"Mommy! Daddy!" Dallas yelled running into our room. I looked up from the book I was reading. The poor, little boy looked terrified. "Help! Help!" He yelled.

"What is it?" Daryl asked him.

"What's wrong, baby?" I said putting my book down with full concern on my face.

"There's a monster in my closet!" He yelled. "I need someone to go kill it!"

Daryl and I shared a look, then I looked back at Dallas. "Dallas, sweet pea, we talked about this. There are no monsters in your closet or under your bed. I promise." I offered him a smile.

"Yes, there is! It's gonna get me!"

"Dallas." Daryl said. "Come on, buddy. When are you gonna get over bein' scared like this? Yer sister ain't even scared like that." He said roughly. I gave him a look after saying that. Even though everything he said was true, I didn't think it was fair because it almost sounded like he was picking on him.

Dallas looked like he was thinking. "Okay." He sighed. "But…can you at least come close my closet door so he can't escape?"

"What makes ya thank monsters cain't open doors?" Daryl said nonchalantly. I looked at Daryl, then back to Dallas. His little eyes were huge now.

Dallas slept in between us terrified that night. I glared at Daryl but he didn't seem to notice or think he did anything wrong. Dallas will probably never sleep in his room again.

While eating breakfast the next morning, I was feeding Gemma and making weird faces and noises trying to get her to eat. I could hear the twins telling us stuff that happened in school but I wasn't listening, I was only paying attention to my precious little gem.

"Mommy?" LB complained. "You're doing it again."

"Doing what, my little butterfly?" I asked without looking away from Gemma.

"Making weird faces and ignoring us." She said.

"I am not ignoring you."

"Ya kinda are." Daryl said quietly but loud enough for me to hear.

I gave him a look, then looked at LB. "I'm sorry, but your sister is little and she needs more attention than you two do. She's a baby."

"She's two." Daryl said roughly. I looked at him. "And ya don't need to be feedin' 'er. She can do it herself."

I just stared at him for a moment, then cleared my throat. We have been like this with each other for a while now. "I know." I finally said giving him a dirty look. "But she likes when I do it."

"Well, too bad. Let 'er do it herself, Abigail." Daryl said again.

I wanted to argue but lately everything is an argument with him so I just let it go. I sat Gemma's spoon down and let her eat herself. However, she started to make sounds and bounce in her seat. "Mama!" She cried. She held her little arms out sort of gesturing for me to continuing feeding her.

I looked back at Daryl. "See. She likes when I do it."

"That's cuz ya do it too much and ya baby 'er and she's used to it." Daryl snapped. "So course she's gonna keep wantin' ya to do it."

"Then, I will." I snapped back. I was getting irritated by his voice and just didn't want to hear it anymore. It was a dumb argument anyway. We stared at each other for a minute.

"Yeah." Daryl finally said. "Thank I'm gonna head out." He stood up and began walking towards the door. "Don't wait up for me."

I put my hands on the table and sighed closing my eyes. I wish that things were not how they are. I miss how well we used to get along. I miss the way my husband used to touch me, now he doesn't even look at me the same. We don't look at each other the same. And it's not all bad. Sometimes we have nicer days…but…today, obviously, is not one of those days.

I looked up and realized the twins were staring at me. "Are you both done eating?" I asked them, they nodded. "Alright. Then go brush your teeth and get ready for school. Come on." I said. They both got up and went down the hall to their room. I looked back at Gemma, she smiled at me. I smiled back and pinched her little cheek. "You are just so precious, you know that?" I picked her up and kissed her a bunch of times, she just giggled.

So, here's a little recap on what happened over the past two years. Daryl and I never took that trip like he wanted us to. We were planning to a few times once Gemma got older, but it just never happened. Every time we said we were going to do it, something came up with one of the kids, especially Gemma. And there was no way I was leaving my precious little gem when something was wrong. That little girl sure did get sick a lot, but I just figured she was like her mama.

