-Hey, fellow people, for the people who have review and have favorited or followed this story, thank you so much. I'm sorry that it has taken me this long to start updating this again but I have been through a heck of a lot of crap this year and completely forgot about this story. I was moving, my house got broken into, the cops were idiots and had no idea what they were doing, I graduated high school if it means anything, and I just now remembered this story when somebody favorited it.

-Any who,***** IF YOU'VE READ THIS STORY BEFORE I HAVE CHANGED SOME THING'S IN THE LAST TWO CHAPTERS SO YOU MAY WANNA GO REREAD THEM because I felt that they needed to be changed.

-Now, as I have said before if you decided not to go back, the willow tree is out in that large empty field to the front left of the farm house, where Rick was running with Carl, so that Charlotte can see everything that's going on because if I put her to the right the groups camp would get in her way. The dress that she's wearing is the same one in the cover picture except it's blue in color.

-And so forth, this author's note is way to long, I don't own anything but Travis, Charlotte, and Andy, and now I shall commence with the making of chapter 3 and, hopefully, I don't mess up like the last two and have to do it again. Onward to baby Travis….


"If he was covering you then how'd you come back with a dead man's gun?"

Chapter 3) Cherokee Rose

She had woken up early that morning, before the sun was even in the sky, and had walked out to the grave. She couldn't find peace last night, her dreams were plagued with nightmares not only of her husband and her father but of that boy, Carl, as well. Nightmares of what would've happened if she hadn't saved him, if that man Shane hadn't gotten back in time. She was still confused of over how her dad had died, Shane had come back with his gun, why would he give Shane his gun? Unless something bad had happened and he couldn't take it with him.

She stood from her spot beside the grave, put her hand to her forehead, and looked around. Most of the others were gathering stones for her fathers future empty grave, it was a stupid idea to her. Why have a grave when there was nothing to put in it but air? She wanted to find him, she wanted to go out and find her dad, but she knew it was a bad idea. Beth, Jimmy, her mother, Maggie, Glenn, T-Dog, and Shane were walking around the small wooded area picking up rocks as they went and were putting into a wheel barrel to move.

She continued to watch them for a while before the sound of a motorcycle pulled her away. She looked over at the dirt road that led to the farm to see more people coming towards the house. A man on a motorcycle, a car, and an RV. It must've been the rest of Rick's group, the one's that stayed behind to look for the little girl. To her, now, more people meant more drama, more pain, and more stupidity. Hershel was already taking a big risk letting the others in and now he was going to be taking in more. She watched the caravan come to stop in front of Herschel's home and everyone gathered around them like bees before she sat back down and leaned against the tree. She didn't care, not yet anyway.


"How is he?" Dale asked as he looked at Rick.

Lori smiled. "He'll pull through. Thanks to Hershel and his people."

Hershel shook his head and looked at the new people from his place near the porch with Patricia standing closely behind him. "It was Charlotte, she saved that boy."

Rick frowned as he looked around for her. "Where is she anyway? Haven't seen today."

"She's out there by the willow tree," Patricia said as she pointed towards the willow tree.

The group looked out towards the large field that would have been empty had it not been for the large willow tree that stood straight in the middle of it. The first thing they noticed was her bright reddish brown hair that reached to the middle of her neck and seemed to shine in the sunlight that peaked through the willow's long branches. Her knees were balled up to her chest with her arms wrapped around them and her head was rested on the top of her knees, she was wearing a bright blue string strapped dress, a blue head band, and sandals.

"What's she doing over there?" Dale asked as he fixed the gun over his shoulder and looked back at Herschel.

"Her husbands buried out there underneath that tree, he died when the outbreak started he was trying to save her."

Carol looked at them. "She saved Carl?"

Rick nodded. "She was a surgeon before the outbreak worked at a hospital nearby."

Daryl shook his head, he had still been watching her. "What's the matter with 'er?"

Maggie frowned. "Her dad died to save that boy."

"Wha'd he do?"

