…

Beth can't stop staring at him. He's perfect. Absolutely perfect. Ten fingers, ten toes, blue eyes. The faintest wisps of light hair on his head. They don't have a scale, but Beth thinks he's around eight pounds. Not only is he perfect, but he's healthy. They both are.

Her son is a miracle. An absolute miracle.

She wonders who he will eventually grow to look like. Will he have her and Greene look or Daryl and the Dixon look? Right now, he's only four hours old so he looks a bit more like a potato, as Daryl would say; a perfectly healthy and perfect potato – but a potato nonetheless.

Daryl is in the chair next to the bed, his head resting on his fisted hand, fast asleep. Beth has already taken a short nap while Daryl had looked after their son before she woke up so Eli could be fed, and now, as Daryl sleeps, Beth is in their bed, their son in her arms, mother and son just blinking at one another. Beth can't imagine herself ever getting tired of looking at their son.

"My little Eli," she whispers then as her finger runs over his small knuckles and Eli shifts in her arms, but he remains quiet, still just looking at her. She smiles and brushes her lips across his forehead. "I love you so much, my little Eli." She then closes her eyes and inhales his scent. Rosita and Anna have bathed both Beth and Eli and now, Eli smells that familiar newborn scent that Aiden had smelled like not that long ago.

In this new world surrounded by so much death, it makes Beth want to cry that newborn babies still smell like how newborn babies are supposed to smell like.

Eli adjusts in her arms again and one of his tiny feet frees from the blanket he's wrapped in.

"No, no, we can't have that," Beth tells her son with a smile and tucks his foot inside once again. "We can't have you get cold." Eli lets out some sort of huff at that – as if he doesn't particularly agree with that – and Beth smiles, kissing his forehead again.

Daryl shifts in his chair, adjusting his head on his fist, but he remains asleep.

There is a soft knock on the closed bedroom door and Beth lifts her head to look at it.

"Come in," she quietly calls out – not wanting to disturb both Daryl and Eli.

She smiles when the door opens just enough for Mulligan to poke his head into the room. He smiles when he sees that she and the baby are both awake. He frowns though when he sees Daryl.

"What the hell is that one asleep for? He didn't push nothin' out of him today," Mulligan says and Beth stops herself before she lets out a laugh.

"Be kind to him," Beth gently warns the older man. "I think I broke his hand earlier."

"Psssh," Mulligan says, stepping into the room. "If he didn't want a broken hand, he should have pulled out 'fore he could knock you up."

Beth smiles at him and then looks down to her son, still smiling. "Thank goodness he didn't," she says.

Mulligan smiles at that, too. "Rosita sent me in here, wonderin' if you wanted more of that tea."

"That would be wonderful," she says and glances towards the empty cup on the table next to the bed.

Mulligan walks around the bed to collect the cup, making sure he doesn't accidently bump into Daryl. He pauses though as he looks down to Eli and he smiles.

"How you feelin'?" Mulligan asks her.

Beth look up at him. "Amazing," she answers honestly. Yes, she's sore and there's still a bit of pain, but she's hardly even noticing it because Eli's in her arms.

Mulligan smiles at that and leans down, pressing a kiss to Beth's head, and the action is so simple, but it causes Beth's eyes to flood with tears nonetheless. She imagines that if her daddy was still alive and here to meet his grandson, he would be doing the exact same thing. And Beth can picture it so perfectly; Hershel standing next to the bed, smiling warmly, kissing Beth on the head.

"I can't thank you enough," Beth says, her voice shaking, as she looks up to Mulligan again. "For letting us stay here with you. You saved all of our lives."

Mulligan is quiet for a moment and it's obvious that he hasn't the first idea how to respond to that.

"Couldn' let you go after I tasted your cookin'," he's finally able to say and Beth laughs softly. "'sides, with Anna and Aiden and now this lil' one, 's good to have kids in this place again. Went a long time without."

His eyes go distant for a moment and Beth knows he's thinking about his family. She has always wanted to ask him, but at the same time, she's never wanted to pry. Was Mulligan ever married? Did he ever have children? She knows that this has been his family's cabin for years and years. Who else in the Mulligan family used to live here?

This man has saved hers and her baby's and her family's lives and there is still so much she doesn't know about him.

"'m gonna go get you some more tea," Mulligan clears his throat, bringing himself to the present. "You need anythin' else?"

Beth shakes her head, a small smile still across her lips. Eli fidgets again and her attention is brought back to him, adjusting him in her arms once more, making sure the blanket is snug around him, and she smiles down at her son, wondering if this feeling of complete amazement she has towards him will ever fade.

"You all saved my life, too," Mulligan says quietly – so quietly, she almost misses it – and Beth turns her head once more to look up at him.

He doesn't say anything further though and with his own small smile, he turns, taking the cup with him. As he passes Daryl, this time, his foot kicks against his. Daryl's eyes instantly spring open and he sits up.

"Wha' is it?" He asks, confused, but already wide awake as his eyes land frantically on Beth and Eli.

"Be with your wife and son," Mulligan tells him as he heads for the door, without looking back. "You shouldn' be sleepin' durin' precious moments like this."

With that, the man leaves the bedroom, closing the door behind him.

Daryl leans forward in his chair, rubbing his eyes with the balls of his hands, before looking to Beth and Eli.

"You can go back to sleep," Beth tells him. "We should all get the sleep while we can."

Daryl shakes his head and his eyes land on Eli and like Beth, he seems unable to stop looking at their son.

Their son. Beth smiles at just the thought. Who would have ever thought that she and Daryl would be here, together, and would have a baby together?

"Nah, Mulligan's right," Daryl says, looking at her now, his eyes warm. "Don't wanna miss anythin'."

…

Thank you so much for reading!

I'm always having random ideas for this universe, so this story will be updated with little vignettes of things I wanted to get out. Each chapter will be short, just around 1000 words or so.