Daughter of a Dixon ✔️

91: Family

Dad and I stayed up for a majority of the night, just talking about everything, like we needed to. Tears were shed, and awful memories were brought back to the surface, but in the end, we had sorted things out. We both knew what the other was feeling, and that was a start to being able to move past everything that had happened. We ended up falling asleep on the bed sometime in the early morning, with my head nuzzled into Dad's side and one of his arms cushioning my head.

A soft knocking woke me up that next morning, but I was too tired to sit up, or even acknowledge the sound, really. I felt Dad sit up, moving my head with him and letting it rest gently in his lap.

He let out a hum to whoever was at the door, and a moment later, a sweet voice spoke.

"Rick and the rest are here."

That got my attention. I immediately sat up, a groan escaping me as I rubbed at my tired eyes. I huffed out a sigh, running a hand through my tangled hair. "I guess it's about time, ain't it?" I asked with worry in my voice, glancing over to my dad.

He gave me a subtle nod, accompanied by a soft pat on the shoulder. "They're gon' be happy to see ya, Sidney."

"Yeah," Maggie said from the doorway, and I looked over to her smiling face. "They will be."

I exhaled a soft breath before nodding to myself, trying to build at least some confidence. I could do this; I had faced much harder things, and compared to those, this was elementary.

We got dressed in fresh clothes, and Dad walked out of the mobile unit first, accompanied by Maggie. He wanted to give them a 'briefing' of what they were about to see when I faced them, so at least they'd be slightly prepared, unlike he was. I was silently hoping for no more reactions like Dad initially had, and, after learning everything, I had a feeling he was, too.

After a few minutes, I saw Maggie give me a signal through the window of the mobile unit; it was now or never.

I sucked in a breath, holding my head high, and exited the mobile unit, looking out directly at the faces of my family who I had deceived. Rick. Michonne. Tara. Alex. Lea. Carl. Aaron. They were all there, staring at me with completely shocked expressions on their faces.

I walked down onto the ground, stopping just short of the group, trying to hold back a grin that was tugging on my lips. All was still for a moment, and just for a split second, I thought I was going to get yelled at once again.

Although, when I saw Lea bounding forward, and felt her arms throw themselves around me, I realized just how wrong I was.

I hugged my best friend back as tight as I could, grinning and allowing my eyes to close as I enjoyed the moment. She kept repeating the phrase, "oh my God," over and over, her voice full of relief and shock at the same time. I could tell, she didn't ever want to let me go, but she did eventually, and the tears of joy in her eyes were enough to make me want to cry right along with her.

"You better not ever do that again," she said, her voice serious, but a small smile crossing her features. I choked back a quiet laugh, and gave her an adamant nod, reaching a hand up to wipe at my eyes.

Before I could even realize what was happening, another, smaller pair of arms had flung themselves around me, and I didn't even have to look to tell who it was. I wrapped my arms tightly around Alex, holding his head with my hand as he buried it into my shoulder. I felt his body trembling against me with emotion, giving it away that he was crying, and the tears that I had just managed to push away immediately resurfaced.

"It's okay, buddy, don't cry," I told him, smoothing through a bit of his hair as he pulled apart from me. I left a hand on his shoulder as he stepped back, looking into his tearful, blue eyes and giving him a soft smile. He half-heartedly returned the gesture, and I gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze.

His smile grew slightly, and he stepped off to my side, tilting his head behind him in a slight movement. I looked towards where he had motioned, and my heart immediately constricted.

Carl stood a few feet back, shock and pure disbelief present on his face. I could practically see the questions he was begging to ask floating around in front of him. What happened? Why did you do this? Are you okay? 

Right then wasn't the time for questions, though. 

Right then, I just needed to be happy. 

I ran over to my boyfriend like my life depended on it, and he was prepared for me to jump into his arms. He caught me, and held me tighter than he ever had before, both of us resting our heads on the others shoulders. My tears resurfaced, and I let them fall, though I was smiling like I had just won the lottery. 

I felt Carl shaking against me, and after a moment, he was forced to set me down because of it. He still held me though, letting his arms wrap around my shoulders kindly. I heard him crying, and my heart practically broke at the sound; it took a lot to make Carl cry.

Eventually, I pulled apart from him, and looked up to his handsome face that was stained with tears. He choked on a cry when he looked down at me, and placed a gentle hand on the side of my face, wiping away at the few tears I had let fall. After a second, he exhaled sharply, and brought my head closer to him as he placed a soft kiss on my forehead. He pressed me to his chest, and I didn't object, wrapping my arms around him once again.

"I love you, Sidney, I love you," he mumbled in a heartbroken, almost inaudible voice. 

"I love you, too, and I'm so sorry... I had to, Carl..."

He sniffed, breathing out slowly, before nodding his head, and hesitantly pulling away from me. He looked down at me, and attempted to smile, nodding to me as if to tell me that he did understand. "I'm just glad you're here," he whispered, and I gave him an adamant nod. 

"Me, too," I answered, beaming up at him. 

He smiled, and looked up joyfully to someone behind him. Curious, I turned around completely, grinning when I saw Rick standing a few feet short of me. His eyes were watering with emotion, and before he could say anything, I strode up and threw my arms around the leader.

He hugged me back gratefully, and I could feel the relief in the gesture as he did so. He held the back of my head with his hand, and eventually placed a gentle kiss on top of my head. "Very proud of you," he said, giving me one last squeeze of reassurance before releasing me. 

I couldn't see how in the world Rick could possibly be proud of me, but I took it with a grain of salt, and gave him a kind smile anyway. "So... what's the next move, now?" I questioned, wiping my eyes with the back of my sleeve. 

He gave me an award-winning smile, and clapped a hand on my shoulder, eyes glistening in the light of the Sun. 

"Now, we're gonna kick some ass."