An: hey there, so...I hope I didn't loose any of you. Yes, Daryl's father was driving the truck that was involved in the accident with Carol and Ed and Daryl was in the car. This will be a short story, hoping to wrap it up soon, but another chapter for warning : abuse. Let me know what you think :)

I do not own or profit from The Walking Dead.

Chapter 9

"I've decided you're a girl". Carol said smiling as she rubbed her stomach absently sitting on the side if the bed the next day. She had a view of the hospital courtyard and had been sitting enjoying the feel of the sun on her skin. "I don't know how I know, I just do. You're a beautiful girl aren't you? With your daddy's eyes."

Daryl had called earlier said he was making the drive to see her. He'd sounded strained, stressed. She assured him that if he needed more time to deal with his father's affairs she could wait, but he'd been insistent saying he needed to talk to her.

The nurses had helped her shower, and she'd let her hair hang loose around her shoulders. Her Gram had even brought in her make up bag. She'd brushed a little color on to her cheeks, telling herself she didn't want him to worry when he saw how pale she was. It had nothing to do with the butterflies in her stomach. Her Gram had brought in her favourite red pyjAmas in to the hospital, she was hardly ready for seduction but she was excited to see him. Her gram had gone home for the afternoon.

"I have a feeling, he'll be excited about you too." She whispered to herself.

When the shock about the pregnancy had worn off a feeling of joy had started to spread through her. Of life falling into place. Of course she was pregnant, she was just following her destiny. Daryl was it for her, her one. She knew that now. All of the times she'd doubted herself, thinking she was unworthy of love, of survival, had brought her to this moment, only to make her realize she was. They were going fast, she knew that. Maybe a little to fast, she sensed he had some heavy baggage as well, she was willing to wait, as long as he needed, but she was in it for the long haul.

"Just the three of us." She whispered rubbing her stomach.

"Just the three of us?" His voice startled her out of her thoughts and she turned, her smile blossoming across her face. She stood up and and suddenly was encased in his arms.

"Daryl" she whispered.

Xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

He hadn't been able to hold himself back when he'd seen her sitting there, the sun streaming into the room on to her. She'd turned when she saw him, her face lighting up with that smile he'd come to love. There wasn't much he wouldn't do for that smile, no hell on earth he wouldn't cross to see it again.

He was holding her before he knew what he was doing, his face buried in her neck, he felt his body wrack with tension. The sudden urge to throw her over his shoulder and run away was a strong one. His body was trembling at the thought of losing her.

"Daryl...you're shaking." She whispered.

He nodded not moving his head from her neck. Afraid to talk that he might dissolve into a mess of tears, begging her not to leave him, not to let his father ruin the best thing that ever happened to him.

"I can't..." His voice cracked as he inhaled her sweet scent. "I can't loose you." He whispered.

"You won't loose me, I'm right here." She said stroking his back. "You saved me." She said.

He shook his head no, still hiding his face from her. Time to man up, he'd been in war zones, been shot at, survived explosions, nothing was scarier than what he was about to do. He lifted his head up and pulled her to the chair in the room, sitting down he pulled her onto his lap, unwilling to let her go for however long he had.

"When I was eight years old, my dad he...changed. He'd always been an asshole, their was always a look in his eye, that was evil, but suddenly it was like he lost control, of whatever it was that was holding that shit back in him. My big brother Merle, ...he took the brunt of it, for awhile. Then he took off, left me alone with him." He coughed clearing his throat unable to look at her. She had her head on his chest, her fingers intertwined with his.

"When I was 12, he almost killed me, said I had an evil spirit inside me that was torturing him." He said his voice cold. He heard her gasp, her head turning into him, pressing a kiss to his chest, her hand slipping up over his heart.

"I was gone for 3 months, but I don't know he's a convincing man I guess, or no one cared, but I found myself back there with him hauled back from the foster home they put me in. He used to torture me, and tell me he could do whatever he wanted to me, he'd almost killed me and all he got was a slap on the wrist after he told them some bullshit story. Said it was all My fault, ...everything was always my fault." He muttered coarsely. She had her forehead pressed to his chest. He was thankful, he wasn't sure he could say all this, if she was staring at him.

"The beatings got worse, that I could handle, but two years later, he started coming into my room at night, when he was drunk." The last part was almost a whisper. He felt her tense.

"Oh God...did he?" She whispered unable to finish the sentence.

"No...not for lack of trying, or wanting to. He would confuse me with mom, he was fucked in the head bad by then. I would fight him off, and then Merle came home, and he was bigger than Daddy then, and he protected me. Daddy was scared of him I think... One night about a month before Merle came home, he took me out hunting in the evening. He was drunk out of him mind, raving about me being evil. Then started calling me by my mom's name. I was ready when he came at me, and it pissed him off. He wouldn't let me drive home. He was drunk, and stoned, and I guess according to Merle out of his mind. I shoulda walked home, I don't know why I got in the truck." His voice broke as he felt tears running down his cheeks. He squeezed her to him tightly.

"He was driving like a maniac, laughing while I screamed at him to slow down. But he wouldn't. This car came out of nowhere...and went off the road." He heard her gasp "it was your car Carol...yours and your boyfriend."