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2 months later

Jo

I woke to a rhythmic, repetitive thudding coming down through the wall near my head. I groaned and tried to snuggle deeper under the covers, pulling them over my head to muffle the sound. Beneath my cheek Daryl's bare chest shook as he chuckled. His arm tightened around my waist pulling me closer.

"Carl!" I heard Rick yell, his voice was tinged with agitation.

I could relate.

Next door, the group had split up, many of the couples, like Abraham and Rosita and Glenn and Maggie, had moved into homes of their own. Our house remained unchanged. Daryl and I had stayed with Rick, Michonne, Carol and the kids. The subject was brought up at the last community meeting that more townhouses were available. Daryl, however, had never seemed the slightest bit interested in moving out and separating from the people he considered to be his family. And, though on mornings like this I wished for a little more privacy, I would never push him on it.

The thudding had stopped, but now I was awake. I groaned again and snuggled deeper into Daryl. He was so warm. His fingers glided along my hip and I rubbed against him.

"No fair," his voice rasped, low and husky with sleep and other things. He rolled over and glanced at the clock groaning. "I gotta go," he said, starting to pull away.

"Five more minutes?" I teased, rubbing myself against his side.

He chortled. "Five minutes? That all darlin'?"

I laughed out loud. "Okay, half an hour," I reasoned.

He just shook his head and dipped his head down and his lips glided over my neck. I squirmed in his arms. He stilled for a second, and his demeanor changed from passionate to playful in the blink of an eye. I laughed out loud when his fingers grazed my ribs.

"No!" I squealed as he ticked me. I rolled away from him, tangling myself further in the sheet. 

He chuckled low in his throat and climbed out of bed, swatting me playfully on my ass.

I laughed again and rolled over onto my stomach to watch him get dressed. Things had been so different the last couple months. Daryl seemed happier, lighter. He laughed and played and told jokes. We all did. After what happened, the community rallied together and we rebuilt and expanded. Since construction was completed, Rick and Daryl had been going out together on runs and looking for people. Sometimes I went with them, but often my duties around the community prevented me from accompanying them. I hated when Daryl left, but having Rick watch his back was almost as good as me being there.

"Ya planning on getting up anytime soon Darl'in?" he teased, buttoning his jeans.

I arched a brow suggestively, then giggled because I felt ridiculous. "Just enjoying the show."

He smirked at me, holding his shirt and vest in one hand. I climbed out of bed, letting the sheet pool at my feet.

His eyes darkened and he swallowed tightly. "Rick's waiting..."

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Daryl

Forty-five minutes later I jogged out of the house. I was late and Rick was waiting. I pulled on my vest as I took the stairs two at a time. I still needed to talk to Denise before meeting Rick. I jogged towards the infirmary but I found her walking towards the pantry.

"Hey!" I called to get her attention.

"Yes?" she asked turning around to face me, a smile on her face.

"This thing at the bottom right here, you're talking about the drink right?" I asked holding out the list of medical supplies Denise had left me for the run.

"I am, but..."

"It's not medical," I clarified adjusting the empty backpack over my shoulder. Ain't no way no orange soda was a medical thing.

"No," she said pushing her glasses up her nose. "I drew a line between the important stuff and that. I just figured if you saw it..."

"Alright," I agreed nodding.

"Anything remotely medical is a priority. And food, maybe even food before medicine and gas or batteries or books for the kids or clothes is just - if you see it, if it just happens to be right there.."

I nodded. The way she rambled reminded me of how Jo would ramble sometimes when she was nervous. I shifted my weight uncomfortably. I didn't like that I made her nervous, but I wasn't sure how to fix it. I had never been good at this.

"Ya like it, right?" I tried asking.

"What?" She asked, surprised. "Oh, no, I don't drink pop."

I frowned. "What the hell is pop?"

"Oh," she said chuckling, "I'm originally from Ohio."

I frowned down at the list in my hand. "Then why do ya want it?" I tried not to growl at her and be annoyed. Things were better but the people behind these walls sometimes still forgot how dangerous it could be out there. I wasn't going to risk Rick and me over something stupid. Especially not on a run when it was just the two of us.

She shifted uncomfortably again like I had asked a personal question. She leaned in close like someone was going to overhear. I fought the urge to take a step back. "See, Tara was talking about it in her sleep, I think. Either she likes it, or she doesn't, but if she likes it, it would be a really nice surprise right?"She asked me.

