A Thin Line of Fate

There was nothing romantic about their sex, nothing soft, and other than a need for release there was no emotions involved. It was purely a physical act between two people who needed to feel something other than the apathy that was drowning them both. Michonne had initiated it on one of the endless days that seem to blur into the next. The anger she'd felt at The Governor for taking Andrea's life once consumed her like a fire it had been further fueled by the anger and guilt she'd been carrying around for not opening up more to Andrea, for leaving her in Woodbury when she should have dragged her out kicking and screaming by her hair. She still woke up in a cold sweat the sound of Andrea's final gun shot reverberating in her head. Michonne could not live with those constant feelings of sorrow and regret and so she'd swallowed all of her emotions like one bitter pill that sat in the pit of her stomach. Not feeling wasn't a solution but it worked for her.

She didn't ask Daryl what his reasons were for indulging in their little tryst, if you could even call it that since they weren't lovers, she was sure his reasons were similar to her own. When they first began looking for The Governor he had asked her several times about Merle's last hours and she had told him. "I just talked to him like a human being. I asked him if he could live with what he was about to do. I told him that I thought he wasn't an evil man and I meant it. I tried to get your brother to come back but he said he had a job to do. Your brother had a conscious and in the end it got the better of him either that or he was just sick of my mouth."

"Sorry that we was gonna give ya to The Governor." Daryl had said gruffly. "After I seen what he done to Andrea I thought that coulda been ya an I'm sorry."

Michonne had shrugged indifferently. "A prison full of white people ready and willing to sacrifice the lone black woman can't say that I was shocked, but don't apologize to me if you're only looking to appease your white guilt."

Daryl had looked at her stunned for a moment and then nodded as if settling something in his own mind. "Handing ya ova wouldn't of changed shit I took the easiest way out I knew how, an it was the cowards way out an I don got no excuse, but I ain't that man anymore"

Michonne had nodded glad that he admitted that he was wrong without making excuses for himself and they both moved on. He didn't ask about his brother anymore after that they just continued to look for The Governor.

Their first time together was one of the worst days for both of them. After weeks of searching they'd gone back to Woodbury looking for clues but all they managed to find were bad memories.

"Guess everyone cleared out afta what went down at the prison." Daryl said.

"Probably afraid the psycho would come back and murder them all in their sleep." Michonne reasoned. Woodbury was a ghost town now. The Governor's place was just as he had left it but there were no clues as to where he had went.

"We ain't gonna find him cuz he don't wanna be found." Daryl growled.

"So your just giving up?"

"He already took my brotha's life I cain't give him mines too."

"I just can't sleep knowing he's out there doing god knows what to someone else."

"Ya sure that's why?"

"No, but it's what I keep telling myself."

"Les jus go back ain't nuttin fer us here an we can't keep leavin the prison they need us."

"I can't! I can't let this go, Michonne yelled and threw a chair across the room, she thought he was a good guy but I knew he wasn't. I should have made her understand. What was taking a little more time to explain on my part?"

"Andrea was stubborn she had her own mind and it was neva easy to change."

"I had been alone for so long you don't know how happy I was to see another human being . She used to go on and on about the prison and now I'm here and she's not. It isn't right all she wanted to do was go back home, and even after we all turned our backs on her she was still trying to save us."

" I know she was. Les go back." Daryl said. "Ain't nuttin fer us here."

She had gone back because she couldn't stand being in his place. Every corner of Woodbury was a bad memory. The good memories that she had with Andrea were even worse though and now she would never see her again. Sometimes she would think of something funny and want to tell Andrea but couldn't. She would go out on a run see something that she knew Andrea would like and pick it up for her only to remember the wasn't an Andrea to give it to anymore and there never would be. Neither of them spoke on the drive back. In fact Michonne didn't speak for the rest of that day. She had expected to find something in Woodbury some sort of clue but she hadn't found a damn thing, and that took the last bastion of her hope that she would find him.

