The next morning Daryl was teaching Henry how to fish while Connie and Lydia were collecting wood for the fire.
"I'm so glad I can be with your group. With Henry. Thank you so much for letting me stay," Lydia said shyly and Connie smiled and patted her shoulder.
When they came back, Henry was proudly holding up a fish, he just caught. But then the fish slipped out of his hand and landed in the river again. Henry was a little bit embarrassed as they all started laughing, but Daryl was able to retrieve the fish again.
While they were eating lunch, Dog was happily playing in the water.
"Dog, come!" Daryl called him. Dog came running. Still overexcited he jumped up and started licking Daryl's face.
"No, stop," Daryl protested. "I ain't your lunch!"
The others started laughing again and Dog finally stopped.
"Here, boy." Daryl gave him some fish and Dog happily run off to enjoy his meal in peace.
After lunch Daryl got out a map and explained to them where he planed to go next.
"We're not staying here?" Henry asked surprised.
"Nah, it's still too close to Alexandria. We move further out."
"Towards the Kingdom," Daryl added after a pause and looked at Henry. "I have to talk to your mom."
Daryl could see Henry's face turning pale. He knew it wouldn't be easy to return the boy home and probably Henry would refuse to go back, but at least he had to talk to his parents.
Connie started to write Fair on her notepad. Daryl, who was always peeking at what she was writing, said immediately: "Yeah, it must've started already."
Connie pointed first at the note and then at herself.
"Oh, you wanna go there? Alone?" Daryl's voice sounded surprised. Somehow he didn't want to let her go.
Because she's smart and resourceful and I don't want to babysit two teenagers on my own, he tried to convince himself.
Connie wrote on the notepad: Kelly, my sister, will be there. I have to meet her.
"Right," Daryl said remembering that Connie left her sister behind. So maybe she didn't want to leave them for long. Good thing was, she could tell Carol what happened and maybe they would even be able to arrange a meetup for Henry and his parents.
"We need a plan, though," Daryl said. He looked at the map and pointed at a certain location.
"We stay here in the woods," He circled with his finger around the spot.
"Close, but not too close and you go to meet to your sister," he told Connie. "You could also tell Henry's parents that he's safe and maybe tell 'em where they can find us."
"But me and Lydia, we'll stay with you after that, right?" Henry asked nervously.
"For now, yeah," Daryl answered already starting to feel uneasy about how he would have to explain all of it to Carol and how she would react to all of this.
"But let's see what your mom says." For sure she would want to take Henry back. Henry, who had his arm around Lydia's shoulder, pulled her closer and Daryl saw the determined look on his face. Yes, It wasn't going to be easy at all, Henry was head over ears in love.
Daryl looked at Connie. He was nervous about letting her go. What if she was leaving for good? Going back to her sister and friends and never coming back to him? He had to know right now, if it was true.
"You're coming back to us after you talked to them, right?" Daryl asked cautiously and when Connie nodded and smiled, he felt more than relieved.
"Good," he said and couldn't hide the joy in his voice.
"So that's how we do it," Daryl finally said. "We stay another night here and then we go."
When the sun was setting, they had already prepared everything for their next journey. Lydia and Henry were sitting under a tree and exchanging amorous glances. Daryl watched them briefly and then went with Dog to the riverbank, where he sat down. He thought about their long trip to Kingdom, which would probably take two days at least or maybe more and how they could avoid to be tracked by the Whisperers, when they went there. Daryl was petting Dog's head, completely lost in his thoughts.
Connie came to him and sat down next to him.
They sat in silence for a while, watching the water and the sunset. There was a pleasant breeze and everything seemed so calm and peaceful.
Daryl slowly turned his head towards Connie, whose eyes were still focused on the water. He couldn't deny that she had a beautiful face and he couldn't take his eyes from it. He had seen many beautiful women in his life and Connie was for sure one of them, but there was something else about her. She amazed him, she was smart and resourceful. She had a good heart too. She wasn't afraid to challenge him either. She was definitively tough, maybe even tougher than he was, since she survived in this word despite having the handicap of being deaf. Daryl didn't realize that he was staring at her the whole time, but Connie noticed that and turned her head to face him.
"You're missing your friends, don't ya?" Daryl hastened to say. Since she looked a little sad, it was the first thing that came to his mind.
Connie nodded and lowered her eyes. Suddenly there was even more sadness in them. Then she took out her notepad and wrote:
They're my family.
"Oh, I get that," Daryl said, after he read her note.
"I miss my family members too," he admitted. "All of 'em, the living and the dead ones."
He was surprised how easily he could talk to her. He never felt so at ease with people he recently met. Usually it took him a long time to get used to a person, before he could talk about personal stuff. But with Connie he felt at ease almost since the moment she followed him, to search Henry and he also had the feeling that she could truly understand him.
"I lost someone," he continued and his voice almost broke as he spoke. "It was long ago, but I still miss him. Still can't believe he's gone." Daryl paused and threw a stone into the water.
"You would've liked him," he said with a sad smile. Connie smiled back.
Daryl turned his eyes away from her and focused on the river when he felt tears coming up. He thought about Rick, about the day he lost him.
Brother, take my hand. This was one of the last things he ever said to him. Yes, they were brothers and will always be. Daryl was trying hard to hold his tears back and when he saw the compassionate look in Connie's eyes, it seemed almost impossible not to cry. He cleared his throat.
"He's gone for a while now, though," he finally said, trying to brush the pain away.
Connie patted his shoulder gently.
"We'll get you to your sister. I promise," Daryl said then in a soft voice and saw gratitude in Connie's eyes.