Georgette felt light headed. It was him, it was finally him. All she could say over and over was

"We found you." She could feel tears streaming down her face. The three of them held onto each other. She felt her father's body also shaking with sobs.

"I love you both so much." She felt like she was little again and he was comforting her after a hard fall.

Georgette ran on her little legs full speed ahead towards the playground, her father lagging behind her, holding onto her little sister.

"Come on daddy! Faster!" In one terrifying second, she felt her foot get caught on something and she lurched forward. She went into the dirt and she felt her right knee hit the ground painfully, the dirt and rocks digging into her skin. It stung and she looked down to see that the skin on her knee had been scrapped off, resulting in a big bloody wound. She burst into tears, her knee still burning and throbbing painfully. Her dad ran to her side, kneeling down and looking at the wound. She felt him brush away some of the rocks that had gotten stuck inside. She let out a cry of pain and he said

"It's gonna be ok sweetheart. I gotcha." He pulled her into a comforting hug, her little sister pressed into her as he was still holding onto her in one arm. "Come on, your mom has some bandaids back at home." She felt herself calm down a little as she stood up and took her father's hand as they headed back the way they came. She began to calm down and said

"We can come back after though right?" He smiled down at her and said

"Definitley."

Long buried, vague memories started to come back to her. She looked up at him. He was looking down at her with love in his eyes.

"Can't believe it's you two, after so long." He looked over at Candice and said "You look just like your mother." Candice burst into tears and bowed her head again. An unstoppable wave of emotions overcame her and Georgette couldn't help but let out a wail.

"She's dead isn't she!" All this time she knew in the back of her mind she probably wasn't going to find either of her parents never mind one, but it was like the full force of her mother's death was hitting her now. Seeing her father brought the reality of her past back.

A loud crack of thunder made them all jump to attention. They stood up together and he said

"C'mon let's go inside." They followed him towards the building. The main lobby was clean and had a large table in the middle. She saw a few people sitting there. They still looked shocked and when they walked in she could feel them watching her. The overwhelming amount of emotions coursing through her body made her snap. She turned towards them and said

"What are you all looking at?!" They all looked away awkwardly. She felt her father's hand on her shoulder and she turned around.

"C'mon," he said, "It's ok." They followed him down a flight of stairs into a cellar. Small windows that lined the wall near the ceiling let light in. They came to a room and went inside. It was clearly a bedroom. He sat down on one of the beds and put his face in his hands before looking up at them and saying

"You were so little when I last saw you. I can't believe this." His voice cracking with emotion he said "If only your mother was here."

"She's dead isn't she," said Candice, "We'll never get to meet her." Her father hung his head, not answering them, but it was pretty evident that their mother was in fact dead. "She can't be!" Candice's sudden outburst made Georgette jump. She'd never seen her sister so upset and angry. Her face was beat red, she was shaking and hyperventilating. "SHE CAN'T BE!" Georgette tried to put a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Candice-" Her sister quickly knocked her hand away and said

"No! This isn't fair!" Their father got to his feet and pulled Candice into a tight hug, holding her close so she couldn't struggle against him. She broke down again, her head pressed into his shoulder as she cried. Georgette went and joined them in a group hug, holding her sister from behind.

"I'm here," he said, "You'll never have to be separated from any of us ever again." She continued to cry against him and he kept talking to her. "I remember when you were born. It was a difficult birth but your mom was so happy." Georgette was desperate to hear details of her own early life but she kept quiet, knowing her sister needed the support at the moment. When she finally calmed down they sat her down on the bed. "We've got a lot to cover," said Georgette, with a small smile. Even knowing now that her mother was certainly dead she couldn't help but feel overjoyed that they had found their father. He still seemed to be in a state of shock though. He stared at them both with wide eyes.

"It's been so fuckin' long. You were only three," he said, talking to Georgette. He turned to Candice and said "You were just a baby." Georgette couldn't hold back from asking questions and she said

"What happened?" He took a seat on the bed across from them and said

"A group of people came 'n attacked our home. They won and destroyed everything. They kept me prisoner for awhile until I escaped. I followed your tracks for as long as I could. I lost them on a road." Light bulbs went off in Georgette's head.