She'd fallen into a troubled sleep that night and woke up after another disturbing nightmare. This time Andrea was a walker in her dream she'd been unable to kill Andrea who despite her walker face still looked like herself. In her dream she'd let Andrea tear into her devouring her entrails like she'd seen so many walkers do to nameless faceless people. She awoken and stifled her scream by covering her mouth with both hands but she was still trembling all over and couldn't go back to sleep couldn't stay in her cell all by herself, so Michonne got up and began to wander. She had no intentions of going to Daryl's cell but found herself there anyway standing outside of his door. Daryl who was a light sleeper and good tracker had awaken instantly.

"What ya doin Michonne? Ya don wanna go out an track him this time of night do ya?"

"Can't sleep had a nightmare." She told him and knew that she wouldn't have to elaborate further he probably had plenty of nightmares of his own. "Mind some company?" Without waiting for an answer she gone into his cell and Daryl had pulled the sheets on his bed back an act that almost surprised her.

"I ain't been sleeping much these days neither." He pulled the covers up over the both of them.

It been a long time since Michonne had been in the same bed with a man. Daryl was warm and solid and suddenly all the old desires she'd been repressing came rushing back making her feel more alive than she had since all this madness had started. He was staring at her in the darkness perhaps wondering why she'd come she moved close to him and he did not move away and so she'd moved even closer and he stayed in the same spot. She started kissing him, but for a moment his mouth remained shut and she thought that maybe he didn't want her, but then she felt the wonderful hardness of his erection and he pulled her roughly into his body and the next thing she could remember they were fucking. Not making love, not having sex, fucking. The bed squeaked and their animalistic grunts filled the room Daryl pulled her locs and bit her neck as she rode him. When it was over she got dressed and went back to her cell and fell asleep instantly.

For awhile she forgot about killing The Governor. She didn't even go out to look for him. Michonne stayed at the prison killed walkers, acted as a makeshift teacher for Carl, and took care of the piglets. Michonne had a special place in her heart for the piglets because it was she and Daryl who brought them back to the prison in the first place.

"Aww, look at them they're so cute." Michonne had cooed as Daryl had slowed the truck to a stop to look at some pigs rooting around in the mud at an abandon farm.

Daryl had given Michonne a look like she had completely lost her mind. "Yer crazy we're supposed to be out here lookin fer the governor not goin awl doe eyed ova sum pigs."

"There are piglets too, and they'll die if we don't rescue them."

Daryl rolled his eyes. "They're gonna die when we take em back to the prison an turn them into bacon."

Michonne's mouth fell open. "You are not going to kill them all!"

Daryl shrugged. "Whateva les jus go git the damn things we ain't gonna find him today an were losin day light."

"We'll find him." Michonne said before jumping out of the truck. "It's just a matter of time and we've got plenty of it to spare.'

Daryl climbed out of the truck a second later.

"It's a wonder they haven't been eaten by walkers yet."

"Naw too many tree roots, rocks and other shit fer walkers to git round."

"What do you figure happened to the people who lived here? The pigs are OK, but as far as I can tell this farm has been abandoned for quite some time."

"Hell if I know les jus bring home the bacon."

Michonne had chuckled and began winding her way through the tall grass and weeds hacking them with her katana.

"Didn't figure you fer the kind to git all emotional ova sum piglets."

"Guess you don't know me as well as you think you do." Michonne had replied.

"Don't think I know ya at awl don't think anyone does."

"Not much to know. I had a different life before all this mess started and now that life is gone."

"Wasn't pryin people don know shit about me neither and that's the way I like it."

They had spent the rest of that day catching pigs and loading them up in the back of the truck. Michonne had fallen in a pig trough and Daryl had slipped in a pile of shit, but it was the most fun either of them had in a long time. They arrived back at the prison stinking like shit and laughing like lunatics.

At night she would go to Daryl's cell or he'd come to hers always right after patrol when they were still wound up and unable to sleep and they had sex, hair pulling, rough, sweaty sex. She had finally met someone who could keep up with her and did all those little things she liked that she never had to ask for. He never took the time to romance her but she was not looking for romance. Anything other that an intensively mind blowing orgasm she could not handle. Orgasms Daryl was good at and every night he left her with jelly legs, made her toes curl, and her eyes roll in the back of her head, but the best part of it all was that he left. Other than the sex he expected nothing from her and she expected nothing from him.

