A/N: I do not own The Walking Dead or any of it's characters in any way, shape or form.

TRIGGER ALERT: While not in every chapter there are chapters that mention rape and/or abuse.

Chapter 17

Their shitty day was made better once Hershel opened his eyes and they had never been more happy to see a pair of blue eyes starring back at them. Beth had made them all a simple meal for dinner and everyone turned in early after such a physically and emotionally taxing day. Adrian was already laying down on the mattress in the least dirty clothes she currently owned when Daryl finally made his way up to the perch shortly after the sun had set.

Adrian sat up so he didn't just fall on top of her as he flopped down onto their simple bed. She curled into Daryl after he got comfortable and let out a deep and exhausted sigh when she was comfy. Her head was resting on his shoulder, her arm was laying on his stomach as her hand lay on his chest, and her thigh lay on top of his as the rest of her leg fell in between his.

Daryl had wrapped the arm she was laying on around her, softly rubbing his thumb up and down on her arm and his other hand was laying over hers that was on his chest. He didn't speak, just starred at the ceiling as he listened to her breathing. It didn't take her long long to fall asleep after the day they had had. None of them were strangers to physically hard days, that was all they seemed to have over the last 8 months, but today had probably been the most emotionally exhausting day they had had since the loss of the farm.

Daryl didn't know when he had fallen asleep, he hadn't even realized he had, and he didn't know how long he had been asleep when he felt Adrian's body jerk hard next to his. It was pitch black in the cell block when he opened his eyes and he could hear Adrian's quick breathing. "Hey." Daryl whispered, feeling Adrian jump slightly at the sound of his voice. "You okay?" he asked her, rubbing his hand up and down on her arm comfortingly.

"Nightmare." she said simply.

"One of the boys?" he asked her.

After the farm, during the worst of her depression, Adrian had had nightmares often. Some nights she would wake up screaming, which thankfully didn't happen often, some nights she would wake up crying hysterically, and some nights they had to force her awake and away from her nightmares. She didn't talk to him about them a lot but the few times she had talked to him about them they had been about either the night Seth had died or her mind would conjure up horrible images of how Kale could have died on the farm.

"No, thankfully. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle that after everything that happened today." she whispered. "No, it was about what happened in the tunnels. Seeing him bash that poor man's head in like it was nothing. Murder is nothing new, I know that, but hearing about it and seeing it, hearing it, happen are two very different things. I dreamed that we were back in that tunnel and as soon as he finished with Big Tiny, he swung at me. That's when I woke up." she told him quietly.

"He's dead now, so you ain't gotta worry 'bout him no more. He ain't never gonna hurt anybody ever again." he reassured her.

They were silent for a few minutes before he spoke again.

"Why'd you ask Rick to spare them guys?" he asked her.

The question had been in the back of his mind all day but he hadn't ever found a time to ask her.

"I thought they deserved a second chance. They may have been locked away since the beginning, but they were really willing to follow the rules Rick laid down, didn't fight us in any way. Axel isn't brave enough to fight any of us, I'm pretty sure even Carl would scare the piss outta him. And you can't tell me that a man Oscar's size couldn't have fought back even a little before someone took him out if he'd really wanted to." she told him.

"But really, it was the look on Rick's face. I haven't seen that look on his face since the day after the farm when he took control. He was so sure that just killing them was the right answer, just blow their brains out and be done with it. That isn't who Rick is. In that moment I didn't see Rick, I seen Shane and it scared me. We can't just kill anyone who isn't us because they could turn out to be assets to us later down the road, but they wouldn't get the chance to show us that if we just kill them on sight." she explained.

Daryl didn't know what to say to that so he just told her to go back to sleep, which they both did.

TWD

Rick had been bullied into letting everyone rest the next day and he hadn't been too happy about it. They had plenty of work that had to be done, everyone knew that, but after the hellish day they had had before they all needed a break, even if it was just one day. Hershel was awake and talking, which had lifted everyone's spirits, and Daryl and T-Dog had even went back to the infirmary to see if there was anything Carl had left behind.

Carl had managed to get everything of use but T-Dog had found a pair of crutches that could be doctored up a little for Hershel when he was ready to get up and moving around. They had even managed to gather enough water together so they could finally tackle all of their filthy laundry, which Adrian had been rather grateful for because her clothes were starting to really stink.

