September 30, 2010

~*~ CP ~*~

Carol startles at the unexpected noise from the door being shoved open too hard. Even more odd is that it's Jazz behind the noise and not one of the younger kids. He gets the door closed, but his movements are jerky and he doesn't acknowledge Lori at all.

He stumbles into Carol's office and curls up on the beanbag. That's when she realizes he's crying. She rounds the desk and drops to her knees to rub tentatively at his back. When he flings arms around her middle and bury his face in her stomach as he cries, she maneuvers to sit on the beanbag too.

Lori's at the door, hovering, as worried about the boy as Carol is. Jazz is so even keeled that this outburst of emotion is unusual and alarming.

The door opens again, but it's Abby who enters this time. She spots Jazz in Carol's lap and wraps her own arms around Lori as best she can.

"Sophia is mean," the girl declares. "She yelled at Jazz and made him cry."

Lori and Carol exchange looks, figuring something's come to a head with their mutual crush.

Lori pats Abby's head. "Let's go find your Uncle Merle. We'll send him to talk to Sophia." She leads the upset child out of the office and Carol hears the lock slide into place on the outer door after she leaves.

"Jasper?" she says softly, petting his silky dark hair. He soothes at the touch.

"She doesn't believe me that I don't want to date Beth," he mumbles.

Ah. Jazz's popularity with the young ladies of Homestead is equaled only to his complete lack of return interest. He's polite, friendly, and at the wedding, danced with several of the girls near his age after the family dances.

She's also fairly sure, thanks to Maggie, that Beth's interest in the young man is entirely friendly. She's almost seventeen, and currently seems to have her eye on Gage Eldridge. The twenty-year-old farm kid doesn't seem all that uninterested either.

"Do you want me to talk to her?"

"Maybe she'll listen to you." His voice is muffled because he's making no move away from being held by her.

"You know she has a crush on you?" She's fairly certain he does, but she should verify.

He finally moves away, but stays close, trying to curl his tall frame into hers. She takes the hint and drapes her arms across his broad shoulders.

"She's only thirteen."

"Thirteen and aware that a lot of the girls want your attention."

"Beth isn't one of them or I wouldn't have made her a birthday present."

It's sweet and sad that he's so very aware of how the females around him work. "What did you make her?"

"Molasses cookies. Patricia says they're her favorite, but Maggie's are butter pecan."

"And Patricia's?" Carol has a feeling he knows everyone's, but the point now is to distract him.

"Shortbread. But it's Beth's birthday tomorrow."

Carol's helping Maggie and Patricia with the supper, which expanded to include all the Dixons at Beth's request. She can also see why the youngest Greene gets along so well with Jazz.

Whereas Sophia's interests, much like Carol's, are wide and varied, it's becoming more and more obvious that Jazz is going to apprentice to Hershel. Sophia spends her downtime bouncing from the building crew to Daryl's supply runs that double as hunting and fishing training to firearms lessons with anyone willing to train her.

Jazz, once things were settled so he wasn't at risk of being overworked, still spends his time between the animals and building crew. The studying he's been doing turned out to be veterinary textbooks, so Hershel is spending an hour each day with him and Beth, who has decided to learn enough to be an assistant.

Maybe staggering Sophia's and Jazz's duty schedule and off days so that they spend a little time with others isn't the best scenario. But she is trying to avoid Sophia overwhelming the boy. That plan's officially failed.

She fluffs his hair a little and presses a kiss to his temple. "Sophia is still learning about having freedom to do whatever she likes, and you've been absolutely wonderful with that, sweetheart, but what she did today isn't acceptable. I'll talk to her and your father will talk to her, and if that doesn't work, I'll set the girls on her."

"That's kinda mean," he says. He picks at the seam of his cargo pants. "I do like Sophia, but I know what it would look like. Everyone here knows how old I am, but..."

"I wish you hadn't learned to worry about that. But that's what you need to remember now. Everyone here knows you. No one's going to be upset that you like Sophia." Because Carol can't imagine a better first returned crush for her daughter.

"You wouldn't be? She's supposed to be my sister now."

"Honey, I love you as much as if you were mine from birth, but I think you liking Sophia actually has precedence over me being with your father."

