I'll Always Find You (A Daryl Dixon X Reader)

CHAPTER 36: The Prisoner

TW: Charlotte's Pov near the end of the chapter. Speaks of abuse. It's not overly descriptive, but it's still in there so I wanted to make a small warning.

I was the happiest I felt in a long time. Even happier than finding Charlotte again. Daryl had his moments lately of acting odd, but today was a good day. We had sat together and ate our breakfast around the small fire. Rick and Shane had headed off to drop Randall off somewhere far away from here. Daryl had whispered something to Carol and the two had looked over at us as we cleaned up our plates and silverware. Daryl nudged his head so we might come over towards them.

I gently grabbed Charlotte's shoulder and led her towards Carol. Carol had been keeping pretty much to herself since Sophia. The only person she seemed to communicate with was Daryl.

    "Hey." I said softly as we all walked to a more secluded area.

    "Hi." Carol said back and she weakly smiled at Charlotte. "So Daryl tells me you wanted to talk to me about something?"

    "Yes, ma'am." Charlotte nodded. She wrung her fingers around each other nervously until Daryl bent down, grabbed her hands and gave her a smile.

    "It's okay. You just tell her what you need to get off your chest." Daryl assured her sweetly.

    "Can we sit?" Charlotte asked first and we all nodded taking a seat in the grass. "Uhm, Miss Pelletier."

    "Oh sweetie, you can just call me Carol." Carol smiled at her and Charlotte seemed to take a deep breath and nod.

    "Carol... I-I... I'm sorry." Charlotte breathed, seeming to hold back her tears. Carol looked at her slightly surprised. "It's my fault that Sophia turned into a walker. I didn't protect her well enough. I should have done better. If it wasn't for me she'd still be alive...Or rather she'd be dead and at least wouldn't have turned. No one should have had to see her that way. She begged me to not let her turn but I-I couldn't do it."

Carol waited a moment before she scooted forward and wrapped her arms around Charlotte and hugged her close to her.

    "She's been feeling real guilty." Daryl said softly as Carol looked at the two of us over our daughter's shoulder.

    "She wanted to talk to you since the day we got back." I explained. "We thought maybe it'd be good for her to get it off her chest. Help her cope with the guilt. Even though we've tried to explain to her it wasn't her fault."

    "It is my fault." Charlotte sniffled as she pulled away from Carol.

    "Now you listen to me. Sophia was my daughter. I can only imagine how scared the both of you must have been. I... I'm really sad she gone, but it wasn't your fault, Charlie. No matter what happened out there. The past is in the past now. I'm sure you both made some really hard decisions and I would never be upset at you for that. You hear me?" Carol told her and Charlotte nodded.

Carol hugged her once more.

    "Why don't you go play with Carl." Daryl mentioned and Charlotte nodded running off. "Thank you for that."

    "Really, thank you, Carol." I said and she nodded.

    "I need to get something off my chest too..." Carol sighed. "Please, don't think badly of me. For just a moment. A single moment when Charlotte stepped out of the truck... alive. I was spiteful that she was alive and my Sophia wasn't. And just now... Hearing her say those things. I know it wasn't her fault. No one should of ever been put into that position. Especially a young 13 year old girl. I'm so sorry. I feel horrible for even thinking those things."