Yeah, so, things weren't great between Daryl and I. As I mentioned earlier, we argue a lot now. I mean…we got into the occasional argument before, but it was never like this. We barely communicate anymore. Sometimes I question if we are even still married. That's bad.

There are days when he gets on my nerves so bad that I swear I could kill him. Just like this morning! He just wanted to start with me, he couldn't care less if I baby Gemma. I honestly think he's just jealous. He's jealous because I pick Gemma over him most times. Make that all the time. But is that so wrong? She's my child. My baby. Of course I'm going to choose her over him. That's what a good mother would do.

I can't let Daryl take all of the blame though. I have my moments too. Like the other day, he left the window open in Gemma's room to "give her some fresh air" even though I told him time and time again not to do that. I thought it would be too cold outside for her. So, we argued about that too. I know I overreacted about it, I admit it. And maybe she should have some fresh air, but I just worry about her all the time.

I'm very overprotective of my precious little gem. I wasn't even like that with the twins. I think Daryl gets annoyed by that too. I remember how mad he got because Gemma was still in diapers not that long ago. We were both so eager to get the twins potty trained but I wasn't in a rush with Gemma. He's going to have to get over himself though. I mean…aren't most moms a little more protective of their babies? I don't know. That's just what I always thought. My mom was like that with Carl.

Tragedy struck a few months back. Daryl had come back from a run with a group and said Abraham was killed. I was so shocked, at first, but then I just broke down. I have known him for a long time now and even though we weren't exactly close, I still knew him and we went through stuff together.

Abraham was the one that carried me all the way home that one time when I was taken by those weird people. I was so sick and weak that I just passed out in my dad's arms. I remember waking up and seeing Abraham, he was carrying me. And he carried me all the way back to camp like that. I appreciated him. He was a good man.

We had a funeral for him a few days after his death. I remember Sasha crying, Rosita cried too, but mainly Sasha. Thy had gotten together not long after coming to Pine Lane. Rosita kind of just hooked up with different guys from the community here and there. But Sasha and Abraham…they were a good couple.

I talked with her briefly after the funeral and gave her my condolences. Sasha just nodded. She seemed so sad. However, she looked at my precious little gem in my arms and she made her smile. I let her hold her and something changed her in expression. It was magical. That's when I knew just how precious my little gem was.

I never let her out of my sight for very long. When she visits with grammy and pappy, she never stays over. I won't let her. I always bring her back home. My dad even asked me one time, they wanted their grandkids to stay over a few nights. I said okay for the twins but no way for Gemma. I just…I couldn't let that happen. I don't like her being away from me. I don't even know what I'm going to do when she starts school. That's something that I am definitely dreading.

I remember when my precious little gem said her first word. It was "mama", which I was so happy and proud about. And her little voice is beautiful. When I first heard it, it sounded like an angel to me. She was just prefect. Everything about her.

"Mommy." LB said bringing me back to the now. I turned to her. "We're ready to go now." She spoke again.

I smiled. "Okay." I walked over to them and gave both of them hugs and kisses and then sent them on their way. "I love you. Keep your thinking caps on." I laughed. They both gave me annoyed looks, which made me laugh again. Then, they headed out the door.

I turned to Gemma. "Now it's just me and you, little girl." I tickled her belly. She giggled. That's my favorite sound in the world. I smiled. I picked her up and blew on her tummy, she laughed loudly. Then, I spun her around, she laughed even louder. It made me laugh myself.

I stopped and kissed her cheek a bunch of times, then set her down. I sat on the floor in front of her. "You wanna play a game with mama?" I asked her sweetly. She shook her head no. "No?" I said. "You wanna play with your toys?"

"No." She said. I noticed her little smile was gone.

I smirked at her. "You wanna play by yourself without mama, don't you, you little stinker?" I tapped her nose.

"No." She said again. She looked sad or tired or something.

