Chapter 1: Old Friends
"Aria, you have to keep it steady," Annabelle chastises the younger girl. The fifteen year old huffs, straightening out her arms. "If you don't keep it steady you're not going to hit your target."
"I'm trying, mama!" she replies. Annabelle chuckles.
"Well, try harder!" The fifteen year old simply huffs again and points her gun at the makeshift target on the tree. "Take a deep breath, then pull the trigger." Aria breaths, then pulls back the trigger, letting the bullet fly, directly landing on the bulls-eye. "There you go, Ari!"
"Yea, Ari!" her little sister yelled from the tent. Aria smiles at the child, running over and tickling her, making the child laugh.
"Ok, you two," Anna laughs, walking over to her two daughters. "Stop your messing around, lets have something to eat." The two girls stop and sit down while Anna makes some sandwiches from some meat she found the other day that was still fresh.
"Mama, where did you find the meat?" Aria asks, taking a bite of her sandwich. "I thought half the food now was spoiled?"
"When we were in that mall, it still had electricity somehow, so the food was still good. I hope none of those lurkers get in there." Scarlett looks up, a scared look in her eyes. Anna smiles at her young daughter. "Don't worry, sweetie, there's none here."
The six year old looks down, her dark brown bangs covering her eyes. "I don't like those things, mama," she mumbles. Anna smiles sadly and places her arm around her shoulders.
"I don't think anyone does, sweetie. But don't worry, they won't get you. Not if we're still around." Aria laughs, making her mother and Scarlett look at her. "And what are you laughing at?" she chuckles.
"Remember when we took her home her first day of preschool? I was just remembering how she looked when she saw you. A big smile on her face. 'Mama, I made new friends!'" Anna laughs.
"Oh, I remember that. You were so adorable. And then we took her out for pizza to celebrate her first day of school. Oh, that seems ages ago now." Scarlett smiles, but then frowns slightly.
"I miss pizza," she blurts out. Both girls laugh.
"So do I, kid. So do I."
Later in the day, around eight, when the sun was just leaving the sky, Anna, Aria, and Scarlett were sitting around the fire pit they had constructed. Scarlett was slowly falling asleep, leaning against Anna's side, while Aria was wide awake.
"Kid, how are you so hyper right now?" Anna asks, chuckling a little. Aria smiles widely, shaking her leg, a tick of hers that always annoyed her mother.
"I don't know! Maybe it's the fact that we actually had real meat today to eat! It was amazing!" she yells, annoying Scarlett.
"Aria!" she whines, making Anna laugh slightly. "I'm trying to sleep!" SNAP.
Anna jumps up, gun pointed at where the sound came from. "Aria, gun up. Scarlett, behind me. " Both girls did as they were told. Aria adjusted her stance and pointed where her mom was positioned. "We heard you," she growls. "Get out."
Nothing moves.
"You have two guns pointed against you right now. If you don't come out, we'll make you," she yells at the intruder. Scarlett clutched onto her mother's right leg, in fear for what was behind the trees.
"I don't want to hurt you," the intruder finally says. Annabelle realizes that voice. Her eyes widened. She lowers her gun. "I saw the fire and came across your campsite."
"Daryl?" she asks quietly, unsure if the voice is really her old friend. There was silence from the stranger for a moment, and then he spoke.
"Annabelle?" he asked back. She smiles. 'I knew I knew that voice!' she thinks.
"Aria, put the gun down." She did as she was told, a confused look sent towards her mother. The man steps out from behind the tree, and Annabelle's smile only widens more. There he was, but he looked totally different from the last time she saw him. His hair was longer, obviously, but his arms also seemed more muscular. His whole body did. And he seriously needed a shower. But either way, she couldn't believe he was standing right in front of her.
Meanwhile, he was doing the same. 'Damn…I can't believe she's alive…then again, this is Anna I'm looking at…' Last time he had seen her, she had shorter hair, always down. She never put up her hair. But now it was in a loose side braid, some pieces of hair slipping out occasionally. But even being out in the middle of the woods, in Georgia, she still managed to stay partially clean, only her clothes and a few patches of her face were dirty. 'How is it that even in the God damn apocalypse she still finds a way to look good?!'
"Jesus, I thought you were dead."
Both startled themselves by saying that at the same time. Anna laughs slightly, and he smirks. Aria looks between them, and then it all comes back to her. A look of realization comes across her face.
"Oh…Daryl," she realizes, smiling. Annabelle chuckles at her daughter. Took her long enough. "When was the last time we saw you?" she laughs.
"Who knows?" Annabelle laughs. She smiles at Daryl. "It's been a long time."
"Good to see ya," he says to Anna and Aria, an actual smile crossing his features.
"Mama, who is he?" Scarlett asks, still clutching to her mothers leg. She smiles at the young girl.
"An old friend."
