{Sylvie's P.O.V}
I've lost track of how much time has passed since Daryl left. I've been in such a slump that I haven't cared about anything. I haven't eaten recently, haven't bathed, and sleep seems to lack the most. Sometimes I disappear into the woods for hours and return covered in walker blood. I go out there looking for Daryl, hoping to find him and convince him to come back; But it never works so I return to the prison in a worse mess than before.
Even Athena has noticed a change, she's stopped asking me to make her meals and read her a bedtime story. Instead, she finds one of the other women to help her out. I wish I felt bad about my behavior, but lately it seems like I'm incapable of feeling anything. It's not just Daryl's leaving that has me like this, it's a mix of all the physical and emotional pain I've endured over the past month or so. Seeing my sister in the way that I did really messed with my head, how could she love someone so evil?
"Your daughter fell and scraped her knee. Figured I'd let you know, not that you'd care anyways." Maggie tells me dully. I look up at her with no expression to my face whatsoever, I just stand up and walk out to the courtyard.
"Sweetie? Are you okay?" I call out, as I haven't seen her yet.
"Down here! She's alright, it's just a scrape." Beth yells to me from the field.
I hurry down to them and lift Athena into my arms. She's sniffling so she must have cried a little bit. It kills me to see her in pain and knowing I wasn't here when she fell.
"I'm so sorry baby... Mommy has been terrible to you lately. I love you so much." I whisper in her ear as I hug her tight.
"Aww, how sweet. Too bad this ain't gonna last." I hear someone say loudly. I look through the fence and there's Justin with that sinister grin.
"Honey, you need to run inside- NOW!" I hiss at her. She looks at me confused so Beth just grabs her and takes off running to the prison.
"What do you want? Haven't you caused enough harm?" I ask him. He chuckles and heads into the woods for a moment.
When he returns, he has someone by the arm with a bag over their head. I just cross my arms, really? Is this all he's got? I probably don't even know this person.
"Say hi to Momma bear, Sylvie. Why don't you tell her about all the fun we had?" He takes off the bag and shoves the person forward.
"Mom?" I gasp. I see my mom's face brighten up when she sees me, as does mine.
"You let her go!" I demand.
"Alright." He simply says. He steps away from her and she runs up to fence, waiting for me to let her in.
All of a sudden, a truck comes barreling down the road into straight through the fence. The truck stops and a man opens the back of the truck. Walkers tumble out and look around hungrily for a meal.
"Mom hurry!" I yell to her. As she starts to run towards me, I see Justin point his gun at her. He pulls the trigger but someone tackles him from behind and the gunshot misses both of us.
"Matthew!" Mom cries out as my step dad and Justin fight for the gun.
Matthew appears to be losing, but then he twists Justin's wrist and is able to get the gun. Without hesitation, he executes the bastard. Justin Moldigan will no longer hurt any more women or men.
Mom and Matthew hug each other but I tug on their arms to get them up to the prison. The field is becoming infested with walkers, so we don't have a whole lot of time. I keep shoving them forward until they get past the gate, on the other hand I feel a hand latch onto my shirt. I'm pulled to the ground and the hungry walker snaps it's jaws. I punch it in the face and then shove it away with all my might. Then I grab my knife from my belt and stab it in the head. From all the commotion, more walkers head my way.
Suddenly fight mode is kicked in and I get a new burst of energy which allows me to kill the half dozen heading my way. As I am about to kill the last one that's close to me, an arrow whizzes into its head and it drops like a sack of potatoes. I turn around and there stands Daryl, Merle and Rick are close behind.
"Daryl... you came back." I gasp. I just want to hug him and kiss him, but after the stunt he pulled I'm reluctant to do so.
He grabs my hand however and pulls me through the gates, along with the others. They close it off and we just watch the walkers bang against the fence. Just when we were starting to get this place secure, those damn Woodbury people had to show up and ruin everything.
"Is everyone okay?" Rick asks. We all nod, luckily we aren't hurt too bad.
"Who are they?" Merle wonders.
"My mom and step dad." I inform him.
I walk with my parents into the prison to introduce them to everyone. When Athena sees them she goes bat shit crazy with happiness.
"Grammy and grampy!" She cheers. Mom bursts into tears when my daughter hugs her, those two were as thick as thieves before all this went down.
"Hows my favorite grand daughter?" Matthew says, kneeling down and smiling at her. She giggles and runs into his arms.
"Thank you... for keeping her safe." Mom whispers to me.
"It's my job." I reply. She bites her lip to prevent from crying and just hugs me.
"I thought i'd lost you..." She says.
After the little reunion is over and we settle down, I put Athena to bed. I read her a bedtime story, and my enthusiasm is back. Just when I thought things were over, they get better and I can't be sad any more.
"Goodnight mommy, I love you." Athena says sleepily. I kiss her forehead and run my fingers through her hair.
"I love you too Athena. Sleep tight." I say to her then leave the room.
Almost instantly I bump into Daryl. He grabs onto my hand, but I try to pull it back. He pulls me into him despite all my fighting.
"Let me go." I hiss.
"No, I ain't ever lettin' ye' go again. I love ye'." He mumbles. I stop fighting so he lets me pull away.
"You can't just come back after betraying me like that! You knew what I went through and you left me to deal with it on my own. I pushed everyone away because of all the pain. You're supposed to be there for me when times are tough! If you can't do that then how can this work?" I scold him.
"I couldn't face ye' after knowing what he did. I was so angry with him that I was afraid I'd hurt ye' and take it out on ye'. I couldn't stay away, I need ye' Sylvie..." He explains sadly.
He looks at me with sad eyes, but I have so much pent up anger that I can't forgive him just because he tells me what I want to hear.
"No! Me and my daughter are better off without you. Goodnight Daryl." I shove him away and cross my arms. He angrily punches the wall and storms outside. I just stand here, my emotions are finally not all over the place and I can remain strong.
"That boy loves you, more than you realize." I hear mom say. I turn around and look at her.
"He left me after I was- after something bad happened. You're supposed to be your partner's rock, not just go away when things are hard." I rant.
"Oh how I've missed the boyfriend talks. Come here." She pulls me into an empty cell and we sit on the bed.
For at least a half hour, we talk about Daryl and how we met and all the details. Then she gives me advice like the good old days and finally we discuss Roslynn. Even my mom doesn't know her anymore, she's become a stranger since getting into drugs.
"How come she didn't come with you guys?" I ask her.
"Because, the governor didn't need us and he gave orders to Justin to turn us over... But he had to kill Rick, and you. I fought so hard to get them to spare your life, But Justin was pissed at you for some reason. And Roslynn, well, Justin wasn't willing to give her up." She explains.
"Well he's dead now, so maybe she'll find us and straighten out." I sigh. Mom shrugs and stares at the floor.
"I saw the signs from the beginning, she flinched when he'd talk or touch her. She always obeyed him though, and she was loyal to him. Matthew tried to do something about it, since he does have training with domestic violence and stuff like that." I nod, one thing about Matthew is he's very strict and tries to control things.
He worked with rape, abuse, and murder victims. He was a detective in Georgia so I often crossed paths with him at the hospital because I would be transporting the victims or we'd both be there for unrelated cases.
"Well, I should probably get to bed. I want to help out tomorrow. I love you sweetie, and take as much time as you need. You have to worry about yourself sometimes too." Mom says then she kisses my forehead.
"Goodnight mom, I love you too."
A/N- Yay this chapter is longer and had more action! I hope you liked it. I'll post a picture next chapter of what Matthew and Penelope (Sylvie's mom) looks like. Thanks for all the comments, votes and reads! they mean so much <3