Daryl

"Daddy?" My three year old daughter asked. I looked down at her in her light blue, mud covered shirt; she just got done having a mud fight with her little brothers.

"Yeah, baby girl?"

"Who's that?" She pointed towards the gate of our home. I'd recognize that Sheriffs hat anywhere.

"That'd be yer big brother, baby. Go inside an' get yer mama, Uncle Joe, Aunt Maggie an' Uncle Glenn." She took off running into the house and I kept my eyes on the gate, waiting. Maggie and Glenn were the first out. "Maggie, tell ya sister ta leave the kids with Carol, would ya? Me'n Glenn are gonna go down," I motioned towards the gate and watched Maggie's and Glenn's eyes widen. Maggie nodded once and ran inside.

"That Carl?" Glenn asked.

"Think so. Know anyone else who wears a sheriffs hat?" I started walking towards the gate. Surprised no one on watch has come to say anything about a person approaching. Joe and me are going to have to have a talk about letting our guard down. We got close enough that I could tell for sure it's him.

"Daryl? Glenn?" He called out, disbelief heavy in his voice.

"Never thought we'd see you again." Glenn called out, closing the distance between him self and the gate. I haven't said anything yet to Carl. How am I supposed to tell him that I've claimed his little sister as my daughter? I can barely look at Carl and he doesn't even know Ass Kicker's alive yet.

"Ya alone?" I asked, finally finding something to say as Glenn got the gate opened.

"No, Michonne's hidden in the closest town. Is it just you two?"

"Nah, reunited wit' a bunch o' us." Soon as I said that Maggie, Beth and Joe came running up. Beth hugged Carl right away and started crying. She pulled away from him and leaned into me. Carl's eyes widening is almost comical. I would have laughed if I weren't stressing about telling him about his sister.

"We've gotta lot ta talk 'bout," She said and Carl nodded.

"Carl, this is Joe." Glenn cut in. They said hello and then Carl looked at each of us, silently pushing for us to explain.

I looked down at my wife and took a deep breath. I listed off everyone from the prison that's with us. "And Judith."

A flurry of emotions crossed his face; Sorrow, joy, relief, excitement. "She's alive?" He asked, taking a step forward.

"Yeah. We need ta talk 'fore ya see 'er." I stated, hating to say it. We don't know what's happened to him in the past couple of years. He might not be the same boy we knew. I'm not putting my family in danger. Me and Beth talked about the possibility of finding Carl and Rick again and as time went on we decided if we could we'd make sure we know what kind of men they've become. It's clear Carl's no longer a boy on the cusp of manhood. He's even got a little bit of a beard going. I watched as Carl tensed up even more, having not fully relaxed yet. "We got our own security 'fore we let others in. Jus' like we did at the prison,"

"Please Carl. We jus' gotta be sure it's safe. We can't take any risks. It's been a long time." Beth jumped in. I can hear the pleading in her tone. Carl relaxed again, but still somewhat tensed. His soft spot for her apparent even after two and a half years.

"Alright," He agreed.

"Peace of mind, can I have your weapons 'till you talk?" Joe asked. Carl hesitated and then pulled a pistol from his holster and a machete from a homemade sheath on his back, handing them to Joe. "Thank you, son. I think Maggie, Glenn and I will go inside and help Carol."

"Thanks, man." I said as Joe clapped me on the shoulder and motioned for Maggie and Glenn to follow.

"You'll get it back soon's we're done." I reassured Carl. I know how it feels to be parted from your weapons.

"Let's sit," Beth nodded towards the ground at our feet and we all sat. "Tell us what happened after the prison, Carl. Then we'll tell ya our story."

"Me and Dad made it out. Holed up in a house. Dad was in real bad shape, the governor beat him bad. We holed up for a few days in a house, couple towns over. Michonne found us. When dad healed enough to keep going we left and just kept goging. We ran into a group. We killed them all, but they beat dad worse than the Governor did, and he still wasn't even fully healed. He died a few days later. Michonne took care of him…" He trailed off, taking a moment before continuing. "it's been me and Michonne for two years. We've avoided other groups since then. She messed up her knee. I've spent the last four or five months trying to convince her to look for other people to join with. She finally agreed when she got hurt. I've been looking around this area for a week. I've seen signs of people and not many walkers. Turns out it was you. Gave up hope of finding any more of our family a long time ago." You could tell he left a lot out of his story but I didn't see a reason to make him tell us every detail.

"I'm so sorry 'bout Rick,"

"Me too, Sorry about Hershel."

Beth started telling Carl our story, how we got out, her kidnapping, my meeting up with Joe, rescuing her and finding Tyreese, Carol and Judith, our time searching and fortifying our current home. She stopped when it got time to tell her the part about deciding to claim Judith as my daughter. It's my turn to tell the story. I've practiced this in my head over and over, these past two years. "Ya know I always loved Ass Kicker." I started, "Loved her like my own. Beth's always been 'er mama. Found myself wantin' ta be more ta her. Joe gave me a kick in the ass. Consider her my own. She calls me daddy, but we've always told her 'bout ya, Rick an' Lori." I waited for him to yell and get mad, tell me that it isn't my place. To hate me. I flinched when I felt Beth's hand grab mine. Long time since I've felt this insecure and flinched away like that from her touch. I can feel her eyes on me.

"I'm glad it's you." He announced after a few minutes.

"Ya are?"

"Yeah," I feel like I can breath again. I ran my hand through my hair. Beth started telling our story again, telling him about my proposal to her and her getting pregnant, how we found out. Then she told him about our wedding and eventually got to the birth of our sons, Shawn and Merle. He listened and nodded but didn't interrupt.

"I want to see my sister and I have to get back to Michonne." He said as Beth finished.

Beth and I looked at each other. We don't need words to discuss most things, never really have. We know each other better than we know ourselves. I gave her the slightest nod, telling her I think it's okay. In the past two years she's trusted my judgement completely. She's only disagreed with me twice and I followed her lead both of those times. Things would have gotten ugly if I hadn't.

"C'mon. Take ya to her. I've always hoped we'd all find a way back to each other." Beth announced, standing up.

It took a long time to get this started. Sorry about that. I hope you guys enjoyed Part One. I think this will only be two or three chapters long. R & R