Awesome Fanart by Trigger_Finger <3

The gates slide open, allowing Aaron to help Eric inside. We remain cautious, our weapons ready.

Something crashes behind us and we all jump. Daryl shoots the thing and it lets out a squeak. He moves to it and grabs it by the tail, revealing the creature to be a possum. His arrow remains impaled in its furry body.

There's another guy at the gate now, and he eyes us with distaste.

"We brought dinner," Daryl says, lifting his catch a little.

There's another pause, and Aaron pipes up. "It's ok. Come on in, guys."

We slowly head into the gates. Once we're all inside, they slide shut with a metallic squeak.

"Before we take this any further, I need all of you to turn over your weapons. You stay, you hand them over," the guy from before says.

"We don't know if we want to stay," Rick says.

"It's fine, Nicholas," Aaron whispers.

"If we were gonna use them, we would've started already," Rick points out.

"Let them talk to Deanna first," Aaron suggests.

"Who's Deanna?" Abraham asks.

"She knows everything you'd want to know about this place," he replies. "Rick, why don't you start?"

A growl sounds from behind us and we look back.

"Sasha," Rick says.

Sasha nods, raising her gun and taking out the lone walker with a small popping sound. The second layer of the gate is slid shut, and Rick looks around again.

"Good thing we're here," he murmurs.

----------

We're led to a house, where Rick is sent inside to talk to Deanna. Aaron looks to each of us, smiling pleasantly.

"If you'd like, we can show you to the houses," he offers. We all glance to each other, shrugging. "We'd like each of you to talk to Deanna too, so we can set up jobs for you to do...if you plan on staying, that is."

"We'll look at the houses once Rick comes back out," I say.

Everyone else nods, and Aaron clasps his hands together.

"Then, just relax. I'll help you out then."

We wait until Rick comes back, and we head to the building where the weapons are held.

"You're allowed to keep knives and bows, but the guns are kept in a separate place. Just a precaution," Aaron explains as we walk.

A cart is rolled out once we arrive. A pleasant looking woman stands beside it, giving us a tight lipped smile.

"They're still your guns," she says as we place our various weapons on to the cart. "You can check them out whenever you go beyond the wall. But inside here, we store them for safety."

I put my pistol on the pile, keeping my knife at my side. Everyone else follows suit, and I almost laugh at how many guns we actually have. Carol places her large gun on the pile last, and the woman adjusts her glasses and lets out a breathy laugh.

"I'll need another bin for that one," she comments jokingly as she rolls the cart away.

Carol smiles at her, and Rick nods to all of us. Aaron leads us away to check out the houses.

----------

"This one would be nice for you two, I think," Aaron says to Daryl and I. "Feel free to look around, settle in, do whatever you need to do."

He leaves, and I look around the house, amazed by the cleanliness. It feels so foreign. Daryl slumps onto the couch, still holding his possum.

"What do you think?" I ask.

"It's nice."

I look to him. "The house or the community?"

He shrugs, and I sigh as I go sit down next to him.

"This place is our best shot at having a safe place for the baby," I murmur. "Don't you want that?"

"Of course," he replies immediately. "I dunno...it feels like a cage."

I smirk, resting my head on his shoulder. "You said at the prison that you can handle a cage if you're in the cage with me."

He wraps an arm around my shoulders. "True..."

I kiss his cheek. "Now, I'm going to shower." I stand up, looking back at him. "You should too."

"Nah. I'm good."

I roll my eyes. "It wasn't an offer."

He smirks. "I'm good without havin' a shower."

I lean closer to him, placing a hand on his knee. "Would you be more lenient if you showered with me?"

He stands up. "Well, can't refuse that offer. Just don't make me get a haircut."

"But-"

"No."

"Fine."

"Thank you, angel."

He kisses my forehead, and I head up to the bathroom while he finds a place to put his possum. I find myself hesitating at the door, a hand resting on my knife before I pull it open. Nothing jumps out at me, so I disrobe and place my clothes and weapons in a neat pile.

There's bottles of shampoo and conditioner, razors, toothbrushes and toothpaste, and basically everything we had to live without most of the time. We had the oral hygiene stuff, but that razor...now that was a luxury.

I look to my legs, grinning at the thought of shedding the coarse hair on them.

I start the shower and climb in, feeling the dirt fall away from my body as the steam fills the room. The door opens and I feel Daryl's arms wrap around my waist.

"Enjoyin' yourself?" he murmurs against my neck.

I chuckle. "Very much so."

I turn around, laughing at the way his hair sticks to his face. He raises an eyebrow, one hand remaining on my waist. The other grazes the bullet wound scar on my ribcage, and he sighs as he looks at it. I brush his soaking bangs from his face and grab a bottle of shampoo.

"I command you to use this," I say.

He grunts. "It's citrus scented."

"And?"

"I don't want to smell like a damn fruit basket."

I laugh again. "Please? If you're going to have shaggy hair you need to keep it clean."

He sighs again. "The stuff I do for you."

I give him a chaste kiss, squirting some shampoo into my palm and massaging it into my hair. I rinse and repeat with the conditioner, and it's almost as if my hair becomes lighter. I finish up, leaving Daryl to finish up with his cleaning.

"Massage it in!" I call.

"Yeah yeah..." he grunts.

I chuckle. I wrap a towel around my waist, settling down on the toilet. I lather my legs and armpits with shaving cream and grab the razor, shaving gratefully. I finish as Daryl climbs out, shutting off the water and shaking his head wildly.

"Daryl!" I squeal as the water from his hair flies at me.

He smirks. "That was for makin' me smell good."

I fake pout. "You'll live. It was this or you get hosed in your sleep. Carol already volunteered to help."

He chuckles while I go to rinse off my legs, running my hands up and down them.

"I'm hairless again! I feel ten pounds lighter." I giggle.

He dries off his hair with another towel, starting to brush his teeth. I comb my hair, the two of us sharing the mirror. We both look a few years younger as soon as we've cleaned ourselves, and I feel almost giddy with happiness.

I get dressed in the new clothes they set out for us and fluff my hair a little, letting it fall in a cascade of brunette curls down my back. Daryl gets changed into his original outfit.

I move to him, running my fingers through his still damp hair and wrapping my arms around his neck. I kiss the corner of his mouth gently.

"My fruit basket," I murmur.

He gives me a small shove, smirking. "Shut up."