WHAT IF...

Rosie and Juniper were sisters and the apocalypse never happened :D

"Holy shit!" Rosie exclaimed as she walked into the empty house. "This place is soooo cool! It's a real house!"

"You mean, 'Holy cow'," Juniper corrected from beside her sister.

Rosie only rolled her eyes.

"She's right. What'd I say 'bout the swearin', Rosie?" Daryl scolded as he pulled the door shut behind them.

"Not to do it," Rosie huffed, kicking the springy door stopper with the toe of her shoe so that it made a nice boing sound.

"Quit that, too. Just got the house and you're already tryna' break stuff," Daryl said.

He placed the box he was holding on the floor by the entryway and kicked it off to the side. June did the same. Rosie wasn't holding any boxes because she was holding a LEGO dinosaur instead. Daryl glanced at the two girls. Juniper was shaking her hands at her sides, obviously very excited about the whole new-house thing, and Rosie was still kicking the door stopper, only more gently and quietly this time.

"Why don't you two go figure out who's gettin' which room, huh? I'll start bringin' in boxes," Daryl suggested.

June bounced on her toes. "I can't believe we're gettin' our own rooms," she squealed excitedly, her smile wide. "Now I can actually go to bed at bed time instead a' listenin' to Rosie go on and on 'bout dinosaurs.... Not that dinosaurs aren't cool, Rosie. I just like goin' to bed on time," she added, just in case she accidentally hurt Rosie's feelings.

"It's okay not ta like the same things, June. I think Barbie and the Three Musketeers is a stupid movie and I ain't afraid to say it," Rosie said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"How could you not like Barbie and the Three Musketeers?!" June gasped.

"'Cause I ain't you, Juni," Rosie reminded her.

"Hey. Go pick out your rooms," Daryl said again.

"'Kay," June replied before skipping happily toward the kitchen.

Rosie, however, wasn't going to walk through this house blindly. She wanted to know where the bedrooms were. "Which way's the bedrooms?" she asked.

"To the left. Down the hall," Daryl answered.

Pressing her lips together, Rosie nodded. "June! It's this way!" she called out.

After a few moments, June came skipping past Rosie, heading straight for the bedrooms this time. "The kitchen's pretty!" she announced happily, disappearing down the hall. "So's the bedrooms! And the bathroom!"

"The bathroom?" Rosie questioned, following June's path down the hall. "How the hell can a bathroom be pretty?"

"Rosie!" Daryl scolded from across the house.

"Hell's barely even a swear word!" Rosie shouted back to him.

"Yes, it is," June chimed just as Rosie caught up to her. Together, they looked into each bedroom. They knew the one with its own private bathroom was going to be their parents', but whoever got the other two was up for them to decide.

There were three bedrooms, one closet, and one half-bathroom at the end of the hall. The bedrooms were just about the same size. The only difference between the two was that one of the bedrooms shared a wall with their parents' bedroom, and one didn't, and that the walls were different colors.

"I call this one!" June immediately shouted, standing in the center of the room that shared a wall with their parents'.

"I want this one!" Rosie whined, tossing her head back in complaint. "This one's got green walls. That's my favorite color!"

"But I called it, Rosie," June insisted. She felt really, super bad for taking the room that Rosie wanted, but at the same time, she really, super wanted it.

"Ya can't just call it! That ain't even fair at all," Rosie argued, furrowing her eyebrows and frowning deeply. "I'm the youngest. I should get to choose."

"And I'm the middle child. That doesn't make no difference," June replied, her hands on her hips.

"It does in movies," Rosie huffed.

"Well, I call this one," June said, like it was final.

Frustration brewing inside her, Rosie turned around, took a big breath, and screamed, "Daddy! June's tryna' take my room!"

"Am not!" June called out, growing more and more frustrated herself. She hated getting in trouble. She hated causing problems. And, most of all, she hated fighting with Rosie. Rosie, however, seemed to love all of those things, because she did them all the time.

