Disclaimer: I don't own "The Walking Dead." Everything belongs to whoever owns them, my wishful thinking aside.

Authors Note #1: I wanted to write a little ficlet for Halloween, so here we are.

Warnings:alternative universe, established relationship, domesticity, Halloween.

Phantasmagoria

She was washing dishes when Daryl's truck rattled up the driveway. Emerging out of the mist like every eldritch, intrusive thought you tended to have on All Hallow's eve. Giving him a sudsy wave as the headlights switched off and the engine hiccuped indignantly. Able to tell how tired he was by the octave of his grunt as his boots hit the gravel.

Sophia met him at the door, grinning and excited. Still dressed up in her costume. Trailing glitter and sparkles like a cape. Lighting up in a way she never had with Ed as Daryl paused in the door frame and sent her a playful little whistle. Dark eyes finding hers over Sophia's head as they exchanged smiles.

"You missed trick or treating," Sophia whined, pouting gently as he kicked off his shoes. Coating the back-splash of the shoe rack with mud. "Mom took us to King County! There were SO many nice houses. You said you were going to come..."

"I know. Sorry, kiddo," Daryl answered, lips twisting. "But you had fun dint'cha? Lets see your haul. Got any of those mars bars things?"

Sophia nodded, racing back to the kitchen. Treating them to the deafening clatter of an entire pillow case of Halloween candy crashing down on the kitchen table.

"They kept you late," she murmured, leaning in to give him a covert kiss that he ducked his head into. Shoulders hunching. Still shy. Still unsure of his welcome even though it'd been more than a year. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah," Daryl hummed dismissively, shrugging out of his leather vest and hanging it up on the coat-rack. It's presence somehow managing to compliment the rash of pinks and bright colors from Sophia's jackets and sweaters that inevitably found a home there instead of the closet or drawers upstairs. "Some old fart in a Winnebago pulled up, hood smoking just before closing. Jim and I stayed late so he could get back on the road. Figured I owed him."

He did.

They all did.

Jim had been the only shop in town willing to give a Dixon boy a chance. Merle's shadow had caused a lot of damage. And truth be told, Daryl hadn't helped himself much back then either. Or so she'd heard from the grocery store gossip. But they were getting there, slowly.

"That's good. Its the little things that matter most to people in the long run. Good things that add up," she told him warmly. Saying nothing when his hands - still dirty with engine grease - left a smudge on the light switch by the door to the kitchen. "I've got dinner in the oven for you, roast always reheats nice, so don't worry."

Her lips lifted in a smile as he nodded and edged towards the bathroom. Remembering the first night she'd cooked for him and how half the battle had just been getting him inside the damn house. She'd barely finished moving into the run-down old ranch house when the ceiling in the den fell in. Daryl had been part of the crew that'd set about fixing it for her. He'd stayed late one afternoon to finish something when Ed found them. Pulling up in a van she didn't recognize, and a shotgun propped against the passenger seat. Already yelling for her and Sophia to come on out as he stumbled up the gravel. Drunk and angry, just like she'd left him.

Daryl hadn't let him get up to the front porch.

Laying him flat on his back in less than three punches.

And ever since then, things had progressed much like you'd expect.

"It's pretty creepy out there," Daryl grunted as he shuffled into the kitchen a couple minutes later. Eying Sophia's pile of candy with a shifty expression she couldn't help but stifle a giggle at. Heart warming at the way Sophia had already sorted out a little cluster of mars bars for him. "There's lots of people around. I don't know if I've ever been out on Halloween before...weren't much fun where me and Merle came from. All those costumes and lights made weird shadows in the dark."

"It was like my dream!" Sophia piped up, chewing on a tootsie roll.

"What dream, honey?" she asked distractedly, grabbing a plate as she switched off the oven and brought out the roast she'd had in there to keep warm.

She was surprised when her daughter sobered. Looking over at her and Daryl before biting her lip and frowning.

"I couldn't remember all of it when I wrote up this morning. But something happened. Something bad. A lot of people were sick. Dead. I was with you for a while. And Daryl. And Jim. And Daddy was- he was there- but not for long. The monsters got him. But it was weird...Daryl didn't know me. And it was like I didn't know him either, not like now. Like when you first came! And there was this boy I played with, his daddy was a police officer. But the monsters came back and we had to leave. We were all in tents, like camping, but we left in the cars. It was really scary. Then- then I got lost. It was really cold. I was in the forest and the police officer told me something, but I forgot and then the monsters came."

Daryl blinked.

The silence pressed heavy.

Possible.

She shivered.

Hating how the feeling congealed like an oil slick down the back of her spine.

"Well, it's a good thing it was only a dream, hmm?" she told Sophia after a pause, smiling encouragingly as her daughter nodded vigorously. Going back to sorting her candy as she thought about what her daughter had said. Wondering why it felt so familiar.

Daryl was tucking into his dinner with open enjoyment when she eventually shook the thought away and turned on the kettle to brew a cup of tea. Telling Daryl about the events of the day as the TV in the den chimed with a breaking news alert.

A good thing, indeed.

A/N: Thank you for reading, please let me know what you think.

Reference:

- Phantasmagoria: a sequence of real or imaginary images like those seen in a dream.