Then the nightmares came back and each one she had seemed to be more disturbing than the last. To Michonne it felt like it was Andrea's way of telling her she needed to find The Governor and stop him, and so she was going out again looking for The Governor she would be gone for days at a time with nothing but her tunnel vision driving her along.

"Thought ya was done looking for him." Daryl confronted her one day.

"I never said that." She said to him anxious to get out on the road. They had just had sex and she didn't want to stand around talking to him she just wanted to get away, no she needed to get away. From Daryl, from the prison, from everything. Being around all these new people was too much sometimes after spending so much time on her own. She often felt like a caged animal.

"Ya find him and then what? Ya kill him and then what? When is it gonna stop?"

"That's none of your damn business." She said coldly and brushed past him. When she came back she always brought something for Carl to lessen her guilt. Daryl had stopped making comments about her running off he just accepted her in his bed at night and knew she'd be gone in the morning. The next day they had gone on a run with Tyreese and the new guy Bob, and something in Tyreese's anger and carelessness she saw in herself and she didn't like what she saw. She was being stupid she realized wasting all of her energy and risking her life to try and find this man. It wouldn't bring Andrea back nothing would. In her anger and vengeance she wasn't allowing herself to morn and if she couldn't morn she couldn't move on. Andrea had wanted her to go back to the prison so she wouldn't be on her own any more. She had wanted Michonne to be friends with her friends and to open up to them and not be so damn guarded all the time, so she told Daryl that he was right. That she wouldn't be going out any more.

"Good." was all he said but coming from Daryl it might as well have been a Shakespearean sonnet.

When she went to his cell that night Daryl was sitting up in his bed fingering a piece of jasper. She smiled a bit recalling how she told him it brought out his eyes.

"Ya really staying put this time Miss Mirage?"

"I told you I was didn't I."

"Thought ya was stayin last time and ya run off. Don like it when people go runnin off neva know if I'm gonna see them again."

"I'm sorry." She said contritely. She wished he wouldn't say things like that to her she felt it got in the way of their sex. If they started dragging their feelings into this everything would change and she wasn't sure it was something that either of them could handle.

Daryl sat the piece of jasper down on his nightstand and pulled his covers back.

Michonne slipped between the sheets, but this time it was different. Their sex was not as intense not as quick. Daryl stroked her face and their kisses lingered. They looked into each others eyes truly acknowledging each others presence. Hands explored and caressed and words were said not just their usual grunts and moans. After it was over she fell asleep right there in Daryl's arms.

In the morning Michonne scrambled out of Daryl's bed horrified to realize that she'd fallen asleep next to him and not returned to her own cell. They hardly spoke to each other, and when they did it was about everything other than how the sex had been different between them or the fact that she stayed the night. It felt like it was turning into something more something real and the very thought of that terrified them both. The two of them always tried to be careful with their feelings they were best friends with benefits and nothing more. Not only were they careful with their feelings but they were careful about the risk of pregnancy the last thing either of them needed was a child. Daryl had found a package of condoms out on a run and they always tried to use them, but there had been times when things got too hot too fast and the condoms were forgotten and there was the couple of times that Daryl had not put the condom on right. Michonne had put the thought of those days at the back of her mind until today.

Since the Apocalypse began Michonne's periods had not been normal so her first missed period had not set off any alarm bells but by her second missed period alarm bells started ringing. Being pregnant before she picked up on the signs much quicker. The sore breast, the tiredness, and the nausea and vomiting. She didn't need a test to tell her what she already knew, but she took one anyway and waited for that thin line of fate to come and change her life forever. Michonne cursed when she saw a pink line slowly appear. She knew she was pregnant but that damned thin line was the final nail in the coffin. She would have to tell Daryl because whether he liked it or not she was keeping this baby. She had already lost a child and couldn't stand the pain of losing another. In this world of constant death life was the only thing that made anything worth while. Life is what they were fighting for a child meant a future and a future meant survival and that's what it was all about. Silent tears streamed down Michonne's face she was both scared and happy she knew she was risking her life by being pregnant and giving birth, but she was willing to make what ever sacrifice she had to. This was her second and perhaps only chance to be a mother again.

