AN: Here we are, another chapter here.

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

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"You look thin," Carol insisted. "Are you sure you're eating enough, Sophia?"

Sophia laughed to herself.

"I promise, Mama," Sophia said. "The food isn't as good as yours, but there's more than enough of it. I think I might've gained some weight."

"Could stand to gain more," Daryl said. "You do look a little thin."

"Did I come home to spend all weekend defending my eating habits?" Sophia asked.

"We don't mean to make you defend nothing," Daryl said quickly. "Just worried about you, that's all."

Sophia smiled at him.

"I'm fine, Daddy," Sophia insisted. "But what about you two?"

Daryl looked at Carol. She ran pink in the cheeks, but she was smiling at him.

"We're fine," Daryl said. "Great, actually. Really great."

"Really great?" Sophia asked with a laugh. "Come on—what's going on? You practically dragged me over here as soon as I got in the door. I can tell when something's going on."

It wasn't a lie. They had practically dragged her to the table to sit with them. Daryl had taken Sophia's bag from her on the porch and had put it in the room she'd share with June for the weekend, the little ones already tucked away in bed, while Carol had lead Sophia over to the table to sit and have something to drink. She'd offered her some warmed up leftovers from supper, but Sophia insisted that she'd already eaten and just wanted to spend a little time with them before she retired to bed.

"The truth is," Daryl said, "that we got somethin' we wanna talk to you about. But—we didn't exactly plan out how we would get around to sayin' it."

Sophia's brow immediately furrowed. Daryl smiled to himself because the girl was practically the mirror image of her Mama and, like her Mama, she had the uncanny ability to become concerned about things as a first response.

"It ain't nothin' bad, Soph," Daryl said. "So you can just untwist your face."

Sophia didn't immediately relax out of her expression.

"What's wrong?" Sophia asked. "Mama? Are you OK? You look—a little pale."

Carol reached her hand up and touched her face like her fingers would give her the ability to see her coloring.

"She don't look pale," Daryl said. "Just looks like she always does. A little pink in the cheeks if you ask me."

Carol smiled at him softly. She ran a little pinker in the cheeks than she had been before.

"What is it?" Sophia pressed.

"You gonna tell her?" Daryl asked.

"I think you can," Carol responded.

Daryl nodded his acceptance. He hadn't prepared to be the one to tell Sophia the news at all. He'd figured that Carol would be busting to tell someone, so he'd let her tell Sophia. If she wanted to pass the task over to him, though, he'd be happy to take it even if he was a little ill-prepared.

Daryl cleared his throat.

"Sophia—your Mama and me were thinkin' that Jack's comin' up on two years old now and—we were just thinkin' it was time to add one more to our family."

Sophia's eyes went wide and she smiled.

"Another baby?" She asked.

Carol nodded and Daryl did too.

"Yeah," Daryl said. "Another one. What you think about that?"

"It's great!" Sophia said quickly. "When do you get it?"

Daryl cleared his throat.

"We're—lookin' at November. Right around Thanksgiving, probably," Daryl said.

"That seems like a while," Sophia said. "Even with Jack Jack it was only four months, wasn't it? After you put in that you wanted to adopt?"

"It was," Daryl said. "About four months. But this one's a little different. Whole thing is a little bit different than it was with Jack and June."

Sophia shrugged her shoulders.

"Different how?" She asked.

Daryl swallowed. Carol was watching him more than she was watching Sophia. He felt a little overwhelmed with the undivided attention of the both of them.

"We're doin' this one different all the way around," Daryl said. "Because—this one? Soph—it's gonna come into our home as a brand new baby."

"Jack was only a month old," Sophia offered.

"So he was," Daryl said. "But this one's gonna come in even younger'n that."

Sophia was starting to look confused and it was clear that it hadn't sunk in for her at all. Of course, why would it? She was almost twenty-two and, as far as Daryl knew, she'd been hoping they'd have a baby for about as long as June had even been alive. Like them, she'd probably given up any hope at all that it would come to pass. She wasn't expecting to get news like this. She was simply expecting some news about an impending adoption.

Daryl couldn't help but smile at her.

"Sophia—we can't exactly say we were planning for things to go this way," Daryl said, "even though we feel—we feel blessed beyond measure. But, sweetheart? We found out that'cha Mama's carryin' us a baby so we just gotta be patient and wait on it to get here."

Carol watched Sophia with expectation. Daryl let his eyes dart back and forth between Carol and Sophia. It took a long moment for realization to settle in for Sophia. Even hearing the words, they were so unexpected that she didn't seem immediately able to react.

