Notes:

According to the timeline, Lori took a pregnancy test and was showing symptoms around day 70 of the outbreak, which puts her anywhere from six to twelve weeks (believably) with somewhere around eight most likely. It is known that at the start of season three, approximately 300 days post-outbreak, that Lori is overdue to give birth. I'm marking her conception at around day 15 post-outbreak, which would have her carrying to term at/around early-mid April.

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Daryl watched with a mix of bemusement and awe as his Magic Man coasted to an elegant slow down, clawed feet turning into heavy boots in an instant as Harry didn't even pause in his pace when he transitioned from aerial hunter – one of the finest, Daryl had more than a healthy respect for what his love's falcon form can do after watching him diving and snatching small prey, usually squirrels or the like, in one of the meadows protected by the wards – back into magical man.

It was something he'd had to get used to, one of the biggest shocks to his system now that his – as Harry would put it – "world view" included magic.

The way both his love and his Da moved from human – even a magic one – into an animal and back, often in the same stride in a smooth flex of their power that had an animal there one moment and a man the next without even a flicker of hesitation.

Though, he had seen Harry land in a crouch instead of walking more than once when he came in a smidge too fast, but the action was still as natural as could be.

And the rule about not shootin' down birds made a shit-ton more sense once he realized that was to keep 'im and the others from shootin' down Harry.

Especially now that Fall was officially well and gone and Winter had its icy grip on Western Georgia.

After the old folks (and some younger folks) from the Vatos had been settled in, things had ramped up in the Black Lands. Everybody pitchin' in and gettin' things squared away for the colder months. He and Merle had done their parts, much like everybody else, helpin' with slaughterin' and breakin' down the carcasses from the various meat animals they raised, trimmin' down the herds and flocks an' such for winter.

Once that was over, the three Black men had gone back to doin' their runs, but hadn't been bringin' back anymore people.

Which was a good call from what Daryl had seen.

Everybody had seemed to just hunker down once the weather started to turn, and when it was real ugly nobody went anywhere, unless the wards pinged and then usually Harry would take flight to go investigate.

Merle – and more than a few of the others – kept busy in the mechanics shop, while Daryl found himself more often than not helpin' out with the keepin' the kids entertained by teachin' 'em what he knew about horses or huntin' or makin' traps.

His brother teased 'im for it more often than not…but Harry appreciated it and wasn't shy about showin' Daryl that appreciation in ways that would make his toes curl days later jus' thinkin' about it.

Time passed quick enough when you weren't always amped up and expectin' an attack, an' somehow in a blink he'd found himself wonderin' what to make his Magic Man and some of the others for Christmas in a week or two, or Yule as that was what the Blacks all celebrated on the Winter Solstice rather than the Christian holiday.

He an' Merle had both gotten a kick out of the appalled looks on more than one southern woman's face when the newer members of the Black Lands found out that their hosts and leaders were a group of pagans.

That had been priceless.

"Hey love." Harry smiled brightly at the sight of Daryl waiting on him in the courtyard, a piece of wood and a knife in his hand. Both of the Dixons were working on presents from what Harry could gather, preferring to fashion gifts with their own hands rather than try and go out "shopping" in the cities for them instead. Some of the others who didn't have either the ability or inclination to make gifts had pulled one of the three Blacks aside to ask if they would grab such-and-such for a partner or friend or child. "Managed to escape from the two terrors I see."

Daryl cocked a half-grin at that.

Ever since the first time helpin' with the kiddos Harry's siblings had taken to following him around when they could, though Raz often dogged Merle's heals to his brother's consternation.

"They're not so bad." Daryl said as he tucked his project away and dusted his hands off before standin' up and leanin' into Harry for a welcome-home kiss. "Jus' need a bit of patience is all."

Which his brother was learnin'…slowly.

Well…

At least he didn' run away from a mite no bigger than a grasshopper anymore anyhow.

Harry snickered a little after pressing a hot kiss to slightly-chapped lips. No matter how many pots of lip balm he put in the bathroom or on the kitchen counter, both of the brothers always forgot to grab one before heading out for the day. They'll use it when he reminds them, both other than that "weren't much for fancy shit" like lip balm or sunscreen, even in the near-blinding winter Georgia sun as it bounced off the ever-rising snow pack found this far out in the wilderness and mountains.

He knew exactly what Daryl was thinking of when it came to Raz and Merle – which was one of the cutest versions of hero-worship going on he'd ever seen in person.

