Three months after the defeat of the Wolves, the residents of the ASZ face new challenges as their population grows and they face a difficult winter.

Brothers and Sisters

February: Three Months Later

"And I'm telling you, if we get a herd of any size building up out there, those pilings have to be concrete or it's not going to hold!" Abraham yelled, the veins in his neck standing out like vines climbing an arbor.

"We don't have time. This new section of the wall should've been finished a week ago—you've been behind schedule for two months." Maggie replied tersely, the high color on her cheeks betraying her flash of temper.

""It's still too cold for the concrete to set properly. I won't compromise the safety of us all just to meet some artificial deadline you and your boss set up months ago." Abraham shot back.

"We have more people than we can house and more coming in every day—we need this expansion or we're going to have to start turning people away." Maggie fumed. "Is that what you want me to do? Just tell them there's no room at the inn and send them on their way?"

"And I'm telling you we can't just rely on Sasha and her sniper unit to take out a threat of the size of a herd like we saw outside that city in the stock yards. The walls have to be able to withstand a herd that massive or we're all just fooling ourselves." Abraham said stubbornly.

"I think what Abe is trying to say—"Eric began, but Glenn spoke over him:

"Maggie's point is that—"

"We're in an untenable situation, Rick." Carol said, shutting them both down. "With this cold weather we can't put people in tents—we've had several bad cases of frostbite on the most recent arrivals that've been living rough. If we did get overrun, we don't have enough shelter space for everyone. It's going to be like the Titanic lifeboats and I don't think you want to be making those kinds of choices."

"The recruiting process has totally broken down." Aaron said. Neither he, Morgan nor Daryl had been out for the last month. The weather had been unusually harsh for Virginia this winter which meant ice and snow covered roads and no plows or salt. They had a few snowmobiles and ATVs, but those were reserved for emergencies since gas was also low.

Also, recruiting was basically a moot point when the word was out that the place was a safe haven. People had been trickling in for weeks, saying that they'd heard about the ASZ from "traders" who sounded suspiciously like some of the people they had turned back months ago when they had tried to scale the walls at night rather than seek admission by coming to the front gate.

"How can we turn people away now?" Glenn asked, looking around the table, "What would've happened to me, to Maggie—to Judith and Carl or Riley? Not to mention Felicia and her baby, if you hadn't let us in?"

Riley had remained in her fugue state for two weeks, but had slowly started becoming more aware after that. She was still fragile, needing weekly sessions with Claire, and preferred to spend most of her time working at the day care with Judith and the other infants, or at the school with the kids like Sam, avoiding most contact with men.

Enid had befriended her, sharing her comic books, and through that relationship she was starting to feel comfortable enough to talk to Carl and Ron.

Felicia's delivery had strained all of their medical capabilities. She had almost bled out during the caesarian section when she unexpectedly came out of anesthesia too soon, her agonized movements causing Erin to knick an artery.

They'd held Felicia down while Rosita quickly put her back under, as Erin finished the delivery and then worked to repair the blood vessel, but she had needed eight units of blood. They only had four on hand, so there was a mad search for donors, who lined up outside the door at Maggie's frantic call.

Alone with only Claire, on the outside where Daryl and Aaron had found them, mother and child probably wouldn't have survived.

Daryl kept his worried glance on Carol, who was resting one hand on the curve of her abdomen, hidden a bit by the oversized Irish fisherman's sweater she wore against the chill. A deep azure blue, it had been knit for her by Olivia and given as a Christmas present. She'd used the same yarn to make Daryl a scarf, which he wore, wrapped around his neck and tucked into the collar of his coat and vest. He'd been touched by the gift; wearing it daily was his way of thanking her.

At five and a half months Carol's bump was plainly visible, which brought her some whispered comments and outright stares from some of the newest people. Several of the new women were quite interested in the prospect of snagging Daryl and wanted to know just exactly what the story was with him and Carol.

If Olivia was their orientation mentor she shut it down, but Brianna was another story. She did her work assignment competently enough, but fancied herself the self-styled gossip maven of the Zone, and her favorite topic was holding forth on people's relationships, especially Carol and Daryl's.

