Daryl woke up in a state of confusion and immediately sat up, the feeling of something crawling on him making him look around. It took him a minute to figure out what was going on after the grogginess wore off and he cursed himself all over again for allowing it to happen. There hadn't been something crawling on him, but rather someone, more specifically his son, who had stayed the night at the camp with him and Ani. Ani, who was laying next to him still sleeping even though she was twenty seven weeks along and her stomach was huge. His wife, who had been, in his opinion, coerced into coming out to this damned construction site just because people kept walking off. If he hadn't known any better, he would have strung Rick out to dry, but the man had only been the last in a line of people asking for her to come and talk to some of the others. Rick just wasn't good at reading some of the Saviors as Ani was as far as their body language went when they were lying. They also weren't sure if it was the Saviors just walking off or if someone else had a hand in it. She'd only come out the day before and hadn't supposed to stay, but she had been very tired and hadn't wanted to travel back to the Sanctuary with Lou by herself and they needed Daryl for the bridge. It had been reluctant, and very strict rules had been put in place about her leaving the camp or going into the Sanctuary's area, but Daryl had agreed to let her stay in the end.

"Dada!" Lou shouted on his lap, making him smile and start to play with his stuffed rabbit to distract the boy.

"You're up early, bug," he told him quietly. "Your mama needs her sleep, so we gotta be quiet."

"Thhh!" the boy giggled back, putting a finger to his lips to imitate Daryl, though he couldn't pronounce 'sss' yet.

"That's right," Daryl sighed as he carefully picked his son up and got up himself.

He carried Lou over to his playpen, which Ani had brought with her, placing him down in there before moving to get a fresh cloth for the boy's butt. It was the one thing Ani was constantly complaining about and had found herself a pair of long, rubber cleaning gloves to deal with. They could no longer find disposable diapers, but some of the women at the Kingdom were amazing seamstresses who had sent several dozens of cloth diapers for the babies. Ani hated having to clean them, but knew that it wasn't the worst thing in the world and that babies needed swaddled bums, as she put it, but she still hated it. Between the feel, the smell, the look, and the fact that they had to at least be thoroughly rinsed immediately after use, they were everything she hated when it came to gross. Daryl didn't mind it, and he still couldn't understand how she could be up to her wrists in blood from an animal, but piss and shit grossed her out. He changed the toddler while Lou played with his rattler contentedly until the damn thing fell from his hand and hit him in the face. The boy started babbling angrily as he tried to roll away from Daryl as he finished up putting the diaper on.

"Stop rollin', dammit," he whisper-shouted in frustration after the third time of trying to get Lou to hold still.

It took a few more seconds before he had the diaper on properly and was struggling to get the boy back in his soon as he was, he made sure Ani was still sleeping and was sufficiently covered with the blanket before grabbing up his son and taking him outside. The only reason he was even there was because Ani wasn't ready to leave him for an entire day, especially when Merle and Sophia were both at the bridge, too. Leaving for a few hours was one thing, but she hadn't known how long it would take her to help smooth things over. She'd packed for an overnight stay just in case and he wasn't happy about it, but he definitely understood her reluctance of leaving him behind. Maggie was busy and Beth and Tara were helping with the bridge just like Sasha and Abraham; no one they trusted was available to look after their son. Ani had originally been planning on leaving him with the same people Maggie left Hershel with, but Carson had suggested she take him with her to mitigate her stress. She hadn't agreed until he also agreed to come out with them and she found out that Michonne, Carol, and the King would be there on top of the others. With everyone but Rick being at the bridge for the night, the Dixons felt like it was safe enough to keep him with them, even if Daryl and Merle weren't thrilled about it.

