"No, you gotta name her," she says, sprawling out beside him on the bed on her stomach. She grabs her pillow -- because it's hers now, it really is -- and bunches it up under her shoulders so she can prop herself up on it and watch him with the kitten. She's so small, especially under Daryl's big hand, but Beth had picked her because she's sure this little kitten won't be pushed around. She might be small, but Beth had seen her with the other kittens, and she's sure there's some fight in her.

"I mean, they were callin' her Sooty at the shelter, which is a pretty stupid name if you ask me," she says, wrinkling her nose a little. "She's too young to know her name, though, so you can name her anything you want." Just as long as it's not Sooty. That's what the look she's giving him says. Anything but that.