So I missed a day posting, I don't think I've skipped a day before. But it was for a good cause. I'm buying a house and had the home inspection yesterday. Unbelievably, there was only minor things wrong. Yeah! So I apologize for not being able to get this out, but a girl has to have some celebratory drinks after news like that.

We were late coming out for breakfast. It wasn't that we had woken up late, we just hadn't been able to leave the room. It wasn't until we heard movement outside in the hall that we had forced ourselves out from under the covers.

I didn't remember the last time I felt so happy and relaxed. Daryl had really surprised me last night. When he had opened the door I couldn't believe my eyes. The fact that he had paid such attention to detail was surprising. He had laid out my things just as I had them in my cell. It was, by far, the sweetest thing that anyone had ever done for me.

We had talked well into the night. We had talked about the places where we had grown up, our families. "After my mom died in a fire, Dad moved us out of the town. He was a drunk and would disappear for days at a time. My brother Merle, he was in and out of juvie constantly. So I was on my own a lot. My dad would forget to buy food, so I learned how to hunt. I figured out how to get by."

"Didn't you have any other family?" I was appalled at what he described so matter-of-factly.

"Na, my mom's parents died a while back and my father didn't speak with his."

His upbringing had been so different from mine. I couldn't image ever being so alone as a child. If a child fell down and skinned their knee there were so many hands to pick them up and cuddle them. I had a large family. Four older sisters, twelve nieces and nephews, twenty aunts and uncles, and so many cousins I couldn't count. We had family parties at least four times a year, and we averaged at least eighty people per party. I spoke with my mother and sisters daily, my aunts on a weekly basis, and shared season tickets to the Red Sox with some of my cousins.

We had talked about happier things too, and we had laughed. He had teased me about my painted toenails. "I can not believe that with everything going on, you would be taking the time to paint your toenails."

"Don't you like the color?" I had asked as I pulled up the sheet so he could see and wiggled my toes.

"Maybe, I'd have to get a closer look to be sure." Daryl dived under the covers, nibbling his way down. I had screeched as his whiskers tickled by abdomen. That too had been a surprise. To find he was so easy to laugh with in bed. I was glad we were so alone. The fact that no one was around let us be as loud as we wanted.

As we reached the eating area, there were only a few stragglers left. Everyone else had already started on their day. Daryl wolfed down some food in record time so he could hurry in and help finish up moving everything out. I sat down with Lori, Maggie and Beth.

"Where's Carol?" I asked as I began to eat. The other three exchanged a look between them. "What?" I asked.

It was Lori who spoke up. "She's laying down. She said she wasn't feeling well."

"Did Hershel look at her before he left?"

Lori looked uncomfortable. "No, and I don't think you should either. Stella, Carol's just having a hard time with you and Daryl. She's wanted something more with Daryl for a while. Daryl really hadn't shown any interest, but..." she shrugged. "It's just hard for her. I think she knew that Daryl was attracted to you, but she probably thought that it would pass. It wasn't until the two of you came to dinner last night that she realized that it was something more."

I chewed my food slowly and thought about what it was that she had said. I could understand Carol's feelings, and things with Daryl had happened rather quickly. Carol hadn't had any time to get used to the idea. She hadn't even been around for three of those days. Still, if she really was sick.. I came up with a compromise. "Beth, would you mind just checking on her later and seeing how she's doing? I can't totally leave her alone, but I get that she might not want to see my face right now."

Beth gave me a gentle smile, "No problem. I'll give her a few hours and if she still isn't up, then I'll go check."

Lori leaned forward, "Since it's just us girls right now, how was it? I have to admit, Daryl is kind of hot in this rugged, no nonsense type of way. And have you seen his body? Of course you've seen his body. Come on, I'm dying! Give me details."

I looked at Lori, my mouth hanging open. "Lori! You are a married woman! Thinking like that, really." I could feel that my cheeks had turned bright red. I couldn't help the smiling though as I thought about last night. And this morning. The other three women started laughing. "Stop that! You are all awful!" I laughed and shook my head in disbelief.

"Well, where did you two head off to last night? I know you didn't come back to the cell block," asked Maggie.

I thought about whether or not to tell them, but then I realized that everyone was going to know by lunch since all the guys were down there right now. I'd keep the more intimate details to myself though. "Well, Daryl wanted to do something nice for me after everything. He surprised me by moving all of our things into one of the offices. He set it all up. It was really amazing."