The four survivors were later gathered around the fire. Annabelle had noticed he had a few cuts lining his arms, some still bleeding, so now she was attending to the, cleaning and wrapping them up in bandages, while the two daughters started to ask questions. Scarlett, ironically, was asking the most questions. But Daryl didn't mind. He hadn't seen Aria since she was 12, and only seen Scarlett when she was a baby. It's been a long time.
"So, you're group is in that prison a few miles back?" Aria asks, rubbing her hands by the soft glow of the fire, trying to stay warm. He nods, then flinches slightly when Anna starts to clean one of the wounds. She smiles sheepishly.
"Sorry," she chuckles. He mutters something in response. "You know I don't speak grunt." He rolls his eyes, shaking his head slightly.
"But there were hundreds of things in there!" Scarlett says. Aria nods, agreeing.
"Did you clear out ALL of them?" Aria asks, amazed. "Wow, that's pretty cool."
"'Pretty cool?'" Scarlett replies. "More like amazing! You're like superman!" This causes both Anna and Daryl to snicker.
"I ain't no superhero, kid," he replied, but she simply shook her head.
"You killed all those monsters! Anyone who can do that is awesome!" Anna smiles at her daughter.
"Yeah, he is." She looks back to Daryl. "I bet you're the group's main hunter," she says softly. "You've probably been the one snagging all my deer."
"You know how to hunt, too?" Scarlett asks, surprised. "You're just like mama!" He smiles at the young girl.
"I know. I taught her myself." Aria's eyes widened.
"No shit?"
"Aria Elizabeth Williams, watch your mouth!" Annabelle says, trying to discipline her, but a small smile on her face at the same time, which made Daryl start to laugh. Aria looks down.
"Sorry," she mumbles.
"You got in trouble!" Scarlett taunts. Aria glares at her, pushing her shoulder.
"Shut up," she sneers, but turns back to the hunter. "But seriously? You taught my mom? How much older than her are you?"
"He's five years older," Anna replied, finishing up a bandage.
"So, if you're 30…then he's 35?" Anna stares at her eldest, an eyebrow quirked.
"Yes, Ari. That's what we call 'basic math,'" she laughs out, causing the others to laugh as well. Aria's face reddens.
"I didn't mean it like that!" she sputters out. "I meant you always talked about how you two went to school together for 10 years. How is it possible that you were even in the same school, let alone the same grade?"
"Eh, I was a bad kid," Daryl replied, playing with one of his arrows. Anna rolls her eyes.
"Meaning he got left back so much and so any times he ended up in my class in 4th grade. If it wasn't for me, he would probably still be in school today!"
"Hey, I got a lot better at school," he replied to her. She snorts, taking her Syracuse Baseball cap off and smacks him on the back of his head.
"Because of me!" she scorns, still smacking his head. He was snickering, trying to stop her arms. "You would have been left back AGAIN if we hadn't met!" He finally grabs her wrists stopping her in her tracks.
"That's still your choice of weapon, huh? A baseball cap?" She glares at him, but then hears the laughter coming from her two daughters. She sighs.
"You're turning my daughters against me," she mumbles. He chuckles, letting go of her wrists. "I'm going to wake up, and my daughters will be pulling some prank because you said so. They already drive me crazy enough."
"Oh no, that's my job. They'll just help me do it." All of them laugh, but not before Anna caught Scarlett's small yawn.
"Ok guys, time for bed," Anna says. Both girls whine in protest.
"Mommy!" Scarlett whines, but Anna catches another yawn. She raises an eyebrow, walking over and picking her up.
"Sweetie, you'll be asleep as soon as your head hits the pillow. Aria, come on. Give me a minute, Dar," she says. He nods, and she brings Scarlett into her and Aria's tent, the lather right behind her. She lays Scarlett down on her cot. "Promise me you'll go to sleep?" she asks. Scarlett yawns again and nods. Anna smiles and kisses her forehead. "Goodnight, sweetie."
"Mama?" she heard from Aria. Anna gets up and turns to her oldest daughter, who was getting into her cot. She sits next to her.
"Yeah?"
"Is Daryl staying?" she whispers. Anna chuckles.
"He has a group, you know." Aria seems relentless.
"But maybe he can bring us back with him or something? We just found him alive and now we're just going to let him leave? I mean-"
"Aria, get to sleep. He's staying the night because it's too late for him to head back. But I don't know what'll happen after that. But right now all you need is to go to sleep, ok?" Aria's quiet, but then sighs, nodding. "Goodnight, ok?" She smiles, nodding. Anna smiles back and walks out of the tent, zipping it up in the process.
She turns back to the fire to finally talk to Daryl by herself, but only to see that he wasn't there. She furrows her brow, walking over to the fire. His crossbow was still leaning against one of the chairs, so he hadn't left. But where was he?
She glances near her tent for a split second, seeing if he was near it, when she feels strong, muscular arms wrap around her waist, picking her up off the ground and spinning her around. She lets out a squeak of surprise at first, then laughing slightly, but low enough not to wake the children who were probably now asleep.
