The Three Gifts

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It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

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Daryl heaved a sigh, slowed his footsteps even more as he and Carol followed behind the Grimes family (plus Sophia) in what amounted to nothing more than a shuffle of feet.

"You okay?"

Daryl ducked his head, watched the toes of his mud flaked boots nose through the brown clumps of grass and weeds poking up through the cracks in the sidewalk, sighed again before acting against his better judgment and muttering an answer beneath his breath. "M'fine. It's just…damnwomanwalkslikeapenguin."

"Care to repeat that? I don't think I speak Mary Poppins."

Daryl's measured footsteps stalled completely, and Grimes and his cookie cutter little family disappeared around the corner. He would have been more pressed about the fact Soph wasn't in spitting distance anymore, but he was too busy staring at his wife like she had sprouted two additional heads. "Mary who?"

Carol's lips twitched, but she managed a straight face when she answered him. "Poppins."

Daryl resisted the urge to groan. Barely. "Heard that part, Woman. The hell she got to do with what I said?"

This time, she wasn't able to play it cool, and a big grin made her cheeks dimple, her teeth gleam beneath the reflection of the twinkle lights that had multiplied seemingly overnight, dotting nearly every yard in every neighborhood of King County. "Oh, I don't know. I just have my doubts that what you said was supercalifragilisticexpialidocious."

Daryl snorted, grabbed hold of her cool fingers and folded them in his own. "You're fuckin' weird. You know that?"

"Thought that was part of my appeal," she teased, swinging her hand in his own as they started moving again. "Must've been some reason you married me."

She pulled Daryl right out of his deep thoughts as she soaked in their surroundings with a child's exuberance, wouldn't let him dwell on the endless reasons why he counted himself lucky just to share the same space as her. Just the same breath. Soon, they rounded the corner and spotted Sophia's relieved expression. Grimes acknowledged them with a suspicious tilt of his head but didn't pay them much mind, and Lori? Lori just smiled and started up that slow, plodding forward motion of hers again, leading with her considerable belly, and without thought, Daryl found himself repeating what he'd said earlier. "Woman walks like a penguin." The hand nestled neatly in his squeezed, hard, and Carol tucked her smile behind her scarf, bright and cheerful like the twin Christmas poinsettias that he'd come home to find greeting him on the top porch step.

"Don't be mean."

"Ain't bein' mean," Daryl smirked, tugging her into his side and delighting in the way she wrapped both arms around him, slowed to something of a waddle herself as they kept her friends and their girl just in sight. There'd been garland at home, too, all twined around the rails. More of it looped over the decorative mantel once he'd let himself inside, and damn if it hadn't been festive. Pretty. Not as pretty as her, though. Never. In her kickass boots and slinky sweater, her cheeks flushed and blue eyes shining up at him like stars, the way Daryl figured it, nothing or no one could ever compare. He kissed her forehead, relaxed. Did a little sightseeing, lost himself for a while in the comfort of her arms, in Sophia's joy.

They lingered in the town square. Lori took respite in Santa's sleigh, propped her aching feet, braced her burdened back against her husband as the kids acquainted themselves with the reindeer and Daryl (andCarol) looked on beneath the shadow of the towering Christmas tree, nursing a cup of coffee between the two of them.

The town was all dressed up, the storefronts awash in a rainbow of light. Fake snow and elves everywhere. Enough plastic Santas to cause some major confusion among the little people population.

Quite simply, it was perfect, in that Hallmark way that had always gotten underneath Daryl's skin as a kid. Perfect in a way that Carol and Sophia loved, and he was tryin'. He was. He was fuckin' tryin' his best. They didn't talk about it, though, and he nodded at the cop and his wife, both of them looking dead on their feet, lowered his voice to a low rumble. "Reckon me and you should leave them here? Go back for the car?"

"You telling me you're scared of a pregnant woman?"

Daryl huffed out a laugh, dropped a kiss to the top of her head. "That pregnant woman? Yeah."

"You don't nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies?"

He rolled his eyes. "Stop."

She persisted in her teasing, tangling their fingers again and pulling him in for a proper kiss, soft and sweet. "So skittish. I thought Dixons weren't afraid of anything. Isn't that what you're always telling Sophia? Hmm?"

"Well, shit," Daryl drawled, kissed her wrinkled nose as he leaned back. "Looks like you're on to me, Woman. Pregnant women, especially ones tryin' to walk themselves into labor, do. Babies. They terrify me even more."

"Hmm."

"Hmm? That all you got to say?"

Carol nodded. "For now."

"Pfft." He tried to shake her hand loose, but she wouldn't let him. Reeled him back in, matter of fact, and grinned against his lips as she let him in on a little secret.

"Rick called Shane while you were in the diner. He should be here any minute."

"Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Does it really matter?" she tossed back at him as she waved Sophia over, waved goodbye to their friends.

"Guess it don't," Daryl muttered as Soph sagged against his side. He grunted and hefted her little body in his arms. Rest his cheek against her soft hair and relished the warmth of his wife at his side. They started back the way they came, falling effortlessly into step with one another, the Christmas lights and moon lighting their way. After a while, as they neared their street, caught sight of the home lights glowing, he asked, "What'd you mean back there? For now?"

She didn't answer. Least not right away. Let him crowd her right up to the door as she searched his pockets for his keys, press her against it all nice and tight with Sophia tucked between them, long since asleep, and gave him the barest curl of a smile. "I meant what I meant. For now."

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