The next morning:
Willow woke just after the sun started to rise. She grabbed the small bag with her meagre possessions quietly. She left the letter she'd written to Hannah on the bin by her bed. Her niece needed to know that she would come back, that they would be okay. Willow exited her families tent. She had to get her machete back from Daryl. She walked over to his tent and tried to silently unzip the door. She crept in to see Daryl still asleep in his bed. Her machete was resting on the side right by his bow. She quietly slid around and picked up the knife.
"What're you doin'?" The sleepy voice of Daryl made her jump.
"Jesus!" She whispered.
"What're you doin' in here?" He repeated.
"Just gettin' my knife. I'm leavin'," she stated.
"Yeah, I heard," he groaned. "Just don't get killed."
"Thanks," she awkwardly said, he gave her a curt nod before she exited the tent.
She was starting to leave the camp when she heard someone calling her name. She turned around to see Rick Grimes standing there. He was right by the side of the RV holding something in his hands.
"What're you doin' here Rick?" She asked innocently.
"I could ask you the same thing, but I guess I already know that," Rick gestured to her bag. "Leavin' us so soon?"
"Got someone to find," she stated.
"I get it. I wasn't with my family when this all started. First thing I did was try 'n find 'em," he explained. "You don't have to go alone. We can send people with you."
"Yeah, I do. No offence, Rick, you seem like a good guy but I don't think everyone in your is," she said thinking back to Daryl. What he'd done, Willow doubted she could ever forgive him. Though, Charlotte seemed to trust him to keep Hannah safe. Willow could question her sister's sanity all she wanted, it wouldn't change anything. "This is somethin' I gotta do myself."
"I get that," he started. "Whoever you're lookin' for, they're lucky. Here," he handed her the bag in his hands. "take this. It's not much but it's better 'n nothin'." She looked inside to see a few cans of food and some bottles of water. She saw the handgun on top with a box of ammo.
"I can't take this," she handed the bag back to the sheriff.
"You need it more than I do," he put his hands up refusing to take it back. "You don't know what's out there, 'n if no one can convince you to stay or not to go alone, well I'm doin' what I can. Trust me, I'll sleep better at night if I know you got somethin'."
"So it's for your benefit?" She teased.
"Yeah, it is," he joked.
"Alright, well I guess I should go. I wanna be gone 'fore they wake up," she nodded to the camp. "Thanks Rick, for everythin'," she told him.
"Good luck Willow. I hope you find who you're lookin' for," he told her.
"Thanks."
"Maybe we'll see you again."
"Maybe," she repeated. Thinking back to what she'd said about them, talking to Rick now made her realize that she was wrong. This group, though it had its quirks, she trusted this man to take care of her family. "Look after 'em for me?"
"Come back 'n I won't have to," he stated. Willow gave him a pleading look. "I swear that I'll keep 'em safe."
"Bye Rick," she told him before turning and walking away.
"See you around," he said though he knew she didn't hear. Rick knew that this wasn't the last time he would see Willow Connor.
She made it to the woods before she let herself think of her sister and niece. She thought about the letter she'd written. It was short, only a few sentences long but they didn't never needed to be long. Will tried to find the words to explain why she had to go but she couldn't. Instead she just wrote: 'Had to leave. I love you. I'm sorry.' It was lame but Will was never good with words. She hoped Charlotte might fill in the blanks though her sister might not paint her in the brightest light. Will knew that if she looked at Hannah she wouldn't have been able to leave but she had to. Oliver needed her. Maybe they could go back. It was obvious that she couldn't have her family without the rest of the group. She would find him and they could come back to the farm.
Hannah was even more quiet than usual. She woke Charlotte up that morning holding the little note Will left for her. She had to explain how her aunt left early that morning to find her husband. Hannah, of course, was not visibly upset but a mother can always tell. Her daughter was growing colder over the past few days, she wasn't quite sure why that happened but she would find out eventually. If she knew anything about Hannah, which she hoped by this point was a lot, she would come out with it when she was good and ready. The group was gathered around the fire eating some eggs the Greene family left them. Charlotte had to admit that she was hesitant about this place at first but now, she could see them living here. Maybe Hannah could have that somewhat of a normal life Charlotte always wanted for her. Maybe Will would come back with Oliver and she she could talk some sense into her knuckle headed sister into staying with them. They would find Sophia and everything could be alright. She found herself sneaking glances over at Daryl who sat next to Hannah. She was beyond happy that they were finally talking. She still hadn't let go what he said to their daughter but she could see that they were finally on the mend, finally.
