My Fallen Angel (Daryl Dixon Love Story)

Epilogue

5 years after Esme's death (Judith is 9, RJ is 4) [1 year before season 9 episode 6]Daryl's P.O.VToday was the 5th anniversary of their deaths, of her death. I sit with my back to the tree staring at the bridge where it all happened. She was formally laid to rest next to Carl, but I couldn't bring myself to visit. I sigh when I hear walking behind me, I knew who was coming, I turn my head to see Michonne, Judith, RJ, Carol, Ezekiel, Jesus, Hershel, and Maggie. They all come over sitting in a small circle, Hershel, RJ, and Judith sitting in the middle near Michonne and Maggie. Judith smiles at me."Mommy, why are we out here?" Hershel, now 5 asks Maggie."We are here to honor the memory of 2 very special people." She answers a small smile on her face forms. I look down, shifting where I sat. Carol lays her hand on my shoulder and squeezes. I nod to her as she gives me a sad smile. "Aunt Esme and Dad right?" Judith asks."That's right." Michonne nods her gaze shifting to the bridge for a second. "So why are we here then? Why not at their graves?" "Because this is where it all happened," Jesus answers "Where what happened?" RJ his curiosity finally peaked. "Where their story came to an end," Ezekiel says."Story I want to hear a story," RJ says shifting closer to him, like his Aunt he loved stories. And so finally we told their story, Carol and I start with the camp in Atlanta, Maggie tells the story from the farm, Michonne picks up at the prison and to Alexandria and Ezekiel tells the story of when we first came to the Kingdom. Everybody pitched in things they could remember, even the smallest of details. We told them of Rick's bravery, loyalty, and leadership, everything we could think of about him. "I remember Aunt Esme being so pretty with her green and blue eyes," Judith says smiling at Michonne. "You can't have two colored eyes, can you?" Hershel looks confused at his mom, I can't help but laugh. "Yes you can, and Esme had one blue eye and one green eye," I say. Hershel looks at me amazed. "Do you miss her Uncle Daryl," Judith asks a small frown on her face, I look away and press my back harder into the tree as memories flash through my mind."Everyday," I answer almost in a whisper."What do you miss most about her?" RJ randomly asks."Umm..." I look to him stunned not knowing how to answer. "I know what I miss most," Ezekiel says distracting the others from me, thankfully. "I miss her creativity, Lady Esme was the first stranger to come into the Kingdom and share in my creativity, speaking the same way we did. You know she loved stories just as much as you do RJ, you must get that from her, she never went anywhere without a book.""That's true, she would read stories to Sophia and Carl back at camp, she would have read many stories to you all if she were still here," Carol says smiling and laughs. "Oh, I miss how caring and loving she was, she cared so much that she put others first over her safety when Sophia went missing she and Daryl were out there constantly when they could be looking for her." "I thought she was going to rip her brother Shane to pieces when he almost didn't let her look for her. Oh, or when she almost killed Andrea for almost shooting Daryl," Maggie smiles, and we all laugh. "She was scary when you made her mad." Jesus laughs. "She almost bit off my head multiple times when I first met her, not to mention when in a fit of anger I thought she was going to beat me and Sasha to a bloody pulp." The kids look at him confused but Maggie sighs and nods."That was a hard time for all of us, we had just lost Abraham and Glenn," she tries to explain but gets interrupted. "Daddy?" He asks and Maggie nods and continues."She held a lot of anger at that time, and it blew up in our faces, but you were there to help her with it, Jesus, I know she appreciated it." Jesus smiled sadly as Maggie looks off into the distance thoughtfully before speaking again. "Hmm... I think what I miss the most about my best friend was her fun, feisty yet understanding personality Glenn and I would pick on her about a lot of things yet she knew how to pick back and find ways to have fun. She also just understood and listened to everyone, I think the only one she never did understand was Andrea, though I think that's cause she almost killed her boyfriend." We all laugh and Judith points at me, I nod."As Esme would always point out 'we weren't dating at the time!'" Michonne says in her best impression making us all laugh harder. "I miss her courage, she very rarely kept silent about what was on her mind and she wasn't afraid to do what she had to protect her family and she was a force to be reckoned with when one of us got hurt." We all nodded."She sounds stubborn," RJ speaks up but was smiling."She was and she never could sit still doing nothing when other's lives were at stake," I say staring at the bridge. "Especially the ones she loved," I frown when the image of her running to Rick and being thrown into the tree crosses my mind. "You never did answer my question, Uncle Daryl," RJ says again and the others all stare at me expectantly."Hn, I miss her presence," I say looking away from them again. "No matter what she was always there, whether next to me or in the background, I could always feel her with me and knew that if I needed her for any reason at all she was there. I also just miss sitting with her in the calm silence we had." "Heck now that you mention it I miss her ability to calm you down," Carol says teasing me, the others laugh as I give her a playful glare. "Oh stop glaring at me Pookie." She says and I give a slight smile at the nickname. "Oh I miss how they would try to hide the PDA," Michonne pipes up and I shake my head her. "Saw that..." She whispers barely loud enough, we all laugh knowing why she says it as the kids frown not getting the joke.The stories continue until it's time for the others to leave. I say goodbye to all of them promising to visit when I can. I sigh sitting back down with my back against the tree again, closing my eyes when they scan the offending bridge, her face pops into my head as it normally does when I close my eyes. I bring my right hand to my neck and dig out her pentacle from under my shirt and start to play with it. I growl in frustration when the emotions hit me. "You don't get too lose who you are either, I won't let you." Her words from so long ago haunt my mind and I open my eyes frowning, it was one of the only reasons why I stayed so near the others. After their deaths, I wanted to run away not able to deal with losing her, I wanted the pain to go away to become emotionless, but I knew that's not what she would want of me, instead, I just started to live on the outskirts of our communities. I sigh again thinking of the one thing I missed the most from her, her love.