He couldn't leave Lou in the tent with his sleeping wife, and she still slept with a knife in her hand to stay safe, so he brought him out into the woods with him. Originally, he'd shared a tent with Merle while Sophia had a smaller tent to herself, but Sophia had shifted over to the medical tent with Enid while Merle took over hers. Both his tent and Merle's were situated away from the main camp close enough to hear if there was trouble. As such, it was pretty quiet for early in the morning with the only real sounds being those of hammer falls of the first shift workers getting started. He carried Lou over to the small barrel of rainwater they'd collected not far from his tent and set him down to splash a bit of water over his face and get rid of what lingering grogginess he was feeling. Lou quickly used his leg to stand up and used the barrel to start walking around, taking a few steps away before falling back on his butt. Catty was around, too, carrying what looked like a stolen squirrel over to a tree and awkwardly climbing up it to eat. For a cat with three legs, it hadn't stopped enjoying the life of a wild animal, even if it wasn't very good at hunting anymore. It was overall quite serene and Daryl was starting to imagine life with his family in the woods once the twins were born more seriously.

Before bed the night before, they'd shown Lou the fireflies when it started getting dark and then sat around their small campfire as he fell asleep. He'd tried snake for the first time after Ani had deboned a piece and had been very vocal in his impatience for more. Merle had made a joke about how the boy was a true Dixon and just wanted his food that had everyone chuckling aside from the young boy. He was too enthralled with his snake meat to care about what anyone was saying and simply continued to babble away while he waited for more. After he had fallen asleep, Merle had wandered further into the camp and left Daryl and Ani sitting in front of the fire by themselves. They'd talked a lot about how they felt about her being there and whether or not she had really been coerced into coming out. A part of her felt like Daryl did; Rick and Michonne had been persistent in asking for her to help them more and she had felt pressured into it. Another part, one that Daryl hadn't known, was that she'd overheard Carl and Sophia talking about how they could help mend bridges themselves and she didn't want the teens involved in it. The final nail in the coffin that had sealed her coming out to the camp was her personal and selfish desire to be with him and not sitting around the Hilltop. Of course, she really hadn't done a lot of moving around to begin with and instead made the people she was asked to talk to come to her around the 'central hub,' or what she called the commander's quarters. Daryl wasn't happy with her being at the camp, but at least she was within eyesight of everyone and no one could go up to her without someone else knowing.

Ani had kept Lou with her, set up in his playpen with some of his toys and sometimes Catty, while she talked to the others. All she'd been able to figure out was that Oceanside and Sanctuary were still having a hard time enmeshing and that some of the Saviors felt neglected. It wasn't just the lack of weapons they were upset about, but the fact that they had less food rations available to them without permission and even water was being rationed out. That was how they perceived things, anyway, when the reality was that food rations were low all around and water wasn't being rationed at all. It was simply that they had a couple of 'water workers' who gave water to the workers during their shifts one cup at a time to make sure everyone got a drink before they repeated the process. The only thing they were cut off from were the guns, and that wasn't going to change no matter how much they complained about it. As far as Oceanside and the Saviors went, no one could blame the women for not trusting the other group after what had happened between the two. They simply couldn't view the Saviors as anything other than bad people no matter how often Ani told them that they weren't the same ones who took part in the massacre of their men.

Lou kept wandering around as he had gotten interested in chasing a grasshopper that he wasn't able to catch no matter how much he tried. His game ended when Catty pounced on it and then brought it over to him while knocking him back onto his butt again. Daryl couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him as the toddler started babbling, quite obviously chastising the cat for ruining his fun. It was always a wonder with how fast the boy changed; he'd barely said anything after he'd started saying 'mama' and 'dada' and he rarely ever cried. Ani had been so scared that he was neurodivergent like her, but Daryl had managed to convince her that it didn't matter. Lou was strong and smart and he told her that that was all that should matter to them when it came to their kids. She'd sighed and told him he was right and, ever since then, she'd been less worried about him not trying to repeat words when she tried to teach him to talk. Her irritation and fear at him being delayed compared to other kids also seemed to ease after they'd talked and he told her he didn't care if they were like her or not. His only concern was that their kids were happy, healthy, and were able to survive on their own when they got older instead of having to rely on others, and she seemed to take that to heart. In return, Lou, himself, had become more inclined to babble to himself whenever he was alone and playing with his toys or Catty was around him.

