April 8, 2011
~*~ CP ~*~
Carol looks up from her textbook to see Andrea lingering in the doorway when the other woman clears her throat. She looks like she would rather be anywhere but in the infirmary.
"Karma is a complete and utter bitch," the blonde says as soon as she has Carol's attention.
"She certainly can be. Why are you quoting one of Merle's favorite sayings?"
"All the shit I gave Lori, coming back to roost." She sighs. "I need a pregnancy test."
Carol feels a sense of déjà vu from Michonne's visit as she marks her spot in the textbook and goes to sign out a test. She starts to ask if the timing is deliberate, but she knows it is. Cricket's the doctor on duty right now, and she always goes to do a round through the nursing home before going to supper.
Andrea takes the test and specimen cup without a word, heading off to the bathroom. Carol figures it's probably serious, if the blonde's willing to come ask for a test that she could probably pocket on a supply run, so she goes ahead and turns on the iStat machine to follow up with a blood test.
The glum expression as Andrea returns with the test in hand confirms it for Carol.
"Alright. Hop up and let me draw some blood."
They're both quiet as Carol preps the test and retrieves Andrea's medical record from the locked cabinet. She scans the original physical and frowns.
"You're the second person on the pill to turn up pregnant."
"Well, in my case, I can't blame the pills. I realized when we got back from Virginia that I missed at least two in the packet I started while we were traveling, and I didn't bother with any backup." She huffs a little. "Stupid, yeah, because they don't have methodical STD testing like we have here."
"That means we have to run the other tests again too."
"Yeah, I know."
"When was your last cycle?"
"January twenty-second." Carol looks up from where she's writing that down and Andrea shrugs. "Didn't really notice the first missed period. But the second, that makes things start adding up."
Carol grabs the gestation calculator and lines it up, even if she already knows in general from her own due date. "October twenty-eighth is the due date estimate."
"Go ahead and ask. I know you want to."
She tries to give her a reassuring smile as she begins the basic updates to the chart with taking Andrea's blood pressure. "And the father?"
"Two options, neither of them here at Homestead."
"In Virginia still then?"
"Yeah. And until I know one way or another, not something I'm mentioning. It's not like they'll be able to participate in the pregnancy, because I'm not leaving my sister to go to Virginia either way."
"We don't exactly have the ability to do paternity tests. There's some blood types that can work that way, but the odds that everyone involved falls on the correct side of the blood type chart are probably not in your favor."
"Hopefully for the baby's sake, it'll be obvious." Andrea sighs softly. "The potential fathers aren't the same race."
"It sounds like you aren't going to keep the baby." Although it does sound like she wants to continue the pregnancy. With anyone else, Carol would ask, but Andrea's a diehard career woman. She knows her options the same way as any single woman over thirty is always aware of, even if she would never opt for them.
"I think that either paternal option would be a far better one for the kid than me raising it. Him. Her." Andrea shakes her head, blonde hair falling to obscure her face. "I've never wanted kids."
"And if they don't want the baby, or you can't tell? Genetics can be tricky. It may not be obvious, not for six months or more."
If you laid the four babies born into Homestead side by side as newborns, their race isn't actually that distinctive, despite only two babies being of the same racial or ethnic background. Only Matty, with his bright blond, almost colorless hair, makes it obvious.
"I don't know that it's fair to either of them to state it's a possibility if I don't know for sure. They aren't even in the same community. I know Amy would happily raise the baby here, but I don't want to ask that of her, not with a new baby of her own."
"I think it's an option that should be considered. You should at least talk to her, because she'll be hurt if you don't." Carol actually thinks Amy's more resilient than Andrea gives her credit for. It would mean raising two babies about a month apart in age, but it wouldn't be any harder than twins.
"Yeah, I guess."
"We should do an ultrasound to confirm the date and check that everything's on track. You can wait and let Cricket do it or I can do it now. I've done enough now to do one solo." She actually did all of the currently pregnant women's ultrasounds as part of her learning process, except Denova's and her own.
Andrea nods. "Best with a full bladder, right? Can I do it another time though? I want to talk to Amy first."
It goes unsaid that she probably wants her sister here with her, regardless of the baby's future, so Carol nods. "Tomorrow after your run. I can probably be here, or you can let Cricket do it."
