July 31, 2010

~*~ MD ~*~

"Car with Kentucky plates just cruised by the retirement home."

Merle climbs out from under the daycare building where he just finished the trailer setup with Tyreese's help. "Which way are they headed?"

"Right toward us. Makes sense, considering.". Scout uses her binoculars to verify there is indeed an unfamiliar SUV headed toward them. She motions for him to step back and he does, trusting in her training. If these are the marshals, they'll respond to her uniform better than his work clothes.

Her stance is relaxed as she steps to where she can't be missed by the approaching SUV. It slows, and he has a moment where his stomach lurches and he hopes she's wearing her body armor with all the rest of her uniform trappings that the three Marines standing guard duty wear.

He doesn't recognize the man in the passenger seat when the window rolls down. "Good morning, Staff Sergeant."

"Good morning. If you're looking for the lady that lived in that duplex, she moved about a year ago."

"You know if she might still be alive? We've got a delivery for her."

"I might if that delivery is a package about this tall and blonde." Scout motions about midchest. Merle can hear the driver muffle a laugh, but the back passenger door opens despite the front seat passenger's hurried order to stay put.

And when he hears a little voice cry out, "Uncle Merle!", he's stepping forward into full view to accept the impact of Abigail throwing herself at him, sobbing. "I was worried you were all dead and I can't remember how to find your house."

Hugging the girl close, he reassures her that everything is going to be just fine. Jesus Christ, Daryl's going to be overjoyed, Glynnis too.

Scout's still speaking to the man in the car, and something sad passes over her face as she glances back to him. Ah, shit. Why else would it be important for Abby to remember where he lives when the adults should know.

"You invite these good people back to the homestead yet, Scout?" He crosses with his sweet burden to offer a hand to the man. "Merle Dixon."

"Former US Marshal Tim Gutterson. She was also a marshal, Rachel Brooks." Merle knows there's at least two others in the back, but based on the height of the one he can mostly glimpse, at least one's a child.

"Scout?" Abby raises her head, turning to stare at her cousin in wonder. Merle figures she didn't recognize Scout right away. His eldest spent most of Abby's lifetime away.

"Yeah, sweetheart. It's me." Scout breaks with the formal stance she adopted to greet the newcomers to reach out to take Abby's hand.

The girl's tone is heartbreaking as she asks hesitantly, "Daddy?"

"He's safe and sound at home, Sunshine," Merle tells her. "He's gonna be so happy to see you, just like your grandma." The girl beams at him.

"We got incoming friendlies, "Jamie calls out. "And based on the shitty driving of that semi behind the cars we sent out, they might want to get that SUV off the highway and in the parking lot."

The driver, Rachel, complies, turning the SUV so that it's parked to easily leave the daycare parking lot. The supply runners bring their caravan to a halt, the Subaru and modified bus they sent out giving the semi a wide berth as it lurches to a stop.

"Jesus H. Christ. Please tell me that's not Hannah Catherine driving a goddamn semi-truck," he mutters. Scout snorts and mutters something he can't make out as his youngest daughter hops to the ground from the big Freightliner, grinning like a loon.

And that's the signal for Abby to hit the ground, near tackling her cousin. Honey absorbs the impact with ease and scoops the girl up. They twirl around chanting each other's names in a display of high spirits that almost makes Merle forget the wobbly driving of the semi.

He glances over at the two marshals to see the woman is grinning. "If you haven't figured it out, the illegal driver of the semi is my youngest daughter."

"I believe she and Abby may have missed each other."

"We've all been missing our Abigail." There's been a gaping Abigail sized hole in the Dixons for three years.

"If that was a serious offer, we'd sure like to take you up on it for however long we're welcome. We've been out on the road a long time."

"You got our baby girl back to us. You're welcome to stay permanently. Not going to turn away good people."

She smiles. "There's four of us. Me, Tim, two kids."

