"I mean it. Off my land," was the last thing Hershel said before disappearing into the house with his family.
When it was all over, Rosie rushed off on her own, not wanting to be around any of them when they were mad. She went to the RV and sat at the table, leaning down on the table with her head in her arms. She looked up again, though, when she heard footsteps coming into the RV.
Daryl leaned against the counter across from her. "You a'right?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a little.
Rosie chewed on the inside of her lip. "Why?" she asked.
"Never asked after, uh... after Sophia. Prob'ly should've," Daryl replied, lifting himself up to sit on the counter. Rosie just shrugged and fiddled with the brachiosaurus from the four dinosaur toys she left on the table before. Dale had never come back to talk about them. "Hey," Daryl said, making Rosie's eyes flicker up to him again. "Ya gonna answer me?"
"I'm fine. Just thinkin'."
"'Bout what?" Daryl asked, trying to get her to actually say what she was feeling. He could tell there was something off lately. She'd been extra quiet around certain people and had a guilty sort of look on her face.
"Lots a' things."
"What things?"
"Don't think I'm s'posed ta tell," Rosie replied, shrugging.
Daryl furrowed his eyebrows and stared at her for a moment, trying to decipher what the guilty look she had meant. "Ya do somethin'?" he guessed.
"No."
"Someone else do somethin'?"
"I don't know."
"What the hell's that s'posed ta mean?" Daryl scoffed. He slid off of the counter and stepped closer to the table, leaning on it with his right hand. "Someone do somethin' to ya or not?"
"Not to me."
"Jesus, kid," Daryl sighed. He sat down on the booth across from her. "Jus' tell me what the hell yer talkin' about."
Rosie stared at him for a second, hoping he would just leave, but he didn't. He stayed and waited for her to answer. Part of her wanted to tell him everything because then she finally wouldn't have to keep these secrets anymore, but the other part of her said, don't tell or you'll get in trouble.
But the secrets were so hard to keep, and if she was going to tell anyone, she figured Daryl would be the best option. So she let it spill.
"Lori's pregnant and maybe doesn't wanna be, and Dale thinks Shane killed that Otis guy, and Shane was gettin' mad at Dale and bein' scary, and I think he's mad at Rick too, but I don't know why, and Maggie was mad at Glenn, but then she was kissin' him and it was gross, and I don't understand how people can get pregnant on accident," Rosie explained in one long word vomit. Daryl stared at her for a moment, unsure of where to even begin, but then Rosie added on even more to her big, long sentence. "And everyone keeps tellin' me I don't gotta worry about any of it, but I keep worryin' about all of it."
"You been eavesdroppin'?" Daryl asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Rosie tossed her head back with complaint.
"Not on purpose," she groaned.
"Rose, you gotta stop worryin' 'bout people gettin' mad. I told ya, no one's gonna-"
"He killed that guy," Rosie said, rubbing her hands over her eyes.
"I know," Daryl said, sighing. Rosie's eyes widened at him. "Came back with the dead guy's gun, said he was coverin' him. Can't do that without a gun."
"Why didn't you tell me?" Rosie asked, her stomach starting to ache.
"'Cause nothin's gonna happen to ya," Daryl said. The way he said it made it sound like he was sure of it. Rosie didn't know how he could be sure.
"You don't know."
"I do. S'long as ya don't go runnin' off."
"How?"
"'Cause I won't let nothin' happen. Just don't go nowhere without tellin' me," Daryl told her, giving her a reassuring nod. Rosie nodded back, feeling a little better about the whole thing. If Daryl said he wouldn't let anything happen, he meant it. For whatever reason, Rosie felt like she could trust him on that. She still thought she ought to stay away from Shane, though.
"What about Lori?"
"Lori's baby is Lori's business. Don't go 'round tellin' no one about it. Not until she says."
"I haven't told anyone. 'Cept for you."
"Good."
"I wasn't s'posed to tell you, though. I wasn't s'posed to tell anyone."
"You can tell me whatever ya wanna tell me. I ain't gonna tell no one. 'Specially if ya can't stop lookin' like yer keepin' a secret."
"You could tell?"
Daryl scoffed. "Ya look like ya got caught with yer hand in the cookie jar."
"What?"
"Nothin'. Ya just look guilty."
"Oh," Rosie said. She was quiet for a few more seconds before remembering the part that Daryl hadn't said anything about. "Why were Glenn and Maggie kissin'?" she asked.
"They like each other."
"That's weird."
"Yeah. But that's another thing that doesn't matter 'til you're older."
"Like how ladies get pregnant without meanin' to?" Rosie asked, scrunching her nose up.
"Yeah. Quit askin' 'bout that," Daryl said. Rosie nodded and looked back down at the dinosaurs on the table, thinking about Dale. Daryl watched her for a moment, noticing the slight downturn of the corners of her lips. He sighed, leaning back into the seat. "Why don't ya tell me 'bout those toys ya got there?" he said.
Rosie's eyes lit up immediately, the corners of her lips now lifting into a smile. She hid her smile quickly, but Daryl saw it, and it made him feel a little better about the whole thing. He had no idea how to talk to her about how she felt about everything that had been going on, and he had no idea how to comfort her about any of it, so he thought it'd be easier to make her feel better just by letting her talk about whatever she wanted to.
Even though he had no interest in dinosaurs whatsoever, he sat and listened as Rosie went on about the things she learned about each of the dinosaurs from the books she'd been reading.
