Chapter 30! Wow, I can't believe it's been almost exactly three months and thirty chapters now. Seems like we are just getting started. Thank you so much for sticking with me and accompanying me on Bay and Daryl's journey. Hope you enjoy this one.

He had been in a good mood, what with waking up with Bay, the love of his fucking life, back in his arms and smiling at him with her big, beautiful eyes full of love and adoration for him. But then she had left his arms and had made breakfast and had then gone outside to do her thing, helping out around the farm, while he was still stuck in this bed. He had to admit that he did feel extremely sore after carrying Sophia and then having sex three times with his girl. If he wanted a repeat, he would have to rest until she had time for him again later, and the prospect of getting hot and sweaty with her again was worth the boredom, he figured. Maybe I get a reward for bein' a good boy and stayin' in all day. He was considering starting to beg to have her lips wrap around his cock at this point. She had teased him enough, kissing around down there, but never letting her lips or tongue touch his dick. He felt a tingle in his balls when he thought back to the last time she had done that for him. He was big, she hadn't been able to take all of him and she probably never would be, but that was fine with him. She had still been able to take more of him inside her mouth than he had thought, and she had learned how to work the rest with her hand just right.

Daryl was just about to let his hand slide underneath the covers to stroke himself to the fantasy of how she'd given him head for the first time, when he heard heavy footsteps come closer. "Shit." he cursed quietly and turned on his side, so his dick, which had been half hard already, would not be visible through the covers while it became flaccid again. He figured it was either Rick or Shane coming to see him.

"Yeah." Daryl called out after the person had knocked on the door. I know fer sure that it ain't Maggie. That girl never knocks, he thought right before Rick opened the door and stepped inside. His bright blue eyes scanned the room quickly.

"Where's Bay?" the former Sheriff asked, his gaze finally settling on Daryl.

"Out. Doing chores. Why?" Daryl narrowed his eyes at Rick. He was uncomfortable with how much attention Rick kept giving Bay, especially with the touching. He didn't realize that it wasn't as alarmingly much as it appeared to him, just because Daryl himself wasn't touchy-feely with other people. To him it was strange when married men put their hands on another woman's back or arm.

"Need to ask her something."

"What?"

"How are you feeling?" Rick ignored Daryl's question, making the hunter even more suspicious.

"Fine."

"Yeah... sounded like it." Rick smirked with amusement, making Daryl blush and shift uncomfortably.

"Anythin' else ya wanted?"

"Are you up to taking a watch shift tonight?"

"Yeah." He had wanted to say no, because he wanted to spend more time with Bay, but he knew he couldn't be selfish. They all had to pitch in to keep the whole group safe.

"Good. You can take the shift at midnight with T-Dog. I set up two four-hour night shifts. Starting at eight pm until midnight is the first, midnight til four am is the second. At that time Hershel already gets up and starts feeding the animals, so he's got an eye on things. You okay with that? Think that will work?"

Daryl looked up in surprise when Rick asked him his opinion on the shift system. He wasn't used to being asked for feedback and he wondered why Rick wasn't asking Shane. Or maybe he already had? Daryl thought about it for a moment and shrugged. "Maybe we should have a third group. Cover the hours til 6 am. Maybe 7. Gets light later now. The farmer can't watch everything when he's busy." Daryl explained, and Rick nodded.

"Yeah. Sounds right." Rick's eyes wandered towards the window while he mulled over Daryl's suggestion. "We could have three groups with a three and a half hour rotation. That covers ten and a half hours. From eight at night til six-thirty in the morning. Yeah... I like that. Good idea." he gave Daryl praise and a little nod, showing him that he'd done good. Rick was starting to get impressed with Daryl. The man was way smarter than he looked, and it proved to Rick that you really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. He felt a little ashamed that he had been about to write Daryl off as just another stupid redneck, just like Merle. But Daryl was very different from Merle, Rick had to realize. He had admired the drive Daryl had had, during the search for Sophia. He still couldn't believe that the hunter had really found her. Daryl was turning out to be a good man, and a great asset, and not just because of his hunting skills. The way he had observed the scene at the nursing home of the Vatos with a clear head, deducting that it hadn't been walkers, but other people, that had been impressive. Even Rick himself, as a former sheriff, hadn't connected the dots right away. He had been quick to think that it had been the walkers, just like everybody else. Rick was finding himself putting more trust in Daryl. He needed a right hand man he could trust, and after Lori had confirmed his suspicions, he knew that Shane was no longer that guy. Every time he looked at Shane now, he didn't see his best friend, his brother, anymore. He just saw the guy who'd banged his wife. Even though they had thought that Rick had been dead... It was still a break of trust to Rick. Shane was also flying off the handle more and more, upsetting Hershel and everybody else. He would need someone like Daryl to help him keep things in check. "Anyway, you rest up some more. I'll see ya later." Rick was quickly out the door again, before Daryl had the chance to ask what he wanted from Bay. That shit had him uneasy, and he lost his good mood a little, despite having been able to help Rick with the shift system.

