AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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Daryl couldn't think of a better way to spend an afternoon under house arrest than in the bed with Carol. They'd already decided to save themselves the effort of going for dinner by calling in the fact that they'd like theirs delivered when the rounds were being made.

The rest of the day was theirs to do with what they pleased.

Though Carol had been accommodating to Daryl's love-making requests, it was evident that something was bothering her. He could tell it just by looking at her facial expressions. He could tell it from the simple way she seemed distracted every time he wasn't actively drawing her attention to him.

Finally he'd pressed her to tell him what it was that she seemed to need to tell him.

"They're shutting them all down," Carol said. "All the prisons. Region Thirty Three is being broken up. They're sending the people that are left there to other facilities. They're—executing the ones that were tagged as difficult. Those people that came in today? They could be some of the last Wilds left, Daryl. We could be some of the last Wilds left."

"We're not wild no more," Daryl offered, lazily trailing his fingers around her soft skin as she rested against him. "We're citizens of Woodbury. We work. We're havin' kids. Two of 'em, right off the bat. We're starting a life here. We're gettin' a school Carol. A hospital. We're getting our own place where we're gonna live like normal human beings again. Better than it was before, even."

"It could've been us," Carol said. "We could've been left behind to be executed like the others."

"But we weren't," Daryl responded. "So that means we gotta make the best of what we got. We gotta take advantage of what we got for everybody that didn't get that chance or didn't want to take it 'cause they were scared it was gonna turn out to be something other than what they said it was."

"If there are no prisons left, Daryl, then this truly is a prison community," Carol said. "And Wave Thirty Three really is the end of the line. They're waiting to see if it's successful or not. And if it isn't?"

She looked almost like she'd be sick and Daryl's stomach tightened in response to her expression. He nodded his head. He didn't need her to finish. He understood all too well what she was saying.

"But we've known that was the way it was gonna be since the beginning," Daryl said. "If you leave this place? It's gonna be a short trip to where you headed. Some damn ditch out there. That's about as far as you going. We've known that. It ain't news to us."

"I really didn't care about dying before," Carol said. "I almost—sometimes I almost want to curse you, Daryl Dixon. I didn't care about dying before. Now?"

Daryl nodded his understanding again.

"I was the same way," he said with a laugh. "I didn't give a shit if they killed me or not. Hell—some days bein' dead woulda beat the life I had. Now I'll fight like hell to stay alive. Keep you alive. Take care of them babies—and they aren't even here yet."

"The fighting is what got us here," Carol said. "If you think about it? Fighting to stay alive is what got us tagged Wild. It's what got us into prison in the first place."

"It's what kept us alive to get us there," Daryl said.

"And it's what could very well get us killed now," Carol said.

Daryl hummed at her.

"You right," he admitted. "But not if we're fighting smart. We keep on fighting, just like we always have, but now? We gotta fight their way. We gotta fight with the system instead of against it. We keep the peace, just like we been doing. We keep working—building this place into something that impresses that Governor fellow that's choosing whether or not we stay or we go. If we have to? We fight even harder to make this place into a place that's worth living in because it's our home now. They can't fault us for that. They can't fault us for doing what they wanted us to do with a whole damn lot more enthusiasm than they ever even imagined possible." Daryl tipped Carol's face so that he could clearly see her expression. He wished he could wipe away the concern that was on her features. He wished he had the ability to promise her—truly promise her—that nothing would ever happen to them. He didn't have either of those abilities, though. Still, he would offer her what comfort he had to give. "We're gonna be alright. We're gonna keep fighting. But now we're fighting smart. What happens to them? To the ones that get—that they get rid of? It won't happen to us. Won't happen to nobody we know."

Carol laughed to herself, but it wasn't a sincere laugh.

"How can you promise that, Daryl?" She asked.

Daryl shrugged his shoulders.

"I just believe it," Daryl said. "And—at the end of the damn day? We outnumber 'em. We know that now, too."

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"Are you OK?" Carol asked, holding Sadie's eyes with her own. Sadie nodded her head. "Not lightheaded?" Sadie shook her head.

"Fine," Sadie said.

Alice packed up the kit with the blood that they'd take to the lab for testing.

"So how long?" Merle asked. "'Til we know if we made one or not? Doc?"

"A couple of hours at the most, Merle," Alice said.

Carol glanced at the man that she could practically consider family despite the fact that they'd had very little opportunity to get to know one another. He blanched slightly.

"A couple of hours?" He asked. He scrubbed at his face absentmindedly with his hand. "Like—you gonna tell us today? We gonna know today?"

"It's exactly like that," Alice said. "You're absolutely going to know today."

Carol smiled at Merle and then at Sadie who was trying to take in the conversation that was happening on all sides of her at once.

"Are you excited about it?" Carol asked, this time directly to Sadie. "Knowing if you're pregnant?"

Sadie shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not sure," Sadie said. Carol only had to raise her eyebrows at her to communicate to the woman that she wanted some kind of explanation. "I'm not sure I can tell the difference between scared and excited," Sadie added. She shook her head. "Not anymore. I've been scared a lot, but—I can't really remember the last time I was really excited."

"Fair enough," Alice said, getting Sadie's attention. "Maybe—when it comes to babies? Maybe they're kind of the same thing? Maybe there's a little of both mixed in there."

"Merle?" Carol asked, directing her attention to Daryl's brother. "Scared or excited?"

Merle laughed to himself.

"My fuckin' mouth's dry and my stomach is threatenin' to tear loose," Merle said blankly.