"Guys?" Glenn spoke up lightly. Charlotte looked at him briefly but he didn't say anything so she went back too looking at her plate. She kept thinking about her sister and how cruel she'd been. If anything happened to Will and her last words had been 'Get out!' she didn't know if she could forgive herself. Charlotte knew that she could be temperamental when it came to Will but what she'd said was just plain cruel. The longer she thought about it, the more she hated herself for saying it. Willow had already been through so much, all Charlotte wanted to do was wrap her in a blanket and tell her that everything would be fine, just as she had when they were kids. Will was right though, she wasn't a little girl anymore.
"So -uh- the barns full of walkers." That was enough to halt her from eating. She, along with the rest of camp snapped their attention over to the young man standing by in front. This couldn't be happening. Not here, that wasn't fair.
They found themselves gathered in front of the barn door. Charlotte had Hannah tucked safely behind her though the girls head peaked from behind to see all commotion in front of her. Shane gazed inside only to jump back at the sight of fingers poking through the holes. Charlotte pushed Hannah back a bit at the sound of the moans coming from inside the barn.
"You cannot tell me that you're okay with this," Shane started in on Rick.
"I'm not, but this isn't our land," Rick countered. "We're guests here." But there were walkers near them. Near her little girl. What if the barn got too full and they broke down the walls? There's nothing keeping them safe in here anymore.
"This is our lives, man!" Shane yelled causing the walkers to start shaking the door.
"Keep your voices down," Charlotte scolded, not liking the panicked tone of her voice.
"It ain't right. Not remotely," T-Dog stated.
"Ok, either we go right in there and make things right or we've just gotta go," Shane said almost breathlessly. Charlotte looked back at Hannah who was giving her a desperate look. "Now we've been talkin' about Fort Benning for a while now." The chances of finding any place remotely as safe as this was slim to none. Even though this place wasn't safe anymore.
"We're not goin'," Rick stated.
"Why not?" Shane demanded. Food, water, medical care Charlotte listed all the reasons in her head.
"Because my daughter is still out there," Carol chimed in timidly from the back. And there was that too, Charlotte refused to leave here without Sophia.
"Okay, Carol, I think it's time that we start to consider the other possibility," Shane tried to reason.
"We're not leavin' Sophia behind," Charlotte growled. It could've just as easily been Hannah stuck out there, it almost was. She would never leave without her daughter.
"I'm close to findin' this girl!" Daryl weighed in. "I found her damn doll two days ago!"
"That's it Daryl, you found a doll," Shane countered.
"You don't know what the hell you're talkin' about!" Daryl raged. He was right, what did Shane know about tracking? This was huge. They could find a trail and would lead directly to the little girl.
"I'm just sayin' what needs to be said. You get a lead, it's in the first twenty-four hours," Shane started. "'N let me tell you somethin' else, if she saw you all method out with geek ears 'round your neck she would run in the other direction!" Shane yelled in Daryl's face. Charlotte didn't know about the ears but Daryl hit his head, he'd almost died. Charlotte doubted that Sophia would run from him, especially since she knew who he was. Shane was just trying to fuel the fire by this point. It was enough for Daryl to lunge forward and try to beat the crap out of Shane. Charlotte dove in and pulled Daryl back, just as she had back at the CDC.
"Don't," she warned throwing a look at their little girl whose eyes were wide open. Daryl seemed to calm down a bit.
"We'll figure this all out, right Rick?" She asked after a moment. She did not want to leave the farm. It's the closest they've gotten to how things were in weeks.
"Right," their leader agreed. "Just let me talk to Hershel."
"What's there to figure out?" Shane growled.
"Hershel sees these things as people," Dale said coming into the crowd. "Sick people, his wife and stepson." That didn't make sense. She'd seen Atlanta, Amy, those things were not alive. Dr. Jenner had told them so.
"You knew?" Rick asked.
"Yesterday, I talked to Hershel," Dale explained.
"And you waited the night?" Shane questioned.
"I thought we could make it one more night, we did," the old man countered. "I waited until morning to say something but Glenn wanted to be the one." So that's what he was hiding. Charlotte looked over and eyes the boy. He'd lied to her. Glenn must've sensed her eyes on him since he shrank a little and averted his eyes. She was going to give him a serious talking to.
