A/N: Without giving anything away, I can assure you that we are not far away from-….well, ya know.

Chapter 37: December

Merle had been waiting on her, leaning back in his chair against the wall, smoking a cigarette while reading some old trashy magazine. He had carried the basket of laundry into the storage room and intended to carry back what she pulled off the clothesline.

Every so often he would make some crude comment about something he'd seen in the rag, and she would look over to see what he was referring to. Other then to tell him he was being a pig, causing him to chuckle at her, they were both content to enjoy the peace and quiet, while it was on offer.

So when the familiar sound of Merle's voice broke through the silence, she turned to see what he was talking about.

"You know, I'd say by the looks of her, there's no more room at the Inn, asshole"

The room had two windows, so there was a better chance of the clothes actually drying, rather then staying damp in the cold weather. The problem was, it was far away from where the group regularly occupied. So when she turned around to see what Merle was commenting on, she wasn't surprised to see Ed in the doorway. It wasn't the first time he had tried to sneak up on her while she was in there.

"Women's damn near ready to burst. You really think she wants to deal with any other man sniffin' round? Let alone some dumb-shit-asshole like you?:

Ed chuckled.

"You got the same problem as your brother? Don't know when to mind ya own damn business?" Ed growled, turning his attention to Merle.

The mere mention of Daryl had her eyes darting at Merle.

Daryl was a touchy subject, Merle didn't appreciate anyone implying his brother was dead or speaking ill of him. There were certain people that weren't allowed to so much as utter Daryl's name around Merle. Particularly Ed.

But Merle didn't seemed bothered at the moment. If anything, Merle seemed just as laid-back as he had before Ed came creeping into the room.

She watched as Merle laughed to himself and nodded thoughtfully, clearly amused by something that had crossed his mind.

"I'd say, by the looks of her, my little brother got more then his nose caught up in ya business" Merle said with a chuckle. Without skipping a beat, Merle dropped his gaze back to his magazine and stretched his legs out, crossing one ankle over the other.

She couldn't help but roll her eyes as she went back to the laundry.

This wasn't the first back and forth between the two and she doubted it would be the last.

Punches had been thrown, threats had been made and on more then one occasion the two had been pulled apart and separated.

The fighting never seemed to affect Merle, at least not in the same way she had seen it stir Daryl up. Daryl's hands would shake, his muscles would tighten and there was a hardness to eyes that would take hours to fade. But not Merle. He seemed to almost enjoy it. He smiled a little wider afterwards and he relaxed a little more. It seemed to satisfy him in a way nothing else could.

Ed took a step towards him, turning red in the face as he glared down at Merle's devious grin.

"You know, before you two redneck pieces of trash showed up-"

"You really wanna to say what ya about to say?" Merle asked firmly.

He didn't take his eyes of the page he was looking at. In fact she could clearly see his eyes scanning through what ever had caught his attention. But his tone had clearly changed and it was enough to have Ed's feet locked in place.

"Ain't no one here but me 'n' you" Merle added, finally looking up.

He scanned his eyes over Ed, from head to toe, sizing the man up, just as he had done many times before.

Just as Daryl used to do.

"If you can't run with the big dogs, stay under the porch, Ed. I ain't my brother. That lil lady over there ain't got me by the balls. I get an itch to kill ya, I'm gonna scratch."

With a grunt and a growl, Ed left, slamming the door behind him and from what she could hear, he had also taken his anger out on the wall in the hallway. She was even sure she heard Ed yell something out to Merle, once he was far enough away. But she couldn't make out the words.

"You hurry up now women. I got me a date with a blonde in a watchtower" Merle said as he smiled a little wider and leaned back a little further, ready to enjoy his magazine again.

The cabin was far from perfect. It was small and it was basically empty. It wasn't the kind of place you took a kid to and it wasn't the kind of place you spent an entire winter at.

This shit-hole was built for a hunter. It was a place for him to set up before he went out. Somewhere to come back to and clean up, before he went home. It was just somewhere for him to scrub the blood off, so that his wife didn't chew his ass for tracking the shit all through their nice home.

The living room and kitchen were one small room, the bathroom was the size of a large closet and the bedroom was only big enough to fit a bed and small fireplace. It wasn't ideal in the slightest. But as soon as they had stumbled upon it, he had his mind set on staying there.