"Him and Shane went to high school nearby to get some medical supplies she needed," Rick said, "only he didn't come back."

They all stood there for a moment before the sound of the front door pulled their eyes towards it, a small boy stood in front of the door. His head was covered in a mound of unbrushed black hair that reached to the ends of his ears. Freckles covered his face from cheek to cheek and he was a pair of tiny overalls and pair of little brown boots. He reached up with his left hand, wiped his eyes, and yawned before he looked out at the people in front of him, they stared back.

He watched them for a moment before he slowly climbed down the stairs, walked past them, then raced through the field towards the willow tree.

"Mommy." They heard him yell.

They all watched as the woman looked at the boy before she stood up, ran out towards him, grabbed him, and lifted him up into the air high above her head. She spun him around a few times then pulled him close to her, she was smiling.

Rick turned away from the happy scene and looked at Herschel. "That's Travis, isn't it?"

Herschel nodded.


She was standing beside her mother Patricia, Maggie, Beth and Jimmy, while Herschel read from the Bible. She stood there as still as a statue as, one by one, they placed the rocks on her fathers cold empty grave. He wasn't there, he was still at the high school probably wondering around like one of those zombie things you saw in a horror movie. A thing with no brain, a monster, a thing that had killed her husband. She could imagine his rotten face, the skin falling off random places as he ran after her and, as she fell, tried to eat her. He became what she had almost become at the beginning if not for her husband, a rotten creature that stumbled across the world with absolutely no purpose but to eat. She wondered how bad he would look. Did they eat all of him? Was there anything left? Had they only left pieces behind? She would never know not even if she wanted to.

Rick had confirmed, from what she saw from the tree, that the people that had shown up that morning were a part of the ever growing group. A man in beach clothes, a fishing hat, and an old RV, his name was Dale. A woman with long blonde hair and a shitty, bratty, attitude, that walked with her head held high in the air like she was better then everyone, her name was Andrea. Another woman with very short hair, and only seemed to cry, she was the one that had lost her daughter, her name was Carol. The last one struck her as odd and was a type of man she had never met before. He was a redneck with a bad attitude, a man who spaced himself, a man with a crossbow, a motorcycle, and a strange leather vest, his name was Daryl and, from what she knew, his last name was Dixon.

She clutched the hand of her crying two year old as people continued to place rocks on the fake grave. It infuriated her to know that there was nothing there but dirt in the ground that she was supposed to pretend was her dad, the grandfather of her only child. She wouldn't do it. Something was fishy about her fathers death and she knew it had to do with Shane who had somehow come back with a dead mans gun like no one would notice.

"Blessed be god, father of our lord, Jesus Christ. Praise be to him for the gift of our brother Otis for his span of years, for his abundance of character. Otis who gave his life to save a child's now more than ever our most precious asset. We thank you god for the peace he enjoys in your embrace. He died as he lived….in grace." Hershel spoke in respect.

She looked down at her crying little boy and stroked his hair out of his face. First his father and now his grandfather. Who was next?

"Shane?" Hershel continued as he looked at the man wearing her fathers old clothes, "Will you speak for Otis?"

She slowly looked at the man in question to see him staring at her with this strange, almost crazy, look in his eyes.

"I'm not good at it." He said as he continued to stare at her. "I'm sorry."

"You were the last one with him." Patricia said as she held back tears.

"Mother." Charlotte almost hissed from beside her as the wind blew a small piece of her hair into her face.

"You shared his final moments," she continued, "please, I need to hear. I need to know his death had meaning."

Charlotte almost shivered at the look that passed through his eyes as he continued to stare at her and her son. She glared across the grave at him and held her son's hand almost to the breaking point and so, in order not break his hand, she picked him up and held him close as he cried into her neck.

He hesitated as he continued to stare at her, "We….we were about done. Almost out of ammo and we were down to pistols by then. I was limpin', it was bad. Ankle all swollen up. 'We gotta save the boy.' See that's what he said. He gave me his backpack and he shoved me ahead. 'Run' he said. Said 'I'd take the rear I'll cover you.' Then when I looked back…..if not for Otis I'd've never made it out alive and that goes for Carl to. It was Otis, he saved us both. If any death ever had meaning, it was his."

