangely enough, were staring right back at her. He typically averted his gaze but now there was something different. Maybe he was questioning what to do. Maybe he was having some sort of internal war of whether or not they should stay or go. She had never noticed how blue they were.

"Let's just… get some sleep." Maggie walked back toward the bed and sat down. She glanced over at Miles, still curled up on the blankets on the floor. She wished they at least had a crib for him. She thought about picking him up and sleeping with him on the bed but didn't want to risk waking him. It would take a while to get him to calm down if he woke now.

Daryl took a seat next to her. It wasn't anything new. He had been staying close for as long as Maggie could really remember. Since he was injured they had become closer. And it had become a habit to fall asleep together.

Maggie looked back over at him and they ended up meeting each other's stare again. She found herself smiling without even fully realizing it.

"What?" Daryl raised an eyebrow.

"Nothing." Maggie shook her head. She felt a little warm all of a sudden and she averted her attention just past Daryl. She was so very thankful that they were all okay and that they had him. And it seemed to hit her out of nowhere that maybe she did have other feelings for him.

And without much thought, Maggie acted on those feelings. She gently placed a hand upon Daryl's cheek and kissed him softly on the lips. She could immediately feel Daryl tense up and try to pull back but he didn't. Instead, they parted just enough to look into one another's eyes before their lips met for the second time.

It was then that a second kiss led to a third and it progressed from there.