Thank you so much for all of your messages and reviews in regards to my last author's note. It means so much to me to know that so many of you care about me even though we've never met. My sister passed away in March and somedays, it hits me so much worse than other days. Yesterday was just a really bad day.

Some of you have been asking and I will be working on the update of Anything We Want next.

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Chapter Twenty-Seven. Camp.

Daryl was always an early riser but camping out in the woods, he woke even earlier, his eyes fluttering open before the sun could even peak above the horizon; when the sky was still just turning a lighter shade of gray from the blackness of night.

The birds were already chirping away and he laid there, listening to their morning song and hearing no other song except the quiet breathings of his family near. He turned his head and saw them all still sleeping in various spots and positions in the tent. When he went camping, he didn't bring a tent with him, having no problem sleeping on the open ground with the stars overhead. But he wasn't alone this time and with a wife and three kids, they had a tent and sleeping bags and this time, it felt like an actual camping trip and just not going into the woods for a couple of days.

He sat up slowly and silently, not wanting to disturb any of them, and inched himself out of the sleeping bag, careful not to wake Beth beside him. She only murmured something and turned away from him, rolling onto her side and Abby who slept beside her. Daryl grabbed his crossbow from where he had set it the night before and stepping over Luke, who had taken the spot in front of the front flap, Daryl carefully stepped out of the tent, zipping the flap back up.

He took a deep breath, inhaling the chilly fall morning air, and gave his neck a quick crack. He picked a tree far enough from where they had set up camp and peed before coming back. The fire had died down during the night and Daryl worked to bring it back to life again. Beth had packed eggs with her so they cook eggs and toast bread over the fire that morning for breakfast after stuffing themselves with hot dogs and s'mores the night before for dinner.

He hadn't done this in a long time – spending the night in the woods. After getting married, he saw no reason to stay away from his house and his bed for even a night. And then the kids started coming and he saw even less of a reason to sleep in the woods. When they had first gotten together, Beth had asked him more than once if they could go camping but he never took her for some reason. Deep down, he knew it was because he didn't want her to sleep on the ground with him. Deep down, he knew he had convinced himself that she didn't belong on a dirty ground.

But Abby turned five and for her birthday, she wanted to go camping and if that's what she wanted to do, the family knew that that's what they would do.

They had all packed their packs and Daryl made a short list of what they would need – he was never one to bring too much when going in the woods and he wanted his family to be the same – and besides the tent, sleeping bags and food, they didn't have much else because in Daryl's opinion, they didn't need it. If the world was going to end tomorrow, he wanted his family to be able to survive.

He heard rustling in the tent and he looked over his shoulder to see Beth coming out a moment later. She was wearing jeans and a hooded sweatshirt and for the weekend, she had pulled both hers and Abby's hair into two braided pigtails. Her eyes fell on Daryl and she gave him a tired smile. She was holding a roll of toilet paper in her hand – she had told him that she would have at least one luxury in the woods – and Daryl watched as she went to go pick out her own tree to go to the bathroom behind. When she came back, she sat down beside him and reached into the pouch of her sweatshirt and took out a bottle of hand sanitizer.

Daryl found himself smirking a little. "Gettin' dirty in the woods is half the fun."

Beth shook her head and finished rubbing her hands together. "There's a difference between being dirty and being just plain unsanitary." And then, without giving him time to argue, she reached over and took his hands, squirting a dollop of sanitizer in his palm. Daryl didn't argue as he rubbed his hands together.

The fire was popping and cracking as it ate at the wood Daryl had fed to it and Beth let out a soft sigh of contentment and hugged her knees to her chest as Daryl poked at some of the dead leaves he had thrown onto the fire as well with a stick, making sure that the flames had plenty to eat.

"I see why you like coming out here all of the time," she said, her head tilted upwards as she looked at the canopy of fall leaves above them. "It's so quiet. I feel like we're the only ones left in the world. Do you miss living in the woods?" She asked, tilting her head forward and looking at him.

Daryl shrugged, settling himself back beside her. "Sometimes. That house was the first place I ever had that I could call my own. Was all mine. And then you came 'round and made it even better."

Beth smiled faintly at that, pulling her knees away from her chest and folding her legs in front of her. The smile though faded after a moment. "I'm sorry we're not able to live in the woods like that anymore."

