When Henry comes out, his head bent and his hands buried deep in the pockets of his bulky green winter coat, Daryl is on his second cigarette and the sun has slid below the trees, leaving only the faint echo of a purple glow on the horizon. He's lit the tiki torches, the flames of which dance on either side of the back stairs.

"Mom said you wanted to talk to me?" Henry asks nervously.

Daryl does what he so often does when Carol asks something of him he doesn't want to do. He launches right in, like a man ripping off a bandaid all at once. "Hell's yer problem with that letter ya got? 'Cause this Gloomy Gus bullshit's ruinin' yer mama's Christmas."

Henry raises his head. He slides an ungloved hand out of his pocket and runs it nervously across his mouth but doesn't say anything.

"'S from Jessica?"

Henry nods.

"She break it off with ya?"

Henry shakes his head, swallows, and then shoves his hand back in his pocket.

"Then 's the problem?" Daryl feels like he's playing twenty questions, but he wants to get this over with so Carol can enjoy the rest of her evening.

Henry looks down at the unsanded planks of the porch. He mutters so lowly that Daryl can barely make out his words. "She says she's pregnant."

"The fuck, man!" Daryl's voice echoes a little against the Virginia hills beyond the fenceline of Alexandira. He lowers it to a hiss, so Carol won't be alarmed. "I told ya not to knock 'er up! 'N ya told Carol ya weren't gonna - "

"We weren't!" Henry insists, raising his head again. "I swear, we weren't! We didn't. I mean…we didn't until the last night I was there for the play. She just kept pushing and pushing to go all the way, and I guess…." He shrugs.

"She kept pushin'?"

"I pulled out!"

"Ain't exactly reliable."

"I know…but…I did. I thought I did in time."

"'N ya just had sex the one time?" Daryl asks skeptically.

Henry nods.

"'N she was pushin' for it?"

"Yeah."

"'N now she says she's pregnant, a week later?"

Henry nods.

"Did y'all agree you was goin' steady?"

"Steady?" Henry asks.

"Steady."

Henry shakes his head in confusion.

"Only seein' each other," Daryl explains.

"Exclusive, you mean?"

"Whatever the fuck you kids call it," Daryl mutters.

"Well…we didn't really talk about it. I mean, I don't know."

Daryl shakes his head, sucks in his cigarette, and blows the smoke out again. "What she want?"

"Want?"

"'N 'er letter, what she ask ya to do 'bout it?"

"She wants me to move to the Kingdom. Help her take care of it, you know, raise it, hunt for them…I mean, I will. I guess." Henry looks like he's about ready to throw up. "I have to. I mean, I have to step up. I will step up. I mean…I did this. I have to own my choices. Right?"

"Yeah. Gotta own yer choices. But…Henry, kid….That baby ain't yers."

"What do you mean?"

"Must be another guy who knocked her up. 'S why she pushed ya into sex last time, so you'd think it was yers. I guarantee you she ain't no one week pregnant and already knows it. She found out 'tween when you were last there and when you came for the play. That baby's gonna be born in seven months."

"Why…why would she lie to me like that?"

"'Cause she's scared and she don't want to raise the baby alone. And whoever the hell the daddy is, he ain't a step-up guy."

"But…I didn't…" Henry takes in a shaky breath. "She never said she was seeing anyone else."

"C'mon, kid, she's almost thirty. Ya see her once, twice a month. Think she's been waitin' 'round for ya tween times? 'N ya two ain't 'zactly in love."

"But…" Henry breathes in hard through his nose and bites down on his bottom lip. Finally ,he lets that lip slide free. "I do love her."

"Fuck," Daryl mutters. He takes a longer drag this time and blows out the smoke shakily. "Sorry. Didn't know that."

"I mean, I think I do," Henry tells him. "What's it feel like?"

"'S what feel like?"

"Love?"

"Hell if I know."

"Well…you love Carol," Henry says. "Don't you?"

"Well..yeah," Daryl answers. "'Course. Just mean don't know how it feels for normal people."

"Well…how did you know you loved her?"

