Here we are! The long- awaited for birthing chapter - I'm just so excited! XD
Sorry its so short too, but for some reason the scenes other than the actual birthing scene, did want to get written so instead of forcing it like I tried (multiple times) I'm just gonna leave it here. And not-to-mention if I made too sickly sweet between Daryl and Tessa, I'm pretty sure I'd give all my dear readers diabetes or something like that lol.
HaloHunter89 - I love it when I've only given the kid just a couple of lines and already people think he's weird. That's awesome! Don't worry, I can already tell you that I'm NOT going to make him batshit crazy.
Anyway! Read, review and enjoy! :)
- Nagiana
Favorite Line(s):
"Good Lord, you're right, Daryl! He's as perfect as perfect could be! He's our perfect little Daniel Dale Dixon!"
"Deddy – deddy, ya have to come quick!"
Daryl had still been sleeping and had awoken to the sounds of his son's boots pounding against the metal stairs leading up to the guard office. He had heard them before he was even fully awake and turned to squint up at the window hanging above the bunk – the window that had cast moonlight down on them the previous night. Tessa was gone and the sun hung high in the sky – it was around noon, to be exact. Since when did he sleep that long? Since when did anyone allow him to sleep that long – especially Tessa? She knew he liked to get up early and she always woke him if there was even the slightest chance of him sleeping past the normal time he woke up.
He shuffled a huge yawn and cast a bleary eye on the opened doorway to the room and waited for his son to enter. Right when he did, however, judging from the intensely worried look on his face, Daryl immediately knew that something was wrong – very wrong. He quickly sat up, his vision and mind suddenly clear and awake as he reached down, picked up the shirt he had discarded from his body the previous night, and yanked it none-too-kindly on.
"What's wrong, Ethan?" He asked and Ethan swallowed hard and fought to catch his breath and talk all at the same time as he leaned on the doorframe.
"It's momma, deddy! Her water broke while we were down in the yard dealing with the bodies and the other stuff that needed dealin' with and it took us a long time to carry her back up here, what with all the contractions and all, so she's pretty far along. She's been askin' for ya the entire way up here!"
Daryl immediately let out a curse as he sat up and quickly pulled on his boots. "Goddammit, Ethan, why didn' ya guys wake me up when I normally woke up?" He growled and Ethan shrugged weakly.
"It was momma's idea, I swear! She said ya were exhausted and to let ya sleep in – we didn' know her water would break today!" He immediately moved to defend himself and Daryl nodded, forcing himself to calm down as he finished pulling on his boots and got to his feet. He forced himself to smile a tight smile as he stood in front of Ethan and placed his hands on his shoulders.
"Don' worry, Ethan, she'll be fine, I promise. Ya momma's a strong woman – she'll survive this jus' like she survived everything else in her life." Ethan replied with a weak smile of his own before Daryl gently pushed past his son and left the guard room. His heart jumped up and began pounding a fierce beat in his throat as he jogged as fast as he could down the stairs leading to the second floor of the cellblock, skipping the last two on his way down and landing resoundingly on his feet. He then took off full run towards the cell that Hershel was standing in front of along with everyone else in the group, it seemed, and the old man's face adopted a look of intense relief when he saw Daryl. He met him halfway, his voice lowering so that it wouldn't carry off of the walls.
"Her contractions are coming fast – much faster than when they started down on the yard. She's about to go into labor any second now." Daryl nodded in reply, the look of nervousness on his face undeniable.
"Are we good?" He asked and Hershel gave a weak shrug.
"Rick and some of the others are out looking for the infirmary as we speak – to gather things that we might need if something happens and they promise that they'll be back as quickly as they can. If they're surrounded on the way back, then Glenn's gonna break away and make a run back as fast as he can with whatever they have." He clapped a hand on his shoulder, a slightly more worried expression appearing in his eyes then. "I didn't want to say anything in front of Tess, but I want – no, need – to remind you that something could very well happen, Daryl! And when the time comes . . ." He trailed off and Daryl nodded and swallowed hard, knowing what he was going to say.
"Yeah . . . yeah we both know what could happen. We've both discussed it – we know what we'll do if tha' comes up." He assured him and Hershel nodded as he stepped aside, finally allowing the man through. Everyone parted like the Red Sea as he moved to enter the cell Tessa was in, however, he ended up freezing in place at the scene he found before him.