Beth, Carol, and T-Dog had made dinner that night and it had been wonderful. Everyone had went to bed that night happy and full for the first time in months. The next morning Adrian was wondering if she could possibly get away with choking the life out of Rick when he started yelling for everyone to wake up. Adrian had cracked an eye open and looked out of one of the windows to see the sun wasn't even fully up yet and she had cursed a blue streak that had impressed even Daryl.

They had started in the courtyard, piling up all of the bodies in a single spot as Rick and Carol left to go get the truck from the front gate so they could haul the bodies into the field and burn all of the walker bodies in a huge bonfire to quickly get rid of them. Once the courtyard was finished they all walked down to the gate to drive in the rest of their vehicles so they could get them inside and parked.

"We'll park the vehicles on the west side of the prison in case we need a quick getaway." Rick told Carol, T-Dog, Carol, and Daryl.

"Good. All these cars parked out here's like a big vacancy sign." Daryl commented.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie, we could really use their help?" Carol asked.

"Up in the guard tower." Daryl said, pointing to the building.

"The guard tower, weren't they just up there last night?" Rick asked.

"Yeah they were, greedy little bastards." Adrian told him only to receive looks from the others.

"What? Don't give me those looks, it's been a hot minute since anything fun has gone on down below, so get off my back about being jealous." she told them.

"Glenn! Maggie!" Daryl yelled at the guard tower. A few seconds later Glenn walked through the door, shirtless and trying to quickly button up his pants. "Oh, hey guys." he said awkwardly. "You comin'?" Daryl asked, making everyone snicker in amusement. "Not anymore he's not." Adrian said laughing. "What?" Glenn asked, as if he didn't hear him. "You comin'?" Daryl asked again, making everyone laugh.

Glenn, looking confused, looked through the door at Maggie who finally showed up. "Oh, that poor innocent boy." Adrian said laughing at Glenn's confusion at Daryl's joke. "Come on, we could use a hand down here." Daryl finally told him. "Okay. We'll be right down." Glenn told them as he and Maggie walked back into the tower. They were all laughing at Glenn's expense when T-Dog drew Rick's attention to the courtyard gate where Axel and Oscar were standing.

Their good mood deflated quickly as Rick started walking toward the former prisoners. "Come with me." Rick told T-Dog and Daryl. Adrian had hung back with Carol and they made their way up the gravel road slowly. Adrian hadn't heard the whole conversation but she caught the tail end of it and got the gist of it. Oscar and Axel couldn't stand living in D block and wanted to know if they could join the group. Rick told them that their deal stood and Oscar told him that they would rather hit the road than go back into the haunted cell block.

Rick and Daryl escorted them to the front gate where Daryl locked them in while Glenn, Maggie, Rick, Carol, T-Dog, and Adrian were discussing what to do about Axel and Oscar. Adrian and T-Dog were the only ones who were wanting to give them a chance.

"Are you serious? You want them sleeping in a cell next to you, they'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. You wanna go back to sleeping with one eye open?" Rick asked them.

"I never stopped." T-Dog told him.

"Bring them into the fold. If we send them packing we might as well execute them ourselves." T-Dog told them, and Adrian agreed. Those men wouldn't last two days on the road by themselves. "I don't know, Axel seems a little unstable." Glenn hedged. "Don't mistake unstable for being a coward who wants to live." Adrian told him, giving him a look. If Glenn wanted to talk about people being unstable then maybe he should cast his eyes toward their fearless leader because that's exactly what Adrian would've called the man 7 months ago.

"We fought so hard for all of this, what if they decide to take it?" Carol asked, clearly uncomfortable about the idea of them staying. "Two men against 7 out of our 11 people? Do you honestly think they would win?" Adrian asked her. "It's just been us for so long, it feels weird having other people around." Maggie said. "You took us in." T-Dog pointed out. "Yeah, but you showed up with a shot boy in your arms, didn't give us much of a choice." she told him.

"They can't even kill walkers." Glenn said.

"Could you when all this shit started or did you have to learn like everyone else? T's entire point is that they can't kill walkers, and you wanna send them out there?" Adrian asked, pointing toward the fences angrily.

"They're convicts, bottom line." Carol said.