I gave her a concerned look. "What's a matter, sweet baby? You tired?" I pushed her hair back.

"No." Was all she kept saying.

I was becoming concerned. "Well, what's wrong, my precious little gem?"

"I no feel good, mama." She said quietly and sadly.

"You don't feel good?" I felt her forehead, it didn't feel warm at all. "You don't have a fever. Why don't you feel good? What's bothering you?"

"I don't know." She said.

I thought for a minute while pushing her hair back. "Well, how about you take a little nap? That used to make me feel better when I was little and didn't feel good." She didn't say anything. "Come on, let's take a nap." I picked her up and laid her on the couch. "Try to get some sleep." I played with her hair.

I sat there with her for a while but she wasn't falling asleep. "Come on, sweetie. Go sleepy, okay?" I told her and tried to get her comfortable. "You'll feel better when you wake up." I smiled at her and rubbed her cheek.

"My back hurt." She said.

"Your back?" I questioned. It's weird for a toddler's back to be hurting, isn't it? "Well, let's take a look, okay?" I smiled and helped her roll over so I could look at her back. My smile faded immediately. She had a decent sized bruise back there. And it was ugly. "Oh, baby. Where'd you get this bruise? Did you fall? Did someone hit you?"

"No." She said.

"Does it hurt when I touch it?" I gently touched her bruise. She didn't flinch at all, but she also didn't answer me. She did cough a few times though. "Aw, you poor, little girl." I said and gently rubbed her back. I stayed away from the bruise though. She eventually fell asleep.

I was worried about that bruise. Where did she get it? I was around her all the time so I think I would know if she got hurt. I doubt one of the twins would hurt their two year old sister, but I would still have to ask them. I don't know what it could be? I mean…bruises just don't appear, do they?

I sat on the couch with Gemma for a long time. She was sleeping longer than a usual nap. Maybe she really isn't feeling good. The thought concerned me.

Just then, I heard the door open and looked up. It was Daryl. "Oh, hey." I said and walked over to him. "Where'd you go?"

"Nowhere." He replied. "I just went up to the shop to get a few things."

"Oh. Good." I nodded. We stared at each other for a moment. "Hey, can you come look at something? Gemma has this weird bruise on her back."

"Okay." He said. We both walked over to a still soundly sleeping Gemma.

I lifted her shirt in the back and showed him the bruise. "It just like appeared. I don't know what it is or where it came from."

"Okay." Daryl said. "Well, it's a bruise." He said like it was no big deal. I looked at him. "Doesn't look weird to me. She's a kid. They always get bruises."

I hesitated. I have to admit that it made me feel a bit better that he wasn't all that concerned about it. Maybe I was just overreacting because she's my baby. "So…you don't think there's anything weird about it?"

Daryl looked at me. "No." He answered. "It's probably nothing."

I bit my lip and looked back down at the bruise. To me, it was strange. But…I don't want to argue. I looked back at my husband and gave him a small smile. "Yeah, you're probably right. I just…worry about them."

"Yeah, ya do. Cuz yer a good mom." He gave me serious look. I looked back at him, he gave me a small smile. That was the nicest thing he's said to me in a long time. And I appreciated it. "Hey, I'm sorry about this mornin'." He said. "I get annoyed very easily now…fer some reason."

I nodded. "Me too." There was a brief pause after that, then we just stared at each other. I decided to be the one to make the first move and I hugged him. He hugged me back and we just stood there holding each other. It felt very nice. Maybe today was one of those better days after all.

Suddenly, I heard Gemma stir in her sleep and she woke up just looking at us. "I feel better." She said and smiled.

Daryl and I looked at each other and just laughed. I guess he was right. And I was thankful that she was okay. "Come here, you." Daryl picked her up and threw her in the air, then caught her making her giggle. Then, he kissed her a bunch of times. I just smiled at the two of them.

Yeah. Today was one of those better days.

