Not Today

Chapter Two

DARYL I 

Daryl had had years to imagine the moment he'd reunite with his daughter. In his head, he would always be crying and his daughter would be smiling so widely he was sure her cheeks would ache after. They would be crying together and holding each other so tightly, that for one singular moment they'd both feel whole again.  They'd be vulnerable, safe in the knowledge that they'd found that missing part of themselves in each other.

Instead, they met exactly ten hours before her mother's death, and instead of crying over finding her father, Rosemary was crying because of the realisation that in order to meet him she had to lose Kathryn. 

For that, Daryl would never forgive Kathryn Willis, and he hoped she burned in whatever fiery hell she found herself in.  

Four weeks had passed since that day, and Rosemary hadn't smiled once and she certainly hadn't touched him, let alone hugged him. Oddly enough he wasn't as devastated by his daughter's disinterest as he thought he'd be. Before now the last time he'd seen her she'd been nine years old, and Kathryn had told him that she'd rather die then have Daryl and his drunken high brother in her daughter's life, not that Rose knew that. 

The seventeen year old girl now only ever smiled in the company of Hailey, a girl she'd known for only a three weeks yet acted as though she'd knew her whole life. There was rarely a moment where the two weren't together in camp and Daryl wasn't blind to the reason as to why Hailey Walsh had made a friend out of his daughter in the first place. 

When he, Rosemary, and Merle stumbled into the camp nearly a month ago ago, their self-appointed leader Shane Walsh had made it very apparent that he didn't approve of him or his brother. Daryl could tell he viewed his daughter as a liability, as he always gave her odd glances whenever Merle wasn't around. The only reason the man tolerated them was due to their innate ability to find food where others couldn't. Merle had an undeniable (but very frustrating) knack for setting up the simplest yet most successful of snares, with eyes sharper than an eagles. The only thing Merle lacked was the motivation to build upon his talent where as Daryl had mastered the art of walking so silently that he could sneak up on animals whose senses were far greater then his own. 

It seemed that Shane's dislike for the Dixons had been the very thing that started Hailey's apparent fascination with them. Hailey Walsh was a year younger than seventeen year old Rosemary and the two girls couldn't be more dissimilar if they tried. Where Rosemary was careful and observant, Hailey was careless and ignorant to her surroundings, and compared to Rosemary's calm and relaxing nature, Shane's daughter was a tornado trapped in a human body, fighting to get out. The girl could barely sit still for longer then a minute and was constantly fidgeting, something which irritated Daryl to no end. Watching the two girls interact proved to provide some amusement to say the least. Hailey was energetic and fast-paced, and watching her sign was like watching a toddler throwing a temper tantrum, but between that and lip reading Rose said she had no trouble understanding the girl. Glumly, Daryl supposed he of all people ought not to comment on the girl's ability to sign, when he could only do the alphabet. 

The Asian boy in camp who often did runs in the city for supplies had taken it upon himself to bring back several books on sign language, and seemed surprised when Daryl was the first one to claim a book for himself. Daryl had told him to "mind his fucking business." 

Yet even a book titled "Sign language for idiots" was proving to be a challenge, and Daryl secretly regretted being so harsh to the boy as he too was learning sign language, and was proving to be far more proficient then him.