Maggie looked jealous. "I bet the privacy was nice too. I wish Glenn had thought to do that. I can not wait until we move into the offices. Do you guys think they'll be done my this afternoon? God I hope so."

"I will say that I was very happy to have no one around. I have a feeling we would have kept everyone up all night."

"Really?" Lori leaned forward. "All night?"

"Jeez Lori, haven't you just turned into a horn dog. We spent most of the night talking and laughing. He's just so funny."

Lori looked somewhat chastened as the other two laughed. "It's not my fault, it's all the hormones. That and the fact I haven't had sex in seven months. When do you think I can see about getting back to that anyway?"

"How about we begin to visit that subject when you can stand up straight because you're not afraid to pop your sutures?" Lori stuck her tongue out at me. "You seem awfully eager to get back in the saddle. I take it things with Rick are going well?" Rick had started sleeping on the top bunk in Lori's room. Judith chose that moment to start to cry so Lori bent over and lifted her from the basket at her feet.

Lori smiled a huge smile. "You were right, babies change everything. Rick and I had a long conversation one night. I think we had both forgiven each other for everything a long time ago, but neither one of us want to say we were sorry first. I'll admit, Maggie's not the only one that's eager to move into the offices."

I knew that feeling of not wanting to apologize first. Pride was a dangerous thing when it came to a relationship. I was so glad for Lori. That she and Rick had worked it out. I knew she had wanted to reconcile with Rick badly. The day that Judith was born, Lori asked me to speak with Rick in case she died. She told me how horrible she felt about everything, how she knew Rick would blame himself about everything if she died. I wondered if Lori hadn't almost died if they still would have reconciled. I supposed it didn't matter. It happened and they did. Sometimes things do work out for the best.

"Stella, what are you planning on doing today?" Maggie asked, interrupting my thoughts. I didn't have any specific plans and told her that. "Do you think we could go on a supply run today? I have a list of things that we need. Glenn and I didn't have very much luck the other day."

I jumped on the chance to get out of the prison. I was tired of looking at the same walls and fences. Yesterday's outing had only reinforced that. "I'd love to. Do you mind if we take the Range Rover? There's some things I'd like to charge off the battery." When Maggie said she didn't care, we agreed to meet back there in ten minutes. I rushed in to grab some things. When I got to the hallway, there was a problem. A desk had gotten stuck as they moved it out of one of the offices into the hallway.

Everyone was using very colorful language and shouting out various suggestions to Axel and Oscar who were trying to move it. The hallway was completely blocked. I cleared my throat. "Excuse me gentlemen, mind if I get through?" I had to bite back a laugh. They all looked ashamed to be caught using language more appropriate to a truck stop. "Don't worry about it guys. There isn't anything you can say, that I haven't heard. I've probably repeated it myself a time or two." Oscar helped me climb over the desk. "Where's Daryl?"

"Went down to the shop, see if he could find a saw or sledgehammer to break this thing up. It's been stuck in here since right after you two headed out. Don't think we're going to be able to get it unstuck." Oscar answered.

"Well, when he gets back, will you just tell him that I headed out with Maggie?" I turned to face Glenn. "Did you hear that?"

"Yeah, Maggie said she was going to ask you to go. She's got the list, right?"

I nodded and ran into my room to grab what I needed. After I climbed back over the desk I turned and looked at the men in the hallway. "Get a screwdriver, take off the legs."

As I left I heard Axel say, "Why the hell didn't we think about that?"

Maggie and I sang along to the iPod as we drove. I pointed out to Maggie the road Daryl found me on as we passed. "Sometimes things work out so differently than you think. Something awful happens and it leads you to something good." I said almost to myself, my thoughts earlier about Lori and Rick still fresh in my head.

"I know, if Otis hadn't shot Carl, then we never would have meet up with everyone. Without the rest of the group, we all probably would have died on that farm when the herd came through. I never would have met Glenn." A smile crept across her face. "Daddy was so mad when he realized what was going on between us. I thought his head was going to explode." Maggie laughed. "It didn't take him long to realize Glenn was a good man, that he really cared for me. After that Daddy gave us his blessing." She looked over at me. "Hey, what do you think your parents would think of Daryl?"