It was about an hour later, just after Daryl had given Lou some food, when Ani came out of the tent and smiled over at them, "How long have ya been up?"

"Not too long. 'Bout an hour," he answered. "Just got done eatin'."

"Did you have more snake?" she laughed.

"Naw, some applesauce. Gonna have to find some more snake, though. Never thought a baby'd like snake so much."

"Well, like fatha, like son. I should try ta get some fish. I bet 'e'd like that jus' as much."

"Could hate it like you. Not everyone likes fish," Daryl said, the smirk on his face and fire in his eyes making Ani blush.

"Shut up!" she laughed before groaning. "Gods, these kids don' know how not ta kick. Constantly movin'."

"Come here."

Ani and Daryl moved towards each other in unison before he went behind her and put his hands under her belly and slowly lifted the bump. She moaned as the feel of the weight lift from her back and sighed after a moment when he slowly let her belly back down. It was something he did at least once a day when they were together and they both felt like it was a bonding moment of sorts. For Daryl, it allowed him to 'hold' the babies before they were born and made Ani a bit more dependent on him just because he was the only one she would even let attempt it. For Ani, it just made her feel like he was able to be closer to the twins while also taking a bit of pressure off her back and hips for a few seconds, which was a godsend with how they were sitting. While Lou had caused her some hip pain for a month or so before he shifted his weight off them, the twins weren't as nice. It was starting to hurt her to walk for long distances, which was why she didn't stray too far from the central tent and their little campsite. So, when Daryl lifted the baby bump off her hips, Ani couldn't help her reaction nor did she hesitate to ask him to do it for her from time to time. Even though it was a seemingly small gesture, it meant damn near everything to both of them simply because they felt close to the other.

"I love ya, ya know that, right?" Ani sighed as the weight settled.

"I know. I love you, too," he replied. "You headin' back to Hilltop today?"

Ani hesitated for a moment before quietly saying, "Nah."

"What?!"

"I can' ride a horse, Daryl! And I can' take Lou back without a wagon or the ATV and sled! And I'm not allowed ta ride the ATV right now ta begin with! I can' leave for two days, when the next shipment a nails comes in," she admitted. "I didn' want this ta happen. Sure, I planned ahead jus' in case it did, but I didn' want it ta! Ya think I want ta be layin' on the hard ground when I'm this fuckin' big?!"

Daryl was quiet for a moment before he sighed and said, "Alright, but you stay by the big tent. I'm gonna ask Jerry to send Nabila over, too. You let her help you, you got it?"

"Yes, dad," Ani said sarcastically, earning a light smack to her hip and a 'stop' from Daryl. "Thank ya for not makin' a stink ova this. I really didn' want this ta happen. I thought I'd be goin' home last night, but I was jus' too fuckin' tired ta travel."

"I know. I ain't happy and you're goin' back as soon as we can manage it. But it ain't like we can just hotwire a car and take you back and we can't take the bike with Lou and your belly. Can't do shit 'til the wagon gets back, anyway."

"I love ya."

"Love you, too. Now, get somethin' to eat. We got work to do."

~x~

"I get what ya tryin' ta say, L, but we can' give ya people guns. Plain and simple, we jus' can'. Sure, I trust you with one. Maybe DJ and Scott. A few a the othas, but I don' trust that one a the othas wouldn' try ta take it from ya. We jus' can't," Ani told Laura after the umpteenth time of being asked about getting a few guns for the Sanctuary's part of camp.

"We just need a couple to keep us safe. We barely have anything other than some small knives! Another one of us went missing last night. We have to be able to defend ourselves!" Laura argued.

"We're defendin' ya."

"Are you? Are you really?"

