AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

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

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"OK—inhale for me. Good. Exhale. Again—hold it this time. Let it out slowly. Again—hold it."

Alice had already run a tape measure around Carol's body, measuring the little bump where their youngest resided. She'd taken her temperature and blood pressure, and now she was beginning her further inspection. Daryl paid attention mostly with his ears so that he could keep an eye on Sophia. Alice had brought, when she rolled in her machine, a couple of toys and some books they had for just such an occasion as when someone like Sophia might come in for a visit. Daryl had already had to drum it into her head that she was only allowed to write on the loose paper only—not in the books.

"I'm sorry," Daryl interrupted finally. "Is—somethin' wrong with her lungs?"

"I was beginning to wonder the same thing," Carol seconded as Alice removed the stethoscope from her ears. She laughed to herself.

"No," she said. "But—you did what I asked, and it worked out better than simply telling you to calm down. Nobody ever calms down when you just tell them to calm down. It's actually the opposite. People tend to tense up if you ask them to try to calm down. Some deep breaths can do wonders, though. And your pulse has already started to slow down."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"See? I told you that you ought to just tell her you're nervous and get it over with."

"I can tell you're nervous," Alice said, moving back to start her inspection of Carol again. "Do you want to tell me why?"

"I just don't want anything to be wrong," Carol said.

"That's reasonable," Alice said. "I don't think anybody ever wants there to be anything wrong. Is there anything that you expect to be wrong?"

"Not specifically," Carol said.

"You're still breast feeding?" Alice asked, her attention caught by what she was doing at the moment.

"Sometimes. I pump. I have a manual pump. I wanted to keep my milk flowing…just in case. I've always produced enough for Sophia and I didn't want to risk…stopping, I guess?"

"Is that bad?" Daryl asked.

Alice laughed quietly to herself.

"None of it's bad," she said. "Pump. Keep your milk flowing. That's good. It's especially good if it helps you feel relaxed and secure."

"What about—nursing Sophia?" Carol asked. "Is she too old?"

"Does she still want to nurse?" Alice asked.

"Sometimes," Carol said. "At night or—sometimes after meals. Or, sometimes, just because, I guess."

"She clearly eats well," Alice said. "And I don't mean she's overweight. I mean she's a strong little girl. Her body composition looks good. She seems well-adjusted. Loved. She's not wearing a diaper. Is she potty trained?"

"Most of the time," Daryl offered. "Sleeps in a diaper. And sometimes we got accidents."

"Accidents happen," Alice said with a smile. "You'll know when you're ready to stop nursing—or when she is. Believe me, she'll let you know when she's just not interested. Until then, don't worry about it. Now—do you want to talk to me a little bit about why you're worried something might be wrong?"

"Anxiety?" Carol asked.

"Is that all it is?" Alice asked.

Carol pulled her blanket up and wrapped it around her for a moment while Alice wasn't examining her. The doctor accepted that, and stepped back to give Carol a little breathing room.

"When I was expecting…her…I had a lot of anxiety."

"That's common, I think, with first-time mothers or…maybe even second, third, and fourth time mothers."

"My husband used to say that—if anything happened, it was because of me. Because I deserved it."

"Don't look at me, Doc," Daryl said. "That ain't me. He's dead—and good riddance, if you know what I mean."

"I was married before I knew Daryl," Carol said.

"So Sophia is…"

"My daughter," Daryl said quickly. "Blood ain't all that matters."

Alice smiled at him.

"Blood doesn't matter for too much," Alice said.

"She don't know, and we don't say. Not 'til she's older."

"I hear you loud and clear," Alice said. "But—Carol? I'm not making light of your fears. Because—fears are very real, and anxiety is real…I can hear it in your heartbeat. But—if you'll pardon me? Your husband—your ex-husband? Are you two married—for the record?" Carol nodded to confirm that she and Daryl were married. "Your ex-husband was an asshole. I'm not an OBGYN or a pediatrician. But—we all do what we can, right? I was a surgeon mostly. Cardiology. Let me tell you one thing I've learned—medicine and nature don't care about what people deserve. If they did, plenty of people that have lived would've gone on to hotter and deeper places while a lot of people who died would've been around to see their great, great grandchildren. I'm not saying anything's wrong, but I'm saying that, if it were? It's just one of those things—and it doesn't have a thing to do with you or what you deserve."

Daryl glanced in Carol's direction. She was clearly chewing on the doctor's words, but Daryl saw her visibly relax. He saw her dropping the blanket that was as much a security item at the moment as a guard for her modesty.

"I really want this baby," Carol offered. "We both do."

"Good," Alice said. "That's how it should be. Can I see—how it's doing?" She patted the table. "I got the comfortable table with stirrups and everything." Her tone made it clear that she was teasing Carol to help break up some of her worry. "I had a feeling that some of the ladies might feel more comfortable with me just because I know the proverbial territory, and I know the feeling of being asked to get in some less than comfortable positions."

