A/N: I decided to post it on here. Thank you all for the marvelous feedback! I swear the Caryl /TWD fandom in general has some of the sweetest people I've ever had the pleasure to know. xo.

Haircut

Pulling her from her thoughts, there is a tug on her shirt that feels ever-so familiar. Carol quickly dries the dish she's holding and looks down to see little Judy Grimes smiling up at her. She's grown fast and her brown eyes – reminiscent of Lori's own – sparkle in what is left of the daylight. She can't help but smile back. But she pauses...there's something very different about her.

Instead of shoulder-length chestnut hair, what Carol sees is a haircut that very well matches her own.

It's slightly choppy and a little uneven, but her eyes widen automatically at the sight.

"How—" she starts, but then rethinks it, "who—?"

But Judy merely giggles and points behind Carol, who promptly turns around.

Daryl Dixon is struggling to mask his own smugness.

"Daryl, what did you do?"

His smirk grows as he notices Judith's mischievous but extremely proud expression. He takes a step forward, toying absentmindedly with the clothes on the counter. "She tol' me she wanted to look like you," he says, as if that explains everything.

Carol falters because that's – that's adorable and she is flattered. But Judy's hair was so beautiful and she only cut hers because she didn't want to give Ed something more to abuse—.

"What about Rick?" She tries to be angry, but it's futile.

The hunter casually sets his crossbow on the dinner table, as if she doesn't have a rule set in place for him not to, and approaches them.

"Rick said to let 'er do what she wanted," he drawls. "I cut it 'best I could," he then adds sheepishly.

Still in awe, Carol runs her fingers gently through Judy's shortened hair. "Judy, is this true?" she asks, voice soft.

Judy, still grinning, nods and wraps her arms around Carol's legs.

The woman looks from Judith to Daryl and beams, tears naturally blurring her vision. Daryl rolls his eyes but then opens his arms, a gesture that is usually quite rare but has become more frequent as time passed. "C'mere, you two," he directs, "this ain't no time fer cryin'."

Laughing and wiping her eyes, Carol picks Judy up and the three embrace as a family not of blood, but a family nonetheless.