Welcome to the new year, all of you beautiful and lovely people!

Hope this year will be a good year for you :)

Thank you all so much for continue reading, reviewing, alerting and liking this story. I feel so warm and happy.

Hope you enjoy this new chapter

The moment I set foot outside of the doctor's office, it was as if I had awoken from a nightmare.

There were houses, streets, trees, and so many other things that I didn't know where to look. If it hadn't been for Daryl holding me, I probably would have fainted on the spot.

"This is unbelievable." I breathed stopping with him in the middle of road to look around me. "I am dead, aren't I?"

Daryl made a face. "That's not funny."

"Sorry," I apologized. "So, what will happen next? Are we staying here?"

"Seems like it." Daryl turned his head and nodded into the direction of two large houses. "Those are ours."

My jaw dropped and eyes widened with disbelief as Daryl led me towards the two buildings standing next to each other.

Two large properties, both two stories high and one with a small attic. Both of them had porches, tall windows, all the sills were painted white and the roof-tiles were a shade of light grey.

"We split the group in two. At least for the time being." He said as we stopped in front of the biggest house.

"Are we on probation or something?" I asked in all seriousness, remembering very clearly how that woman named Deanna wondered if it was a good idea to take us all in.

"Probably." Daryl replied not lingering on the subject. "Come on, let's go inside."

However we never quite made it to the door as it flew open before we'd even set foot on the porch. Sophia came running out of the house, her smile bright and her arms extended.

"Maddy!"

She slowed down in time, preventing herself from crashing into my still feeble body. Her arms encircled themselves around my waist as Daryl let go.

"Daryl told me you were coming back today. You're alright again, aren't you?" The girl asked, looking up at me with her bright eyes.

"Of course I am." I smiled at her small face. She returned the smile and stepped back.

"You'll love the house, Maddy! It's huge!"

I nodded, judging by the exterior of the house it seemed huge indeed. "You go on ahead, I'll be there in a minute." I told Sophia. Thankfully, she listened and went back inside.

I let out a deep breath and felt Daryl place his arm around me once again. "If you want a more quiet place, we could always drive the RV inside?" He suggested. "Sleep in there."

The fact that he noticed my fatigue warmed my heart, but I still shook my head at his idea. For now I wanted to sleep inside the house, where the others were.

Daryl helped me up the porch and we entered the house, which managed to take my breath away even more than the outside area had done.

"What ya think?" Daryl asked.

Honestly, I had no clue. I was thinking too many things to focus on just one thing. The house, this entire place, not to mention having been on the verge of dying but now able to wobble around again. I still didn't trust this whole community, this so called safe haven with walls. But for what it was worth, for now it was a place to rest and recuperate.

"Madison." Rick appeared from the top of the stairs, only he didn't look like the Rick I knew. This Rick had lost all of his facial hair somewhere along the way as well as a good chunk of his once shoulder-length hair.

"Who is that?" I pretended to whisper at Daryl, who snorted.

Rick reached the bottom of the steps and rolled his eyes. "Very funny. It's good to see you up on your feet. Are you feeling okay?" His expression turned serious and he pulled me into a hug.

"Better than the last couple of days, but not a hundred percent just yet." I admitted to him.

I could tell by his silence that Rick was exchanging a silent conversation with Daryl over my shoulder. Something the two of them tended to do whenever something bad had happened.

"You look good though. You look exactly how I met you when you had that gun pointed to my head." I added and Rick leaned back.

"At least you're sense of humour is back." He retorted.

"Wasn't really gone,-" Daryl commented from behind me and I turned my head to glare at him.

Rick chuckled. "Come on, we'll show you around."

First they took me into the living room, which was filled with mattresses, blankets, covers and pillows. It was a complete mess to be honest.

"We all slept here last night." Rick explained. "It felt safer, but we decided to divide the group over both houses. To show we're willing to try."

I looked at Rick with a frown. Was he already willing to put trust in these people and their community that soon? It only took Rick a second to analyse what my expression meant.

"You disagree?" He asked.

"I,-" I sighed and looked around the room. "I don't know, Rick. I mean that doctor fellow saved my life. But then Deanna interviewed me, with a camera,-"

Rick nodded and interrupted me. "She did that with all of us."

I blinked and I looked up at Daryl standing next to me. He nodded as well.

"I see." I replied. "I'm just being careful here, Rick. I don't want to get too comfortable and then not notice when things go to hell,-"

This time Rick pressed his lips together and stared at the ground. "We won't let that happen."