He stiffens a little and she worries stating her affection might be more than he's ready to hear. But then he moves to hug her, mumbling, "Love you, too, mama."

Carol isn't happy that Sophia upset Jazz enough for him to cry, but she is happy that he chose her as his safe place to go to. Since he's making no move to leave, she's just going to sit here and enjoy time with her son.

~*~ MD ~*~

Merle steps into the big barn and sees Beth lingering outside one of the stalls. She looks relieved to see him and he shoos her away with a soft thank you for not leaving Sophia to her temper and hurt feelings. The blonde teenager gives him a sweet smile as she leaves.

He eases the door open to the empty stall to find his own blonde teenager curled up in a little ball of weeping misery. He slides down to sit beside her, reaching out to shake her ankle gently.

"Need to talk about it, princess?"

She shakes her head, but he ends up with his arms full and his shirt growing damp. Funny how even the apocalypse doesn't change a daughter's need for comfort. So, he rubs her back, mulling over Abby's angry assessment of Sophia's tantrum. He's kind of glad that Lori netted that particular child to calm down.

"Phia... I can't fix it if you don't talk to me."

"I wish I was older."

"I can't help with that, but I'm glad you aren't. I figure on having a few more years being the most important guy in your life."

As expected, it makes her giggle a little. "Jazz is older."

"Yes, he is, sweetheart, but you can't rush things. If he likes you too, either he'll wait for you to catch up or he won't, and if he doesn't, that'll be his loss. Being jealous of his friendships is probably a way to guarantee it's your loss, though." Jazz is loyal and he likes Sophia, but if she keeps this up, he'll lose that affection he holds for her.

"Beth's always with him. She's older and doesn't look like a little kid. And her dad likes him too."

Well, that explains probably most of the issue, the comment about Beth's looks. Sophia has her mother's delicate build, and Carol once bemoaned she was nearly twenty before she stopped looking twelve. Honey made similar complaints at Sophia's age, especially in contrast to her sisters, who despite the Chamorro dominance of their coloring, remind Merle of his own mother more than their own.

"Maybe you need to ask Jazz how he feels about Beth instead of assuming he likes her as more than a friend." He smoothes her hair, which is escaping braids, and she raises up finally to look at him.

"But she's so pretty and older, and he spends a lot of his time with her."

He smiles at the sweet description of what makes a potential 'couple' to her and is glad for the experience of older daughters. "I spend a lot of time with Amy and she's a pretty woman, but that doesn't mean I ever would see her like I do your mother."

He knows he could solve half of this by the revelation that Hershel told him Gage is sweet on Beth and it's mutual, but she needs to sort it out without that sort of outside fix.

She looks suddenly ashamed of herself. "I made him cry."

"Guess that means you owe him an apology before your explanation then. But he's going to need some time first, so you're going to go help me do the composting toilet round."

She wrinkles her nose, but accepts what is certainly a punishment duty for a teen already done with their work day. It'll give her time to think over what she needs to say, and Jazz time under Carol's gentle care to feel up to hearing it.

~*~ DD ~*~

Merle drops into the seat across from Daryl and grins. "Trust you to make us iron out a new set of credit for our folks, Daryl. But needed to be done. You still sure about this?"

Daryl nods. "Can't stay cooped up forever. Want to get this done for her before the baby comes."

"Well, priority on independent housing is for larger families, two kids or more, so you're covered there if you're determined to see this out. What's she think?"

"Wanted to get it approved first. No point in getting her hopes up. Cabin kit will make enough room for us. Carl too, if he gets tired of the boys' bunkhouse in your basement." He doesn't want to predict the near teenager's intent once Lori's no longer in the main house. He doesn't stay overnight with his father at all, part of why Rick moved to a smaller unit.

"Well, priority is going to you two and Morales due to impending stork arrivals. There's three Grady mamas that'll appreciate more space eventually. Lenore is happy as is. Figure eventually we'll be secure enough for her to move back home, so she's not wanting to hold up the queue. Think Arthur likes having his grandson with him anyway."

"How's the credit work?" Like most Dixons and supply runners, Daryl's got so many non-obligatory hours logged he may not ever use them up.

