AN: Here we are, the epilogue!
I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!
111
EPILOGUE
They didn't go all out for weddings these days—but for some weddings, they did.
All three of the communities had people who had come together to see the marriage between Henry and Enid.
From the Kingdom, people came, as well, to show their support of Ezekiel and his family. Though Ezekiel maintained the title of "King" for the importance that it seemed to hold to those who had relied on him for the strength and motivation to keep going in the earliest days of their survival in the world they now called home, a new acting leader had taken over the day-to-day management of the Kingdom. They called the newest elected ruler the "Prime Minister". His name was Michael Fletcher, but everyone called him Fletcher, and Daryl thought he was a tolerable sort of guy. He often sought the advice of others – Ezekiel among them—when he had to make big decisions, but he seemed more than capable of handling most things on his own.
Fletcher's position was important since it seemed that Ezekiel had few, if any, plans to truly return to the Kingdom. With the first true thaw of spring, Ezekiel had made the trip back for any prized belongings, and Daryl, himself, had helped him with the task of moving furniture and arranging things to please Michonne without requiring her to do any of the heavy lifting. Both men could agree that, with Rick having been missing throughout the entirety of her pregnancy with R.J., she deserved to be spoiled as much as possible from the very moment that she'd even begun to suspect that there might be a little more growing between Ezekiel and herself than just their affections for one another.
Maggie had come, too, to see Enid get married, and to help her set up her home in such a way as to really feel like she had everything just as she wanted it as a new bride and a busy doctor-in-training for Alexandria. Daryl had been happy to see her, and Maggie had doted on Aurora as much as everyone else did.
Why shouldn't she dote on Aurora? The little girl was perfect—and Daryl didn't just believe that because she was his baby girl.
Aurora was also the busiest little girl that Daryl was pretty sure had ever existed. Given what they'd read in books, she shouldn't be quite as advanced as she was, but they forgot that Aurora couldn't read. Though her favorite mode of transportation wasn't what one would properly call "crawling," she had already managed what Daryl called the "Scoot n' Slide," and this maneuver made her far more mobile than he and Carol had expected her to be so soon.
Her frequent and skilled use of the Scoot n' Slide maneuver to get wherever she wanted, whenever she wanted, was one reason that Daryl was wearing his feet out walking meandering paths around the area where he was meant to be. In his arms, Aurora kicked her feet, and bounced, and laughed at everything and everyone. She would, on occasion, pull on Daryl's face to get his attention and, when he turned to smile at her, she would crinkle her nose like her mother often did when she was genuinely happy, and she would laugh at Daryl—showing off her beautiful new bottom teeth which, consequently, Siddiq hadn't imagined she would have just yet.
She entertained Daryl with a running commentary on everything she thought. Her speeches usually consisted of howls at different volumes, a few well-placed growls, and lots of giggles when she amused herself. She'd also begun to express herself with a variety of sounds that, with a little work, might soon give way to the coveted "mama" or "dada" that both Carol and Daryl already longed to hear.
Daryl didn't mind her speeches, or her laughter. The only thing that made him nervous was that, if things got delayed too long, they were going to be encroaching on the time when nothing made Aurora happy, at all, except time spent filling her tummy with milk. Aurora was not complex—not at this age—and not even a wedding would convince her to put off what she most desired.
"Jerry!" Daryl called out when he saw the large man lumbering past him.
"Sure thing!" Jerry barked out before looking around him to try to figure out who had spoken to him and what they might want. He grinned when his eyes landed on Daryl. Daryl imagined his pleasure was more over seeing Aurora than it was in seeing Daryl.
One of Aurora's most favorite games was a spirited round of "Pass the Baby," and so she reached for Jerry as he approached. He took her and lifted her up, making her squeal, before he kissed at her cheek.
"Hey, Princess Aurora!" Jerry said to the slobbery baby. Jerry wasn't the only one who called Aurora a princess and, despite himself, Daryl had very much started using the name for her as well. It was suiting. She was, without a doubt, their princess and, as Ezekiel teased, she was treated as royalty throughout all their kingdoms.
"You know when we're gonna get this show on the road? I can't put her down 'cause she'll get dirty. And I ain't tryin' to rush nobody's big ass day, but she's startin' to gnaw her hand."
Jerry furrowed his brow and nodded solemnly.
"We've got a nutrition emergency," he teased—though Jerry was good at keeping his expression solemn enough to make the joke that much more entertaining before he finally cracked into a smile.
"We're about to have a whole damn nutrition crisis," Daryl said. "Because she don't stop howlin' once she starts if there ain't no milk involved, and wherever Carol is? If she ain't sprung a leak or two yet, it's comin'."
"Ten-four," Jerry said, passing Aurora back as she leaned toward Daryl. "I'll go see what I can do about speeding things up or locating Carol."
"I mean if they don't mind her feedin' at her seat, tell her it don't matter," Daryl said. "Not as long as we can get her down the aisle."
