AN: Here we go, another little chapter.

There's about a month/two month time jump from the last chapter, but no worries…you missed nothing important. ;-)

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think.

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Daryl was the last to come out of the building. He had just taken his final exam for his class…if he passed it, he was done. He would be an RN…and it was all he could do not to absolute run through the parking lot with excitement.

Alice was leaned against his car, smoking a cigarette. She and Melodye both had likely been waiting on him for some time, but he hadn't wanted to rush and he knew that they'd understand…he always understood when he had to wait on them to finish their things.

Melodye wasn't in sight and Daryl called out her name as he approached as a way of asking Alice where she might be.

"In the car," Alice responded. "How did it go, champ?"

"Don't know," Daryl said. "Won't know for a few days."

"But you feel good? Confident?" Alice asked.

Daryl nodded and smiled.

"I think I did it," he said. "Don't wanna get my hopes up, though…you know?"

"Understandable," Alice responded.

Daryl lit a cigarette then.

"Mel alright?" He asked.

"Just tired," Alice said. "She was up studying most the night and then she worked today…so she's just beat. Probably asleep by now."

"I can smoke in the car," he said.

"She can wait," Alice responded. "I wanted to talk to you…"

Daryl furrowed his brows at her because the change in her tone of voice told him that whatever it was she was going to have to say to him was something that she was at least a little serious about.

"What's up?" He asked.

"I didn't wanna say anything before you went in there," Alice said. "I didn't want you distracted before your big show…but I think you might want to know this…"

"Al…spit out whatever you gotta say?" Daryl responded.

Alice sighed.

"OK," she said. "A couple of days ago at Dr. Finney's office there were a couple of kids that came in…some kind of virus running through the children's home. You know the one off of Waxahatchee Road?"

"Only one," Daryl said. "Only one in the area at least."

Alice nodded.

"Well…while I was going through their information, you know…filing everything away, something caught my eye," Alice said. "One of the kids that came in…her name was Sophia McAlister."

Daryl shrugged at her.

"And?" He asked.

Alice screwed her face up in the same way that she had done the day that she'd backed his car into a stone partition and dented the hell out of the fender when she was too damn distracted by something to realize she was going in reverse.

"What, Alice? What the hell is it?" Daryl asked.

"The name on her information said that her mother was…Carol Ann McAlister," Alice said.

Daryl felt his stomach churn and his breathing pick up.

"Don't mean nothin' Al…" he said.

"There wasn't a name for the father," Alice continued. "Just the mother's name…she's an orphan, Daryl. This kid…she's been at the home…Daryl…I don't think that baby's dead after all."

Daryl dropped the spent cigarette in the parking lot and started a pacing walk around the back part of the car, unable to avoid the exercise that his feet seemed to need. He lit another cigarette and tried to process the information.

But at the moment he simply couldn't.

"Daryl…what if this is her kid?" Alice asked.

Daryl's hands were shaking slightly and he turned around.

"That baby's dead, Alice," Daryl said. "We thought…that baby's dead…it couldn't be just…."

He stopped and ran his hand through his hair, tugging on it slightly.

"Al…can't be just…thirteen miles from our house?" Daryl responded, shaking his head at Alice. "Carol's baby can't be…thirteen miles from our house! And in a damn orphanage! That wasn't what the hell she wanted for it! She wanted it to find a good home! She wanted it to be…"

He shook his head.

"Can't be her kid," Daryl said. "Can't be…she had a boy."

"We never knew what she had," Alice responded. "We never knew at all. All we knew was that she wrote in that letter it was a boy…but none of her records ever listed the sex of the baby. Daryl…I think it's her kid. It's a girl…and it's hers."

"How can you know, Alice?" Daryl turned around.

He realized he was very nearly yelling at the woman, but she seemed unphased. He wasn't really yelling at her, and she knew that.

"She's a pretty little girl," Alice said. "She's…very pretty…she looks like Carol. It's Carol's daughter."

"Carol's got a little girl?" Daryl asked.

Alice nodded her head.

"A little girl…a little girl thirteen miles from our house? We could…she could have her baby…a little girl…" Daryl responded.

"They named her Sophia," Alice said, clearing her throat. He heard the variation in it and wondered if he got close enough to Alice he might see that she was crying. "Daryl…they named her Sophia…and she's right there…and she doesn't have anyone."

Daryl couldn't even begin to sift through everything that was going on in his mind all of a sudden. His earlier excitement over the test seemed so distant that it was like it hadn't even happened to him.

"Carol's baby…ain't dead," Daryl said.

"And she isn't a baby," Alice said. "Daryl…all these years…she's grown up. She's fourteen, Daryl."

