Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognize. Although I don't know a fangirl out there that wouldn't love their own personal Daryl.

AN: So on the night that the last chapter was posted mrskas453 said that Adrian was a bit of a loose cannon. Now most people would think that that in the ZA that that would be a bad thing. But I'm glad that she seems like a loose cannon a bit. Keeps yall on edge about what she'll do next :p

Also I am SO SORRY that it has been so long since my last update. I've kind of gotten back into Reader mode. I don't have writter's block, thankfully, but in my opinion my problem is worse. I know what I want to write, all the ideas are there, but I have just had no motivation to actually write. But I promise I am trying on the next chapter.

Chapter 27

It was finally summer again. It had been a long hard eight months on the road and now that the weather was anywhere between pleasantly warm to blistering hot, the walkers were everywhere.

The colder weather of the winter had slowed them down but now they were all defrosted and ready to tear into anything not as dead as them. Adrian was on good terms with everyone in the group, except for Rick some days but that wasn't anything unusual.

Hershal had been teaching Carol a few things so she could help him when it came time for the baby to be born, which could be at any time now. Adrian and Carol had come to pleasant enough terms with each other since they were both always hovering over Lori. Adrian had to admire how far Carol had come since the far.

When Adrian had first set eyes on her back in the camp outside of Atlanta, Carol was nothing more than an abused woman afraid to stand up for herself or occasionally her daughter. Then after Sophia had disappeared and they made it to the farm she was nothing more than a lost woman who didn't do much other than the daily chores around the camp. Once they had to leave the farm it seemed as if Carol was reluctant to break out of her helpless shell, but the long winter on the road had broken her of that and Adrian was glad because Carol was a strong and independent woman who helped out when she could.

Glenn and Maggie were as close as ever, always sneaking off to have sex when they thought they could get away with it, which wasn't very often. Glenn had grown up alot as well since Adrian had first laid eyes on the young Asian boy. He had grown not only physically but mentally as well.

Same thing with Carl.

Carl was now a fully active member of the group, went in with Rick, T-Dog, Daryl, and occasionally Adrian to clear houses for them to rest in, went on scavenging trips when they wouldn't be too dangerous. But Carl had also taken a page from his father's book and developed quite the attitude towards his mother.

There were a few times when Adrian took it upon herself to speak to him, and the one time that he had popped off that she wasn't his mother she had kicked his feet out from under him. She then proceeded to tell him that when Seth had back talked her that she beat is ass and that Carl was no different, mother or no, and that if he didn't want to listen to her than he should listen to his real mother, whom he was being an extreme dick to and she wouldn't hesitate to pull whatever stick it was that he had up his ass out.

It was late afternoon when they decided to clear out a house and stay the night if possible. Rick, Daryl, Carl, and T-Dog went inside to kill any walkers that might be inside. Adrian stayed outside with the rest of the group. "How you doin' Lori? You two okay?" Adrian asked the worried woman. "We're fine." she said.

Then they heard a whistle, the signal that is was safe. Carol, Beth, and Adrian grabbed a few things that they would need for overnight and walked to the house. Rick stood at the doorway until all of them passed through. Maggie and Glenn were piling up the walker bodies to one side of the hall, Carl and T-Dog were nowhere in sight, and Daryl came downstairs pulling feathers from some kind of bird.

They were all tired and hungry and nothing sounded better than a rest at that point. Adrian stopped Daryl on his way into the living room and gave him a short kiss on the lips. "I see you found dinner." she said laughing softly. "Better than nothin'. Want some? Ain't much but like I said, it's somethin'." Daryl asked. Adrian shook her head, knowing that he was far hungrier than she was.

Daryl and Adrian walked into the room with everyone else and sat down, Daryl in a chair and Adrian on the floor by his legs. Adrian was exhausted having had watch duty the night before. Adrian put her bow on the floor beside her, curled her legs to her left, wrapped her right arm around Daryl's left calf, laid her head on his thigh, and briefly closed her eyes.

Adrian felt the heavy weight of Daryl's left elbow rest on the back of her neck. She occasionally felt the tickle of a feather touching her face and twitched her nose, which she swore she heard Daryl smile at. She was fading fast to the feel of Daryl's muscles working as he plucked his bird and the sound of Rick pacing around the room.

Over the past few months Adrian and Daryl became more open with their affection for each other. At first it was a little awkward for Daryl and occasionally everyone else since they were so used to Daryl and Adrian being such private people.

