Daryl joined Charlotte out on the porch later that night, the wind was picking up, and there was the flash of lightning in the sky beyond the dark shape of the retaining wall followed by the sound of distant thunder.
"The first thing I'm gonna do after I pop this little bastard out is drink a whole fucking bottle of booze and smoke a whole pack of cigarettes." She said abruptly, irritation coloring her tone.
Daryl merely chuckled as he sat down on the porch swing next to her.
"Looks like a hell of a storm comin'." He said.
"Good thing we picked a neighborhood that thought to build storm cellars next to their houses." She replied.
"Most houses round these parts have em." He said absent-mindedly as he watched the storm growing closer, large drops of rain began to pepper the lawn as lightning crawled across the sky in an impressive display followed by another deep rumble of thunder.
"We'd better get inside, looks like it's gonna get bad." He said as they both rose.
Charlotte awoke with a start as a bright flash of lightning lit up their room, followed almost immediately by a deafening crash of thunder.
Her belly was the first thing greeted her upon waking, as it had been doing for the last four months or so.
The only somewhat comfortable position for her to sleep in was on her back with her head and shoulders slightly propped up. It was the only way to get some relief from the scorching heartburn that had plagued her almost every night.
She blew out a heavy sigh, at just over forty weeks along, she was more than ready for this whole ordeal to be over.
She looked over at Daryl, he was sound asleep, snoring softly.
'Lucky bastard.' She thought irritably.
She couldn't stop herself from thinking how unfair it was that he got off so easy, considering he was half the reason she was in this mess to begin with.
And of course, now that she was awake, she had to pee.
Another flash of lightning revealed her two dogs, Gavin and Ghost sitting beside her side of the bed, their bright yellow eyes eerily visible in the darkness, their tails were slowly sweeping back and forth.
"Hey, boys. Momma's okay, just tired of dealing with something she never thought she'd have to deal with ... That's all." She said as, with Ghost's help, she sat up and slowly stood.
Multiple fainting spells had taught her to stand slowly, especially when she had been laying down for a while.
Ghost and Gavin waited patiently outside the bathroom door for her to finish.
Another bright flash of lightning illuminated the entire house, followed by a deafening crash of thunder.
Rain slapped the windows in torrents, she could hear the wind howling outside.
"Storm's almost right on top of us now." She said to the dogs.
She stopped as she felt her stomach twinge and tighten.
Nothing new, the first time it had happened a few weeks ago, she was so excited because she thought it meant this kid was finally coming out, but nope, it was merely something called Braxton hicks.
Basically it was her body 'practicing ' for the birth, as Mark had put it.
FOOLING her was more like it.
As she pulled back the covers to crawl back into bed, she was suddenly hit with a strong cramping sensation that stopped her in her tracks and caused her to double over.
Then, as soon as it happened it was gone, perplexed, she straightened back up.
"What the hell was that, dude?' She said to her belly.
The last few months, she had found herself talking to her stomach more and more, logically she felt silly doing it,, because she has no idea if the kid could even hear her or not.
In a little over nine months, she'd gone from never even thinking about motherhood, to being scared out of her mind, then accepting it.
Now, Strangely enough, she was almost... looking foward to it.
Hormones, and instincts were weird things indeed.
She suddenly froze as she felt something warm and wet gush forth, soaking the floor under her.
"Oh ... you've got to be kidding me! Of all the nights to pick, you had to pick the ONE night when we're having the storm of the century ... AHHH!" She was suddenly hit with a strong contraction that doubled her over again.
She hurried over to Daryl's side of the bed as fast as she could.
"Daryl... wake the fuck up!" She said as she shook him roughly.
He groaned and rubbed his eyes.
"Fuck's wrong wit ya ... woman?" He slurred sleepily.
"Oh nothing ... its just that your kid's decided that tonight is the night he wants to come out." She said dryly.
Daryl, still half a sleep struggled to comprehend what she'd said.
"The fuck ya goin on bout?" He replied moodily.
She smacked his shoulder.
"I'm about to have this baby, dumb ass!" She said bluntly.
Daryl blinked at her a few times before her words sank in, and he rocketed out of bed like he'd just been electrocuted .
