A/N I know it's been a while since I posted a Daryl and Connie story but finally, here's a little one. It's a little canon, a little AU, a little ZA, there's a little separation and a whole lot of love :) I hope you enjoy!

00

They agreed he wouldn't stay gone more than two days, she's close to term and they're not taking chances. But he's not home yet. She tells herself she's overreacting. There's no one who's stronger or braver than Daryl, and no one's as clever when it comes to getting themselves out of trouble. Even if he were to encounter something awful, a violent group of survivors or a herd of walkers, he'd find a way to get back to her. He always has.

That's what the reasonable part of her brain tells her, the part that knows him so well. But her hormones and emotions are running wild and all she can feel is fear. How can she help but panic?

As of today he's been gone four full days.

She has to calm herself down, all of this anxiety isn't good for her or their baby. She tries another tactic; focusing on the positive reasons he might be two days late getting home. Even Dog seems to sense her anxiety. He stays close, licking her hand often and looking at her with big worried eyes.

Daryl probably lucked into something too good to pass up. Maybe a large warehouse or big box store that hadn't already been cleaned out. Yes, that could be it. He probably found a large trove of supplies and he's had to take the time to improvise a way of getting them back home.

They're in need of so much and he knows she can protect herself until he returns. He always tells her she's the toughest person he knows.

Still she can't help thinking of the not-so-good possibilities of what could be causing his delay. They just keep popping into her mind. He could have happened onto a herd and he's in danger, or desperately trying to divert them away from the direction of their home. Making sure to keep them safe.

Maybe he had to take a long detour because he spotted trouble like a suspicious group. Or maybe there was something blocking the road.

She's driving herself crazy with all these thoughts, but part of her problem is she has nothing to do but think of these things and wait for his return. How many times can she tidy up their small home? And there's no more weeds to be picked in the garden or watering to be done. How many times can she check on the chickens or milk the cow? There's too much time to think.

If only he'd have let her go with him, she wouldn't have to worry and wonder. But there's just no way he would agree to that, not when she's eight months pregnant. Daryl is way too protective and he would never do anything to put her or their baby at risk. She didn't even bother to put up a fight or demand to go. He was right to say "no" and she knew it.

She lays back on their bed and closes her eyes, placing a hand on the roundness of her belly. She softly rubs in small, slow circular motions; just the way Daryl always does. As she tries to calm herself she thinks of how strange it is and how lucky she is that in this crazy godforsaken world they would have happened to find each other at all. She can't come up with a scenario for how they could have met in the old world.

Now that she's quieted down, Dog has taken his spot on the rug next to their bed. Since she's been pregnant he seldom leaves her side. She pets him and signs, "Good boy."

She closes her eyes and smiles again thinking about Daryl and all there is to love about him. Of course he's undeniably handsome. Yes, he's rough and often looks dirty even when he isn't. He's perpetually in need of a haircut and always disheveled. But none of that detracts from his appeal, and there's so much more to him.

There are his ice blue eyes that can speak right to her soul and the strong lines of his jaw and cheek bones. His shoulders are so broad and powerful sometimes she thinks he really could carry the weight of the world on them. His muscled arms can lift her as if she were no more than a twig. She's even come to appreciate his scars. Not that she's happy he was hurt, quite the contrary. She'd like to hurt anyone who ever hurt him. But his scars are a kind of map, they tell the story of the journey his life has taken.

There's nothing about him she would change, nothing she wishes were different.

She remembers back to the time when she and Daryl both struggled with love. They resisted it for as long as they could. Not the act of falling in love, their attraction was almost immediate and it was 100% mutual. It didn't take long until they fell, and they fell hard. They just failed to act on those feelings.

The tough part for each of them was accepting the love they felt and the love they were being given. Allowing love into their lives would mean they were setting themselves up for more sadness. They'd both already suffered such torturous losses. It was difficult, and it was frightening to take a leap of faith.

After so much loss it seemed far easier to build walls to try and keep the hurt away, rather than to open arms and let the love in. Yet the pull between them was so strong and it just kept getting stronger until finally it was so intense they could no longer fight it, and they allowed themselves to give in. But only after it all nearly ended.

Her eyes are closed and her hand is still softly rubbing her tummy as she remembers back to how it all started.

The whisperers had captured Alden and Luke. They had them tied up and were standing in front of the gates of Hilltop, holding them hostage. She suspected they wanted to exchange her friends for someone from the Hilltop group.

Unable to hear, Connie didn't know what sorts of demands their leader, a brutal woman named Alpha was making of Daryl. She only knew it was some sort of negotiation and more importantly, her friends were in trouble.

She couldn't just watch and do nothing. She made up her mind, as soon as an opportunity presented itself she would attempt to rescue Luke and Alden.