As soon as she did realize what was going on, though, Sophia's eyes went wide and she hit her feet. She headed straight for her mother, arms outstretched, and Carol was barely able to turn in her chair before Sophia practically wrapped around her. Daryl moved his chair to the side to allow more room for Sophia's body.

"Is he serious, Mama?" Sophia asked, hugging her mother's neck.

"He's serious," Carol said. "We weren't expecting it at all. I was so surprised!"

"We both were," Daryl said.

It seemed that his speaking again only reminded Sophia that he was there and she peeled herself away from Carol to turn and offer Daryl a strong hug that choked him slightly. He rubbed her back and returned the hug with a slightly gentler hold on her body.

"This is wonderful! Oh my! It's so—it's..." Sophia stammered out, straightening up. She stood, for just a moment, looking at Carol before Daryl took her hand and drew her attention back. He redirected her to her seat and she returned to it and sat down, practically bouncing in the chair.

"I guess that means to say you ain't mad about it?" Daryl asked.

"It's so wonderful!" Sophia repeated. "Oh—it's so wonderful! I'm so excited! Aren't you excited?"

Carol laughed.

"We're very excited, sweetheart," Carol said. "So excited and happy and...overwhelmed, really. It still feels so new. It feels so impossible."

"Except it's very, very possible," Daryl insisted. "We know because it's there."

"Have you told everyone?" Sophia asked, still a little wide-eyed. She was leaning on her elbows on the table like she was half willing to crawl across it and crawl right into their laps. "Aunt Andrea? Uncle Merle?"

"We haven't told nobody, hardly," Daryl said. "Miss Josephine Greene because she was here watching your brother while I took your Mama to the doctor. But she's not telling anyone and we've been waiting. We finally decided we'd tell you and we thought it was time to start telling everyone."

"Tomorrow," Carol said. "We thought it might be nice to have supper for everyone? We could tell them when they're all together. I thought—you and I could plan what we wanted to prepare? We could go shopping for it tomorrow and make supper together?"

"Unless you gotta study," Daryl interjected. "We don't want you ignoring your studies just 'cause you home for the weekend and you findin' out your Mama's gonna have a baby."

"I study every night, Daddy," Sophia said quickly. "And I can study any night. But it's not just every night that I find out I'm gonna be a big sister again! Please, Mama—can we make a cake tomorrow? For the supper?"

"Hell—I'd be disappointed if there weren't no cake," Daryl offered.

"Of course we'll make a cake," Carol said. "And anything else you want to make. You can pick the food, Sophia. I'll help you make it."

"Are you happy, Mama?" Sophia asked.

Carol nodded her head.

"I think I'm as happy as I could ever be," Carol said.

"We was a little worried about how you might feel about it," Daryl said.

Sophia furrowed her brow at him.

"I would've thought you'd've known I'd be happy," Sophia said. "I wanted you two to have a baby for—well, for as long as I can remember."

Daryl nodded his head.

"But it's the first baby we've had between us," Daryl said. "And—it's the first that'cha Mama's carried since she carried you."

Sophia swallowed. She didn't exactly frown, but something came across her features. Daryl glanced at Carol to see the concern settling there on her face.

"Sophia—it doesn't...if I could..." Carol stammered out.

Sophia shook her head.

"No, Mama," Sophia said quickly. "Don't say anything. I'm not—it doesn't upset me. Really. I'm not upset. I think—if anything I'm upset that maybe you thought I'd be upset. I'm upset that maybe you were upset over what you thought I might think or—how I might feel. I love June. I love Jack. Nothing and nobody will ever change that. And nothing will ever change that they're my brother and sister. But—I've wanted you to have this since...for almost as long as I can recall. You wanted it so bad and I...well, I sometimes think I wanted it just as much as you did. For you. So—I'm not upset. I'm happy about it."

"I know you didn't get to be..." Carol started again.

Daryl reached his hand over and patted Carol's leg under the table.

"I think what Soph's trying to say is she's happy," Daryl said. "As happy as she can be. And you oughta be as happy as you can be. 'Cause that's what this is about. It's about—bein' happy with our new little baby and celebratin' all that with our family. All of it."

"That's exactly what I'm saying," Sophia said. "I don't want you to feel sorry, Mama. That wasn't ever what I wanted you to feel. Not if you ever got this. And—I don't want to feel the kind of sad that I think just knowing you were feeling sorry would make me feel. You understand?"