"We were held prisoner too! Angela got us out. She took care of us after she found us with mom on the ground." She saw her father clench his eyes shut, the memory of a dying Beth invading his mind. "We broke out and got away. Almost didn't though, a group caught up to us and we fought them off." She watched her father pull open the drawer of the nightstand. He took out a small purple item. Georgette recognized it as a little boot. Her little boot from so long ago. He held it out to her. She slowly took it from him and looked down at it. She felt her eyes fill with tears again. She closed them, not wanting to see how close they had been to each other. If they had just hung around a little longer in the woods then maybe things would have turned out differently.

"Angela was a good woman," said Daryl, "She used to watch you all the time."

"She brought us to Wyoming," said Georgette, "Thought we needed to get as far away from Georgia as possible."

"Where's she now?" Georgette closed her eyes again and said

"Dead." He didn't reply to her, looking at her as if expecting her to go on. She poured it all out, telling him all about their lives in Wyoming and how their house had been overrun with walkers.

"After that we left," she said, "Decided there was nothing left to do but come back here and try to figure out who we were. We've been on the road for a long time. Found some people to travel with along the way. We all split up to try and find more people, their probably still out there looking or wondering where we are."

Daryl couldn't believe what he was hearing. They'd traveled for thousands of miles to come here and they had made it in one piece. Well almost. He couldn't help but stare at the long half-healed, grisly gash that ran down his daughter's face. He felt the old feeling of fatherly protectiveness well up inside of him and he said

"Who did that to you?" Georgette reached up and touched her face.

"I got attacked by a mountain lion a while back." Last he had seen them they had been so untouched and innocent. They had been whole and unblemished. Their long life journey could be seen on their skin. He had seen more scars crisscrossing along Georgette's back earlier. "That's not the only thing." She reached down and pulled off of her boots, revealing her nearly toeless feet. "Frostbite," she said, "Had to take them off early on when we fell through a lake in the winter." He couldn't help but think back to when Georgette had been born. Her little fingers and toes had fascinated him. They had been so tiny and she had loved wiggling her toes, especially when she got excited. "Where did you go after you lost our trail?"

"Wandered around, tryin' to find any sign of you. I ended up nearly dyin'. Luckily some people I know found me 'n brought me back here. That was twenty years ago, been here ever since."

"People you knew?"

"Old friends," he said, cracking a smile. He wasn't sure if now was the time to delve into his whole life story. "People I knew from before it was just me 'n your mom." He ran his hand through his hair and said "It's a long story."

"We got time," said Candice, "Please tell us." He took a deep breath. Telling them about it all would mean to revisit the old days between he and Beth, before they had found the village. It was hard to think about it. He didn't want to go into details; it would be too much for him right now. He decided to begin with the prison.

"I was with a group when the outbreak happened," he said, "Travelin' with my brother." Merle had been a touchy subject for him but over time it had become easier for him. He often thought of him. He continued with the story, talking about the beginning of the outbreak, finding Beth's farm and moving to the prison. He spent time talking about their grandfather, knowing that Hershel's memory needed to be passed on. By the time he had reached the piece about being run out by the Governor the sun was setting.

"You and mom got out together?" He nodded and said

"If we hadn't you two wouldn't be sittin' here. Me 'n your mom only talked a bit back at the prison. If we hadn't gone off together we wouldn'ta fallen in love." He decided to be vague with the rest of the story. They didn't have to time to go over what had happened with the town they'd found Carol in and the other troubles they'd run into. "We went through a lot before we found the village."

"What was life like before the walkers?"

"Nuthin' special," he said, "Lived with my brother, didn't do much." Even after all these years he was nervous to admit to his own daughters that he'd been what was considered 'white trash' before all of this happened. He knew they didn't really have any concept of what that was but it was still embarrassing for him.