Daryl flopped down on his back and stared at the ceiling. Now what? He didn't feel horny anymore, not after just having seen Rick and now with the wondering what the hell he wanted to ask Bay this time. To pass the time Daryl decided to get up and get dressed and go take a piss and brush his teeth. That would shave at least five minutes off his boredom and he'd save himself the trouble of getting a toothache in the damn apocalypse. That would seriously suck. Painkillers would only do so much. While he rinsed his mouth he bumped his bare foot against the scale that sat underneath the sink. He looked at it for a moment and shrugged. Why not? He pulled it out from under the sink and stepped on it. He was surprised when he noticed that he'd lost about 15 pounds since the last time he had stepped on one shortly before the outbreak. Not that fat anymore, he thought with an internal grin while he stepped off and pushed the scale back under the sink. He had noticed that he had to fasten his belt tighter these days, so his pants wouldn't slip off his ass, but he hadn't paid much attention to it until now. He might have to go out and get some clothes one of these days. Winter was coming anyway and they would probably all need something new and a little warmer. He'd ask Bay about stores in the area where they could go and get some new stuff and stock up for winter, he decided.

He went back to Bay's room and sat on the chair that was back by her desk again. He looked at the pictures up on the wall, his heart thumping painfully hard in his chest when he saw a picture of Bay, which must have been taken shortly after she had come to live on the farm. She was on crutches, she looked tired and very, very thin, but she was smiling with a very young Maggie and a little blonde girl that had to be Beth by her side. She looked exactly like that morning when he'd dropped her off at work for the last time... The day she had found out that she had been carrying his baby... which she had lost, because he had left. He leaned back in the chair and kept staring at the picture while he unconsciously chewed on his lip. He had let Merle dictate his life and he'd fucked everything up because of it. If he would be brutally honest with himself, then him and Merle had killed that little baby. He didn't like how casual Bay was about it, but then again, it was like she said; she had a decade to deal with it. He had just learned about it and he had a damn hard time with it. He couldn't stop thinking about it. He kept being distracted from it momentarily, but as soon as it got quiet again, his mind wandered back to that baby.

We would've made it work. Bay might not have gone to college, but maybe it would have been worth it. We both would've had a real family for once. A good family. Maybe that would have been enough for her. She would have been able to go to school once the kid had been in pre-school, right? Having that family wouldn't have automatically meant giving up her dreams. But we would have raised the hell outta that kid. Would've made sure it had everything. We both had good jobs. We would have made it work. The thought was a happy one, but at the same time it hurt so much that he felt like he couldn't breathe. They would never have that now. Not until the world was back to what it had been, if that would even ever happen. Still, Daryl didn't share Bay's view that it was better this way, with the kid not surviving. The kid would have survived this. Daryl would have made sure. Carl was doing okay. Sophia would be doing okay from now on... Their kid would have been okay as well. How can ya miss something ya never even knew? Daryl thought as tears stung his eyes. He thought that he might feel a little like Carol had when Sophia had been missing, because right now he missed his own kid. The difference was, that he wasn't able to go out to the woods and look for it. There was no chance of ever finding it, because it was already dead and gone. It meant that he would keep missing it for a very long time. Possibly forever. That thought sucked. He took a deep, shaky breath and roughly wiped the single tear that had escaped from his face with the back of his hand, and took his eyes off the picture of younger Bay.

That's why he always needed something to do. Boredom was his worst enemy, because it made him think too much. He got up from the chair, but before he took a step away from the desk he paused, his eyes wandering back to the picture. He took it off the wall along with another one from what looked to be her 30th birthday party. All the Greene's in party hats with big smiles, and her right in the middle. He took both pictures and brought them to his backpack, stuffing them inside. Just in case. He hoped that 'just in case' would never happen and that he would never have to go without her again, but this time he would be prepared. You never knew these days, so... just in case. After putting his pack back in the closet he went to the window, thinking maybe he might spot her somewhere and watch her for a while, but all he saw was Maggie going into the chicken coop, and Lori and Carl feeding the little chicks. Nothing interesting to see there, so he laid back down on the bed. He kept rolling from side to side for a moment, then he grabbed a bolt from his crossbow and started fiddling with it. It had been only a half an hour and he was going crazy. Nah baby girl, sorry. Can't do it, he thought and got back up and put on his socks and boots. Then he grabbed his bow and left the room. A little walking around in fresh air wouldn't hurt him.

