AN: My first Vignette for this story in honor of Brick Day! (Yes, there are more to come, eventually) This takes place roughly a year after the wedding.

Warnings: I don't know, probably cuteness overload? :)

Vignette: Ava Judith Grimes

Beth stares at the stick in her hand unblinking for nearly fifteen minutes before Carl's knock on the door disturbs her. "Beth, I really have to pee and Dad says I can't go outside." Beth stuffs the stick into a drawer, it was her third test in three days and she is a bit panicked.

"Sorry Carl!" she apologizes as she opens the door.

"What were you even doing in here?" Carl looks at her suspiciously.

"You are really asking a girl what she does in a bathroom?" Beth rolls her eyes and ignores his question.

Carl shrugs and pushes past her. He is taller than she is now. Carl is fifteen and still growing. Beth can hear Rick in the kitchen making waffles and sausage as she slips into their bedroom.

This is not how they planned. It's too early. She is still on the pill! She hadn't been taking it regularly lately, not on purpose but between her last class before graduating, student teaching at the elementary school, and still working a few shifts Stake Out every week, the pill had slipped her mind a couple of times.

Beth sits on the edge of the bed taking deep breathes to calm herself. She's graduating next month, she already has a part-time job lined up at a private school in Linden County as a piano teacher for their summer program. She and Rick have a house lined up, the mortgage financing had just gone through and they're allowed to move in June. But she and Rick had talked about this. They weren't going to start trying until October at the earliest. Their whole schedule would be thrown out of whack. It is April, this was going to be a Christmas baby!

"Beth? What's wrong?" Beth hadn't heard Rick enter the room, and now he was kneeling in front of her with a worried expression.

"Nothing! Nothing's wrong."

"Beth, you're the worst liar in the world. I wish all criminals had your skills." Rick pulls her off the edge of the bed and Beth willing settles into his lap.

She is the worst liar. She doesn't even know why she tried. "I'm pregnant," she whispers.

"Beth!" Rick laughs in relief, a huge grin breaking across his face before disappearing again. "Why are you upset?"

"You're not upset?" Beth asks timidly. "We had a schedule, and this is all my fault, I forgot to take my pill a couple times last month, I was just so busy—"

"Beth, I'm not upset. Sure, it'd be easier on us if things went according to the plan, but when the hell does that ever happen?" Rick asks with a smile.

"I was worried you'd be mad—"

"Mad? Beth, this isn't my first unexpected baby. I think the world would be a much less crowded place if people had babies only when they planned."

Beth finally lets her excitement over power her worries, the excitement that has been lurking for two days since she took the first test. "You're excited?" Beth asks hopefully.

"Sure am. And I've won a hundred bucks. Shane thought for sure I'd knock you up before or right after the wedding."

Shane. Shane got Amy pregnant about four months ago with their own surprise baby (Amy had been terrified to tell Shane and begged Beth to be there with Rick when she told him. Surprisingly Shane had been overjoyed at the news). They were waiting until after the baby is born to get married as Amy didn't want a shotgun wedding. Beth wonders if subconsciously she had yearned for an early baby so she and Amy could raise their kids together.

"Dad, I think the sausage is burning… what are you two do doing?"

Rick and Beth glanced guiltily at Carl. They were still on the floor, Beth in Rick's lap and her hands were resting on her flat stomach. "Beth's pregnant," Rick says at the same time Beth's says, "we're having a baby."

Carl's face lit up with a huge grin, he laughed happily and joined them on the floor, hugging both of them at once.

Beth doesn't tell her family about her pregnancy until after she graduates. She doesn't want them fretting and worrying over her while she's finishing up school, Rick is doing that enough for her family. Rick is spoiling her by insisting she doesn't cook (so they eat a lot of take out when Beth gets tired of Rick's limited menu), he gives her nightly foot rubs even though she isn't showing yet, and he stocks the fridge with pickles and ice cream, just in case.

So Beth waits until Father's Day to tell her family. She, along with Rick and Carl, travel to her parents' farm to spend the day with her family. Rick let's Carl drive, he has his learner's permit and is eager to drive any chance he can get. Beth is three months along and isn't showing yet but she wears a sundress with an empire waist just for the allusion that she's hiding a bump.

Beth goes the cheesy route to inform her family. Everyone is sitting around the dining room table while Hershel opens his gifts. Beth is sitting in Rick's lap, his hands are on her stomach and Beth is surprised no one has guessed her condition based on her and Rick's behavior. Hershel finally gets to their present, he unwraps the box and lifts the lid and he just stares at what's inside.

"Uh-oh, I hope I didn't just break you dad," Rick whispers in her ear.

"His shotgun is in his office, you have plenty of time to run," Beth whispers back. Carl is sitting next to Rick and snorts at Beth's words, but he is the only one that hears their exchange.

