They had been in the commonwealth for a week. Maggie, Elijah and a few others had decided to stay behind and move into Hilltop while everyone else made their way to the commonwealth. Daryl didn't trust these people even though Eugene had assured them that they could more times than anyone could count, he went because he needed a safe place for Judith and Rj, a place with sturdy walls, a place where the kids could just be kids. Connie had her doubts too, but her Kelly and Magna had all agreed to go so that their group could be back together, they couldn't be split up, not again.


Once they got to the commonwealth, they were all taken off in different directions, had their weapons taken, questioned and then given a change of fresh clothes and an opportunity to shower. Once that was over, they were all taken to a hall, Daryl was the first one to be taken there and then he was told to wait. All he could do was pace, pace up and down this hall wondering where the hell these people had taken the kids and his friends.

Lydia was the second person to be brought into the hall, she ran at Daryl full speed and wrapped her arms around his middle whispering about how she didn't like being separated from everyone else, he wrapped his arms around her and assured her that they wouldn't be split up again and that he would keep her safe. They were once again told to wait for the rest to be brought in and the guards left. More people were brought in as time went on, Rosita with baby Coco next and then Gabriel, Magna, Kelly, the kids, but no Connie yet. Daryl was starting to get anxious; he had just got her back; he didn't want to be away from her any longer than what was necessary.

After waiting for what felt like forever Connie was brought in by some guards and made her way straight to where her sister and Daryl were sitting on some sort of bleachers with Lydia as they watched Judith, Rj and the other kids play tag, while Magna was hovering near them so she could stay close to Kelly while trying to sus the room out and plan escape routes and advantage points in typical Magna fashion.

"Are you okay?" Daryl asked while signing, his signing had become a bit better, but his hands were still not up to speed with the words that came out of his mouth.

"I'm fine" Connie signed back "they took forever asking questions because they don't understand sign and I couldn't read their lips properly so everything had to be written down, but they couldn't find a pencil or paper, it was a whole thing" she signed at lightning speed and sighed as Kelly translated everything to Daryl.


After two hours of being in the hall Daryl was starting to get anxious, he had to help Connie and Kelly pull Magna back from trying to leave a couple times already and he was debating to just let her go if she tries again, he was getting bored and annoyed now, these people had given the promise of a new safe community for them and their families, but they wouldn't let them it. Magna was sitting in between Connie and Kelly, Daryl was sitting behind her, they had formed around her to stop her from moving and causing a scene. Lydia had moved and was sitting a few rows down with Rosita holding Coco. Daryl watched as Connie signed something to Magna, he could make out the words 'stop' 'no' and 'why' and as Magna was in the middle of signing back with a frustrated look on her face the doors opened, and everyone's heads swung around.

There was Eugene with the Lance guy he had brought to Alexandria and another woman with them as well. Daryl had come to learn that the name was Stephanie, and Eugene had been talking to her on the radio and they had decided to meet and get the help Alexandria needed.

Once lance had finished telling them all the rules and main laws that they should abide by he then took the group down to the places that they would be staying, they were three small buildings next to each other with just enough room for all them to fit if they split into three groups, but of course they didn't get to choose which one they were staying in which pissed Daryl off slightly because he want to stay close to Connie and keep watch over Kelly as well, he had grown a soft spot for Connie's younger sister, seeing how she was after the, well after that happened, he didn't really want to think about that now, Connie was back and she was alive and healthy and that was all that mattered.

Daryl was sharing a place with Judith and Rj of course, Rosita Gabriel and Coco and Aaron and Gracie. Lance left them with sets of keys to each building and then told them that they were free to explore and do what they want as long as they followed the rules, which of course they all agreed to. Once Lance left Eugene, followed by a shy Stephanie made his way over to the group of Magna, Connie and Kelly. Daryl was standing close talking with Carol as they watched as Judith and Rj ran up the steps of the building Gracie followed behind them to go and explore.

"Sorry to but in your conversation but would you like to come and see Yumiko?" Eugene asked, obviously intimidated by the three women, especially Magana and her death stares. But to Eugne's surprise Magna spoke with a soft tone.

"You know where she is?"

"Um yes, I'm not sure she knows you are all here though as Stephanie and I have been very busy with Lance and the arrangements for everyone for the majority of the day" Eugene told the three.

"Can you take us to her?" Kelly asked the excitement evident in the youngest of the groups voice.