Jerry nodded his understanding and disappeared. Daryl continued his tour to keep Aurora busy. He wanted to keep her from seeing too many familiar faces—especially those with important jobs to do right now—or she would slow them down even more.
"You just hold off a while longer, alright? Just a while longer an' we gonna have a big ass day," Daryl offered, continuing to do his best to keep the restless baby entertained.
"Heard you were looking for me, handsome?"
Daryl turned at the sound of Carol's voice and smiled as soon as he saw her. She was absolutely radiant. She was probably one of the very few women who had chosen her "Mother-of-the-Groom" dress pattern because it was good for breastfeeding, but the dark blue dress she'd made for herself was perfect on her. She'd cut her hair back into a pixie cut that left just a few of her unruly curls to run wild as they pleased—curls she'd passed on to Aurora.
Daryl had worried about the haircut, at first, knowing what he did about why she'd felt secure enough to let it grow, but he accepted her explanation that the cut was simpler to deal with, and simple was necessary. Carol preferred to put all of her energy into caring for her family, her husband, and their beautiful baby girl—and Daryl couldn't argue with that. He'd gladly supported her decision to do what she found best for all of them.
Daryl leaned to kiss her and she gave him a sincere kiss in return, even as she took the baby girl from his arms.
"She ain't gonna make it down the aisle," Daryl said regretfully. She's doin' that garglin' sound and snortin' at me. It's like a double-barrel warning."
Before he could even hardly get the words out of his mouth, Carol had their daughter situated and feeding as she hugged her against her body.
"Damn—you good at that," Daryl teased.
Carol's cheeks blushed pink. She gave Daryl her teasing smile and cocked an eyebrow at him.
"That's one of the reasons the cut of this dress is so perfect," Carol said. "Easy access and all…"
"One of the reasons?" Daryl asked. Her smile grew slightly.
"I'll show the other after the wedding," she said, winking her eye at him. "Ezekiel and Michonne have offered to watch the baby some this afternoon. Practice and all."
"Practice is important," Daryl said. "Long as they bring her back."
"Oh—they'll bring her back the minute she gets hungry," Carol said with a laugh.
1111111111111111111111111111111111111
Aurora made it down the aisle in the arms of her mother. Carol walked down, carrying Aurora, as Judith came with the few flowers they'd collected from the spring blooms, and R.J. came with the rings held tight in his fist. Henry had wanted his sister in the wedding, so they'd made it happen. And, before she sat down, Carol quickly kissed her son's cheek and let him lovingly caress his sister's face. She bounced the baby girl to soothe her over the hurt of her big brother's refusal to take her when she leaned toward him and, instead, let her go to Ezekiel when she leaned toward him as Carol approached the line of seats where her chair sat open between Daryl and Ezekiel.
Siddiq walked Enid down the aisle at her request, the two of them having grown quite close to each other from working together daily since Enid had decided to dedicate her life to medicine. When he passed her off to Henry, he made the announcement that he was "giving her away," in keeping with the ceremony and took a seat near Maggie—the empty chair between them purposefully left empty, at Enid's request, in memory of Glenn.
Two seats over from Daryl, Aurora divided her attention between Michonne and Ezekiel, demanding both of them give her nearly their full attention. Not too much more than two feet from him, Judith held R.J.'s hand and made sure that the entire wedding went according to plan—or, at least, that's surely what she thought she was doing. Henry and Enid took vows to become man and wife—both of them full of hope for a future together and a family of their own to add to the already substantial family of blood and not-quite-blood that they could boast of having.
As he listened to the vows, Daryl slipped his hand into Carol's and squeezed it. He glanced at her, catching her eye and the slightest hint of a smile on her lips.
She was beautiful, and she was all his.
The focus of everyone's attention was the new bride and groom, so Daryl was sure that nobody noticed that, at the exact moment when Henry was told he could "kiss the bride," Daryl raised Carol's hand to his lips—but Carol noticed.
She leaned and kissed him, just at his ear, and he shivered.
"I love you," she whispered, her voice barely blowing across his ear loudly enough for him to hear her words. "But—I'm not the bride today."
He smiled at her.
"Always mine," he said. "That's all that matters to me." Her smile was heartfelt, and it warmed his chest. He stood up, tugging at her hand as Michonne and Ezekiel rose, Aurora riding on Michonne's hip, to congratulate the happy couple. "Come on—let's go tell your boy congratulations on becomin' a man."
111
AN: Sometimes I look at the published dates for stories, and I don't believe them. LOL
At any rate, this one is now marked complete, and it's another finished one in the books for me. This story had at least one unexpected detour, but I think that it made it mostly back to what it was supposed to be by the end. At the very least, I hope it did, and I hope that you enjoyed it.
I hope to see you somewhere else, too, now that this story has been put to bed.
Please don't forget to let me know what you think!
