Disclaimer: Do not own The Walking Dead or any associated characters. Only what happens with them in my head.

Warnings: Language

Authors Note: I apologize greatly for this chapter having taken so long to post up. I know I mentioned a couple chapters back that I might be slow for a while and it finally hit. I've had a lot of things going on personally which have made me pretty slow and unable to even get to the computer some days to work on anything. I feel badly because I know a lot of you are waiting for updates. With all the drama in my family life, I've also started a new job which is highly demanding and it's taking a lot out of me. Most days when I get home I'm so exhausted that I can barely keep my eyes open, which is just another reason I've been away. I apologize for the delay, sincerely.

Daryl had left at the crack of dawn with Michonne and Carl to go find the bunker again and take whatever supplies they could find within. Beth realized, now that it was mid afternoon, that this was the first real time she and Daryl had been apart since the prison had fallen. She didn't count the time he spent on guard duty on the wall. She didn't count the time he'd been in quarantine. During those times he had still been within Terminus and while there was always a threat, even within the safety of their walls, she'd at least known where he was all the time.

Now? She hadn't a clue. By now he should have found the bunker and raided it, by now he should have been on his way back to Terminus. Did that resolve any of her worry? No. Not in the least bit, especially considering he had Michonne and Carl along. While she trusted that all three were experienced enough to be out away from the community, it didn't make her any less paranoid that something would happen. If only because she knew that anything could happen.

They could run across a herd of walkers, they could run across crazed humans.. hell, if she thought completely logically about it, any of them could have been injured in more ways than she'd ever believe on this simple excursion. She had to continuously remind herself that they were strong, they were great fighters, they were experienced and that they would all make it back. Her primary concern was always Daryl but that didn't mean she didn't worry for the other two as well.

It scared her more than she was going to let on that he might not make it back. It scared her that he was so far from her. Before she'd fallen for him, she might have worried where he'd gone, she might have worried if he was alright, now the fear was nearly crippling. If not for the knowledge that the twins were depending on her for everything Beth might have just curled into bed and stayed there all day.

But she had to be up and around, she had to make sure the boys were happy. Marcus seemed to demand much more attention than his brother and she found that Daryl Jr. was so much like his father just from that simple trait. She knew that at some point it could change, the boys personalities could easily flip over the years until they were completely different from what they were now.

Beth wished for the days when she could have just gone to the supermarket and bought a sling to settle the babies into, it would certainly make it simpler for her to get around during the day. As it was she either had to sit at home and wait for Maggie or Glenn to come home or hope that someone else would show to allow her the ability to get out of the house for a short time. That was probably the most frustrating thing for her as a parent, the inability to leave the house without both children attached to her side. Since both were now close to fifteen pounds a piece it was even more difficult.

The days when she would watch Judith weighed on her more heavily than they would have six months ago. This was due to the fact that Judith was now walking, she was no longer a chubby baby but a toddler. She waddled around and managed to get into everything. If not for the twins she would have been content to allow the little one to bang on the old pots and pans in the kitchen but the noise seemed to irritate Marcus and would send him into a crying fit. So, instead she would have to continuously find quiet activities for Judith so that the boys could continue to get their rest.

If she sat down for more than twenty minutes it was almost an assurance that the little girl was into something she shouldn't have been. Twice already today she'd caught the toddler attempting to play in the toilet. Had it been perfectly clean she might have just resigned herself to cleaning the mess later and allowing the toddler to have some fun before giving her a bath. Unfortunately, the world they lived in didn't much allow for a perfectly clean toilet.

It was honestly a relief when Rick opened the door around 4pm. As soon as he scooped the child into his arms Beth allowed herself to drop into Glenn's chair with a heavy sigh falling from her lips. "Rough day?" He asked as his brows arched faintly.

Beth forced a smile and nodded, "she's walking a lot more than she used to. It gets to be a little difficult chasing her around while trying to feed one of the boys."

"I can find someone else to watch her.." Rick began.

The thought caused a frown to form on her features almost instantly. Beth shook her head, "no, no. I don't mind watching her at all, Rick. It can just be a little stressful. It's fine, really. I love Judith." She amended, hoping that she hadn't caused him any worry.

The frown that etched it's onto his mouth told her that she had, though. "Really, Beth. You have a lot of your own things going on. I should have found someone else to watch her a while ago."

"What better place than here?" She countered.

"She was alright with Mika and Lizzy before.." he began but once more Beth shook her head to silence him.

"They barely have enough people there to keep an eye on the children already there. Besides, it's almost constant that they're teaching the older kids something or running around with the older kids. The boys are closer to Judith's age anyway, within a couple of months they'll all be playing together. Really, it's not a big deal."

"Maybe we just need someone to check in on you more often or give you a hand.." he suggested.

Beth laughed in response, the idea of someone sitting here and helping her all day long was comical. Everyone was already busy with their own things, they didn't need to check up on her and make sure she wasn't losing her mind. The simple thought of having someone with her all day was appealing because she would at least have someone to converse with. Children under two years old didn't offer much as far as coherent conversation was concerned. While the idea was intriguing, Beth also didn't want to take anyone away from their own work.

