Everything was dark. Not a single shape could be made out in the pitch blackness. That was all it was. There wasn't any emotion attached to it, it was just darkness. The longer they stood there, the tighter his chest got. He couldn't breathe. It felt like everything was closing in around him and suffocating him. Then, the sudden feeling of water filling his lungs came about. No matter how much he coughed, no matter what he did, he felt as though he would die. He would never leave this-

"Gavin, sweetheart," Marie shook her son softly and made him open his eyes. The chocolate brown orbs looked up at her with shock and fear before he wrapped his arms around her ever so tightly. "What was it about?" She knew that he had a nightmare; he was thrashing around and whimpering in his sleep.

"I couldn't get any air…I was dyin', momma."

"You're okay," she assured him, kissing his head sweetly. That frightened her. She hated nightmares, mostly because when she was a kid, she remembered having them all of the time. She didn't want the same thing to happen to Gavin.

He was only in her bed because he'd already had a nightmare and had come in crying. "How'd I get in here?" he asked with a sniffle. By that statement, she knew that he'd forgotten that he'd come in, she'd guessed as much anyway.

"You came in earlier," she explained. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand. The digital numbers glowed red. She hated the color red, but beggars couldn't be choosers, she supposed."You can go back to sleep, it's only five."

"AT NIGHT!?" he exclaimed. Marie chuckled softly and kissed his head.

"No, you silly goose. In the morning."

"Oh," he said with a laugh, in sudden realization. "Is anybody else awake?"

Before Marie could answer, one of the twins began to whine. Gavin's nightmare probably woke them, Marie assumed. She stood from the bed and made her way over to the cribs. Airy was the one crying. Gently, she picked up her baby and bounced her softly. "You can go check, if you want," she offered her son.

"Okay," he hurried off out of the room. Marie took a seat on the edge of the bed and tried to soothe her baby girl.

"You don't look like me at all," Marie said to the girl with a smile, once the baby had settled a bit.

Not having a clue what Marie had said, Airy smiled, her green eyes lighting up as she did so. "You're gorgeous all the same though…You've got your dad's nose." Marie found herself missing Daryl with that statement. She just wanted him to come home as quickly as possible.

It had been two days. Marie was incredibly worried. She'd been spending most of the time on the roof. The Georgia sun shone brightly on her and she was developing a farmer's tan. She didn't care. All she wanted was everyone to come back safely. She hated the fact that they'd been dumb enough to split up. Looking back now, they all should've come at once. What if once they'd left it had been anarchy at the prison? What if all of her friends and family that were still there were dead? What if who ever the leader of this society of brutes had killed Daryl when he came back? There were endless possibilities and she was tired of it. If they weren't back by tomorrow, she was going. That was the end of it. But then she thought of her children…She couldn't go. She couldn't. They needed her too much. She loved Daryl, but the children came first.

Marie looked down at the baby monitor on her hip, making sure that it was still on. She hadn't heard anything from the babies in quite some time so she had to make sure they were okay.

"You're still up here?" She nearly jumped out of her skin upon hearing someone behind her. She turned quickly and sighed in relief when it was only Andrew.

"Yeah…I can't sit still," she lied. He knew she was worried about her group, but she needed to look semi-tough.

"Mm hmm. I found something, when I was going though the stuff we looted in the beginning. I though you might like to have it…" he held out a green iPod nano, still in its case.

"Thank you, but I don't have any music to put on it."

"I already did. I brought my computer," he said bashfully.

"I can't accept this," she said instead.

"Why not?"

"I don't want to give you the wrong idea about me."

"What's that supposed to mean? I already get that you're stubborn as hell and like to 'take care of yourself'. And I know that you just want to be friends. This is friendly gesture. That's it."

"Okay," she finally agreed. "Thank you." Accepting a gift could give him the idea that she was the kind of girl that would flirt with some other guy while she was in a committed relationship. "I really do appreciate this."

"I'm glad. I hope you like 3oh!3…" She sent him a look, a confused one. She wondered how he knew that!

"I love 3-" The sound of tires on gravel grabbed her attention. She leaned over the ledge of the roof and caught a glimpse of vehicles pulling up. She darted down the steps and ran out the front door. As Daryl stepped off of his bike, Marie ran to him. He hugged her tightly and kissed her hair over and over again. He missed her much more than he thought.