"Did the Saviors really protect the settlements?" Ani shot back, both women giving each other dirty looks before she sighed. "Look, I get it. Ya got people walkin' off with nah warnin' or sign a 'em bein' alright, but that's not on us. That's not somethin' any a us are doin'. I'll get more people ta guard ya side a camp at night ta make sure nah one's attackin' ya, but ya ain' gettin' any fuckin' guns."

Laura left the area in a huff, not wanting to get overly upset at the pregnant woman who wasn't even supposed to be at the camp in the first place. There were so many things that the Saviors wanted out of the others and it just wasn't happening because no one would budge. It was bad enough that they didn't have any guns to protect themselves, but with five people missing, things had gotten worse. It hadn't been so bad until the last person who walked off also left a family behind; they might've been fighting constantly, but he'd still just left them. There was no way any of them would believe it was just a case of not being happy with having to work like dogs and being treated as such, too. Laura was sick of no one listening to them about what was going on and thought that Ani, of all people, would at least hear her out. But instead, the woman had completely shut her down and denied any and every request that she had attempted to make. She couldn't believe that she would be so black and white about it all when the Saviors were literally having problems just making sure they were safe. Everyone looked at them like they were still the enemy, like they were still acting like Negan, and Laura was beyond over it all.

Ani wasn't in the mood to deal with Laura, or any of the other Saviors who thought she would change things up in the camp just for them. While she understood their dismay and fear, she just couldn't justify causing everyone else discomfort just because a few workers were walking off. It wasn't like she hadn't tried to convince the other leaders to at least let Laura, Arat, DJ, and a few of the others to have guns, either. She'd suggested revolvers, limited capacity guns, and keeping the ammo to only a few rounds. The problem was that none of the others were okay with that and none of them trusted that the more problematic Saviors, like Jim and Nick, wouldn't try to take the guns. It wasn't something she could just negotiate and she was sick of hearing it from all sides about guns not even she had access to. Everyone was angry at everyone right now and she was sick of hearing about it every time she came out with one of the deliveries. She hadn't stayed overnight and made it a point to take a nap while she was there to make sure she could handle the journey home, but she had come out a lot more often since then. In fact, the only reason she was even in the camp at the moment was because Daryl was planning on coming back to the Hilltop until the babies were born. That was why it was so frustrating to constantly be hounded about the same topic every few days over the last three weeks.

She sat there, frustrated as all hell, until Sophia broke off from Carl and came up to her, "Hey, mom. When are you guys headin' back to Hilltop?"

"Tanight. Afta dinna, 'fore dusk. Don' worry. I'm gettin' the hell out a dodge 'fore shite hits the fan."

"It's not gonna hit the fan," Sophia rebuked. "Carl and I are tryin' to talk to the Saviors and get things figured out. There's not a lot of people that have walked off, and we found out two of the families also disappeared from the Sanctuary, so it's probably that a couple of the people from here met up with those guys and left together. We actually just got done telling Arat and Cory about it."

"When did ya go ta the Sanctuary?"

"Last night," she admitted, earning a dark look from Ani. "What? We wanted to see if there was somethin' goin' on there and that's how we learned about the families that left! We might be able to calm things down here now that we know they probably left with the people from here."

"I hope so. It's goin' ta be ten weeks 'fore D and I come back out 'ere. Ten weeks straight a not havin' ta deal with this bullshite. It's goin' ta be a fuckin' blessin'."

"Are you guys plannin' on doin' anythin' before the babies get here?"

"Jus' spendin' some more time tagetha as a family. Not like we're goin' ta be able ta go huntin' when I can' take ten steps without needin' ta take a rest."

"Carl and I can go huntin' if you want anythin'."

"Nah, it's not that. It's jus'...well, huntin' is what D and I have always done ta bond. We started gettin' ta know each otha in the woods and it would a been nice if we could go out huntin' with Lou one last time 'fore we're a family a five 'stead a three," Ani said, seeing the look on Sophia's face before adding, "How often ya been at the Hilltop since the bridge started. Face it, Phia, ya my kid, but ya growin' up. Ya goin' ta be livin' ya own life completely free a me tellin' ya what ta do soon 'nough. Ya always goin' ta be family and my kid, ya know that ain' goin' ta change. But you are changin', and with that comes changes."

