A young girl's dream no longer hollow
It takes the shape of a place out west
But what it holds for her, she hasn't yet guessed…

-Dixie Chicks. Wide Open Spaces

The house was quiet and still as if she was the only one in it. Carol walked down the hall of their humble bi-level. She straightened out a framed collection of photos of Sophia's recent dance recitals including the quickly put together line dance routine for Dawsonville's anniversary.

"Knock, knock." She said, coming up to an open door at the end of the hall.

Her prima ballerina was lying on her bed motionless despite the sunbeams slipping through the window above her head, hinting at the beautiful Wednesday afternoon beyond the glass. She sat down on the bed and Sophia sat up.

"I was gonna go to the farmer's market. Do you want to come?" asked Carol.

"No, I have a headache," Sophia said to the wall across the room in an emotionless tone.

Sophia loved going to the farmer's market. They'd always buy two bags of kettle corn, one to eat while they picked out garden fresh vegetables. They would also look at fabrics for quilts and handcrafted jewelry. Sophia had to have at least ten different bracelets from the stands. She would typically where four at a time.

Her wrists were naked right now and thinking on those lines, Carol recalled that it had been weeks since Sophia bugged her to let her wear a little bit of eye make up out.

"You haven't been yourself lately," Carol ventured. "Is everything okay?"

"Yes. Just a headache."

The repeat made it clear it was not a headache. Sophia rarely repeated herself unless she was lying. But Carol didn't want to push Sophia too hard, she'd never get anything out her daughter that way.

She got off the bed and walked back down the hallway, straightening the same picture. Carol looked back towards Sophia's room. In the reflection of the vanity mirror that they had strung Christmas lights around it to make it like a real vanity mirror, she could see Sophia sitting against the wall, hugging her knees and an old sock monkey, staring off into frightening thoughts.

"Wanna learn?" Daryl asked seeing how lovingly Sophia was stroking Memphis.

"Really? You'd really teach me?" Sophia asked in disbelief and in a volume he was sure he'd never heard out of the quiet child.

"No I'm a rotten, no good, lying douche bag," Daryl shook his head with a smile.

"Yeah, I'll teach you."

He went over to the wall where everything was hanging up and grabbed a bridle, and a sun faded red halter and lead rope as well. Sophia watched Daryl hook up the halter and she stepped out of the way when he led Memphis past her and into the main area of the stable where he tied Memphis to a hook in the wall.

"Got to brush 'im out before you put the saddle on or there is a good chance a hunk stuck under it and rubs against them, bugs them, and then they are going to act stupid," Daryl picked a round brush out of a tack box.

"Like getting a rock in your shoe," Sophia chirped up.

"Exactly."

She watched Daryl run the brush down Memphis' back again and again.

"I had this horse that if there was the smallest bit of crud under her saddle she would wait until we were well in to whatever we were doing and then she would refuse to move and bite at my legs. So I'd have to strip off all her gear and find the hunk that was buggin' her, then put everything back on," Daryl said.

"You had horses?"

It was dumb question. Obviously Daryl had horses, how else would he know all this?

"I only ever owned two and a mule. I bordered them for city folk since they can't keep them in their backyards. My dad started the business when I was a little older than you, but he didn't do much. When I took over after he died, I rigged a big sign at the edge of my property, put some ads in the paper. That got a little attention but what really did it was forming a partnership with Tanice. She wanted to teach riding lessons, I let her build a stable on my land and her student's horses were boarded by me. Plus I did most of the maintenance."

Daryl had taken Dixon's Boarding, 'Southern Comfort for Equine' had been the tag line that Vicki, one of Merle's many ex's insisted he put on the new ad, from four horses to a herd of twenty-six who called his land their home. It didn't make him a millionaire by any stretch but it was an accomplishment that he took great pride in.

"Finally started making enough to quit my sideline job in construction, could do things on my own schedule and I got care for a bunch of horses I could never afford."

"Like what?"

