Hahahahaha haah ha ah ah this is painful but I hope you all like it anyway.
Daryl was sitting on the couch in the living room of his girlfriends house, watching her television alone when he heard the screaming coming from upstairs. There were only two people in the house right now; him and his girlfriends twelve year old daughter, Sophia. The screaming startled him, bringing him out of his half awake daze. He thought she'd been sleeping.
Was there someone in the house? Was someone hurting her?
Daryl bolted from his spot on the couch and half jogged half ran down the hallway and up the stairs, stopping at Sophia's open door. The little girl was sitting up in bed, breathing heavily with her large pink teddy bear clenched in her hands. Daryl reached his hand up and flipped the light switch on, frowning as he looked down at her.
"Ya okay?" He asked.
Sophia turned her attention to look up at her mothers boyfriend and she nodded slowly.
"Nightmare?" Daryl asked. She nodded again, holding the teddy bear against her chair. He let out a heavy sigh and walked over to her. He couldn't just let her deal with a nightmare on her own, he remembered having nightmares as a kid and having to deal with them on his own because his Daddy and Merle were too busy being jackasses to worry about him.
Sophia watched Daryl come towards her and moved over just a bit in her small, twin size bed to let Daryl in the bed. She liked Daryl, he was much kinder than her father had ever been. "Gonna tell me what yer nightmare was about?" Daryl asked. Sophia sniffled and looked up at him.
"Zombies." Sophia admitted. Oh, jeez. This was his fault. He'd let her watch Night of the Living Dead earlier in the day, despite Carol telling him that she didn't like scary movies. Sophia wanted to watch it, so Daryl had let her. Even though he'd been around for the better part of the year, Daryl was still trying to make Sophia like him. Hell, he was still trying to make Carol like him. He didn't understand that they already liked him, he didn't need to try so hard.
Daryl snorted in an attempt not to laugh. "Zombies?" He asked. Sophia nodded.
"I got separated from you and Mom." Daryl frowned as Sophia looked down at her hands, sniffling again. "No one came to find me, I was just gone out there." Sophia's tears started again and Daryl pursed his lips, lifted his arm up and wrapped an arm around her and tugged her against his side. Sophia was surprised when she felt herself being held by Daryl, he didn't seem like the type to hold someone when they were upset.
He wasn't good at comforting people, he couldn't comfort Carol very well when she was upset either. But Sophia was just a little girl who had a nightmare of them leaving her out the zombie apocalypse and no one coming to find her, he needed to comfort her. He couldn't let her cry and he couldn't let her think that he'd leave her out there.
"Listen, kid." Daryl said. Sophia wiped her cheeks off and looked up at Daryl. "First off, zombie's ain't fuckin' real." She let out a soft giggle at Daryl cursing, she was still a little kid. "So zombies ain't gonna come up from the ground. But if they ever did and by some fuckin' chance ya got away from yer mom 'n me, there wouldn't be a damn thing that would be able to stop me from bringing ya back to us, ya hear?"
Sophia smiled softly, that made her feel a lot better about her dream. She dropped the teddy bear and wrapped her arms around Daryl. "Thank you, Daryl."
Daryl smiled softly and patted her shoulder awkwardly. "Feel better?" Sophia nodded and pulled her arms away from him, sensing how nervous he was with her hugging him. She leaned back against her bed and watched as Daryl climbed off her bed and moved to the door, turning on the hallway light so there would be a light for her. She smiled and glanced up at the door as she snuggled back into her bed. He shut off the light and moved to shut the door part of the way, stopping when she spoke. "Daryl?"
"Yeah, Sophia?" He asked, turning the light back on so he could see her.
"What if my Dad comes back?"
Daryl growled at the thought of Ed Peletier getting out of jail and trying to come back. "Yer Dad show up 'round here, I'll beat 'is fuckin' head in."
Sophia giggled again at his swearing. "Don't worry, I won't tell Mama you keep swearing." Daryl's lips twitched in a smile. "Or that you let me watch a zombie movie."
"Be our little secret." Daryl said softly and shut the door partway.
When Daryl turned around, he jumped and cursed loudly as he saw Carol Peletier standing behind him with her arms crossed over her chest. Daryl looked down at his feet and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Heard that, huh?" Daryl asked.
"Oh yes." Carol said. She was unamused with her boyfriend, but she was happy with how well he and her daughter had been getting along. Carol glanced in on her daughter and waved to her before she and Daryl went downstairs. "Really, Daryl? A zombie movie?"
"She wanted ta watch it, she was looking up at me with those fuckin' puppy eyes. I know I shouldn't have let 'er watch it." He mumbled. Carol smiled softly and leaned against the counter.
Carol licked her lips and let out a soft sigh. "She have a nightmare?" When Daryl nodded, Carol asked what it was about.
"She got lost and we didn't find her." Carol's heart shattered at the idea of her little girl thinking no one would come for her. "Told her there wouldn't be a damn thing that could stop me from coming for her and bringing her back ta ya." Carol felt an overwhelming sense of the love for the man she'd brought into their lives a year ago. She walked towards him and wrapped her arms around his waist.
"What if I got lost?" She asked.
Daryl raised an eyebrow and looked down at her. "Ain't nothing that could stop me from bringing you back either."
A smile formed on her face and she leaned up to kiss his lips softly. Daryl returned her kiss, speaking when he pulled away. "So I'm forgiven, then?"
Carol shook her head. "Not at all."