The Best of Me ( Rickyl )

Epilogue

It's because of Daryl that Rick reapplied for the Police Academy. Daryl would want him to live his dream and right now riding in the police car with Shane by his side, it was exactly the future Rick had always pictured and he knew Daryl was smiling down on him. He knew Daryl would be proud.

"Well, this is your third phone call in two days. That's a record for you." Rick responded through the phone and he could almost hear his son rolling his eyes at him.

"Very funny. No, I'm actually calling because there's something that I wanted you to know. You remember how that nurse, Siddiq, told me that if I waited a year I could file a request to find out who donated my heart?" Carl explained.

"Yeah. Did you decide to go ahead with it?" Rick asked.

"Well, actually, I did go ahead with it. I got the information yesterday and it said he was 39 years old when he died." Carl began to explain as Rick reached for his coffee and took another sip. "Get this, he was actually from your hometown, so I thought maybe you knew him. Daryl Dixon."

Rick practically choked on his coffee as he coughed a few times and quickly covered his mouth with his hands in pure shock. Daryl saved his sons life. It was Daryl's heart... holy shit.

"Dad, you there?" Carl's voice questioned through the phone, bringing Rick back to real world as he blinked back his tears.

"Yeah. I'm here." Was all he managed to say.

"So, did you know him?"

"Yes. I knew, Daryl." Rick answered causing Shane's head to snap around to him and Rick could see the confusion on the mans face out the corner of his eye before he quickly focused back on the road.

"Great, so I'm at moms house for the first week of Spring Break, but the next week when I'm at yours... maybe you can tell me a bit about him?" Carl suggested and Rick couldn't stop the smile forming on his face as a silent tear fell down his cheek.

"I would love that." He answered.

"Cool. I gotta go. I'm meeting this girl, Enid, for lunch. She's in my English class. I'm totally loving college. Alright, I love you, dad. Bye." Carl said and Rick didn't even have a chance to say goodbye back before Carl hung up.

He slowly lowered the phone from his ear and stared out the front windscreen trying to process what his son had just told him. Daryl had saved his sons life.

"Everything alright?" Shane asked, a hint of worry etched into his tone. Rick quickly wiped the tear from his cheek and looked over at him to find Shane already looking at him worriedly.

"It was Daryl." Rick stated causing Shane to stare at him in confusion before he focused back on the road as Rick continued.

"It was his heart. Carl's heart donor was Daryl." He explained and Shane didn't say anything for a seconds as he took in what Rick had just said.

"Holy shit." He exclaimed, quickly pulling the car over on the side of the road as he turned to face Rick properly to find the man was smiling happily despite the tears in his eyes.

"Daryl saved my sons life..." Rick trailed off unable to finish his sentence as a few more tears fell down his cheek. Carl was alive because of Daryl. Daryl's heart was inside Carl, it was Daryl's heart.

"You still okay for this trip? We can call Officer Chambler and tell her we can't make it." Shane suggested, but Rick shook his head.

"I'm fine. Let's keep driving. It'll be good to go there and mom has already organised to have dinner with us. If we pull out now, it'd be the end of the world. Like full on apocalypse, end of the world and we don't want that." Rick responded with a soft chuckle and Shane nodded in agreement.