Red River Blue
Chapter 76
Daryl wasn't sure how he was going to feel about being back in his own house again. He'd barely stepped foot inside the place since Mika left. Everywhere he looked, he still saw his son. But while they were all still feeling Sam's loss, Daryl no longer felt completely smothered by it. Carol was back. To stay. Mika was home, with her annoying husband. And to his surprise, Lydia gathered her things when he stopped to get his dog and waddled her way down the sidewalk next to him with Axel clinging to her hand. Daryl wasn't sure if the girl was planning on staying a while, or if she was just trying to avoid listening to whatever River and Merle were about to do to each other upstairs in their room. But either way, Daryl was happy to have her. Not only did he enjoy Lydia's quiet soothing presence. He also knew Carol wanted nothing more than to be involved in her pregnancy. And he hoped Lydia might warm up to her once they got to know each other better.
Mika wasted no time in descending on Lydia the moment she entered the house. She revealed her own stomach first, jerking her shirt up. Then she pulled Lydia's shirt up, pressing the much smaller round of her stomach against the giant swell of Lydia's.
"The babies want to say hello to each other!," Mika exclaimed, squealing in delight as Lydia buried her reddened face in her hands. Lydia's baby reacted to the sudden intrusive pressure, kicking and rolling inside her. Axel looked on with interest, reaching in to press his small hand against her moving belly.
"How'd that baby get in there?," he asked.
"She had sex you dodo," Mika chirped. "How do you think it got there?"
"Did you have sex too?," Axel asked, poking at the tiny round bump between Mika's hip bones. He glanced up at Henry, screwing his face up into a little scowl. "...with him?"
Daryl had long since retreated to the kitchen doorway to wrap his arm around Carol. And she tucked her face into his chest, her body shaking with laughter. It wasn't really Axel's question, but the disgusted look on his face as he pointed at Henry that did her in. Daryl hugged her closer. It felt so good to laugh again. To see Carol laughing again. It finally felt like there was a chance they might get back to some semblance of the life they had before last summer's horrible tragedy.
When the laughter died down, Daryl kicked back on the couch with a bottle of cider. Mika was helping Carol cook dinner. Dog followed them into the kitchen, hoping for a few choice tidbits. And Henry took off out the backdoor with Axel to help the boy hunt down some eggs and milk for their morning breakfast. Lydia was squirming uncomfortably on the couch next to him, scratching at the stretched skin of her belly. Daryl leaned down and scooped up her feet, swinging them up into his lap. They looked swollen so he pressed his cold bottle against the tops of her feet, laughing at the oddly satisfied moan that escaped her lips.
"Want me ta get some ice?," he asked.
"I guess it couldn't make them any worse," Lydia said, wiggling her toes. She'd been underweight and scrawny for most of her life. Her swollen feet ached. But seeing her toes looking like fat little sausages still made her giggle.
Daryl got up and headed for the kitchen to get the ice. Lydia smiled when she heard Carol send him upstairs to get some foot bath thing she had up there. He returned with the funny looking device. And with a little help from Mika, soon Lydia was soaking her swollen feet in cold water while the little jets inside the device sprayed water at all the sorest parts of them. It felt weird and also sort of amazing at the same time. Mostly she was just grateful to be with her new family and not out in the woods fighting for scraps and sleeping in the dirt. Lydia shuddered to think about what might happen to her baby if she was forced to have it out in the wild. She could vividly recall the last woman that had a baby there. And the way she had to lie back in the dirt and bite down on a filthy rag to keep from screaming and attracting the dead. Lydia was going to have her baby in the medical center. Where she would be clean and comfortable and safe from the walking corpses that would view the small life inside her as a tasty snack.
The front door swung open without a knock. So Lydia knew it was likely a family member. But she still stiffened slightly, relaxing only after Wren entered the house. She held up a big jar of spicy pickles Carl brought back from Hilltop for her, offering them to Lydia. Lydia nodded shyly, feeling unsure about accepting the gift Carl brought back specifically for his wife even though she was craving spicy things and pickles.
"I got this stupid thing pumped up," Carl added, shuffling into the living room behind his wife with a giant blue exercise ball in his hands. He set the ball down and followed Wren into the kitchen, adding his lower timbre voice to Mika and Wren's high pitched squeals of excitement.
"Yeah," Harley added, kicking the door shut behind her as she struggled to keep the giant pregnancy pillow in her arms from touching the floor. "Denise said to give ya all this shit. Ya want us to leave it here? Or take the crap over to my ma's house?"
When Lydia didn't immediately speak up for herself, Daryl was quick to interject. "She's stayin' here," he said. Harley gave him a curt nod of her head before she turned and began hauling the giant pillow up the stairs. She must have left the bulky item in Sam's old room. Because Harley came back down the steps wearing a hooded sweatshirt that Daryl knew was his. It had wings sewn onto the back of it that matched the ones on his vest. River made it for him for Christmas a few years ago.
"Ya don't mind if I borrow this?," Harley asked, rubbing her hands over the sleeves. Daryl felt the pull of emotion in his chest. He'd been consistently encouraging people to come by and take what they wanted from Sam's old room. Mostly because he wanted to avoid having to clean his dead son's belongings out of there himself. But this was the first time anyone really took him up on the offer.
"You should keep it," Daryl told her. "Looks good on ya."
Harley crossed the room, leaning forward to wrap her arms around her uncle in a tight hug. Becoming a mother softened Harley a little. But she still wasn't much for physical affection. Lydia was surprised when the woman didn't jerk back the moment she was done squeezing Daryl to death. Instead she kept her face only inches from his, resting her hand on his shoulder.
"We're gonna make those fuckers pay," Harley whispered.
Lydia shivered, the ice water that felt so good surrounding her feet before suddenly feeling too cold. She was torn between feeling concerned about the people that kept her alive for nearly her entire life and wishing them dead so she could stop constantly looking over her shoulder. A sharp kick to her abdomen quickly made up her mind for her. And she wrapped her arms protectively around her stomach, trying not to think about what her mother might do to the child inside her if she ever got the chance.