"Foundation work will be laid by the building crew for both cabins this week. They'll pull the crew's hours out of your reserve, since I'm going to run them past their usual six for it. Any extra help on putting your cabin kit together, you donate hours to their reserve, unless you make another arrangement. Every family is eligible for one kit or similar without a hit to their reserve."

"Sounds fair." Daryl's supply team found the first half dozen kits at a marina that was planning a campground expansion on yesterday's run. Glenn's team was rerouted today to follow the address the kits came from. While the big 2,500 square foot models wouldn't work, they found another dozen in inventory of the smaller kits. The materials from the larger models might be repurposed, too.

"Haven't done an actual log kit before, but I reckon we can get yours done in a month, if the family takes turns pitching in. Probably give Morales a few free hours too. Carol wants to learn a bit."

"Woman wants her fingers in all the pies, don't she?" Daryl smiles, though. Carol's busy schedule just solidifies her status in the Homestead. She covers an off day for two of the medical staff to spend time learn from the doctor on duty in addition to her regular duties.

"She's still spreading her wings." Merle's content smile fades a little. "You do aim for challenges, don't you?"

Daryl stiffens, until Merle's hand lands on his forearm in a comforting squeeze.

"Not saying there's anything wrong with where you're headed. Might not look it to the general observer. But you two fit, and I think a bit of privacy is probably what you both need."

"We're not... together."

"Yet. Woman's just waiting on you to catch up to where she already is. Might want to think on it before she decides you don't want her."

"Ain't that. It's just complicated."

"Now that sounds like where I nearly talked myself outta being with Carol. It's only complicated if you let it be. Simple question is do you want her and does she want you, because the usual parent bits don't apply. Both your kids already adore you both."

"Think you can keep Abby busy this evening?"

"Figure I might be able to. Got those kittens Glenn brought back."

"Man's a critter magnet. Best that he's hooked up with a vet's girl."

"Shane's wanting to make a run down to the Greene farm, see what's salvageable. Hershel agreed since we got that high security mesh up around the horse farm last week. Might have to add some border patrol to the work rosters, but we approved the trip for next week."

"A'right. Need my teams on it?"

"No. Best keeping your teams on the lakes. Might see if you can boost some actual tanks too. Carol says we filled everything from the farm store. She moved another up the list since you've brought in fuel faster than it's being used."

~*~ LG ~*~

Lori takes advantage of the distraction of everyone finishing supper to slip outside. Merle has Abby, Daryl's meeting with Morales and a few others about cabin construction, and Carl's got a firearms lesson with Shane.

So, for the first time in a while, she's at loose ends and she finds herself wandering down to the first pasture, where the little cows share space with various foundlings and a small flock of Jazz's ram lambs.

A nudge at her knee makes her look down to find the scruffy little Aussie that Daryl brought home yesterday and dubbed Bandit. She scratches the little guy's ears, glad he got a clean bill of health. Hershel thinks he was born in early summer and lost his family, since he's too people friendly to have never had contact.

She manages to lower herself down on the warm grass, which prompts Bandit to claim her lap. The baby thumps against the little dog's movements, startling him. It would figure that the first outside proof of movement is in reaction to an animal. This little one is aiming for farm kid already.

The pup yawns and nibbles at her fingers. She kicks off her shoes and socks and wriggles her toes in the grass, trying to keep sadness at bay. The petitions for private housing were announced during the meal. She missed most of the details when Abby spilled her drink. By the time she got it sorted, Hershel moved on to announce a couple of supply run changes.

So, depending on how long it takes to build from those kits everyone is excited about, her time with Daryl is limited. She knows the truth that he won't limit her time with Abby. The little girl called her Mama at breakfast and he never batted an eye. But all the little things - the weekly checks of the baby's progress, the random night time conversations, and him sleeping wrapped around her - those are as much a product of close quarters as actual affection.

She knows he likes her and even considers them friends. Their little benefits arrangement is proof of that. She doesn't even think he's going to stop that when he moves out, if she still wants it.

But she's been foolish and wants more.

Splitting with Rick hurt but the vivid parts of the emotions were long gone. They let go of a ghost of a marriage. She's not sure she has the strength to let the man go who spent the last few days talking to her belly before sleep each night.

