Sophia fights the urge to scream at the top of her lungs when the nightmare sends her jolting upright to clutch desperately at the sheets around her. Instead, she clamps a hand over her mouth and gives a strangled sob, turning immediately to make sure that she hadn't gone and woken up her mama, as well.
The gentle woman stirs slightly in her sleep, "Baby? You okay?"
"Yeah, mama." She squeaks in response, "I'm okay."
That seems to be enough for Carol, because she drifts back into unconsciousness almost immediately, and the blonde sighs, relieved. Sophia knows that she's put her mother through enough worrying, enough anxiety; she doesn't need to keep her up whining about some nightmare. Nightmares aren't even real. Not real like getting bit by a walker, and certainly not real like getting lost in the woods for a week. Sophia knows that its time to grow up and stop worrying about little-kid problems like bad dreams; but regardless of how hard she squeezes her eyes shut, the blonde can't coax herself back into sleep. All she sees when she closes them are walkers, a maze of trees, shadows, and other things that she knows will hurt her. The anxiety has just begun to creep up when she hears a quiet but familiar cough from outside the RV.
Daryl hears the little footsteps approach from behind and heaves a sigh, figuring it to be Carl, restless and curious about motorcycles, hunting, or whatever else little boys think about. But when he turns around to give the kid a quick scolding, he's surprised to find the little girl looking sheepish as she wobbles closer to the fire.
Daryl waits patiently until she's just within earshot, "It's late."
Sophia stops, just to his right, "I know." She hesitates for a moment, "But I can't sleep."
"Bad dream?"
She briefly considers lying, because she really, really, doesn't want to sound like a wuss in front of Daryl, but she doesn't think he'll believe her if she tries, "Yeah, kinda." She fidgets briefly, waits for him to say something and continues awkwardly when he doesn't, "I didn't wanna wake mama up again."
Daryl scoffs softly, gives a shake of the head, "Ya ain't no burden, Sophia." The little girl looks to the ground and kicks at an invisible rock, "That's what yer thinkin' – right?" She nods softly and fuck, he knew it; they've had this conversation once before, not long after her rescue, "Well, stop. Yer mama loves you, 'n she's jus' glad yer back. She wants you to be happy, so you gotta tell her when you ain't."
"I know." Sophia draws in a shaky breath, "I'm sorry, Mr. Daryl."
He tenses slightly at this and, although frustrated, tries to be a little more gentle, "Don't be." He sighs heavily, "Look, you can sit out here with me fer a few minutes if you wanna." Her face lights up at this, and Daryl tries to ignore the slight twisting in his chest.
Geez, kid. Your pa really did a number on you.
But of course he doesn't say it, because fuck if he can't sympathize. Sad thing is, Daryl figures he probably has more in common with Sophia than he does with anyone else in the group. So he doesn't protest when she plops down on the roomy fold-out chair he's made himself semi-comfortable in, even though he assumed she'd just sit herself down on a log or something. And he doesn't protest when she curls up right there at his side, all warm and tiny and content. No, Daryl doesn't protest. Instead, he shifts so she can get herself comfortable and listens as her breathing evens out.
She's asleep within seconds.
"Daryl? Hey man, wake up."
The hunter groans softly and promptly swats away the fingers splayed against his shoulder.
"Hey, I'm here to relieve you of your post."
Daryl draws in a deep breath and carefully blinks the sleep from his eyes, and the first thing he sees above him is that stupid baseball cap.
"The hell're you goin' on about?" He asks huskily.
Glenn clears his throat, "Watch duty. Your shift's over." He hesitates for a moment, then nods to Sophia with a grin, "Okay sorry, but there's gotta be a story here."
Daryl looks down – oh yeah, that – and offers a sigh, "She had a nightmare, came out here, dunno why, then she fell asleep." He cuts his eyes at the Korean, "The end."
"That's.. really sweet." His words are completely sincere, and Glenn only smiles sheepishly when Daryl sets a steely gaze on him, "But uh, like I said, I'm just here to take over watch. I can take Sophia back to the RV and you can get some sleep if you –"
"Nah I'm good, man." Daryl whispers, propping himself up onto an elbow in a futile attempt to stay awake, "I got it, jus'.. go back to bed or whatever."
The younger man watches for a long moment, skeptical, "Daryl, you're clearly exhausted. How can you keep watch if you're falling asleep?"
Daryl perks up defensively, but keeps his voice low, "I can do it jus' fine, Short Round."
Glenn rolls his eyes at the reemergence of his less-than-affectionate nickname, "Okay, okay, geez. Like I said, just trying to help.."
Sophia stirs beneath his arm, and Daryl gives the Korean another death-glare, "Would you get the hell outta here 'fore you wake her up?" He huffs softly as the other man stalks away with a shake of the head, "Goddamn.."
Just as Glenn predicts, Daryl doesn't last another five minutes. He waits patiently until the older man's head nods off, and then climbs quietly onto the RV behind them to take watch until morning.
"Sophia?" Carol whispers sleepily, and her eyes widen at the realization that her daughter is nowhere to be found, "Sophia!"
She pushes herself up and jumps out of bed. Carol knows that there's probably a logical reason that her daughter isn't still sleeping beside her, but the feeling of being without her that whole week hasn't fully left her yet, and the panic kicks in like a knee-jerk reaction.
She's rushing out of the RV when Glenn meets her right there at the door, "Carol, hey–"
"Sophia, she's –"
"Whoa, whoa, calm down. Sophia's fine." He grins brightly, "Actually, I was just coming to wake you up. You have to come see this."
Carol follows the young man down to the main campsite, confused but fully relieved to know that her daughter is safe and sound. When the pairs gets closer she sees that Daryl's passed out in one of Dale's old fold-up chairs, and Lori, Andrea & Rick are all loitering around the area, smiling brightly and laughing softly. That's when she sees it – that familiar little mop of blonde hair pressed against his side, and the corners of her mouth turn up in a smile of her own.
Andrea sees her approach and closes the distance between them, "I'm so glad you're here. This is almost too cute to bear."
Glenn laughs quietly beside them, "Yeah, I guess Sophia couldn't sleep so she came out here to talk to Daryl." Carol frowns a little at this – why didn't Sophia wake her up? – but listens to the rest of the boy's account, "I came out a few hours ago and that's how they were. I woke Daryl up to take over watch, but he wasn't havin' it." He raises an eyebrow, "I guess he's just a wimp when it comes to kids." His face straightens when he sees the amusement written on Andrea's face, "Please don't tell him I said that. Seriously."
Carol smiles softly at their banter but moves forward to watch Daryl and Sophia some more – it just warms her, so much. Even before the world ended, Sophia never had a man in her life that she could look up to, feel safe with, or even trust, really. Her late father certainly never would have gone to the lengths that Daryl had to find her. So Carol wasn't surprised when her daughter started spending more and more time with the hunter around the camp, and she certainly never protested the idea. She mostly just follows Daryl around, and Carol recognizes that her little girl probably causes more of a distraction than he needs. But he never shoos her away, never loses his temper – well, once, but Carol's pretty sure that Daryl recognized something in Sophia's eyes when the little girl cowered away from him, and from that moment on, he made sure it never happened again. She'd always figured that Daryl just had a soft spot for the little girl, or maybe felt some special connection because he'd rescued her, but no, this was something on an entirely different level. It's clear to Carol now how much he genuinely cares for Sophia, and it makes her feel safer than anything else has in a long time.
After a few moments Daryl stirs and looks down at the sleeping child beside him before turning to find five of his fellow survivors, staring in amusement at the pair, and he can't help the scoff that escapes his throat.
"The hell're are ya'll lookin' at?"