Tessa had been moved from the bunk bolted to the wall, onto the mattress that had been dragged from the bunk onto the floor, to give them more room. Carol was kneeling in front of her, who was, in turn, leaning against Maggie's chest, legs spread and a white sheet draped over her knees for modesty's sake. Lori's fingers twisted nervously at the necklace hanging around her neck the entire time and a look of intense relief entered her eyes when she saw Daryl. She would have been in Maggie's place behind her friend until Daryl arrived, however, being as pregnant as she was, left that a quite impossible feat. So it left her sitting on the metal, mattress-less bunk not that far off from them, watching anxiously and praying that her friend would deliver her baby safely. Maggie was also doing a pretty good job of keeping it together too, especially when Tessa's gaze fell onto him. Her brown eyes darkened in a fiery anger as a very colorful string of cursewords fell from her mouth – directed mainly towards him – a colorful string of cursewords that had Maggie's eyes widening and her cheeks tingeing with blush in shock at.
"You motherfucker – how the fuck could you have done this to me again, you redneck piece of shit?!" Without even waiting for his response, she continued on, her voice getting a tad bit more screechy as she spoke, and her eyes squeezed closed as she was hit with another contraction. When it was over, she opened her eyes and pinned him with an icy cold glare that would have frozen Hell. "Why are you standing there just glaring at me? Get your motherfucking ass over here, Daryl Lee Dixon!"
"Happy to see ya too, babydoll!" He grinned as he quickly crossed the room to kneel beside them. He reached an arm carefully around Tessa's shoulders where Maggie was holding her up with her hands and then nodded to the brunette so that she could quickly scramble out of the way and he could settle in her place behind her. His legs moved to either side of her and she sunk back against his chest in relief while his found itself pressed against the cement wall behind him in turn. Her ebony hair was hanging limp and damp around her face and he planted a loving kiss on her forehead as she quickly entwined their fingers.
"I love you, Daryl . . . so much . . .!" She whispered to him and he nodded and nervously licked his lips before he planted another, more lingering kiss on her forehead. He had heard the agony and fear in her voice when she said those words to him and he found himself hoping to Hell that it wouldn't be the last time that she would tell him that. He hoped to Hell that nothing would go wrong and she would get out of this okay – her and their baby.
"I love ya too, babydoll. Now do me a favor: focus and breathe . . .!"
Tessa did as he told her as best as she could. It was two more hours of intense breathing and heart-wrenching screams that found themselves accompanied by Daryl's loud words of encouragement and mutually numbed fingers before the indignant wail of a new infant finally echoed throughout the walls of the cell block. Whooping and cheers came from the people scattered about and a look of intense relief appeared on Ethan's face as a beaming Seth and Wren wrapped congratulatory arms around his shoulders. T-Dog, Glenn and Rick, who had been on the quest for the infirmary, walked in around that time and after seeing the joyful look on everyone's faces, allowed theirs to split into grins as well. Tessa herself drew in a sharp breath and then started to cry and laugh at the same time as Carol cut the cord tethering mother and child before moving the struggling bundle of blankets up to settle on the new mother's chest.
"I suppose Daryl had been right these past few months. It's a perfect, very handsome baby boy!" She proclaimed to the new parents with a beam and Tessa grinned and laughed as the news rushed through the crowd outside the cell with the speed of lightening. She ached and she hurt and she felt like she had just been run over by the biggest dump truck you could possibly find, but all that went away when she looked into her newborn son's face – the son that she had housed for nine long months and the son who had kept her awake night after night with his constantly drumming feet.
She heard Daryl's chuckle in her ear then and she shook her head. "Well, I suppose Ethan was the one who had to be the silent one at birth, eh?" She asked and Daryl continued to chuckle as he pressed a kiss to Tessa's forehead.
"Tha' don' matter to me none, Tess! He's healthy and perfect and tha's all tha' matters!" He echoed as Tessa pushed back the blanket a little and found a tiny fist that immediately began to wave through the air before them. Breathless and in awe, Tessa gently held the tiny fist between two fingers and she felt Daryl's breathing catch in his throat as well as he gently ran a hand over the thick mess of wet black hair that covered his newborn son's head and Tessa swallowed hard as a few tears spilled from her eyes.
"Good Lord, you're right, Daryl! He's as perfect as perfect could be! He's our perfect little Daniel Dale Dixon!" She whispered in-between her tears.
But then, not mere minutes after they had Daniel settled comfortably in their arms, another contraction hit - a big one.
Tessa immediately grimaced and Daryl hastily took his son from her arms and handed him gently off to Maggie as Carol moved quickly back over to them. "Don't worry, honey, it's probably just the afterbirth – nothing to be worried about -!"
