Chapter 33

It was getting on towards evening when we had everything from the house packed in the van. We had also stopped to scavenge on the way back to Alexandria, so we had some extra goods for the stash. We had enough supplies to sustain at least the four of us for about a week. Maggie drove us to the spot.

"I found this the other day when I came out to check the snares." She backed down a paved driveway, the house that was once here, a blackened skeleton. She parked the car and they hoped out, Daryl and I right behind them. Maggie led us behind the house into a small forested area. When there was a metallic thud under her foot she halted, moving the leaf litter off the top of a metal hatch.

"Enid found this hatch a couple days later." She told us as Glenn and Daryl hefted the lid. "It's secure." She told us. I poked my head in and didn't smell anything besides dirt. When I started to go for the ladder Daryl stopped me, insisting on still going first. I rolled my eyes but followed after, Maggie behind me.

Daryl clicked on the lantern he had brought with.

"From what I can tell it was a fallout shelter, all the supplies were long gone when she found it, the inhabitant was a walker." Maggie explained, "But it's good for a stash, or if one or two people need to hole up. Like if Daryl is trying to bring people-"

"Not happenin' again." He cut her off, "You two stay here. Glenn, let's get the stuff loaded in." He climbed out of the bunker, Glenn behind him. Maggie looked a bit lost at his sudden change of heart.

"Something happened out there with a group of people Daryl was trying to bring back.'' I told her, the look of confusion slowly lifting, "They were good people, just scared, and they took Daryl's bike and the crossbow. Went back to the same group they were runnin' from. He's very frustrated right now about it."

"Nicholas almost got Glenn killed again." She told me, turning to look at the shelves along the wall, "When the back half of the herd came to Alexandria, Glenn and Nicholas broke off to try and set a fire, draw them away from home. The building had already burnt and they got pinned down. They were on top of a dumpster, walkers on all sides, Nicholas shot himself in the head." I made a strangled sound in the back of my throat of disbelief. She looked back at me nodding, "Coward. In the end I suppose he did save Glenn by taking his own life. While walkers ate him, Glenn was able to get under the dumpster and escape. Enid found him and helped him get home. I owe her a lot." She gestured around her at the bunker.

"That's how I feel about Beth." My voice was soft, but I knew Maggie heard me. It was the first time I had said her name out loud around her since the young woman died. She stiffened for a moment but then let out a breath, "I was dead, and she kept Daryl going. And I couldn't even thank her…"

"You are, though." Maggie said turning back to me, "You found him again, and are giving him the life she fought for him to have. To see a future for himself. I think that is the best way you can thank her." There were tears leaking down her face, and I could feel the wetness on my own cheeks.

"Oy! We're gonna lower it all down." We heard Daryl call.

It took about an hour to get everything in the bunker. When all was said and done, I went up the ladder, offering Maggie my hand at the top. When the bunker was shut,the metal flush to the ground, but it made an awful racket if you stepped on it.

"We need to put something over it. Something big." I looked around spying a decent sized boulder. Daryl helped me carry it over and lower it onto the hatch.

"It's heavy but you and Daryl can easily handle it together." I told Glenn. It was big enough that it covered the hatch with room to spare. It looked normal enough, given that there were several other boulders sporadically placed about. Satisfied, we returned to Alexandria.

Daryl and I were laying in bed later that night, my head on his chest as he read the book from earlier.

"Tell me about Beth." I said, my courage strong enough to ask. He didn't say anything for some time, so I looked up at him. Daryl was looking out the window and I could see tears in his eyes. Shit, maybe it was too soon. But he sighed through his nose and looked at me, hastily wiping his face.

"We were just runnin'. Tryin' to get away from the prison, walkers, everything... She tried to tell me there could be others, that everyone else could be alive, but I could barely think. The Governor stabbed ya in the chest, I watched you fall. Then when I returned, you were gone. I couldn't leave Beth alone, couldn't just lie down and die with ya." It was hard to miss the grief in his eyes.

