Winter had passed, the Governor never returned, and the prison had become a safe and peaceful community of survivors. Rick was no longer the leader and instead took care of the farming with Carl who returned to being a normal teenager. Or as normal as could be expected. Carol, Daryl, Maggie, Hershel, Sasha, Tyreese, Michonne, Glenn, and Kayla were all part of a council that ran things at the prison. They made the decisions and planned supply runs, as well as took care of the prison residents. There were a lot of people at the prison now that have accumulated over the past few months and everything was coming together. Everyone had their jobs and was living their own little life. It was a home.

OOOOO

It was morning and Kayla woke up with Daryl's arms wrapped around her. She opened her eyes and adjusted to the light before smiling to herself. She was always up before him to go help Carol with breakfast before helping take care of the fence walkers and going over to the infirmary. Daryl took care of planning runs for the most part and he always tried to find any excuse to keep Kayla at the prison. She knew he was trying to keep her safe, but she had to get outside of the prison walls time to time or she may lose it.

Kayla slipped out of Daryl's arms and he rolled onto his stomach, tucking his arms under the pillow and resting his head to the side. Kayla looked at him and smiled turning to look around their cell. They cell was covered by a sheet like most of the cells and their bed had clean blankets and sheets. There was a dresser alongside the side wall where all their clothes were stored as well as a few other things and on top of it were a lamp, Kayla's books, and a few pads of paper, maps, and pens. It was simple and plain, but Kayla loved it. She was only wearing a t-shirt and went over to the dresser, opening the one drawer and pulling out a necklace. It was a simple black leather necklace, but hanging on it was a black ring with a silver border. Daryl was never the kind of guy to wear a ring and Kayla understood so she figured this might work.

Kayla kneeled down next to the bed and put the necklace in her one hand and rested it in her lap, bringing the other one to Daryl's face. She brushed his now long, dark colored hair out of his face and kissed his cheek. She smiled when he let out a small grunt and sat back on her heels. He opened his blue eyes and met her brown one, smiling when he saw her face. Her skin was tan from the Georgia summer sun and her long, brown hair had lightened up as well. Seeing her smile made him smile. "Good morning." She greeted.

"Good morning." He replied tiredly.

"I have something for you…"

"And what would that be?"

Kayla held up the necklace and Daryl noticed the ring hanging from it. "I know you don't like wearing rings, so why don't you wear this around our neck?" Kayla suggested. "We're techniquely married aren't we? If I wear one, you should too." Daryl looked at it and gave her a smile. He sat up on his arms and took the necklace from her. He looked at the ring for a moment, noticing she managed to find a black and silver one before he put it around his neck. She smiled. "You're right." He agreed. "Happy?"

"Very." Kayla replied as she went to stand up, but Daryl grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the bed. She laughed as Daryl pulled her underneath him. "Come on I have t-." She began to protest, but Daryl cut her off by pressing his lips to hers. She smiled and kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. His hands ran up her sides as he left a trail of kisses down her jawline and to her neck. Kayla wrapped her legs around him and pulled him closer to her as his hands ran under her shirt. He pushed the bottom of it up a little and left light kissed across her stomach. Kayla closed her eyes and smiled at the feeling of Daryl's lips against her skin.

"I have to go…" Kayla complained. Daryl rested his chin on her stomach and looked at her. I'm sure if you're late to breakfast no one will mind." He said as he moved back up to her face. She smiled as he kissed her again and felt her mind drift and her body takeover. What was being a few minutes late?

OOOOO

Thirty minutes later, Kayla was cooking and serving food to all the prison residents with Carol and Patrick who was one of the teenagers at the prison. He was sweet and caring as well as a bit nerdy and Kayla took him under her wing when he arrived. He was eager to learn all sort of survival tips whether it was medical treatment or everyday tasks. He helped with breakfast and meals every day that he could and the help was much appreciated.

While Kayla was putting the rest of the meat on the stovetop she saw Daryl walking over. As he approached several of the people who were seated at the tables smiled and waved to him. "Smells good." He told Kayla and Carol as he grabbed a bowl. "Just so you know…" Kayla began as he put the food into his dish. "I liked you first."

"Stop." Daryl chuckled as he took a bite. "You know, Rick brought in a lot of them too."

"Not recently." Carol said. "Give the strangers sanctuary, keep them fed, you're gonna have to learn to live with the love."

"Carol could you take him over and show him the fences?" Kayla asked as she set her spatula down. "I have to get over to the infirmary and double check the supplies."

"No problem." Carol told her. "Patrick you wanna take over?"