Because as far as he was concerned, it was a damn palace. It was perfect for them.

The appeal of the cabin was simple, it was far away from the roads, the towns and the train tracks. So he had hoped that no one would cross their path. He prayed that he would never be faced with that group of men ever again.

Stupidly, he was far more afraid of people then he was of changing seasons. The idea of winter setting in didn't have him waking up in a cold sweat, with his heart pounding so hard that he thought it was going explode in his chest.

He could admit he wasn't thinking clearly, he hadn't been since he had heard that women crying, then left her there to die. One single sound, one single action had changed everything.

It hadn't been that long ago, that he'd made plans on where they would winter. He had been carefully considering their options.

He and Merle had once planned out trips they wanted to take, to places they could camp, hunt, fish and live of the land with ease. Those were the places he wanted to take Sophia.

But that day out there in the woods, all the planning he had done was wiped away.

In a desperate haze he had walked and walked until he had found a car and then he had driven them as far away as it would take them, then they had walked some more. And still it didn't feel like far enough and maybe it really wasn't. But it was to cold to go any further and he didn't know how much longer he could carry her, before he collapsed.

They had cleared the house together and checked the fence that surrounded the yard, looking for breaks. They had hunted, cooked and eaten. And he guessed it was the smell of the food that had caused the thing to finally show itself. They had been there for hours, assuming they were alone, but much to his disappointment, he quickly realized that something was already living there.

After a long back and forth with the kid, he found himself in a stand off, and as each minute passed, he could feel himself loosing the argument.

Sophia held the cat in her arms, patting his muddy matted fur. He could practically look at her and see the future laid out before him. He could see the hundred different problems that the fleabag would cause them, if she didn't do as he asked and ignore it until it went away.

"He's all alone" Sophia growled through her teeth, narrowing her eyes at him.

"So are we. You remember what I said? We don't take nothin' in, cause we got nothin to offer" he pointed out, repeating his brothers words and reminding Sophia of a conversation they'd had months ago.

For a second she gave in. Only for a second. He'd seen the resolve in her eyes and he could see acceptance there, before it was quickly wiped away.

He watched as a hint of a smile that swept over her lips. Then watched as she quickly regained her confident and hard gaze. It took him a single second to piece together what had just gone through Sophia's head. He knew her just as well and she knew him. He could practically hear her thoughts right now.

"Don't you do it Sophia" he demanded, causing Sophia's brow to raise.

She stared at him, hard. He could see the slight twitch of her mouth and he knew she was seconds away.

His hand flew up and he pointed at her as he barked the order."I fuckin' mean it! Don't do it! Put that over-sized rat on the ground and leave it be!"

"FRED!" Sophia called out.

"Fred. I'm calling him Fred" She repeated, yelling far to loudly at him considering the dead were still wondering the woods.

He watched as she sucked back a breath, calming herself down as she stroked her fingers along the cats spine softly. "His name is Fred" she repeated again, as she turned to take the cat from the room, most likely fearing that he intended to cook the thing up.

"You're a little shit" he called out before he heard her close the bedroom door quietly.

He was tired. He was anxious and he was getting more and more irritated with their situation as each hour passed. And maybe if he had have been able to deal with the shit stirring around in his head, maybe everything wouldn't have taken the turn that it did.

They'd been in the cabin for a week,… maybe more. He wasn't sure if it was the staying-put that was getting to him. Or if he was still fucked up by everything that brought them to this place. Either way, he was certain, that he was loosing his mind a little bit more with each passing minute.

He shook his head to himself as he watched the kid grip the knife tightly in her hand, then step into position. It wasn't her actions that had him feeling like someone had kicked him in the gut, it was the simple sight of her that had his stomach tightening.

She looked like she had been raised in the wild by wolves. Her hair was always messy, matching her horribly stained clothes. Her hands always seemed to be covered in dirt and so was her face. Her clothes were stained with blood and guts, leftover from the walkers she had killed and the animals she had skinned. It occurred to him that she had looked like this for months, but he hadn't really taken in the sight of her until now. As long as the kid was breathing and unharmed, they just went on with their business. But right now as he looked at her, he knew it wasn't enough.

He was supposed to be looking after her and he was doing a shitty job.

He wondered what Carol would have said, if she could see her little girl like this. He had her out here gutting animals and taking down walkers, she talked back, always argued with him over every stupid little thing. She was nothing like the polite, timid girl he had met at the Quarry.