"You seen Bay?" Daryl asked Lori and Carl when he passed the chicken coup.

"No, not since she made you breakfast. Maybe she's with Hershel checking on the cows?" Lori suggested that he should look there.

"Maybe." he mumbled and squinted as he looked out into the pasture, trying to spot her or Hershel. Before he kept walking he gave Lori a nod, then turned around when he heard footsteps behind him. It was just Andrea, not Bay, so he asked her if she had seen his girl around.

"No, sorry." Andrea gave him a little smile before he finally continued his walk.

Bay wasn't checking on the cows, and she wasn't in the garden or the orchard either. He walked towards the stables when he saw Rick downright storming out of there. "Bay in there?" he asked the group leader, noticing how tense Rick was.

"Yeah." Rick replied curtly and kept walking. Daryl watched his retreating back for a moment, wondering what the hell was going on there, before he walked in himself, finding Bay standing in a stall staring at the wall, apparently deep in thought.

"Hey." he made her jump, but he didn't apologize.

"Hey." she was happy to see him, but she still narrowed her eyes at him. "Aren't you supposed to be in bed resting?"

"I tried, but it's too boring. 'sides, a little walking around ain't gonna hurt me." he argued while he gripped the strap of his crossbow, which was slung diagonally around his torso, with his right hand.

"True." she had to agree. "Just don't lift anything. Don't help out. Just stand there and look gorgeous." She grinned at him, but he didn't return it. He was looking at her closely, not even knowing what he was looking for, but something was a little off.

"What did Rick want?"

"He's mad at me." Bay replied with a deep sigh.

"The fuck for?" Daryl frowned. Bay was one of the sweetest and most giving people he had ever met. He couldn't fathom why in the world Rick would be mad at her.

"I said something to Lori and Rick isn't happy about it. I mean, I get it... He's upset. Probably not even with me, just in general and he needed a scapegoat. I don't think I've been too wrong about him, so I'm sure he'll get over it and we'll work it out, but until then, I told him to stay away from me. I won't let him blame me for whatever Lori decides to do, and I won't let him blame me for him only hearing what he wanted to hear." Bay was answering his question, but Daryl got the impression that she was talking to herself. Like she was trying to explain to herself what had transpired between her and Rick.

"What you say to Lori?"

"I can't tell you."

"Why the hell not?"

"Because something is going on that I can't tell you about. I told Lori to talk to Rick about it, which she did, but apparently it didn't go too well, or whatever."

"What, she fess up about banging Shane back in the quarry camp?" Daryl wanted to know what was going on and he was throwing her a bone, telling her that she could talk about it to him because he already knew.

"What?" Bay's surprised expression however let him know that that hadn't been it. "Lori slept with Shane? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Saw them one time when I came back from hunting. They didn't see me. Were too busy fucking."

"Oh crap." Bay's jaw almost hit the ground. If she didn't use anything with Shane... She doesn't know who the father is. That's why she's so upset. Crap. Did she tell Rick about that part? Would explain why he was so bent out of shape in general. Double crap.

"Bay, what the hell is going on?" Daryl was growing impatient. From the look on her face it seemed like something big was going on and he didn't like it.

Bay sighed and walked closer to Daryl. The walls had ears, now even more so than before, so she whispered it into his ear. "Lori's pregnant."

Daryl connected the dots almost immediately. "Shit... and she don't know whose it is?"

"That's my guess. I had assumed it was Rick's, because I didn't know about Shane and her." They kept their voices low while they talked, careful not to let anyone listen in. "She asked for morning after pills, trying to force a miscarriage. She told me she wasn't happy about being pregnant and she asked me not to judge. I told her about what happened to me, just to show her that she wasn't the only one who felt like that. I told her that it is perfectly fine not to be happy about having a baby. I told her to go to Rick and tell him, and that they should work things out together. Now Rick thinks that I basically told her to get rid of the baby, which I didn't. That's why he's pissed at me."

"Dammit Bay! You're still a fucking shitstorm magnet! Why the fuck you had to get involved in that? Why the fuck would ya tell her that?" Daryl suddenly went off on her. The thoughts of their own baby were still fresh on his mind from just a couple of minutes ago, and now hearing her say one more time that she was happy about losing it, made him angry and hurt even more.

