AN: Here we are, another piece to this. I'm excited. There's a lot of possibility to play with here, and I like where I think this will go. I hope you'll like it, too.

I hope you enjoy the chapter! Please don't forget to let me know what you think!

111

There was no doubt in Daryl's mind that Ezekiel saw the genuine hug that Carol gave him and the hard kiss that she planted on his cheek—or the several kisses that she planted on one cheek and then the other. There was no doubt that he saw the hug where, overcome with the unexpected happiness and life-altering peace that finding Sophia alive must have brought her, Carol very nearly collapsed into Daryl's arms for the support he could offer her at-once exhausted body.

Ezekiel must have seen, too, the fact that Daryl couldn't help but close his eyes as he held her in his arms like that and felt her happiness—her pure, unadulterated joy—coursing through her body and into his. He felt her happiness because he, too, was happy beyond belief and beyond words at Sophia's unexpected return to the land of the living.

No matter what he saw, Ezekiel kept his distance for a while—a while that was noticeable to Daryl, though he didn't know if Carol had actually noticed at all. For the moment, Carol was absolutely and completely wrapped up in her daughter, and Sophia seemed unaware of anything beyond her love for her mother.

Ezekiel kept his distance while Daryl brought them inside the gates again. He kept his distance while Daryl hugged Carol to him, and Sophia simply by extension as she was practically attached to her mother, and talked them through the simple logistics of making sure that Sophia had her things and he had his besides. Ezekiel kept his distance as Daryl coaxed them toward the place that Carol called home, and helped her there in case her knees should be not quite up to the task of carrying her alone.

Ezekiel kept his distance, but Daryl noticed that he remained just on the periphery.

Ezekiel only joined them when Daryl had escorted Carol and Sophia inside Carol's home. He met them, open-armed, more like a diplomat than Carol's husband. Perhaps, at that moment, he wasn't feeling very husband-like and, instead, was feeling more like the simple friend and companion that Carol often said he was.

Ezekiel's hug of greeting was awkward, but Daryl wasn't sure that he could expect him to be any other way at the moment, and practically enveloped all of them as he tried to navigate his role in the moment.

"Are you alright?" He asked, directing his words to Carol. He'd clearly dropped his king performance for a moment, and his tone showed genuine concern.

Carol smiled at him and sunk into him with a real hug.

"I'm—wonderful," she said.

Daryl's heart picked up the speed of its beats at her words. He believed her. He absolutely believed her, and the thought that she felt as wonderful as she said she did made him feel oddly like he could have run a few miles without even giving out of breath—despite his age, the weather, and his smoking habit.

"This is Sophia," Daryl said, unsure how to help things. "Carol's daughter."

Ezekiel's smile broadened. He held Carol with one arm, much like Daryl was doing, until she was fully supported between the two of them. If her knees failed her entirely, she wouldn't hit the ground. She didn't pull away from either of them, but she didn't seem to truly need them, either. Still, she accepted the support they each offered her in kind.

"Yes—well—Sophia…I…should have recognized you right away," Ezekiel said, some of his royal cadence slipping back into his speech as he wrapped a proverbial kingly cloak about his shoulders, Daryl assumed, to help him figure out how to greet Sophia.

Daryl had his other arm, the one not supporting Carol, supporting Sophia for the time being. She seemed to be leaning on him with a bit more weight, perhaps, than her mother, and a sort of exhaustion was evident around her eyes that was also evident around Carol's eyes.

She smiled at Ezekiel, though, and loudly released a breath.

"I don't know your name," she said.

"Ezekiel," he offered. "King Ezekiel to some who prefer that title."

"I think I'll just call you Ezekiel," Sophia said with a laugh. Daryl's heart reacted to her laughter by speeding up. His brain reminded him that her laughter sounded very much like Carol's, and that served to remind him that she was real—all of this was real. Sophia was really there. He'd found her in the woods, and she'd been returned to her mother, safe and sound—though both were, arguably, probably at least a little worn from the years of separation.

"And I shall call you Sophia. Princess Sophia?" He asked, putting emphasis and a hint of teasing on those final words.

"Sophia's fine," Sophia corrected. It was Ezekiel's turn to laugh.

"Your mother's daughter when it comes to titles, I see," Ezekiel mused. "You must be tired…and hungry."

Sophia looked at Carol like she was seeking her mother's permission to feel either of those things. Carol smiled at her and pulled free from Ezekiel's half-hold on her to reach for Sophia. This brought them back to a slightly awkward three-person hug. Carol was holding to Daryl's shirt—the cloth balled up in her hand—and she seemed somewhat reluctant to let him go. He felt very reluctant to let she or Sophia go before either wanted to be released, so he certainly wasn't going to push Carol to let go of her hold on him or his shirt.

"There's plenty of room," Carol assured Sophia. "Plenty of food. We can get you a bath. Clothes. Anything you need, sweetheart."

Sophia nodded her acceptance of everything her mother intended to offer her.

"Daryl said—I have a little brother?" Sophia said.