Carol had kept her looking neat and clean, her clothes were always washed and her hair was always brushed. Now he was stealing shoes of dead kids for her to wear and killing people to keep her safe. It was a shit show and he knew it.

"It never sticks. I'm no good at this"

"You only just started. Ain't an easy thing to learn." he said firmly as he walked over to where the knife had fallen on the dirt, rather then hitting the tree trunk like she had intended.

He wished she would hit her target, he silently prayed for it every time she threw the damn knife, but he only wanted it so that she would quit moping around like she had been all week.

For some reason, she had decided it was something she wanted to lean. She had seen him throwing knives dozens of times and she had decided that it was a skill she needed to have.

Personally he didn't think it was all that important. He was more interested in making sure she knew how to handle a gun.

He was spending his time teaching her how to aim it, clean it, load it and hold it. But Sophia didn't really seem to interested in the lessons. She took in the information he offered and proved to him that she was retaining it, but it was clear she was itching to get back to the knives.

"Gotta start huntin' soon. Check and see if we caught anything. You know that anything in those snares ain't gonna keep." he urged as he handed her knife and stepped back out of her way.

She threw the knife once more and he cringed as soon as it left her hand. He could tell, even before she let it go, that she hadn't used enough force and the knife was a second away from landing on the ground.

Sophia growled loudly in frustration and quietly he joined her, because he knew the sour mood that he would have to endure for the rest of the evening, possibly right through until the following afternoon.

"Let's go!" Sophia snapped as she snatched up the knife and led the way into the woods.

Sophia sighed heavily at the empty snare before she looked up at him. "Well, now what?"

"We keep lookin" he told her as he began scanning the area around them, deciding on a direction.

"But we been lookin' all afternoon. Maybe we should go further out? Or just open one of those cans we got." Sophia pointed out as she followed his lead and started searching the space around them.

He shook his head as his eyes continued to wonder. "Gotta save those, till we need em"

Sophia laughed humorlessly. "Think the day might be here. Unless you wanna go further out"

He didn't want to go further out. He was freezing his arse off and he was sure that she had to be as well.

Truth was he'd rather leave her at the cabin, but he was far to worried that something would happen while he was gone.

He doubted she do as he asked anyway, Fred was proof of that.

He growled to himself and looked up, shaking his head slightly as his eyes quickly landed on what he had hoped to find. He caught a quick glimpse of Sophia's face scrunched up, before he lifted his crossbow to aim.

The bolt collided with the bird, giving it enough time to squawk one last time before it fell from the tree and landed on the ground.

Sophia shook her head as she walked over to the dead bird, retrieving the bow and stuffing the lifeless carcass into the bag. "I hate crow. Takes forever to cook and they taste like shit"

"Stop ya' cursin'"

Sophia rolled her eyes and wiped the bolt over her leg, removing the blood and causing him to shake his head, as she added to the stains that covered her clothes.

She didn't see the creases in his brow as she handed him the bolt, but he noticed hers.

"Lets just get this over with." She mumbled as she led him further into the woods quietly.

He took down one bird after another as they made their through the woods and he was just about ready to call it quits when his eyes landed on the deer.

In his head he praised Sophia for her quiet steps and the fact that she too had frozen in place at the sight of the doe being followed by the fawn, that was nearing the age that it would loose it's title.

The familiar instincts took over, the ones he'd relied on since he was a child. He raised the crossbow as he leaned into his heels, aiming and ready to take the shot.

Until the kid reached up and yanked his arm down with every ounce of weight she had.

"NO! STOP!"

His wide eyes darted to Sophia and back to the deer that was already fleeing the scene. Their was a whole second where his mouth was hanging open and he had to wait for his brain to catch up. Then when it did, he honestly felt as though he could burst into flames right there and then.

"What the hell are you thinking!" He yelled, leaning down towards her.

"It had a baby. You cant just kill it's mother!" The kid yelled back at him, stepping forward as she focused her wild and angered eyes on his.

"I would have killed it too if'n' meant that much to ya" he spat through his teeth, pointing in the direction of their fleeing dinner.

The rage in the kids eyes, mirrored his own. That much he was sure of. What he wasn't sure of, was what the hell she had been thinking.

She shook her head and stormed passed him, as though he was acting like some despicable monster, rather then the one trying to get them through winter alive.

