Wow! That sucked. I posted this hours ago and turns out the format was wrecked and the chapter was missing from my documents! I just had to go through and manually fix everything! What a mess! I'm having serious internet issues but so far I've been lucky today. It's coming and going but I'm trying to update as many stories as I can while it's half assed working. I'm sorry about this chapter. It's not too awfully interesting or funny but it moves us along. Thanks for reading! Now I'm off to write for Black Moon Blues before you all start thinking I'm abandoning it again =)

Chapter Thirty Six

Daryl hated hospitals. He had never had a bad experience in one so he wasn't sure why they made him feel so uneasy. Maybe it was knowing that there were sick or dying people behind some of the nondescript doors that they passed. He also hated the way they smelled and the squeaky sound the nurses shoes made on the floor. Merle didn't look like he was having too good a time either. His face was grim. That could have been because he had his own hang-ups about hospitals or the fact that the reason they were here had everyone in a grim mood. It didn't help that people kept staring at them. Well, it was mostly Buck they were staring at but it made him feel like a spectacle all the same.

Buck actually looked respectable. As respectable as Buck could get anyway. His long hair was bound at the back of his neck, his beard was trimmed and he wasn't wearing his MC vest with the patches. He still put off a dangerous vibe. Daryl was so used to him that to him, he was just his dad. To others he was an intimidating force.

The nurse was a man that looked to be in his mid twenties and Daryl had caught Merle looking at the man with a strange look on his face several times. He didn't know what Merle's problem was. The nurse guy seemed nice enough. He stopped outside of one of the rooms and looked up at Buck with a nervous smile. "She had lunch just a little while ago. She's asleep now."

Buck just nodded and opened the door, stepping in without hesitation. The girls followed him but Merle and Daryl both hung back by the door. This was all too surreal. And it hurt to think about it too much. He could only hope that Jenna had chilled out a little bit and the poor kid hadn't had it too bad. Of course, if that were true then surely she wouldn't need to be staying in the hospital over night. He looked over, meeting Merle's eye and taking in a heavy breath. Merle nodded and in a strange show of affection, patted him on the back lightly. "Guess it's time to go on in there. We look like a couple pussies standing out here."

There was something even worse about the room Daryl stepped into and he assumed that it had something to do with it being a kids room. It didn't seem right to him. There were two baby beds in the small room and the one closest to them proved to be empty. Buck was standing on the other side of the room with the girls. The beds looked weird there in the room. Like tiny cages to lock up tiny people. Daryl frowned.

Him and Merle both started walking at the same time, nervous about what they may see. In his minds eye he saw a battered and bruised infant, barely alive, maybe hooked up to all sorts of tubes and wires. He wasn't sure if he could handle seeing something like that. He didn't know if he could deal with that. He didn't want his fears confirmed. At least when he wasn't sure, there was hope that the kid was okay. So he watched Buck's face carefully before he worked up the nerve to look down. When he did his breath rushed out.

She wasn't asleep, like the nurse had said she would be. She was sitting up, looking right at him, like there wasn't four other people standing around. Her eyes were dark brown, ringed with lashes so long they brushed her cheeks. He thought her nose looked like a miniature version of his own. On her jaw was a fading bruise. He flinched internally but this was a lot better than he had expected. Her hair was brown and curling at the ends.

"What's her name?" Merle asked.

"Joanna," Buck said without looking up.

Daryl took in the rest of her, eyes lingering on a few bruises on her arm that looked like someone had grabbed her too hard, leaving the impressions of finger prints. Other than a smattering of bruises here and there she looked to be okay. She was a little thin for her age, even Daryl could tell that. It wouldn't take them long to fatten her up.

"Why do they have to keep her?" Andrea asked. "I can see that she hasn't been taken care of well but she looks healthy enough to take home."

"Home to what?" Buck asked. "We ain't even got a bed for her to sleep in." He looked up then, his gaze so intense that Daryl could feel it. "Come to think of it, I don't either."

Daryl flushed but didn't look away from his sister. Apparently the kid had had enough because suddenly her bottom lip poked out, trembled slightly and then the water works started. She wailed miserably and Daryl looked up at the sound of Merle's laughter.

"I'll be damned, little brother. Now she looks just like you," he slapped Daryl on the back.

Buck shot them a disapproving look and then, to Daryl's surprise, reached in and plucked her from the bed. It was a strange sight, Buck Dixon holding a child like that. He was the type of man you could easy visualize snapping the necks of smaller men. You could picture him kicking little puppies, not that he ever actually did anything like that. He just fit the role perfectly. But the kid must not have felt that way about him. Her lip was still stuck out and there were still alligator tears in her eyes but she seemed more interested in how far from the floor she was in his arms. She looked at Buck, looked down at the floor and then back at Buck and then laid her head on his shoulder, she popped her thumb in her mouth and then watched the others with a weary look in her eyes.

"I'll be damned. Look at big ass papa bear over here. I never would have guessed," Merle grinned.

"Shut up, Merle," Buck grumbled.

Daryl was staring at he spectacle that Buck and the baby made. From what Daryl could remember Buck had been a great dad. He wasn't conventional and a lot of people would argue that he wasn't the greatest, but to Daryl, the man showed his sons that he loved them and as long as he was there he would do what he could to protect them. But he had never witnessed it first hand. Buck placed his hand on her back and patted her lightly. That hand was massive and made the girl seem much smaller than she actually was.