"Hold on!" Bay raised her voice just like he had. "Why am I the bad guy here? I did nothing wrong. All I did was tell her about my own experience and that she should talk it out with her husband. That's all. Why are you pissed off?"

"Cause it ain't right to be happy 'bout that shit, Bay. Don't ya get that?" he yelled at her.

"And again, don't you get what kind of situation I was in? I had nobody, Daryl. There was no big fucking happy family with father, grandparents, aunts and uncles. There was nobody around to help me. I would have had to work two jobs again, no scratch that, probably three jobs just to make rent and pay for a damn full-time babysitter and for everything the kid would have needed. I never would have even seen it, all I would have done would have been work, work, work around the clock, just to support it. What kind of life is that? Should I've had our kid grow up with a stranger? Call her mommy instead of me? Might as well have given it up for adoption. I'm telling you Daryl, there was just no way. Get that in that thick head of yours and stop making a big deal out of it."

Daryl's eyes narrowed even further as he took another step towards her as he tried to stare her down. "What would you have done?" he asked with morbid curiosity. "If it hadn't died. Sounds ta me like ya would have gotten rid of it either way. Huh? That's what you would'a done?"

Bay held his gaze, and she wasn't intimidated by him at all. She knew that he would never lay a finger on her. Also, she was quite furious at him right now and the fire in her eyes was blazing. "That what you think of me, Daryl? That I would have gotten rid of it either way? Really?"

"It's what you just said."

"No. And if that's what you believe, then what are we even trying to do giving this a second chance?" Bay asked him, and stunned him for a moment. The fear of losing her again immediately gripped at his insides and made his anger subside a little bit. Bay took a deep breath to collect herself, then she released it with a sigh. Her voice calmer again when she continued. "If I wouldn't have had that miscarriage, I would have made it work somehow. Like you said, it's what we do. I know what it feels like not to be wanted by your parents anymore, remember? It would have had kind of a shitty life with a mostly absent mother, but I wouldn't have abandoned it. It was half you and half me, Daryl. Even though I hated what you did, I still loved you. I tried to forget you, but I never could. With that baby you would have been a part of my life forever. Sometimes that thought made me cry so hard that I had to throw up. Partly because I didn't want a reminder of you and partly because it hurt me that you would never know about it. That it would never know you. I knew you would have been a great father. The kid would have missed out. And just think about it. If I hadn't lost the baby, then the car wouldn't have hit me. I would have lived in another town, maybe even another state and maybe our paths never would have crossed again. The accident made me end up here... The outbreak did the rest. Kind of a wacky plan from the man upstairs, but in the end, maybe it did all happen for a reason. We can have another kid, but there never would have been another Daryl for me." Bay wiped a tear from her eyes and took another deep, but shaky breath. "That's why I think it was better this way Daryl. Not because I was being an evil witch who did a happy dance when blood pooled out of me on that bridge. It's because I knew I never would have been able to give the child the life that it deserved. Not without you."

Daryl averted his eyes and looked at the ground. He felt like an ass. It was becoming his thing these days. Over the years he had started to think that everybody was just out to screw him over and fuck with him, so his being naturally suspicious of things and people had become worse and worse. So bad that I now think that my girl is a kid-hating evil witch? Shit man... ain't right. Living with Merle had done a number on him. Usually it had been Merle who had talked him into doubting Bay. Now, Daryl was doing that just fine on his own, without help from his brother. Even though Merle was gone, he was still around... inside Daryl's head. Gotta get him out. Before Daryl was able to say anything, Bay spoke up again.

"Get rid of it..." she laughed lightly. "Do you know how often I thought about how it would have been if you had stayed? How it would have been if it had survived, even if I would have had to make it work on my own? There are days when I miss that kid so bad, Daryl. You have no idea. So having you think that I was happy about losing it just for kicks... It's not okay."

Daryl's eyes snapped up at that. "You miss it?"

"Yeah. I do. Not all the time, but on some days I think about it a lot and then I want nothing more than to hug the hell out of my child. It's weird. How can you miss something you never had, right?" Bay laughed sadly as another tear spilled out of her eye. Daryl's breath hitched slightly when she said exactly what he had thought just half an hour ago. Suddenly he felt connected to her again. Fully. Not just physically. It's like the drawbridge had gone down, connecting them emotionally and spiritually again as well. Warmth emanated from his heart and flowed through his entire body, overwhelming him with love for his girl. He felt like he was 20 again and just realizing how much he was in love with that damn Bayanne girl. He took her face in his hands and placed a big, soft and loving kiss on her lips.