There's a noise of protest from the backseat, and Tim snorts. "The back seat wants us to clarify one kid and one teenager of legal adult age."

"Ah. Another one like her." He tilts his head toward Honey, who has finally stopped spinning her cousin before they fell over from dizziness. "Honey, we need to get these good folks back home. And don't think you're driving that semi all the way home without ever a real lesson on something that big."

"We were gonna park it at the Blackbird lot til someone else could get it. I'm not crazy enough to try to turn it off highway toward our place. But according to the manifest, it's a treasure trove of stuff we need, so we didn't want to risk it not being there when we got another team back."

"Scout, you think you can manage?"

"I've driven worse for the Corps."

"We'll be only about twenty minutes pulling out here, so y'all go on ahead."

"Abby's staying with me," Honey declares. "I'm sure y'all are nice people, but I've missed her."

Rachel waves a hand at the girls. "Go on. We can see she's safe."

Honey trots off, still carrying her cousin, and scrambles into the passenger seat of the Subaru. He ought to lecture her about safety and not having the girl on her lap, but for today he'll let it slide.

Scout signals to Jamie to take lead on the guards keeping lookout while they load up the daycare building and heads for the Freightliner.

He turns to the marshals. "Just follow them in. They'll radio ahead so Homestead knows to expect extras. They'll get you fixed up with some home cooking and hot showers."

"Hot showers sound like absolute heaven," Rachel replies with a smile.

"And food that isn't out of a can or wrapper," Tim mutters. The sentiment echoes from the back seat.

Merle laughs as he steps back to let the big SUV pull out to follow the semi down the highway.

"Alright, boys and girls, let's get this show on the road fast as we can. I got a family reunion to rejoin."

~*~ CP ~*~

Carol pulls the Polaris to a stop by the work crew doing the reassemble work on the modular buildings. It's slower going than it would be with an experienced crew, but Merle assured everyone that the newbies learning is just as valuable as speed.

They already have a table for the cooler of water, so she checks that it's near empty and moves it to the ground while she unloads the new cooler and packed lunches for everyone. The big wedding tent someone brought back from town along with tables and chairs will give everyone a temporary break from the sub while they eat.

Daryl and Sophia climb up from where he was teaching her how the piping hooks into the massive septic tank they're finishing up for the little nursing home. Carol's a little surprised, because she expected to see her daughter shadowing Jazz on the solar panel installation. Maybe Sophia's unending curiosity about how everything works led her to the new lesson.

She hands off a cup of water to each of them, giving them a look over for any signs of sunburn. Sophia shows signs of fresh sunscreen, so she accepts their thanks and sets the big tub under the table for used dishes.

"How close do you think it is to finished?"

Daryl gives one of his typical half-shrugs. "Henry's got the plumbing all hooked back up, and Jazz and Pipsqueak here finished the solar panels for the first building before he got borrowed for some of the interior work."

Sophia gives the man a grumpy look at the nickname and he laughs. "Hit your next growth spurt and I'll come up with something new."

She seems to accept that. "Daryl's teaching me how to lay field lines, Mama."

"You have an interesting skillset for an officer of the law."

He scoffs. "Had to be twenty-one to go to the GNR Academy, so I spent some time working for the state until then and after I finished up my associates. Worked for whatever crew Merle was running while I was in school too. Good money in septic tank work cos folks are grossed out by it."

"I don't think it's gross," Sophia announces.

"That's cos we're installing a new tank, Pipsqueak. Just wait til we gotta pump one, then we'll talk."

The girl wrinkles her nose, causing both adults to laugh. Carol feels a by now familiar surge of affection for Daryl's careful attention to Sophia the last few days as everyone gears into a steady plan of fetching buildings and supplies. She wants them both to be assets, but the urgency of getting the older folks a safe home has backburnered most training.

Then again, Sophia spending all the time she's allowed with the building crew is good training too. She's not the only teenager other than Jazz, since both Leo's son and nephew are shadowing adults, the nephew with a hollowed out look of pure grief haunting him. The boy lost his parents and siblings before his uncle got him to safety.