He limped over towards the empty grave and placed a rock on top of the pile before he looked at her again. "He told me to watch out for you and your boy."

Everyone looked at her as she tensed and held her near howling son closer to her before she gently set him on the ground. She narrowed her eyes and glared at him as she stepped closer to him and didn't stop until they were almost touching. "Tell me something, Shane," she almost hissed, "if he was covering you then how did you come back with a dead mans gun? I know you didn't go back just for a gun."

His eyes darkened and his nostrils flared as the two stared at each other, no one moved.

"Come on Shane," she whispered as a smile slowly began to creep onto her tear stained face, "tell me how he really died or do I have to do it for you?"

He glared at her.

"Mama?" Travis pulled at the bottom of her dress.

Charlotte turned away from him and looked towards her son who had walked up to her side. "What baby?"

He reached out his other hand towards her. "I got'd a l'dy bug."

She reached down to him and lifted him into her arms before she began to walk away from the crowd of silent people, "You got a lady bug?"

Travis nodded.

"You know what you've gotta do now?"

He shook his head as they got further away.

Charlotte smiled. "We've gotta watch it fly away."

He frowned and turned his head. "F'y aw'y?"

She nodded. "Oh yeah, gotta go up into the sky where everything else goes."

Travis chewed on his hand. "Like a bird?"

"Mmhmm, like a bird?"

"Like daddy?"

"Just like daddy, baby, and grandpa Otis."

"Grampy fly away?"

Charlotte stopped in the middle of the field and ran her fingers through her sons hair. "Yeah, baby, he's with daddy now."

He looked confused for a moment before he shook his head and laid it on his mother's shoulder. "I wuv you mommy."

"I love you too." Charlotte said before she started walking again.


She was somethin' strange ta him. He knew somethin' was off about that man Otis's death but she'd gone and laid Shane out flat. He'd heard from where he'd been standin', sh'd had a point. She was pretty, he'd have ta give her that, and that son of hers was pretty cute. He kinda felt a little sorry for her, losin' and all like that, almost like the way he lost his brother except Otis wadn't chained ta a roof and left there. He watched her walk away, he could hear her explaining to her son about Otis going away just like his dad. He couldn't say it didn't hurt a little if not at all awkward.


"Mama?" Travis asked from his spot in her lap where he was playing with some of the flowers and grass.

She sighed with her eyes closed and her head leaned against the tree, "Yes, dear?"

"Is daddy eve' gonna c'me bak?" He asked.

She froze for a moment and looked down at him before she shivered and ran her fingers through his short hair, "I told you darling, daddy's flown away."

"Why?" He asked.

She didn't know what to say. How could she tell her only son that his father was dead? "He just did, but I'm sure he's in a better place now."

He nodded before he laid his head on her shoulder, "I miss daddy."

She hugged him tighter to her, "I know baby, I know."

He looked up at her, "D' y'u thin' he miss us?"

She nodded and rested her head on his. "I'm sure he misses us as much as we miss him. Especially you, he loved you so much."

He picked at her clothes and nodded, "I wuv you mama."

"I love you too baby."


Having those people around was strange to her. They had moved into the cluster of trees not far from her and she felt as if she couldn't walk around without someone watching her and the lookout that they now had posted on the RV made her even more paranoid. Were they watching her? Could they see what she was saying? Were they asking questions? Were they being given answers? She didn't feel safe having her son be away from her anymore. Not with both Shane and the strange people wandering around. They acted like they owned the farm and apparently they intended to stay for as long as they could, she had Rick talking to others about it early when they had gotten to close to her.