"Ain't weird." he muttered against her lips, but he didn't admit that he felt the same way about missing their child. He just let her know that it was alright to miss it, implying that she wasn't alone. Just like she had done with Lori. She was right, she had done nothing wrong. "m' sorry."

"Okay." she simply stated, accepting his apology.

"Imma talk to Rick. He was outta line." Daryl said decisively while he released her face from his grip.

"Just like you were just now. And I'm sure he will come around, just like you did. He needs time to process. You don't need to fight my battles for me, Daryl. I'm a big girl." she smiled and rolled up on her toes to give him another kiss. "And don't tell anyone about Lori."

"Pfff, yeah right. Like I'm gonna walk around gossiping 'bout that shit." Daryl said while he leaned against the wall and watched Bay finish up her work.

"Right. Sorry." Bay laughed, remembering who she was talking to.

"Whatchu gonna do next? When you're done in here?"

"Tend to the garden. Or was it Beth's turn? No, she's in the orchard, I'm in the garden... yeah, garden it is. And no, I don't need help. But you are welcome to watch me crawl around in the dirt."

"Sounds good to me." Daryl said with a smirk. He was glad that he had come out of the house. He still felt useless, because he wasn't allowed to help, but at least he could feel useless while staring at Bay now. The day was looking up.

They walked out of the stables and down to the garden side by side. Andrea and Lori watched them with little smiles on their faces.

"They look good together." Lori said. "They match well somehow, don't you think?"

"I do. They seem like a unit. They are so in sync. Look at how they walk. They walk almost the exact same way. Little swagger in their step. Purposeful but relaxed at the same time. I had a hard time picturing them together, but seeing them together now... they make sense." Andrea voiced out her observations to the other woman. "I wonder why they ever broke up. They obviously still love each other... and lust after one another judging from what we all heard last night."

"Merle." Lori stated, making Andrea look at her with puzzlement, so she clarified. "Merle is the reason why they broke up. He practically took Daryl out of town, away from her, and Daryl let him."

"That's not surprising. Looks like she forgave him for that."

"She did. But I think she won't ever be able to get rid of the fear of him doing it again."

"Merle's not around anymore."

"Yeah, but still. It was Daryl who let Merle do it, so Daryl could decide one day to leave again." Lori argued.

"I don't think Daryl is the kind of person to make the same mistake twice."

"Let's hope so for Bay's sake." Lori said and smiled a little. "Funny how quickly you form attachments nowadays, isn't it?"

"It is. We've been here a week and I feel like we've been here forever already. I love this family. Maggie is great, she's good for Glenn. Bay is great, she's good for Daryl. I haven't had too many talks with Beth, but she seems very sweet and with a good head on her shoulders. Hershel, now that he is over his reservations about us... he's very nice, too." Andrea agreed with Lori's statement. It was funny how quickly they forgot just how little time had actually passed between the quarry and the farm.

"They all are. They are good, strong people. I can't ever thank Hershel and Bay enough for saving my son. They worked day and night to keep him alive, and they didn't owe us anything, but they opened our home to us and kept us fed and well cared for. Especially the girls. Eight days I've been here and I can't imagine not having the girls around. Or Hershel." Lori laughed a little before she kept going. "It's weird. I feel so attached to Bay. She took such good care of us when we got here. She even cut Rick's food." Lori laughed more when she thought back to that moment. "I like talking to her. She has such a presence... calming... she makes you feel at ease... I don't know how to describe it."

"I know what you mean. It makes you feel like you've known her forever. I can see why Daryl would fall for her. She's a good woman. And easy on the eyes, that always helps I guess." Andrea chuckled.

"Right? Even I get distracted by those eyes of her." Lori laughed.

"I bet she had Daryl wrapped around her little finger with those. I bet she gave him puppy dog eyes and he did everything she wanted. Maybe that's why she thought of him as sweet." Andrea said, but it was jokingly. Just some light-hearted girl talk between the two of them.

"Probably. It was so sweet when they kissed, though. Never thought I'd see angry, yelling and squirrel-throwing Daryl Dixon in a situation like that."

"Or hear him in a situation like that. Okay, we didn't really hear him, just what he did." Andrea corrected herself.

Lori hesitated a moment, not knowing if it was right to gossip, but then again, it felt so good to talk to Andrea like that. It felt normal and she couldn't get enough, so she spilled the beans. "Beth found condoms in Daryl's pants. And they weren't the regular ones."

"What?" Andrea was confused. "What do you mean they weren't the regular ones?"

"Extra large." Lori mock-whispered, watching Andrea's eyes widen with interest.

"Really?"

