Jewels: I do not own The Walking Dead…

I ran down the corridor with the walkers close on my heels. At that point I had no idea where I was headed except for…the hell out of there. I never realized how large a prison really was until that moment, running from walkers and trying to find a safe place to hide, or just get back to the others.

I soon found myself in the "employee wing" of the prison. I ran into the locker room and shut the door behind me, using a metal bar that was on the floor to keep the door shut. There were only a couple of walkers in the room, so they were easily taken care of, but now the thing that I needed to do. Was wait…

DARYL'S POV

"JEWELS!" I yelled, tryin' to go after her only to have Rick pull me back.

"You can't get through that way!" he yelled.

"I have to go after her, man!" I yelled back.

"She'll find a way to get back to C Block, but you can't get through that group of walkers, we have to go another way! She'll be fine!" he said.

"You don't know that!" I snapped.

"We have to go another way!" he snapped back.

We argued but fought through the walkers goin' a different way from the one that Jewels had gone. I had to get to her, but I knew it a sick way that Rick was right. I would never get through that group of walkers…

JEWELS'S POV

I began to pace around the locker room. Waiting for the sounds of the walkers to die down wasn't going to get me anywhere so I looked around to see if I could find a way a way out. Walking into the shower area of the locker room I saw the ventilation system, grabbing a metal bar and climbing up onto the bench I pried it open. Next, was the task of actually getting IN to the ventilation system.

"Brilliant, Julianne," I said, stacking one bench on another, "Always thinking ahead of your height." Finally getting the benches and other random shit stacked I began to climb up into the system. Just as got into the system everything that I had been climbing on, crashed down to the floor and I looked down. "Well I ain't goin' back that way…"

I started to make my way through the ventilation system using what little light was coming through to see.

"OW!" I said, as my head slammed right into side of the ventilation shaft, "Son of bitch, that hurt!" After more of me running into the walls of the ventilation shaft I just stopped and laid down. It was near impossible to see, and it was sweltering hot in there. 'I just need to rest,' I thought, laying down, 'Just a little rest.'

DREAM

"Julianne…Julianne…come on my little mischief maker…it's time to get up…"

My eyes slowly opened and I was staring up at a familiar paneled ceiling. "Gran?" I questioned, listening for the voice again.

"Now sugar, I don't know why you always insisted on takin' your naps on the floor, but if I got one thing out of havin' your mama, it's that you keep yourself in a comfy bed when you need a nap…" I felt a comforting hand go under my head, gently lifting it up, before setting it back down on a pillow before I was met by a pair a blue eyes. "Bein' pregnant, you shouldn't be runnin' around in the dirt and lyin' on hard floors…baby, you should be restin'."

"It ain't that simple Gran," I whispered, "I ain't even sure if I'm really-."

She gently placed her fingers on my lips to shush me, before moving her hand to the side of my face. "A woman knows her body…and I know that you know that you are. And baby girl, you are goin' to make a wonderful mother."

"You don't understand Gran, the world…the way it is now, it ain't no place for a baby," I said, tears starting to cloud my eyes, "And we're going to have Lori's baby to take care of, and that's been a chore just to get her to safety…I don't even know if Lori is safe and-."

"Shh…shhh. Sweetie, no matter what sort of world it is, a mother will defend its child from the monsters in it, something I was never able to do when it came to tryin' to protect Annabelle from your father. My little girl never had a chance because I didn't protect her, and then she didn't protect you. But you…you are a strong, beautiful woman who even after all she's been through…has still found love, an odd type of family I guess you would call it…"

"They are odd aren't they?" I asked, sniffing back tears.

"Not only will you protect that baby, but that man of yours…"

"Daryl."

"Daryl…he'll take care of you," she said, wiping my tears away, "You found yourself a fine man."

"Only you would call a foul-mouthed, crossbow wielding redneck, a "fine man"," I said.

Moved some hair away from my face. "Does he take care of you?"

"Yes."

"Does he hit you?"

"Never."

"Does he love you?"

"Yes."

"Do you love him?"

"More than anythin'."

"Then that's all that matters to me," she said smiling, "You're happy, even in times like these…you're happy. That's what matters to me…now baby girl, I need you to wake up."

I quickly grabbed her hand. "If this is a dream then I don't want to wake up…I need your help, I don't know nothin' about raisin' a baby, all I know is what I know from Monica raisin' the twins."

"Sweetie…everythin' will come to you. As a mom, everything will come to you naturally…just trust your instincts," she said, "But you need to wake up, you need to wake up and find your friends and find that man of yours." She leaned down and kissed my forehead and I closed my eyes.

END OF DREAM

Squeak squeak

Opening my eyes I felt something crawling over me. It was a rat…a big, fat, hairy…rat. I screamed and started flailing around trying to get the rat away from me but stop when I heard creaking beneath me.