"I'm fine, Rick. I promise. I love watching Judith and I wouldn't want her anywhere else."

"Alright, if you're sure."

Beth nodded sharply and smiled, "I am."

Rick bounced the toddler on his side, bringing a cheerful little giggle from her as she clutched onto his shirt to steady herself. Beth could tell that he was contemplating leaving and was glad when he chose to settle onto the couch instead. "Other than it being a rough day, how are you?" He asked when his gaze connected with hers.

The girl raised her shoulders in a quick shrug, "alright. A little tired from being up so early and chasing her around the house half the day."

He nodded faintly as he settled the girl onto the floor by his feet. Her small hands began tugging on his boot laces with a look of intense fascination. "You know, I remember after Lori had Carl," he began and fell silent for a moment. Beth understood that not only was he remembering his deceased wife but a better time in this world. A time that they would likely never see again. Rick cleared his throat and gave himself a mental shake before looking back to the blonde, "after Lori had Carl she seemed alright and then she just had this real bad case of baby blues."

This wasn't an unfamiliar term for Beth. Her father had used it when talking about her mother. Her mother had been depressed for a couple of months after she'd had her. According to Sammi it was more common than most people might have believed. Postpartum depression, from what Beth understood it wasn't something that someone easily broke out of and was more than glad that she hadn't had much of any depression.

There had been a couple of low points since the twins were born, though they were the typical sort of things: worry about what could happen to them, worry that she wasn't producing enough, worry that there might be something wrong with one of them and once or twice fear that she was already managing to fail them. She found herself discussing every one of these with Sammi and the woman had smiled at her, shaken her head and stated that as long as she was willing to talk about it, there was less of a chance she would become depressed.

"She got better, though." Beth stated with a smile, looking toward the bright side of things.

Rick nodded and chuckled quietly, "yeah. She ended up seeing a therapist, took some medications and called my mother so that she could babysit while Lori got out of the house."

"Are you suggesting I need to get out more?" She felt a brow slowly arching as she looked at him.

His shoulders rose and fell quickly while shaking his head, "it might be a good thing to get away from the kids for a bit, yeah. Of course, things were a little different then. Lori could store some milk in the fridge or buy formula for Carl. It's a little more difficult for you to do that."

The girl nodded sadly, "it's alright, though. I want to spend every minute I can with them. Of course, I want a long hot shower and a truly good nights sleep, too. I don't think I'll get either of those until they're a little older, though."

"No, not really." He quipped with a laugh. "My father told me before Carl was born that we'd never know a good nights sleep again. So far it's been pretty true."

"Oh, well thanks for giving me a little bit of hope!" Her reply was sarcastic, though there was laughter in her words to show that she was teasing. Rick laughed quietly and raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head.

The two fell silent for a little while, watching Judith play with his boot laces happily. It was amazing how focused a child could become on something so simple. Beth actually wished for television sometimes. The ability to turn on a children's show and just walk out of the room for five minutes and know that the young one was captivated enough by the bright colors and singing voices was probably one of the most appealing things in the world.

She brushed a hand back through her thin hair while wishing she could do something extravagant with it. The girl tried often not to think of the past or the things that she would never accomplish because of the way the world went, but every now and again she found herself thinking of graduations and prom and college parties. Occasions when girls would get their hair done beautifully with nails to match their outfits and pretty make-up. Shoes and purses and jewelry. Of course, she'd never been one for all the 'girly' things, that had been Maggie, but she still found herself thinking about them on occasion.

The difference between thinking of them now and when she'd thought of the things missing from life in the past was that now she didn't get weepy. Beth simply didn't allow the thoughts of what she might have missed out on to get her down. After all, she had so much to be thankful for without dreaming of what if's. She had Daryl, she had her family, she had the boys, she had a life. Things could have been a lot different from the start of all this and she simply had to remind herself every now and again that things were good, considering.

The sound of Rick's thoughtful sigh brought Beth back to the present. She tried to imagine what he could have been thinking about and only two things came to mind. How much longer would the group be gone. Or Michonne. A grin began to pull on the corners of her mouth as she looked over at him, "so... you and Michonne, huh?" She asked almost innocently.

He sighed quietly and shook his head, "Carl tell you?"

"He might have mentioned it at dinner a couple of weeks back." At the blush that formed on his cheeks Beth found herself fighting not to laugh aloud. "Don't worry, he was pretty discreet about it."

"Yeah, but I imagine that everyone knows anyway."

"Maybe not everyone but a good majority of people. If I didn't know you and her, I probably wouldn't have thought it likely. You two have always had a connection, though." She stated, the comment causing him to nod in agreement. Anyone who had known the two back at the prison would have agreed. There was certainly a spark between their leader and their warrior. "It's good to see you happy, Rick."

He looked up at her now with a tiny smile lingering on his lips. "Thanks."

Sammi had stopped by around dinner time with Jon so that she could check in on the babies. She'd told Beth that she missed being able to do the standard tests to make sure everyone was healthy, though she would settle for the knowledge that both babies sounded and looked just fine. Rick had chosen to stay with her for the day to keep her company until Maggie and Glenn had returned from work, so with the house full of others Beth didn't feel quite as alone now. Of course, she knew that Rick hadn't only stayed to keep her company, it was to give himself some as well. Other than Judith his apartment would be empty until Michonne and Carl returned with Daryl and the longer the day wore on, the more both of them began to worry.