They note the upcoming appointment for Cricket and Carol hesitates. "Is this something you want kept quiet in general? Because I have to tell the council, and Rachel needs to know as your team leader."
"Scout's going to want me to transfer off the search teams, so we might as well not bother with any secrecy. Me suddenly changing teams will be an announcement all by itself."
That's true enough. Carol understands the women who don't want to give up their normal work as long as they can ably and safely do it. Thus far, only Maggie has had to make major changes, but if Andrea's made it this far in good health, there's no reason for her not to go on one of the regular supply teams like Michonne still does.
But there's no way Scout will be open to Andrea continuing to travel out on the hunt for a dangerous man, not heading into her second trimester by the time Scout's team rotates out again.
"I'll bring it up at the council meeting tonight then, and let Scout sort it out from there for you."
"Thanks."
~*~ MD ~*~
Merle sees the glance Carol gives Hershel as he ends his report, the final for the council meeting. He arches a brow at his wife, who smiles.
"I didn't have a chance to tell Hershel before the meeting, but we have a new pregnancy. Andrea."
"How far along?" Scout asks. Ever practical, his eldest daughter.
"Almost eleven weeks. She says she'd like to stay on a supply run team, but knows she'll need to transfer off Rachel's team."
Scout looks to Merle. "Think you can spare Bryce?"
"Figured I was going to lose him whenever Michonne pulled herself off runs anyway, so have at." The former officer may generally prefer the building team, but he was already considered for one of the search teams until the young lady from Grady refused to be transferred.
"I'll talk to him and Andrea at supper then."
"Eleven weeks would put her in Virginia," Shane notes.
"And that's a complication," Carol replies. "There are two potential fathers, both up north."
Merle spares a brief moment of relief that it's not Danny, with his on-again-off-again fascination with Andrea. Boy's too young for a long-term tie to a woman not interested in a relationship.
"We even got a way to figure that out anymore?" Tyreese asks.
"Blood typing, serology, and physical appearance, mostly. Even if we set up lab equipment, none of us have the skills, although I suspect if we got him the equipment and textbooks, Eugene could manage." Hershel looks thoughtful.
"She's also concerned about notifying them both, when there may end up no way to tell," Carol adds.
"She wants to exclude the father?" Shane voices it before Merle can.
Carol shakes her head. "Just the opposite. She intends to give the child to the father to raise, should we be able to determine paternity and he wants the baby."
Merle's relieved and not. "How likely is the blood typing? It took a paternity test to get my name on Jazz's birth certificate."
Hershel sighs. "Depends on the father and Andrea's. If both fathers have the same blood type, that makes it harder, but blood type is more than just the A positive or O negative and so forth everyone's familiar with. The testing we do on newborns or would do before a transfusion might help."
Since Carol's nodding thoughtfully, Merle assumes it makes sense from a medical viewpoint. "We may need to get nosy early though. Andrea's A negative, and we have Rhogam for now."
"The odds that one father would be Rh negative are not high, but both? Miniscule." Hershel arches a brow. "We should plan on just giving her the shot. We have plenty, although that's only the next two years."
"It expiring on us?" Merle asks. That's concerning.
"Yes. Although we might be able to improvise production later as needed." Hershel looks to Carol. "Do you have the blood type numbers anywhere?"
She nods, opening her notebook. "We're currently a little bit lucky. While the textbooks say fifteen percent of the American population is Rh negative, and we're close to that, most are men here."
"We have thirteen females here, seven O negative, four A negative, and two B negative. Two are still underage, two are beyond childbearing age." Scout gets an apologetic look from Carol. "And one cannot have children."
Scout acknowledges the look with a wan smile, but doesn't speak.
"I'm assuming Cricket took precautions?" Merle asks. His daughter is too damned smart to risk her health or the baby's, but he doesn't have access to how many males in the community other than his own family would have the appropriate type.
"She did. But it also means another Rh negative child, maybe another girl. Judith already added to the list."
"Might as well continue the Dixon tradition there," he quips.
"More universal donors wouldn't be bad," Carol acknowledges. "But if we aren't able to reproduce Rhogam, we should consider encouraging compatible donors versus die-hard adherence to biology for parenthood."
"Might be a hard sell to some," Patricia remarks. "Biological links to children are pretty hardwired in most folks here just from society. Saw it a lot in why people wouldn't foster or adopt."
"Perhaps we'll do better. We already have a lot of examples here."