Later on that day Michonne was distracted during patrol. Twice Daryl had to run to her rescue when she had not notice a walker that had gotten too close to her.

"Ya OK? Ya seem kinda off yer game ya ain't lookin to leave again are ya?"

"No."

"Are ya sick then?"

"No not sick." She said. "I'll tell you what's up after I take a shower." Michonne held her face up under the streaming water enjoying the feeling of water beading down on her skin as she tried to clear her head and figure out just how she was going to tell Daryl. She couldn't begin to gauge what kind of reaction he was going to have, but she'd bet her katana it wasn't going to be a positive one. She still couldn't believe that she was pregnant and by him of all people. She placed her hand on her stomach and wondered if she was having a boy or a girl she didn't really care so long as her child was healthy. Life had to go on just because they were living in hell didn't mean they should stop living and if she had to raise this child on her own she would. She would teach them not only to survive in this world but to thrive in it. After her shower she got changed and lie on her bed and like clock work Daryl showed up at her cell door.

She didn't pull back her covers but she felt the weight of Daryl on her bed anyway. She kept her eyes closed and tentatively Daryl reached out to touch her but she still did not move nor did she open her eyes.

"You OK Michonne?"

"No Daryl I'm pregnant." She said with her usual bluntness. She sat up and opened her eyes.

"Yer what?

"PREG-NANT"

"so what are ya tryin to tell me that I'm the father?"

"Gee I don't know I was with so many other men, Rick, Herschel, Tyreese-

"I didn't mean it like that it's just shit we took precautions."

"Not always."

"Ya gonna keep it?"

"I am."

"Fuck!" Daryl shouted and punched the wall.

"What in the fuck do you mean fuck?" Michonne snapped putting her hands on her hips.

"What in the hell do ya expect from sum one like me? I ain't fit to be no dad ya know I neva wanted kids ya expect us to be sum kind of family now?" Daryl asked.

"No I expected you to be an asshole and you just proved me right."

"Well I'm glad I could live up to yer expectations." Daryl quipped and stormed out of her cell.

Part of her was tempted to go right after him and demand that he talk to her about this because she hadn't gotten pregnant all on her own. The other part of her was too tired to care right now she knew there would be plenty of time to fight about it later so she turned on her side closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Daryl avoided her the next day and whenever she looked at him he had the look of a petulant child. He snapped at everyone and practically bit Carl's head off for bumping into him. Michonne went after him.

"Leave him alone he's got nothing to do with what's going on between the two of us." Michonne snapped cornering him in the tombs where he'd disappeared to sulk.

"Are ya even thinkin right Michonne? Ya know how hard it's gonna be to have a kid in this world? Ya seen what happened to Lori. I already got enough shit to worry about don't need to be worried about no damn baby."

"I'm sorry I didn't realize this was all about you." Michonne spat. "I didn't realize that you'd be the one with the hemorrhoids and the back pain. I forgot that if I did choose to get rid of the child that you'd be the one who'd have to live with the pain of that consequence for the rest of your life. That it would be your body that would be invaded. Sorry that I forgot you're the one who already lost a child. Don't worry I wouldn't dream of asking a piece of shit like you to be a father to my child that's a man's job." She said acidly and watched the wounded look in his eyes and she was glad that she had put it there. She turned and walked away from him almost running back to her cell not wanting him to see that he had made her cry. They were angry tears but they were still tears nonetheless and she didn't want him to know he'd gotten under her skin because she actually cared about him and wanted him to care about her and their child too.

