The bed of the monster pick-up truck was stuffed. The red racing bike was strapped to it, and it was filled with Dixon's canned food, booze, propane, gasoline, oil, ammunition, and rifles. They would come back tomorrow, Daryl promised, for the deer in the root cellar, Dixon's collection of books, the armored vehicle, the spare motorbike tires, and the grills.

Luke and Mika were in the backseat of the extended cab, with stuffed backpacks at their feet and Daisy on the bench seat between them, her head on Mika's lap and her tail in Luke's.

Dixon sat with his elbow on the windowsill and his chin in his hand, staring out the passenger's side window as Daryl drove. His fierce, blue-green eyes, which Daryl could see reflected in the side view mirror, spoke of anger, sadness, and regret.

It had taken awhile for Daryl to convince his nephew to come with him. After his experience at Woodbury, Dixon was wary of joining another camp, but it was too much for a young man of barely seventeen to raise and provide for two children alone. And he eventually accepted that Daryl was telling him the truth about his father. There were just too many details that matched up. And there had been the Hammer's dying speech, such as it was. But it was the kids who decided things, Daryl was sure. The little ones needed a home, one where they wouldn't be left alone if Dixon went hunting to feed them.

"Merle must have been the one who let you out," Daryl said. "And left you that car."

Dixon didn't answer.

"He figured it out when he interrogated you, that you had to be his son." Daryl glanced at the boy. "Y'all got different builds." Merle was stockier. "But you got his jaw line. And his nose. 'Course, yours looks better 'cause it ain't been broken three times."

Dixon didn't say a word.

"Gonna like it at Fun Kingdom," Daryl told him. "Got a whole warehouse of goods. A freezer and fridge full of food. Got me a deer in our root cellar, too. With your deer, we ain't gonna be able to fit it all in the freezer. Might have to plug in a second one for a bit. There's this giant slide. Carl and Sophia love it. Can fly down on burlap sacks. And there's this playground, nets and slides and shit, well, that's probably way too young for you, but they still – "

"- You talk a lot," Dixon interrupted.

"Not usually." Daryl felt strange, knowing his nephew was sitting beside him. This boy was the last remnant he had of Merle, and he wanted him to want to be a part of their camp.

"Is there candy?" Luke asked from the backseat. "At the amusement park?"

"Lots and lots of candy, kid."

"Oh yeah!" the boy said.

[*]

Carol had just turned on the oven light to take a peek at her casserole when the static purr of the baby monitor receiver in the living room crackled with a human whistle. Then the bark of a dog. Max, who was now in the living room over Lori's protests, barked in reaction to the bark.

Rick, who was playing Scrabble with Carl and Sophia on the coffee table, jumped up and put a hand on the butt of his revolver, but then Daryl's voice flooded through the receiver. "It's Daryl! Open up the gate."

"He found a dog, too?" Rick asked.

Carol laughed with relief. "I'll go get him," she said. "Sophia, take out the casserole when the oven beeps."

[*]

Carol was stunned when she opened the gate and Daryl drove the truck through. He leaned out the open driver's side window and said, "This is Dixon," pointing to the boy who had robbed them. "Merle's kid. Mika." He pointed behind himself. "Luke. And the dog's Daisy. They're gonna live with us now."

"Oh…kay," replied Carol. "Did you say Merle's kid?"

"Explain it all later." He drove on slowly, and Carol got back on the solar-powered Segway and followed.

When they got to the house, everyone was outside, having heard snippets of conversation through the baby monitor receiver when the gate was opened and wondering who was coming into their camp.

Doors to the pick-up truck opened and everyone spilled out, Dixon more reticently than the younger kids. Daisy bounded out barking.

Max barked when he saw her, and Daisy barked in return.

"Oh hell," Dixon muttered. "This is about the time Daisy is usually in heat."

Max bounded up to Daisy and sniffed around her for all of sixty seconds before Daisy held her tail in a receptive flagging stance and the other dog mounted her and went to town.

"And that, Carl," T-Dog said, "is sex."

Carl flushed, Lori gave T-Dog the stink eye, and Andrea burst out laughing.

[*]

Inside the House of the Future, Carl (with Andre in tow) and Sophia were showing the newcomers to their rooms to unpack their clothes. Mika would be on the trundle bed in Sophia's room (now that Carol was moving out), and Dixon and Luke would take the two free bunks in the space room with Glenn and Carl.

Outside the House of the Future, Daryl gave the adults a summary of what had happened and what he'd learned.

"And you're sure Dixon's not a threat?" Lori asked.

"He's my nephew," Daryl growled, as though Lori's question were a personal insult.