"This man's crazy Rick, even if he thinks they're alive or not," Shane put it simply before walking off. The rest of the group followed soon after. Soon there was only Charlotte and Rick.
"You'll figure out a way Rick," she told him. "Hershel is gonna have to figure out what they really are one way or another."
"I know," Rick said after a moment. "I'll just have to talk to him. We can't go on the road now."
"I don't think anyone wants that," she agreed before Carol came running up to her.
"Charlotte, I need to talk to you now," the woman urged.
"I'll see you later Rick," she told him before taking off with Carol.
They were about halfway to the stables when Carol started explaining that she'd seen Daryl walk in. Charlotte felt the fear bubble in her chest. He couldn't be thinking about going back out there. He was barely up on his feet.
"Stop," she told him as she stomped into the barn. "You can't do this." He was prepping the saddle for the horse.
"I'm fine," Daryl grunted.
"No your not. Daryl, Hershel told you to rest," she reminded.
"Well I don't care."
"I do," she countered. "You go out there, you won't just get hurt, you'll die."
"Well I ain't gonna just sit here," he stubbornly stated.
"That's exactly what you're gonna do. It ain't just you anymore Daryl!" She yelled. "You don't get to be reckless anymore."
"We don't know if we're gonna find her," Carol's voice caught her off guard. "We don't. I don't." It nearly broke her to hear the lack of hope in Carol's voice. Charlotte didn't even want to imagine what was going through her head right now. "You've got a daughter. She can't lose you."
"Please, Daryl, I can't either. Not again," Charlotte added. The last bit was a bit of a low blow but it seemed to stop him for a second. The next second he was pushing the saddle across off so it hit the back wall. He grabbed his side in pain. Charlotte reached forward to help him but he held his hand up.
"Just leave me be!" He yelled before regaining balance and stomping away. She could hear him grumbling to himself about how they were both stupid bitches. Charlotte looked over at Carol who's eyes looked misty.
"What you said, you don't really believe that do you?" She asked.
"You heard Shane. He was right, all we have to go on is a doll," Carol admitted before walking away. The look of absolute defeat was one she hoped she'd never have to bear. She never wanted to be in Carol's shoes. Not in a million years.
There was a tense feeling at camp. Everyone was on edge, and rightfully so. Rick was still talking to Hershel. Hannah was trying to do the problems in her work book but found that she couldn't concentrate. Everything fell to dust in the matter of a few hours. There were walkers in the barn, Sophia was still missing, her aunt was gone, and to make matters worst she couldn't even talk to the one person she wanted to. Usually Carl is the person who understood her best when it came to being a kid in the apocalypse. Now they weren't speaking. She hated everything right now. She missed how things were at the quarry, hell she missed how things were before the turn. Everything was so much simpler back then. She was deaf and only deaf. She could live in blissful ignorance of what was happening around her. But, things are different now. She wasn't fully deaf anymore and she wasn't that innocent kid.
This farm was supposed to be safe. It had tricked her into thinking she was safe. Every blade of grass now seemed different, darker. This morning, she didn't realize it at the time, but she'd painted the farm to be this bright and hopeful light, but now it looked as though a tinge of grey was added, discolouring the world around her. Why couldn't they have this? It wasn't fair. It felt as though the rug was yanked out from under her. Why were the adults giving up on Sophia? She was just a kid. Adults aren't supposed to give up on kids. None of this felt right. We deserve better, Hannah thought. They were owed better. After loosing so many people, Hannah felt as though the universe owed them for everything it put them through. She thought that this place was the Universes' way of balancing out the good and the bad. But, she'd been wrong. There would be no grand karmic balance.
After about an hour of work, she grew bored and picked up her sketchpad. She noticed that Andrea was making her way away from camp. She thought back to the drawing she did of Amy, she grabbed it out of her book and ran after her. She hadn't spoken to Andrea since the day she accidentally shot her dad. She'd yelled at her.
"Andrea, wait," she called out upon reaching her.
"Hey Hannah, what're you doing?" She asked.
"I came to give you this, and to apologize for yelling at you," She held out her hand where the drawing was.
"It's okay, I get it. I would've yelled at me to," Andrea said. She took the picture and looked down at it. "What is it?"
