top story: The beginning of the beginning of the end, yeah, I suppose...For me...it's just the beginning of having a LOT of filler content to come up with to explain the 6yr time jump, and what happens with Ani, Daryl, and the kids during it.

Luvs2Read: Thank you for the suggestions! I apologize, as I didn't pick one of yours, but another's from another site I have this story on. I already had one name picked out, though, and had it for a long time. Thank you for the help, though. I hope you like the names I picked out in the end. ^_^

Ani woke up feeling way too hot and got up as quickly as she could before running to the bathroom and, after shoving someone out of the way, heaving in front of the toilet. It only lasted a few minutes before she was fine and the heat wave passed, letting her stomach settle. She profusely apologized to the person she shoved out of the way after rinsing her mouth out with some water and brushed her teeth. Thankfully, they just laughed her off and understood why and wasn't in so much of a hurry that 'the pregnant lady couldn't cut.' Ani forced herself to smile as she thanked him for his charity before stiffly walking off and reentering her own room with a scowl on her face. It was washed away the minute she saw her little family, though, considering Lou and Daryl were laying on the bed next to the wall. Lou was spread out on top of Daryl, his little cheek pressed against his dad's chest right above his heart. His hands and feet were hanging off his sides while Daryl had one of his large hands resting on the child's back. His other arm was stretched out to the side that she was laying on in such a way that he had obviously been holding her, too. Smiling to herself, she walked over to the bed and carefully laid back down so as not to disturb either father nor son.

Daryl immediately curled his arm around her torso, making her move as close back to him as she could while his hand rubbed against her belly once she settled. The heat from his palm made her sigh quietly as the twins kicked a little under his ministrations. They weren't moving as much as they had been, but she was thirty two weeks along and Carson had assured her it was normal. Unlike with Lou, there were two babies in her belly and not a lot of space for them to move, so they wouldn't be able to move as much as Lou had in the same time frame. It made sense and neither she nor Daryl were overly worried as she hadn't had any contractions and only one or two pains that might have been Braxton Hicks. She was expecting more in no time as she got closer to the potential due date, in anywhere between four and eight weeks. They still hadn't settled on any names and she was starting to worry that the babies would be born being called Twin One and Twin Two. Daryl wasn't too worried about it at all and kept telling her they'd have names long before that and they wouldn't be treated like Dr. Suess characters. Ani wasn't at all convinced but she was almost always distracted with Lou and let it slide as long as she didn't go into labor without names.

"You good?" Daryl's quiet voice sounded behind her, making her smile all over again and turn her head to press a kiss into his bicep.

"Yeah. I jus' got too hot," she responded as she rolled over and readjusted herself to lay on his chest and ran a light finger down Lou's face. "When'd you bring 'im ta bed?"

"'Bout an hour or so ago. Started fussin' a bit, so I brought him over."

"He wouldn' fuss if ya didn' start doin' that ta begin with jus' ta make 'im sleep a little longa."

"You complainin' about gettin' more sleep?"

"Nah, but I am imaginin' ya with three little boys jus' sprawled all ova ya," Ani laughed, causing him to scoff and squeeze her a bit closer. "I love ya."

"You, too," Daryl responded before he sighed. "Damn, I gotta take a piss and this little bastard is layin' right on my bladder."

"Welcome ta my world."

Ani laughed at the sour look Daryl gave her loud enough to startle Lou awake, who started rubbing his face on his father's chest before looking up at them groggily. It was absolutely adorable to watch the baby boy as he woke up and tried to figure out what was going on in the world around him. Daryl didn't move immediately until the boy had started trying to move and accidentally kicked a very tender, very awake piece of anatomy that had him practically throwing the boy off of him as Ani broke out laughing. Of course, the man hadn't actually thrown Lou, simply pushed him towards his mother as he got up cursing. He rubbed and adjusted himself to get rid of the slight pain that he felt before heading to the bathroom to relieve his bladder. By the time he got back, Ani had changed Lou's diaper and put him in some clothes so that they could go outside. It was early enough in the day to where the heat wouldn't cause Ani problems and they liked to take their walks during that time. Most days were too hot during the afternoons for Ani to do anything but want to sleep or sit in a pool of water they didn't have. It sucked and made her lament after the last air conditioner broke and no one could fix it or find more that were functional. Everyone realized that things weren't going to be as simple and easy as they had been before and the creature comforts they used to have were slowly disappearing or changing.

