AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I thought I would let you know that this one is nearly done. We have one, maybe two, more chapter(s) to go after this one. I like to let you know so that you can kind of prepare yourself, if you're like me and you like to prepare yourself for the end of things.

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please let me know what you think!

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There was truly such a thing as overload, and Daryl could only imagine that their newcomers—especially Glenn—would be feeling that.

As soon as Merle recognized Glenn, and they'd exchanged their particular greeting, Merle had simply held his hand up in Michonne's direction. That simple movement was enough to tell her to stand down, and she repeated the gesture for Allen and a few others that had followed behind him in case there was some kind of trouble. Weapons disappeared and, immediately, there was a calm that washed over the group.

"You got more gear than this?" Merle asked, looking at the pathetic number of possessions they were carrying on their persons. There was a series of shaking heads. "You will," Merle offered. "Damn near everybody that comes through them gates is hungry," Merle said. "Is it safe to assume you might be wantin' a bite to eat?"

Three heads nodded, and Daryl stepped back and to the side with Carol. They hadn't been noticed yet. There were too many bodies, bunching around with curiosity over the new faces and enjoying being outside in the good weather. They had, for just a moment, blended into the crowd. That wouldn't last for long, though.

"Michonne," Merle said, addressing the woman who was, in many ways, his second in command when it came to security matters, "do me a favor?" She responded with a nod. Michonne was never a woman to waste words, and Merle wasn't offended by that. "Let Allen set a guard. You take a break. Go an' get your companion? Bring my bride, too? We gonna have a nice lunch." Michonne nodded and started off without another word. Allen, too, took that as his order to start organizing those who were on watch to get back to work. "Nothin' to see, folks," Merle offered, turning to the bunched-up crowd of people.

Slowly, the crowd began to disseminate and return to their tasks, though a few of them clearly headed to the cabin to get some food and try to watch whatever show might be on offer later.

Daryl started in the direction of the cabin with Carol, and it was only as the crowd started to thin that their new arrivals noticed them in the small sea of faces.

"Daryl? Carol!" Glenn barked as soon as he recognized them. Hershel and Maggie, their attention drawn to Daryl and Carol as they walked, echoed the cry of recognition. Daryl's stomach felt like it turned inside out, but Carol smiled and promised them a proper greeting when they were settled inside.

Merle ushered them through the building that was already growing crowded and toward one of the back rooms that, during peak hours like this, usually got a little full, but was never as packed as the main room. As soon as they were in there, they put their few possessions in a corner and against walls, and then there came the wave of hugs.

Rose, for her part, clearly started to grow uncomfortable with too many people and too many hugs. She was also due for some food and a nap, so she was on the verge of being downright disagreeable.

Carol introduced Rose, but she only introduced her with the most basic information: "This is Rose." And everyone eyed Rose, and greeted her in the same way that people seemed to always greet babies that they didn't know in any way, but nobody really seemed to think much of her.

They were all overwhelmed and overloaded, and Daryl was among that number.

The first wave of food came immediately, and their three new arrivals set to eating like none of them could recall their last meal. All that separated the feeding frenzy from something straight out of the animal kingdom was the absence of a few well-placed growls warning others away from their food. Before eating her own food, Carol smashed some peas and potatoes together to try to offer them to Rose. Rose accepted them, but the disappointed look that she gave Daryl, while she ate, said that she had had other things in mind and wished he would talk to Carol about her lunch options. Daryl knew, though, that soon Rose would start spitting out the food and becoming progressively grumpier, so she would eventually get what she wanted when Carol felt she'd at least gotten down a few good mouthfuls of the solid food.

T-Dog and Michonne were the next to arrive, and T-Dog's appearance stirred up those who had been unwilling or unable to tear themselves away from their food. Although they seemed slightly reluctant to stop eating for even a moment, they each greeted T-Dog warmly, and he looked at Daryl and Carol with the same wild-eyed look of overwhelm that everyone was feeling.