"She went off on her own one night, saying that if I wasn't gonna track, she would." he made a sound akin to a laugh but his face remained twisted in pain, "Stubborn. Followed after her, tried to make an effort, even if it was just for her sake. Let myself hope that at least someone got out. We found a trail, a couple hours old, but she was determined and kept goin'. Every time I would start to give up, lose that little shred of hope, she would fight back. Push me. Of course I said somethin' I'd regretted sayin' even if it was the truth; things that probably didn't need to be said. Didn't talk after that, thought it was better if I just didn't.

"We found the people who left the trail, but it was too late. Unlucky bastards. She stood over them and cried, her own hope flickerin'." His eyes shifted away and he focused on some faraway point for several seconds, "We spent that night in the trunk of a car, during a thunderstorm, pinned down by walkers. She cried the entire time but she had her knife ready, ready to fight if it came to that. In the morning we scavenged what we could from the car and started movin'. I didn't really have a destination, I just needed to keep movin'.

"I eventually stopped so we could make camp. I left her there and went huntin'. My arrows were starting to shatter from overuse, which was worrisome. We're sitting there in camp eatin' a rattler I killed and she looks over and says, 'I need a drink.' So me being me, I threw the water bottle to her" His high pitched twang of his mock Beth voice brought a small smile to my face, 'No I mean a real drink.' I didn't look at her and just kept eatin'. SHe got all bent outta shape and stormed off to go find some alcohol. I found her not long after trying to hide from some walkers. Brought her back to camp, and she got all huffy that I had brought her back instead of taking her to find booze. That was the last straw though I guess, gave me a piece of her mind. Asked me if I felt anything other than thinking everything is screwed.

"'So you want to spend the rest of our lives staring into the fire and eating mud snakes! Screw that.'" He mimicked her higher voice, chuckling, his expression lightening ever so slightly, "She was determined to get alcohol, so I went with her. Found this golf course, had been someone's camp once but they were all dead, or walkers. Beth found some but the bottle was broken during a scuffle with a walker. She was putting a knife in it's skull when I got to her.

"We were still looking for more, when this clock chimed bringing a bunch towards us. We were cornered in another, and I was tired of runnin'. So I fought back. Bludgeoned one of 'em with a golf club, takin' out my anger on it. I swung part of its face clean off and it flew and spattered the clothes Beth had just changed into. She told me that even if I think that this little run was stupid, it wasn't to her. That I could beat up on walkers if that made me feel better but this was what she wanted.

"Found a bottle of peach schnapps at the bar." I gagged just remembering the terrible taste of peach schnapps and vomit, "Yeah, told her as much. She sat there for a while looking at the bottle. Wasn't really sure what to do at this point so I just let her sit there as I shot darts into the photos of the rich assholes on the wall. Suddenly she starts cryin', lookin' at that bottle. I couldn't stand it, just thinkin' about what she had lost too. We both watched the people we love the most die. So I picked up the bottle and smashed it to the ground.

"'Aint gonna have your first drink be no damned peach schnopps.' From then I was committed to helping her find what she needed. Turns out I knew a place."

"That trailer with the moonshine distiller?" I asked, sitting up. He hummed in response. I had been with him and Michonne when they found that place. Daryl hadn't wanted to go in, got real defensive and left right away, "You didn't want to go in before."

"Nah, and I really didn't want to be there then, either." He looked away for a few moments before looking back at me, "On the way there she was doin' that game Zack used to, guessing what I did before the turn. Told her it really didn't matter because nothing before felt natural to me. Well maybe other than that gig I did for your parents. Seems like protecting ya is pretty natural for me." He touched my chin slightly, dropping his hand once more, "I showed her the distiller when we got there, took her inside and poured her some moonshine. She looked at it for a while then said how her dad told her bad moonshine can make ya go blind. Told her there wasn't anything out there worth seein' anymore." My heart hurt hearing about how he felt after he thought I was dead, "She told me it was the most disgusting thing she ever tasted, then drank more." he rolled his eyes remembering it, "She tried to get me to drink but I told her no. Eventually she convinced me, kept calling me Mr. Dixon and her chaperone." I chuckled thinking of a tipsy Beth treating Daryl like a parent at a school dance.

