It honestly doesn't take all that long to make it to the hospital, and Amanda thinks she prefers this trip to the last one she made. Then again, anyone would prefer a trip where they didn't get shot to spawn it. Rick's apartment is actually only about two miles away, but she was so excited by the idea of the baby actually arriving that she didn't even take the time to shower.
"Do you want me to drop you at the entrance, or is there somewhere better to get to Labor and Delivery?" Rick asks as he turns onto the final street.
"You could come up with me." It's said before she can even think about it. Rick knows Carol and Merle, probably better now that he lives in Atlanta, thanks to Sophia and Carl being friends. But arriving together is very likely to have her sisters-in-law making connections Amanda isn't sure should be made yet.
"If you're sure." Rick turns his head away, pretending to check traffic, but she doesn't miss the soft smile on his features.
Geez, the man's personality just clashes with so much of what she expected of him, from Carl's stories and a few of Lori's. The thing she thinks she wants to know more of is why when a problem cropped up, both of her brothers dragged Rick right in the middle of it. Each layer she peels back on the man seems to reveal another level of complexity she didn't expect.
Him coming in means finding parking and then navigating to find the maternity ward, and Amanda wonders if hospitals are set up deliberately to resemble mazes. Waiting for the elevator, Rick looks her way. "I never thought to ask if they're having a boy or a girl this time."
"Carol decided she preferred a surprise, since they already have girls and boys both." Amanda's not sure even that many kids later she would want a surprise, but Carol's primary worry was her age and the baby's health. She can't really blame her there, since the twins were supposed to be the last of their kids.
Stepping onto the elevator, Rick presses the button for the correct floor. "Makes sense, I guess. Lori wanted to know with Carl. Bought all these tiny baby boy outfits he wore maybe once or twice before he'd sprout right out of them." He laughs. "Between her and my mother, Carl could have worn a new outfit every day and never done a bit of laundry, I think."
"At least they would be in good shape for hand-me-downs?" Amanda says, amused at the idea. One thing that's always puzzled her was that Carl was an only child when Lori obviously wanted more children. She's never actually asked Lori, especially when Naomi's conception predated the wedding by at least a month.
Rick's phone chimes, and he reaches for it, checking a text message and sighing. "Work. Just needs a text reply, I think."
Conception. The word registers an instant "oh shit" in Amanda's mind, because between their lazy weekend and today's errands she had to run, she forgot to go by the damn pharmacy! Fumbling for her phone, she checks the stupid little app, keeping it tilted away from Rick even though he's concentrating on his own phone. It's meant so the monthly inconvenience doesn't sneak up on her when work is busy, but the features she ignores normally tell her she's right to be worried. Pushing away the panic to deal with later, she puts the phone away.
Upstairs, finding Amanda's family is easy, because Naomi makes an escape from the waiting area before they even reach the entrance. "Auntie!"
Scooping her up, she lets the toddler give her a bit of a strangle-hug and wet kiss, laughing. "Just how long have you been here, baby girl?"
"Not too long, actually," Lori answers for her daughter. "I picked the kids up after school and took them home to eat before we came up here."
Behind Lori, in the waiting area, she sees Carol and Merle's twins and Ruby, but no Sophia or Daryl. Or Carl, come to think of it. That was something she hadn't really considered, asking Rick to come up, but then again, she suspects Carl will just think his clumsy matchmaking from the ballgame finally kicked in.
Naomi wriggles, tipping toward Rick with searching arms. Amanda's a little surprised when he takes the girl easily. "Hello, Nom Nom."
That gets him a giggle, and something whispered in his ear. He looks serious as he replies. "Only if your mama says okay."
The girl cranes her neck to stare expectantly at Lori, who laughs. "She's been wanting to see the nursery, but I said we had to have another adult here first. The other kids are too anxious to go far. If you want to take her, go ahead."
"Alright. Let's go see some babies." Rick sends Amanda a soft smile before turning and heading down the corridor.
As baffled as she is by Naomi's seeming attachment to Rick, Amanda almost misses the knowing look Lori sends her way. "Just how bad of a mother hen is he being?"
That startles Amanda, even as she slips by Lori to hug the other kids. "Uh, not too bad."
Lori just smiles. "Get used to it. It practically took an act of Congress to make him let Shane go home after he got shot, even a week later. He gets twitchy about his partners."
Well, at least Lori seems to be assuming an innocence to them being together that Amanda threw out when she let the woman's ex press her naked to a window. Willing the thought away before she blushes, she feels a bit like she's been caught cheating despite knowing Lori's long over Rick. Best to concentrate on why she's here. "How's Carol doing? Merle was fairly abrupt."
"Sophia popped out a little bit ago to say they're letting her push. Could be half an hour. Could be longer. Carl had something after school he couldn't miss, so Daryl's over there waiting to give him a ride."
