Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

5

"Hey, Dale." I said as I climbed on top of the RV. Dale smiled at me. I sat on the edge, dangling my legs. "Hey there, Charlotte. What bring you up here?" He asked. I sighed. "I'm just worried. What if someone gets hurt?" I looked up at him.

He grinned at me. "By someone, you mean Daryl. Everyone knows you guys are close. Word spreads fast here." I chuckled. "Guess so." Dale smiled. "He'll be fine, Charlotte. How do you know him?" Dale asked.

I smiled. "We lived on the same street for a few years. He helped me with my bullies at school and...my mom at home. He's...he's saved my life more than once."

Dale nodded, not asking anymore question, for which I was thankful. I looked into the hills, squinting at a figure that appeared to be digging.

I pointed to it. "Dale, who's that?" He furrowed his eyebrows and looked through his binoculars. "I think it's Jim. Stay here, I'll go see what he's doing." I nodded as Dale climbed down the ladder and walked through the woods to get to Jim. I sighed and laid on my back, looking at the sky.

"Hey, Charlotte!" Someone called. I sat back up and saw Carl. "What's up, Carl?" I asked. He smiled at me. "Do you want to play with me and Sophia?" I bit my lip. There isn't really much for me to do, so why not? "Sure thing, bud." I stood up and climbed down the ladder.

"We're coloring. Come on!" Carl exclaimed, happily. He grabbed my hand and pulled me over to where Sophia was sitting, with a coloring book and some crayons around her. "Hi, Sophia." I smiled at the shy girl as I sat down and grabbed one of the books. "Hello." She said quietly. I flipped to a blank page and started drawing absent mindedly. Eventually Sophia asked me if I could do her hair like mine. It was in pigtail braids. I smiled. "Of course sweetie. Come sit in front of me."

She did so and I braided her hair and Carl, being his curious self, wanted to learn how to do it. So I let him watch and told him how to do it. Once I finished she was ecstatic and ran over to her mother to show her. "Old friend." My eyes widened when I saw Andrea and Amy walking by with a bunch of fish.

Morales stood up. "Oh, baby would you look at that. Hey check it out." He laughed. Andrea handed him the fish. "Come on guys." I stood up and walked over with Carl and Sophia. Lori started clapping. Morales held the bunch up like a prize. "Ladies...because of you my children will eat tonight. Thank you."

Andrea looked back at him. "Thank Dale. It's his canoe and gear."

Carl walked over to Lori. "Mom, look. Look at all the fish." Morales walked over to Lori and held the fish close to her.

She coiled back. "Thank you." She said, chuckling. I laughed.

"Whoa." Carl said, still amazed by the fish. He walked forward, poking one.

"Yeah, whoa. Where did you two learn to do that?" Lori asked.

Amy and Andrea both smiled. "Our dad." Carl looked at them. "Can you teach me how to do that?" He asked.

Amy smiled at him. "Sure. I'll teach you all about nail knots and stuff." She looked at Lori. "If that's okay."

Lori shook her head. "You won't catch me arguing." Andrea looked at Dale, who had just gotten back from talking to Jim.

"Hey, Dale. When's the last time you oiled those line reels? They're a disgrace." Dale shrugged. "I, uh- I don't want to alarm anyone, but we may have a bit of a problem." He turned and pointed at Jim, who was still on the hill.

Shane sighed. "Come on." Everyone stood up and we made our way up the hill. When we made it, Jim didn't even react to us being there, he just kept digging.