"The place- the reason I didn't want to be there, was that it's the spitting image of my old man's place. Sat in the same kind of chair he would have, drinking the same shit moonshine. After a while she made me play this drinking game with her. 'Never have I ever' is what she called it. Stupid- basically ya just think of things the other person has done that you haven't and get them to drink. She was so surprised that I had never played this game. Told her I ain't ever needed a reason to get lit before." I snorted, laughing at the fact that the term '"lit" just came out of his mouth.

"Can you say that again? Just one more time?"

"Lit?" I snorted, laughter rolling through me, "Ya done?" He scowled.

"Yeah, oh man, sorry. I just didn't realize 'lit' was in your vocabulary." He scoffed, pushing my head off his chest. I put it back on, still chuckling.

"She started with a blatant one, never shot a crossbow. After I drank she made me go. Told her how I had never been out of Georgia before."

"You never left Georgia before now?" I asked.

"Mmnmm, never. Her next one was, bein' drunk and doin' somethin' I regretted. Have had a lot of those. I told her I'd never been on vacation. Beth asked me about campin, but I told her that was just something I had to learn to hunt, that my dad had taught me. Her next question...I think it might have been what triggered somethin' in me. She said she had never been to jail and it reminded me of when we found the prison, and when you told me about your past. Asked her if that's what she thought of me, and I on edge and drunk. Of course she meant it like even the drunk tank but I was 'ready on that path. I got up, makin' a ruckus, takin' a piss in the corner, yellin' that i couldn't hear here because I was taking a piss. Then I started throwin' all the things she had done, back at her, the worst was her cuttin' her wrists back at the Farm. The walker who had been outside started to pound on the wall.

"Told her since she hadn't shot a crossbow before, I would teach her. Dragged her outside and put my arm around her holding her there as I pinned the walker to the tree. She was yellin' at me, tellin' me to stop, that I shouldn't be doin' this now. After i was out of arrows i told her to grab them out of the walker for more target practice. She was getting mad, stormed over and killed it. I told her that I thought we were havin' fun, playin' a game. Told me i was being a jackass."

"You were." Daryl just scoffed, not needing to be told what he already knew was right.

"She asked what if somethin' like that happened if someone found her dad, told her it wasn't the same. She told me that killin' them wasn't supposed to be fun. I got all up in her face askin' her what she wanted from me. Beth was just as angry, and told me that she wanted me to stop actin' like I didn't give a crap. Actin' like nothin' we went through mattered. Like none of the people we lost meant anythin' to me. That you didn't mean anythin' to me…" I looked up at him, he was chewing his lip again, tears in his eyes, thinking about how he felt back then, "She said that when i looked at her i just saw another dead girl. Because she wasn't you or Michonne or Carol, or her sister. Said that I was angry because she survived and none of you were there. That i didn't get to treat her like crap because I was afraid.

"'I ain't afraid of nothin.' I told her. Then she brought up Sophia, how i was just as upset as she was after seeing her mom, how I gave up. Said how, god forbid, i let anyone too close. So I threw Jimmy and Zack in her face, that she couldn't even cry for them. 'Yer whole family's gone, all ya can do is just go out lookin' for hooch, like a dumb collage bitch.'" I winced, Daryl still looked embarrassed, "Yeah I was really drunk. She told me I didn't get it, what she was dealin' with, but she had no idea. Everyone we knew was dead as far as we knew. You were dead. But she still screamed that we didn't know that for sure. Told her might as well because she aint ever seein'em again. That she was never going to see Maggie again." He sniffed, and I could feel the tears falling on my head, "Guess I was right about that...she tried to grab me and I pulled away, all that progress I had thought I had made dealing with my trauma, gone now that you were. I couldn't look at her.

