Judith was, without a doubt, the uncrowned queen of the prison. All around her, people smiled when she smiled, frowned when she cried, and generally jumped in to help out the second she started to get fussy. At the beginning it was just a survival mechanism - you couldn't tell a newborn that they had to keep quiet or risk stirring up the walkers, and the adults all learned early how to read her cues and move to head off a baby-sized vocal explosion of fury and misery before it got much steam behind it. These days it was more out of the fact that their resident baby-goddess had them all twisted up in her chubby fists. She was probably spoiled rotten, but she was also the sunny little heart of the place, and no one could deny her.
What seemed most amazing, especially in the chaotic time right after her birth, was that Daryl easily took the baby-wrangling prize. No matter how cranky or agitated she was with anyone else, Daryl could swoop in and take over, talking to her in a conversational tone like she was an old drinking buddy instead of a tiny, fragile scrap of a thing, and the little mite would wave her fists and stare up into his eyes, calming almost immediately. He'd bounce Jude in the crook of his arm while he warmed her bottle to body temperature by tucking it inside his clothes, against his skin, and tell the baby about what his day had been like, or what he'd seen in the forest on his most recent hunt. Carol thought the deep vibration of his voice, rumbling in his chest, probably contributed a good deal to soothing the baby - she knew it certainly did a lot for her when her own nerves were feeling jagged. And although she would never admit it, she was a little jealous of how easily Daryl opened up to his tiny charge. She was pretty sure Daryl didn't talk to anyone as much as he did Judith.
He had less time with Jude lately, both from increased responsibilities of his own, and because there were always other hands around willing to take care of her these days. Several times a week, though, he'd come striding through the courtyard with no warning and say, "S'cuse me, ladies, gotta borrow my best girl here," scooping up the baby and stealing her away to walk the yard with him and conduct some private confab. It was obvious to Carol that he did it as much for his own sake as for Judith's.
It was on one of those days that the bombshell hit. Several weeks before, Judith had said what they'd decided was her first real word, "baba." Up until then it had been repetitive syllables like "da da da da," which could have been "daddy," or just a noise she liked the sound of. (She also said "mum mum mum," which in any other place would have been interpreted as "mommy", except no one used that word around her.) But "baba" was said as she reached for her bottle, and that was proof enough for any of them.
As Daryl slipped her back into her carrier after a stroll around the grounds, he fumbled with the buckle, surprisingly all thumbs sometimes when it came to baby-proportioned things, and let out a muttered, "SHIT." Jude looked up and echoed, "seeit," and laughed at him as he drew back with a look of horror on his face. "Aw, fuck, man…" and he clamped his hand over his mouth and turned away. The group of women who had been minding Judith while they tended to some hand-sewing all chuckled, and Daryl fled their company at a near-run.
Rick looked up from his map to see Daryl lurking in the doorway, a pained expression on his face. "What's up? Do we have a problem?"
Daryl shrugged and looked at his boots before mumbling, "Think I just taught your daughter to cuss."
Rick choked on his mouthful of coffee, and sputtered, "What?"
Daryl stepped closer, his forehead creasing with anxiety, and said, "Didn't mean to, just said somethin', and she said it back." He caught the bridge of his nose between thumb and forefinger and squeezed there. "Maybe she'll forget it. Maybe she didn't say what I thought. Just wanted to tell you before you hear it from one of those biddies been carin' for her."
Rick shook his head and thought, Just great. It wasn't like he shouldn't have expected this; few among them were so refined that their speech wasn't liberally peppered with good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon curse words, but he hadn't really anticipated Judith would be picking them up quite so young.
Daryl's voice cut into his thoughts. "I can try to watch m' mouth, man, but you know how I am, I can't hardly finish a sentence without something, uh, indelicate in there. 'f you need me to keep away from Jude from here on out I'll do it. World's rough enough without teachin' that little girl to talk like me."
"Are you kidding me?" Rick scoffed at the idea. "You'd both be miserable inside a coupla days, if I tried to separate you. I appreciate the thought, Daryl, and yeah, maybe if you could tone it down a bit around her that'd be a good thing, but hell, she's as likely to pick it up from me as you. I doubt there's anything we're gonna be able to do to protect her from hearin' it, and you know what parrots they turn into about this age."
Daryl hunched his shoulders. "Nah, I didn't know. Ain't never really been around one this young before." He raised his head, and Rick was struck by the rare, genuine smile on his friend's face. "It tickles me to watch her learnin' stuff. She's smart as a whip, ain't she?"
Rick marveled at the transformation of the man before him. Sure, he knew Daryl had come a long way from the lone wolf who had skulked along the borders of the group, back in the early days at the farm, but he almost didn't recognize the delighted, open soul that showed up any time Daryl got on the subject of Judith.
"You know what, Daryl? To hell with it all. You just keep bein' you, and you keep spendin' as much time as you like with my kid. Maybe she'll pick up some of your bad habits, but I suspect there's a lot more good she'll learn from you, and I'm grateful to have her in your care. I couldn't ask for a better nanny."
"Pah. Nanny my ass. Just lookin' out for what's ours, is all." He turned at the door and said, seriously, "You know I'd die for that little girl, right?" And with that he was off again, headed out to kidnap his favorite distraction and teach her the ways of the new world, Dixon-style.