AN: Here we are.

Several people expressed their interest in me continuing this and I love the universe, so here goes.

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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"You need me to carry you?" Daryl asked. "You steady on your feet?"

"I don't think it affects my ability to walk, Daryl," Carol teased. She did let Daryl take her hand and help her out of the car, but she was accustomed to the fact that he was going to do that at almost every opportunity he was given.

"You didn't see you back at the hospital," Daryl said. "Newborn calves got a better grasp on usin' their legs than you did."

Carol closed the car door, but she didn't immediately start toward the house. Daryl tugged at her arm, but when she tugged back, he stood there and waited. She needed a moment. Maybe she needed the air. Maybe she just needed a moment to collect herself. Whatever it was, she could have it. To show that it didn't bother him in the slightest, Daryl let go of Carol's arm to light a cigarette for himself and she leaned against the car.

"I couldn't believe it, Daryl," Carol said. "I still—can't believe it."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"I'll be honest with you," he said, "I'm feeling a bit lightheaded myself. It surely wasn't what I was expecting. We were talking about adopting again. We said—right about when Jack turned two. It felt like the right time. But I didn't expect this was how it was all gonna happen."

Carol wiped at her eyes and Daryl caught her hand with the one that he wasn't using to hold the cigarette. He shook his head at her.

"Unless there's happy behind them tears, then I don't think I like seein' 'em," Daryl said.

"I don't even know why I'm crying," Carol admitted. "I don't think it's—I'm not feeling sad or...Daryl I don't even know if I'm feeling very happy. I'm just..." She shook her head again.

"Have a lot of feelings. Feeling overwhelmed," Daryl offered. "I was figuring it up in the car. Now—this doesn't get it down to the day, but if you think that we've been talking about this for as long as we have? Carol that's fourteen years at twelve months a year. And for a while there? I almost hated the passing of every one of those months because I knew what was going to happen if your monthly came on you. And if you count all them months? It was 168 months of waitin' for something that just never came."

Carol looked like she might just go ahead and give into a complete flood of tears, but she was choking it back with everything in her. She nodded her head at Daryl and tried to smile despite the fact that she was choking on everything she was swallowing down.

"And now it's happened and I wasn't expecting it," Carol said. She shook her head. "I stopped expecting it and now it's like..."

Daryl laughed and Carol raised an eyebrow at him in question.

"And now you're expecting," Daryl said. "And—Jack is expecting us. And Miss Josephine is expecting us. So let's go inside and let them know that everything's good here. OK?"

Carol nodded at him.

"But you're happy?" Carol asked.

"I told you three times that I am," Daryl said. She frowned at him just when her frown had started to relax a little. "An' I'ma tell you again," Daryl added quickly. "I'm happy. Couldn't be prouder if I tried. Come on."

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"We still got some of that good pound cake?" Daryl asked.

Carol got up from the table. Daryl hadn't actually meant for her to serve it, but she was already on her way to do so. In her absence, Daryl took the coffee pot and filled the cups up that she'd put on the table. He quickly fixed his coffee the way he liked it and prepared Carol's for her. Then he slid the sugar closer to the elderly woman's seat in case she wanted it and moved the porcelain cow in her direction.

When Carol returned to the table, she was carrying two plates of the cake. She left and quickly returned with a third.

"This is good cake," Daryl said, tasting his piece. "Carol made it last night and I was almost sure I finished the whole thing even after I was stuffed from dinner."

"It's a little dry," Carol offered.

"Looks perfectly moist to me, dear," Josephine responded, examining the cake on its plate. "So Dr. James said you were well? You're being awfully standoffish about the whole thing."

Carol nodded her head. She was a little red in the cheeks and Daryl wondered if she was about to have one of the spells of not feeling well like she'd had that morning. She didn't excuse herself from the table, though, and instead she went the opposite direction and put a rather large forkful of cake into her mouth, rendering her mute for at least a moment.

"He said she was well," Daryl offered, deciding that maybe it was his place to speak since Carol was clearly not planning on doing so any time soon and, even though Josephine had agreed to coffee with them, she'd probably like the chance to get home in time to prepare her evening meal. "We did get a bit of a surprise, though. It appears that we'll be welcoming another member of our household before too long."

Josephine looked at Daryl without a hint of recognition on her features. Maybe it hadn't sunk in because it seemed so far outside the realm of the likelihood of events that Carol might be expecting their first biological child together. Maybe she was simply accustomed, after their announcement that they'd be bringing home Jack, to the fact that they occasionally added new members to their family. No matter the reason, there wasn't a hint of surprise or even curiosity on the old woman's face. She looked a little more surprised by the flavor of the cake than she did by Daryl's words, and a quick glance in Carol's direction told Daryl that she was watching to see what the old woman's reaction might be.

Daryl cleared his throat.

"We're—we're expecting," Daryl offered.

"Expecting what, dear?" Josephine asked.

Daryl laughed to himself. He bit his tongue so he wouldn't give her the first answer that came to mind—an answer fit only for his brother's mouth.

