August 2nd -3rd
Daryl entered the living room, where he had left his bow the other day to fix it. Last time he went out he noticed the arrows were flying in a different trajectory than they should and he had told Charlie not to touch it. He had always made sure to teach her that his bow and guns were not toys and were not to be played with. Now seeing it, he saw that she touched it and broke off one of the sights. Now he had to get repair parts for it. He had to talk to her. He wanted to make sure that she remembered that it was not a toy.
"Charlie Dixon get your little ass down here." Daryl stood in the living room, looking at his crossbow, which was leaning against the wall
"What daddy?" he hears her. He turns looking down at his daughter, the spitting image of her mother except her eyes, she had the same blue eyes he had, her hair was a wild curly mess just like her mother's was….but his little Charlie always wanted her hair in a ponytail.
"Come ere" Daryl says with the sternest voice he could muster, he squats down in front of her, taking her little hand in his. "I'm gonna ask you a question and don't lie to daddy, okay?" he tells her, already seeing tears in her blue eyes.
"Okay," she says barely over a whisper.
"Did you touch daddy's bow….after daddy telling you not to?" Daryl asked trying not to cry himself, as tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I didn't mean to brate it daddy I'm sorry," she says, snot now meeting tears.
"What did daddy say about his bow and guns?" Daryl asks using his shirt to wipe tears and snot from her face.
"Neber neber neber touch em ….neber," Charlie answers.
"That's right, so why was daddy's little princess touching it?"
"I was tryin' to fis it for daddy….you said it was broke, I was tryin' to fis is all," Charlie sniffles.
"Well thank you princess but it's daddy's job to fix what is broken and daddy's bows and guns can hurt you really bad and daddy would never want anything to happen to you. Daddy loves you with all his heart."
"I sorry daddy….I lo'e you wif all my heart," Charlie says kissing Daryl on the cheek hugging him.
"Daryl hugged her back kissing the top of her head. "Okay princess since you broke one of the rules….. you are gonna have to go one week- 7 days- without cartoons," Daryl tells her, he could tell that she wanted to say something but she didn't she was his kid through and through.
"Okay daddy," Charlie says.
"So now how about we get ready and go get the rest of your school stuff." The next day was her first day in first grade, and the list they had got of required materials was almost two pages long and they still needed to pick up some more stuff and some more outfits for school.
"Go get your shoes on and I'll call Aunt Carol and see if her and Soph want to go with us."
"Okay daddy" Charlie smiles and runs to her bedroom to find her shoes. Daryl picks up his phone and calls Carol- Merles wife.
"Hey Carol me and Charlie were wondering if you and Sophia want to go finish school shopping with us?" Daryl asked praying that she would say yes, he had no idea about girly clothes and Charlie was at that age of wanting to pick out her own clothes…..he had no idea what he was gonna do when she got to be a teenager.
"Of course Daryl, I need to pick up rest of the stuff on Sophia's list and she needs some shoes" Carol answers.
"Yeah me too….that damn list is crazy as hell why do they need dry erase markers in the first grade?" Daryl asked.
"Those are for the teachers Dar." He could hear Carol laugh in the background. "Okay come to the house we will take my car. More room," she tells him.
"Okay thank you Carol….you know this is gonna be your job from now on, school clothes shopping, Charlie don't wanna wear clothes that daddy picks out anymore," Daryl says.
"I don't blame her Dar, you dress her like a little boy," Carol laughed.
"I do not!" Daryl says.
"What did she wear today?" Carol asked trying to prove her point.
"Um camo shirt, shorts and her boots" Daryl said. "Shit I do dress her like a boy."
Carol laughed into the phone "Let's go get her some girl clothes" Carol says.
"Okay I'll be there in a few." Daryl says hanging up his phone, he was lucky to have her she was one of the only females Charlie had in her life besides Lori- his best friend Rick's wife and Maggie his friend Glenn's wife. He goes into the laundry room finding him a shirt that didn't have snot and tears on it.
"Hurry Charlie I'm getting old waiting on ya" Daryl says through the house.
"You already old dad" Charlie laughed coming into the kitchen.
"Not as old as uncle Merle," Daryl laughed, as they walked out to his truck, she laughed as he helped her up into the truck and helped her with her seatbelt.
Daryl turned on the radio, looking over at Charlie her face lit up when the music came on she loved music she loved to dance and sing, Daryl smiled looking at her as she started singing to the song that was playing.
"Okay come on princess, let's go find aunt Carol" Daryl says opening the door for her, helping her out of the truck, as soon as her feet hit the ground she was running.
"UNCLE MER" she screamed as she ran onto the porch.
"What is it my little Char Monster" Merle says stepping out on the porch scooping her up into a hug.
"Daddy said you was old" she smiles looking back at Daryl.
"You rat" Daryl laughed coming up on the porch.
"Do I look old to you Charlie?" Merle asked smiling at her.