"The governor rolled right up to our gates, I blamed myself for stoppin' the search with Michonne for him. Beth kept tryin' to get me to look at her but I couldn't. And her dad, and you. That i could have done somethin' to save you both...i finally couldn't handle it anymore and i started to break down. He hugged me from behind and pressed her face against my back. So, you get one of three sides when I'm drunk, horney, angry and emotional. Lucky for her she only had to deal with anger and emotion." He made the joke but I could tell his heart wasn't in it. He still grieved for her. Even if that side of Drunk Daryl surfaced, he wouldn't have laid hands on Beth like that.

"When i was done we sat on the porch and just talked about our lives, about the peaceful death she had envisioned for Hershel, the future she saw. Summer picnics, holidays. Babies...Said that was how incredibly stupid she was, and continued to drink moonshine. I told her that was how it was supposed to be at the Prison, what we had planned. She told me she wished she could change, be like me. I told her that she did change and that I was just used to things bein' ugly. She told me that i was gonna to be the last man standin', she told me i would miss her so much when she was gone….she was right...she was right about everything really. Told me i had to keep bein' who i am, not who i was; that i had to put places like that dump away. That I had to or it would kill me. So we burnt it down. Covered it in moonshine and lit it on fire. Stood by, watching it go up, middle fingers to the sky. And I felt...good. Like maybe she was right, that i could just put it behind me, burn it to the ground." There was some peace in Daryl's stormy eyes.

"The next day I taught her to track, for real, and how to handle the crossbow. She ended up stepping on a game trap and twisted her ankle. We didn't make it far before she was favorin' it heavily. Lucky for us we stumbled upon a funeral home. I let her in, past the shield of ice around my heart. The only person I had left. The last of my family.

"The Funeral home we stumbled upon was well stocked like maybe it was someone's stash, so we had a feast of peanut butter and grape soda." he chuckled as he remembered that night. I looked up in time to see his smile fall.

"That was the night she was taken by those Cops. Walkers got in and I told her to run. I made it out just in time to see them speedin' away with her. I chased her for miles until the sun came up then I just couldn't anymore. I was sitting in the middle of the road when the Claimers found me. Made me join their group. I found you the second night I was with them." Knowing what had happened with Beth, I knew Maggie's words at the bunker were right.

"I told Maggie that I had no idea how to thank Beth, for keeping you going. This is it. You, me, this baby. This is what she wanted. Wanted things to just be normal. Being a better father than yer own, raising yer son, living yer life." I sat up, throwing my leg over his hips, my arms around his neck, "I wish she could be here to meet him." he leaned forward, capturing my lips with his.

"The only reason is because you lived. If you hadn't lived, I don't know…" He said, pulling back.

"You would have still found Michonne and Carl and Rick, you would have gone on." He shook his head.

"No I don't think I could have. Now I know that if you died I would soon follow." I sighed.

"You can't think like that...not anymore." i pressed his hand to my belly, "If for some reason I don't make it, you have to be here for him. You have to promise me." He chewed his lip, rubbing his thumb across my stomach. He nodded.

"Goes both ways." He said back. I nodded.

"I promise."

The next morning I woke early and padded downstairs. Ephram hadn't returned last night, and I wonder if he was away for business or pleasure. Not that pleasure wasn't involved in all parts of his life. I shook my head, starting to boil some water for tea. The sun began to rise as I poured the water over the leaves.

The sounds of the others in the house rising woke me from my reverie as I held my tea, watching the sun steadily climb above the horizon. I was supposed to be meeting with Ephy and Miya to work on my record. Maybe I would stop by the Underwood's place. Maybe Miya knew where my brother had gone.

My question was answered as a flustered Ephram answered Underwood's front door. He also was just in a bath towel, his hair wet.

"C'mon, Miya's mom doesn't know I'm here. They aren't supposed to have men in the house." He pulled me inside and up the stairs to Miya's bedroom.