Amy's been coming into her own once Andrea came around to accepting that her baby sister on a building crew is better than joining Andrea on supply runs. Apparently, her architect training crosses over well to framing, as they convert the larger classrooms into smaller bedrooms.

Carol itches to join in herself and see if she can learn, but it didn't take long for praise for her cooking to reach Glynnis. She couldn't resist when she was asked to head up one of the three meal shifts. It's a job that will only get bigger when the nursing home is complete. At least running the breakfast shift will give her time for other training later.

"Whatcha bring us?"

She's learned that Daryl won't touch the food until the whole crew is ready to eat. It's a habit both Dixon men adopt. It contrasts with Ed, who came from a background where men ate first and the more important men were foremost. But his unending careful compliments of any food provided to him is sweetly done.

"Some of Patricia's chili and cornbread. Got three chilled watermelons on the Polaris still."

"Sounds perfect. Spicy food is good in the heat," he explains to Sophia. "Makes sure you're sweating off the heat proper."

The Polaris radio crackles with Ana looking for Carol. The young woman is on watch, an easy duty for a girl with a damaged leg, along with Alaina, who sits as many watch and radio shifts as allowed to be the first to hear word of her sons.

"Are you out with Daryl?"

"Yeah, he's right here."

"Tell him they found Abby and she's on her way to him."

Carol isn't entirely sure the man's breathing, although the look of absolute delight is one of the best things she's ever seen.

Sophia's looking confused though, so she explains. "Abby is Daryl's daughter. She was traveling down from Kentucky."

"Oh." Carol's a little shocked to see Sophia look sad instead of happy for Daryl. "Do you want to go down to the gate then?"

Daryl finds his voice at last. "No, gonna go wait with her grandma and Cricket." The two women are outside on the porch at the main house, hugging each other as they wait. Daryl stops long enough to yell for Jazz about the news.

Carol reaches out to put her arm around her daughter as they watch the two Dixon males jog over to the porch. "What's wrong, sweetie?"

"He's got his real daughter back now."

Oh. She squeezes the girl tight. "I don't think Daryl's going to stop spending time with you because Abby's back. I imagine it'll just mean a partner in anything he's promised to teach you. Look at Merle. He's got a lot of kids and still spends time with you."

The elder Dixon brother hasn't missed spending at least half an hour with Sophia every day, listening to the girl read from the novel she started at the quarry. Sometimes they have company, as several folks seem to enjoy Sophia reading aloud. But it's always Merle who reminds the girl they're due another chapter.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. How about we get everyone settled with their food and maybe Abby will be ready to meet you?"

She's glad of the confidence she has that she's telling Sophia the truth about the security she has in the Dixons. Carol may still be trying to figure out her own role, but Sophia's as an adopted child is clear. Even Scout, the least demonstrative Dixon, is openly fond of Sophia.

Reassured and with something to do, her daughter goes to yell about the waiting food, leaving Carol to gaze wistfully at the family on the porch eagerly waiting for their lost lamb to return.

~*~ LG ~*~

Lori hefts the basket of laundry and smiles at the pair of teenage boys who lift their own loads. She was a little worried this morning when the twins were assigned to help her, since her experience isn't that boys are a lot of help with housework. But they easily went around and fetched everyone's clothes and everything came in marked with the owner's initials as she asked.

She doesn't mind the chore here, even if she avoided it as much as possible at the quarry. The Dixon house actually has two big frontload machines, which she thought was overkill until she saw one washer was clearly labeled "work clothes". With Merle working construction and the farm animals, she supposes it makes sense not to mix clothing when you've got the money to spare for two machines. But in order to make sure they get it all hung up in time to dry, she and the twins used the tumble washers to clean all the smaller items.

