First I wanna say I am so sorry it has been forever since I updated. I have been incredibly busy with school. This week I discovered the true meaning of dead week, they call it that, because by the end of the week you will be dead. But I finally have a new chapter for y'all, so yay for that. It's all fluff, almost disgusting how fluffy it is. Next chapter will not be, because it can't be all fluff forever. I hope you guys enjoy this one!
I sadly own nothing about this show, except I am still pissed Beth is gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Beth and Judith ended up laying on the floor in the living room, playing with stuffed animals and blocks. Judith was getting so big, and it made Beth sad, she wanted her to stay little and innocent for as long as possible. She wanted her to always be protected from the world they were living in, she knew everyone in the group felt the same way. Beth knew Daryl would want to protect their child from everything, but he would also teach them to be able to survive. That's all they had in this world, survival. Well, survival, and each other.
"Be be be be," Judith babbled at Beth, snapping Beth from her thoughts.
"I see you Judy girl," Beth replied, tickling Judith's stomach.
Judith had started to become very vocal over the last few weeks, her first word being dad. Rick had tears in his eyes when she said it. Besides Dada, Judith had a few other people she had sounds for, Beth was Be, Carl was Ca, and Michonne was My. Beth had been slightly worried that Judith might try and call her mama, so they had all decided to not use that word around her. Sometimes when Daryl would hold Judith she would try and say his name, which was always funny, because it sounded like Dada. Beth smiled, because in year and a half or so, her own child would be learning to talk.
Judith had become a very skilled crawler, very quickly. If you took your eyes off her for a second, she could be long gone. Beth looked up and Judith had crawled over to the couch, and began trying to pull herself up. She would be walking soon, and they all feared that happening. Judith was incredibly curious, and they just knew she'd be into everythin'.
"What am I gonna do with you Judith? You're always getting' into somethin'."
Judith turned at Beth's voice, and began to giggle at her.
Beth scooped her up into her arms,
"Oh Judy, you're gettin' so big, soon I won't be able to pick you up."
Judith began slapping her hands against Beth's face, wanting all of her attention.
"You are so not gonna be a fan of not being the only baby anymore, are ya?"
Judith simply kept giggling at Beth, oblivious to the major changes going on around her.
"Why don't we go see what we got to snack on Miss Judy."
Beth wondered into the kitchen, placing Judith into the high chair. She began rummaging through the cabinets, until she found some applesauce to feed Judith, and some crackers for herself. Beth briefly thought about letting Judith try and do it herself, but quickly bypassed that thought, she didn't wanna deal with the inevitable mess.
"Alright, here we go Judith," Beth coed at her, as she began to feed her bites of applesauce. Somehow even though Beth was feeding her, both of them ended up covered in apple sauce.
"Looks like somebody is gonna need a bath," Beth sighed, "make that two someone's," she said after looking down at herself.
In that moment Beth heard the front door open, and a minute later Daryl and Rick walked into the kitchen.
"Judith, did you get Beth covered in applesauce?" Rick asked Judith, while chuckling.
"Dada dada dada," Judith babbled back at him.
"Yeah I hear ya, you're a mess," Rick smiled at her.
"I was just about to give her a quick bath," Beth told them.
"Why don't Daryl and I give her one, while you go clean up?" Rick suggested.
"What?" Daryl looked at Rick like he'd done lost his mind.
"Why not? Ya gotta learn how to at some point. Plus Judith's easy to bathe, she loves the water."
"I think it's a great idea," Beth said, grinning at Daryl.
He couldn't say no when she smiled like that, he didn't have a choice.
"Fine," Daryl grumbled in response.
Beth and Rick both smiled, both knowing Daryl was a sucker when it came to Beth.
Daryl looked at Judith,
"This is your fault ya little monster," he told her in the voice he only used for her.
She simply grinned at him, waving her chubby little arms.
"Well, I'll leave you boys to it. I'm gonna go enjoy my own bath," Beth grinned at both of them, as she backed out of the room.
Daryl gave her look that told her she would pay for this later, which only made Beth laugh harder.
"Come on Daryl, time to get the little monster into the tub," Rick told him, as he picked up Judith.
Daryl only groaned, he knew there was no way of getting out of this, and he has a suspicion he was going to be soaked in water by the end of this.
They headed into the downstairs bathroom, where Beth had lift some towels, shampoo, and bath toys for Judith.
"Turn the water, start filling up the tub, but not too high," Rick commanded Daryl.
"How do I know what temperature?" Daryl grumbled at him.
"Well, you could use a thermometer, but it'd be easier to go by feel. You don't want it to be scalding hot, like we do. Baby's skin is way more sensitive than ours, you want it to be warm, but not a hot tub," Rick answered him.