They were looking for that little girl she had learned was called Sophia. They had lost her on the highway when a group of those creatures had stumbled past and two of them had chased her into the forest. Hershel was letting them stay for a little while so they could finish their search. To her it was just a waste of time; they weren't going to find her, a little girl lost a forest full of those things. Three days out there on her own with nothing but a stuffed doll to protect from hundreds of those creatures? No, if her husband couldn't survive out there then there was no way that a small twelve year old girl could. From what she could tell, Shane, Andrea, Rick, Herschel, Maggie, and Daryl were all standing in a circle surrounding a car as with a map on it.

She looked away from them as her son toddled up to her with another new bug in his small grubby hands.


"How long's this girl been missin'?" Herschel asked as Maggie walked up to the car with a map in her hand.

"This'll be day three." Rick said.

Maggie reached out and spread the map across the front of the car before covering the corners with stones, "County survey map shows terrain and elevations."

"This is perfect," Rick grumbled, he was still weak, "we can finally get this thing organized. We'll grid the whole area and start searching in teams."

Herschel shook his head. "Not you, you gave three units of blood yesterday, your barley on your feet. You'd pass out before you made it to the end of the field." He looked at Shane, "And your ankle, put anymore weight on it you'll be laid up for months."

"Guess it's just me," Daryl leaned across the car and began to map out a trail, "I'm gonna head back to the creak work my way from there." He looked at Rick who nodded.

"I could still be useful," Shane said, "drive up the interstate see if she wandered back."

Rick sighed. "Alright, tomorrow then, we'll start this right."

Shane looked at Rick. "We can't have our people walkin' around with just knives, gotta have that gun trainin' I was talkin' about a while back."

Rick nodded but Herschel shook his head. "I'd prefer you to not carry guns on my land. Haven't needed them before don't need them now."

Shane looked irritated.

Rick nodded. "This is your land." He took his gun off and placed it on the car hood, Shane slowly followed. "Figure out a grid and we'll find Sophia."

"I hate to be the one to ask this," Shame said, "but what happens if we find her and she's bit?"

"Do what has to be done."

"What about her mother?" Maggie asked.

Andrea shook her head. "The truth."

Maggie looked at her father with disbelief but he shook his head.

"If we can't have the guns till gun practice can I make the request of having one on look out, just to feel safe?" Shane asked.

Rick looked at Herschel. "Our people would feel safer."

Herschel nodded. "Only one."

Rick looked at Shane. "Gather all the guns, tell the people we can't have them until gun practice."

As Daryl went to walk past him, Herschel call out to him, "Take Charlotte with you, she knows the land better then anybody else."

Daryl squinted his eyes at him. "I do better on my own."

"Take her anyway," Herschel insisted, "she won't bother you unless you bother her, she'll help."

Daryl shrugged and walked away but not before looking at the woman who was playing with her son underneath the large willow tree.


"Why'd you ask me?" Charlotte asked as the two trekked through the quiet woods.

He just looked at her.

Charlotte scoffed and shook her head as she looked around. "Don't talk much do ya?"

"Herschel told me ta take ya wi' me, said ya'd help."

She shrugged her shoulders and pushed some tree limbs to find an open clearing and an abandoned home. She paused. "Herschel will say anything to get me away from that tree."

Daryl pushed through the trees and came to a stop beside her before he reached and pulled his crossbow over his shoulder.

She looked at him. "Think she might be in there?"

He looked over at her shrugged, "Only one way to find out?"

They slowly walked across the grass and towards the run down building that had once been somebody's home. Daryl raised his crossbow to his eyes, kicked in the door, and slowly crept inside while Charlotte followed silently behind. From what she could see there was nothing was knocked over ruined furniture, there was no one there. Still, she stood there in the doorway as Daryl started to search around. She frowned when he came back empty.

She looked at him with big eyes. "Nothing?"

He shook his head. "Found a cabinet with a blanket and pillow, somebody was hidin' in there," he raised his hand beside him, "couldn't a been but about this heigh."

She looked at his hand and nodded. "Guess we'll have to keep looking then."

Daryl passed on the way out the door and yelled, "Sophia?"

Charlotte quickly followed his example. "Sophia?" she looked around before she walked around the house, "Sophia? Sophia, where are you?"

