The sky threatens snow. Carol snaps the top button of her coat as she heads up the steps of the historic mansion. She hopes the boys don't get caught in the Kingdom for a week. Hershey is already talking excitedly about staying up all the way to midnight for New Year's Eve, and she could sure use Daryl's help to keep him entertained.
As she enters the house, Roderick Hamilton is coming out. "Good morning, Carol," he says. "I was just dropping off my report on the state of agriculture. Things are looking up since I implemented that rotation system."
Roderick is good at what he does, as the Director of Agriculture, and Carol supposes she could lose the mayorship to a worse man, but she could also lose it to a better one. Maybe she shouldn't have talked Aaron out of running. Roderick has spent too much time inside these gates and is too insular, she thinks, too complacent about their safety.
"I'll look it over," she assures him, and then watches as he clatters down the stairs and makes his way over to where the launderers are hanging clothes to pump hands and win votes.
[*]
Judith, not having expected a visit from Daryl so soon after the last one, greets him with more than her usual zeal. He gives her a bear hug and sets her back on her feet. Daryl loves his boys, Henry and Hershey, but there's will always be a special place in his heart for his Little Ass Kicker, the first baby he ever held in this world, the one he was the very first to feed.
"Ready for a rematch?" he asks, tapping down the hat on her head.
"Range is closed from Christmas to March," she tells him. "But I can still beat you at five card stud."
Daryl chuckles. "We'll see 'bout that."
They set a time to play and Daryl goes looking for the King to arrange a trade, while Henry vanishes, head bent and looking nervous, to confront Jessica.
Daryl finds Ezekiel in his "throne room," in the armchair to the side of the folding Council table with its blue plastic chairs, with Michonne on his lap. They're sucking face like a couple of teenagers and Daryl steps back toward the door, but hits a theater seat in the process and curses at the sudden jab of pain.
Michonne slides off Ezekiel's lap.
"Sorry," Daryl mutters. "Though this was a place of business."
As Ezekiel rises from his throne, Michonne smirks and says, "Well, we were getting busy. What brings you here?"
[*]
Daryl doesn't see Henry for the rest of the day or at the communal dinner, but it's eaten in shifts in the cafeteria. He plays poker with Judith and chess with R.J. and loses at both, though only at the poker intentionally.
He gives into Jerry's urging to "come see the baby," and just like before, it's a plump ugly thing. He tries to think of something nice to say. "Looks like he's a good eater."
"Oh, yeah, he's the best eater." Jerry pats his belly and grins. "So am I."
"Yes, dear," Nabila says indulgently, "but at some age that ceases to be a compliment."
Henry must spend the night either at Jessica's or at one of his old friend's rooms, because he doesn't come to the trailer Daryl's been assigned, the one he shared with Carol the last time they were here. It's only been a day, and he's surprised to find he misses her, that he can actually feel the absence of her warmth beside him. He doesn't sleep well, but when he does, he sleeps in late.
He's awakened by a tumult on the basketball court outside the trailers, the sound of men shouting. Loading his crossbow, he spills out of the trailer door to find Henry and some man fighting. They're surrounded by a half circle of men and women who are watching the fight.
Henry lands a solid punch and blood spurts from the man's nose. Daryl stands at the bottom of the stairs and watches the fray as Ezekiel strides across the other side of the court toward the scene. He stops beside Daryl and asks, "What started this? What's going on?"
"Dunno."
"Well, aren't you going to stop Henry? He's your son."
"'M sure he's got his reasons."
Ezekiel shakes his head, struts on, and brakes up the fight. Soon enough, he's walking with Henry, the man, and Jessica toward one of the school buildings.
Daryl turns and disappears inside his trailer to pack up his gear, and then he heads to the cafeteria to see what's for breakfast.
He's sipping coffee made from the Kingdom's own beans – one six ounce cup offered per day per citizen and guest – when Michonne sits down across from him with a tray containing a bowl of oatmeal. "So…" she says. "What do you know about this story that's coming down through the grapevine? Henry?" She raises an eyebrow. "In a fight with the master plumber?"
"Dunno a damn thing," he replies and nods to Michonne's kids as they flank her on either side with their own breakfast trays.
[*]
Daryl returns to the classroom trailer to grab his things, swings his now much lighter after trade pack on his back, and opens the door to find Henry preparing to knock. There's a red bruise beneath the young man's left eye that will probably purple into black by New Year's Eve. He seems in a hurry to leave, his staff in his hand and a pack on his back. "I'm ready to head back if you are," he says.
"Mhmhm." Daryl steps out, spits over the rotting porch rail of the classroom trailer, rubs his nose, and says, "'S head out."
It's not until they stop four hours later to eat in a little wooden house at the side of the road that Daryl finally asks, "So? Hell happened back there?"
Henry fishes around in his tin can of garbanzo beans – which are a bit shriveled but still edible – with a spoon. He shovels several into his mouth, chews like it pains him to do so, and swallows. They're sitting in dusty chairs before the fireplace they've lit to warm their hands and feet before resuming the cold journey home. "Yeah, you were right. I'm not the father."
"Take it that man who's face you were poundin' is?"
Henry nods grimly and then looks up at Daryl, his face all apology. "Look, I'm sorry. I was just going to confront him verbally, but he was so smug I lost control of myself. I didn't handle it like a Dixon. I – "
Daryl lets out one short sharp cough of a laugh. "Ya handled it 'zactly like a Dixon."
