AN: Here we are, a little one shot. It was a Tumblr prompt.
I own nothing from the Walking Dead.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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The little yellow puppy had been on her mind for three days. If she didn't go back, she was starting to feel like she'd never rest again.
She hadn't gone to the shelter to adopt a dog. That had never been her intention. She'd simply been trying to teach Sophia about service and that had been the service that Sophia had chosen—the two of them should walk dogs together since the dogs had no one to give them extra attention at the over-crowded shelter.
They'd spent the better part of the day walking dogs, cleaning out kennels, and volunteering their time and effort. Although her daughter had begged her for one of the dogs as a pet, Carol had held firm to saying no.
It was only after she'd gotten home that she'd realized that, deep down, the only reason that she was saying no to her daughter about the dog was Ed. Her ex-husband, Ed, had always said that they couldn't have a dog. He'd always said that Sophia wasn't responsible enough. He'd always said that Carol couldn't handle having a kid and a dog since she did a piss poor job of simply handling the kid that they had.
Ed was gone, but his voice was still there.
Sophia had done well with the dogs. She was ten. Carol thought she could handle the responsibility of a dog and there had been one there that had taken to Sophia like it was made for her. He was just a little yellow puppy of no recognizable breed, but he'd loved Sophia immediately and, honestly, it had seemed like Sophia had fallen in love with him just that quickly too.
Carol had practically dreamed of the animal. She wanted her daughter to have the joy of owning a dog—a dog that Sophia had sworn could protect them though Carol didn't know how good of a guard dog the little yellow puppy would ever be—and she wanted to give her that chance to show her responsibility.
More than that, Carol wanted to stop saying no to Sophia because of Ed. She'd gathered up the strength and courage to take her daughter and leave the man, but she wanted to truly be rid of him. The only way she'd ever be truly rid of him was to start to honestly challenge the ghost he'd left behind.
Bringing a little yellow puppy into their home would be a perfect start to truly telling the ghost of Ed Peletier where the hell he could go.
When Carol got to the shelter, she parked the car, grabbed her purse and got out. She knew exactly which dog she wanted. She was doing this. She was confident and she was determined. She locked the car and walked through the gates that she'd come through only a few days before to almost run directly into one of the women that she recognized. Carol smiled at her.
"Hi Sheryl," Carol said. "I don't know if you remember me but..."
"Carol! Of course I remember you!" Sheryl said. "Did you come to help us out today?"
"Not exactly," Carol said. "After the other day, there was this dog that I just couldn't get off my mind. I thought about it and I really think Sophia and I are ready for a dog. I want to take him home as a surprise to her when she gets out of school."
Sheryl smiled broadly at Carol.
"Absolutely! That's wonderful news for you and the dog! Do you remember who he was?" Sheryl asked.
"He's a little yellow puppy," Carol said. "Just—kind of a mutt? Very friendly. His name was actually Ralph, I think."
Sheryl nodded her head.
"He was born out of that litter," she said, starting to walk off. Carol followed her. "We had six of them to start with, but I think that Ralph and his sister were the only two that were left. Did you know that someone just found the mama? She was out with the pups and they were all just as sweet as they could be. Ralph and Rosie were the only two plain colored ones. The others were spotted. People picked those up quickly, but you know how it is. Nobody seems to really want the plain ones. They don't like the way they look as much. They're not as cute at first. People miss out, sometimes, on wonderful pets just because they don't catch their eyes as quickly as some of the others that are maybe a little fancier. I was scared poor Ralph and Rosie were going to just end up being ignored entirely."
"Well we want Ralph," Carol said. "No doubt about it."
The woman walked her to the area where there were several kennels lined up and pointed down it.
"If you want, he's down there at the end. You can just go and talk to him a few minutes and I'll start getting some paperwork ready for you," Sheryl said.
Carol thanked Sheryl and left the woman to do her work. There were several people "window-shopping" for pets and Carol walked as quickly around all of them as she could. She searched out the barking, tail-wagging dogs for the little one that she was after and finally found him at the end.
There was a man in the little pen with the dogs and one of the young girls who volunteered there. He was just stepping out with the puppies—Ralph under one arm and Rosie under the other—as Carol walked up.
"Are you walking the dogs?" Carol asked.
The man looked at her like he was surprised to hear her speaking to him. He looked at the young girl and then back again at Carol. Carol pointed to the dogs to let him know that she had, in fact, been speaking to him.
"Are you walking them?" She repeated.
"Takin' 'em home," the man said.
"You can't do that," Carol said quickly, her pulse picking up almost instantly. She struggled against the desire to actually reach over and remove her chosen dog from the man's arms.
