Chapter Nine: The Council
I sat for first time in ages and ate my breakfast in the cafeteria. Daryl sat next to me and the two new boys, Patrick and Zach sat across from us. Patrick seemed to idolize Daryl. Who wouldn't, Daryl was hot and a badass? I smiled at the rock star treatment Daryl got.
"Thank you, Mr. Dixon, Mrs. Dixon, for helping us get familiar with the place," Patrick said.
"It's Teddy," I responded taking the last bite of my oatmeal. Patrick quickly picked up my bowel.
"Ok, Teddy, let me take this for you," he rushed off.
"Is he your brother?" I asked Zach.
"No, we were in a group together. I was looking out for him when our dad's went out on a run and didn't come back," Zach answered.
"It's good to have someone though," I said.
"So you and Rick were cops before right?" he asked me.
"Sheriff's deputies in King County," I answered. "It seems like a lifetime ago."
"Daryl won't tell me what he did," Zach said.
"It don't fucking matter does it?" Daryl responded.
"Let me guess," Zach said.
"Go for it," Daryl replied.
"Were you a fire fighter?" Zach asked.
"Wrong," Daryl chuckled.
"Teddy will you tell me?" Zach looked at me.
"I'll tell you but you can't tell anyone," I responded. Zach leaned into me intently.
"What?" he asked.
"He was a stripper at Chippendale's," I said.
"Really?" Zach said.
"Yep, he earned the most tips of all the strippers," I looked at Daryl. He couldn't hold it back. He laughed loudly. I laughed so hard I snorted.
"I'll figure it out," Zach said and left the table.
"A stripper? That's what you came up with," he looked at me.
"It was the first thing that popped in my head," I smiled and gave him a quick peck on the lips. "I'd certainly pay to see you take off your clothes."
"I'd take 'em off for you for free," he whispered in my ear then kissed me on the cheek.
"Good I'd go broke if you charged me," I replied.
"What are you to up to?" Glenn sat down with us.
"Nothing," I responded, "What up?"
"Rick and Hershel want to talk to you," he sounded serious.
"Ok," I responded, "Are they in the library?"
"Yep," he said. Daryl helped me up out of my seat and I followed him slowly down the hall.
"Glad you could make it," Rick smiled when I waddled into the room. Sasha, Hershel, and Rick sat around the table. Daryl pulled out a chair for me. Then sat backwards in another.
"Wouldn't miss this," I said.
"Teddy and I talked while she was on bed rest," Rick started. I gave Daryl an evil eye. He looked away.
"What about Rick?" Hershel asked.
"We need some sort of council for handling things. It's too much for one person to do alone," Rick responded.
"That much power corrupts," I said, "Look at the Governor."
"I thought that y'all would make the perfect council," Rick said, "We will decide together what we do. Who we allow in."
"We need to come up with someway to weed out people we allow in," I said, "We don't want another Tomas or Andrew but we shouldn't cut everyone out either."
"There should be an interview process?" Sasha asked mock joking.
"That's not a bad idea. Just a few questions so we can figure out where they stand," I said.
"What should we ask?" Glenn said.
"What do we really want to know?" I asked.
"We'd have to make sure they could contribute," Sasha said, "We can ask them if they can or would be willing to kill walkers."
"That's good," Rick said. Hershel wrote it down.
"I'd wanna know if they've ever killed anyone," Daryl said.
"Another good one," Rick said.
"If they have I'd like to know why," I added.
"I think those three questions are enough," Hershel said, "A majority council vote?" We all nodded in agreement.
"That's it then," Rick said. He was turning over the reins to make more time for Carl and Judith. The others started to leave. "Teddy wait, there's something else I want you to do."
"She can't be doing no heavy lifting," Daryl stated.
"No lifting," Rick responded, "Maybe something with the kids. There's a lot of them. Maybe story time or something."
"Ok, Rick, I can do that," I said. "We can start tomorrow."
I stood slowly up from my chair. I breathed deeply. I hadn't felt pain like that before. Daryl took my hand and I squeezed it tightly.
"Hershel!" he yelled. Hershel rushed to my side.
"Teddy, breathe," Hershel said.
"I'm fucking trying to breathe," I said. I felt water trickle down my leg and my pants were wet. "I think my water broke."
"Let's get you to the infirmary," Hershel stated. I'm not sure who was more terrified, Daryl or me. Daryl and Rick walked me slowly down the hall. Hershel walked behind me.
"How far apart are the contractions?" Dr. Stevens asked.
"I don't know," I gritted my teeth through another contraction. I gripped Daryl's hand tighter.
"They've been pretty steady at about five minutes," Hershel answered.
"Are they getting more intense?" Dr. Stevens asked and set me up on the table.
"Yes," I shouted through another contraction.
"Let's get your pants off so I can check how far you're dilated," she said. Daryl ushered everyone out of the room and started to follow them out.
"Daryl," I stated. "If you leave I will break your legs in your sleep."
"It's the pain talking, dear," Dr. Stevens said to Daryl. "But you'd better stay just in case."
I grabbed Daryl's hand and squeezed it again. "I want it out," I shouted.
"You're dilated enough," Dr. Stevens responded, "Now push." I bore down and pushed. "That's good Teddy, breathe and push again." We kept like that for what seamed like eternity.
"I see the head," Dr. Stevens said, "One more push and your baby will be here." I nodded and pushed again. "It's a boy." She laid my baby on my chest. I felt tears roll down my cheeks.
"He's got your eyes," I said softly to Daryl. I opened my shirt and out of instinct, he suckled my breast. I felt happier than I had in a long time.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. I'm still trying to thing of a name for Daryl and Teddy's baby. Any ideas?