Merle knows Carol's right on that. Most of the council are adoptive parents, and Hershel's well on his way to having more stepchildren. Leadership is setting the example.
"We can start now by making sure everyone is educated on the subject. No one wants a return to the era of stillborn babies to Rh negative mothers. Maggie's clear of that, but Beth's not."
Carol smiles reassuringly at Hershel. "We can do that. We see most of the women as part of the blood donation roster anyway."
They haven't actually needed to give blood to anyone yet, but the O negative folks of the community are on a rotating schedule to donate blood. It doesn't keep in the long-term, lasting not much longer than a month. Two pints in the infirmary fridge is enough to get started in an emergency.
"We still good there?" he asks. He's one of the people on the roster, and it's odd not to donate as regularly as he used to.
She nods. "Of the fifteen O negatives in Homestead, we've still got ten available for donations with Cricket off the list, especially with the teens not restricted by age as much."
"Didn't see much reason that Jazz couldn't." Merle's aware that his biological family is a chunk of that donation roster between him, Jazz, and Daryl. Something occurs to him, with blood types shared among families usually. "Amy's good too?"
"She's A positive, so no concerns there."
That winds down the meeting, although Merle hangs back behind the others to talk with Carol. "You think Andrea is really going to give up the baby?"
"I do. She's willing to acknowledge she doesn't want to be a parent, and even if neither potential father is interested, I imagine Amy will be happy enough to adopt."
"Well, I'm going to hope they can at least figure it out enough so the kid knows either way." He can tell they're both thinking of Jazz's issues about his mother. Knowledge is a necessity in some things.
Carol steps forward to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him. He puts his hands on her waist, but strokes his thumbs along her still-flat belly.
"All this talk of pregnancy... you think it's safe to tell the kids yet?" He's anxious for them to know, especially since Scout and Cricket both already know. It seems off-kilter that the others don't.
"I'm ten weeks now and everything looks good, so why not tonight?" she offers.
The ultrasound did show everything on track. Merle's got a copy of the grainy black and white image hidden in a nightstand drawer right now. "They're going to start a betting pool on gender, you know."
"And what side of that bet will you be taking, Mr. Dixon?" she asks with one of her Cheshire cat grins.
"Got seven kids, eight if I count Glenn like everyone else does. Plenty of boys, plenty of girls. Gonna just ask for healthy." He can tease, too.
"That's not a straight answer." She tries to pout and doesn't manage it.
"I love all the boys, but got a soft spot for girls. Wouldn't mind another tiny gal to raise up," he admits.
"Well, I'm sort of wanting another boy, so we'll just have to plan on a second baby after this one."
He laughs and kisses her. He can agree to that, especially if her pregnancy stays on this healthy, even-keeled path it's been on.
~*~ SP ~*~
Sophia tumbles into Jazz, hugging him tightly. He returns the hug, but gently moved away. She's hurt at first, wanting to continue to share her excitement about the baby sibling. But he's kneeling by his bunk, hands gripped around Logan's ankles and talking softly.
She feels bad then, because she didn't think about Logan at all. The boy makes it easy, since he spends any free time with Jazz, Honey, or the little girls. She's been a bit absorbed in her own life since he arrived, and the breakup with Jazz means she isn't glued to his side like she used to be.
It doesn't take a genius to realize Logan's too new to the family to know his place is always secure. She climbs into the bunk on the side of Logan opposite of his fuzzy dog and slips an arm around him in a half hug. He doesn't lean away, so she smiles.
"Hey, itty bitty brother."
That gets the desired reaction. "I'm not that little."
It's actually true. While Logan's not Dixon-tall, he is one of the tallest kids his age, just like Sophia's one of the taller girls her age.
"Just ask Jazz. Once you're a younger sibling in this family, you'll always be the itty bitty."
Jazz actually grins. "You have noticed that Cricket and Honey both still call me names like half-pint, right?"
Logan thinks it over and nods. "But they're your sisters, so that's different."
"They're your sisters, too. Just like our parents are your parents."
Sophia wonders if this is like Anaya. "You do know that Merle's not my birth father, right? And Abby's adopted sort of like Anaya."
"Really?" Logan's frowning, but it looks like he's thinking it over.
"Yeah. Abby's been family since she was a baby, but me? I met Daddy last June in a camp down by Atlanta. He sorta adopted me even back then, long before he married Mama."