He laughed to himself. He glanced at the young girl.
"You excuse us?" He asked.
The young girl offered them both a smile before she started down the little walkway in the same direction that Carol had come.
"You can't take my dog," Carol said.
The man laughed to himself.
"Last I checked, they weren't nobody's dogs. That's why they here at the pound," he said.
"OK, so he's not my dog yet, but he's about to be," Carol said. "You can't take him."
The man raised his eyebrows at her.
"He's just as damn soon to be mine as he is yours," the man said. "An' I like these dogs."
"What do you want them for?" Carol asked, almost feeling prepared to beg this man for the squirming yellow puppy he held in one arm.
The man laughed to himself.
"To be my dogs," he said. "What the hell you want 'em for?"
Carol sighed. She could feel her own stress level rising and it was clear that she wasn't exactly making the situation any better. Coming at the man in a state of panic wasn't going to do anything but change his mood and possibly make things go bad.
Carol knew that about men—it was important to watch your mood because they would react to it.
"We got off on the wrong foot," Carol said. "My name is Carol McAlister." The man stared at her and Carol waited, so he simply stood there like he was waiting too. "This would be the point where you tell me your name."
"Daryl," the man said. "Daryl Dixon. And this here? This is Rosie and this...well I don't like Ralph but I ain't figured out what I'ma call him just yet."
"Please," Carol said. "Please—my daughter is in love with that dog. She's in love with Ralph. And he loved her too. It was like—some kind of love at first sight between them. And I came down here to get that dog because my ex-husband would never let her have a dog. But—now he's gone and I thought that the best way to maybe get rid of him was just to...you know...to do something that he'd never allow. It would be best to just do something that I want that he would never allow. And it would make Sophia so happy. You've got to know what I'm talking about. You've got to understand how important it could be for a kid to have that special dog—one they really connected with." Carol swallowed. Daryl was staring at her and suddenly she felt embarrassed. "And here I am making a fool of myself. Telling you my life story and you didn't ask for any of it. But—I'm fully prepared to grovel and beg for that dog if that's what it takes."
The man laughed to himself. One of the dogs lapped at his face and wiggled around, so he readjusted his hold on the puppies.
"For this dog?" He asked. "You willin' to beg?"
Carol nodded her head.
"He ain't nothin' but a junkyard dog," Daryl said. "I mean—he ain't no pedigree or nothin'. You look at him...really he probably ain't financially worth the fifty dollars they gonna charge to adopt him."
"But he's worth more than that to my daughter," Carol said. "And—to me. I know you don't know me and—you didn't know my ex-husband. You don't know my daughter. But—I feel like I've got to have that dog. Please."
"They's a lotta dogs here," Daryl offered. "Like—they's an easy hundred."
"It's got to be that one," Carol said.
Daryl stared from one dog to the other, both of them wiggling their whole bodies along with their tales every time they noticed their possible future master looking at them. He sighed.
"I guess I weren't really dead set on the both of 'em," Daryl said. "It was just—when I seen that they was the only two left out their litter I thought, you know, that I didn't want one of 'em left behind. You know? I come in after the girl but—then I figured they was brother an' sister an' how damn sad would it be that he was just in there wonderin' why it was that he was the one that ain't got picked. You know? Like he'd be wonderin' what the hell was wrong with him that didn't nobody want him when it seemed everybody else got wanted."
Carol nodded her head. Her chest felt a little lighter. She offered the man the best smile she could despite the fact that she could feel a choking sensation in her throat over the little yellow puppy.
"I was coming to pick him," Carol said.
"You say you got a kid you gettin' him for?" Daryl asked.
Carol nodded her head.
"She's ten," Carol said.
"She ain't never had no dog before?" Daryl asked.
Carol shook her head.
"Her father wouldn't let her have one," Carol said. "But—he's not in charge of us anymore. So I thought it was time that Sophia had a dog. And they loved each other so much when we were here a few days ago."
Daryl made a face and considered both the dogs again before he sighed once more and handed over the little yellow puppy to Carol. Seeing his change in ownership, the little dog immediately lapped at Carol's chin as she hugged him against her. She thanked Daryl repeatedly, but he simply told her that the thanks wasn't necessary as long as she gave the dog a good home.
Carol followed Daryl up to the office to fill out the paperwork and the two of them left at the same time with their brand new dogs and the leashes that were provided to them by the shelter.
When Carol got outside the gates, she let the puppy down in the grassy area provided for walking the dogs to do whatever business he might need to do before they went to pick Sophia up from school and surprise her. She noticed that Daryl did the same.
