Carol cocked her head to the side, there hadn't been mention of new neighbors. She padded across the living room floor to stand beside Sophia, who was crouched by the window, the curtain half shielding her face. From what Carol observed it seemed to be just the one guy and a little girl about Sophia's age. The pair were wrestling with towers of boxes and stumbling in the general direction of the front porch.

"So can we?" Sophia asked again, blinking at up at her mother, her eyes widening as she pouted for the perfect puppy face.

"Can we what?" Carol redirected her gaze from the strangers to her daughter and placed her hands on Sophia's shoulders.

"Can we go see the new neighbors, please, pleeease?" Sophia wasn't usually so sociable, but being cooped up in the house with her mother for the whole summer vacation seemed like a pretty dull prospect. The closest thing Sophia had to friendship was with a girl by the name of Eliza Morales, who was moving up to Birmingham to be closer to her family*.

"They look pretty busy right now…" Carol muttered, watching as the man balanced a second towering pile of boxes.

"They look like they need a hand." Sophia countered, her own gaze fixed on the little girl, who was struggling with a few boxes of her own. Carol felt her lips twitching upward in a crooked smile.

The twin pile of boxes rested underneath the window on the dusty living room floor, Daryl wondered if the previous owners had thought to tidy up before they left, he noticed most things (floor included) were covered in a fine film of dust. He also noticed that the front yard was quite unkempt; weeds spilled over from their yard and weaved themselves into the cracks of the pavement out front, the drooping flowers were fading in color with their leaves falling off and the only plant that seemed to be thriving was the ivy, which was climbing its way up the house and spreading across the sagging porch roof.

"That'll be it for t'day, I reckon." Daryl said as he deposited his last box onto the kitchen counter. Lily shoved her own box into a corner and the two sighed. Daryl slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor, it felt good to be resting his legs. Lily figured she should do the same and so she sat cross legged right next to Daryl.

"Lotta' boxes." She observed, her wide blue eyes scanning over the room as she attempted conversation. Daryl didn't reply though, he actually shut his eyes and started drifting off. He could have fallen asleep right then, if not for the knocking at the door. "Who do you suppose that'll be?" Lily asked, jumping to her feet with the energy only kids have, Daryl sluggishly followed along behind her until the pair reached the door.

Sophia couldn't help but back away a bit and grab her mother's hand when Daryl opened the door. He was a scruffy looking guy and it Sophia felt a pang of fear. Her mother, on the other hand, didn't seem so intimidated.

"Uh… Yeah?" Daryl greeted the pair. It wasn't exactly the kind of guests Daryl expected. Daryl didn't really expect to have guests at all, but the door had creaked open to reveal a tiny woman and an even tinier girl standing on his porch.

"Uh… Hi. I'm Carol and this is Sophia," Carol began, gesturing to Sophia, who was waving shyly. Carol had effectively kept the slightly-fearful wobble out of her voice and she took the man's silence as a sign to continue. "We live just across the street." Carol half-turned her body to glance at her house and Daryl followed her gaze. Her house was what he expected: perfect lawn, well maintained garden beds, porch swing. The whole package. Figures.

"'M Daryl," Daryl introduced himself. "This here's Lily." He said, jerking his thumb toward Lily, who was now stepping out to wave at Sophia and Carol.

"Well, Daryl and Lily, we just wanted to welcome you and see if you needed any help getting set up?" Carol offered. But Daryl didn't need help, Daryl never ever needed help. With anything. He was perfectly capable of moving some boxes.

"Nah, s'fine. 'Preciate the offer, though." He mumbled.

"Well… okay. If you do need help, we're just across the street." Carol smiled softly. Daryl nodded in thanks. Daryl started to close the door and Sophia poked her mother in the back. "O-Oh, and Daryl. If you ever want to organise a playdate for the girls j-just let me know." She added quickly before he shut the door.

Playdates? – Daryl couldn't help but roll his eyes.

The warm air was finally departing to make way for the coolness of the night. Dixon Manner – As Lily had jokingly named her place of residence – was relatively silent. Save for the chirping of crickets. Lily lay awake in the bed, it creaked and whined every time she moved so she kept as still as she could. Her cheeks were damp and her eyes were puffy. At the sound of a floorboard squeaking, she sat up, alarmed.

"Lily?" A raspy voice called through the darkness. Lily immediately began swiping at any tears that had escaped. She was a big girl.

"Yes, Mister Daryl?" She sniffled. She heard the mattress creak before she felt Daryl sit on it.

"Ya don't hafta call me Mister, y'know. Just Daryl." He began. The whole 'Mister' and 'Sir' thing was really starting to grate on his nerves, it pissed him off like nothing else.

"'Kay." She mumbled, her voice wavered. Here it came, the talk Daryl had been dancing around since nine AM that morning. He could hear her sniffling and he knew he'd have to say something soon. But what?

"Uh, how come ya crying?" Was all that he could muster.

"My Mom's dead." The girl deadpanned, sitting up on the bed. "My Daddy's in jail," she sniffled. "Aren't I supposed to cry at stuff like that?"

"I dunno." Daryl replied earnestly, his began chewing his thumb nail. Daryl sat in silence on the edge of the bed while Lily cried.

I shouldn't have said that. She thought to herself.

"Sorry, for sayin' all that stuff." She sighed. Daryl shrugged, but realized she couldn't see him shrugging so he mumbled something along the lines of, "ah well".

"Will we still do stuff like I did with mom? Like, bedtime stories and baking cookies and going to church and all that stuff?" Lily asked, her voice was steady then, and firm. Just like it had been when she said she didn't want to stay with Daryl.

"Uh, sure kid." Daryl rubbed at his tired eyes and stood up from the bed. Lily had stopped crying, crisis averted. Before Daryl could leave the room he heard Lily call him.

"Daryl, tuck me in?" She called from her bed.

Tuck in? – Like, check for monsters and the boogie man or some shit? Daryl wondered as he headed back toward her. He decided it would be best if he just pulled the covers up to her chin and made sure Hollie Hobby was securely under the blanket too.

"G'night, Daryl." She yawned.

"G'night kid."

A.N: So... That happened. I seriously want to apologize again, this just... I... Sorry. I just wanted a solid conclusion to their first day together. Oh and remember, Daryl is still relatively useless at caring for wailing children so... He was kinda unhelpful... 10/10 tucking in though, aye?

*The Morales family left the Quarry group to find their family in Birmingham, Alabama!

Oh, also thanks for not throwing bricks at me, everyone. Especially: Prodigium, Vickih, protonefrid, LopezG, Melniewn, lismrox, Tyffany86, hockeydrmr9, ferrisbueller, crystal2817, adelicateflower08, Writingismypassions, MSHK and LucyC-96.

*Hides just in case one of you throws a brick my way*.

~Boo~