"What if my momma doesn't wake up…?" Gavin asked. His voice was small, and so full of fear.

"She will," Carl said firmly. "Aunt Marie is tough. She's not going to let a gunshot kill her."

"Yeah, your mom's strong…she'll make it through," Sophia said, her voice was full of hope. She wasn't positive it would happen, how could she be? All they'd seen since this began was dead. Both of Sophia's parents were long gone, and the mother that she'd adopted was in danger of being gone as well.

"Ya don't sound sure," Gavin said. He folded his arms on Marie's bed and rested his head on top of them, willing his mother to open her soft blue eyes again. It hurt so much to see her this way. He was afraid. Not just for her, but for his brother and sister, and for Daryl too. He hadn't seen the aforementioned man in a few hours and he was getting worried about his well being. Gavin only hoped that Daryl wouldn't be the next person to come in here bleeding profusely.

"I'm gonna go find him. He needs to be here," Carl said, seeming to read Gavin's mind. "I know he loves her, and that he wants answers…but this is more important."

"No," Sophia said meekly. Carl had barely heard her as he stood. He turned to look at her confused. "You're still healing. You'll pass out…I don't want you hurt too. I'll go get Daryl." She gave Gavin a soft pat on the back and left the room before Carl could protest. Carl couldn't help but notice the irony in the situation, Sophia looking for Daryl…

"Where's Parker an' Airy?" Gavin asked his cousin.

"I think Elizabeth's watching them. Why?"

"Jus' wonderin'…" Gavin brought his small hand up to Marie's face and pushed her dark hair back a bit. "Please wake up Momma…I miss you," he implored.

"Hopefully Glenn and Maggie will be back soon," Carl tried to reassure the younger boy.

"Will she wake up then?"

"I'm not sure…" the blue eyed boy confessed. They both looked away from Marie when they heard footsteps approaching.

"What happened to yer face?" Gavin asked, crinkling his nose. It would've been considered rude if he wasn't a child but since he was, it was acceptable.

"Tyreese…" Rick said. "Sasha…she's…she's dead. He lost it…all I was gettin' is a blank stare…then he snapped…He hit me."

"How'd she die!?" Gavin asked, scared that it was a repeat occurrence from Marie.

"Walkers…took out a section of the fence. She was out there…" Rick hung his head. This place was quickly turning to hell. He suspected more foul play.

"Should I get Laura…or?" Carl offered. He wasn't sure if his father required medical attention.

"I'll be fine," Rick shrugged and took a seat. "She any better?" Carl shook his head grimly.

"Do you know where Daryl is?"

"No. He wasn't helpin' with the fence either…"

The man laughed darkly at Daryl's accusation for shooting his wife. "I've been cuffed here you dumb redneck!" he held up his arm for good measure. "That asshole came in with handcuffs two days ago!" He laughed even harder while Daryl narrowed his eyes at the waste of space before him. "Plus, I can barely see since you-"

"You brought that on yerself!"

"Whatever, you're not the one in handcuffs," he chuckled. Daryl was starting to think the man was seriously insane.

"Hey dad-" the punk froze upon seeing Daryl standing in the cell. He nearly dropped the rifle he was holding. "Oh shit. What the fuck are you doing here?"

"Ya need to watch yer punk ass mouth," Daryl mumbled to himself. When the boy caught sight of the older man's eyes upon the gun he was holding, he dropped it and ran.

Daryl's suspicions weren't confirmed until that moment. He had wondered if that was the gun that had shot Marie, and when the boy dropped it, he knew it was so. Daryl picked up the rifle with a scope, turned on the safety and ran after the little punk. He hadn't gotten far. Daryl caught up with the boy just in time to see him push some woman out of the way. It was as if this bastard would never learn. So, being as the kid was an asshole anyhow, Daryl took the butt of the gun and hit him in the back of the head with it as soon as he was close enough. Immediately the boy fell to the ground. People stood, watching in horror at what Daryl had just done.

"Bastard shot my wife," he murmured, grabbing the boy's arm before dragging him to an empty cell. He locked the door and went off in search of Rick or somebody. He had to let people know what had happened before he did what he wanted. He couldn't simply kill the boy (like he wished). They were trying to have a normal society and that meant a different course of action would be taken.

"Did ya find 'im?" Gavin asked when Sophia reentered the room. The blonde shook her head and sat next to the dark haired boy. Gavin frowned. Although he looked up when he heard footsteps yet again, but he was quickly disappointed when it was only Bob. He came to the side of Marie's bed and checked on her.