He looked at her with a small smile pulling at his lips. "Ain't like we're not surrounded by the woods on all sides. Just a few steps outside our door," he told her.

"After we had gotten married and I had moved in, I was so scared at night when you were working late or had gone hunting and hadn't come back yet and I was all alone. I had never been in the woods like that before and it was so quiet," Beth admitted, her cheeks stained a light pink as if embarrassed.

Daryl looked amused by it though. "That why you leaped into my arms every time I got back?" He asked with a smirk. She giggled softly and nodded. "Damn, this whole time, I thought you were just that happy to see me." She laughed a bit louder and playfully bumped him in the side with her arm and he smiled that little smile of his, putting his arm around her and pulling her in close to him.

They heard movement in the tent and both looked to see which kid was waking up. It was Abby, yawning and rubbing one of her eyes still sleepily.

"Good morning, birthday girl," Beth smiled at her and Abby smiled tiredly before coming to where they sat at the fire.

Without saying anything, Beth gently pulled Abby down into her lap and Abby settled herself down as Beth hugged her and Daryl leaned over, kissing her head.

"You sleep a'right?" Daryl asked her, looking right at her so she could see his lips because even though she could hear with her aids in, it was still important she keep practicing her lip reading, too.

Abby frowned a little. "Hunter kicks."

"Well, when Hunter wakes up, you can kick him back," Daryl said, making her smile.

Beth smiled at her, too. "Do you have to go to the bathroom?" She asked and Abby nodded. "Come on. We'll go pick out a tree," Beth said as they both stood up and taking Abby's hand, she led the little girl away from their campsite.

Luke and Hunter woke up soon after that and when Beth and Abby returned to the fire, Beth rubbing sanitizer on Abby's hands, they were all toasting their bread over the flames.

"Here, Abs. Happy birthday," Luke smiled at her, handing her the first piece of finished toast and Abby smiled, taking it happily and sitting down between him and Hunter.

"Look, mom," Hunter said, handing a small cooler to Beth. "None broke."

"Good job, Hunter," Beth smiled and Hunter beamed, proud of himself.

She and Daryl had learned that with all of Hunter's extra energy, it helped to reign him in a bit by giving him one task at a time to focus on – whether that be cleaning shock plugs in a car's engine or being in charge of carrying the eggs for the breakfast during their camping weekend and making sure that none of them broke.

Beth had even brought a small frying pan with her, hooked on her pack, and they cooked the eggs over the fire, eating them on their toast.

"Dad, would we stay here if the world ended?" Hunter asked him.

"Sure," Daryl gave his head a nod before taking a swig of water from his bottle, not even thinking about it.

"Would we be alright?" Luke then asked.

"Don't see why not," Daryl shrugged. "We got shelter," he glanced over his shoulder back at the tent. "We got water in that stream right there, and plenty of game in these woods for us to eat. We'd head home to get your mom's vegetables and some of the chickens and other supplies and we'd be good."

"Why can't I go?" Hunter frowned as if the world truly had ended and this was really a plan they were going to follow through on.

"'Cause I need someone here to look after your mom and sister while your brother and me are gone," Daryl said.

"Yeah, I could do that," Hunter said, sitting up a little straighter.

Beth just smiled as she sipped at her water. It wasn't as if they truly believed the world would end. They weren't one of those doomsday people she saw on television with a bunker and food stored to last for ten years. But it was something the boys liked to imagine for some reason – as if they wanted to be prepared. Just in case.

"What else, dad?" Luke asked.

Daryl looked at the three kids, staring at him expectedly. He then looked at Beth and she smiled at him as if she was waiting for more of the plan, too.

He rubbed the hairs on his chin. "A'right. We'd need protection. You kids know how to hunt and track but you'd need to learn more."

"Like guns?" Hunter's eyes seemed to gleam at that.

"If we could get our hands on some, yeah. You kids need to know how to shoot," Daryl said. "What do you think's gonna end the world?" He then asked them.

"Plague!" Luke and Hunter exclaimed at the same time.

"Then you have to figure that the people who didn't get sick and die are pretty desperate to keep survivin'. We need to keep our camp and family safe," Daryl continued and all three of the kids seemed to lean in closer to hear more.

