RIDE OR DIE | DARYL DIXON

the kingdom

EVERYONE BUT WILLOW AND DARYL had gone inside to wait for Gregory.

Willow sat at the end of the grave, staring at the pocket watch that shined brightly against the beaming sun. She remembered the day Hershel gave that watch to Glenn. He was confused as to why it was given to him, but he came to understand it and kept it with the highest honor. She remembered always seeing the chain of it dangling out of his pocket.

"You're gonna get that caught on something, you know." She teased him.

He gave her a short laugh and tucked it back in, but it always managed to find its way out again.

They both sat comfortably in her tent, listening to the cicadas sing as their muscles unwind.

"I just don't understand why he gave this to me." He said in a quiet voice, pulling out the pocket watch fully.

Willow set Sienna aside in her little bundle, leaning forward and looking at the watch closely. "Because he knows you're a good guy, Glenn. He knows the things you would do to keep Maggie safe. He knows how much you love her... He knows, some day, you're going to ask her to be your wife, and he knows that there is no other person in this world that he'd rather have as a son."

Glenn traced the small nicks and dents in the metal of the watch, smiling down at it. "You think so?"

Willow smiled back. "I do."

She took a deep breath, wiping the wetness away from her cheeks.

"Why are you crying, Mommy?" Sienna asked, wiggling her hand out of Daryl's to get closer to her.

She turned to her daughter and brushed her hair back out of her little face. "Mommy's just sad, that's all."

"But why?" Sienna asked again.

Willow looked to Daryl, and he gave her a small nod. 

She was always scared of the day she'd have to explain the world to her daughter. The good, the bad and the ugly. She thought she could protect her and keep her away from it all, but as things get worse, she realized it's going to be inevitable. She could never pinpoint when the right time would be, and she battled with herself everyday for it. She doesn't want to destroy her innocent view of the world, but she also doesn't want her to act like it's safe, either.

She looked back to Sienna who stood eagerly waiting for her mom's answer.

She took another deep breath, steadying her voice. "Do you remember Glenn and Abraham?"

Sienna nodded and smiled, but Willow could feel her heart shattering all over again.

"Well, when we were helping Maggie get here, we ran into bad people. Very, very mean people and a very mean man. They did some bad things to Glenn and Abraham..." She paused, studying Sienna's face, still unsure if she could go through with it. She felt Daryl's hand make its way to her shoulder, wrapping his fingers snuggly around it. 

She held Sienna's hands tightly. "Glenn and Abraham are dead, baby."

"Dead?" Sienna questioned.

Willow nodded. "When someone dies, they don't come back and we don't see them again."

She pulled Sienna over and sat her down in her lap, the both of them facing the two graves. "That's why we bury someone when they die- so we can remember them, visit them, and honor them... to let them rest."

"Glenn and Abraham are sleeping in there?" She asked, pointing to the graves.

Willow smiled lightly at the idea of it. It felt better than the alternative.