"Me an' Merle have a plan for t'night." Daryl told him, linking their fingers together as they made their way over to Max the foreman who was talking with Sirius for Harry to report on whatever-it-was that had gotten him up and out of their warm bed early that mornin' to investigate. "You gonna be around?"

"Oh dear, a Dixon Plan?" Harry teased him lightly, thinking of more than one time where the two brothers had gotten into scrapes from their "plans", all of which had been relayed in one way or another to Harry during fireside talks the last several months. "Should I wear my armor…just in case?"

Daryl snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Naw." He drawled, smirking. "Jus' your pretty skin."

"Well," Harry smirked right back. "In that case…"

Harry was dragging his feet by the time he made it back to their suite that night.

Expansion was the name of the game right now, especially since the colder weather had most living things hunkering down to wait out the winter.

It wasn't a hard work he was doing by any means – though he was planning something that he would need help with once it came to that point – but when you were going through the same routine over and over again for hours it was exhausting even if it wasn't difficult.

Those dragging feet came to an abrupt halt and emerald green eyes shot wide as he pushed open the door to his suite and stepped into something very different than what he was expecting.

When Daryl had told him they had "plans" for him, Harry had expected something raunchy and clothing optional – which he was honestly looking forward to.

This…

This wasn't that.

The couches had been pushed to the edges of the room along with the low table that was normally in front of the wide fireplace, making a large open area before the ever-present fire and the soft rugs laid out before it.

Harry cocked his head to the side, eyeing said rugs with a smile.

There were a couple extra rugs than normal, it looked like the brothers had robbed all the rugs from their normally-empty bedrooms to carpet the wooden floor.

In the center of the new layers of rugs and fabrics on the floor were several wooden trays – normally used for breakfast in bed – laid out with some of his favorites, chocolate strawberries, cheesecake, butter crackers smeared with cream cheese and pepper jelly, the works. To one side was a wine bucket which had a breathing bottle of champagne on ice. And standing over the spread of soft furs and extravagant tidbits were his loves, only instead of their normal jeans or work pants and cotton shirts they were in finely pressed linen pants and silk shirts, their hair was trimmed, Daryl's beard trimmed and Merle was freshly shaved. The only thing out of place on the high-class picture were the bare feet each man was sporting.

"Hello there." Harry gave an admiring arch of his brow. "Don't I feel overdressed?"

The Dixons both chuckled, enjoying the turn of events, as both of them have spent more than one moment in their time with Harry feeling out-of-place in his world.

Rolling his eyes as the brothers knelt and got comfortable, Harry wandered into their bedroom, arching another brow as he saw the dozens of lit candles scattered all over the room.

They'd really gone all-out.

A freshening spell and switch of clothes into simple linen drawstring pants and silk tunic both in endless black that made his skin glow and his eyes shine later and he was snuggling down in between his loves who were waiting patiently to woo him – Dixon style.

"You guys put a lot of effort into this." He commented as Merle handed him over a glass of perfectly chilled champagne, smiling a little around the flute as his eyes landed on a pair of wrapped boxes that had been hiding behind a pillow when he first walked in.

Both packages had the messily-wrapped appearance, complete in butcher paper that had been painted in slashes and splotches that read of help from Raz and Jamie while the choice of wine shouted Sirius and the nibbles Remus.

"Yer ours." Daryl shrugged, a bit uncomfortable as always with discussing feelings. "Been workin' hard, deserve a little care every now an' again."

"Thank you." Harry smiled softly at Daryl, reaching out and clasping his hand, then turning and doing the same with Merle. "Both of you."

They chatted a bit, somehow got on the subject of dates-gone-wrong which had all three of them rolling with laughter as the brothers took turns feeding Harry and being fed by him, most everything they'd put together working well, though the cheesecake took a bit of doing and made more than a bit of a mess at times.

But kisses were just as sweet with the tang of the treat on their lips as not, and none of them had a problem cleaning up any would-be spills from lip or hand or neck or chest.

The bottle was coming up empty when Harry's curiosity got the better of him and he started eyeing up the two packages, the brothers smirking at him knowingly as they each picked up their gift, having a wordless conversation that ended with Daryl turning a bit to face him and handing over his first as Merle sat back and watched, content once again to let his little brother lead with their Pretty.