I know he meant those words, but they didn't comfort me one bit. Quickly I changed the subject. "So, what else is thereto see in this house?"

We continued our journey into the kitchen and for a moment my heart seemed to actually stop. My eyes widened and I walked away from Daryl for a second to touch the counter tops, the stove and the fridge.

Everything was so orderly and clean. As if it had just been made and placed in a newly build house. An actual kitchen. My chest tightened and a lump formed in my throat. Out of all the things to encounter within these walls, the one thing which actually managed to upset me so farwas a kitchen.

"You okay?" Daryl asked me.

I licked my lips and nodded, swallowing the lump away. "I'm fine."

We ended the tour in front of the bathroom. I remembered Daryl telling me there was warm water within the community. An actual opportunity to finally have a warm shower instead of washing my hair in a creek, or lake or in the rain. The latter was never convenient, despite what one might think.

"I'll leave you two to finish the rest of the tour yourselves." Rick said, a wicked grin forming on his face. If I didn't know any better, I could have sworn he even wiggled his eyebrows for a spit second.

Daryl opened the bathroom door and motioned for me to step inside. I set one foot over the threshold and looked inside. On the other side of the room I immediately spotted a mirror, angled in such a way I couldn't see my face, but it was there nonetheless.

It had been quite some time since I had seen myself in a proper mirror. Car mirrors or broken mirrors in abandoned houses, were just not the same as a large rectangle bathroom mirror hanging on a wall.

I looked over at Daryl and it was obvious he had not taken a shower yet also, other than his hands which still smelled like soap.

"Will you shower with me?" I asked him bluntly.

Daryl blinked and didn't say nothing for a couple of seconds. Keeping my eyes set on him, he eventually shut the door behind him.

Considering our history together, one wouldn't expect for us to be shy around each other when it came to undressing. But most of the time when we made love, it was either dark or we had to be quick about it and kept most of our clothes on. I slowly took my clothes off and stepped into the shower, giving Daryl his own time to undress.

I stood beneath the shower head and looked up. One, two, three,- I honestly don't know why I started counting them, but I stopped after I'd gotten to twenty. It was now or never. Time to find out if this whole warm water story was true or false.

My hand encircled the knob and I turned it. The water hit me with quite some pressure and I squealed loudly. It was warm, I couldn't believe it. Warm water cascading down my skin. I closed my eyes and let a moan escape my lips.

"That good?" Daryl's warm voice sounded right behind me. His hands grabbed my upper arms and he rubbed them up and down.

"The best." I replied and he chuckled.

"Hmm."

It was obvious what was going to happen next. I already felt him pressing himself closer and further against my behind. But then he paused and I glanced over my shoulder at him.

"Can we?" He asked, sounding rather worried. It had only been about twenty-four hours since I was on the brink of life or death. At least, that's what it had felt like.

I guided his hand to the front of my chest and let it rest there, right on top of my right breast. "Slowly."

Daryl squeezed his thumb and index finger together and I bucked back against him. That was all the encouragement he needed.

::::::...::::::

I wiped the fogged up mirror clean with my hand and stared intensely at my reflection. Not a speck of dirt or grime was left on my body. For the first time, in what seemed like forever, I got a good look and what I looked like.

My face was still pale, due to the sickness. Nonetheless, a light tan was visible because of all the hours spent outside in the sun and a glow covered my cheekbones, but that latter bit was thanks to Daryl of course.

I combed my hair and noticed how long it had gotten, reaching all the way down to my waist. The sun had given it a more golden hue than it used to be and also created some new freckles around my nose and cheekbones.

Daryl appeared behind me. His blue eyes resting on mine.

"You're beautiful." He whispered and I looked away.

"Daryl,- I,-"

"I mean it."

My mouth formed a small smile. "Okay."

He moved my hair away and planted a kiss on the back of my neck, causing goosebumps to erupt on my skin.

"Do we have any clean clothes to wear?" I nodded at my pile of dirty clothes which I had been wearing for almost a week now. During the twenty-four hours in the doctor's ward, I wasn't provided with other clothes.

"I'll check." Daryl replied already reaching for his shirt.

"I'll come with you." I said as I wrapped a towel around my body. But Daryl placed one of his hands upon mine and shook his head.

"You wait here. You ain't going out there in just a towel."

I chuckled. "I'm sure I won't shock anybody to death."

"I don't want you parading around looking like you do. What if Merle sees you?"

It was a fair point and quite endearing actually. If Merle were to see me half naked, I'd never hear the end of it. Daryl got dressed quickly and stepped out of the bathroom, carrying my dirty clothes with him.

