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

Warnings: Language

Authors Note: I know that it's been some time since I've updated and I really truly do apologize for that. I've been working 12 hour days, 7 days a week. So between work and trying to have a bit of family time, plus still dealing with a bit of my own personal stuff, it's been difficult to even get to the computer. I am working on the next update as well, and I sincerely apologize again for it having been so long. Hopefully there's still some readers out there. Enjoy!

Everything seemed so quiet. Maggie and Glenn were working still, Jon and Sammi had gone hours ago and Rick was settled on the couch with Judith, watching the little girl play with a wooden horse they had found on their last run. The twins were sleeping and Beth frowned as dusk set in, casting an eerie glow in the house. Daryl should have been back by now, right? Maybe. Unless they ran into some sort of trouble.

Beth took in a slow breath as she paced the living room in thought, her arms crossed over her chest. With as silent as it had been in the house, save for Judith thunking the horse against the floor every now and again, Beth hadn't expected Rick's deep voice to ring through the room and when it did she jumped. "Why don't you go for a walk? Being cooped up in the house isn't helping you."

Stopping herself from continued pacing Beth moved to lean against the couch, looking down at him and shaking her head in response. "I can't..."

"You can." Rick interrupted. He knew that she was worried about the twins and how long it would take to pack them up to go for a small walk, but he hadn't been insinuating that she take them along. "Just go. I'll keep an eye on the boys, take a break. Go walk around the wall, talk to Sammi or Lizzie or something. Just get out of the house for a little bit."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." His voice held a hint of laughter, "just go."

Beth considered it for several moments longer, then a soft sigh escaped her lips as she nodded. "Alright.. thank you, Rick." She reached out and patted his shoulder before making her way to the door. After stepping outside into the fading sunshine the woman took in a deep breath in the hopes of calming her nerves. Her pale eyes closed as she tilted her face toward the sky, capturing some of those last rays of sun. When she opened her eyes again and they had adjusted she spotted a semi-familiar face walking down the sidewalk as if to pass their house. "Hello, Anna." She smiled gently while climbing off the porch.

"Beth, how are you?" The young girl asked as the green eyes darted over the elder blonde's face.

Beth found herself shrugging slightly as she walked down the path away from the house. "Alright, I suppose. You?"

Anna shrugged her shoulders up as well, "making it through the day. Spent most of mine working in the fields and trying not to worry about Carl."

"You two are getting really close, huh?" She asked with an arch forming in her brow.

"Mm." Anna nodded in agreement while glancing away. Beth could easily spot the blush that had formed on her cheeks, though pretended not to have noticed it. "Do.. do you know when they're supposed to be back?"

Beth sighed softly and shook her head as she finally stepped up beside the girl. She motioned with one hand for the two of them to keep walking, needing to get herself moving. "Not really. They could have run into car trouble, Daryl's pretty good at fixing them up so it shouldn't take too long if that's the case. Or they could have run into some other trouble and need to camp out for the night. It happens. We'll know something sooner or later." She promised, hoping to sate Anna's concern as well as her own. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to do much of anything for either girl.

"So, what are you doing out here?" Anna asked, glancing back toward the house. The younger woman knew Beth well enough from their various walks and meetings through town. Beth often took the twins for a walk around Terminus to get herself out of the house and allow them some fresh air and sunshine. She often ran into Anna with Carl and the two found themselves talking when the male wasn't around. Of the new arrivals Anna was closest to Beth in age and it was a little easier for the two to connect.

Beth chuckled as she glanced back to the house, "I think I'm driving Rick crazy with my pacing. He's watching all the kids so I can have a little bit of time out, hopefully to distract myself."

"That's kind of what I'm doing," Anna commented while she walked alongside the other girl. "I've already walked through town five different times today." Her hand rose to brush back through her pale hair. "Doesn't seem to be enough going on to distract, though."

Beth nodded her head in agreement as her eyes fell onto the wall, watching Conrad slowly make his way around. She spotted Gavin in the distance and Rosie's bright red hair a little further along. "So where did your group live before Terminus?" She asked in the hopes of distracting the both of them.

Anna laughed quietly and shook her head, "nowhere, really. I mean, me and my sister were from Florida. After everything fell apart and the dead started coming back we just.. we never really lived anywhere. We sort of just grouped up with people and kept on the move. No place ever really seemed safe before." The girl shifted her gaze to the wall as if to clarify the 'safe' part. "Did you guys really live in a prison?" She asked when her attention turned back onto Beth, more excitement in her tone than probably should have been necessary.