"Oh, boy, I guess it would depend on if it we were talking about before or after. If I had met him on vacation and brought him home...," I made a grimace. "I think they would have no idea what to make of him. He's not like anyone I've ever known before. He's so abrupt about everything and he can be so rude. Before all this, if we were back in Boston, Daryl would never have been happy there. I think our worlds would have been too different. But here, in this world, I think my parents would actually really like him, my mom especially. She always liked the strong silent type." I laughed.

"Did they like your husband?"

"Jack? Not at first. We met my first week at college. He was a few years older. I guess my parents thought that I was too young." I laughed, "I was young. I wasn't even eighteen when we met. You know how it is at that age. We'd fight and break up, then make up. Everything was the end of the world, it was all so dramatic. But we grew up, and soon Jack was like a son to them. Although, until we got married my parents still insisted on separate bedrooms whenever we went on a family trip, even after we were living together."

Maggie started to laugh. "My parents would have been the same way, believe me."

Just then I saw a blue hospital sign. I turned off the road. "Where are you going?" Maggie questioned.

"Looks like there's a hospital up here. I just want to check it out." We followed the signs. Walkers started to appear. We managed to get close enough to see. It wasn't completely overrun, but it would be suicide for just Maggie and I to try to go in. Even with the rest of the group it would be dangerous. We turned around quickly and headed back towards the main road.

"Nothing," Maggie looked around disgustingly. The pharmacy had been completely cleared out. "There's nothing here at all."

I looked down at the list in my hand. It was all basic stuff. I used to keep my bath closet packed full of everything on this list.

"Maybe we've got to start looking different places. Some of this stuff, like the candles and soap, we can make. There's a craft store a few buildings down. They'll have everything we need for that. The rest of it, we're going to have to go house to house."

"House to house is dangerous. Walkers get trapped inside, they're around corners. We wouldn't be able to use our guns. Otherwise we'd draw too many of them."

I looked at her. "Do we have a choice? We need this stuff. Why don't we start at the crafts store and then head on over to the subdivisions. We can see what it looks like before we make a decision." Maggie nodded.

We had made out at the crafts store. We got everything we needed for the soap and candles. We emptied out the shelves. We had even done a little shopping for other items that might be useful. Thread, needles, yarn, all went into the carriages. Maggie stopped by the fabrics and was running a beautiful batik through her fingers.

"If you like it, why don't you get it?" I asked her.

"It'd be a waste. What would I use it for?" Maggie looked wistfully at the fabric.

"That new room of yours is going to have windows in it. I bet some curtains would look nice. We are planning on settling in there. I think it would be nice if people could decorate their rooms a little. You know, we should really bring back some of the calico too. When the weather gets colder, I bet quilts would be appreciated. It would take a while to make them, but we got time before winter's back."

Maggie grinned and started loading up another carriage with various fabrics. Half hour later we headed back out and loaded up everything in the car. Maggie took out three walkers as I tossed things in the back. When we climbed back into the car I turned to her. "To the houses?" Maggie nodded.

When we arrived at the prison, Beth was at the gates to let us back in. As soon as the gate was locked back up, she ran over to the car to help us unload. "What on earth did you bring back?" she asked as we lifted up the tailgate. The car was packed full of things, even the top was covered with bags of fertilizer.

"Well, what do you expect when you send two women out to go shopping?" Maggie asked laughing. "We managed to get almost everything on the list, and then we decided to head to the co-op to find seeds and other things that we'll need for planting the crops." She started pulling out various tools. "Figured we could get a growing box going now, and work on getting the field tilled while the seedlings get started. That way we won't be so far behind."

The two sisters kept talking as we unloaded. "Why don't we put all the fabric in the cell block. That way it'll stay clean and be out of our way." Beth suggested.

"I got it," I said as I grabbed a couple of bolts and headed in. I had a gift for someone. I placed all but one of the bolts on a table and walked over to where Carol had been sleeping. I knocked on the side of the cell door. Carol looked up.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" Carol shrugged. "I brought you something. Maggie and I went out today and stopped at a crafts store. They had a pretty decent fabric section. Anyways, I thought you might like this." I stood the bolt up and leaned it against the wall. It was a Challis fabric with a soft, earthy green color and a light floral design. "I remembered you saying that you saying that you liked this color of green. Anyways, I thought you could use it to decorate your new room." I turned to leave.

