"You sure you don't want me to walk you any further?" Carol asked, walking alongside Rosie in the woods.

"I'm sure. It ain't much further, anyway," Rosie replied. Truth was, though, that she wasn't sure if Daryl wanted to see Carol. She worried it would just make him sad. Plus, Rosie didn't want to keep Carol out in the cold longer than she had to.

"Well, you tell him that if it gets too cold for you guys out there, you're always welcome to stay at the Kingdom," Carol said as she paused her steps. Rosie paused her steps, too, looking over at Carol. Rosie nodded, giving a small smile, and Carol tugged her hat further down to cover her ears and readjusted the collar of her jacket. "I'll see you in a week or two," she said.

"See ya in a week or two," Rosie echoed. She shoved her hands into her pockets and turned away, trudging through the thin sheet of snow that covered the forest floor. She usually visited Henry and Ian at the Kingdom every couple of weeks- usually about once a month- but when it was cold out, she went to the Kingdom more because she wasn't so fond of staying out in the cold.

Carol waited for Rosie to disappear out of her sight before leaving. It always made her nervous letting her walk the last bit of the trip back to her and Daryl's camp alone. At the age of thirtee, Rosie still seemed so little, even if she was a teenager. Carol couldn't help but feel protective over all of the kids. It really wasn't much further, though. Just about as Rosie left Carol's sight, she was already close enough to camp to hear the crackling fire.

"Hi," Rosie greeted as she dropped her backpack down onto one of the logs around the fire.

Daryl was sitting there cooking some soup, it looked like. "Hey," he replied as Rosie sat down next to him. She leaned into his side and he wrapped an arm around her shoulder. Neither of them were ever very cuddly people at all, but in the cold, they seemed to gravitate toward each other for warmth. "You have fun?" Daryl asked.

"Yeah. We played slapjack and had a snowball fight. I won the snowball fight, but I didn't even win slapjack once," Rosie told him. She always had fun visiting Henry and Ian, but she never wanted to stay for too long. She missed Daryl whenever she was gone and she liked being out in the woods. Plus, the distance made seeing them even more special.

"How's Carol?" was Daryl's next question. He leaned forward and began stirring the soup in the pan over the fire.

"She said,'If it gets too cold for you guys out there, you're always welcome to stay at the Kingdom'," Rosie quoted word for word.

"I think we'll be alright," Daryl murmured. Sometimes he felt guilty for leaving all of them, but he couldn't go back. Not until he found Rick or at least some trace of him. He had to find something.

"That's what I thought you'd say," Rosie said with a tight-lipped smile. "She's good, though. They all are."

"Good."

"Yeah," Rosie said, nodding. She pulled a little box out of her pocket, showing it to Daryl. It was a box of playing cards. "Ian gave me this, so in case we get bored, we can play games. He said it was a Christmas present."

"That's nice a' him. You ever celebrate Christmas before?" Daryl asked, glancing over at her. He'd been thinking about that since the weather got cold. When he was a kid, his dad never bought anything. His mom used to get them a few things when he was a kid, and for a few years after her death, he and Merle exchanged presents on Christmas, but they eventually stopped. He wondered if Fraser ever cared to get Rosie anything.

Rosie shrugged. "A little. Fraser got me a few things when he got a job, but he said they were from Santa. I believed him at first, but then I realized it had his handwriting on it, so he was lyin'," she reminisced, a small smile on her face. She always missed Fraser extra in the winter.

"Well, what if I got ya a Christmas present?" Daryl asked her, a small smile on his face, too.

Almost instantly, Rosie's face lit up. "Did ya?" she asked, her eyebrows raised.

Daryl shrugged, glancing over at the tent with a smirk on his face. Rosie's smile grew as she shot up off of the log and hurried over to the tent. Sitting right on top of her sleeping bag were a few things. There was an extra hoodie and a new pair of gloves, considering Rosie's had a hole on the ring finger. Next to the new clothes was an old box with faded images on it, but from what Rosie could tell on the box, it was a dinosaur Lego set. And next to that was a book about space and a few old comic books, and lastly, a fresh pack of colored pencils.

Looking behind her to the door of the tent, Rosie could see Daryl standing there. "Thank you!" she said. She didn't even know what to say. She hadn't expected a thing from him. She hadn't even thought about the fact that it was Christmas time until Ian brought it up.

"Yeah. Went on a run to a department store when you were gone. Thought I might as well pick somethin' up for ya since I was there anyway," Daryl said, shrugging his shoulders like it was nothing. He watched Rosie start flipping through one of the comics, glancing over the pictures quickly and excitedly. "Carl used to like those. Thought you might, too," Daryl said.

"Ezekiel helped me make somethin' for you, but now it seems pretty lame," Rosie huffed, placing the comic book back down on the stack.

"Well, I wanna see it, anyway," Daryl said, kneeling down next to her.

"It ain't even that good," Rosie murmured, avoiding eye contact.

"Rosie. C'mon. Lemme see," Daryl told her, rolling his eyes. No matter what he gave her, he was going to love it. He didn't care if it was something as great as a new crossbow or something as little as a cool-looking rock. He'd love it either way. "Rose," he said.

"Fine," Rosie muttered. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a string bracelet, holding it out in the palm of her hand as she looked away from him. It was plain black thread braided into a neat bracelet. "I just used black 'cause I'm pretty sure that's your favorite color," Rosie murmured.

Daryl took the bracelet from her, a smile plastered across his face. "You made this? I thought you didn't know how to braid," he said.

"Ezekiel helped me."

"Well, I love it."

"Yeah, right," Rosie muttered.

"Nah, I mean it. Been gettin' jealous a' you and all your jewelry, with your bracelets and necklaces. Was wonderin' if you'd ever get me somethin' like this," Daryl told her.

An amused smile overpowered Rosie's frown. "You liar," she spat.

"I ain't a liar, girl. Now help me put this on," Daryl said, nudging her arm.

"You really like it?" Rosie asked, raising her eyebrows as she took the bracelet back.

"You made it. 'Course I do," Daryl said. He pulled his sleep up a bit, exposing his wrist to the harsh winter air. Rosie wrapped the bracelet around his wrist and tied it tightly. Daryl pulled her into a hug, kissing her hat-covered head. "Merry Christmas, baby."

"Merry Christmas," Rosie replied. She hadn't said those words in years.

Daryl patted her arm and pulled away. "Now let's go eat some a' that soup," he said, leaving the tent once again.

"Yeah. Let's go eat some a' that soup," Rosie mocked him, making her voice deep to imitate him. Daryl rolled his eyes and they went outside to eat.

🦖🦕🦖🦕

Cheesy lil Christmas special 🫶 happy holidays.

Also, I'll be gone from the 27th to January 1st because I'm going to the rock and roll hall of fame (I am so gd excited) and then it's new years. I'll be back to regular updates on my other books after that!!