The sun warmed your skin as you sat in the long summer grass that grew around you. It was your favorite thing about the prison, the nature that bloomed all around it. How the building itself was cold and grey, but the world around it was still lush and green. Looking out at the vast land that seemed to stretch for endless miles, and the little girl twirling around in the tall blades of green brings a soft smile to your lips.
The sky was a bright blue shade, one that made everything that much brighter. The rays of sunshine shone down upon you, but the brightest sight was your little girl's smile. Shining brighter than the sun or the beautiful blue sky. Her happiness, was your guiding light. And here, submerged in nature, she was undeniably happy.
A shadow growing beside you pulls you from your thoughts, and looking to the left you see Daryl Dixon making his way over to you. His shadow looming over you until he reaches you.
You're surprised to see that he doesn't have his crossbow with him, as that weapon and him are hardly ever separated. But he still wears his vest with the angel wings stitched to the back.
"Can I sit?" Daryl asks you respectfully, his voice a low rumble.
You hum softly, nodding your head. "Can't stop you."
His shadow bends as he does, soon taking up the space in the grass to your left. His legs spread straight out in front of him, and his hands play aimlessly with a blade of grass as his head gazes downward. The rays of hot sun that shine down, make his arms that are a deep tan glisten. Sweat shimmering with the bright light. And his hair hangs lower, day by day growing longer, and it sticks to the sides of his face.
It's quiet, as Daryl lifts his head and watches the little girl twirling and giggling in the grass a ways away. The sound only that of her faint laughs and the calls of cicadas in the trees. It's almost peaceful.
"Ye ever gonna tell 'er?" Daryl speaks up, breaking the comfortable quiet nature. His voice is kept somewhat quiet, as his tone is cautious. But he looks over to you, and as his blue eyes fall on you, you know you can't avoid this discussion any longer.
Releasing a sigh, you toy with a loose string on your jeans. "You really want to have this conversation? Now?"
Looking up, your eyes meet Daryl Dixon's. And it's like the first time all over again.
The blue swallows you up like the ocean, and you feel yourself fighting to breathe beneath the crashing waves.
"Jus want ta know if ye ever gonna tell 'er." Daryl shrugs his shoulders and suddenly the waves subside. As he looks away and back down at the grass between his calloused fingers.
"I've thought about it." You admit, looking out at the little girl picking at the wildflowers growing around her.
"She's asked. She's started asking questions and I don't know what to tell her. I feared this day, and now," You shake your head, looking back down at your hands in your lap. "Its even harder."
"Why?" Daryl asks innocently.
Shaking your head, you can't help but laugh lightly. "Because you're here." And the laughter stops, meeting his eyes once more.
"How am I supposed to explain to her that her daddy couldn't be her daddy way back when, yet here he is day in and day out around her in a prison? I don't even understand it, how is she?"
"I wanted--" Daryl's words fall as he lets out a sigh in place of the words he doesn't know how to say.
"Daryl, I'm not telling you this because I'm trying to guilt you or something. You asked and I'm answering."
"I could try it now." Daryl mumbles to you, shyly admitting his feels.
"It doesn't work like that Daryl. If you would've come back to us early when she was still a baby or toddler, maybe. But Daryl, she sees you everyday and knows you. She knows you in a different way than a father."
"I wasn't ready then." Daryl tries to explain.
"And you think I was??" You ask.
"We got pregnant, and it wasn't planned. But I was excited to have a baby with you. I was scared, I was anxious but Daryl I loved you, I wanted this child with you. But you left."
"I wish I could tell her that you're her dad. I mean, you shine through every aspect of her. But I don't know how to explain why you left when I don't even know. I don't know how to tell her that you didn't--"
"Momma?" Your seven year old runs up to you. Her long brown hair blowing across her face, covering her blue shimmering eyes.
"Hi baby." You smile, and stop the conversation.
"Hi Daryl." She smiles and runs over to him.
"Whatcha got there?" He asks her as she plops down in his lap.
"Dandelions!" She exclaims, holding up the fluffly white flowers up to his face. "They are the wishing ones."
"You make a wish yet?"
Your daughter shrugs, and as she sits on Daryl's lap, every feature she got from him is boldened.
Your little girl stares at the dandelion flower she holds in her small hands, twirling it softly as the sun shines down on it. And her head leans back into Daryl's chest, and he shifts so she's more comfortable on his lap. And as much as it pains you to admit it, this moment warms your heart.
As you stare at thing one and thing two, thing two blows her dandelion wish. Watching the white float off in the open breeze, and disappear into the horizon. Tossing the empty stem into the grass, she turns her head up to look at Daryl. Her blue eyes locking with his that match in color.
"I made my wish." She tells him.
"Yeah?" He hums, and you see the shadow of a smile playing at his lips. "And what 'cha wish for?"
Your daughter stares up at Daryl for a moment before responding. Studying every layer of blue in his eyes and every line of his tanned face.
"I wished that my daddy coulda been you."
A/N: Shook.... Anyone else?? It took me a while to write this one, but I can say I'm quite happy with how it turned out!💕