I shrugged. I wasn't any good at this shit. Lucky for me Jo wasn't that kind of girl. At least I didn't think she was. I frowned as I realized there was a chance she might be and I just hadn't been doing anything like that for her. There wasn't really anything that Jo got excited about, sides new knives.

"I'm not good with that kind of stuff and she and Heath were going on that two week run I just thought it would be a nice going-away present. Just, uh, don't go out of your way and ah, if it gives you any trouble don't..."

"I won't" I agreed, eager to end this conversation before she started talking about anything else personal.

"Good, she said nodding. "Cuz it's not important like I said I just drew the line..."

I started walking away before she got to rambling again. "Got it!" I called back over my shoulder.

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Jo

Carol was in the kitchen feeding Judith when I came up the stairs. Carl was sitting in the living room, tossing his tennis ball against the wall and catching it. He had been doing that nonstop since Denise assigned it to him as physical therapy over a month ago.

Carol turned to me, holding out a cup of coffee with a smirk on her face. "Daryl ran out of here awfully quickly this morning," she observed her voice carefully neutral. "Missed breakfast."

I narrowed my eyes at her. "He was running late," I said, turning away so she wouldn't see the blush coloring my cheeks. There was not enough privacy in this house. She laughed out loud behind me.

Judith cooed from her seat at the counter and I stepped over to her, taking one of her small hands in my own. She was getting so big. It was hard to believe how fast she was growing.

"You aren't going on the run?" Carol asked.

I turned from Judith back to Carol. "No, I have training this morning and then class..."

I glanced over at Carl. "Are you joining me this morning?"

He hesitated, holding the ball in his hand, then he looked up at me in confusion. He hadn't trained with me since before the accident.

I jerked my chin towards the ball. "You seem to be doing just fine with that thing."

He chuckled nervously. "Yeah but it's not a knife."

I shrugged, I didn't want to make him feel pressured but he really did need to start handling weapons again. "Your choice," was all I said instead. His rehab had been a struggle and it was obvious his confidence was shaken by the changes to his vision. But the only way to get past it was to keep moving forward and I was determined to help him do that.

"Do you want some breakfast?" Carol asked me.

I shook my head. "No thank you, not before training." I set the coffee mug in the sink and moved towards the door pulling on my boots.

I fastened the last few straps of my shoulder rig as I waited. I had a good feeling about today, but maybe I had been wrong. Maybe he wasn't ready. My hand had just touched the metal of the door handle when Carl came trotting to the door from the living room.

"Wait up!" he called, strapping his gun belt around his waist.

Carol met my gaze from across the room and winked.

"Be back later," I promised her.

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Daryl

I met Rick at the main gate, my backpack over my shoulder. Rick arched his eyebrow and smirked at me but didn't say anything.

I cleared my throat uncomfortably. "Sorry I'm late," I said, tossing the backpack into the backseat. I got a feeling he knew why I was late but I wasn't fessing up to anything.

He threw back his head and laughed, climbing into the car. I got into the passenger side and rolled down the window as Eugene approached. He leaned into the window, passing me a map.

"I mapped out some of the agricultural supply places in the area. Even if they've been cleaned out, my bet is that the sorghum would be untouched. Now that there is a criminally underrated grain that could change the game with our food situation from scary to hunky-dunky." he nodded looking back and forth from Rick and I. "I'm talking sustainability, drought tolerance, grain to stover ratio that is the envy of all corns. Think about it," he said seriously.

I frowned at him. "Thanks," I said nodding.

"Okay," he said and he stepped back so we could go.

Rick reached up and adjusted the rearview mirror while I settled into my seat. "Would you look at that," he drawled.

I frowned and turned to look over my shoulder. Jo was walking out onto the green, where she had set up a few targets for practice. Rosita used the spot for her protection classes, but Jo had started coming out and doing her own training in the morning there. At first it took a while before anyone worked up the courage to approach her, but now there was usually one or two who would join her. Like it was some kind of damn exercise class. Today Carl was walking beside her, his gun belt on his hip for the first time since he had been hurt.

I grunted turning back straight. "He's a tough kid," I said grimly.

Rick glanced over at me. "She's a tough woman. I owe her a lot."

I looked down at my hands and smiled as I thought about Jo. She wouldn't be comfortable with Rick thinking he owed her anything. "She ain't as tough as she seems," I said quietly.

