Rosie hated the Sanctuary. She hated it with every bone in her body. She wanted to go back to Alexandria, but, of course, Daryl wouldn't allow it. Rosie wasn't allowed in Alexandria anymore. Not unless she was under constant supervision. This was because Negan was being kept in a cell in Alexandria and Rosie had been caught going to talk to him three times before she and Daryl ended up moving to the Sanctuary. Rick wanted to keep the Sanctuary running, so it could grow to become something similar to Alexandria, the Hilltop, the Kingdom, or Oceanside. But Rick was too busy in Alexandria to lead at the Sanctuary, so that job went to Daryl. Rosie was pretty sure that Daryl hated it even more than she did.
There were several reasons for them to hate the Sanctuary, which Rick didn't care to take into account. One reason was that nothing grew at the Sanctuary. They could plant a thousand different plants, and all of them would die. Another reason was that it was an abandoned factory and was constantly gloomy. In addition to that, it was crawling with raging assholes. Some of them even still believed in what Negan preached. And, last but most certainly not least, Rosie and Daryl had both been held captive in this place, and they couldn't help but think about it.
But, of course, the Sanctuary needed a leader and Rick wanted Daryl to do it.
As Rosie made her way through the Sanctuary, she made sure to glare at her least favorite people, like Justin and Arat. She was looking for Daryl, because she had run out of pages in her notebook and wanted to know if he knew where she could find any other notebooks to draw in. She found him outside, fixing something on his motorcycle.
"Hey, Daryl?" Rosie said, coming up to stand beside him. He kept his focus on the motorcycle, but hummed out a what? Rosie held her notebook out in front of his face and he turned to her, his eyes squinted to block out the sunlight. "Outta pages," Rosie told him.
"That sucks," Daryl told her before turning back to the bike.
"That's not what you were s'posed to say," Rosie murmured, pressing her lips together even though he wasn't even looking at her to see her expression.
"What was I s'posed to say?" Daryl asked, slightly amused with her response.
"I don't know. Maybe, 'Oh, I gotta notebook in my room. You can have it and draw so many dinosaurs because you're so good at drawing and everyone loves to see your art'," Rosie said, making her voice deep and scratchy while exaggerating her accent in an attempt to imitate Daryl's voice. "Knew ya wouldn't say that, though," she muttered.
Daryl scoffed out a laugh at her impression of him. "Well, I don't got any notebooks, but you can draw on the walls on the other side of the building, like ya did at the prison," he said, gesturing over to the north side of the factory. Rosie squinted her eyes and held her notebook up high to block out the sun as she looked over to where he was pointing. "No one'll bother ya over there. Just keep a knife with you, in case ya see any walkers," he explained his reasoning. He was right. No one really went over there, most of the time. People usually stayed inside, out by the crops, or outside where they kept the vehicles. The right side of the factory was away from all of that. Rosie nodded, liking the idea. "I'll keep an eye out for a notebook when I go, though," Daryl added on.
"Where're you goin'?" Rosie asked, furrowing her eyebrows. He hadn't told her he was going anywhere. Usually, he told her a day or two in advance if he was leaving. But, sometimes, he'd forget to tell her, or purposefully not tell her for whatever reason he had. This was one of the times when he didn't tell her he was leaving on purpose, because he didn't want to hear her begging to come with him for two days straight.
"On a run. Takin' supplies from an old museum in DC," Daryl told her. Rosie's heart skipped a beat and her stomach bubbled with excitement. Museums had dinosaur fossils, usually. Maybe this museum would have some. Before she could even ask, though, Daryl shook his head. "You can't come. The cities too overrun," he said, already knowing what she was about to ask.
"But-"
"No. I'll take ya when you're older, a'right?" Daryl said sternly.
"Ok," Rosie sighed. She wanted to argue more, to try and convince him, but it never worked. It only irritated him, and Rosie didn't like when he was mad at her. So she just took no for an answer. "If they got any dinosaur teeth, can ya take one, though? Henry said he saw T-Rex teeth when his school went to the museum, and Ian said he did, too," Rosie said, bouncing on her toes.
"Sure," Daryl said, standing up. He seemed to have fixed whatever he was working on. Wrapping an arm around Rosie's shoulder, he pulled her into his side. "Be good. If anyone bothers ya, find Rosita. I'll be back 'fore ya go to bed," he said. Rosie nodded and Daryl pressed a kiss to the top of her head before letting go of her and getting onto his bike.
As Daryl tied a black bandana around his face, Rosie backed up, out of the way of his bike. "Don't forget about the dinosaur teeth!" Rosie reminded him as he turned on the engine. He nodded his head before riding off, going to a museum that Rosie would kill to go to. She couldn't wait until she got older. She wished she could just grow now, so she could be someone who protected other people rather than being someone who other people protected.
