Faith

The next day after Ass Kicker was born, Daryl went and paid his respects to Carol's empty grave. He got down on one knee in front of Carol's little wooden cross, and he pulled a Cherokee Rose from his vest and placed it gingerly on the dirt. He rested his hand on her cross and shut his eyes, bowing his head for a few moments. He could keep the burning in his eyes, the heart ache in his chest. Carol was a good, strong woman. And today he was going into the tombs to find her body.

There was a tension in the prison after yesterday. Rick had not yet looked, held, or even spoken of the baby that was born. Beth had been on full baby duty. As several of them had breakfast, Beth sat next to her father with Judith in her arms as Rick walked in and talked about how he had been killing biters in the boiler block. That he came back to check on Carl. Glenn tried to reason with Rick, tellin' him that him and others could take care of the bodies, but Rick demanded that he needed to do it. Daryl had been sitting on the steps by the door, a few feet away from the table the others sat at, and he saw Beth open her mouth to say somethin' to him. But she seemed to be to shocked, or worried about how he would react to call him out. Beth was scared of what Rick was capable of, he knew that from their time on the road. She followed his orders with an obedient "Yes, sir." without hesitation. Daryl knew that she would take care of that baby as long as Rick needed her to.

It was Hershel, of course, who called after Rick and eventually followed him out. After Hershel left, Daryl stood up and walked over to Beth and the baby, crouching down caress the baby's cheek before looking up at Beth. "You don't gotta do this," he muttered to her. "Rick's not himself and ain't gonna come around anytime soon. Everyone is gonna do whatever they can with the lil one," he told her, but Beth shook her head.

"I got her. If I need a rest I'll get Daddy to watch her, or Car-" she stopped, letting out a giant sigh. "I'll find someone to help. I don't mind. Sweetheart and I are learnin' all about each other, are we Sweetie?" she cooed to the baby before looking into Daryl's eyes with a smile. "Thanks for carin'. But I got this. Finally feels like I'm doin' something for the family." She admitted. The heat crept up Daryl's neck, up to his ears and he grunted before standing up.

"Holler if ya need anythin'," he said with his usual gruff voice.

Not too long after breakfast, Oscar and Carl made their way with Daryl through the lower parts of the prison. He asked Carl a few times if he was sure he wanted to come with, saying no at first, but Oscar and Carl put up a good defense. Carl wanted to help; his dad wouldn't care what he was doing, and they had cleared the era for most of the walkers already. With Daryl and Oscar with Carl, he'd be fine. "I can take care of myself," Carl said, obviously wanted to be taken seriously. Daryl knew he could take care of himself. But he wasn't sure if he wanted the kid to even been in these type of situations yet. Daryl had grunted somethin' about him not causin' any trouble and they were on their way.

Oscar and Daryl saw one of the doors in the hall rattling slightly, and they both shrugged it off and decided to take care of the one or two walkers inside on the way back. Oscar kept to the back as Daryl made his way text to Carl, mentioning him to come on.

Daryl wasn't the best at comforting people. But he wasn't stupid, and he knew other people didn't just deal with shit that was thrown at him the way he had his whole life. Carl was still just a kid and he just had to watch his mother die, and then watch his old man go crazy.

He whistled for Carl's attention, and they started moving down the hall. "You know, my mom, she liked her wine. She liked to smoke in bed." He moved his flashlight back and forth in the hall, looking at dead walkers. He glanced back at Carl before he checked around the corner. "Virginia slims." He muttered.

"I was playing out with the kids in the neighborhood. I could do that with Merle gone... They had bikes, I didn't. We heard sirens getting' louder, an' they jumped on their bikes, ran after it, y'know, hoping to see somethin' worth seein'." He peered inside another room before continuing. "I ran after them, but I couldn't keep up. I ran around a corner, and saw my friends lookin' at me. Hell. I saw everyone lookin' at me. Fire trucks everywhere. People from the neighborhood." He continued down the hall, glancing back just for a moment to make sure the two were keeping up. "It was my house they were there for. It was my mom in bed," he managed to keep his voice level and nonchalant, "burnt down to nothin'. That was the hard part," he said, looking down at Carl, who was looking right back at him. "Y'know, she was just gone. Erased. Nothin' left of her." He gave a soft sigh at the memory. "People said it was better that way." He glanced down at Carl with a chuckle, as if those words that were spoken to him made him feel any better. . "I don't know. Made it seem like it wasn't real, y'know."