"Uh…" I voiced, seeing a mixture of Ephram's and Miya's clothes strewn about the room. I took a deep breath, and my suspicions were confirmed, "Well I see why you didn't come back last night. So if you aren't supposed to be here why are you answerin' the door?" I questioned.

"Cause he lost a bet." Miya grinned, "My mother never had to worry about kicking boys out of the house with me, but she did have to for the others. It was a test to see A- if he could do it, and B- if he got caught who would get blamed first."

"How truely minical Miya, I knew we were friends for a reason." Ephram groaned.

"Yes you two can gush over how much delight you get out of torturing little old me later. I for one, want to get dressed and get out before Mrs. Underwood gets back."

Thirty minutes later the three of us were headed towards the gazebo.

"So…" The both of them groaned when i finally broke the silence, "Am i to assume by the amount of liquor bottles in the bedroom that Ephy lost a drinking related bet? Or…?"

"Yes and no but yes. She challenged me to a drinking contest that I won." Ephram told me, "I told her if I won she had to talk to me about her problems, given that i still have a degree in psychology. She bet me that I wasn't going to be able to keep it rated 'G'."

"And I won. I guess in more than one way." They both blushed. This was a side of him I hadn't seen yet. I had seen how he was after his 'sessions' with couples. He was all smiles and happy gestures but it was all business. This was much different. I just looked at the two of them. Both who lost those who they loved but had found a way to still find true pleasure with another. The conversation with Daryl last night, floated up in my brain. Would he find someone else to fill that void if I died? Would I ever be able to if the roles were reversed? No...I probably wouldn't be able to.

It had been about a month since the breach. The wall expansion was nearly done and Maggie had helped steerhead the creation of crops. Rick had all but assumed leadership of Alexandra after Deanna's demise, I think much to her son, Spencer's disapproval. The two men butted heads even when Deanna was alive, the former leader's eldest son had been responsible for several setbacks in the community's progress.

Today Rick and Daryl were going on a run to try and find some food to tide us over till the crops took hold and some more seeds to plant. I didn't offer to come along because they hadn't had a trip by themselves in a while. That and I was busy anyway.

I was given a new job by Rick, one that is basically the same as the one Deanna gave me. Archery. I taught my students whittling skills so they could shape their own bows, taught them how to pick the right branch, which woods were best, as well as how to make arrows, and of course shoot.

"Mornin' cousin." Ephram greeting, pecking my cheek as he passed by.

"Mornin' Ephram. You were over at Mrs. Peachtree's house again, huh?" I could smell her perfume on him. He grinned and scrunched his nose.

"No hiding anything from that sniffer of yours, huh?" He chuckled, setting his bow on the table, "I was asked to participate in some...group activities including her husband." I just shook my head at him.

"Miya really doesn't mind you continuing your work?" I inquired. He sighed through his nose.

"It was hard for her at first, but I invited her to a session, and she saw how sex theropy with my patients is vastly different to when i make love to her." It was so cute I wanted to puke, and Dixon Jr. was doing his best to help me realize that reversed bowel movement. He laughed at my slightly green completion and handed me a bottle of water, "Sorry, probably not an image you wanted."

"Oh no, nothing wrong with the image, just the phrasing." I chuckled. My students were arriving with their freshly carved bows, ready to put them to the test. Three broke the first time they tried to fire their arrows, the others more or less worked as they were supposed to.

Ephram took the student's who broke their bows aside to help them craft new ones, while I coached the others on their marksmanship. At noon I dismissed them, Ephram hanging back.

"You got anything planned after this?" he asked as we left the target practice area.

"Nothing other than my watch shift this evening. Why?"

"I was gonna make a casserole with Carol for lunch, if you're interested. I think there are a couple cans of corn." He knew my weakness!

"You had me at 'Carol' but ya hooked me with the corn."