"A nephew you just met today," Lori reminded him.

"Technically met 'em over two weeks ago," Daryl replied.

"Yes," Lori said, "when he was robbing you at gunpoint."

"I was actually the one pointing the gun at him," Carol clarified. "He just threatened to sic his dog on me."

Lori shook her head. "Ah, so much better."

"This isn't really a discussion is it?" Glenn asked.

"It shouldn't be," T-Dog said.

"They're kids," Andrea agreed. "And they're alone. Of course they stay here."

"Dixon is no child," Lori insisted. "He's seventeen and he's been living on his own for months, except for the few weeks he had Mika's father in his cabin."

"Yes," Michonne told her. "And he's been risking his life to go out and hunt and loot to take care of two little kids, which speaks to his character, wouldn't you say?"

"I'm just nervous about having a complete stranger who owns multiple rifles sleeping in my son's bedroom. I didn't see you volunteering to let him sleep with Andre."

"I don't think it would be advisable to have a teenage boy in my bed," Michonne told her coolly.

"I'll be in the space room, too!" Glenn reminded Lori. "Dixon won't be alone with Carl."

"Most nights," Lori replied. "We all know you'll be at the farm some nights."

"If it makes you feel better," Rick told his wife, "I can sleep in there when Glenn's at the farm. Just until we're certain Dixon is trustworthy. Besides…it might be good for me and Carl to have a sleepover. We could probably use some father-son bonding time." He smiled. "And then I won't have to wake up every time you get one of those Charlie horses and limp cursing through the bedroom."

Lori rolled her eyes to him. This would be the point, Carol thought, at which a woman would normally say something about having those leg cramps because she was carrying his child. But she couldn't say that. "I'm not saying we shouldn't take them in. I'm just saying we should be cautious. And we need to watch Mika, too, to make sure she doesn't show the same signs of illness as her sister."

"Of course we should watch them all," Rick agreed. "Just like we had to keep an eye on Michonne at first."

"Oh," Lori said coolly. "Is that why you were always looking at her?"

Rick looked at Lori, mouth slightly agape, as though it had just dawned on him that she was jealous. Michonne slinked away and headed back silently inside the house.

"Awkwaaaard," Glenn murmured under his breath.

Everyone peeled away and left Lori and Rick alone outside.

[*]

Dixon was given Shane's old chair at the dining room table, and two folding chairs were squeezed in for Mika and Luke. They started dinner without Rick and Lori, who were still talking – or arguing - outside.

Mika, Carol thought, seemed surprisingly well adjusted given what she'd been through. It probably helped that Sophia was sitting next to her and telling her about all the fun things they would do together tomorrow. Meanwhile, Andre kept trying to feed Luke from his plate, and Luke kept pushing the younger boy's hand away. Dixon wasn't talking at all, except in answer to direct questions, and then his answers were cursory.

"Did you never think to loot Fun Kingdom?" Andrea asked him.

"No. I assumed it would be overrun with uglies."

"It was temporarily closed down when this all started," Glenn explained to him. "After some freak accident."

Lori and Rick came quietly inside. Rick pulled out Lori's chair for her, and she said, "Thank you," and sat down. It didn't look like they'd fully resolved matters, but they were certainly being civil. Rick sat next to his wife.

"We all chip in around here, Dixon," Rick said. "What chores and jobs might interest you?"

"I hunt."

"Okay, well, maybe you can hunt with Daryl," Rick told him. "We like to have a travel-in-twos rule here as much as possible, but Daryl's been flouting that." He smiled mildly at Daryl. "He could use a hunting partner."

"I hunt alone," Dixon said.

"Well, anything else you might like to do?" Rick asked him. "Around the house? For the group? There's dishes, laundry, perimeter check, night watch, chopping wood for the outdoor fire pit, minor house repairs, inventory, I could go on."

"I'll do what needs to be done."

Rick nodded. "That's a good attitude. How about you, Mika? How do you feel about dish duty?"

"Sexist," Mika said. "Why don't you ask Luke?"

Michonne laughed, and Dixon actually cracked a smile. "Mika did dishes back home," Dixon told them, speaking without prompting for the first time. "They both did."

"But this is home now, right, Dix?" Mika asked him. "This is our new camp?"

Dixon stabbed a piece of broccoli with his fork. "I guess so."

[*]

Carol knocked on the door to Sophia and Mika's room and stepped inside when Sophia called "Come in!"

Mika was in her brand new pair of Fun Kingdom pink and white flannel pajamas on the trundle, sitting cross legged in a listening posture while Sophia held open a paperback book on the bed above. "We were just reading," Sophia explained. "We're at the best part."

