WOW! I had no idea so many of you were still into this. I hate I left you hanging so long. Here's the next chapter. I'll try to my best to post two per week until it's finished. Thank you all for letting me know you still like the story, I have even more motivation to finish now.

"I could just take hide her under my shirt and sneak her out the door with me when I leave," Lori cooed as she held baby Sophia in her arms.

Carol chuckled lightly. "Trust me, you'd bring her back soon enough. Cherish all the uninterrupted sleep you still have left these last few weeks."

Lori's eyes flitted away from the infant's big blue ones, eyes that reminded her so much of the eyes that belonged to her friend sitting across the room in the hospital bed. She cast her friend a sympathetic smile. "How are you doing? And don't give me the bullshit answer I'm sure you'll give everyone else by saying your fine and couldn't be happier having your daughter here in your arms. Because as much as I know that's true and as much as I know you love this little girl more than life itself already, I also know you went through something huge to get her here and I'm sure it's taking a toll on you."

Carol hummed and shook her head. It was just like Lori to be blunt and cut straight to the point. "I'm exhausted," Caro admitted warily. "More exhausted than I've been in my entire life. And it hurts. Everything hurts. Even with the pain meds they give me, if I move wrong I can still feel it. I'm so sick of being here in this damn hospital and I can't stand having to depend on other people for everything." She sighed heavily. "I can't even get up by myself and get my daughter if she cries. Daryl has to help me stand up and half the time he's so freaked out if he lets go that I'll fall so he holds my arm as I walk to get over to get her…He even had to help walk to me the bathroom last night. I hate it, Loir. I hate feeling like I can't do anything myself."

"I'm sorry, honey."

Carol shook her head. "Please, don't be sorry. The last thing I want is people feeling sorry for me on top of everything else. I know I'm lucky. I'm fine. More importantly, my daughter is fine. I know that some people don't get that lucky and I feel like I don't have room to complain at all because of that. It's just…I don't know, I don't feel like I've been in control of anything and I think it's catching up with me. The entire pregnancy, it wasn't how I planned my first child. You know? And then I damn sure didn't plan to have a c-section. I didn't get to here her cry for the first time. I wasn't one of the first people to see Sophia's face and know she was okay." Her voice cracked, and she paused to gather herself. "I was so scared when I woke up, Lori. The last thing I remembered when I first woke up was being told Sophia's heart rate was dropping and if they didn't take her now she might not make it. When she wasn't with me in the room when I woke up I was so scared."

"I can't even imagine what you went through with that and how you're feeling now." Lori's eyes fell back on to Sophia's momentarily. "I'm so glad you're okay, and that this pretty little girl is okay."

"Me, too." Carola agreed. "So happy and I'm just ready to get her home and get in a routine. But Aunt Annette and Uncle Hershel said I shouldn't go home since I live alone." Carol sighed again, sounding defeated this time. "They think I need help while I recover and as much as I hate to admit it, I think they might be right. I'm probably gonna have to stay with them for a week or two."

If you wanna go home," Lori offered, "I'd be glad to stop by and check on you every day. I could help pick up around the house or even cook for you."

Carol smiled appreciatively at her friend. "I can't ask you to do that. Not right now. You need to rest before Carl gets here and you need to take care of yourself these last few weeks. It'll be alright. Even if I don't want to, I know it's what I have to do. I think that part of the reason I don't wanna go stay with them sort of has to do with being away from Daryl for a week or two."

"Why don't you ask him to stay with you," Lori suggested as she rocked back and forth with Sophia in her arms. The little one let out big yawn and blinked her blue doe-eyes several times before closing them.

"I can't ask him to do that," Carol insisted. "He's done so much already. Staying out of work the last two days and literally staying by our side the entire time until you and Rick got here. You saw how I practically had to force him out the door a few minutes ago."

Lori chuckled at how persistent Daryl had been about staying with them and how Carol kept insisting he go have a smoke with Rick and get himself some fresh air. "Somehow, I don't think he'd mind staying with the two of you and helping out another week or two."

"I know he wouldn't," Carol agreed. "But it isn't his place. It isn't his responsibility."

"He's your boyfriend. If he wants to take of you, let him."

"But he's not my husband. He's not Sophia's father," Carol added sadly. "He doesn't have to take care of us."

"I know he doesn't have to, but maybe he wants to. Carol, that boy's crazy about you if you hadn't noticed."

