top story: He's definitely a daddy's boy...lol

To my dear Guest: You're not the only one...lol

"Did ya hear that?!" Ani asked Daryl excitedly, who was just staring at Lou as he giggled away in the little jumper he was in and waved his arms at him. "Come on, say it again!" she encouraged the infant. "Say 'dada.'"

"Dada! Dada!"

Ani squealed and hugged Daryl, going off on how their son had said his first word and that she'd won the bet by getting him to say 'dada.' It had been a running bet for the last couple months, ever since he'd started making 'goo-goo, ga-ga' sounds around six. Now, the boy had finally said his first word and it had been the title of the man she was absolutely enamored with. Daryl was still just staring at Lou in shock as he was unable to comprehend the fact that their boy was talking. He was only eight and a half months old and he wasn't sure how to feel about it because it was happening too fast. Lou was already pulling himself up to standing and doing what Ani called cruising along the furniture, using it to walk around. It was too early, too fast, too soon, and it didn't help that, while he knew he was a dad and loved being one, hearing himself being called 'dada' by his son was confusing. He felt proud to be a father, sad to see Lou growing up so fast, happy to hear him being called dada, scared that he would start messing up now that the boy was getting older. Daryl couldn't think about anything at the moment other than what the future held and whether or not things were going to keep going as smoothly in their family as they were or if they would start going the way the Saviors were. While he, Ani, and Lou were stronger than ever, Merle and Sophia were happy in their roles, and the Dixons were a united front in the face of everything, as soon as the first snow had started falling, the Saviors became unruly.

While many were indifferent about what was happening and were just happy to still have a roof over their heads, more and more notes about Negan's return were popping up. There were many who were entirely too nonchalant about the entire thing and it didn't help that Rick had stopped coming by as soon as the snow started falling. The old workers were starting to fall back into their old ways while the people who had been soldiers looked at the messages and shrugged them off. Every time Ani would try to figure out who had put up the signs, it would end up in a dead end because every soldier she suspected would have an alibi or be stood up for by other soldiers. Even Arat, who Ani thought had turned around, had begun to act like it was no big deal and that the signs were just being put up out of frustration. Ani knew that, though, knew that it was a sing of frustration now that the crops had died for the year and they were running short on food. That's why the big hunting trip was so important and she and Daryl were going with Merle, Sophia,Carl, and a few others from the Sanctuary that could track, trap, or hunt. If they couldn't get enough meat to last the rest of winter, they would be entirely dependent upon the other settlements. Daryl suspected that was why people were starting to fall back into their old ways as it was exactly what Negan had done. The Sanctuary was going to become nothing more than a hemorrhage to the other settlements soon enough, and Ani was starting to think about escaping.

In fact, Daryl, Merle, Sophia, and Ani had talked about moving on to the Hilltop as soon as they could and leaving the Sanctuary to Eugene. None of them were happy surrounded by the concrete and they had been trying to adjust only for Merle to start backsliding into drinking daily again. He wasn't as angry or ornery as he used to be without the drugs to combine with the moonshine, but he was drinking himself stupid just to get enough sleep. With his past history and the fact that he was once again indulging in liquor, Ani wanted him to get away from the Sanctuary. She had been the first to bring up leaving and suggested Merle move to the Hilltop to begin with, but he had been adamant in his refusal to leave without everyone else going with him. He had started going on hunting trips for several days at a time while clearing out whatever smaller packs of walkers instead of leaving the Sanctuary for another settlement. He'd also started back into his playboy antics and had been sleeping around with a handful of women who knew he wasn't in it for anything other than 'cleaning the pipes.' Ani had told him not to go off on Sophia for her relationship with Carl if he was going to sleep with anyone that looked his way and, for once, he had agreed. He had admitted that he wasn't in the best mindset to be trying to keep a teenager under thumb and that she was a hell of a lot smarter than he was. It was the only bit of good that had come out of the entire ordeal with Merle aside from the fact that he was only drinking at night and wasn't belligerent when drinking anymore.

