I need you here with me // Carl Grimes [EDITING]

Ten - Who To Trust?

"Well ain't she the spit of you?" Merle asked looking at Daryl

"Acts like him too." Carl smirked at me

All I could do was softly elbow him in the ribs.

"Anyway, enough of that...come give your uncle Merle a hug." my uncle said

"I don't even know you. Daryl might not even be my Dad for all I know."

With a terrifying smirk on his face, Merle reached into his back pocket and pulled out what looked like the remnants of his old wallet, and from inside he pulled out a picture.

"I took that the day you were born." He spoke, I could feel the blood drain from my face.

I knew that picture. I'd seen it before, in fact it had been framed on the wall of the house I shared with my mother for the last fourteen years. She'd always taught me that she'd taken it.

"Merle." Daryl hissed

"Look at her! She knows the truth now."

I walked up to my "Uncle" and hugged him as Daryl let out a relieved sigh. I could see Carl over the man's broad shoulder and all he could do was shake his head at me.

I quickly pulled away, trusting Carl more over my own flesh and blood.

"I have to go. I'll talk to you later."

Without another word, I walked away leaving everyone else behind me and when I turned the corner out of sight, I ran. I had no idea who I really was anymore, and that simple thought alone destroyed me inside.

My own mother had lied to me for years. The one person apart from my Step-Father and the Grimes Family who I thought I would be able to trust, had betrayed me in the worst way possible. She'd watched me grow up wishing at each birthday that I would be able to know who my real father was, for him to be alive and in my life like he once had been when I was only an infant.

Thanks to her I'd always thought that he was dead, buried six feet under somewhere that my mother would never let me visit. She would always say it would only upset me, that he, like the mere two days I'd spent in his life, was in the past, but she lied to me. My father hadn't been in the past, she had been the one who'd taken me from him when really he should've been in my present and my future.

The one woman who I had loved and trusted and protected more than anyone, was a liar.

I was inconsolable, I hid myself away in an unused cell and sobbed until my heart felt a little less numb, but it didn't make much difference. I could've had a father, a real father, rather than a man who I only ever saw for an hour twice a week when he came home from work, a man who never really cared and was never really my father. I could've had someone who cared.

Daryl really was my father.

"Kid? Are you okay?"

"Daryl?" I wiped my eyes, "How did you know I was here?"

"I just did." The older man shrugged as he sank to the floor beside me, "Are ya' alright?"

"Not really. I just found out that my own Mother lied to me for all of my life about my Dad being alive. You really are my father and that asshole out there is my uncle. Did you really think I'd be okay?" I chuckled slightly

"Not really." Daryl smiled as reassuringly as he possibly could, "Look kid, I don't expect you to trust me now that you know I really am your dad and all, all I'm asking is that we work on this, you and me. We're all each other's got now."

"And Merle."

"Let's not talk about that jackass..." He laughed until the air around us fell silent.

"We can work on it Daryl, I already got two dead parents, one who lied about you being alive, so I don't really want to lose another." I sighed

"I'd like that."

"Me too."

"Lydia?" A third voice asked, "You in here?"

"I'll give you some space." Daryl climbed to his feet, allowing Carl inside the cell, "I better go talk to Merle."

"I'll talk to you later Daryl."

"Okay, you know where to find me."

Noiselessly, Daryl left the cell and neither Carl or I spoke until the sound of his retreating footsteps drifted away through the prison, and we truly were alone.

"I tried to come after you and I saw you run." He spoke, "Are you okay?"

"My Mom lied to me Carl." I stood beside him

"What?" His hands found mine, "What do you mean?"

"She told me my real Dad was dead... But Daryl's alive." Tears filled my eyes, "She kept him from me."

"It's Okay... Come on, let's get out of here."

Without a word spoken between us, the Grimes boy lead me by my hand out of the cell and in the direction of our own. Neither one of us spoke, Carl knew that it pained me too much to do so, so instead he held my hand, telling me in his own words that he was there for me.

Soon enough we reached our cell and Carl lay down on the bottom bunk, his arms pulled my body against his own, so my head fell to rest on his chest and my hand lay across his stomach.

"Even if your mom lied to you, I never will. Okay?"

"Okay." I choked out

"You're my best friend L and I want you to- I want you to know that even if you can't trust anyone, you can always trust me. I'll always be here."

"Don't promise me that." I shook my head

"Why not?"

"Because... what if one of us gets bit? You won't be there then Carl."

"I won't let that happen to you."

"But what about you?"

"We can protect each other." His hand laced through my own and he stared at me as if he had stars trapped in his eyes

"I'm going to regret this aren't I?" I smiled up at him

"Probably." He stared down on me

And before either of us either knew it my lips were on his, for only a split moment, and then I was falling asleep in his arms. I had never felt more at home with anyone than with Carl, it was a strange feeling, one I was unfamiliar with.

But I knew that only meant one thing, that I was falling for him faster than possible, and there would never be any way back.