"Dunno…'cause…felt sick when she was with Zeke. Just the thought of it made me sick. 'N I's willin' to stay sick, if that'd mean she'd be happy. 'Cept I didn't think she washappy. 'N that made me sick, too. 'N…well… felt a diff'rn kind of sick whenever she'd touch me or smile at me. Not a bad sick, really…just a…dunno. Stomach thing. Didn't know what it was for the longest damn time."

"So…you knew because you felt sick?"

"Guess 's why they call it lovesick."

"And that's all?" Henry asks.

"'N also…ain't no one else in the world gets me like 'er. Tolerates me like her. Hell, believes in me. 'N ain't no one else in the world I'd rather have my back 'n a war. Ain't no one else in the world I'd rather sit in silence with."

Henry seems to consider all this. "Maybe I don't love Jessica."

"Yer dick loves 'er," Daryl explains. "And yer ego loves 'er. Them ain't the parts that matter." Smoke curling off his cigarette, he taps his forehead, and then his chest over his heart.

"And your stomach?" Henry asks with a wary smile.

"Pffft. Yeah. 'N yer stomach."

Henry sighs and leans over the balcony. "So what do I do? I mean…it's not like I can ask for a paternity test. And that baby's going to need a father. But I don't think I'm old enough to be a father. A big brother, yeah…I can do that pretty well…but…a father?"

"Dunno what to tell ya, Henry. Gonna have to talk to 'er 'bout it."

"You're sure she's lying?" Henry asks skeptically.

"Damn convenient, the timing, don'tchya think?"

"But she's so sweet."

"Sweet 'n…" He almost says stupid, but he stops himself, in case the woman ends up his daughter-in-law. The thought hits him like a slap across the face, and suddenly he realizes why Carol was so concerned about the relationship. Daryl's thought was it was none of their business, but it is their business, because Henry's family will be their family.

"And what?"

"Scared. She's scared, 'n she knows ya got morals."

Henry stands straight. "I get the impression you might have had this happen to you before."

"Nah," Daryl says. "Happened to my brother. 'Cept she didn't think he was a step-up guy in the daddy department. Just thought he'd give her money for an abortion because the guy who knocked her up wouldn't give 'er a dime."

"So what did he do?"

"Merle asked her to marry 'em. Wanted to keep the baby, be it's daddy. Ain't at all what she expected. Ain't what anyone expected. 'N she said no, and he got wild 'bout it…'n that's when she told 'em wasn't really his."

"Jesus," Henry mutters.

"Yeah. Merle went on a huge bender after that. Further provin' he wasn't daddy material. But he wanted to be." Daryl sighs. "Ain't many times in his life when he wanted to do the right thing, but that was one of 'em."

"I just don't know what - "

Henry falls abruptly silent because Carol opens the backdoor. Daryl's afraid it's because she heard him yelling fuck earlier, but it's not. "Julie's here," Carol says. "She's concerned because she stopped by John's trailer to return some of the things he left in the cabin, and he's still not back from hunting this morning. And the sun's already set. Jacob hasn't seen him all day."

Daryl's heart thuds agaisnt its earthly cage, and he tosses his half-finished cigarette on the porch before roughly grinding it out beneath his heel. John left to track those bobcats at daybreak. That's too long to be out hunting alone.

Maybe he came back unobserved, though, and he's with that redhead. The woman did show interest in him, Daryl knows, though John hasn't slept with her – not because she wasn't willing, but because he's still feeling guilty about letting his marriage blow up in smoke. But Daryl figures it's not long before John's need for an ego stroking overcomes his need to wallow in guilt. "She check the dorm?"

"No," Carol says, "but Jacob did."

"He's not with Ciara," comes Julie's voice from beside Carol as she wedges herself in the doorway. "If that's what you're thinking. Jacob and I asked around. No one's seen him."

"Then I'll go track 'em," Daryl assures her.

"I'll go with Daryl," Henry insists.

"No, stay with Herhsey, please," Carol says. "I'm going. I'm mayor. I should organize and head the search party. We'll send out a team."