"Hershel dear? What's in the box?" Annette asks worriedly at Hershel's frozen expression.

Annette's words shake Hershel from his stupor and he lifts the shirt out of the box to show everyone what it says, 'World's Best Grandpa.'

Annette shrieks the loudest. She pulls Beth out of Rick's lap and squeezes her in a tight hug while chanting "finally!" over and over. Beth is the first to give them grandchildren, despite being the youngest.

Shawn, surprisingly, is next, his eyes are watery and he's mumbling "my baby sister!" but he has the hugest grin. Shawn also shakes Rick's hand before pulling him into a one-armed awkward hug.

Maggie is indigent but happy, wondering how Beth could keep such a huge secret from her. And Glenn is all smiles and most likely happy that there will be no more pressure on him and Maggie to provide grandbabies.

Hershel isn't crying, but looks like he's about to as well. He shakes Rick's hand with a rough, "congratulations" and has a tight hug for Beth. Hershel is the first to ask, "When are you due?"

"December twenty-ninth." Beth responds happily, Rick comes up behind her again to place his hands on her still flat stomach.

"A Christmas and New Year's baby!" Annette shrieks again and that starts another wave of happy tears.

Beth feels like a whale. Her fellow teachers and the vice-principal tell her she's small (rather enviously) and even one of her students tells her that his mother was 'four times fatter' when she had his brother. But Beth hasn't seen her feet in months and Rick has to assure her they are still there (and help her put on her shoes).

Plus, she might have also started going into labor. But it's the last day before winter break and the school-wide recital is right after lunch. After each grade sings a song then the day will be over. Besides, labor can take hours upon hours. She can make it.

She barely makes it. One of her students' mothers, Michonne, Beth remembers her name because she thinks her dreads are awesome, notices when her water breaks. After that it's chaos. Students are excited, parents are all interfering with their own experiences, and co-workers are panicking. She is two weeks early. Finally Beth's vice-principal gets through the chaos to take her to the hospital. Beth barely gets a call through to Lacey to alert everyone before they're at the hospital and her contractions are painful and getting closer together.

It takes four hours for Rick to get to the hospital, he and Shane were out on a call in the barely populated edge of the county. Ava Judith Grimes arrives only minutes later. Carl picked her middle name, Beth thought it was adorable and Rick just went with the flow.

Rick is still in his uniform as he holds his daughter for the first time and Beth starts crying happy, exhausted tears. It's only Rick, Lacey, Shane, and Amy with her at first. Amy and Shane left baby Nora with Dale to babysit. Dale was so happy for surrogate grandchildren to spoil.

Not long after, Lori brings Carl by, she's with her new boyfriend Tyreese and all three take turns holding baby Ava. Carl looks so proud holding his baby sister. Carl is sixteen now but doesn't have his own car yet. Carl doesn't know it but that was his Christmas gift, joint from Lori and Rick, a 1977 Oldsmobile Cutlass that Rick is confident Carl can't destroy.

The Greenes and Rhees arrive late that night. Glenn and Maggie arrive an hour before Annette, Hershel and Shawn. Shawn finally has a serious girlfriend who moved to Georgia with him when he finished school in Colorado. Now all three of Hershel's kids have or are living in sin. Glenn and Maggie aren't thinking about kids until Glenn is back on dry land most of the time, his engineering job has him often in the gulf inspecting and repairing oil rigs.

They're all crowded into Beth's room, even Shawn's poor girlfriend, all aww-ing and coo-ing over baby Ava, even though visiting hours are over. Hershel, after handing baby Ava to Shawn, pulls Rick into a hug and calls him 'son' and everyone just gapes in surprise, except Rick who merely grins and says "Thank you, sir." And then Beth starts crying happy tear again.

The next day Beth swears half of King County comes to visit Ava Grimes. Even the Dixons, Merle whispers loudly to the baby that "Uncle Merle'll buy cigarettes and booze" for her when she's older.

Daryl thinks he's helping when he says "no cigarettes, 'cuz pretty girls shouldn' smoke 'cuz those girls don't stay pretty for long" but is silent on the promised booze. Rick then asks Beth when the Dixons took such a shine to his family and then Carl is asking for motorcycle lessons from 'Uncle Merle.'

Later that night Beth and Rick are squeezed side-by-side in her hospital bed. Rick is dozing, head on her shoulder while she nurses little Ava. Even though Beth is worn out and still feels weird and a bit gross, she's the happiest she's ever been.

END

AN: CUTENESS OVERLOAD! :D I do have another vignette written out, it's the 'what if the ZA started while Rick's in a coma still?' I'm thinking it'll either be a Thanksgiving or Christmas present for ya'll.

Review please?