Chapter 43: Sleepover

"You really don't wanna know?" Daryl asked, walking hand-in-hand with his wife as they left Denise's. They'd gone for what was likely to be the last ultrasound to make sure the baby was growing properly. Carol was at the halfway point, about twenty weeks, and Denise said she'd gotten a pretty clear shot of the baby's sex before the power went on the fritz. The bad thing was that the machine took up a lot of juice, so they didn't have access to it for long periods of time.

"No," Carol shrugged. "It doesn't matter to me, Daryl."

"Well, it don't matter to me either."

"Well, I thought you were so certain it was going to be a girl so you'd win the bed, and I'd have to potty train her."

"I know she's a girl," Daryl snorted. He chewed his bottom lip. Carol rolled her eyes.

"Oh for goodness sakes, go ask Denise if you want to know so bad. I don't mind. Just don't tell me. I like the surprise at the end of an excruciating seventeen hour labor."

"Nah, if you wanna be surprised, we'll wait," Daryl muttered. "Know it's a girl though."

"I'm glad you're so certain. What do we even need Denise for?" Daryl snorted at that, and Carol gave his hand a squeeze. A moment later, she gasped, putting her hand on her belly.

"You ok?" he asked, quickly putting his hand over hers.

"Yeah," she panted, "that was a strong one." She lifted her hand and guided his to the spot where she'd felt the powerful kick. Moments later, Daryl felt the thump against his palm, and he chuckled.

"She's strong like her mama." Daryl leaned in to kiss his wife, and she grinned against his lips.

"Lydia's so excited about the baby. I don't think Luke gets it yet. But I have a feeling Lydia thinks this baby's hers," Carol laughed. "Henry's getting excited, too."

"He had another nightmare last night," Daryl murmured, holding the front door open for Carol and following her into their home.

"What?" she asked, eyes widening in worry. "Why didn't you wake me up?"

"You were so tired, and I didn't wanna bother you."

"Did he go back to sleep ok?"

"Yeah. Had to read him a couple stories, but he settled down after a while. He asked me somethin'. He asked me if I was his new dad."

"God," Carol murmured. "Poor kid." She shook her head. "It's been over a month. I hoped he'd be back by now."

"I feel like I'm lyin' to him every time I tell him he'll be back soon. Maybe he's not coming back. Maybe we just gotta accept that."

"I know. I still want to believe he's coming back. Henry lost one parent already. He needs his dad."

"Well, until then, I don't mind filling in." Carol pulled her arms around Daryl and kissed him softly.

"I love you."

"Me too," he chuckled, chasing her lips for one more kiss.

The screen door flew open, startling them both, and Henry and Lydia came running in with Dylan.

"Whoa. Hey! No running in the house," Daryl scolded.

"Sorry, Daddy," Lydia giggled. "Can Dylan stay over tonight? Please?"

"Yeah, please?" Dylan asked.

"Have you asked your mom?" Carol asked.

"Well, no."

"Well, I'm not saying yes until she does," Carol warned. "If she says no, it's no."

"She won't say no, Mommy."

"And can we camp out in the back yard?" Henry asked.

"We'll see," Carol sighed. "But you need to get permission from Andrea first!"

"Okay!" Lydia hollered, running off, leading the two boys back outside. The screen door slammed after them, and Carol grimaced.

"Maybe Andrea'll host the sleepover, and you and me and get some alone time."

"Alone time? I don't understand," Carol joked. "Oh, you mean that thing we used to have before we had a house full of kids? The thing that got us more kids?"

"Well, we ain't gotta worry about that tonight," he chuckled, putting his hand on her belly.

"Yeah, you're so proud of yourself," Carol muttered, rolling her eyes before grinning at him. Then she raised an eyebrow. "Maybe we can get Merle to watch Luke, and we can sleep in tomorrow."

"Sleep? Got lots of stuff planned with you, but sleep ain't one of 'em."

"We're not as young as we used to be, Pookie."

"That a challenge?"

"No," she laughed. "Let's save the challenges for when I'm not pregnant, ok?"

"Fair enough," he muttered with a little shrug. Carol kissed him again, and once again, the front door banged open. This time, it was Merle with Luke.

"Oh, hey. Didn't mean to interrupt the lovebirds, but I've done chased this little rug rat around the whole damn perimeter twice. He needs a nap and maybe a bell around his neck so you can keep track of him." He was almost out of breath, and Carol couldn't help the laugh.

"Give me my kid." She reached for Luke, and the boy yawned before willingly going to his mom. She glanced slyly at Daryl before looking back to Merle. "You wouldn't want to babysit tonight, would you?"

"Hell, no," Merle snorted. "Got myself a date."

"A…date?"

"Well, I was gonna help Andrea fix the leak in her roof."

"And that's a date?"

"Well, hell, I'm gonna bring her some of my finest whisky."

"Yeah, drinkin' on the rooftop. Sounds like a Merle Dixon kinda date," Daryl pointed out, getting nudged in the ribs by Carol.

"Ever hear of flowers?" Carol asked.

"That how my baby brother wooed you?" Merle asked with a wink. Daryl scoffed, but Carol shrugged.

"Technically, he did bring me flowers. A flower." Her fondest memory from the farm was the moment he brought her that Cherokee Rose. She glanced at Daryl, and for the first time in a long while, he blushed. She knew he was in a whole other headspace back in those days, and he hadn't had a clue that even back then, back on Hershel's farm, Carol was falling in love with him.

"Flowers, huh," Merle muttered. "You kidding? She'd throw 'em in my face. She knows that ain't me."

