HEART TO HEART-106
"Daryl, what'd she say? Are they okay?" Enid asked as Daryl and Max walked back into the Hilltop.
Daryl nodded. "Yeah, they will be. We got to hand back the girl. Where's Henry?"
"I don't know. Why?" Tammy Rose replied as they walked towards the jail.
"He's gonna want to say goodbye."
"Daryl, Tara, and Yumiko went to get Lydia," Magna said as she walked toward them.
Max frowned. "What do you mean?"
"She decided while you two were out there when she saw Luke and Alden." The woman answered as Yumiko and Tara hurried toward them.
"Hey, she's gone."
Daryl growled. "How you mean she's gone?"
"Her door was open key was in the lock," Tara said, as something clicked in Max's brain.
"Henry. He must have let her out," Max signed.
"Daryl, you know we have to do this," Tara says.
The redneck nodded. "Alright, split up. Find Henry, we find the girl. Max with me,"
After the Dixons searched multiple places around Hilltop, Daryl grabbed one of Henry's shirts from the boy's bag, hopped out of the trailer, and whistled for Dog.
"Dog! C'mon, smell," he said, placing the shirt at Dog's nose.
Dog barked, racing off towards the scent lead making Daryl and Max hurry after. The dog lead the pair to the stack of wood crates, the teenager knew about the secret exit.
"Wait, watch out, Dad," he said, picking up the door of the secret passage. "Hidden exit, used it during the war with the Saviors. Henry and Lydia must have gone through here."
"Shit," His father muttered, looking down into the passage.
"They snuck out?" Enid said as she and Addy came up behind them.
"Yeah. Go tell the others. I can track 'em,"
Addy shook her head. "You don't have to. I know where he probably took her."
Shouting echoed from the first gates as Daryl pointed to it. "Go see what it is,"
"I can get Henry and Lydia," Enid said, stepping closer to the oldest Dixon.
"No, it's my problem. Go," His father grunted.
"And Alden's mine. Look,t this is how we get him back. Look. I-I've known Henry since he was a kid. He likes me. I can talk to him." Enid pleaded, looking at the redneck.
"Go. c'mon, Dog, Max," The redneck said as he and his son hurried back towards the gates of Hilltop.
Max climbed back up the tower, looking over the fence he saw Connie picking up the baby as a small herd came towards them. The woman disappeared in the corn as walkers followed.
His father, Tammy Rose, Earl, and Kelly went to rescue Connie and the baby before Enid and Addy came back with Henry and Lydia.
He watched as his father held the younger girl by the arm, leading her out of Hilltop and toward her mother. His dad and Alpha traded Lydia for Alden and Luke, the girl stepped in front of her mother and was hit in the face before she was streeled towards the rest of the Whisperers.
That night, Max climbed up the ladder that lead to the loft in the stables and saw his father sitting on the floor playing with his necklace. His mother's ring hung from the chain, the gem sparkled as the light from the lamp shined on it.
She had left it in the shoe box with the stuff that was important to her. He found the box in one of his mother's drawers a year after it happened, looking for something for Cassie. Inside the box was the ring, letters for Lee and Carl, a couple of random stuff, and two pregnancy tests.
One of them was Cassidy, and the second one had been new, which meant she was pregnant when she and Rick blow up the bridge. Max had stared at the test for what felt like hours before he hid it somewhere nobody could it, especially his father.
If his father found out that his mom was pregnant when she died, it would have hurt him more than it already has.
"I'm sorry." Max started, causing his father to look up at him. "For what I said."
His father shook his head, looking down. "Nah, you're right,"
It was silent as he sat down in front of his dad. "Some people are meant to be parents. You're one of them. You're the best dad me and Cassie could ask for."
He watched his father play with his mom's ring for a moment, seeing the pain in his dad's eyes before he spoke again.
"My mom...my biological mom, she was a very kind woman. She loved volunteering and being a doctor, but what she loved the most was me. I was her only child, she couldn't have any more after me. So she tried to make my dreams come true until she died."
His biological mother, Bonnie Harper was a kind woman, a heart of gold. She adored her son, cherished him and wanted him to have a beautiful life. She was diagnosed with Leukemia at twenty eight, struggling with it for years, but she was always put her son first.
The day she died, Max was lost.
"Then I went to live with my dad, he divorced my mom after finding out she couldn't have more kids. That's when he married Maria. She hated me like she hated mom."
His biological father, Kellen Harper was a fairly good man but not a heart of gold like Bonnie was. He wanted more children after he had his first son and had two daughter from his marriage before Bonnie. But when he found out his wife couldn't have any more children, divorcing her was the only option for him.
Then he married Maria and didn't know she hated children.
"Then the world went to shit, dad died a few months before we made it to Woodbury, and then I met mom. She could've let me in the woods after we escaped from Woodbury, to die, but she didn't. Mom kept me safe and protected me. Then we found you and your brother, I instantly felt a connection between the three of us."
Max bumped his knee into his father's, making the man look up at him.
"You're not a bad father. I don't blame you for isolating yourself. I understand. Losing someone like mom was hard. I lost two. I was only angry because you left Cassie. She needed—needs you. You are worth asking about. I don't think she will ever get tried of asking for you. She loves you to much." Max explained, wiping away a stray tear. "There is something I wanted know. What's the reason you don't want to see Cassie anymore?"
Silence filled the air as Daryl cleared his throat.
"She reminds me of her."
"Dad..." Mac started but his father cut him off.
"She looks just like your mom. Everything except for her eyes. When I look at Cassie, all I see is mom. The same color hair, dark brown almost black, same nose, everything is the same—"
"Expect her eyes." Max finished. "She has your eyes. Shape and color."
Daryl nodded, clearing his throat some more as he was getting chocked up. "I thought if I stayed away, not seeing Cassie, I coulda healed, but I was wrong. I'm sorry, Max."
Max leant forwards, wrapping his arms around his father's shoulder, which Daryl returned. The father and son haven't hugged in years and the teenager missed this.