"Yes. Maggie and Beth teased Bay about it. I asked her if he really needed those and she blushed and nodded and went 'mhm'."

"Hmmm, makes sense." Andrea said thoughtfully.

"It does?" Now it was Lori's turn to be confused. "Why?"

"He walks like he's got 'dick confidence'." Andrea shrugged casually and made Lori actually burst out into loud laughter with her statement.

Two days later everybody knew about the pregnancy. Lori and Rick had decided to keep the baby. By being on the farm they had the best chances for everything to go right, and for their kids to grow up in an environment that was still as normal as possible. The group was happy about the news. To them a new baby symbolized hope and joy, and they could all use an extra dose of that. Nobody knew it, but Rick had talked to Shane right after him and Lori had come to a decision. He had asked Shane to watch his behavior, because they couldn't ever get kicked off the farm now. Shane had just nodded, but on the inside something had changed. He was convinced that Lori's baby was his. Rick hadn't been back that long, he was sure if he had impregnated Lori, she wouldn't have been able to tell yet. Shane was not okay with Rick acting like the baby was his. He knew he had to do something. Maybe even something drastic. It would be hard, but one thing Shane was sure of. He would not watch his own kid grow up and hear it call Rick 'daddy'.

Bay was glad that Lori had decided not to take the pills, but it didn't stop Bay from worrying about her new friend. Quite the contrary, actually. She didn't know much about human pregnancies, but she knew that miscarriages obviously happened, as well as emergency c-sections. She didn't know how they would pull that off if it came to that. They would have to look into getting the right equipment. Get into a hospital and loot narcotics and instruments. The downside to that plan was, that hospitals would probably be completely overrun. It would be an extremely dangerous mission to get what they would need, but she was sure that it had to be done. For more reasons than just Lori's pregnancy and delivery. The pharmacy was almost out of supplies. Maggie and Bay had taken as much as possible over the past couple of months. Stocking the basement with all kinds of things. They even had a nice supply of cold medicine, nasal spray, vitamins etc. etc. But they would need more antibiotics, anti-inflammatory pills, pain killers and so on. What if someone else needed surgery? What if someone got appendicitis or something like that? Yeah, they had to look into getting new and better surgical instruments for Hershel. Some books, too, so they could both read up on human medicine.

"Where are you?" Daryl's voice disrupted her train of thought. She shook herself out of it and smiled up at him from his shoulder, where her head currently rested.

"Just thinking about things. You know, Lori and the baby..."

"Yeah." The whole thing had Daryl thinking himself. If the Grimes' could do it, why not him and Bay, too?

"So much can go wrong. It's scary. And we don't have the right equipment to take care of her." Bay sighed and Daryl frowned. He thought Bay was thinking about the same thing he was, but that obviously wasn't the case.

"What do you mean?"

"When I had the miscarriage, the doctors did a procedure on me. They took a sharp instrument, kind of like a spoon with a sharp edge, and they scraped out my uterus like a Halloween pumpkin, removing all traces of the pregnancy. Said it was safer that way." She explained and literally felt Daryl cringe.

"Good Lord..." he made a face and shuddered. He wasn't squeamish by any means, but the thought of some quack doing that to his girl made him want to gag and throw up. Not to mention the thought of someone scraping out the baby's remains and tossing them in the trashcan like it was nothing. Now that really made him have to take a long, deep breath and focus on not throwing up his dinner. "Hold up. That mean that ya can't have kids no more?"

"No. It's all good."

"Oh. Good." he was relieved and it made Bay smile. He still hadn't given up hope of them having a family one day, like they had talked about when they had been younger. Daryl suddenly remembered another question he had been wanting to ask her ever since she had told him that she had been pregnant. "How'd you end up pregnant anyway? Ya didn't bleed. Ya said if ya ain't bleeding, then you can't get pregnant."

"Yep, I said that. And I was wildly misinformed." Bay laughed about her own stupidity, but then again, nobody had ever told them about all the things that could or couldn't affect fertility in sex ed. "The doctor thought that I didn't get my period because of a combination of stress, malnutrition and low body weight."

"But when we got together you ate better and more. Ya weren't that skinny."

"I know, and I was happy. I told the doctor, but he was still convinced that my body was still suffering from what I had done to it the whole year before and that my body kept me from bleeding every month, kind of like it's saying 'nah, she's going through enough'. That's how he explained it. However, even though I didn't bleed, everything else kept working just fine. Didn't know that was possible, but obviously it is. One of the condoms must have had a hole, or we weren't careful enough during other activities... That's how it happened. I was still very much fertile."

"Wish it had happened earlier... Would have kept me from leaving."