Rick snorted and shook his head. "Yeah, she is." And he put the car into drive and pulled through the gate.

I chewed on my lip as I bit back a smile. Jo was tough and strong, but I liked that she wasn't that way with me. Not any more at least. These days she smiled more often and had seemed to find a place with the other people here. She seemed happy.

Rick pulled out onto the road. "Today's the day," he said optimistically.

"Uh huh," I agreed automatically.

"We're gonna find food," he said. "Maybe some people. The law of averages has gotta catch up."

Rick had been relentlessly optimistic for weeks now and it never came to nothing. Just grated on my nerves. "I don't know, we ain't seen nobody for weeks. Maybe we ain't gonna find nobody. Maybe that's a good thing."

Rick didn't respond, but he reached forward towards the radio.

"Don't," I begged, not caring how desperate I sounded. "Don't," he ignored me. "Please don't."

He slid the damn CD into the radio anyway.

I scowled.

He laughed and started snapping along to the obnoxious beat, cranking it up as loud as it would go. "Draws them away from home!" he had to yell to be heard above the song.

I just shook my head and sighed.

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Jo

Carl was doing better than I expected. He was at least hitting the targets, though I could tell he was frustrated he wasn't as good as he used to be. Even with the handicap he was the best of the group aside from myself.

"Hey," I said pulling the knives out of the target. "It'll take time, but you'll get there."

I walked back over to him, sliding the blades away. I turned back to the other people who had joined us. Olivia, and two women named Tracy and Stephanie. Both had lost their husbands when the wall went down and they had been religious about joining me for my morning work outs and attending Rosita's classes. They wanted to survive.

"One hundred hook/elbow strike combos," I told them. "Focus on form and strength." I looked meaningfully at Carl too. He rolled his eye but complied without complaint.  I stepped in front of them and led them through the combos.

Tracy was a middle aged woman who often looked after Judith for us. A few weeks after the wall went down, she had come to me and proudly presented me with a thigh sheath that held four throwing knives. She and Olivia had found some tactical fabric in the pantry and Tracy had sewed it from a picture in an old hunting magazine. When they gave it to me, they thanked me for everything I had done to try and save everyone. I was still uncomfortable with the interaction and being thanked but I loved the ability to carry all my throwing knives.

Once we were done with the combos the others paused, fighting to catch their breath. I smiled as Carl glared at me.

"Hey Carl," I turned to see Enid standing a short distance away. I looked back and forth between the two teenagers, fighting a smile. They only had eyes for each other.

"Hey," Carl responded slightly awkwardly. His eye shifted to me and I quickly looked away, feigning interest in the knives on my thigh.

"You still wanna hang out later?" She asked, sounding only slightly more confident than him.

"Yeah," he replied turning back to her. He shoved his hands in his pockets as a faint blush appeared on his cheeks.

She nodded. "Cool." Then she hurried away.

I looked back at Carl but he was staring after Enid. When he finally noticed I lifted my eyebrows, feeling a little like Carol when Daryl and I used to dance around each other. I liked to think we weren't nearly as awkward as the two teenagers, but I somehow doubted that.

Carl make a noise of disgust in the back of his throat and stalked away.

"I'll see you in class later!" I called after Carl in a teasing voice. He was too embarrassed to do anything other than wave at me over his shoulder.

I looked back at the other women and we all burst out laughing.

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Daryl

We pulled into the yard of a farm with Sorghum painted on the roof of the pole barn and the garage door. If what Eugene said was true, this might be the answer to our food shortage.
I pulled bolt cutters out of my bag and approached the garage door. Rick moved to check around the side of the building.

"Hey hold up!" I called to him stepping up to the padlocked garage door.

"Just to be safe," he said coming back towards me.

"Cover it?" I asked, snipping the lock.

"Yeah," he agreed pulling his gun.

I jerked the door open, shoving it up hard and fast while I jumped back behind Rick. Rick stepped forward, his gun in hand. There was a white container truck parked in front of us. Rick cleared both sides then turned back to me.

"We're good," he said.

I nodded, eyeing the large white storage truck.

"One more time?" he asked, his gun still in his hand.

"Ain't locked," I said, trying not to sound too disappointed. If it wasn't locked chances were there was nothing left. I undid the latch, preparing myself just in case it was another damn trap. I slid the door up and stared in surprise. The truck was stuffed full of food and supplies. This was someone's cache.

