AN: Here you go, another chapter.
I hope you enjoy! We're really winding down here! Let me know what you think!
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Andrea and Merle had gotten hitched, but the assholes hadn't bothered to tell anyone about it and no one would have probably even known if it hadn't been for Daryl simply noticing one day that his brother was wearing a ring. He'd asked him about it and Merle had chuckled and looked at his hand like he hadn't even noticed the gold band had magically appeared from somewhere.
And that had been all they'd had to say about. A shrug and a confirmation that they'd gotten married…and not one damn word more on the matter.
Michonne, having settled on a summer wedding…unless of course she couldn't have something she wanted because Michonne wasn't the kind to settle…had asked Hershel Greene if they might move the location of the wedding out to his farm. The pond, she decided, would be the perfect backdrop for her wedding that was being, to some degree, completely revamped now that she had changed her mind on what she wanted and how everyone would be dressed. Daryl listened to her go on and on about it, and he listened to Andrea and Carol squeal about the dresses they'd both decided not to buy until the last possible minute, but he wasn't the least bit interested in it.
In fact, all the talk about weddings with Michonne made him glad that he had his over and done and out of the way and he'd never have to do it again.
Michonne's father was doing his best, against the court system obviously run by snails, to get Axel out of his temporary holding in prison and home…but he hadn't won yet. Still, they were all hopeful, and Axel had been allowed to call a few times, arguing that he had no one else to call anyway and he liked checking in with Andrea and Merle to make sure that Juniper was alright and she was behaving.
More than alright, the little rat was living like a queen. Daryl chuckled every time he saw Merle in the yard, carrying the damn little dog around, sometimes tucked up under a jacket or some such thing, because she didn't like to get wet when they were travelling between the houses. But it was all they could really do for Axel…and so they all took care of the dog as if it had been a kid more than a rat wearing a dog suit.
And Axel reported that he'd achieved something of a celebrity status with the men that he was housed with…the gentleman of the cellblock as Carol had once called him while discussing his past stints in institutions of the law. And he enjoyed the care packages that Jo Greene sent, without fail, every week…always making sure there was plenty for him and an ample amount to share with his newfound friends.
Things were getting back to normal it seemed…as normal as they'd ever been in Sweet Junction…and Daryl was getting anxious, waiting for his daughter to make her appearance. In his opinion Carol looked like she might actually explode if Lil' Bit didn't come soon.
But finally she'd been cleared to get back to a normal routine in hopes that their daughter would select the birthday she liked most. For about three days, Carol and Daryl had survived as shut ins almost, spending all their free time catching up for lost time and trying out sexual positions they'd never even imagined before in an effort to bring Lil' Bit that much closer to coming and Carol that much closer to finding the relief that she whined about needing and Daryl hoped wasn't too long coming for her.
The past day and a half, though, Carol's surly mood had taken over and she'd had more of a hands off approach to Daryl. He figured he'd probably done something wrong…and maybe it was simply that he had taken part in getting her pregnant all those months ago…and she wasn't willing to tell him yet exactly what it was.
So she'd gone about doing her things…just as she normally would…and Daryl had done his best to stay out of her way when she wasn't requesting that he do one thing or another.
But by the time he went to bed, and she joined him…very nearly threatening his life with her eyes if he dared to put an arm around her…he was really beginning to concentrate most of his hopes and wishes, and prayers even if they could be called that, that Lil' Bit would come soon. If she didn't, he had a distinct fear that Carol might murder him in his sleep for something he didn't even know he'd done and Lil' Bit wouldn't ever even get the opportunity to meet him.
Despite his slight concern that his wife's mood might turn her homicidal, though, Daryl had managed to get to sleep, lulled mostly by Lincoln's snoring since the dog had been sticking closer to Carol than normal lately.
And he must have slept fairly well because when he woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of Lincoln's toenails clapping around and around the floor and rolled to over to get up and let the dog out, he realized he'd never noticed that both Carol and Lincoln had abandoned the bed at some point.
Daryl stretched and got out of the bed, wandering through the house…wherever Carol was, she was there in the dark.
Daryl ran his hand down the wall and found the dining room light, bathing the room in the fluorescent glow and almost blinding himself. Carol hissed at the light and he realized she was standing at the table, her hands pressed on it, rocking back and forth while Lincoln ran a nervous circle around the table.
Daryl pawed at his eyes and tried to figure out how the hell he'd ended up with a front row seat in the looney bin.
"He gotta go out?" He asked finally.
"No," Carol said.
Daryl stood there for a moment, watching Carol.
"Can I ask what the hell ya doin' or ya gon' bite my damn head off like ya done earlier?" Daryl asked.