Bandit twitches and scrambles down to lope across the grass toward Daryl, whose long strides bring him to her quickly. He plops down beside her with that damned crooked smile.

"Needed some peace and quiet?" She notices he checks for her weapons. As secure as the property is, no one goes without at least a belt knife. Hers is in place, a dark contrast against the pastel of her maternity blouse in the shoulder holster setup he got her since belts are no longer part of her clothing.

"A little. Figured pretty days like this should be enjoyed without hanging laundry."

He laughs a little and she feels the baby thump. Curious if he'll feel the movement like the dog did, she tugs his hand to her belly. The look of absolute wonder makes it hard to breathe as the baby responds to the warm weight of his hand the same way she did to the pressure from Bandit.

"She's strong." He's smiling and she's hit with a surge of want that isn't just about sex. She's never initiated a kiss, and they've never crossed any lines outside the privacy of their bedroom. So, his initial reaction is a little delayed when she leans forward to brush her lips against his. On the second small, chaste kiss, he catches up, kissing her with the usual thoroughness that she's come to expect.

It's not until the first shuddering wave of pleasure rolls through her from his fingers under her skirt that she realizes she isn't the only one aroused this time. She isn't sure what to do about it, since he's ignoring it in favor of trying to coax her into a second orgasm.

"Daryl."

He stills, raising his head from her throat.

"Do you want to..." She brushes her fingers against him through his pants.

He groans and she thinks how beautiful he is.

"Do you want me?"

There's something off, a little lost, that doesn't mesh with the normal confidence he touches her with. She pushes him to his back and glances toward the upper property. They could potentially be seen, she knows, but there was a movie planned for tonight and Jazz won't be down to check on the animals until after. Bandit's disappeared through a gap into the horse pasture.

"Yes." She needs to see him, though, even if other positions would be better with the girth of her pregnancy between them. So, she makes short work of his clothing, exposing his chest to kiss and caress across the skin. This may be the first time they've gone this far, but she's given him a massage before and noted the reaction is similar to orgasm for him.

There's an inherent rush in how much control he gives over. He is begging beneath her by the end. She wishes she could collapse against him, but settles for laying down beside him and using the length of her skirt to keep him from remaining exposed.

"You okay?" she asks. His eyes are closed and he's not breathing normally yet. His hand tangles in her skirt.

"Yeah." He opens his eyes and she admires the color as it returns slowly. "Just been a long time." He reaches out to brush fingers against her cheek. "You okay? Didn't hurt you?"

She's not sure how he could have, considering, but it's sweet he asks. "I'm fine."

"Needed to talk to you today, but I'm thinking maybe I already know what your answer might be." He shifts and spasms a little, but the noise he makes is happy. "Is that something we're going to do again?"

The hesitation in his voice is something she's never really heard.

"I hope so." Her own worry shows and he turns, tugging clothing enough into place to pull her close.

"Lori? What's wrong?"

"You got the okay on the cabin," she says, hating the hitch in her voice.

He goes so still she gets worried until he kisses her. It's a long time before they come up for air. He smiles. "Got it for us. As a family. Me, you, Abby, Carl, and Asskicker. Was going to ask you tonight. It's why Merle lured Abby off with kittens."

"Us?"

"Yeah. Us. I'm not saying you gotta promise forever, but I like where we're going. Obviously." He readjusts clothing a little more. "Sorry. Zipper."

"That's the first time you've wanted to..."

He brushes her hair back from her face. "Not just a question of want. It's happened a few times lately, but not enough for you to notice."

"You didn't say anything."

"Wanted to be sure. Didn't want to disappoint you."

It clicks for her then, a reminder that he said he's only ever had sex with his ex-wife. "It's only disappointing if you don't want to have sex and do it anyway."

He laughs, the sound a little bitter. "That's probably not possible."

"Daryl?" She waits for him to look at her. "I was out here trying to work up the courage to tell you I wanted more. I already know things might be different, but you've never left me feeling disappointed. Not now or on the nights all we do is fall asleep together."

"Merle says you're just waiting on me to play catch-up to the fact we're not just friends."

She smiles and stretches languidly. "I was too scared to ask, once I realized. Figured what we had was better than nothing."

