𝙸𝙽𝚃𝙴𝚁𝚅𝙰𝙻 𝙴𝙸𝙶𝙷𝚃
Daryl had barely slept the night before. After reading every detail of the making of his relationship with Anita, he felt all those old feelings beginning to resurface. It took Daryl years to get over Anita's death and he did that by taking care of their daughter and I did work. All of the love and attention he could no longer give to Anita, it gave it to Danita but after reading those entries, Daryl felt all that pain from the past start to bubble up inside of him.
He knew he needed to get a hold on himself. Tomorrow, Daryl and Danita were meant to spend the day together. One day every week, Daryl would take a day off going on runs and scavenging and protecting Alexandria. He would use that free day to spend some father-daughter time with Danita and it was what made them so close to begin with.
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The next morning, both Daryl and Danita had gotten ready for the day. They both left Alexandria and Daryl summarised what he had read in Anita's diary after Danita had fallen asleep. Obviously, he left out the details consisting of them both sleeping together for the first time, and the fact that Glenn asked if Anita had gone to the watch tower to give Daryl some dessert. Anything not child friendly, he left out. When Daryl stopped the car, both he and Danita got out and Danita was stood face to face with a muerto.
"I got it." Danita said, pulling her knife out, kicking the muerto in the knee before stabbing it in the brain, killing it.
"Good girl, you okay?" Daryl asked her.
"Yep, no bites or scratches." Danita grinned. It was then when Danita looked at where they were and she gasped in excitement. There was a beautiful waterfall surrounded by the trees.
"You like it?" Daryl asked as he pulled out a basket full of food from the car.
"Yeah, it's so pretty." Danita said.
"I brought your mom here when we first moved to Alexandria. I found this place when I was out hunting with your Uncle Aaron." Daryl said as both he and Danita sat under a tree close to the lake. "She loved it, too."
"I wish I could remember her." Danita pouted.
"You were two years old. Ain't no-one remembers nothing from that age." Daryl said. "That's why we have her diaries."
"You're not going to die, too, are you?" Danita asked, her voice more timid with fear laced into it and Daryl felt his heart break. Everything he ever did, he did for Danita. He kept himself alive for her. He didn't want his daughter ever having to go through the pain of losing two parents at a young age.
"Hey, I ain't ever leaving ya'." Daryl said, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Yer gonna be lookin' after me when I'm old and grey with a walking stick."
Danita giggled. "You're already old. Your beard is grey." Danita laughed, making Daryl gasp dramatically and tickle her, making her laugh out loud.
"I will always be here for ya', no matter what." Daryl said. "I should tell ya', when we read the next few entries, yer gonna find out a lot but that don't mean that I don't love ya' now. Everything in these diaries are from the past. How I was back then and how I am now, especially when it comes to you, it's all changed. I will always love ya' and I need ya' to remember that."
Danita looked up at her dad and nodded. She didn't really know what to expect from the next few entries based on what her father just said. Should she be worried? She truly didn't know. "Can we read some more?" Danita asked as she pulled the dark green notebook out of Daryl's bag. Daryl looked hesitant, like he didn't really want to read it to her which was the truth. Daryl was scared to read the next few entries. He knew what was coming, he knew what happened back then and he didn't want Danita thinking he didn't love her or that maybe he was taking care of her because he had to. That was far from the truth.
Danita was always going to be Daryl's little girl, his entire world, whether she hated him or whether she loved him. Daryl sighed and opened the diary, starting the next entry.
"Dear Diary..."