She didn't mumble. She didn't stutter or hesitate. She said the word loud and clear as stormed back towards the cabin.

"Asshole"

He was tired. In every single way that a person could be tired. And just looking at her right now was making it worse.

"Why don't you clean up a bit. I can take care of this" He said as he led her into the kitchen.

"Clean up?" Sophia repeated. "Clean up what?"

"You…Yourself" he said waving his arm at her, without turning to look at her.

She looked down at herself, then back at him quite obviously confused. "This shirts clean." she said looking back down at it and pinching the fabric between her fingers. "Kinda. I only put it on yesterday."

"Soph, you got more dirt on ya face then what's on the ground outside" he said as he slapped the bag of birds on the table.

"Why does that matter?" She questioned shaking her head, her confusion still very clearly on display.

He turned to face her struggling to hold onto temper.

"Cause it does. You look like you just crawled out a badger hole" he snapped with far more bite in his voice then he had intended.

The confusion quickly left Sophia's expression and was replaced with clear annoyance. He didn't know why, but he felt the same way. Annoyed.

Maybe it was cabin fever, or maybe he was loosing his damn mind, but all the shit he used to be able to ignore, was annoying the shit out of him now.

"So do you asshole" Sophia snapped back, locking her gaze on his.

"Stop swearin'" he growled back at her.

"What the hell is goin on with you?" she demanded, squinting her eyes at him as though she might be able to see inside his head, if she looked at him hard enough.

"What did I just say?"

With that Sophia growled out a sound though her clenched teeth, as though it was taking everything she had not to completely loose her shit and he could relate to that, because right now she was driving his arse crazy.

"Ever since we got here you've been acting weird. You're always mad, you never want to talk. Now you're telling me to worry about things that you never gave a shit about before."

"Why can't ya just clean up before we eat? I ain't askin' ya to give me a kidney. Why you gotta argue with me about every little damn thing"

"I can clean up. But I wanna know whats wrong with ya first?" she snapped back.

"Ain't a damn thing wrong with me! I just want you to run a comb through ya hair before we gotta cut the knots off "

He didn't know if it was what he'd just said, or how he'd said it, but Sophia took a step back. Then for a brief second he saw something flare in her eyes. Maybe it was fear, he couldn't be sure, he didn't get enough time to examine it before it was wiped away and replaced with more anger then he knew she was capable of containing.

"It's my hair. It's my face. Why the hell do you even care? Your not my father!"

"No, I ain't that piece of shit. You should thank god you ain't stuck out here with Ed"

"At least he-"

He laughed loudly, cutting her off before she could continue. "You really gonna stand here and tell me how damn good Ed is. You don't even see fit to call him ya daddy no more."

"Shut up! What do you know about it?"

"I know If it were up to Ed you'd have died in that fuckin' field. Hell! You would have died at the goddamn quarry. But you didn't, I got you. Me. And I been draggin' your scrawny ass all over Georgia, putting up with you day in and day out" he growled at the kid, even though a part of him wished he'd just shut the hell up.

"Atleast he's not a liar. You! You're a liar." Sophia yelled point her finger at his face.

It was then that the anger died of slightly and was mixed in with a good amount of confusion."What the hell you talkin about?"

He watched then as she clamped her mouth shut and tore her eyes of his. It was clear she had said something that she hadn't intended to. But the fury in her expression hadn't faded, not even slightly. Within seconds she looked back at him and he knew she was ready to keep going.

"Why we here? Why did you bring us here?"

He took a long moment to go over the question in his head, before he bit back what he wanted to say, to continue on with the story he had told her weeks ago."I told you, there was a heard and I-"

"Liar!" Sophia snapped cutting him off. "You're a Liar! Just like he said you were?" Sophia added, he voice breaking as she raised it again.

"Who? Ed? He tell you I was a liar?" He asked, trying to understand what the hell she talking about. But again he could see her pull back. Just like him. She wasn't going to stray from the story she had already created.

"You should have just ran off with Daphne. Then you wouldn't have had to put up with me!" Sophia growled glaring at him.

"Oh this bullshit again" he groaned out, becoming more and more frustrated with the tired argument that the kid had thrown at him far to many times for his liking.

"I'm not stupid." Sophia said, shaking her head.