He looks horrified. "Lori, please don't settle. You did that before. I did, too. We both need more than that."

The earnest worry in his expression just begs she kiss it away, so she does. "I think we stumbled into more already."

"Gotta ask one thing of you, before the kids know anything."

She curls her legs under her to rise as he sits up. His chest is still bare, shirt hanging unbuttoned. He takes her hands in his, a habit he seems to like, calloused fingers sliding across her skin as if memorizing the shape of them.

"If you change your mind, tell me. Please don't move on without letting me go."

"Daryl, I never cheated on Rick, no matter how unhappy we were. With Shane, I thought he was gone."

He's hanging his head. "Carrie only married me to have a father for Abby. I'm not sure when she started cheating, but I let her make me think it was my fault for a long time when I did find out."

She does the math and thinks that at twenty-two, she thought Rick unprepared to be a father. What woman looked at a nineteen-year-old and thought him the best option? He was, but it was a hell of a gamble.

"I can promise I would never do that to you. If I feel like I can't continue, I'll talk to you the same way I did Rick."

He leans in for a lingering kiss. "Will promise you the same."

~*~ MD ~*~

Merle's walkie alerts him he's needed at the watch room. He kisses Abby on the top of her head and leaves her content next to Carol watching the group movie. Shane and Scout follow.

In the watch room, Jorge queues up footage while Oliver keeps an eye on the other cameras.

"We activated the cameras at the Eldridge gate when the game cams on the road started going off. Got this. Survivors who knew about the property, but once they realized the gate was locked and it was impassible, they loaded back up. Out of camera range since the outer gate cameras are stationary. But they didn't leave because the game cams further down are quiet."

"Need to upgrade those cameras," Shane mutters, and Merle agrees.

Jorge gets the visual running and Merle starts laughing when he recognizes the man who checked the gates. "Well, I'll be damned. Ready to have at least one more cop to look after?"

Shane shrugs, relaxing when Merle seems to recognize the man. "Thought all the locals were accounted for."

"This one's one of Daryl's. Met him a time or three when I visited, and he came here last year to pick up a pup from Livia's last litter. He said he looked for his rangers but didn't find any when he took his teams to Thomson the other day."

"Guess we ought to load up and go see who he brought with him."

Scout finishes looking through the game cam footage. "Six vehicles, definitely came supplied. This is Quinton, right? His corporal?"

"Yeah. Tall fella with a wife and three kids. Hoping like hell all of 'em made it."

Shane's sent an alert out, and both his and Scout's personal teams have responded. Everyone is armed, but that's just the norm, and no heavier gear. It's not quite dark, so they're going to respond as friendlies. Daryl's arrival triggers them to load up for the quarter mile trek to the outer gate.

But they aren't entirely without caution. Scout and Morales slip off right to an overlook tower and Shane and Rick to the left. As soon as both teams report in that the new arrivals seem to just be camping for the night, Merle lets Maria open the gate while he and Daryl step through.

"Quinton? That you rattling the gate?" Daryl calls out.

"Hot damn, it was you that shuffled through town last week." The tall, dark-skinned man meets Daryl halfway for a pounding bear hug on both their parts.

"Looked for everyone, but hoped y'all evacuated. How many people you got?"

"Nineteen. Had them holed up over at the lake. Might have stayed except thinking about you reminded me that you had a sister in med school."

"She's here, yeah. Let's get everyone safely inside before we hash it out."

Merle agrees. If they have someone in need of medical care, discussing it out here isn't the place. The game cams proved their worth, because the vehicle count Scout got is accurate. Two RVs, three pickups, and a heavily loaded SUV. Two of the pickups pull trailers.

Merle secures the gate behind the last vehicle. Scout's in the lead vehicle, which drops her to the rear since she stays to secure the inner gate.

Since the group is well nourished, their first stop is the infirmary, where they get quickie inspections for bites. It's a new protocol, but Merle has to admit Edwards' suggestion is a valid one.

The reason for them seeking out medical help gets her actual physical that evening, though. Quinton's wife, Ellen, and all three children are with him, but Ellen's pregnancy brings them to four pregnant women.