"We did. There were a lot more of us then." She replied, her mind drifting to those that had been lost since the farm. Beth took in a slow breath as she looked to the ground, watching their shadows stretch ahead of them. She'd just opened her mouth to say more when a shout on the wall drew her attention away from Anna.

"Open it!" Conrad was shouting to Gavin and another guard that Beth couldn't make out right away. Both began pulling at the rope that would hoist the trap door to allow someone to enter by vehicle from the other side of the wall. Beth felt her heart skip a beat with the worry that it wouldn't be Daryl and the anticipation that it was. Without taking a moment to hesitate the young blonde took off at a run toward the wall with Anna on her heels.

When she skidded to a stop less than thirty seconds later it was to see the van that Daryl had left in early that morning, but that wasn't what caused the girl to stop so abruptly. What had caused her to stop short was the bullet holes in the driver's side doors. "Daryl!?" Her voice was more shrill than she realized as she attempted to push through the gathering crowd.

It felt as though he'd been driving for hours on end with no break in between. It wouldn't have been so bad if his ass didn't hurt from sitting in the same position for the last three hours, but if he'd moved it would have dug the arrow in his stomach a little deeper which caused more pain than he was willing to deal with. He'd contemplated pulling it out, but wasn't sure if it were wedged against something vital and figured it would be safer to have Sammi or one of the other docs pull it out after making sure Carl was alright.

The kid continued to proclaim that he was completely and utterly fine, that there was little to no pain and that he wasn't worried about himself, but worried more about Daryl after the shock of having run into his father. Daryl was doing the best he could not to think about his old man, or the fact that he was going to have to explain to Rick that it was his father who had been tracking them down for months.

Michonne seemed to be fine, merely worried about both the men, more so Daryl due to his silence. She was certain that once his mind had settled a little more and he'd had a bit more time to think about it all, he would be willing to let them in. At least, she hoped he would. Sometimes it was hard to tell with Daryl since he kept most things bottled in.

As the van bounced over the high grass beside the wall Daryl fought to keep the pained sounds to himself as the jostling dug at the arrow in his side. Less than two minutes later and they had pulled the car through the small underground tunnel and emerged into the light inside the city. Before Daryl had even cut the engine people were beginning to gather to see who had arrived and what had been brought with them.

He breathed deeply as he struggled to get the energy to climb back out of the van, to stretch his limbs back out as all of them were completely sore from sitting still for so long. Michonne had already pulled the back door open and was climbing out when Conrad dropped down the ladder and rushed toward them. "Get Sammi." Daryl heard the samurai tell their Captain in a low voice. He assumed it was to keep others from hearing and panicking. They certainly didn't need that.

Conrad glanced toward the bloodied Carl and then to Daryl who forced a smile before nodding and signaling for someone to come closer. Seconds later he saw Rosie's bright red hair bob into view, then vanish again with the orders from Conrad.

"You weren't kidding about that place being loaded, Dixon." Conrad said as he leaned into the backseat, "you doin' okay, kid?" He asked, having seen the blood soaking Carl's shirt.

The youngest male nodded quickly, putting on that brave face that Daryl knew was nothing more than a front. He'd seen it far more times than he could count in the time he had known the boy and was glad to know that Carl had toughened up to the world around him without becoming hard and cruel. It was a relief to see when it was so simple for someone to fall into darkness. "I'm fine. Where's my dad?"

"Last I knew he was sittin' at Beth's with her and the kids." Conrad's pale brows furrowed as he shifted to stand back to his full height so that he could look over the top of the van. He'd heard the shrill cry of the all too familiar blonde. "Speak of the devil," he murmured as Beth pushed herself through the crowd and to the drivers door.

Daryl glanced over just as the girl reached for the handle and adjusted his hand low enough in the hopes of covering, at the very least, the majority of the blood so that the people standing around the van wouldn't see. They didn't need people in hysterics. Nevertheless, Beth gasped at the sight of the arrow before her gaze snapped upward to meet with his. Her natural instinct was to pull the unsightly thing from his body but her training with Sammi had told her that they needed to be certain it hadn't caused any internal damage first.

"What happened?" She asked in a whisper that she wished could have been lower.

"Ran into a bit'a trouble." He told her with a forced laugh on his lips.

Beth quickly looked toward the back where Michonne still sat with Carl, her eyes widening at the blood that had soaked through her friends shirt. "Bows and guns? Who'd you run into?" She asked quietly, not really expecting an answer from them.

"Can you get my dad?" She heard from the back, frowning as she tried to think of how to get Rick out here without having to drag all three children along. Her eyes scanned the crowd quickly, darting from face to face before landing on a familiar one.