"I sure wish the dryer could keep up," Ben comments as he follows her through to the foyer to the front porch. The drying lines are out past the garage, and it's smoother footing to go out the front rather than down the deck stairs to go around from the mudroom door. She gets a cheery "hi mom" from Carl, who is unusually happy to be on dish drying duty, but that's probably due to the two pretty girls he's teamed with.

"Just be glad we don't have to hang it all up." There's only one dryer, and while Merle seems confident that the electrical system is capable of supporting a dryer running for hours, she figures why overwork it. So, she declared the dryer for towels and heavy fabrics only yesterday when she volunteered for the laundry shift and Glynnis backed her.

"Still gotta handle all the underwear," Billy contributes.

"Well, you two are safe from that part." She has the basket of everyone's socks and underclothing. No sense in making two teenagers handle all those bras.

The way out of the house is somewhat blocked by several Dixons and Glynnis, but they step aside to let the laundry crew by. She catches the glare from Daryl and suppresses a sigh. Merle told her his brother would come around eventually, but it's obviously not going to be today. She does feel a little better when she sees Glynnis deliver a sharp jab to Daryl's ribs with her elbow as they pass.

They've just managed to sit their baskets down on the camp stools now doubling as basket rests when she hears the sound of engines. She and the twins look to see which crew made it back, as it's always a sight to watch the modular buildings roll in.

But it's the Canton supply runners, who were sent to scope out the Walmart and its outparcel buildings since they cleared the medical supply places down to dust bunnies yesterday. The garage is full to bursting and they've resorted to tents on the lawn for the excess.

Today's run seems especially successful, because there's an honest-to-God Walmart semi coming through the gates.

It's the Subaru that draws attention though, because a girl younger than Carl exits the SUV and runs toward the porch, yelling for her daddy. Daryl scoops her into his arms only to be immediately enveloped by the other Dixons in a group hug. The girl's blonde curls remind her of the little beauty in Merle's electronic frame.

She turns back to her task, blinking away tears at the reunion. No wonder Merle wanted her to give his brother time to get over his antisocial behavior. He must have been going out of his mind worrying over that little girl.

She'll have to find out what the girl's favorites are to see if they can shift the supper meal plan.

It's the least she can do.

~*~ GR ~*~

Glenn returns Maggie's grin over the Dixon reunion, but it fades quickly in a surge of homesickness. He'll never know his family's fate, since traveling to Michigan is next to impossible now. That's not the sort of reunion he can ever expect, and he misses his sisters. Sometimes the easy affections of the Dixon sisters helps and sometimes it makes it worse.

Maggie seems to sense his mood as she joins him at the Subaru hatch to unload the smaller items they loaded in there. They didn't even begin make a dent in the back storeroom of the Walmart, which is largely untouched.

"You okay?" she asks softly, taking his hand.

He shakes his head, which apparently means he needs a hug. It doesn't chase away the homesickness, but he appreciates the effort.

"Wanna talk about it?"

"Just missing my own family." She nods. He's mentioned them before on their picnic suppers, more his sisters than his parents. He never thought he could miss even his parents' staunch disapproval of his lack of life progress.

"Why don't you take a break and let someone else unload? Go visit the puppies, maybe."

He leans in to kiss Maggie's cheek, but she turns her head and he gets a real kiss instead. It's chaste and sweet like he always wants a first kiss to be, so he lingers a little before pulling away and heading for the barn.

Puppy cuddles sure seem to help T-Dog when his mood swings to sadness, so Glenn's open to trying.

~*~ DD ~*~

Daryl think the hardest thing he's done since the world ended might be letting Abby go up the stairs with her grandmother and cousin to get a bath. He wants her constantly in sight. Apparently, Carol understands his impulse and takes him by the elbow to the sink to wash up. She points out the cheese grater and blocks of cheese on the table.

"Lori changed part of the menu for tonight. Seems mac and cheese with bacon is someone's favorite. You can do your part."

Daryl's torn between gratitude for the skinny woman's decision to provide a comfort food to Abby and worry that the menu was originally set up as a birthday treat for Honey and Sophia.