He was honestly trying to take absolutely everything in stride, but everyone had their limitations.
"I think I'm in labor…" Carol said, somewhat nonchalantly.
Her tone of voice was so far outside of what Daryl expected for it to be like when she made that announcement that he wasn't sure he had heard her right. He blinked at her a moment before it even sunk into his brain that she had, in fact, confirmed that this was what they'd been waiting on for all this time.
"Ya mean like now?" He asked, starting to come out of his stupor when Carol started her rocking again and started to practice some of the breathing techniques they'd covered in their class.
She nodded her head, but there was a moment there before she finished what she was doing and then spoke.
"Yeah…now…" Carol said.
"How long?" Daryl asked.
Carol shook her head.
"I don't know…maybe like a day?" She said.
It hit Daryl what she'd said and he felt himself waking up very quickly.
"What the hell ya mean like a day?!" Daryl yelled.
"Don't yell…" Carol said.
"I'm sorry," Daryl said. "But when the hell was ya gon' tell me? We gotta go ta the fuckin' hospital!"
"I didn't know…I wasn't sure what it was…and they said it takes a long time and they'd just send me home if it wasn't right…" Carol said.
"There are some damn times ya inconvenience people just in case, Carol!" Daryl said.
He turned quickly, heading back into the bedroom. He dialed Merle and Andrea's number and got a sleepy Merle. He tried to convey to them, since they were intending on following them over to the hospital, that the baby was coming and wrestled into his clothes while he did so. Grabbing up the bag that they'd had sitting on the dresser for over two weeks, Daryl came out and started toward the door.
"We gotta go…she ain't gon' wait forever!" Daryl said, feeling panic start to rise up now that he was really getting his senses together and digesting Carol's admission that this had been something that was going on for some time.
"I don't even get help?!" Carol called at him.
Daryl turned around and went back, hooking his arm around Carol and helping her out the house at the slowest speed he could possibly stand and apparently at the fastest that she was willing to travel.
Andrea came trotting toward them up the driveway and Daryl assumed she was intending on riding with them.
"She OK? Is it time?" Andrea called, coming toward them.
The answer to the question came in the form of Carol lurching forward in such a manner that Daryl almost lost his grip on her as her water broke. Daryl cursed and Andrea screamed, probably waking up anyone in the neighborhood that wasn't awake at the witching hour.
"Just help me get her in the car!" Daryl called at Andrea.
Once they got in the car, Daryl backed down the driveway and started toward the hospital, hoping that no Barney Fife characters were going to catch wind of him on the backroads heading out of town toward the hospital. He was pretty sure he'd die of a heart attack before he got there, but he was trying to hold it together.
"That weren't s'posed ta happen at the house," Daryl said, talking to the people in his car as much as he was to himself. "We was s'posed ta already be at the hospital by the time that shit happened…"
"What happened…is it bad?" Andrea asked from the back seat where she was leaning forward enough to keep waving her right hand over Carol's shoulder for Carol to hold, but Carol was more content with trying to beat their dashboard into some kind of shape.
"Water broke," Daryl said. "Means we ain't playin' no damn more. Baby's comin' 'fore too long. It weren't s'posed ta happen at the house. We was gon' already be at the hospital."
"I'm so sorry," Carol growled through gritted teeth. "This must be really fucking uncomfortable for you!"
Daryl's eyes went wide and he turned his attention to driving.
"Daryl…you might want to be quiet," Andrea offered from the back. "Carol…honey…close your legs…maybe she won't try to come out if she doesn't think she can. It's been said before but I don't know nothin' 'bout birthin' no babies…"
Carol's response was to beat the window instead of the dash and growl. At the end of the growl, she decided to address Andrea with the same, slightly demonic in Daryl's opinion, tone that she'd used with him.
"Andrea…shut up or I'll make Daryl pull this car over and put you out…" Carol growled.
The rest of the trip was quiet. There was a silent agreement between Daryl and Andrea both that neither of them would speak unless spoken to. Carol was the only one making any sound as they finally reached the hospital that Daryl felt like had grown legs and moved farther away.
By the time they got to the hospital, Daryl pulled the car up and Andrea was out and disappeared before he could even get out and circle around the car to get Carol out. Andrea came back with a wheelchair, pushing it right up to Carol's door.
"Come on," Daryl said. "I'ma get'cha out."
Carol started to argue with him, but he caught her under the arms and all but heaved her into the wheelchair, despite her protests that he'd decided were as much against the whole situation at the moment as they were against him.
"I think I need to push," Carol panted. "I think it's time to push…"
Daryl wheeled her into the hospital, expecting that Andrea was some damn where.
"Don't push," Daryl said. "They said if ya push too early makes it worse…just don't do nothin' 'til we get the doctor."