"Stella wait," I turned back to look at Carol. She had gotten out of the bunk and was looking at the fabric. "That's real nice of you. I love it. Thanks."

I smiled over at her. "If you feel up to it, we're unloading the car. Maybe you could help us figure out where we should store everything. You're the best organizer here."

Carol nodded. "Why don't you show me what you guys got." Together we headed outside.

We divided up all the personal hygiene products between everyone. "Rick's going to be bummed you two didn't find any shaving cream, or deodorant. Oh well, he'll just be stinky with razor burn."

"What was it with the men around here? Didn't they believe in personal grooming?" Carol said looking at everything spread out. We had found plenty of women's deodorant, no men's.

"Well, if he gets desperate, he can always share yours Lori." I teased her.

"I don't care if it's men's or women's, I'm making Glenn use some. Sometimes when he goes to put his arm around me, Pww!" Maggie waved her had in front of her face dramatically.

"Well we did find a year's worth of Irish Spring soap. Maybe that'll help."

"Yeah, whoever had that house had a real OCD thing going. All that cleaning stuff was from that one house." Maggie gestured to a pile of gallon sized cleaning solvents.

"I'm glad you to grabbed the stuff at the crafts store to make our own soap though. I have no desire to smell like a man." Carol said. "Did you know Axel asked me if I was a lesbian? Just cause my hair is short."

Maggie burst out laughing. "I wouldn't take it personally. I don't think Axel has had too much luck with the ladies."

I gathered up Daryl's and my share of things. "I'm going to go put this stuff away and check on what the men are doing. I would have thought that they'd be done moving everything out by now."

Lori started to chuckle. "Well apparently whatever Daryl did last night has gotten them all thinking. They decided they were going to scrub down the rooms for us. Can't say I mind." Neither did I. Most of the offices were a mess. There were only a few like the one Daryl had picked out for us that had still been locked, and therefore walker free.

The guys were all packing up all the cleaning supplies when I arrived at the offices. "I think I'd rather go back to moving furniture than have to clean another inch," Axel complained when I asked him how it all went.

"Well don't go take a shower yet. We got a million bags of fertilizer that needs to be taken down off the top of the car. Can't say it smells too good."

Axel swore, "Shit, I'd almost rather go back to being in the kitchen. Don't you people ever rest?" I just looked at him and raised my shoulders.

I moved down the hall towards my room when Daryl stepped out in front of me. "Hey," I said, my voice soft. "I missed you today. Heard you boys were all working hard down here." Daryl reached over and grabbed my arm. He led me into our room. He shut the door. I could tell he was upset with something. He was too still, his movements too deliberate. "What happened?" I asked.

Daryl stood there, completely still. I placed everything on the foot of the bed as I waited for him to answer. Finally he started to speak. "What do you think you're doing going out all by yourself?"

I looked at him for a moment before I answered. "I wasn't by myself. I was with Maggie. She asked me to go and I decided to go."

"You know what I mean," he growled.

"You mean, why did I go without you, right?"

"Or Rick, or Glenn. Jeez, even Oscar or Axel would have been better than nothing."

I could feel myself getting irritated at his words, but I didn't want to start a fight. Not now, not when the dust had just settled from the last two days. Besides, I understood why he was concerned, I just thought it was stupid. "Daryl," I said firmly, "Maggie's a good fighter, and I'm not half bad myself. We didn't need one of you men to come with us. We watched each other's backs, and we're fine. We're here." I watched as he began to pace back and forth. "Daryl, everything in this world is a risk. Going to the bathroom by yourself is a risk." My voice became more gentle. "You can't protect me all the time." I moved forward and stopped his pacing. I snaked my arms up around his neck. "I appreciate that you want to make sure I'm alright, but you're going to have to trust me to take care of myself and make some decisions on my own. Okay?" I felt him begin to soften.

He looked down at me for a long moment, his eyes fixed on mine. Suddenly he let out a heavy sigh and kissed me lightly. "You two were just gone a long time, I was worried. I thought you'd be back hours ago." He kissed me again, a little bit harder.

"Well we managed to get a lot of things, but we did have to go house to house for some of it."

"House to..." he barely choked out. His body instantly tense again.