"It don't look as bad as I expected it too," Carol said after a few silent moments. "I was afraid of what we would find."

Buck and the rest of them nodded in agreement. Buck sighed. "It ain't so bad. She's still young enough that after time, she won't remember anything about Jenna. What's happened to her so far won't make a difference in who she'll end up bein' when she's grown. She'll know right from wrong, unlike the rest of you," he added.

Buck had to speak to the doctors and the detective was meeting them there but all in all it had been a good trip. His sister was going to be okay and things were looking up. Much better than they had been looking when Buck had unexpectedly shown up and caught him and Carol in his bed and then dumped the baby news on them.

"We have so much to do. Where is she going to sleep? What room is she going to use? How can we afford to buy all the things she needs?" Andrea fretted.

Daryl wasn't too worried about it. They would get it all somehow and they would make it work. They really didn't have a choice. He had seen all of the uncertainty fade from Buck's eyes once he had picked the baby up. Little Joe was gonna fit right in.

~H~

Buck dropped off the kids at home, leaving them strict instructions on how he wanted everything cleaned. They were bringing the baby home tomorrow and that meant that there had to be some changes made. The very back bedroom was a little drafty in the winter so he was going to make Merle and Daryl share that room. The baby was going to get Daryl's room and the girls would share Merle's. They had very little time to get everything ready, since there would be people coming to inspect the house tomorrow before the baby even got there. It made it even worse that Merle had thrown that party. But it wasn't much of a big deal to him. It was their mess and they were going to clean it up.

He wasn't even sure where the hell he was going until he ended up out in front of the shop, which was the bar. But he was in way over his head and he needed all the help he could get. Him and Karen had been good friends for a long time and she was usually quick to jump in and help a friend in need. If anyone would be able to help it would be her.

When he walked in he discovered what he expected. The place was pretty much dead. A few of the older guys were sitting at their usual spot and Buck wondered idly if they ever left the place. If he came back at midnight, they would still be sitting in the same place. Karen was wiping off the bar, a bored look on her face and The Marshal Tucker Band playing from the radio under the bar. The jukebox was silent and dark. She looked up as he made his way towards her and her dark eyes lit up.

"Thank God. I thought I was about to fall asleep. I hate afternoons in this place," she smiled and reached under the bar, pulling up a bottle of Coke and handing it to him.

"I don't even know why the hell you don't just open it up later," he said as he sat down on the bar stool across from her.

She shrugged. "I don't know. I usually stick Andrea with this shift but I can't make the kid work everyday. Not that she'd complain if I did."

"You should close up and take a ride with me," he said suddenly.

She met is eyes and he felt his nerves spike up a bit. She had been married to a friend of his that was killed a few years back. The club had handed over the bar to her since it had been her husbands. She made a decent living and was independent enough to take care of herself with the money that she got from her husbands death and the profits from her business. Since he had been back and discovered that she was widowed and his friend was gone the two of them had gotten a little closer. A part of him wanted her but another part wanted to respect his friend's memory. Fucking the man's wife wasn't very respectful. So he kept himself at a distance and sometimes he could see it in her eyes that she didn't want him too. "A ride, huh?" One eyebrow shot up.

He heaved a sigh and leaned in a little closer. "Seems the Dixon clan is about to grow a little. I thought maybe you could help me out."

She gasped and covered her mouth. "Is it Andrea? Merle got her pregnant?"

Buck grimaced and shook his head. "No! It's a long-"

"Oh! The little feisty one that tried to knock me out? Daryl's girl? Buck, they're just kids! Didn't you talk to them about being safe! Jesus, you were a teenage dad yourself! How could you let this happen?"

Buck propped his chin up on his hand and waited until she was finished lecturing him. "Are you done now?" He asked after she stopped to catch her breath.

She frowned but nodded.

"It ain't Daryl either. First thing I did when we got here was get both those girls on the pill. I know my boys. Trust me." He scowled remembering his bedroom.

"So you... You got someone pregnant? I didn't even know you were seeing anyone." Did she sound disappointed?

He shook his head and plowed through the whole story, not stopping to let her jump in with any comments of her own. When he was finished she came around the counter, a determined look on her face.

"Marvin, Earl, time to go. I have to close up early. Family emergency," she called as she went to the table and grabbed the empty mugs. "Out," she demanded to the grumbling men. They did as she said and after locking up behind them she hurried behind the bar and placed the mugs in the sink. "Buck Dixon, you have to be the sweetest, most caring man I've ever met in my life," she said as she dabbed at the corners of her eyes. "Taking in that child when you know damn good and well she isn't yours. You could have sent her off and not had to worry about it."

He scowled. "I ain't sweet. She's my boys sister. I ain't got a choice."

"You did have a choice. You could have chose to not even mention the baby to them and let the state just take her away. But you didn't do that."

"I'm doin' what any other guy would do," he huffed as she pulled him from the stool and led him through the back to where the other guys were working in the shop. They all looked up but none of them said a word as she lead him out the door and back into the afternoon sunshine. When Buck stopped at her car she looked up at him and smiled.

"Don't worry about anything. We'll have it all ready for her by tomorrow. Even if I have to stay there all night getting it that way."

Buck let his gaze rake over her before she got into the car. All night? At his house? That could get interesting. He cursed himself as soon as the thought reached his brain.