She stopped abruptly, however, and her eyes widened in shock – shock that immediately had Daryl and Tessa's hearts thumping erratically in their chest. "What Carol - what is it?" Daryl found himself asking, his voice tenser than he had originally wanted to portray and Carol glanced at them before moving back down between her legs.
"Tessa, I have just a quick question before we get back down to business - do twins normally run in your family?"
The entire cellblock seemed to go silent at her words and it was as if a fell wind had blown through, taking everyone's breaths away with it. Both Daryl and Tessa had to blink a couple of times before the news fully found itself sinking in and everyone lingering outside the cell they were currently in, had mutters running up and down their ranks again. "Wait – did ya jus' say twins?" Daryl asked in abject shock and Carol nodded and opened her mouth to say something but found herself cut off when Tessa squeezed her eyes shut and allowed another scream to issue forth from her lips. Her hands latched back onto Daryl's as she did so, their fingers immediately entwining as her entire body went rigid. It took some quick, skillful maneuvering, but after a few couple of minutes, another baby was brought into the world.
Carol let out a slightly awed laugh. "It seems like you guys were blessed twice! You have a handsome baby boy and an absolutely precious little girl!" She told them, a broad grin on her face as she wrapped this one in a blanket as well before handing her to them. She glanced over her shoulder at the people lingering in the entrance. "Hear that everyone? They have fraternal twins!" Everyone gasped in shock before letting out light, incredulous laughs as Daryl and Tessa took their daughter numbly into their arms. Daryl glanced at Carol.
"Can ya please make sure no more are comin'? 'Cause, I think I'm a bit too old to be chasin' after one or two more!" He asked wearily and Carol laughed, her eyes softening as she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure no more are coming, Daryl. You can relax – it's just the two!"
His body was tense as he brought his eyes down onto the second baby nestled in Tessa's arms but his eyes immediately softened when his eyes connected with the baby girl's beautiful blue eyes. Unlike Daniel, the girl was absolutely silent, gazing up them with a keen stoicism that for a moment had Daryl chuckling. "It figures tha' ma daughter would be tha one comin' out completely silent, eh?" He joked and Tessa grinned and laughed as Daryl ran a finger over the little girl's clenched fist. With remarkable alacrity, her tiny fist unfurled and she took ahold of his finger in a strong grip that had Daryl's chuckles immediately turning into full-bellied laughter.
"Oh, okay, it seems ma little girl is gonna be like her deddy and big brother!" He remarked and Tessa grinned.
"Aayla Dae . . ." She murmured, almost to herself more than him, and Daryl furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he looked down at her.
"I thought it was gonna be Catherine Elizabeth?" He asked her and she grinned and shook her head.
"It was, but . . . I think Aayla Dae Dixon suits her better. It was my grandmother's name, you know, and it means 'Strong Warrior'," She turned a smug look up onto him. "Suits her, don't ya think?" She asked, and Daryl grinned as he turned to accept his son as he was pressed into his arms by a softly smiling Maggie.
"So, we were expectin' one but got saddled with two – Daniel Dale and Aayla Dae . . ." He shrugged as he settled a soft, loving and adoration-filled look onto her. "I'll take 'em, Tess - gladly!"
"And would ya jus' look at tha big beautiful blue eyes they have, Tess!"
Tessa couldn't help but grin and laugh from over at her place in their bunk back in the guard office, Daryl sitting beside her with their babies cooing in-between them. But then again, it hadn't been hard for a grin to show up on Tessa's face at all, come to think of it. A grin had appeared on it since Daryl first carried her into the guard room, Wren and Beth walking in behind them carrying the babies. The grin had stayed on her face as Daryl immediately gazed down at their perfectly made children, the both of them warm and pink and soft from the womb. His keen blue eyes (the blue eyes that they seemed to have inherited) raked over his son and daughter's small forms, fatherly paranoia and fear causing him to count every finger and toe to make sure they had five on each limb; that they both had two ears and two eyes and a nose and a mouth and that they were all in the right places. Of course, Tessa had done the same first, when Daryl had been further situating their room for the two new additions, and of course he had to repeat the process anew.
Tessa nodded. "Yup; seems like the Dixon blue eyes are a rather dominant trait. Ethan got them too." Daryl grinned at her.
