The Best of Me ( Rickyl )

Chapter 7

"Well, a few years pass by, we built that little cabin up north and I walked outside one day and Clara was out there in the garden singing; 'What'll I do?' Now, she saw the look on my face and so I told her the story and then she told me hers. It seems like right about that same time, she had a dream where I was singing to her. You care to take a guess at the name of the song?" Dale asked, glancing between the two of them as they both stared at the older man in disbelief.

"No way." Rick whispered causing Dale to chuckle.

"Well, now, I don't know exactly what you'd call that, but... whatever you call it, it got me home." He responded, taking another sip of his beer as Daryl looked over at Rick to find the man still looking at Dale in shock.

-

*Present*

"Daryl?" Rick called out in an uncertain tone from the kitchen and Daryl immediately put down the statue he was wrapping and turned to leave the room before Rick appeared in the doorway to Dale's bedroom holding the photo frame to his chest.

"I need to tell you something." He said seriously and Daryl nodded, instantly knowing that whatever he was going to say was serious.

Rick began to walk into the room, taking a seat on the edge of Dale's bed motioning for Daryl to do the same and he sat down on the bed beside him. He left a little bit of space between the two of them as Rick rested the photo of himself, Dale and his daughter.

"Carl was my first child. Me and Lori were young, probably not ready to have kids yet, but I don't regret it for a second. Then, nine years after Carl was born, Lori and I had another child. A wonderful little girl. She was so full of joy and Dale loved her..." Rick trailed off, looking over at Daryl beside him and suddenly Daryl had a sinking feeling in his heart that this story wasn't going to have a happy ending.

"She was diagnosed with leukemia a few weeks after that picture was taken. She just turned two." Rick explained with a sad smile and Daryl dropped his head, feeling tears beginning to rise in his eyes hearing Rick talk about his baby girl. How the hell do you live with something like that? How would you ever move on?

"And I remember that day. You know, it was just a day. And you want so much to go back to just a... not-so-special day like that, you know? But, you never can." Rick sighed, emotion thick in his voice and Daryl glanced over at him to find his eyes laced with tears.

"I-I can't imagine how difficult that must have been for you and your family." Daryl finally said, shaking his head as he kept his eyes on Rick who quickly wiped the tears from his eyes.

"We both started drinking too much. I quit and she slowed down, but always has a glass every night and goes out with her friends too much, but it's her way of coping I guess." Rick explained, shrugging his shoulders and Daryl sighed.

"I wish I'd have been there for ya." He mumbled, not really knowing what else to say as he looked back towards Rick who slowly shook his head.

"Well, that didn't happen. It's life." He sighed and Daryl rubbed his face with his hands, hating himself even more for what happened all those years ago. Hating how Rick had to go through something like this and he wasn't even there for him.

"What was her name?"

"Judith. Carl named her after his third grade teacher." Rick answered and Daryl smiled softly.

"Your kid actually liked his teachers?" He asked and Rick nodded with a soft chuckle. "Remember our third grade teacher? Mr Daniels? He was one stuck up prick, forced me to pick up rubbish during lunch for a whole week because I fell asleep during class." He muttered in annoyance, but the second Rick began to laugh his face broke out in a slight smile.