Shianne had small resemblances to her sister; they both had the deep red hair and freckles. But Shianne was taller, her facial structure made her more stern looking. While Charlotte had full lips, her top and bottom being the same, Shiannes were thin like her eyes. She had shoulder length hair and dressed a bit more professionally. But they both had that expressionless face, they could be unreadable. However right now Shianne had her eyes narrowed toward Daryl, and he had no idea what was going through her head.

Daryl sat in his girlfriend's sisters kitchen chair. She sat across from him with her arms crossed. Finally, she spoke. "Are you serious?"

"Yup." For some reason, Shianne didn't like him. The Dixon boys were known all over town, but their infamy came from Merle, and their dad. She could give him looks; like he was disposable. She was the opposite of her sister; Tall, thin, small curves, cold, calm, unexcitable.

Shianne let out a thin breath and sat back in her chair, her eyes not leaving him. A hand ran through her shoulder length hair. "Are you asking for my permission?"

"More of yer' blessing." He grunted.

She scoffed. "Well I don't care. She seems to like you for some reason." She stood up and flicked the hood of his sweatshirt. "Might as well get hitched now that you have her fucking name on your chest."

Daryl stood up. "I don't get why ya' don't like me."

"Because no one in Georgia is good enough for my sister." She answered. "Especially not Ron Dixons child."

"I'm not like my dad at all." He said heatedly. "I treat Charlotte better than anyone else would. I provide for her, I make sure she is happy and comfortable."

Shianne whipped around. "And what happens when all that shit from your childhood catches up to you? You have to deal with it eventually."

"Yeah? I don't see you dealin' with the shit you two went through when you were little. Same shit different pile Shianne." Her eyes got even more narrowed.

"You better hold your shit together and take care of her." She sneered.

"Bet yer' ass I will."

"CHARLOTTE." The red head froze momentarily, before looking out into the field. Her heart was beating in her ears and she couldn't breath.

"Daryl?" she called back to the figure, wondering if she was asleep. She took a couple of slow steps down the stairs, he took a couple of steps toward the house but then he was sprinting and so was she. "Daryl!" she was yelling his name as her legs worked overtime to run as fast as she ever had before.

And then her arms were around his shoulders and her legs around his waist. He supported her up completely, one hand holding her on the bottom and the other hand buried in her hair, pushing her face into his chest. He had his face in her shoulder and he was crying, and so was she. He fell to his knees and eased himself back, still holding her. She pulled away and grabbed his face, looking at his red eyes. "I thought you were dead." He said quietly. All eyes were on them.

She sobbed a little. "I'm so sorry for everything." He went on. "I'm sorry."

Everyone had gathered into Hershels living room. Daryl, never one be affectionate with an audience, had Charlotte in his lap and arms wrapped around her. They still couldn't believe it, no one could. What were the odds? Some of the women cried, everyone was smiling.

"Shianne and I got split up at the quarantine. I saw them killing civilians." Charlotte was saying. "Atlanta was a mess. Me and this kid," she nodded at Tanner. "Got out of there before they blew it up."

"It was hard to get her out." Tanner commented. "Kept saying she had to find her husband." Charlotte smiled while she rested her head on Daryls. "She'd never shut up about her damn husband." Everyone laughed. "But I knew she'd find him." Tanner walked up the couple and stuck out his hand. Daryl took it and they gave each other a strong handshake. "Good to meet you brother; now she's you damn problem."

"I wasn't that difficult." Charlotte said, embarrassed.

Tanner rolled his eyes. "Please, anytime the words dangerous and don't do that, came up, she'd run right toward it. Every day she was getting herself lost, to far deep, and into situations she could barely get out of."

She looked at Daryl, he smiled. "That's not true." He kissed her.

"And who saved your ass everytime?"

"Say I was getting myself into sticky situations, you would most likely be the one to help me out of them."

Tanner leaned against the wall, smirking. "There was this time, we went on a run to the mall."

"Dear God." Charlotte groaned. The group was laughing, waiting for the story.

"We're all counting our supplies, the mall looks empty enough. Couple of Biters here and there." He went on. "And I notice, of course, this one had wondered off."

"Okay, I just wanted to find some toys for the kids." She interrupted.

"Completely forgetting the buddy system. I go to find her and she is completely surrounded. Here I come, having to save her ass again."

"She has a way of getting into trouble." Daryl agreed, smiling which was weird for everyone; Daryl didn't smile, especially this much.

"It's amazing." Andrea said. "I think I speak for everyone when I say we're happy for you." But then the room got uncomfortable quiet.

Charlotte looked to Tanner. She knew what everyone was thinking, and no one knew how to bring it up. "We still need to go check on the others." She said. Tanner nodded.

"There's no way I can let you go." Daryl said, shocked.

Charlotte looked at him. "I have to go, see if they're okay."

"And then what?" he asked.

She looked to Tanner, he didn't have an answer. "I don't know." It was up in the air, would they be staying(if they were even invited to stay), or would they be taking Daryl with them. "We'll… figure it out."

"I'll go with then tomorrow." Daryl said.

"So will I." Rick added. "Make sure your people are okay." Shane shot him a look and Charlotte hid her head in Daryls shoulder, he rubbed her back.

