you're gonna see me fudge the show plot many times to keep up with the various inconsistencies i wrote into this story when i was a kid. today, we're pretending that they gave judith a name several episodes before they actually did.

The girl with the blonde hair tried to say something to me, but I didn't really hear it. When I saw Daryl, it was like all the noise around me became watery, words I couldn't understand. My thoughts raced, trying to catch up with what was happening. Before I knew it, I was moving.

I ran past the other woman, the brunette one, without even saying a word. To her, I must have looked insane, this dirty child sprinting into her home without a word. But seeing Daryl, knowing that I had found at least him, I couldn't feel anything but relief.

"Daryl!" I shouted, when I found my voice, and barreled right into him. He'd had the sense to drop his crossbow, seeing me coming, but he still seemed shocked when I ran into his arms. For a few long seconds, he went frozen stiff, before he relaxed and hugged me back. It must have been a strange thing for him, hugging a child he barely knew that had been gone for months. For me, though, it was some of the clearest and strongest relief I had felt in my entire life.

Hot tears welled in my eyes, slipping out and falling onto the leather of his vest. My fingers fisted against the heavy fabric, clinging to him so tight he probably couldn't have removed me as if he tried. Even though he was Daryl, silent and detached Daryl Dixon, he held me back, letting me press my face against the scruffy skin of his neck.

I stayed here for what felt like minutes, learning how to breathe again. When I felt calm, or at least calm enough to pull back, I did. His dark eyes studied me for a second, and despite himself, the corner of his lips pulled up into a grin.

"Hey, kid," he said. "It's good t'see you."

"Daryl?"

When I glanced back, the brunette woman was studying the two of us in confusion. It made me feel strangely shy, and I shrunk backwards into Daryl.

"This is Sophia," he said, and that must have been explanation enough, because the brunette's eyes widened.

"Sophia, as in Carol's daughter Sophia?" She asked. At my mother's name, my back straightened.

"My mom? Is my mom here?"

Daryl's hand, still on my shoulder, squeezed. "Yeah, kid, your mom's here," he said.

Relief flooded in, so strong that I almost fell back against him. "My mom's here," I repeated, awed, tilting my head back to look at him. "Can I see her? I wanna see my mom."

He nodded. "Sure, kid, let's go find your mom."

—

As we walked up the hill and into the prison, I learned that the blonde girl was Beth, and the woman was her older sister, Maggie. They seemed nice enough, considering they had saved my life, but I found myself attached to Daryl's side. At one point, I reached out for his hand, and despite the closed-off demeanor I had come to expect at him back at the camp in Atlanta, he let me. Even though the skin of his palm was rough and calloused, he was gentle as he held my hand in his.

Maggie and Beth seemed nice enough, if quiet. Then again, I didn't say much to them, either, too caught up in what was happening. I stuck close to Daryl like he was my lifeline. In a way, he was.

"What about everybody else, like Carl and his parents?" I asked. "Are there here, too?"

He hesitated. "You might wanna hear some of this from your mama," he told me.

"Will you tell me, please?" I asked. "I wanna know. I can handle it, I promise."

"Okay," he conceded. "Well, Carl and Rick are here, and so are Glenn and your mama. But we lost most'a the others."

"Lori and Dale? Andrea?"

The drawn look on his face spoke volumes, and my lips twisted into a frown. "What happened?"

"Well, after we lost you, we found a farm," he explained. "S'where we met Maggie and Beth, and their daddy Hershel. A walker got Dale, and we lost track of Andrea in a hoard."

"Do you think she's okay?"

"Don't know. Hope so."

"What about the others?" I asked.

"Shane also died at the farm," he said, but something about the way his face changed made me think there was more to the story, but I didn't push. He continued.

"We came to the prison next, but it wasn't easy. A walker took T-Dog, and Lori…"

He trailed off, even when I stared up at him. After a moment, Maggie cleared her throat. "Lori was havin' a baby, and she got stuck inside the prison when it was time for the baby to come," she explained, something guarded in her eyes. "She didn't make it."

"Oh."

"Judith, the baby, did though," Beth chimed in. "She's healthy, and real cute."

That threw me for a second. I hadn't seen a baby in what felt like forever, at least before the walkers came. As a near-teenager, I wasn't exactly sure of everything a baby would need, but I knew it was a lot. The fact that they were managing to keep one alive, healthy, and well-cared for was impressive.

Not too surprising, though. Mr. Grimes had always been the kind of guy who got things done. This must have been one of them.

I thought for a second. "Is everybody else… okay?"

"They're fine," Maggie said. "And the prison has been really safe. I'm sure they'll all be happy to see you."

Still holding my hand, Daryl led us through another gate and into a heavy metal door. The building inside seemed dark, lit mostly through high windows in the wall. I had never actually been inside a prison before, but it wasn't too far off from what I would have imagined. Everything was dim and grey, with several places blocked off by fences of metal bars. Various supplies were strewn about the room, but it looked like this was more of a spare room than a storage area.

Except for us, the room was empty, but I could hear the distant sound of voices coming from the nearby hallway. It was blocked off by bars and a door, but Daryl dropped my hand to walk towards it.

"Hey, Carl," he called. "Come open this gate."

He waited, and a second later, I saw the figure of Carl Grimes appear through the gate. He was taller than the last time I'd seen him, and his face was a little less round, a little older.

Saying something to Daryl I couldn't quite hear, he pulled a ring of keys from his pocket and thumbed through them to find the right one. When he did, he shoved it through the lock and turned, causing the heavy door between him and us to swing open.