•
Rosie had been drawing outside with a rock for about two hours when she got bored of only having one color. She didn't know if they had any actual chalk, and she didn't really want to ask anyone. But she wanted colors. Rocks only worked as white chalk. With just a rock, she couldn't draw the grass or the sun or any scientifically accurate dinosaurs she could think of. She hoped Daryl would find a notebook, so she could use her colored pencils again. She tried to be grateful, though. She felt like she did a lot of complaining and she didn't have any right to. Things had been worse. She didn't need to be complaining right now. At least she could go outside and draw. There had been times when going outside at all would be risking her life. Maybe going outside still was risking her life, but not nearly as extreme as it had been in the past. At least she was safe now. Somewhat safe.
Who would have chalk? Rosie wondered. There was no harm in asking, right? Maybe no one would have any, but maybe they would. Eugene knew most things. Maybe he knew if anyone had chalk. Rosie backed away from the wall she'd been drawing on. The art only covered a strip at the bottom of the building, because Rosie couldn't reach any higher. It still looked cool, though, and Rosie was excited to see if she could color it in. She had come over here almost immediately after Daryl left, so her notebook was on the ground next to the wall. She knew she'd be right back, so she left it there and went inside in search of Eugene.
Walking through the Sanctuary when everyone was up and about- especially when Daryl wasn't there- always made Rosie feel a bit anxious, so she made sure to keep her eyes away from anyone else's eyes. She'd occasionally send glares over to people she didn't like, but she was too focused on finding Eugene to glare at anyone. She found him near the crops, marking something down on some sort of instruction manual.
"Eugene?" Rosie said, getting his attention. He kept his attention down at whatever manual he had, but Rosie figured he was listening, anyway. "Do ya know if we got any chalk?" she asked.
"Chalk as in the sidewalk chalk variety, or chalk as in the chalkboard chalk variety?" Eugene asked, still not looking up from the manual he had in his hands.
"Um," Rosie murmured. She didn't know the difference. "Either," she settled on saying.
"I believe there is a box of the sidewalk chalk variety near the paint," Eugene answered.
"Thanks," Rosie said, not bothering to stay and see if Eugene was going to say you're welcome or not. She hurried over to where they kept the paint. And, as usual, Eugene was right. There was a box of sidewalk chalk on one of the shelves. They did seem to be out of paint, though. They'd painted the walls one color, but lots of times people would spray paint things on the walls, and they'd have to paint over it. Rosie took the box of chalk and began making her way outside to the wall she had been drawing on.
When Rosie got outside and neared the north wall of the Sanctuary, she was confused when she heard what sounded like water flowing. Then she spotted the green hose twisting around to the side of the building. She quickened her pace until she finally reached the north wall. Justin was out there, spraying the wall with the hose and washing away all of Rosie's drawings.
"Stop it!" Rosie shouted at him. Then she remembered that she had left her notebook out there. Her eyes searched the ground for it and she spotted it right where she had left it, next to the wall. The problem was that the water from the wall was dripping down onto it. Rosie ran over to the notebook and picked it up. The thing was extremely soggy. Rosie's stomach began to hurt and she started to feel her face burn. "Justin, stop it!" Rosie shouted, stomping over to him and trying to shove him away.
Justin was big and much stronger than her, though. He was quite tall and had a strong build. He had long, brown hair and a beard. Rosie hated his guts. "What?" Justin said, not stopping rinsing the wall down. Rosie's push had done nothing. "It's vandalism. I'm supposed to clean up vandalism."
"Daryl said I could! Stop it!" Rosie yelled, trying to shove him once more.
Letting the hose drop to the ground, Justin grabbed onto Rosie's wrist and pulled her closer to him. He bent down to reach her eye level and, despite how hard her heart was beating, Rosie gave him the meanest glare she could. Justin tugged on her arm again, making it a bit sore. "Don't put your hands on me, Dixon. Didn't your daddy teach you some respect?" Justin seethed. Rosie didn't say anything, still only glaring at him. She wasn't used to people calling her Dixon, but some of the ex-Saviors opted out of using her first name. She didn't mind, usually, but she hated everything Justin did, just because he was an asshole. "You hear me?" Justin asked, tugging on her arm once again.
"Fuck off," Rosie spat, pulling herself out of his grip. He could've kept her there, she knew that, but he let her go, knowing he'd already done enough to piss her off. Rosie snatched her notebook off the ground and went inside, going up to her room. She supposed she would just hide in there until dinner.