There was no chance for calm to truly descend, or for anyone to process what was happening, because Andrea arrived nearly on their heels with baby Avery bundled up in her arms—and she was greeted with hugs and more declarations of shock and surprise.

The magic that had held them all quiet and trying to process everything seemed broken whenever Merle greeted Andrea, very openly, with a kiss and invited her to sit beside him with Avery. Then, noticing the owl-eyed stares of the newcomers, Merle chuckled to himself and directed his question toward Glenn.

"What'cha think of my baby girl, Glenn?"

Daryl didn't know if Glenn was more surprised by the fact that Merle and Andrea had a baby together, or if he was more surprised by the fact that Merle had called him by name.

"You—and—Andrea?" Glenn stammered out.

Merle laughed.

"That so damn surprisin'? And watch what the hell you say, boy…my daughter's listenin'."

"It's just…" Glenn stammered.

"It surprised me, too," Andrea offered, smiling at Glenn. She smiled at Merle, too, and Daryl saw the warning she gave him with nothing more than her eyes and the subtle shift of her brow. Merle laughed to himself and asked her for Avery. She tucked the baby girl, napping for the time being, into the crook of her father's cuffed arm so that he could pet her and rearrange her with his hand. "Michonne found me when I got left behind," Andrea said. "Merle found both of us."

"The rest of the damned story don't matter much," Merle said. "We got this place, now. It's good. It's safe. Andrea an' me got Avery now."

"How did you…?" Maggie asked, tossing the question in the direction of Carol, Daryl, and T-Dog who all sat in the same vicinity.

Daryl felt hyper-aware of everything. He felt, at that moment, that he could hear everything—every slight rustle, every drawing of breath. He was aware of his heart beating in his chest. He was aware of the people who, nosy and anxious to know more about the strange reunion that was taking place, had packed into the back room much more than they usually would have in an attempt to hear every word so that it could be spread far and wide throughout the community.

"We wandered around after we left," T-Dog offered, picking up Maggie's question. "You know—just looking to survive. We figured the mountains were safe, and we've been right, for the most part. The terrain is bad for Walkers. We didn't come straight here. There's a motel not far from here. We stayed there for a while."

"We saw the evidence of life here," Carol interjected. "So, we decided to see what this place might be. Much like you, we were met at the gate and brought inside to meet the leader. You can imagine how surprised we were when we got in here and the leader turned out to be Merle."

"And his wife turned out to be Andrea," T-Dog added with a laugh.

A ripple of laughter rolled through the group, and Daryl heard it. He became aware of the fact that he should laugh—that this was light, and easy, and people were happy and enjoying this coming-together. He really felt hot, and nervous, and uncomfortable, and he couldn't shake those feelings. Across the table, Rose was starting to reach her limit of food that she didn't want, and she was spitting out the pea and potato mixture nearly as fast as Carol was trying to shovel it into her little mouth.

Daryl felt like he heard everything in the same way he might if he were underwater and trying to listen to a conversation, but he quickly honed back in when T-Dog changed the subject of conversation to what had happened after they'd left—and how exactly had Hershel, Maggie, and Glenn, made it here.

"There's a lot to that story," Hershel offered. He, like his daughter and Glenn, was clearly making up for lost time and missed meals. He spoke, unapologetically and without anyone asking him to apologize, around bites of food. He was clearly unwilling to give up the meal in front of him—which just kept coming as one of the young boys who was happy to be working, for probably the first time, almost directly for the community leader, brought plate after plate to replenish what was eaten the moment it was swallowed, grinning all the time when Merle thanked him. "When you left—nothing really changed too much in the structure of things."

"But the food situation got a lot worse," Glenn interjected. "We realized that, while everyone could start pulling their weight a bit more with the cooking and cleaning, none of us was very good at hunting."

"Everyone except Lori," Maggie said. "She was suddenly anemic and too weak to move if a dish needed to be washed or a stew needed to be made."

"I haven't hunted with any regularity since I was probably in my forties," Hershel said with a laugh. "I hunted here or there for the entertainment, but it had been a long time since my hitting the animal or missing it decided whether or not my family went hungry."

