A/N: This is the last chapter of this story. As always I didn't see it coming, I just woke up and wrote it. I hope everyone enjoyed this one as much as I enjoyed writing it. As always thank you for all the wonderful reviews. I love you all xoxoxoxox.

The drive home was uneventful and they just talked to each other. It was calm now the weight of Ed over them that had been there for months was finally gone. Daryl had gotten into the habit of resting his hand on her stomach as he drove. The baby kicked actively now and the feeling against his hand amazed him every time.

She looked over at him and saw that he was grinning that kooky grin her got when he was really happy. She was happy too, happier than she had ever been before.

She should have come back a long time ago. But that wasn't the way it was supposed to be and they both accepted it.

The drive home was quick and they were home the next night. They fell into a deep sleep and woke up at noon the next day.

Life went on and each day moved closer until Sophia Lynne Dixon arrived on an icy January night at one am. Merle now had to share his birthday with someone else because the baby that would become the center of all their lives came on Jan. 15.

The drive to the hospital in a Georgia ice storm was nerve racking and scary but they made it in plenty of time. Tara and Alisha had been concerned if they would make it in time because statistically second babies came faster. But they got there with time to spare.

She passed the milestone of five months as Carol held her breath waiting and fearful. She tried not to bring that down on Daryl too but he knew. She held Sophia to her chest in a sling all day long, afraid to put her down. At night she slept in a bassinet next to Carol's side of the bed and he knew Carol laid there night after night watching her.

When Sophia was fourteen months old she got her foot prints tattooed on her other shoulder with her birthday. She didn't see it as a bad omen, she would tell Sophia about her sister when she was old enough.

The same man who did their wedding ring tattoos, put Sophia's foot prints on both of their left shoulders. Merle teased Daryl for weeks about his woman having his birthday tattooed on her and not Daryl's.

Daryl just flipped him off on the regular when he said that and eventually Merle stopped teasing him. He had better things to do anyway.

He and Andrea were married the following summer when Sophia was well over a year old and everyone was breathing easily. They went to Bermuda on a cruise that left from Florida on their honeymoon and Carol, Daryl and Sophia were on the cruise with them.

Carol finally taught him how to surf in Bermuda while Merle and Andrea watched from the beach with Sophia who waved her little hand watching her parents falling all over the place. In the blue surf standing on a pink beach.

/

Carol and Daryl never got married. One spring day he was laying under the Jag for the millionth time in his life, working on the car that she refused to give up on and he reached for a wrench that wasn't there. He had left it right in reach and he didn't know what happened. He usually just reached without looking so when he looked over and saw her feet he smiled and pulled himself out from under the car.

"Hey squirt." He said to Sophia, who was fifteen now. She smiled a bright smile at him and handed him the wrench.

"Hey dad." She said kissing his cheek.

"What do you want?" He said. "You have that look on your face."

He stood up and looked down at his beautiful daughter. She had grown up while he wasn't looking and she was beautiful just like her mother. As the years went by they told her about her sister and wondered if they would have looked alike. As a baby Sophia looked a lot like Layla, but they would never know any more than that.

Sophia was loved by her family with an intensity that all children deserved. She grew up happy and well adjusted.

She was still blonde with eyes that were such a beautiful shade of blue, a mixture of both her parents. Carol was convinced that her hair would go darker at some point and it was darker than it was when she was little.

But it was still blonde, just as her father's hair had been at that age. She was almost Carol's height already, and she was well on her way to being a beauty.

"What makes you think I want something?" She teased and looked over her shoulder at Carol who was standing at the screen door. Carol remained there unspeaking, this was between Sophia and her father.

"What's going on?" He called over to Carol.

Carol just shrugged and giving him her signature head tilt.

"I invited the new kid in school over for dinner." Sophia started and Daryl was still clueless, that wasn't news, on any given day their house was full of teenagers. Every New Year's Eve they had a huge party, with Merle, Andrea and their babies.

Sophia's friends came every year and Daryl was completely baffled why she was now announcing a dinner guest. She never had to before.

"Why do you need to tell me? You know that your friends can come over anytime."

"Because I don't want you to have a stroke." She said looking back at her mother and Carol just smiled at her. Sophia turned back and smiled at Daryl, he knew that smile, because her mother had the same one.

It was the smile that told him he was going to get railroaded into something. He would just be standing there with a stupid grin on his face wondering what happened to him. Then he would do whatever Carol wanted him to do and he had a feeling Sophia was learning from the best.

"What's going on you two?" Daryl said wiping his hands on the red rag hanging out of his back pocket.

"Go ahead." Carol said to Sophia.

Sophia hesitated and then she saw her Uncle Merle's truck pulling down the drive to their house. There was no way she was waiting now. Uncle Merle was going to have an epic tantrum over this. He was worse than her father.

"His name is Carl Grimes, his father is the new Sherriff, bye dad." She said and then she was off running down the driveway to meet her uncle.

Daryl met Carol at the steps of their back door. "You knew about this?"

She nodded. "Of course, she's been talking about this kid since he moved here three weeks ago."

"Well. Fine, I can't wait to meet him, is Merle coming for dinner too, where's Andrea?"

"She's picking up the twins, she'll be here soon." Carol replied.

"Good, we'll talk to this boy." Daryl said. "You and Andrea can just leave it to us."

"Daryl don't you dare try and scare this kid away, she likes him." Carol said watching Merle drive up the drive way with Sophia hanging out the side door waving at them. "Sooner or later you had to know she would like a boy."

"Uh, do you have any recollection about what we were like at this age, cause I remember." He said. "Your mother caught me sneaking out your bedroom window, remember? More than once."

Carol laughed and smiled at the memories of their early teen years. They had missed some time in between, but they were together for life now.

"No, I'm talking to this kid right from the jump." Daryl said. "That's my daughter."

"Ok Mr. Protective, you do what you have to do."

"Damn right woman." He leaned over and kissed her and they walked over to where Merle had pulled up and Sophia got out of the truck. "How about we get married, set a good example for her."

"Maybe." She said as she walked past him to meet Merle and Sophia and Daryl was dumbstruck. She always said no before, for sixteen years. It was always no, in a nice way, but always no.

This was progress.

The End

Thank you again for reading and let me know what you think.