Chapter 53: Home

"Ow."

"M'sorry."

"It's not your fault."

"It's kinda my fault."

"Kind of mine, too. It takes two, you know. Ow! Ow!"

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok. Just…ahhh…." Carol sunk down into the bathtub, and Daryl winced but sobered when Carol relaxed in the warm water. Carol peeked over toward the doorway. "You think she's ok in there?"

"She's got a belly full of milk and a fresh diaper. She snores like her mama, by the way."

"Hey!" Carol laughed. Daryl grinned and moved his chair behind the tub, lifting Carol's long, silver hair out from behind her back.

"Can ya lean up a little?"

"Mmm," she murmured sleepily, leaning forward a little while Daryl scooped up a cupful of warm water and poured it over her head. He took her favorite shampoo and lathered it up in his hands before gently massaging his fingers through her scalp. "Oh my God, that feels amazing."

"You sure you're feelin' up to this?"

"Daryl, we've been hoping for this for almost six years," Carol murmured. "Our friends are home. The last of them, anyway."

"You been through a lot. I'm just saying we could wait a couple days."

"Daryl, I'm feeling fine. Really." Daryl sighed then, but he understood. Her stubbornness was part of the reason he loved her so much, and he wouldn't deny her the happiness of reuniting with old friends. "Just sore and tired, but I don't have to do a tap dance. I'm just seeing friends."

"Alright," he chuckled. "Close your eyes." She did as he asked, and he poured a few cupfuls of water over her head, rinsing out the soap before repeating with conditioner. After he rinsed her hair out again, he scooted his chair back over to the side of the tub. Carol leaned back against the back of the tub and gently began washing herself, wincing in pain from time to time, and Daryl felt helpless.

"You don't have to sit here and watch me, you know," Carol chuckled.

"I know." He cleared his throat and picked at the cuticle on his thumb. Carol narrowed her eyes at him.

"What's going on?"

"What?"

"You've been quiet all morning. Did something happen last night?"

"No."

"Then why do you look like you're avoiding something?"

"I ain't."

"Daryl." She sat up a little in the tub, and Daryl finally looked her in the eye.

"It's somethin' about Alpha."

"The crazy woman that led the Whisperers to Alexandria?"

"Yeah," Daryl said quietly. "Negan spent a lot of time with her. Well, close to her, anyway. Rick locked him in the jail when he first got there."

"Why?" Carol asked, making a face.

"Trust issues," Daryl said quietly. "I guess this woman was just insane. She didn't talk much. But she listened. I guess she heard Negan talking about the farm here and being near Atlanta. So one day, outta the blue, she asked him if he saw a girl. A little girl that looked like her. Mentioned a dog. A German shepherd. And she sang this song. Something about a girl named Lydia." Carol's face went pale.

"What? That can't be…are you sure?"

"It's what Negan said. He said this woman was just crazy. Lost. But he said she'd been to Birmingham."

"Oh God. Daryl. Do you think she's Lydia's mother?"

"It don't matter anymore. She's dead."

"Dead?"

"Yeah. The night Alexandria went down, her own people came back to kill her. I guess Merle got to them first, killed them, and then she let the walkers take her." He watched the way her eyes glistened with tears before one spilled over. She brushed it away and shook her head. "She couldn't have known those things."

"No," Daryl said quietly.

"Lydia asks about her, you know. Her first mother. She still asks."

"I know," Daryl said quietly.

"What do we tell her?"

"We tell her this world ain't meant for some folks. You either fight like hell to survive or you let it eat you up and turn you into a monster. We tell her we're lucky we found her, 'cause we didn't save her that day. She saved us." Carol reached her soapy hand out for his, and he gave it a squeeze.

"She did, didn't she?" Carol asked softly. Daryl brought her hand to his lips and pressed a soft kiss to her knuckles. Just then, Lucy began to fuss in the other room, and a grin spread over his face. "I should…"

"Nah, you relax. I've got her." He stood and leaned down to kiss his wife before turning to go tend to their newborn daughter. Carol leaned back into the tub again and blinked back tears before wiping them away. She sniffled and looked up when Daryl came back into the room holding their sweet little girl.

"She ok?"

"Yeah. She's perfect."

...

Daryl put one last log onto the fire to combat the chill in the air. Dog lifted his head from where he was curled up in front of the fireplace, and Daryl scratched him behind the ears.

Lucy was swaddled up and sleeping soundly in the bassinet, and Daryl pulled it just a little closer to the hearth for warmth, but far enough away to keep her safe. Carol came waddling slowly into the living room before tossing a soft pillow onto the couch and sitting on it. She grimaced, and Daryl turned to help her sit back.

"You feeling ok?"

"Be glad you'll never know what it's like to walk around feeling like your insides are about to fall out." Daryl made a face, and Carol grimaced again. "I'm fine. Just sore. She's a pound heavier than Luke when he was born."

"It was all them pickles you ate," Daryl teased. Carol made a face, but she couldn't help but smile when Daryl leaned back over the bassinet and made sure Lucy was warm.

"Mommy, I hold baby now?" Luke asked, following Lydia into the living room from the kitchen.

"Not right now, baby. She's sleeping," Carol said softly.

"She sleeps a lot," Luke sighed.

"Oh, just wait," Daryl smirked. "Soon she'll be wakin' us up almost as much as you did."

