AN: Here we are, another chapter here.
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
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Things never really happened exactly the way that you planned them, and having babies was something that Daryl was already learning never happened according to any strictly make plans.
The house was almost like Grand Central Station, and Daryl was there for his brother's support—and maybe for his sister-in-law's—but he'd never imagined he would be present for the birth of his brother's child. Still, it was looking more and more like he might be there for the blessed event.
Melodye—Alice's partner—had come to find Carol when the whole thing had started. Andrea, she said, was in labor. That was to be expected, especially since they'd practically started a pool around the community about when the baby would be born. Andrea wanted Carol for moral support, and Carol had already agreed to be there when the baby was born. She believed it was best to do whatever might be necessary to help Andrea have a positive experience delivering the baby. So, Carol and Daryl had both gone over to the house—with Rose in tow—to await the arrival of the newest Dixon.
Daryl assumed it was anxiety that kicked in for Andrea, because she'd been practically hysterical when they got there, and she'd required a good bit of reassurance that, in fact, she could do this and, one way or another, her baby would be born. After she'd been reassured that she had the capability to give birth hardwired somewhere in her system, she'd calmed down—and she'd calmed down a great deal.
She'd labored much like Carol had—seeming to want to be busy. She'd played with Rose. She'd cleaned—and then she'd cleaned some more. She'd rearranged her nursery and organized the things that Carol said she'd want to close to her when the baby was born.
And, even though her labor seemed to last a long time, they'd stayed because, the one time that Carol had mentioned going home for a while, the hysteria had very nearly started again.
If their presence was all that was required to keep Andrea calmly laboring, they could spend the afternoon there and allow the woman to do things like watch Carol nursing Rose and daydream out loud about how, soon, she would have her own little baby to hold, and feed, and fuss over.
Daryl had run back to their house for supplies—diapers and things for Rose—so that Carol never had to leave Andrea's side. Andrea seemed to be fine as long as she knew, at absolutely every moment, where Carol and Merle could be found. Carol, too, was good at coming up with things that might make Andrea feel better. She talked her into organizing and paying attention to her baby things several times over. She talked her into taking a bath where she stayed, as long as Carol agreed to stay with her, for quite some time. She talked her into some short walks and into some meditation where she held Carol's hands and, instead of complaining about her discomfort, focused on everything she imagined her baby would be.
Daryl had to give his brother credit, too. Merle was handling things better than Daryl might have imagined he would. Merle, like Andrea, had given over to some initial panic. When Andrea had been worried that, just maybe, she'd been born without the ability to deliver their child into the world, Merle had become a little overwhelmed with the possibility. As soon as Carol, Alice, and Melodye had all convinced Andrea, though, that this was nothing more than some kind of delusion brought on by panic and the very real change that was about to take place in her life, and that, in fact, she could have her baby—and would have help to do so, when needed—Merle had calmed down.
While Andrea had been soaking in the tub, Daryl had bundled Rose up and gone outside to smoke on the porch with his brother.
"You about to be an old man," Daryl teased.
"You think it oughta have come out by now?" Merle asked, his brow furrowed with sincere concern. Now Daryl knew what his brother had been stewing over while he leaned against the railing.
"They come when they come," Daryl said. "Alice left to go do a couple things. Mel went with her. Tells me that they ain't too worried right this minute."
"What if—she can't do it?" Merle asked. "Like she said."
Daryl laughed to himself.
"You heard 'em. Alice said she was sure she could do it. She told Andrea she'd checked it all out and she had every single part she needs—and all of 'em the right order—to get the job done. Besides—if it makes you feel any better? Rose was just about all the way out when Carol got real loud about insistin' that she couldn't do it, but Alice said she could and, well…you see which one of 'em was right."
"She got some old ass book she found the other day goin' through shit in storage. Said somethin' like if the baby don't come out in a certain amount of time, it'll die or somethin'. It was like 'fore the sun come up this mornin' when she sent me to get Alice. How long do you think is too long?"
"If Alice ain't panickin'," Daryl said, "then I'm goin' out on a limb, Merle, and I'ma say it's still all happening in a good window of time."
"How are things moving along, boys?" Alice called, rounding the corner from the side of the house.
