This is a one-shot and the idea was requested by General KJ, who wanted to see a fic with some Daryl and Sophia interaction, set in the Walking Dead world, preferably where Sophia had either never gone missing, or had survived. I struggled quite a bit with this, and realized that I think I'm better at writing AU's. I might add more one-shots if the muse strikes, and/or I get a request, but I might not.

I'm working on another one-shot, that will be posted separately and it is already over 3,000 words. It has commanded most of my attention lately, and hopefully I can get it up soon. I'm also working on the next chapter of Stay Safe and hope to have that up soon as well. I haven't started the next one for Nine Lives, but I tend to write those chapters pretty quickly.

The past couple of weeks had been rough for everyone, between Sophia going missing, Carl getting shot, opening the barn full of walkers and struggling with Hershel's desire for them to leave the farm.

Luckily, Carl had recovered, and Sophia had been found. Unlucky for Sophia, her mother was keeping an even closer on her, and wouldn't let her out her sight for even a second. Sophia loved her mother, but was getting annoyed with being babied all the time. Even, Carl, who had been shot, wasn't getting as much attention from his mother.

Sophia snuck out one morning before anyone was up and started to walk around Hershel's yard by herself, just enjoying the freedom of not having anyone hover over her. She still wasn't used to the quiet. There were no birds chirping, no people out mowing their lawns, no airplanes going by, nothing. Not even the snarls and groans of walkers nearby.

Maybe that was why she was so startled when she heard footsteps approaching from behind.

"What the hell are ya doin' out here by yourself? Ya mama know you're out here?" He gave no indication that he was angry with her, but merely just curious.

She sighed in relief. It was only Daryl. If anyone understood wanting to be alone it would be him. He stared at her, waiting for her answer.

"No, she doesn't," Sophia admitted after a moment, biting her lower lip and looking down. Daryl may not have sounded angry, but she didn't want him to be disappointed with her. She looked up to him, and admired him. The thought of disappointing him made her think that her idea to escape her mother's hold wasn't such a great idea after all, no matter how badly she had wanted to at the time.

"Get on back then. Ain't gonna have ya mama runnin' 'round worried about ya for nothin'. Reckon you've given her enough to worry 'bout already." He was referring to the fact that she had been missing for a couple of days before he had finally found her. Even though she had been trying to get away from a walker at the time, and it wasn't really her fault, Daryl's words made her feel guilty at her actions.

She pushed any feelings of guilt aside before answering him. "Daryl, no, please. She won't let me do anything! I survived in the woods on my on until you found me, didn't I? Mrs. Grimes isn't even watching Carl that much and he got shot!" Her blue eyes were wide and her nose wrinkled in frustration.

"Yeah well, ya mama loves ya an' cares 'bout ya. An' look what happened to Carl, he was with Rick and Shane. Still got himself shot and nearly died. Ya mama just worries. Be glad ya have a mama that cares 'bout you."

"But-"

Daryl cut her off before she could start to protest again.

"You wanna be independent an' all that shit. Jus' try an' think of it from ya Mama's perspective. She didn't know what happened to ya. Didn't know if we were gonna find ya. Didn't know how we would find ya. She has nightmares, ya know. Ya realize ya could have been in that barn?"

He could see she was starting to get upset but kept going.

"It coulda been ya in that barn, Sophia. Can ya imagine what that'd do to your poor mama? Seein' ya as one o'them? One of us havin' to put ya down?"

By this point, Sophia's chin was quivering, though she was trying hard to keep herself strong and make it look like she wasn't as upset as she was, but the twinned trails of tears on her face betrayed her.

"I'll try to talk to ya mama a bit," he said softly. "But this sneakin' out shit ain't the way to do it. Ya wanna be treated more grown up, ya gotta act it."

Sophia broke down and ran into Daryl, wrapping her gangly arms around his waist and sobbing into his chest. He panicked and flinched at the sudden contact before reminding himself that this was only Sophia. "It's only Sophia." He kept repeating it in his mind over and over again, before hesitantly and awkwardly returning the embrace.

"C'mon," he patted her back awkwardly. To say Daryl wasn't around kids much would be an understatement. Hell, he wasn't even used to being around people, but he was starting to get used to it. He wasn't too stupid to realize that now that the world had gone to shit, people were starting to rely on each other more.

"Best be gettin' back inside now," he said when he thought she had calmed down enough. "Hopefully ya mama ain't noticed ya missin' yet."

Sophia started to walk away when she turned back around. "Daryl? Did you mean it?"

"Mean what?"

"That you'd talk to my mama," she said, those blue eyes of hers working some kind of magic on him.

"Yeah," he grunted. She smiled and said a quick thank you before disappearing back inside.

Daryl sighed and shook his head. He was turning into some damn pansy. He could only imagine what Merle would say.

Thank you for reading. General KJ: I hope this didn't disappoint too much!