"Still, Daddy ended up being the primary provider for us," Maggie said, looking at her father with obvious affection. He smiled at her and patted her shoulder before helping himself to another biscuit. For his part, Daryl wasn't too interested in the food in front of him, but he did roll up little balls of biscuit and offer them across the table to Rose on his fingertip. She accepted them and, for a moment, stopped clawing at Carol's chest like she would rip her clothes off of her if she got the chance.

"I would say it got worse before it got better," Hershel said, "but it never got better. Lori's baby came, and both mother and child survived. She had a baby girl, and they named her Judith."

"We might have thought things would get better," Glenn said, "but we were wrong. Everything got worse after that."

"Rick went absolutely crazy," Maggie interjected. "Worse than before. Everything was—providing for his family. Making sure the baby got enough through Lori. If Lori had been incapacitated by the pregnancy, she got even worse when all her energy was going to producing milk and caring for the baby."

"Even though Beth had the baby as much as Lori did," Glenn said. "Unless Lori needed to prove a point. And all that time, Rick was just ranting constantly about making sure that Lori and the baby…and Carl…had what they needed."

"It's a sentiment we can all understand," Hershel said. "And nobody hear means to be callous. We all want to provide for our families."

"It's instinct," Merle offered. "Or it damn well oughta be."

Hershel nodded his head. A smile crossed across his lips before he licked it away with the biscuit crumbs that had collected in an overgrown mustache.

"But I don't want to provide for your family at the expense of my own," Hershel said. "That's exactly what was happening. We were moving—headed toward Washington. Rick was sure the government would have something there. We had a radio that was working. It picked up some things—a few snatches of conversations from survivors that had radios, a few broadcasts that seemed to be playing on frequencies that the government might have even set up when all this started. He was sure that the government was rebuilding the country from a base in Washington. But, as we moved, the weather changed. Game got scarcer, and it became clear that we were moving through areas where there had already been people before. Things were picked over. Picked clean."

"What's worse is that we started to come across some people who were not doing well, and it was getting to them mentally," Glenn said.

"Met more'n our share of them," Merle said with a laugh. "It's one reason we keep a pretty decent training regimen goin' on. Just about everyone here can do somethin' to help defend us if we need it. Just lettin' people know that means we don't often need it all that damn much."

Daryl felt a fluttering inside him—the first really happy moment he'd had since his nerves had threatened to turn him inside out.

"Carol here is our new secret weapon," he offered. "She's a better shot than me with a bow now." He gestured toward her bow and other supplies, resting against the wall near them.

"That's an impressive skill," Hershel offered. Carol blushed.

"Daryl exaggerates," she said.

"She's too modest to accept it," Daryl offered. "She still thinks that if she don't hit a dead-on bullseye, it don't count."

"I can assure you, it counts," Hershel said with a laugh.

"What happened with your crazy people?" Merle asked, redirecting the conversation.

"In some cases," Hershel said, "nothing. In others, their crazy clashed with the crazy that was already surrounding us. There was a pretty serious conflict once. My—Beth—got caught in the whole thing. We lost her."

"Hershel—I'm so sorry!" Carol said quickly and loudly. Everyone echoed the sentiment, but Carol's words had sounded desperately sincere. Maggie leaned against her father and patted his arm. He patted her with his hand.

"After that, things just got worse," Hershel said. "We were so tired of it. And then we heard an announcement on the radio. About this place."

"We been sendin' messages out since one of our people got a radio up and goin'," Merle said.

"We heard it," Hershel said. "We wanted to come, but Rick wanted to continue on to Washington. He tried to say that we had to go with him—that we wouldn't survive without him. I guess—I'd lost my farm. I'd lost my loved ones there—Patricia and Otis, and those we lost at the beginning of this whole outbreak. I buried my baby girl. I was desperately trying to shoot anything we could possibly pick clean and eat, and still we were going to bed hungry every night. I guess—for everyone there comes a moment of having enough."