Then, as the talking between Alpha and Daryl continued something happened. A small herd of walkers were approaching the group that held her friends captive. Connie saw that a woman with the whisperers group had a baby she carried in a sling close to her chest. It was obvious something was terribly wrong. The woman appeared to be in great distress, trying desperately to comfort the child.

Connie continued to hide among the corn rows observing. Luke spotted her and was signing to her behind his back. He let her know what was happening, the baby was crying and Alpha wanted the woman to lay the child down and let the walkers take it. She said it was natural selection.

In horror Connie watched as the child's mother did as Alpha commanded, laying the baby on the ground. Connie couldn't let that happen, she couldn't continue to hide in the corn and watch a baby die. She ran from the cornfield, killed an approaching walker with her slingshot, grabbed the baby and ran back to the cover of the cornfield. It immediately became infested with both walkers and whisperers.

It was in her struggle to kill her attackers and break free that Daryl seemed to appear out of nowhere. He saved her life but it all happened so quickly and unexpectedly, she nearly killed him by mistake. They shared a quick look and both began fighting again, together. But not just them. Connie's sister Kelly, and Earle and Tammy were in on the fight too.

It was bloody and frightening but they managed to make it back to the safety of Hilltop with the child still safely wrapped across Connie's chest.

A bond was forged between her and Daryl in that cornfield, and from that day on the closeness between them just kept growing. It wasn't only emotional and physical attraction. Those things were a big part of it, but it went so much deeper. It was also about mutual respect and admiration for each other's skills and beliefs.

Alexandria had a reputation as a "library city" and when he showed her the book he managed to find while scavenging one of those libraries, a book of American Sign Language, her heart warmed toward him even more. The rough mountain of a man was serious about learning to speak to her in her own language.

ASL didn't come easily to him. At first his attempts were a bit clumsy and self-conscious, and of course he made mistakes. None of that mattered to Connie, she knew he'd get better over time. What mattered was the effort he was willing to put into it and his determination. It made her smile knowing she was the reason he tried so hard.

Over time she became more and more sure of his feelings, and she was confident he was fully aware of how deeply she cared for him. There were the casual but lingering touches, the personal stories they shared and the little jokes that wouldn't be funny to anyone but them.

Their romance was like a slow, warm and sometimes sexy dance. She was certain they had the same feelings and that one day they would finally act on those. She was sure the two of them could make a go of it in this upside-down world.

Everything changed with the accident in the cave. It left her and Magna trapped inside and not at all sure if the others had gotten out safely. Even if they did, had the explosion and debris killed them? Had the noise riled a herd that got to them? So many things could have gone wrong.

It was while she and Magna were trapped in that cave, hungry, dirty, alone and short on oxygen that Connie decided if ever she got out, and if she found him again, she would let Daryl know her feelings.

She and Magna did manage to escape the dark and frightening confinement, but they did not escape into goodness and light. They were on the verge of exhaustion and near starvation when they found themselves having to hide among a herd. It was during this struggle the two women became separated. Not only was Connie alone, she'd been nearly trampled to death.

She was in and out of consciousness, weak, hungry and dangerously dehydrated. When moments of consciousness came she questioned why she continued the fight for survival. In those dark times she reminded herself of her sister Kelly and of him. Daryl.

Her resolve was firm, she would find them again. She and Daryl would be together. It was time for them to accept what they both deserved, love, intimacy and a life together.

When they were all in the cave and desperately trying to find their way out he decided the time had come. He wasn't going to fight it anymore now that he'd admitted to himself how deep his feelings for her ran. It was time to let her know. As soon as they got out of their current mess that's exactly what he planned to do.

Then disaster struck and she was trapped and he knew he'd never rest until he found her.

Him and Kelly had been out looking for Connie so many times he'd lost count. He'd also spent plenty of time on his own wandering and wondering and asking himself why he didn't just give up. Experience told him it wouldn't end well. He'd looked for Beth and that ended in heartache, he spent years looking for Rick and found only disappointment. He'd spent years looking for Leah and never found a single sign.

He should have known it would happen, that as soon as he found someone with whom he could get close again everything would go dark. Connie was somewhere under a mountain of rock and he didn't didn't see how she could have possibly survived. Yet he never gave up hope, not completely.

He told himself plenty of times to abandon the search, accept that she was gone and move on with his life. There was plenty to do at Alexandria to help the people who were actually there. Real people who needed real help. That's where he should be spending his time and energy.

But he just couldn't quit. Something told him Connie was out there and he was determined to find her and tell her all the things he should have said long ago. He'd learned quite a bit of her language and whatever he didn't know how to sign he'd write down. Those feelings he didn't know how to put into words, he'd show her.