Georgette ate up everything he was telling them. She had a grandfather, an aunt and an uncle, all of which were dead but it was still fascinating.

"Hershel was amazin'," said her father, "He took care of the sick, he was always the voice of reason, he was one tough son of a bitch. He didn' wanna leave his farm when it burnt down but Rick got him to come with us."

"Who's Rick?" Her father went quiet for a moment before saying

"My other brother." Georgette was confused. Earlier he'd told her he'd been initially traveling with one brother and that had been Merle. "Met him at the first camp we had set up outside of Atlanta. We started out rough but in the end we loved each other, I was his second hand man. Wish he was still here today. Sometimes I miss him almost as much as your mom." She started to realize how much he'd lost. He'd lost his brothers, their mother, them and most of the people in the communities that he'd settled in. Somehow he'd kept going and stayed on his feet. A light knock on the door brought her out of her own thoughts. A tall red head stood in the doorway. She was holding a platter of food. She had a wamr smile on her face and she said

"Just thought you could use some food." Daryl nodded and said

"Thanks Judy." She came in and set the platter down on the nightstand. She shyly smiled at Georgette and then left the room. Starving, Georgette grabbed an apple slice sitting on the plate and popped it into her mouth. It'd been awhile since she'd had fresh fruit. She heard Candice ask

"Who was that?"

"That's Judith," said Daryl, "She lives here. Your mom used to take care of her a long time ago back at the prison." With a smile he said, "If she'd managed to grab her 'n take her with us before the prison fell you'd probably be sisters."

"What happened to her parents?"

"Her mother died when she was born," he said, "And her father was Rick, your mom took on the job of caring for her."

"Who else lives here?"

"It's a small group," he said, "There's me, Judith, her brother Carl, Michonne, she used to be at the prison with us 'n a couple others." Georgette thought about her own group. She desperately wanted to stay there but she knew she had to go back and get the others and bring them back. It was nearly night and they were probably back at the house wondering where they were. She looked out the window at the setting sun and said

"The others are probably worried about us. We need to let them know where we are and bring them here." Her father stood up and said

"I ain't gonna lose you two again, if you're goin' somewhere I'm comin' with you."

Candice stayed behind. She was physically and emotionally exhausted. Before leaving her father had introduced her to Michonne. The woman had seemed intimidating at first but when her serious demeanor was broken with a kind smile Candice felt completely at ease. She was now following Michonne back down to the basement where they had an empty room for her to stay in.

"We sleep on the bottom floor," she said, "We're safest that way because the door that leads down here is made of steel and we shut it at night just in case of a wall breach." They entered a plain concrete room. There was an empty cot in the corner that already had sheets on it. Michonne handed her a pile of fresh clothes and blankets. Candice set them down on her new bed and said

"This place is great."

"I'm sure your dad already explained everything about who I am." He had briefly told them that Michonne had also come from the prison but not much else. Candice shook her head and Michonne said

"I'm Judith's and Carl's adoptive mother," she said, "Well, more of Judith's. Carl was already a teenager when I started looking out for him. He knows who is real mother was."

"Did you know my mother?"

"I did," she said, "She was an amazing person. She was the sweetest girl I'd ever met. She didn't let any of this change her." Candice felt tears stinging at her eyes again. She nodded and said

"Thanks," With a sympathetic look Michonne pulled her into a hug.

"Your dad never forgot about you two. You've been on his mind for the past twenty years. Everyday he'd talk about you, wonder if you two were still alive and what kind of people you'd become." Candice let a few tears escape from underneath her eyelids as she held onto Michonne tighter. "We've all lost people," she said, "But your father will be happy for the rest of his life now that he's got you back."

Georgette and Daryl moved quietly through the woods, headed towards the house. They continued to discuss their pasts.

"Angela told us a lot about what went on in the village," she said, "Wouldn't even know our own names if it wasn't for her." He smiled at her and said

"Georgette Maggie Dixon is your full name." She hadn't known that she had a middle name.