Carol displays her growing ability to read his mind when she pats his hand as he sits down. He realizes they're alone in the kitchen, so she must have shooed the teenagers normally assigned as supper assistants away.

"I'm going to cover the supper shift tonight for Glynnis and I promise you that Sophia will be as happy with mac and cheese as she would've been with cheesy hash browns. We've still got a favorite for each of them on the menu. You work on that cheese while I get the cakes in the oven. By the time you get done, I'll bet Abby will be back downstairs."

He obeys, grating the cheese with efficiency despite his distraction. "Where's Pipsqueak?"

"She's playing hostess with Amanda and Jenny for the Kentucky folks." Carol points toward the back deck, where the foursome who got Abby here safely are enjoying cold drinks and the company of several of the dogs and what he thinks might be a baby goat fetched up from the little herd the Eldridges gathered up from neighbors who didn't make it. He supposes if you want to reassure law enforcement honed instincts, presenting them with happy teenagers and a wheelchair bound woman does make an impression.

"I haven't even thanked them."

"That's okay, Pookie. Patricia and I took care of them. You were where you needed to be."

"Pookie?"

She shrugs and smiles with a hint of mischief he's glad to see. "You gave Sophia a nickname, so I thought you needed one too."

"Ain't a teddy bear."

"You keep thinking that." She sets the mixer to whatever magic she's working in the big mixing bowl for a minute before continuing. "Merle sent a team down to the RV lot to bring back a couple more. He figures they'll feel better all in one place and with their own space."

"Not Abby."

"Well, of course not. But if she's prone to wanting to climb in bed with a parent, you need more than that cot. Lori already packed up to give you and Abby Jazz's room after Glynnis said she wanted her up here with you instead of down at her cottage."

"She's a bit old for sleeping with me, isn't she?" He can't remember when Merle's girls stopped running to him after a nightmare, and he usually slept on the floor next to Scout when she had nightmares after Will Dixon's attack.

"She might not, if she's just in the bunk above you. But she's lost her mother and her stepfather, so I don't want to predict what direction her grief will go. Rachel, the lady marshal, says she has been so stoic they're worried about her."

"I didn't want to ask Abby, but did they say what happened?" For all the dislike he built up for Carrie after she took his baby girl away, he never wished her gone like this.

"Carrie was sick coming out of Lexington. Not the flu, but something bad. She passed in the night just after they made it into Tennessee and they didn't know everyone turns." Carol pauses in her baking to turn to look at him. "Ethan got bitten putting himself between Abby and her mama."

"She saw?"

"Yeah. That and Tim having to shoot Carrie. Ethan helped them get back on the road, but they said he planned to end things before he turned, soon as Abby was gone and safe. They just kept on this way in hope there really was a safe haven."

Goddammit, his poor kid's not only lost her other parents, but gone through hell in the process. "They gonna stay?"

"I think so. Rachel's got her nephew she's been raising for years, and they don't have any reason to return to Kentucky. Tim mentioned a buddy in Florida, but I don't think he really wants to get back on the road again on just the possibility his friend survived."

"And the girl?"

"Former foster kid that his buddy down in Florida was keeping an eye on when he was in Lexington. Tim says her skillset is pure Kentucky redneck, so she'll fit in. She definitely is tired of traveling. Girl's Loretta and the little boy is Nick. He's the same age as Abby."

He finishes the cheese, mulling over the information. "This gonna be enough?"

She eyes the heaping mound of cheese and nods. "Gonna use Velveeta for the rest. I want to use it up while we have it."

"I'm going to go introduce myself. Tell Abby where I am when she comes back down?"

"Sure. Send the girls in to help me with getting supper in the ovens."

He surprises them both with the gentle hug he gives her on the way out.

~*~ SW ~*~

Scout passes the notebook to Patricia to file away after she details the information the newcomers gave about their trip down from Kentucky. It is not that different from Scout's up from Florida, although they trekked with much fewer people.