"Don't. I swear to God Daryl. Start this up and I will leave this room right now." Bay didn't want to go over the same thing over and over and over again. It happened. It's done and there is no way to get that past back. Thankfully their conversation got interrupted by a knock on the door. "Come in." Bay called out from where she was still nestled in Daryl's embrace. He was about to disentangle himself from her, but Bay stayed firmly put. He would have to learn once again to deal with other people seeing them hug or kiss. She would never let him act like he was ashamed of her, and pretty much all of them have heard them screwing anyway.

The door opened, revealing Carol, who looked a little shocked when she saw Daryl and Bay laying on her bed cuddling. "Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay, I said come in." Bay smiled and sat up a little. "What can we do for you?"

"I... um... Sophia drew a picture for you." Carol held out a sheet of paper towards Daryl. "She's too shy to give it to you herself, so she asked me to do it for her. She wanted to make something for you to say thank you for saving her."

"Awww, that's so sweet." Bay grinned at Daryl's slightly baffled expression.

He didn't know how to react. He was pleasantly surprised and he felt a little smile tug at the corners of his mouth when he looked at the picture. It was a house, not unlike the one he'd found Sophia in, and a person he assumed to be himself judging by the crossbow he was holding. Sophia had given him huge arms, making him look a bit like the Hulk, but without all the green. She had scribbled a big 'thank you' on top of the picture, but what made Daryl all mushy inside was the small arrow that was pointing towards the stick figure with the crossbow and big arms, and the word that was written right at the bottom of the arrow in small letters, almost like she had been too shy to write it. Hero.

He started chewing on his lip while Bay and Carol shared a smile. "Is she asleep?" Bay asked the other woman.

"No. Just resting."

"Maybe you should go see her." Bay suggested to Daryl and nudged him slightly with her elbow.

"Dunno." he muttered and shrugged almost bashfully. Bay almost squealed because it was so cute. This grown ass man was now too shy to go downstairs and face the little girl he had saved and who was now thinking of him as her hero. She knew he didn't know how to react to that and that it had him reluctant to go. He was probably scared of being rude to the girl, just because he didn't know the right thing to say to her.

"I think she would like to see you." Carol smiled.

"Yeah, come on. I wanna go downstairs anyway, get some of that peach pie Beth baked today." Bay didn't leave room for discussion. She got up and pulled on his hand, making him get up, too.

"Fine... " Daryl grumbled and followed the woman downstairs. He really had no clue what to say to Sophia, and he didn't like those kinds of situations. When they reached the door to the guest room, Bay fought a grin when Daryl stopped right in front of it.

"Go ahead. I'll take some pie upstairs for you when I go back up. Come on, Carol. I might need your help cutting the pie." She winked at Carol, making her fight a laugh. It was funny how two women had to force a 32-year old man to talk to an 11-year old girl.

Daryl took a deep breath, not wanting to do this at all, but he knew he had no choice. When the two women had left, he lightly knocked on the door and entered the room. Sophia's eyes widened slightly and she got red in the face, but she was unable to keep herself from smiling.

"Hey." Daryl said and cleared his throat uncomfortably.

"Hi, Mr. Dixon." Sophia smiled shyly and averted her gaze as her face got even redder.

"You can say Daryl... " he told her. He hated being called Mister, for whatever reason.

"Okay." she giggled and looked up at him expectantly when he didn't say anything for a moment.

"How you feeling?" he finally asked while he leaned his back against the wall right next to the door.

"I feel good. My leg still hurts, but Mr. Greene says that it will stop hurting soon."

"That's good." Awkward silence again. "Got your picture. Did a nice job on that."

"Thank you." she looked away again. She would have loved to hide under the covers, because she just kept blushing and blushing. She didn't know why, but thinking of Mr. Dixon and now seeing him made her blush now. The adults soon realized what was going on, but it would take about two more years until Sophia herself would be old enough to realize that she had developed a little crush on her savior. For now she just giggled her way through her inexplicable embarrassment.

"Is there a slice of pie left for me?"

Bay was just putting two slices on a plate for herself and Daryl when she heard Rick's voice behind her. The former sheriff had kept his distance for two days, but now it looked like he was ready to sort things out.

"Of course." Bay took another plate out of the cabinet and scooped another slice on it. "Here you go."

"Thanks." he took the plate and the dessert fork from her, then he walked closer and leaned his hip against the counter right next to her. "I'm sorry."

"I know." Bay replied, surprising Rick.

"You know?"

"Yes. I figured. I trust my gut, and my gut said that I am not wrong about you."

