A/N: Keep up those reviews guys! It's what keeps me updating.
Sophia was given the bed in the RV, and Carol didn't leave her daughter's side except to use the restroom, and when she couldn't be by her daughter's side, someone, mainly Leigh, always was. Her shoulder had been slathered with the antibiotic ointment in Dale's first aid kit and covered with a gauze pad. Her fever hadn't gone down at all; in fact, every time Leigh or Carol felt her forehead, her skin felt ten times hotter than the last time. Carol's tears had stopped, but the lost, hopeless expression stayed.
Shane was impatient to make the decision of what would be done with Sophia when the fever finally became too much. He paced back and forth on the road with his hand on the gun on his hip, eyes on the camper as if he was expecting Sophia, in walker form, to come staggering out. It infuriated Leigh that he could be so heartless.
"We need ta' do somethin'," he said loudly to the group a few hours later. The sun had gone down already and a crescent moon rose, dousing the highway in a milky light.
"And what do you propose we do?" Leigh asked as she stepped forward, arms crossed. Shane glared at her; ever since she'd arrived with the group, Shane had been beyond hostile towards her. Though he always bit his tongue, she caught the looks he would give her—the looks Daryl sometimes gave her. He thought she was useless to the group; she could barely fire a gun, and even if she was perfect in doing so, she froze up every time she saw a walker. She was an extra mouth to feed, an extra ass to cover.
"Same thin' we do ta' every other walker we see," he said blankly, unblinking. The group had circled around him, including Carol, who almost immediately burst into tears at Shane's suggestion. Lori wrapped an arm around the other woman's shoulders, piercing Shane with a glare that would rival an angry bull's.
"And I s'pose you're gonna be the one to do it?" Leigh shot back immediately. She'd planted her feet and her hands were on her hips, a stance that told Shane she wasn't going to back down.
He didn't answer her as he purposely at Daryl. Straightening his shoulders, Daryl crossed his arms and pinned Shane with a look that clearly said he wasn't going to be the one to kill Sophia.
"Are ya'll really gonna let the fact that she's a little girl slide by this? Little girl or not, she's gonna bite someone. I ain't gonna wait 'round for that to happen." He looked around the group, but no one seemed to be siding with him. Realizing he was fighting a losing battle, he ground his teeth and let out a guttural growl before kicking an empty gas can and storming off.
"He's right," Leigh muttered, correcting herself when everyone turned to her in disbelief. "She could infect any of us. Now, I'm not saying let's all just go in there right now. I say we wait until the fever becomes too much and she passes from that. Then we bring her out into the woods and do it. We can bury her next to the highway."
The entire time she spoke, Leigh kept eye contact with Carol. She was silently asking for the woman's permission on this, something Shane never would have even considered, and she nodded when Carol did. The older woman turned on her heel and went back into the camper to spend as much time with her passing daughter as she could.
The last time Leigh checked on her, Sophia was still breathing. It was shallow and faint, but it was there. However, Leigh knew it wouldn't be too long now. She sat on the roof of the camper, a cigarette between her lips. She'd managed to schmooze Daryl into coughing up an extra pack or two, and he'd done so willingly. Despite being the newest member of the group, he knew that Leigh was having as hard a time as any of them when it came to Sophia. He'd seen the tears on her face when she held the girl close to her in the woods. The sight nearly broke him in two; it would have if Merle's voice hadn't reared itself in the back of his head, calling him a "fuckin' pussy for lettin' a woman's tears weaken him'." He said, "Women cry to get the upper hand, lil' brother. It's a trap, and don't you be stupid 'nough to fall for it." No matter how strong Merle's influence, Daryl knew he wasn't right about this one. He even felt on the brink of tears every time he had to think back to the look Shane gave him when they were deciding Sophia's fate.
He scoffed next to a pickup truck, smoking his own cigarette. It sounded disgusting even in his head. That little girl didn't deserve to come to a fate as the one destined for her. She was an innocent little girl, who hadn't done anything bad to anybody—least of all him. And yet Shane had looked at him to do his dirty work. Daryl gritted his teeth. If anyone deserved a slow, agonizing death to walker-dom, it was Shane. He saw the way he looked at Leigh, like she was disposable. Sure, Daryl had his doubts about her when she brought walkers down on their heads in the department store. He'd questioned her ability to pull her own weight in the group, but then he saw how close she was to Carol in the older woman's time of need. When Carol wasn't sitting by Sophia, Leigh always was, and she always had the girl's small hand in hers, brushing her thumb comfortingly over the girl's knuckles.
Shane, though…Shane looked like the kind of man who'd shoot someone if it meant his own survival. Daryl inhaled deeply, angrily on the cigarette, finishing it off in one drag. He crushed the butt under his boot and exhaled slowly. His eyes drifted up to the RV, where Leigh sat in the chair with a rifle across her lap. He almost agreed with Shane to disallow her the use of a gun, but she'd argued with Shane the entire time, finally wearing him down to grudgingly agree. In the moonlight, he watched her slump her shoulders, lean forward, and drop her head in her hands. Her body was shaking; she was crying.
