He's taken Rick aside as soon as they come to their piddly camp they'd made in the woods, just off the road they'd been following. Daryl's trying to figure out what to say, but he's distracted, made more nervous by the way Beth's picking at her nails, at his side. Leaving it up to him, like he's got any kind of accurate emotional barometer for this kind of shit. Like he somehow knows the best way to approach this.
He gives her a quick side-eye, thinkin' she'd probably have the most insight on how to deal with things like this, but she's silent as a church mouse.
In the end, he just blurts out that they'd found a fairly fresh diaper- a day, two, three- and gave Rick the time to process it.
It seems to be the kind of news Rick had been waiting for that last week or so, arguing with Abraham, listlessly moving Northward. He can spot exactly when Rick understands what he's trying to tell him. His face does the same thing Beth's had, but instead of softening, it hardens, sharpens, becomes something else. Like when he'd told them, This isn't a democracy anymore, but not with the man-on-the-edge tone. Not the same as a man with too much to lose.
Now it's a man that knows exactly what he's capable of. It's a man that sees he's got plenty to gain, too. It's a man that's a real leader. Not like Merle, just working off fear and intimidation and muscles and angel's dust or whatever he'd found that night. Not the Governor, crossing lines even Merle wouldn't cross, a different kind of crazy. Not like Daryl himself, terrified of having people depend on him, terrified of letting them down, of being only what his brother was.
Rick ain't, not in the same way, not anymore.
"Carl! Everyone!" Rick paces a couple times, like tryin' to gather his thoughts, waiting for everyone to come about.
Rick puts a hand to his son's neck when he's close enough, then his shoulder.
Carl asks, "What?" when his dad does nothing but consider him.