Daryl felt Carol tense. For a moment, she had forgotten her reality, perhaps, with the return of a dream. She smiled, and her cheeks flooded with redness.

"Henry!" She said, practically squealing out her son's name. "Oh—Henry…" Carol looked around like she expected to have missed him standing in the room. She looked at Ezekiel and her face flushed. Daryl instinctively tightened his hold on her. He got the feeling that she was overwhelmed and, maybe, wasn't quite processing everything well. "He left this morning," she said with a sigh. It sounded a bit like relief. Everything she'd forgotten in a moment of being overwhelmed with Sophia's returned came rushing back to her. "He left with Jerry to go to Hilltop." She looked at Ezekiel. "He won't even know that Sophia's here."

Ezekiel gave her a reassuring smile and laughter rumbled quietly in his throat.

"He'll be back in two days," Ezekiel said. "Three at the most. He's only gone with Jerry to take some deliveries and to pick up a few things. I may be wrong, but I believe there's a young lady there that has some of his interest. If that's the case, he may persuade Jerry to stay a little longer and prolong their trip to three days." Ezekiel reached and patted Sophia's shoulder. "At any rate, it will give you some time with your mother. It will give you some time to rest and get to know the Kingdom. Henry will be here soon enough, and he'll be thrilled to meet his sister."

"Come on," Carol said. "We have two rooms—you can choose what you like. Whatever you want, Sophia, and I mean that…"

"If you'll be OK, I'll see about getting us something to eat," Ezekiel said. "We'll have an early meal. I think you might both like to rest early." Carol smiled at him and nodded. Ezekiel looked at Daryl. "You'll stay," he said, leaving it hanging as more of a statement than a question.

Daryl hummed and nodded.

"Already told Carol I would," Daryl said.

"You'll see to it that—she doesn't need anything?" Ezekiel pressed. "And if she should…?"

Daryl nodded his acceptance of the role that he would have taken without Ezekiel's prompting, and he started to show Carol and Sophia in the direction of the two rooms that Carol referenced. The house, rather large as it was, had two small rooms that they'd made into extra bedrooms that they claimed were for any visitors to the Kingdom that might need a place to spend the night. Daryl knew, from having stayed there whenever he came to check on Carol, that one of the rooms was often used for guests—and, by guests, he assumed that it was mostly for him or others who came from Alexandria or Hilltop—while the other was a room where Carol very often slept when, for whatever reason, she felt she couldn't or didn't want to share the King's bed.

Given her choice of the rooms, Sophia chose the one that Carol often called her own.

"You got anything else?" Daryl asked when Sophia's few items had been placed in the room—a room where Daryl had slept a night or two while keeping Carol quiet company when she seemed reluctant to be without him. "I mean—anything you want me to go back for? In the woods?"

Sophia shook her head.

"We only kept what we could carry," she said. "It was easier."

"Fair enough," Daryl said.

"We have a wonderful storage place," Carol said. "We collect things we find. All kinds of things. We could get you anything you want, Sweetheart. Anything at all."

Sophia looked tired, but her mother did too. Sophia dove toward Carol, and Carol embraced her in a hug again. She stroked her daughter's hair while she hugged her.

"I have everything I need, Mommy," Sophia declared, her voice muffled by Carol's shoulder.

"Oh—I do, too," Carol said. "Now? I have everything I need." She pulled out of the hug and held Sophia's face in her hands. Her eyes were wet with tears, but Daryl knew they were happy tears. He felt vaguely like he should avert his eyes, but he didn't seem capable of doing that. "We'll get you anything you need, Sophia. I mean that, Baby. You just tell me or Daryl, and we'll get it for you…"

"Sure," Daryl said quickly. "Yeah—no problem. I can run get you some shit or…whatever…you just name it."

"Maybe I could…have a bath?" Sophia asked.

Carol smiled excitedly. Fulfilling her daughter's requests was clearly something she wanted desperately.

"Let me show you the bathroom," Carol said. "We have hot water, and the tub is deep or there's a shower, too. Whatever you like." Carol turned and looked back at Daryl. "You aren't leaving?"

He gave her a reassuring smile and shook his head.

"Nah," he said. "Just gonna—put my shit down. Maybe go smoke a cigarette. Check out the garden. See if anybody needs anything. But I'll be close if you need me. You just—do whatever it is you need to do." He waved his hands at Carol and Sophia as a final way to say that he wasn't sure exactly what it was that they might need to do, but he wanted to let them do it. Carol's cheeks colored slightly, but she smiled and nodded before swiping her hand across her cheek to wipe away a few of the happy tears that had collected there. She dropped an arm over Sophia's shoulder and led her out of the room and toward the bathroom.

Daryl, for his part, gathered up the supplies he'd been carrying and headed for the room where he usually slept when he visited the Kingdom.

Carol wanted him to stay for a while, and he would. He had no real pressing reason for hurrying back to the woods and, suddenly, he realized he had far less desire to go than he'd ever really had before. For now, he'd stay close by for as long as Carol wanted him there.