"I just need to get my things," Carol told her.

"I already put them in Daryl's room when I was helping Mika move in. She needed the space."

"Okay then. I guess it's just goodnight." Carol came over to the bed and kissed the top of Sophia's head.

"Moooom! I'm a getting a little old to be tucked in."

"You'll never be too old for a little kiss from your mother," Carol insisted. She thought Sophia was putting on a bit of a show for Mika, having quickly fallen into the role of big sister. She'd always wanted a little sister of her own. There was a two and a half year age difference, but Carol thought the two might become decent friends anyway. "We're very happy to have you here with us, Mika."

"Dix says we'll be safer here because you have fences and lots of guns and people who know how to use them, and the Governor thinks he's camping at some prison."

The Governor probably knew that wasn't the case by now – he'd probably sent someone to that prison – but it was true he didn't know where Dixon was. "We have good security here," she told Mika. "Even so, make sure you're never out wandering around alone. Stick with Sophia or Carl or Dixon or an adult."

"Dixon is an adult," said Mika, looking puzzled.

"I suppose he is," Carol agreed. "Welcome again, and I'll make fresh apple pancakes tomorrow to celebrate your arrival."

Mika gasped. "You can make pancakes here? And you have apples?"

"In trade from the farm," Sophia told her. "You're going to love it here."

When Carol clicked shut the door, she looked through the open door next door where the boys were getting settled. Glenn was moving down to a bottom bunk because Luke wanted the top, and Carl was excitedly asking, "Can I ride your motorbike tomorrow?"

"I don't want you messing it up, kid," Dixon replied.

Before climbing the ladder to the top bunk, Luke rooted through his backpack. He gasped. "Oh no! I think I left Boo at the cabin."

"I got him, I got him." Dixon unzipped his pack, pulled out a small, worn, faded teddy bear, and tossed it to Luke.

Carol chuckled to herself and headed to Daryl's room, where her belongings lay dumped by Sophia on the second bed. Daryl sat on his bed in his tan cargo pants and white sleeveless undershirt sharpening his bolts.

"We could be like a 50's sitcom in here if you want," she said. "Sleeping in separate beds."

"That what you want?" he asked.

"Depends how much you end up kicking me in your sleep. But let's start with sharing one bed for now." She turned and opened the closet. Daryl didn't have much in there, but it was strewn all over. She straightened that mess up first and then began to hang her own clothes. "He's quiet, your nephew."

"Just found out his mama lied to him his whole damn life. Kid could of known his father."

"Well, he still has a chance to hear stories about his father. From you."

"Ain't sure he wants to."

"I'm sure he does. He must be curious. Do you think Merle would have been involved in Dixon's life had he known years ago?"

"Dunno. Probably. On and off. Way he was with me."

"How was he with you?" Carol asked gently.

"My best friend one day, off on a bender the next. Gettin' me a job one day, then stealin' my sock money for drugs the next. Wrappin' his arm around my neck and callin' me little brother on a Monday, and then comin' to blows over some dumbass argument on a Tuesday. No wonder Dixie took off. Can't really blame 'er for not tellin' him. Merle would of made a shit father. Dixon men always do."

Carol walked over, put a hand on his knee, and looked him straight in the eyes. "You don't."

"I ain't a daddy though. If I was, probably would make a shit father."

"You wouldn't," she told him. "You don't." She trailed her hand from his knee to his chest and pressed it against his tan muscle shirt over his heart. "You've done more for Sophia in the past couple of months than her real daddy ever did for her in her entire life."

Daryl looked away and swallowed.

She drew her hand from him. "I wouldn't move into the bedroom of a man I thought would do wrong by my daughter. I'm not that woman anymore who would let myself stay with a man who wasn't good for me or my little girl." She returned to hanging her clothes.

"Sophia's a good kid," he murmured. "You done good raisin' her."

"I failed her by not leaving Ed, though," Carol confessed. "She's bloomed and grown and matured so much since we came to Fun Kingdom. It's like she became her own person once he was gone."

"Maybe that's what Dixie thought Dixon would do, if Merle wasn't around."

"Or maybe Merle would have changed his ways, if he'd known there was a child involved," Carol said. She put away her things while he continued sharpening his bolts. Eventually, though, she came over to the bed where he was sitting, trailed a hand over his lower leg, and rested it on his knee. "How are you feeling about all this?"

He shrugged. "Ain't feelin' nothin'."

"Is that so?" she asked doubtfully.

