Chapter Twenty Five

The Following Day

With Daryl behind the wheel and the rest of the crew in the back seat, the Alexandrians, complete with their newest addition, were finally heading home. It was well after noon now which was a much later departure time than Rick had in mind, but Carol had insisted upon giving him and Michonne the grand tour of Riverview before they left as well as introducing them to some of the community's key residents, particularly Dena of course.

They were both anxious to meet the woman who had saved Carol and her son's life and much to Carol's delight, they seemed to be just as infatuated with their friendly new allies as she had been almost instantly upon her arrival. Most impressive to them was the size of the place: it was about three times bigger than Alexandria in area alone, with about ten times the amount of residents, a good percentage of which were young children.

They learned that the 'baby boom' as Dena referred to it, was something that really didn't quite take off until the Riverview residents had found themselves somewhat settled. For years the idea of anyone having a baby in this day and age was considered taboo by most, but it was something that never quite made sense to Dena. Why bother fighting for something so hard if you have no intention of leaving something behind for future generations? Were they really building all these walls, and fighting all these wars, just to one day fizzle out completely because the very last one of them died off from natural causes? That was exactly the lecture she had given them all when their very first resident became pregnant.

From then on, the idea of reproducing had become a lot less daunting for the residents of Riverview thanks not only to the fact that the delivery of their first baby was a success, but also because they actually had a functioning hospital and four professionally trained doctors who were eager to teach willing individuals everything they knew, which in turn generated dozens more honorary doctors into the community over time. Relationships also began evolving into full-fledged 'marriages' more frequently because partners were no longer secretly terrified of losing one or the other. Even those who went outside the walls to scavenge or recruit and found themselves bit by a walker had a decent chance of surviving as long as the bite occurred on a disposable body part. They were growing stronger both in number and spirit by the day, and it was all because Dena and her team never stopped fighting for what Riverview could one day be, even when others didn't see it.

That was why there was no way Carol was going to let Rick or Michonne leave without seeing this place for themselves, but Rick especially. It was her and Daryl, and ironically Carl sans Rick, who were the only ones of the group that had been together since day one, but it was Rick who had led them all to where they are now after coming into their lives shortly thereafter, even though his role of leader wasn't necessarily self-appointed. He earned that role because he earned the respect of the group due to the fact that he never stopped believing that there was purpose in continuing on, and not just simply for the sake of survival, but because there had to be something more for them in the end.

When she had left, although the groups were indeed committed to winning the war, morale in general was at an all-time low with many left wondering if there really was going to be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Yes, there was peace for now, but Carol also got the impression that there was also a whole lot of uncertainty about where to go from here on, and she had no qualms whatsoever about stepping up to the plate and be that voice that they all needed to hear this time.

"So, what did you think about Dena's offer," Carol asked Rick and Michonne, the latter of whom held the current privilege of holding baby Alexander.

"Well, I think that's pretty generous, and it certainly speaks a lot about how she thinks of you, to invite an entire community to just move on in after really only getting to know one of it's residents."

"I was looking for more of a yes or no kind of response," Carol replied to Rick with the scolding voice of an elementary school teacher.

"Well, I don't think I can answer for everybody. I think they should all get to see this place and then decide for themselves."

Carol nodded agreeably. "You're right. You're absolutely right. After all, like you said it is a generous offer. One that would be hard for anyone to refuse."

"It definitely does stop and make you think. You've had a lot of time to think about it. What do you want to do?"

"Me? I'm going back."

"Yeah, I knew you would," Rick confessed. "It's pretty obvious, you know."

"Oh really, what is so obvious" Carol inquired, finding herself annoyed by his presumption that she would really even dream of doing such a thing on a permanent basis, even though she was admittedly toying him into believing it in the first place.

"That you're full of shit, Mrs. Dixon. See, I know you know me and you know what I want, because it's the very same thing that Michonne, and Daryl, and you yourself want. You don't want to live in that place because you know that together, we can make Alexandria something even better, and there's no way that you'd miss an opportunity to be a part of that."

"She already is a part of that hoss, just as much as your ass is," Daryl chimed in from the front seat in defense of his queen.

"Does he do this with you, try and find fault with everything you say" Rick inquired of Carol regarding Daryl's former comment.

Carol shook her head to the negative with a bemused grin. "I think that's just what little brothers do."

Her response to Rick unexpectedly triggered a dream sequence in which her little boy appeared to be about five years old, and was tugging on her pant leg as he proceeded to accuse his big sister Sophia of being too bossy. It saddened her that this scene would never have the opportunity to play itself out in real life, but she could certainly do her part in helping to prevent any parent from having to suffer similarly, and that involved taking on multiple responsibilities within the community which spanned every topic from teaching the existing children how to defend themselves and fight, to bringing inbound babies into the world herself.