He didn't know why he was telling Carl this story, maybe it was to show that he understood what it was like to lose your mom. What he didn't expect was Carl's response. "I shot my mom," Daryl stopped and looked at him, but didn't let his shock show on his face. He imagined Maggie had done it. "She was out. Hadn't turned yet." He paused before looking Daryl in the eyes, with that emptiness that stung into Daryl. This kid was too hardened by this world. "I ended it. It was real." He looked down and quickly mumbled, "I'm sorry about your mom."

Daryl nodded. "I'm sorry about yours." Carl gave the same nod back, a nod of understanding, not of pity. Daryl gripped Carl's shoulders and motioned to keep moving forward. "Liked Lori," he grunted. "Head strong. More capable than I gave her credit for when you two showed up back in Atlanta with Shane."

They all walked down the prison tombs for a while, before Oscar broke the silence and walked into a cell that Daryl had already passed. Both Carl and Daryl followed Oscar into the cell to see Oscar picking up a pair of slippers. "Yeah, buddy." Oscar said to no one, placing them into his pack. "The hell you need slippers for?" Daryl asked, his tone genuinely curious. That wasn't exactly at the top of his list for essential items. Oscar just shrugged. "You know, end of the day, relaxing." His tone was defensive, and Daryl let out a snort before a walker growl took over. The two behind him quickly shot off a few rounds, before Daryl's bow gave a perfect head shot and it fell back onto the ground. He cracked his neck and rolled his shoulders out with a deep exhale. "All right." The adrenaline was pumping through his body; the first walker they had taken down since they began scanning the tombs.

Behind Daryl, Oscar was speaking, but he paid no attention. His flashlight was on the walker's neck, where a too familiar knife was deeply embedded in its neck. Carol's knife. He pulled it out slowly, blood spurting, before speaking slowly. "That's Carol's knife." His words were dripping with the pain of reality of her death. He wiped the walker's blood off on its prison jumper before examining the knife for a few more moments. Her body was down here, somewhere, eaten to bits. He was going to find her.

They killed one more walker, and headed back to front. Oscar and Carl offered to help him take down the walker, but Daryl just grunted and told them to get goin'. They didn't push anymore and they left.

Daryl sat across from the slowly rattling door, stabbing Carol's knife into the ground over and over again. There was a dead walker keep the other walker from getting out to him, and finally, he had enough. He slammed the knife against the wall and stood up, kicking the door shut and turning around. He paced back and forth, he used his free hand to rub his eyes, his heart heavy with the guilt of not being able to protect Carol. Finally, he shoved the handle of the knife between his teeth and dragged the dead walker away from the door, slamming it open throwing his arm up, ready to sink it into a walker's skull, but when a walker didn't come lurching at him, he dropped his knife, his whole body dropping, dropping him onto his knees.

There sat Carol, her face and chest covered in blood, her eyes barely open and squinting at the brightness of the light. She looked at him like he was her white knight, her savior, like she didn't expect anyone else to find her. He reached his hand out and held her chin, rubbing her cheek with his hand. He opened his mouth to say something several times before finally settling on, "C'mon, let me get you out of here." After a moment of slowly adjusting her body with his help, he scooped her into his arms and held her close as he made his way back to the cell. Her arms were weakly around his neck, her head buried into chest. He could feel her tears absorbing into his shirt.

No one was in the cell block when he carried Carol into her cell and placed her carefully onto the bed. "Lemme go getcha some water," he told her, turned around to walk out of the cell. Her hand caught around his wrist weakly, not enough to hold him back but to grab his attention. He took a step back and crouched down next to her, moving her dirty bangs into place. "Daryl," she croaked, her voice dry and painful while she took his rough hand into her small one and squeezed. "Shush your mouth, let me take care of you," he grunted, his face flushing a bit.

