AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

Warning on this chapter for discussion of miscarriage and abortion.

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

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"Why the hell do you even need somethin' like that?" Daryl asked around a mouthful of his dinner. They'd chosen to eat the meal at home. Carol was tired and she didn't want to deal with the busyness of the dining hall. Daryl wasn't hard to convince since he'd much rather spend his time in their home than he would elbowing his way through a herd of people to have his food.

"It's a—well, it's a genetic test, Daryl," Carol said. "It sort of—it tells you whether or not there's anything wrong with the baby or, in our case, whether or not there's anything with the babies."

Carol wasn't entirely sure how to explain the test to Daryl other than it was a genetic test that would scan for abnormalities. As far as she knew, they'd been around forever. They'd at least been around since before the turn. She'd been offered one of the tests when she'd been pregnant with Sophia. The only difference, then, was that she'd been given the right to refuse the test when she decided that it wasn't something she was interested in having.

"What's wrong with 'em?" Daryl asked.

"Nothing," Carol responded quickly. "At least that's what we hope, right?" She got a nod from Daryl, but his expression still said that he was confused. "The test just checks to make sure that there's nothing wrong. It confirms that there's nothing wrong."

"So why you wanna do that anyway?" Daryl asked. "When the kids get born you're gonna find out if there's somethin' wrong. Why don't you just—wait until they're born? You think you'd wanna know all that time that there's somethin' wrong that you're just sorta waiting on?"

Carol shook her head.

"No," she said. "I don't want to know if there's anything wrong, and I certainly don't want to spend the rest of the pregnancy worrying about what might be wrong or how we'll deal with it if there is something wrong. But the test gives people choices."

"Choices?" Daryl asked, raising his eyebrows at her. Apparently noticing that she'd somewhat forgotten to eat while they were talking, Daryl extended his arm and pointed at her food with his fork. He nodded at her, quietly reminding her that she had to eat. He was reminding her that he expected her to eat. He took it very seriously that she get enough food, even if he was only guessing at what was enough by what seemed reasonable to him. Carol picked up her own fork in response and chewed through a bite of meat and potatoes before she spoke to him again.

"If there's something wrong with their baby, some people might not want to—they might not feel like they can handle it," Carol said. "The test lets them know ahead of time that there's something there. They can decide to—they can figure out if they want to just prepare for what's coming or, if they want, they can decide to, you know, end the pregnancy."

Daryl stared at her. She wasn't certain, but Carol thought he changed colors slightly.

"You mean kill it?" Daryl asked. "Just kill their kid?"

"I believe the preferred medical term is terminate the pregnancy," Carol said. "It's not something that they're going to enter into lightly, Daryl..."

Carol wasn't sure that Daryl even heard the last of her words. He absolutely changed colors then. His expression gave away his discomfort over the thought more than the slight change in the color of his face did.

"You can call it whatever the hell you want," Daryl said. "You can paint it with whatever fancy ass words you want, but it's the same, ain't it? You talkin' about killin' the kids?"

"Not me!" Carol snapped back quickly, checking Daryl's tone for him if he should have forgotten to check it for himself. "I'm saying that's an option that exists. I'm saying that—the tests give everyone a chance to decide how they want to handle things. And maybe that's the way that some people want to handle things. Depending on what's wrong, maybe that's how they feel like they have to handle it. The test could let them know all kinds of things, Daryl. They might not feel like they really have a choice."

Daryl frowned at his food to keep from frowning at Carol. In all her life, Carol thought she'd never seen a man look more displeased with a steak than Daryl looked at that exact moment. He took his time, frowning over his food, before he looked at her again and shook his head.

"I don't wanna—I don't like the idea of doin' that," Daryl said.

Carol shook her head.

"Me either. Not personally," Carol said. "But it's everyone's choice what happens."

"I can't believe that'd be so," Daryl said. "Not as much as they wantin' kids around here. Not the way they been pushin' everybody gettin' knocked up since we got here. You tellin' me that now they just gonna give out the choice to everybody to end what they got already? Don't make no sense to me, Carol."

Carol shrugged her shoulders and shook her head.