"You sure you wanna go beyond the wall?" he asked her, noticing how she was moving slower than even her new norm.

"Yeah, why?" she asked in reply.

"You in pain or somethin'?"

"Nah, why? What're ya seein' that I ain' feelin'?" Ani asked while giving him a strong look.

He stared back at her for a good, long moment before shaking his head and saying, "Nothin'. Don't worry about it. Just tell me if somethin' happens."

"Sure, but I can' tell ya if somethin' happens when I don' know what ya goin' on 'bout. I'm alright. I promise. I don' feel like there's anythin' wrong. But ya startin' ta worry me. What is it?"

"You're movin' slow."

"Well, yeah, do ya see my stomach?"

"Slower than usual."

"Maybe 'cause first thing I did when I woke up this mornin' was run ta the bathroom ta puke up bile and phlegm and nothin' else. Movin' that fast with a belly this big, I twerked my back a little bit. All I got ta do is walk it off and if it gets worse by the time we get ta the gate, we'll stay inside and I'll sit and watch Lou play while ya help finish buildin' the stables. Deal?" she asked, putting a gentle hand on his arm.

"Yeah, alright. Deal."

Ani smiled up at him and reached on her tiptoes to give him a quick peck on the cheek, using him as a brace to keep herself steady. Daryl held onto her as she moved and turned to make her give him a proper kiss, his other hand tangling into her hair as he deepened it for a moment. Ani sighed into it and leaned even further against him until Lou's babbling pulled them away from each other with a giddy smile on her face. He simply smirked at her before picking their son up and heading towards the door with Ani following close behind. Whatever they had missed out on due to bedrest in their last pregnancy, they'd certainly made up for it this time around if the hickey on her neck and scratches on his were anything to say about it. She was still smiling as she followed behind him and they left the room and headed towards the exit of Barrington House, being stopped along the way to talk to some of the residents. A lot of them just wanted to say hi and ask how things had been going at the bridge, since the Hilltop wasn't very involved with the project as they were busy making sure there was enough food to feed those who were. Some of them, though, just stopped to gush over Lou, who would just stare at them like they had two heads until they walked away.

It wasn't all that surprising for anyone about how Lou acted towards others that weren't his immediate family anymore. Ani was thankful that all the comments about how odd he behaved had stopped after she had started hiding behind Daryl with him. She knew that not everyone knew about her own neurodivergence, but the number of comments had reminded her of her own childhood. Every fiber of her being had wanted to shield him from every word sent in his direction about how weird he was and she had done that indirectly by using Daryl as a shield. She knew that he was at least on the spectrum with how few words he could pronounce and the fact that he only actually talked to the two of them. They were the only ones he actually would look at in the face, too, as well as some of the only people who could hold him. Merle, Sophia, Carl, Maggie, and Beth were the only other people that could pick him up or hold him for a little bit without him melting down. It was one of the reasons Ani had started bringing him with her to the bridge when she started going out there herself. With practically everyone that could be spared out there, trying to get the work done, no one had been left at the Hilltop that could care for him. Sure, Maggie was still there, but she was busy breaking in horses and getting the fields tended as well as being a mom herself.