She walked back around the front of the front house and went to yell again but stopped when she saw Daryl kneeling in front of a flower plant. She walked over to him and looked over his shoulder at the white flowers. "What are those?"

He looked over his shoulder at her.

She raised her eyebrow and shrugged. "You must know them since your staring at them so hard."

Daryl scoffed and looked back at the flowers. "There, uh, Cherokee Roses."

"I haven't seen one before. That's weird since I've been out here a lot."

"Funny how some things can pass right by our noses."


She sat beside his grave again, they had just gotten back, and was reading a book about a boy with magic and a scar on his forehead. Her son laid asleep beside her on the ground with his head in her lap and her hand was periodically running through his head. She didn't see Daryl walking towards her until his boots peaked out from underneath her book. She bent the side of the page she was on, closed the book, and looked up at him.

"Be careful," she said with a small smile, "Travis won't like it if you step on his ant castle."

Daryl looked confused.

Her smile grew as she pointed to his left right beside his foot.

He looked down and for sure there was a mound of dirt with an army of ants swarming around it, he looked at her.

She shrugged. "His dad would read him this book before bedtime about Ant Cities, ever since he's always liked to play with them."

"What happened ta him? His dad?" Daryl asked as he shuffled his feet and chewed on his lip.

Charlotte looked down at her boy before she looked at the grave. "When it all started, Andy and I were at him. The Hospitals had called us in but the amount of deaths that were happening Andy didn't wanna risk it. We packed as much stuff as we could before we decided to come here to be with Herschel and his family and mom and dad. We went through the woods hoping to get here faster and that no one would see us but we ran into a group of those things."

"Walkers," Daryl interrupted, she looked at him confused, "we call walkers."

Her eyebrows flurried before she nodded her head and continued, "We ran into a group of walkers. We tried to run away from them but my foot got stuck under the root of a tree. Andy tried to get me out but he had to kill the walkers first cause they were to close, one of them bit him on the arm. He got me out but the time we got here a fever had set in and we practically had to drag him into the house."

"Wha'd ya do?"

"The bite was only on the bottom of his arm so I thought that if I cut it off he'd be ok but the infection had already been in for to long and he died." She looked down at Travis and ran her fingers through his hair as she fought back the tears that were threatening to spill. "I sat there holding his hand and when he died it hurt so much. I didn't know what to say to him, my boy. How could I tell him in a way that he would understand that his dad was going to come home again?" She shook her head. "Herschel and daddy, they promised me they'd burry him so that I could stay with Travis, he had gone to sleep so he didn't know until that morning."

Daryl shifted his weight and lifted his hand to bite on his thumb. "I'm sorry."

Charlotte chuckled and leaned her head back against the tree. "There's nothing to be sorry for except for my own stupidity. If I hadn't gotten stuck he'd still be here or if he would've left me. Travis would be happier without me, he was a daddies boy anyway."

"That boy loves you."

Charlotte went to say something but stopped when she saw something moving in the distance across the field. She leaned away from the tree and squinted her eyes. "Do you see that?" She asked Daryl.

He turned around and squinted before he nodded. "Somethin's movin' out there."

She lightly placed her sons head on the ground before she stood up and walked to Daryl's side, he looked at her. She watched the figure walk away from camp until they suddenly stopped and turned around. "Is that Lori?"

Daryl nodded. "Yep."

Charlotte shook her head. "I don't know what she's doing but I don't think I wanna find out."

-Hey, chapter 3's done. Only took me about 3 hours, but I did it. A little bit more Travis and his adorableness, an irritating Shane, a little bit of background on Charlotte's husband Andy, and Daryl-Charlotte bonding time. Let me tell ya, season 2 is not my favorite because a lot of stuff doesn't happen and it goes by so slow. Anywho, I shall bare through the pain until I get to season 3 and more stuff happens for Charlotte to get into. She's still a closed off person but she will eventually open up to more people in the group, don't know about this season, but she will.