"I do like that you're a woman," Carol offered.

"So—will you let me check on your little one?"

Carol gave herself over to Alice's examination again. Daryl asked if she wanted him—feeling fairly confident he could leave Sophia, at the moment, because she was enthralled with rolling two cars across the floor, chasing after them, and sending them rolling off again—but Carol said she was fine. From the short distance, then, Daryl listened as Alice talked to Carol while she examined her.

She suggested that Carol talk to her partner—the psychiatrist. She said that she was pretty good at listening, and sometimes that's all that people really needed—someone to listen and offer a fresh perspective on old ways of thinking.

"Believe me," Alice said, disappearing into the little room that Daryl had already figured out was a small bathroom. "Mel's great at that stuff. I mean—I'm pretty high strung. Like really high strung." She came back out of the room, drying her hands on a towel. "Like seriously—I flake out over…everything. Until I can kind of sit with it and just—get my head around shit, you know? That's why I was better in the O.R. I knew what I was doing there. I was prepared for it. Believe it or not, some of the day-to-day was more stressful for me. But, no matter what, Mel can just get you right back on the tracks."

"She'll talk to her," Daryl offered. Carol rolled her head in his direction. "It can't hurt."

"He's right, it can't hurt," Alice said. "Honestly—she's here. And she's trying to earn her keep. She can work in the clinic with me. She's done her time in med school, but she'd like to just talk to people. That's her passion."

"I'll talk to her," Carol said. "Maybe we all should."

"These days…" Alice said, letting her words trail off. "OK—so—I can tell you that you look good. Physically? You're strong. You seem all set. Your body seems like you're in this to win this. To be honest? My first impression is that you could have a couple more if that's what you're into. I've taken your measurements, and I'll keep a check on things. I already felt your little one moving around."

Carol smiled to herself and brushed her hand over her belly.

"Baby just started that," Daryl offered.

"Daddy just got to feel it," Carol said. "Baby's been kicking for a while."

"Well—kicking is good. All manner of movement is good, and I got a little demonstration while I was feeling your little one out."

"So, it's OK? Healthy and all?" Daryl asked.

"So far, so good," Alice said. "I would like to take a closer look." She gestured toward the portable machine, and then she looked at Carol. She didn't have to verbally ask her. She was waiting for Carol to give her consent. Carol's consent came in the form of changing her position a little, and clearly getting a bit more comfortable, arranging her blanket to suit her.

Alice smiled, accepting that as all the permission she needed, and set to work.

"Because you're a little bit nervous, Carol, I'm going to go ahead and tell you that the end of the world was not kind to ultrasound technicians. I haven't run into a single one of them. Now—I'm not a professional at these machines, but I do OK with a little time and a little patience. I'm telling you that so you don't think something's wrong because you can hear me muttering profanities under my breath or we get nothing but static for a while, OK?"

Carol laughed. She purposefully sucked in a breath and let it out, relaxing into her spot. Daryl got up from his chair and walked over. He kept an eye on Sophia, but she only glanced at him long enough to see where he was going before she returned to crawling around under the chair.

It took a little while, but not as long as Alice must have thought it would, because she looked pleased.

"Look who I found!" She declared. "Oh—look at that, Mama and Daddy. We're just hanging out."

"Does it look OK?" Carol asked.

"Looks good so far. See—there's a spine and the head. Little legs and arms. That's the heart. I think this thing still prints—you want a profile?"

"Can I?" Carol asked.

"If it'll print, you can," Alice said. "I haven't tried it, but we'll try it. OK—so I can get a couple of measurements here. I'm just going to—record these. It would be so much better if I were an octopus, you know? I could have hands doing things all over the place. Can you hear that? Heartbeat."

"Is it OK?" Daryl asked.

"It's measuring right in range. OK—so—I can keep up with growth. I've got my measurements here, but I don't see anything that's like just…you know…scary or anything. Do you want to know the sex?"

"You mean like—you can see if it's a boy or a girl?" Daryl asked.

Carol found his hand, and curled her fingers around it. He squeezed her hand.

"I can totally see that," Alice said. "In fact—I'd say neither one of your children are modest at all."

"Do you want to know, Daryl?" Carol asked.

Daryl wanted to know more than just about anything else at that moment. Still, Carol looked a touch uncomfortable.

"If you don't want to…" Daryl offered.

Carol smiled to herself. She looked at Alice and nodded her head.

"We want to know," Carol said.

Alice smiled.

"OK," she said. "You see this? That's a leg. And that's another let. And this…this is his little business. And he's proud of it, too. Sometimes it's hard to see, especially until they get bigger, but he's just showing it off."

"It's a boy?" Daryl asked. For just a second, he felt like everything inside of him had turned to Jell-O and was wobbling around. If he hadn't just had a check-up, he might even feel the need to ask the doctor if he was doing alright.

