Chapter Text
It starts like this:
Rick hears a pearl of giggles followed by a high-pitched roar coming from Judith’s cell. He stops, listening closely, barely holding a smile at bay when he hears a familiar voice playfully beg, “Please! Let me go!”
“Never,” Judith shouts and Rick pushes the curtain aside just in time to see Judith jump on Daryl. “You’re my prisoner now!”
“Oh, whatever will I do,” Daryl states, his face flushing red when he spots Rick watching him. Judith follows his gaze, bounding off the bed and stalking towards her father, her fingers bent like claws, growling.
“Are you here to save the princess?” she demands pushing herself to her full, three-feet-four-inches.
Barely suppressing a smile, Rick looks down at Judith and says, “I guess I am.”
“You’ll have to get through me!” She roars again, pretending to fly, waving her arms up and down as she runs in a circle. “I am a dan’erous dragon!” Clearly Beth had been telling Judith stories again, reciting all the Disney movies and fairytales she could remember. Truthfully, Rick would rather Judith pretend she’s a dragon than one of them. The mere thought has him internally shuddering.
“I blow fire at you!” Judith exclaims and throws a red beanbag at her father.
Rick, remembering a time when Carl had been this age (though Carl never had to worry about the dead trying to kill him back then), plays along, hissing when the beanbag hits his hand. “You’ve burned my hand.” Daryl smirks, shaking his head back and forth, and Rick shrugs his shoulders.
“Ha!” Judith picks up the beanbag, readying herself to throw it again, but Rick rushes her, grabbing at her side, and she breaks down into a fit of giggles, dropping the beanbag.
“Have I won?” he asks curiously.
“N-never,” she replies breathlessly. Rick digs into her side again and she laughs harder, tears of mirth in her eyes. “Fine!” she shouts, hiccupping. “You win!”
“My hero,” Daryl drawls sarcastically, chuckling at the playful scowl Rick gives him. The hunter stands, intending to walk out of Judith’s cell. He has watch this evening (the whole reason Rick had been looking for him), but he stops when Judith calls his name.
Daryl turns, giving the little girl his undivided attention, something he only does for a handful of people, and patiently says, “What?”
“You’re a’pposed to kiss,” Judith says with all the innocence of a five-year old. Daryl’s blue eyes seek out Rick, something unidentifiable flashing in them, his face blank but still a shade paler than usual.
“Jude…” Rick starts letting his eyes flicker down to his daughter.
“Beth says that the knight and princess kiss after the knight saves her. You,” she gestures to Rick, “saved Daryl, Daddy. You should kiss him.”
“I’m sure Daryl…” Rick’s words catch in his throat when Daryl surges forward, pressing a feather light kiss to his lips. Before the ex-lawman can react, the hunter immediately pulls away, turning on his heel and stalking out of the cell.
Rick watches Daryl walk away, the back of the archer’s neck a bright red, feeling thoroughly confused, and, surprisingly, a little turned on.