We spent the remainder of the time till I had to go on watch, talking in the living room with Carol. He had spent a lot of time with her since he started here, learning through her who was in need of his services. He often had repeat customers, especially with the stress of the expansion. I hadn't seen her a whole lot in the last weeks, busy teaching or guarding or helping with the walls. There seemed to be something slightly shifted in her. Something that i hadn't quite been able to figure out.

"Ephram is the talk in all the kitchens around here." Carol told me, her face stretched into a grin, "you come very well recommended." She wiggled her eyebrows at him. He rose sitting in her lap.

"Why, Ms. Peletier, are you in need of my services?" She giggled, poking him in his ribs until he got up to sit back down on the couch next to her.

"I think Miya would ring my neck if I did." Ephram snorted at Carol's comment.

"Only if I enjoyed it too much." they cracked up, their friendship really blossoming over the past weeks.

"The Freedmen's kid liked the bow you whittled for him." Carol told him, then looked at me, "I told them it was probably best if they sent him to your classes."

"Always taking more people who want to learn. Bullets eventually run out." And when they did people needed to know how to use other weapons, weapons easily crafted with your own hands.

"I'm making another one that I'm taking my time on." Ephram told me, patting my baby bump softly, "It's going to be for the little one, when he's old enough." I hugged him, feeling my tears already start, "Stop! You cry, I cry, Daryl chews his lip. It's a whole, really bad beginning to a really hot porno." Cackling, I pulled away, looking at my cousin. He really reminded me a lot of Joel, his features very similar to my foster father's when he was a young man.

"Thanks little bro. Means a lot."

"That's why I'm doing it. My first birthday gift to him." After Carol left, Ephram laid his head on my leg, heaving a heavy sigh.

"What is it?" I asked, patting his head.

"I don't think I'll get to meet him..." I turned his head to look at me, a stone in my stomach.

"Why do you say that?" He sat up and stood, walking to the kitchen. He braced his hands against the island counter and let out a heavy sigh.

"You think you are the only one with intense gut feelings? Remember we McLaughlin's have native blood." I knew that, and after almost two months with him I knew that he had every benefit of that. Deft hunter, tracker, and a strong connection to the energy around him.

He turned and leaned his elbow on the counter, "When I think forward, towards my future, I can't see anything. Envision anything. When I was alone, I had a vision for my future, and it was to find something like this. Now that I'm here, I can't see anything else." He turned back, looking down at his hands.

"But that doesn't mean you're going to die!" I barked him, suddenly angry that he would think that, "You are going to be there when he is born, telling me not to be a pussy." He snorted, a smirk on his features when he looked back at me.

"I would be far too scared to say that to a werewolf in labor." The both of us chuckled softly, but my smile fell.

"Ephram, I'm not going to let anything happen to you. I'm going to do everything in my power to keep you safe." He smiled softly at me but I knew I wouldn't be able to convince him that he wasn't right. No one had ever been able to make me challenge my gut feelings.

Ephram came with me to my gate watch shift, sitting with his legs dangling off the perch leaning his forehead against the railing.

"You and Daryl still haven't thought of a name?" He asked after about an hour of heavy silence.

"Not yet. Waitin' to be inspired I guess. Why are you trying to add yer name to the pool? Carl already did, first thing when he found out." Ephram's soft laughter was the only sound in the dark.

"He's a good kid."

"He is. One of the best."

It had been dark for quite some time now and I could hear Ephram breathing heavily behind me. I grabbed the blanket he brought and put it around his shoulders, seeing lights pull up and flash at the gate while I was turned around. I stood quickly, looking over the edge of the wall, a white jeep at the gate. Rick was in the driver seat. I slid down the ladder, running to the gate and throwing it open. My stomach had flipped when I didn't see Daryl, but my heart rate slowed a bit when I finally caught sight of him in the back seat with an unconscious...someone. Rick pulled forward letting me slide the gate closed. I walked up to Daryl's window, and he unrolled it.