"Yes ma'am." Patrick said.

Kayla walked around to the other side and kissed Daryl's cheek before heading off towards the infirmary. She and Dr. S ran the infirmary together and it was nice to have a familiar face around. Dr. S was a doctor from the hospital she worked out before the outbreak. They weren't friends or anything, but it was always a good thing to have a familiar face in this world.

Right now the infirmary was empty, but it occasionally had a sick or injured resident. Kayla took inventory of all the things they had enough of and things they were running low on. They always had enough anti-biotics and gauze pads, but right now they were in serious need of some disinfectants. Kayla wrote it down along with a few other things when the sound of fast footsteps caught her attention. A smile tugged at her lips as she turned and in ran Jonathan. Jonathan was one of the younger kids and stopped by the infirmary daily. There was nothing wrong with him ninety-nine percent of the time and Kayla didn't waste supplies, but always treated him like he was hurt or sick to go along with it. The eight year old had a little kid crush on Kayla after she treated him and his mom when they first arrived at the prison. They were pretty beat up and Kayla made sure they both pulled through.

When Jonathan bounced into the room and Kayla took note of his messy dark blonde hair and light green eyes. He had on tan cargo shorts and a red t-shirt with hiking boots on his feet and a homemade bracelet on his wrist. "Dr. Kayla I scraped my knee." He told her. Looking down, Kayla saw his knee was bleeding. It was the one percent time that Jonathan had something wrong with him. "Well looks like we'll have to fix that." Kayla replied, motioning towards the examination table next to her. He walked over, not bending the leg that was bleeding and Kayla helped him up to the table. She pulled the small swivel chair over and sat in front of him, examining his knee. He scraped it up pretty bad, but it wasn't as bad as it looked.

"Well what do we do first?" she asked him. Due to his constant visits, Kayla would ask him the simple questions on how to treat small injuries step by step as a way of teaching him. "Clean the wound." He answered. Kayla smiled and pulled out some antiseptic wipes and cleaned his knee. "Then what?" she questioned. "Get the germs out." He told her. Kayla grabbed the hydrogen peroxide and used it to disinfect the injury. "Almost done." She said. "Bandage it!" Jonathan said happily. With a smile, Kayla grabbed a large Band-Aid and put it over the scrape.

"All done." Kayla reported. She rolled over to the one drawer and opened it up revealing a bag of Dum-Dum lollipops. She pulled out a grape one, Jonathan's favorite and gave it to him. He smiled and unwrapped it, instantly putting it in his mouth. "Would you like to come with me to give this list to Daryl?" she asked him. He nodded and hopped off the table, following Kayla out of the infirmary.

OOOOO

When Kayla got to where Daryl and the others were packing the cars, she saw Beth kiss her boyfriend, Zack on the cheek before walking off. "Okay you gonna say good-bye?" he called after her. "Nope." She replied.

"It's like a damn romance novel." Daryl said as he put a crate in the back of the truck.

"Funny hearing that from you." Kayla teased as she approached. Daryl saw her and smiled and then noticed Jonathan was with her. He was the little guy who had a crush on his wife. Daryl didn't care, in fact he thought it was sweet and went along with it. "Hey." He greeted as she approached. She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to him. "Medical supplies list." She told him. He took it from her and opened it, scanning the list before tucking it away.

"Are you sure you don't want me to come?" Kayla asked.

"No we have enough people with Zack coming. Plus with those fence walkers we need extra hands here." Daryl told her.

"Alright well be careful out there."

"Always am."

Kayla looked at Jonathan and kneeled in front of him. "Why don't you go find your mom?" she told him. "And then go to story time in the library."

"Okay." Jonathan said and then took off towards the eating area.

Daryl chuckled as Kayla stood up. "The world ends and you get the attention of an eight year old." He said. Kayla stepped closer to him and wrapped her arms around her neck. "I got your attention too, didn't I?" she questioned. Daryl smirked and put his hands on her waist, pulling her close to kiss her. She smiled and broke the kiss off quickly. "You better come back in one piece." She told him. "I will." He assured her, kissing her again. After a few moments Daryl pulled away and hugged her. She buried her face in his chest and smiled. "I love you." She said. "Love you too." He replied. They separated and Kayla kissed him once more before walking off. As she walked she looked down at her left hand where her ring was. She smiled and continued walking to find her Dad.

Sorry for the long wait, but I have been busy with school and my other stories lately. I originally planned to have this up last night, but I got sick. :( Anyway hope you like the first chapter of season four and may I just say you guys are the vest! Almost 200 followers! Thank you so much!