"She may need more blood. You three stay close by," it was certainly an advantage that she had three separate donors. She needed all of the blood that she could get. Although, Bob refused to take more than a pint from Gavin at a time; he was still so young. "She is in a state between a coma and not…" he murmured. "There's no telling what'll happen now."

"Rick!" Daryl called making his way down the hallway. Everybody looked at the sound. They knew that something was up by the sound of him. A moment later the dark haired man came walking it with a rifle.

"Jesus Daryl! Where'd you get that thing?" Rick asked. The gun was rather large and typically nobody carried rifles unless they were on watch.

"Damn kid that shot 'er," he replied. He unloaded the gun and held out one of the bullets. "Can ya tell me if this is what shot 'er?" He asked Bob. The latter made his way over and took the bullet.

"It is," he stated. "But who?"

"'Member that kid that was pickin' on Gavin? The one that I kicked his dad's ass?"

"The kid did this!? Where the hell is he?" Rick was ready to kick some ass too. They had opened up their haven to people and they ruined it.

"Locked up in B. Figured I had to talk to ya, 'fore I went any further."

"Let's talk out here," Rick suggested standing and leading Daryl from the room.

Something was wrong. Marie dropped the dish that she was holding. It shattered to pieces on the tile floor. She recognized the place much too well. She looked down at the shattered plate once more and noticed she was wearing a dress. What the hell is going on? She thought to herself. More odd than the fact that she was wearing a dress was that her stomach area was extended slightly. Oh God! I'm going to murder Daryl! She couldn't be pregnant again…Wait…Where are Parker and Airy? She walked into the living room and went up the steps. She opened the first bedroom to her right and found it painted blue with a bed pressed against the far right wall with a spaceship comforter. She moved on to the next room-this time on the left and found it pink with princesses everywhere.

She moved to the door right next to it, a bathroom. There were only two more doors, she opened the one on the left and found there to be a singular, white, wooden crib, yellow walls, a matching rocking chair, and a changing table. She closed that door and opened the room at the end of the hall. A large king size bed, two end table, and a ceiling fan were on the other side.

What's going on? She went to run her fingers through her hair, which was when her hand got caught on her brown locks. She untangled her finger-her ring more specifically. It was a gold band with a singular diamond, along with another gold band after it. All she could think was how much she hated gold jewelry and how she missed her silver spoon ring.

"Darlin', m'home!" Oh no…It can't be! She bit her lip nervously and walked down the steps.

"Mommy!" she heard a little voice say and race to her, hugging her middle. Out of reflex, she hugged the kid back and when the little girl looked up at her, she had light blonde hair and deep brown eyes.

"Ya okay, Darlin'?" Shane asked, unbuttoning his King County police uniform.

"Um…" She looked around nervously.

"James! Whatcha doin'? You're takin' forever!" Shane shouted out the door. Who's James? Where's Gavin?

"Um…Shane…honey…can I talk to you in the kitchen for a minute?"

"Yeah. Zoë, why don't you go get started on your homework, sweetie?" he said to the little girl that had hugged her.

"Yes Daddy!" she saluted, before running upstairs.

"Hey mom," a dark haired boy with equally dark eyes said as he followed the little girl's suit. Marie led Shane into the kitchen.

"What's up?" he asked, pulling the outer part of his uniform off. She took note of the ring on his left ring finger…and let out a small gasp.

"What the hell is going on?" she asked harshly. She was so confused. "Where's Gavin? Daryl? Parker? Airy?"

"Who?" Shane knitted his brow in confusion.

"What about the zombies?"

"Were ya watchin' a zombie movie earlier an' fell asleep?" he asked with a sideways grin.

"No! And you're dead! This is a dream! I don't even know who the hell those kids are! Where's Gavin?"

"Darlin', you know your own kids. But who's Gavin?"

"He's our son…he's four and he's smarter than me most of the time…"

"No, our son is James, he's eight. Zoë is our daughter and she's six."

"My daughter's name is Airy and she's two weeks old! Plus, I'm 31; we didn't even start dating until I was 26! How can I have an 8 year old?"

"Darlin' you can lie to everyone else 'bout your age, but you're 35. An' maybe ya was jus' dreamin' 'bout our newest edition," he gave her a small smile, playing the calm cop routine on her. He went to touch her stomach but she stepped back.

"You weren't the dad and she was a twin!"