Ani wasn't too worried about how fast or slow Lou was to like new people or even to talk because she knew that she, too had been stunted as a child. It was a part of autism that was the earliest to detect, though it wasn't widely known at the time and her parents had just thought she was slow. Knowing how she had behaved as a kid and the classes she'd taken for her degrees had prepared her long before she ever had a child for the possibility of having a neurodivergent offspring. She and Daryl had talked about it as well and she had warned him of the possibility of their kids having autism and/or ADHD when they originally started thinking about having them. He had understood and agreed that it was a chance and simply didn't care about the chances because they'd be their kid. Watching him with Lou and how he had been the one to actually speak up and make people stop commenting about their son had reassured her more than anything else. Ani was no longer afraid at all of having multiple kids so close in age thanks to how good of a father and husband Daryl was. Daryl was always telling her she was an amazing mother, but, out of the two of them, anyone with eyes could see he was the better parent, and Ani was completely fine with that.

"You wanna go out to the tree or just take a short walk 'round the front of the place?" he asked her as they exited the house.

"Out ta the tree. We can sit out there for a bit and watch the bees. Lou finds 'em fascinatin'," she answered with a smile.

"You got it."

"Maybe we can come up with names while we're walkin'."

Daryl groaned while Ani chuckled before saying, "Just pick a damn name and that's what we'll call 'em."

"Daryl," Ani groaned herself, "we have ta come up with names! I could go inta labor any time in the comin' weeks. Any. Time. We both suck at names, I get it. But that don' mean I want 'em ta be born without a name."

"You're the one makin' it such a big deal."

"Well, ya the one that named Lou!"

"That was after the place we met."

"So, figya out some otha stuff that we've done or otha places we've been and find a damn name!" Ani laughed.

"Why don't you do that, huh?" Daryl asked with a smirk of his own, nudging her with his elbow lightly, making her grab his arm and lean into him as they walked, Lou still in his other arm.

Ani thought for a few minutes as they fell silent and walked through the gate, heading to a sitting log out by the two bee-houses one of the ladies had built and managed. Daryl helped her sit down on the log before he put Lou down, warning him not to go over to the little houses as he did so. As they sat there and watched their son play around in the dirt with Catty laying next to him, Ani thought about everything they did together. The best part of their relationship happened in the woods, but she wasn't about to name her child after trees. She could hardly think about the name Forest before, "Run, Forest! Run!" ran through her head and vetoed it immediately. They did a lot of hunting and foraging and spent a lot of time in the shop as he repaired the bikes, but, outside of that, they just spent time together. Everything they did was either about survival or about just being a family since Lou had been born and, even before that, it was much the same. She groaned audibly, making Daryl look at her strangely before going back to watching their son and bobcat once again chasing bugs.

"Why can' babies jus' know their names? Like, ya get pregnant, and then, afta the baby's brain starts workin', since the momma and the baby share blood and all, just, I don' know, blood message the name up ta the brain?" Ani laughed.

"You watched too many movies," Daryl responded.

"I can admit ta that. The TV was always on when I finally started livin' somewhere I could watch it. I hated the silence back then. I couldn' even sleep without the TV on. The minute I heard the movie end or the silence became noticeable, I'd wake up and turn somethin' on. Now, ya breathin' and snorin', ya heartbeat, Lou's little noises while sleepin'. Betta than any damn lullaby or movie," she sighed.

"I'm used to the silence. Out in the woods, the crickets and birds. That's what I fell asleep to."

"Yeah. It definitely hits different when ya in the woods. And when it's silent, ya know ya got ta skedaddle out a dodge 'fore somethin' decides ta make ya dinna."

"Even that ain't true now, though," Daryl corrected. "Birds and bugs don't give two shits about the walkers no more."

"True, but ya can hear 'em moanin' and groanin' from a mile away. They ain' 'xactly silent. Though, they do make ya wonda."

"About what?"

"What they are. Sometimes I think back on the CDC and Jenna. That man said that it restarts the brainstem. What happens if it starts evolvin'? Like, what if, at some point, the damn things stop makin' noise? What if they start usin' weapons? Or get fasta? Or stronga? Or, for fuck's sake, start learnin'? I mean, if it restarts the brainstem, what's ta stop it from slowly changin' or restartin' otha parts a the brain?"

"What? You a damn scientist now?"