•
Rosie was sitting on the higher level of the Sanctuary, eating a bowl of the soup a nice woman had made. She let her legs dangle over the side as she looked down at the others below. She didn't like to sit down there with them, so she usually sat up above, or she ate in her room. She finished the soup and set the empty bowl down on the ground next to her, then leaned forward to rest her arms on the railing.
"Rick Grimes is here!" a woman shouted below. Rosie looked toward the entrance and was glad to see Daryl walk in, Rick, Michonne, and a few others right behind him. As Rosie hurried down the stairs, she heard people murmur about the man who ended the war. It was weird that they thought of Rick like that. He was just Rick.
When Rosie reached the main floor, she hurried over to where Daryl was walking and bounced on her toes. "Ya see any dinosaur fossils?" Rosie asked excitedly, anticipation bubbling up inside her stomach.
"Gimme a minute, Ro," Daryl murmured just as Laura appeared on his other side.
"I checked out the supplies. It's a pretty good haul. You should let everybody know," Laura said, speaking quickly.
"I ain't gettin' up on a stage and givin' a damn speech like him," Daryl snapped, making everyone go quiet. Rosie backed off, understanding that he was probably feeling a bit overwhelmed. Daryl took a breath, trying his hardest to keep his cool. "It's bad timing. We just lost someone out there," he apologized. Rosie wondered who it was. He would've told her already if it was anyone she knew well.
"Daryl," Michonne spoke loudly, grabbing everyone's attention. She was looking at the wall, her eyebrows pinched together. Rosie went to stand behind her to see what she was looking at. It was something someone had written on the walls. That had been happening more often lately, Rosie couldn't help but notice. SAVIORS SAVE US! WE ARE STILL NEGAN, the message wrote. Michonne pointed at it. "Does this happen often?" she asked.
"More and more since the crops been dyin'," Daryl answered, nodding. He turned back to look at the small crowd of people who he had walked in with. "Eugene, Jerry, you know who did that?" he asked. Both Eugene and Jerry answered with their own ways of saying no. Daryl turned to Rosie, and she just shook her head before he could even ask. He then took a moment to look round at everyone and his eyes landed on Justin. He hated Justin, but Rosie was sure that no one could hate Justin as much as she hated Justin. "Justin, clean that up," he said.
Justin was lounging on a chair, reading a book. He glanced over at the wall where Daryl was pointing, then lazily turned back to Daryl. "How?" he asked.
"What d'you mean how? Paint over it," Daryl said, clearly annoyed with him despite the fact that he'd only been talking to him for about thirty seconds.
"We just used up all the paint," Justin said.
"Figure it out," Daryl told him. Justin just stared at him for a moment before rolling his eyes and tossing his book down. Rosie wished he would just drop dead, right then and there. While Rick went to talk to the ex-Saviors, Daryl went over to Rosie. "You eat somethin'?" he asked, and Rosie nodded.
"Soup. It tasted kinda bad, though," Rosie murmured, scrunching her face up a little. "Had vegetables in it."
"Vegetables are good for you," Daryl said, making Rosie roll her eyes. He put his hand on her back for a moment. "It's late. You oughta be goin' to bed. I gotta talk to Rick. I'll come up there in a little while," he said.
"Ok," Rosie said. She didn't used to like going to bed, but now she didn't mind it so much. She liked being up in her room better than she liked being downstairs with everyone else, so going to bed wasn't so bad anymore. She wanted to ask about the dinosaur fossils again, but she figured it could wait until morning. Daryl didn't seem to be in the best mood. So, she went off, up the stairs, and into her room.
Rosie's room wasn't at all empty at the Sanctuary, but it was missing any glow-in-the-dark stars. She wished she could've brought the stars from her room in Alexandria with her, but they were still stuck on the ceiling. She had taped up some drawings on the walls, but not very many, and she had also taped up a picture of her and Fraser. She had a desk, now, that she got to draw at, and a cup to put her colored pencils in. Sometimes it reminded her of her cell at the prison, but she liked the prison much, much more than she liked the Sanctuary.
When Rosie got to her room, she changed into her pajamas. Her dinosaur pajamas and space pajamas from Alexandria still fit. She knew she'd grow out of them eventually, though. That was the only reason she would ever not want to grow up. But every other part of getting older seemed good. She'd have more freedom, and she'd be strong, and people wouldn't be able to push her around so much. Or, at least, that's how she imagined it.
Despite the time, Rosie didn't go right to sleep. She first went to her desk, where she had set her notebook to dry. It wasn't fully dry yet, but the pages that had dried were all wrinkly and made it so the notebook didn't close properly. Rosie frowned and looked away. She didn't want to think about that anymore. Next, Rosie went over to her dresser. There was a stack of books on top. She chose the one at the top of the stack, which she had been reading. It was about these two women who built planes and worked in a factory during World War II. Rosie thought it was boring at first, but then she started to actually enjoy it. She liked to imagine that the women worked in this factory and that they used to build planes there. It made the whole factory seem a bit cooler to her. She had been reading for about 45 minutes when there was a knock on the door. Rosie knew it was Daryl, because no one else would be knocking on her door, so she told him to come in.
