One year later, some time in December

"Ready?" I yelled to Carl.

"Yeah, let's do it!" He said.

"One, two, three!" We counted in unison then ran on the pool deck, we slid on the ice that was the pool. We went all the way across laughing the whole way.

"I went farther than you that time." Carl said.

"Yeah, yeah." I said. "Whatever."

"Hey, you two!" We heard a voice say. It was the grumpy old man that lives nearby. He's always yelling at everyone about everything. "Get off 'a there!" We ran away while laughing. "Oh, you dirty rats!" He yelled making us laugh harder.

I tightened my coat around me as we walked home. "It sure gets cold here up north." I said through chattered teeth.

"Yeah." Carl said. "Oh…do you want my jacket?"

"No." I almost laughed. "Then, you won't have anythang to keep ya warm."

"I'm a man. We don't get cold." We both laughed.

"No, that's okay. Keep yer jacket." I assured him. "We're almost home anyway."

"So, I was thinking," Carol started, "why don't we have a real Christmas this year?"

"You mean with decorations and presents?" Carl asked her.

"Yeah, why not? We can cook up a nice Christmas meal." She said. "It will be a nice thing for the kids." I looked down at Judith and Hershel Jr. playing on the floor of the porch.

"That's a great idea." Rick said.

"You can count me in." Michonne chimed in. I was about to say something but Daryl spoke first.

"You can count me out." Daryl said roughly. "I ain't havin' no dumb fake Christmas."

"Why not?" Glenn asked.

"Cuz it's stupid, that's why."

"And what about Le?" Michonne asked.

"Le's seventeen." Daryl said. "She can do whatever she wants."

"What to you say, Le?" Carol asked me. "You wanna help us celebrate?" I glanced at my brother then back at her.

"Sure, yeah." I smiled. My brother snorted and walked away.

"Great." Said Rick. "Carl and I will go get a tree."

Later on that day, Carl, Glenn, Maggie and I decorated the tree while Carol, Michonne and Sasha made Christmas cookies and other goodies. Rick and Abraham strung lights around the trailer roof. Judith and Hershel Jr. colored pictures to hang around inside the trailers.

We were having a lot of fun decorating the tree. Glenn wrapped me up in garland and I couldn't hardly move. We all laughed. Then, we argued over who should put the star on top of the tree. I said Carl should do it since he's the youngest and the others agreed. It was a really nice moment.

I remembered at one point, I looked over and saw my brother looking at me. He had a weird look on his face. I couldn't figure out what his expression meant. "Here, Le." Maggie handed me another ornament. I took it and put it on the tree somewhere. When I looked back, Daryl was gone. I didn't think much of it, though.

Once the tree was all decorated, we stood back and admired our work. "Looks great." Glenn said.

"I think it's the best tree ever." Said Carl.

"Yeah." Maggie said. "I wish Beth and my dad were here to celebrate with us." I gave her a sad look.

"They would've loved it." Glenn said embracing Maggie, he kissed her cheek. Those two are good together.

"Well," I said, "I better start gift shoppin' if we're doin' a gift exchange."

"Just yer Secret Santa." Maggie said.

"I know." I nodded then headed out.

I left the camplands and walked down the street. There was a liquor store just down the road from camp. My Secret Santa that I had to get a gift for was Abraham. I didn't know him too well, but I always see him drinking. You can't go wrong with alcohol anyway.

I walked inside the liquor store. It was practically empty. I could have just went to the shop that's inside the camp, but I wanted to do my shopping more privately. Abraham likes beer and whiskey. That's lucky because I found a very fancy looking bottle of whiskey. I looked at the price on it. "Hmm." I said. "Expensive." That was good enough for me. I shoved it in my bag.

There was a dollar store across the street, I found some coloring books and stuff like that I want to give to the babies. I know we're only supposed to get something for our Secret Santa, but I wanted to get them something, too.

There's still one more person I really want to get a gift for. I thought while leaving the dollar store. My brother never got anything for Christmas before. I wanted to get him something, and not just anything, it had to be real special. I had to think hard about it. There's not a lot of things that my brother is into.

I remembered seeing a shop a while back that had like tribal items. I walked inside and began looking around. There were tons of cool things inside like, little figurines, jewelry and even attire. None of them screamed "Daryl", though. I sighed while still looking around. I almost started crying because I really need to get him something special, something that not only he will like but has meaning.

I walked up to the counter and looked at the things on display behind the glass. Once again, there were tons of cool things, but nothing that I thought Daryl would like. But then…I spotted an assortment of rocks that caught my interest. The sign read: Worry Stones. I suddenly had a thought. That's perfect!

I grabbed the stone I wanted and a few other items off the rack, like beads and a chain. I think this is going to work. I dropped the items in my bag and headed back to Holiday Camplands.

As soon as I got back to my trailer, I sat my bag in on my bed. I'll take of care of assembly and wrapping later. "Leann Rimes Dixon." I heard my brother call me as soon as I walked into the other room. "Get yer ass in here." He didn't sound angry, he sounded normal so I was confused. I quickly walked in his room. Daryl was sitting on the bed, he didn't look angry either.

"Am—am I in trouble?" I asked nervously. "Am I late? You said to get home before dark, I didn't think it was late—

"Calm down, Le, ya ain't in trouble."

"Oh." I stared at him. He was just sitting there, he looked strange. I never saw him like that before.

"Com'er." He beckoned me. I moved a little closer and he pulled me down onto his lap then hugged me tightly to him. My eyes moved back and forth in their sockets. I thought it was weird because he hasn't done that in so long.