"Yes, yes of course, just follow me and I'll take you right too her" Eugene said, and he started walking and Kelly and Magna followed Connie quickly grabbed Kelly's arm and signed.

"I'm going to say goodbye to Daryl quickly i'll catch up with you all in a minute"

"Saying goodbye to your boyfriend huh?" Kelly signed back with raised eyebrows and a teasing look on her face.

"He's not my- you know what just go I'll catch up in a minute" Connie shook her head but smiled at her younger sisters' antics before turning and going to Daryl and gaming his attention by placing her hand on his arm. He turned and the smile on his face only grew.

"We're going to see Miko" she signed and waited for his nod to see if he understood what she had said, and he did.

"See you later?" she asked knowing he knew this sign and he nodded again.

"See you later" he signed back without saying anything, he was good at this one, she had taught him this one so of course he was good at it, the stuff he tried to teach himself, not so much but he was trying, and he was getting better with every day that passed. And with that she turned on her heels and ran a little to catch up with her group.

Daryl watched as she caught up and watched as they walked away till they could turn a corner and no longer be seen before turning back to Carol who was standing there with a smile on her face and eyebrows raised.

"What are you looking at me like that for?" Daryl grumbled knowing he had been caught staring.

"Pookies got a crush" carol teased.

"No, I'm not, this isn't high school and don't call me that" he said voice firm but soft as he rolled his eyes at her, he didn't mind her teasing, she was one of his best friends, like his sister so she was allowed to say things like that to him, anyone else on the other hand they would probably get told to fuck off.


Once Connie had caught up with the rest of the group, they made their way to where Yumiko was with Ezekiel and another woman with pink hair, whose name they later found out was Princess. The three were stirring engrossed in a conversation, Yumiko was sitting so she had her back to where Connie, Kelly and Manga were, Princess and Ezekiel opposite her. The second Kelly saw Miko she couldn't help herself but to run up to her, Ezekiel saw the girl running first, with a smile clear on his face as he pointed towards Kelly, Yumiko turned and saw Kelly for a split second before Kelly pulled her into the most bone crushing hug.

"W-what are you doing here?" Yumiko stammered in shock not expecting them to have arrived so soon. They knew Eugene was taking help back but for them to be back in the commonwealth so soon after was definitely a shock.

"I have so much to tell you" The younger girl told Yumiko as she pulled away from the hug.

"You can tell me everything you've got to tell me soon Kels" Yumiko said softly, the younger girl was like the little sister she never had. Miko saw Magna next, and her smile grew as she stood up and pulled Magna into a hug as well.

"It's nice to see you" Yumiko whispered as they hugged.

"You too" Magna gave a small smile, blush clear on her cheeks as she pulled away, public display of affection wasn't really her thing, but it was Miko, so it wasn't all bad. Magna then nodded her head over to Connie, who had taken a step back and watched as her family reunited with each other. Miko turned to see what Magna was signalling at and she stopped in her tracks.

Miko tried to get the words out, tried to sign the words but she couldn't. All she could do was pull Connie into the tightest hug either of them had ever had. Magna and Kelly watched as Miko reunited with Connie, Manga's eyes filled up with tears a little, (but that was blamed on allergies of course) it was still surreal to her that they had found Connie after she had convinced herself that her friend was dead after her hand slipped from hers in the hoard.


That was a week ago, now almost everyone had their little jobs and rolls to play, and they were all adapting to life in the commonwealth. Daryl of course couldn't sleep, his trust in these people was little to none, so he decided some fresh night air and a walk with Dog would be better than tossing and turning in bed.

He had gotten Dog back a couple of hours after Lance had given them free reign to explore, they told Daryl they had taken him to their vets to make sure he was completely healthy and of course he was.

Daryl and Dog had done two laps of the entire town and were just about to make a third when he heard footsteps behind him, and Dog turned around and started running towards whoever it was.

"Dog get ba-" he cut himself off as he saw Connie crouch down to greet Dog and his annoyance at his dog running away turned into butterflies? Seeing Connie gave him butterflies? He shook his head at himself and went over to greet her as well.

He gave her a small shy wave as she looked up as she felt the vibrations of his foot Selfs coming towards her. She gave him a small smile and signed 'hi'. She looked different; her style had changed since being at the commonwealth. He hasn't been able to see her a lot or spend as much time as he wanted with her because of their new roles and getting used to everyone that was in the commonwealth.