"If I wasn't the dad than who was? Ya been cheatin' on me?" he was still all smiles.

"Daryl Dixon was her dad. And I can't cheat on a ghost!"

"Dixon, hm…We arrested a Dixon earlier."

"What was his first name?" she asked hopefully.

"Don't remember…Maybe ya should go lie down or somethin'."

"No. What day did we get married?" That would settle this. Husbands couldn't remember anniversaries, right? That had been what she saw on TV.

"May 4th. Ten days 'fore ya had James. Man was your mom pissed at me. Had to let your dress out so much," he marveled at the memory. Which, she had no clue what he was talking about.

"You're not real," she stated. "I'm imagining you. I want Daryl back."

"I swear you do this shit on purpose. Goddamn it Marie, can't we just now argue for one day? Just one? I'll tell ya that's a new one. 'I'm imagining you'. What the fuck? I get it, you're pregnant and you can be bitchy…but Goddamn this is getting redundant. Do you really hate your life so much? I know ya didn't wanna get married and shit, but we had to. You were pregnant-"

"Why are you yelling at me?" she asked. "I didn't ask you to marry me!" she wasn't sure where that had come from. She had fled, moved in with her mom to avoid this situation.

"You didn't have to! You were pregnant! What was I 'possed to do? Let ya raise my kid on your own? What did you expect anyway?"

"You certainly have turned into such an asshole! What about the man I knew? My friend? The one that I could talk to about anything!"

"'Cause you've been a ray of sunshine to live with," he scoffed. "I'm thirty-eight years old; do you think I want to have another kid? No! But I'm gonna get it! And to think, twelve years from now we woulda been fine!"

Marie wiped the tears that were falling down her cheeks. She wasn't sure what was going on. All she knew was everything was wrong and she missed Daryl terribly. He would've never spoken to her in such a way.

"Darlin', I'm-" Shane started to walk closer but Marie looked at him with pure rage.

"Don't you dare come near me," she said through clenched teeth. She stomped to the front door and grabbed a set of keys she assumed to be hers.

"Where are ya goin'?"

"Away from you!" she shouted and jumped in a newer style Volkswagen Bug. She drove down to the police station, knowing that there was a Dixon there. She just prayed it was the right one. When she walked in, she took the clipboard from the desk, ignoring the receptionist, signed in, and walked back to the area with the cells. There was only one occupant, being as King County didn't have a lot of crime. "Dixon?" she asked, looking into the cell. All she could see was a silhouette of a man.

"That's me, sugar tits. I didn't know this offered such classy hookers. Come right to my cell an' everythin'."

"Merle…Where's Daryl."

"Daryl who?"

"Dixon. Your brother!"

"Ah, now Darylina ain't with us."

"He's dead?" she felt a wave of sadness wash over her. She wanted to fall over and cry.

"No, but we are," he opened the cell door, with the hand that she swore was missing. But no, Merle had two hands once more.

"I'm…I'm dead…"

"Not yet. You may die. So yer here…an' yer mind's givin' ya how things coulda ended up."

"Then why isn't Gavin here?" she was even more confused.

"Dammit, are ya that dense? He ain't dead! Daryl ain't dead an' yer twins ain't dead! So they ain't here! Deputy Dickhead is, so he is here."

"But why do I…I'm so confused…Are you even real?"

"Ya. Got stuck doin' this so I don' burn in the fiery pits, if ya get my drift."

"What do you have to do?"

"I have to show ya that ya need to let go a whatever guilt ya got fer leavin' with yer kid," he said.

"How…?" Deep down, she still felt bad for doing that. But she didn't understand what the point of all of this was. She had pretty much moved on.

"Um ya woulda ended up with a shitty marriage to a husband ya don' love with kids neither of ya have time fer 'tween all yer arguin'."

"But I love my kids…I would never do that."

"When yer livin' a life ya don't want ya might think differently…" he shrugged. Marie noted how he didn't act much like himself. He was very different.

"What about the walkers…why aren't they here?"

"'Cause if ya woulda been with yer 'husband' y'all wouldn't a gone to Atlanta, hell none of ya would've made it outa this shithole. He woulda been shot an' killed 'cause ya two were the ones arguin', not yer brother an' his wife."

"So…Are you saying by leaving when I did…I prolonged Shane's life? And my own…?"

"My baby brother's too. If he didn't have anythin' to live for, her woulda given up 'long time 'go."

"Daryl doesn't give up. Now I know that this is some screwed up dream."

