JUNIPER. [dixon]

4 | BIRDIE

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THEY HAD GOTTEN HOME A BIT LATER THAN EXPECTED. Bailey was sitting on the front porch with Beth as they returned, bouncing her little knee and chewing on a lock of her hair. June knew as soon as she saw it that her daughter must have been worried out of her mind― she only ever did those things when she was really anxious about something. Beth was the first to see them, and Bailey's head shot up the moment that the blonde told her they were back. She stood up and stumbled down the stairs, sprinting over to June, Charlie and Daryl as they headed toward the house. "You're late!" She exclaimed in accusation, although tears of relief were spilling from her brown eyes. "You said you'd be back before the sun fell!"

"I know. I know, baby, I'm sorry," June said, her voice soft and soothing as Bailey wrapped her arms around her. She hooked one arm around her daughter's shoulders and raised her other to stroke her hair comfortingly.

"I was scared you weren't coming back," Bailey admitted tearfully.

Juniper and Charlie exchanged a brief glance, feeling guilty for having made the seven year-old so scared. "Sweetheart, listen to me." Kneeling down, she cupped Bailey's face in her dainty hands and looked into her eyes. "Uncle Charlie and I will always do everything we can to come back to you."

She sniffed and held up her pinky finger. "Promise?"

June's lips tugged up into a small smile, and she hooked her pinky around Bailey's. "Promise," she confirmed. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Daryl beginning to walk away, heading toward Rick, Lori and an anxious Carol. "Now do you want to see what I brought you?"

Bailey's eyes lit up with curiosity as they stopped welling with tears. "Yes."

The first thing June had gave her was the Cherokee rose, watching as her daughter's face brightened. While she rifled through the bag to pull out the stuffed animals, Charlie took the rose and double-checked that there weren't any thorns before sticking it between the strands of hair above Bailey's ear. Bailey had grinned, and then let out a shout of excitement when she saw the stuffed giraffe and the stuffed koala in Juniper's outstretched hands. The two stuffed animals had been June's when she was a little girl, but her mother had taken good care of them. When Bailey was born, June passed them onto her. They were Bailey's favorite things to carry around the house whenever they were visiting Grandma Grace.

Later on, June sat down with Charlie and Bailey both, and they all looked through the pictures she had taken from the house. As Juniper had hoped for, Bailey's spirits were lifted significantly― but she still couldn't shake how Bailey had greeted them when they returned that evening. Her daughter had been terrified to the point of tears that she and Charlie weren't going to return, and June felt horrible for being the cause of that.