That had more to do with Eugene limiting the amount of grains that were going towards making moonshine than Merle actually being careful about how much he drank. They were trying to make a few other kinds of alcohol for consumption, mainly wine, but they'd had limited progress with that. As such, all they really had was ethanol, which was used to make both the moonshine and the fuel they were sending to the Hilltop. There was no more gas to be found anywhere near the Sanctuary or any of the other settlements after scavenging it all for the plows. It was one of the reasons the winter was going to be so lean if the hunting trips weren't successful. There was nothing left to scavenge outside of salt and fabric in any of the surrounding towns without going into DC and that couldn't happen until after winter. Kingdom Fighters were keeping track of the city and the way to the National History Museum and had the unfortunate news that it was blocked by a very large herd. They didn't have enough wagons to be able to move the herd and have enough space to haul things back to the settlements, so there was nothing they could do but wait. As it was, Maggie wasn't thrilled that the trip into the city that was supposed to be to help the Hilltop get tools and other items they needed was slowly being turned into a trip meant more to help the Sanctuary survive by Rick.

"I told ya! I told ya 'e loved 'is daddy more'n me!" Ani squealed, seeing Daryl's face and smiling as she walked up to him and sat next to him on the floor in front of Lou. "Stop worryin' so much. We jus' got ta make it through the winta. Snow's only jus' started fallin' and we've got 'nough jarred goods ta keep everyone fed, though not as fed as they'd like. The Kingdom is sendin' anotha shipment a goods and we've got this huntin' trip. Everythin's goin' ta be okay."

"I'm sick of bein' here."

"We all are."

"Ania," Daryl sighed. "I don't want to raise Lou here."

"I don' eitha. Don' want ta have anotha kid 'ere eitha."

"You thinkin' about havin' another kid?"

"Aren' ya?"

"Just figured if it happens, it happens. Same as Lou."

"Yeah, but we also ended up tryin' for Lou afta a while."

"When you were already pregnant with him."

"Yeah, ya right. We wanted kids, but weren' keepin' track a shite. Eitha way, I don' want ta give birth 'ere again. I don' want ta deal with the stress a bein' 'ere durin' the pregnancy again. Think bein' 'ere made things worse."

"Yeah, well, bring it up with Rick next time he brings his ass here."

"I plan on it," Ani told him. "I don' want Lou ta rememba livin' 'ere, eitha. Kind a why we're takin' 'im with us."

"We should finish packin' up the stuff for him," Daryl said. "Gotta get on the road to get to that damn shack and meet up with Merle."

"Only Merle would be able ta find a fuckin' 'shine cache. But at least it's a place we can all spend the night while we hunt."

"How long you think we're gonna be gone for?"

"Said nah more'n a week, didn' we? If we get a few big kills, we can come back soona. If we get nothin', I'm half tempted ta jus' stay at that fuckin' still."

"Too small. Ain't even half as big as the shack back in Georgia."

"Yeah, and tryin' ta stay in a room that small with Merle's stinky ass is a nah go for me. I swear, if Eugene could come up with a way ta make a car run on farts, Merle'd be able ta powa it."

"Man's always been gassy. You got his suit?" Daryl asked, turning around just in time to catch the snowsuit they'd managed to find for Lou. "Didn't have to throw it."

"Ya know I throw everythin' if ya ask for it. 'Xcept eggs. We don' throw eggs."

"Naw, we just cry over 'em for no fuckin' reason."

"I'm neva goin' ta live that down, am I?"

"I doubt it."

"I was pregnant! Ya can blame me for cryin' when I was pregnant!"

"Don't mean I can't tease you," he told her, unclipping their son from the swing and bringing him over to the bed with the snowsuit.

