Disclaimer: I do not own anything of the Walking Dead series (both comic book and television), and I do not claim to own any of these characters other than my own original character. This is a story I have written and I am in no way, shape, or form making any sort of profit from it. I am poor. I might even be more so now having written this.
Chapter One:
"Eat up, baby girl," Daryl says as he places a small baggy of cookies in front of the little girl.
The child's cheeks pinch up as she holds the bag. She sticks her tongue out and makes a noise of disgust. "There's raisins in these, daddy," the little girl says with her face screwed up.
"Then pick 'em out," Daryl says with a shrug.
"I don't want 'em—,"
"Well, that's too bad, Annette, you gotta eat," he says as he lowers himself to the chair adjacent to her. The girl looks up at her father from beneath her brow. Daryl stretches his lower lip over his teeth as his thumb scratches beneath his nose as if to cover the smile he felt pulling at his lips. She looked just like her mother when she did that. "You do that any longer 'n' your face'll stay like that," he says making his daughter's crystal blue eyes bulge in fear.
Daryl shakes his head. "Come on," he says as he hunches over the table. "The faster you eat the longer you get to play outside with Judith." His brow rises as the little girl picks one of the cookies up and examines it. She gingerly bites down on it and as soon as her tongue touches the cookie she releases the sweet onto the table and shakes her head with her breathing raced.
"Daddy," she says quickly gasping with wide eyes. The six year old clutches her chest and rapidly shakes her head. "I can't eat it, daddy; I'll die!" Annette was dramatic—and Daryl wasn't sure how she ever turned out that way.
He takes a long breath and closes his eyes for a moment. "You're gonna make Carol sad," he says as a last attempt to make the girl eat. She watches her father for a moment as she looks down at the three cookies. "You don't wanna make her sad, do you?" he asks as he leans forward with wincing eyes.
Annette presses her lips together. "You could eat 'em," she says with a nod but Daryl shakes his head.
"She'll know if daddy ate them," Daryl says. "She'll smell it on my breath. Carol's got a nose on her like a dash hound," he lies. "Just eat two cookies—,"
"One," Annette says.
"One 'n' a half," Daryl negotiates. Annette's cheeks pinch up again and Daryl shakes his head. "She made 'em for you. You were the one who said raisin oatmeal when she asked what kind o' cookies you liked—,"
"Raisin oatmeal without the raisin," Annette corrects with her voice dropping. Daryl knew what the girl had said word for word because he was standing right next to her when Carol asked.
"Look," Daryl says as he takes the cookie that she dropped on the table. He carefully picks out the raisins and nods. "Raisin oatmeal without the raisin," he says and Annette shakes her head.
"Uncle Rick said not to eat things touched by dirty hands," she says as her wide eyes stare at her father's hands.
"They're clean—,"
"No, they're not," Annette says as her brow knits. "I can see the dirt on 'em—,"
"Annette," Daryl says sternly. "You're not leavin' the table 'til those cookies are gone."
"You said I could eat one 'n' a half—,"
"I changed my mind," Daryl says with his patience running thin. He takes a deep breath and sighs. He thought looking after a baby was difficult but it seemed the more they learned, the more advanced the arguments got and the harder parenting got.
"You need to start listenin', baby girl," Daryl says after a moment. His eyes look down as Annette pulls out a half chewed raisin from her mouth. "When I say somethin' you do as I say. You can't keep arguin' with me. I'm your dad; you don't do that." Annette wipes her lips as a piece of raisin sits on the corner of her mouth. "Does Judith talk back to Uncle Rick?"
"No," Annette spits with her eyebrows furrowing.
"Then why do you talk back to me?" he asks and the little girl gives a shrug. "Nah, that ain't gonna cut it, Annette." Daryl raises his brow. "Do you know why you eat what we give you?"
"'Cause food is food," she says between chews.
"That's right—," Daryl nods as he straightens in his chair. "If you don't eat you go hungry—,"
"And if I go hungry I get eaten by the walkers—,"
"Nah," Daryl says with a shake of his head. "Look at you—you go hungry and the walkers won't even bother with you." The man reaches out and tickles the child's sides. "They'll say, "Oh, Annette's too skinny—we can't eat her—she'll get stuck in our teeth; she's way too stringy!"" Daryl slides out of his chair as his daughter giggles. He grabs her arm and looks down at it. "Look at that—not an ounce of muscle. Walkers are picky on what they eat." The little girl smiles and presses her tongue against the gap where two front teeth once belonged. "You have to be strong—,"
"Like this, daddy?" the girl asks as she flexes her arms up like a body builder.
Daryl widens his eyes. "Whoa, when'd you get those?" he asks with a bit of a laugh. The girl gives a shrug as Daryl gives a closer examination. Suddenly, he starts groaning and moving rigidly.
"Oh no; it's Daddy Walker!" Annette shrieks out as she pushes away but it's too late. Daryl grabs at her and starts making 'nom-nom," noises on her neck as she screeches and laughs trying to escape the Daddy Walker.