"Um, pair of dapple grey draft mares, they were lucky they were so pretty and good tempered whenever they busted a fence every second week or I might've shot them. Had an Arabian for a short time, fast as fucking hell – pardon my French – mostly quarter horses, had a whole rainbow of those. You got a favorite type?"

"I always liked Paints," Sophia recalled the pictures she had seen in books that she borrowed from the library. "And Friesians."

"Great taste. I never met a Paint I didn't like," Daryl finished with the brush and picked out a hoof pick, then the horse's hoof. Memphis' shoes were bad. Someone had picked them recently. "Y'know how much pure Friesians are worth?"

"A lot," Sophia guessed. She crept in closer to see what he was doing.

"This is literally getting a rock in their shoe," he said to the inquisitive nose inches from him.

"I saw this horse once when I was really young that I liked to - forget the name - it was a light brown but it's butt was white with spots, kind of like a fawn pattern."

"Probably a Appaloosa. That was one of the horses I owned, had that pattern. Her name was Wicked. She wasn't really broken when her owner bought her so since he had more money than horse sense, he paid me more to train her. Spent a lot of time with her so when her owner said he was going to sell her to buy a calmer horse, I bought her."

Everyone shared around the campfires we use to have. That was my favorite part of living at the quarry, hearing everyone's stories. I could imagine how their lives must've been But Daryl rarely shared. After he lost his brother, he hung around the group more but he never said that much about himself. Guess he doesn't have a whole lot to say either.

Daryl put down the pick, went to the storage closest and grabbed a bride, saddle blanket and just the looked at the saddle. It wasn't that it was too heavy, but like an easy seventy percent of things, it required the use of two arms.

"You're going to have to help me carry the saddle," He felt a small kick to his already deflated self esteem when he called over Sophia.

Sophia appeared by his side instantaneously. She picked up the back of the saddle and he took the front. Very awkwardly Daryl somehow managed to get it up over Memphis' back. Three quarters of the credit went to the horse who stood completely still as he flopped the saddle every which way until it was on.

"Almost done," he assured her cinching it up.

Sophia's excitement hardly wanned with waiting and there weren't words to describe it. She could not believe that this was really happening. That she was really going to learn how to ride a horse. A real horse. That was really standing right there.

Thought I was supposed to be resting, Daryl's collarbone protested as he reached up to slid the bridle over Memphis' head. Yeah but look at her.

The typically reserved girl was absolutely ecstatic. Grinning ear to ear, eyes gleaming, and her fingers trembled when she brushed her hair behind her ears.

He did owe her for washing and the motorcycle after all.

"'Kay we're good to go," Daryl said.

Here it was the moment she'd been waiting for… for forever. Sophia looked over Memphis now all decked out in tack. Could she really do this?

Since he couldn't help her up. Sophia stepped up on the small hay bale. She put her toe in the stirrup and swung herself up on to Memphis. Her first thought was that she felt very high up off the ground.

"Look it that, you're a natural," Daryl remarked.

Not really, I had a blurry memory of doing that the day he found me, and seeing people do it on TV and movies. Still made me feel good though.

Taking the lead rope in to his good arm, Daryl led Memphis out in to the middle of the field. He started to have some doubts about how good of a teacher he was going to be. He calmed the odd anxiety with the thought that all he had to do was explain what he had been doing for so long it was second nature to him.

"Alright, to get him to go, just give him a good kick in with your heels," he called to her.

Sophia nudged her mount with her heels. Memphis didn't budge. She did it again and got the same result. She wasn't sure if it was her or if the horse was actually not as nice as he appeared to be. Daryl had pretty good eyesight and could see the look of bewilderment on her face.

"Little harder. Don't worry, ya can't hurt him."

Frustrated, Sophia gave the animal a harder boot and Memphis began to walk.

I don't know how I would possible explain what it feels like to ride a horse to someone who never has. It was sort of like that feeling you get the first time you play a video game and you see the character move on the screen, it's not you that's moving but you're the one controlling it.

The horse and his inexperienced rider came ambling up to him.

"Now pull back on the reins to put the brakes on," Daryl instructed once they got close.