"Was gonna leave him in a tree, but Rick insisted." he immediately stated, the expression on my face a thought-you-weren't-gonna-bring-people-back, "I'll come find you later.`` He kissed me through the window, then nodded to Rick, the jeep starting forward.

"Ephram!" I called up, he jumped at the sound of my voice.

"Shit, Dixon! You scared the hell outta me!" He hissed, "What?"

"Can you go meet Daryl and Rick at the infirmary, they brought a person in. " Ephram's eyes widened.

"Daryl? Brought in a person? Are we talking about the same brooding sexy redneck here?" He was so shocked, a bubble of laughter came out of me, giggling like a kid.

"Yes! Now, can you go meet them please?" He smiled down at me.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm goin'." He stopped to peck my cheek as he passed, heading to the infirmary. Daryl and Ephy had a rather strange relationship, a healthy dose of jealousy on both sides, but also a firm bond on how they cared for me, and for my son. Plus he was related to Joel, so that already gave him a leg up in Daryl's book.

Ephram returned a short time later with a blanket still wrapped around his shoulders. He got back up in the stand, gun in hand. He reached around me from the side, his head resting on my shoulder. I bumped his head with my own.

"Go on." He breathed in my ear, "Daryl said he will be home soon. He's going to watch this 'Jesus' character for a while, till someone else can." When I gave him a look of bewilderment he continued, "Guy stole a truck full of goods from Daryl and Rick, ended up backing it into a lake. Saved Daryl's life though, according to Rick." Great another person I owed for saving my husband's dumb hide, "Go, I got this." He prompted again when I didn't move. I turned in his embrace so I could hug him back, his words from earlier still pulling at my heart. I made my way down the ladder behind him.

"G'night Dixon." He called after me.

"Night McLaughin."

My first view as I came in the house was Rick and Michonne lip locked on the couch. Stifling a girlish giggle, I snuck as quiet as possible past them and up the stairs. Finally! That was almost as frustrating to watch, as it was for the others watching Daryl and I. They were a good team, and he needed someone with strength beside him. I heard them come up the stairs a little later. When I heard the festivities start, I went back down stairs to wait for Daryl.

I was snoozing on the couch when he returned. He lightly kissed my nose, my eyes fluttering open. I reached up and pulled him down on the couch, on top of me. He braced his arm on the back.

"So his name is Jesus? Not 'Hey, Zeus!'?" I laughed at my own terrible joke, Daryl not amused in the slightest. He groaned.

"Piece of shit lost us a whole truck of food." He lowered his head, in defeat.

"Also heard he saved yer life." He looked back up at me, working his lip.

"Maybe."

"Pfft okay." Then my earlier discovery popped into my head, "Oh man yer not gonna believe what I walked in on." He grimaced.

"I really don't wanna know about Ephram's very active sex life." He said that with a bit of a bite. Hmm was he jealous that Empram was having more sex right now than he was? That was his own fault. Thank you. Well maybe it was mine a little... who knows.

"No, I saw Michonne and Rick kissing. They went upstairs to his bedroom." Daryl scoffed, his brows shooting skyward.

"Took 'em long enough." Daryl grunted. He saw my face, which had fallen when Ephram's words floated back up.

"Ephram thinks he's going to die, before the baby is born." Daryl sat back pulling me up with him.

"Ain't gonna happen." Daryl said immediately.

"That's what I told him, but he compared it to when I get my scary accurate gut feelings. He has native blood, he has a deeper connection to these things than others. I just can't stop thinking about it." I whipped a traitor tear that leapt from my eye. Daryl cupped my chin.

"Hey, we're strong, don't forget that. Plus Miya would kill him if he got himself killed." I just shook my head.

"I wonder if they're done yet?" I looked backwards towards the stairs.

"Hmmm." Daryl pursed his lips. I grinned wickedly at him.

"C'mon." I grabbed his hand, pulling him after me up the stairs. I pushed him into our room and shut the door behind him.

