Okay this is my first attempt at a fan fiction so please be kind. I wanted to say thank you to my beta, you're awesome! This story is set at the end of 2x7 where Sophia is found in the barn but I have changed things from then on, let me know what you think, love it? Hate it? Go on or don't?

Chapter one.

By your side

Daryl had wanted to thrash Shane when he heard his rants about Sophia; how dare he say things like that and with Carol standing right there. Was the ex-cop brain dead or just cold hearted? He had heard Carol's gasps at Shane's cruel words and fought the urge to shoot him right then and there, but when Shane had jerked the barn door open, they were all forced into action.

The walkers started to stumble from the barn, groaning and snarling, moving as fast as they could to try and get to them. The group raised their weapons and did what they had no choice but to do, to put them down. Loud shots rang out and one at a time the walkers went down and finally everything was quiet and all that could be heard was Hershel and his family's soft sobs.

Just as Daryl was about ready to turn and storm away he heard the soft groaning. Realizing there was one last walker in the barn, he watched in horror as Sophia came stumbling out, eyes straining under the brightness of the sun. She finally looked at them, her eyes cold, hard and dead; he felt everything inside him shatter.

He had failed her, he had failed them both.

"Sophia," he heard Carol's soft cry and her footsteps running. Dropping his weapon, he grasped her around the waist and held her tightly but his hands were soft as he tried to calm her. "Sophia, Sophia."

He saw Rick step forward as Sophia stumbled closer to them all, hands out, groaning, a look of hunger on her small face. He whispered in Carol's ear promising her it would all be alright, begging her not to watch but she couldn't take her eyes off her little girl. When she was just a few feet from Rick, he fired and the girl fell to the ground with a sickening thud, leaving Daryl tortured inside as Carol sobbed even harder into the dirt. After what felt like hours, Daryl knew he needed to get her out of there; standing and lifting her with him, he started to turn them.

"Don't look, don't look," he whispered to her again but she jerked away from him harshly pushing him before running off towards to house. He felt his heart break as tears burned his eyes but he fought them back, refusing to show the group how this was affecting him.

He watched as Andrea covered Sophia carefully with a blanket. Deciding it was better for him to check on Carol, he headed for the RV figuring that is where he would find her but when he opened the door only to find it empty he felt panic burn through him. Stepping back out of the RV, he looked around to see if he could see her but she was nowhere in sight.

Looking down, he moved around the RV and found her tracks fairly quickly and headed towards the woods determined to find her and fast. He was about half way there when he realised where she had gone. Picking up the pace, he finally saw her sitting near the water edge in front of the bush of Cherokee roses.

He felt relief and then annoyance wash over him; what was she thinking coming out here alone? What if a walker came across her? He watched as she touched the rose softly before she started pulling and ripping them out, crying at the same time. Moving closer, he noticed the gun that sat in her lap and for a moment he thought she had brought it along for protection; but then he realised in all the time he had known Carol, he had never once seen her with a weapon, let alone a gun. When he saw her pick it up and move it to the side of her head he ran for her.

"Whoa, what the hell are you doing woman?," he yelled stopping near her. He saw her visibly flinch and realised she must not have even heard him approach.

"Go away Daryl," she whispered.

"I ain't going nowhere till you give me the bloody gun," he told her stepping forward.

"Don't come any closer," she ordered looking up at him. Her face was red and puffy, her eyes red and swollen from crying and tears slid down her cheeks like a never ending stream. "I'm done Daryl, I'm just done."

"So what, you're just going to opt out? Do you think that's what Sophia would want?" She stood then, angry, but still held the gun firmly to her temple.

"Sophia is dead!," she spat. "My little girl is dead," she whispered sobs choking her up.

"She would want you to go on, to live."

"Why? There's nothing left Daryl, it's all gone… without her… besides I don't want to be torn apart by walkers, it's better this way." He saw her finger move to the trigger and felt fear hit him like a tonne of bricks, he couldn't lose her.

"Please don't do this," he hated the begging tone of his voice but the thought of her dying scared the hell out of him.