As Harry carefully peeled back the edges of the paper, revealing a jeweler's box in an odd size – too big for a ring, but wrong for just about anything else – Merle spoke as the Dixons fixed their eyes on his face.

"Ya explained ta us awhile back." Merle said. "'Bout how y'all do marriage. Bondin' ya called it."

Emerald eyes flew up to stare from one ruggedly handsome face to the other in shock before darting back down to the box in his hands, having one hell of an idea now what it contained.

"Talked to yer das when we decided to put this all together." Daryl continued, picking up the story from his brother. "'Bout how it all works. We know," he jerked his head to include his brother. "Tha' this is the wrong time-a year for it. But we wanted…"

"Wanted to mark as ours anyway." Merle finished. "An' then bond good an' proper come spring, when yer Da Remus said were best."

"Are you…are you sure?" Harry's voice cracked a little. He'd never thought, never even considered that the Dixons would propose. Because that's exactly what this was. A proposal. "I mean…" He bit his lip as he glanced up through inky lashes at the brothers, darting a glance down at the box Merle still held in steady hands. "Bonding…it's not like marriage. It's forever."

"We know." Daryl said simply as he reached forward and nudged Harry's hand off the top of his box, flicking it open to show the shining platinum cuff etched in decorations that he'd carved himself. Sirius had helped him pick it, while Remus had come through with the tool he needed to do the metalwork himself.

Merle took that as his cue and quickly shed the wrapping on his box, opening it to show a similar band, though in place of etchings his was set with a single, simple emerald cabochon.

A cabochon that matched his Pretty's eyes perfectly.

"We want ya." Merle told him, flashing a cocky grin. "'Sides…where in this world we gonna find ourselves another Pretty Magic Man like you?"

Harry snorted out, half-laugh and half-happy tears as he picked up Daryl's cuff first and offered his right wrist, the same side as Daryl always took in the bed or next to him at a table, the quieter brother clasping it on his wrist with fingers that shook – just a mite, mind – then repeated the action with Merle's cuff and his left wrist.

Laughing, he gave no resistance at all when he found himself pounced on and pushed to his back on the rugs, the Dixons having reached their limit for mush without being physical, all the while planning out in his head what his cuffs on the Dixons were going to look like.

On the upside…deciding on a present for the pair had just gotten that much easier.

Merle purred as he felt his Pretty climb between silken sheets and lay a gentle kiss on his shoulder blade.

"Enjoy yer flight?" His voice was gravelly and rough from the previous night's activities, the older brother taking a lazy morning in the wake of their late night that didn't end until the wee hours of the morning.

Harry'd been up first for another fly around the borders – he was plottin' and plannin' somehin' but hadn't yet brought it up with either them or his dads.

Whatever it was, Merle knew two things: it was sure to be cunnin' as all hell, and just as labor-intensive.

"It's freeing." Harry admitted. "My mind processes things differently, sees things in a whole new way from the skies. But it's a lot of information, teeny tiny things I never noticed or paid attention to before I found my wings. And if this weather keeps up I'll be grounded for a bit."

Winter was kicking Western Georgia's ass the closer it crept to the Solstice.

Which was good – since on one hand it slowed down the walkers.

But also bad – it slowed people and animals down as well, the ones that haven't tucked away for the winter months.

The gruff former-Marine chuckled and turned onto his back, hand flashing out lightning-quick to haul his young lover over and across his chest, locking him in place with a deep, tongue-twining kiss.

"And where's mah brother?" He murmured as he moved, covering Harry's arching neck in nipping kisses as he waited for an answer.

"Working on something with Jamie and Raz." Harry finally gathered his wits to gasp out. "All three of 'em were pretty hush-hush about whatever is mischief they're planning to unleash on their victim."

A white-toothed grin flashed in the low afternoon light.

"Excellent."

"Big broder, big broder!" Raz cheered on the morning of the Solstice as the trio wandered down to the family living room in sock feet, Jamie joining in with his chants.

Each of the two terrors climbed to their feet and gamboled over to the trio, glomping first onto Harry then attacking their Dixon of choice – Raz, Merle and Jamie, Daryl – before switching, the two brothers scooping the tykes up and slinging them over their shoulders to return them to their spots by the fireplace that had been set with a "Yule" log.

It had been a fascinating glimpse into the practices of their new little family unit that the Dixons were settling into, goin' out with all the Blacks including their Pretty and picking out a tree to cut down and prep into the traditional log. Both had enjoyed watching their Pretty and his das debark the massive thing and carve it with "runes" before they twined it with garland and sprinkled it with wine. Harry had told them that they'd light the log at dusk, then the adults would keep a vigil through the night until the dawn.