•
"Rick?" Rosie said, appearing by Rick's side. He was standing next to the truck, making sure the guns were loaded.
"Hey, Rosie. You doin' ok?" Rick replied, turning to look at her. Rosie thought that maybe she still had the guilty look on her face that Daryl said she had, and that's why Rick was asking.
"Um, yes. Why?"
"It's been a rough day. I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright, and that you know..." Rick stopped and sighed. When he knelt down on one knee in front of Rosie, she took a single step back, confused. "What you did for Sophia and for Annette, it was the right thing to do. You know that, right?" he said, his eyebrows raised a little.
Rosie shrugged. "I think so... is Maggie mad at me?" she said, looking down at her boots.
Rick furrowed his eyebrows, trying to duck down into Rosie's eye line. "No one is mad at you. You did what you had to do." Rosie nodded again, keeping her eyes at her shoes. She looked up again, though, when she felt Rick place his hand on her left shoulder. He gave her a soft smile. "It was a very brave thing to do. I'm proud of you," he said.
The girl's eyes crinkled a bit at the corners and she bit down onto the inside of her bottom lip, trying to fight a smile.
He's proud of me.
No one's ever been proud of me before.
The front door swung open and out stepped Glenn, Maggie right behind him. Rosie noticed that Glenn had his gun in his hand too. "Are you goin' somewhere?" she asked, looking back at Rick.
"Yeah," Rick said, nodding his head as he stood back up to his normal height. "Lookin' for Hershel. Beth's in some sort of shock, and we're hoping he'll know what to do to help her."
Nodding, Rosie looked back over to the porch. Now Glenn and Maggie were standing on the grass, kissing again. She scrunched her face up. "Why do they keep doin' that?"
Rick chuckled a little and leaned his hand on the car door. "Because they like each other," he said.
"That's what Daryl said. But it's gross," Rosie muttered, furrowing her eyebrows at Glenn as he started walking closer.
Smiling a little, Rick ruffled Rosie's hair. "You're absolutely right, Rosie. Don't you forget it," he said before getting into the drivers seat of the truck.
When Glenn got into the passenger seat, Rick started the truck and Rosie began walking up to the porch. But she stopped, changing her mind, when she saw Maggie standing there. The brown-haired woman had her arms crossed and held a look of disdain on her face as she stared past Rosie, to Rick and Glenn in the truck.
Rosie looked back and forth between the men and Maggie, trying to figure out what Maggie was mad about. She couldn't be mad at Glenn because she was just kissing him, and Rick and Daryl said that it was because they liked each other. Was she mad at Rick? Rosie thought back to how reluctant Maggie seemed to letting Glenn go.
She's scared for Glenn.
"Rick'll keep him safe," she said before even thinking about it, looking over at Maggie. She was nervous about it, but she thought that maybe Rick was right. Maybe Maggie wasn't mad at her. Looking at Maggie, Rosie could tell she still wasn't very reassured. It probably didn't mean much, coming from a nine year old kid, but Rosie wanted to reassure her anyway. "I got kidnapped one time in Atlanta. Rick barely even knew me, and I was bein' a jerk to him, but he still got me back. Stood up to a whole gang of mean lookin' guys for me. He'd do the same for Glenn."
Maggie put on a sad smile. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Rosie," she said.
"Well, they were actually real nice. There were lots a' nice old people there too," Rosie said, shrugging. She provided no further context and walked away, heading towards Daryl's tent to get Dinosaurs After Dark from her backpack.
•
Rosie read her book in Daryl's tent for a long time. So long, in fact, that she finished it. She wanted to go inside and ask if there were anymore dinosaur books she could borrow, but she worried that she wasn't allowed inside. She also didn't want to disrupt whatever was going on with Beth, especially having been the one to put down her mother.
So instead, she did something else. First, though, she pulled her flannel out of her bag and slipped on. She climbed out of the tent and decided to wander around, see if she could find any cool bugs. When she got closer to the house, she saw Lori coming down the porch steps with a jacket on.
Seeing Lori in the jacket reminded Rosie that the weather was changing with the seasons. Soon enough, it'd be cold out every day. She knew she was going to need different pants- shorts wouldn't keep her warm enough. She didn't want to bother anyone about it yet, though, so she didn't say anything.
The next thing Rosie noticed was that Lori was loading a gun and heading towards the cars. She furrowed her eyebrows with confusion.
"What are you doin'?" Rosie asked.
Lori jumped at the sound of her voice, tucking the gun into her jacket. "I'm going out to find Rick," she said, unlocking one of the cars.
"Why?"
"It's been too long."
"But you're preg-"
"Rosie," Lori said, giving the girl a serious look. Rosie shut her mouth quickly. "I need him back here. And I'm going to get him. I'll be fine."
Unsure of what else to say or do, Rosie just watched as Lori pulled out of the driveway and left. She didn't understand what the hell Lori was thinking. If she went out there, she wouldn't be anymore safe than she would if Rick was at the farm. Maybe she had some other reason that Rosie didn't understand.
At least, that's what Rosie told herself when she shrugged the whole thing off and went back to looking for bugs.
As she was walking along, she passed by T-Dog and Shane, who were loading the dead walkers into a pile, pulling them off of the back of a truck. She watched with a blank face as they poured gasoline over the bodies and set fire to make-shift torches in their hands.
They dropped the torches onto the pile and the bodies erupted into flames, dark smoke rising into the air. The stench filled the air, making Rosie scrunch her nose up. Not wanting to watch anymore, she turned away and left.