"Shit ... shit ... shit ...!" He said as his face went white as a sheet, he looked like he was about to faint. Great, that was all she needed.
"I'll get the bag, we gotta get to Mark!" He practically bellowed.
" In case haven't noticed, it's storming like hell outside and... ahhhh ... shit!" She trailed off, bracing her hand on the side of the bed as another contraction hit her hard.
"There's... There's no fucking way I'm walking there!" She ground out through the pain as she struggled to breathe in and out slowly, the way Maggie had told her to.
"I'll get em and bring em here! Jus don't do nothing without me!" He said, throwing his jacket on and rushing out the door before she had a chance to explain to him that that's not how it worked.
"Ohhh momma!" She said through clinched teeth as another contraction hit, forcing her to slide down into a sitting position on the floor next to the bed.
Ghost and Gavin were at her side, pacing and whining anxiously, unsure of what to do to help their master.
She struggled to regulate her breathing as the instinct to push was becoming too hard to ignore.
"Shit this kid ain't gonna wait for his daddy or his doc!" She said to the dogs.
Just then, she heard a crash and voices.
"Well this baby has chosen a hell of a night to come into the world, didn't he?" Mark said amusingly as he shrugged off his coat and shook out his sopping wet hair before kneeling down to examine Charlotte.
"Seems I made it just in time, I can see the baby's head. When you feel the urge to push, don't fight it, bear down through your abdominal muscles." He instructed calmly.
She did as she was told, throwing out every curse word she knew in the process.
She'd been through a lot, and experienced a lot of pain, but nothing compared to this, and that included losing her eye.
"You got this, pirate girl, you got this!" Daryl said into her ear as he cradled her from behind and wrapped his arms around her.
"Here's the head, and the shoulders, now the rest is easy. You're doing great, Charlotte, just give me one more good push." He said.
Charlotte let out a gutteral scream as she gave it her all.
"There he is!" Mark exclaimed as he lifted up a very lively, crying baby.
He cleaned him up and checked him over before wrapping him up in a towel from the bathroom and handing him to Charlotte.
"I present to you, your son." He said as he handed her the small, squirming bundle.
Charlotte was speechless as she looked back at Daryl to find that his expression mirrored hers, the same emotions of wonder and awe that she was feeling were playing plainly across his haggard face.
He slowly and gently stroked the baby's thick tuft of jet black hair, Charlotte's natural color, his bright blue eyes were shining with tears.
She quickly looked away from him as she squeezed her eyes shut.
"Don't you fucking dare! Cause if you do, I'm gonna start!" She warned him, her rough southern draw had a slight tremor to it.
"I've sat in on quite a few deliveries, and delivered a few, and I have to say, this was one of the easiest I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. I wish they all went so smoothly. But I do want to see you and this little one back for a check up in a couple of weeks." Mark said as he turned to leave.
"Mark... hold up." Daryl said as he stood.
"It's like hell out, we got a spare bedroom, ya can stay there if ya want til this shit passes over. "
Mark's face broke into a warm smile.
"I really appreciate that. "
"It's the least we can do... ya know... for all you've done." Daryl replied as he thrust out his hand to the doctor.
Mark grasped it briefly
"It was my pleasure."
And with that, he headed downstairs to the spare bedroom.
"Thanks for everything, Medic Mark. " Charlotte called after him as she stifled a yawn.
"What'd ya say we get this lil ass kicker settled? You need to rest." He said as he helped her to her feet.
She walked to the crib Daryl had set up in the corner of the bedroom and gently laid him down.
"Well, at least he doesn't seem to have inherited my insomnia. " she whispered to Daryl with a laugh as he settled down almost immediately.
"Hell naw, boy's gonna take after his daddy, just ya watch. " Daryl said proudly.
"Hey now, I'm fifty percent of this equation too, you know, there's some of me in there too, you'll see." She replied as they climbed into bed.
Daryl immediately pulled her close
"I fucking love you so much, you know that?" He said as he rubbed his cheek against hers.
She grinned at him in that cutesy way that he loved so much.
"I know I was terrified but now I... I think we can do this." She said as she stroked his long wild hair.
"Fuck yeah we can." He replied.