"It's a boy," Alice confirmed. "All day long, Daddy."

Carol tugged at Daryl's hand.

"Is that OK?" She asked.

Something in the sincerity of her question and the hard focus of her eyes made Daryl's Jell-O gut wiggle around even more. He squeezed her hand again and rubbed his thumb over her fingers.

"Perfect," Daryl said. "Woulda been perfect either way."

"Are you sure?" Carol asked, practically in a whisper—almost like she could keep the doctor from hearing. Daryl cut his eyes quickly at the doctor. Her brown eyes were trained on him.

"I'm sure," Daryl said. He shushed Carol in the same way he might shush Sophia to soothe her over some new fear or surprise. He could tell they were likely to talk about this again, but it didn't matter. He was happy, he was sure she would be happy, and all that was needed was a little reassurance and soothing over. He directed his attention quickly back to Alice. She was still staring at him, rather hard, and she smiled as soon as their eyes connected. "He OK?" Daryl asked.

"From what I can tell," Alice offered, softening her expression a little, "he looks perfect. So, you can—relax a little, Carol." Alice set about cleaning things up. When she was done, she gave Carol permission to get dressed, and she jotted a few more things down in the collection of notes that she was keeping. "Your picture printed, but the ink's not great."

Carol reached for the picture and sat looking at it, a moment, half-dressed. It was somewhat streaked, and not nearly as clear as the image on the screen had been.

"It doesn't matter," she said, "it's perfect."

"Hey—you wanted something for the nursery," Daryl said. "Now you got something. We'll get a frame for it while we're out."

Carol smiled genuinely at that, and puckered her lips at Daryl. He kissed her and squeezed her shoulder before he went to collect Sophia and start grabbing the items that she'd spread all over the floor. He found a trashcan and tossed out her discarded sucker that she'd left on the floor.

"I got all that," Alice offered. "You don't have to worry about it."

"Can I use your bathroom?" Daryl asked. "Wash her hands up 'fore she goes lickin' 'em or something."

"Go ahead," Alice said, waiving Daryl toward the little door that led to a small half-bath. He helped Sophia wash her hands, and then he washed her face where she was wearing evidence of the little bit of red candy that she ate before abandoning the sucker.

When he came out with Sophia, Carol was dressed and talking to Alice.

"Everything OK?" He asked, hoping he hadn't interrupted anything too serious.

"Just fine," Alice said. "Jessica—up front? She's a good kid. She's working for us…the whole keep the kids busy thing, right? So—just tell her to remind you in a month, OK? I'd like you to check in with me. I mean—I'm sure I'll see you and all that—like around Woodbury and all, but it's kind of her job to go around and remind people. We decided it could give her something to do."

"I get the idea," Carol said.

"And—I'm serious about talking to Mel. She's upstairs now and…"

"We got some things to do," Daryl said quickly. "Right now, I mean. We gotta get furniture and a couple baby things."

"Whenever you're ready," Alice said. "But—I'm serious. You should talk to her."

"Oh, we're serious, too," Daryl assured her.

They both thanked the doctor and left her to clean up her office area. On the way down the hallway, they nearly collided with a man that Daryl assumed was one of the other doctors or medical professionals—given that the man was wearing scrubs—and he exchanged uncomfortable greetings with them. Immediately, Daryl was glad that he hadn't been the only one there when they'd arrived.

At the desk, Carol told Jessica that Alice wanted to see her in a month, and Jessica excitedly wrote the information down in a book, taking record of their apartment building and number. As soon as she started yammering, Daryl could tell that either doctor-patient confidentiality didn't extend to the office staff, or someone had missed going over that particular detail of the practice with their working fourteen or fifteen year-old receptionist.

"It's super cool, you know?" Jessica informed them. "We're like—starting to actually take appointments and stuff because like—about two weeks ago? We had a bunch of people coming in and then y'all came from the prison. And now it's looking like we're gonna have enough kids for like a nursery or school or something soon. It must be something at that prison. We've seen another prison person who's going to have a baby, too! It's like—super exciting! There weren't any before, and now they're going to be everywhere."

Daryl caught Carol's eyes as she rolled them in his direction. The smile she wore for Jessica was a touch fake—too toothy, and with a bit too much stress behind it.

"Do you mean you saw the woman from the prison who has the baby? The little girl?" Carol asked.

"I saw her," Jessica said. "But—I'm talking about the other one that came in yesterday that's gonna have the baby. You know her? The blonde with the scratches?"

"Oh—we know her," Daryl said quickly. "We're all—real close."

"It's really cool," Jessica said. "I kinda wanted to work with kids, but there's not many here."

"Looks like you gonna get your chance now," Daryl offered. "Just—you put us down for next time, OK?"

Daryl put his hand on Carol's shoulder and directed her out of the building, hoisting Sophia up on his hip as he went.

They had a lot to discuss, but he didn't want to do it where Jabbering Jessica might overhear.