The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 46

Meredith

IT'S BEEN A day since we left Grady Memorial Hospital. Since Rick and the others came and got Beth and I back. Since Beth. We moved out of the city as fast as we could. Found a willow tree, which happened to be one of my favorite trees, and buried Beth. Maggie wanted to burn her body first before burying her. I wasn't sure why, but nobody asked. 

After Beth's funeral, we returned back to the church and retrieved Judith, Carl and Gabriel. We all gathered around the cars, Rick telling us that Noah wanted to return home. Which was in Richmond, Virginia. It's a seven hour drive from Atlanta to Virginia. Noah mentioned his home had walls, people, possibly more than plenty of space to take in all of us. This was our next shot. And if we had hit a dead end, Rick declared that we continue to move on. 

Tomorrow, we get up and head to Noah's home. We've been driving, like I said for seven hours. It was night time by the time we made it close to Richmond, but Rick wanted everyone to relax and prepare for tomorrow. 

It was mostly quiet among everyone. The fire burned in front of us all, we ate some canned foods we had left over from the church. I mostly slept through the ride. My body was mostly sore, but it wasn't anything that I couldn't handle if we had to run from walkers when we stopped to stretch our legs.

I turn over my shoulder, seeing Harley fast asleep in the car. I let out a sigh and turn back to the fire, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"He's alright." I hear Daryl say softly. I turn my head and look at him. He's been mostly quiet ever since Beth. I understand why, I wanna be there for him. Daryl isn't talking and I'm respecting his space as much as I can. I wanna let him come to me before I decide to push too far.

"I know." I nodded. He nods in agreement. 

"I'm gonna be okay." He adds. I nodded once more.

"I know." I say. He glances over his shoulder and looks at Harley. He then returns to me. 

"You wanna take Harley?" He asks. I furrow my brows.

"What?" I ask him. "What does that mean?"

"As our own." He lightly explain. "Adopt him." 

"You wanna adopt Harley?" I question him. He nods.

"I see how you act around him. Compared to the other orphans at the prison, you're more concerned over Harley than anybody else." He explains. "Harley said that...if he got to chose a family, he wanted us to be his parents." I turn my head and look at the bright flames. "Mer, we've talked about not wanting to bring our own kids in this world. We agreed it's 'cause we don't want our baby raising in a world like this. You're worried you could pass your illness to the baby. So why not adopt a kid that's already here? Who already knows everything?" He says. I turn to him, slipping my hand into his and holding it tightly.

"Is this something you want?" I ask him. Daryl looks down, lightly nodding his head.

"I like kids, I do. I mean, Judith, I'd die for her, same for Carl." He says. "You know, their family, I'd do anything for 'em." He inhales deeply and looks at Harley again. "But when I think of Harley...all I want do is raise him, protect him, be everything my father wasn't for me." He says. 

"I love Harley, I do." I nod. "He's funny, respectful. Could learn a few things here and there." I say. "But...I don't know." I shrug. "If anything were to ever happen to him, I'd die. There have been too many close calls with him when it was just him and I. Each time, my world stopped and I couldn't breathe until I knew he was okay. Daryl, if he dies-"

"We can't stop it." He shakes his head. "Death isn't something we should be scared of. Not now. It's always been there. Whether it be from a heart attack, cancer, a damn car accident, walkers. Medically speaking, we can't do nothin' about it. But with the world now, with the walkers, bad people, we make sure we do everything we can to keep him on his toes, always alerted with his surroundings, he watches his back at all times. If he's got parents like you and me, he'll live a long life." He nods. I nodded my head and inhaled deeply.