"Oh…" Carol answered him, gripping the chair. "Oh…I'm going to push…"
"Don't'cha fuckin' do it," Daryl growled at her.
Daryl finally got ahold of a nurse who started talking to him about registering and he tried to figure out what to do. He tried to explain to the nurse, while keeping an eye on Carol who was obviously deciding this was her show entirely and she wasn't listening to him about the pushing thing…that he didn't know how long she'd been in labor but her water had broken back in Sweet Junction and she was going to push whether they liked it or not.
"If no one helps me right now," Carol called out at both of them, "then I'm going to have this baby myself!"
Daryl swallowed and looked at the nurse.
"She's serious…" he said.
He was surprised when another individual…a man who was wearing scrubs but that's all he really knew about him…came and started pushing Carol's chair toward an area of the emergency room. Daryl left the unhelpful nurse and followed the man, jogging to catch up with him.
"If she's ready to deliver we can deliver her here," the man said.
Daryl followed him into one of the rooms and the man yelled something at some other nurses and the scramble was on.
Daryl couldn't keep up with everything and before he knew it, the man had Carol on a table. At the moment she seemed to like the man a whole lot more than she liked Daryl…and he thought maybe it's because the man was being proactive about getting the baby out like she wanted him to be and encouraging her to push rather than discouraging the activity.
Daryl caught her hand, though, even though she was paying him very little attention at the moment and did his best to offer the same encouragements offered by the man.
Another woman came into the space they shared and spread a blanket over Carol's stomach even as she was still pushing and Daryl was surprised to hear the man between his wife's legs declare that the head was out and she had one more push to go…one which she seemed glad to give him.
The rest was like a whirlwind to Daryl of activity. Before he'd even realized that it all could be over so fast…when he'd prepared, like his brochures told him for a long and leisurely event…the man laid a baby on Carol's stomach and her hands went for it and what seemed like less than a fraction of a second later, he was offering Daryl scissors to cut the cord, which Daryl did, still eyeing the baby that he couldn't even believe was his.
And then, almost as quickly as everything else had happened, the nurse that had come in with the blanket took the baby and left.
"No…" Carol protested loudly. "No…"
Daryl went back to holding her hand, but he felt like he didn't have anything to offer her. None of this…not one single moment of any of it…was going anything like he'd seen it playing out in his head a thousand times.
"Where's she going?" Carol asked.
Daryl glanced at her and wished he could warn everyone around there that she looked like she was headed for a melt down of epic proportions.
"It's OK," the man who had delivered the baby said. "We do things quickly down here…they're going to get her cleaned up…make sure everything's alright. As soon as we get you done here and you're in a room, they'll have her there for you."
Carol looked ready to protest again and Daryl didn't know what to say to her.
"We didn't sign in," Carol said. "What if they don't know she's ours? Daryl…?"
Daryl knew he was supposed to solve this problem for her, but he had no idea how to do it.
The man chuckled though.
"You're the only baby we've had in two days here…" the man said. "They'll know who she belongs to. Can you focus with me a few minutes and we'll get you ready to go to a room so you can see her?"
The man directed his attention to Daryl.
"You're welcome to stay…but you could go ahead and get her registered so they'll get her room ready faster," the man said.
Daryl turned back to Carol who looked like she might still be somewhat considering that breakdown.
"What'cha want me ta do?" Daryl asked.
Carol frowned at him.
"You can go…I'm fine…" she said.
Daryl nodded his head at her and leaned down, kissing her quickly, but she was too distracted to return the kiss so he turned and left the area to go and get her signed in and let anyone who was out there know that they had a daughter…even if he wasn't even really sure what she looked like.
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Daryl felt like a zombie by the time they were getting Carol in a room. She was signed in…he'd done his part there. He'd also stopped the nurse that was taking care of her and told her that she might slip her something for anxiety because if they didn't bring their kid soon, Carol was apt to go right on out of her mind and she had a flair for drama when she let herself go over the edge.
When Daryl finally made it into the room where Carol was worrying in the bed instead of resting like she was supposed to be, Daryl went over and sat down on the edge, next to her.
"She's on her way, woman," Daryl said. "Hell we waited this long for her…we can wait another ten minutes or so."
Daryl wasn't sure why he didn't feel as pressured about it as Carol did, but he just figured that when they brought her, they brought her…and then they were going to have a long damn time to look at her. Carol, though, had tears running down her face.
A nurse came in then, smiling and gave Carol something.
"What's that?" Carol asked.
"Just a little something to help with your nerves…" she said. "We got your files and you got a post it note for worry…"
"Is that bad?" Carol asked.
The nurse chuckled and shook her head.
