8 Weeks

Beth felt something calloused and warm brush her cheek. She stirred, her eyes fluttering against the early morning sun streaming in through their bedroom window. It was Daryl's fingers that had woken her, and she immediately nuzzled into them upon that realization.

He stroked the long, tangled locks of her hair that fell across her shoulders. She liked the length, but it was growing tiresome to manage. Sure, it was easy to braid out of the way or pull it back in a simple ponytail, but sometimes she wished she had the nerve to chop it all off like Maggie. Her sister's bob was stylish and easy, but Beth doubted she could pull it off.

Daryl continued to run his fingers through the strands that had become knotted from sleep. He worked each knot free and massaged her scalp. The sensation was enough to send her back to sleep, but she forced her eyes to open. He was watching her closely, lying on his side and propped up on one elbow to hover just above her head. She reached to kiss him and he met her halfway, pressing his lips tenderly against hers.

"Morning, beautiful." He kissed her once more, then lifted himself to a sitting position. "Do you have to watch Judith today?"

Beth stretched and yawned dramatically. "Nope. Michonne said she'd take her."

"Are you on watch?"

"Not till tonight."

Daryl smiled and patted her leg under the covers. "Me too."

"Really?" Beth sat up. "Does that mean I get you all to myself today?"

He answered by grabbing a handful of her hip and motioning her onto her back. He kissed her hard and pressed his body into hers. Purposefully, he moved his thigh between her legs. Beth instantly felt heat pooling in the pit of her stomach.

"I'll take that as a yes," she teased, arching her back to gain some sort of friction.

Daryl nibbled playfully at the her neck. "You've got me as long as you want."

She let out an involuntary gasp as he ran a thumb over her pert nipple. She'd gotten comfortable sleeping in just an oversized T-shirt and panties, and Daryl had gotten comfortable with how little got in the way of him being able to touch her the way he wanted. He grabbed the back of her neck tenderly and exposed her throat. This made it easier for his mouth to do its work. Beth bit her lip and panted for breath. He kissed his way down her chest, pausing at her stomach and softening his lips. He was gentler there, compared to the rest of her body. Because this part of her was sacred.

This part of her held their baby.

"Daryl…"

She could feel him growing harder against her stomach, so she pulled off his boxers. He helped her remove them completely, then he slid her panties down her thighs as she lifted her T-shirt over her head. Beth took a moment to absorb the feeling of his chest against hers. She could feel the faint beat of his heart pounding under warm skin, and it made her feel safe. She was in the presence of a strong, beautiful man… and she was safe.

"Is it okay?" he asked. "With the baby?"

Beth nodded. "Maybe just… not so rough."

He slid into her without pretense. There was no need for foreplay. No reason to waste time beating around the bush when the one thing they both wanted was there right, naked and beautiful and completely theirs to have. Daryl moved with delicate grace. He was careful while still keeping enough pressure to hit the right spot. Beth clung to him, clawing her fingers down his back and gripping his arms to hold herself steady. They rocked into one another. Breathing heavily. Sweating and writhing and devouring. Loving.

12 Weeks

"What about Sophia?" Beth suggested. "Or Carol?"

Daryl shook his head. "I don't want our child to be born with something hanging over them like that. No bad memories." He poured juice into her glass and joined her at the table. "We should pick something completely new."

"Okay," she thought aloud, "what about Cassiopeia?"

She was joking, and he knew that, but Daryl's eyebrows shot to the top of his forehead in dismay. "Hell no."

"It's new," she rationed, still teasing. "We don't know anyone that's died named Cassiopeia."

"Oh, okay. Well, in that case, what about Orion's Belt?"

Beth swooned. "Oh my god. Orion." She clutched her chest. "That's so cute."

"Dammit, Beth."

"Okay. Okay. I'm sorry. But seriously… we need to come up with an option for both. Whether it's a boy or a girl."

Daryl slid the sonogram they'd received from the Hilltop across the table and picked it up. He stared fixedly at the grey smudgy lines and shadows that made up the tiny human they'd created. Together. "I wish we knew what it was now," he admitted.

"We will soon. Harlan said he's been able to see the gender on ultrasounds at 16 weeks before. That's only a month away." Beth sipped quietly on her juice, then said, "What about something gender neutral? Like Taylor."

Daryl cocked his head and pursed his lips. "Not terrible."

"Jordan? Micah?"

"Do you have a book of baby names stashed somewhere, or are you pulling these out of your ass?"

"My ass - which you love, by the way."

He smirked and humbly agreed.

They ate breakfast and enjoyed one another's company as the sun filled the room with bright light and warmth. When Beth was finished, she stood up and gathered their dishes. She washed their plates and cups methodically in the sink with soapy water and hummed cheerfully. It was a good day. And when Daryl approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her stomach and kissing her on the back of her head, she closed her eyes and took a moment to revel in the goodness that surrounded her. They were happy. They were starting their family in a house that felt like home, and there was nothing to fear. Except Negan.

The situation with the group they now referred to as the Saviors was still an impending issue - one they weren't sure how to approach from any angle. It'd been building for weeks, ever since the attack at the compound, but it didn't feel finished. At least, not to Beth. While everyone else settled back into their routines and moved on, scrubbing the blood off their hands and erasing the images of sleeping dead men from their minds, Beth continued waiting for the other shoe to drop. They had no way of knowing whether or not Negan was one of the men in that building, and if he wasn't, his desire for revenge would be imminent.

"I think it's going to be a girl," Daryl spoke quietly in her ear.

