Ok, guys. The time is nearing. I've had some of this written for months and have finally almost ready to post it. Like within the next two chapters. Oh, I hope you are as excited as I am. I wrote for 8 hours one day for this! It's coming out soon. I'm so excited!
I also excited for tonights episode but we all know how they start out. Happy and delightful(as much as they can be for an apocalypse) and then death and destruction!
Let me just say... those hospital people are really getting on my nerves almost as much as that preacher. Ugh! Anyway here's another chapter.
Lily is my OC and everything else belongs to its respective owners.
As she sat with Carl, Glenn told her he was going to take Axel and Oscar outside to wait for Maggie and Daryl to come back. Lily slid out from under Carl so she could give Beth a break from babysitting.
The girl handed over the baby gratefully.
"She's actually quite good," she said smiling at the doctor.
"Yeah, I hardly heard her cry at all." The baby girl started to fuss when Lily took her but quieted down when she rocked back and forth.
"You're good with her."
"Well, its unintentional. I've never spent much time around babies. I just know how to get them out of a person…and when they're sick…"
After attempting to get her to drink some water for a few minutes, Carl joined them. He had already wiped the sleep from his red eyes and was readjusting his hat to cover his messy hair.
"Hey," Lily acknowledged him. He just nodded at her. She was more concerned with him than Rick because he had just run off into the prison and had not come back.
"Can I hold her?" Carl asked through a tight throat.
"Yeah, of course. Watch her head." He took the wiggly baby in his arms and sat down at one of the tables just staring at her. As he looked at her, he reached his hand up to touch her head and her little arm came out from under the blankets and curled around his finger.
"Look," Lily whispered tapping Beth's arm. Beth looked and smiled. After all the devastation that day, it was nice to see someone smiling. Even Carl smiled when the baby took his finger in her small hands.
The door opened and Daryl and Maggie rushed in ripping open their bags.
"How's she doin'?" he asked taking the baby as Maggie mixed the formula with water and poured it into a bottle.
"She's been really good," Beth said. "Hardly cried at all."
When Daryl took her she began to fuss until he gave her the bottle. Why he decided to take on the challenge of feeding a baby instead of handing her off to someone else, Lily didn't understand but she watched him from the table. She was surprised how well he handled her for appearing to be such a big gruff man.
"She got a name yet?" Daryl asked looking at Carl.
"Not yet," the boy responded. "But I was thinking maybe Sofia. Then there's Carol, too." The adults fell silent at the suggestions. All good names, but too many painful memories associated with them. "Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or…Lori. I don't know."
"Yeah…" Daryl cooed looking the baby. "You like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right?"
There were murmurs of approval.
"Not quite sure what she'll think of it in a few years…" Lily mentioned.
"She'll thank us for giving her a kick ass name. Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh? You like that sweetheart?"
He fed her until the bottle was empty then he declared it was time for bed.
Beth, Hershel, and Lily laughed. "What's so funny?" he asked.
"She needs to be burped first," Hershel told him.
"What? Burped?"
"Yes," Lily said walking over to him and adjusting the baby so her head was over his shoulder. "Now you pat them until they burp."
"Like this?" His large hands patted her back gently in the hopes she would burp.
"Yeah, like that."
Things went went until she threw up down his back. Once everyone realized what had happened, they burst into laughter. Glenn had sunk down to a sitting position on the stairs he was laughing so hard and Lily clutched the table hoping it would keep her on her feet. It didn't because she found herself curled in a ball laughing so hard it hurt.
"Haha!" he laughed loudly. "Very, funny. Now someone come take her."
Beth rushed forward to take her as he wiped the spit up off his back.
Once everyone was done laughing, they began to file to their cells for bed. Lily had the baby balanced in one arm and a bottle and formula in the other.
"That's a good look for you," Daryl said from across the room.
She laughed knowing he was joking. "Funny. Next thing you know, she's going to start calling me 'mama'."
"Nah, we're all moms and pops to her now."
"It's better than not having them there at all…"
"True."
"Does she seem a little fussy since we fed her?" Lily asked looking down as the baby squirmed a little more.
"Wouldn't know. Why's it matter?"
"She could be allergic to the formula. It happens more often than you'd think. The hospital had to keeps tons of both. Then again she might just be fussy. When she gets red and gassy, then we should start to worry."
"I thought you were just ER not babies?"
"I had friends in the hospital. They were the baby watchers."
"Why do we have to sleep with her?" he whined.
"Because I know what to do."
"I can take her," Beth said walking up to them.
"It's ok. We can watch her."
"May I take her?" Beth asked.
Lily smiled. Beth really wanted to look after her and had done a great job earlier in the day so Lily didn't see a problem with it. "Yeah, go ahead." She handed over the baby and Beth walked back to her cell gently lying her down.
"We're in the clear," Daryl sighed.
"Don't seem to excited about it. We're all gonna need to pitch in to take care of her."
"I got the formula."
"Touche."
"Bed." Lily dropped the bag of baby supplies right inside the opening of Beth's cell door before joining Daryl on the mattress on the perch and fell asleep in his arms.
A strange thought occurred to me tonight. What would I do if Norman Reedus ever found this? What would he think? I know it'd be awesome that he found it, but so embarrassed if took the time to read it. At least nothing too weird has happened, right!