Daryl and I walked into the dining room together where Carol and my brother were. "There you two are." Carol said smiling at us. "Are you gonna have a piece of cake, Abby?"

"Yeah." Daryl answered for me. Carol cut me a piece and put it onto a plate, then slid it over to me.

"It smells good." I said.

"Yeah." Said Daryl. "C'mere." He pulled me down onto his lap. I thought it was a little strange and looked at Carol, but she just let out a laugh so I did too. I took the first bite of the cake. "It's good." I said.

"I know! Isn't it?" Carl said.

"Thank you." Carol replied.

"Good." Daryl said. "Make sure ya eat the whole thang then." He fixed my shirt for me on the sides by pulling it down, then he kind of wrapped his arms around me. I know I'm too old to sit on his lap, but it did feel nice. It made me feel safe. Besides, I still sit on my dad's lap sometimes. Who cares? "Ya done?" Daryl asked me after a few minutes.

"Yeah." I said. "That was good. I liked it a lot."

"You can have another if you want." Said Carol.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm pretty full."

"Can we go in the living room now?" Carl said randomly and stood up.

"Yeah." Daryl said. He gave him me a quick kiss on my cheek, then lifted me and carried me bridle style into the living room. I didn't know why he was being so affectionate with me, but I still laughed. He sat down in his chair with me on his lap again.

"Why do you want me on your lap so much?" I asked him.

"I don't know." He said. "Cuz yer small and fun to hold. And cute." He pinched my cheek. I cringed but still smiled. Then, I readjusted myself into a comfier position for both of us by sitting my butt on the seat but I still had my legs on him. He had his arm around me.

"What are we gonna do now?" My brother asked.

"I'on know." Daryl answered him. He itched his chin, I stared at his hand. He has big hands, but his fingers are kind of short and fat. It made me laugh. He looked at me. "What are you laughin' at?"

I grabbed his hand. "You have big hands." I said, then I put ours together and compared them. I smiled.

He snorted. "Maybe you just got small hands."

"I do but…your hands are still big. And your fingers are thick." I laughed. Carl laughed too and then Carol joined in.

Daryl seemed to get a little awkward and pulled his hand away. "Quit makin' fun 'a me." He smirked though. I just laughed once more.

All of a sudden, my dad's voice was heard over the walkie. I became completely serious. Daryl grabbed the walkie off of the end table. "Yeah, we're here."

"Is everyone okay?" My dad asked.

"Yeah, fine." Daryl said, then looked at me. "We're good."

"Good." My dad said. Then, there was a slight pause.

Daryl made a weird face. "What's goin' on?" He sat up a little. "You guys alright?"

There was a hesitation on my dad's end. I was beginning to get concerned. "…we…we got into an accident." My dad said. "A car accident." My eyes widened and I made a noise. "We're both okay but…the car isn't…and we went out pretty far so it's going to take us a little longer to get home." The news hit me like a brick, I felt it in my stomach. "…I just wanted to let you know that."

My face fell and I looked down disappointingly. Daryl looked at me and put a hand on my head and kind of ruffled my hair a little. "Okay." He nodded. "Well, you guys be careful. And don't worry about us, we're fine here." They said their goodbyes.

"Is my dad gonna be okay?" Carl asked.

"He's fine." Carol reassured him with a smile. "You heard him. He says they're okay. They'll be back in no time." She nodded. Carl gave her a small smile back.

I didn't feel very reassured. I couldn't stop thinking about what he said and tears sprung to my eyes. I didn't want to cry in front on my little brother because then he would get worried so I got up and left the room.

"Abby, where ya goin'?" Daryl asked me. I didn't answer him. "Hey." I heard him coming. He stopped me by the stairs. "Hey, it's okay." He touched my shoulder.

"No." I pulled away.

"Abby." He grabbed me again.

"Let go 'a me."

"No." He held on. "What's wrong?"

I didn't want to say because I would start crying. "My dad." I said quietly and sniffled.

"He's fine." He spoke softly. He hugged me from behind, which made me let go and cry. We stayed like for a moment, then I turned around and hugged him.

"You don't have to run away like that." He looked at me.

"Yes, I do." I nodded while crying. "I have to be strong for my brother."

"No, ya don't." He shook his head at me. He sat down on the stairs so he was more level with me. "If yer feelin' sad and you wanna cry, you go ahead and cry. Don't hold that in." He pushed my hair back, our faces were real close to each other. "We talked about this. No more hidin' when yer upset." There was a brief pause. I sniffled. "Now, yer dad's gonna be fine." He wiped my tears away. "You'll see."