The movie's ending, so people are starting to trickle out as he leads Quinton's group inside. Daryl goes with them, since it turned out that another of his rangers survived. Of the nineteen new arrivals, nine are children or teenagers.

He helps Carol shuffle slices of pie in front of everyone, along with drinks.

"Should've come sooner," Quinton says. "When Daryl never came home, I knew he was probably here."

"Hard to pack up and leave a known safe place for an unknown," Daryl says. "We were in Atlanta first couple of months, waiting on Scout to lead the way back from Florida."

Scout's in the room, although a lot of the general population is gone now, letting the newcomers get sorted out.

"Just how many people are here? I noticed a lot of new buildings besides this one and the hospital."

"Over 170. Your group puts us right at 200. Good thing we were already planning for another expansion."

Food and drinks delivered, Carol sits down beside him with one of her notebooks. She gives everyone one of her sweet smiles.

Daryl introduces her. "This is Carol. She's gonna get everyone a place to sleep tonight and then something permanent sorted out later. She's in charge of the work rosters, too. If you need anything in the way of clothing or toiletries and such, also her domain."

"Lady of the Manor," Quinton jokes.

Merle shrugs. "Works as well as any other title."

Carol does her usual inquiry, making notes of skills and experience. She looks relieved when one of the women says she was a school teacher. He understands, since they just got another influx of six school age kids.

She leads most of the group off to the empty female bunkhouses for the night, although Quinton stays behind.

"Got something that wasn't for public consumption?" Merle asks. Man's worked with Daryl for most of the three years he's been away. He doesn't rattle easy.

Scout moves to take a seat and Shane follows. Quinton frowns a little at the former deputy, as if he's trying to remember something, but brushes it aside.

"I gotta let you know our group put down a couple groups of humans gone feral twice."

"They preying on others?" Scout asks.

"Yeah. Debra in our group is a rescue from one of the groups. No way I was leaving those three men loose in the world. And the other group was as bad, except they weren't leaving any survivors even as captives."

"Can't fault you for something we've done ourselves," Scout says. "And I'm not hopeful it won't happen again. We already know of a real bad fella running a town down southwest of Atlanta."

"You can count on most of mine if that needs taking care of. I just didn't want to come in under false pretenses, as much as we need medical for Ellen."

Merle nods in understanding. "She'll be in good company. We've got three ladies expecting. Cricket's doing her best to become a midwife one baby at a time."

"Too bad I didn't find y'all when I went over. You missed our first wedding." Daryl grins, reaching out to pat Scout on her scarred shoulder.

"It's good to see you looking so healthy, Miss Dixon. Although I guess that's changed now. I remember Daryl going out of his mind to get leave to stay with you."

She nods and indicates Shane. "It's Walsh now."

"Walsh? Now I know why you look familiar. You had a partner named Grimes, down in King County. We took some classes together at the Academy, back when I was working as a deputy. Was a real tragic thing, him getting shot."

"He's here too. Survived the shooting to wake up in this mess. We're all that's left of the department there though."

"The way we keep finding strays, we'll end up with whatever's left of Georgia law enforcement," Merle says. "We should let you get to your family. Reassure everyone we're on the same page about the human predators."

Quinton stands and exchanges another hug with Daryl. "C'mon. I'll show you the way."

With them gone, he wishes his daughter and son-in-law goodnight as they close up the community center. He manages to time it to have Carol walk with him, slotting her fingers in his.

"You seen Lori since supper?" he asks. Daryl seems content enough, being summoned, so hopefully Merle's prediction that she was just waiting on Daryl to wise up was right

"No, but their light is on, so I assume she's up there. They finally have a talk?"

"Well, I'm kinda hoping it went like that talk you had with me, for both their sakes."

"I don't think that's a match I could have predicted back at the quarry any more than ours."

"At least she's likely to give new meaning to faithful, with her detour along the way to him. Daryl's ex... damned woman was cheating before the ink on their license was dry."

Carol sighs. "I don't want to speak ill of the dead, but even her mother can't really say much good about Carrie other than she loved Abby. It makes me feel like she's like Ed, just with a different type of damage dealt."

"You wouldn't be far off, comparing them. Nearly killed him to lose Abby, but staying married wasn't much help either."