He'd been back at Alexandria a couple of days. He'd taken care of some business around there, gotten some real rest in a real bed, and hung out with his dog. But he was too restless to stay. He needed to get back out there and look.

He grabbed his small backpack and his crossbow and he was ready to split. Just as he reached for the knob there was a knock on his door. Kelly. She had on her pack, and her slingshot and knife were on her hip. She was ready too. He smiled as he simultaneously signed and spoke, "You're thinkin' what I'm thinkin', huh?"

She nodded as she smiled back at the man who had become a big brother to her, and he just said, "Let's go." Then, "Dog."

Usually he preferred traveling alone but with Kelly it was different. She had good instincts and she was tough when she needed to be. Most important she was like him, single minded. They had a goal and a plan as they started in a huge circular path, slowly working their way closer and closer toward the center.

They'd been at it a few hours and he was hungrier than hell, but he had no plan to stop unless Kelly asked him to. Then, slicker than slick she killed a rabbit with her sling shot. He figured that was a sign, it was time for lunch.

While she built the fire, he gutted and skinned the animal. He planned to cook it on a spit and was just threading a stick through it when a couple of walkers approached. Him and Kelly had been a team for a while now, he nodded her way, she nodded back and took one of them out with her sling shot while he took the other with his throwing knife.

They quickly got back to the business at hand, cooking lunch. Kelly was laying on her back taking a break while he slowly and methodically turned the spit. He heard a faint noise, looked up from his task and saw movement in the trees. Dog started running that way and Daryl called him back, but the animal completely ignored his commands.

He tapped Kelly's boot and she sat straight up. He pointed in the direction of a thick stand of trees, Dog was staying close to whatever it was. Daryl held the bow to his shoulder, cocked and ready. Kelly had her slingshot loaded and drawn back. Together they watched as the stumbling figure approached, certain it was a walker.

Daryl almost released the bolt but something told him no. Then he watched Connie emerge from the trees and fall to the ground, motionless with Dog whining beside her and licking her hand.

He and Kelly hurried toward her. He held her head and patted her cheek saying over and over, "Connie, Connie," even though he knew she couldn't hear him, maybe she would feel him talking. Her eyes fluttered open and shut.

Although Connie was strong and had a lot of endurance, she'd always seemed so tiny to him. Now it appeared she'd gotten even smaller. She was caked in mud from her head down to her shoes and obviously weak. The look of her eyes when they opened told him she was badly dehydrated.

Kelly was happily excited and scared to death, so was he. He had to think what to do, then he smelled the rabbit. He looked at Kelly and tilted his head toward the fire and she hurried to get the animal and pack it up. They may not be eating it now but they would. In their world a person didn't waste food.

Connie obviously wasn't going to make it on foot, he was going to have to get her back to Alexandria some other way. For a while he tried carrying her but even as light as she was, it made the going slow and that wouldn't do. They had to get her to Alexandria. She needed food, water and rest and she needed those things now.

Kelly had those same thoughts when they stopped for a moment to regroup. He set Connie on her feet and re-positioned his bow so that he carried it in front of him. He and Kelly got on either side of her, crouched down, each took a wrist and and rested one of her arms across their shoulders, then they both wrapped an arm around her waist for support.

Together they were able to carry her along at a much quicker pace and they made it back to Alexandria just after nightfall.

So much of what had once been a thriving community was now gone and the hospital was just one more casualty of the war with the whisperers. Still, Daryl was aware Hershel had anticipated long ago that one day he'd be gone. He'd taken Carol under his wing and she had a sound knowledge of emergency medicine.

Aaron was guarding the gate into Alexandria and as soon as he let the three of them in, he ran ahead to alert Carol so she could get ready for them in the makeshift infirmary. Medical supplies were limited but there was something Connie desperately needed, a homemade IV bag containing saline solution.

She lay motionless as the liquid dripped in her arm and Kelly and Carol both worked at cleaning at least some of the mud and filth off of her. Normally Carol would have told Daryl to leave and let them do their work, but she knew better. He wasn't going anywhere.

They'd done what they could do for the time being and Connie seemed to be resting comfortably when Carol said, "Daryl, there's nothing you can do for her right now. She needs rest, fluids and hopefully we can get some food in her later. You need to go home and eat something yourself."

"I got a rabbit ta eat."

"Then go get some sleep."

He ignored her advice, instead laying down on the floor next to Connie's bed while grumbling, "I ain't leavin' Connie."

00

A/N There's our start. I hope you enjoyed it and please leave a comment. There's a chapter photo on my tumblr blogs gneebee and fortheloveofdonnie, please have a look. I'll be back next Tuesday with another chapter of Waiting for You, I hope you'll be here too. Until then stay safe and remember, I love ya large! xo gneebee