𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙰𝙻 𝚂𝙸𝚇
"Oh my God, Mom got separated from you guys?" Danita asked in shock as Daryl closed the purple notebook.
"Yeah, there were walkers everywhere. The group were scattered. I remember when we all met back up at the highway. Your mom wasn't there and I felt like shit." Daryl said, making Danita gasp.
"You said a swear!" She gasped.
"Oh, sorry." Daryl chuckled. "Anyways, I was very upset and wanted to go back to find her but Uncle Rick told us we couldn't go back. We thought we had lost both Andrea and Anita. Jimmy, Shane, and Patricia we already knew were dead."
"So, what happened when you left the highway?" Danita asked.
"We drove on for a little while until we ran out of gas. Uncle Rick told us about how people can turn without being bitten and the group weren't happy. I was already miserable without your mom being there so hearing that only made me feel worse." Daryl explained. "Rick told us he killed Shane because...well, pardon my French but he was an ass."
Danita giggled. "He sounded scary." Danita said.
"He kinda was." Daryl said.
"So, what happened after that?" Danita asked. "Is leaving the farm how you ended up here? Alexandria?"
"Actually, no. Before Alexandria, we found another place." Daryl said.
"Where was it?" Danita asked excitedly.
"That's a whole other story for another time. We need to get up." Daryl said. They were still sitting together on Danita's bed.
"No." Danita whined.
"You're meeting Judith today, remember? And me, Uncle Rick and Aaron need to head out, too." Daryl said, making Danita pout.
"Okay." She sighed. Judith was the daughter of Rick and was just over a year older than Danita.
"But I'll start the third diary tonight, okay?" Daryl asked, making Danita smile wide.
"Yay! Thanks, Dad." She squealed, hugging Daryl tight.
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When the day for Danita and Daryl was over, they had both returned home. Danita and Judith hung out all day and Daryl was out with Rick and Aaron. Both father and daughter couldn't wait to get home to read the next diary together. In a way, it was bringing them both even closer than they were before.
Daryl loved Danita and Danita loved Daryl and they were already very close but spending all this time reading Anita's diaries made them even closer. It made Danita feel like she was connecting with her mother.
After having some dinner and playing some games together, it was finally bedtime and like Daryl promised, he grabbed the third diary to read. This notebook was a dark green colour with the number three on it.
"Ready?" Daryl asked Danita once she was tucked into bed.
"Yep." Danita said and Daryl opened up the first page of the notebook and gasped under his breath. There on the inside of the cover, stuck with a little bit of tape was a polaroid picture of Anita and Daryl. A little heart was drawn at the bottom. "What is it?"
"It's me...and your mom." Daryl practically whispered. In the picture, Anita was laying on top of Daryl, her head leaning on his shoulder. Her hair was sprawled all over his chest and her forehead was lined up with his cheek. Daryl looked like he had just woken up, which he actually had at the time the picture was taken. He was looking at Anita confused but she was smiling at the camera as she cuddled into him. Daryl couldn't believe he had forgotten about that picture Anita had taken of the two of them. It had been eight years since Daryl last saw Anita's face, until that very moment when his eyes landed on the polaroid.
"Dad, are you okay?" Danita asked, seeing her father getting very emotional.
"Yeah...it's just been so long since...I saw her face." Daryl said before looking at his daughter. "You haven't seen her face, have you?"
Danita shook her head. She was only two years old when Anita died so she didn't remember what her mother looked like. Daryl turned the notebook to face Danita and she looked at the picture before smiling. "Wow, she was so pretty." Danita said, looking at the photo of her mother.
"She really was." Daryl said.
"What were you both doing when the photo was taken?" Danita asked and Daryl felt his face heat up.
"We....we were playing a game." Daryl said as he scratched the back of his neck.
"What kind of game?" Danita asked.
"Um...well, it's a two player game." Daryl said, feeling very embarrassed.
"So, that means you and I can play it, right?" Danita asked, making Daryl's eyes widen in shock.
"No! No!" Daryl said, extremely flustered. "It's a game that only grown ups can play."
"Oh, is it difficult, like chess?" Danita asked, extremely clueless with what her father was talking about. She was genuinely curious about this 'game'. "I don't like chess."
"You wouldn't like this game either. You'll never be allowed to like it, not until you're an old woman with grey hair." Daryl said sternly, making Danita giggle. Danita still hadn't had the talk yet. When she was maybe a year older, Daryl planned on asking Michonne to talk to her about it.
"Okay, Dad." She giggled, seeing how embarrassed and uncomfortable her dad looked. "Did you at least win a grand prize at the end?"
Daryl sighed and smiled a little as he looked back down at the picture. "I won two grand prizes that day." Daryl said.
"Two? You're lucky. What did you win?" Danita asked.
"I won both of my girls that day." Daryl said, making Danita look at him with the most adorable confused face Daryl had ever seen.
"I don't get it." Danita said, making Daryl chuckle.
"You don't have to get it. Let's just say, my life changed for the better that day." Daryl said. "Now, you ready to hear the next entry?"
"Yeah." Danita said and Daryl's eyes fell onto the two words that started off the next few events that would eventually lead to him winning his two grand prizes.
"Dear Diary..."