"Judy, want me to tell your Daddy 'bout this or wha'?" Daryl folded his arms impatiently and stared down his adversary.
Her dark curls bobbed and she looked up at him defiantly. "No." She finally conceded, matching his stance with folded arms of her own.
"Then quit bein' a pain in my ass!" Fuck, kids were hard work. Judith was just four years old and Daryl already dreaded what she was going to be like at fourteen.
He privately though that the kid had to have been Shane's, rather than Rick's because, shit, she was stubborn as a mule.
He just thanked whatever higher power there was, that he didn't have to deal with her full time. She wasn't technically his. She was Rick's. But they all looked out for her just the same. At least he didn't have to deal with things like making her eat her vegetables, bath times and bed times. Nope, that shit was all Carol's.
He gave Judith a cuff on the back of her head and she scowled at him as she lead the way back into the house, feet stomping with more attitude than he could handle. He bit his tongue, because in a moment, it would be hand over time and she was someone else's damn problem.
"She's all yours." He announced as they trouped into the kitchen, welcomed by the sweet smell of Carol's cooking. Some sort of fruit pie, maybe those blackberries he'd found with the kid the day before.
Carol gave him a look from the corner of her eye, stopping the rolling of her dough and turning to face Judith who was rooting around in bowl of tomatoes.
"You been misbehaving again, Judith?" She asked the girl and Judith ceased her rummaging to look up at Carol.
"It ain't my fault!" Judith stomped her little foot. "It just happened."
"She tried to stab a Walker." Daryl rolled his eyes and snagged a tomato from the bowl, biting into it like an apple.
Carol gasped and dropped the rolling pin onto the counter.
"Judith!" Carol wiped her hands on the apron she wore and bent down to meet the little girl. "You musn't! You must never try. That's not your job, it's Daryl's! You're still too little." She ran her floury finger over Judy's chubby cheek, stuffed full of tomato.
"I'm not too little, I got 'im good, didn't I?" She looked to Daryl for confirmation and Daryl couldn't help but laugh. The kid really was too much.
Truth was, she had gotten the Walker pretty good, albeit in the knees. And if he hadn't been there to pull her away, once the thing took a tumble to the ground, she'd have probably gotten it good in the skull too. But she shouldn't be doing it. Even with his own brutal upbringing as a measure, he recognised that killing Walkers was not something a four year old child needed to deal with.
He wouldn't be taking her out on a hunt again anytime soon.
"Yeah, but you know you gotta get 'em in the head, knees ain't gonna stop 'em."
Judith slammed the bowl down onto the counter and stuck her tongue out at him, running past them both to head for the sitting room, where no doubt Hershel would be sitting and forced to listen to her.
Judith had already worked out how to get the old man under her thumb, especially when it wasn't so easy for him to remove himself from her demanding presence.
"I can't be doin' with all this kid bullshit. She's Rick's problem." He muttered to Carol, who resumed rolling her dough and he hoisted himself onto the counter top.
She chuckled and raised her eyebrow at him. "I'm pretty sure that you say that at least once a day. Besides, it was you that wanted to take her out."
He snorted. "Ain't gonna make that mistake again." He tossed the last bit of tomato into his mouth and reached over her for another, but Carol slapped his hand away.
"I want some of them for dinner." She told him with a smile.
Daryl let out a sigh and slid off the counter top. "I'm gonna clean up." He brushed past her with a kiss and disappeared.
When he settled into bed with Carol that night, Judith still played on his mind. Her pouting lasted through dinner and even refused her father's offer of a bedtime story.
He burrowed under the covers and pressed himself into Carol's sleeping back when the door creaked open.
Small bare feet slapped against the laminate and Carol stirred lightly as the bed jostled on her side. Judy slid under the covers, hair sticking up in all directions and Carol just opened her arms to receive her.
The little girl nestled herself close to Carol's chest and threw an arm over her waist, little fingers wrapping twisting up in his shirt.
"So much for ignorin' us." He mumbled into Carol's neck and he heard Judith sigh into Carol's nightgown.
He knew why she was here instead of crawling in with her father. Michonne. She had never taken to the woman and it only got worse once she started sharing Rick's bed.
"I'm tryin' to sleep." She told him firmly and he heard Carol stifle a giggle.
"Shut up, kid." He grumbled.
Kids, who'd fucking bother?