Henry ducks his head and smiles. "Mom would say I was being too hotheaded."
"Yeah, well, she's the yin to my yang."
"He's married. The father."
"Married?" Daryl asks.
"He already has two kids. I wasn't fighting him just because he knocked her up. When she told him she was pregnant, he told her to find a way to abort it, that he doesn't want anything to do with the baby, that she can't claim it's his, because he doesn't want to ruin his marriage over it."
"Should of thought of that 'fore he stuck his dick in 'nother woman."
"Yeah," Henry agrees. "That's what I said. He told her he'd deny it if she said it was his, that he'd insist she was lying and that they never slept together, and everyone would just think it was mine anyway. So…I confronted him." Henry sighs and slams down the half empty can of beans on the coffee table, which clanks. "I know I don't really have any right to be angry at her. I mean, we never said we were exclusive. I never asked to be. But I haven't been doing anything with anyone else!"
"Mhmhm…" Daryl agrees, throwing back his canteen and gulping down some water to wash down his lunch. He lowers the canteen to rest on his knee. "Is that for lack of willin', or lack of opportunity?"
Henry drums his fingers on the arm of his chair. "Point taken. But I think I've lost all respect for her. Because he was married. And he has kids. I mean, it would be one thing if us not being exclusive, she was with some single guy, but – he's married."
"Mhmhm," Daryl murmurs. "So what happens now?"
"We broke up. Me and Jessica. Ezekiel…he gave me a talking to and also to the other man. And he said if Jessica has the baby, the community will make sure it's provided for and that it's the Kingdom's child, and some of that asshole's rations have to go to help provide for it. But Jessica said she's not sure she wants it, even if the Kingdom helps out. She's not sure she wants the responsibility of being a single mother, so I…" He chews his lip again and looks away toward the fire.
"You what?"
"I maybe said I'd adopt it when it's born and bring it to the Hilltop."
[*]
Carol just about loses her mind when Daryl tells her. "He's nineteen. He's too young to be a father. Especially a single father." She's pacing their bedroom floor, across the deerskin rug before the fireplace.
"His call."
She stops and turns to him, the fire illuminating the soft lines of her still so beautiful face. "Maybe we should adopt it. And Henry could be the baby's big brother and help us raise it."
Daryl studies her eyes, the joy driving out the worry and burying that hint of sadness that has surfaced at the memory, perhaps, of their own lost baby. "That what you want?"
"Would you be willing? I mean, we're no spring chickens, you and I."
He snorts. "Were we ever?"
"We'd be past seventy when he or she leaves home. If we make it to seventy."
"If? Hell, woman, yer invincible."
"If we don't," she says. "I know Henry will raise him or her, and he'll be older then. More mature." She smiles, walks toward him, and wraps her arms around his neck. "You want to raise a baby with me?"
His tongue snakes out between his lips in a happy smile. "Yeah. Wanna raise a baby with you." The fire crackles and pops as their mouths press together.
[*]
Henry, with obvious relief, agrees to the arrangement. "I just wanted to do the right thing," he tells Carol.
"I know you did."
"But I've felt like there was a vice grip on my chest the last two days. This'll be…this'll be a lot better. But I'll help. I promise. I'll help."
New Year's Day comes and goes. Carol doesn't win the election. She loses by the slim margin of two votes and Roderick assumes the mantle of mayor. Aaron remains Chairman of the Council and promises Carol he'll keep Roderick in line and not let him ignore their security needs. Carol is appointed as the new Director of Interior when the old one grows weary of the job.
She decides it's not such a bad thing. With the baby coming to them, she could use a break from the great weight of the Mayorship. Maybe a two-term break, because Aaron wants to run next time. She can wait to make a bid for her second term until Aaron's done with his first, and by then the baby will be ready for preschool.
She settles against Daryl's side as they sit on the couch now, and he stretches his arm out behind her. Hershey plays with his growing puppy on the rug before the unlit fireplace, as a late spring breeze rustles the curtains lining the open living room window. John, whom they've invited for dinner, rocks in the rocking chair opposite Daryl's temporarily abandoned, worn armchair. They invited Henry for dinner, too, but he said he had a date with Cyndie. That relationship seems to be off to a decent start, and Carol wishes them well. Cyndie's a bit old for him, she thinks…but she's no Jessica.
"So when's the baby due?" John asks.
"Not until late June, but it could potentially come any day now," Carol tells him.
John leans forward in his chair. "Thought y'all should know, this might be the last pity dinner invitation you have to extend me."
"It's not a pity invitation," Carol insists.
"Julie asked me to move back in."
John's letter made an impact on Julie, and they got to talking more openly than they ever had before. Julie and her lover broke up in February, and Julie and John have been taking slow steps toward each other ever since, maybe even dating you might call it.
"Congrats," Daryl tells him.
"I'm happy to hear that," Carol says. "I hope things work out for you two."
"Me too," John agrees as little Huck yelps and licks a laughing Hershey's nose. "Me too."
Carol rests her head on Daryl's shoulder and watches her adopted son play with his puppy. She hopes the girl is a baby, secretly longs for a daughter, but she'll happily take a third boy. Any child will be loved in this home she and Daryl have built with their own hands from the once-living growth of the forest, in this growing community they've helped shape and protect and feed.
She rests a hand on his knee, squeezes, and dreams of growing old together.
THE END