Chapter 4

He was hiding underneath a corpse and surrounded by dead people when he stopped being afraid.

Up until then, he was still telling himself things like 'just a coincidence', 'don't jump to conclusions'. Then, when no amount of denial could make it just a coincidence, he thought about how he could watch out for her and still have what they always had. That she didn't have to see him. That he didn't want her to be disappointed in who he turned out to be.

That he didn't have to see her realize he was just Daryl, a sorry excuse for a man and worse excuse for a friend.

All of that changed when he heard a name ring through his head on the edge of a scream.

Sophia.

Daryl didn't have time be afraid. Or maybe Daryl was still lying on that asphalt somewhere, he didn't know.

But Dare? Dare flew. He flew through the dead, he flew past the group. He sailed over the guardrail and into the shadow of the trees, until he saw her there. There were two of the damned things almost on top of her.

Sophia was sprinting away from everyone, too panicked to know friend from foe. She was too used to danger being everywhere to recognize help when it was coming to her.

He caught up to the first one with a roar loud enough to wake any dead not already Walking. His knife sank into it's eye socket with a squish. Blood and putrid, decaying flesh stuck to his hands as he found his feet again and shoved off the ground in one motion, tackling the second with all the force he could muster and riding it to the ground, stabbing it over and over until blood and bits of bone were everywhere.

He looked up to see her in the distance, still running, and took off again.

She was afraid of him, too. He had to get in front of her.

She ran like a rabbit on speed, but Dare was filled with adrenaline and something else, a voice in his head, shouting. Our girl. Our girl. Our girl.

He grabbed her round the waist and held on, making shushing noises, as close to what he'd heard people do for babies as he could get.

She wasn't a baby, their girl. Not anymore. He never got to hold her when she was that small, but he could remember every nuance of what Carol had shared in those first minutes of Sophia's life. He'd held them in his memory, taking them out to look at when things got hard or when Merle was being particularly annoying. This girl was all knees and elbows, older now than Carol had been the first time she saved him. The Princess Sophia was so far from that baby, but somehow her nose was still wrinkling in just the same way before she let out a squawk. It made him smile, even though she was still struggling to get away from him.

"Just me. Just Dare. I gotcha. You okay. You're good. You're okay. Shush now. I gotcha."

She stopped wiggling at least, but he didn't let go yet. She was taking deep, hiccupping breaths and there were fat tears running down her cheeks.

"I'm sorry!," she shouted.

And he remembered that. What that was like. He remembered screaming 'sorry' into the air like it would stop what was coming and he wanted to kill Ed again for making her shout apologies instead of feeling safe.

"Don't be. You run good. Near didn't catch ya. That's just what you do you see them dead fu – things, yeah? I let ya down now, you gonna be good to stay here? Got the runnin' outcha system?"

She nodded, little hands coming up to wipe at some of the mess he'd got on her shirt.

No tellin' what he looked like.

Rick Grimes was standing, mouth hanging open, on the other side of the creek. Dare nodded at him, grinning.

Sophia made a disgusted sound, then turned away from him and retched. Dare found himself rubbing her back, waitin' for her to breathe a little slower before he knelt in front of her.

"How about you hop on my back for the trip back. Be quicker, and your mama's worried."

Her mama was a string of screeching in the back of his mind that didn't seem to hear him when he answered her. It might be better this way, though.

"You're covered in gunk."

"You too," he said, grinning. "Come on. Have a dragon ride."

Her bottom lip worked its way between her teeth. "It's a piggy back ride."

"Who in their right mind would wanna ride a pig? Naw, I'm a Dragon."

She looked at him like he was crazy. Maybe he was.

"You're a dragon."

"Yep. You ain't never read Pern?"

He knew better. Carol would never let her little girl miss out on Pern.

And he was right, too, because Sophia's face lit up. "Mama loves Pern! What color Dragon are you?"

"Pfffft. You want a ride or not?"

She held on so tight she nearly cut off his air. He made a show of choking and gasping for air until her little arms loosened a hair and she made a sound that was almost a laugh, then they took off toward the highway at a trot.

Grimes was shaking his head and looking befuddled as they passed them, but at least he had the good sense to walk between Sophia and what was left of the Walkers Daryl just killed.

Daryl did what he could to make the ride fun. He bounced now and then, dodged between trees and under low hanging limbs. He might have gone so far as making whooshing noises, but he would deny it with his dying breath. He told himself that it was all about making the tremors running through Sophia's body stop, or that he was hoping sending just how ridiculous he was being toward Carol would make the panicked repeating of their girl's name slow enough for him to tell her that everybody was okay.

Any and all of those things would be true.

It would also be true that the fear was trying to come back.

I got her. The Princess Sophia is just fine. He said again. The words had been repeating since he first closed his arms around the girl.

Dare? Carol's voice was very, very small and hesitant. You? How?

I'm, uh…

But they were there, and Sophia said it for him. "Daryl gave me a dragon ride!"

Carol hit him full force, reaching around him to run her hands over Sophia's back, sobbing and not even seeming to notice, never mind worry about, the filth they were covered in.

Don't get that on ya. Step back. I'm gonna let her down.

He watched them there in the middle of the road, wrapped around each other and both of them blubbering, for a long time.

So, this is my man face.

You saved our girl.

Just don't say that out loud. Gonna confuse her.

Carol shook her head. She's always been yours, Dare.

Daryl's shuffled his feet, his eyes darting around at the crowd that had gathered around them. It occurred to him he was covered in sweat and mud and blood and bone, and he ducked his head as he tried to move away without drawing too much attention to the fact that he was moving away.

Carol caught him, pulling Sophia with her as she stepped in close and used the sleeve of her sweater to wipe at the mess that was his face.

"You're a mess," she said, frowning. "God, Dare, how many were there?"

"I don't know but I think there were lots," Sophia said.

"Just two. Ain't nothin'," Dare said, stepping back. "You're gonna get it all on ya clothes. I'll – "

"There's water. Someone will get you water. And some towels?"

Carol was staring at him with a look on her face he never imagined anybody could ever turn his way. Her eyes were blue, big and shining, and there were freckles across her nose. He'd never seen her this close up before, and he caught himself swallowing convulsively.

"Yeah, I'll just…" he shrugged, but didn't move.

"Dare?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't move," Carol said.

And then she kissed him. Right out in the real world, in front of everybody.