"Jesus," Daryl muttered to himself from the kitchen as he placed a box of dishes on the counter. He made his way to the other side of the house, where June and Rosie were waiting for him. "What? What's wrong?" he asked them, rubbing a hand over his eyes.

"I want this room, but so does Rosie," June answered. "And I called it first."

"It's green! It should be my room!" Rosie insisted.

"We can paint the other room, Rose. That's what we bought the paint for," Daryl reminded the girl, looking back and forth between the two bedrooms. They went to Home Depot and chose paint colors for their new rooms just a few nights ago, and the two rooms looked almost exactly the same to Daryl, so he didn't understand what on Earth they were fighting over it for.

"I want this one, though," Rosie complained.

"Why?" Daryl asked, his eyebrows slightly raised. Sometimes, Rosie would want things for very specific reasons that she refused to admit. He wondered if that was the case in this situation.

"'Cause it's just better," Rosie answered.

"They're the exact same, Ro."

"Nuh-uh."

"I bet she wants it for the same reason I do, but she's too tough to ever admit it," Juniper said, crossing her arms over her chest and raising her eyebrows. "'Cause it's right next yours and Momma's room."

"Nuh-uh!"

"It ain't somethin' to be ashamed of, Rosie. Just means you love your parents a whole lot, and that's a good thing," June explained to her. "You're just clingy. It's okay. Most eight-and-a-half-year-olds are."

"I'm eight-and-ten-twelfths years old, for your information, and I ain't clingy," Rosie insisted, shaking her head dramatically.

Daryl grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her over to him and squeezing her tight. "Oh, that's what it is, huh?" he teased. June was giggling and smiling, but Rosie was only rolling her eyes and twisting her lips to the side, trying to hide her smile. "Baby Rosie wants to be close to me and Momma. How sweet a' her," he said, enjoying how amused June was and how embarrassed Rosie was by this.

"No. It ain't sweet. It's 'cause of intruders. Like robbers and stuff. 'Cause they'll try stealin' my stuff, for real, and you have to fight 'em 'cause you're strong and stuff," Rosie explained. That wasn't the truth, but it was a good cover-up, she thought. She didn't want to be sweet. She wanted to be tough and everything. She wasn't sweet. That's what she pretended, at least.

"Tell you what," Daryl said, putting his hand on Rosie's back and leading her to the other bedroom. "This can be your room, and me or your momma will come in and check for intruders every night 'fore bed, a'right?"

"Every time you walk past the door, I think you should check. Just in case," Rosie said, kicking her right foot into the side of her left. "'Cause the robbers will wanna steal my LEGOs, I bet."

"Yeah. LEGOs are what they're lookin' for," Daryl murmured sarcastically, nodding his head. He was glad the argument was settled and that both girls were happy. "Let's go get some more boxes. C'mon."

Rosie placed her dinosaur LEGO on the windowsill in her new room and followed Daryl and June out the bedroom, down the hall, and through the front door. They made their way back over to their dad's truck and each grabbed a box, while Daryl grabbed two boxes. Back and forth, back and forth, back and forth they went, into the house with boxes and back out again for new ones, until the truck was completely empty.

"How long 'til Fraser's gettin' here?" Rosie asked.

"He's comin' with Merle. They're stoppin' by the store, pickin' up a case a' beers and some pasta," Daryl explained, letting out a huff as he placed the last box on the kitchen counter. It had the pots and pans in it, which is why it got be on the counter and the other boxes didn't. He needed to pot to cook the pasta, of course.

"I thought you said we were gettin' pizza!" Rosie complained, furrowing her eyebrows. She had already been thinking about the pizza and now she wanted it because it was planned. They couldn't just switch up the plans out of the blue! She wasn't prepared for pasta!

"We are gettin' pizza. Quit your complainin'," Daryl told her, rolling his eyes.

"I don't want pizza." June frowned, tugging on her shirt.

"That's what the pasta's for, Junebug."

"Rosie's lactose intolerant," June reminded him, raising her eyebrows.

"And that's what Lactaid is for. What d'you take me for? An idiot?" Daryl raised his eyebrows, too.