"Hopefully they'll make it in time." Amanda checks her watch, remembering the hospital has an outpatient pharmacy. "I need to go pick up a prescription while I'm here. Think I have time?"
"Might as well. It's not like they'll let us all back at once."
"Do you need anything?" It seems polite to offer, even if getting out of here while Rick's distracted seems like the best idea.
Lori shakes her head, so Amanda slips away. The hospital is a big damn building, but she covers ground quickly, just like her foot patrol days. Thankfully, the pharmacy isn't closed yet, and she finds what she needs after actually asking to have the prescription she has on file filled. Her anxiety ramps up at the packaging's firm 72 hour declaration, so she asks at the counter.
The pharmacist smiles kindly at her, which makes her feel guilty. "It'll work up to five days, actually, but it's best in 72 hours. If you're near or past that, maybe you should try the prescription one. It's more effective up to five days than this one."
That sends a surge of relief through her. "So I would just need to call my gynecologist's office?"
"I can call up to see if I can get a doctor to do a prescription. You're in our system, so it shouldn't be a problem."
Amanda thanks her and goes to put the package back, roaming the small space anxiously until her name is called. Discarding the packaging since the pharmacist helpfully told her any side effects, she takes the pill even as she heads back. The small bottle of muscle relaxers, prescribed when she got shot but not filled then, rattles in her pocket as she walks.
She really hopes this is just a paranoid precaution. Taking a chance on whatever this is between her and Rick is one thing. Getting pregnant by accident is quite another. Rick's been cautious enough since that she knows Friday night was an aberration on both their parts.
By the time Amanda returns from her errand and Daryl and Carl arrive, Naomi's sound asleep on Rick's chest, drooling on his shirt. Rick doesn't mind, even though most would find it odd that he's so comfortable with his ex-wife's child by her new husband. It had taken him a little while to wrap his head around it.
In the end, Naomi is Carl's sister, and nothing really mattered after the first time he saw Carl cuddling the baby, excited to finally be a big brother. Maybe he could have been one years before he was, if Rick had been less stubborn and less prideful. Amanda keeps eying them with an assessing look, like she really can't figure it out. Rick just smirks at her.
An hour and a half after Rick and Amanda arrived, Sophia appears in the doorway, looking more excited than Rick has ever seen the girl. Her blonde hair is escaping her pony tail as she bounces in place. "It's a girl!"
Her siblings swarm her, chattering excitedly. "Can we go back now?" Ruby asks.
"Give it about ten minutes. They're still doing all the nurse checkups and stuff." Sophia turns to the adults and Carl. "Seven pounds, fourteen ounces. Clara Lynn."
"Another girl," Daryl says, grinning. "Dixons never had so many. It's a good change."
"Let's go wash our hands before we go on the ward," Sophia suggests to her siblings. "Y'all probably touched everything you could on the way in, didn't you, boys?"
"We don't want to go to the girls' bathroom," Levi protests, and Carl stands up from where he's been lounging with his phone, playing a game.
"I'll take them."
As the teenagers leads the kids away, Rick finds everyone's eyes on him and Naomi. "You know she ain't gonna wake for another hour or so, right, man?" Daryl asks.
"Not the first time she's decided I'm a good pillow," Rick replies, smoothing the tiny girl's hair. The bright blonde fluff must come from Daryl's side of things, considering all of Merle's offspring are blondes, too. "I can stay put while y'all go in to cuddle with that new baby."
Shifting his legs in front of him, Rick makes a show of settling in. Lori just laughs and moves the diaper bag to sit on the little end table next to Rick. "Alright, if you insist."
"More like she insists."
It doesn't surprise him that Amanda doesn't leave with Daryl and Lori, instead coming to sit next to him with a quiet comment to Daryl that she'll go in after everyone else. The assessing look that Daryl gives them tells Rick that he's not considering him being here in the same innocent light that Lori did. Hell, he doesn't think Lori would miss it if she wasn't distracted by the birth while wrangling four children under ten by herself.
He just nods a little when Daryl tilts his head, eyes narrowing. They have a conversation coming later, for certain.
Naomi wanting Rick earlier, pegging him as the softie who would carry her off to see the new babies, didn't surprise Amanda as much as the fact that when she gets back from her pharmacy trip the toddler is still in his arms. The rapport the two have tells her this isn't the first time by any means that Rick and Naomi have interacted. It makes her intensely curious.
She's seen her niece and Rick together once before, because Naomi was asleep on the couch when she and Daryl came upstairs. But a toddler asleep at that time of night next to someone watching television is entirely different than the girl curled up on Rick's chest. One is courtesy given to any small child visiting your home. This? This is affection. Rick cares for Naomi.