Adrian was just falling asleep when she was startled by a loud, sudden clanging just a few feet away. Not one to be startled, especially by loud noises or sudden movements, Adrian jerked up straight, pulled out her newly acquired KBAR in place of her hunting knife, and searched the room with wide eyes. After realizing that Rick had thrown a can into the stone fireplace, she resheathed her blade.

She laid her head back onto Daryl's thigh, trying to calm her now racing heart from her sudden adrenaline rush. Daryl made quick work of the bird he killed, which Adrian finally realized was a freaking owl, and wiped off his fingers with his dirty rag. Adrian had just calmed down enough to doze off again when she heard someone give a quick whistle.

Opening her eyes, Adrian seen T-Dog grab his fire poker and move away from the window. Everyone started to quickly gather the things they brought inside and head towards the back door for a quick escape.

"If these damn walkers keep messing with my nap, I'ma go on a walker killing spree. By the time I'm done I'll be covered in so much blood you won't be able to tell I'm human!" Adrian growled as everyone started moving towards the kitchen.

Daryl gave a snort at her statement, which caused her to cut her glare towards him. "This ain't the farm no more sweetheart. Keep the blood wearing to a medium, will ya?" Daryl said lightly laughing as he gently placed his hand to her lower back and giving her a quick kiss on her temple before pushing her forward. "Go catch up to Lori." he told her pushing her ahead.

Adrian caught up with Lori as she was running out of the back door. Adrian safely seen her to the truck and then quickly got on and started her bike before they all drove away from the growing herd of walkers.

They drove about thirty miles before they stopped on a quiet, wooded stretch of road. Adrian stopped her bike by the large truck the Lori was resting in while the others looked over a map they had been using for the last six months. Since the weather had gotten warmer, it seemed that the walkers had somehow multiplied. Or they had all decided at a convention to all gather in Georgia.

Lori was sitting in the front seat of the truck relaxing as much as an overdue pregnant woman constantly running for her life could. "Doing okay? Need anything?" Adrian asked her, taking a large drink of water. Adrian got no response from Lori, which she was doing more and more when she was either thinking or distracted.

Leaving Lori to herself Adrian got off her bike and headed towards her dirty and sweaty lover. Adrian heard T-Dog mention something about getting some water from a creek he had spotted to Rick.

Adrian was a few feet from Rick and Daryl when she heard Daryl talk. "Well, while the others are washin' their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot." Daryl said cocking and reloading his crossbow. Rick seen Adrian coming up behind Daryl and told him that he would meet him in a minute. "Panties, huh?" she asked brushing her hand in between his shoulderblades.

"Yeah. Gonna go down with the rest of 'em?" Daryl asked turning to look at her. "And wash my panties? Well thanks to a certain someone I'm not wearing any today after last night. And besides I don't own that many anymore. Cutting them off me tends to ruin them." she said standing in front of him, loop her arms around his neck with a smirk.

"They were in the way." Daryl said looking over to where Rick was waiting for him. "Better get goin'." he said nodding towards Rick. "Well then be sure to bring me back something to eat. If I'm gonna have to stay awake I'ma need the energy. So go catch me something my big, strong man." she said smiling before she pulled him down for a quick kiss.

Breaking the kiss, Adrian looked up at him seriously. Her green eyes starring straight into his blue ones. "Be careful and come back to me." she said. Over the course of the months it had become their farewell to each other when they had to separate and leave the others sight for an extended period of time.

"Always do. Keep an eye out for trouble. And try not to stab me when we get back like last time." Daryl said.

"Hey!" she said pointing a finger at him in mock anger. "You deserved that! You know better than anyone than to sneak up on me." she said as he was walking towards Rick.

Daryl and Rick came back from their hunt and told everyone about the prison that they had spotted. It was decided that we would try for the prison. It was as close to the Heaven that Rick envisioned for so long as it got. So after looking on the map for general directions, everyone packed up and headed in that general direction.

Once at the prison Rick gave everyone quick orders so they could clear out the outter yard. Rick had given Adrian orders to help out behind the fence but had been a little miffed when she had ran through the fence behind him.

