He was pale and bruised, his chest was a mass of bruising, he was groaning a little, they were trying to wake him a little rouse him. She come to the end of the bed, they were checking his vital signs, she looked at the monitor. The noise was freaking her out a little. His oxygen stats were low, she could see that for herself. He had prongs in his nose delivering oxygen. She was pleased to see he was breathing for himself. She was worried she was going to come in and see him on a ventilator or something.

'Daryl's wife,' the doctor told them, he waved her hand when he though she might correct him. Lying to the nurses to get her to his bed. The nurse beckoned her closer. She was a little scared of what was going to happen next. She was scared, her heart was beating fast, she wanted to wrap him in her arms and keep him safe. Take him home, get him out of here now. Right now. The nurse seemed well tuned to nervous people in the recovery room.

'He's also has a tiny baby in the waiting room, maybe you could talk to him about that,' the doctor told the nurse. She nodded, looking at the monitor, she was writing in his chart constantly. He had one on one nurse care. Carol watched and his blood pressure dropped dramaticly then his heart began racing, the nurse watched for a second before giving him a little gentle shake on his shoulder.

'Daryl, wakey wakey, rise and shine,' she told him quietly, 'Lets wake up,

'We trying to wake him a little, rouse him somewhat,' she said quietly. Carol come closer to the bed, reaching out gently to touch his arm. He was so still and pale,

'Hey baby, open your eyes for me ... Sophia's waiting to see her Daddy,' Carol reached down touching his face, his eyes fluttered open and shut again, he half moaned a little. Carol rubbed his arm, then held his hand. 'You wanna open up your eyes, Daryl... sweetie...'

Daryl opened his eyes his lids fluttering looking up to the ceiling then they shut, she stroked his face and he moved his head slightly towards her touch a little. Carol glanced around the room, she didn't know what they were expecting for him to do, he was responding to her voice. She looked at the nurse.

'That's great Daryl, your family is here, I heard you have a real cute little baby in the waiting room waiting to cuddle her Daddy,' the nurse said to him. She gave him a little shake again, she was watching his stats, they were all over the show. They were trying to still get him somewhat roused.

His eyes opened again and he mumbled 'Soph... safe...' his eyes shut again. His stats come up a little. Carol saw them bringing Sophia to her. She was grizzling, she knew she was hungry, still stressed from her ordeal this morning. Carol leaned back in the chair holding her arm's out for Sophia, she had and idea. She stood up putting Sophia's face close to Daryl's. Sophia recognized him and started grabbing for his facial hair making her noises she made when she saw him. Lately she'd been 'ba ba da da da,' She was sure he responded to her a little.

'I'm just going to feed Soph, Andrea's here, and Merle,' Carol told him, She tucked Sophia in watching him. Andrea watched the monitor standing at the end of the bed, her arms cross across her chest. They were still rising and falling somewhat. They just had to wait to hope they would flatten out. Come into the normal range. Carol watched Andrea's face for any indication that there might be a problem.

'He's still coming out of the drugs they put him under with, he's got a morphine pump too, he's going to be groggy for a bit,' she told Carol, 'When he's a bit more stable they will move him to high dependency unit for a few days then see how he goes.'

'I'm ... 'Carol suddenly become overwhelmed every thing was starting to get too much, she's going to feel panic she just really really wanted to get out of there fast. The whole day with what happened with Sophia, Ed and now Daryl made her sick to her stomach.

'Its OK, its OK, breathe ... breathe I thinkyou're starting to have a panic attack,' Andrea come round starting to stroke her back, 'he's going to be fine and if he's not well we'll just deal with it,'

'I can't be without him, ' Carol told her, 'i'm worried, i was so mean to him yesterday,' Carol finished feeding Sophia, the little girl struggling to get away leaning towards him.

'We can tuck her in beside him,' Andrea moved again, fiddling with his sheet tucking her in tight so she was lying against his chest on his good side, his good arm around her, Sophia settled down sucking her fist calm against him. They watched her fall asleep, they watched Daryl's heart rate regulate.

'See in its good for both them, ' Andrea was pleased he had been all over the show and she was worried. Now they just had to sit back and wait.