A few days had gone by and all was good. Gemma played with the twins and didn't complain about not feeling well again. I always make sure the twins play gentle with her because she's six years younger than they are. She could get hurt worse than them.

The twins were also doing well. They were both doing very well in school, especially LB. She always comes home and tells us how she's the smartest in her class. Daryl and I just smile at each other. There was no doubt in my mind that she was intelligent but I didn't know that she was the smartest in her class. However, her teacher told me one day just how smart she is. She really was the smartest in the class! I always knew she was a little smarty, but I didn't know she was that smart. I felt proud. And she had like a ton of friends. My little butterfly is my little social butterfly. She reminds me of me. I just had to smile.

Dallas was a little different than his sister. He was smart too but just took a little extra time to learn new things. And he was on the shy side. It took him this long to finally make some friends other than LB. The two were very close, which I love but I also wanted them to have their own friends and learn to work on a team. Dallas was slowly opening up more and more, which made me happy. There's nothing wrong with being quiet and reserved, don't get me wrong, I just want him to have some friends. He does now, and he's happy, which makes me happy. Plus, he's a little sweetheart. His teacher told me how he's always helping out in the classroom. Dallas sometimes reminds me of Daryl.

Speaking of Daryl, we have been getting along a little better than we were before. Not much, we still haven't made love for a while but we haven't been arguing either. It's little steps like that that help our relationship. I really want things to be how they were between us again. I miss that. I miss him. But things have been okay so I don't want to dwell on the bad stuff.

Now on to my precious little gem. Gemma wasn't like anyone, she didn't remind me of me or Daryl or…anyone in the family for that matter. And I know she's only two and her personality is still developing, but by this time with the twins, I could already tell what kinds of people they were going to be. And I was right because they are still like that. But Gemma…she was completely her own person. And I loved that about her.

I couldn't even see my face or Daryl's face in hers. She doesn't really look like either of us, and her red hair makes it even worse. Daryl joked the one day about her not being his kid. I just laughed and gently smacked his arm. Even if he wasn't the father, it doesn't make sense that she doesn't look like me either. But I was okay with that. I was alright with that because she is gorgeous. She's the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen. Gemma was even prettier than her older sister. I know that might sound bad coming from me, but…it was just true.

And I hate to play favorites, but…I was so close with my precious little gem. I love the twins. I do. So much. But…I just did not have the bond with them that I do with Gemma. And it made me feel guilty, but at the same time, I couldn't help it. I just love her so much. I'm so glad she's mine.

The one night everything was how it usually was. I put Gemma to bed, then the twins to bed like I normally do(they get to stay up a little later now) then when I was done with that, I stuck my head in Gemma's room to check on her. She seemed to be asleep so I started to leave but then I heard, "mama" in her soft angel like voice.

I walked more into the room. "What's wrong, my precious little gem? You should be asleep already." I told her.

"Everything hurt." She said quietly.

I gave her a concerned look and then sat on the bed next to her. "What do you mean everything hurts, baby?"

"My back, legs, arms." She complained.

I was concerned but I didn't want her to know. I didn't want to scare her. I gave her a look and smirked at her. "Oh, you are too young to have that kind of pain." I waved her off. "You know what I think? I think you're just trying to come sleep in mommy and daddy's bed." I tickled her belly.

She let out a low giggle. "Can I?"

I smiled at her before answering. "Of course you can. Come on, my precious little gem." I picked her up and carried her to my room. She had gotten used to sleeping in there with us, so she still wants to sometimes. I know that's not good and she needs to learn to sleep in her own room, but I just couldn't say no to her. I laid her in between us and snuggled with her. I love her so much.

The next day was Saturday and the twins didn't have school. I was making them some lunch while the kids were playing. Daryl went hunting and took Dog with him. Speaking of the dog, he had gotten really smart. Daryl trained him well. He's our protector.