Daryl was her hero, she would tell them. Brianna loved recounting the story of how he had sacrificed himself in the Wolf camp, making it sound as though he had done it just for her because he had instantly fallen in love with her.

Being the honorable man he was though, Brianna explained to her rapt listeners, when they returned to the Zone and he found out his best friend and convenient bed partner was pregnant he gave up his true love to stay with the older woman who was more of a sister to him than anything else.

When her sister, Riley, had finally told Enid the delusional story Brianna was spreading, she told Carl, who in turn went to Daryl this morning. Furious, he had gone to the Orientation Center and confronted the girl about her lies. Instead of backing down she had begged him not to stop meeting her for their secret trysts, telling him she understood how much he needed her since he couldn't bring himself to have sex with Carol.

Daryl and Carol hadn't made love since he'd returned from the Wolves, but it had nothing to do with Brianna. He had barely spoken to the girl since they'd spent those few days in the Infirmary together three months ago.

He'd come close to hitting the girl, had left bruises on her arms from how tightly he'd grabbed and gripped them before shoving her away when she tried to kiss him. When he turned to storm out, he saw Carol standing in the doorway. The doubt he saw in her eyes almost knocked him to his knees.

She'd come to find him to go to the Council meeting and quietly said so, then turned and left.

Daryl went after her, but all she would say was that he needed to go talk to Claire after the meeting and that she'd see him at home later.

Carol felt his eyes on her, as they had been through most of the meeting, and she returned his gaze for the first time since sitting down. Her eyes were wide and sad, but she gave him a small smile before looking over at Maggie who had started to speak again.

Daryl chewed the inside of his lower lip until he tasted blood.

"Isn't there any other way to stabilize the walls more quickly without concrete?" Maggie asked Abraham.

"There are some kinds of concrete that will set up underwater. The ancient Romans had it." Sam said from the doorway behind them, "I remember reading about it in history class. Maybe there's a kind that will in the cold?"

He'd been in the next room, coming there after school, waiting for Carol to finish so he could walk her home. Everyone looked at him and then at Abraham.

"Mother Dick...out of the mouths of babes..." the big man laughed, "He could be right."

"All right, I think I've heard enough." Rick said, sitting up straighter in his chair. He was at the head of the long table in the former Monroe home's dining room. Spencer hadn't wanted to keep living there so it had been turned into an ad hoc town hall.

"Maggie, see if any of the new people have engineering backgrounds. Glenn, get the older school kids and start searching through Reg's books and computer for anything on concrete." Rick set out the tasks and then he looked around the table.

Michonne came in and went straight to Rick, leaning down to whisper something to him and he looked up, finding Daryl and furrowing his brow.

"Daryl? I need a minute." Rick said, "The rest of you, back to work."

While everyone else got up and started to scatter, Daryl stayed where he was, across the table from Carol, following her with his eyes as she stood and gave Sam a big hug and then took his hand. She met Daryl's eyes again, tilting her head slightly, returning his tiny crooked smile and then let Sam's excited chatter draw her attention, leaving the room with him, followed by the last to go, Michonne.

"You okay, brother?" Rick asked.

"She tell you what happened?" Daryl asked, nodding his head towards Michonne's retreating back.

"No truth to it, right?" Rick said, his head starting its side lean, staring at Daryl, his eyes narrowed.

"You think I'm fucking that sad messed up girl?" Daryl asked coldly, inwardly seething.

"Understand me: Carol's family; anyone hurts her I come after them." Rick said, staring Daryl down.

"Same." Daryl growled; standing and pushing his chair back with a loud scrape before grabbing his bow and stalking out of the room.

"You don't understand anything." Enid said mildly, watching an embarrassed Carl head up the stairs with two heavy burlap sacks in his arms.

"You can't just keep both of those boys on a string, Niddy—it's gonna cause problems." Grayson said, frowning at his sister.

He'd just caught her kissing Carl in the Pantry basement where they were supposed to be bagging potatoes to distribute to the households. Last night he'd seen her holding hands under the dinner table with Ron while Carl was at the other end of the table feeding Judith.

"Don't do this, sis." Grayson said quietly. "This kind of thing doesn't just hurt feelings—these days people don't have any limits—one of them might hurt you...I'm just trying to protect you."