"You're both excited about a baby?"
Jazz nods, twitching Logan's feet from where he's still got his ankles. "Mama loves kids, and we're kinda growing up on her, even you."
"She's not really my mama though."
"You can have more than one mama, you know." Sophia's aware of Jazz's conflicted feelings on his own mother, so she's unsure where he's going with it. "Judith has two mamas and two dads."
"And Christian has two mamas and no dads," Sophia adds. "He's adopted, too."
"Really? But he looks like Tara."
"His birth mother looked a bit like Tara from the pictures we saw."
"Besides, aren't you excited to be an older sibling?" Sophia asks. "I guess I haven't been much of a big sister to you."
Logan doesn't spare her feelings. "I only see you at meals or movies."
Ugh. She really didn't do the big sister thing well here. "Guess I need to make up for lost time."
He gives her a tentative smile. "At least you don't have a boyfriend."
Honey does spend time with Logan, but it's almost always with Eugene around due to her work schedule.
Jazz sighs. "You've just got to see Eugene like any of the others. You like Tara and Shane and Aunt Lori, right?"
Logan nods, so Jazz continues. "And Honey explained about Jesus."
Sophia looks at Jazz, puzzled. She's missed a puzzle piece here.
Logan explains. "I wished Honey would wait and date Jesus if he would move here. But he's gay, like Christopher."
"Oh, well, that does make a difference." She hugs him close and he actually hugs her back. "Eugene's a nice guy, really. And didn't I hear you say science was your favorite subject in school?"
Jazz picks up on that. "Eugene was a science teacher before, and he teaches science labs here sometimes."
"How about my next off day, we go see if he's busy?" Sophia offers. She'll catch Eugene early and make sure they can set something up, so he's prepared for Logan's request.
"Alright." Logan's leaning into her in definite cuddling, so she nudges Jazz with the toe of her sneaker. He wedges himself on Logan's other side.
"We're all gonna get a baby to spoil," she says, grinning. It still makes her want to dance. She really hopes the baby is a girl.
Logan finally ventures his first smile about it.
~*~ EP ~*~
Eugene's finally comfortable leaving the bathroom after his shower without a shirt. Nearly two months of living with Honey's proven she likes the skin contact when they sleep.
"What are you working on so diligently?" After her excitement over the baby news, he is actually surprised to see her sitting calmly with her sketchbook in the center of their bed.
"Ideas for our cabin," she replies absently.
He pauses, absorbing the 'our' in that statement. He knows, intellectually, that Honey's always intended to build her own place down in the little Dixon village. But it's harder to wrap his mind around the fact he's part of that plan, even though they're living together in his apartment.
"I wasn't aware you were ready to start building." He sits close enough to look over her shoulder at the sketchbook. He knows she's training with her father and Amy, and that she's taken architectural drawing classes.
He's seen her sketch before, but the usual sketchbook is artsy, sometimes even cartoony. This is akin to what he's seen in design books.
"All the ones expecting a baby are finished or close enough once we finish Glenn's. I'm trying to decide on the bottom floor layout, so the foundation can be poured."
She plops the sketchbook in his lap. He turns the page when urged, assessing each of her ideas. "These are all beautiful, Hannah. Not all cabins, though. This is more like a cottage."
It's the last design, with large windows and a tiny balcony above the small front porch. The floor plans sketched next to the exterior sketch show it's set up differently than the cabins he's been inside. Those all have bedrooms on the ground floor and only a loft upstairs.
This one has the similar open floor plan for living room and kitchen, with a decent sized bathroom based on the scale markings. But the bedrooms are upstairs. A bedroom takes up over half the upper floor, along with two smaller rooms.
"A study for you and a room for Logan if he sleeps over."
"No plans for anything else?" She's from such a big family and always seems so overjoyed by the prospect of new babies.
She turns so she can look at him more closely. "Like a nursery?"
He nods, dreading the answer a little because this isn't something they've discussed beyond him knowing birth control is covered in the long-term and unlikely to have an oops like Michonne and Abraham.
"By the time I would even want to think about that, Logan's likely to be a teenager and not needing to hang out." She reaches out and takes his hand. "I'm even supposed to go next month to get a new IUD. That's good for another five years."
Five years. Can he actually change his mind about children in five years?
"Eugene?"
