AN: Here we go…another little chapter to move us along. As I've said before…lots more to come!

I hope you enjoy! Let me know what you think!

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"Welcome home!" Carol announced the very moment that Daryl made his way through the door. "Dinner is ready…if you'll sit, I'll bring you a plate."

"I…uh…need ta talk with you," Daryl said, going about his routine to sit for the meal that he was late for.

"Something wrong?" Carol asked, her voice sounding instantly concerned.

"No…nothin' like that," Daryl said, trying to reassure her to start this conversation in the most positive light possible.

Carol brought plates and sat down, her forehead furrowed already.

"Was it something with work? Did something happen?" Carol asked.

Daryl furrowed his brow at her.

"Huh?" He asked.

"What came up?" She asked.

He shook his head, realizing that she'd been coming up with possible scenarios since he called her.

"No…weren't work," he said. "Listen…now I don't want you ta get upset 'til you hear me out. OK? Can you do that?"

Carol stared at him, but she nodded. Whether or not it was the truth, she would at least agree to try not to get upset until she'd heard him out.

"I went by the children's home," Daryl said. "I put in for us ta start an adoption…they comin' tomorrow…for a house visit or somethin'. I'ma take offa work, we gonna talk to 'em an' everything's gonna go just great. We gonna…bring us home a lil' girl ta live with us."

He'd spit it out as quickly as humanly possible. Carol was just staring at him, but already she'd started the soft shaking of her head from side to side. Daryl held up a hand at her to keep her from protesting.

"Now listen, Carol…I seen her…pretty little girl…perfect. Her name's Sophia…she's got red hair…little bit darker than yours…blue eyes…just perfect, she's gonna be just great for you…keep you company an' everything," Daryl said.

He was floundering. He didn't know what he was doing. He never knew what he was doing when it came to Carol. He felt so often like things with Carol were like jumping feet first into the water and hoping that once his head went under he learned how to swim in time to keep himself from drowning.

It wasn't, perhaps, the greatest way to handle things, but it had gotten him this far.

She continued to shake her head at him.

"Daryl…they're not going to let us have a baby! As soon as you tell them about…that place…they're not going to let me have a baby…" Carol said.

"Carol…we gonna explain ta them that you never belonged in that place," Daryl said. "You didn't belong there…you don't belong nowhere like that. None a' that stuff that happened to you was your fault. They're gonna see that…"

She continued shaking her head, her face drawn up in what could have been any number of facial expressions.

"You know it's true," she said, surprising him. "You know we're never going to have a baby of our own…and you…you just decided to go and get a baby? You knew it was true…"

Now it was his turn to shake his head at her. He hadn't seen that coming, but he knew that she counted on him to be something of a never ending cheerleader in their quest for a baby. Some people believed she'd never have children, some of the doctors said that she would, and she was caught in that dividing line where she wanted desperately to believe she would but she couldn't quite commit to the feeling. She counted on Daryl to remind her that it wasn't hopeless.

Without meaning to, he'd let her down there.

"Carol, that ain't what this is about," Daryl said. "We're gonna have kids one day of our own…but this might help you. Might help you relax. We can focus on raisin' this kid…our kid…Carol this ain't what that's about. This ain't nothin' bad…"

"Daryl, they're not going to let us keep her! Don't you understand that? We've talked about this before. If we tell them about Sunny Meadows? They'll never let us keep her…and if we don't tell them and they find out about it? They'll take her away," Carol said. "They'll come and they'll take her away! You shouldn't have done this!"

Daryl groaned to himself. This was going to go badly…it just was and he could sense it. And there was so much here that he hadn't even begun to figure out how to breach with her.

"Carol…I need you ta listen a minute an' stop shakin' your head at me…lower your voice…we ain't yellin' at each other neither," Daryl said. "You wanna talk, we'll talk all night, but we ain't gettin' nowhere we start yellin' at each other."

Carol looked quickly at her untouched plate of food and slid it closer to the middle of the table to go with his.

"I'm sorry," she said with a sigh and he worried that if she let go of her anger it was going to be replaced with tears.

"I think this is the best thing for us," Daryl said. "The person comin' tomorrow is a man I ain't met yet…his name is…something Weatherly. He's just gonna come an' he's gonna see that we good people. He's gonna see that we got us a nice lil' house here an' we got the potential ta take care a' Sophia. He's gonna talk with us an' he's gonna see that we should have all the damn kids we can feed…an' we gonna get Sophia an' I'ma bring her home for us. They ain't gonna take her away, OK? Ain't nobody gonna meet neither one of us an' think we ought not ta have kids."

Carol didn't respond. Her chest was rising and falling with a speed that let him know that she was upset that he'd made this decision without asking her…she didn't ever seem to realize how many decisions he'd been forced to make without her. And he tried not to point it out to her regularly.

If they got Sophia home with them, though, he couldn't help but feel that Carol would feel differently about things…and maybe just having Sophia there would trigger her memory. Maybe she would feel…whatever it was that mothers were supposed to feel. Maybe she'd just know that Sophia was hers…after all, Daryl had figured out easily enough that the girl belonged to Carol.

Or maybe if he could just get her through this night, let her sleep on things, and get the house visit out of the way…then he could approach Carol with a little more of her own story.

"You want a lil' girl, don't you?" Daryl asked, reaching and rubbing a finger against Carol's arm. "You want…you said you want to be a Mama…you want that don't you? Or you want me to call 'em tomorrow morning and tell 'em that you don't want that?"