"I don't think we can ever repay you for getting Abby back to us," she says.

The female marshal smiles. "You already are with good food and a safe place to stay. I never thought I would see this many kids for Nick to play with again."

"Still, it's far beyond what most people would do for a coworker's child. I can't deny we can use your skills anyway."

"There any official chain of command here?" the other marshal asks. Something about the way he moves and observes reminds Shane of Scout. He's gotta be ex-military, definitely a combat vet.

"Official last word would lay with my father for most things. We've got a bit of an unofficial planning committee, so most of them are available to spin an idea by. Anything dealing with security goes through me and Shane. That includes the supply runs. Patricia tells us what she needs in what order and then Shane and I arrange the runs. We've been concentrating on getting the nursing home set up before we work on storage."

"Nursing home?"

"We came across a place in Atlanta where the elderly were abandoned. Had a few relatives, the janitor, and one nurse stick around. Intended for them to stay put until after we got a place set up for them, but they got targeted by a group of assholes. They're holed up off property for now since we didn't have any hope of housing them."

"Some would see them as a waste of resources," Rachel says carefully. She doesn't believe it, Shane thinks, but she's testing Scout's moral code to see if it aligns with hers. Something about the dynamic tells him that the other marshal will follow her lead.

"I was lucky enough not to experience any panic or orders to turn on the public I'm sworn to defend. I don't plan on deciding who I save based on how much work they are capable of."

"Semper Fi," Tim says. Scout nods. He exchanges a look with Rachel and she hums softly before turning back to Shane and Scout.

"Tim was a sniper in the Rangers. You got need of that?"

"Can you train others?" Shane asks. He's good, and so are the Dixons, but another person with sniper level skill who can pass that on would be a marvel.

The man thinks it over. "Never tried, to be honest. But I'm willing to give it a try."

"Good. We have a lot of folks who need lessons and not enough time for those of us who do teach to go around. Don't gotta turn out snipers, but making sure they know which end of the gun is which and missing out on friendly fire would be ideal." Shane makes a mental note to introduce the man to Honey, who could benefit from additional aspects of the gun craft she loves.

"Y'all have had a harder road getting here than we had, so I figure for the first week, relax and if you want to join supply runs after that, sure." Scout waves a hand at the sprawling property. "But I'm not going to assume that's where you want to fit in just because you were law enforcement."

"I don't mind a break, but I got no problem going out," Tim says. "And Loretta will probably want to. I'm guessing y'all are good with that since your sister seems about the same age."

"Yeah, even the teenagers can do runs, although that started out of necessity originally."

Shane shifts in his seat, realizing it's getting late and Rachel's nephew is sound asleep against Loretta in the group of kids playing Uno further down the deck. "We got an RV set up for y'all. Figured you'd prefer to stay together, but we can shift that if you don't."

Both marshals shake their head, and Rachel accepts. "Just show us the way."

Shane rises with them and Tim goes to pick up the sleeping boy. Shane leans in to brush a kiss across Scout's lips before leading the newbies to their new quarters.

He lets them explore a minute, grinning at Nick's excitement over the little bunk bed in the hall. "If you want more space later, we can sort it out. Merle's planning on more permanent quarters before winter hits."

"This is like a tiny slice of heaven after months in that SUV," Rachel says.

"Well, if you need anything in the night, me and Scout are in the cabin out at the woodline. Merle's bunking in his old office, so you can find him pretty easy if you tap on the one single door on the back deck. Got a deputy two RVs down that way, the one stenciled number five."

"Good to know." Rachel smiles at him as she leans in the doorway. "I'm sure you're anxious to get back to your wife."

Huh. Maybe Rick's comment about the appearance they give off is more accurate than he gave it credit. But he corrects the assumption anyway. "We're not married, but I think I'll add on a 'yet'."