"Speak of the devil," Daryl said, laughing. "We got a question for you."
"Shoot," she said, mounting the porch steps.
"If the kid don't get born in time, is it true that it'll die?" Merle asked.
"Where did you hear that, Merle?" Alice asked.
"Some damn dusty ass book Andrea dug up outta storage," Merle said.
"Remind me to burn that one," Alice said. "I mean—the answer to that is…yes?"
"You don't sound sure," Daryl said with a laugh.
"I mean—if something were to stop the baby from exiting the birth canal, and nothing were done to help it? Andrea and the baby would both likely die. But—but…" she interjected, holding her hand up at Merle to signal that he shouldn't react, "that's not the case here, and it's not going to be the case. Andrea looks good. Real good, Merle. She's like the poster child for women made for birthin' babies," Alice teased. "She's strong. I don't see any reason—no reason at all, Merle—that something should keep this from being as smooth as any birth should be. We're not going to worry. But if something happened? We would handle that, too, OK? The important things are that you burn that book the first chance you get, so that no other mommies read it, and you help Andrea to focus on all the good that's coming next."
"So, it ain't been too long?" Merle asked.
"What? Already?" Alice asked.
Merle nodded, and Alice laughed.
"Andrea is a very first-time mommy," Alice said. "And the last time I left, we weren't even halfway there." She winked at him and slapped him on the shoulder before heading toward the door. "Calm down, Papa, I haven't lost a father yet."
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Carol stayed with Andrea the whole time that she wanted her to stay with her. Carol remembered what it was like when she'd had Sophia and she'd been afraid—it was her first time, after all, becoming a mother. Ed had left, and that had relieved a great deal of her stress, but it had also made her feel very, very alone. She hadn't wanted to impose too much, after all, on the kind nursing staff, and they'd assured her that labor just took time—especially the first time.
Carol didn't want Andrea to feel alone and, though she couldn't keep her from feeling nervous, she didn't want her to have to feel nervous by herself.
Near the end, when Andrea's contractions had gotten close together, and Carol had known that it would be soon, but it still wasn't time, she'd gotten into bed with Andrea and snuggled close to her while she'd nursed Rose to, she hoped, hold her over until the baby was born.
Andrea's earlier panic had passed entirely, and a calm had settled over her. She'd held onto Carol, and she'd watched Rose, and she hadn't complained much or seemed to worry at all.
At the end, it seemed, she simply knew what was happening, and she simply seemed to know that it was right. When Carol had passed Rose off to Daryl to let him stay in the living room unless, for some reason, he was absolutely needed, she'd let everyone who was coming into the room know that Andrea had settled into a calm that simply felt different—and she suspected it might be time.
Carol was proud of Merle. She had prepared to stay close to Andrea to hold her hand, wipe her brow, and offer her words of encouragement—all the things that she had most wanted at that time—just in case Merle fell short of the mark or backed out entirely.
Merle, however, didn't seem to miss a beat. He'd gone straight to Andrea's side, taken her hand in his, and waited for her instruction. Carol had kept her distance, waiting in case she was needed for something, and she'd kept diverting her eyes away from Merle and Andrea because she felt like she was intruding upon a very intimate moment between them.
Merle, in a way that seemed entirely unlike the Merle that Carol often knew, didn't break eye contact with Andrea and, when her calmness gave way to some signs of suffering, he still held that eye contact and helped keep her grounded through her suffering. She clearly seemed to find his voice soothing, so he continued to speak around any of her complaints.
Andrea seemed to focus more on Merle's running commentary than on Alice's, and Alice didn't seem to mind because, apparently, Andrea's body was more than capable of handling things without much input from anyone. Her delivery went as smoothly as any textbook delivery might have gone.
"Gonna be the most handsome boy around here," Merle offered, his voice low. "We gonna call him MJ, just like you said. More I think about it, the better it sounds. That's right—you got it, Sugar. That's good. You doin' good. Doin' fine. I know—I know, Sugar…you doin' damn good. Gotta be done…gotta be done. You a good Mama, already—doin' this shit just for him. Good damn, job…"
Carol only slipped over at the very end to offer Andrea a hand when Alice called Merle over to ask if he wanted to watch the last few moments of his child's birth. Carol's hand simply gave Andrea something to squeeze that had more give than the metal cuff that Merle wore on the arm he could offer her while watching. Carol let him handle the encouragement as he watched the last of the delivery and gave Andrea a play-by-play of "how fuckin' incredible" she was to him.