"I want us to have a baby," Carol said. "I want us to be parents…"

"An' we're gonna be," Daryl said, forcing a smile around the lump in his throat that formed whenever he saw her look as crushed as she did at the moment.

She shook her head slightly, averting her eyes from him.

"If they say no? Then that's it…we're not going to be parents, Daryl," Carol said. "We're not going to have a baby…and they're not going to give us a baby...and it's my fault…if I'd never…"

"Carol Ann, they ain't gonna say no ta us, OK?" Daryl said. "They ain't gonna say no…an' we gonna get this lil' girl…an' there are gonna be others…hell we'll give Merle an' Andrea a damn run for their money if that's what the hell you want. But you gotta…stop actin' like this. Ain't nothin' your fault, but you act like this tomorrow an' they gonna get the wrong damn idea about things…they gonna think you actin' crazy…"

The moment he said it, the words hit Daryl like a kick in the gut, and he knew that they hit Carol just as hard. She looked at him with anger, and that was an emotion that she didn't use against him all too often.

"I'm sorry," he offered. "I know you're scared…but you're fighting against somethin' you want. Don't fight against it. You want it an' you know you do…every day for damn near ten years I've heard you talkin' about wantin' us ta have a kid…every day for damn near ten years you've cried about it. Now it's gonna happen…don't mope an' cry over that!"

Carol nodded her head slightly, not speaking for a moment.

"I'm not hungry," she said.

And she got to her feet.

"Where are you goin'?" Daryl asked.

"To make the spare room look more acceptable," Carol said. "We don't have anything for a baby except a bassinet…and that's not even ours…it's a hand me down from Andrea…"

Daryl got to his feet and followed after her when she went into the room that had once been her room and started to straighten up. He leaned against the doorframe.

Part of him simply wanted to yell at her that she'd had a baby. He wanted to yell at her that she'd very likely lost her mind, if it was ever really lost to begin with, because she'd lost the kid…and now he was trying to give it back to her with every good intention that he'd ever had. He wanted to yell it all at her and make her remember it…but the other part thought that it might be too much. It might throw her right on over into something else…and then they might never, ever, convince anyone that they could do this…they could raise this girl.

There would be time…or at least he hoped there would be…to handle some of this.

"Carol…we don't need a bassinet," Daryl said. "the bed'll be just fine."

She stopped what she was doing and turned to look at him.

"Daryl…you can't put a baby in a bed," Carol said. "She'll roll out. She could get hurt."

"I'm not stupid, Carol Ann," Daryl said. "Sophia ain't a baby…she's fourteen."

"Fourteen?" Carol asked. She looked at Daryl like he'd suddenly began to speak German. "Fourteen what?"

"Fourteen foot tall, Carol," Daryl said. "She's fourteen years old…she's a teenager…"

The staring contest began then. Daryl wasn't sure how long it lasted and while it was in progress he wasn't sure who would be the first to break the connection they'd established.

"What about…a baby?" Carol asked. "I thought…"

"I got my reasons, Carol," Daryl said. "I got my reasons for thinkin' this girl…fourteen year old girl…is the perfect kid for us, OK? An' they don't got no babies anyway…not right now."

Now Daryl was sure that going into things too deeply tonight would be a disaster. All of this, basic as it was to him, seemed to be hitting Carol hard. She wasn't speaking at this point, but she looked like she simply didn't know what to say or how to respond. She was just standing there now, looking around the room like she'd never seen it before instead of like it was the room that she'd spent a good deal of time living in.

He figured that if she could sleep on this tonight…get through this and get through the home visit…then he could speak to her a little more about the rest of it before they brought Sophia home…and he could speak to Sophia as well.

The girl needed to know a little about her mother, and about the man who would have been her father too.

He crossed the room, caught Carol's arm, and pulled her to the bed so that she would sit with him.

And she did, but she didn't look at him.

"Carol…this little girl…she's alone," Daryl said. "She's uh…been livin' in this home for her whole life. Come to them when she was just a baby…an' all those years…weren't nobody that wanted her."

Carol looked at him, her eyes showing clearly that she was on the verge of tears, even if she kept the rest of her expression calm at the moment.

"Why not?" Carol asked.

Daryl shrugged.

"Because…she just weren't what they were lookin' for I reckon," Daryl said. "Woman there said…she's quiet…keeps to herself a good bit…daydreams a lot."

He chuckled to himself feeling like the two of them were very much alike…odd since they'd never been together since the day the child had been born…as far as Daryl knew, Carol had never even seen her. Yet…here he was, feeling like he was somewhat describing Carol.

"Point is…she's got nobody ta love her," Daryl said. "But she wants ta be loved…I figured…you an' me…got somethin' in common with her. 'Cause we want a kid to love, right? That's what we've wanted for years…an' we don't got one to love…so maybe this way we all get somethin' outta this?"

Carol wiped at her eyes and Daryl knew that the tears that she'd been fighting against were crawling their way down her cheeks now.

"An'…who knows…maybe a couple months…a year…we get us a baby too? Maybe we have us two or three…but I figured that it wouldn't hurt us ta already have a lil' girl to love, ya know? This ain't about not having what we want…this is about havin' even more'n we knew we wanted," Daryl said.

Daryl had no idea how this was going to work out…but like everything before, he had to hope that he would somehow just figure it out…that somehow they'd come out on the other side of this. And eventually they'd all have what they needed…all of them.

"Can you do that? Do you think you could love this little girl? Be the Mama she ain't never had before?" Daryl asked.

Carol looked at him and nodded her head.

"I can try," she said.

Daryl smiled.

"You're gonna be great," he said. "I got me a hunch."