"Hey," Daryl said as he came into the room. Rosie sat up more, sitting criss-cross on top of her blanket. Daryl sat down next to her. "You didn't draw nothin' on that wall," he said.
"I did. But Justin washed it off with the hose," Rosie said, sighing as she glanced over at her notebook. She knew it wouldn't be dry yet, but she couldn't help but look at it.
"I fuckin' hate that asshole," Daryl grumbled, pressing his pointer finger and thumb into his closed eyes. Rosie nodded in agreement. She fuckin' hated that asshole, too. But she wasn't supposed to say it like that.
They were left in a comfortable silence for a few moments until Rosie got up off the bed and got out to hair ties. "Can you braid my hair?" she asked, holding the hair ties out in front of him.
Daryl sighed as he took the hair ties. "Didn't I do this yesterday? Why'd ya even take 'em out if you're just gonna want 'em back in?" he complained as Rosie got her hairbrush off of her desk.
"No, you did it three days ago, and I gotta take 'em out, or else they'll be all messed up," Rosie explained, handing him the hairbrush next. She sat down in front of him. "Plus, Maggie said ya gotta practice."
"Whatever. Just sit still," Daryl told her as he began brushing through the knots in her hair.
Rosie sat quietly for a minute, but she grew impatient. She wanted to hear about the museum. "Were there dinosaur fossils there? Did they have any T-Rex skeletons?" she asked, her excitement making her words come out all fast and strung together.
"Quit movin'," Daryl said, adjusting her head as he began braiding the second braid in her hair. Rosie chewed on her lip impatiently. "They had skulls of those ones ya said people think are triceratops, but ain't," Daryl said.
"Torosaurus? They got torosaurus skulls there?" Rosie asked, her stomach bubbling with excitement.
"Yeah. Had a shit ton a' them. And one a' them dinosaurs that looks like an armadillo," Daryl said.
"Ankylosaurus? That's the one you gave me after the farm. Ya found one and you gave it to me," Rosie said, holding back from listing off facts about ankylosaurs that she was sure she'd told Daryl several times before. "Did they have T-Rex teeth? Or- or any dinosaur teeth?" Rosie asked hopefully. Daryl tied off the second braid, accidentally tugging on Rosie's hair. "Ow," she complained, even though it barely hurt at all.
"Had a shit ton a' teeth, too. Didn't have no T-Rex ones, but they had some velociraptor ones. Least, that's what the label said," Daryl said. Rosie scooted away from him and sat on her knees, waiting impatiently as Daryl began to dig around in his pocket. He pulled out a small bag and handed it over to Rose. Inside it were small, velociraptor teeth fossils. Rosie's eyes widened as she stared at the bag. "Look," Daryl said, grabbing her attention again. He held out a necklace with one of the teeth hanging from a black string. "Had these in the gift shop," he said.
"Holy shit," Rosie muttered, staring at the teeth. "These are real-life velociraptor teeth. Like- like the toy I got. But it's really real."
"C'mere," Daryl said, taking the necklace back. Rosie sat in front of him again and he tied the necklace around her neck. The tooth fell just below the lapis hanging from the necklace Fraser had once given her. When he was done, Rosie scooted back against her pillow and sort of just stared at the fossil, amazed. She almost couldn't believe it. Daryl pulled her into his side. "I'm goin' to Hilltop tomorrow. Carol's stayin' here, takin' over for awhile. Givin' me a break. You can come with me," he said, looking down at the fossils with her.
"I can show Ian the fossils, then," Rosie said excitedly, smiling wide. She hadn't seen Ian or Henry in a while. Sometimes she got to talk to them over the walkie, but barely ever. Liam was missing. No one had seen him since what he'd done to Fraser's hoodie and Rosie couldn't bring herself to care.
"Yeah," Daryl said, feeling better than he had felt before. Rosie was good at lightening his mood, even when she wasn't trying to. "You gotta go to bed, now, though. Don't be stayin' up all night starin' at them fossils," he said.
"Fine," Rosie huffed, still staring down at the necklace. She leaned further into Daryl's side, giving him a lazy sort of halfway hug. "G'night," she murmured.
"Night, Rose," Daryl said before kissing the top of her head. He got up and flipped the lights off. "Go to sleep," he told her before closing the door. Rosie buried herself beneath her blankets and ran her thumb over the velociraptor fossil.