They had no doctor whatsoever in Alexandria, and the single doctor they knew was left currently residing in Hilltop was simply not enough to serve three communities. Sure, by this time most survivors were pros at basic first aid, but when it came to the more serious injuries like bites that required major amputations, or knife or gunshot wounds that affected vital organs, the survival rates were currently not in their favor for lack of properly trained individuals.

And those were just the accident and injury-related emergencies, which they probably had a much better chance of surviving than an appendicitis attack, or a gall bladder gone bad, heart attacks...you name it, there was absolutely no one in Alexandria who was prepared for that. Well, no one until now.

She was no pro, that was for sure, and there was a heck of a lot left to learn in addition to the little bits and pieces she picked up during her stay at Riverview, but with the proper training, she could be that person. It wasn't something that was going to get accomplished overnight, or even within a year or two, but a work in progress was better than having nothing at all.

Naturally, part of receiving proper training was working side by side with qualified individuals, which was why Carol planned to return to Riverview in two months. It was a decision that she and Daryl had made collectively when they figured it would take precisely that amount of time to get things organized back at home and make sure that going forward, everyone knew what their role was going to be in bringing Alexandria to greatness. Daryl nominated himself to resume his recruiting and scavenging efforts which completely terrified the shit out of her, but it was something that they needed to do, and there was simply no one who was more qualified to fulfill that role than her hubby.

Unfortunately this meant that they would be spending a good deal of time apart, but the sacrifice was well worth it in the opinion of both parties, when it was your son's future that you were doing it all for. It's not like they wouldn't see each other at all, but for the two months at-a-time where she would stay at Riverview in training, and Alexander along with her since the two were pretty much a package deal for the first year or so of his life, Daryl's visits would only be once a week for a weekend, current situation in Alexandria permitting. When her two months at Riverview was up she would return home for a month, a cycle that would be on repeat for as long as was necessary, but even then her and Xander's time with Daryl would still be limited for the fact that much of his work required him to be on the road for a good part of the day. Of course if she ever felt the need to sneak in some more quality time, she could always go out on a run with him being that there were plenty people at home with whom she could entrust the care of their son to, but the two of them heading out into potentially dangerous situations together was something they had decided to be a no-no now that they were a family.

This was all of course dependent on getting everyone on board, and once Carol was able to steer the conversation back into business mode, she and Daryl began the breakdown of their plan, with Rick and Michonne both giving the undivided attention that their carefully thought-out plan that was so full of heart deserved. When asked for their thoughts upon the conclusion, Michonne was the first to respond.

"I think it all sounds wonderful. Doctor Dixon, I like it. We could really use having one of those around, couldn't we, Rick?"

It was Rick who was wearing the goofy, I-know-something-you-don't-know grin now. "Yeah, yeah we sure could. We might have to ask you to tweak this schedule of yours a bit if you intend on actually being in Alexandria when the next baby is born though. Should be sometime in December."

Being that December was only seven months away, it became quite apparent immediately that this was more than just a what-if scenario being presented to her. Somebody at home was expecting, although she was quick to deduce that the person in question wasn't literally 'at home' at the moment, but rather seated in the car right alongside her.

"You mean to tell me we're gonna have ourselves another Little Ass-Kicker on our hands," Carol asked, receiving glassy-eyed nods from Michonne and Rick both in response which found them being enveloped into a group hug orchestrated perfectly right from her seat in between the couple.

"Nah, there's only one Li'l Ass-Kicker," Daryl was quick to admonish them. "Judith is the OG Li'l Ass-Kicker, so we gotta come up with new nicknames for these two. How 'bout this- for Xander, you know he can't be Li'l Ass-Kicker the second anymore, so I was thinkin' Chopper. And for baby Grimes, Slash. Whaddaya think?""

"I think these little ones are pretty much doomed to be known as Chopper and Slash for the rest of their lives. Daryl nicknames have the tendency to stick, little Chopper man," Michonne said as she tickled her honorary nephew's cheek with the tip of her finger. "I like it, it suits him well. Slash on the other hand-""

"Home sweet home," Daryl interrupted, as the car pulled to a stop before the gate, prompting Carol to lunge forward for a better view through the windshield of the place that was indeed quite a sight for her sore eyes. It was wonderful to be home, but as special at this particualr moment was, it was somehow less impactful considering that for the past twenty four hours, she'd already been feeling the effects of what is was truly like being at home anyways. After all, home was merely where your heart was, and considering that her heart was always with her family, all the home that she really needed, well the majority of it anyway, was right there with her in that car. Alexandria was merely the place where they were all most likely to convene, but if fate should ever force them away from that physical location, then as long as they remained together, home might one day be relocated somewhere else. But not as long as she had something to do with it. Alexandria was where she intended to stay, with so much determination that she named her son in honor of it to serve as a constant reminder of what she was fighting for.

Authors note: I'd originally planned on this being the last chapter, but I decided to do one more to give them the proper reunion with the rest of the family! Stay tuned for the conclusion, for this first part of the series anyway!