The accusation always hit him in the chest, made it constrict and ache. It made him think of Carol, it reminded him why he couldn't bring himself to fuck Daphne.

And he knew the reason the kid had said it so many times before was because she believed it. She believed he'd do something shitty like that to Carol and that made him more pissed then he could deal with right now.

"Believe me kid, I would have run off with her, if I could have." He promised her, causing Sophia's face turn red with anger. "It would have been a hell of a lot easier then this crap" He snapped, waving his arm around at the space around them.

"Well if I'm so much work then why didn't you just piss-off with her."

"Because I didn't give a damn about her. I love Carol and you, ya little shit"

Instantly they both fell silent and still, and he watched as she took in what he'd said, leaving her just as stunned as he was.

As the sentence ran through his head over and over, his eyes dropped from her to the floor.

He stood their like a statue, feeling the breath pumping through his chest. Until he couldn't stand their a second longer.

Quickly he turned and headed towards the door, only stopping to get his crossbow. And the kid stood perfectly still watching him with that same look on her face, as he left her there.

He was unable to cover the torment that was written all over his face and he didn't want her to see it. He knew that he looked as though he had just admitted to an unspeakable crime. But it wasn't the words that that had him in shock and it wasn't the meaning behind them. They were something he had known for a long time.

It was the simple fact that he had said it out aloud.

Now he knew that he'd been wrong. The words could be pulled from his chest and laid out bare for anyone to hear. It wasn't something he was incapable of.

Sure, they had been said wrong, his tone didn't match the statement, but still, he had said them.

They had fallen out of his mouth with ease and he didn't have to think twice about revealing them.

He dropped down onto the porch, shocked that he had the ability to voice those feelings, when it was something he was always so sure he wasn't capable of. But flooding the shock that he was feeling, was regret and a gut wrenching sadness, because she wasn't here to hear them.

They didn't make him feel exposed and vulnerable like he had always feared they would. They felt the same way as it did when he said his own name, it was something he knew to be true, something undeniable and unquestionable.

But he never told Carol and he knew that he may never get the chance to.

A part of him always knew there was a good chance they would never find her, but he had pushed that part down and worked to ignore it. He'd known they could die before they reached her, or that she may already be dead herself. Those thoughts, were always lingering in the back of his mind but now they were consuming every part of him, gnawing at him as he tried to accept that this may very well be it. That yelling these words in her daughters face, like the prick he was, would be as close as he would ever get to telling Carol. She would never get to know that she was it. She was the only one he wanted and that feeling would never go away.

He hated himself because he had wished like hell that he had been interested in Daphne. There had been times when he searched the womens personality for something even slightly inviting, something he could find even moderately appealing, because it would have been so much easier if he had have been interested in her.

Anything would have been easier then pining for Carol.

His whole body stung and ached for her. He felt like he had been on fire for months and she was the only thing that would be able to extinguish the flames that were trying to burn him down to ashes. He wished he had have fallen for Daphne the minute he laid eyes on her, because he couldn't take missing Carol. He wasn't equip to deal with this shit.

He could feel the sting in his eyes and in his throat, while he struggled to hold back everything that was burning in his chest. He didn't know how long he had been sitting out there on the step, but he had heard her inside moving around, going through their usual routine on her own, until she opened the door slowly.

"Daryl?" she whispered carefully, as though she was worried she would disturb his mental breakdown. He didn't have to question why her voice was filled with so much concern, he was just as concerned as she was.

"Dinner's almost ready" she added in the same quiet and calm tone.

He nodded, choking back the lump in his throat, keeping his back tuned from her and his head down.

"I'll get some later." he told her, ignoring the break in his voice as he spoke.

"Ya not comin' in?"

He shook his head, keeping his eyes on the dirt at the bottom of the stairs. "Not right now Soph."

He choked back the dry feeling in his throat, hoping that when he spoke again his voice wouldn't sound so cracked and broken. "Just eat, then get ya self some sleep ok?"

She stayed silent behind him and he wished like hell he had it in him to pull his shit together right this second. He didn't want her to be nervous or upset. But he simply had nothing else to offer her right now.

"ok-….Goodnight"

He nodded as she spoke, remained just as still as he had been.

"Night Soph" he offered, trying to keep his voice calm and leveled. Trying to keep his breathing slow, until he heard her quietly close the door.