"Nah, but it's fun ta think 'bout sometimes. Jus' like, whateva it is, what if there's someone out there that's immune? Like, they've been bit several times but neva changed and didn' have ta cut somethin' off ta do it. What if someone like that's out there? And! If they are, does that mean a cure could be made from their blood? And what about if they have somethin' different 'bout 'em 'cause they're immune? It's jus' fascinatin', that's all."

"You spent too much time with Eugene," Daryl accused.

"Well, when I was on bedrest and y'all wanted someone in the room with me, he did volunteer ta sit with me for a few hours a couple times. What else did ya think we'd talk 'bout?" she chuckled. "Lou! Ya goin' too far! Bring 'im back, Catty!"

During their conversation, Lou had started trying to catch a butterfly that was getting too close to the woods for her comfort. The boy turned his head towards her as soon as she called after him, though, which made Ani feel better even as Daryl stood up. Catty began moving back towards them stopping every so often to look behind her to see if Lou was following. If he wasn't, she'd run a couple steps back, swat at him playfully, and then run a few steps ahead. Lou loved playing chase and started giggling as he followed her, stumbling along and falling more than once only to get back up and give chase once more. Daryl stayed standing until the boy was back by them, smacking at their legs as he babbled away before Catty darted away. He yelled after her in a way that made both Daryl and Ani laugh as Daryl bent down to pick the boy up and Ani slowly rose to her feet. There were only two reasons for the bobcat to dart away like that; the first was for a hunt, the second was for walkers. Both parents were on high alert and immediately shushed their son as Daryl passed him over to Ani and drew his bow and she held onto a throwing knife in her free hand. It was a tense couple of minutes as they looked around, unable to see anything before Catty popped back up with a rabbit in her mouth.

"Damn it, cat!" Daryl yelled angrily as he walked over to it and grabbed the rabbit.

Ani was surprised that Catty actually dropped it before bounding away again, saying, "She must've found a den. Maybe that's the momma and she's gone ta eat the babies."

"Maybe, but let's head back just in case. She knows how to make her way in. Somethin' don't feel right."

"Yeah, I think that'd be best," Ani agreed, keeping her knife in her hand as she began walking.

Even though she wasn't able to move as quickly as she would like to, they were still able to make good time back inside the Hilltop's gate. It wasn't even ten minutes later that Maggie was coming to tell them about a horde that was heading their way. A redirect had been misfired too early and they were now running to redirect it back onto its predetermined course. The next two hours were a lot of Ani trying to keep Lou, Hershel, and some of the other kids entertained while the adults road out on horses with horns, whistles, and bells and began the long task of getting the herd to turn around. They were all exhausted by the time it was done and Daryl came back the last after using the motorcycle to guide them like he had so long ago. Ani hadn't been happy when she was told about it and told him off for doing something so reckless by himself without anyone riding with him. Daryl had simply said they didn't have time to coordinate anything and he had to make sure she, Lou, and the babies were fine. She didn't like it and told him as much, but there wasn't a damn thing she could do to change what had happened. They ended up back in their bedroom and napping by the time it was all over and still hadn't gotten any closer to picking out names than they had been the night before.

~x~

"What about stew?"

"I don' want stew."

"Fritters?"

"I don' want frittas."

"I can grill it," Daryl said, getting frustrated with his wife.

"I don' want rabbit," Ani sighed after a second's pause. "I know we got ta eat it, but I don' want ta eat it. It jus' don' sound good."

"Well, you gotta eat, and we have a damn good rabbit thanks to Catty, so that's what's for dinner tonight."

"Wish we had some duck."

"Yeah, well, we've got rabbit."

"This is startin' ta sound like the 'rabbit season, duck season' shite from Looney Tunes," she complained. "Jus' cook it howeva ya and Lou want it. I'll eat as much as I can."

"You sure? Any way you'd want it?"

"Wouldn' mind somethin' a bit spicy and sweet," Ani joked with a smile that grew even wider as Daryl chuckled.

"You and your damn sweet and spicy meat."

"What? It's my favorite! And ya don' got ta make the whole damn thing that way," she mumbled while pouting.