This time, Carol smiled genuinely. "I know he is. He told me he loved me while they were wheeling me back for the c-section." She paused. "I think at first I thought maybe he just said it because he was scared. People say things when they're scared…but I know he loves me, Lori. He's been so amazing through all of this. He hasn't complained once and he jumps to do anything to help me. He learned how to make a bottle, just so I wouldn't have to get out of bed and do it. The poor man had to listen to the nurses ask me so many questions about bodily fluids and functions I doubt he'll ever wanna sleep with me again."

Lori chuckled and smiled back at Carol. "I always knew Daryl would step up to the plate if he found someone worth getting close to. I'm proud of him and I'm so happy that it was you he and your little girl chose to let himself get close to. How is he with Sophia?" Lori grinned. "Does she have him wrapped around her finger yet?"

Carol paused, considering her answer. From an outward standpoint, one might think Daryl hadn't developed a relationship with Sophia quite yet, because he hadn't once asked to hold her, but Carol knew that wasn't the case at all. "He hasn't held her yet." When Lori looked genuinely surprised and even a bit worried, Carol hastened," but sometimes he strokes the top of her head or her cheek with his fingertip. He's so gentle when he does it, like she's a porcelain doll that might crack. And he pays attention to everything the nurses say when it comes to her. He watched intently when they showed me how feed and burp her. He wants to make sure the bottle is just the right temperature before she gets it. And he watches her while I hold her. She watches him too. It's so funny when they stare at each other like that." Carol snorted. "Sometimes I think she knows who he is from his voice. I know it's ridiculous, but I can't help but wonder if she knows he's the one who used to rile her up when she was in my tummy and get her to kick and summersault everywhere because when he talks her eyes instantly dart to him."

"Why don't you ask him to hold her?" Lori suggested.

"When he's ready, he'll ask me to hold her," Carol insisted. "He's grown a lot emotionally since I first met him, but I've learned Daryl isn't the kind of man you push to do things. He'll do them when he's ready and he shows he cares in his own way until then. He's better at acts of service than physical displays of affection."

"You're right," Lori agreed. "I guess I'm just so used to Rick and how he works sometimes I just assume everyone needs a little push here and there." The talking must have roused the newborn, because she squirmed and blinked several times before finally leaving her eyes wide open. Lori stared deeply into Sophia's big blue eyes as Carol spoke. The newborn was peering up at her curiously, as if she was trying to figure out who she was and why she was holding her. "Holding her makes so ready to meet Carl. I'm so ready to know what he's gonna look like. If he'll have my brown eyes or Rick's blue ones. Will he be bald like I was when I was born or have a head full of curly hair like Rick did." She pauses and studies Sophia's features intently. "I suppose she got your eyes."

"Maybe," Carol comments, her voice almost weary. "But her eye color won't truly set in for a few months. Ed had brown eyes. So, hers could be brown, or maybe even green."

"Am I ever gonna stop sticking my foot in my mouth," Lori groaned and shook her head. "Even if they don't stay blue, her eyes still remind me of yours," she continues," they're so expressive."

"I noticed that, too," Carol agrees with a fond smile. "Well, I don't know about my own eyes being expressive, but Sophia's are." She chuckles to herself. "At least what little time she's awake anyway. Last night while I was holding her and talking to her, she kept looking at me as I spoke. Sometimes she'd make these little movements with her mouth and it would look like she was trying to smile at me." Carol shook her head. "I know that's ridiculous and she can't smile yet, but it was the most precious thing. And then she grabbed my finer and held onto it, and I swear, Lori, I felt like me entire heart was wrapped up in her tiny little hand."

Lori's eyes flitted away from Sophia momentarily and met Carol's. The woman was gazing at her daughter so adoringly and doting on the baby girl so much that Lori's longing to meet her son only intensified.

"Well, maybe not quite my whole heart," Carol quietly added. "A pretty big piece of it was sleeping right beside me."

"You love him, too." Lori stated knowingly, a proud smirk lingering on her lips.

Carol nodded. "I knew I did before Sophia was born. I wasn't going to tell him because I thought it was too soon and I wasn't sure how he'd react. I didn't wanna scare him off or ruin what we had. I think it's just something he had to first in our relationship." Carol smiled to herself again, thinking about her relationship with Daryl. "I know it may seem like I'm complaining a lot about the c-section, and I probably complained about the pregnancy and the circumstances around it, especially when you first met me, but I'm glad things happened the way they did. As much as I can't stand Ed, he gave me Sophia and I love her more than life itself, and my pregnancy with her led me to Daryl. And even if this c-section business sucks, I think it's bringing us closer together."