Daryl nodded his head and turned on the water, waiting a minute before checking it,
"Feels warm to me, but you better check it."
Rick stuck his hand under the water,
"That's good. Now toss her toys in."
Daryl dumped the toys into the tub, still not very happy about all of this.
"Oh yeah, you might wanna roll your sleeves up, or take the shirt off. It's just gonna get soaked."
"Great," Daryl mumbled as he began to unbutton his flannel, happy he had an undershirt on.
Rick had the biggest shit eating grin on his face, Daryl wanted to punch it right off.
"Time to get little missy in the water. I'll hold her up, and you can do the bathing," Rick told him, trying not to laugh at Daryl's growing discomfort.
"Why can't I just hold her? You know what the hell you're doin', I don't."
"Would you rather learn now, with a water lovin' baby, or with a screaming newborn, who may or may not like water? Cause let me tell ya, it'll be a helluva lot easier to learn on Judith."
Daryl sighed, he knew Rick was right,
"Fine, but you better tell me what todo."
"Don't worry, I will. First you're gonna pour water all over her, head, neck, legs, arms, everything. But do it gently, she loves it, so she'll start giggling and squirming."
Daryl nodded his head, and began to gently to pour water over Judith, who began to giggle hard, and started slapping the water with her hands, sending water everywhere,
"Wa wa wa wa!"
Rick began laughing hysterically, Judith had practically soaked Daryl's shirt in under two minutes,
"That's right baby water."
"You told her to do that," Daryl glared at him.
"Man, how can you possibly mad, when she's laughing like that? Look at her, and tell me that face don't make your heart melt."
Daryl looked at Judith, happy as could be. It did melt his heart, how could something as simple as a bath make her so happy? Then again, warm water made all of them happy these days.
"I guess so. What do I do next that the little monster and I are both soaked?"
"Pour a small amount of soap into your hands, and gently massage it all over her skin. Make sure you get in all the little folds of her skin."
Daryl nodded his head, and began to attempt to bathe the water monster.
Judith continued to splash around in the water, grabbing her toys, and holding them up for Daryl and Rick to see.
Daryl was washing one of her arms, when Judith grabbed his arm,
"Da da da da!"
Daryl smiled at her, he'd never seen something so innocent, and happy as Judith. She was nothing but happiness, and he hoped to whatever God that was out there that his child would be as happy as her.
He quickly finished covering her in soap, and rinsed her off.
"Now we let her splash freely for a few minutes," Rick said, "wasn't so bad, was it?"
Daryl arched an eyebrow at him,
"Guess not, don't really enjoy being covered in water…but if she's happy, guess it's alright."
Rick smiled at that, he knew Daryl wouldn't stay mad, nobody could be mad with Judith around.
"Alright Judith, time to get out and dry off," Rick told her, while tickling her belly.
Judith squirmed in his arms, splashing more water everywhere. Rick lifted her out of the tub, and Daryl quickly wrapped a towel around her. She began to happily slap Daryl's cheeks,
"Da da da da!"
"Yeah, yeah. I see you lil' ass kicker."
Judith wrapped her arms around Daryl's neck and put her head on his shoulder, poor kid was worn out from her fun day. Daryl didn't know how to explain how he felt right then, it was amazing having a baby, someone so pure, love you with all her little heart.
"That right there my brother, is what makes everything worth it. When they feel safe and loved enough, to just fall asleep in your arms, or on your chest. It makes it all worth it," Rick whispered to him.
Daryl simply nodded in response, there was no denying how much he loved this little girl, and they kept telling him he'd love his own child more, but he doesn't know if it's physically possible.
They walked out of the bathroom, in search of a new onsie to put Judith in. As they were walking into the kitchen, Beth was coming downstairs.
Daryl looked so calm, and peaceful holding Judith in his arms, it was the cutest thing Beth had ever seen,
"Looks like you two wore her out," Beth whispered to them.
Beth had a onsie with her, knowing that the boys would need one, once Judith was clean.
"Don't look at me, it was all Daryl. She loved splashing him," Rick softly told her, "here, I'll get her dressed" he told Daryl.
Daryl let Rick take Judith from his arms, sad to not have the baby girl in his arms anymore.
Rick quickly dressed Judith, somehow not waking the baby up. Daryl looked impressed by it,
"Takes practice," Rick told him.
"Michonne is making pasta for dinner, why don't y'all come eat with us?"
"We'd love to," Beth quickly replied, smiling at him.
Daryl looked like he just wanted to go to bed, but knew it'd hurt Beth's feelings if he didn't go,
"Just let me go change shirts," he softly told them.
Five minutes later they were out the door.