"Gray—both those boys watched their mothers die right in front of them. We're sixteen years old and we might die tomorrow. Ron adores Riley but she's so afraid of anyone male she can't even hold his hand without crying so he thinks there's something wrongwith him!" Enid explained.

"But if Carl sees you holding hands with Ron—"

"Carl's dad killed Ron's—if they can get over that I don't think a little hand holding is going to bother them." Enid told him, and then she grinned, "Besides, I've seen them hold hands sometimes too."

Grayson's eyebrows rose at that and she laughed and took his hand.

"They're as close as bothers; they're like my brothers too, Gray. We all help each other through this." Enid said gently.

"What I just caught you two doing in the basement didn't look like a peck on the cheek you'd give your brother..." Gray said, narrowing his eyes at her.

"We're growing up in the apocalypse—don't you think we deserve a little fun?" Enid asked, poking him in the side with her elbow and grinning up at him.

"Niddy..."

"Carl and me—it's more, Gray." she told him.

"He your boyfriend then?" Grayson pushed.

"Maybe. I like him, he likes me." Enid shrugged.

"More than kissing liking?" Gray asked, "Because if he tries something—"

"Carl and me are not fucking, big brother." Enid rolled her eyes at him.

"Hey, language, young lady!" Grayson admonished her.

"You are such a priss." she teased back lightly, squeezing his hand. She had learned a little of what he had been forced to do as a prisoner and then an involuntary member of the Wolf Pack at the mercy of their leader. They both knew they were just playing at being normal.

The idea that she could be a regular teenage girl, sharing innocent kisses with a boyfriend was a relic from days gone by. Both of them had done things, horrible things, to survive. No one was innocent any more. Even baby Judith's birth had killed her mother.

"Just be careful, Niddy." Grayson said, pulling her into a hug.

"Always, Gray." Enid assured him, hugging back and then shoving him away playfully. "Now come on—you chased away my help so you just volunteered to carry a big shitload of potatoes for me."

Grayson side-eyed her, but followed her back down to the basement.

"Do you know what they call people who love one another and live together, but don't have sex?" Claire asked.

"What?" Daryl bit out, imagining there was some fancy technical psychology term she was going to lay on him.

"Brothers and sisters." Claire said, pursing her lips at him.

This was a private counseling session for Daryl. He'd just explained his side of the incident with Brianna, which differed greatly from what the sobbing girl had told Claire when she was brought to see her by Michonne immediately after it happened.

Daryl scowled and looked away.

"You had a deep friendship with Carol for how long before you became involved?" Claire prompted.

"You already know all this." Daryl said stubbornly. They'd discussed their backgrounds in detail with her during the earlier counseling sessions focusing on their abuse.

"Humor me." Claire requested. "You met in Atlanta..."

"Outside the city. Right after the Turn. At an abandoned quarry. I was with my asshole brother and she was with her asshole husband, who would be dead in a couple of days and her little girl who would be dead in a couple more." Daryl said in a testsy monotone.

"What did you think of her when you first saw her?"

"What did I think of her?" Daryl frowned.

"Were you attracted to her?" Claire asked evenly.

"Weren't like that." Daryl scowled, "Felt sorry for her n' Sophia, havin' someone hurtin' them."

"Just like your mother and you."

"First she's my sister and now she's my mother?" Daryl snorted sarcastically.

"When her daughter went missing, you told me you searched for her; almost died doing it." Claire said. "Why did you care what happened to her?"

"Little girl goes missing, you look for her." Daryl said as if that was self evident. That no one had looked for him when the same thing happened went unsaid.

"You cared what happened to Sophia." Claire pressed. "What it would mean to Carol if you found her?"

"Yeah...a'course...Sophia was...I dunno, hope? Finding her meant something to all of us." Daryl allowed. He hadn't been ready to admit that even back then Carol's opinion of him meant more than any of the others had.

"And when she came out of the barn you held Carol back, protected her."

Daryl nodded, wincing as he remembered the terrible sound of her sobs echoing in the silent barnyard.

"But then you distanced yourself, tried to pull away, but she wouldn't let you."

"Woman's pushy as hell when she's got somethin' in her mind to do." Daryl said with a wry smile.

"So even though you failed to save her child, she still cared about what happened to you."