I saw him shiver when he looked at me in the near darkness, my eyes glowing, pheromones high. Then he was pushing me against the wall, my hands pinned above my head. His other hand was around my throat, his mouth on mine. I heard a growl in his chest that sounded deeper than usual. I broke away.

"Daryl." He stopped at the sound of my voice.

"What?"

"Did you just growl? Like really…" He didn't answer and I flipped on the light, making him blink. I started stripping his shirts off. Once his top half was bare, I checked the entirety of him for bite marks.

"What are ya doin'?"

"I can't remember most of that night. I have to be sure." He said he had seen me during the battle for Alexandria against the dead. Had I attacked him? Possibly bit him? But how is he still alive, everyone i ever bit-

"Gwen." He said, I ignored him, continuing to look up and down his arms, "Gwen!" He grabbed my arms, "Ya didn't bite me. I'm fine. Yer bein' paranoid." I glared at him.

"Paranoid?!" It was my turn to growl, "Why because I don't want to accidentally turn ya somehow? Put ya through that agonizing turn I went through? Kill you..." I was crying now, my face still twisted in anger. He scrubbed his face, pacing, then he sat down heavily on the bed.

"C'mere." He patted the bed next to him. I glared at him for a moment then crossed the room to sit next to him. He put his arm around me letting me put my head on his chest. "It'd be okay. I know it'd be. Ain't nothin' wrong with ya. So I know I'd be fine."

"But we don't, we know nothing about me!" I pushed him away looking the other direction. He huffed and grabbed my shoulders, making me look at him.

"What have you and Ephram and Miya been working on this last month, if not that? We'd figure it out. But I'm fine." I was too angry at the moment to stay in here. The further into my pregnancy I got, the more the wolf came out. My emotions were seriously unsteady and that was dangerous. Daryl knew by the look on my face to leave me be. I trekked down stairs and laid on the couch with my sketch book, never finding sleep.

A little after sunrise, Maggie and Glenn stopped by setting some food stuff on the counter.

"Mornin' Gwen." Maggie cheerfully said, then her smile fell when she saw my face, "Did ya not get any sleep?" I shook my head.

"Nah, had a fight."

"You and Dar-?" Daryl was coming down the stairs, Maggie's mouth clamped shut and she gave me a look like, speak of the angry redneck and he shall appear. He crossed to the couch and pushed me up, so he could slide between me and the armrest, his leg wedged against the back of the couch. He pulled me back against his chest, his arm around me. I let him hold me there for a while, not saying anything. I turned slightly so I fit better into this configuration. My eyes ended up fluttering closed and I rested with Daryl there for a little while. Abraham arrived next, hanging around the island while Maggie cooked. It smelled good, enough that I wasn't going to be able to rest till I put something in my stomach. I leaned up, placed a kiss on Daryl's cheek and padded to the kitchen.

"You feel better?" Glenn asked. I shook my head.

"Nah. But I'll be alright. Anyone seen Ephram this morning?"

"Yeah, he was still on shift when we got back." Abraham answered. He had been there for the rest of my shift and his own. I threw on a sweater that I had on the back of the couch and grabbed two of the waffles from Maggie, stuffing another in my mouth.

"Come back here ya little thief!" She called after me. I removed the waffle from my mouth to tell Daryl I was going to take some to Ephram, when the door opened, my cousin stepped in. My sour mood immediately lifted. I gestured to Ephram with the breakfast foods and he took them generously and sat heavily on the sofa, laying back on Daryl where I had been.

"Oh my who replaced the old couch with his hunk?" He teased Daryl.

"Stooooop." Daryl went to get Ephram in a choke hold but the smaller man jumped away in a flash, sticking his tongue out at him, before sticking the waffle in his mouth. There was a commotion upstairs, Daryl was there first followed by Glenn and Abraham.

"It's okay." I heard Michonne. Ephram and I hurried over, to see the Cat from last night, Jesus sitting on the steps.

"You said we should talk." Rick, who was half dressed, told the intruder, "So let's talk."