Spotting the blood, the color fled from Jo's face. She took one hand from Daryl's arm and touched the wet spot, bringing her red-tipped fingers in front of her face. Her breathing came in quick gasps and sweat trickled down her temple.
"Daryl…" she mumbled, before her vision went black.
Daryl caught her as she fell forward, unconscious.
"Lay her in the back of the truck. I'll get Hershel," Carol said, removing her hand from Daryl's shoulder and sprinting in the direction she'd last seen the crippled man.
Daryl scooped Jo's limp body into his arms. Her breathing had evened out, but one glance at the stain on her pants proved she was still bleeding. He rounded the corner to the back of the nearest military truck and placed her down gently. He climbed up next to her, putting a jacket under her head. Hershel slowly came around the back of the truck a moment later with Carol and Maggie.
"What's wrong with her? What happened?" Daryl asked immediately. He helped Hershel into the back of the truck, struggling to get him situated.
"Let me take a look. Can you undo the canvas so I see?" Hershel asked, pointing to the cloth material covering the back of the vehicle. Carol and Maggie quickly began unhooking the canvas. The bright light made the scene more gruesome. There was no color to Jo's face. Her lips were ghost white and her breathing had slowed tremendously. The red stain between her legs was larger, glistening wet in the sunlight.
Daryl looked from Jo to Hershel. "Why is she bleeding, Hershel? She wasn't hurt." Hershel was checking her pulse and didn't answer.
Carol sat down to Jo's right and sighed. She had a knowing look on her face as she exchanged a glance with Maggie, who was on Jo's left.
"What?" Daryl asked again, looking at Carol this time.
Carol glanced at Hershel, who nodded, before she responded. "Daryl, I think…"
"You think what?" Daryl yelled. Tears were trickling down his cheeks. He couldn't stand the thought of losing Jo, not after all they'd been through. Especially not now, when they were heading to a safe, protected community free of walkers.
"Jo had a miscarriage, Daryl," Carol said, a tear sliding down her cheek.
Carol's answer was like a punch to the gut. He sat back on his haunches with a blank look on his face. "A mis… a miscarriage?" he questioned. "But, that would… that means… she was… pregnant…" The last words were almost a whisper as the realization hit him.
"I know this is hard, but we need to make sure she's OK," Hershel began. He placed a hand on Daryl's arm to snap him out of his surprised trance. "We need to get her fluids. I know the medical truck has an IV. I need to get her pants off to take a look, make sure there are no wounds."
"I'll get everything you need," Maggie said, jumping off the tail gate. She ran toward Glenn, Rick and Major Rice, who had no idea what was happening with Jo. "Major Rice, we need an IV for Jo," she said.
"Jo? What happened? Was she bit?" Rick asked craning his neck toward the vehicle she was in.
"No… she had a miscarriage. She's unconscious," Maggie responded.
"A miscarriage?" Glenn repeated, astonished. "I didn't know she was –"
Maggie cut him off. "No one knew, not even Jo. Major, do I have the OK to use what we need?"
Without hesitation the Major nodded his head and pointed toward a vehicle near the middle of the convoy. People were being treated for wounds all around it. Maggie jumped into the back of the vehicle without a word and began taking supplies.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" a soldier cleaning a citizen's wound asked.
"I have permission from Major Rice. Ask him." Maggie jumped out of the vehicle as quickly as she entered it and was gone. When she got back to the truck, Carol was standing watch.
"Hershel is checking her to make sure she's not wounded internally," Carol said.
Maggie rounded the corner. She handed her dad gloves, a flashlight and clean rags. Rick had come to check on the crisis. "Is she gonna be alright, Hershel?" he asked.
"So far, she looks alright except for losing the baby," he responded. "I'm gonna try to get a better look just to make sure. I'll need a little time."
"We're clearing bodies and treating any of those who aren't fatally wounded. It'll be a bit," Rick responded. He looked at Daryl, who hadn't moved from his spot next to Hershel. His face was void of emotion except the tears openly streaming down his cheeks. "Daryl, she's gonna be alright." Daryl nodded without looking at Rick. Rick patted Carol on the shoulder and made sure everyone else was busy to give them some privacy.
As Hershel put gloves on and began cleaning around Jo's thighs, Maggie swabbed and inserted a drip line into Jo's arm. She hooked the fluid onto a hook on the truck and helped Hershel check out Jo's condition. Hershel bent Jo's legs and used the flashlight to get a better look. The bleeding had almost completely stopped, which was a good sign.
Daryl leaned up and sat on one of the benches. He put his head in his hands. He couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that Jo had been pregnant. She had a baby in her belly… his baby, and neither of them had any idea. How would they get through this? He was absolutely devastated. How would she feel?
Hershel sat up, covering Jo's bottom half with a nearby blanket. Daryl lifted his head slowly and looked at the older man. "She's gonna be fine. She'll probably be wakin' up soon. She needs rest. Make sure she lays the whole rest of the way. I'll stay with you if you want me to," Hershel said. "I'd like to be here to keep an eye on her."
Daryl nodded. Maggie helped Hershel out of the truck and handed him his crutches. "What am I 'sposed to do?" Daryl rasped.
Hershel turned toward him. Carol and Maggie both had frowns on their faces, but it was Carol who spoke up. "You should be the one to tell her, but I can travel with you the rest of the way to comfort her. I had three miscarriages before I had Sophia," she said.
Maggie's eyebrows raised and she put a reassuring hand on Carol's shoulder. All Daryl could do was nod. "I'll find her some clean clothes," Maggie said. She came back a few minutes later with clean underwear, pants and towels to clean up the blood. Daryl dressed Jo after they cleaned up the blood as best as they could. As he leaned back against the benches, Jo began to stir.
Daryl's heart was racing. How was he going to tell her she just lost a baby she didn't even know she was carrying? She'd talked about having his little redneck babies before, was she serious? Would this break her? He leaned close and held her hand. Jo's eyes fluttered open. She blinked four times before she could focus on the canvas above her. She didn't know where she was. She furrowed her brow and felt a hand squeeze hers.
"Jo?"
She turned her head to the right and saw Daryl next to her, leaning close. His eyes were red and puffy. She tried to reach up to touch his face, but her arm movement was restrained by something. She looked to the left and saw a needle in her arm. She gasped and looked around frantically.
"Jo, calm down. You're OK," Daryl said, holding her arm down.
"What happened?" she asked, trying to sit up. Daryl put his arm behind her back and helped her up.
"Babe, I don't know how to tell you this…"
Jo remembered the walkers and getting sick, but what happened after that? She looked into her lap. She wasn't wearing those pants when they left this morning. She looked up at Daryl, her brow furrowed.
"Jo, you started bleeding. You remember the pain?" She nodded, putting her hand over her abdomen. "Babe, you were pregnant. You had a... you had a miscarriage."
Jo sucked in a short breath, her thumb rubbing across her abdomen. Her head was spinning. "Wha… what do you mean I was…"
"That's why you were so sick, I guess," Daryl said. "There's no way we coulda known, Jo."
"No." Jo looked down at her stomach and back up at Daryl. "No. No. No. No." The tears welled up in her eyes and spilled over almost instantly. She was sobbing in seconds as Daryl held her to his chest. Tears slid from his eyes and fell into Jo's hair. He rocked her back and forth.
"We're gonna be OK, Jo. It's gonna be OK."