Ani was already standing next to the bed when he came up to it and didn't hesitate to stand on her tiptoes to kiss Daryl's cheek before he tossed the snowsuit on it. She helped by unzipping it so that he could put Lou in it while she finished getting diapers and the jarred baby food they'd prepared into a backpack. Ani would be driving a pick-up truck they'd managed to get enough gas for up to the state park to haul whatever they could back. The twins were going with them and Ani was half tempted to leave the bobcats in the woods so that they weren't under threat of being used as meat, something that had come up once or twice. They could barely scrounge up food to feed the Saviors properly and more than one person had tried suggesting they used the twins as a source only to be shot down. When Ani asked Carol about Shiva, trying to gauge whether or not she was being sentimental, she'd learned that the big cat had passed on during the fall due to an unknown illness. They hadn't eaten her, but had cremated her as the entire Kingdom mourned her loss along with the King, who had slowly picked himself back up with Carol's help. Carol and Ezekiel had both been helpful in telling her that, if she did release the twins, they would most likely die within a month due to having been raised by her. Ani really didn't want to lose the twins like that, but she also knew that, unless she kept them under foot at all times, they would end up on someone's dinner plate before the winter ended if the hunt didn't go well. The only way she would be able to keep them from suffering that fate was if they were able to bring enough meat back to feed everyone as well as the cats.

"M'kay," she said with a sigh, "I think I got everythin'."

"Alright," Daryl told her as he zipped Lou into his snowsuit and picked up the stiff bundle. "Let's get goin'."

The ride to the state park was rather uneventful with Lou sitting in Daryl's lap and the twins had simply slept the entire time. Ani and Daryl talked about what they were going to do as far as the bobcats went and the most they had come up with was sending them over to the Kingdom if push came to shove. Ezekiel would be able to take care of them well enough after having been a zookeeper and dealing with the wildcat exhibits before the world ended. She wasn't happy with the idea, but it was a hell of a lot better than the bobcats going missing only for there to suddenly be meat available on someone's plate. In all honesty, Ani had to admit that the Kingdom would be the best place for the twins, especially Bobby, with how wild she were getting and how Lou was getting bigger. She had wanted to keep them like she would any other domesticated animal, but they weren't domestic and Bobby had already had to be kicked to Sophia's room when their son had started crawling. While there hadn't been any injuries, the cat had, on two separate occasions, made the baby cry by pouncing on him and attempting to play with him as she would Catty. Catty was no where near as bad as Bobby with her aggression and would mostly just either hide or lay on the bed, but when the twins would start roughhousing, it could get a bit dangerous for the baby. Daryl suggested that they send Bobby to the Kingdom and keep Catty, considering bobcats were solitary creatures anyway, and maybe separating them would help. Ani agreed to think about it during the hunt as they pulled up to the tiny shack Merle and Sophia were already standing outside of with squirrels in hand.

"Already caught us up some dinna, ey?" Ani asked as she hopped out.

"Where's my nephew?" Merle responded, earning a blank stare from her before she looked over to Daryl. "Damn, kid looks like he's been eaten by a bear in that thing."

"Well, 'e's s'pposed ta look like a bear. It's even got the little ears on the hood!" Ani retorted, going over to her husband and taking their son from him so he could grab their gear. "Did ya get 'nough firewood and make sure that damn chimney works propa?"

"Also double-checked the windows and made sure they were covered and did a sweep of the area to check for walkers," Sophia told her. "Set up a couple traps, both for walkers and animals. We found a lot of trails."

"You can thank the snow for that," Daryl said. "Gives us an advantage."

"'S'long as the cats don't fuck 'em up," Merle corrected. "Now, hand 'im over."

"Ya act like ya haven' seen 'im in months," Ani told him as she let him take Lou from her.

"Been a week, dammit. Been out here tryinna make sure this place is safe since you wouldn't leave him at the Sanctuary."

"Saprised ya think it'd be fine with all a us out 'ere."

"Could've taken him to Hilltop!"

"It'd take up extra fuel we don' have at the moment. And Mags ain' the same as she used ta be and has 'er own kid ta look afta. I ain' askin' 'er ta help look afta Lou when she hates helpin' the Sanctuary ta begin with."

