not a big deal~carl grimes

<sixteen>

the was a boy my age stood not far from me as he turned around. my eyes caught his and my jaw dropped. he was a dirty grey and green baseball tee and had the blues blue eyes to ever blue shaded by a sheriffs hat on top of long, grown out hair.

'carl!' i screamed, running up to him, jumping into his arms.

he lifted me off the ground, holding me close and twirling me around. 'oh my god, i thought i lost you forever.' he mumbled into my hair, sounding relieved. he set me back down on the ground, staring into my differently coloured eyes 'you weren't with daryl and i thought you dies before you found him.'

'no.' i shook my head, holding his face in my hands 'aaron found me and took me in. i live with them here i have since the day after i left. i'm sorry for walking out on you like that, it wasn't right and-'

'no.' he cut me off 'you were upset and hurting because you lost the closest thing you had to a dad. i don't blame you, i'm just glad that you're okay.'

'hey kiddo.' i heard a gruff voice from behind me.

i teared up when i saw the person stood there. his hair was longer but other than that, he hadn't changed one bit. 'daryl.' i sprinted into his arms.

'i'm sorry for leaving you. i blame myself for you running off on your own. i'm so sorry.' he apologised for leaving me.

'you didn't do anything. i just needed to learn to deal with pain better. but there's someone here you need to meet.' i dragged him over to matthew who was stood not far from us 'this is my brother matthew. turns out he survived and came here. matthew this is daryl, who i told you about.'

matthew shook his hand 'thank you so much for looking after my little sister after i lost her.'

'no problem.' daryl smiled slightly which he never did 'she's a great kid, she's brave, strong, amazing.'

carl came up behind me 'hey taylor can i talk to you?'

just as we were about to step away, matthew asked 'and who are you?'

'this is carl. i told you about him, remember.' i turned to carl 'turns out matthew got away just after me and he came here.'

'nice to meet you.' carl nodded to matthew before dragging me off 'look, i missed you so much. not a day would pass where i wouldn't think about finding you. not a night passed where i wouldn't dream of it. it's all i could think about. i was wondering if we could maybe pick up where we left off?'

i pulled him back in, hugging him tighter than i ever hugged anyone, even my own family. i whispered in his ear 'of course carl. i would love to.'

we headed furthur into the gates together as they went through the typical 'hand over your weapons talk.'

most of them had yet to see me so they were still sceptical of the community.

the each had "auditions" with deanna, the leader of alexandria. she was intimidating but really sweet once you got to know her.

when i auditioned to be in alexandria, i told deanna that i ran away from my group trying to find the the guy from the group i saw as a dad because he ran off with his brother. i had told her just before theirs that they were my group and she let me stand outside the room and try to listen inpt what they were saying.

most of them were useless but at least i got to see them again as they each left.

ruck was first to be interviewed. when he laid eyes on me on his way out, he looked at me like he had seen a ghost. 'taylor, i thought you were dead.'

i shook my head 'no, i wanted to find daryl so i left and ended up here 2 days later. been here ever since.'

he pulled me into a hug 'well it's great to see you again, after all this time.'

as he left, i watched deanna smile at the interaction.

the rest had pretty similar reactions, except daryl and carl as they had already seen me. they just hugged me and took a minute before letting go.

as carl left, he had judith in his arms. 'hey judith.' i waved at her.

despite not seeing her for ages, she didn't shy away from me like any other baby usually would. she actually leaned closer. i took her from carls arm, holding her on my hip now that she wasn't as little as last time.

'oh my, you've grown.' i smiled at her before turning back to carl 'i think the last time i saw her she was only 2 weeks old right?'

he nodded 'yeah it's been a while.'

he seemed sad, i lifted his chin to meet my eyes 'hey, what's wrong?'

'i don't know how i feel about all this. i haven't had the time to judge how shady this place is, but regardless, i want to be here because you're here. but i also want you to be safe.'

'carl.' i grabbed his hand with the one of mine that wasn't holding judith 'i promise you this place is safe. there are a few weird people here but everyone gets along unless someone causes trouble, but that rarely happens here.' i lift judith up a bit more before chuckling 'but with those guys who knows?'

as daryl left, he looked down at me 'who do you live with here?'

'aaron and eric.' i answered 'why?'

'i was thinking, if i get to stay, and if there's room, why don't you come stay with me? i asked deanna in there and she said she's cool with it.'

i hugged him tightly 'yes, please.' his arms wrapped back around me 'i missed you so much.'

'i know i missed you too kid.'