He's Just a Baby

It Was so Obvious

A month or so ago was when Carl had first started questioning things. But it wasn't until a couple days ago that he realized why Daryl might have been acting so weirdly.

It was evening time, and Carl was heading over to the main table area in the center of the town for dinner. He and Judith had been out by the walls for the past hour or so, scraping their names into the metal with a small pocket knife. It wasn't exactly the most grownup thing for a new adult to be doing, but then again, stabbing into skulls and shooting dead humans wasn't exactly something a teenager should be doing, so it evened out.

As the sun started to set in the sky above, and the sound of the crickets began to intensify, Carl dropped his knife with a sigh and turned to look at Judith. "You hungry? I know I am," he spoke. Judith sheathed her own small knife—yes, it was normal for a six year old to have a knife—and looked back at her older brother with a wide smile.

"You're always hungry," she giggled, before jumping at Carl, hitting his stomach and causing him to let out a small grunt as he wrapped his arms around her. He hoisted her into his arms and adjusted her hat, which had almost fallen off of her head.

"I am always hungry," he agreed. "But I heard that Carol was making roasted potatoes and asparagus. It's my favorite meal." Judith rolled her eyes as Carl began to walk away from the wall, back over to the dirt path that stretched around the exterior of Alexandria.

"Potatoes are alright, but the asparagus always gets stuck in my teeth," she complained before changing the topic. "Do you think uncle Daryl will be there? He wasn't at the last big dinner."

Judith was right. The community often gathered together, usually once or twice a week, for large dinners together. They did the same with breakfast as well. And, while it was normal for Daryl to skip a gathering every once in a while, just because the hunter was constantly running around outside of the walls or just wanting to get away from people...Daryl hadn't been at the past three. Carl knew that Daryl had taken a liking to eating at Aaron and Eric's house recently, but it was hard to see the man outside of the gatherings, and now that he wasn't showing up, he could tell that Judith was missing him.

Of course, that didn't mean that Daryl never hung out with Judith. In fact, he would argue that Daryl was Judith's best playmate, since they both had a strong urge for adventure. None of the other kids or little's could compare to her uncle Daryl.

Carl bounced Judith in his arms as they walked farther, towards one of the empty fields that the children and littles often played in.

"I'm not sure if he's comin' tonight Jude," he began as he looked around at the couple of fireflies beginning to light up the grass. His walked slowed to a stop however, when he noticed a familiar figure sprawled out comfortably in the grass a bit away from them and the rest of the town.

"But why don't we go ask and see?"

Judith lifted her head from Carl's shoulder, perking up and looking around. "Where is-oh he's right there!" Carl chuckled at the pure bliss that seemed to cover Judith's face. If he didn't know better, he would have believed that Judith had just seen a unicorn with how happy she seemed. It just proved exactly how much she loved the hunter.

Considering the fact that Daryl hadn't already sat up after hearing Judith's yell, he assumed that the man was either asleep or really zoned out. As he walked towards the hunter with Judith in his arms, he couldn't help but feel a pang of worry in his chest.

Daryl loved to be by himself; he used to constantly run off for days, even weeks, and come back as though nothing had happened. Although, in the past couple of months, Daryl had gotten a lot more used to having people constantly around him. He didn't run off alone as much anymore, and he even chose to stick by Rick and the others now, instead of being by himself.