Beside me Rick let out a low whistle. "Well, how about that?" Rick asked brightly. "Law of averages." He climbed up into the truck and started digging through the boxes.

"Yep," I agreed climbing up after him.

He pulled out a tube of toothpaste and tapped it against his other hand. "Michonne will be excited," he said wryly.

I nodded and looked at the piles of stuff. I dug through a few boxes wondering if there was anything in here Jo would like. Then I felt like an idiot for not knowing what I was looking for.

"You looking for something in particular?" He asked looking at me curiously.

I froze and looked back at him frowning. "Just-" I looked back into the box in front of me. "Seeing if there was something for Jo," I finished quietly, surprised by how embarrassed I sounded. But Rick only nodded like he understood and flipped open the top on another few boxes.

He opened another and started chuckling.

I glanced over at him.

"Here you are my friend," he said reaching into the box. "Guaranteed to make Jo the happiest woman in Alexandria."

He slapped a pack of coffee down in front of me. I stared at it. It was one of those expensive kinds of coffee that was still just beans and had another language on the label.

"There's a whole box of it." Rick said proudly.

I picked up the package and smelled the beans. It smelled like plain old coffee to me but Rick was right. Jo would love this. I tossed the package back with the others and nodded to him smiling.

"Let's get this thing going," he said hopping back down. "Grab our gear, come back for the car later. Take another way back, see what we can see."

"You think it'll start?" I asked pulling the door closed.

"Yeah I do," he said shaking his head in disbelief. "Sorghum," he said laughing.

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Jo

When the wall went down, we lost Holly. She had fought very bravely to protect our home, but she didn't make it. Since then, I had been responsible for educating the communities youth. She wasn't the only one we lost however. There were only three teenagers and one other young man left in the community. Not wanting to keep them separated I had started teaching them all together three times per week. Holly had been determined to keep the lessons as closely modeled after the schools they had attended before. I kept up with general curriculum but also incorporated my own things I felt they should learn.

Survival these days had little to do with being book smart and I was taking a page out of Carol's book from back at the prison. Carl obviously was already getting instruction on how to defend himself, but fighting was everything. Survival could be determined just as much by one's ability to find water and food in the forest as it did being able to kill walkers. And so, I had been taking the kids out, beyond the wall and showing them what this world was really like. In addition to reading about history and biology I made sure every one of those kids could find water and knew how to build a fire. Today happened to be one of our few classroom days. Sometimes I thought I struggled with them more than the kids did.

"Ms. Schroeder?"

I shook myself from my dark thoughts to see Brian, the third teenager, standing in front of me.

"Sorry Brian, what can I do for you?" I asked him.

He pressed his lips into a thin line. "My mom said she didn't want me going outside the wall next class."

Carl met my gaze from the back of the room where he was sitting next to Enid. He lifted his eyebrow and pressed his lips into an angry line. I turned back to Brian. I kept my face carefully neutral as I nodded. I licked my lips and forced myself to say the right words.

"It's okay Brian," I said. "I'll talk to her," I promised the teenager with a warm smile.

He nodded, looking reassured that he wasn't going to get in trouble.

"Why don't you take the history book and start the reading. A loud please," I said motioning to the single worn history text Daryl and I had found on one of our runs. I wanted to expand our radius and see if we could find a school or college near by. It would be incredible if I could send a book home with each kid.

Brian gave me a small, nervous smile and scooped the book off the table beside me. He always seemed so jumpy around me, it made me wonder what his mother had been saying about me and the rest of us.

Some of the adults were starting to get it. They were starting to understand what it was going to take for us to survive as a community, but not all of them. Just because some of the kids parents weren't falling in line didn't mean I was willing to let their kids be vulnerable. Things were good now, and had been for months, but I didn't trust it. I couldn't trust it. We were living on the edge of a knife, it wouldn't take much for this happy little world of ours to come crashing down. And it wasn't a matter of 'If', it was 'when'.

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Daryl

We pulled off at an old gas station. Rick parked near the road and we got out. I went to try the door, but it was locked up tight. I jerked the handle, but could only here the rattle of chains from inside. I stepped up to the glass and wiped away some dirt. It was dark inside but from what I could see there was nothing inside. The shelves all looked empty. It wasn't worth the effort. I turned away from the doors and froze as I spotted a vending machine laying face down in the parking lot.

"Yo!" I called waving Rick over. "Come give me a hand with this."