"Nothing we don't see a million times a week," she said. "Your doctor's been called and she's on her way. You're the first baby we've had in a couple of days so everyone wasn't quite as prepared as when it seems like there's a full moon. They'll be in later for you to do her birth certificate…"
"When can I see her?" Carol asked.
"You didn't see her?" The woman asked, glancing at Daryl.
Daryl shook his head.
"Was too quick," he said. "I don't guess I could pick her outta two babies 'less she looks just like one a' us…"
The nurse furrowed her brow.
"You delivered in Emergency?" She asked.
Carol nodded her head and the nurse sighed.
"They do things a little different down there than we do them up here…I'll go make sure she's on her way here…make sure they don't think you're waiting for a feeding or something," the nurse said.
Daryl thanked her and she said it was no problem and disappeared.
Carol looked a little relieved and Daryl didn't know if it was because of the medicine or because of the fact that she felt like she was finally getting her concerns validated and addressed. She reached, taking his hand in hers and he squeezed her hand, leaning in to kiss her. This time she returned it and he wiped at her cheeks with his free hand.
"Sorry I yelled at'cha," Daryl said.
Carol smiled softly.
"Sorry I yelled at you…" she said.
Daryl chuckled.
"Reckon we even?" He asked.
Carol nodded.
"I think we're even," she responded.
They were interrupted when a moment later the same nurse that had gone to check on the baby returned, pushing a box on wheels. She scooped the baby out of the box and brought her over, offering her to Carol who took her, almost greedily.
Daryl didn't try to get in the way for the moment, though he did watch the whole scene. He figured he'd get his turn, but he wanted Carol to get hers out first.
"You'll have a lactation specialist coming soon to help with her meal," the nurse said after the baby was settled into Carol's arms. "Just buzz me if you need anything."
Daryl thanked the girl again, recording that her name from her badge was Julie in case he ever needed it, and he turned his attention back to Carol.
She was crying and nuzzling the baby who, as far as he could tell, was sleeping through the entire event. Daryl leaned then, getting a good look at his daughter's face.
She was much smaller than he'd imagined she would be…and he wasn't entirely sure what he'd thought she would look like, but he didn't know that she looked like he'd imagined as she slept, bundled up in Carol's arms. She was very, very pink…and from her sleeping he figured that getting born might be as tiring for her as it had been for everyone else involved. But she was beautiful, and she was perfect, and she was safely here.
"Why ya cryin'?" Daryl asked Carol.
She just shook her head at him and he decided to leave it alone, getting up off the bed and going in search of a box of tissues that he found with minimal effort.
He came back and brought her some tissue, and she accepted them, continuing her silent crying and finally moving one of her arms from under the baby to dig around inside the blanket and come up with a tiny hand.
"She's perfect, Daryl," Carol said.
Daryl smiled at her.
"Hell yeah she is…" he said. "Pretty lil' thing…"
Daryl didn't want to admit that it still hadn't entirely sunk in for him that the baby in Carol's arms was their daughter…the baby they'd been waiting on. He knew she was, but his brain hadn't fully and completely let him realize it yet.
"She is pretty," Carol said. "She's pretty and she's perfect…"
Daryl gnawed his lip. He knew that Andrea and Merle were waiting downstairs…they'd called Michonne and both of them said they'd wait for Michonne and then they'd all come up to get a look at the baby.
And as much as Daryl didn't want to interrupt the burrowing around inside the blanket that Carol was doing, slowly uncovering one part of the baby, covering it back up, and then uncovering another, Daryl wanted to hold her before they got up there and someone pushed in line in front of him.
"Can I hold her?" He asked finally.
Carol looked at him somewhat apologetically and Daryl chuckled to himself. Her facial expression said she'd all but forgotten he even existed…and even more so that he might want to hold his daughter.
"Of course," Carol said after a moment. Daryl thought it was funny that she both looked and sounded a little sad about it. Daryl leaned in and between the two of them, both pretty shaky at the thought of moving the baby, Carol got the baby settled into Daryl's arms and he hugged her close to him, at once mortally terrified that he was going to drop her. He didn't want to admit it, but he was pretty sure that if they had to do that process again he was going to need someone else to help him because he was too scared to move now.
The baby squirmed slightly and Daryl tried not to panic, thankful that she stopped a moment later. He examined her with his eyes, not having the same boldness to move one of his arms out from under her like Carol had.
And in the very moment that his eyes really took her in…really saw, for the first time, her sleeping little face clearly, he realized he was sunk.
She was perfect…and for every bit as much as he had thought for so long that Carol had complete control of his heart, he knew now that they were just going to have to figure out how to share it because Eliza Jo had more than managed to steal at least half of it away in an instant.