"Tell me what scares you," Alice said. She kept eye contact with Sadie, but Carol assumed that wouldn't bother Merle. By now he seemed to appreciate when people spoke directly to Sadie and saved him the effort of going back and recapping everything for her so she wasn't permanently in the dark. "Maybe I can help."

"I lost five children," Sadie said.

Carol's stomach turned. She understood, immediately, what Sadie was saying. She knew the feelings that she was dealing with. Any of them that had lost their children understood the sensation. It was something they had in common and, honestly, there was no talking to that fear.

Carol reached her hand across the table and patted Sadie's arm.

"I understand," she said. "I've lost too. A lot of us have lost. But—we have to...we have to keep going on. We have to keep going."

Carol swallowed to keep from showing that her own mind had a hard time with the words she was saying. She knew it was true. It was absolutely true. All of them had to keep moving forward because time didn't stand still, not even for a broken heart. But Carol also understood that the heart wasn't really an organ that could be reasoned with.

Sadie just offered Carol a soft smile and nodded her head at her.

"I don't understand," Alice said, touching Sadie to get her attention once more. "I'm not going to say I do. I'm not going to pretend that I have any idea whatsoever what you're feeling right now. But I am going to tell you that I'm going to do everything in my power to make sure that you have a healthy baby and that—that nothing happens to it. OK?"

Sadie nodded her head at Alice.

"Thank you," she said, raising her hand to offer Alice the sign that had become familiar to all of them.

"What about you, Papa?" Alice asked, directing her attention to Merle. "What's got you so worked up?"

"Not a damn thing you can help with, Doc," Merle said.

Alice laughed to herself.

"I'm pretty damn flexible, Merle," Alice said. "Give me a shot. What's on your mind? Normal Papa stuff? Worried about if—you'll know what to do with the kid?"

"Worried about if I can do a single damn thing with it," Merle said. He held up his stump as an illustration of some of his concerns.

Alice nodded her head knowingly.

"You're going to work it out," Alice said. "I'm talking to them right now about getting me some help from the Regional Hospital. It's a big hospital that's not far from here. They're a research institution and they've got pretty much everything you could want. The greatest minds gathered together and all that jazz. Among other things, they've done some work with prosthetics. I can't promise anything, Merle, but I'm doing everything I can to get you an arm—a good arm. Something to set you up like you never even lost that hand."

"She can't hear the kid if it cries, Doc," Merle said. He swallowed and shook his head. "And I don't even know if I can pick it up."

Alice nodded again and sucked in a breath. She let it out slowly, running her tongue across her bottom lip.

"You'll be able to do more than you think," Alice said. "And if it'll make you feel better? I'll get something we can practice with and bring it over here. You can do something like training. Just to get used to handling the weight of a baby. If all else fails, Merle? You can always just alert Sadie to the baby crying."

"An' I leave her fuckin' ass to handle the whole damn thing," Merle said. "I'm nothin' but a sperm donor in the whole damn thing."

Alice smiled to herself. She shook her head at Merle.

"With feelings as strong as that? You won't be a sperm donor, Merle. Even if you can't help with everything? You won't be just a sperm donor. I can promise you that with absolute certainty. Where there's a will that strong? There's a way," Alice said. She tapped Sadie's hand lightly. "What do you think? Is Merle nothing more than a sperm donor in all this?"

Sadie furrowed her brows at Alice and then she looked at Merle. Carol bit the inside of her cheek. Sadie didn't have to say anything. The quick gesture of her fingers—whether it was a true sign or something that she'd only created for Merle, Carol didn't know—and the way she held her mouth said everything.

Carol heard it loud and clear, even though Sadie never said the words.

"What the fuck, Merle?"

Merle responded by simply standing up from where he was and walking across the room of the house to a spot that he'd designated, apparently, as his "smoking section". He sat down on a stool near the window that they wouldn't allow him to open yet and lit a cigarette.

Sadie blew out her breath and looked at Alice, shaking her head.

"No," she said. "We're—happy? We—we want to have a baby together. But—it's a lot. And we're scared. We don't know what to expect. I know how to be pregnant. I've done it before. But I don't know how to be pregnant here." She tapped her finger on the table as though she were illustrating her point. Being here was entirely unlike being anywhere she'd ever been before.

"The same way you would anywhere," Alice said. "This is your home and you're safe here. We're going to keep you safe. You just—cooperate and you do what you're supposed to do. Nothing's going to happen to you if you're calm and peaceful. Don't cause any trouble and you won't have any problems. If you're pregnant? They'll probably lift all your restrictions, to be honest. Right now you two are model citizens."

Sadie nodded her head.

"Merle is afraid because..." She lifted her arm to gesture that he was, as he'd told them, dealing with some insecurities about his abilities. "I told him—it doesn't matter."

"You're right," Alice said. "It doesn't matter. Listen to her, Merle. It doesn't matter. All that matters is that you two keep doing what you're doing. Lay low. Relax. Enjoy your lives. But let me know, right now, if—if this test turns out positive, am I supposed to come in here with fucking cake and a big ass congratulations or do I need to get something black to wear?"

Sadie simply laughed to herself. She turned her eyes to watch Merle as he sat brooding and sucking on his cigarette. Carol caught him glance in Sadie's direction before he scratched at his face with the fingers not holding his cigarette.

"Just make sure the damn cake's got some decent fucking icing," Merle said. "If you gonna do it, Doc, you might as well do that shit big."