"We left," Glenn said. "Just like you did. We packed everything, and we just left. We set out for this place."

"We didn't know if it was a trap or not," Hershel said. "But—we were more willing to take a chance on the trap than we were to take a chance on Rick's delusion that Washington had something to offer. Besides, the likelihood of one of us starving to death before we reached Washington was good, and I wasn't willing to lose anyone else. Hunting for the three of us has been surprisingly easier."

"We all contribute here," Merle said. "And we all eat."

"Well, I'd say," Hershel offered. "I haven't seen this much food since…" He let it hang, but the amount of time didn't really matter.

"Only possible because everybody puts in and does their share," Merle said. "There ain't no freeloadin' here. Everybody's got somethin' to offer." He glanced at the baby girl in his arms. "Even if it's just the promise that we got a whole other damn generation comin' up."

Hershel didn't know Merle before. He was only meeting him now, and it was clear that he was happy to know him as he was.

"She's a beautiful baby girl," Hershel offered.

"Looks like her Ma," Merle said. "Otherwise, she'da been screwed." Everyone laughed, including Merle, and he clucked at her and rocked her when his laughter disturbed the infant in his arms and she raised her complaints to him. Seeing that he couldn't quite calm her, he let Andrea take her to work her Mama's magic on the little one. "So—you don't know what the hell become of Officer Friendly and Olive Oyl?"

Hershel laughed quietly at Merle's descriptions of Rick and Lori. He shrugged. He was clearly getting full, now, and had stopped picking at the food in front of him.

"We assume they went to Washington," he said. "There's no way of knowing."

"Good damn riddance," Merle offered.

Rose, having reached the very limit of manners that she had, launched into a loud complaint of her situation. Carol, reacting as she normally did, nonchalantly hushed her daughter and rearranged her. Knowing what was coming, Rose didn't fight her mother at all as she was put into a comfortable position where she could rest—and eventually sleep—after getting exactly what her heart desired. The moment Carol bared her breast to her, Rose latched on and began humming with satisfaction, twirling her foot around to show her happiness with these new advancements. She used one of her hands, as she often did, to do what Daryl could only imagine was a type of "milking" her mother.

Immediately, the attention of their three new arrivals shifted, and Daryl's gut felt like it completed the process of turning inside out that it had begun earlier.

"She's your baby…" Maggie said, the words coming out as not quite statement and not quite question.

Carol's cheeks colored pink and she smiled at Rose who was watching her while she hummed and ate. For a half a second, Rose broke her latch only long enough to smile at her mother before returning to her busy work of nursing.

Carol nodded at Maggie.

"She is."

"You can imagine my surprise," Merle offered, "when my brother and his wife brung us this little surprise just waitin' to be fed up well enough to get here big and strong. Daryl weren't gonna let my ass win at becomin' a Daddy first."

"Wife? Daddy?" Glenn asked. Daryl couldn't breathe. He felt the instinct to claw at his throat and chest to try to open up some space for air to enter. Carol nodded in Glenn's direction. "But—how's that possible? With as long as it's been and…as big as she is…that would mean…were you two together at the rock quarry? I mean—I miss things, but I even knew about Lori and Shane, but…you two? Did Ed know?"

"Son—" Hershel interjected. "It's impolite to pry into things of such a personal nature. You wouldn't appreciate it, yourself."

Daryl didn't hear if more was said. He didn't offer any explanation or wait to see if Carol might offer an explanation. All at once, the suffocating feeling he'd been feeling, and the nagging nausea, became too much for him as he became all too aware of how many people were straining to overhear their conversation—and how many people had heard.

The secret, Daryl knew, was out of the bag, and he couldn't stand to be there for the fall out. On his quick exit from the building, he nearly took out one of the young people who was serving food. He heard the plate crash to the floor and threw a half-hearted apology behind him as he burst out into the fresh air and made a beeline for the place that he felt the safest he'd ever felt in his entire life. He needed whatever peace, right now, that his home could offer him.