𝐍𝐄𝐅𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 | daryl dixon

- 𝟐𝟒

     he hummed and silently made his way to the motor home.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

     eventually, rosaline decided to pick herself up after a moment. people were starting to dig the graves for their loved ones and she wanted to help. as always, rhaegar helped too. he hopped in with t-dog and started to launch the dirt out of the hole, making the job much faster on him.

     the girl decided to dig the next whole with jimmy. something she couldn't help doing was shooting shane glares every other second. that gesture didn't go unnoticed by lori who told her to take some time off and go get carol for her daughter's funeral.

     "you sure?" she asked.

     lori nodded guiding her over, "yes, go."

     without another word rosaline made her way over to the rv. it was reasonably quiet as daryl sat there on the counter, fiddling with the shotgun he had used to previously shut the walkers down with. she nodded to him and then gazed at carol who looked at her expectantly.

     the woman looked broken. her eyes were red and puffy from all the crying she had been doing that day. rosaline couldn't imagine what she was feeling, she had been affected by the death of the little girl too. everybody didn't pass up on how silent she'd grown, sort of shut-in herself.

     "carol, they're... going to start. for the...ehm..." rosaline trailed off. she couldn't even say it. the woman shook her head as an answer, "please, carol."

     "why?"

     daryl stepped in for her, "cause that's your little girl."

     she spared him a look, "that's not my little girl. that's some other... thing. my sophia was all alone in the woods. all this time i thought... she didn't cry herself to sleep. she didn't go hungry. she didn't try to find her way back. sophia died a long time ago."

     with that, rosaline didn't know what to say. there was no way she could force carol to come to the funerals, so she didn't try. before she exited the rv, daryl stopped her, squeezing her shoulder acknowledging her effort. she offered him a sad smile, before returning to lori to tell her the news.

     unbeknownst to her, the marksman trailed after her.

     "she isn't coming?" lori questioned.

     rosaline shook her head, "she doesn't want to."

     lori decided to go check with the older woman for good measure, but nothing seemed to change her mind. rosaline watched from afar on a log while everyone gathered. it seemed like a long time before she felt the presence of daryl beside her.

     "rosaline, you good?" he asked somewhat softly, compared to his usual tone. that was also one of the first times he referred to her by her name.

     she felt like cracking right there and then. the girl had seen so much death. so much sadness for the past few weeks. it was almost impossible for her to keep up trying to put on a good face for poor carl, who she had been convincing that sophia was alive.

     most of all, she had convinced herself that the little girl was out there, waiting to be rescued.

     "no daryl. i'm not." she breathed out, finally breaking, "you put so much effort into finding sophia and she was in that barn the whole time. you almost died. i thought she was alive, i really did. how can she just be gone? like that? i was watching over her not three weeks ago."

     daryl stared at her for a moment surprised at her showing him so much vulnerability. however, the next thing he did came as a shock to her, he wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulling her into his injured side letting her sob. it seemed like he had let him see a side of her that nobody else has seen - the comforting one.