"Yeah. You were a crybaby, Luke," Lydia teased.

"Hey," Carol said softly. "Now, be nice."

"I'm not a crybaby!" Luke insisted.

"Come here," Carol laughed. "Come sit by me." She patted the couch, and Luke climbed up to sit next to his mom. Lydia moved to sit at her other side, and Carol wrapped her arms around them both, pulling them in close. "I am so lucky."

"Why?" Luke asked.

"Well," Carol grinned, "a long time ago, I wasn't sure I was ever going to be happy again. But then daddy and I brought Lydia home, and she just made everything so much brighter. She made us see just how much love we had left in us, and because of that, we ended up with you, Luke."

"I did all that?" Lydia asked with wide eyes. "Wow."

"Wow's right," Daryl laughed. "You're a pretty special kid. You know that?" He reached down and lifted her up, pulling her up and tickling her. She laughed and kicked her legs.

"Daddy!" she laughed. "No tickling!" She giggled until she was breathless, and Daryl put her back on the couch.

"And then I got born. You loved me so much I got a baby sister!" Luke reasoned.

"Well, something like that," Carol laughed. "We certainly planned on you, Luke. You're my little boy, and that makes you very special to me. My only little boy. And Lucy's special, because she's my last baby."

"And Sophia?" Lydia asked softly.

"Your big sister showed me just how much love I could have for another person." She kissed the top of Lydia's head. "And you reminded me of everything I loved about being a mom." Daryl watched his wife with their children and said a silent thank you to the fates for bringing them into his life. Despite the awful condition of the world outside their walls, inside they had love, friends and family. It was everything he never had in the world before.

Someone knocked at the door, and Daryl got up to go greet their visitor. As soon as he opened the door, he was greeted by a grin from his big brother.

"How's my favorite niece this morning?"

"Don't say that shit around Lydia," Daryl warned.

"I can have two favorite nieces, for Christ sakes. Just can't let either one of them know that." Daryl rolled his eyes, and he stepped out of the way to let him in. Daryl peered over his shoulder to see someone approaching the house. A man, a woman and a little girl. But the man's face was hidden behind a thick beard, and a thick scar ran down his cheek. The woman looked frail and tired, and the little girl that skipped along between them was the spitting image of her mother.

"Rick's comin'."

"Yeah, about that. Look, Officer Friendly weren't never my favorite person. That ain't a secret. But a lot's changed. Lost his kid, gonna lose his wife." Daryl flinched at that. "They ain't gonna make it. They're just together right now for the kid. Soon as they get settled, they'll go their own ways. Guess some couples just weren't built for some kinds of pain. But from what I hear, they're better off apart." Merle rubbed the scruff on his chin. "He ain't the kind of man used to takin' orders."

"I ain't the kind of man that's gonna be givin' 'em. Not to Rick."

"You know Rick better'n I do. Once he gets comfortable here, he's gonna start doin' things his way. It's just who he is." Daryl shook his head.

"Ain't gonna be like that here." Daryl insisted.

"Hope you're right, bro." Merle clapped him on the shoulder and headed into the living room to see Carol and the kids. Rick was the first at the door, and when his eyes locked on Daryl's, they both paused for a moment. Daryl noticed the grey peppering Rick's hair. Rick noticed the way Daryl carried himself like a man more sure of himself, not like the reckless kid from the farm.

"Jesus, look at you," Daryl muttered, as a grin spread over Rick's face. It seemed strange with the pain in his eyes, like it was the first time he'd smiled in a long time.

"Look at me? Look at you. Look what you've done with this place."

"You done the same back in Alexandria, I hear," Daryl pointed out as Rick enfolded him in a warm hug.

"Sorry we didn't stay longer on that highway."

"Ya didn't have a choice. Glenn told us about it," Daryl said quietly. "We kept lookin' though. We didn't give up 'til the weather started getting bad."

"I know. Merle."

"Right," Daryl said with a chuckle. "Look, m'sorry I didn't stick around to see everybody last night."

"Hey, don't. Don't. You had other things to worry about. I get it. How's she doing?"

"She's ready to see everybody." At that moment, Lori stepped inside holding onto the hand of a dark-haired little girl who had her mother's smile. Daryl was taken aback in that moment by how much Judith resembled Andrea's boy Dylan.

"Daryl," Lori sighed, quickly pulling him into a hug. "Thank you for having us here."

"If we're gonna have a future, we're gonna need people," Daryl said with a nod. "These kids gotta learn from somebody, right?"

"Speaking of kids," Lori smiled, "I hear congratulations are in order. How's Carol?"

"She's good. Baby's good."

"This is Judith," Lori said with a smile. "Judith, you've heard daddy talk all about Daryl, right?" Judith crooked her finger at Daryl, and he leaned down in time to hear her whisper.

"Did you really eat squirrels?"

"You never ate a squirrel before?" Daryl asked with an amused smirk on his face. Judith shook her head.

"Yuck!"

"Yuck? Well, sometimes there ain't nothin' around but squirrels."

"I like rabbit," she said with a nod.

"Rabbit. Alright, well, next time I go huntin', I'll get one just for you, alright?" Judith grinned, and Daryl straightened to see the thankful look on Lori's face.

"We don't want to wear out our welcome on the first day," Lori said softly. "But I'd like to see Carol."

"C'mon," Daryl urged, nodding toward the living room. "She can't wait to see ya."