He went and grabbed his gallon of water from his cell and two of his long sleeve t-shirts for winter. When he got back to her cell, he doused one of the tshirts in water before helping her sit up to take a drink. He sat on the edge of the bed next to her, her hands wrapping around the gallon bottle but not quite able to hold it up, but with Daryl's help she brought it to her chapped lips and gulped furiously. "Hey, hey, take it easy," he muttered so only she could here. "Make yourself sick," he grunted, slowly moving it away from her. Carol leaned her head back and inhaled deeply and letting it go very slowly before squinting her eyes open at him. "Thank you, Pookie," she said with her tiny smirk and sugary sweet voice she used when calling him pet names. He grunted and rolled his eyes.

"Least you still got your sense of humor," he muttered, the pink burning his face and ears. He knew Carol was only teasing him, that she liked to see him get embarrassed by her blunt affection towards him. She liked to tease him and see him elicit some kinda emotion other than anger or hunter mode.

She let out a tiny laugh before coughing several times. Daryl sighed as he started to gently clean the grime and blood off her face. He felt her relax under the cold cloth and wondered how hot it was in that closet. "Lots of shit has happened since you've been gone,

"Thought ya were dead. Made a grave. Had me all sorts of fucked up. Found T-Dog ripped to shreds. Didn't find you." His voice was low, a small quiver of pain in his voice, and she knew how much pain he had been in. She reached her hand up and cupped his cheek, rubbing her thumb against it gently. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

Daryl shrugged it off. "Nah, you did good. Hidin' in a closet. I wasn't gonna stop lookin' for ya body,"

Carol smiled her knowing smile. "I knew you'd come eventually. Heard you smacking my knife around for an hour," her voice was frail. He was washing off her neck now, and started to slowly clean the top of her shoulders and chest, tensing up. He wasn't familiar in touching woman like this, or being this close to anyone, or anything like this. Carol sensed it and took the rag from him, gingerly wiping herself down. "Thank you, Daryl. How is Lori? Has she had the baby yet? Couldn't stop worryin' her going into labor and me being stuck in a closet," she muttered with a sigh.

Daryl cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter. "Lori had the baby," he muttered. "Little girl. Maggie helped her have it.

"Lori's dead. Lil Ass Kicker is alive. Rick fuckin' lost it," he muttered, shaking his head. Lori's eyes closed and she slowly pulled her knees to her chest before rested her head on her knees, propped up so she was still looking at him. Her eyes were welling up with tears that she was blinking away quickly.

"Oh, no," Carol cried, tears running down her dirty face. "Who delivered?" She whispered, reaching up and rubbing her eyes.

"Maggie and Carl," he told her. He wasn't one for gossip and felt awkward being the one to tell her all this. "Let me go get Hershel. Get you looked at," he said, standing up. He put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze before walking out of the cell. Her quiet sobs grew faint behind Daryl as he searched for the one-legged old man.

"Hershel!" Daryl called out, his voice echoing through the cell block. After a moment of glancing around and waiting, he made his way outside, finding Hershel with Beth and Carl, and to his surprise, Rick with the baby.

"Hershel, I need ya," he called out, jogging over to him.

"What is it, son?" Hershel asked in his always calm voice.

"Got a surprise for everyone in the cell blocks, need you to make sure they're okay," Daryl said. Hershel gave him a questioning look, but didn't ask questions before adjusting his crutches and moving towards the cell block door. Daryl started to follow after the old man but hesitated, stepping back towards his brother.

"Hey man, how are you doin'," he questioned in a low voice, studying Rick's face.

Rick gazed up from the baby and gave Daryl a sad smile. "I hear you've been calling her Asskicker," he mused, gazing towards the gates and peering off into the distance.

Before Daryl could respond, Rick had turned towards Beth to hand off his baby before moving at a quick pace towards the gate. Daryl stayed put, trying to squint past the sun in his eyes and see whatever caught Rick's eye.

