9:30 P.M.
Fun Kingdom

Though it was dark when the caravan pulled into the parking lot of Fun Kingdom, a dozen people were waiting for them at the gate, anxious to make sure their friends or family had made it back alive from the clearing of the walker herd and curious to see the newcomers, who now walked through the open gate with an equal curiosity themselves. Stars and flashlight lanterns lit their way inside.

Eugene went out of the gates to help Milton and Tom bring in the electrical parts and solar panels, noting that this could "be a veritable game changer."

As Daryl purred his motorcycle to a stop and dismounted, Sophia ran to him and flung herself around his waist. He let out a happy "oof!" and hugged back. Sophia turned to Carol next, who smiled as she greeted her daughter.

"Dixon!" Mika cried, and ran and hugged the young man who had become half big brother, half father to her after the death of her own father. Luke hugged him, too, and then finally Beth got her hug and kiss in, before hugging Noah as well. Meanwhile, Carl greeted his father and Michonne.

Some of the patients, healed, walked through the gates. Two others hobbled in on crutches. The last patient, to be pushed inside in a wheelchair by the orderly Zach, who smiled and nodded to Beth as he did so, was the white-haired, gray-eyed Angela.

Little Luke gasped. "Grandma!" he shouted and ran to the woman's wheelchair.

"Luke!" Angela cried in awe and laughed as the little boy hugged the leg of hers that was not in a cast.

Hershel, who had come out to greet the crowd, smiled at the reconciliation and introduced himself. "So this is Grandma," he said with a hand on Luke's curly head. "You don't look old enough to be a grandma."

"I'm plenty old. I'm in my sixties," Angela told him.

"Well, I think we're going to have to do a bit of a room shuffle," Hershel told her. "Clearly Grandma needs to be in the House of the Future with her grandson." He turned to Beth. "I can take the couch now that Michonne sleeps in Rick's room. I think you've got yourself a new roommate."

Beth smiled mildly.

"I'm not putting anyone out of their bed," Angela insisted.

"No trouble at all, really," Hershel assured her. "I'd rather sleep downstairs anyway. It's cooler."

11:15 PM
House of the Future

Dixon slipped out of the bottom bed of his bunk, rose cautiously, checked the time on the glow-in-the-dark, wind-up, rocket-ship-shaped wall clock, and looked around the space room. The boys were out, Andre breathing with his mouth open in the cot that swaddled his little frame; Luke cuddling close his teddy bear on the bunk atop Dixon's, a smile still half on his face from finding his grandma, Patrick with his hand on a Dungeons and Dragon's book Sophia had given him and that he'd fallen asleep reading, and Carl on the bed atop Patrick's, his father's Sheriff's deputy's hat hanging from the post, curled up and facing the wall.

Dixon crept to the door, eased it open, winced at the creak, and slipped out into the hallway. He peered down over the banister at where Hershel slept on the couch, his back to the fireplace, snoring slightly. The man was out cold, despite the noises emanating from Carol and Daryl's bedroom – grunts and moans and once, his uncle's growl of Fuck Yeah. In the darkness, Dixon flushed.

Beth now snuck from the room at the end of the hall, which she was now going to be sharing with Angela. He smiled when he saw her. She had said she had a surprise for him, somewhere in the park, something they could only see at night. He was curious what it was, but he didn't much care what it was, as long as it meant more time with her.

He took her hand and they crept down the ramp and very cautiously made their way out the front door, which they closed with a soft click.

The newcomers were settled for the night, three in the infirmary that had been wired for power, and the rest in the Kingdom of the West which Milton, Eugene, Tom, and Patrick would eventually wire for power using the new supplies brought from Grady Memorial. Two construction port-a-potties had been placed in that area, so they didn't have to hike to the working toilets in Splash Kingdom at night.

Beth led him to prehistoric Kingdom and to the "Wacky Cave" there. Because of the design of the cave, it was a good ten degrees cooler inside than outside, which was good, now that it was June in Georgia. The "Wacky Cave" was a simple walk-through attraction. It had slanted floors that gave you a dizzy feeling as you walked through it, and had cave paintings and various object and buttons you could press for narratives about prehistoric life (back when it was working). Bats hung from the ceiling above, and had probably once mechanically flown. It was more of a museum display than a ride. The center of the cave was not tilted, however. It was a flat area, a model campsite with sticks for a fire in the center of a ring of stones, only there weren't sticks there now, but a pile of glowsticks. And where there had once been animal skin mats, there was now a nest with an unfurled sleeping bag, sheets, and two pillows.

Dixon blinked.

Beth set her flashlight lantern up on its end near the sleeping bag and said, simply, "I'm glad you made it back alive. I'm glad you're going to help Noah find his family. And also…I'm ready."