"Hey, trust, remember?" I held on tight, he wasn't stalking off this time. "We were really careful. We didn't just march in there blind." I grabbed his jaw to make him look at me. "You'd never seen two women more heavily armed. Daryl, please."

He shook his head slowly, looking down at the knife he had given me. "You're going to drive me crazy, you know that? What am I going to do with you woman?"

A slow smile creeped across my lips, I didn't mind when he called me 'woman' with that look in his eyes. "Can't you think of a few things?" Daryl lazily reached up and unpinned my hair, letting it tumble down my back. It was a while before we joined the others.

When we got back to the cell blocks everyone was almost done packing up to move. "Why don't you see if Carol needs help," I said to Daryl. "She'd probably like to have some time with you. I think she might be feeling a little alone."

Daryl looked over to where Carol stood at the far end of the hall. She was trying to shove her pillow into a backpack. It looked like a losing battle. He gave me a quick smile and headed down to see her. Although I wanted to smooth things out with Carol, in some ways I hated seeing Daryl go to her, since I knew she had some feelings for him. But she was his best friend at the prison. It wouldn't do anyone any good to try to keep them apart. In a group this small any friction between people can become a big problem. Pushing the jealousy aside, I walked over to Hershel. "What can I take for you?"

"Well I got all my stuff here," he indicated his backpack. "Why don't you start packing up the medical supplies. We're going to put use the big conference room at the end as the infirmary. You can start moving everything in there."

When I carried the first box to the new infirmary, I was impressed. Hershel must have directed the guys on how to set it up. He had left the long table in the room, to use as a patient table, but had moved it closer to the windows for better light. There were bookcases lined up, ready for various supplies. He even had one of the small desks brought in, and there was a comfortable chair in the corner of the room. I started humming as I unpacked. It felt good to put things in order, and not just have them on a table. Hershel joined me after he dropped his things off in his room. Oscar brought the last of the boxes down and put them on the table. "Looks good in here."

I looked over at all the shelves. Even with the items that were in the boxes, they were going to be woefully empty. We had used up so much stuff on Lori and the baby. Even now she was still on antibiotics, though we had switched her over to orals. I smiled at Oscar but I knew it didn't reach my eyes. Having everything spread out like this was eye-opening. "Hershel," I started. "There's a county hospital not far from here." I hated saying it, the memory of how many walkers were outside forefront in my head.

He sighed. "I know. Let's make a list of things that we're going to need over the next couple of days. I want to make sure it's complete before we send anyone there." I nodded and hoped a catastrophe didn't strike in the mean time.

Hershel and I were the last outside for dinner. As soon as we got there Beth gave us each a bowl of soup. Hershel tasted it. "Hard to believe that you couldn't even make a grilled cheese a year ago, and now you can cook like this. With wild seasonings and over a campfire even." He smiled lovingly at his youngest daughter.

Everyone was starving, and except for an occasional comment here or there, dinner was eaten mostly in silence. Typically after dinner everyone sat around the fire together, discussing their day, or any concerns they had. But not tonight. As soon as everyone had eaten, the group broke up in various smaller groups. Hershel began going through the seeds and tools that we brought back. He started laying out a plan for a garden. The other men pulled the fertilizer down then headed in to see what they could find to make some seedling boxes. Personally I thought they were just anxious to use tools.

Carol, Beth and Maggie started cutting up fabric to sew into curtains. Some of the doors had windows on them, so that was going to be the first priority.

"Come on," Lori said to me. "I can't sew in a straight line. Why don't you and I can get started on that soap." As neither Lori or I had ever made soap before, (why would we?), we had some trouble getting started. Luckily Maggie had thought to grab a how-to book. After a couple of false starts, we got the hang of it. It was fun deciding what scent to use, what mold to put it in. I hadn't done anything like that in a long time. After we poured our second batch into the molds, we decided to call it a night as it was beginning to get to dark to see well.

I turned and surveyed the group. The others were wrapping up for the night as well. There was something different about tonight though, something I couldn't quite put my finger on. It bothered me that I couldn't figure out what it was, but I wasn't making me nervous. I put it out of my mind.

We did sit down around the fire for a while after everyone was finished. But people were tired from the non-stop day and began to head in early. Daryl and I quickly followed suit. Later, as I laid in Daryl's arms I realized what was different. Today was the first day that everyone had been involved in projects strictly for the future. We had begun building our future here. This was becoming home.