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The concrete floor was cold under his shoulders, but he didn't much notice that because he had a little, smiling girl crawling all over his chest and stomach. The blanket he was laying on doing nothing to ward off the chill.
"Whatcha doin', Asskicker?" He growled at the child. The tone of his voice light enough that Judith giggled at him, slapping his shirt with her little fist. She babbled happily, a beautiful reprieve from the screaming and crying child she had been for the last few days during a teething episode.
Daryl picked up one of the little toys that he had found for her on a recent run and held it up in front of her. She squealed in delight, grabbing the toy from him. "Dada!" She yells at him and the archer freezes, completely out of his depth.
Judith had just called him Dad, or maybe it was her version of Daryl. He didn't know what to think. He slid her tiny body back to the floor and sat up. This wasn't right. He wasn't her dad, he couldn't even claim that title in any variation.
"Dada!" Judith yelled again, crawling over to his legs and pulling herself up. She had long abandoned the little plastic toy and was clenching and unclenching her small fist towards him.
Daryl couldn't deny the girl anything, ever. So, he picked her up and held her against his chest and she cuddled in tightly. "I ain't yer daddy, girl." He whispered. The last thing he wanted to do was take that title away from the man who right fully deserved it, the man who claimed the child as his own, even though no one knew with any certainty who her father really was.
"I don't know if I'd go that far," the voice startling the hunter out of his thoughts. "You take care of her as much as the rest of us." Daryl looked up to find the deputy-turned-farmer striding into the small cell. "Don't put yourself down." Rick tells him.
Daryl heaved a small sigh, one he would deny later. "Don't know what yer talkin' 'bout."
Rick had that smile on his face, that one that drive Daryl crazy. The one that said that Rick was up to something and no one else knew about it. "Yeah. Yeah, ya do." Rick lowered himself down next to the hunter, extending a hand to lightly touch Judith's head.
Judith turned and looked at her father. "Papa."
Daryl looked between the farmer and the baby in his arms. "Papa? Dada?" He raises an eyebrow at the man beside him. "You been coachin' her or somethin'?" The look in Rick's eyes screamed guilt and Daryl knew that he was screwed and not in a bad way.