Dixon laughed. "Yeah?"

She nodded.

"You're sure? Because we don't – "

"- I'm sure," she assured him.

June 4
7:30 AM
House of the Future

The lovemaking last night had been passionate. It always was after a heart-thumping experience like they'd had clearing that herd. So Carol was surprised to awaken to the sound of Daryl clicking on his gear. She thought he'd sleep hard, and a little later than usual, the way he typically did after that kind of sex.

"Mornin'," he drew with a hint of a smile. "Sleep good?"

"Mhmm," she murmured before propping herself up on one elbow. "I thought you'd take the day off from hunting after all that excitement. And we've got that Board meeting."

"Ain't huntin'. Told Soph I'd take 'er fishin'. Daddy-daughter time. They bite early. Then we might bust in the candy store."

"For breakfast?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

He shrugged.

"You should take Mika, too," Carol told him.

"Last night she and Luke said they was gonna wheel Angela 'round the park this mornin'. Show 'er the place."

"I think Grandma might be taking Mika under her wing, too. They are like brother and sister." Carol sat up against the headboard now and shook her head. "I can't believe we didn't get a list of names from Grady like we did from Terminus."

"Did. Just…Luke didn't know his grandma's name. Should of sent the list the other way." He walked closer, leaned down, and kissed her. They'd fallen asleep naked, so he snaked a hand beneath the sheet and squeezed a bare breast.

Carol playfully swatted it away. "I'm guessing we don't have time for that if you're already dressed." She yawned. "And I'm going back to sleep for a bit."

He kissed her forehead, murmured, "Night, Miss Murphy," and slipped from the bedroom.

[*]

When Daryl walked out of the hall of the House of the Future, Hershel was snoring lightly on the couch, Sophia was packing their fishing cooler in the kitchen with water bottles and ice for the fish while coffee brewed in the French Press, and Beth and Dixon were sneaking through the front door like cat burglars. They froze when they saw people were awake and about.

Dixon looked anxiously at Beth's sleeping father, then at Daryl, and said, "We both woke up kind of early and went for a walk."

"Mhmhmmm…" Daryl murmured. "Shirt's on backwards, kid. Might want to fix that 'fore Beth's daddy wakes up." He gave his nephew a wink.

8:00 AM
The Sanctuary

"Get up!"

Gavin jerked awake at the sound of Dianne's sharp cry and sat up in bed. His head pounded. Where the hell was he? The room came into focus. It was his bedroom, in the Sanctuary. Which was fine, except he slept on the couch when Dianne was here, not in his bed. And Dianne was in bed beside him. What the hell?

He didn't have a shirt on either. He lifted up the blanket and saw he was still wearing his boxers, though. Dianne scurried out of bed. He saw a flash of bare breasts and her panties before she was quickly dressing, yanking up clothes from a pile on the floor.

Gavin groaned and rubbed his head.

"What did we do last night?" she asked.

"The last thing I remember," he admitted, "was watching that Office Space DVD and you laughing your ass off at that guy taking a baseball bat to the printer."

"I don't even remember that," she said with a stern frown. "But we still had our underwear on, Thank God, so maybe that didn't happen."

"Jesus, would it disgust you that much if we had?" he asked defensively.

"No offense intended. I just don't like doing anything I don't plan to do."

"I did read that about you." Gavin shook his head. "How could we have blacked out? We didn't drink that much of that Scotch."

Dianne left the bedroom. He could hear her clicking off the TV, which they must have left on. Then she came back with the bottle in her hand, which she was examining. "What proof did you think this was?"

"90."

"140," she told him.

"No way. It was so smooth. It didn't burn at all!" He threw back the sheet and got out of bed to pull on his pants. As he was buckling his belt, he said, "I swear I wasn't trying to get you drunk for nefarious reasons. I just didn't look closely at the bottle."

"I know you weren't. If you were, you'd have stayed sober." She sighed as she glanced at the clock. "I have to go stand guard in DJ's place, and you've got your council meeting. So let's just hope nothing happened. I mean, nothing more than whatever did." She set the half-empty bottle back down on the night stand. "Fuck, my head hurts."

"I've got a bottle of aspirin on top of the microwave."

"Do you have a bottle of morning after pills?" she asked as she walked out the bedroom door.

Gavin followed. "Dr. Carson might, down in the infirmary. Oh, but…you don't have to worry about that. My wife wanted one kid. She made me get the snip snip after the second."

Dianne sighed in relief and then downed two aspirin before tossing him the bottle.

It rattled as he caught it. "I wondered what it was like if we did do it."

"If we did," she informed him, "it was the best damn sex of your life."

Gavin laughed before he tossed two pills in his mouth and swallowed.