"I don't think it's like that," Carol said. "It's not that just anyone can make the choice to end their pregnancy. I think that it's only one of those things that if something was wrong? And if that something was bad enough? Like—like if it was inevitable anyway? I think they're just giving them the opportunity to end it now instead of carrying the baby to term just to lose it. I mean—mothers can die too, you know?"

Daryl nodded his head. The line between his eyebrows hadn't faded and his frown was still sharply drawing the corners of his mouth downward.

"Yeah," he said. "I know that."

"It's not something that Alice is pushing or even hoping for," Carol said. "But it's one of the options that the test does give someone if something's terribly wrong."

"What about the project?" Daryl asked. Carol sighed.

"A baby that isn't going to survive isn't going to survive," Carol said. "Project or not. Maybe the government and Milton and anyone else who makes decisions is reasonable enough to understand that." Carol shook her head. "It's not an option that Alice is really promoting, but it's there. I guess—it's just one of the possibilities. Maybe the other is just that everyone knows so you can be prepared if there's anything that you need to prepare for. I don't know. I can't really say too much. We still don't know too much about it yet. Andrea's the first one that's done it."

"You don't think she'd end it," Daryl said. Carol wasn't entirely sure if it was a statement or a question, but she decided to take it as a question. She shook her head.

"I'm certain Andrea wouldn't," Carol said. "She absolutely wouldn't. I don't think she would even if it meant that it would kill her. Her biggest concern of the whole thing was that it comes with risks."

"What kinda risks?" Daryl asked quickly.

"Miscarriage," Carol said. She wasn't going to pretend that she was really interested in her food anymore. It had lost its appeal with the topic of conversation and it was cold now. In hindsight, she wished she'd saved the discussion for after dinner and had simply pressed Daryl to be the first to talk about his workday. It would've made for better over-dinner chat to listen to him tell her amusing stories about T-Dog and their day working together on the in-progress clinic. "Losing the baby. She's terrified."

Daryl nodded his head. He'd lost interest in his food as well. He'd put his knife and fork down and Carol doubted he'd pick them back up again. More than likely, he'd get up soon and take it all into the kitchen to put it, just as it was, in the tub that he'd hand out the door when they came around to collect used dishes and discarded food.

"That a—there a good chance?" Daryl asked. "That that happens?"

"Not a good chance," Carol said. "But a small chance. Alice doesn't seem to think it's too much to worry about. She just, you know, told her to go home and take it easy. Rest. Let her know if there was anything she was concerned about. She'll get the results back in a week or so. Maybe sooner." Carol shrugged her shoulders. "Now that Andrea's done it, it looks like I'm next."

Daryl stared at her and Carol tried to read him, but she couldn't. He was just looking at her. He started and stopped several times and finally spoke.

"Would you?" Daryl asked. "If things weren't—if they didn't turn out like you was hopin' they turned out...would you?"

"End the pregnancy?" Carol asked.

Daryl nodded. Carol offered him the only kind of smile that she could at the moment, a faint smile of reassurance that she hoped came across like she wanted it to. She shook her head.

"No," she said. "I wouldn't. I don't think I could. Would you want me to?"

Daryl considered it and shrugged.

"If it was—if it was you or them? Then—maybe I'd...but I don't want..." Daryl stammered.

Carol didn't need him to finish what he was trying to say. She didn't need to hear it and it was clear that it was causing him a lot of mixed emotions just to say it. She reached her hand across the table and took Daryl's hand. She squeezed it and he stopped trying to find words that he really didn't want to say in the first place. He just looked at her hand wrapped around his and the line between his eyebrows softened a little.

"I don't want to," Carol said. "I don't know if I could. No matter what they told me, or what I found out? I really don't know if—I just don't know if I could. But this is all hypothetical, Daryl. It's all something that we're worrying about and...we don't even know what the tests might say. They might come back and say that there isn't a problem at all."

Daryl rolled his eyes upward, then, and looked at Carol. He nodded his head.

"Everything might be just fine," he offered.

Carol nodded. It was easier, then, to offer him a reassuring smile.

"It might," she agreed.

"That uh—that same risk thing? It apply to you?" Daryl asked.

