Chapter 2: Traveling

"You have enough to eat?" Daryl asked, tossing his napkin into the empty fry basket on the table.

"Yeah," Lydia yawned.

"You tired?"

"Uh-huh."

"We'll find a hotel soon, and then tomorrow, we'll…"

"Can we go to the Grand Canyon?"

"What?" Daryl asked.

"Well, we're not far, and I thought maybe since we've never been there. We never go anywhere. Can we, please?" Daryl sighed and looked at his daughter who was practically pleading with him. "See, I picked this up at the last truck stop." She pulled a pamphlet out of her back pocket. "See? Look how pretty, dad. It'd be really educational."

"Oh, now we're pullin' the educational card?"

"Well, not a lot of kids back home can say they went to the Grand Canyon this summer." She bounced in her seat. "Can we?"

"Lemme see that," Daryl sighed. He looked over the pamphlet for a minute. "Well, you wanna see the North Rim or the South Rim?"

"What's the difference?" Lydia asked. Daryl sighed and looked the pamphlet over some more.

"A hundred and some miles drive's the difference."

"Oh. Dad?" He looked at her. "Can I borrow your phone so I can text Sophia?"

"Yeah. I gotta hit the bathroom 'fore we go. You have to go?"

"No."

"Alright. Stay here. Don't move. Don't talk to nobody."

"Got it," Lydia sighed. Daryl passed her his phone. As soon as he was gone, Lydia tapped out a quick message.

Sophia. N or S? A few minute passed, and the phone buzzed.

This is Sophia. What's N or S?

North or South Rim.

Let me check.

K.

Mom says South.

OK. Erase these.

You too. Bye.

Lydia quickly erased the previous messages just in time for Daryl to come back out of the bathroom.

"You sure you don't have to go?" he asked. Lydia thought for a moment, and then she nodded. She handed her dad the phone and got up to go use the restroom.

Daryl checked his messages and got on his favorite social media app to post a picture he'd taken of himself and Lydia in the car before they'd left the camp. He immediately hit the search button and typed in Carol Mason. There weren't many of them, but when he found one based in Los Angeles that just happened to be a picture of her with her daughter Sophia, he clicked on it. He felt a little funny about it, but at the same time, this was the mother of the girl Lydia called her best friend. The girls were going to be in contact, so he figured there wasn't anything wrong with checking out Carol's page to see what kind of life she led.

Unfortunately, her page was pretty private. There were a couple of profile pictures, one of her and Sophia standing at the Great Wall of China. Another of her and Sophia in front of the Golden Gate Bridge. Lydia wasn't kidding when she said Sophia'd been everywhere.

He felt a little guilty that he hadn't been able to take Lydia on very many trips over the years. He'd struggled the first few years of her life, but he'd been able to save up enough money and work hard, and now he made a pretty comfortable living. He helped train and certify new firefighters, but he also went out and did the hard, heavy work when he was needed. He was busy all the time, and this year's camp stay for Lydia had been the first big thing he'd ever really been able to do for her, money-wise. He wanted her to have fun experiences, and as much as he hated her being in a different time zone for a month, he knew it was a good thing for her. She had always been a dreamer, dreaming of far away places and exploring. He was glad he was able to give her a little taste of that before school started again.

Lydia came back to the table, and Daryl quickly closed the App. He cleared his throat and stuffed his phone into his pocket.

"Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"When we get home, do you think I could get a cell phone?" Lydia raised her eyebrows up at him hopefully and tapped her fingers on the table.

"Cell phone?" Daryl asked. "You're twelve."

"Yeah, I'm twelve," Lydia sighed. "A lot of the kids had them last year. I don't want to be the only kid in junior high without a cell phone this year."

"Yeah, m'sure all the eleven year olds had cell phones last year," Daryl snorted. Lydia rolled her eyes.

"I said a lot. Not all. But, it'd just be for emergencies. Like calling my best friend who lives all the way in California." Daryl narrowed his eyes at her.

"Guilt don't work on me."

"Yes it does," Lydia grinned. Daryl sighed.

"We'll talk about it when we get home." Lydia grinned wider. "That don't mean yes."

"Yes it does."

"Just for that, you ain't gettin' one 'til you're thirty."

"Dad," Lydia groaned. Daryl smirked.

"C'mon. We best hit the road."

...

By the time they got to the hotel, Carol and Sophia were both exhausted. They weren't far from the Canyon, and Sophia was feeling pretty excited for a kid who'd been traveling all day.

"Aren't you tired?" Carol yawned, as Sophia walked out of the bathroom in her swim suit.

"No."

"Sunscreen," Carol reminded her.

"Mom?" Sophia grabbed the bottle of sunscreen from the counter by the sink.

"Hmm?" Carol toed off her shoes and grabbed a pair of flip flops from her suitcase.

"Can we invite Lydia to stay with us over Christmas?" Sophia asked.

"Honey, that's something we'd have to discuss with Lydia and her dad. Besides, I was thinking we might go to the mountains for Christmas and get some pretty shots of the snow on the peaks. Sophia sighed and slumped down on the bed. "What's wrong?"

"Do we always have to go somewhere? We almost never stay home for Christmas."

"Honey, I thought you liked traveling with me," Carol said softly, sitting down next to her daughter on the bed.

