Chapter 53

Seven Months Later, Alexandria Safe Zone

Beth's screams rent the air around them and Daryl was fiercely glad they were behind the fences of the Safe Zone. He paced back and forth in the room. Beth had gone into labor twenty minutes ago and there hadn't been time to move her from the White House. At present, they were in the oval office where they had just been attending a council meeting with the new President of the United States, President Jonathan Akers. He had been the chief of staff before the turn and since the President and nearly everyone else was dead or re-dead he had been voted in early after it all happened.

Daryl paced back and forth in front of the desk that the President normally sat behind. The whole thing was pretty surreal to him. If someone had told him three years ago that his wife would be delivering their first child in the oval office inside the White House, he would have laughed them all the way out of Georgia. He ran a hand through his hair again. "Are you done?" He asked Doc Fisher for the fifteenth time in as many minutes. The baby had been turned the wrong way and Doc had to turn the baby while it was already in the birth canal. Daryl actually felt like he was going to throw up. Seeing Beth in this much pain was unbearable. It was his job to protect her and there wasn't a damn thing he could do about any of this.

"Yeah, I'm done. She's ready to push again. I need your help Daryl." He motioned for Daryl to join him at the end of the sofa. Daryl wasn't sure about any of this, but he quickly went to where Doc was positioned between Beth's legs. Absurdly Daryl had a fleeting memory of when his cat Jasmine had given birth to three kittens when he was a kid. He shook his head to clear the image. This was nothing like having kittens, you dumbass, he told himself.

"Okay now Beth with this next contraction, I am going to need you to push". Doc instructed and Daryl looked up at Beth who was nodding her understanding even as her brow was furrowed in pain.

"It hurts so bad". Beth was panting now. It felt like she was being ripped in half with each contraction. When Doc had turned the baby she had thought she was going to die right then and there and she wasn't sure she cared. Anything to stop the pain. This day had not turned out anything like she thought it would, she thought. And then another contraction hit her, the waves of pain building and her stomach tightening up.

She had an unbearable urge to bear down even as Doc told her to push. She pushed with everything she had in her, focusing on Daryl's face. He was looking up at her and he looked terrified. He looked so uncertain holding a clean white towel in his hand that her heart nearly broke. She had never seen him look so unsure of himself, not even when they had been together for the first time.

Beth felt a sudden relief in pressure as she heard the wail of her baby pierce the air of the oval office. And it seemed silly and happy and unbelievably good, Beth felt the tears already streaming down her cheeks. She pushed herself up on her elbows, trying to get a first peek of the baby.

"It's a girl" exclaimed Doc Fisher. Daryl met her eyes just then and he was smiling, even as tears traced their way down his cheeks. He had been right. Daryl had been insisting for months that it was a girl even as Beth was sure that it was a boy.

Doc handed the baby over to Daryl's waiting arms. Daryl accepted his newborn daughter into his arms and wrapped her carefully in the towel, knowing he had never held anything more precious than he did right now. He got up from the foot of the couch and carried his little girl up to meet her mama.

"This is your mama, Lil Bit". He crooned to her as he placed a kiss on her forehead. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen besides her mama who was beaming up at him with outstretched arms.

He settled himself right beside her as he handed her their daughter, feeling a burst of pride that this was his family.

Beth took the baby in her arms, whispering softly to her as her whimpers faded away. The light was coming through the windows of the oval office and Daryl knew that he had never experienced a more perfect moment than he was right now. Everything he had never even hoped to dream of was in this room with him right now.

Beth looked up at Daryl in wonderment. "Isn't she beautiful?" She whispered as her daughter snuggled against her chest, her tiny fists curled into balls and her eyes fluttering closed. She had the softest blonde downy hair covering her entire head in soft wisps, full cheeks and a tiny little bow-shaped mouth.

Daryl could only nod, not trusting himself to speak right now. He used the sleeve of his shirt to wipe away the tears that kept coming whether he wanted them to or not. The sight of his wife holding their newborn child was nearly a religious experience and Daryl sent up a prayer of thanks. The man upstairs sure had been good to them recently and he was going to give credit where credit was due.