"Is everythang okay? Are—" I realized that my brother was crying. "Oh my God, Daryl, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry." He finally spoke.

"Fer what? You ain't done nothin' to me."

"I…I kept ya from it."

I was officially confused. "From what? What are ya talkin' about, Daryl?"

"I never…never thought ya cared about stuff like that, but…after I saw how happy ya looked when you was decoratin' that tree…I knew what an ass I been." He said sadly. I just listened to what he was saying. "I woulda done that fer you, I'd do anythang fer you cuz…you mean everythang to me. I want you to have a life, to be able to do and have thangs I didn't. It's all fer you."

"Daryl…" I trailed off. "It's okay. It's not yer fault, I knew we couldn't do things like that before. But I also know if you could've ya would." I hugged him tightly around the neck. "Please don't feel bad. It makes me feel bad."

"I want ya to have a normal life."

"I know but I cain't. It's the end of the world, remember?"

He stared at me and bit his lip. "No, it ain't. Not until we don't have each other no more."

"That'll never happen." I smiled at him. He smiled back then kissed my forehead.

"Thangs will be different from now on, okay." He said. "I'm willin' to try fer you."

I smiled and nodded. "Okay." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. There was something relieving about this short conversation we just had. We hugged once more then I got off his lap. "No more, bein' upset." I said. "Tomorra's Christmas." I let out a small laugh.

"Yeah." He nodded.

The next day, we had our little Christmas celebration. We all exchanged gifts. I gave the babies their coloring books and supplies. They seemed to like them, everyone smiled. Rick, Maggie and Glenn thanked me for getting them those things.

My Secret Santa was Glenn, he got me a hat with matching gloves and I scarf. "Thank you." I said. "They're so cute! And feel super nice."

"Thank Maggie." Glenn said. "She's the one who gave me the idea."

"Ya told 'er?" I put my hands on my hips. "You ain't supposed to tell no one!"

"Believe me, honey." Maggie said. "It's a good thang he told me. He was gonna get you a surf board." She rolled her eyes.

I laughed. "What? I don't even know how to surf." Everyone laughed. "Well, here." I handed Abraham his bottle of whiskey. "Sorry, I didn't know what to get you."

"Don't be sorry." He said looking at it. "Good enough for me." I smiled at him. Sasha smacked his arm and laughed. They started dating a while back.

Everyone finished exchanging gifts. "Hey, who got Daryl?" Maggie asked. "I didn't see no one give him anythang."

"No one got me cuz I didn't put my name in the hat." Daryl stated.

"Oh, Daryl." Carol said.

"Aw, come on." Someone said.

"It's fine. I didn't care about it." My brother said. I gave him a sad look, he noticed and I could tell he regretted something. "…but it's okay." He reassured everyone. He ran his hand down the back of my head. "Imma go fer a smoke." I watched my brother walk off the porch to the end of the driveway. I followed him. I just stood there waiting for him to notice me. Finally he did. "Hey, ya okay?"

I didn't answer him right away. "…you said you'd try." I looked at him sadly.

"I know. I'm sorry." He said and ran a hand through my hair. "But in my defense…I did say that after you guys did the "Secret Santa" thang." He let out a small laugh.

I just kept looking at him. I felt the gift I got for him in my pocket and pulled it out. "Here."

"What's this?" He said taking it from me.

"I gotcha a little somethin'." I stated. He gave me a weird look. "I know you'll probably thank it's dumb, but I just really wanted to get ya somethin'." Tears began to form in my eyes. "I know ya didn't get nothin' fer Christmas before." I put my head down. "You can open it now."

He hesitated then slowly opened it. "A rock?"

I giggled. "It's a stone. A worry stone." I stated. "I made it into a necklace."

He took it out and got a better look at it. "It's nice, but…why?"

I swallowed hard. "It's cuz ya worry too much. About me, about the group, about everythang." I said. "But ya don't gotta worry no more. Cuz I'm safe. We're safe. And we got each other and always will." I smiled at him. "I know it's not much and it's kinda corny, but—

"I love it." He said cutting me off.

"Really? Ya do?"

"Course." He nodded. "I love anythang from you." I smiled at him. "Wanna put it on me?" He handed it to me, I unhooked it and put it around his neck then closed it. "How's it look?" He asked.

"It looks great on you." I said then sniffled. A sob escaped.

"Hey, no tears." He said and wiped them with his thumb.

"Sorry." I smiled. He put his arm around me and kissed my cheek.

"I love you so much." He said. "And thank you fer the gift. I like it a lot."

"I'm glad." I said wiping away the old tears. "And I love you, too."

He gave me a half smile. "Come on, let's go back up and join the others."

"Yeah." I nodded.

The rest of the night went perfect. We all sat around together and told stories and laughed. I sang a few Christmas songs for everyone and we ate a nice dinner. I smiled while looking around at everyone. It was just nice having everyone together. It was the best Christmas I ever had. Well, the only Christmas I ever had. But I still think this one would have been the best anyway. I looked at Daryl, my big brother, my favorite person in the whole world and smiled at him. He smiled back. He told me he would try, and I believe him.

Well, this is the end for this story now. I hope you all liked it. I got a little emotional at the end because this is it for Leann. I'm not doing another sequel to this. I'm going to have a hard time letting this character go, so I will have to do one-shots with them every once in a while. I would just like to thank everyone for the reviews, favorites and follows! It really means so much to me! Please give this story one last review! Thank you and love you all!