But for the moment, it was time for breakfast and giving out a few gifts, as the terrors wouldn't be up at daybreak to get theirs along with the ones exchanged between the adults.

"Presents! Presents!" The kids chanted and the grown-ups laughed.

Now matter the holiday celebrated, some things were universal.

And little kids and their honest greed was one of them.

"Alrigh' alrigh'." Daryl laughed, caving first to the puppy-dog eyes while Harry gave a coughing "sucker" under his breath, taking the sting out of the tease with a smacking kiss to one morning-grizzled cheek. "Here ya two go."

Daryl handed over the two paper-and-twine wrapped package which the two siblings tore into with glee, smiles and bright eyes all around as they discovered the identical presents that only differed with the name carved into the base.

Picked out in nice solid oak and carved by hand with one of his knives was a rather good sculpture of a wolf, a shaggy dog, and a pair of cubs with a falcon perched on the back of the wolf, the only color added to the piece the gold or grey or green of each's eyes.

"Papa, Papa look!" Jamie shoved her sculpture in Remus's face as Raz showed his off just as exuberantly to his "big broder" before doing the same to Sirius. "It's us!"

"I see, little cub." Remus hugged her to his side, eyeing the cuff on his oldest cub's wrist with approval and the sculpture with genuine pleasure. "I see."

Merle had thought along similar lines, though his was a toy and not a decoration, fashioning a pair of metal kids' puzzles from some of the scrap, each engraved like Daryl's pack with the name of the child it belongs too.

Gifts that were accepted in part with just as much glee due to the sheer noise they made as the fun the kids thought they'd be to play with.

"Yeah yuck it up." Sirius muttered as he winced as Raz gave a particularly exuberant clang of his puzzle. "You forget that my pup is capable of bearing young?" He smirked over at the suddenly pale-faced Merle. "What goes around comes around, asshole. You just keep laughing. Remus and I'll be more than happy to sugar up your kids and send them home to daddy once our pup makes us grandfathers, just you wait."

The explosion shook the trees, sending reverberations through the gully below, rocks shaking loose and tumbling down to crash into the icy water – all without making a sound as Harry's warding silenced the area and dispelled the flames and smoke.

"Goddamn." Merle cursed, Daryl and Harry's Dad Siri just watching with wide eyes as they witnessed the result of Harry's weeks of plotting and planning.

Sirius whistled, one hand held above his eyes to protect them from the competing glare of sun-on-snow and the bright flames of the soundless destruction.

"That the last one?" Daryl asked the pertinent question as he studied the gaping maw over a gully that used to be a bridge – one of several that fed into the network of roads leading to what was now over a dozen square miles of land warded and guarded by the magical family.

Harry nodded as he stepped forward, a quiet word and wave of his wand banishing the lingering dust and rubble of the explosion.

He'd already set up a "Bridge Down, Road Ends" series of barricades on the other side to keep someone from taking an accidental dive into the river below.

"All but the one that I've warded to hell and back." Harry told them, speaking of the lone main-thoroughfare that he'd left alone. Other than hiking in on foot or hoof, though if someone had a dirt bike or ATV they could probably manage it as well, there was now only one way to gain access to the Black Lands.

If their wards weren't enough, the roads being down and bridges gone would make for one hell of an obstacle course for someone to find Harry's family – if they even knew where to look.

It was all part of Harry's greater plan, which he'd have to explain to his loves and dads later.

Honestly, if it wasn't for wanting Siri's wand helping him with this last – and biggest – demolition, he wouldn't have said a word until the wards were altered the way he wanted as well, presenting the whole thing as a fait accompli.

"Why?" Siri couldn't help but ask, baffled at what was going through his pup's mind. "The wards will keep out muggles and walkers alike."

"That's the problem." Green eyes flickered over the tall forms of his lovers meaningfully. "Muggles." He arched a brow at his dad. "Which would have been enough. But we're not exactly, as alone here as we thought…now are we, Dad?"

Sirius groaned, closing his eyes and shaking his head.

Well.

At least that explains his pup's recent dive into paranoid destruction.

And honestly…Prongslet had a point.

It was something they – he and Remus – had discussed idly, how odd it was that Harry kept finding people with at least a little talent in them.

