"He's so beautiful," Lily said as she cradled her son close to her. Rose had already visited her, while Daryl retrieved the baby from Beth. "He looks just like you, y'know?" she looked up at Daryl, who still had his scruffy beard, but she didn't care at that moment. She was there. Alive. With the man she loved and her baby.
"Eh," Daryl shrugged. There were some similarities between the two. The little boy had Daryl's eyes, the same birthmark as him on the upper left side of his lip, and his dark hair. But, he had Lily's freckles, nose, and lips.
"What are we gonna name him?"
"Whut do ya have in mind?"
"Hm…Daniel?"
"Why?" he asked curiously.
"That was my dad's name…I dunno…and Daniel Dixon kinda fits, doesn't it?"
"Yeah…it does. Daniel it is," Daryl smiled lightly. His child had a name. "Whut 'bout a middle name?"
"What if we combined our brothers names? Rose told me that Merle was ready to go out and get whatever y'all needed to save me."
"How woul' that work?" Daryl didn't think it would work because both names started with the same letter.
"Merlson," Lily giggled.
"Daniel Merlson Dixon?" Lily laughed wholeheartedly. She agreed it sounded weird, but it was creative at least. She was pretty sure that there was never a child with the name 'Merlson' before. "Ya I coul' see that."
"Really? You think it'll work?" she giggled more.
"Ya. 'Least our baby's name isn't Judith."
Lily slapped his arm and gave him a 'be nice' look. A knock came through the door, pulling their attention away from baby names.
"Come in," Lily called. Her red headed cousin and her kind of brother-in-law walked in. Rose was smiling ear to ear as she took in the sight of her favorite cousin holding her child.
'How are you feeling?' Rose signed.
'Much better, now that y'all are here,' Lily replied, carefully not to wake Daniel, who had fallen asleep on her.
"Hey, blondie. Good ta see yer back. Though ma brother was gonna go crazy," Merle said, in his typical tone, acting as if the whole situation hadn't affected him, which it had.
"Yeah…do you wanna hold him?" she gestured to the baby.
Merle shook his head. "Don' like kids."
"What about you, Rose," the redhead nodded eagerly and accepted the baby.
"What did you name him?" she asked.
Lily grinned and looked over at Daryl, who just smirked. "Daniel Merlson Dixon."
Rose made a face, not being able to read Lily's lips when she said 'Merlson', so Lily used her sign language to spell it out. Merle's face read shock.
"Why the hell would yew do that?"
"Do whut?" Daryl asked, confused to why Merle was mad.
"Name yer kid after me! I don' want him ta be named after me."
"Like it or not, it is," Lily said. "You've done more for him than you realize. He might not have a dad if it weren't for you, and you were willing to save his mom."
Merle didn't say anything, he just stormed from the bedroom.
"I'll get him," Rose said.
A little while later Beth and Mason came in the room as Lily fed Daniel for the first time.
"Daryl, why don't you take a break? Take shower, shave maybe?" Lily offered, seeing as he was tired and still scruffy.
"Yew sure?"
"Yeah, I've got Mason and Beth…" he leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss on her lips before heading to the bathroom.
"I'm so glad to see you safe," Mason smiled and kissed her forehead.
"Yeah…I'm glad I'm here."
"Daryl didn't leave your side for most of the week…he didn't sleep, he didn't eat…he didn't to much of anything," Mason said quietly, knowing Daryl was in the other room.
"Everyone tried to get him to budge, but refused to leave you," Beth added.
Lily honestly didn't know what to say. She knew Daryl must've been there once in while…but not the whole time. Mason, sensing Lily's discomfort with the particular topic, changed the subject.
"So, did you two decide a name for him?"
"Yes, we did actually. Daniel-"
"After dad?" Lily nodded.
"Daniel Merlson Dixon."
"Merlson?" Beth asked.
"Merle and Mason combined," Lily explained.
"Aw, thanks little sis!" Mason exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah," she laughed. "So how are things, since I haven't been outside of this room?"
"Not bad. Emily has stuck to Carl like glue," Beth laughed. "It's cute really…even with their age difference."
"How's she reacted to all of this?"
"Most nights she goes and sits on the beach, throwing rocks and stuff…she cries at least once a day, worried about you and Daryl. She loves the baby though," Mason said.
"Does she know I'm awake?"
"Not yet. Only Mason, myself, Rose, Merle, Dr. John, and Daryl do. Dr. John said it was best not to overwhelm you."
"Hm, when can I see everyone else."
"He wants you to be able to walk around and get a shower," Mason said. "But then, you'll be free to go back to your old self."
"Good."
A few minutes later, Daryl came out of the bathroom, freshly showered and shaved, still having his goatee though. He smiled at Lily, seeing her awake just made him happy.
"Do you wanna try to walk?" Beth asked. "And maybe take a bath? I can bring Rose up for some help?"
"That would probably be good…Daryl, do you wanna take Daniel? I just fed him…so I'm guessing he'll need changed soon."
"Okay," he picked the baby up from her arms. He and Mason left the room and Rose entered seconds later.
"Let's get you into a bath," Rose smiled.
"Sounds good to me…I stink," Lily laughed, both girls joined her. She moved her legs to hang from the side of the bed, when she tried to stand, she felt like a baby deer trying to take its first steps. Her legs wobbled from under nourishment and under use. Once she was standing, Rose and Beth came to her aid, helping her walk to the bathroom.
"Yew think she'll like it?" Daryl asked as he held baby Daniel and walked with Mason into the nursery that had been completed over the past week. Everyone in the group, for the most part, had pitched in. There was a wooden crib, a changing table, and a rocking chair, as far as furniture went, all of which was picked up during their trip to Rio.
"Yeah…but she'll probably wanna move the crib in your room though."
"Why?"
"Because she'll want her baby close to her, that's how most women are. Taylor was anyway. She didn't know how to put Livie down for five whole minutes…"
"Oh," was all Daryl said. He felt like a jealous kid all of a sudden. But, then again he couldn't really be mad is Lily was paying more attention to their kid then him. She was suppose to do that. So what if for a few months, Daniel was her main priority. They had the rest of their lives to be happy together.
AN: Okay, next chapter I'm gonna highlight stuff over the fifteen year gap (not just about Daniel's life) and hopefully I have it up tonight…but I think there's only gonna be two more total. I could rap it up in one, but I wanna make it detailed and give all of my faithful readers a really good ending.