"It applies to everyone," Carol said. "Maybe just a touch more to me."

The line between Daryl's eyebrows reappeared quickly.

"Why?" He asked.

"Two babies," Carol said. "Twice the risk."

Daryl shook his head.

"Then don't do it," Daryl said. "I'm serious, Carol. Don't do it. If you don't wanna end it no damn way and I don't care one way or another if our kids is got one head or three—what the hell's it even worth doin' for? I mean it. If the only reason to do it is to find out if there's somethin' wrong with the kids to figure out if you don't even wanna have 'em no more, and we already know that it ain't gonna change our minds? Why the hell take the risk?"

"It's not that simple," Carol said. "If it was up to me? I wouldn't do it, Daryl. I'd rather just—let nature take its course and I'd rather just see how things turn out. But it isn't up to me and it isn't up to you."

"I don't know who the hell else somethin' like that oughta be up to," Daryl responded.

"The government," Carol said blankly. "We're still prisoners. Until we're not, we're still prisoners. And, as prisoners? We don't have any rights. The only right we have when it comes to this test is to submit willingly. Otherwise?" Carol shrugged her shoulders. "It'll still happen, it'll just happen with me in some sort of holding pen where they'll keep me until they decide what to do with the babies. And then we lose them anyway. We lose everything."

"Fuck that," Daryl said. "Fuck them..."

But whether or not he was angry about it, or whether or not he didn't care for the practice, Daryl knew that there was nothing they could do about it. He knew that what Carol was saying was the truth. The only right they had, really, was the right to obey. They could do whatever they wanted, as long as what they wanted to do fell under the description of obedience.

Carol patted Daryl's hand.

"It's OK," Carol said. "The risk is minimal. Alice assured me of that. She's got a team from the best hospital in the area that came to help her with Andrea to make sure that everything went perfectly smoothly. They'll come back to help with me. I'll just take it easy, enjoy a little day-cation with my feet up and it'll all be fine."

Daryl looked at Carol and slowly the line lost some of its depth again. Carol saw his throat bob as he swallowed. He nodded his head.

"What can I do?" He asked.

"You can come with me," Carol said. "Hold my hand? Alice'll give you a pass and you can help take care of me the rest of the day afterwards. Spend the day with me."

Daryl nodded his head. He turned his hand so that he could hold Carol's in his. He worked her hand in his hard enough that she bit back the urge to ask him to stop. He didn't mean for it to be uncomfortable and she knew that. It was quite the contrary. He was trying to offer her the same kind of comfort that she'd given him by touching his hand. He simply wasn't aware, especially when he was frustrated with things outside their little home, of how strong he could be. When Carol flinched, he seemingly became aware of it because he loosened his grip and whispered an apology that Carol waved away by shaking her head at him and smiling at him once more.

"I can do that," Daryl said. "If they'll let me off work for it."

"They'll let you off work for it," Carol said. She winked at him. "Doctor's orders."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"I don't like it, though," he said. "I'd rather you just didn't have to do it."

"Me too," Carol responded. "But there's no need in talking about what we'd prefer. We're not getting it anyway." Carol looked at the abandoned plates of food. "I guess I ruined dinner."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Weren't that good anyway," Daryl said. "But—what'cha say we pack all this shit up and we order somethin' for dessert? Maybe—we could get us some ice cream or somethin'? You like that. Find us a comfortable spot. You could read me some more of that book you started readin' me?"

Carol was surprised at how warm her chest felt suddenly. She didn't realize how tense she felt over everything, especially after seeing how stirred up Andrea was that day, until just then when the thought of a quiet and relaxing evening with Daryl washed some of that tension away. In spite of everything that she was feeling inside, Carol felt a rush because she realized—without even a bit of the irony escaping her—how lucky she actually felt to have Daryl there just to make things a little better.

"I'll pack up the dishes and get the book," Carol said. She got up and leaned quickly to peck Daryl on the lips. He seemed surprised by the movement, but then he smiled at her, the corner of his mouth curling up. "You order the ice cream."

He nodded his head.

"Good as done," he said. "Double dessert, comin' right up."