The Walking Dead: Daryl Ch. 06

Authors Note: Thank you to those who comment on my stories. Without comments I'm not sure if I'm doing a good job or if you want to hear more. Again, let me know if there's anything missing in the plot or the story. Sometimes it's hard to remember that I know the plot and the back stories and you do not! Thank you again

-DonnaLeeGreene

I sat in our room, looking out over the freshly planted fields. My hand absently rubbing my swollen belly. No one would let me do anything anymore. Miscarrying my first pregnancy had Chuck worried that I was a high risk pregnancy and he had all but sentenced me to bed rest. Daryl was almost insufferable, not even allowing me to dress without his help. Almost six months into my pregnancy, I was starting to go stir crazy. Daryl was out hunting at the moment, an activity I had been forbidden to participate in. I decided to take advantage of his absence and snuck out to the garden where I ran into Maggie of all people. Having just birthed a healthy son the week before, the rest of the group didn't allow her to do much either.

"Shouldn't you be up with Colton?" I teased.

"Kate, you know better than anyone that sittin' up in those rooms while everyone else is doin' stuff is enough to drive you crazy. I imagine that's why you're out here when you're not supposed to be." She replied

I joined her in the dirt and we slowly made our way around the garden, weeding around the small seedlings that were beginning to spring from the earth. A few of the older women joined us and I was grateful that they didn't harass me or Maggie for getting out of the house and doing some work. After about an hour, Maggie headed back inside and I decided to follow. I stood and brushed the dirt from my jeans. I washed my hands in the garden hose and dried them on the cloth there. I turned to head back inside and directly in front of me stood a very disgruntled looking Daryl. I grinned sheepishly, like a kid caught with her hand in the cookie jar. He lifted one eyebrow.

"What do you think you're doing?" He asked.

"I was just pulling a couple weeds." I replied.

"Chuck said not to work yourself too hard." He said.

"Yeah, I know. Gardening isn't that hard. He didn't say I couldn't do anything." I pointed out. He sighed. We had had this conversation five million times in the last two months.

"Can't you just relax?" He asked.

"You try sitting in a room with nothing to do all day. It drives me nuts." I pouted.

"You can hang around Maggie." He offered as a solution.

"She came out here and worked in the garden longer than I did." I told him. "No one likes to feel useless."

"You're not useless." He said.

"Well I'm not helpless either. I can do stuff around here." I said.

"I just want you and the baby healthy." He said.

"We are healthy. I need something to do or I'm going to go insane. I need to get out of the house." I replied. I closed the distance and wrapped him in a hug. "I appreciate that you worry about us but you need to ease up a little bit."

He dropped a kiss on the top of my head. "I'll try." He said.

It went on like that for another three months. He'd back off for a little bit buy then he would be back to dictating my every move. One day, as I cooked for the group with Maggie and Beth, Daryl came downstairs and saw me lifting a heavy sack of potatoes onto the table.

He rushed in and grabbed them, slamming them onto the counter, squishing some on the bottom.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" He asked, barely containing his anger.

"I'm cooking." I replied in a dangerous tone.

"That is way too heavy to be lifting and all this bendin' and working ain't good for you." He said.

"Chuck never gave me a weight restriction or directions not to bend or move. I can do what I want, Daryl."

"Do you even care about this baby?" He accused.

"Of course I do. How can you even ask that?" I said, hurt that he would think I didn't love my child with all my heart.

"Well you sure the hell ain't actin' like it." He said.

My hurt turned into rage and I reached up and punched him as hard as I could in the face. He reacted instinctively, grabbing me by the hair. He held me there, shaking.

"You going to hit me? I know you want to. I can feel it. Tell me, who doesn't care about the baby now?" I taunted.

He released me and pushed me away, storming out of the kitchen as Maggie and Beth stared.

"That ain't right." Beth said. "You shouldn't have said them things to him. It was mean and hurtful."

I looked down at my shaking hands. What Daryl had said to me had hurt but I crossed a line. Daryl was just trying to protect the baby. With my pregnancy drawing to a close, my emotions were always quick and intense and his words had drawn a fierce overreaction.

"He shoulda known better than to say somthin' like that to the mother of his child." Maggie defended me. "Her hormones are so crazy right now that he's lucky she didn't pull a knife on him. He deserved every word she threw at him. They were no different than the words he said to her."