"He wouldn't a found that lil' girl an' with out Shane bein' there to lose his mind Rick wouldn't of needed someone else to step up. He woulda gone off 'lone and been long dead."

"You're so full of shit."

"The sooner ya believe me, the sooner we can both move on."

She considered the possibilities. She knew that Shane hadn't really wanted to get married at all…and she knew that she didn't want to spend her whole life in King County. She wanted freedom. "I guess it's possible…"

"That ain't believin'."

"Okay, I believe you. Shane and I would've failed as a marriage. I didn't even have any doubts about Daryl! I still don't understand this! I just want to go back to him and my real family!"

"Momma!?" Gavin looked at his mother alarmed as she began coughing and then she yelped in pain.

"Marie, can you hear me?" Bob stepped in.

"Fucking hell," she said groggily. Her ribs and her throat hurt like hell.

"Sophia, get me some water," the doctor commanded. The little girl moved over to where there was a jug sitting along with a plastic cup. She handed them to Bob and he poured water before giving it to Marie. She drank it greedily. That dream, or whatever it was, was fucked up. But, she'd wait until later to tell Daryl.

"Thank you," she murmured.

"How are you feeling?"

"Terrible," she replied honestly. "Where's Daryl?" she asked, noticing his absence.

"He went to talk to my dad," Carl said. "I'll go get him." Before she could object or anything, he was up and out of the room.

"Where's your pain?"

"My ribs," she went to touch her side, but he stopped her.

"I advise against that. You'll be hurting more than now.

"Marie? Babe?" Daryl walked into the room, taking cautious steps. She gave him a small smile, despite the pain that she was in.

"Can you c'mere?" she asked. He was still closer to the door than he was to her. He nodded and moved right to her side. He took her hand in his and kissed it, afraid to hurt her further. "Gavin, sweetheart, how long have you been here?"

"All night," he said, tears brimmed his brown eyes. He was just so happy that she was awake. She reached over and touched his face gently. She'd only been out for about a day, but it was a day of hell for her loved ones.

"Carl, Soph, you can come here too," everyone was so distant and she didn't want them away from her, ever. "Where're Parker and Airy?"

"With Elizabeth…had to feed 'em formula," Daryl replied.

"Well I'm sure that Bob needs to talk to me some more," she said, looking at the ex combat medic. "Isn't that right?"

"Yes…if you guys wouldn't mind…" he stated.

"C'mon kids…we can go get the twins," Rick suggested.

"Do ya want me to go too?" Daryl asked.

"I'm fine with you staying," Marie stated. "As long as-"

"That's fine," Bob said. Everyone else made their way out of the room. "I need the two of you to listen very carefully to what I'm going to tell you. Marie, you have two fractured ribs. You need to be very careful to not bump your side at all-it'll slow down the healing process," he started. "Avoid any and all strenuous activity-running, sex, that sort of thing," he sent a pointed look to Daryl. "Try to eat as many food groups as possible-I know options are limited here, but try. You need to also be sure to take deep breaths a few times a day to avoid infection. Come and find me if you develop a fever, a cough, nausea, vomiting, or abdominal pain. Same if you begin coughing up blood or you have trouble breathing."

"Understood," Marie said. "How long do I need to be taking it easy for?" she asked.

"The normal for this sort of thing is 3 to 8 weeks. I'll check on you in two. I'll have to take your stitches out in a week."

"Well there went our plans," Marie mumbled. That means they couldn't leave until she was healed.

"S'okay, babe. We'll be a'right," Daryl promised, just happy that she was okay.

"Is that all you need?" she asked Bob. He nodded and left. She had to tell Daryl all about what had happened. "So I had this dream…" she started. "Well I guess it was a dream…but Shane was there…so was Merle…" she went on to explain everything in detail, making sure to include how she was confused and just wanted to be back in the present.

"Had to a been a dream," he said.

"I'm weird…I know," she laughed. "I'm glad to be back in the real world though. Whether there's people eating people or not. I have you," she smiled happily. "I love you."

AN: That was a long one! I hope y'all liked it! It's to make up for the short ones lately. I hope that dream thing wasn't too weird…I just didn't have much of an idea for this, and I wanted to make it long…so I went with it.

I quite honestly don't know when the next chapter will be up. I'm going through a lot of personal stuff and I'm getting a major case of writer's block once I finished this chapter. Plus, I've got another report I need to get done by Wednesday…so much crap to do. Sorry. If you have any ideas, feel free to leave them…