"She wouldn't be helpin' the Sanctuary, though," Sophia reasoned. "She'd be helpin' you, mom."

"Still. Only reason I'd be askin' 'er is 'cause I got ta be out 'ere huntin'. And I got ta be out 'ere huntin' only 'cause the Sanctuary needs food. So, nah, she'd be helpin' the Sanctuary by helpin' me, and I ain' askin' 'er ta do that."

"You could've left 'im at the Sanctuary," Merle told her. "Safer for him there."

"I ain' leavin' Lou with anyone at the Sanctuary 'cause the only one I trust there is Laura, and she's got 'er own duties. And Eugene's busy makin' the rest a the fuel we can make this year and Jerry...Well, he might be our funny Aloha man, but 'e's also the only one strong 'nough ta pull any fights apart. The three a 'em need ta be able ta concentrate on what they're doin', not runnin' afta a baby."

"You're overprotective."

"Ya one ta talk, Mr 'Give-me-the-baby-now!'" Ani joked.

"Shut up," Merle shot back, the two of them grinning at each other. "Come on, ain't gonna get any more huntin' done tonight with the noise that damn truck made."

"It's an old truck!"

"And why the hell you in the driver's seat 'stead of my baby brother?"

"'Cause the last time D tried drivin' a stick, he made me puke!"

"Seriously? You can't drive a stick, boy?"

"Neither can you , ya prick!" Daryl countered.

"Can ya both jus' shut the fuck up and get inside? It's startin' ta get nippy," Ani told them. "And it's almost time for Lou's suppa."

"He had meat that ain't been ground up yet?" Merle asked as they went into the small cabin.

"He's only got three teeth! You seriously think he can eat whatever with that?" Daryl shot at him. "We got canned goods for him in the bag."

"And if the meat's soft 'nough, he can gum it ta death," Ani laughed. "Seems ta like the taste a it well 'nough."

"I'll get to cleanin' the squirrels, then," Merle responded. "Where'd them damn twins run off to?"

"Prolly doin' some huntin' a their own."

"Good. Don't need them up in here tryin' to get what we got."

"Ya know they'd just go for the guts."

"And we all know you need the guts yourself," Daryl told her. "At least the livers and kidneys. You're startin' to bruise up too easy."

"Noticed that, did ya?"

"We can all see it, mom," Sophia sighed out. "Look at your arms."

"Ya should see my legs. They're a hell a a lot worse," Ani teased.

"Mom!"

Ani's legs were a patchwork of fingertip bruises, palm imprints, and bruises on her inner thighs, all from Daryl's treatment of her, something she had complained to Sophia about once in jest. Sophia, however, was sick of hearing about Ani and Daryl's love life, but grew even more flustered and defensive when she was asked about hers and Carl's. No one but Ani was privy to what was happening between the two teens and what they had been up to. She was the only one who knew that they had fallen asleep in the same bed and woken up with Carl's hand up Sophia's shirt. She was the only one who knew that they had gotten to the point where one make-out session had them without their shirts on. She was also the one who had caught them talking about whether or not they wanted to go all the way and scared them off of it. It had been relatively easy to do when she explained what could happen and reminded them both about the three pregnancies they had watched and the three different births they had experienced. Ani told them there was nothing wrong with wanting to be with the person they loved with, but they had to take a lot of precautions before they could. She told Sophia that the only way to make sure she didn't get pregnant was to start tracking her cycle. If she knew how many days she bled, when she stopped, and how long between the time she stopped bleeding and started, they could easily tell when she was in her fertile period. Doing that would allow her to completely avoid intimacy on the days where she would be able to get pregnant and it would also allow her to know when she got pregnant if she did. She then went on to reiterate to Carl that the pull out method didn't work, and, if he hurt her little girl, she would turn on him like a lioness on the hunt.