After that Michonne stopped patrolling with Daryl. Stopped talking to him and if she could help it she didn't even look at him. If the others in the prison guessed that their was something wrong between the two of them they didn't ask, but they would find out soon enough. Michonne was not the woman she used to be if you slighted her now she would cut you out of her life completely no matter how much it hurt her. Self preservation was the first rule of survival and now it wasn't just her life she had to think about.

"You feeling OK Michonne?" Herschel asked her at breakfast and she knew he knew. "If you need me for anything you know my door is always open."

"Thank you."She decided that after morning patrol with Beth she would go see Herschel. Being pregnant was hard enough on the body, but she figured it was probably twice that now. She could not get an amniocentesis or an ultrasound. She had no real way to tell if her baby was developing normally or not the best help she had was only a veterinarian, but Herschel was better than no help at all.

Patrolling with Beth was nice they got the job done and Beth didn't pry or find small talk necessary, but all that patrolling with Beth really did was make her realize how much she really missed Daryl. She wanted so badly to go talk things out with him she didn't want to raise this child on her own didn't want her child to grow up wondering why his father was in the prison and didn't talk to them or want to have anything to do with them, but the fact that Daryl had just walked out on her and her stubborn pride stopped her each time.

When she got back to the prison she took a hot shower got dressed and found Herschel in the infirmary.

"How far along do you think you are?" Herschel asked her not bothering to beat around the bush.

Michonne furrowed her brow trying to calculate the time from her last missed period until now. "Two months maybe I can't be sure my periods haven't exactly been normal."

"Well that's to be expected. If you don't mind my asking is Daryl the father? I'm a doctor of sorts so anything you tell me will go no further than this office."

"Yes Daryl's the father." She told him because she needed to tell someone. "He's angry that I'm keeping the baby."

"For what it's worth I don't think Daryl is angry I think he's scared. His own father wasn't a very good man and he probably feels like he might turn out the same."

"Well I'm scared too. Scared and all alone but I just can't get rid of this child though I've already lost my daughter what if I never get this chance again?"

"You should talk to him and tell him how you feel I'll bet he's hoping you'll come to him."

Michonne didn't say anything. She couldn't agree to something that she might not do. She did not feel like accommodating Daryl right now she just want to focus on the life that was growing inside of her.

"I've got some prenatal vitamins you can start taking and there are plenty of fruits and vegetables in the garden for you to eat. You work out regularly and you're a healthy young woman, so just keep coming back here for regular check ups and I don't see any reason why there should be any complications." Herschel said. "Now if you'll let me listen to your heart and check your blood pressure I'll send you on your way."

After leaving Herschel's Michonne went to visit Rick. Judith had a lot of things that she no longer needed now that she had out grown them that Michonne could use. She would have to tell Rick of course why she needed them but she really didn't care about that the sooner she was prepared for the baby the better. She would need to find a bigger room there was no room for a bassinet in her cell.

"Hey Rick can I talk to you for a second?" Michonne asked.

"Sure what's up." Rick said he was changing Judith and didn't bother to turn around.

She waited till Rick had finished diapering Judith and had put her securely in her crib before speaking. "Judith's old bassinet you're not using it are you?"

"No, why?" Rick asked finally turning around and looking at Michonne as if she'd grown a second head.

"I'm pregnant, please don't ask me about it. I just need to prepare so anything you could spare that Jude's not using would be helpful."

"Ah, sure." Rick said still looking at her as if she was two-headed."

"Rick the bassinet please."

"Right, he said, but you'll probably have to move I mean it won't fit in your cell."

"Thanks you think you could help me move? I don't have that much stuff so it shouldn't take long."

Rick slowly brought his eyes up from her stomach. "Sure I'll help. Anything you need."

It was killing Rick ,she knew, not being able to ask her all the questions that must have been running through his mind but she couldn't talk about it. She was having a hard enough time not falling apart but she couldn't let herself get stressed. If she could make it through being on her own with nothing but walker pets for months on end she could make it through this.

Rick followed Michonne back to her cell. "You know what room you're moving into? Some of the administrative offices would probably be the right size."

"I'm just going to stay in the classroom next to the library, but thanks for helping me move."

