A/N All characters belong to the writers and creators of The Walking Dead. Except those that arose from my own twisted imagination.

Yes yes yes! I have finally updated! It's short but I think you'll enjoy it!

Chapter 51- Welcome to Terminus

Dani stared into the fire and relaxed back against Daryl. His arms tightened around her and she felt him nuzzle the back of her neck.

"Daryl? You awake?" She kept her voice low so as not to disturb Carl and Michonne who were asleep nearby but also because she didn't want Rick to hear what she was going to ask.

"Mmhmm. Yeah," Daryl said, shifting up so she could turn back to look at him. Dani looked into his eyes and felt a lump forming in her throat.

"Do you think it hurt him when the walkers…" her voice choked off and she cleared her throat. "You don't think he…died in pain do you?" Daryl shook his head.

"Don't even think that, you hear me?" Dani nodded and turned back towards the fire. After a minute, she heard Daryl sigh.

"I thought the same thing but we can't do that, alright? We can't…." Dani turned back to him, seeing the pain and sadness in his eyes.

"Daryl I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said anythin' about him." Daryl kissed her.

"We can't keep things from each other, even the bad things." He kissed her again. "Now go to sleep. We got a long day tomorrow. Rick thinks we can get to Terminus in the afternoon sometime."

"Maggie! Behind you!" Maggie turned as Taylor yelled his warning. She swung the sign she wielded as a weapon and decapitated the walker, sending its head spinning into the air. Suddenly, she burst out laughing. Taylor watched with concern as she doubled over in near hysterical laughter.

"Are you alright?" Maggie shook her head and tried to calm herself.

"I don't know why," she said in between giggles "but that was the funniest thing I've ever seen." Taylor caught the humor too but couldn't bring himself to laugh. They'd just walked into a new town, one they were both familiar with from the many supply runs they had made. It was early morning and they had been walking all night long. Taylor wished they would stop to rest. He pointed to a two story building near the town square.

"C'mon. Let's get some rest up there. Who knows how many walkers are around here right now." Maggie didn't want to stop but she knew that she was already pushing herself past the point of exhaustion.

"Alright. But just for a few hours." Taylor nodded, frustrated. He needed more than a few hours. He needed a few days. They carefully made their way into the building, watching for walkers as they climbed the stairs. They could hear footsteps at the foot of the stairs and they both prepared for an attack.

"Maggie?" Glenn's voice shocked both of them. Maggie called Glenn's name as she ran into his arms.

"Glenn? Is it really you?" Maggie was laughing and crying at the same time, clinging to her husband and kissing him deep.

Andrea sat in the rocking chair holding Dylan. She didn't want to let the little boy go. Both Abraham and Tyreese were badly shaken by the events earlier in the day and were now sitting on the couch staring into the fireplace.

"We should leave," Abraham said finally, breaking the silence. Andrea looked at him and wondered what or who he was thinking about. Since he'd buried the girls earlier that day, Abraham had a haunted look on his face. Andrea realized that after all the time that they'd spent together, after sharing a bed with him for the past year, he'd never once spoken of his life before. She'd told him about her family, about Amy, about her job but all she knew of Abraham was that he had been in the military and stationed somewhere overseas for a number of years. She had never pressed him on details and he certainly never volunteered them. Now, she thought he must have had a family that he had lost either during the first months of the walker outbreak or even before. Maybe he'd lost his own children or his wife. Tyreese adjusted his hold on Jesse as the baby stretched in his sleep.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked, his brow furrowed in concern. Abraham continued to stare at the fireplace.

"Bill was talking about a place outside Columbus Ohio. Coldwater Hills. I think he and Alice were going to head up there if something happened to the prison. If we can find a map, we can start heading north. Start over and forget all this." Andrea and Tyreese exchanged a glance.

"Abraham," Andrea began hesitantly. "We need to find Rick and Daryl. We've got their babies. If they're still alive, we need to get their children back to them." Abraham's head shot up and he glared at her.

"Rick's dead Andrea. Daryl's dead. Everyone is fucking dead and if we go lookin' for corpses then we're dead too!" Jesse jumped in his sleep at the anger in Abraham's voice. His face crumbled and he started to cry. Tyreese shushed him and stood to begin walking him back and forth in the adjacent dining room. Abraham buried his face in hands and Andrea watched as his shoulders shook. When he raised his face again, the firelight shown in the tears running down his face.

"I'm sorry," he said, wiping his face with the back of his hands. "Those little girls.." He hung his head back down. "I should've seen it. I should've done something." Andrea got up from the chair, carefully sat Dylan down in the chair and walked over to gather Abraham in her arms. He clung to her like a drowning man and cried. Much as she had earlier in the day with Dylan, Andrea shushed him and stroked his hair.

"Dani." Michonne's voice dragged her from her dream filled sleep. She slowly opened her eyes and was surprised to see it was late morning. She sat up and looked around the room.

"Where's Daryl?" Michonne handed her a bottle of water.

