"Today marks a week since ten year old Sophia Peletier, pictured on the left, went missing from playing in the backyard of her aunt's home. Ed Peletier, her father and the man pictured on the right, is the lead suspect according to local police, who believe that both may still be in the area."
The screen changed to a video clip of a blue eyed woman crying as she spoke into the microphone with a caption naming her as Carol Peletier, the girl's mother. "Please, if anyone knows anything….I just want my baby girl back…." The clip ended as the woman choked up and the reporter's voice came back on.
"If you have-"
"Merle, turn that shit off," Daryl said, letting the reporter's voice drown out.
"You're too soft, Darylina. Shit like that happens all the time," Merle reasoned. "And ain't like I'm watchin' to keep up on current events. Ya seen that reporter? The tits on her-"
"Shut up Merle." He really knew how to get under Daryl's skin. He hated being called soft. Merle always meant it as insult. Yet, he knew he really was as much as he tried to fight it. Hearing things like that, only made him think of his own turbulent childhood.
He felt bad for the little girl. Her smiling face was haunting his mind now, as much as he tried to shake the image out.
"Goin' huntin'. Ya comin'?" Daryl asked gruffly, grabbing his crossbow and swinging it over his back.
"Nah," Merle answered, lighting up a cigarette and leaning back into the couch.
"Lazy ass," Daryl mumbled, rolling his eyes before walking out of the tiny dilapidated house they shared. The best thing about it was how isolated it was, and how close to the woods. From when he was young, he always preferred to be outdoors; it felt more like home than anything else ever had.
Home certainly wasn't with abusive, alcoholic parents. As soon as they were passed out, Daryl would escape out and into the woods. Most of the time they didn't even notice he was gone, but the times they did he earned a belt to his back, still having the scars to prove it.
He made his way through the woods, letting the surroundings comfort him and take his mind off of everything. Spotting fresh deer tracks on the ground, he carefully followed them. It was a good thing Merle wasn't with him. Whereas being light on his feet was second nature to him, Merle had to be reminded to keep quiet several times, between his loud footsteps and big ass mouth.
Daryl stopped suddenly, hearing voices. He strained to make out what they were saying. One was a little girl, it sounded like, and the other a grown man. He couldn't quite make out the words, but he could make out yelling and crying.
He paused for a moment, then started to make his way toward them, knowing he just had to. Merle would have told him it was none of his business but, he had to. He couldn't pinpoint why, but he just had to.
As he became closer, words started becoming clear.
"No, please," the little girl's scared voice cried.
"Shut your fuckin' mouth. Ain't no one gonna hear ya out here," the man's voice responded, with the unmistakable sound of a slap, and the girl's cries growing louder causing Daryl's blood to boil.
He restrained himself from rushing over there and pummeling this guy into the ground, not wanting to put the girl in further danger by being rash.
Finally they were in sight. The girl's hands were bound by a rope that the man was using to lead her with. Daryl quickly spotted a gun holstered on his hip. Getting just a little bit closer, he realized the man and the girl were the same as the ones that had been pictured on the news.
The man turned around and dropped the duffel bag he was carrying. Daryl took the opportunity to step out, raising his bow.
"Let her go 'fore I put a bolt in your ass," Daryl threatened.
"What the-," Ed Peletier reached for his gun, but before he could get his hand on it, there was a bolt sticking through his shoulder. Sophia cried out, and Daryl rushed forward, tackling Ed to the ground and punching him in the face.
Ed managed to reach for his gun this time, and shot a bullet that grazed Daryl's side. Daryl flinched from the pain, but grabbed Ed's hand and smashed it against the ground, sending the gun flying out away from them. Daryl kept punching Ed in the face until he was unconscious, then let out a deep breath and groaned in pain before getting on his knees the slowly lifting himself up.
He glanced over at the little girl, who was hiding against a tree, cowering in fear.
"Ya alrigh'?" He asked. When she nodded her head, he leaned down and went through the duffel bag. He took out some rope he found in there, tying Ed's hands and his feet before moving him against a tree and tying the rope around him and the tree.
When that was done and Daryl was sure Ed was secure enough, he turned to the little girl who was watching him with wide blue eyes. He picked up his crossbow and swung it over his shoulder, wincing at the pain before walking toward her. When she started to scurry away, he held a hand out.
"Hey, ain't gonna hurt ya. It's okay, Sophia. My name's Daryl. I'm gonna take ya to your mama." Daryl racked his brain trying to remember the woman's name. "Carol, right? That's your mama? Let me take ya to her."