"No" she giggled kissing him on the cheek wiggling out of his arms.
"Good girl" he smirks as he holds the screen door open for her to go in.
"Oh little brother you got yourself a handful with that little lady" Merle says handing him a cigarette.
"I do….she reminds me so much of her mom sometimes" Daryl answers.
"I know little brother, but you know as well as I do she would not want you mopping around this long. You need to go find you a good woman and date…..hell go find a not so good woman and get some." Merle tells him.
"Just hush about it Merle" Daryl was not gonna talk about him going out with another woman.
"Okay Dar, but she wouldn't want this for you" Merle says as he turns to go into the house. Daryl shook his head and went into the house, "Okay ladies are we ready to go?" Daryl asks looking down at Charlie and Sophia. Sophia was two years older than Charlie and looked just like Carol.
"Yes uncle Dar" Sophia smiles.
"Well let's go" Daryl says "We are taking Aunt Carols car" he tells Charlie. The two girls run to the car getting in. Daryl got in the passenger's seat as Carol got in the driver's seat, and the four of them headed into town.
"Sophia has Maggie this year as a teacher, not sure how that's gonna go, I'm afraid Maggie will let her get by with stuff and Sophia won't work as hard since its aunt Maggie" Carol says pulling into the parking lot of the store.
"I think she will do fine" Daryl says getting out of the car opening the door for the girls taking Charlie by the hand as they go into the store. Daryl pulls Charlie's list out of his pocket scanning it, this stuff he could pick out …pencils and paper. He can do that.
"Hey Charlie you go with Aunt Carol, and go look at some clothes, okay?" Daryl tells her. "She needs shoes too Carol" Daryl tells Carol as they go their separate ways.
Daryl walked down the aisle that had school supplies….he found the paper that she would need. He picked a pack of crayons for school and a few packs for home, he got a pack of color pencils and the dry erase markers for the teachers. When he got to the pencils he stood and looked at them….finally deciding that Charlie would like the pink one….he also picked up some purple ones just in case she liked that color more…small moments like this is when he missed Charlie's mom. Charlie's mom had passed due to complications of child birth that was the most bittersweet day of Daryl's life. He had become a dad, something he had always wanted but he lost his wife, the first woman he had ever loved. Daryl shook his head trying to get rid of the thought. He hurried and wiped a tear from his eye, before putting the pencils in the cart.
He checked the list again and picked up glue, he needed her to pick out her crayon box, pencil bag and lunch box. He had gotten everything that the list said. And in good timing when he sees Carol and the girls walking his way, and Charlie had a princess backpack on…..Daryl chuckled when he sees she was carrying it like he carried his bow.
"Hey princess whatcha got there" Daryl says squatting down.
"My bagpag dad…..there's princess on it" she miles turning around walking backwards to him.
"Wow, that's a pretty cool backpack you got there….what kind did you get Soph?" Daryl smiles standing up getting Sophia's from the cart. "Which cartoon is this Soph?" Daryl asked.
"Its frozen uncle Dar….you watched it with me …member" she says.
"Yeah I remember now…that's awfully pretty backpack Soph."
"Look at my dress I got" Sophia says her face gleaming as she pulls out a cute little dress.
"Uh oh I'm gonna have to go to school with you keep the boys away," Daryl says smiling at her, her face turning 10 shades of red.
"Okay Char, you need to pick out a crayon box, pencil bag and a lunch box and then you are ready for school," Daryl says.
Charlie stood at the crayon boxes, studying each and every box, Carol laughed when she stuck a finger into her mouth chewing on it.
"Charlie do you know a man named Daryl Dixon?" Carol laughed.
"That's my daddy" she answered looking at Carol with the look of "duh" on her face.
"Yeah you act just like him" Carol laughs stepping in helping her pick her crayon box and her pencil bag…..it took much longer for her to pick her lunch box. They finally got out of the store Daryl had a feeling this would be the shortest school shopping trip that he will ever have, if it took this long to pick a lunch box at 7 he didn't even want to think about how long it will take to pick out clothes when she's 17….thank God he had Carol and Maggie.
"So what do you ladies want for dinner?" Daryl asked as they all got in the car. Both girls agreed on pizza. Carol drove to the pizza place picking up a pizza and heading back to her house. When they were done eating, Charlie shows her uncle Mer, her princess backpack that she refused to take off as soon as it was paid for and her dresses.
"Okay princess, we have to get home, get bathed and ready in bed, give hugs and kisses so we can go" Daryl tells her putting both his and her plates in the sink. Charlie hugged and kissed, her aunt Carol and Uncle Merle and they headed home.
"Hey princess its time to get in the bath then we can get your backpack ready for school" Daryl says as he walks into her room, he sees all her new clothes scattered all over the floor.
"What are you doing princess?" Daryl asks standing in her doorway.
"Picking my clothes for morrow" Charlie answered.