Sophia followed the directions down to the letter. Memphis would've come to a screeching halt if he were a car. Her right arm was a little more dominant and Memphis' jolted a little to the side. Alarmed at the reaction, Sophia dropped the reins.

"Good, good. When you pull back, pull straight into your hips."

Sophia nodded. It took her a few moments to reset her hold on the reins. She gave a small test tug on them to hopefully make the proper technique habit. Daryl grabbed the halter and spun Memphis around so that they would have more of a runway.

"You know how to play that game, red light, green light?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Well that is what we are going to play. Only I'm going to say go or stop, 'cause I ain't teachin' ya to drive a car," said Daryl. "Go."

Sophia got Memphis going on the second attempt. She was starting to look more relaxed in the saddle but her posture was impeccable.

"Stop."

Memphis came to a smoother stop this time.

"Go." "Stop."

Neither going nor stopping was an issue that time. Sophia huffed and shook her head. So did Memphis.

"Go."

She was enjoying the view from the atop the horse's back. Sophia began to imagine herself out in the fields beyond. The fence coming up quickly put a damper on that pretence. She got ready to pull back for when Daryl called 'stop'. But he never did. Sophia stopped a hair away from the fence and turned around to look at Daryl. Wasn't he paying attention?

"That was the final test in this exercise. Yer the one in control of this beast," Daryl said.

"Did I pass?"

Daryl measured the amount of space between the horse's chest and the board of the fence with his hands and held up his hands to show her. "By this much."

"Is that a good score?"

"It's impressive." Daryl said. "Now how does ya think you'll get outta this?"

Sophia looked at the fence. She didn't think that jumping over it was an option, seemed a little high, and she didn't think Daryl would teach her that at this moment.

"Back up," she answered. "Wait, can horses do that?"

"Pull back and don't let up."

Memphis very slowly walked backwards.

"You'll still going to run in the fence unless you turn around," said Daryl.

Sophia clapped her hand to her forehead. Why didn't she think of that?

"To turn 'im right or left, you slid your hand down the rein" Daryl took control of Sophia's hand and zipped it down the leather rein and demonstrated physically "and open it up like this," he moved the rein away from Memphis' neck "Then pull his head over to your knee whichever way you want to go. Sorta like a bike. Once his nose is pointed, ya let the tension out but keep it held open to keep him turning."

Sophia leaned forward in the saddle and pulled the Memphis' head as she had been shown and told (Daryl stood by and held it open. Without having to be reminded, Sophia gave Memphis a good kick and he slowly turned away from the fence and around Daryl. He could see every tooth in her wide smile.

I'm doing it. A small voice spoke up in the back of her head.

They did laps around corral. Sophia's greatest weakness was getting enough tension in the reins to get Memphis to respond to commands. Memphis typically only turned when they ran into a corner.

Daryl grabbed a shovel leaning up against the fence and drilled it into the dirt with his foot in the middle of the yard.

"You have to turn around this."

Sophia lined herself up in front of the shovel. She walked two yards past the shovel before she got Memphis turned around.

"Again but go to the left this time and that a way," Daryl pointed to the opposite fence.

She looked like she was concentrating really hard but not discouraged.

I pulled the rein in my left hand away from Memphis' neck. His head turned towards me. I was too busy watching his nose that I didn't notice we were turning the completely around, pointed toward the fence and not the shovel.

"Better. But you can't keep it tight or else he's gonna spin around," Daryl said.

This was frustrating but I remembered how long it took to do a triple pirouette. I'd get this. Because if at first you don't succeed try, try again.

Submerged in trying to learn and trying to teach, there was no awareness of self worth or aggressive head demons in that field.

Their words got garbled when they traveled through the walls in to every room, upstairs or down. But Maggie and Beth's angry tones spilled through the house as if the Georgia farmhouse was built with Japanese paper.

Beth had taken a spiritual turn for the worse this afternoon. Hiding a knife from an otherwise untouched lunch tray. Taken in to account how she had been acting since the walker attack, there wasn't much question as to what she was going to do. They were lucky that Lori noticed the knife missing.