After the latest round of emigres from the Vatos compound in Atlanta, they'd found that a full half of the "muggles" they'd rescued and set up in the Black Lands – including their workers from pre-outbreak – had some form of magical connection, most scoring on the lowest tier in the scale of magical power, between a two, being of magical descent, to a four which was a magical sensitive like their foreman Max or his son Jacob or the Grimes boy Carl.

Harry had also found the brothers who were higher up on that scale, and more than one who had no magical blood at all.

Which made simply warding against non-magicals a crap-shoot, since while the brothers were on their side, the next person to be powerful enough to see through the notice-me-not charms on the main road to the Black Lands might not be.

"Don't worry about it too much, Dad." Harry smiled a little, eyes gleaming. "I've got an idea. But I'm going to need all of us – Blacks and Dixons – to make it work…"

"It's a beacon." Remus whispered, golden eyes dragging upwards from the ward schema his cub and laid out on the round dining room table.

They'd returned from blowing the shit out of the last bridge leading into the Black Lands – or at least the last one he was planning to blow up – and had a nice mellow dinner with Remus and the kiddos, despite the Dixons eyeing him in confused interest and no little amount of worry – worry echoed in his Dad Siri's eyes.

Raz and Jamie had been ushered off for baths and then bed, while Harry grabbed the plans.

Plans he'd found in his lord's mantle the morning after he'd returned from getting the remnants of the Vatos onto the Black Lands.

The mantle had opened before – several times.

Such as when Harry went off to college or when his younger siblings were both born, every time with plans or tools or what have you that would be a help in the future, even if they didn't immediately understand how, it always dawned on them what was going on once Pandora's planning panned out.

Harry's currently plan of attack was fully half-Pandora Delphi-Lovegood's fault and half his own paranoia.

The plans for the new ward schema were all Pandora.

Making it even more difficult for others to find the Black Lands?

The destruction?

That was all Harry.

"Beacon?" Merle frowned, not understanding a lick of the magical hoodoo that his Pretty and his Da's were discussin'. "What kinda beacon?"

"Let me ask you both a question." Harry turned towards his loves, shifting a bit in his chair to have a better view of the men flanking him on either side. Merle on his left and Daryl on his right, as had become their habit over the last months. "Ever since coming here, how do you feel? Anxious? Hyper-aware?"

"Safe." Daryl said almost at once with a slight jerk of his shoulders and a light frown. "I handle bein' away on a hunt or a sourcin' trip jus' fine…but I feel safe here."

Merle just nodded in silent agreement with his little brother's words.

"It's the wards that do that." Remus explained, seeing where his cub was going with this whole…scheme. "Short of us, you two are the most powerful – magically – residents of the Black Lands. You feel it the most, while someone like Hershel who isn't magical at all will feel it the least."

"What I want to do." Harry explained, excitement creeping into his voice. "Is flip the wards a little with this addition." He waved a hand over the schematic. "Extending that feeling of safeness into a beacon that those with magical blood will actually be drawn to from outside the wards."

"A beacon." Merle blew out a breath as he rubbed one hand over his upper lip. "Like a lighthouse in a storm."

"Exactly." Harry nodded firmly. "Any safe port, right? What's safer than here?"

"An' the demos." Daryl commented slowly as he rolled what he thought was goin' on in Harry's mind around a minute. "That's ta give ya time to gauge the folks drawn here, yeah?"

"Basically." Harry shrugged, as awareness sharpened his dads' eyes. "With all of us giving input to the wards to help, well, tune them to the sort of people we want to find us, that should cut down on the danger involved in doing this. But still…we're all here." He waved a hand between the three of them and the two quietly-debating-amongst-each-other forms of his dads. "And the kids. Not to mention anyone else. I want people that will make us stronger in different ways to come. Not someone with an eye on taking over or whatever."

"How certain are ya that ya can tune it like that?" Merle asked shrewdly, taking the words right out of Sirius's mouth if the approving nod the older man gave him was any indication.

"Eh." He waved a hand side to side. "So-so. Pandora's notes say it will work…but I don't like taking chances. Hence the upping the difficulty of finding us exponentially with the risk we'll be taking."

"So-so." Sirius shook his head, frowning deeply even as he knew he was going to agree to his pup's madcap idea. "What the hell. You and Pandora haven't led us wrong yet. What do you need to make this work, pup?"

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All Credits Due to: Sifshadowheart--AO3