"Well, then just be yourself," Carol replied with a shrug. "And I don't mean the crude asshole Merle Dixon. I mean the Merle Dixon that helped build this place, that would do anything to help his family, that knows how to make his niece and nephew laugh. That's the Merle you are now. Nobody's who they used to be, Merle. Just remember that."

...

Of course, a thunderstorm was looming, so Merle followed through on his plans to go fix the leak in Andrea's roof. So, the Dixons had a full house. And with rain incoming, that washed out plans for a camp out in the backyard. Instead, Daryl had moved the furniture around in the living room to make space for sleeping bags, and after the kids changed into their pajamas, Dog curled up by the couch, and Luke came running in with his favorite blanket.

"I sleep here, too!" he insisted.

"No," Lydia whined. "Does he have to, Daddy?"

"Luke," Daryl warned. "You're not big enough for a sleepover yet."

"Pwease, Daddy?" he begged.

"Not this time, buddy."

"Come on. Mama will take you upstairs, and I'll read you two bedtime stories. How would you like that?" Carol asked, picking the boy up. Luke pouted, and Carol gave Daryl a look that told him it was going to be a long, long night.

"You go on up. I'll be up soon," he promised.

"Goodnight, guys."

"Night, Mommy."

"G'night, Mrs. Dixon," Dylan called.

"Night, Miss Carol," Henry murmured sleepily, yawning.

"Think you're gonna be out before too long," Daryl chuckled. "You got everything you need?" Henry nodded. "Good."

"Daddy, will you tell us a story?" Lydia asked.

"Thought that's what sleepovers were for. Tellin' your own stories and scarin' each other."

"We're five, Daddy," Lydia insisted. "Tell us about the little girl in the woods."

"You wanna hear that one again?" Daryl asked with a sigh.

"I wanna hear," Dylan agreed.

"Alright." He cleared his throat and looked at his daughter. He'd come up with that story on a whim one night when he was too exhausted to get creative. The first thing he could think of was Sophia running around in those woods, and while he couldn't twist a happy ending out of that memory, he at least used it as a starting point in his story. "Alright. Here goes. You ready?"

"Yeah!" the kids cheered in unison.

"Alright. Once there was a little girl named S…Amy."

"Daddy, her name's Sophia, like my sister, remember?" Lydia insisted. Leave it to Lydia to remember that little detail.

"That's right. Sophia. Anyway, one day, Sophia was playing with her daddy in the woods. They walked the trails and looked for leaves and bugs and things like that. Well, Sophia wanted to play hide and seek. Her daddy thought it was a real bad idea, but it was her most favorite game to play. So Sophia went to hide, and when her daddy counted to ten and tried to find her, it was so quiet, he couldn't figure out where to start looking."

"And then she got…"

"Who's tellin' the story here?" Daryl asked.

"Sorry, Daddy," Lydia grinned.

"Anyway, Sophia was so good at hiding, she stayed there for a long time. A whole five minutes. But then she couldn't hear her daddy calling for her anymore. So, she got scared, and she came out of her hiding spot. She looked and looked, and she didn't see her daddy anywhere. So she started yelling for him. She yelled 'Dad. Dad! I'm over here, Dad. Come find me!' But her daddy didn't come. But she remembered from all the talks they had in the woods that if she ever got lost from her daddy, she should stay put, because if she wandered off, she might get even more lost. So she waited. She got so scared, and she started crying, but she waited. She didn't like being lost in the woods, and she hoped her daddy would come back soon. And sure enough, she started to hear his voice again. 'Sophia!' Well, Sophia was so happy her dad found her that she started jumping up and down and waving her arms and calling out for her dad. And he followed her voice until he saw her. Well, guess what? Her dad was just as scared as she was, and he came and scooped her up in his arms and hugged her for a long, long time. And when he finally let her go, he was a little mad that she hadn't listened and went to play the game, but he was so happy he found her he couldn't be too mad for long."

"And then what happened?" Dylan asked with wide eyes.

"Well, Sophia and her daddy went home. And all along the way, he told her he was proud of her for staying put when she got lost. She was scared, but she didn't run away. And her daddy found her. She was safe, and that was all that mattered. From then on, she only played hide and seek at home where she knew she couldn't get lost."

"And…?" Lydia urged.

"And, her daddy taught her how to use the stars to find her way home if it ever happened again. And they all lived happily ever after."

"Another one!" Dylan urged.

"I'm all tapped out. You guys use your imaginations and make up a story, alright? We're just upstairs if you need anything." He leaned down and kissed the top of Lydia's head before he started for the stairs. "Night, guys. Have good dreams."

"Was that a true story?" Henry whispered to Lydia.

"I don't think so," Lydia murmured, curling up in her sleeping bag. "But my daddy's gonna teach me those things someday."

"You're lucky," Henry murmured. "You're lucky you still have your daddy."

"You have one, too," Lydia insisted. "He'll be back."

"I like your dad, Lydia," Dylan spoke up. "I never met mine, but my mom says I look like him."

"Well, you guys can share my dad. He's a really good dad." Lydia's eyes widened. "Dylan, maybe my Uncle Merle will marry your mom, and he could be your dad. He's really fun."

"Maybe," Dylan shrugged.

"What about me?" Henry asked. "What if my dad doesn't come back? What if he's lost out there?"

"Well," Lydia thought. "My mommy and daddy can be your mommy and daddy. I got a brother already, but you could be my brother, too." She smiled at Henry, and he smiled back, and it wasn't long before the children were still, all worries pushed aside by the warm comfort of dreamless sleep.

Author's Note: Thanks for reading, guys! Please let me know what you think!