Beth smiled and shook off her worry. "You do?"

"Yeah. I have a feeling."

"What kind of feeling?"

He squeezed her softly. "A good one."

18 Weeks

Beth entered her sister's house with precaution.

As of late, Maggie had returned to her old self, or at least… closer than she'd been to it before. She went back to volunteering on the wall and going on supply runs. Her conversations with people weren't short and clipped, but actually thoughtful and open. She wasn't closed off from the world anymore. She wasn't buried in a hole of loss. The feeling was still there - Beth knew it would probably always linger somewhere in the distance - but it no longer consumed her. Maggie had forced herself to get up and fight against it. Losing her child was not going to be the end of her world, no matter how much it felt that way most of the time.

Beth had been putting off telling Maggie about her own pregnancy for weeks. She was beginning to show, and pretty soon it would be hard to conceal it from the rest of the community. She and Daryl had agreed to keep the news to themselves as long of possible, just to be safe. They didn't want to risk letting everyone get excited about something that might not last. Beth reminded herself every day that anything could happen. Any number of things could go wrong, and she made herself think about that on purpose. Not to douse her hope, but to keep reality in check. She couldn't stand the idea of being crushed like her sister, and neither could Daryl. They made a pact to keep their fingers silently crossed until Beth was far enough along to show. That's when they'd tell the others. But she made Daryl promise that he'd let her tell Maggie first.

She knocked lightly on the wall outside the kitchen to announce herself, and Maggie turned to greet her. Her sister was going through a newly delivered box of supplies, unloading everything into its proper place as she hummed cheerfully.

"Hey, Bethy," she said. "Wanna help?"

Beth nodded and began pulling out boxes of rice. She carried them to the cupboard and stacked them neatly in a row. Her loose-fitting sweater rose up to expose her stomach as she reached for the top shelf, and she consciously stopped to pull it back down. Beth held one of the boxes in her hand and picked at a dented edge.

"Maggie, I have to tell you something."

Maggie stopped what she was doing and stared blankly at the kitchen table. "I know," she said.

"You do?"

"Yeah." Maggie looked up and let out a relieved smile. "I've known for a while, actually."

"How?"

"Just by the way you two've been acting. I don't think anyone else picked up on it, but Glenn and I could tell."

Beth slumped her shoulders sheepishly. "I wanted to tell you, but I felt like I was rubbing your face in it."

"No," Maggie declined. "Don't think that." She moved to her and took her hands. "I'm happy for you. I promise." Maggie hugged her tight, then pulled back. "Everything's okay, right? You've been to the Hilltop? Did Harlan give you an ultrasound?"

"Yeah, he did." Beth pulled out a folded black and white photo from her back pocket and handed it over. "It's a girl."

Maggie smoothed out the creases of the photo and looked at it fondly, then she scowled at an afterthought. "Beth, why'd you fold it up like that? You should put it somewhere."

"I did," she argued. "I kept the first one and put it in a frame. It's beside our bed."

"Oh."

"Listen," Beth started, "we're going to tell the others tonight at the town meeting, but I wanted to have a name before then. Can you help?"

Maggie nodded gratefully. "Of course. What were you thinkin'?"

"Well, Daryl likes the name Abigail, but I still really like Ruth."

"Use them both," Maggie suggested. "Abigail Ruth Dixon."

"Dixon Greene," Beth corrected.

"Good call."

Beth thought on it, rolling the name around in her head to test the sound. She spoke it aloud. "Abigail Ruth. Abigail Ruth." She beamed and clutched her protruding stomach. "Abby."

Maggie tested it herself. "Abby. I like it."

"Me too."

22 Weeks

The town had been quiet for too long.

Beth stood at the window and looked out at the dark streets of Alexandria waiting for something to happen. She waited for any sign of a disturbance, but everything remained still. Abby was keeping her awake due to a midnight aerobics session in her stomach. She felt the continuous kicks and turns as she tossed in bed for hours until, eventually, she gave up on sleep and went downstairs.

Beth's schedule was completely flipped around. Carrying Abby made her tired during the day, and even after doing a minimal amount of chores, she found herself taking naps on the couch until Daryl got home. This didn't help her onset of insomnia. The moment Beth was finally able to turn her brain off for the day, Abby would move and force her to get up.

She learned that walking helped calm both her and the baby. She paced silently around the living room, but after a few laps she found herself standing at the window. The sense that something was looming still hadn't left her. There were days when she considered that Negan really was dead, and those men in that compound were the last. But that thought was too good to be true. She knew better, for there's always more.

The next day, her intuition finally proved to be right.

Daryl left that morning to escort Rosita and Denise on a run for medicine. Denise knew of an apothecary not far from town that had yet to be scavenged. They figured most people would have been deterred by the name, but she remembered passing the building when she first arrived at Alexandria. There were treasures inside that couldn't be wasted, especially now with Beth's delivery growing closer and closer every week. They needed to be prepared for the possibility of a C-section, and Daryl was damned if he allowed a repeat of what happened to Lori. When they got back, however, Denise was not with them. Rosita and Daryl were joined by Abraham, and together the three of them hauled Eugene's injured body into the infirmary. He'd been shot, and when Rick asked what happened, the look on Daryl's face was enough to confirm that Denise was gone.

Beth hovered along the wall and watched everyone work to stop the bleeding in Eugene's abdomen. All she could hear was the sound of her own heavy breathing in her ears.

This was it.

The other shoe had finally dropped.