It was now after dark and everyone but Rick, who was continually circling the fences, and Daryl, who was standing guard for a while on a toppled bus, were around the small fire. Daryl had managed to catch a couple of decent sized rabbits earlier in the day and had been cooked. Everyone ate their share of meat, mostly in silence. After a while neither Rick nor Daryl came back to the fire. If Rick wanted to worry himself into the ground, that was fine with Adrian, but she wasn't going to let Daryl starve himself after keeping watch for hours.

"Carol? Can you be a dear and bring this to Daryl up there?" Adrian asked the older woman. As the days went on Adrian got more and more worried about Lori. Not only was she overdue and as to where her physical health was good given their conditions, her mental health and emotional state got worse with every encounter she had with Rick that ended badly. Which more often than not, did end badly.

Carol took the bowl and started off in the direction of the bus. "And Carol? Please inform Mr. Dixon that he will eat that food willingly or I will use my pent up frustration and force it down his throat." she said with a small smile.

Carol nodded and continued her task. After a few minutes Adrian zoned out while starring into the fire.

She was aware of the others talking and Beth singing. It was Rick's statement of them taking the prison the next day that snapped her out of her daze. When Rick walked off, Lori followed. Knowing that it was unlikely to end well, Adrian kept a close eye on the couple.

Seeing the heated discussion end Adrian got up to check on Lori. She got up and was walking toward Lori when she heard Daryl whisper "Leave it alone." "Shut it!" she growled as she stalked past. "Lori. Are you okay?" she asked her.

She already knew the answer to the question just by looking at the woman. "Nevermind. Go back to the fire and get some rest. It's been a long day." she said giving the pregnant woman a gentle nudge towards the fire.

Once Lori was on her way back to the fire Adrian slowly turned in the direction of Rick and felt her anger go from a slow boil to full blown volcano eruption. But knowing that beating the deranged stupid out of him would do her no good, she managed to tone it down to just grinding her teeth.

"Go ahead. Get your beating out of the way and get some sleep." he said. "You heard me coming." she said. "You always come after me when me and Lori talk." he said still checking out the fences to the inner yard.

"Oh at this point there is no beating big enough that I could give you that would make me feel better. Besides, we need you capable of walking. Especially since you want to take the inside tomorrow." she said from behind him.

"So. Now that you've effectively belittled your wife today, do you feel better about yourself now?" she asked, standing in front of him. "Let me ask you something, are you going to keep punishing and being angry at her forever? Because I gotta say, I'm startin to get damn tired of it and I haven't even done anything wrong." she said getting in his face now.

"Just because I can't find time to spend with my wife doesn't mean that I'm punishing her." he said moving to walk past her. "Can't or won't? Maggie and Glen seem to find plenty of time together. Believe me on that one. Daryl and I even manage to find time for each other, so don't give me that BS story. You're punishing her." she said, pushing.

"You've done nothing but punish her and push her away more and more the farther along she's gotten in this pregnancy!" she hissed, quickly spinning in his direction. "You know, Shane was alot of things, crazy, arrogant, jealous, hot tempered, but at least he made time for Lori. Because he loved her." she said knowing that she had pushed the right button.

Rick quickly spun on her, anger boiling in his eyes. "Shane tried to kill me! Tried to take my wife, my son, and my unborn child from me!" he growled, getting in her face. "You're damn right he did! And from the way you've been treating Lori these last few months, I'm starting to understand why! Also startin' to wonder if maybe she wouldn't have been better off with him!" she said, gritting her teeth.

"Like I said, Shane was alot of things. Crazy, arrogant, out of control, but through all of that, he always made time for Lori no matter what. When he was top dog of that camp outside of Atlanta, he treated her as an equal. Even on the farm, he was there for her when you weren't." she paused letting that sink in.

"When Carl's life was in danger, Shane was the one who went to get the things Hershal needed to save his life. Yes he killed Otis to get back to the farm alive. When you ran off to town to get Hershal because Shane went homicidal on the barn, he went after Lori when she got hurt going after you." she said, daring him to challenge her.

"The longer we're on the road, the more I understand why he tried to kill you. With you out of the way he could have an already made family. But so far, from what I've seen, he loved your wife and son more in two months than I've seen you show them since we left the farm eight months ago." she said pushing away from him and stalking off.

When she was a few feet away she stopped and turned. "And Rick? The next time you upset Lori like that, with her being in her condition, I will punch your teeth in. And it'll take more than just Daryl to drag me off when I do. Just remember that." she said.

Adrian then turned and walked back towards the fire to lay out her and Daryl's sleeping bag. They apparently had a big day the next day.