Carol watched the man. She couldn't help but notice that he seemed infatuated with his little dog, offering it words of encouragement that she might not have expected from a man like him—or from a man like she judged him to be based entirely on his uncared for clothing and slightly dirty appearance. Carol realized that, maybe, it wasn't right to have judged him at all. He was just a man who had probably recently gotten off work early, from an honest and dirty job, for the sole purpose of coming to get himself a furry friend.
"I just wanted to thank you again," Carol said. "You don't know how happy my daughter will be."
Daryl looked at her and smiled.
"I got a good feelin' I will," Daryl said. "Always wanted me a dog. Weren't nothin' I think I ever wanted more than a dog that would just—you know—follow me around like Lassie or some shit. Somethin' that'd just love me unconditionally just for bein' me."
Carol smiled at him.
"You love dogs a lot," Carol said.
Daryl nodded.
"This one here? She's my first one," Daryl said. "Only one, I reckon. My old man was against havin' animals. So I guess—I got a decent idea what your kid would feel like. I hope he's a good dog for her."
Carol swallowed and nodded at Daryl. He smiled at her and laughed to himself.
"And here I am," he said. "Tellin' you my whole life story like you wanna know it when all you come for was the dog."
"I hope she's a good dog for you, too," Carol said. "I hope she's everything...you want her to be. I hope she follows you around and sleeps with you and—rescues you out of a well if you fall down one."
Daryl laughed and Carol laughed too, relieved to see that he'd gotten the joke.
"It was nice to meet you," Carol said. Picking up the puppy.
Daryl picked up his own puppy.
"Wait a minute," he said. He walked over and put his dog next to the puppy that Carol was holding. "Wait a minute. Figure—we oughta at least let 'em say bye, you know? Just—maybe they wanna say bye. They the last of their litter an' all."
The little dogs did acknowledge one another, but they had no way of knowing that they were just about to go their separate ways. Still, Carol felt something odd tugging inside of her as she watched the way that the man looked at the two dogs as he insisted on letting them have a moment.
She'd misjudged him just by looking at him and now? Now she wanted to know more about him. She wanted the chance to really know him. More than she'd known just from hearing his story while he walked the little dog around the grassy area.
She felt a strange boldness bubbling up in her chest.
"I don't know if you'd be interested," Carol said. "But—maybe we could arrange a time? We could meet somewhere in the park or something. With the dogs. We could let them just play together, you know?"
Daryl smiled at her.
"Like they don't have to say goodbye 'cause they just gonna play together later," Daryl said.
Carol smiled and nodded her head.
"Like a date," Carol said.
"Date?" Daryl repeated. He visibly swallowed.
"A play date. For the dogs," Carol said. He nodded his head quickly.
"For the dogs," he repeated.
"And maybe—we could see what happens," Carol said. Her heart thundered in her chest. She wondered if she was reading him wrong. Immediately, though, he looked a little more uplifted than he had seconds before.
"You mean?" He asked.
"I mean we'll—have a play date for the dogs and we'll...see what happens," Carol said.
Daryl nodded his head.
"I'd like that," Daryl said. He lifted his dog up a little higher. "Rosie here, I bet she'd like it too."
Carol smiled at him and raised her eyebrows.
"But how will I find you?" Carol asked.
"Give you my number," Daryl offered. "Stay here." Quickly he walked to the truck that must have been his, opened it, and leaned over the seat. He left the dog in the truck with the door closed and quickly walked over, offering Carol a piece of paper with his name and number scribbled on it.
"I'll call you," Carol said. "This weekend, maybe? Saturdays are usually days that we do whatever Sophia wants to do. Maybe I could suggest going to the park."
"Sounds good to me," Daryl said. "Sounds perfect. I don't never do much on Saturday."
Carol finally said her goodbye to the man and took Ralph to the car, already wondering what Sophia would name him when they got home. She buckled up and cranked the car before she situated the puppy in the seat next to her so that he'd be there to greet Sophia when they went to pick her up from school. As she was pulling out, Carol noticed that Daryl was standing by his truck, watching her pull out.
There was a swelling feeling in Carol's chest. With the new puppy next to her, which Ed would have absolutely forbidden, and a play date in the park with a nice man that she wouldn't mind getting to know better coming up on Saturday, Carol had a pretty good feeling that she was just about to do exactly what she'd set out to do.
She was exorcising Ed Peletier from her life once and for all.
And she couldn't help but laugh over the fact that getting rid of the man who had been a nightmare for her would come from something as simple as the help of a little yellow puppy and a man who worried about the feelings of little yellow puppies.