"Shit…" I said, before the underside of the ventilation system gave way, "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Hanging from the ventilation shaft I was having to kick away walkers.

Thankfully though, someone came to my rescue and started hacking away the walkers. Once they were all gone it was Rick who held up his arms.

"Go ahead and let go, Jewels…I'll catch ya," he said. I nodded and let go of the ventilation shaft and he caught me. "Take a right and follow the corridor back to C Block…he said before walking off."

"Rick, wait!" I called after him as he walked off, something was clearly wrong…but he didn't want to talk about it. I followed his directions and ended up in the corridor heading towards C Block. As I got closer I heard a baby crying.

My feet began to move faster and see I ended up at C Block's cell door and saw Beth holding a baby.

"Jewels…" Glenn said, being the first one to see me.

"Where's Lori?" I questioned, not seeing her. Carl looked down at the ground.

"Are you bit?" Glenn asked, walking over to the door.

"No…" I whispered, "Where's Daryl?"

"Him and Maggie went to town to find some formula," he replied, opening the door.

'He…just left? Without coming to look for me?' I thought.

Glenn saw the look on my face and frowned. "He knew you were gonna find your way back here somehow, but him and Maggie had to go get that formula."

I nodded and went and sat on the stairs and put my head in my hands. 'Lori…I'm so sorry…'

For hours I just sat there; occasionally I would look down at Beth who was still holding the baby. I couldn't come up with the nerve to go down and hold the baby. A couple of time Beth had asked me if I wanted to, but I just shook my head…I couldn't. Soon footsteps were heard running into the now dark prison and Maggie and Daryl came running in. They did even notice me at first because the first priority was getting the baby some food.

"How's she doing?" he asked, as Beth handed over a fussy baby to help Maggie with the formula, "Shh…shh…come on." The baby stopped her crying and I gave a small smile. "She got a name yet?"

"Not yet," Carl replied, "But I was thinking…maybe Sophia. Then there's Carol, too. And…" He stopped and sighed. "Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Or…Lori. I don't know."

"You like that?" Daryl asked, looking at the little one, "Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh?" The baby cooed and looked up at him. "You like that, sweetheart? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh?"

Everybody laughed and he handed the baby Carl before turning away.

"That's a good look for you," I said.

His head shot up and he looked straight up at me before running up the stairs and practically pushing me back into the floor. "I. Was. So. Worried," he said in between kisses.

"I'm fine," I said as I pushed him back.

"Don't ya ever…ever do somethin' that stupid again, ya hear me?" he growled, "Going off by yourself like that….what the hell were ya thinkin'."

I rested my head on his shoulders and sighed. "I was trying to keep Lori safe…"

He pulled away from me and looked me dead in the eyes. "And ya did…Lori died during child birth," he said sadly, "You kept the walkers away but…." He looked down at the little one before looking back at me. "You did what you could."

"Yeah…" I said, before giving him a long kiss.

"Why don't ya get yourself cleaned up a bit and then go take a nap…ya look like someone beat you instead of the walkers," he said.

I nodded and he helped me up and I went to the cell that house a bucket of water that we all used for rag rinsing purposes. During my cleaning Maggie walked into the cell and looked at me.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yeah…I'm fine," I said, "Are you…you were with Lori, right?"

She looked away. "I…I almost couldn't do it…do the c-section. But she begged me…"

I nodded. "A mother protects her child and Lori's way was giving up her own life for the baby's."

"I…I guess," she said, "That sure as hell don't make it any easier."

She started to leave and I caught her just before she made it to the stairs. "I know you and Daryl went to find that formula, but are you and Glenn still makin' that run?"

"If ya need tampons, I can get them for ya," she said, "Just tell me what you need and I'll do the best I can."

"Mags…this is a little more personal than my period and that was a lie to Daryl…"

"If it's something more personal I can still get it, I'm mean I'm still a woman too and I won't show Glenn anything that I get you."

"Mags…"

"What?"

"I uh…how do I put this…I need to go with you because I need something to prove something to myself that Glenn wasn't able to keep his mouth shut about before that is relevant to the situation that we are currently in right now…"

"What the hell are you talkin' about?"

I sighed then pointed down to the baby before pointing at my own stomach and shrugging. Her eyes got wide and she took a step back.

"You can be preg-," she went to say, but I covered her mouth and pulled her back into the cell we had just been in.

"We need to stay calm…and stay quiet," I told her, "Can you do that?" She nodded and I let go of her and she looked at me. "Don't look at me that way…it's not like I was expecting this…."

TO BE CONTINUED…

Jewels: Yes, this is an odd place to leave it off, but I'm leaving it off there and that's final!