My computer froze on me and I had to turn it off and then turn it back on and I managed to lose over 4,000 words I had written last night for one of my new stories. 4,000 words! I am super pissed! But I'll rewrite them and maybe they'll be better than those words that I lost. I'm just going to keep telling myself that anyway. Hope you guys had a better night than me! Thank you for reading!

Chapter Sixty Seven

Daryl kept his mouth shut. He wanted to ask them what the fuck was going on and he wanted to tell them to speak fucking English because he wasn't a goddamn doctor and he didn't understand all the fucking medical jargon they were spouting.

"Do you want to go call Sophia now?" Carol asked once the nurse had some kind of weird looking belt wrapped around her stomach.

He nodded and slipped out of the room. He felt like he couldn't breath. He was sweating and his heart wouldn't stop beating too fast. He had heard of people having panic attacks before but he didn't think he would ever have to worry about having one. He dialed the number and held the phone to his ear, scowling when it went to voice mail. She always answered her phone. He had never seen her ignore a call before. That just wasn't like her. He tried again with the same result. And then a horrifying thought occurred to him. What if the reason she didn't answer her phone was because she was somewhere with Damon and she wasn't in the position to answer it? "Oh, that little shit better be keepin' his damn hands to himself," he muttered as he glared at the phone in his hands.

He went back into the room once the nurse came out. She offered him a nervous smile but he wasn't in the mood to smile back. He had one kid that wasn't willing to stay where the hell he needed to stay and another that wasn't answering her goddamn phone. He tried to school his face when Carol glanced up at him once the door was closed.

"Everything okay?" He asked, feeling his heart hammer a little harder when he noticed the machines she was hooked up to.

She nodded towards the machine that was spitting out a constant stream of paper. "Yeah, they're just monitoring it for now. They want me to stay overnight. They may have to give me something to stop labor."

He blew out a breath and sat down heavily on the side of the bed, running a hand through his hair. He felt exhausted. He turned sideways and grabbed her hand. "Sophia didn't answer the phone. You think I should call Merle?"

She frowned. "She always answers her phone."

He snorted. "I know. Which makes me think I might have to rip Damon's throat out."

Her eyes widened. "Oh, Lord. Surely not... She's too... Sophia. She wouldn't do that. Do you think they've been doing that?"

He actually thought about it for a minute and then finally shrugged. "I know he would be more than happy to do somethin' like that."

"Should we... Do you think she needs birth control?" Carol asked, her voice a few octaves higher than it was a moment ago.

He scowled and looked at her, his eyes moving down to her belly, trying to imagine the girl in the same boat. He shook his head so hard he damn near gave himself whiplash. "No! If we do that then we might as well light some fuckin' candles for'em. Buy them a bottle of wine. Hell no!"

She smiled but he didn't see anything worth smiling about. His nerves were stretched to the breaking point and she wanted to talk about going and giving those two kids the okay to do shit that they didn't have any business doing. "Well, I should talk to her anyway. You know better than anyone that if they want to do it then they are going to do it and you also know that in the heat of the moment, sometimes people don't think about consequences."

He was about to say something but she bit her lip and her eyes grew wide, movement out of the corner of his eye had him looking over at the machine.

"It's fine," she said, breathing a little more shallow than she was before.

He realized then that his hands were shaking and he was sweating even harder than before. He wasn't used to feeling like this. Like there was something wrong and he had no power to fix it or help in any way. His phone started vibrating in his pocket and he grabbed it. He frowned when Damon's name showed up on the screen instead of Sophia's. He hit ignore and looked up. "Bad one?"

She nodded but then she relaxed. "It's okay though. Who was that?"

"Damon. I'm gonna go out there and call back. It's probably Sophia. Maybe her phone's dead."

She nodded and then gripped his hand before he could get up. "You're a nervous wreck but you're doing a good job of hiding it. Why don't you just go on back to the house and get the bag? Maybe a drive will help calm you down. If anything actually does happen, it isn't happening tonight. I'm not dilated."

"I don't even know what that means," he muttered.

"It's where the cervix-"

"I didn't say I wanted to!" He felt himself growing pale but it got a real laugh out of her. "And I ain't leavin'." He stood up and called Damon back, walking towards the windows so he could look out over the dark parking lot.

"Why the fuck didn't you answer the phone?" Damon asked. So much for a greeting. He must have gotten that from Daryl.

"Busy, let me talk to Sophia for a minute."

There was a pause that had a chill threading through the vertebrae of his spine and then Damon spoke again, his voice sounding concerned. "She isn't home? She didn't answer when I called her so I called you."