"It just kinda feels like you're really gonna forget me," Sophia said quietly, her insecurities about being left behind by a parent rearing their head again.

"That ain' eva goin' ta happen, Phia. Not eva. It's different, it really is, 'tween me and ya and me and Lou, but it ain' 'cause a anythin' otha than I know ya can take care a yaself more and that makes me worry 'bout ya a little less. But! I'm always goin' ta be there when ya need someone ta run ta. I'm always goin' ta have a spot for ya ta call ya's in my home. I'm always goin' ta come runnin' when ya need me, too. I ain' eva goin' ta stop bein' someone ya can rely on jus' 'cause I've got Lou and the boys."

"I know. I know. It's just..."

"Hard ta get it through ya thick skull?" Ani chuckled, giving the girl a side hug and making her lean over to give her a kiss to the forehead. "Quit growin', will ya?! Ya gettin' talla than me! Carl already is!"

"Give it a few years. Lou will be taller than you, too," Sophia laughed, Ani tickling her and making her laugh even harder.

"Ya little punk!" she laughed along with her for a minute before moving to sit back down from where she'd been standing to talk to Laura. "It'll be nice not bein' 'round 'ere for a bit. Leavin' the othas ta deal with the complaints and figya shite out for a while. If it gets bad, though, I want ya and Carl ta come back ta Hilltop immediately. Bring Enid, too. Ya don' need ta be in the middle a anotha war."

"It's not gonna end up in another war," the teen said with conviction. "Carl and I won't let it get that bad. We'll find a way to make it work."

"Love, I absolutely adore ya enthusiasm, but if the two a ya haven' been able ta change shite yet, how do ya expect ta change things in the future? I've asked Rick the same thing. Sometimes, 'makin' it work' means cuttin' the problem loose."

"We can't do that if we want to finish the bridge."

"We might not have a choice. If it comes down ta fightin' for the bridge or fightin' for the guns, the bridge will be abandoned and the Sanctuary will fall. That's all there is ta it."

"Am I interrupting something?" Carol asked as she walked up and saw the Dixon women staring each other down.

"Jus' a disagreement 'bout what's goin' ta happen 'ere," Ani admitted. "Ya promise me ta come back if things get worse, Phia, that's all I'm askin'."

"Fine. I'll come back with Carl and Enid if it gets worse, but not until I try to help," Sophia said before she walked away, leaving Ani to stare after her.

Her stare went from hard and angry to soft and proud as soon as Sophia was far enough away to not see it and Carol couldn't believe her eyes. Even though they were obviously fighting about the Saviors, Ani was still proud of Sophia for standing up for herself and her beliefs. It didn't matter how much she disagreed or how little she wanted the girl to be back at the Hilltop. Sophia wanted to stay at the campsite in order to help keep the peace and try to get everyone to get along, which the girl had only a small chance of accomplishing. Ani really couldn't bring herself to try and bury the girl's hope of being able to bring the communities together. Hope was all they really had left after the war; hope things would get better, hope that life would become peaceful, hope that the future was brighter than the past few years. Everything the bridge represented was the hope that the communities would continue to grow stronger and mend their differences when it was completed. There was no way that Ani was going to try to completely squash that hope even if she was determined to keep her head out of the clouds.

"Why are you proud if you don't want her doin' it?" Carol asked.

"'Cause it jus' shows how strong she is. She's standin' up for what she believes is right and she's still tryin' ta do what she thinks is best while knowin' what needs ta happen. She's a well-rounded kid, even if she thinks she's invincible," Ani said with a shrug. "And that's where ya come in. Keep an eye on 'er and send a messenga if there's any issues. Make sure she gets the fuck out a 'ere 'fore it gets bad."