"Mean…relieved to know what happened. Glad Merle didn't die for nothin', that he went out guns blazin'." He set aside his sharpening stone and fiddled with his crossbow bolt. "Pissed off at this Governor fucker. Weren't for him, Merle would still be alive. Wouldn't of tried to shoot Martinez, wouldn't of been shot. Wanna go to Woodbury and slit his throat."

"But you're not going to try to do that." The simmering anger behind his blue eyes made Carol fear he might. "Right?"

He looked away at the window, then back at his bolt. "Can't take on his whole damn army. Don't want to call attention to us. 'Specially when he wants Dixon dead. And I wouldn't put you or Soph in jeopardy like that. He don't know we're here. Best thing is just to stay the hell away from Woodbury. Know that. Ain't a goddamn fool. Just want to is all. Want to kill him." He gritted his teeth, got out of the bed, and lay his bolts on the writing desk. Then he returned and brushed the largest flecks off the comforter from his sharpening into his hand and shook them in the little trashcan by the nightstand.

"Maybe in the future…" Carol suggested, "You could sharpen your bolts at the desk? Or outside?"

He turned to face her. "Like sharpening my bolts in bed."

"Yeah?" Carol hooked a finger through his belt loop. "And I really like having sex in a nice clean bed with no stray flecks from arrow heads." She batted her eyelashes at him.

"Stahp. This how you're gonna try to win every argument now that we're shackin' up?"

Carol shrugged and let her finger slide loose from his belt loop. "Depends how well it works I suppose."

She yelped when he suddenly lifted her by the hips and tossed her on the second bed.

"Let's see," Daryl growled as he began unbuckling his belt and leaning down over her with a palm on the bed and fiery eyes. "See how well it works."

Carol laughed, and his open belt jangled loosely as he began to ravish her mouth with a hungry kiss.

Later, the couple lay naked, satisfied, and spooned together under the covers of the second bed, with Carol curled back against him and fitting perfectly in the curve of his body. She'd climaxed this time, about when he did, about the same time he was panting, Can't hold out much… She'd caught the peak just then and raked her fingernails over his old wounds while she shuddered around him.

"Do you mind if I redecorate a little?" she asked now.

"What?" Daryl murmured sleepily into her hair, his cheek rested against her head.

"The room. Do you mind if I redecorate it a little?"

"Pfft. Don't care 'bout that shit. Do whatever the hell you want. Long as it ain't too girly. And don't touch my antlers."

"You don't think they'd look better with pink pom poms on the tips of them?"

"Stahp."

Carol chuckled. "I just want to put up some different curtains. Maybe a couple wall sconces for candles. Maybe hang a little basket of potpourri from the closet rod so your boots don't stink up the whole thing."

"Stahp. Don't want my boots and jacket smellin' like girly shit."

"My shits don't actually smell that good."

He groaned, and she snickered.

Daryl cupped one of her breasts in his hand and toyed with it. She let him for a moment, and then repositioned his hand on her stomach. "It's cuddle time," she said.

"Was cuddlin'. Was cuddlin' your tit."

Chuckling, she rolled to face him.

He put a palm flat on her bare ass and pulled her a little closer. "You goin' on the pill soon?"

"I did today. But we need to give it six more days to kick in before we drop the condoms." She smiled. "Then it's almost six months of condom-free sex."

"Like the sound of that." He kissed her and when he pulled back said, "Got to get my bike from the farm tomorrow. Then go back to the cabin. Get the rest of Dixon's shit. Kid's got all these books he wants. Hundreds of 'em."

"He's a reader?"

"Yeah. Think he must of learned to talk from reading. Told me I keep turning up like a bad penny."

She laughed.

"Don't think he had a lot of friends growin' up. Mostly just his mama. Didn't go to school. Hung out at the bar his mama tended sometimes."

"Strange upbringing."

"No stranger 'n mine," he said. "I'll drive back that armored vehicle. Dixon can drive the truck after we pack it full."

"Well, this outing may give you a good chance to bond with your nephew." Carol

Daryl huffed. "He don't know me from Adam. Ain't gonna bond with me."

"Sophia didn't know you from Adam when you rolled into our camp at the quarry, but she's pretty fond of you now."

"Dunno why."

"I do. But then, I'm pretty fond of you, too. And someday…maybe Dixon will be, too."

"That kid can fuckin' ride," Daryl said in semi-awe. "Should of seen him go under that trip wire, almost to the ground. Merle would have been so damn proud."

Carol smiled gently. "I bet he would have been." She kissed his forehead, and he closed his eyes and sighed in the way he did when he was getting ready to fall asleep. "Goodnight, Daryl."

"Nite, Miss Murphy."