Sophia nodded but didn't move any closer. She didn't move any further away either, which Daryl took as a good sign. He slowly walked towards her. "I'm gonna take the rope off of your hands, okay?"
Again, she simply nodded at him and held her hands out. He untied the rope and threw it aside.
"Sure ya alright?" He asked again trying to keep the worry out his voice. Would she have told him if something was wrong? He didn't know what to say or do…He was never around people, kids especially, and certainly not in circumstances like this.
Her nod was affirmation enough for him and they started to walk away. Daryl held his hand to the wound Ed had given him, keeping pressure on it.
After a few minutes of walking in silence, Sophia spoke up for the first time. "Does it hurt?" She asked quietly, looking at him then looking away.
"Nah, this ain't nothin'," he said, trying to keep his voice even. It hurt like hell, as did his hand from the repeated blows to Ed's face, but he wasn't about to admit that.
"My brother shot me in the ass with a bolt one time, hurt a hell of a lot more than this." Carol's eyes widened before she let out a small smile.
"Why did he do that?"
"'Cause I got in the way. He was tryin' to teach me how to hunt," he answered her.
She was quiet for a little while longer, before speaking up again. "Are we almost there? I'm really tired," she said. He turned to look at her, and it looked like she was dead on her feet. Thankfully they were actually close.
"Jus' a li'l bit ahead. See that house there? We get there then ya can rest, alrigh'?" The house was still pretty far in the distance. Daryl looked around and then noticed a Cherokee Rose a little bit away. He went over and plucked it, telling Sophia the story behind the flower, which distracted her enough to get to the house.
Finally they made it the house, waking Merle up who was sleeping on the couch.
Merle looked between Daryl and Sophia, eyes wide and jaw dropped. "Holy shit," he breathed.
Carol couldn't stop pacing Rick's office. She hadn't been able to eat or sleep really in a week. She couldn't stand being home, being around all of Sophia's things. She was starting to lose hope, as terrible as that sounded. She wanted to be at the station, in case anything came through about Sophia.
She had known what Ed was capable of. That's why she had taken Sophia and left, trying to rebuild their lives in a small town in Georgia, closer to her foster sister, Lori, and her family. She thought she could put the past behind her, divorce Ed and that would be that.
She was beating herself up now, because she should have known better. Ed didn't give up. He was going to find them eventually, and he wasn't going to be happy. If anything happened to Sophia, it was going to be her fault.
"Carol, c'mon. You should sit down and eat something," her brother-in-law Rick came in with a bag and drink.
"I can't-" she protested, continuing to pace. He put a hand on her shoulder. "Carol, we're going to find her. I promise. We're going to find her, and Ed will be put away for a long, long time. He'll never come near you two again. Right now though, the best thing you can do for Sophia is take care of yourself for when she comes back. In order to do that, you have to eat something."
She half-listened to him, unable to pay attention. She paused and looked out of the window of his office, watching two rough looking men come in, and Sophia following behind them.
She ran out of the office, ignoring Rick, who was calling out her name in confusion, not yet knowing what she'd seen. Once he did though, he was right behind her.
Carol nearly knocked Sophia over with the force she had run towards her with, enveloping her in her arms and picking her up. The tears wouldn't stop coming, both from her and Sophia. Everything else seemed to disappear. All was right with the world again.
Not much later they were at the hospital, Rick insisting that Sophia get looked at. Carol had also learned from Rick that the one man that had come in with her daughter had suffered a minor gunshot wound trying to rescue Sophia.
Rick recounted what Daryl had told him as they waited for Sophia to be check out. On the way to the hospital, Ed had been found out in the woods tied to a tree, and beaten until his face was black and blue.
An overwhelming sense of wonder and gratitude filled Carol. This man she didn't even know had risked his life for her daughter, and for that, she'd be forever indebted to him.
At the sound of a door Carol looked up and saw Sophia coming out. She immediately got up and ran over to her, not wanting her out of her sight again.
"She's fine," the doctor cleared her throat. "A few bruises here and there, and a little shaken up, but overall she's fine."
"Can we go home now, mama?" Sophia tugged on her shirt.
"In a little bit. I just want to make sure Mr. Dixon is okay before we go."
Sophia's face scrunched up in confusion before it lit up again in recognition. "Oh! You mean Daryl! He gave me this flower," she said, holding the flower out to her mom.