"He and Rick wanted to go scout the area. We're getting close to Terminus. They don't want another Woodbury situation." Dani took a drink of water and looked over at Carl. He looked like a small child sleeping in the corner but he was growing up quickly. Something her boy would never do. She quickly looked away and noticed Michonne watching her, an understanding look on her face.

"I miss my son too." Dani was startled.

"You had a son?" Michonne nodded.

"And a daughter. I lost them both right before this. My daughter was six and my son had just turned four." Her voice choked up and she blinked away tears. "I don't talk about them because no one needs to know now. But I know how you feel about losing both of your kids. And let me tell you something." She leaned in closer and took Dani's hand. "Don't you ever, ever, let losing Jesse stop you from living." Dani blinked back tears as she remembered her boy and all the hopes she had for him.

"I just don't believe he's gone. I don't feel it in my gut like I did with Abigail. I knew she was gone but I wonder if he isn't out there. Someone could have scooped him up after Carol got shot, left the blanket there and got him out safely." She met Michonne's eyes and saw understanding in the woman's face. "That's what's killing me. That my baby is alive and out there and that I still might never see him again. That's what I can't tell Daryl. He's accepted Jesse's gone. He's grieving for his boy but he's accepted that Jesse's dead. I don't and I don't think I ever will."

"Rick get down," Daryl ducked behind the tree as they neared the dirt road he knew led to the main highway. Rick stopped immediately and dropped to one knee as the sound of a sputtering engine grew louder. Daryl cocked his head and listened.

"Engine's goin' out. They won't make it far." Sure enough, just as the blue Bronco lurched around the car, it sputtered and died. It was too far away to see how many people were in the car and the steam rising from the hood further obscured their view. A man got out of the driver's seat and walked to the front to pry open the hood. Daryl squinted as he tried to get a better look and saw the passenger door open. A large black man got out of the car to join the other man to inspect the engine.

"I'll be damned," he said as a smile broke out on his face. "It's Tyreese." Rick drew in a sharp breath.

"Are you sure?" Daryl nodded and motioned for Rick to follow him. As they got closer, they could hear the driver cussing loudly before kicking the front bumper. Rick almost laughed as he recognized Abraham's temper almost immediately.

"C'mon Abraham," they heard Tyreese say. Abraham kicked the bumper again and Rick thought he heard a child cry out in the car. Dylan probably. He felt a surge of relief that another child had made it out of that death trap. Suddenly, Daryl whistled. Tyreese and Abraham spun around, when they saw both men, began to laugh. Abraham hurried to meet them both as Tyreese walked back to the car, calling to Andrea and Dylan. Abraham embraced first Rick then Daryl in a bear hug.

"Hot damn!" He laughed again as he clapped Daryl on the back. "You're one tough sumbitch aren't you? Both of you!" He led them both back to the car as Andrea was getting out. Rick started to walk towards Andrea to greet her when he saw she was holding Judith on her hip. His daughter smiled, reached her arm out towards him and his vision went blurry. The sorrow and pain he'd felt since losing her broke free and he stumbled towards her, calling her name. Andrea handed the baby over to him and looked at Daryl. She could see his relief at seeing Judith alive was mixed with his grief over his boy and she turned to look back at Tyreese. He slowly stood with a sleeping Jesse in his arms.

Daryl saw Tyreese walking towards him holding his son and couldn't believe it was real. This had to be another dream. Tyreese handed the baby to Daryl and the weight of his son in his arms made him believe that this was real. His son was alive. Daryl looked up at Tyreese and tried to thank him but he couldn't make the words come out of his mouth. Tyreese smiled and nodded.

"He's missed you Daryl. And he's got a few things to show you when he wakes up." As if on cue, Jesse stretched and opened his eyes. He blinked at Daryl and then grinned at him, his smile bigger than it had been before. It had only been just over a week and Daryl could see how much his baby boy had grown. He couldn't wait to take him back to camp and show Dani that their baby boy was alive.

Maggie, Glenn, Taylor and Alice stopped when they finally saw the gates of Terminus on the horizon. They were all exhausted and felt relief when they saw the large stone buildings and high steel fencing. Sanctuary, that's what the signs had promised and that's what Terminus appeared to be. Armed only with two guns, little ammo and four knives they had to hope that sanctuary was what they would get. An hour later they arrived at the front gates. Glenn looked around at the buildings, the empty windows.

"No guards." The hair on the back of his neck stood up as he felt a twinge of uneasiness. Taylor frowned.

"Unless they're so good you can't see 'em." Maggie reached out and pulled on the gate. It opened easily.

"Why don't they have it locked?" Alice shook her head.

"I don't know about this. Something doesn't feel right." Glenn and Maggie exchanged a look and he stepped through the gate, his hands on his gun. Maggie followed behind him, her bowie knife ready. Alice followed quickly behind with Taylor bringing up the rear with the other gun. They walked through two more unlocked gates and stopped when they smelled something cooking. Meat. They followed the smell into a large courtyard where a middle aged woman with long braided hair stood at a makeshift grill. She looked up at them and smiled warmly.

"Welcome to Terminus."

I knew that if I had waited this long to update & not given you all the payoff you've been asking for some of you would have shot me! LOL =)