"We could make noise alarms," Beth spoke up and they all looked at her. "Cans on strings and tie them up around our camp so we could hear if someone tried to sneak up on us," she explained and she blushed as Daryl smiled proudly at her.

"Yeah! And a lookout!" Hunter's voice was growing with his excitement.

"A platform," Luke continued his brother's thought. "Up there!" He pointed to a nearby tree. "We could build it, dad, and always have someone on watch."

"And holes!" Hunter added. "We dig holes so people fall into them if they're sneaking up on us at night."

Daryl just kept smiling a little at all of them as Luke and Hunter continued going back and forth, shooting out idea of how to protect their camp.

"Where did you even learn about that?" Beth interrupted when she heard Hunter shout out "Napalm!"

"Uncle Merle," Hunter and Luke answered at the same time and Beth just shook her head, not even really wanting to know why her brother-in-law was talking about napalm with the kids.

"And what about you, Ms. Abby?" Beth asked. "What would you want to do if the world ended and we had to live here?"

"Kyle would be here, too?" The little girl asked.

""Course he would be," Daryl said. "Can't have a family camp without 'im."

Abby smiled brightly at that. "I'd just want Kyle," she said.

"He'll be so happy to see you when we get home this afternoon," Beth said.

Oddly enough, when they had all been leaving the day before for the woods, they had just assumed that Kyle would be coming with them but the cat instead had stayed behind, watching from the back deck and not moving to follow. When Hunter had asked why Kyle wouldn't come, Beth just shrugged and said that Kyle was an outdoor cat and used to doing what he wanted and going where he wanted.

"And we'll have cake, too, Abs," Hunter said with the gleam returning in his eyes at just the idea. "Grandma made your favorite and she's bringing it over tonight after dinner," he said and Abby smiled, too, at that, imagining the strawberry cake with buttercream frosting that was waiting for them.

"And in the meantime…" Beth stood up then with a smile and went into the tent, returning a moment later with a box wrapped in white wrapping paper with pink hearts on it.

Abby let out a gasp as if she hadn't been expecting a present today in addition to the camping trip and the cake and Beth laughed softly as she came to sit back down and handed it to her.

"Happy birthday, baby," Beth smiled.

Whenever handed a present, Hunter ripped at the paper immediately as if a crazed animal who smelled food beneath but Luke and Abby always took their time, tearing at the paper gently as if apologetic for having to rip it all.

Daryl and Beth weren't big on presents. When they had first gotten married and started their family, they didn't have money to spend on presents and they didn't want their kids getting used to receiving huge amounts on Christmas or their birthday. Even now, with a bit more money in their pockets, Christmas was still a small affair and birthdays were even smaller. To Beth, it was never about presents. It was so much more about the day and being with family and in her mind, today, Abby would always remember camping more than any other present given to her.

Abby pulled the paper away and then lifted the lid of the box. She gasped again and lifted the softest stuffed brown bear she had ever felt. It had black eyes and a green bow tied around its' neck and Abby instantly hugged it tightly to her chest. She then got up and hugged Beth and then Daryl without a word, never loosening the bear.

"Thank you," she then said quietly.

"Happy birthday, Abby," Daryl smiled faintly at her and she hugged him again.

"What are we doing now?" Hunter asked as Beth collected the box and paper.

"Now, that we're done with breakfast, we're going to brush our teeth and clean up a bit before you going hunting with your dad," Beth told him and Hunter frowned.

"But mom," he instantly began to whine. "The world just ended. I still have to brush my teeth?" He asked even as he and Luke rose to their feet and all three kids followed her to the tent to collect their toothbrushes and the tube of toothpaste Beth had insisted they all pack.

Daryl remained sitting by the fire, drinking more water and crunching on the last piece of toast. He looked over his shoulder when he heard steps and saw that it was Abby, the teddy bear in the crook of her arm and her other hand holding her toothbrush, moving it in her mouth. He smiled a little at her and she smiled through her toothpaste and came, plopping down next to him.

Daryl didn't say anything and kept eating as Abby kept brushing, both blocking out the sound of Hunter still whining from inside the tent and Luke telling him to just shut up and Beth telling them both to start brushing their teeth and instead, they sat there and listened to the birds chirping in the trees.

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Thank you so much for reading and please review! Just three more chapters.