Daryl laughed right at her and simply stood up from where he'd been kneeling in front of her at one of the picnic benches. They'd woken up from their nap and remembered that they still needed to do something about the rabbit and had taken it outside to gut it. Ani hadn't answered when he asked her if she wanted it cooked any specific way and he'd responded by making several suggestions before getting to stew. She couldn't bring herself to tell Daryl that she felt sick to her stomach to begin with just thinking about eating the damn thing, let alone the fact that it smelled. For the first time in her life, the metallic smell of blood as Daryl skinned and cleaned the creature had made her nauseous and that wasn't something she wanted to admit. While she wasn't a person who particularly cared for the sticky-when-drying stuff, it had never bothered her before when it came to prepping meat. That was why she couldn't even think about what way he cooked the damn thing for dinner as long as it was something Lou would like. Ani was sure the rabbit could be fried, sauteed, stewed, grilled, roasted, poached, or baked and she would still have problems eating it.

"You want some potatoes with it? Maggie just pulled some up," he suggested. "And now that we got them cows producin' milk more regularly, we've got some butter. Jenny made some sour cream, too. Didn't know it was so easy to make, bein' honest."

"How's it made?" Ani asked, willing to talk about just about anything to get her mind off the scent still lingering in her nose.

"Not sure, exactly, but it's all about cookin' the raw cream and addin' spoiled cream and shit to it. Makin' sure it gets to a certain temperature for a certain amount of time. She was tellin' me, but I wasn't really listenin', just gettin' stuff to cook," Daryl admitted while scratching his head. "Somethin' about a starter mix and enzymes and activation and shit. I know how to make what I need to. All that shit's too complicated for me. Hell, you remember when you tried teachin' me how to bake cookies?"

Ani started laughing so hard she nearly fell off the bench as she remembered that disastrous experience in the kitchen. The man had tried so hard, just after they'd gotten everything from the Hilltop and had a little extra to spare, to learn how to make cookies, simple, basic, cookies. They had tried a total of three times, and somehow they came out wrong in a different way each time. The first batch had come out burnt, the second batch was burnt on the edges and raw in the center, and the third batch were so hard that not even soaking them in milk was enough to soften them up. Measuring to cook was not something the man was good at even though he was a great cook in his own right and made the best meat fritters Ani had ever tasted. When it came to actually having to follow a recipe, though, he simply wasn't any good and didn't have the patience for it when it came to cooking. Give the man directions for mechanics, he was a genius; put a cookbook in his hands and he was a damn fool.

"Yeah, let's keep that shite up ta me ta do," she said as she calmed down, earning a 'stop' from her husband, even though he was also smiling.

Ani kept smiling as he got to work cooking and went ahead and threw a couple potatoes onto the fire with the rabbit, telling her to keep an eye on it while he went to get some butter. It didn't take him too long to come back out with a small bowl and brush in hand, along with the butter, which he took and started basting the rabbit with. The aroma that started to waft from the fire had her mouth watering even though she still felt sick at the thought of eating rabbit. Once again, she was filled with frustration over being pregnant and having a body that didn't want to make up its mind, but that was quickly overtaken with joy when Daryl almost fell getting up. It wasn't entirely his fault, as he had been kneeling down by the small fire pit he had made to cook with and Catty had decided to whisk past him when he went to stand. Still, she laughed heartily at it and the sound of Lou's laughter as he laughed at his dad himself, who did nothing but put the bowl down and pretend to tackle Lou to the ground. The child's screams of delights made everyone who was outside stop and smile while Daryl tickled him. Daryl pretended to let the boy get the best of him and laid on his back while Lou climbed on top of him, smacking away at his face and hands while repeating 'baba dada,' which meant 'bad dad' as far as they could tell. The evening was peaceful as they ate their meal and finally got to talking about, and agreeing on, names for the babies. As they fell into bed later that night, exhausted from the day and their bedroom activities, Ani wished for more days just as happy and peaceful as they had just had.