Retribution - The Walking Dead

Momma loves her baby, and daddy loves you too.

"No! No, Da." Vincent wriggled and pushed at Daryl's arm, trying to free himself. He was giggling so hard.

"You're gon' piss your pops off calling me that, kid." He shifted Vincent in his arms so he was upright and so they could look eye to eye. "Try'n say 'Daryl'."

"Da!" Vincent snickered a mischievous laugh.

"Daryl." Daryl shook him gently.

"No! Noooo!" Vincent shriek-laughed as Daryl started to tickle him. "No —o —o."

"Say Daryl!"

"Da— " Vincent could hardly speak at all, he was laughing so hard. "Dawol!"

"That'a kid," Daryl laughed and offered a high five. Vincent slapped his big hand with both of his little ones, a big goofy smile across his face. "We'll work on the 'uncle' part later, okay? All right."

"What a damn noise you two are making." Negan was back, his grin matching that of his son's.

"Daddy!"

Negan crouched down and pretended to be winded by the impact of Vincent's hug.

"He's got some damn separation thing going on, Negan."

"Well, you'll just have to babysit a little more, get some practice in." Negan winked as he took Vincent to sit down by the fire with them.

Daryl scoffed, he and Julie looked after Vince plenty as it was.

Not five minutes later, the grown men were yet again being sassed by the two-year-old.

"Daddy likes it, see." Daryl held the bowl of food out so Negan could take a piece of fish and chomp down on it.

"Mmm. That shit's good." Negan played along but his overzealous hum did nothing to curb the toddler's disdain.

"And I like it, Uncle Daryl likes it. You'll like it too, dude. You gon' try some?" Daryl held the bowl in Vincent's direction again.

Vincent shook his head, his thumb returning to his mouth.

"A'right, suit yourself." Daryl shrugged and sat back. "C'mon, Negan. Let's eat."

Negan squinted his eyes as Daryl started to eat the fish out of Vincent's bowl.

Vincent's expression mirrored Negan's once more. He looked confused too as he watched his uncle eat out of his special bowl.

With curiosity finally getting the better of him, Vincent held onto Daryl's shoulder and got on his tiptoes to peer into the bowl and get a better look at the fish. He turned up his nose and shook his head when Daryl held a piece in his direction.

Daryl didn't give in, he kept the piece held out.

Vincent's big round eyes stared at the fish for a second before he opened his mouth wide and let Daryl pop it into his mouth.

Vincent looked less than impressed as he awkwardly chewed. He opened his mouth again, letting pieces of chewed-up fish spill down his chin.

"Guess that's a no to the fish." Negan laughed as Daryl wiped away the grossness with no hesitation using just his hand. "I'll see what else we got for him."

Negan stood up but stopped to look at Daryl.

"You're gonna be a great fucking dad by the way." He told him.

Daryl looked a little stunned by the comment, his body stiffened. He cleared his throat and shrugged, stuffing another piece of fish into his mouth.

"Yeah, well if your dumb ass can do it... " He murmured.