Chapter Text
Prologue
Daryl doesn’t quite know how it happened, these swirling embers that threaten to come to the surface and spontaneously combust whenever Grimes flicks his cerulean gaze to meet his, but what he does know is that it is starting to impede on his ability to do even the most rudimentary task. He sits in the guard tower, fiddling with his crossbow in his hands as he squints his gaze across the vast expanse of grounds for any stray walkers. Hours pass, and his shift is over, he heads on back to their cell block for some much needed rest and retreats to his perch- still not fully convinced on sleeping in one of them damn “cells'.
After procuring half of the prisoners’ food supply, Rick felt something halfway to contentment- it was going to be a lean winter, even with their newly acquired loot, and with Lori eating for two, they’d have to go on runs for baby supplies- Lori –sighing, and letting out a breath he didn’t even know he’d been holding, he made his way to the fences and did another perimeter check, not familiar with the prison’s layout, he kept trying to think of any areas they could have overlooked resulting in a breach they could come to regret later on. After being satisfied that there weren’t any breaches; the sun was starting to dip below the horizon, he made his way back to their cell block and struck up conversation with anyone who wasn’t his wife.
As everyone slowly trickled into the common meeting area, slowly eating their meagre dinner of peas and baked beans, Rick caught everyone’s attention and spoke, “I don’t know what the future holds or how long we will be here, but for now, it’s our home, and let’s do everythang in our power to keep it that way, try to enjoy these new times we have together, we’ve overcome a lot and there’s still more to come, but we mustn’t forget who we are and to live in the now, all of us could die tomorrow, so cheers”, murmurs of cheers rang out and as he scanned along his surrogate family, his eyes locked with the quiet redneck in the corner, and cerulean orbs locked with pale blue and he felt something he couldn’t quite identify.