Daryl glanced over his shoulder but Carol was picking at a thread on the blanket, not paying attention to him. He stepped out of the room. "I don't know cause I ain't there. I'm at the hospital."

"Is Carol okay?" Damon asked quickly.

"Yeah, I think. When was the last time you talked to her?"

"She left when I did. I had to go to the bakery at eight and help my mom with some shit for Carol. Sophia was suppose to meet me there but she had to go home first. I've tried to call the house phone too. This ain't like her, man. She wouldn't get me all paranoid and shit on purpose. I'm headed to your place now."

"She didn't make it home. We didn't leave till after nine," Daryl said, not recognizing his own voice.

Neither of them said a word for a few long moments and then Daryl saw the nurse headed back to Carol's room. "Hold on a sec," he muttered to Damon as he approached the woman. He took the phone away from his ear and stopped her before she could open the door.

"Mister Dixon, can I help you with something?" She asked, her dark eyes taking in his face and then frowning. "Are you okay?"

He swallowed hard and nodded stiffly. "Yeah. Yeah, I uh... I have a few things I need to take care of. I was wonderin' if you could tell me if you think the baby is gonna show up tonight."

She smiled knowingly. "We've been monitoring them both. We'll probably just give her a shot to stop the labor but she needs to stay overnight just for observation."

He nodded. "So they're both alright?"

"So far so good, Mr. Dixon." She breezed into the room after that, shutting the door behind her.

Daryl put the phone back up to his ear. "You still there?"

"Yeah... Daryl?"

The sound of Damon's voice had the chill running up his spine turning to splinters of ice. "What?"

"I Just found her car..."

"What the fuck are you talkin' about, Damon?" He hissed, loosening his grip on the phone when he heard the plastic snap slightly.

"I was headin' to your place when you called. The cars on the fuckin' shoulder but she ain't in it. She wouldn't just leave the goddamn car."

Daryl swallowed, his mind spinning and his heart pounding. "Stay there," he growled. "Don't fuckin' touch anything. I'll be there." He didn't wait for Damon to say anything else before he hung up and dialed another number.

"You callin' to apologize?" Merle answered.

"I need you to come up here to the hospital. They're about to give her a shot to stop labor but they're keepin' her overnight to keep an eye on her. I need you come here so you can sit with her, alright?"

"What? What the fuck's goin' on? Where the hell are you gonna be? Are they alright?"

"They're fine. I ain't got time to explain everything, alright? I need you here. She needs you here and I need you to keep her calm." He could hear Merle moving around.

"Tell me why the fuck you sound like that if there ain't nothin' wrong with her or the baby."

"Damon just found Sophia's car but she ain't in it. She's been missin' a few hours. Carol don't need to fuckin' know that yet so I need you here. Keep her company until I get back."

"Ed?"

Daryl shook his head. "I have no fuckin' idea but I'll find out." Once he hung up with Merle he worked on calming himself down as much as he could before he went back into the room. He couldn't just leave without saying anything to her but he sure as fuck wasn't going to mention this. Not yet. Not when her health and the health of his son was hanging there.

"What's wrong?" She asked, sitting up straighter.

He shook his head, forcing a smile. "Nothin'. Talked to the nurse and she told me everything was good."

"Daryl, I really wish you would go home. Maybe go to Buck's and unwind a little bit. I swear you look like you're going to be sick. I promise, we're okay."

He took her hand, hoping that she didn't realize that he was shaking badly. "Yeah, I'm gonna take you up on that. I already called Merle. He's on his way."

She frowned. "I don't need anyone hovering. This is normal. The nurse said this happens a lot with babies that grow as big as this one has. Buck told me Merle weighed almost ten pounds."

"Merle's a fat ass though," he tried to smile. "I'll be back okay?"

She nodded. "It's a waste of time to have him come here. I'm tired. All I want to do is go to sleep."

"You do that. I'll be back," he leaned down, kissing her quickly. "I love you."

She looked up at him with so much happiness in her eyes that it sent a flash of pain through his chest. "I love you too. Now go away so I can sleep."

He let go of her hand and stood up. He had managed to play it off pretty well but the guilt he felt for lying to her was a crushing thing. But how could he say anything to her? He didn't wait around though and he couldn't dwell on that. As soon as he was out the door he was looking up the GPS. He'd paid a little extra to have it put on Sophia and Carol's phones just in case something ever happened. He had never dreamed that he would have to use it.

He stared at the screen and his stomach twisted into a painful knot, the air leaving his lungs in a rush that left him dizzy. There was no way she could be there. But he looked at the address and the blinking layout of the area and knew it was true. With a curse he shoved the phone into his pocket and sprinted towards the car.