It was then that he looked over to where I stood with Maggie and Beth. When his eyes landed on me, I saw his face light up.

"Sophia?"

I grinned, abandoning the girls behind me to run forward. He took a few steps to meet me, and I threw my arms around him the second I could. His own came up around my back, and one of us laughed, but I couldn't even tell who it came from. I was too excited.

"I can't believe you're here," he said, when I pulled back. "We looked for you everywhere. Did you ever go back to the road?"

I shook my head. "I couldn't find it," I told him. "I think I ran too far past it. But I stayed with this woman for a while, she made sure I was safe."

"Did something happen to her?"

I glanced away, and his lips twisted into a frown, before he pulled his smile back on. "Well, I'm really glad you're here," he said. "Your mom will be really happy."

At the mention of my mother, I brightened "Is she here?"

"She's here somewhere," he replied. "She and Glenn are looking through some of the tunnels to see what kind of stuff they might be able to find."

I hesitated, and he grabbed my hand, still smiling. "Come with me," he implored. "Until she gets back, you can come meet Judith."

"Your sister?"

He nodded, tugging me forward. "Come on, let's go."

I let him lead me down the hallway, glancing back at Daryl over my shoulder. He offered me a small grin, and I returned it as Carl dragged me into one of the cells and out of sight.

When I looked back at him, Carl was bending down and reaching into a small, cardboard-like box. When he lifted them back up, there was a baby cradled between them. She was small, smaller than any baby I'd ever seen before.

"Oh, wow," I said, voice soft. In response, he beamed.

"This is my sister," he told me. "Her name is Judith, but we call her Judy too. They let me name her."

His chest puffed out with pride, and I giggled, leaning closer to get a better look. There were still wrinkles that dotted her forehead and her cheeks, but her eyes seemed huge. Unlike Carl and her dad, her eyes were a warm shade of brown.

Carl rocked her back and forth a few times, and in response, she offered him a few sleepy blinks. I suspected he might have woken her up to show her off to me, but she didn't seem to mind too much. Instead, she seemed settled in her place against his chest.

"Wow," I said. "She's really cute."

"I know," Carl murmured, that bright smile still lighting up his face as he looked up to meet my eyes. "Do you wanna hold her?"

I faltered for a second. "I've never held a baby before."

"Me either, until Judy was born," he said. "It's not hard, I can show you."

"Okay," I agreed. I listened as Carl instructed me to sit on the bed and hold my body in a certain way. Once my position was to his liking, he lowered his sister into my waiting arms.

She wasn't heavy, but she weighed more than I had expected. It took me a few seconds to adjust her in a way that seemed comfortable for her, and she whined once or twice, but I got it eventually. The same way she had with her brother, Judith settled against me.

It was a strange thing. When she looked up at me, there was almost a sense of trust in her eyes. She didn't cry at being held by a stranger, or freak out. Instead, she simply accepted me.

It made me understand why people like babies so much. In that moment, she was the easiest thing in the world to love.

I smiled up at Carl, and he returned it. "Awesome, right?"

"Awesome," I agreed.

—

Carl showed me how to feed his sister, and we talked a little as I did. I told him about the months I'd spent on the road, about the books I'd read to pass the time. To be honest, life with Jackie had been more or less the same every day; there wasn't much to tell him about.

I didn't ask about his past, and he didn't offer it. I guess he assumed Daryl had told me some things, because we danced carefully around topics like Shane and his mother, and I didn't ask once where they were. It seemed like a conversation too heavy for a first reunion, especially with a baby between us.

Until he was sitting next to me, I hadn't realized how much I had missed him. On the road, when I thought about them, it was a general feeling, missing all of them. The only one I had thought about with distinction was my mother. Now, though, getting to talk and spend time with somebody my own age? I'd missed it more than I realized.

After several minutes, Judith finished her bottle, and Carl took her back to burp her. I asked him why you had to do that, but he shrugged.

"It's just a baby thing, I guess," he answered.

We played with her for a few minutes after that, but she wasn't really old enough for games; our attempts at peek-a-boo neither amused nor impressed her. Instead, she stared back at us with a neutral expression, and we gave up trying to make her laugh. After all, Carl told me that Maggie said she was too young to laugh, anyways.

As he put her back in her little box, we heard the creak of a metal door swinging open, followed by voices floating from the hallway. I started at the sound, because after a moment, I recognized it.

When Carl looked up at me, he grinned. He must have known who it was, same as I did, because he poked me in the ribs. "Go on," he encouraged, sticking his tongue out at me. I was too out of it to respond in kind, and instead, I drifted out of the cell and into the hallway.

At the far end where we'd come in, Maggie and Beth were still lingering nearby, wearing smiles that seemed all too similar to Carl's. I glanced in their direction, but when I didn't see what I was looking for, I turned away. Instead, I glanced to the left, and—

There she was.

My mom.

Her hair was still the same, short grey, and her eyes were just as blue. When they landed on me, I watched them widen with shock, and her hand flew up to cover her mouth.

"Mom?"

"Sophia?"

My name broke when she said it, and I managed to both laugh and sob at the same time. Tears in my eyes, I bolted forward, and her arms opened just in time to catch me. I fell into them, all but choking on the noises coming out of my mouth.

"Mom," I cried again, my fingers fisting in the fabric of her shirt as her hand came up to cradle my head.

"You're here," she whispered, voice watery.

"I'm here," I said. "I'm here."

And here I was.