They've reached the deck, and he draws her lazily into his arms as they relax into the porch swing. Several of the younger family members have a board game in the patio table. Jazz and Sophia are sitting close, although Abby's in his lap.

"You think they worked it all out?" Merle asks.

"I hope so." She gives him a gentle smile. "He told me he loved me today. Called me mama."

"Glad he could finally express it."

The game's at an end and the kids pack it up. Abby jogs off with the box, chattering at Carl about their upcoming birthdays, which Al and Isabelle are also curious about. Merle figures they've seen enough family suppers by now that Patricia's fosterlings won't be surprised when their turns come up.

Left behind, Jazz reaches out to take Sophia's hand as they follow. The gesture is sweet and hesitant and Merle swears he hears Carol coo next to him. Both teens pause at the door to call out a goodnight.

"At some point, we may have to have a more detailed talk with her about Jazz."

"I know. But for now, I'm just happy they're figuring it out instead of being at odds. He was worried about looking so much older."

"And she's worried about the opposite, poor kid. Might need to pull out a few of Honey's pictures from her age."

"That's the other crush that's going to be interesting to play out."

"You've noticed that too, huh?"

"Here and there. He's still clueless."

"Girl she was before the world changed, I'd worry about the age difference. But she's grown up hard and fast the last few months. There's worse choices than an age difference, if he ends up returning the interest."

"You don't think he will?"

"I think that he doesn't strike me as a man who looks at girls barely out of school as potential partners, and that's a strong obstacle to overcome."

"Like you with Michonne?"

He laughs. "She was quite a bit older than Honey, but yeah, that was one issue that definitely stood in the way."

Movement in the house indicates everyone disappearing to settle for the night. He gets to his feet and draws her up for a leisurely kiss.

"I've been going crazy half the night seeing you in that sundress."

She giggles as she pulls away and steps through the door into their room. She tugs the dress over her head as she spins away from him toward the bed. The fact that she's wearing nothing but a scrap of lace underneath is enough for his clothes to follow.

The bold woman emerging from all her tragedy is intoxicating in ways drugs will never be.

~*~ DD ~*~

Abby's quiet snore from the upper bunk reminds him to check her sheet's tucked around her. She's curled around the rag doll Patricia made her and he marvels at how young she looks when she's asleep.

He doesn't make his way to the futon like he normally would for the night with Abby here. Lori's put the baby book away, but she's fretting over something. He slides in beside her and captures her twitching hands.

"What's wrong?"

"I told Rick tonight, about us. I thought he should hear from me and not Carl." Her son simply grinned at the news and made jokes about not being an only child sooner than February. Abby already considered them a couple.

"How'd he take it?" Daryl's worried because she seems fragile tonight.

"Confused. A little hurt. I guess he's enjoying his freedom and doesn't understand why I want something serious already."

"You looked like you were thinking pretty hard." He's not going to voice the worry that she'll decide this is too fast. If she does, he's good with slowing down. He doesn't have to live with her to court her.

"Just feeling bad for him, actually. He seems a bit lost."

Daryl adjusts them to their usual sleeping position, now that he's reassured her thoughts aren't backpedaling on them. As he strokes across the silky skin of her belly, he mulls over her ex.

"It took me a bit to disconnect after my divorce. He'll get there." Not that Daryl's the best example. "He's at least still got you and Carl and Shane."

The baby kicks strongly against his hand and Lori laughs. He slides down to prop on her hip and kiss the spot the baby thumped. "And Lil Asskicker. Might be weird to some people, but I'm betting on Rick being the uncle who spoils her rotten."

She rests a hand on his hair and smiles down at him, especially once he kisses her belly after the next thump too. She frowns as her fingers graze across the scar hidden beneath his hair he's normally careful to keep her away from.

He slides back up to snuggle her close by the time she asks the question he knows is coming. "From Will?"

"You didn't call him my father."

"Because he's not. That's Merle." She reaches back, slim fingers finding the scar again and stroking gently. "Your father raised you and loved you and would never do something like that to you."

He buries his face in the curve of her neck and whispers a thank you for understanding.

The sadness and longing are swept away with her next words. "We get to teach Lil Asskicker to call him Grandpa, right?"