"What does your gut tell you about me?"

"That you are a good man. A strong protector... but like a lot of other people, you also have another side, and it finally showed a couple of days ago. You like to be in control. You like having power. You like having a say in things. In all things and you don't like people who push back. Unfortunately for both of us, I do push back when I feel like I'm being wronged. Don't let my generosity or my size fool you. I am not a push-over. I am perfectly able to fight back."

"I saw that." Rick nodded. "I respect that. I like you. It's not true that I don't like people who push back. I admire when people have strength and a backbone... It just means that we might disagree more often."

"Maybe. Maybe not. I think we could get along just fine, as long as you keep a clear head. Just take a moment and think before you go putting blame on people. That's all I'm saying."

"I was wrong." Rick admitted. "I could have handled it differently. It was a lot to take in." he took a moment, before he leaned in closer and lowered his voice. "I knew... about her and Shane..." Rick assumed that Lori had told Bay everything and not just about the baby.

Bay looked up at him in surprise and he laughed sadly.

"I knew after a day or two. The way they looked at each other, how they acted around each other. The looks the others gave me. Wasn't hard to put two and two together. I never confronted her... I just tried to work through it myself. Tell myself that it was okay, because they thought I was dead..."

"But it's not okay." Bay finished his sentence for him.

"No. It's not." Rick sighed. "We gotta keep an eye on Shane. He's my brother, but... I don't know. My gut tells me something is coming. And it ain't good. If he thinks the baby is his... " Rick started shaking his head, then he put the plate down and rubbed his face hard. "Just... let's keep this between us, alright? Don't tell anyone. I don't know why I even told you. But when you see something..."

"I'll let you know."

"Thanks." he smiled slightly and put his hand on her shoulder. "We good again?"

"Yes, Rick. We're good. Let's try to keep it that way." she smiled and reached up to squeeze his hand.

Outside the kitchen window, Shane was lurking in the shadows during his watch. He watched the scene between Bay and Rick through the scope of his rifle. Would be so easy... Just gotta pull the trigger and all my problems are gone. Shane's finger moved towards the trigger, his breath starting to come out in shallow bursts. It had to be done. Rick had wronged him in more ways than one. It had been him, Shane, who'd kept the group together back at the quarry. He had managed just fine and then Rick came barging in, taking control and taking back his family, just like that. And nobody even questioned it. Not even the dumbass redneck. No, they all followed Rick like stupid little puppies that had been promised a treat. It would be their downfall, because Rick didn't have what it takes. Shane was convinced of that. Rick wasn't able to make the hard decisions. He had to go.

Shane looked up when he heard a twig snap behind him. Dammit! He lowered the rifle when he spotted Glenn, who had taken the early watch shift again, this time with Shane and not with Dale.

"Wh-what are you doing?" Glenn wasn't quite able to believe his eyes. Had Shane really just pointed the rifle at Rick through the window? More than one alarm bell went off in Glenn's head and he started to get nervous and a little scared of the intense man in front of him.

"Just checking the perimeter. All clear back here. I'll head towards the gate, you should check the field behind the stables." Shane acted like nothing happened, and Glenn let him. He was smart enough not to antagonize the volatile man with the rifle and tons more shooting practice than he had. Shane took off and Glenn remained standing there, chilled to the bone. Suddenly one human had become scarier to him than any of the walkers he had encountered so far.

Thank you so so much for reading!

Love all of you. I know I'm still bad about replying, I am just running out of time so fast these days, I am really really sorry.

So, I have this new thing going on. You lovely readers can now send me song lyrics/gifs/pics/videos or the links to all of the aforementioned, when it reminds you of Bay and Daryl and/or you want to see it mentioned/happening in the story. You can contact me on tumblr, you can write me pm's or you can send me an e-mail at jaylee8301 at gmail dot com

You can do it anonymously or give a fake name, fake e-mail, whatever. Can be smut/romance/silly stuff, whatever you come across, IF you ever come across anything that reminds you of this story. I am well aware that not everybody is as involved in this story as I am, lol.

Let's have some fun. Thank you so much for all the wonderful reviews, messages and all around love, kindness and support. I hope I'm able to give back enough.

Many many thanks to:

An Amber Pen

loresavannah

DarylDixon'sLover

KaneCenaZombie12

EastDenise

cemmia

Leyshla Gisel

wabi-sabi1090

mamareadstomuch2

snowbird (There might be a Jarah/Daryl drabble soon;-) )

Nurse jean

APeaceOfPie4Everybody011

MamaBrew

redangel2463

UndeadMama

CrossingRUBYCon