Carol nodded her head. She forced her smile back to her lips, but it didn't take long before it took over genuinely again.

"I'm so happy you're home, sweetheart," Carol said. "Even if it is just for a few days."

"It's always good to be home," Sophia said with a smile. "And I really am happy, Mama. Honest. I'm as happy as I can be. Are you happy too?"

Carol nodded her head.

"I'm as happy as I can be," she echoed.

"I ought to get some sleep," Sophia said. "If we're going to do a big supper tomorrow we're going to need to do a lot of preparing. And if things haven't changed too much, I doubt Jack is going to let anyone sleep in too late. We all know how much he hates to miss breakfast."

Daryl laughed to himself.

"Jack don't miss breakfast," Daryl said. "And this little one? He don't let your Mama sleep no way. She'll be up before Jack. Just—if you got a mind to use the restroom? You might want to do it early. It's her territory for at least until breakfast's halfway done." Daryl patted Carol's leg under the table again to let her know that he meant no scolding of any type. He was teasing, mostly, but he didn't want her to feel that her being indisposed was something she should apologize for. "Reminds me," Daryl added. "I'm sorta the breakfast chef around here. How you want your eggs in the morning?"

"Scrambled too much to ask?" Sophia asked.

"Just perfect to me," Daryl said. "Happens to be my specialty."

Sophia stood up and Daryl offered her a cheek when she stepped next to him. She planted a kiss on his cheek before she wrapped her arms around his neck in a warm hug.

"Goodnight, Daddy," Sophia said.

"Goodnight, Sophia," Daryl responded.

"Are you happy, Daddy?" Sophia asked.

"I always am. Happy as I've ever been," Daryl said. "And I imagine, happy as I'll ever be. You don't have to worry about me, Soph."

Sophia nodded her head at him and raised her eyebrows at Carol.

"You'll tuck me in, Mama?" Sophia asked. "Talk a minute?"

Carol got up and followed the girl without saying anything. Daryl watched the two of them as they headed to the room where Sophia would sleep.

He already knew what would happen. It went the same way every time that Sophia came for a visit. And he knew his role too. He was to believe, because Sophia worried that he'd think she was too old for what really happened, that they would just get caught up in whispered conversation and Carol would spend some time there catching up with her daughter before she came to bed. The reality of it was that Carol would lie with Sophia, much like she did with June while Daryl read to her, and she would stay there with the girl for a little while until Sophia had drifted off to sleep. Then Carol would come to bed herself.

As soon as they disappeared into the room, leaving Daryl alone, he went about straightening up the last of the things that needed to be taken care of before bed. He smoked his last cigarette of the night and then he got ready for bed. He was reclining in bed, reading from a book that he'd started probably a month before since it took him a great deal of time to work his way through the books that he read in the evenings, when Carol came in and started her nightly routine. Daryl closed the book and watched her as she started to prepare herself for bed.

"Sophia sleeping?" Daryl asked.

"Jack and June, too," Carol said.

"She's really happy," Daryl said.

"She really is," Carol said. Even with her back to him, Daryl could hear the smile in her voice.

"I'm really happy too," Daryl said. "I didn't lie about that."

"Me too," Carol said. "But—Daryl? Sophia did ask me something to ask you. And it's—kind of important."

"Somethin' to ask me?" Daryl asked. His stomach tightened a little. Carol hummed in the affirmative. "What is it?" Daryl asked.

Carol came toward the bed and eased her way into it. She offered him a smile to let him know he'd been had. She sometimes liked to see if she could catch him worrying since he so often called her out on her own worry.

"What kind of cake do you want for tomorrow?" Carol asked. "Your choice."

Daryl laughed.

"That's what the hell you had to ask me about so serious like?" Daryl asked.

Carol's smile broadened and she nodded her head.

"It's a very important question, Daryl," Carol said.

"It is," Daryl agreed. "And one I got to sleep on. You can't just spring a question like that on a man, Carol. It ain't right."

Carol put on a fake frown, her eyes still smiling at him.

"I'm sorry," she said, some teasing in her tone. It was really the only kind of apology that Daryl liked to hear from her.

"I guess I'ma let it slide," Daryl said. "Just this one time. But—I won't argue with you if you got a mind to come on over here and give me a kiss to make it up to me."

Carol slid over, smiling somewhat coyly at Daryl, and he reached his arms out to pull her against him. It seemed she didn't mind making it up to him at all. It was, after all, the only right thing to do in that situation.