Daryl sobered. Carol had confused the hell out of him back then. He hadn't understood what she had seen in him, why she would make the effort. He'd slowly come to realize that she respected him...the first person to ever give him that. The others had come around to it after, when they'd seen what he could contribute to the group, but she'd been there long before the rest.

"But you were her hero at other times—you saved her—twice, right? At the Farm and at the prison?" Claire asked.

"She ain't helpless." Daryl countered, snorting, "She fought off walkers both times, stayed alive 'til I could find her. She saved us all at Terminus."

"But you weren't able to save Maggie's sister—a girl you took on responsibility for after her father was killed." Claire asked, shifting gears, "And you were violated and almost killed shielding two other girls from the Wolves. How did that make you feel?"

"I did the best I could." Daryl said, his voice flat, his gut churning, flashes of the thick red puddle of blood and brains spreading out from Beth's head on the hallway floor in Grady mixing with the searing pain and degradation of being used, throwing up blood and semen on the cold concrete floor of that basement cell when Aaron had gently tried to give him water...

"Daryl, how do you feel about this child—the one Carol is carrying?"

"It's our baby." Daryl blinked hard and then frowned at her, thrown by the sudden change in topic; unsure of what she expected him to say.

"What if we're overrun and you can't save this child?" Claire asked, "Or its mother when the time comes?"

"I would die for them." Daryl said, his voice infused with unflinchingly direct honesty.

"So their lives are worth more than yours."

"Of course they are." Daryl said in the same tone.

"Daryl, are you afraid of hurting Carol and the baby?" Claire asked.

"Hurt them?" Daryl asked, "I'd never!" and then he stopped, realizing what she might be thinking. He was a violent man. He was capable of more than she could even imagine if his family was threatened. "Look, I didn't mean to go off on Brianna like that, but she's a lying little... and the things she was sayin' right there in front of Carol—"

"What she was saying was hurtful to Carol." Claire nodded, "You were protecting her."

Daryl nodded back, glad to see she understood.

"Brianna has her own issues we're trying to manage." Claire told him, "I'll see to it that she's kept away from you both."

"Appreciate it." Daryl gave a little dismissive grunt and started to stand up.

"Are you happy with the way things have been since you returned?" Claire asked him and Daryl's mouth twisted as he sat back down. He stared at the pattern of the Oriental carpet for a long time before looking back up at the therapist and shaking his head back and forth.

"Are you afraid making love to Carol would hurt the baby?" Claire continued her questions, "Or are you afraid she won't want you after what happened with the Wolves?"

"Afraid to even try." Daryl said in almost a whisper. What if he had a flashback and hurt her? What if she just didn't want him anymore?

"Daryl, everything that's happened to you, compounded with what you survived as a child has to make things confusing for you. While you recovered physically and she got through the first trimester it was perfectly right that you not resume your physical relationship. But Dr. Yang has given you both a clean bill of health—there's no physical reason you shouldn't be together."

"But how do I...what do I even say to her?" Daryl asked, his vulnerability palpable.

"Well, you can start by sharing a bed again." Claire told him, raising her eyebrow at him.

"How did you—"

"Brianna." Claire said, "She overhead Sam telling Riley that you slept on Carol's bedroom floor guarding her all night so he didn't have to anymore."

Sam had taken it upon himself to protect Carol and the baby while Daryl had been held captive. She'd had a mattress brought in so he didn't have to sleep on the actual hard floor. Daryl had taken it over when he'd finally been allowed to go home from the Infirmary.

"What if she doesn't want me there? What if—" Daryl began; starting to get choked up, his chin dropping to his chest, but Claire reached out and gripped his hand.

"Daryl, why do you think she told you to come see me today?" Claire asked gently.

Daryl's head came up, the start of hope shining in his eyes.

AN: Even Carol's patience and understanding has its limits... I told you to watch out for Brianna.

Comics Spoiler: Having concrete footings on the ASZ walls is an important plot point in the comics story "No Way Out." When a section of the wall starts to collapse without them, letting a mega-herd in, it sets up a lot of changes, including Jessie's death. I have a feeling this may be what we'll see happen in S6 on the show as well.

Thanks for sticking with me!