"Sasha," she called while waving the older woman over. Sasha's dark brows furrowed as she pushed her way through the small crowd to get closer. "Would you be willing to sit at my house with Judith and the twins?"

Sasha's expression turned toward confusion before her gaze danced to the vans interior and landed on the bloodied men. With a sharp nod of her head she turned on heel and ran toward Beth's just as Sammi pushed through the group. "What's happened?" The doctor asked as she stepped up toward Beth, setting her bag onto the hood.

"Oh, nothing, we were just playing around and managed to shoot each other." Carl muttered from the backseat. Of course, his low tone easily carried through the air.

Sammi frowned darkly toward the boy before nudging Beth aside to assess the damage to Daryl's side. The fingers of one hand gently pressed against the edges of the wound while the other held onto his wrist to check his blood pressure. She flashed a brief glance toward Beth, "go get his vitals," and nodded back toward Carl. "It's not in that deep, looks like it lodged just under the skin. How's the arm?" She asked while pointing to the wound on his forearm.

Daryl shrugged lightly as her hands went to the wound, checking the amount of damage. Before the doctor could speak again Beth's voice rang from the back, "bullet wound to the lower right side, exit in the back. Looks like most of the bleeding has stopped, though it could do with some cleaning. Large chunk of cartilage and flesh missing from the left ear, moderate blood loss. BP 120-palp, heart rate 102."

"How do you feel, Carl?" Sammi asked without looking toward the boy. Naturally, she would go back over Beth's work to be sure that nothing had been missed, but she trusted the blonde enough for the moment.

Carl sighed, as if in irritation, while looking out the window for his father, "fine. I said before it went right through"

"Still needs looked at." She reached for her bag on the hood and dug through it for only a moment before pulling out a roll of gauze and some salve. After applying some to Daryl's arm, she rolled the gauze around it. "Keep this clean for a couple of days, we'll look at it again later. Any more pain in it, come get me right away." The doctor advised, then turned her attention back to the arrow in his side. "Sorry, I don't have anything to kill the pain here.."

Daryl let out a gentle sigh, steeling himself for the pain that was sure to come when the doctor pulled that arrow from his side. His fingers gripped onto the steering wheel as he forced his body to relax, knowing that it would come out simpler and cleaner if he weren't tensed. It certainly wouldn't be the first time he'd had to have an arrow yanked from him. "Jus' do it." He told her.

His eyes fell closed as he tried to think about something else and no sooner had his mind begun to drift away he felt the faint tearing in his skin that caused him to groan as he white knuckled the steering wheel. Beth leaned up and placed one hand on his shoulder, the other was resting on Carl's knee. "How are you doing back there, Carl?" Sammi asked again as she quickly threaded a needle to sew up Daryl's wound.

"Still fine." Truthfully, Carl almost sounded bored. Just as the doctor began stitching into Daryl's skin, Rick rushed into view and nearly barreled over Beth to get to his son. He barely paid attention to Michonne, or anyone else for that matter. "Hey, dad." A smile traced the boy's lips as he looked up at his father, who stared back in worry.

Rick glanced toward Sammi, then to Beth after having seen the blood on his sons shirt and face. "Why isn't someone doing something?" He asked fretfully.

"Because as far as we can tell your son is just fine, Rick." Sammi assured without taking her eyes away from the task at hand. At first Daryl had twitched and even flinched a little as she'd stitched the wound, but the further along she went the more numb to the pain it became until he did little more than wince slightly as the needle jabbed into his side.

Daryl looked to his friend with a small frown tugging at his thin lips. He knew better than anyone just how much Rick worried over his son, he'd seen the emotional wreck that his friend had become when Carl had been shot that first time before they'd gotten to the farm. Rick Grimes had been shot three times in his life, only one of which had been life-threatening, and all of those had told him that any shot could be fatal if not taken care of quickly enough. In the end, he had to trust their doctor's judgment above all in that Daryl's injury was much more severe than Carl's.

"It's fine, dad." Carl reassured his father with a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.

Rick sent a small glare in his sons direction that quickly evaporated with a sigh before turning his attention toward Daryl. "What happened?"

It was the youngest who answered, sounding just as bored as he had before, "how many times are we going to hear that question?"

"Until we get a straight answer," was Beth's reply.

Michonne frowned softly as her dark eyes danced toward the crowd that had gathered then shifted back to Rick, their eyes held for a moment before she shook her head. "Maybe we should have this conversation without so many people listening in." Her voice was soft enough not to carry past those directly around the van. After a sigh of resignation Rick nodded in agreement.

"Conrad should prob'ly be there.." Daryl murmured with a half glance toward Michonne. As their captain and protector of the city, the man had more right than just about anyone else to be there.