"I do not know that passing on my particular genetics is in the best interest of our population." He gets the words out, somehow, but he isn't looking at her. She's from a massive family and she's good with kids in a way he will never be.
Her touch is gentle as she cups his face between her hands and makes him meet her eyes. "There's nothing wrong with you, and there's no proof it's hereditary either."
He leans into her touch. "There's no definitive proof, no. The statistics aren't yet clear and the genetics still being researched. But as long as it's a risk, how can I be responsible for passing on something that may not be compatible with our current world?"
"You have been nothing but an asset since you got here."
"It is difficult to unravel thirty years of being told otherwise." He can't argue that he has made some interesting contributions here. His ideas are more often met with requests for lists of materials than scoffing here.
She kisses him, and it's one of those slow, sweet exchanges that makes him hope she never changes her mind about him. One of her hands is in his hair at the nape, while the other still cups his face.
He can't not say the words when she pulls back enough to just keep giving him that smile.
"I am unequivocally in love with you, Hannah Catherine." Saying the words he's kept to himself for so long is both terrifying and relieving.
Her smile fades, but before he can begin to worry, she's kissing him again. The urgency reminds him of the first night she was home.
"I love you, too," she says when they come up for breath. She's kissing along his throat and he tilts his head back to give her more access.
The discussion of the rest of their future can wait.
~*~ Jesus ~*~
Jesus listens to the couple arguing just outside one of the pharmacies Hilltop cleaned out once they put the Georgia system to use. Another woman sits on the curb, pale and sickly, but keeping watch nonetheless.
He exchanges a look with Oso, who just gazes back at him with those blue glass colored eyes. Buttons flicks her mane and he wishes the two animals could actually talk.
"If you're in need of medical attention, everything's cleared out here," he calls out.
They both snap their attention to him, and the woman on lookout flinches. He can't really fault her. You might think a horse would be noisy, like the movies, but one of Ezekiel's people introduced him to hoof boots for Buttons. She's not noiseless on pavement, but she isn't echoing sound around them either.
"Do you know of anywhere that isn't?" The man sounds tired and stressed.
"My home is where most of them are collected, and we have a doctor, too." Two doctors, but no sense in bragging on the surplus to people stuck on the road. "Is there something in particular you're looking for?"
It's usually antibiotics that small pockets of survivors are after, although heart and asthma medication are also high on the list.
The three exchange a look before the man answers. "Insulin."
Jesus refrains from a wince. If his people stockpiled early, maybe they might have more of the perishable medications. But Homestead? That's possible.
"We don't have any, but one of our allies might."
The looks of hope make him uneasy. He doesn't remember enough about diabetes to know truly how dangerous it is being without insulin, but the woman doesn't look healthy at all.
"You've got a camp?" the man asks.
"I do, with shelter and food. You're welcome to come there while we contact the others."
They look so exhausted, but after a brief conference, they nod agreement. The couple helps the third woman to her feet and she wobbles.
"Ever ridden a horse?" he asks. When she looks more hopeful than wary, he slides out of the saddle and leads Buttons over.
"When did you three eat last?" he asks, as the woman sways in the saddle. "My name's Paul Rovia. My friends call me Jesus."
The woman in the saddle actually smiles. "I'm Tina, and the other two are my sister, Sherry, and her husband, Dwight. And we haven't eaten yet today."
"Are you completely out of insulin?" He's already estimating how fast someone could come up from Homestead.
"I've got a couple weeks left, if I'm careful." She pats her backpack. "I've got special cases that keep them cold."
"How far are we from your home?" Sherry asks.
"With most of us on foot, we still should be there by nightfall. I've got some food, if you don't mind eating on the move."
They agree gratefully and he fishes out MREs from the saddlebags. He's grown a little fond of the things, and they're readily scavenged from overrun checkpoints. Since they're on the move, they have to eat them unheated, but it's far from the worst things he's eaten on the road.
The thing he's learned about small groups is that seeming friendly and offering food usually gives him plenty of information once they're comfortable. Having a dog and horse along seems to make it even easier.
By the time they reach Hilltop, he practically knows their life stories. They'll fit in fine here, if they can keep Tina alive.
The selfish part of him hopes Homestead has the supplies for more than just Tina's sake. It would justify a trip down there he just can't find a good reason for otherwise.
There's a little too much spring in his step as he goes to find the radio.
