'I;m so sorry we couldn't find you anywhere,' Maggie sat beside Carol on the old porch swing they were rocking it with their feet, watching the small boys run about. Daryl and Merle were mucking around with the lawn mower, 'I told Merle not to tell him, he didn't really remember, I just thought we could deal with it when you come back... he was so heartbroken it was devastating to see, and when we had Harley us being so happy made him so heart broken,'

'Its not your fault, he wouldn't talk to me and got wasted all the time,'

'Remember the Dixon brothers are not good at 'Feelings' their childhood, no excuses but ... Merle, when I told him I was pregnant went on a bender, he could have cheated if I didn't pull his sorry arse out of the pub, he felt so bad leaving that skank here watching him while he went to pick you up, he was rotten drunk`I'm trying not to force your hand here but... sober Daryl wouldn't have cheated, how do we know what happened, do we even know he stuck it in there? Being that wasted... Merle wouldn't be able to get it up, could Daryl?'

'I don't know... I just don't anymore, watching him like this now with Ollie, he talked to child services, he got him a kitten, I just don't know,' Carol petted the two sleeping little kittens in her lap looked at the men then the little boys who had come over to watch what they were doing. Merle was holding the toddler and rubbing his back while talking to Ollie, 'I just never thought ... I don't know, I've got all theses feelings I'm trying to block off... my heart is sore from stopping them...' she rocked the swing a little, 'I just don't want Ollie to be a only child being raised in a house where his parents don't love each other,'

'It doesn't have to be that way,' Maggie lifted the baby to rub her back so she could burp, 'There are no rules here, no one else knows apart from us, and your friend Tara, you ... if you want to can have more babies, you can have whatever you want... if you want him back you can have him back, if you don't he can move out, you can move on and find someone else... '

'I don't want anyone else,' Carol whispered, 'but how can I take him back after what he did to me?'

'I don't know, you know I hated him for a long time for what he did to you,' Maggie told her, 'Then one day I just stopped hating him, I decided to help him instead, I could find you, so I helped you by helping him,'

'How did you stop hating him for what he did?'

'Well I felt a lot better after a gave her a beat down, got arrested and fucked her boyfriend in the backseat of his car,' Maggie told her, Carol laughed she shouldn't but she did, Maggie Greene was a force to be reckoned with when she was mad. No wonder she tamed wild Merle Dixon. He was so sweet with his kids and Maggie, he still had a bad ass look about him but with his kids, with Maggie it was nothing but love. Her gaze drifted over to Daryl and he was trying to show Ollie how to put things on the lawn mower, he would make a good dad, he was a good husband before, he was a great lover the only one she ever had. 'I don't think he had sex with her, I just don't I think that they were in bed, Merle said he left his naked arse in bed, I just don't think he was aware of what was happening or had sex.'

'We will never know,'

'No but... you wouldn't be here right now if you didn't think there was a chance? Or a way of working it out, until us the Dixon brothers never knew love, settled their problems with booze and their fist,' Maggie said, 'look, you telling me that's a man who doesn't want a family... ' they looked and Daryl was holding his arms out for Ollie to come hug him, he got double barreled by Harley and Ollie and got knocked over his feet and onto his back, both boys climbed over him, Merle put the toddler down so he could jump on Daryl too. The 3 boys were giggling like mad, 'That man was too scared to come over the door step of my house when Phoebe was born, he showed up with a basket of gifts for her, really thought out gifts he must have been buying since we found out it was a girl, we wanted him to have a chance to know before she got here, so two weeks ago he shows up and knocked on the door, then run down the path, today he's rolling around the dirty ground with 3 kids on him,'

'He brought presents?'

'To much, way to much, but he couldn't bring himself to be near her, then the night he wanted the car he come running into the house, because of you guys,' Maggie told her, 'I'm just saying... if you want him he's your's, but you need to be the one to decide, no one can say you can't have him because... some one in society said you couldn't, if you want more babies you can have them, go to couples counselling, or something,'I want more children, I wanted a house full of laughter,'

'You need to be ready for a house of mess, a lot of mess, no sex and late nights, tiredness, cranky husbands who are not getting sex because their wives have boobs the size of cannon balls and feel like a hot mess,'

'Well when you put it like that,' Carol smiled, 'You really think I can?'

'Can?'

'Just have what I want?'

'Depends on what you want? What do you want?'

'Daryl to be a good Dad, more children eventually, to stop waking every day and feel like my heart is breaking over and over,' Carol whispered, Maggies chin dimpled as her lips tried to stop her eyes from welling up with tears, they spilt over and down her face, she nodded, swallowing hard as her throat burnt. 'For love, him to love Ollie as much as he loved Sophia?'

'Ok... shit, I'm gone,' Maggie was crying, an ugly cry, she leaned over and hugged Carol, 'I'm sorry you lost Sophia, now I'm a Mama... I didn't know back then how bad it was, how you were both falling apart, if I should have driven you all the way home instead of letting you take the bus...'

Carol's dam broke again and they were both crying on the swing, the men looked up at them. Merle shook his head, 'They need to,' was all he said to Daryl. Daryl looked at the boys and wondered if they should bath them or put them in the shower or something. He suggested it to Merle and he just nodded. He called them with him to go into the bathroom. He didn't know what he was doing but they took their clothes off. He threw the muddy clothes into the bath, got the little ones to check the water and told them to get in. He squirted some shower gel in their general direction and a couple of wash clothes. He went to find a better adult than him who knew more about washing kids. He met Maggie in the hall. She gave him a hug.

'Thank you for bringing her back,' Maggie told him.

'I don't know what I'm doing or what is going on,'

'You guys make the rules ok,'

'What does that even mean?'

'Daryl... do you think you even had sex with her?' Maggie asked him, flashes of the night come into his head, he didn't know really if it was full blown sex, he remembered touching her. She was touching him. Then Carol was there screaming.

'I don't know,'

'Get the boys some pj's out of the top drawer, they the same size they can share clothes,' Maggie told him, he went off to do as he was told, she went into the bathroom to see the boys had tipped out the rest of the shower gel Daryl had stupidly left in easy reach. He had a lot of learning to do. Especially now Ollie was in the house. Daryl come back and put the clothes over the shower rail. He groaned when he saw the bubbles and his empty shower gel container. The boys just laughed when he growled them.

'Good times, thanks for opening up to our kids,' Maggie told him.

'I'm trying... '