I looked up at him and he nodded at me. I was feeling better and started to calm down. "I'm sorry about…before…sorry for being a brat." I sniffled and took a breath. "I don't think I said that."

Daryl gave me a small smile. "S'alright." He pushed my hair back. "Just…don't do it again." He hugged me to him tightly, I just wrapped my arms around his neck and laid my head on his shoulder. We stayed like that for a few seconds, then we pulled apart. "Ready to go back in 'nere?" He pointed to the other room. I just nodded. "C'mon." He put a hand on my back and guided me along.

"Now I need a noun." I said to my brother. We were playing Mad Libs. "Now another one."

"Box." Carl said.

I wrote it down. "Now a plural noun."

My brother looked around the room like he was thinking. "…pumpkins."

"Now a person."

He thought forever. "Bruno Mars." He said and laughed. Carol laughed too.

"Who the hell's 'at?" Daryl asked.

"A singer." I replied to him. "Another noun."

"Window." He said. "How long is this?"

"Only one more." I finished writing his answer. "A part of the body."

"…toes."

I wrote it down. "Okay." I smiled. "Ready?" I started reading it. We laughed throughout out, but really hard once I finished. I especially thought the last sentence was hilarious. Even Daryl laughed at that. It ended with "that was the best Thanksgiving ever, toes down."

"These are fun." Carl said. "We need more."

"We do." I laughed.

"What is it?" Daryl asked.

"Mad Libs." Carol and I said in unison.

"I ain't never heard 'a that in my life."

"Well, aren't they funny?" I said.

"Yeah, sure." He raised his eyebrows and smirked.

"I wish we had more." Carl said.

"We'll have to look for some next time we go out." I said quickly. "In the meantime," I turned around and picked up a little box of cards on the shelf, "we should play Cards Against Humanity now." I grinned.

"No." Carol said. "I heard about that game. We can't play that one."

"Why?" I complained. "It's fun."

"If you've played it, then you know why." She said again. "Especially with Carl."

"Man." I said disappointingly.

"Can I see it?" Carl asked. I handed it to him. He opened the box and started looking through the cards. He made a weird face at one of them, then he laughed at another. It made me laugh too and I found it kind of amusing. We started looking through the cards. "This one says Mexican black tar heroine." Carl laughed.

"My daddy's dick." I read another card and we laughed.

"Abby." Carol scolded me. "Don't say that." I didn't even realize that I had said it loud enough for them to hear.

"Crumbs all over the goddamn carpet." Carl read and laughed.

"Donkey cock." I said quieter than before but they still must have heard me.

"Abby." Said Carol again.

"Abigail." Daryl scolded me. "What did Carol just say?"

Carl and I continued to read the cards but more quietly and laughed. I saw Daryl get up, he snatched the cards out of our hands and hurriedly put them back in the box, then he put the box on top of the shelf. He turned around and pointed at me. Carl and I looked at each other and we both let out a small laugh.

"I'm gonna put y'all in the corner." Daryl said with a smirk.

I let out a laugh, then started going through other games and things on the shelf. "Hey, cool. A word search." I said.

"Can I see it?" Carl said. "I wanna do one." He grabbed it.

"No." I wouldn't let go. "I found it, I'm doin' it."

"Carl." Carol said. "Let Abby do some first. She found it."

My brother didn't let go and we continued to fight over it. "Let go!" He said.

"No." I said. He finally let it go and the force of me pulling made me hit my elbow on the shelf. My bad arm. Carol gasped a little.

I immediately felt pain and my eyes widened. "Ow." I cried and grabbed my arm. "Ow ow."

"See what happens when ya fool around?" Daryl said. He helped me up. "Now you sit there and you over there and stop it." I was in the other chair and Carl was on the couch. I stared at Daryl in curiosity for a moment. He's very…dad-ish. I wondered why he never had kids. He'd be a good dad.

As we were all sitting there, I started to not feel so great. My stomach started feeling sick every once in a while. It felt like I could throw up, but I didn't actually think I was going to. It was like it was going on and off. I tried to ignore it, but then it got worse. So, I stood up to leave.

"Where ya goin'?" Daryl asked me.

"I wanna go lay down." I said. "My stomach kinda hurts."