They ate their dinner in relative silence and Daryl and Ani decided to leave Lou with Sophia and Merle so that they could go into the woods for a while. Merle made a joke about them wanting alone time, to which Ani shut him up and said they were heading out to see if they could find the twins. They were also going to do some night hunting and try to get whatever they could while they were out there. It was the perfect time to get some raccoons or opossums and maybe they'd be able to catch one or two other nighttime critters. They were close enough to the river that they could get some beavers and maybe even find a bear den or something. If they could get a bear, they'd definitely find enough meat considering the last time they'd gotten a bear, back at the quarry, there had still been some left at the farm when they were run off. There had been at least another week's worth of the stuff before it became iffy to eat when they'd been forced to run. While a bear wouldn't feed the Sanctuary for more than a few weeks, tops, it would still be an awesome find. They found Bobby tearing into a rabbit and called for her to come with them, but the thing decided to start growling at them and went into attack mode when they started getting close, so they let her be and continued on. There were a few promising looking spots that they noticed as they walked along with the sun beginning to set before they started heading back to the cabin. Ani tried to get Bobby to follow them again, but she was still eating her rabbit and refused to follow them back.

"She knows where we're at," Daryl told her. "She'll either try gettin' in or sleep in the truck."

"Jus' worried 'bout 'er, ya know."

"Ain't the first time she's been out here all night."

"That might be the damn problem we've been havin' between 'er and Catty."

"She's just more wild than the other one. Always has been. Hell, she's been scratchin' me up since we met her."

"Yeah, that's true. I jus' hate the thought a it all."

"Well, they ain't like puppies and kitties. They're bobcats. Told you they wouldn't be good pets when they got older. Cute as kittens, not so cute as grown ups."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Ani sighed before Daryl scoffed and she chuckled. "Do ya always got ta say 'told ya so' in such a fashion?"

"Not like I get to say it too often."

"Ya should say it more. Ya right 'bout a lot a shite that people don' give ya credit for."

"Stop."

"Only if ya give me a kiss 'fore we head in," Ani joked as they drew nearer to the small shack.

"Always wanna do that anyway," he told her, grabbing her neck and pulling her in for a passionate kiss.

"And here I thought y'all were goin' out for the damn cats, not for a smooch!" Merle's voice rang out after a minute.

Ani and Daryl pulled away from each other and flipped him off as he laughed and told them that Catty had already made her way back with a fox in her mouth. Bobby ended up coming up to the door and yowling to be let in after they'd brought in more firewood and laid out their blankets for the night. Sophia was holding Lou's hands as he practiced walking around the room and making guesses as to when he'd start walking on his own. She let go of his hands and, as always, he fell backwards on his butt and started crawling around. He went over to Merle and stared at him for a moment before he moved on and crawled up to Daryl and climbed into his dad's lap. Merle went on a bit of a tangent about how the kid was too attached to Daryl and they needed to cut the cord. Ani pointed out that he was an eight month old baby and that he was being ridiculous thinking that there was a problem. Besides that, he didn't have a good relationship with his father, so what was so wrong with Lou being close to Daryl who could do it right? Merle tried to argue with her, but she shut down every single thing he said against how he thought they were coddling the boy. Her biggest argument was that they couldn't be coddling a baby when he already knew how to self-soothe and fall asleep on his own. Leaving him to cry for a few minutes in order to finish up what they were doing and not rocking him to sleep when he took a nap or woke up in the middle of the night was the opposite of coddling. If they were coddling him, he wouldn't be able to fall asleep on his own and he would be inconsolable every time he fell on his butt or bumped into something. He was only eight months old and already slept through the night most nights and could keep himself entertained with his toys and Catty. It was only a matter of time before they found him learning how to do things on his own because they would encourage him to do so.

"Are you gonna be teachin' him how to fight, though?" Sophia asked, changing the subject.

"Soon as we can," Daryl answered.

"Bow and blades, too," Ani added. "That boy's goin' ta know how ta kill 'fore 'e's Judy's age."

"That's a little young, ain't it?" Merle asked.

"And ya think me and D are the ones coddlin' 'im?" Ani teased.

"Shut up!"