"Those two may have less blood on their hands then we do." T-Dog told them, and he was probably right.

"I get guys like this, hell I grew up with 'em. They're degenerates but they ain't psychos. I coulda been in there with them just as easily as I'm out here with you guys." Daryl told them.

"So you're with us?" Adrian asked, a little surprised that he would take their side in this fight.

Her surprise was short lived.

"Hell no. Let 'em take their chances out on the road like we did." Daryl told her.

T-Dog tried to say something before Rick cut him off.

He told them about a boy he had once arrested for stabbing his girlfriend and had then made a big show of being remorseful of the whole thing and had been let go because of lack of evidence only to shoot another girl two weeks later.

"Rick we can't keep thinking that anyone who isn't us isn't worthy of a chance to become one of us. There's no trust between us, no one is arguing that but there are other options. Lock them in their own cells at night until they earn our trust. Even if they tried to go for our weapons, and that's a big if in my opinion, do you honestly think they're a threat to us? More than half of our group could take them on single handedly, and that's including Carl." Adrian told Rick, giving it one last shot.

"We've been through too much. Our deal with them stands." Rick told them before they all left, leaving Adrian and T-Dog alone. "I'm sorry, T. No one can say we didn't try and that our feelings weren't made clear." she told her friend, placing a hand on hi shoulder before she too walked away.

Rick suggested that they finally move the cars into the courtyard so Adrian, T-Dog, Carol, and Maggie all piled into the cars while Daryl drove his motorcycle. Adrian got out of the car she rode up in with Maggie and helped the others back up to where they needed to be. T-Dog back up the truck first, then Maggie in their ugly green car, and Carol last in their monster suburban. Adrian was waving Carol back when she heard the door to their cell block slide open. She took a quick peek back to see Beth, Carl, and Lori come out with a up and moving Hershel.

The sight of her old friend up and walking around after what he had went through a short time ago brought a smile to her lips. Once Carol had turned off the large vehicle Adrian turned and walked towards her small group of friends.

"Hershel Greene, you are possibly the luckiest man I've ever met. You, sir, have the luck of the Irish if I've ever seen it." she chuckled as she gave the man a gentle hug, making sure she didn't accidently unbalance him and cause him to fall.

"I'm certainly inclined to agree with you on that." Hershel told her, smiling as she pulled back.

"How's Chipmunk doing today?" she asked Lori as she rubbed the woman's belly.

"Good. A little active but nothing outrageous." Lori told her.

Adrian gave her a wink before she spotted Carl and remembered she had a bone to pick with him. She calmly walked over to Carl before she snatched his hat off and gave him a hard smack in the back of the head before she put his hat back on him. "Ow! What was that for?!" he asked, shocked that she had hit him out of nowhere. "That was for back talking your mother and for your little adventure to the infirmary yesterday." she told him as she pointed a finger in his face.

She used to want to roll her eyes when her grandfather and great-aunt used to point at her like this, but she understood the need for it as she grew older.

"We needed the supplies for Hershel and they helped a lot." Carl argued.

"I understand that but what you did was very stupid and extremely dangerous. We have no idea how many walkers are in this prison, we haven't even search half of it yet, and the half we have searched is crawling with walkers. Did it ever cross your mind what would've happened to your mom and dad if something had happened to you because you ran off without telling anyone?" she asked, giving him an accusing look.

Carl ducked his head in sham, never having thought about what would've happened if he had gotten hurt because he wanted to help.

"And I don't ever want to hear you or hear about you back talking your mother again. She is your mother no matter your feelings toward her and you will show her the exact same respect that you show me and every other adult in this group, am I understood?" she asked him, her tone demanding she be obeyed.

"Yes." he told her.

She gave him a look before he fixed his statement.

"Yes, ma'am." he said.

"Good boy. I know you tend to forget it because of the way we treat you but you're still just a kid no matter how fast you've grown up these past months and I get on to you because I love you and worry about you, and your mother does as well, even though you dismiss her feelings. So I want you to promise me that you'll stop being such a little snot to your mother." she said, explaining why she was lecturing him.

"I'll try." he told her and she could tell that he meant it.

"Good, now give me a hug before I have to get back to work like a responsible adult." she said grinning as she pulled him in for a hug.