Carol never really expected to see Merle Dixon cry, but he did cry when Alice placed the partially wrapped, brand-new baby on Andrea's chest, and Merle covered it with his hand, making a move to help hold it there.
Nobody said a thing to either parent about their tears.
"Alright—we got just a minute, Mama," Alice said. "Mel's going to start cleaning you up and…let me see this little beauty. Oh, would you look at her?"
It was only then that everyone realized that the baby boy that they'd thought they were expecting was, in fact, not a baby boy at all. Alice mopped at the little girl and looked her over, and she howled at the top of her lungs. Daryl hovered at the door, calling in through the crack for news. Carol crossed the room and spoke to him through the cracked between the door and the frame.
"You could come in if you want," Carol said. "I don't think Andrea cares."
"All the same," Daryl said with a laugh. "I think I'll stay out here."
"It's a girl," Carol said. "Alice said she must have—made a mistake with the ultrasound."
"She said she ain't no pro," Daryl said.
"She was a pro at getting her here safe and sound," Carol said. "I guess that's all that matters in the end. Where's Rose?"
"Right out here," Daryl said, glancing back over his shoulder. "Gnawin' on them rubber toys."
"Those teeth are driving her crazy," Carol said.
A few minutes later, Merle came over. Carol smiled.
"Open the door, brother," Merle said. "Meet my kid."
"She's beautiful, Merle," Carol said. He beamed. Daryl peeked his head in the door about as far as he thought was safe.
"She looks alright," Daryl said. "I don't think the name Merle Junior suits her no more, though."
Merle laughed at that.
"We'll think of somethin'," he offered. "Told Andrea—I'ma have to wait an' see who she looks like so I can figure out which one of the assholes around here knocked her up an' made this here girl."
"Don't be an asshole, Merle," Carol warned.
Merle laughed.
"She knows I'm teasin'," he offered.
"Carol?" Melodye called. Carol paid attention to the woman for a moment. "Mama needs some stitches and she'd like a friendly hand to hold."
Carol laughed to herself.
"That's my job, I'm the hand-holder," Carol teased. She came over to the bedside and sat down, taking Andrea's hand and folding it into her own. She pressed her lips against Andrea's forehead. It was cool and clean, and recently wiped with cold water. "It's OK. It's not that bad." Andrea's spat reaction said she did not agree. "It might be worse than I advertised," Carol said. "Squeeze my hand. Think about—your baby girl. She is so pretty, Andrea. She's so pretty…what do you think you might want to name her?"
Andrea had not engaged Carol in much conversation, but as soon as everything was done, Alice and Melodye had left and, sure that everything was safe, Daryl had brought Rose into the bedroom with him.
Then, Andrea had insisted that Carol cuddle next to her, much like she'd done in the final stretch of her labor, and she'd shown her the baby of which she was every bit as proud as any new mother.
Carol admired the baby as much as she knew she was expected to do, and she helped Andrea to feel more secure about feeding the baby and getting a good latch. And then, finally, she'd told her that it was time for them to get Rose home for a bath.
After they'd all bundled up, Carol carried Rose as Daryl clear a path for them back to their house.
"You think they gonna be alright?" Daryl asked.
"I think they're going to be absolutely fine," Carol assured him.
"Merle with a girl," Daryl mused.
Carol laughed to herself.
"Wanna know a secret?" Carol asked. "I think he wanted a little girl anyway."
"Why do you say that?" Daryl asked.
"He looked a little disappointed the first time they said it was a boy," Carol said. "And, despite his teasing, he didn't look disappointed at all when Alice showed him that he had a baby girl."
Daryl hummed.
"Baby girls is a good thing to have," Daryl said.
"So, you're happy Rose wasn't a boy?"
Daryl laughed.
"I'm happy Rose is Rose. Besides—I'm just figurin' we get us the boy on the next go 'round."