Her hair had been let down and her curls were the neatest he had ever seen them, perfect ringlets that stopped just at her shoulders, he had never seen her hair out before, not where he could see it properly anyways, they had seen each other in passing with quick hellos and goodbyes but they hadn't been able to spend any proper time together.

She was wearing a blouse as well. A yellow one, it complimented her skin tone perfectly and she looked really pretty. Daryl didn't have a favourite colour, not that he cared about having a favourite colour but if anyone asked him after tonight his answer would definitely be yellow.

"What are you doing out so late?" Darryl asked, signing and talking at the same time as Connie stood up to face him and Dog stayed snuggling into her shins.

"Not tired" she signed "you?"

"Couldn't sleep" he signed back, and she nodded "walk… with…me?" he signed again slower this time to make sure he got it right.

She nodded and pulled out her notebook as they started to walk, Dog walking a few steps ahead of them. She scribbled something down and then showed it to him.

'Your signing is improving, I'm impressed' he read and smiled before signing something to her again.

"I'm trying" he told her, and she smiled. It really meant a lot to her that he was trying, that he was trying for her. She nodded and wrote something else.

'And it's paying off, maybe I can teach you some more soon?'

He read her note and she smiled, and he tapped her arm indicating that he was going to talk.

"Soon, hopefully, we haven't been seeing much of you, your off being busy with the big leagues, Dog misses ya, you know" he spoke slowly and clearly so that she could understand every word he was saying, and she raised her eyebrows at the last part before quickly scribbling something down and staring at it like she was debating showing it to him.

Daryl tried to peak at it like he always does, she didn't mind that at it shows that he was eager to listen to her and hear what she had to say but she turned so that he couldn't see it and he looked at her confusion evident across his face, she sighed before turning the notepad towards him so he could read it hoping that this wouldn't backfire.

'Dog misses me? What about you, do you miss seeing me?'

Daryl blushed, hoping that the night would cover his cheeks "I do miss ya" he spoke "just got you back and now you're off all busy with your job and barely get to see you" she nodded smiled evident on her face after he told her that he misses her, she quickly scribbled something else down and showed it to him.

'I miss you too and Dog of course'

Daryl smiled, she misses him too, there was that feeling again, the butterflies and he sighed.

"What's wrong?" Connie asked after noticing his sigh and quickly wrote something else down.

'Did I do something wrong?' she showed him her writing.

"No, no you didn't, you didn't do anything wrong" he spoke quickly sightly flustered as he wanted to tell her how he felt but he didn't want to scare her off.

'What's wrong then? You seem sad all of a sudden?' she showed him another note.

"I'm not sad, I just, there's things that I want say and do but I can't" he sighed.

'Because of the rules here? You don't like it here?' Connie wrote completely oblivious to what he meant.

"Not liking it here is an understatement" he told her "But that's not what's… never mind sorry I shouldn't be putting all my shit on you; you don't need that" She shook her head no and signed to him.

"You and me, family" she signed just like she had before at Hilltop and then scribbled something down on her notepad, a whole paragraph by the looks of it 'We're family, more importantly were friends and friends tell each other things and help each other carry the burden of whatever is bothering them, so tell me what's bothering you, I want to help'

He read what she wrote and sighed again before sucking in a breathe to say what he had to say, now was his chance, he had to tell her, he couldn't just keep hiding his feeling away like this it was eating him up too much, there it was again that feeling the butterflies, he loved that feeling, it meant that Connie was around it meant that he was spending time with her, the woman he liked, no loved, he loved her and it took losing her for him to realise it but he really did love her.

"What if I don't want to be friends?" he said, signing the word friends as he wasn't sure on how to sign the rest of the sentence, Connie's face contorted with confusion but then she realised what he meant.

Daryl grew anxious as he couldn't read her facial expressions and waited as she quickly wrote something down on her notepad before holding it up to show him 'How do you feel about girlfriend?'

"I uh I-" he stumbled over his words blush evident on his face now as the sun started so creep up which caused Connie to giggle, blush evident on her face too

"Screw it" she could make out from his lips before they crashed into hers, his arms made their way around her waist and her arms made their way around his shoulders, they don't know how long they stayed like that for buts they broke apart once Dog started to jump at them obviously realising that they had stopped walking and that he was missing out on some love.

Connie and Daryl broke apart both crouching down to let Dog know that they loved him too, while Daryl was stroking Dog, she wrote something down on her notepad and handed it to him.

'So, you feel good about girlfriend then?' he looked up at her grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah I do"


Notes: Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

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