The Captain, having stood close by enough to hear the whole conversation took a deep breath before looking around at the gathered crowd, "Rosie, Gavin gather up a couple others and start clearin' out this van.. take stock of what we got here. Everyone else," he called to get their attention, "show's over, you'll know something soon enough, get back to work."

The crowd slowly began to disperse as Sammi moved her attention from Daryl's wounds to Carl's. As far as she could see, Beth had been right. There was no real, extensive damage to the boy. "You were lucky," she murmured while looking at the bullet's entry and exit holes to gauge and be sure that it wouldn't have hit anything vital. When she was certain that the boy would live her gaze raised to his ear, frowning darkly as she looked it over. "I'm afraid there's nothing to be done about that.. you'll be lopsided."

Despite the circumstances Carl couldn't help the small grin that began to twitch at the corners of his lips. The fact that the doctor could find a little humor in the situation was entertaining to him. His gaze raised to his father's, noting the hard line around the man's mouth, and felt his own tighten. By the time Sammi had cleared Carl the majority of the crowd had gone which left Daryl, Beth, Michonne, Rick, Conrad, Sammi, Carl and Conrad. Daryl had stood and had one arm draped around his wife's shoulder, the other rested against the side of the van as he worked feeling back into his toes. Rick and Sammi helped Carl to climb out of the back of the van so that he could stand and stretch a little.

"So...?" Rick pressed as he carefully held his sons arm to make sure the boy didn't fall. "What happened?"

Both Carl and Michonne shifted their attention onto Daryl, the three silent for a spell as they tried to figure out who would be the one to tell it. Finally, Carl cleared his throat. "Well, getting to the place Daryl had talked about was easy, didn't have any trouble getting there or getting the stuff."

"But?" Beth urged the boy on.

"I found some fishing poles and thought we'd try and get some fresh fish back here. On the way back here we found a pretty big pond and stopped to try and catch some."

"Just get to the point," Conrad interrupted, "how'd you and Daryl get shot?"

Carl glared in Conrad's direction before turning his gaze back to Daryl. The elder male swallowed hard and glanced around at the group. Even on his good days he had a hard time talking in front of crowds, especially about something that had the potential to be emotional. Talking about his father was always emotional. Daryl realized at that moment that all eyes were on him now, waiting on him to say more. He took in a deep breath, then cleared his throat while attempting to stall. "Michonne an' Carl were out on the water tryin' to fish an' I was lookin' to hunt somethin' in the woods around it. I found a walker with it's head cut off, the head was still makin' noise an' so I knew that meant there had to be someone else around." He glanced toward Rick, who's jaw had clenched tightly in anticipation. "I counted off the tracks on the ground and knew there had to be more'n a couple of 'em.

"Soon as I realized that I high-tailed it back to the lake an' got 'em to come back to shore so we could get outta there. Barely made it to the car before they came up on us.. turns out they was the guys that was chasin' you guys down before." Daryl stated, for the moment leaving out the fact that the leader was his father.

"That doesn't explain how you guys were shot." Beth stated, gingerly rubbing her husbands back.

Daryl swallowed hard and looked at Michonne who nodded softly for him to continue. "Like I said, they was the guys chasin' after Rick an' Carl before, we only knew that because they recognized Carl.. well, not really recognized him but figured he looked familiar since he looks like Rick an' all. An' I wouldn't let Carl get outta the car cause.. well.. I.." once more the male glanced to Michonne and then Carl before he continued, "I knew the guy leadin' 'em.."

He opened his mouth to say more but everyone else began asking him various questions all at once. Carl sighed loudly between Daryl and Rick and pushed his way to stand in front of the older male. "Hey! Give him a break here, he can't really answer if you don't stop!" He called over them all, which also silenced the lot.

Beth squeezed her husbands hand softly and reassuringly in the hopes that it would help. He brushed a hand quickly over his short hair and shifted his gaze down to the petite blonde. "He's my ol' man."

"What?" Beth asked, her voice suddenly void of emotion. She knew just what kind of person William Dixon was, she knew what he had done to Daryl and his brother, Merle, as children. What was worse was that she remembered Daryl's statement from so many months ago that most of the truly good people that had been a part of this world were gone and those that were left had been hardened. She could only imagine just how a man who had been so truly horrible before all of this could be shaped into even more of a monster in this world. "He didn't follow you guys, did he?" She asked, wide-eyed.

Michonne shook her head a little, "I think that we lost them, but.. we can't be completely sure." She told the group.

All eyes turned toward the wall, wondering if they were as safe as they'd thought behind it.

As always, reviews are appreciated.