"It'll be nice for Judith to have someone to grow up with." Rick said with a huge grin. "It will be more like a normal childhood having a friend her age. I know you said you don't want to talk about it but-

"No buts Rick I don't want to talk about it." Without another word Rick helped her move her things and then went to gather all the baby supplies that he no longer needed.

As soon as they moved the last things into Michonne's new room she began to poke through the boxes of Judith's old things.

"You want me to help?" Rick asked.

"No it's not your responsibility."

"I didn't ask because it was my responsibility."

"I know but this is something I'd rather do on my own."

"I understand. If you ever do want to talk about it I'm here for you. He'll come around eventually Daryl's stubbron but he's not an asshole."

Michonne just shook her head she should have known Rick would have to say something. So he knew Daryl was the father too she guessed it wasn't that hard to figure out. Hell even Carl probably knew by now.

When Rick had gone Michonne began to unpack baby clothes and memories began to flood her mind. She could remember clearly the day her daughter Grace was born. The moment she held her in her arms had eclipsed any other day in her life. For nine months she'd carried around this being and now she was holding her this fully formed little baby in her arms. She had not slept at all the first night she'd brought her home for looking at her. She had been a perfect blend of both of her parents. She remembered just as clearly the day she died too. The day those animals she'd chained to her took her daughter from this world. That had been the darkest day in her life. Her pet walkers, Joe and Daniel, had been partners in the law firm where she worked they had all been good enough friends before the end, but hard times have a way of changing people. The trio had been on the road for several days when they found a shotgun house to hole up in overnight. The next morning the tiny house had been surrounded by a small herd of walkers.

"There are too many of them we'll never get out of here not without something to distract them." Joe had said.

"I'm not going to die trapped like a rat we've got to do something." Daniel agreed.

The two didn't even speak they just acted it was like they were sharing the same sick mind, and before Michonne could stop either of them they were advancing on her and ripping Grace from her arms. She'd fought like a mother bear but they were just too strong they took her daughter from her arms and fed her to the walkers. Michonne would never forget the sounds of her daughters screams never forget how it felt as they tore her daughter from her arms. They had the nerve to apologize to her afterwards. They had actually asked her for her forgiveness.

"We didn't want to do it Michonne it's what had to be done." They told her.

It was the first time in her life that she ever saw red. It was like putting on brilliant crimson colored contacts and she couldn't remember much of what happened next just a moment of coming back to reality and seeing blood everywhere and Joe and Daniel on the floor dead, and in an amazing twist of irony Joe and Daniel had ended up being the distraction she'd used to escape the house.

Michonne held up a yellow onesie and wondered if she had it in her to do again. Could she be a mother knowing that any second her child could be taken from her? Losing Grace is what turned her into who she was today. It's what made her turn her back on humanity until she'd seen Andrea whom at the time had seemed as helpless as a baby. If she lost this child would she be able to come back from that? She didn't know. All that she did know was that she was pregnant now and the life growing in her meant more to her than her own life and she wondered why in the hell it couldn't mean more to Daryl. She thought about what Hershel said about Daryl being scared to be a father and that perhaps he was waiting for her to come to him, but she was still too hurt too angry to go to him so she kept her distance.

Daryl kept his distance too, though she had caught him staring at her more than once as she rubbed her baby bump. His eyes would always quickly dart away when she caught him staring. They were too much alike they were opposite sides of the same damn coin. They appeared hard and untouchable but really it was just to mask their sensitivity they had been both taught by the world that if you weren't constantly in a crash position you could get hurt.

As Michonne's stomach got bigger so did the rift between her and Daryl. Two months had past neither had done more than said hi to each other in passing. It hurt not having Daryl in her life anymore because they managed to become best friends in the time they had spent looking for The Governor, and now they weren't anything to each other despite the fact that their child meant they would have this connection to each other for the rest of their lives. The one positive thing in her life was that she had made it past the first trimester and the nausea had subsided and her tiredness had gone away to the point that she felt that she could help out more. She couldn't go patrolling but she could kill walkers at the fence line. It was not much but it at least helped her break up the monotony of the day.