"You sit up on that RV working on your tan with a shot gun in your lap," Carol was just about to walk into the kitchen when she heard Lori snap at Andrea and she backed away from the doorway.

That had been simmering with Lori for a while and she would say similar lines about Andrea skirting work to Carol whenever they were preparing meals or washing dishes.

Carol didn't know where she stood on the issue. On one hand, the more people able to shoot the better. (There had been talk of having another target practice after the men got finished locking the property down.) But there was a lot of other chores that needed to be done and they certainly couldn't get the guys to help with them.

She went to go see how Sophia was doing with her schoolwork in the next room and found it was empty. A breeze from the open window played with the page of her notebook as if a ghost sat there.

Carol went back to the kitchen, waiting for a pause in their heated conversation before she walked in.

"Have you seen Sophia?" asked Carol.

"No," Lori said.

Carol didn't want to go in to panic mode right away. But given the current circumstances and recent happenings, she couldn't help it.

"Where's Carl?" Andrea asked. "They're usually together. Maybe out at the coop or playing in the fields."

"He's probably with Rick or Shane," Lori answered.

"I just saw them. Carl wasn't with them," Andrea's tone was a little aggressive towards Lori.

Now's really not the time for that, Carol thought.

"I'll look around the house," Lori hastily exited the room.

Carol went out through the back door in the same. Andrea followed her. Carol didn't really want her to. But thankfully Andrea wasn't as vocal with her complaints on the shortcomings of others, nor did she chide her for not watching her daughter more closely, especially after what the whole group went through to find her.

"Hey Dale, have you seen the kids?" Andrea asked when they came to the RV parked where they had camped before.

"Carl's with Glenn. I haven't seen Sophia, she might've snuck inside without my knowledge. She moves like a cat." Dale answered

She didn't use to. Carol thought.

Sophia was always humming or singing away, or traveling in leaps and bounds. She could not move around the house without Carol knowing where she was. Even when she was trying to be sneaky, Sophia couldn't be quiet.

Hoping that she had gone into the RV to get away from the yelling in the house. Carol popped her head inside the RV. It was empty.

"Let's go check the barn. She kept looking at it when we were out walking this morning," Andrea said.

That was a good idea. If she wasn't at the barn, Carol should find Daryl. He had knack for finding her.

She couldn't speak for Andrea but a two-meter radius around the barn felt eerie. The doors were closed. Carol pulled one door open, it gave that creepy, standard squeak of rusty hinges. She took a few steps inside. The air was still and even though the roof was high, she felt suffocated.

"Sophia," Carol called out.

A whir of wings answered as her voice scared up some birds roosting in the rafters.

"Carol," She heard Andrea calling her outside. "I found her."

Carol walked out to the other side of the barn and was wholly surprise to see Sophia perched on top of a dark horse down the field, Daryl standing in front of her. Carol was drawn down there, it didn't notice that Andrea hadn't followed until she within earshot.

"Choke up, and pull, pull, pull." Daryl yelled through cupped hands like a coach with a megaphone.

Sophia rode around one handle and then over to another handle in a figure eight. She repeated the pattern three times, getting closer and closer to the handles each go round. Carol climbed up on top of the fence to have a seat to take in the show.

"Alright. Just go around one of them in a circle," Daryl said.

"He won't move," Sophia said when they stayed stationary.

What she couldn't see was that the horse was in the middle of something.

"Give the poor guy a minute, he's takin' a piss." Daryl said.

Sophia bent over and looked at the ground.

"Oh," she giggled.

After the horse's bathroom break, Sophia completed the circle around the stick.

It really didn't look like anything stupendous but Daryl and Sophia celebrated like it was and

"Ta-Da," Sophia exclaimed. She put both her legs to one side and bowed.

Carol smiled. That was her girl.

Daryl noticed their audience first and pointed her out to Sophia. She rode over to her mom.

"Howdy," Sophia greeted.

"If I remember right this is Memphis," Carol held out an open palm to the horse who lipped at it with a soft nose.