"No!" Juniper shook her head very adamantly.

"Good," Daryl said.

There was a loud knock on the front door. Daryl nudged Juniper's shoulder, then nodded his head toward the door. June looked at the ground, leaning into her dad's side. She wasn't answering the door. She hated answering the door. She was always scared someone would kidnap her as soon as she opened it.

"Ro," Daryl spoke, nodding his head toward the door again.

"I'll get it. 'Cause Juni's too scared to."

"You should be, too! There are kidnappers!" Juniper called out as Rosie made her way to the front door.

"Hope it ain't an intruder lookin' for some LEGOs," Daryl teased.

And just like that, Rosie went sprinting back toward the kitchen, a wide-eyed look on her face. She hid herself behind Daryl and started pushing him toward the door. "No. You answer the door, Dad. You can fight the intruder."

"It ain't an intruder," Daryl huffed, rolling his eyes as he let Rosie lead him to the front door. "It's Merle and Fraser."

Three more extremely aggressive bangs sounded from the door. "Open the door, jackass!"

"Yup. Uncle Merle," Rosie said, pressing her lips together. She unhid herself and opened up the door, narrowing her eyes at Merle as soon as she saw him. "Jackass is a swear word," she told him.

"Who gives a shit?" Merle scoffed, shoving past Daryl and Rosie and making his way towards the kitchen.

"Daddy gives a shit!" Rosie called after him.

"Rosie, I'm not playin' with you, girl. You need to sit on timeout like a four-year-old or somethin'?" Daryl scolded, grabbing her by the hand.

Rosie furrowed her eyebrows, shaking her head. "No," she murmured, looking off to the side.

"Then quit with the swearin'. Your momma's gonna be pissed if she hears you talkin' like that."

"Aren't you supposed to lead by example or somethin'," Fraser asked as he entered the house with two grocery bags in his hands. "Sounds pretty hypocritical to me, Dad."

"Fraser!" Rosie shouted with a smile, running over to him.

"Hey, kid." Fraser smiled down at Rosie as she hugged his side. "Wanna help me bring these bags in?" he asked, holding the lighter of the two bags out for her to take.

"Yeah!" Rosie happily took the bag from him and ran into the kitchen with Merle and June.

Daryl shut the door behind Fraser, jokingly rolling his eyes and shaking his head at the boy. "Critiquin' my parentin' like I ain't raise you myself," he said.

"Who cares if she swears?" Fraser asked, shrugging his shoulders.

"Her damn teacher. That's who," Daryl answered as he led the way to the kitchen. "Callin' about a thousand times a week complainin'."

"That's fair. Probably bothers all the religious parents or somethin'." Fraser placed the bags on the kitchen floor, looking around the place for the first time. "This place is great, Dad. Might have to let me housesit when you go on vacation."

"With how much this place cost, we ain't lookin' to go on vacation any time soon," Daryl scoffed with a laugh.

"I wish Disney World was for free," Juniper said with a sigh.

"Yeah," Rosie agreed with a nod. She sat at the kitchen table, leaning her elbows on the table before slouching down with her head in her arms. "I'm hungry, Daddy," she huffed.

"Mom'll be here with pizza any minute now, baby," Daryl replied, running a hand through her hair.

"Can you make pasta pleeeeaaase," June asked her dad, joining Rosie at the table.

"I'll start boilin' some water, yeah." Daryl did as he said he would, filling up a pot with water and placing it on the stove.

And just as he said it, Birdie herself came waltzing in through the door with two pizza boxes in her hands.

"Momma!" June exclaimed.

"Pizza!" Rosie shouted with an equal amount of excitement.

🦖🪲🦖🪲

This is way too sappy and domestic for
twd!Daryl but i am taking into consideration that he has, in this universe, been a dad for 19 years and a girl dad for nearly 10 years sooooooo (also i just wanted to so shhh)

+ this is unfinished because i cannot for the life of me continue writing it right now so maybe there will be a part 2 sometime

Ok that's all <3