Remembering the warning of the pharmacist that some people prefer eating something with the medication she'd taken, she diverts the curiosity about Rick's relationship with Naomi into fetching a snack from the vending machine. "Any of you kids need a snack?" she asks.
It isn't a surprise that the twins want something, even though Lori fed them before coming up here. Setting them up with a bag of pretzels, she takes her own Chex Mix to sit across from Rick. Naomi yawns, making Lori sigh and admit the toddler missed her nap in the excitement. Instead of passing her back to her mother, Rick just settles Naomi on his shoulder and coaxes her to sleep with the ease of an experienced parent.
Amanda can't decide if the damn smirk she gives him whenever no one's looking makes her want to kiss him or smack his shoulder. The sight of him and Naomi makes her feel a twinge of regret that she never even mentioned the need behind her visit to the pharmacy. That thought leads to a barely repressed shudder. They haven't even discussed what the hell this is between them. A baby between them would be the height of foolishness.
When Daryl and Carl arrive, neither bats an eye at the situation, so it's considered normal. What the hell has she missed between her hectic work schedule and not caring to meet Rick back when all he was to her was Lori's ex-husband? Biding her time and participating in what conversation happens, she just observes and waits and does her damndest to ignore the warmth the sight brews in her heart.
As soon as Rick makes the offer to let everyone go back, she takes the seat beside him and stays. He just gives her one of those smirks again. "For a long time, I'm the one who brought her Cahl to her, back before we all moved to Atlanta. It made me interesting to her."
"I wonder what she thinks about him going back and forth the way he does."
"It's just her normal, I imagine. Probably going to make it easier on her when he goes off to college."
"Closest I got to that, really, was Merle landing in juvie. I don't remember him living with us, actually. Just Mama McGinley taking me and Daryl to see him on visitation days til they let him out at eighteen. He enlisted then. Daryl missed him something fierce, though, but he was older."
"So Daryl never moved out while you were still at home to miss him?" Rick asks, looking curious.
"Nah. He's five years older, but our adoptive mama, she never had a lot of extra money. Soon as he was old enough to get a job, he got one. Then he made sure all his extra money went to us. Lived with us until she got cancer, and it was so bad she had to go to a nursing home."
"Jesus. How old were you then?" Rick has that wide eyed look that usually precedes a look of pity, but he restrains himself. It reminds Amanda that she's telling a story pretty similar to Shane's, so he's probably had practice.
"Seventeen." She shrugs, watching as Naomi shifts and mumbles in her sleep. Rick's arm automatically tightens around her, his free hand coming up to smooth her hair. "Me and Daryl, we did a good job of looking out for each other."
Considering all he could afford was a tiny trailer outside of the city, they got by. She had good grades, enough so that her college tuition was actually paid for. Daryl worked two jobs, refusing to let her work any. She repaid him by finishing four years of college in three. It's a work ethic that paid off as a cop.
"Still are doing that, aren't you? Just with Merle added in for extra flair."
"Flair, drama, and entertainment." Amanda just grins, because Merle's turnaround on his life starting eleven years ago is one of the happiest points of hers and Daryl's lives. "I swear, if he'd met Carol sooner, they'd have their own baseball team."
"I have to admire the man. A newborn and him in his forties? That's got to be exhausting." Rick sounds a little amazed and maybe a little intimidated. "I mean, Carl's going to be eighteen in a month. Being around a newborn full time again would be one hell of an adjustment."
Amanda swallows hard, thinking of her earlier stirring of regret for taking the emergency contraception. The facts are all but spelled out for her. Other than Friday night, when he was obviously distraught over her shooting, Rick's been careful to avoid any potential accidents. He's a decade older than her, with his only son almost an adult. Why would he want to start over now?
All this softness he's displaying around Naomi is like that of a favored uncle. He gets to spoil her, enjoy all the sweet nature of a cuddly toddler, and then send her home with her parents.
"I guess it would," she says slowly. "I've actually never even watched any of the kids overnight, other than Sophia once, and she was about nine then. Wasn't even supposed to be overnight, but they had car trouble and didn't make it back to town in time."
That had been the trip where Carol got to salvage some of hers and Sophia's possessions left behind with Ed, when the asshole finally got his just desserts and went to prison. The next door neighbor had been more than glad to alert her sister-in-law when Ed pled guilty rather than face a trial that would have sentenced him to a much longer time behind bars. Smacking a wife around didn't seem to merit much, but smacking around a cop's daughter who took offense at having her ass grabbed in a bar? That one he was probably lucky to make it to jail in one piece.
Rick arches a brow, looking a little astounded. "Not once? I mean, I understand maybe not at this age," he tips his head toward Naomi, "but Ruby's eight, right? And I would have thought Sophia would have bugged you to stay overnight. She's stayed over at my place, when she and Carl were younger."
