Quick Disclaimer- I do not own Daryl Dixon, The Walking Dead, or any of it's characters

Well-The honeymoon is over...back to reality for the family.

Daryl and Anna woke up naked and intertwined with each other still basking in the glory of the previous night's lovemaking. Unfortunately, today was a day that they would have to get back to reality. It sucked that they couldn't take a few more days to enjoy the perks of being newly married, but there really wasn't time to spare when they had a new threat looming against them.

Daryl sat down at the table and was quickly devouring the food that Viv and Isabella left for them. Apparently he had worked up quite an appetite the night before. Anna laughed hysterically as he wolfed down bite after bite without even looking up.

"Hey, just because you are a married man now doesn't mean that you can let yourself go. If you get fat you are just going to make yourself easier for the Walkers to catch you." She joked.

Daryl laughed and pulled him self away from his plate, "Um, Sorry, it just tasted so damn good. Your family can cook so fucking good."

"Yeah, hopefully we can get ourselves back into this house with Hunter and get our privacy back and then I will prove my own cooking skills to you. Speaking of privacy, I need to pump, my boobs are killing me…"Anna said.

Daryl couldn't help but notice how swollen and tantalizing her breasts were. He had to turn away so as to not start something again, especially since Joe would be up to the house in less than hour to take them back. He really did hate the lack of privacy that they had staying down at the Big House, but he also knew that for now this was the safest option for his family.

"Hey, we have a little less than hour before Joe gets here, you wanna conserve water and take a shower with me?" Anna suggested.

"Don't have to ask me twice!" Daryl said as he grabbed Anna's hand and pulled her into the bathroom. Clothes were discarded rapidly while the water warmed up. The solar panels had been working fine since there hadn't been any rain or snow in the last week.

As the hot water began to pour over their bodies Daryl and Anna began to move together under the stream of water. Daryl had lifted Anna up and she wrapped her legs around his waste as he braced her against the wall. He quickly slid into her hot center and began to pump into her quickly. They would have loved to take their time, but with Joe coming over in a short period of time, they didn't have that luxury. Fortunately both of them were so ready for each other's bodies that they both achieved orgasm in short order. Daryl was rinsing Anna's hair when they heard Joe enter the house. Damn. He was early.

They both got dressed quickly and walked out of the bathroom together. Joe gave them both a knowing look and gave Daryl a big pat on the back.

"You should have left a tie on the door- post or something to give me a warning, I could have come back you know…" He said.

They both laughed politely, but couldn't fully disguise their disappointment. They loaded up their belongings, packed up the left over food, and headed back to her Aunt and Uncle's house. Yes, they were going to have to get back up to their own house shortly.

When they got back to the main house, Marty pulled Joe and Daryl into a meeting out on the covered porch. It was time to get back to business to determine what their next options were going to be. Marty started the conversation as Joe and Daryl both lit up a cigarette.

"Ok, we had our party yesterday, now it's time to get down to the business at hand. We need to determine what we are dealing with. If these fellows from Laurel Springs have joined forces with the crazies at McGrady, we will not be able to just go in and take out the town. We would be exposing ourselves and there is no way we can handle a group of that size. My first suggestion is that Daryl and I go down to McGrady. We have to determine what is going on with our closest threat." Joe and Daryl both agreed that this was the best plan of action.

Daryl then spoke up, "I think after we go down to check out McGrady, then we need to have a direct conversation with the women and let them know what is going on. If we decide that the best option is to leave, then they need to be mentally prepared to go. What we have up here is an uncommon luxury and it's gonna be tough if we have to go out and start surviving. I know Anna had to do it for almost a year before we returned up here, but I don't know how Viv and Isabella would handle living like that."

Joe rubbed his chin before he spoke, "They could handle it if they had too, but it's been a while since they have had to rough it. Even on our way down here we had various safe houses we could stay at through Gus's Prepper connections. But those were just temporary travel conditions. Both girls grew up together dirt poor and on a farm. They know how to survive if they had too, don't forget they did butcher those animals you caught right before you got stabbed. I'm not saying they would like it, but they could do it."

Daryl nodded in acknowledgment, "Good to know. Those ladies surprise me everyday. All these women in this family do, nothing seems to get them down."

Marty then added in, "That's because family is what they cherish the most. Now don't get me wrong, they like their shiny things, but they would let those go in a second if it meant keeping family together. That's why they are so content right now, its because we have you, Anna, and the baby with us, and you are part of this family."