"Rick, can I get a minute." Shane asked once the group spread out outside the house.

Rick sighed. "I know this is about me going tomorrow morning." He said.

"We're risking more people for these people." Shane said.

"If you haven't noticed, the circumstances have changed." Rick said in a low voice.

Shane shook his head and smirked. "Yer' gonna' let 'em stay."

"I think it's safe to say they can pull their weight. Or we could choose the alternative, where they take Daryl with them. And believe it or not, Daryl is a pretty huge asset to us."

"And what if they don't want to stay with us man?" Shane asked.

"Well we'll just talk to Daryl." Shane was rolling his eyes and looked toward the tent area.

"Daryl!" he yelled. Daryl looked up and Shane made a motion for him to come over. He said something to Charlotte and walked toward them. When he reached them, he was a good earshot away from the others. "What's the plan."

"With what?" Daryl asked.

"Are ya' leavin' or is she stayin'?"

"I haven't exactly had a chance to figure it out." Daryl said a bit harshly.

"And what about her friend, we jus' let him stay too?"

"Alright now we don't have to make a big deal over it." Rick tried to interrupt the two men, because Daryl was about to go from zen to pissed off.

"I said I didn't get a chance to talk to her." Daryl said, going toe to toe with Shane.

"If they wanted to stay, its fine." Rick said, looking at Shane. This was the wrong answer, apparently. "Don't do this now Shane, come on."

"Yeah, don't do this now Shane." Daryl quipped, causing Rick to physically get in-between them before Shane could get too close. "If they aren't welcome here then I'm gone."

"I'm sorry, but I gotta say it." Andrea said in front of the group of women preparing dinner. "How does someone get close enough to Daryl Dixon to get him to marry them?" the women laughed, but then looked to Charlotte. It was a serious question to them.

Charlotte smiled. "I took years, and years. He has a tough exterior to get through. But he is all sweet and soft. But seriously, I'm not kidding, years and years." They laughed more. "Daryl has been in my life since I was a child. He always came back into my life, I guess we were meant to be."

Lori was smiling. "Daryl Dixon as a child. I can't imagine that."

Charlotte smirked to herself. "That means you knew Merle." Andrea added.

"Between us girls, if I had it my way he wouldn't be invited to the wedding." The girls chortled together. "Merle is… tough to get. Where is he anyway?" the group got quiet. "He dead?" while Merle wasn't her favorite person on the planet, they were brother and sister and law, Merle would have killed anyone that laid a hand on her.

Andrea was staring at Lori, looking for words. "We're not exactly sure." So she started at the beginning and caught Charlotte up on everything. How Merle got left behind, all they could find was his hand. The CDC. The herd on the highway. Sophia going missing and how Daryl took lead in her search. Charlotte apologized to the little girls mother, assured her that she would join the search.

The women talked some more until Daryl walked over, a hard look on his face. He picked Charlotte up and she laughed.

"I think I should get one day to have alone time with you." He said, hauling her off.

It was getting dark now. Charlotte let the last wave shake her body and her head dropped on his shoulder. She was in his lap, him sitting up. They panted heavily and he laid them back on his bed, onto their sides. He kissed her bare shoulder and she sighed. "It's been forever."

"I'll say." He grunted, picking up a towel by his cot and he cleaned himself off, then handed her the towel. She followed suit and then formed herself into his body. He stroked her arm, kissing her forehead. "I missed you."

"I missed you too."

"I didn't think I'd see you again."

She smirked. "I knew I'd see you again." She kissed him and crawled out of bed.

"Wham, bam, thank ya' ma'am." He said, sitting up. She held up a carton of cigarettes and he smirked. "Parliaments? I thought you hated them." He stood up, pulling his pants on. Charlotte pulled on underwear and her flannel shirt. She doubted anyone would be up.

"They reminded me of how you smell." She said. They walked out of the tent and sat down, each taking a stick from the pack. "I learned to like them."

They lit up and Daryl sighed. "It's been months since I had a smoke."

"I have a ton at the Motor Inn." Charlotte said. She enjoyed the smoke, because tomorrow she would have to start making decisions.

Something was wrong. She knew this right away. The gates to the Motor Inn were wide open. She hopped out of the truck and ran. Tanner ran after her. "Michael!" she yelled. "Ruth!"

"Hello?" Tanner shouted. Charlotte stopped in her tracks. There was blood, and bodies. Michael was among them, along with seven other bodies. Charlotte kicked a can over and brought a hand to her head.

"They were all shot." Daryl commented. "Execution style." He stopped talking when Charlotte shot him a look. She bent to her knees and inhaled.

"Ruth isn't here." Tanner said. "None of the kids are either."

"We should see if they left a note." Charlotte said. The first thing she did was go to her hotel room, and sure enough there was a note on her bed.

Charlotte

We got attacked; Violet and I took the kids and ran

Godspeed girl.

Charlotte walked out and handed the note to Tanner. "At least they got out." She said.

"And no idea where she's going." Tanner said, looking around. "We could try tracking them." He looked at Charlotte and she started to shake her head as tears slipped down her face. Tanner kicked something hard. "Fucking bandits."

AN: Alright, I'm ready to get this story started. Their reunion wont be the half of it. Please review.