Hiraeth (The Walking Dead)

Chapter 22

When Daryl and Maggie returned to the prison, the sun was beginning to finally set. They found Hershel and Beth still in their cell, Glenn in the cell block dining hall as he fidgeted with an old hunting knife.

"Where's Cailey?" Maggie asked her boyfriend. "The baby?"

"I think she still has the baby in her cell with her."

Daryl sauntered off towards Cailey's cell, but the teen came out of a different cell first. She held the baby in her hands, and her once-longer hair was cut close to the sides, with the longer top barely reaching half-way down her bandanna.

"Look what I found," she greeted. She turned back into the cell.

A grey-haired woman was inside. She leaned against the wall on her bed, eyes opening and closing slowly. Daryl's chest fell as he made wide steps over to Carol. His arms reached around her shoulders, and the small woman hugged him back, beginning to cry silently again. He pulled away after only seconds.

The hunter turned back to the teen. "G'job."

Cailey only gave a tiny nod. "Tee's gone, though. Could never find him." She held the baby girl gently to her chest as she stepped off into her own cell. Glenn was the next to step up to the girl, holding a small plastic bottle. "Hey, let's get her some formula. You wanna try to feed her?"

Cailey shook her head. She had just been holding a baby for the first time, she wasn't going to take any risk of killing it by accident when feeding it. She gently held over the small swaddled-up baby to let Glenn take over, who held the little girl close to his chest. He nodded and began walking to baby to the cell block dining hall, where a few of the others cooed over her.

Cailey sat next to the top of the stairs, feet dangling down towards the bottom row of cells. She could just barely see and hear the rest of the group- even Daryl- holding the baby and feeding and talking about her.

"Hey, ya like that," Daryl asked a little sarcastically. "Ya like that, sweetheart? Little Asskicker?"

The teen girl couldn't help but smile a little at watching the man go soft over a baby. She leaned her forehead against the cold railing, turning her head to the rows of empty cells next to her. She kicked her boot slowly underneath her, waving around her feet as they dangled below the cement floor.

Carol was the first to see Cailey still in the cell block, sitting up near the top of the stairs. The older woman carefully approached her, stepping up each stair slowly before sitting on the floor with Cailey with a small smile. "What are you doing up here by yourself?"

"Just watching," Cailey mumbled, staring back at the cell blocks again.

"Do you want to try feeding the baby? You seemed really good with her," Carol's voice was soft and gentle, trying to coax the teen to come out of her shell more.

"Funny, 'cause I ain't held a baby before today," Cailey let out a near-silent scoff.

"You know," Carol smiled and shook her head, "I know you were already some self-claimed loner, but every day you become more and more like Daryl."

"You sure he ain't just becoming like me?" Cailey held onto the railing, slipping under it before falling to the ground below.

"Hey," Carol called carefully as she stared down at the girl below. "Don't do that, you'll get yourself hurt."

Cailey simply gave a small shrug, walking back off towards her cell. Carol stood back up, padding down the stairs towards her group again. Beth held the baby now, but Carol went straight for Daryl. "Rick still hasn't come back, should we go look for him?"

"Mans ain't wanna come back," Daryl shrugged with his arms crossed. "If he ain't back by mornin', I'll go get 'im."

Carol nodded, accepting the fact Rick had nearly gone mad. "I want you to talk to Cailey," she added when some of their group had started dispersing again. "She's becoming more self-destructive, you know."

Soon, the two adults were the only ones in the cell dining hall. All others had wandered off to their cells. Daryl straddled a chair as he spoke. "She always been like 'dat. And everybody here's got less careful."

"No, she's trying to break from the group," Carol shook her head. "You can see it, Daryl, I know you can. I know you can see she doesn't value her life, either."

"Kid valued her ol' man's life before hers," Daryl had to agree. "But she ain't trynna break from the group."

"Well, then she's isolating herself," Carol shook her head. "More than before. Daryl, I'm pretty sure you're the first thing she's had close to a good authority figure in her life. Look at her father."

"He ain't winnin' no Dad-O'-The-Year any time soon," Daryl decided. "Kid ain't even blink when he died."

"Exactly," Carol nodded. "I know you care about her like she's your own family, Daryl. I really think she sees you the same a least a little. You're like an older brother figure to her, she listens to you."

Daryl scoffed quietly. "I ain't no big brother."

Carol smiled. "She's even picked up on some of your mannerisms."

Daryl shook his head. "All righ'."

"I'm serious, Daryl," Carol's eyebrows furrowed. "Make sure she's not going to try and go anywhere. You're probably the only reason she's become comfortable with this group. We all trust her, even Rick. But I don't think she trusts anyone but you. Take care of her."

Daryl let out a sigh as he started to stand again. "Yeah."

"That means make sure she comes out with us to eat something for dinner. Something that isn't a dead possum she found."

"Yeah, all righ'."