When they got to Rick's house, Michonne was in the kitchen with Carl, working on dinner. It didn't take one long to notice how close Michonne and Carl had gotten, she had become a mother figure to him. She seemed to understand him, and Carl truly cared for her too. Plus, everyone knew how Rick felt about her, no matter how much they tried to hide it.
"Hey guys, I brought some friends for dinner," Rick announced.
"Hey Beth, hey Daryl," Carl greeted them.
Michonne simply nodded to them, focusing hard on finishing dinner.
"Daryl you gotta come see what I did with the antlers from my deer," Carl told him excitedly, while heading towards his room.
Daryl happily followed him to his room, glad that Carl had enjoyed hunting so much.
As soon as he walked in the room, Daryl could see the deer antlers right above Carl's bed.
"Doesn't it look great? I wanna get another deer, so I can put some above the fireplace!"
Daryl laughed lightly at Carl's enthusiasm, glad that the kid had something to be excited about.
"Eventually kid, will get some more eventually," Daryl told him.
They headed back downstairs, where Rick was setting the table for dinner,
"Did you see the wall?" Rick asked Daryl.
"Mhmmm," Daryl replied, "he wants more to put over the fireplace."
Rick simply rolled his eyes at that.
Beth came out of the kitchen, followed by Carl and Michonne, carrying bowls of pasta.
"We ready to eat?" Michonne asked everyone.
Everyone said some form of yes, and they all quickly sat down.
Judith had woken up, and was bouncing happily in her high chair, ready to eat some pasta.
As always, Beth made everyone say grace before they could dig in,
"Lord, we thank you for letting us survive another day, and for all of us being in good health. We thank you for the food and shelter you have provided us with. And we ask you Lord, to keep watching over us. In Jesus name we pray, amen."
After that, they all dug into their pasta. Everyone who could eat, without dumping food all over them, got sauce with their pasta, however, Judith only got pasta. She didn't seem to care though, enjoying showing fistfuls of pasta into her mouth.
"Michonne, this is amazing!"
"Thank you Beth, but I can't take all the credit. Carl helped out a lot."
"Well, you and Carl did a fabulous job."
Carl was grinning from ear to ear, something that they hadn't seen a lot of over the last few years.
By the time they finished dinner, Beth was leaning on Daryl's shoulder, almost asleep. Judith had exhausted her, and judging by Judith, who was asleep in her highchair, with pasta still in her little fist, they'd have to say it was a mutual effort. Rick and Carl had begun to clear the table, leaving Daryl and Michonne to being the only awake ones at the table.
"How'd the wall look today?" she asked him.
"Pretty good…probably gonna add some more stakes and stuff around, just to be careful."
She nodded at that,
"Looks like you might be carrying her home," she said while pointing her head at Beth.
Daryl glanced down at his shoulder, knowing Michonne was right. He wasn't gonna let Beth walk if she was this exhausted.
Rick came out of the kitchen, picking up Judith, taking her upstairs for bed.
Once he came back downstairs, Daryl shook Beth awake so they could say goodnight.
Once they were down the front porch steps, Daryl scooped Beth up into his arms,
"Daryl what do ya think you're doin?"
"You're exhausted, and I'm not gonna make ya walk home."
"I'm too heavy for this," she told him while yawning.
He scoffed at that,
"You ain't ever gonna be heavy."
"Give it a few more months and I will be a whale."
"You will not. You'll be beautiful, like ya always are," Daryl was blushing as he said it, he wasn't one for romance.
She didn't reply, just simply snuggled her head further into his neck and shoulder.
Daryl got them home quickly and got Beth up the stairs into bed.
A few minutes later and he was climbing in bed with her,
"You looked so cute with her today, ya know," Beth told him softly, while laying her head on his chest.
"Mhmm," was all he said back.
Beth was out in a matter of minutes, the sound of Daryl's heartbeat always made her fall asleep. Daryl couldn't sleep yet, too busy thinking about the future. He began rubbing light circles on Beth's small baby bump, wondering if this baby would love him like Judith. He already knew he loved this child; this baby was part Beth, part him. All he could hope for is that this baby came out as sweet and innocent as its' mama, and be nothing like him.
He gently lifted Beth off of him, so he could wiggle down to her stomach, he quickly pressed kiss to the small bump,
"I love you bubba. Please be like your mama, she can't handle two of me."
With that Daryl laid back down, and pulled Beth into his side. She and this baby had his heart, but he knew he loved everyone who was here with them. They're all one big family, and he knew any of them would take a bullet for him, and he'd do the same.
I am a horrible human being who has stared writing another story. It will follow the show fairly closely, except there is fairly big little thing I have added to it. Right now all I have for it is a working prolong, cause if I go through with this story, it's gonna be a series. All I can say right now, is it will be very Daryl centric at first, but there will be eventual Bethyl. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter, feel free to leave a review. Until next time, I hope all of you are well.