Walkers could be like animals in that most seemed incredibly stupid, but you did have those that were smarter than most. Some could work things out more than others. Michonne knew this but killing walkers had become so routine that she didn't keep this fact as a priority in her mind. Stabbing the walkers at the fence line seemed as safe as shooting fish in a barrel, until one of them grabbed her shirt pulling her into the fence and another walker followed suit. Michonne pulled away but the walkers held fast to her t-shirt. More were catching on and she had to pull away hard this time tumbling back her left foot landed in a hole but her momentum still caused her to fall her body twisted one way while her foot remained caught in the hole. Michonne let out a surprised yelp as her ass hit the ground hard and pain shot up through her ankle. Slowly and painfully she extricated her foot from the hole and saw that it was rapidly swelling. "Shit!" she swore out loud. How could she have been so stupid? All the times she had gone out on patrol she'd never been hurt once and now she'd managed to sprain or possibly break her ankle just standing at the fence line.

"Michonne! Michonne are you OK?" Someone was yelling.

Michonne shielded her eyes from the sun to see Maggie and Carl running her way. "I twisted my ankle." She said in the strained voice not wanting to let on how much pain she was actually in. She scrambled to her feet but the moment she tried standing on her left foot pain shot through her body like an electrical shock, and if it weren't for Maggie she would have fallen back to the ground.

"Come on let's take you into see my dad he'll patch you up."

"What happened?" Carl asked his eyes the size of saucers.

"I got careless and some of the walkers pulled me into the fence." She said bitterly.

With Maggie's help she was able to make it back into the prison and to the infirmary.

Hershel felt her ankle as gently as he could but Michonne still winced in pain.

"Well the good news is I don't think it's broken, but the bad news is it's a really bad sprain and you're going to have to be off of your feet for a few days. I'll tape your foot up then ice it and elevate it then come see me in a few days."

"Can't you just give me some crutches?" Michonne pleaded.

"Sure after you rest for a few days."

Michonne rolled her eyes and fell back on the hospital bed while Hershel taped up her foot.

"Just lie here for now until the swelling goes down." After Hershel finished taping and icing her foot he covered her with a blanket. "We'll let you get some rest now."

"Here you go." Carl said handing her a stack of old magazines. "Thought you might like something to read."

"Thanks." Michonne said taking the magazines from Carl. With Hershel, Maggie, and Carl gone it was too quiet but her ankle hurt too badly for her to sleep but she tried anyway. She pulled the blanket over he head and shut her eyes.

"What in the hell did ya think ya were doin goin out there an tryin to kill walkers?" Daryl demanded coming into the infirmary without having been asked.

"Excuse me?" Michonne said opening her eyes and pulling herself up by her elbows.

"Maggie tole me what happened, how ya was out there playin Xena Warrior Princess."

"Get out!"

"Ya cain't jus go around doin shit like that."

"Why the hell do you even care?" Michonne snarled.

"Ya know why!"

"No I don't why don't you spell it out for me."

Daryl frowned. "Cuz yer pregnant."

"With your child, a child you don't even want."

"So what that means yer jus gonna be selfish an go around riskin two lives?"

"I said get out!" Michonne screamed and picked up a tea cup off the table beside her bed and hurled it at Daryl.

Daryl ducked just in time the mug exploded into a thousand tiny shards above him and cold tea rained down on his head.

"What in the hell is going on in here?" Hershel asked running into the room and Rick was right behind him.

"Nothing Daryl was just leaving." Michonne said.

"Like hell I am." Daryl retorted folding his arms across his chest.

"You are leaving." Hershel said. "You're upsetting Michonne and I know you don't want to do that."

Sighing Daryl hung his head whether it was shame or defeat Michonne didn't know and didn't care she was just glad when he followed Hershel out the door.

"Are you going to be all right?" Rick asked.

"I'll be fine." Michonne lied.

Much to Michonne's annoyance Hershel brought her breakfast on a tray the next morning.

"I'm not an invalid." Michonne snapped.

