The next morning, I heard one of the heavy cellblock doors opening so I peeked out of my cell to see what was going on. Daryl was already up, and I managed to catch a glimpse of him heading through the opened cellblock door. Being nosy as I always was I decided to follow him. Apparently I wasn't being very stealthy about it because as I rounded a corner I ran right into his chest.
"Jesus Daryl you scared the crap out of me." I said trying to calm my now erratic breathing.
"Why are you following me?" He asked.
"I'm nosy okay." I said honestly. "Look I'm here now so whatever it is you're about to do let me help.
He gave me a look that said he really didn't want me here, but soon realized I was not going back. He reluctantly handed me a knife and told me to be prepared. We continued to make out way through the tombs until we came upon a door that seemed to be pushing open and then closing due to the dead walker laying in front of it. It seemed as if there was a walker trapped in there and Daryl was planning on taking them on without telling anyone.
"That the walker that took out your friend?" I asked pointing to the door.
"Maybe, either way it has to go." Daryl said giving me a sideways glance. I nodded at him in agreement. We had to make sure there were no stragglers that could get to everyone else. "Ready?"
"As I'll ever be." I said as I raised my knife. Preparing myself to take down however many walkers might be in there.
He pulled the walker's body away from the door, and quickly swung it open. We both jumped ready to take them all out, but as we looked deep into the room there were a couple dead ones lying around, and a figure huddled up by the door. Daryl appeared to recognize her before she even raised her eyes to meet ours. When she finally did my breath caught in my throat and I felt tears stingy my eyes.
"Mom." I said softly.
"Come on we've got to get her back to Hershall." Daryl said as he hoisted her up in his arms and we ran back to the cellblock. The woman hadn't even really noticed me there, but with even one look of her face I knew, that was my mother. Daryl laid her down, and Hershall began to examine her. She must have been in there for several days since Daryl had said everything went down the baby was born. I couldn't believe it she was here, she had survived. However with my joy and thankfulness of her survival, came so many other questions.
"She looks pretty dehydrated. We'll have to get some water into her and maybe just some broth until her stomach can handle some real food." Hershall said as he stepped out. "She is sleeping now, and I hooked her up to one of the IV bags we had. Should be more alert in a few hours."
Once Hershall had said she was going to be okay I ran out of the cellblock to the yard and just collapsed. I needed a moment and I didn't want to have the group see me breakdown. Daryl must have noticed my hasty departure and came running out to find me. I heard his footsteps approached but I said nothing. He stood there for a moment watching me sob, before crouching down to try and look at my face. When I didn't look to him on my own he placed a finger under my chin and gently raised my face to his.
"What the hell was that?" Daryl asked softly. His eyes didn't hold anger or annoyance. No in them I saw concern and it caused my stomach to do flip flops. He was concerned about me.
"Where is Sophia?" Was all I managed to get out amongst my sobs.
"What? How do you know Carol's daughter?" He asked as he stood up confused. His stance changed to one of defence. Almost as if he thought I had maybe been spying on him all these years. "Answer me girl!"
"Because she is my sister. Sophia is my sister." I yelled back at him. I was now standing upright, but I couldn't control my breathing. I knew I was prone to panic attacks in extremely stressful situations, but I didn't really care. "That's my mom in there."
"What?" Daryl said even more confused. "That's bullshit. She's never talked about another daughter."
"Because she probably thinks I died a long time ago." I said sadly. "So I'll ask again. Where is Sophia?"
He didn't answer me, he didn't have to. The sadness now filling his eyes was enough to confirm that my beautiful little sister was gone. I began to shake my head not really wanting to accept the reality of the situation. Until one more realization had hit me, and fear crept into my body...where was Ed?
"Ed? Is he?" I asked suddenly panicked that he had been lurking around the prison somewhere.
"No. He was attacked by walkers back when we were outside of Atlanta." Daryl said softly.
"I can't believe she's gone." I said as I slumped down to sit on the grass. "She was so sweet and innocent. I hadn't seen her since…"
"Carol's awake!" Maggie yelled out to us. Daryl gave her a nod and moved to help me up, but I had beat him to it and was already standing in front of him. I did my best to wipe the tears from my eyes and preparing myself for what my mom would say.
We made our way back into the cellblock and I suddenly became so nervous. Mom was taking the baby from Beth and a teary smile filled her face. She looked at Rick touching his cheek gently realizing that his wife didn't survive. She scanned the crowd standing in front of her cell, and smiled brightly when she saw Daryl. I had stood back, almost behind him not sure if I was even ready to reveal myself to her yet, but Hershall made that decision for me.
"Carol I'd like to introduce you to our newest addition. Daryl and Glenn brought her in from one of the neighborhoods a few miles away. "Violet, come meet Carol."
Daryl stepped away so that I was no longer hiding behind him, and Hershall was waving me over with his hand from within the cell. My mom didn't look up yet, she stayed there cooing at the little bundle in her arms. I decided I had to just get it over with.