"You think it's gonna get bad?"

"Ya don'?"

"I think it's rough, but we're making it work. Knowin' the others left to be with their families and make their own way will help a bit."

"But we don't know if that's what happened or if somethin' else happened and the otha families jus' left the Sanctuary 'cause they didn' know where the otha people went. Not knowin' if that was the case is jus' as powaful a doubt-enforca as thinkin' ya know is a powaful reinforcement 'bout those missin'. We got nothin' but what we can suspect 'cause we don' have any proof a where everyone went. D, Merle, and Phia have all tried followin' a trail ta find where the people were goin', but they all ended in dead ends. People keep goin' missin', ya think the Saviors are really goin' ta jus' think they all left out a not likin' the damn conditions 'ere?"

"I don't know, but I hope things don't get worse," Carol told her. "We could do with some real peace for once."

"Right?! All this bullshite with the guns and tryin' ta get the damn bridge dealt with, D and I haven' even begun talkin' 'bout names."

"You haven't? You better get a move on. You don't have too long left."

"Ten weeks ta be full-term, though Carson still thinks they'll be born 'round the thirty six week mark or so. So, we got six weeks, at best."

"You haven't talked about it at all?"

"Well, we had a stupid little talk 'bout the names we could come up with for twins, but it came down ta names from shows and movies I grew up with."

"Like what?"

"Luke and Leia if one ends up a girl 'stead a a boy. Tom and Jerry. Sam and Dean. Connor and Murphy. Bo and Luke. Daryl had ta be a smartass and ask if Chip and Dale were on the list, too."

"Are they?" Carol asked, mock concern on her face as they spoke.

"None a the damn names are on the list!" Ani laughed as Carol joined in. "It was jus' somethin' that came up when we were talkin' 'bout people we knew and how neitha a us knew any twins. I had a pair a 'em in a class in fifth grade, but that was a really long time ago, and they were the only ones I eva knew 'bout in real life. So, yeah, I was goin' through the brothas and their names that I knew from television. He didn' have ta be an ass 'bout it, though."

"What kind of names do you like?"

"Easy names, obviously. One or two syllables. I mean, I call ya Cars when Carol is one more syllable. Wouldn' mind somethin' that goes 'long with Lou, but I don' know. I was neva one a those people that cared too much 'bout names."

"Can I make some suggestions?"

"Ya can, but that don' mean I'll rememba 'em by the time D and I talk 'bout it again. My ability ta rememba the little things has deteriorated scarily since havin' Lou."

"It's mom brain," Carol said nonchalantly.

"People keep sayin' that, but I still don' fuckin' undastand what it means fully. Why is it that ya lose ya memory when ya become a mom?"

"It's parenthood in general. You're always thinking about them, worrying about them, and the little things that don't matter, that don't involve them, they just start fading away. I couldn't even remember what day of the week it was when Sophia was Lou's age. Everything was done on autopilot sometimes. Doing what I needed to do to keep Ed happy and keep his schedule the same. Have dinner on the table when he got home and feed Sophia. I went without eating more than once without even realizing it," Carol explained. "You don't have to understand why it happens, it just does. It's the price we pay for having kids."

"I hope I don' lose any more a my mind with the twins. I don' want ta become an idiot, like Merle."

"You lose your memory, Ani, not your intelligence. And, besides, no one can be as stupid as Merle. Expect maybe Abraham."

"They're definitely a pair a righteous fuckin' fools," Ani laughed. "What'd ya come ova for, anyway? We lost the plot for a second."

"Oh, the horses are getting hitched to the wagon," Carol told her. "Daryl's also finishing up loading the last of his stuff, too. Might want to start making your way over there."

"Is that a jibe about how slow I am?!" Ani shot at her, though she couldn't keep the smile that threatened to break through entirely hidden.

"At this point, a snail could beat you to the wagon," Carol deadpanned in return.