So this is my first TWD fanfiction... so I don't really know if it'll be good, but I got this idea when I was eating a cookie yesterday and thought of TWD and decided to just go with it. Forgive me if you think it's way OOC or anything like that... I hope you like it!

-Briggitte :)

Takes Place: Before the first episode in season 1. Life before the show started at the campsite.

The Sweetest Cookie
2.27.13

She didn't know what made her more happy. The fact that she was almost done with her school work for the day and it was still early in the afternoon, or that she still had two chocolate chip cookies in a little baggy next to her books. Sophia and Carl were the most excited when Glenn had come back from his last run bearing a packet of the delicious cookies that they hadn't eaten since before "everything had gone to shit". That's how the adults referred to it, anyways. She eyed the cookies, telling herself that she had to finish her work before eating them. She buried her nose back into her textbook and continued working until she heard footsteps approaching.

She lifted her eyes to see Daryl, the groups hunter, carrying some squirrels he had caught and set them down. He felt her eyes on him and looked at her, nodding his head slightly, acknowledging her. Startled at the attention she received, she quickly looked down back at her book and resumed working.

She finished her work a few minutes later. He had taken a seat on half of a log on the edge of the campsite. She watched him intently as he cleaned the arrows of his crossbow from the hunt and as he sharpened his knife. She thought about him and how she'd only gotten to know him a little bit over the course of the last few weeks. He usually kept to himself or was off with his brother Merle. Sophia didn't like Merle. He was mean. But Daryl was different, she thought. He was quiet, wasn't one to sit around the campfire to talk with everyone. She liked him though. He was good to her mother and was never mean to them. Only a couple of times had he snapped at Ed, her father, but she liked that, she liked someone standing up to him. Her father wasn't the nicest or easiest man to live with and although she didn't really understand why he sometimes hit her mom, she didn't like it at all. She just felt like she couldn't do anything to stop it. She looked again at Daryl and thought that he looked lonely and needed a friend. She wanted to be his friend, but was slightly scared. She couldn't think of any way of how to approach him, and truthfully, he was slightly intimidating man.

She was stumped. She tried to think of a way, but instead, she picked up her books and headed over to her tent to put her books away and walked over to her mother, who was washing clothes, and asked her if she could go play with Carl. Carol asked her if she had finished all of her work. Sophia replied that she had.

"Alright, but we'll be eating soon, remember." Carol said. Sophia knew that meant to not spend too much time playing and come right back soon. She smiled and kissed her mom on the cheek and headed towards Carl's tent, but halfway there she remembered her cookies. She headed back to the tables to pick up the baggy and noticed that Daryl was still sitting there by himself. She frowned, trying to think of a way to make it so he wasn't so lonely. She stood there for a few seconds longer until a small smile spread across her face. She held the bag of cookies tighter in her hand and walked over to him. He didn't look up and for a second she second-guessed herself, wondering if bothering his solitude was a good idea after all. She hesitated, but a second later she cleared her throat.

"Daryl?" She asked quietly. He looked up at her inquisitively, but didn't say anything. She looked into his soft blue eyes and whatever fear she had a few moments ago faded away. "I just wanted to ask you if you wanted my other cookie. Carl and I had a lot of them already and I have two left...and they're really yummy!" She smiled, enthusiastically.

He cocked an eyebrow, looking at her and then looking around quickly. He didn't want his brother coming by, taunting him for being nice to the kid. He liked Sophia. She was a sweet girl, very much like her mother, always offering what they had to others, always trying to help. He knew that Ed was a wife-beating bastard and the thought of him hitting this little girl made him sick to the stomach. He understood what was going on, he was no stranger to abuse, but he never interfered. They weren't his problem, not his to protect. He couldn't help feeling like shooting the asshole in between the eyes whenever he saw Carol sporting fresh bruises. "What flavor'r they?"

"Chocolate chip." She answered, raising up the little baggy to show him. She opened the bag and pulled one out and handed it to him. "They're really yummy." He took the cookie.

"Thanks." He quietly said and gave her what she thought was a genuine smile.

"Welcome!" She beamed, bit into hers, and walked away. He smiled a little wider to himself when she had gone away. He took a bite. He could have sworn that was the best tasting, sweetest cookie he had ever had.

Later that night, Sophia could have sworn Daryl was in a better mood than usual and even returned her smile when she said goodnight. She went to bed happy, knowing she had made a new friend.