"I had a long talk with Daryl last night and he'd like to see you." Hershel said completely ignoring Michonne's pissy attitude

She snorted. "Hell will freeze over and the devil will give free sleigh rides before that will happen."

"Hell just might be frozen over, after all the dead are walking the earth. "

Michonne sighed deeply. "Fine send him in, but don't go too far away someone will need to stop the bloodshed."

Daryl came skittishly into the infirmary holding a vase of jasper and timidly set it on the table next to her bed and held up his hand hello before quickly lowering it.

"What do you want?" Michonne asked coldly.

"I didn't mean all that shit I said yesterday. Didn't mean none of the shit I said actually."

Michonne folded her arms across her chest.

Been strugglin bout how I feel bout ya fer a long time. When ya kept goin away I kept gettin mad an at first I kept telling myself it was cuz I missed our friendship but it was more than that."

"Oh and what was it?"

"Shit."

"What?"

Daryl made a sort of growling noise in his throat. "I care bout ya a lot OK. I keep thinkin about ya. I cain't talk about this, but I neva felt this way an do want ya and I do want our baby. When I thought I mighta lost ya both I got skerred so I acted like an asshole."

"Hershel told me you might be scared but my pride was hurt so I didn't try and work things out with you." Michonne said finally.

"Ya shouldn't of had to."

"The both of us got into this mess because we were both scared. I could have been a bit more understanding. I wasn't with Andrea and looked what happened."

"Can I?" Daryl asked pointing to Michonne's stomach.

Michonne smiled and lifted her shirt. "Doubt you'll be able to feel anything I'm only four months along."

Daryl put his hand on her stomach anyway and smiled.

Michonne was sleeping, but when she felt a hand on her stomach she woke up. Without bothering to open her eyes she placed her hand over the hand on top of her stomach.

"Sasha and Carol are convinced it's a boy, Daryl said, but Maggie and Beth say it's a girl."

"According to Hershel, my piss, and a bottle of Drano it's a boy."

"What?"

Michonne shook her head. "Don't ask. I don't know how I let that old man talk me into things."

"Sure is feisty." Daryl commented as the baby give a particularly hard kick.

"Just like his daddy" Michonne responded and sat up with some difficulty.

"His, ya think it's gonna be a boy too?"

"I've just got this feeling." Daryl helped her out of bed and she pulled on a pair of his pants now that she was due any day she had taken to wearing his clothes.

"Ya want me to go git ya sum breakfast?"

"I can go to the cafeteria and get it myself." Ever since that day they had talked in the infirmary Daryl had done a 360. When he'd first felt the baby kick he'd been beside himself in amazement.

"He cain't wait to come into this world an start tearin shit up." Daryl had said. He went out on runs everyday to get supplies for the baby and a vase full of jasper for Michonne. Everyday that he came back from a run he would relay his days adventure to the baby by talking to Michonne's stomach. "When ya give birth I'm gonna be there right beside ya." He told her. "I was wrong when I said I didn't want a family hell we already are a family."

"You're going to be a good father." Michonne told him every night before they went to bed and Daryl would just smile and kiss her stomach.

After nine hours of labor Jasper Merle Dixon came into the world a healthy eight pounds and six ounces and screaming at the top of his lungs. Hershel delivered the baby as if he'd been doing it all his life.

"He's sure got his momma's mouth." Daryl quipped as his son screamed and screamed, but there were tears of joy in his eyes.

There were tears of joy in Michonne's eyes too, but some of them were also tears for Grace and the childhood she would never have. Andrea had been right when she had said no one could make it alone now. Neither she nor Daryl had found The Governor, but in not finding him they had found something more. They had found each other and the two lives that had been taken from them had brought them closer together to create one.

Daryl looked up at Michonne who was nestling their new born son in her arms. "He looks just like ya.

"Yeah but he's got his daddy's eyes."

She looked down at her son and kissed him. "He's perfect isn't he." Michonne said taking in his smooth brown skin, baby blue eyes, and curly golden brown hair.

"He's better than perfect, Daryl said kissing their son too, he's ours."