She looked up as he wrapped his arms around her waist to hug her back and she felt her blood turn cold at what she was looking at. The gated area where they had all of the walkers they hadn't killed yet was open and the walkers were flooding into the yard.

Adrian quickly pushed Carl behind her, causing him to stumble from the unexpected sudden movement, and pulled her gun from her jeans. "Walkers! Walkers!" Carl yelled from behind her. "Beth, Hershel, Lori, get inside, now!" she yelled as she heard Carl fire his gun from somewhere behind her. Adrian turned back to the rapidly approaching walkers and started firing, being careful with her shots since she only had so much ammo.

Adrian made sure to keep Carl in her peripheral vision as she shot at the walkers. "Lori, over here!" she heard Maggie yell. She turned to see Maggie standing by the gate that lead back to their cell block. "Go! Go!" she yelled at Carl and Lori, running right behind them and closing the gate behind her so none of the walkers could follow them. Maggie was leading the charge into the block, Carl and Lori steps behind her, when walkers came out of nowhere.

"Go back! Go back!" Maggie yelled as she herded them all into the dark hallways that lead deeper into the prison. They had been in the halls for a few minutes when a blaring alarm started to go off. "Oh, you gotta be shitting me!" Adrian said as she looked around, as if whatever was making the noise would suddenly appear so she could shut it up. They were walking down the halls, Carl first, Maggie and Lori in the middle, and Adrian in the back, when they turned a corner and Lori suddenly leaned against the wall and groaned.

"Lori?" Adrian asked, putting a hand on her belly.

"Lori, you gotta keep up." Maggie told her.

"Something's not right." Lori told them and Adrian had a very bad feeling about what she was about to say next.

"Are you bit?" Carl asked worried.

"No, it's the baby. I think it's coming." Lori gasped.

"Christ." Adrian said as she ran a frustrated hand through her hair.

They could hear the growls of walkers coming from in front of them and Maggie pulled Lori's arm around her shoulders to help her walk, Lori clearly being in pain from contractions.

"Carl, take point. Maggie, go!" Adrian told them as she stayed in the back to help cover them. They walked down another hallway or two before Carl started to back away, the way blocked off by walkers. They cut down another corridor when she heard Carl. "Here, get in here!" he urged them. Adrian pushed him inside before she forced the door closed behind her. She turned to see Lori holding onto one of the steel grates as she breathed through another contraction.

"Come on." Adrian urged her and Maggie down the steps and deeper into the room. They could hear the loud growling of the walkers as they passed the room, and then Lori let out a loud gasp as another contraction hit.

"Jesus, again already?" Adrian asked, now very worried as she placed a hand against Lori's belly.

"Yeah." Lori sighed as the pain passed.

"Damn it, Lori, they're coming too fast." Adrian said as she started to panic.

"I know. The baby's coming quick." Lori told her.

Once the next contraction passed Adrian and Maggie lead Lori deeper into the room. "Lori, we need to lay you down." Maggie told her. "No, the baby's coming now." Lori told her. "We know that, that's why we need to get you on the floor." Adrian told her. "We need to get you back to Hershel so he can help you." Carl said, panicking now that he realized what was happening. "No, we can't be caught out there with all those walkers." Maggie told him. "Lori, we're gonna have to give birth to this baby here." Maggie told her. "Great." Lori said in a weak voice before she started to breath through another contraction.

"What's the matter, can't she breath?" Carl panicked.

"She's breathing through the pain." she told Carl, hoping it would help lessen his fear of what was happening to his mother.

"Let's get these pants off you." Maggie said as she went to work on undoing Lori's jeans.

"Shit." Adrian said before she turned to Carl.

"Carl, I want you to go around the corner so you don't see this, and you stay there unless you're called, do you understand me?" Adrian said pointing to the corner she was talking about.

When he nodded and started to walk away Adrian turned and helped Lori onto the floor as Maggie tugged off her boots so she could get Lori's pants off. "I'm goin' to have to check to see if you're dilated." Maggie told her as she finally got her pants off. "Can you tell?" Adrian asked her. "Dad told me how but believe me, this is my first time." Maggie said as she tried to check Lori. "I can't tell." Maggie told them after a second. "I've gotta push." Lori told urgently. Adrian and Maggie helped her up and she grabbed onto a metal bar that ran along the wall before she started to push.