Together we struggled, both groaning with effort and still we barely managed to lift it an inch off the ground. "I don't think we got it," Rick said breathing heavily and rotating his shoulders.

I glanced back at the truck. "I got an idea," I told him and I trotted back to the truck, pulling a bit of chain out from the back. I wrapped one end of the chain around vending machine and the other around the hitch. Rick climbed back into the van and rolled the van forward, pulling the vending machine over. I whistled for him to stop.

Rick stopped and climbed out coming back to me. I was rubbing away the dirt, inspecting what was left.

Rick rested a hand on his gun and lifted a brow. "It's soda and candy, why the trouble?"

"It wasn't any trouble," I said simply.

Out of no where someone smashed into Rick, knocking him into the vending machine. The guy rebounded off of him and staggered away from us, stumbling over his own feet. I drew my gun and had it pointed at the guys head before he righted himself. Behind me I heard Rick's gun cock.

"Hi," he said, his eyes wide behind the bandana he had tied around the lower half of his face.

"Back up now!" I yelled threateningly.

"Keep 'em up!" Rick snarled.

"Whoa, hey, easy guys," he said reasonably, holding his hands out. "I was just running from the dead."

"How many?" I snarled.

"Ten, maybe more. I'm not risking it." he said. He was in his thirties and looked like he could fight. His clothes were clean but I didn't see any weapons on him. "Once it gets to double digits I start running."

"Where?" I growled.

He shrugged. "About a half a mile back, they're headed this way." I didn't like it, didn't like him, there was something too helpful about this guy. "You probably have about eleven minutes," he reasoned.

"Okay," Rick said lowering his gun. "Thanks for letting us know."

The guy relaxed even further. "Yeah, there's more of them than us, right? Gotta stick together." He cocked his head to the side and looked at me. "Right?" he asked.

I lowered my gun but didn't put it away. I didn't trust him. Not for one second. There was something off here.

"You gotta camp?" he asked curiously. He didn't seem near intimidated enough by us.

"Naw," I replied gruffly.

"Do you?" Rick asked behind me.

"No," he replied without hesitating but I could tell that he was lying. "Sorry for running into you. I'm going to go now. If this is the next world, I hope it's good to you guys." he called over his shoulder.

"I'm Rick," Rick called loudly after him. "This is Daryl. What's your name?"

The guy stopped and turned to face us. He pulled down his bandana so we could see his face. "Paul Rovia, but my friends used to call me Jesus," he said holding his hands out dramatically. "Your pick."

"You said you didn't have a camp?" Rick asked again. "You on your own?"

"Yeah," he confirmed and then his eyes narrowed. "But, still, best not to try anything."

I took a step forward, not liking the implied threat. "Best not to make threats you can't keep, either," I growled back, shifting my weight.

"Exactly," he said with a smile. Then he turned and started jogging away.

"How many W-" Rick started to ask but I whirled towards him.

"No," I snarled. "Not this guy," I told Rick.

Rick ignored me. "How many walkers have you killed?" he called loud enough to be heard.

"Sorry, gotta run, you should too." Paul said jogging around the side of the building. "I think you've got about seven minutes."

"What the hell was that?" I challenged Rick.

"He was clean," Rick observed. "His beard was trimmed, there's more going on here."

I shook my head. "He didn't have a gun neither."

Rick nodded and I could see him considering this guy. It wasn't going to take a lot for me to talk him into letting him go. Trouble was I couldn't put my finger on what was bugging me about him. There was just something off about him, something that made me not trust him.

Rick cleared his throat. "We could track him, watch him for a while, get to know more. See if he's really alone. Maybe bring him back..."

"Nah," I snarled, frustrated I couldn't find the words to explain to Rick what it was about that asshole. "Guy calls himself Jesus," I finally settle on.

Rick and I both startled when we heard gunshots coming from the back of the building. We drew our guns at the same time and ran around the side. We both pulled up when we spotted an old metal barrel.

"Firecrackers," Rick said thoughtfully, not following what was going on.

"Hell," I muttered as a bad feeling went over me. "Shit, he swiped your keys."

Rick reached back and felt his pocket. "Shit!" We ran around the front just in time to see Jesus drive away in the van.

"Sorry!" he yelled out the window, waving at us as he drove off.

"Shit."

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Hope you guys enjoyed the update. I have to say I am super excited that Jesus is here now! He's one of my favorite characters. Please keep up the awesome comments/votes, I seriously cannot tell you how much your continued support means to me.