The thought of that slammed Daryl as hard as anything else had until this moment. Sophia. Carol had a baby girl named Sophia, and she was fourteen years old. She was fourteen years old…she'd spent all those years in an orphanage…while her mother had spent all those years mourning a child she didn't remember having, a child she thought she couldn't have, so close to her.

Daryl stopped pacing.

"What do I do?" He asked. "What do…I do…Alice?"

"I can't tell you what to do, Daryl," Alice said. She shook her head at him. "Mel…she thinks that…"

"I don't know if I need one a' Mel's half baked theories," Daryl said.

As soon as he said it, he was sorry. Melodye's theories got a lot of laughter from all of them, but she was damn near done with training to be one of those doctors that worked with people who had mental problems. She was going to be one of those doctors like the ones that worked at Sunny Meadows…except that Melodye had a lot of hope that she could actually fix things one day, instead of just rendering her patients the walking dead like they'd tried to do to Carol and like they'd done to so many others.

"I didn't mean that," Daryl muttered after a moment.

"I know," Alice said. "Why do you think Mel's in the car? I know you, Daryl, and you can't hurt my feelings…Mel's a little more sensitive."

Daryl cleared his throat and nodded.

"What does Mel think?" He asked.

Alice shrugged.

"She's always thought that you were looking in the wrong place to figure out why Carol's never had children," Alice said. "She's always thought that it might be a mind thing…that it might be something that she's feeling but repressing…maybe she doesn't even understand it herself."

"That wouldn't stop her from getting pregnant," Daryl said, shaking his head. "She's fine physically…"

"That's the point," Alice said. "Wake up, Daryl! Nobody knows what it is, but there's just as much a chance that it's mental as anything else!"

"What she say about this kid?" Daryl asked.

"She thinks that having the ba…Sophia…back might let Carol deal with her demons, once and for all," Alice said. "It might let her clear things up. It would give her back what she lost…and it would give her a chance to make up for it or make amends or whatever it is that she feels like she needs to do."

Daryl cleared his throat.

"She don't remember this baby," Daryl said, shaking his head. "She don't know she had it…an' ain't me nor nobody else said nothin' about it. What am I gonna do? Go get this kid? This…fourteen year old? She's damn near a woman! I'm s'posed ta go get this kid an' then tell Carol hey you had this kid that I forgot ta mention all this time…oh…an' everybody else knows about it too…but we figured she was dead an' there weren't no need tellin' you about it…but here she is…not dead after all?"

Alice chewed her lip.

"I'm not saying that's the best approach," Alice responded. "But…don't you think that Carol would want this little girl back? This is the woman who has made herself ill because she doesn't have a kid…and she's got a kid! You'd keep her from having that?"

"Al…what do I do?" Daryl asked again.

Alice shrugged.

"We'll figure it out…you'll figure it out," Alice said. "You've gotten Carol through so much already. This is…just another little thing. And Daryl…you're smart…and you have done so much…really, so much…for Carol and it's all been right…"

"You think that's how she's gonna see it?" Daryl asked. "When I tell her I ain't told her 'bout her kid? When I tell her…that I'm so damn dumb I didn't…bother checkin' ta see if I could find her kid? Thirteen damn miles from where I live?"

He felt like he was suffocating. He was torn between wanting to just bring the kid home…go and get her tonight if they'd let him and offering her to Carol as the answer to everything she'd ever wanted that he couldn't give and between knowing that she could very well not handle this well at all…and that she might never forgive him.

And he wasn't sure that he could live with her never forgiving him.

"We all thought the child was dead, Daryl," Alice said. "Even…if she wasn't…we'd have thought she was adopted. That's not your fault…and Carol's going to see that."

"An' ain't not a damn one a' us ever said…Carol you might wanta know that you're thinkin' you're barren but you ain't…'cause you had this kid an' we all know it," Daryl responded. "What about that, Alice? Think she's gonna up an' over that?"

Alice chewed furiously at her lip and she started her own pacing walk.

"She'll get over that," Alice said. "She will…right? She'll understand we did it to try to protect her. She'll understand."

Daryl swallowed hard.

"An' if she…loses her mind again?" He asked.

Alice stopped walking, but she didn't respond immediately.

"You don't think that would happen, do you?" Alice asked. She turned around and faced him. "I never believed she lost her mind before…and neither did you…it was just too much and she…didn't have anybody. Now she's got all of us…she's not alone anymore, Daryl. She doesn't have to handle it alone because she's got everyone…and she's got you."

"I can't lose her, Alice," Daryl said. "I…won't lose her."

Alice nodded.

"She won't have to do it alone. Carol's never alone anymore…but this kid? Sophia? She's pretty alone…" Alice said. "I can't help but think that Carol…"

She shook her head at Daryl and closed the gap between them, her heels clicking loudly on the pavement.

"Carol knows what it's like to be alone. She would never want that for her daughter…no matter how difficult it might be for her," Alice said.