"Aw, hell," he muttered before swinging his crossbow onto his back. He ascended the ladder at the back of the camper. She started when he climbed up and he held out a hand, silently telling her to calm down.
"Ya all right?" he asked, sitting in the chair beside her. She was smoking another cigarette, the fourth one he'd seen since he'd gone outside. She didn't look at him as she nodded.
"You don't want to do it." Her statement was vague, but he understood her nonetheless. He shook his head and picked at a stray thread on his army fatigues.
"Can't," he said around a cigarette. Leigh looked at him then, but his eyes stayed on the horizon in front of them. "Won't."
"Why?" Though Daryl was quieter and more subtle about it, Leigh didn't doubt that he matched Shane in his intolerance of walkers, or walkers-to-be.
"Why won't you?" he retorted, turning to look at her. She dodged his glance and looked at the rifle in her arms. It felt heavy and alien to her.
"I just can't. And I won't. Shane may be right about her infecting people, but he isn't right about killing her while she's still alive. I'd kill him myself before he ever got the chance." She muttered the last part more to herself, but Daryl heard and a small smile appeared on his face. "I really don't like that man."
"Join the fuckin' club." The two shared small smiles and puffed on their cigarettes, letting the silence of the night surround them.
Sophia passed during the night. Carol was holding her hand when the girl's shallow breaths abruptly came to a stop. The group had known that she most likely wouldn't have lasted the night, and a dark sadness hung over the group like a big black storm cloud. Leigh went into the camper to check on Carol. The woman hadn't moved and tears were silently streaming down her face. She looked at Leigh and shook her head, squeezing her daughter's lifeless hand once. Dropping her head, Leigh nodded and head back out to tell the group. Shane was the only one who showed no emotion, aside from Daryl, but Leigh had expected both of them to remain stoic at a time like this. Even Rick cried a little as he hugged Lori and Carl to him. The younger boy was so distraught, and his cries and wails almost caused Leigh to lose it right there. T-Dog held his head in his one good arm as he sat in a lawn chair outside the RV. Glenn removed his hat and wrung it in his hands as he tried to keep himself together.
"Here's your chance, Shane," Leigh growled angrily at the cop before she stormed away from the group, disregarding Rick's rules to never go anywhere alone. She found a car some thirty feet away and crouched behind it, out of sight from the others, and she let the dams break.
Her body shook as she held her head in her hands. She muffled her sobs with her arms and when she looked down at them they were gleaming with tears. She didn't stop crying for some time, even when she heard the men moving Sophia's body to the woods. Glenn had come to get her, but once he'd seen how distraught she was, he didn't ask if she was tagging along.
A gun shot rang out some minutes later, and Carol's agonized shriek followed it. Leigh mirrored it with her own as the tears continued to flow; they just wouldn't stop coming.
The next time someone came to fetch her, it was Daryl. He shuffled up beside her awkwardly as she trembled and he looked away when she lifted her head to look up at him.
"Havin' the service now, 'f ya wanna come," he said easily, glancing at her as he spoke. He didn't have his crossbow on him, so Leigh immediately knew that he hadn't been the one to shoot her. Not wanting to know, Leigh only nodded and got to her feet, ignoring Daryl's attempt to help her up, which consisted of him flapping his arm a couple times.
He led her over to the rest of the group and she immediately latched onto Lori, Andrea, and Carol, hugging the three women to her as Rick began speaking. Leigh looked at the cop, instantly putting the pieces together: the look on his face, the strain in his voice as he spoke. He had been the one to put Sophia down for good. Her respect for the man instantly grew; she knew it couldn't have been easy to be in his position. He had the group to think about, which had unanimously named him "unofficial leader" whether Shane liked it or not, and he was required to make some of the most difficult decisions no one should ever have to even think about.
The service was short; only three people volunteered to speak: Rick, Carol, and Carl. When the little boy stepped up with tears in his eyes, Leigh immediately felt hers brimming.
"Sophia was…" he stopped to let out a choked sob. Leigh tightened her hold on Lori's shoulders. "Sophia was my best friend. She didn't deserve this. No one does, not even bad guys. As sad as I am to see her go, I'm happy that she's not suffering anymore. She's probably horseback riding with Jesus right now." Everyone let out sad chuckles, and Leigh even saw Daryl smile a little. He met her eyes across the grave, and his smile grew a little bit, reassuring her that everything was going to be okay. She bit her lip and nodded, listening as Carl finished his eulogy.
After Rick and Glenn set up the makeshift cross, everyone headed back to the vehicles. Carol disappeared into the RV and Andrea and Lori went with her. Dale had removed his hat for the service and it stayed off as he looked forlornly at Sophia's grave. Shane milled around, keeping his head down and avoiding all eye contact. That dark cloud had made a permanent residence over the survivors' heads.
"I'll take watch again, Dale," Leigh volunteered before the older man could climb up to the roof. He looked at her sadly.
"You haven't gotten a good night's sleep since you've been with us. I think you should let me take this one."
"I won't be able to sleep after today, Dale. I really don't mind." Something in her voice made Dale change his mind and he nodded as he handed her the rifle, which she slung over her shoulder so she could climb the ladder.