Suddenly, Annette goes limp in his arms. "Annette?" he calls out to her as a grin pulls at her pretend dead lips. "Oh no!" he cries out dramatically as she sticks her tongue out with one final breath. "Daddy Walker did it again," he says with his fake sobs. "Poor Annette, she was so young—," Annette rises from his arms and stretches her arms out to him with moans and groans.
Daryl shakes his head and plays the game now with fear. "It's Baby Walker," he gasps out and Annette lets out a giggle. "Get away from me Baby Walker!" Daryl rises to his feet as he backs away, but Annette races towards him and grabs at his sides. Daryl abruptly falls to the floor and Annette looks down at him with hooded eyes.
She cocks her head. "Daddy?" she says before kneeling beside him. Daryl does his best not to smile. "Oh, daddy, it was just a game," she says as she puts her hands on both sides of his cheeks. "Daddy," she says trying to make him wake up. The little girl furrows her brow and presses her lips together. "Daddy—,"
Daryl grabs her under her armpits and lifts her into the air as she shrieks with laughter and screams. As he lowers her to the floor, he sits up with a smile. "Come here," he says as he taps his lap. The little girl—as dainty as she was—drops herself down on his lap like a sack of bricks making him grunt.
"What are you gonna do?" he asks.
"Eat the cookies," she says. A smile pulls at her cheeks as she looks into her father's eyes. "And then I'll be strong enough to run from the walkers."
"That's right," Daryl says with a nod. He lifts her from his lap and rises to his feet. "If you hurry up you and Judith might still have an hour of daylight left to play," he says. The little girl nods and races back to the table.
"Daryl—," the man turns his head to the hallway linking the kitchen to the rest of the house. A man with salt and pepper hair stands in the hall.
"Uncle Rick!" Annette races towards the man and hugs him.
"Hey, there," he says with a smile. "Don't you look pretty today," he says as he looks down at the yellow dress that was once his own daughter's.
"Do you want some cookies?"
"Uh—,"
"Annette," Daryl says firmly and the little girl shrinks. "Get back to the table," he says as he approaches Rick. The little girl slouches with her steps as she makes her way back. He makes a face. "She doesn't want 'em 'cause they have raisins—,"
Rick smiles with a chuckle as he looks at the small girl pulling herself back onto her chair. "Carl was the same way with peanut butter; couldn't stand to even look at it." Rick looks to Daryl after a moment. "Sorry to bother you… I know this is supposed to be family time, but… somethin' came up," he says.
"Don't worry 'bout it," Daryl says with a shrug. "What's goin' on?"
"Nothin' huge, but it's worth mentioning," Rick says with his eyes wincing. He nudges his head towards the living room and they both walk in. "Judith's said something weird—,"
"What do you mean?" Daryl asks with his eyes narrowing.
Rick takes a long breath and shakes his head. "It-it was worrying," he elaborates. "She said yesterday while she and Annette were playing on the cars there was a man watchin' them." Daryl studies Rick for a moment. "She didn't tell me this 'til about twenty minutes ago." Rick hangs his head. "Kid holds more secrets than the Governor." He shakes his head. "Anyway, I was just wonderin' if maybe Annie said anythin' or has been acting weird lately—,"
"Nah, man," Daryl says with a shake of his head. "She's been fine." He shrugs. "Just havin' issues with raisins lately."
"Okay," Rick says with a bob of his head. He takes a deep breath as he runs a hand through his curly hair. "This really got to me," he says softly.
Daryl nods. "Hasn't been much trouble in awhile; you'd be stupid to not let it get to you," he says.
"It's just strange." He shakes his head. "We were sittin' at the table and Judith just looks up at me and says, "There was a man watchin' me and Annie play yesterday. Was he a friend of yours, daddy?"" Rick curls his nose. "Carl's mouth just hung open—," he shakes his head again, "—I must've looked just the same." He takes a deep breath and raises his brow.
"You okay?" Daryl asks with his head tilting slightly.
Rick nods his head. "Yeah," he says. He begins back to the hallway and stops as he just short. "I don't want the kids outside by themselves anymore—,"
"No doubt," Daryl agrees.
"Do you mind watchin' them tonight? I'm gonna try to sort this out," Rick says.
"Why not just keep 'em in?"
"I don't want the others to panic... might be an imaginary friend... but on the off chance." Rick shakes his head.
"Yeah," Daryl says with nod. "I wasn't planning anythin' anyway," he adds. Ricks lets out a sigh of relief.
"I'll see you later, Annie," Rick announces as he heads down the hall back the way he came in.
"Bye, Uncle Rick!" The little girl twists with a wave as she sits with her knees below her.
"You know the rules; you sit on your butt," Daryl says and the little girl grumbles as she takes her legs out from under her.
Please let me know what you think, how I'm doing and what I could do better :)
Reviews are much welcomed and always appreciated!
~MsBBSue