"It's very pretty," Carol said looking down at it. "Do you know what it is? It's a Cherokee Rose. Daryl told me this story about Indians and the Trail of Tears. Want me to tell you, mama?"
"Of course baby. Here, let's go sit over here."
Carol sat and took Sophia in her lap, and listened intently as Sophia recited the story Daryl had told her before falling asleep in her arms. Carol kept stroking her head, and thanked god that Daryl had found her, and anxiously awaited for the doctor to come out with news about his wound.
Every now and again she peeked a glance over at his brother, who didn't seem too worried. Either he didn't care, or the wound wasn't too serious. Carol was going to go with the second one.
He certainly was unique, he just stood out like a sore thumb; not necessarily a bad thing. He had been told a couple times that he couldn't light a cigarette in the waiting room. Eventually he stood up and stretched, and walked outside in defeat. He was back in the waiting room not much later, this time flipping through various magazines quickly before throwing them back on the table.
Eventually he walked over to where Carol and Sophia were situated and sat down across from them.
"How is she?" He asked quietly.
"She's fine," Carol let out a small smile. "Thank you, for everything you did for my daughter," she said as he blushed.
"Didn't do nothin' but drive 'em to the station. Daryl did everythin' else."
"That's something. And Sophia willingly went with you. You both must have earned her trust. She's very shy and withdrawn around other people. Have you heard anything about your brother?"
Merle shook his head, "Not yet. Don't know what's takin' 'em so damn long." No sooner were the words out his mouth than another doctor came out, with an annoyed Daryl coming out after him.
"Ain't ridin' in no damn wheelchair," he argued with the doctor, snatching his prescription out of the doctor's hand. The doctor glared at him before turning away.
"C'mon Merle, let's get outta here," Daryl said turning towards the exit, barely even looking in the waiting area.
"Oh Darylina, I didn't raise ya to be so rude," Merle answered. Daryl turned around and Carol saw him notice Merle, then herself and Sophia with a reddening face.
Daryl walked over to them awkwardly.
"I just wanted to say thank you," Carol said softly. "How are you feeling?" Daryl was taken back, surprise written all over his face. He couldn't recall a time when someone had asked him that question, or shown any concern for him.
"Fine. Didn't even need to come here," he grunted. "How's your girl?" He asked, being polite.
"She's home, thanks to you. I really can't thank you enough-" Carol started before he stopped her.
"Anyone else woulda done the same thing," he blushed, letting his long bangs fall over his eyes.
"Not to the extent you did," she said before Sophia started wiggling, waking up. She blinked her eyes in confusion before looking up and smiling at Carol, then turning to smile at Daryl.
"Daryl!" She beamed joyously. Carol laughed at how excited she sounded, and the look on Daryl's face, obviously unused to the attention. "Have you thanked Mr. Dixon yet?" Carol asked the girl in her arms.
She shook her head no before getting up and hugging Daryl around the waist, saying thank you into his shirt. Daryl flinched, but reluctantly put one arm around her. Sophia, noticing something was wrong, pulled away. "Did I hurt you?" She asked him worriedly.
"Nah, jus' surprised me is all," he let out a small smile. "Ain't like Merle goes around givin' me hugs all the time," he jerked his thumb towards Merle, who was chatting up a young blonde nurse. Daryl rolled his eyes before bringing his attention back to Sophia.
Sophia tugged on his sleeve so that he looked down at her.
"You tied my dad up really good, right? I don't want him to come back," she whispered, her lip quivering. Daryl swore mentally, wondering at the mess he had gotten himself into. He didn't regret what he had done for a second, but he'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't uncomfortable in dealing with the awkward aftermath.
He bent down to his knees and looked her in the eyes, something that was rare for him. "Ain't lettin' him come near ya. Or your mama," he said, glancing at the beautiful, but obviously tired woman sitting in the chair behind Sophia.
Sophia nodded, and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her face into his shoulder.
A short while later they ended up parting separate ways, and Daryl couldn't help the small smile on his face and the gut feeling pooling in his stomach that that was far from the last he would be seeing of Carol and Sophia.
AN: Perhaps my longest single chapter/one-shot yet? I woke up with this story in my head and subsequently was working on it all day. It was originally intended to be a one-shot, but sometimes my head runs wild and my one-shots end up becoming multi-fics. We'll see.
Hope you enjoyed it!
[Still riding the feels train from that premiere! I cannot watch it, or that hug, enough. Oh what I'd give to be in Carol's place… ;) ]