I stared at the mirror once more. Still unsure what to think of it all. Being with Daryl managed to divert my thoughts for a moment, but now that he was gone my mind travelled back to my previous thoughts.

What were we going to do? What was going to happen to us? I had to acknowledge one thing. I was given a second chance. If Aaron hadn't found us, I probably would have died. That was a stone cold fact. These people had saved my life.

I have to try.

::::::...::::::

Never in a million years, I was expecting to be wearing a dress again. I honestly do not know why Daryl, out of all the clothes he could have picked, had come back with a dress.

"Couldn't find anything else." Was what he said and his mouth had twitched.

Something was up. Something simply had to be up. He knew as well as I did that a dress or a skirt was most impractical. I was I able to head outside of the walls to scout the area.

"Guess it'll have to do for now, but tomorrow I'm going to ask around for alternative clothing."

It was now a couple of hours after me leaving the doctor's ward, but I hadn't left our new accommodation yet. Daryl had gone out to check on Rick. But I couldn't, the outside made me nervous. The outside, but within these walls. Already I was thinking about what we would do next, where we could look for food, water and important things such as medicine.

As I looked out through the window, a couple of unfamiliar faces walked in the street. They stopped in front of the house and looked in my direction. They gathered together and I could see them pointing and talking.

"Whoo-wee. Look at you!" Merle exclaimed loudly as he stopped in the middle of the room. "That doctor sure fixed you up good. Guess my threats paid off."

"Ugh." I groaned, turning my head away from the window and the trio of women still staring this way. "Please, don't joke. I feel like a desperate housewife."

"You sure look like one, toots." Merle snickered as he walked up to me. He leaned his bad arm against the wall and whistled. "This what you looked like before shit hit the fan?"

He wasn't wrong there. I did use to wear dresses, but mostly at work or in the summertime when the weather was insanely warm.

"Daryl handed it to me. Said it was all he could find at the moment."

Merle huffed. "And you fell for that?"

"I didn't feel like making a fuss." Which was partially true. Daryl had gone through enough the last couple of months.

"Baby brother doesn't want you to get out." Merle stated. "It always baffles me how he manages to turn into this pile of goop, whenever you catch the flu."

I rolled my eyes at his comment. The man sure liked to repeat himself over and over again. Just like he used to do when he worked for Philip or when he joined us at the prison.

"And here you are wondering why you got no woman of your own." I retorted and Merle smirked.

"Well, you know me. I'm a whole lot of man."

There was no denying that. Merle was a lot. I wasn't sure if man was the right word, but that was a conversation for another time.

"Did Deanna interview you as well?" I asked changing the subject. According to Rick everyone of the group had gotten an interview with the woman. Even Carl and Sophia had one on their own with her, from what I had heard.

Merle's expression changed. "That woman's insane."

"Sounds like it was a short interview."

"Invasive. See, this is why the world gone up and went to shit. Cause of people like her and their way of thinking. Thinking they can control everything and everyone. And when you defy them, BAM!" Merle banged the end of his fake arm against the wall. "You dead...or prison, in my case."

I grinned. "You told her that?"

"Hell no, told her I'm a real hero. Served in the army and all that shit."

If you were to ask me what Merle did before the outbreak, I would tell you I had no idea. Aside from the fact that he used to deal drugs, that was no secret. But what else he had done with his life, that was something I didn't know.

"So, you lied?" I arched an eyebrow at Merle and for a second he averted his gaze before regaining composure.

"Me? A liar?" He replied placing his hand against his chest. "I just didn't tell her the whole truth."

That much I believed.

"You tell her the truth?" Merle then asked.

"About my job? I did. I mean it meant nothing really."

Merle shook his head. "Best be careful there, toots. She's been giving people all sorts of jobs, based on their past from what I gather."

"Jobs?"

The man laughed out loud. "Told ya she ain't right, didn't I? Putting people to work. Creating a system. Best lay low, doll. Out of sight."

Back during our time at the prison, we all had so called jobs to do. But nobody was really assigned something specific by one person. We switched it up. We all carried the same weight and helped out where help was needed. Merle made it sound as if Deanna was creating a way to be able to keep tabs on everyone. I had to agree with Merle. For now, it was best to keep a low profile. Out of sight, out of mind.

So, what I gather from most messages, is that there is a wish for Maddy confronting Negan when the infamous 'eeney meeney' circle moment arrives...

Could that be the end of her? :P

It gives me something to think about.

Hope you enjoyed this story!

Until next time