Broken Crown ~Daryl Dixon~

Baby

Florence cleaned up nicely, she got rid of all the blood, managed to cool off and returned back to the prison way before dark. The brunette held the newborn baby in her arms, being the only female adult present. They figured Florence would be better than the rest of them. She didn't argue. The girl sang, and cooed to the baby all day, comforting the child however she could. It wasn't enough without the baby getting any sort of formula or care. 

The day turned into night, Florence got the baby lightly calm throughout the day, however, once it became night, the baby just cried on and off. Being calmed down whenever Florence sang to the infant, however, she couldn't continuously be singing to the child. Daryl came over with Maggie, he stared at Florence softly his heart fluttering as he saw her holding the young child. Florence smiled at him, watching as Beth put everything together and stared at the man her heart pined for as he took the child out of her arms and began feeding her. 

"Hey, sweetheart, you gonna be happy?" Daryl cooed to the baby, Florence stared at Daryl with a new look of admiration, she didn't expect Daryl to be a kids person. Even though, he fought to look for Sofia, nearly died for her... she didn't expect him to be this loving and calm towards a baby. It made him 100 times more attractive in her eyes, she always wanted a baby and always wanted to be a mother. 

"She got a name yet?" Daryl questioned the youngest boy, Carl shook his head, the small smile on his lips barely even there. 

"Not yet... I was thinking, maybe Sofia. Or Carol...or Amy, Jacqui, Andrea, Patricia. Or Lori." Florence frowned hearing the boy name all the female members of their group that had died, she wish she could've done something to help them all but she couldn't. Daryl had the baby calm within seconds, she wished she could take a photo of the moment, wished she could be frozen in the moment forever. 

"Yeah, you like that? Little ass-kicker?" Florence giggled, watching as everyone else smiled hearing the little nickname for the baby. 

"Right? That's a good name, huh? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart?" Florence adored the moment, smiling non-stop in Daryl's direction. Daryl glanced at Florence, his cheeks a rosy colour, seeing Florence stare at him that way brought a funny feeling to his belly and Daryl wanted that feeling to stay. 

The next morning, Florence sat beside Daryl, eating breakfast. Beth held the baby girl, everyone talking amongst each other quietly. 

"Uh- Flo...?" The girl in question turned to Daryl, a gentle smile on her lips and a happy look on her face. 

"Yeah?" Daryl held back his smile, she was too perfect for him, too sweet and kind for a man like him. A man who grew up being an ass, a man who was rough on the outside and still learning how to show his kinder side more. 

"What's that thing called, when your hormones are a mess and it's before your period?" Florence stared at him confused for a moment before easily answering his question. 

"It's called pre-menstrual syndrome or PMS for short." Daryl nodded, staring at the girl's figure for a moment, before turning his gaze to the door and slowing down as Rick appeared all cleaned up. 

"Everyone okay?" Rick questioned, earning a small nod from everyone. 

"What about you?" Hershel asked. 

"I cleaned out the boiler room," Rick informed instead of answering that question. 

"How many were there?" 

"I don't know, a dozen? Maybe two dozen. I have to get back... just wanted to check on Carl." Florence shook her head, sighing lightly, Daryl glanced at her and pulled her to rest between his legs. Florence smiled as Daryl squeezed her shoulder, massaging her left shoulder lightly. 

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies. You don't have to." Glenn tried, wanting his friend to take a moment but that meant dealing with the loss of his wife to a child he could possibly hate because she was just born. 

"No, I have to." Rick stormed over to Daryl and Florence, the two brunettes watched Rick as he stormed over, Florence kept her gaze down, not wanting to meet him in the eye and deal with his angry denial. 

"Everyone have a gun and a knife?" 

"Yeah, we're running low on ammo, though," Daryl informed, keeping his hand on Florence's shoulder, offering some sort of physical contact as comfort. 

"Maggie and I were planning on making a run. Found a phone book with some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula." Glenn tried easing his way into the conversation, not knowing how Rick would react or if he would snap. 

"We cleared out the generator room. Axel's there, trying to fix it in case of an emergency. We're gonna sweep the lower levels as well. Deal with the corpses Florence found." Florence took a breath, Daryl's hands resting on her shoulder, lightly kneading her muscles as he focused on Rick. 

Florence stopped up, stumbling lightly, Daryl swiftly got up and grabbed her hips. Stopping her from stumbling, he looked at her concerned for a moment before getting her to sit down, Daryl noticed she looked pale and had a queazy look in her eyes. 

"I'm okay Daryl, I get low iron, it's probably just that." Daryl nodded, gave her hand a squeeze and smiled faintly. 

A few weeks passed, and Florence left to go looking for things with Maggie and Glenn. Florence surveyed the area, she locked eyes with a woman, and she glanced away, feeling in her heart that it was okay. She grabbed something from the store, hiding it from her two friends and shoved it in her pocket. 

"So Flo, you and Daryl?" Maggie asked with a smirk, Florence blushed lightly and shrugged. 

"What about me and Daryl?' 

"You've wiggled your way into that man's heart, it's good to see him so happy." Florence nodded with a small blush, she grabbed a carton from Glenn and started filling the car. She jumped hearing a familiar voice, she slowly approached the others and sighed seeing Merle. 

"Merle?" Glenn asked, Merle placed his gun down but Florence kept her's raised. 

"Back the hell up!" Maggie shouted. 

"Okay, honey!" Merle exclaimed with a smile. 

"You made it." 

"Can you tell me, is my brother alive?" Glenn glanced at Florence, feeling that she'd have a better chance at answering it than he or Maggie did. 

"Merle, he is alive, he's fine and healthy." Merle sighed in relief, something she was hesitant to believe. Florence had a feeling that the woman she saw earlier was still watching, so she hoped that this woman would be a good person and not be with Merle. 

"Hey you take me to him and I'll call it even on everything that happened up in Atlanta. No hard feelings." They all focused on his prosthetic arm, she didn't trust that it could be used against them. Florence wanted to get back home, she wanted to not be near this man, she didn't know what he could do. 

"Oh, yeah! Well, uh, I found myself a medical supply warehouse. Fixed it up myself, pretty cool, huh?" Merle laughed, Florence glanced at Glenn who was taking charge and kept his eyes focused on the meaner Dixon. 

"We'll tell Daryl you're here, and he'll come out to meet you." 

"Oh, hold on. Just hold up! Hey, the fact that we found each other is a miracle. Come on now, you can trust me." Merle stuttered his way through making them feel bad, Florence wasn't having it, even if she wanted Daryl to know that his brother was alive, she didn't trust the older man. 

"You trust us. You stay here." Glenn emphasised. 

Merle shouted, fired a bullet, and tackled Florence into the car, knocking her out with the hit of the gun to her head.