"Daryl, there is nothing left for me here, my daughter, my Sophia… she was everything, my reason for being in this hellish world, to keep her safe and I failed…. No one here needs me."

"They do, they all need you," he swallowed hard before speaking again. "I need you," he admitted.

"What?," she looked up surprised but he also noticed she had removed her finger from the trigger so he took a small step closer and spoke again.

"I need you and for me that is really hard to admit… so please…," he begged reaching out. Her eyes looked down for a moment as if she was trying to decide whether to pull the trigger or not and he took that moment to snatch the gun from her hand with one arm, while the other wrapped around her waist as they both fell to the ground. He held her tight, rocking her gently as she cried into his shirt, cried for her little girl and cried because she realized she needed him too.

They had stayed there like that for a while just holding each other. He whispered sweet nothings and words of comfort into her ear as she sobbed. Once her crying finally died down, he helped her stand and led them back to the farm. Sitting her down near the shed he told her he would be right back with something to clean up her hands. About five minutes later she heard footsteps approaching and was surprised to see Shane kneel down in front of her.

"Hey Carol," he spoke softly but she looked around for Daryl not really wanting to talk to Shane. "Carol are you alright?," he asked looking at her dirty and slightly scratched hands and arms. Sitting in front of her, he moved to get some water from the pump and started cleaning her hands.

"I want you to know I'm real sorry for your girl."

"Thank you," she whispered still not looking at him.

"When I opened that barn I had no idea… if I did… everybody thinks that I'm a… I'm just trying to keep everybody safe," he sighed as he continued to clean her hands. "I had no idea she was in there," he looked at her as she finally looked up at him.

"Get your god damn hands off her," Daryl's voice bellowed through the silence as they both stood. When he had come back with a small first aid kit and a cloth to clean her up, he had seen them sitting there. He saw the way Shane looked at her, how he touched her and felt rage burn through him. He had heard what Shane said to her and that just made him madder.

"Just helping clean her hands, that's all," Shane said stepping back but Daryl wasn't having any of it.

"She don't need or want your help so why don't you just run along," he hissed standing between Shane and Carol. "And she don't need to hear you ramble on about keeping everyone safe cause it's crap, you were the first one that suggested we leave that little girl out there, that she was gone."

"And I was right," Shane went back at him.

"We didn't know that at the time did we? You were just too lazy and too selfish to look for her, too caught up in the fact that Lori don't want a bar of you no more," Daryl spat. Shane looked up at him like a deer caught in headlights. "Yeah I know, we all know, we're not stupid so take your bullshit pity and big ego and go whine to someone else." Shane's face screwed up in anger and Daryl was just about hoping he would try something but instead he turned and stormed away.

"I think you upset him," he heard Carol speak softly behind him.

"I could care less if I upset him," he replied gruffly turning to face her. "I don't want you alone with him, he is bad news." She smiled softly at his protective tone and nodded sitting down so he could finish cleaning up her hands. "They are just about ready to bury Sophia," he whispered so softly she almost didn't hear him.

"I'm not going," she replied feeling fresh tears come to her eyes.

"Come on," he sighed.

"Why?"

"Cause that's your little girl." Tears slipped from her eyes at his soft words.

"That's not my little girl, that's some other… thing," she replied looking at him. "My Sophia was alone in the woods, all this time I thought … she didn't cry herself to sleep, she didn't go hungry, she didn't try to find her way back… Sophia died a long time ago," tears slipped from her eyes but he couldn't help but feel angry at her words.

"I know you're upset but you have to go." She looked at him, her eyes asking him for a reason. "That may not have been Sophia that came out of the barn but that is her body out there, you carried her for nine months, gave birth to her, raised her, loved her and that memory deserves respect, it needs to be honoured." She looked at him conflicted before she realised he was right. Nodding, she stood with him.

"I'm scared, of seeing her, of seeing them put her in the ground," she confessed and he grasped her hand tightly intertwining their fingers.

"I'll be there with you, I promise." She smiled nodded as he gave her hand a gentle squeeze, as they headed over to where they would lay her to rest. She hoped that his presence by her side was enough to keep her strong as she said goodbye to her little girl.