"Hi Mom." I said softly. She still didn't look up, but froze at the sound of my voice. She stood that way for a moment and everyone seemed to hold the same confused expression Daryl first had as I told him outside. About a second later she slowly looked up at me before she spoke. Fresh tears filled her eyes once I came into view.
"Violet?" She whispered. She motioned for Beth to take the baby back, and with the help of Rick made her way over to me. She placed a hand on my cheek "Baby is it really you?"
"Yeah Mom, it's me." I said nodding. Fresh tears filled my own eyes and she pulled me into a tight embrace as she sobbed.
"I didn't think I'd ever see you again my sweet Violet." She said as she kissed my hair and held onto me. "I missed you so much sweetheart."
"I missed you to mom. More than you'll ever know." I said as she pulled away to look me over.
"Look at you. You're so beautiful. You're a grown woman now." She said sadly. She ran her hands along my cheeks wiping away my tears.
"Mom I'm sorrr." I began but she stopped me.
"No, you do not have to apologize for anything baby. Nothing that happened is your fault. I may not understand entirely why you left, but I accepted it. All I want to focus on now is having you back." She said pulling me in for a hug again. I felt her look up, most likely to where Daryl stood behind us. "Thank you for bringing my girl back to me, both of you."
"Honestly it was nothing. Just bringing her back to help someone in need." Glenn said with a chuckle. "This is crazy that she ended up being your daughter."
"Glad I could bring at least one of em back to you." Daryl said before I heard the heavy tread of his boots leaving. Rick hollered at him trying to figure out where he was going. "I've got watch."
"Carol you are still pretty weak you should lay down for a bit." Hershall said stepping in as doctor.
"I'll watch her doc." I said before leading my mom back into the cell. She watched me in aw as I took the IV bag from where rick held it, checking that she was still getting a steady drip. I checked her vitals every hour and commented on her colour like a nurse would.
"You are just more amazing than I ever thought possible Vi." My mom said when she woke the next morning. "Where did you learn all that stuff you were talking with Hershall about?"
"I'm a nurse, or I was one before all this." I said with a soft smile. "I took the scholarship that I got and worked my way through school."
"Honey, that's amazing." She said. I could see tears welling up in her eyes again. "I wish I could have seen you walk the stage at your graduation baby. I was always so proud of you."
"I know mom." I said before kissing her forehead. "You should rest a bit I'm going to go out and grab you some more broth."
"Honey." She said as I stood at the doorway.
"Yeah mom?" I said turning around and smiling.
"I'm so happy I have you back." She said with a smile.
"Me too mom. I love you, now rest and I'll get you some broth." I said before heading out into the cellblock again.
I spent the next few days at my mother's side. She was recovering nicely and was even up on her feet helping out with chores around the prison. She told me all about what the group had gone through, and she spent a great deal of time talking about how Daryl nearly got himself killed trying to find Sophia. This group had been through hell, and all of it had shaped my mother into a far different person than I remember. She was still sweet and warm like the mom I remembered as a little girl, but she was stronger, tougher and far braver than I ever expected her to be. So I decided I would take a few days to really get to know my mother again. She was an amazing woman, and for about a minute it made me wish that I had stayed put and not ran off. However that quickly faded once I remembered the years of torment that Ed had put me through.
"Baby, I don't want to pry, but would you tell me why you left?" I heard my mother ask with a soft sigh.
"Mom I...someday I promise I will, but not today." I said before placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Okay baby." She said with a smile. "Can you take this up to Daryl hun, he hasn't come in to get anything to eat all day."
"Sure...the watch tower right?" I asked. She nodded in response and I made my way out to the watch tower. When I reached the top of the tower Daryl didn't even turn to see who had entered the tower he just kept watch over the treeline. "My mom sent up some food. She said you haven't eaten all day."
"I'm fine." Daryl said with a grunt.
"Awfully cocky of you to keep saying you're so fine." I said with a giggle at the lameness of my joke. "Sorry couldn't help myself. Look eat the damn food Daryl, never know when we won't have any again."
"Whatever." He grunted again.
"Look I don't know what I did to make you hate me, but we're here and living in the prison can we at least make the best of it." I yelled at him. I was more upset than I probably should have been.
"I don't hate you." Daryl said without looking at me again. "Just don't feel like getting close to people anymore, makes it too hard when you lose them."
"Great so I'm just another dead girl to you. Thanks for the vote of confidence. I will have you know I'm not some ivy league bitch. I have survived a lot of shit in my life and I intend to survive this too." I said as I moved to stand in front of him. He still refused to look at me. "If you're not going to get close to or care about people than what the hell is the point of surviving all this? What the hell are you even fighting for?"
I decided not to let him finish. I made my way back down the tower to go help at the fences. Over the next few weeks I pulled my weight and became fast friends with Maggie, Glenn and Hershal. Even Daryl began to eventually warm up to me. I even convince him to allow me to join him on a hunting excursion, which really surprised me. Every time I was anywhere near Daryl I felt my mom's eyes on me. I couldn't put my finger on it, but I was sure she would talk to me about it sooner or later.