"Oh okay well do you wanna wear shorts and shirt or a dress? Daryl asked sitting cross-legged on the floor in the middle of all her clothes.
"Hmmm if I wear a dress can I swing?" Charlie asked.
"Yeah….you can wear these here under your dress that's why Aunt Carol got them for you" Daryl says picking up a pair of tights.
"Otay" Charlie takes the tights from her dad and picked out a yellow dress. "This one" she says.
"Good choice princess" Daryl smiled picking up the dress and the tights taking them to a little table that she had in her room laying them out for her. "You need shoes" Daryl tells her looking back at her.
"My motocycle boots" Charlie says picking up her Harley Davidson boots that matched a pair of his.
"Great choice" Daryl laughed making a mental notes to take a picture of her in her outfit to send to Carol.
"Okay I am gonna get your bath water ready and you need to wash your hair, and you need to use conditioner so I can comb it tonight." Daryl tells her.
"UGH" Charlie groans.
"I know you hate combing your hair but daddy will braid it for you for your first day of school okay" Daryl tells her. Daryl goes in and gets her bath water ready and gets her a towel and washrag. Charlie's hair was just like her moms, it was curly and it seemed like it was always in knots unless it was kept in a braid. His wife after finding out she was pregnant with a girl taught him how to comb out her hair and how to braid hair.
It didn't take long until she was screaming that she was done, he got up and went to the bathroom, and she had dried off….somewhat, and got dressed. "Good job princess" Daryl says smiling at her, noticing that her shirt was on inside out.
"Okay come on lets go do your hair" Daryl got a comb and a hair band and sit her on a kitchen chair. After 20 minutes of her screaming and fighting with him and him trying to get her to sit still, he had finally got her hair combed and braided. He also decided to get her hair cut…they both decided that around the 10 minute mark.
"Okay princess time for bed gotta a big day tomorrow" Daryl smiles. Charlie goes up to her room, Daryl right behind her tucking her in bed kissing her forehead. "Goodnight daddy's princess I love you to the moon and back." "Night daddy love ya to da stars" she says pulling the covers up a bit tighter. Daryl leaves the bedroom, leaving the door cracked and jumped in the shower himself and getting to bed.
August 3rd
The next morning Daryl is woken not by his alarm clock but by Charlie "Daddy….daddy…wate up its school….wate up" Charlie says shaking him. "I'm awake Charlie…daddy's awake" Daryl groans looking at the clock 6:00…they didn't have to be up until 7 that's why his alarm didn't go off.
"Where's the bus?" she asked looking at him.
"Um princes you still have an hour and a half until the bus gets here" he smiled looking at her loving that she was so excited about school…..nothing like he was at that age, he also notices her dress was on backwards
Daryl sit up in the bed "princess your dress is on backwards what happened?" Daryl asked. "Couldn't reach the buttons" Charlie answers.
"Good reason" Daryl laughs. "Come here let dad help" Daryl says, unbuttoning the little dress turning it around and buttoning it back up"
"Tank you daddy" Charlie says running out the door.
"Your welcome princess" she smirked "Hey did you brush your teeth?" he screams out the door. He didn't get an answer ….which usually meant the answer was no. Daryl gets out of bed and goes down stairs, Charlie was standing at the door, waiting for the bus.
"Princess go brush your teeth then we can have breakfast….here let me have your backpack" Daryl says as she runs by him. He hangs her backpack on the back of her chair, getting the coffee started waiting for her to get back.
"What do you want princess?" Daryl asked. "Um cereal and orange juice" she says crawling up in her chair. "Sure thing what kinda cereal?" Daryl asked. "The kind that pops" she answered.
Daryl goes to the cabinet getting the Rice Krispies and a bowl making her a bowl of cereal and getting her orange juice sitting down with her with his own bowl of cereal and coffee "Are you excited about school princess?" Daryl asked between bites of his cereal. "Yeah, I getta ride the bus" she says her eyes sparkling.
"That good princess that you are excited." Daryl answers. "What do you want for lunch?" Daryl asked getting up from the table, putting his bowl in the sink. "Grapes, and um peanut butter and jelly sandwich and …ah juice" Charlie answers.
Daryl smiles getting everything that she wanted, made her a sandwich cutting it in triangles ….she had wanted everything in triangles lately. He got her grapes putting them in a zip lock bag and he also throws a banana in her lunch box ….because she only likes grapes sometimes.
"Okay princess, it's time for the bus" Daryl says handing her, her lunch box….hurrying and taking a picture of her outfit. "I love you princess have a good day at school" Daryl says kissing her forehead walking her out putting her on the bus.
"I lo'e you too daddy" she says crawling up the steps. Daryl watches the bus drive away and send the picture to Carol telling her Charlie picked out her entire outfit all by herself …boots and all. Daryl washed up the dishes, and got ready for work, he jumps on his bike and heads to the garage.