"Ya really want to talk 'bout dominant traits? What 'bout ya Indian black hair there? Good Lord, woman, let our kids get a shot at inheritin' ma gorgeous brown locks for once, why don' ya?" He asked good-naturedly and Tessa gave a slightly weary laugh as she shook her head in playful disbelief. She was glad he was still able to make her laugh, but she was exhausted. She had slept earlier, after the birth itself and after she had fed her children, but then had awoken again to feed them when they needed it. Without formula, she had to breast feed her children, something she hadn't done with Ethan, but this time around, she didn't mind it. She seemed to have enough milk for the both of them and Daryl had promised her multiple times that if she ever did dry out, then he and Glenn would make a run into town for formula and that was completely fine.
Dammit, Daryl seemed to be more on top of things than she was and she had done this before!
Her soft eyes flickered down onto her newborn son and daughter as Danny shuffled a yawn – a yawn that Aayla could not help but mimic seconds later. She smiled gratefully. Now, they were the ones dozing, ready to go off to sleep and for that, Tessa was glad. She wanted to sleep too – so very badly.
Daryl glanced at her and upon noticing how weary and exhausted she looked, got slowly and carefully to his feet from his spot on the bunk. He picked up each of his newborn babies in turn, where he deposited them as gently and carefully as he could, into the makeshift cradle on the floor that Beth, Wren and Carol had made out of all the old fabric they had lying around. It was a decent sized cradle and strong too for something made out of old cloth. They had thanked the three of them profusely, not knowing what they would have done if they had to sleep with the two babies in their bed with them.
He didn't want to disturb them as he lowered them into the cradle and apparently, he hadn't too badly, for as soon as they were laid down, they fell asleep with soft sighs and the occasional yawn. He smiled as he gazed down at them for a moment, still unable to fully reconcile the fact that as of a day ago, these two little bundles had been living and growing inside Tessa for the past nine months, keeping her up all night, every night with their little drumming feet. Seems he hadn't been kidding when he said: 'marching band'.
"I do think that you are in love, Daryl - you can't tear your eyes off them for nothing!" Tessa couldn't help but grin and Daryl shared her grin as he finally tore his eyes away from the twins and then climbed back onto the bunk beside her.
"Yeah, well, they're mine - one hundred percent - so I should be head-over-heels in love with them, shouldn' I?" He asked her and Tessa merely gave a shrug as Daryl pressed a loving kiss to her forehead. "And I love ya for givin' them to me!" He broke apart then, a shit-eating grin on his face. "I couldn' have done it without ya!" He told her and Tessa let out a snort of laughter as she rolled her eyes.
"Yeah, you bet your good-lookin' ass you couldn't! Kinda need a woman to have kids, Daryl – didn't you listen in health class?" She told him teasingly before planting a hand on his chest. "Now lay back, I'm exhausted!" Daryl did as he was told with a good-natured roll of his eyes, and immediately felt Tessa's head descend down onto his shoulder as her hand moved to lie on his chest. She let out an almost orgasmic groan of contentment as she lay there for a moment, half on him and half off, feeling her body come to a stiff, creaking rest around her. He laughed but she slapped him none-too-kindly on the chest and that quickly shut him up. "Shut up or be quiet! If you wake them up right now, I'm feeding you to whatever walkers are still left out there!" She threatened and Daryl gave a shrug.
"Well ya could certainly take ya pick . . . we left quite a few of 'em behind tha' fence . . ." He spoke thoughtfully and then chuckled when Tessa shot him a venomous look. His hand slid up to cup her cheek as he pressed his lips to hers. They kissed slowly and lovingly for a moment before Tessa broke away and returned her head to his shoulder. She let out another sigh of contentment as she closed her eyes. She felt him grin against her hair. "I suppose a 'thank you' is an inappropriate thing to give to ya right now?" He asked her, and Tessa let out a bark of a laugh.
"You bet, Daryl, but it's a start, I suppose. I just gave birth to two of your kids in under two hours, with absolutely no painkillers of any kind – not even a damn Tylenol! A 'thank you' is the last thing I want from you!" She smiled then and turned her gaze up to him, where her voice softened. "But I will take an 'I love you'."
Daryl returned her smile with one of his own as he leaned down slightly to kiss her again, her lips automatically molding to his as his hand slid into her hair to cup her head. When they broke apart, he whispered the words to her in a voice dripping with exactly the love and adoration and worship that he felt for her and for a moment, Tessa felt her heart stop and her breathing catch in her throat. When she replied to him that she loved him too, all she could remember was him telling her when they were younger, that he wasn't the loving type of man and always with a sneer on his face.
Oh, how far he has come since that brooding little kid in highschool. And Tessa couldn't be prouder of him.