"What do ya mean yer stomach kinda hurts?" He gave me a weird look.

"I don't know." I shrugged. "It just does." I walked away and went up to my room. First, I took my sweatpants off, then got into bed. I wear a pair of really short shorts underneath whenever I wear sweatpants incase I get too hot. Plus, I like to sleep in these shorts, they're hell'a comfortable.

I laid down on my bed for a while. My stomach felt sicker and sicker to the point where I couldn't even just lay there and relax. Eventually, it got so bad that I knew I was going to throw up soon. So, I went into the bathroom and sat on the floor in front of the trash can. It took a while, but I finally puked. It was all the cake that I ate. I guess maybe because it's been a while since I had something like that.

"Abby?" I heard outside the door. It was Daryl. "Are you okay?" I started puking some more so I couldn't answer him. "I'm comin' in." He walked in, then immediately squatted down next to me on the floor. I felt his hands on both of my sides. "It's okay. That's it. Get it out." He started gently rubbing my lower back. I finished throwing up and sat back. I felt somewhat better now that it was out of me. "You all done pukin'?" He asked me. I nodded. "C'mon." He helped me up.

I needed to wipe my mouth and blow my nose. Daryl grabbed some tissues, I reached for them but he moved his hand away and wiped my mouth for me. My face flushed a little. I was brought back to the times when I was little and my mom would take care of me after getting sick. "Thanks." I said just so it wouldn't be awkward. Then, I grabbed a tissue and blew my nose. I took a deep breath and rubbed my eyes because they were a little watery.

"Here." He opened the medicine cabinet and grabbed the bottle of Tums, he poured some into his hand and then handed me two. "Take some 'a these."

I took them from him and chewed them up. "I wanna go lay down still."

"Okay." Daryl rubbed my back. "Why don't ya just go to bed? It's gettin' kinda late anyway." I just nodded. Daryl came with me into my room, I got into bed and pulled the blankets up because I was shivering a little.

He felt my forehead. "You do feel a little warm."

"Abby?" Suddenly my brother was there. "Wanna come build a puzzle with us?"

"No." Daryl said quickly. "Leave yer sister alone. She don't feel good." He said sternly and played with my hair a little. He stayed there with me until I fell asleep.

I slept in pretty late the next day. I threw my sweatpants on and quickly did my morning routine, then headed down the stairs to see what the others were doing. Daryl was the first one that I saw, he was in the kitchen making something. "Why didn't anyone wake me up?" I said.

He turned and looked at me, then went back to whatever he was cooking. "Thought I'd let ya sleep since ya didn't feel good." He said. There was as slight pause. I walked closer to him. "Feelin' better?"

"Yeah." I said. "I'm actually a little hungry." I put my hand over my stomach.

"Well, have somethin' then."

"I will. I'll make somethin' when you're done." I walked into the dining room where my brother and Carol were and sat down in my usual seat.

"How are you feeling today, honey?" Carol asked me.

I shrugged. "Better. But now I'm real hungry." I said with a laugh.

She just smiled at me. "There's cans of soup out there. And there's still cake."

I got a sick feeling, just then, because that's what I threw up last night. "I'll make something." I nodded.

Almost immediately after that, Daryl walked in and sat a bowl in front of me. "Here. I made ya some noodles."

I looked at them, then at him. "But…weren't you making these for you?"

"…I was makin' 'em fer you."

My eyes narrowed at him and I smirked. "You liar."

"I will make myself some later. You just eat."

"…are you sure?" I gave him a look. He nodded. I looked down at the noodles, they looked and smelled good and I was super hungry. "Well, you didn't have to but…I'll eat it." I smiled, then started eating. There was a brief pause while I was eating. "Whenever I would come home from school or whatever…and there was no food…I used to make noodles and put hot sauce on 'em."

"Sounds gross." Said Daryl.

"It wasn't, it was good."

"My sister's just weird." Carl said.

"Why was there no food?" Carol asked me.

I shrugged while still chewing. "There was but," I swallowed my food, "my mom stopped making me stuff when I turned like ten or eleven. She said I needed to be self sufficient or something like that." I rolled my eyes and smiled a little. "But then she still made food for Carl at that age!"

"Cuz she liked me better than you!"

"Probably." I said smartly. Carol let out a small laugh, but Daryl didn't do or say anything. I ate more of my noodles before speaking again. "I also used to make buttered noodles with ketchup."