Marty's words resonated with Daryl. He felt exactly the same way about all of them, which is why it was so important to find out what they were dealing with. The McGrady folks had proven to be vicious killers and had a psychotic streak that seemed to run through each and everyone of them.

Gus had left Sheila Lyles alive out of compassion, and the repayment he received was a brutal murder. If they hadn't been so hell bent on revenge they probably would have cannibalized him, which was something that Daryl couldn't even fathom in his mind.

He knew of stories about people eating dead humans out of desperation for survival, but with all the fish, game, and wild edibles around here, there wasn't any need to go that far. There was definitely something wrong with these people's DNA and he guessed it had to do with inbreeding for so many years.

The men all enjoyed one last cigarette and a shot of scotch, and then Daryl and Marty went to say goodbye to their women. Daryl found Anna sitting on the front porch in a rocking chair with Hunter. She was singing sweetly to their daughter and it brought back memories of Beth singing to ease little Ass Kicker back when he was at the prison. He hadn't really thought too much about the group over the past few weeks and he really wished he had a way to get in contact with them to see if they were OK.

He felt bad that him and Rick had parted on strained terms, but he didn't regret his decision to take care of Anna. She was alone and needed help, and Daryl was more than just a little disappointed in how Rick reacted. All things being said, it worked out for him and Anna, but that didn't mean that he still didn't worry about his other family. Anna had mentioned that there were eleven other homes up on the mountain and he wondered if there were any way possible he could move the group up here. Of course, he would discuss it with the family and see what their reaction would be. He felt Anna would be a little less than enthusiastic about inviting the group here based on how Rick refused to accept her at the prison. However, he would discuss it with her anyway after they had determined what type of threat they were dealing with in McGrady and Laurel Springs.

Daryl was brought back to reality when Anna cleared her throat, "Hey Baby," she said. "You looked like you were a million miles away. What's up"

"Marty and I are going to do some scouting around the area to see if there are any more imminent threats. We will be gone a couple of hours. I just wanted to let you know and say goodbye to my ladies."

"Are you sure you're up to it? You had quite a strenuous night last night and I don't want you to over exert yourself. You are still healing up."

"I'm fine. I promise. Besides, laying around is driving me crazy and it might effect my good natured personality" He joked.

Anna stood up and walked over to him. She handed him Hunter and then wrapped her arms around him and held him in a tight embrace. "I love you Daryl Dixon. Don't you ever forget that."

Daryl kissed her deeply, "And I love you Anna Dixon. So don't you ever forget that! And I love you my little sweet girl." He said to Hunter as he kissed her on the forehead.

Marty and Daryl loaded up one of the 4WD vehicles that they had procured a few weeks back. Viv had packed them each lunches and waters and placed a cooler in the back. The men loaded up the weapons and some other supplies they would need for bushwhacking through the last mile to McGrady. They also brought a handheld radio.

Joe was going to monitor everything from the house and keep coordinates on their position. If something happened, he would evacuate the house and get the women out and go in the opposite direction towards Traphill. It was unlikely that anything would go wrong since Daryl and Marty were just going to observe, but they wanted to be prepared just in case.

They drove the SUV down to where the bridge across the creek had been washed out. From there Daryl and Marty proceeded on foot for the last mile before they got the McGrady city limits. Neither one of them were prepared for what they found. They cautiously entered into the town to find almost all of the homes burned to the ground and fifty bodies littering the streets. All of them had gunshot wounds to the head and all of them were men and boys. They couldn't find a single remnant of a female anywhere.

Both Marty and Daryl looked at each other with a look of horror on their faces. They immediately retreated out of sight and pushed themselves to get back across the creek to the SUV. The town had been decimated and they suspected who had attacked. The most disturbing fact was what these assholes were doing with the females, including the children. It sickened both of them, to the point that Daryl felt himself growing nauseous.

This revelation changed things drastically. They had no choice, they were going to have to find out what exactly was going on in Laurel Springs, and if it was as bad as they now suspected, they were going to have to leave or find a way to build an army of their own. Either way it meant some or all of them were going to have to leave the comfort of the mountain for a while and he wasn't looking forward to breaking the news to Anna.

Hope you all enjoyed this chapter...have a great evening and happy reading.

Please feel free to review. I mean, feel REALLY free to review. It's addictive!