Something about his surprise makes her stomach clench. Although he doesn't seem judgmental, it circles back to the constant assessment of her as being something less than feminine because of her time devoted to her job. It's not that she is deliberately avoiding watching the kids, but it just became how things work in the family.
Amanda visits, spends time playing with the kids, and then goes back to her own life. She nearly laughs at the fact she was just being disappointed and exasperated about Rick being on the finished side of parenthood, when she's never even changed a diaper.
The delay in answering makes Rick frown. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sound judgmental. I remember what it was like, those first years on the job."
Waving it off, she manages a smile somehow, despite the combined weirdness brewing in her brain between all the conflicting thoughts about babies and family obligations. "Maybe it's something I can do differently, now that I'm not just a patrol cop."
"It does help quite a bit," he reassures her. He seems about to say more, but Daryl's back in the waiting room, motioning for Amanda.
Deciding that going to see the baby will give her a little breathing room until she can settle whatever this is in her head, she nods and stands. She passes her brother, who gives her a crooked half smile, but then he takes a seat next to Rick.
Crap. That's probably going to be the kind of conversation she should have thought about occurring when she asked Rick to come up with her. Rick's a big boy, though, and he probably considered it before he came. He can survive whatever shovel talk Daryl aims his way.
Rick feels a little grateful he's got an armful of Daryl's toddler daughter, but the man actually looks concerned, not upset. The younger man shifts in his seat as if he's the one about to get a cautionary speech. "Shouldn't I be the nervous one?"
It makes Daryl chuckle, the sound low and gravelly. "If you were some new man I didn't have a clue about, maybe. But I know you, man."
"I suppose you do, by now." They're friends, maybe not on the scale they would be if they'd met when Daryl wasn't dating Rick's ex-wife, but they got past that discomfort, at least. "So what's got you antsy?"
"You've been playing the field a good long while," Daryl ventures. "Might even made yourself more of a skirtchaser than Merle was, back in the day."
It's not a personality trait the Dixon brothers share, Rick knows. He looked into Daryl, probably more than was precisely legal, when he seemed like he was sticking around. Lori might have divorced him, but it didn't mean he would let her stumble across a man who wasn't going to treat her right.
"Haven't been doing that for a while," Rick admits. He knows Carl doesn't believe it, and he doesn't quite expect Daryl to, but the man nods.
"You ain't wired for that, not really." Daryl glances at Naomi as she snores softly. "And you're real careful that she doesn't see it, but you're so far gone on my sister there's no way back, ain't you?"
Rick clears his throat, flinching when Naomi startles a little. She settles, and he sighs in relief. "Might be. She's not ready for me to tell her that."
"No, she's not. Last guy that she dated? He seemed nice enough, but he ducked out on her the second things got real about her being a cop. Should have tracked his pansy ass down and smacked him around for it, but honestly, he wasn't going to last the long haul anyway. Best he ran before they were married with kids."
"You know I've got no problem with her being a cop, right?" Rick remembers the cold terror of hearing Shane say she'd been shot, but nothing about it made him want to run away from her. Hell, he's barely let her out of his sight since then.
"I know, else we'd be having an entirely different conversation." Rick suspects that conversation would probably involve Daryl not giving a shit about him being a cop and involve more fists than words. "Just go easy, Rick. Mandy's the most skittish thing on the planet since Luke cut and run. Always finding an excuse to avoid anything that might turn serious."
"She's already run once," he admits, and Daryl nods. "I'm a patient man. I can wait it out, I promise."
"I figured you might. I just worry, especially with all this dirty cop shit going on."
"You and me both." Gorman hasn't seemed to care about Rick seeming to have two girlfriends, and Amanda even says he's backed off and seemed actually friendly. They still aren't sure where he's leading with that.
Naomi grumbles and wakes, thwacking Rick in the nose accidentally when she flails herself awake. Bright blue eyes turn anxious when she sees Rick, until he tilts her head toward Daryl. "Your daddy's right there, sweetheart."
Daryl takes his daughter when she stretches toward him, letting her cuddle close. "You gonna go see the baby, too? No limit on visitors now that they're in the regular maternity room."
"Might as well. Carol might ban me from buying from her bakery if I don't come tell her how gorgeous her new daughter is, you know."
"Might ban you? Shoot. That woman will figure out how to get you banned from every bakery in town. You'd be the only cop who can't find a donut anywhere in Atlanta."
Laughing, Rick follows him through the security doors into the ward. Something's up with Amanda, he knows, from her odd behavior. But there's time enough to sort it out later. Tonight's for being happy that after years of no real extended family in Georgia, Carl's got yet another cousin.
New babies are always worth celebrating.