♤

The loud roars of the motorbike rattled through the forest like a siren. I held on to Daryl as we rushed down the road. Trees surrounded us, comforting me as I inhaled Daryl's familiar scent - Nicotine and earth.

Daryl had asked me what happened in the tunnels, where I hid and how I got out.

In truth, I wasn't one hundred percent sure, I ran, fast. A mixture of fear and adrenaline to keep me going.

The road got bumpier as we pulled up to a small nursery. "Stay close," Daryl told me as he retrieved his crossbow, leaving me to open up the gate. It was rusted shut and so I pushed with my whole body weight behind me.

It was abandoned, children probably not playing here since long before the world dissolved. All the swing sets and climbing frames were falling apart, bars hanging off as I peered into the window before smashing it and clambering in.

The nursery was messy, but the cots were freshly made, making me uneasy as I began ransacking the cupboards. I snatched a new pack of baby bottles, nappies disposable and cloth as Daryl climbed in.

He was staring at the wall filled with paper hand prints as I looked over at him. He plucked one from the wall, watching it until I wandered over, seeing what was written on it:

Charlie

A small prick, pricked my throat as I read the name, quickly turning away and heading into another room.

I didn't see what Daryl did, I only assumed he'd put it down as we split up in the hallways.

Being in a place like this was painful for me, so many reminders. Most of the rooms were empty as Daryl and I met back up, a scratching sound coming from the staff room.

Daryl's crossbow was trained on the cupboard as I opened the door slowly, seeing that it was only an animal, I moved away while Daryl shot it, "Hello dinner" He exclaimed as I began throwing things into the rucksack again.

Opening the top cupboard, I smiled, seeing 3 cartons of powder formula. "Got some?" Daryl asked, leaning over my shoulder as I packed it away.

I nodded, "Yeah"

He smiled at me as an orange glow filtered through the window, "We should go"

"One minute" I nodded, running into another room where I had spotted a familiar sight, a dinosaur, like one Charlie had when he was a baby. 

After packing everything away, Daryl and I headed off, back to the prison, arriving there at dark.

Everyone surrounded us as we raced in. I quickly tipped the contents of the bag out, mixing the formula as the baby cried. Turning around to hand the formula over, I slowed, seeing Daryl holding the crying baby gently in his arms, hushing it as he began to feed her.

My heart softened for a few seconds as I watched, everyone smiling at him. He glanced around at us all, slightly embarrassed that his soft side was showing. "She got a name yet?" Daryl asked,

Carl shook his head, "Um, not yet, I was thinking may be Sophia, but there's Andrea too...And Jacqui, or Lori..-" Carl trailed off.

Carol's head dipped as he mentioned Sophia but soon bobbed up as Daryl began whispering to the baby, "You like that? Huh, Lil Ass-Kicker?"

The room chuckled as Daryl gazed over at me, seeing the smile on my face, "Right? That's a good name" He laughed, "Lil Ass-Kicker, you like that, huh? You like that?"

There was a calm amongst the group that I had never felt before, a peace.

Rick was no where to be seen as we all shared our first moments with his newborn.

I took watch at the tower that night, my mind in need of freedom and quiet.

As the sun began to rise, faded slightly by the morning fog, life outside the walls seemed peaceful. "Hey, I'll take over" Glenn muttered, pulling me from my thoughts. "Have you been out here all night?" He asked, standing next to me.

"Yeah, perimeter seems secure, not many walkers heading up to the fence" I explained, recalling last nights events.

He nodded, "Go get some sleep"

Smiling at him, I left the tower and entered the cell block, my sights set on my cell.

When I entered, I noticed a flash of orange paper left on my bed and upon closer inspection, I realised what it was. Gently, I picked it up and smiled, reading the small hand print - Charlie.

This was Daryl's doing.

Quickly, I rushed out of my cell, asking anyone if they'd seen Daryl. I still had the hand print in my hand as I ran into the tunnels, finding Daryl sat against the wall, plummeting the knife into the floor.

He grunted and looked up at me as I joined him on the floor. I passed him the hand print. "Keep it" I muttered to him, "I don't want it, I have something to remember him by, but you don't, keep it" I explained.

Daryl looked over at me slowly, taking it gently from my hand. He stayed silent as we sat, shoulder to shoulder. "It's okay to miss the people we lose" I smiled. "It's okay to--"

"--I thought you were dead" He cut me off, looking between me and the ground. "I thought I had lost you all, Merle, Charlie..You -- I thought--"

My hand lifted itself up to his cheek and held it. Daryl and I had established that we were something, but neither of us had established anything official, and we certainly hadn't made anything official with the group.

I gently stroked his cheek as he looked down at the ground, "--I'm here, and Charlie is out there somewhere, maybe tomorrow we set off and look for him? I'm sure Glenn can take care of the group for a few days" I smiled, the idea at this point seemed to be more for Daryl than me, I had accepted that Charlie was gone, but I wasn't sure Daryl had.

Daryl nodded at me before I threw my arms around him, he took a few seconds before he wrapped his arms back around me, but once he did, he relaxed, his body physically shedding the tension. "You hungry?" He asked with a smile as we pulled away and stood up.

I nodded as we headed back to the group who were munching on cereal. They handed us two a bowl and we sat on the steps, Daryl glancing at me and smiling every so often.

The gate opened with a creak as Rick wandered in, "Everybody okay?" He asked, soaked in blood, almost as if he had taken a bath in it.

"Yeah, we are" Maggie smiled.

Hershel looked over at Rick, "What about you?"

"I cleared out the boiler block" Rick admitted, looking at Carl.

Daryl grunted slightly next to me before he spoke, "How many of them were there?"

"I don't know, a dozen, two dozen. I have to get back, just wanted to check on Carl" Rick explained as we all watched him begin to turn,

Maggie stood up, Glenn not by her side like usual, "Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies if you need, you don't have to"

Rick screwed his face up, "No, I have to" Then he stormed over to Daryl, "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah, running a little low on ammo though" Daryl admitted.

"Glenn and I were planning on making a run this afternoon" Maggie explained.

I shook my head, "It's okay, Daryl and I can do it, we were planning on heading out anyway"

Maggie shrugged, "Cleared out the generator room, Axel's there tryna get it up and running, in case of emergency" Daryl explained to Rick. "We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well"

Rick nodded, "Good, good," As he began heading out of the room, slamming the door shut as Hershel called out to him.

We all glanced at each other. He was struggling, we all knew it.