"Somebody!" Lori begged. Maggie gave Lori her hand before Lori stopped pushing.

"You're doing great Lori, you're body knows what to do." Maggie told her.

But would Lori's body do what it was supposed to do? She had had Carl by C-Section and they had always planned for it to come to that, but if they were EXTREMELY lucky, Lori would be able to give birth to this baby naturally. Lori pushed twice more before Maggie's panicked voice told her to stop. Lori didn't stop pushing and yelled, whether it was to help with pain or because of the pain Adrian didn't know but she felt the blood drain from her face as Maggie pulled her hand away from Lori covered in blood. Blood that was now running down both of Lori's legs and Adrian knew in that moment that they weren't lucky.

"What's happening?! Why is she yelling?!" Carl yelled as he ran around the corner.

Adrian was too busy helping Maggie get a weaken Lori onto the floor to get on to him about coming back from around the corner.

"Son of a bitch." Adrian said, tears in both her voice and eyes.

Adrian knew what they were going to have to do and it tore her apart. Maggie was kneeling between Lori's knees as Adrian and Carl were kneeling at her side, Carl closest to her head.

"Lori, I don't think you're fully dilated, no amount of pushing is going to help." Maggie told Lori, devastated.

"I know what it means. You're gonna have to cut me open." Lori told Maggie, her voice weak.

"No, I can't." Maggie told her.

"I'm not gonna lose my baby. Please." Lori begged.

Carl tried to run off to get help but all three women stopped him in his tracks.

"Carol was the one who practiced that, dad only taught me the steps." Maggie told her, fear coating her voice.

"You have to, Maggie." Lori told her. "I have no equipment, no anesthetic-" Maggie tried to tell her. "I have a knife." Adrian said to Maggie but her eyes were on Lori's face. "She won't survive that." Maggie told Adrian, as if she hadn't already known that. "She knows that. But as a mother myself, any mother would be willing to die if it meant her baby could live." Adrian told her, tears running down her face.

"My baby has to survive, for all of us." Lori told Maggie.

"Please, Maggie, please." Lori begged her. Maggie shook her head, not wanting to do it, knowing it would kill Lori. "Maggie, I can't do it, I don't know how. It has to be you." Adrian told her as tears ran down her face. Adrian would do it if she knew how but she had never learned because Hershel was supposed to be the one doing it and Carol had been practicing since Hershel had gotten hurt. Maggie may only know the steps but it was more than Adrian knew, so it had to be Maggie no matter what.

When Maggie finally consented to doing the surgery Adrian called Carl back over to them and had him sit beside Lori's shoulder so he was close. Lori pulled her shirt up so Maggie could see her old Section scar. "Carl?" Lori called, reaching out to the scared boy. "Baby, I don't want you to be scared, okay? This is what I want. This is right. You help take care of your daddy for me, alright? And your little brother or sister, you help take care of them." Lori told her son. "You don't have to do this." Carl said, crying openly. "You're going to be fine. You're smart, and you're brave, and I love you." she told him

"I love you too." Carl said as tears ran down his face. "You're going to beat this world. You gotta do what's right. You gotta do what's right. It's so easy to do the wrong thing in this world, so if it feels wrong, don't do it. If it feels easy, don't do it. Don't let the world spoil you." Lori said, her voice finally cracking as she told her son goodbye.

Adrian was crying even harder as she watched Lori tell her son farewell. Carl was sobbing as he leaned down to hug his mother and Lori was crying at the knowledge that while she was saving her baby, she would never see her children again and that just made Adrian cry all the harder. "Okay. Okay, now." Lori told him as she made him sit up, knowing if she didn't stop she never would. "You listen to you're daddy and Adrian and everyone else, do you hear?" Lori told him. Carl nodded his head but said nothing.

"My sweet boy, I love you so much." Lori told him one last time.

"Carl, go back around the corner and don't you dare come out this time, do you hear me? No matter what you hear, you don't come around that corner." Adrian told the boy, her voice cracking horribly. Carl said nothing as he stood and did as he was told, sobbing as he went.

"Adrian, you have to promise me, no matter what, you'll keep them together. Promise me that you'll look after them and take care of them." Lori begged Adrian as she reached for her hand. Adrian grabbed Lori's hand and gripped it tightly. "As if they're my own, I swear on my life." Adrian promised her.