"Yep, yep, yep. Daryl's teaching me." Sophia twisted around to smile at her coach.

Daryl gave a small twitch of a smile and nodded at Carol. "I learned how to get him to go and stop, and turn. And there was something else. Oh Yeah. Beep, beep, beep."

Sophia backed Memphis up and took him around the field.

Daryl made a small attempt to get up on top of the fence. He tried to play it off naturally when he couldn't get up and resigned himself to leaning against the fence.

"Lemme give ya a hand up," Carol offered.

Daryl took her hand and let her steady him as he stepped up on the bottom board to sit on top of the fence.

"How's it feelin'?" Carol asked.

"Gets a little better everyday. Can move more without it twinging." Daryl flapped his broken wing a little bit.

"And how's everything besides that?"

Daryl looked puzzled then she saw it dawn on him.

"Way better. That mineral oil really did the trick. Tastes God awful though."

"Put it in milk next time."

"Nah, no matter how this makes me look," Daryl lifted his arm again. Carol felt the urge to tell him to quit moving it around. "I ain't a pussy."

"No one is thinking that," Carol gave him consoling look and patted his arm.

Daryl's response was a snort.

"Maybe not in those words exactly," he muttered.

He looked just about as dejected as he did the day that Lori and Andrea got a hold of him for rightfully telling Carol to keep a better eye on Sophia. For goodness sakes she had lost Sophia again today.

If Carol was a betting woman, she'd place money on that this lesson got started when Daryl found Sophia off on her own and offered to teach her to keep a eye on her himself since he could no longer tell her own mother to.

"I'd hate to think how'd it be if it were Shane that happened to. Limped around on that ankle for a good long time. Using it to get out of everything." Carol said after a brief interlude of silence.

Daryl stopped picking at the hole that was beginning to form in the knee of his jeans and scrutinized her expression for the faintest hint that she was in any way bullshitting him. He

"Yeah, no shit," Daryl held his head a little higher.

They watched Sophia happily ride around the enclosure without rhyme or reason to her turning. She headed off out of sight when they weren't watching for a minute.

"'Ey where you off to?" Daryl hollered

"Memphis needs a drink," Sophia answered. "We're gonna go to the rain barrel."

"It's just around the side there," Daryl told Carol.

"I'm beginning to worry about how hard it's going to be keep track of her now that she can ride a horse. Thanks a lot." She joked.

In reality it was easier than ever to keep track of Sophia because there was only one place Sophia was when she wasn't around the house; the stable.

Every afternoon when she was done her schoolwork and her chores, Sophia would dart off to the stable for her riding lesson. Daryl would have Memphis ready to go since he usually spent the half hour before up on the horse himself, paying close attention to what he was doing so going to teach her so that there would be a good chance that he would be able to explain it in a way it would make sense.

Carol found her way down there one night on Sophia's persistence to come see her favorite spot in the whole world.

All the stalls in the stable had a four legged occupant peering out at them while Sophia gave her a detailed tour that included where they kept every single tool, what it was used for, the name and temperament of every horse inside or out.

She hadn't been in there before so she didn't know how orderly the Greene's had kept it but knowing how Sophia liked things to be organized. Carol recognized her daughter's patterns in the shelves. She would have to ask Hershel or Maggie if it was a problem. Sometimes Sophia's systems were what other people had in mind.

Sophia hopped up on the hay bale that seemed its whole purpose was to be a stepper and reached down a box from the shelf. She flipped open the top to reveal symmetrical cubes of sugar. Carol took a few when Sophia offered and they went down the rows, doling out the tasty cubes.

"They all love sugar cubes. Daryl says there is only one thing that they love more than sugar. Guess what it is?" asked Sophia.

"Carrots," Carol guessed.

"Nope. Beer." Sophia giggled. "They give Guinness to racehorses. Every New Years Eve Daryl would buy a case of beer to give his horses as a treat."

Carol offered the horse one of the cubes.

"Hey don't you be giving me no flop lip," Sophia chided a horse that was looking at her with it's bottom lip hanging low.