The group should have returned, unless they encountered some sort of trouble. Naturally, both of them tried their best not to think of the trouble that they could have run across. Instead they focused on conversing with one another about things they missed or stories from when Carl had been young. They talked of various things that they wished they could see again or were worried to live without.

Sammi coming by had been a bit of a blessing as it gave the both of them a bit more distraction. Rick began a conversation with Jon almost instantly as Sammi leaned over the crib to look in on the sleeping babies. She did her best not to wake them since their mother had only gotten them to sleep an hour or so before. Beth leaned back in Glenn's chair as she listened to the male's conversation.

"That group you were with..?" Rick began, slightly hesitant. Jon nodded to show he was listening. "Why'd you leave them? I heard someone talking about it before, just haven't had the chance to talk to you or your friends about it."

Jon frowned and rubbed at the back of his neck in slight nervousness. "We overheard them talking about these people we were going to start tracking. One of their group had killed one of ours and the guy everyone sort of looked at as the leader started talking about these crazy things he wanted to do to them." His frown deepened as he recalled it. "Our guy turned by the time we went to check on him, damn near bit someone."

Rick nodded softly with a slightly far off look in his eyes. Beth's brows furrowed as she watched him, recalling when he and Carl had first gotten to Terminus and the story they'd told about being on the run from a group of men. Honestly, until now, she had never put the two together. As her gaze shifted toward Jon she realized that Jon may have been a part of the group Rick had been running from.

"Do you remember where that was?" Rick asked now.

Jon's lips turned down as he forced the memory to the front of his mind. "Not really, I mean, it was nothing more than some little town, in some tiny little cul de sac." A hand raised to scratch at his cheek before shrugging his shoulders up quickly. "I just remember Tony saying he'd seen someone under the bed, but he and Len had been fighting over who was going to sleep in it and Len had knocked him out. By the time he'd come to the guy he'd seen was already gone and Lou was dead."

Beth spotted Rick's Adam's apple bob when he swallowed hard, obviously the speech from Jon had confirmed a fear. "And you split with them after that?"

Jon nodded slightly, "about a week or so, yeah. I guess one of the guys had caught sight of the guy who'd killed Lou, he'd been with a woman and a kid and they started talking all these crazy things they were gonna do and.. me and my guys aren't like that. So we high tailed it out." His brows furrowed after a moment as he focused more solely onto Rick's face. "You sure ask a lot of questions." His statement, of course, questioning why.

Rick raised a hand to scratch at the back of his head, "I was a cop before all this." He stated, trying to deflect the attention.

"Yeah, so was I. What's with all the questions? You know something I don't?"

Rick finally frowned while drawing in a breath. His pale eyes danced toward Beth for a moment, spotting her watching them. It wasn't difficult to tell that the girl had already pieced it all together. She'd spent a bit of time with Jon since he'd come to Terminus; the man seemed permanently attached to Sammi's side–when Conrad didn't have him working the wall, that is. The young mother nodded softly to indicate that Rick should continue and he shifted his gaze back toward Jon.

"See, I was holed up in a house a while back, trying to recover. My boy was out scavenging the town with a friend.. a female friend. I heard voices in the house that weren't theirs and I hid because I was too weak to do much more than that. Two guys started fighting over the bed, one choked the other out and I made my way out to escape. Ran into a guy in the bathroom and the guy looked like he was going to try and do some damage.

"I didn't mean to kill him, not really. I just wanted to get out and warn my boy before he got inside, you know? Not long after that group started tracking us." Rick watched Jon for the male's reaction.

Jon frowned and sighed softly, shaking his head. "Look, I'm real sorry they started chasing you guys down. Just know that me and my boys weren't part of that. We didn't want to be."

"When I heard the little bit I did about you, I just needed to be sure you weren't going to be a danger to me and my son."

Jon shook his head again, "I can assure you we won't be. Like I said, we got away from them as soon as we found out what they were really like. We just want to live, not fight every other living person just to get what we want."

Rick nodded, a gentle smile tugging his lips. He extended his hand toward the other man, "I can't remember if we did this or not, but I'm Rick."

Jon smiled a little in return while shaking his hand. "Jon." When his hand was back in his lap a brow rose, "so are we okay?"

Beth knew how difficult of a choice this was for Rick. He had a hard time letting people get too close, especially now that a lot of the people he had been close with had betrayed him. Harshly, at that. So many more were gone, now. She was glad to see that he nodded to the question and couldn't stop the soft smile that tugged her lips in response. While there was still a hint of worry that Jon's old group could happen upon Terminus and attempt to do some damage to Rick, Carl and Michonne, Beth was glad to know that there were enough people here that would defend them.

She only looked away from the two men when she heard the soft cry of one of the infants in the next room as Sammi stood over the crib looking down at them. With a silent sigh, the girl rose from the chair and slipped out of the room to check on her children.

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