When he sets her down, she has a huge smile on her face, but slaps his shoulder lightly. "My children are trying to sleep! And you doing that is not helping!" she chuckles. He snickers slightly too, but then grins stupidly at her, which caused her to laugh even more. "Don't look at me like that," she mumbles.
"What? I'm just grinnin'" he replies. She snorts, taking his hand.
"Shut up. If you want to keep talking lets head to my tent. I seriously want the kids to sleep." He nods and follows her into her tent, zipping it up behind him.
Children POV
Before the tent
Aria listens to her mother's gleeful laughter with Daryl. She remembered him. He was the one dude that was always around her mother when she was a child. The last time she had seen him was when she was 12, and that was three years ago. Sure, she had heard her mother talk with him on the phone at least once a month, but she hadn't actually seen his face in forever. Out of all the friendships she had ever seen, whether it was kids, teenagers, or adults, she had never seen a friendship so…deep like her mother and Daryl's.
When the world went to shit, she forgot about everyone besides her family. When she saw a wide smile spread across her mothers face when he showed up, she was confused. Then he stepped out. And it all came back to her.
A knock sounded on the door of Aria and her mother's apartment in NYC. Aria dropped the Barbie dolls she was holding and ran through the foyer to the front door, climbing up the stool to look out the peephole. She smiles when she see's who it is.
"Mommy! Daryl's here!" she yells. She gets of the stool and pushes it to the side, opening the door. Her smile grows larger. "Hi Daryl!" she says. He smiles down at the young girl, then scooped her up in his arms, making her giggle in surprise.
"Hey, kid," he says. "Where's your mama?" She points to her mother's bedroom.
"In there. She's talking with my teacher on the phone. I got in trouble." She mumbles the last part, looking down a little.
"Well, life's not life without getting in trouble. What'd ya do?" he asks curiously. She smiles at him, happy that he wasn't mad at her.
"Well, this boy who sits next to me placed a spider in my hair during recess today! And everyone knows I hate spiders. So when we was back in the classroom, I stole some superglue off the shelf and poured some on his seat. When he got up to go to the bathroom, he was stuck to the seat! And when he did get off, some of his pants ripped!" He laughs brightly at what she said.
"Nice, kid. That's a good prank. But I guess someone ratted you out." She scowls, making him chuckle.
"Joey did! He's one of my friends and he told Ms. Nolan! Now I'm in trouble because of it!" He snickers.
"Well, ya did rip a boys pants. Was his underwear showin'?" She smiles huge, nodding her head. He shakes his head. "You're a troublemaker, ya know that?"
"Yeah, she is," he mother said, coming down the stairs finally. "Why did you have to place glue on his seat, Aria? Why not something that wouldn't have ruined his clothes? His mother has to pay for that now," she says, scolding her daughter.
"Aw, come on, Aria. Lighten up," Daryl says, seeing the girls happiness tone down a little. "We all get into trouble. This is just her first time. We were just like her when we were kids."
"Yeah but I never did that!" she chuckles. She looks at her daughter for a second, then sighs in defeat. "Fine, just don't do it again, ok? But if you do, do it to Daryl." He glares at her.
"Hey!" he says. She laughs, grabbing her coat.
"Yeah, I said that. But if we're heading to the zoo today, we have to get going now. Aria, go put on your coat, ok?" She nods and Daryl places her down. Running to her room, she distinctly hears her mother say to Daryl, "You are so lucky you're so good with her."
Aria smiles. She was always happy when Daryl came to the apartment. Sometimes she wondered what it would be like if she and her mommy were together. Then she would have a daddy, too. And if she wanted a daddy, she wanted it to be Daryl.
She threw on her purple coat and ran back to the pair, who were now waiting for her.
"Why is it so damn cold in New York?" he grumbles. Anna laughs.
"You get used to it. Let's go."
Aria smiles at the memory. She was such a little kid, but she really did love Daryl like he was part of the family.
Why weren't they together yet?!
When her mother had been…touched again and gotten pregnant, he was with her throughout the whole entire process. She was sure at that time that they would be together, but here they were, six years later, STILL not together.
She rolls her eyes. This was not the time to be thinking of finding her mother a partner. She closes her eyes and prepares for sleep to take her, but the sound of her little sisters voice stops her.
"Aria?" she said softly. She could tell that she was sleepy.
"What, Scarlett?" she replies, just as softly.
"Do you think Mr. Daryl will stay?" she asks. Aria sighed.
"I don't know, sis. Maybe." She was silent for a moment.
"I think they like-like each other," she whispers, making Aria giggle.
"Yeah, me too."
"We have to do something," Scarlett yawns. Aria smiles softly.
"Yeah, maybe. But go to sleep now, Scarlett. You promised mama."
"Ok," she replies. And not a minute later, she heard the soft breathing of her sister. She was out cold.
Aria leans back in her bed. She heard her moms tent zip up and could only guarantee that they were both in there. She sighs, closing her eyes. 'Maybe we can do something about it,' she thought. Sleep took her after that, sending her into dreamland.