Chapter 3
Carol did not tell anyone about that night. Daryl ended up telling her about Stella and Maddie. He told her what happened, that they were probably dead. After that night though, Daryl seemed to relax a little around the group. It was like he had been carrying this huge weight around and keeping it hidden was eating him up. Once he let everything out, he felt that weight lessen a little.
Carol became a good friend. She started to come out of her shell also and turned into a pretty badass fighter. They both had similar lives, living with abuse from someone that should've loved them: Carol from her husband, Ed, Daryl from his father. And they both knew what it was like to lose a child.
Daryl knew that Carol wanted more from him, but he could not do that. He would never love another woman like he loved Stella. She was still so much a part of him. So he and Carol were just friends.
Daryl started becoming closer to Rick as well. They began developing a brotherly bond since Shane's death. Daryl was right. That ticking time bomb did finally detonate when he tried to kill Rick. That was the night that the farm got overrun with walkers and they had to run.
After a mild winter, the group found a prison that they managed to turn into a home. Daryl shocked everyone when his fatherly instincts came out when Lori had her baby. Holding Lil' Asskicker in his arms reminded him of the night Maddie was born. Although this wasn't his child, he vowed that night to protect as if she was.
Things were going pretty good at the prison, well, pretty good for it to be the end of the world. As the days went by, the pain Daryl felt of losing his family lessened. He never forgot about them and still dreamt of them from time to time, but he was starting to live his life out of that shadow of grief.
It wasn't until the prison was attacked by this psycho that called himself The Governor and Daryl was separated from the group that the grief started to come back. He had been on the run with Beth, Maggie's little sister from the farm. They found shelter in an old moonshine shack. Daryl was feeling really low that day, feeling responsible for the prison attack, and not being able to keep everyone safe. He got drunk that night off of some moonshine that he and Beth found.
He ended up telling Beth about his wife and daughter. So far, only Carol knew about them, but Rick was starting to have his suspicions that Daryl had once had a family. Beth, being the naïve optimist that she was tried to give Daryl hope that one day he would find them.
Beth's optimism ended up getting her kidnapped and killed. Daryl lost all hope of ever having any good come out of this world now. His family was gone, the home that they made for themselves was gone and they had lost some good people, people that Daryl would call friends. Daryl was so tired of losing people. Each time someone died it was like a piece of him died with them.
I know I just went through like 5 seasons in just 3 chapters, but like I said at the beginning, I want the bulk of the story to happen once they get to Alexandria.
I also realize I skipped over Merle's re-appearance and subsequent death. I'm not sure if he'll be back in this story or not. I kind of want him to, because I love the idea of Uncle Merle.
Anyways, I hope you're enjoying this. I'm sure once I start re-reading it I'll make some changes. If I do, I will notate at the beginning of the chapter if it's been re-written or not.
Again, comments are always welcome!