When he woke up in the living room, his heart instantly started pounding. He jumped to his feet taking the two steps needed to peer into the bedroom, finding it empty. A quick glance at the bedside table showed him, that not only was Sophia gone, but she had taken her gun, machete and knife with her.

The panic that rose in him, was near enough to cause him to pass out. But when he opened the front door, ready to go after her, he realised he didn't have to go far.

"What you doin out here?" he asked sucking back a breath and willing his heart to stop banging its way through his chest.

Sophia sat, leaning up against the wall, looking to her side.

"Watchin' Fred" she offered calmly. It was clear enough from those two words that she hadn't slept much and that was more then enough to make him feel like even more of a prick.

"Told you not to come out here alone" he said, still struggling to calm down.

Sophia nodded, keeping her eyes on the cat, as if began ripping into a rat that it had caught and was now enjoying at the other end of the porch.

"I won't do it again" she promised flatly.

He sighed then and shook his head to himself, taking a spot beside her.

He sat there for a few minutes in silence with her, watching the cat with her and collecting the words in his head that he needed to say. Hoping they would undo the knot in his gut.

"I'm sorry" he started, causing Sophia to roll her head along the wall to face him.

"I shouldn't have said that shit about Ed" he said when his eyes found hers.

Sophia shrugged. "It's all true."

"Ain't the point." he said shaking his head. "I shouldn't have said it. It ain't my place to go talkin crap about your old man to you."

Sophia's expression didn't change. She didn't look upset or angry, just drained. He felt responsible for that. He was the adult and he was supposed to keep it together.

"Listen Soph, I don't what he told you about me, but-"

"I don't wanna talk about it?" Sophia said, softly but quickly, as she rolled her head back towards the cat. He couldn't deny that he wanted to know what Ed had said. But he wasn't going to push her, not right now anyway.

"And I'm sorry I called you a little shit" he offered, changing the subject.

"You always call me that" Sophia pointed out with a laugh, as she briefly glanced at him with a grin, before looking back to Fred.

He nodded. She was right. He'd called her that more times then he could count and he would likely do it a hundred more times.

"I ain't ever mean it. Not really." he said as he leaned forward slightly, trying to see her face. "I don't really think that"

Sophia shrugged again and he could see the slight curve on her mouth appear before she spoke."I don't really think you're an asshole" she promised, causing him to smile.

They sat in silence, watching the cat eating the rat piece by piece. Enjoying it's meal, much more then either of them had enjoyed theirs the night before. It was easy enough to get caught up in the sight, they didn't have much in the way of entertainment these days. But it was also easy enough for her to bring him back to his senses.

"That the only thing you didn't mean to say?" Sophia asked quietly, struggling to keep her eyes on Fred, though he could tell, that more then anything right now she wanted to look at his face, she wanted to read his reaction the question. But she was to afraid of what she might see there.

"Hey" he muttered as he stretched his arm out to nudge her with his elbow. When she reluctantly looked up at him, he smiled at her and nodded slightly. "I meant it." he assured her. "You and ya Ma, you two are-…I meant it."

She took that moment then to search his face, examining his features and expression, trying to assure herself that he wasn't lying. He stayed perfectly still, until her inspection was complete.

"Other then her, you're the only person who's ever said that to me." Sophia quietly pointed out, as though it was some kind of failure on her part. She dropped her eyes to his chest, frowning at the thoughts in her own head. And it was at times like this when he was sure he could hear those thoughts as clear as day. He could hear the echo of thoughts he had once had himself when he was a child, wondering what was so wrong with him, that his own father didn't give a shit about him.

He chewed his lip for a moment, considering his own thoughts before answering."I reckon the same goes for me"

It was then that the kid's frown deepened and the crease in her brow appeared."What about your parents?" she asked carefully.

He had never gone into any kind of detail about his childhood. He'd never told her any in-depth stories about his parents, but Sophia, much like her mother, had seemingly connected the dots on her own. She had taken the small pieces of information he had offered and she had formed her own ideas.

He shrugged slightly and leaned back into the wall again. "If they ever did, I don't remember"

Sophia watched him for a few seconds more, thoughtfully taking in what he had said, chewing at her lower lip.

"Well, I love you Daryl." Sophia said with ease, meeting his eyes with a sincere smile.

The was no reluctance in her voice or discomfort showing through in her features. She said those words to him without a second thought, just like he always wished he were able to.