"Then I wish you both all the luck with that. Precious little happiness in the world to let any escape you."

He just smiles and bids them good night. It definitely not a happiness he intends to let go.

~*~ MD ~*~

"Hey, Miss Phia, we skipping our book tonight cos of your birthday?" Merle's about ninety percent certain that's not it, since he tracked her down alone in the room she shares with the other girls

She shrugs, polite enough to pause in the careful inking she's doing with the art pens he scavenged out of that big semi for her along with several sketchpads and colored pencils. "I didn't want to interrupt your time with Abby."

Ah hell. Everything about the girl is screaming insecurity, and on her birthday, no less. He takes a seat beside her on the bottom bunk, mirroring probably a thousand other talks he's had with his girls.

"You should spend time with the family too."

She sighs and caps the pen, her expression solemn. "Honey's the only one who says I'm family."

"Oh, princess, I promise you that she may have been the first to say it, but we've all decided you belong with us."

"So, I'm a Dixon too?"

"If that's what you want." He understands the need to shed the surname connecting you to a bad father. He might have taken his Mama's family name if he thought about it before his kids were used to Dixon. He decided then to just make it something they could be proud of. "Sophia Dixon sounds pretty good, doesn't it?"

She smiles hesitantly. "But if people ask how I'm a Dixon, what do I say?"

"Whatever you like. Can say you're mine or Daryl's or that Honey stole you outta the cabbage patch, long as it makes you happy."

She's quiet and thoughtful for long enough he starts to get concerned. "I think I'll say you're my dad. Daryl's a great uncle, and Abby kinda needs him all to herself right now."

Just like that, Merle's the father of six. He pulls her in for a hug and she snuggles close in a way she hasn't in previous hugs.

"I like it best when you call me princess," she murmurs against his chest.

"I'll keep that in mind." He spots the novel they've been reading on the nightstand and reaches for it. "How about I do the reading tonight?"

"Like a bedtime story? Only ever had Mama read those to me."

The yearning in her tone makes him hope Scout and Shane let that bastard Ed suffer before they ended him.

"Yeah, princess, like a bedtime story."

And if he reads himself hoarse, waiting until she falls asleep against him, while little peeping toms sit in the hallway listening, well, she's got years of missed bedtime stories to make up for.

~*~ DD ~*~

"Daddy?"

"Yeah, Abby?"

"Can I sleep with you?"

Daryl's glad Carol's motherly instinct led her to warn him. "Sure, Sunshine. Come on down here."

She scrambles down the bunk ladder and manages to knee him squarely in the gut in her goal to tuck in close to the wall. He cuddles her close, breathing in the scent of strawberry shampoo on her blonde curls.

He's not sure how or when to broach the subject of her mother's death or Ethan's. She didn't mention them to Glynnis or Merle or her cousins either. He doesn't remember losing his own mother, even if he knows intellectually that it was probably as traumatic as Abby's experience.

The closest he can think of is the months of grief and confusion Cricket experienced at her mother's disappearance. Scout's rage sustained her through those rough first months and Honey was just a baby, but damn Cricket cried. He thinks it was probably healthier, since she recovered from losing what little mothering Lilliana provided better than Daryl or Scout did.

"Daddy? It's safe here, right?"

"Yeah. We have fences and the river and a lot of people to look out for you."

"And Rachel and Tim are staying?"

"We invited them to. I think they will."

She wriggles up to kiss his cheek. "Mommy kept saying you weren't Daddy anymore and to call Ethan that. But he told her to hush and he wasn't replacing you."

"Ethan sounds like a good man."

"I wish they didn't die."

"I wish they didn't either." He hugs her close, expecting tears, but she just sighs softly.

"I love you, Daddy. You are my sunshine."

"Love you too, my little sunshine." His heart aches in a good way at the easy return to their bedtime goodnight.

Maybe they still need to face his daughter's grief and trauma, but for tonight, he'll just enjoy that she's home and safe and no court can ever take her from him again.