"I wonder why he's doing that?" Carol questioned.

"Sometimes it means there is something wrong with 'em but Hershel takes really good care of them so we know it's not that. Daryl says that it's how they complain that they are bored. But it's too late to go anywhere "

Sophia chattered away as if her and Carol had been away from each other for a month and in a way, they almost had been.

"…You have to act bigger than the horse. That's not as hard as it sounds because horses don't actually think they are all that big." Sophia concluded her recent adventure in the pasture when they were trying to bring Nellie in for Hershel to look at and General wanted to come too. "Well that's what Daryl says."

Daryl sat on the back porch. His one leg was cocked up on the other to provide support for the pad of paper he was writing on. He had an oil drum marked as an X on the lined sheet and arrows around it.

"Lesson plans?" Carol asked seeing the diagram he had sketched out.

"Yeah, yer girl's getting the hang of trotting laps, gotta give her more of a challenge," Daryl "Or else she starts to get a little sassy. "

"Fresh from the oven," she handed him the most perfect looking piece of pie.

"Thank you. Is this rhubarb?" Daryl accepted the plate.

"Yes."

"Awesome, that's my favorite."

"Yeah, you told me."

Daryl vaguely remembered talking about pie at some point in time in camp and he mentioned that rhubarb was better than apple. How could she possible remember that odd tidbit?

"Where did you get the stuff to make it?" asked Daryl in disbelief.

"The Greene's pantry and the Glenn express," Carol said. "It's not made out of rainbow dust and pots of gold."

"Taste like it," Daryl said with his mouth half full.

Carol looked out at the sunset.

"A few days ago, you asked me how Sophia had been and I would've said she was doing alright. But that wouldn't have been altogether truthful. It's not only her compulsive episodes. That's just the tip of the ice berg." Carol said in a distance voice.

"She used to gather all the mirrors in the house and line them up in the basement where she would practice ballet and she would be down there for hours, just dancing, doing whatever came to mind. She was always so energetic. Then late spring, Sophia dived in to some kind of depression. She didn't have interest in anything, didn't have any energy. She was so lifeless. When I watch her riding, I feel like I'm sitting on the landing on our stairs watching her dance again and I was beginning to lose hope. You've brought her out of her shell…"

Daryl could sense another 'thank you' on the horizon and not having done anything to deserve it, it would be super awkward. When you got right down to it. He enjoyed teaching Sophia. It kept his mind off of not being able to do anything else and more, it made him feel important. The way Sophia listened to his every word, paid carefully attention to every move he made and looked at him like he was the smartest man in the world.

"It's nothing." Daryl turned to his plate, scrapping runaway sauce on to the side of the fork.

"It's not nothing. You found my little girl in more ways than one and I could never possibly thank you enough."

"I never thought I'd have rhubarb pie ever again so that's a good start," Daryl said to try and lighten this up.

His slinged arm got wedged between them in a hug, Daryl never saw coming. At a awkward lost, he rested his head on her shoulder and just accepted that this was happening. Without flinching this time.

"Also love cheddar apple muffins," said Daryl.

"I'll see what I can do." Carol drew back, wiped her eyes and smiled at him, shaking her head.

Before she went to go back inside, she turned to him.

"You know you're all Sophia talks about."

Author's Note: Dark Horse becomes a yearling tomorrow [Sept 17] and I've been writing TWD fanfics for two years and it has been a pleasure. I was going to post this tomorrow but couldn't wait and definitely couldn't bear the thought of keeping you all waiting.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful reviews, I keep them all in my inbox because I love y'all long time:Marflower3,itsi3,BanannaFlvdSnow,Candra'wolfgal97, HGRHfan35, Emberka-2012,DerpPaws-McReedus-Caryl-LOVER,DarylDi xon'sLover, melniewn, SilverWolf84, LawlessResolute, Lori, I luv ewansmile, GemmaTellerSoa

I would also like to thank my dog even though she can't read. She has been waking me up for no reason so that I would be able to use the morning for writing.