"Maggie?"

"After her sister."

"Well what about my first name?"

"We wanted it to mean somethin'," he said, "We wanted you to know where you came from so that's how we got the first part. Her mother's name was Annette so we took the back part of her name and put that together with 'Georgia'. That's how we came up with Georgette." She didn't know so much thought had gone into her name and felt a weird sense of pride. "You were gonna be Beau if you were a boy." She laughed and said

"Well thank god I wasn't a boy." They fell quiet when they spotted the light from the house filtering through the trees. "I'll go in first," she said, "Don't wanna alarm them." Georgette came out into the clearing with Daryl close behind her. She saw someone sitting out on the porch. It was Odilia. As she approached Odilia spotted her and said

"Georgette! Is that you?"

"Ya it's me."

"Where the hell have you been? Where's Candice?"

"She's fine." Daryl stepped out into the light flooding from the windows.

"Who are you?!" She saw Odilia pull out her knife.

"I found him Odilia, this is my dad." Odilia dropped her knife in disbelief.

"Are you serious?" Georgette nodded and said

"He had a group and a secure camp, we can all go there." Odilia grinned and said

"This is amazing." Odilia had been traveling with the girls for a long time and to see them reach their goal was heartwarming and brought tears to her eyes. The others quickly appeared on the porch to see what was going on. Irving saw Georgette standing there with Daryl next to her. She saw the instant anger flare in his eyes. He thought Daryl had come to rob them. Before Georgette could stop him he was on Daryl and had knocked him to ground.

Daryl couldn't react in time and he fell to the ground, the man standing over him with a machete at his throat.

"You come to take our stuff?" Georgette quickly grabbed onto his arm and said

"He's ok, it's my dad! I found him!" Irving dropped his machete and said

"You found him? This quick?" Daryl didn't hear the next few exchanges between the two. He was staring at the man. He instantly saw Merle in the man's face. The way he talked and his mannerisms brought back old memories of Merle and his family. Daryl stood up and got a better look at him. The man saw him staring and said

"Whatchyou lookin' at?" The hostility in the man's voice was so familiar to him it almost made him laugh. He'd dealt with people like this all his life and wasn't one bit intimidated. Georgette gave another tug at the man's arm and said

"Irving leave him alone." Daryl knew who he was almost instantly. There was no long lost sadness like there had been with Candice and Georgette. He had lost contact with Irving long before the rise of the walkers. It was more comical to him that all these years later their paths would cross. He smiled and said

"Irving? Irving Dixon?"

"How do you know my name?"

"It's Daryl your cousin, remember me?" The hostile expression washed away from his face almost instantly and his eyes widen in recognition.

"For real?" Daryl nodded and said

"It's been awhile." Irving broke into a smile and said

"Hell I know it's been awhile! All this time 'n you turn up like this?" It was clear he was overjoyed. "Where the hell is Merle?"

"He didn't make it," said Daryl, "Died a long time ago."

"Well that's too bad," said Irving, "Woulda loved to see him again too." Daryl felt the man pull him into a tight hug which he awkwardly returned. "C'mon man don't hold back I haven't seen you since I was just a little kid."

Georgette was completely shell shocked at this new development. She would have been happy for her father and Irving if it wasn't for the fact that she had come to realize that the man she had come to have feelings for and had sex with the other night was related to her. Clearly Irving hadn't put two and two together yet as he continued to bear hug her father in joy. It wasn't so bad, he was just her cousin but it still felt strange to her. With one problem figured out another presented itself and she didn't know how she was going to break this one to everyone else, especially her father.

Thanks K. Lynn Perks, daywalker28, DarylDixon'sLover, stateofgrace-xo and all the guests for commenting :) It was an enormous pleasure to write this chapter. I've been waiting to write this reunion for forever lol. It looks like so far the general opinion is to continue in a sequel but the poll isn't over yet. I'll keep it up until the end of this week and decided on Sunday.

Thanks for reading,

Wanderlustt