"What's th' matter?" Daryl hollered after Rick, only to have Rick wave him off. Biters where lined at the fence, but that wasn't unusual.

"Should you go after him?" Beth's voice called out from behind him, catching him off guard. His thoughts had been caught up in the fact he found Carol and the sight of Rick holding Asskicker to linger too long on the blonde. He turned to her and ran his hand over his face and sighed.

"Dunno," he grumbled, "might be nothin'. Dunno where his head is yet," Daryl was worried about Rick. He believed that Rick would be able to pull himself back together again, Rick was the strongest man he had ever met, but even a man like Rick would need time after what happened. Hell, Daryl wouldn't be surprised if Rick was goin' to the fence to beat some walkers senseless or somethin'.

"He's going to be okay," Beth said, so sure and definitive, so trusting in Rick as their leader. "He came around about a half hour ago and asked to hold little sweetheart," She told him. Daryl watched as Beth adjusted Asskicker in her arms and kissed her forehead. "And he couldn't stop lookin' at her. He looked like a new man."

Daryl grunted. He was pretty glad Rick came around to Asskicker. He didn't know if he'd be able to talk enough sense into Rick on his own.

"'Sides, he has you to lean on. Can't think of anyone better to have in his corner than you," Beth didn't look up from the baby as she spoke to him, and Daryl rubbed the back of his neck. He blamed the beating sun on his face for the reason his ears burned red. He was left speechless, and he turned away from her for a moment just as he heard two shots ring out.

With no hesitation, Daryl sprinted towards the gate, quickly shouting, "Get inside!" back at Beth. Rick was opening the gate and taking down walkers with Carl. Once Daryl was by his side, he did the same until they had about fifteen feet between them and any walkers. Carl had picked up a grocery basket and Rick was crouching down over a black woman, checking her over, before throwing her over his shoulder and- was that a fucking sword?

Once the four of them were back in the fence, Daryl locked the gate up quickly and caught up to Rick. "You know her? Is she bit?"

"Gunshot," Rick grunted, "she didn't say anything, but she had baby supplies."

"Baby supplies?" Daryl muttered back, confused.

Carl opened the door and as soon as they entered the cell block, Rick started barking out orders.

"Carl, get a blanket, Beth, water and a towel." They didn't hesitate to do what he said, and after Rick laid the woman down, he hesitated. He wanted to go check on Carol before anything serious happened with this stranger.

"You got this?" Daryl asked, and Rick gave him a nod before pouring water over the strangers chest.

Daryl shuffled towards Carol's cell and stood outside the door. Hershel was sitting down next to Carol, her hand resting on top of his knee.

"You should be just fine, but let's take it easy the next few days," Hershel instructed, "Make sure you keep yourself hydrated, and I don't think anyone will mind if you get a little more food than the rest of us for a day or two,"

Carol shook her head, "I'll be fine. I feel better already." She smiled weakly, obviously exhausted, but happy to be back with her family. "Thanks to you, my knight in shining armor," she cooed at Daryl and he grunted and rolled his eyes. Yeah, she was gonna be just fine.

Hershel squeezed her hand and smiled up at Daryl. "Son, I didn't know what I expected when you said there was a surprise in the cell blocks, and I can't think of anything better than bringing Carol back to us."

"When can I see Rick and the baby?" Carol said, starting to stand up, which earned protests from both men.

"I'll go get him, stay put." Once Daryl was back within earshot of Rick, he cleared his throat loudly. The woman was sitting up and looked agitated.

"Rick, who is she?" He asked, and Rick looked at the redneck for a moment before staring down the stranger.

"You wanna tell us your name?" He asked and got nothing but a piercing stare. "You wanna tell us your name?" He asked again, but the woman stayed completely stoic.

"Y'all come in here," Daryl said, and Rick stood up, giving the woman another glance before speaking to Daryl.

"Everything all right?" Rick asked, and Daryl couldn't help but smirk.

"You're gonna wanna see this,"