Daryl tapped his fork on the edge of his plate, his nerves kicking up a little. He imagined the whole thing going differently and it unnerved him a little when things didn't quite go as planned. He stopped the tapping when Carol looked at him, owl-eyed, and finally spoke.

"Daryl—please? Jack's napping," Carol said.

Daryl put his fork down.

"We're expecting what I imagine it's right for a good number of married couples to expect, Miss Josephine," Daryl said. "A baby. We're expecting a baby."

Carol immediately gained interest in her cake again at the exact moment that the old woman lost interest in hers. Josephine coughed, like she might have choked on a crumb or two of the cake, and quickly washed it down with the coffee, a shocked sound expressed that the liquid was hotter than she'd anticipated.

"You're expecting a baby?" She asked, directing her question to Carol.

It was no secret that the one thing Carol had desperately wanted for years had been a baby. Everyone knew that she was desperate to have one. Bringing Sophia home had helped to quell her desires a little, making her a mother again, but they'd never fully taken away her desire to have a baby whose life she could recall from its arrival into the world. Adopting June had helped a little more, and bringing Jack home when he was just two days shy of being one month old had done a good bit more to ease Carol's aching over a child, but it had never fully removed her desire.

Carol was naturally a mother and motherhood was something she excelled at. She was a wonderful mother. Daryl knew that their hearts and their home were able to accommodate several more children, if the county saw fit to give them the chance to raise them, but he was also happy for Carol that God had finally seen fit to give them at least one chance to have one born between them.

Carol blushed pink and nodded her head at the old woman's question. She washed down her own mouthful of cake with her coffee and wiped her mouth.

"It would seem so," Carol said. She smiled. "To be honest? I hardly believe it myself at the moment. It's a little new to me."

"Congratulations!" Josephine declared. Carol beamed at the congratulations. Daryl smiled to himself just looking at her. The one word changed her entire countenance for the moment. "Oh my! That's wonderful!"

"It is," Daryl agreed. "It is, indeed."

"When are we to expect the blessed event?" Josephine asked, her interest now completely captured.

Daryl looked to Carol. He'd forgotten to ask her that question. She smiled and shrugged her shoulders gently.

"November?" She said.

"Are you asking or telling, dear?" Josephine asked.

Carol laughed quietly.

"Telling," Carol said. "At least that's what I was told. November."

"We'll have a lot to be thankful for," Daryl said.

"It's April now," Josephine said. Daryl and Carol both turned their attention to her. She sat back in her chair, clearly not prepared to have so much focus on her at once. She opened her mouth like she'd speak again, but nothing came out for a moment. "I only meant to say that—it's April. It's too early to talk about it, Carol. It's really not good to talk about it. You shouldn't tell everyone just yet. Wait a little longer."

"Don't talk about it?" Daryl asked.

"Things like this can be delicate," Josephine offered. "It's really best to wait a bit longer. I won't tell anyone."

Daryl glanced at Carol. All the excitement that the simple "congratulations" had brought was pretty much a big pile of broken bits and pieces around her feet at the moment. She got up, quickly, and excused herself from the table.

"I think I hear Jack," she said. "I'm just going to check on him."

Daryl knew that she didn't hear Jack. He didn't hear Jack. Josephine Greene knew, as well, that she didn't hear Jack.

The old woman looked at Daryl and frowned. She raised her eyebrows at him.

"It appears that I've said something unwelcome," Josephine said. "I didn't mean to upset her. I only meant that—babies are delicate creatures. Especially so early. You understand?"

Daryl nodded his head at her.

"I understand," Daryl said. He tapped his finger on the table and stared at his uneaten piece of cake. Suddenly he wasn't nearly as in the mood for it as he had been. "She understands that too, but—with all due respect? I don't think she needs to hear about it too much. You'll understand that, I'm sure."

"I apologize if I've said something I shouldn't have," Josephine said.

Daryl shook his head at her.

"Weren't nothin' somebody else wasn't gonna say, was it?" Daryl said.

The old woman nodded her head and stood up.

"I think I should probably go," she offered.

"Don't want you to feel like you gotta run off," Daryl said. "We appreciate you watchin' Jack."

"He's an angel," Josephine said. "I should really thank you for letting me watch him. Will you tell Carol? That I'm sorry?"

Daryl nodded his head.

He stood up to see the woman out. He walked her to the door and waited for her to get her purse. Then he followed her outside.

"I'm really sorry," she repeated. "I didn't mean to upset her."

"It's nothing I can't handle," Daryl assured her, even though he always maintained some doubts about his abilities to handle things. He thought he did well with Carol, and he though he did better with every passing year, especially as she seemed to simply mellow out and become accustomed to the ups and downs in their life together, but he still worried that one day he'd come up against something he just wasn't prepared to handle.

Daryl thanked the old woman for her help again, assured her once more that nobody was angry about what she'd said, and accepted her soft congratulations for their good news.

Then he watched her get in her car and slowly back it out of the driveway—the twenty minute drive to her house probably taking her about forty-five minutes in total—while he smoked a cigarette and prepared for himself some of the things that he might say to his wife when he got back inside.