The barking of a dog interrupted their happy reunion. They both simply laughed. Then they heard Gavin and the rest of the group come out. They watched as Gavin hugged the dog happily, yet to notice Daryl's presence.

"Dug! I missed you so much!" Gavin exclaimed. Dug happily licked his face.

"More green beans?" Marie offered Rick, who had taken the seat next to her at dinner. Daryl was on her opposite side and Gavin was across from her.

"No thank you," he replied, giving her a smile.

"Wine?" Andrew offered, walking into the room. Marie concluded that he was the keeper of the alcohol. He was always the one to go get it.

Everyone joyously called yes! Andrew smiled and began passing three separate bottles around the table. When it went from Rick to Marie, she passed it right on to Daryl.

"Why aren't you drinking?" Rick questioned.

"If I drink alcohol, so will the babies," she reasoned. Daryl passed the wine on too. He hated that fruity stuff.

"I'm really happy you're back," Marie told Daryl lowly, resting her hand on his thigh. He looked over at her, trying to hide his smile. He'd missed seeing her so much.

"Happy to be back," he agreed. "An' you," he pointed to Gavin across the table. "Yer gonna have to sleep in yer bed 'gain."

"I was sleeping in my bed," Gavin said innocently, trying not to break a smile.

"Sure ya were," Daryl said playfully.

"This turkey is fantastic," Judd said from the far end of the table. "Who made it?"

"Me and Marie," Kim said.

"Told you I could cook," Marie murmured to Daryl.

"I would like to make a toast to these amazing people for taking us in," Rick said, raising his glass. "All of this is so great."

Everyone else raised their glass and thanked them.

After dinner, Jenna made her way over to Marie.

"Marie," Jenna said quietly. "Is there a place we can talk…In private?" Marie looked at the older blonde hesitantly. She didn't know if she could trust Jenna in the least.

"We can go in my room, but we have to keep our voices down," the younger brunette finally agreed. That way, the babies were there and someone was bound to hear them crying even if Jenna decided to go crazy. Jenna nodded and followed the other woman down the hall to the blue room. Once inside the blonde ran her hands through her hair.

"I'm so, so, so sorry for everything. I feel so horrible for being mean to you. You didn't deserve any of that…You're an amazing person and I should've seen that…"

"Where is all of this coming from?"

"Judd…He told me that you're the one that made the list for who could come…And if you're so amazing that you can allow me to come-after everything I've done to you, I am truly not worthy of knowing someone like you."

Marie was quite shocked, to say the least. She hadn't expected that. "Um…Okay…" She was too shocked to make a coherent response. "I appreciate that." That was the best that it was going to get. "I need some air," she said, fiddling with her spoon ring. Jenna nodded and the two left the room. Marie went up to the roof, just as she did earlier that day. She liked it up there. Sometimes being above ground just made her happy. It could be so stuffy underground. She walked over to the edge and rested her hands on the cold concrete. She looked up at the stars shining above her. It was such a nice night, not too chilly, not too warm. Perfect. The skies were clear enough that she could see every single last shimmering star in the world above.

She suddenly felt the warm embrace of someone behind her. She knew who it was right away, just by his scent, just by the way he held her closely. "Daryl," she breathed outwardly.

"Whatcha doin' up here all 'lone?" he asked her. "Hmm?"

"I just needed some air…How'd you know I was up here?"

"Andrew. Tol' me the whole time I was gone, ya spent most of yer time up here."

"I did." She replied, no knowing what more to say.

"What did Jenna want earlier?"

"She apologized…I was shocked…I mean I wasn't at all prepared for it."

"M'not surprised. She ain't a bad person…I think stuff jus' kinda got to her…"

"And seeing you without your brother stirred it up?" Daryl nodded. "I could see that being true. I forgave her either way…I still can't trust her though…"

AN: Okay, I'm not sure if I'll continue this story much longer. I'm pretty much out of ideas for this. I'm planning to skip forward a year next chapter. Maybe I'll get more ideas then. Please feel free to give me ideas. I will be online for most of the night, feel free to PM me, and if anybody knows any really great, worthwhile stories to read, I'd love to hear about those too. It's been awhile since I've been on for reading purposes. Please review.