"I do. I love going new places and seeing new things. I also like staying in one spot for longer than a few weeks. I almost never see my friends from school except at school. And I like spending Christmas with you, but sometimes I'd just like to spend Christmas at home. I don't care if it's just us." Carol felt a tug in her chest, and she pulled her arm around her daughter's shoulders.

"I wish you would've told me sooner."

"I do like going with you, Mom. But maybe this year we can stay home. Maybe Lydia and her dad can come out, and we can show them around. They've never been to L.A. At least I know Lydia hasn't." Carol nodded.

"Well, when we get home and get settled, we'll talk about it some more." Sophia sighed. "But I don't see why we can't stay home for Christmas this year. I'll have plenty of great shots tomorrow I can submit, and I have plenty of snowy mountain shots from years ago. I can always use those." Sophia's eyes brightened.

"Thanks, Mom," Sophia grinned, hugging her mom tight. "Can I go swimming now?"

"Come on," Carol chuckled, standing and grabbing her phone.

"Aren't you swimming?"

"Oh, no. I didn't pack my swimming suit. I'll come sit by the pool."

The two of them headed out of the room and down to the pool. A couple of other families were using the pool, so Carol sat in a pool chair in the shade and took a couple shots of Sophia swimming before she checked her messages.

She had six texts. Three were work related, and the others were from one person. She sighed and opened them.

Hey, are you back in town?

Let me know when you're home. I thought maybe we could go grab a drink.

I've been thinking about you a lot. Call me.

Carol frowned and leaned her head back against the seat. She tapped her finger absently against her phone screen for a minute before tapping out a quick response.

Rick, I'm in Arizona with Sophia. I don't think drinks would be a good idea. I think you're a great guy, and I had fun hanging out with you, but I don't think there's a future here. I'm sorry.

She put her phone down in her lap and sighed softly. Rick Grimes was a cop and the father of a boy in Sophia's class. He was recently divorced and shared custody of his son Carl and little daughter Judith with his ex-wife. Rick was handsome and kind, but after a few dates, Carol knew there wasn't enough of a spark between them to last.

She hadn't felt a spark with anyone in a long time. Honestly, with Sophia's dad Ed, she hadn't even felt that spark. But she'd been a lot more naïve when she'd gotten pregnant. Ed had completely freaked out and wanted nothing to do with the kid, and by the time Sophia came along, he was nothing but a memory who eventually signed his parental rights away. She hadn't seen him since. But, she figured it was better that way. As much as she'd always wished Sophia had a father in the picture, having no father was better than having one that didn't want to be one.

Carol had spent most of Sophia's childhood taking her away to far away places, giving her experiences many children could never have. She was fortunate enough to have found a skill that made her a lot of money, though she realized now she may have been overcompensating and distracting Sophia from what she didn't have. The last thing she wanted was Sophia to grow up to resent her for spending more time hauling her around the globe to make up for her not having a father figure in her life. On top of that, she really didn't have much in the way of family. Her parents were both gone, she was an only child, and she'd never been close to any of her extended family. Ed's family wasn't involved at all. She was pretty much all Sophia had. For the first time, Sophia had really connected with someone else her age, and Carol felt bad that Sophia's very best friend lived over two thousand miles away.

Carol shook the thoughts from her mind and quickly opened her phone back up to her social media page. She posted a couple of snaps of her and Sophia throughout the day and captioned them Summer fun with my favorite girl! Just picked Sophia up from summer camp.

She quickly looked through her timeline before tapping on the search bar. She chewed her lip for a moment before glancing over at Sophia. She looked back at her computer screen and quickly searched for Daryl Dixon.

One of the first profile pictures that came up was of Lydia sitting in the cab of a fire truck wearing her dad's helmet. Carol couldn't help but smile, and she clicked on the image. Daryl's page was pretty plain. Mostly, he had photos of him with his daughter, and to Carol's surprise, there was no indication there was a mother in Lydia's life. Perhaps that was one of the reasons Lydia and Sophia had bonded so quickly and so closely. They both knew what it was like to be raised by single parents. Or maybe she was way off base.

"Mom?" Carol looked up from her phone to see Sophia wrapping herself in a towel.

"Done already?"

"Yeah. I'm kind of tired. Besides, I think I like swimming in the lake better than the pool."

"Oh, okay," Carol chuckled. "Well, let's go inside and get our showers, and we'll see if there's a good movie on TV. Sound good?"

"Yeah," Sophia grinned. "Can we get up early tomorrow?"

"Early? I suppose we can. Why?"

"No reason. I just want to get there early."

"Sophia, the Grand Canyon's been there for millions of years. There's no reason to hurry. You won't miss a thing."

"I know. I just really want to get there early."

"Alright," Carol chuckled. "We have all day tomorrow. There's no rush. We'll make a whole day of it, huh? I wouldn't mind to get some sunset pictures."

"The whole day?" Sophia asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Carol asked with a smile. Suddenly, Sophia had a little kick in her step. Whatever had the girl in such a good mood, Carol wasn't going to question. She was just thankful for the time with her little girl, and she couldn't wait to get to the canyon tomorrow and make some memories they'd never forget.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Hope you guys liked it!