"I'm not sure exactly where it is but I know that it made me think about Amy," she explained. "I like to think that's where she is now." Andrea kept quiet, her eyes never leaving the paper. "I miss her."
"Me too," she added. "Thank you so much for this. I love it."
"You're welcome. Do you think she's happy where she is?" She asked.
"Yeah, if it's anywhere like this, I'm sure she is," Andrea smiled. "I have watch now and then I'm going to look for Sophia but I'll see you later. Thank you again," she folded it up and tucked it into her pocket. Hannah smiled as Andrea walked away.
When she went back to her table she noticed Shane talking to Glenn. She gave him an odd look before opening her book. She slipped off her implant and retreated into her world of silence. For once, she didn't want to deal with all the stuff that was happening at camp. She wanted to go back to that blissfully ignorant time when she didn't know what Jim was saying about his family. Back to the time when she could shut everything off and just be her and her sketchbook. Where there were no walkers, no missing little girls, or snot-nosed jerks named Carl Grimes.
Charlotte was still bothered by Carol's words. It sucked that she was slowly giving up on finding Sophia. They were going to find that girl. They couldn't go through all this only to lose Sophia now. She was laying out some laundry on the line when she heard someone come in behind her. It was Daryl.
"You here to yell at me some more?" She demanded.
"Nah, I'm done," he told her.
"Is your head finally out of your ass?"
"Yeah."
"Good," she told him. He still didn't move. "You want anythin' else?"
"Yeah, can I show you somethin'?" He asked nervously.
"Yeah, go ahead," she said expecting something.
"Come with me," he commanded.
"Where?" She asked
"You'll see," he cryptically told her.
"What about Hannah? I can't leave her here alone," she stated. She looked over her shoulder to see T-Dog coming back from barn watch. "Hey, T!"
"Yeah?" the man asked,
"Would you look in on Hannah for me?" She asked.
"No problem, where is she?"
"At the picnic table," she pointed to the table where her daughter was bent over her sketchbook, seeming lost in her own little world. "We'll be back soon."
"Yeah, I'll bet," T-Dog mumbled under his breath just loud enough for Charlotte to hear him. She rolled her eyes and walked off with Daryl.
They were a little ways into the woods before they got to a field where there was an old cabin. Charlotte though, was more entranced by the pond that had a dock going out on it. She smiled when she realized why this looked familiar.
"This looks just like the place we found on that hike," she smiled at the memory.
"If I remember correctly I'm the one that did the hikin'," Daryl joked.
"It wasn't my fault I twisted my ankle," she countered. He'd piggybacked her for most of the trek after she stubbornly refused to stop. They'd made it about halfway down the trail when they found the pond. Her smile faded a little because she remembered that not long after did their relationship end. "Why'd you bring me here Daryl?"
"I'm sorry about the things I said earlier," he apologized.
"It's okay," she accepted. "What happened to us Daryl? How did we get to be like this?" She pointed out the tension between them. "Why'd you leave?" He still said nothing. "I've been wondering all this time. Was it somethin' I did?"
"Wasn't you," he said finally.
"Then what? Please, Daryl I gotta know," she pleaded. It had been a question that had been too long in the air. She had to know the truth.
"It was me. It was all 'cause of me."
"I don't understand," she stated. "Everythin' was goin' well. So, tell me, what changed?"
"I was gonna go with you," he started. "But I went home that night, found Merle passed out drunk in his own puke. I looked at my life 'n I couldn't get out of it. I didn't wanna be like my dad and mom were. Always fightin'."
"You were scared?" She asked connecting point A to point B. Daryl looked down at his feet and just nodded.
"Everythin' was just goin' too fast," he explained. "So I lit out."
"You coulda just told me. I woulda understood," Charlotte said.
"It was easier leavin'," he countered. She looked at him deep in the blue eyes that she'd fallen for so many years ago when she realized something. She wasn't angry at him anymore. All this time, she'd just wondered why. Now she had her answer.
"Thirteen years," she said softly.
"What?"
"That's what it took, thirteen years and the end of the world before I finally forgave you."
I am so sorry about the lack of updates lately, school is really keeping me busy. Anyhow, so Charlotte forgives Daryl. Willow is gone and will probably not be making a reappearance in this part of the story but fret not she will be coming back eventually. I hope I didn't make Daryl too OOC, I tried to stick to his character but for a scene like that I changed him a bit to make it so would work better. I hope you guys liked it.