"Ewww." Carl and Carol said at the same time.

"Don't knock it til you try it." I smirked and crossed my arms. Then, I got an idea. "I'll make it for dinner for everyone one day!"

Daryl stood up. "You just keep eatin'." He tapped my nose, then went into the kitchen.

"Maybe one day." Carol said. "But not today." We laughed. There was a short pause. "So, why do you think you got sick?"

I thought for a minute. "I don't know." I shrugged. "I've had stomach problems for as long as I can remember. And I had a stomach ulcer about a year before the turn happened."

"Oh my." Carol said. Daryl stopped and gave me a concerned look.

"Yeah." I made it awkward in here. "But…I'm fine now." I smiled a little and continued eating.

I grabbed my bottle of bubbles and headed for the door. "Where ya goin'?" Daryl asked me.

"Outside to blow bubbles."

"Why cain't ya just blow 'em inside?"

I gave him a stupid look. "That's no fun." I complained. "I wanna go outside. And yes, I have my gun and knife this time."

"Good girl. But don't stay out there too long, okay?"

"Okay." I smiled. He gave me a playful swat when I walked passed him. I walked around on the porch, then ended up down onto the sidewalk to blow my bubbles.

I was out there for about five minutes, I did a real good one where a bunch of bubbles came out. I watched them blow around in circles from the wind and smiled because it looked cool.

"Hello there." A voice said. I dropped my bubbles and immediately pulled out my gun aiming at the man to the left of me. My eyes were wide. He had his hands up and didn't appear to have a weapon handy. "Easy now, darlin'." He said. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done it while you were distracted with your bubbles." He smiled. "Aren't you a little too old for that stuff?" He tilted his head. "Then again, there ain't much for a kid to do these days, is there?" He took a step closer.

"Don't come any closer." I said.

"C'mon, kid. You don't have the strength to shoot me with one hand. Just put the gun down."

"What do you want?" I shouted. But my voice sounded shaky, I couldn't stop it.

Suddenly, the front door flew open and Daryl hopped down the stairs in two steps and immediately pulled me behind him aiming his crossbow at the man. I still had my gun up as well. "Back up!" He yelled at him.

"Whoa." The man took a step back. "I'm not here to hurt anyone." He pulled his gun out, my eyes widened, then he set it down slowly. "See."

I was about to go collect his gun, but Daryl stopped me. "Kick it over!" The man did what he said. "You got anymore on ya?" He shook his head. Daryl patted him down anyway. When he was done, he kept his crossbow down but I still had my gun up just in case. "What do ya want?"

The man shrugged. "What everyone wants these days." He paused. "I'm alone out here. I saw the girl and thought I could make a friend. We gotta stick together these days, don't you agree?"

There was a slight pause while Daryl just stared at him, then he looked at me. "Put it down." He said to me. After a moment's hesitation, I finally put down my gun.

"My name's Charles." He said.

"Are you really alone?" Daryl asked him. The man hesitated, then nodded slowly. He seemed kind of sad. I absentmindedly looked towards the house and saw Carol looking out the door.

After a moment, Daryl said, "I'm Daryl. This is Abby. We got two more of us inside. And some others out there that ain't back yet."

The man gave us a nod. "Do you have any food?" He asked. "I hate to start with that but…I ran out days ago and…well, I'm pretty hungry." He let out a laugh.

"Yeah." Daryl said. "Yeah." He nodded. "C'mon." He gestured for him to go in. Daryl put a protective hand on my chest until Charles passed us, then we all went inside. I was feeling nervous.

We all sat at the table while Charles ate our food. We were all on one side and he was on the other by himself. Carl and I were sitting down and Daryl and Carol were standing. Daryl was next to me.

"Pretty nice place y'all got here." Said Charles. No one said anything to that. "Are…y'all a family?"

"Yeah." I answered with a smile.

He smiled at me. "Abby, right? You're a cutie."

"She's fourteen." Daryl said immediately.

Charles looked up at him in surprise. "…I didn't mean…it like that…" He trailed off. My face flushed. "I just meant…I saw her and knew we could be friends."

"We ain't friends." Said Daryl.

"Not yet but eventually…well, hopefully." He smiled. Daryl was just staring at him. This guy was being extremely friendly, that usually means they're hiding something. It's kind of sad that I know that.

"Listen," Daryl started, "you haven't given me a reason yet but just know that if you do anything to these people, I'll kill you nice and slow." He growled. I shivered just from the sound of his voice. "Got it?"