They had found the Alexandria Safe Zone a couple months back. The trip had been brutal but worth it. There were walls around the entire place that no walker could pass. Beyond that there were perimeter fences set up three miles wide on each side. They were finally safe. It had taken them a while to settle and actually feel like they would be okay. Daryl hadn't wanted to believe it at first and kept waiting for the other shoe to drop but it really was a sanctuary. He still thought about Sanctuary Station from time to time and the false promise they had advertised. But this place, Safe Zone, it was truly a sanctuary from their cold world. The dead still walked the earth. There was still crime and bad people but for the most part, their life was a good one now.

"You're both beautiful" he finally managed to speak, his voice gravelly with emotion.

Beth looked up at this man, this beautiful man she called her husband and knew she was the luckiest girl alive. "Yeah, sure, I'm really beautiful with my hair all matted down". Doc was still ministering to her and finally sat back and covered her with the blanket.

"We'll have to get you both to the hospital and have you checked out but everything looks good to me" He said with a smile. The hospital was a few miles away and was virtually unaffected by the turn. Practically everything in the Safe Zone had been unscathed by the epidemic that had hit their nation a few years earlier.

Beth and Daryl both nodded assent to Doc Fisher who was closing the door to the oval office behind him. Beth wondered momentarily what President Akers thought of her giving birth in his office.

As if reading her mind Daryl spoke up. "I think we owe the President a new sofa". And they both laughed. Beth sat up beside Daryl holding their baby close.

"What are we going to name her?" Beth asked him. He was gently stroking their daughter's head, his large palm such a stark difference to her tiny head.

Daryl looked over at her and met her eyes. "I dunno". He said simply. "We had all those boy names picked out since someone was convinced it was a boy". He couldn't help but tease her a little bit. Truth was, he would have been happy with a boy or a girl so long as it meant that Beth was okay. But now that the baby was here and Beth was doing great, it was almost too much for him. He felt the tears coming again and wondered what the hell had happened to him all the sudden.

"How about Ella?" Beth asked him as she looked down at their sleeping daughter. "Ella Grace Dixon." She tested the name on her lips.

"Sounds great to me" Daryl remarked and then pressed a kiss to Beth's lips.

She pulled back to look at him, noting the tears and reaching one hand up to wipe them away. He really amazed her sometimes.

"You tell anybody I cried, I'll deny it". Daryl said gruffly but his words held no bite. She knew that now. His bark had always been worse than his bite.

She laughed. "I won't tell anybody. You're secret is safe with me, Daddy Dixon". She said affectionately as she held her hand against his face, Ella asleep between them.

Daryl laughed too and it felt good. Too damn good. He forced away all thoughts of the other shoe dropping and accepted the happiness the universe was handing him.

"I love you Beth". He said simply as he looked at her, knowing it to be true. He loved her with everything in him. "You're my everything. You both are." He looked down at Ella and his heart surged with pride.

"Everything" Beth whispered as she pressed her lips to his. And it was true. They were everything to each other and now they had Ella. All was right in their world. They had been to hell and back and survived.

Daryl looked over at Beth and smiled. She was his life and he knew now with no uncertainty that she loved him and was going to stick with him no matter what. He had finally come to accept the love that she gave him, which was more than any man could ever hope to find. He now accepted it with no questions lingering in the back of his mind and he was grateful for it.

Okay guys, I know you probably didn't expect this but it just seemed like their story was done….for now. I am planning a sequel for them later. I hope you liked the story. I think I warned you guys a few chapters ago that I could only see about 7 more chapters. So it was maybe a couple less, but it was just time. I am sad too, believe me. But the great thing about fanfiction is we can rewrite their story again and again and I have a great idea that I am going to put to paper later tonight or tomorrow. We will see how it goes. I really hope that you liked the final chapter of this story. I am pretty pleased with how it turned out, although you guys are the true judges. Let me know what you think. There is going to be one more chapter but it is just the songs that I listened to while this story played itself out in my head and then put it to paper. Hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Let me know! If you haven't already, stroll on over to my other story, Vanilla Fields (an AU – no zombies) which is starting to really heat up right now. Teehee! Xoxoxoxo