Well anyway, I was heating some spaghetti-O's on the stove when I heard Gemma scream. "Mama!" She ran to me. I saw that her nose was bleeding, she was crying pretty hard. I didn't know if she was hurt or just scared that her nose was bleeding.

"Oh my goodness." I said and picked her up. I held her while we went into the bathroom, then sat her down on the sink counter. I got some tissues and held them under her nose. "What happened?"

"It blooding!" She said and cried.

"It's okay, sweetheart." I got pretty angry after that. One of the twins had to have hurt her. I'm sure it was an accident, but I always warned them to play gentle with her.

I finally got Gemma's nose to stop bleeding and held her until she stopped crying. After that, I put her down for a nap. Then, I practically stomped into the living room where the twins were playing. "Lori-Beth! Dallas!" I said sternly. They both looked at me. "What happened to your sister? Why was her nose bleeding?" I crossed my arms over my chest. They seemed to hesitate. "Someone better answer me or you're both going to your room for a timeout."

"I don't know." Dallas said.

I looked at him. "You don't know why your little sister's nose was bleeding?" I said with wide-eyes.

"No, she just ran out the room crying."

I squinted my eyes at him. He had to be lying. "Really? It just started bleeding?"

"We're telling the truth, mommy. It did just start to bleed!" LB then said.

I stared at them for a long time. Part of me wanted to believe them but the other part had a feeling that a two year old wouldn't just get a nose bleed for no reason. "When Gemma wakes up from her nap, I'm gonna ask her what happened and if she tells me something differently, which means you two lied, then you're both going to be in big bad trouble. You hear me?" I gave them a stern look. My mom used to say that. They both just nodded at me.

Later on that day, I did ask Gemma about what happened and turns out, the twins were telling the truth. I apologized to them for being so harsh and they forgave me and we had a good rest of the day.

However, that night, it was Daryl's turn to put the twins to bed. While he was doing that, I figured I would check on Gemma. She was sleeping on her stomach. I gently rubbed her back causing her shirt to raise a little. I went to pull it down when I noticed something strange. That bruise that was on her back came back but it was worse, it was so much bigger! I was horrified and called Daryl into the room turning the lamp on.

"What is it?" He said sounding a bit tired.

"Look." I said horrified and showed him the bruise. His eyes seemed to widen a little and we shared a look.

"I just don't think we should make a big deal about it." Daryl said. We were in our room now so we didn't wake up the kids. "I mean…it could be nothin'."

"Yeah, and it also could be something." I said back. "I wanna take her to see Dr. Cohen."

Daryl sighed. "Look, you can do what ya want but I just think it's a bruise."

"But how could she get a bruise like that?" I snapped. "She's two! She doesn't go anywhere! She's with me all day—

"Okay." Daryl cut me off. "I'm sorry. Just…do what ya thank ya gotta." He said seriously and nodded at me.

I calmed down a little and moved closer to him and kissed him. It was nice. I smiled at him. "Thank you. I love you."

He gave me a tight smile. "I love you, too." I smiled warmly at him.

Just then, I heard little feet and looked towards the door. Gemma emerged into the room. "Mama." She said sounding scared. I noticed her nose was bleeding again. I became concerned and ran to help her.

"It's okay, baby." I said trying to calm her. "It's just a nasty, little nosebleed." I took her into our bathroom. Daryl followed.

"Mama, I no feels good." Gemma cried. Just then, she puked. Some got some on me but most on the floor. Her vomit was red…like blood.

I looked at Daryl horrified. He almost looked the same way.

We took Gemma to the doctor the next morning. He ran a bunch of tests on her and now we were waiting for the results. My legs were shaking and I felt sick to my stomach. I felt Daryl rub my back.

Dr. Cohen finally came into the room, he looked concerned. He looked right us and said, "it's not good."

And then my world fell apart. I listened to him talk while feeling like I was going to pass out. When he was done, Daryl and I shared a look. Then, I burst into tears and Daryl held me.

Please no. I thought. Not my precious little gem.