"If you're there to guide them then I know that they'll be in good hands. I've seen how you are with Carl, lecturing him, reading to him. You love him so much, so I know my baby will be in good hands if you're there to help raise it." Lori told her.

Adrian said nothing, just nodded her head that she understood.

"When this is over it's gonna have to be one of you two. It can't be Rick, it can't be him." Lori begged them.

"Lori." Maggie trailed off, not wanting to even think about such a thing.

"Please!" Lori pleaded loudly.

"I'll do it. I'll do it so he won't have to." Adrian promised Lori.

"Thank you." Lori sighed, gripping her hand in thanks. Lori signaled that she was ready and Adrian gripped Lori's hand tighter. "I'm sorry." Maggie said before she slid the blade of Adrian's knife across Lori's lower belly. Lori scream in agony and gripped Adrian's hand so tight that Adrian was afraid that she might break a few bones in her hand but it was the last thing she was worried about.

"Mom!" she heard Carl scream from around the corner.

"Carl, don't you dare!" Adrian yelled over Lori's screams.

Lori's screams cut off suddenly as she passed out from shock and then died from rapid blood loss.

"Adrian, I need your hands. I need you to hold this open for me so I can see. If I cut too deep I could cut the baby." Maggie told her.

Adrian did as Maggie instructed and then heard Maggie continue to mutter. Adrian didn't know if she was talking her her or herself but Adrian wasn't listening to what she was saying. After a few minutes Maggie pulled the baby out and held her close. Of all the things for her to notice with everything that was going on, the fact that it was indeed a girl is what stuck with her.

The baby wasn't crying was the second thing that stuck with her. Maggie was holding the slippery baby close and gently tapped her chest of few times but nothing happened, so she turned the baby over and patted her back a few times. The baby's cries were the most beautiful thing Adrian had heard in a very long time. Suddenly Carl's over shirt was dangling in front of their eyes. Adrian looked up to see the boy's eyes jumping from his mother to his new sister before she took the shirt and held it open to help Maggie wrap the baby up so she didn't get cold.

"Maggie, take the baby and see if it's clear up there." Adrian told the younger woman.

Adrian knew she was in shock and that it hadn't fully kicked in yet but she knew it was only a matter of time and she wanted to be out of there when it did. She knew she'd need Daryl when she fell apart and he wasn't here, so she needed to get this done and then get to him. Adrian and Maggie stood up and Maggie turned to leave.

"We can't just leave her. She'll turn." Carl told them.

"I'm not going to leave her but you are." Adrian told him as she picked the knife up.

"No. She was my mom, it should be me." Carl told her as he held his gun.

"Absolutely not. Believe me when I tell you that that is an image that you will never be able to forget, Carl." Adrian told him, shocked that he would even suggest it.

"You did it for your son, so I should do it for my mom." Carl told her.

"It's because I did it to my son that I'm telling you not to do this." she said.

"She's my mom. I have to do it. I have to." he insisted.

Adrian looked down at the boy and knew he would stand there and fight with her until Lori finally turned so she made a decision.

"Alright, but not alone. I'm going to help you. I swore on my life to your mother that I'd look out for you and your sister and your dad now and that's what I'm gonna do. Understood?" she said.

Carl nodded and then turned to Lori's body. She could see the tears falling down Carl's face as he knelt beside Lori and gave her one last hug before he stood and looked down at his mother's body.

He pointed his gun at her but his hand started to shake too bad to aim correctly. He gave a slight jump when he felt a warm hand wrap around his. Adrian gripped his hand and held his hand steady. He felt her other arm wrap around his shoulders and pulled his body tight against hers and he was happy that she had insisted on staying with him for this. The longer Carl starred at his mother the more unsure he was that he could do this. He felt Adrian's finger overlap his and a loud shot echoed through the room. He turned around and buried his face in her chest, his arms wrapping around her waist tightly, as he cried loudly.

Adrian wrapped her arms around Carl's shaking body and cried with him for a minute before she pulled herself back together.

"Okay, we need to go and find the others. Let's go." she said softly as she pulled Carl her and met Maggie at the top of the stairs by the door, tears running down her face as she held the baby.

Adrian cast one last look over her shoulder and prayed she never had to enter the room where a life had been lost to save a precious new one.