Tumblr prompt. This spiraled...I have more chapters. I wanted this to be a short one shot but that didn't work out. o.O

Hours or days? It'd been hours since she seen that stream though and she was sure she'd walked by that tree four times already. The sun was getting low and it was getting colder than she thought it would have. Still she would rather be lost than be home. She could learn what to eat and what not to….find a stream. Live in the wild like a the fairies. She'd joked once with her mom when she'd been reading about Tinkerbell.

A snap of a twig has Sophia pausing. Her heart is racing so fast that she sure she'll die before he can grab her. There is no other option. It has to be Ed. He always got mad when she ran. It only made her run faster but she'd gotten tired this time and he's found her. Sophia feels tears spill over and she hiccups a sob before crumpling to the ground. Curling into a ball, something she's learned will make her a smaller target, she hides herself away among leaves.

There's the sound of someone approaching no longer trying to be quiet and her chest heaves. When boots appear in her line of vision her entire body tenses and she starts shaking. Maybe this time will be the time she dies. It'd be easier. Anything is easier than knowing your own parent wished you dead. Maybe he'd even stop beating her mom now. He'd never wanted a daughter and it was Sophia's fault because he wanted a son. The person in front of her as bent down and she hears them clear their throat. She scrunches her eyes closed but it just forces more tears out.

"Make it quick." Sophia mutters.

"What the-"

His voice is gruff and so different than what she was expecting. It's enough to make her open her eyes. Sophia peers up at the man that's bent right next to her looking down. He's shading the last of the sun and casting himself in shadows. She didn't need a lot of light to tell her though that this isn't Ed.

"Are you hurt?"

Isn't that funny? She's been hurt in some way since she'd been born.

"No." Sophia croaks.

He's shrugging out of a jacket and hands it to her. Sophia hesitates but she really is freezing. She takes it and sets up pulling it on. The warmth is immediate and her eyes burn again.

He stands and looks around them before shouldering what she now realizes is some kind of bow. He looks back down at her and Sophia stands. He picks a pack up from the ground and opens it. He pulls out a water bottle and offers it to her. Sophia looks at it and then at him.

"Listen kid I'm not going to hurt you." He says. "How long you been lost out here?"

"I don't know."

It's the truth though because as she'd run everything was a blur. Even after the stitch in her side turned into a searing burning pain she kept going. The sun though she was sure it'd set once but everything was a haze.

"Where you from kid?"

"Sophia." She takes the water and offers her hand in return.

He looks at it for a minute and then shakes it. Rough. His hands are rough but for the first time she finds that she isn't scared. That feeling of fatigue is there but it's lighter. Whoever this person is calming.

"Daryl." He tilts his head. "Where you from- I need to get you home."

"Neverland." Sophia whispers

He looks at her and for the first time the sun catches his face. She's sure she's seen this man before.

"You don't look like one of the lost boys." He retorts with a half smile.

"Nope, I'm Tinkerbell." She quips.

It's startling how easy it is to be around him. He's walking and Sophia rushes to keep up with him. She doesn't question where they're going. It's stupid because her mother always told her to never trust strangers. But she she can't even trust her own dad so that advice is moot point.

When they break through the trees into a open area Sophia can see a house just a bit away. He looks back to see where she is and Sophia raises her bottle at him still drinking. It isn't Neverland but there's something about it here that seems otherworldly to her. It's beautiful. Trees circle the entire area and the house is the type you dream of but know you'll never have. The dark logs not taking away from the warmth she can see glowing through the windows. The driveway just barely peeks out from between two massive pine trees.

Daryl's up the porch and she watches as an old dog raises it's head lazily. Sophia bounces up the steps and reaches a hand out. His face is saggy and his ears are brushing the porch. He sniffs her and his tail thumps on the porch loudly.

"You hungry?"

Sophia looks up and she feels a foreign smile on her face. It'd been so long since she smiled.

"Starving."

He nods and disappears inside. She can hear him moving around but she's scratching over the dog's back and can hear a clink. His collar has tags hanging off them and she catches them. She stares at the odd name and shrugs.

"Well Pete you want to be friends?"

He barks loudly in her face and Sophia laughs. She's got his head in her lap now when Daryl comes back out. He hands her a plate and whistles. Pete gets up and flops at Daryl's feet.

"What kind of dog is he?"

"Blood Hound."

Sophia takes a bite of the sandwich he'd brought her. It's tentative and she's not sure she wants to tell him where she lives. He'll take her back there and this isn't something she wants. If she goes home Ed's going to hurt her. If not her then he will her mom. She's seen her mom take a beating for her to many times and it breaks her heart. If Ed just hurts her then he'll leave her mom alone but sometimes the way Ed looks at her scares her worse than his belt. It's those times when her mom fights him back and that terrifies her.

"Sophia what's your last name?" Daryl questions.

"Peletier."

She can see the recognition in his eyes and swallows thickly. He nods to her food and Sophia starts eating again feeling just how hungry she really was. Daryl's got keys in his hands and Sophia is starting to sweat with the knowledge he knows where she lives. He has too. He'd looked familiar to her and now she knows he knows atleast one of her parents.

"It's quiet here."

Daryl looks over at her and leans back further in his chair kicking his boots up. "That's why I bought it."

When she finishes he stands and takes her plate inside. When he comes back out he has another water for her and Sophia greedily drinks it. He chuckles and leads her to a truck. She's shaking and Sophia wants to beg him not to take her there.

The drive she finds isn't that long. Her house isn't really in town but it's not quite where Daryl's is either. Still it's a shorter drive than her walk through the woods.

When they pull up to the house Ed's car is there. Sophia feels her eyes already burning. She's shaking as he parks and her grip is white knuckled on his jacket. She knows he sees this all but it's too late. Her mom's already opened the front door with her hand raised trying to see through the dark to who has parked.

Daryl opens his door and Sophia hears the distressed noise escape her own throat. He spins looking at her.

"I..." Her words are strained and when she meets his eyes something she'd never seen before in anyone beside her mom is there. Understanding.

"Daryl?" Her mom's voice is surprised.

It's enough to get Sophia moving. She needs to know she's okay. Has to see her.

She crawls across the seat and is out the door on the driver side. She collides with Daryl both stumble but he catches her before she can fall. Her eyes meet her moms and Sophia slams into her. She can hear a pained gasp and a sob rips from her throat.

"How?" Her mom chokes out.

"Found her in the woods." Daryl said. Voice uncomfortable.

"She's been missing two days."

Two days. It was the best two days though until today. That short span of time she was at Daryl's was better. All the calm she'd felt there is gone and replaced with that crushing fear. Sophia looks across the road to the woods she's ran into last time. Even with the dark of night over them she'd choose them. Instead she looks at Daryl and he gives her a real smile. He nods to her and tells her mom goodbye. Something about his voice tells Sophia he really doesn't want to say goodbye to either of them. Spinning around she lets her mom go and instead grabs ahold of him. Her arms around his waist and her face buried in his chest. She knows her hug is too tight, clingy even, but it don't matter because his arm comes around her and for the first time in her life Sophia isn't scared of a man.