"I wouldn't dream of it." Said Charles.

The five of us sat around the table talking. Charles seemed like a pretty cool guy and wasn't giving us any reason to worry. He told some funny stories and jokes, my brother thought he was funny and I even laughed a few times. Maybe he actually is a good guy. However, things became serious when he started talking about what happened to his group. He had a whole family with kids and everything. He said he was forced to watch as his wife and three kids were ripped apart by walkers and he even cried during his story. I had my head down. That must have been terrible for him.

"That's terrible." Carol said. "I'm sorry that happened to you."

Charles nodded. "You people seem like you been through it too."

"We have." I was the one to say because no one else said it. It was true. I put my head down sadly. Daryl started playing with my hair by tucking both sides behind my ears, then untucking them and repeating that. It kind of embarrassed me, but I also kind of liked it.

"We should get Charles some clean clothes." I said. Daryl nodded at me. "I'll get them." I jumped up and went upstairs looking around in Daryl's closet. There should be something in here that will fit him. I got him a pair of jeans, a button up shirt and a pair of boxer shorts, then took them back downstairs. He just finished saying something when I walked in. "Here." I sat them in front of him nicely folded.

"Thank you, sweetheart." He said.

I smiled. Daryl was in my seat now so I stood next to him. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me a little closer. He pulled me down onto his knee. Charles was smiling at us, it made me feel a little awkward.

Later that night, I was getting ready for bed. I was already in my shorts and taking the extra pillows off of my bed when I heard, "My bad. I thought this was the bathroom." It was Charles.

I gasped and turned around when he started talking but then I quickly became relived. "Oh, that's okay."

"Hey, thanks for the clothes." He immediately recovered from that and stepped into my room. "And for letting me stay here."

I gave him a small smile and a nod. "Sure."

He still stood there and didn't leave. "Hey, your dad and you…you're close?"

I hesitated. I wasn't sure how to answer that. He must think that Daryl is my dad and we are close but he's not my dad. And also, I was close to my real dad too. "…Er, Daryl's not my dad. He's sort of like my uncle."

"Oh, I see. And Carol?"

"Same thing. Uh, except…aunt." I let out a laugh.

He nodded. "So, they adopted you and your brother?"

"…no, we just…knew each other from the start." I nodded.

"Oh, okay." There was a tiny pause. "Sorry about your parents."

I gave him a weird look. "They're not dead. Well…my mom is," I looked down for a second when I said that, "but my dad's still alive. He's just…not here right now."

Charles stared at me. I would stare at me too, that was probably super confusing just now. "I bet you miss him." It was more of a statement than a question.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I do." I nodded. He gave me a smile. I started to feel a little uncomfortable with us being alone in here. "Um…I think Daryl wants you downstairs tonight." I nodded.

"Yeah, that's what he told me." He said then stood there. We stared at each other. "Am I keeping you up?"

I looked down and smiled. "Not to be rude but…yeah, kind of." I let out a laugh.

"Say no more." He put his hands up and backed away. "Little girls need their sleep after all." He gave me a creepy smile. I let out a laugh just not to be rude. "Night."

"Night." I said back. Then, he walked out.

There was small commotion in the hall, then Daryl walked in my room. "What was that all about?" He pointed down the hall with his thumb.

"…he was just thanking me for the clothes."

"Oh." Daryl said. "You gettin' ready for bed?" I nodded. "I'll tuck ya in then." He came closer. I got into my bed, he patted my bottom in the process, then pulled my blankets up for me. "You good?"

"Yeah." I smiled.

He sat on the edge of the bed. "Hey, you was a good girl today, ya know?" He gave me a small smile. "You did the right thang by pointin' yer gun at him." I smiled. There was a slight pause. "Did ya hesitate when he showed up?"

"Nope." I stated. "I pulled my gun out immediately."

"Good girl. I'm gonna tell yer dad about that."

I smiled, then looked down. "I had to drop my bubbles though, they're gone now." I let out a small laugh.

"Well, I'll get ya some more next time I'm out, okay?" He pinched my cheek. I cringed but still smiled, then he did it two more times and laughed. "Get some sleep, shorty." He planted a quick kiss on my forehead, then turned out my lantern. I rolled over to get more comfortable and saw him take one last glance at me before closing my door.

Thank you all so much for your support! Please leave a review and tell me what you thought of this chapter! :)