Still, guilt ate at my mind. I needed to go to him. "Sorry girls, I'm going to have to leave you to make dinner yourselves. I need to make this right with him. I'm eight months pregnant and the baby could come any day. I can't have it coming into an angry situation."

"Well go on then." Maggie replied.

I waddled of up to our room but he wasn't there. I couldn't find him in the garage or the fields or anywhere. Finally I spotted Rick in the pasture and I headed over there.

"Have you seen Daryl?" I asked.

"He just took one of the horses." Rick said. "He told me he needed to go huntin'."

"I need to go after him. We fought and I said some pretty nasty things."

"Are you sure that's smart in your condition?" He asked.

"It's not like I'm riding in the Kentucky Derby." I said. "I'll take Miss Betty to be safe. I really need to see him."

"You want me to come with you?" He asked.

"No." I replied. "We need to get through this ourselves." I turned and headed for the barn to grab one of our older horses. I saddled her up and mounted. It felt good to be up on a horse again. I urged her forward and headed the direction Rick said he had gone. I found his trail fairly quickly. He wasn't trying to be sneaky. Still it took me hours to find him out in the woods. He had gone further than I thought he would. It stung a little knowing he hadn't stayed close enough to come to me if something were to happen. I ruthlessly shoved the hurt down and pushed into his camp, calling for him so I didn't startle him. He sat by a small fire, eying me warily. I could tell he was still mad at me. That only served to piss me off.

I dismounted and stood in front of him, hands on my hips. "You don't get to be mad at me." I said.

"How could you say those things to me?" He asked. "I have done nothin' but worry about you and our baby from day one. Everything I do is to protect that baby and you can sit there and say I don't care. It's bullshit."

"So what. You think I'm completely incapable of taking care of myself and my baby? Is that it?"

"You're putting too much stress on your body..." He started.

"Well then Judith must me some sort of mutant. Did you see what Lori went through when she was pregnant? She starved and ran and worked and killed walkers. Her little girl is just fine and I haven't done even a quarter of those things. I haven't had a single complication. And you know what? You deserved every word I said to you. You said the same damn thing to me. How could you think I wouldn't do anything to protect my own child?" Tears were streaming from my face by now. "This baby is the most precious thing to me in the world. How could you say that I don't care? How?"

He looked away for a second, staring into the flames. I knew he felt guilty but I wasn't ready for this conversation to be done. "Well?" I asked.

"I'm sorry." He said. "I just want what best for my kid."

"You have to trust that I know my limits Daryl. I've given up a lot for this pregnancy. I've given my body, hunting, being a helpful member of the group, my independence. What have you had to give Daryl? Other than sex? You're not the one sitting in the house all day watching the seconds tick by. I realize you want what's best for us but you have to trust that I know what I need. A little exercise and work will not harm me or the baby."

"Did you really think I would hurt you or our baby?" He asked in a tortured voice.

I waddled over to him and sat down next to him. "No." I said. "You love us too much for that, but hearing you say I didn't care about our baby made me so mad that I wanted you to feel as hurt as I was. It's been so hard controlling my emotions these days. I didn't mean what I said."

Before Daryl had a chance to say anything we heard the telltale noise of moaning and shuffling. We were far outside of our comfort range.

"They must have spotted the fire." Daryl said as he grabbed for his bow. He helped em to my feet and we backed towards the horses. "We're leaving Betty. Rambo will be faster with both of us on him than she would be on her own."

I felt a twinge of guilt but horses had good instincts and she might be able to out run them. Daryl helped me awkwardly mount and then climbed up behind the saddle. He grabbed the reigns and gave Rambo a good kick. We left the fire burning, hoping to distract some of them. We weaved through the forest, heading for the meadows that came before the house. Walkers popped out from behind trees and I used Daryl's bow to slay them as we rode.

We broke out of the forest at breakneck speed. It was a clear shot home and he urged the horse forward. I felt a pain in my stomach and gasped. Daryl started slowing down, concerned.

"Go!" I urged. "We need to get home now!"

For once he listened to me and we flew across the fields. Hours of tracking turned into half an hour of hard riding. By the time we got back I was in real pain. Daryl helped me down from the horse and as soon as I hit the ground, a strong contraction hit. I felt water gush from me, wetting my pants and I looked up at a frantic Daryl.

"My water just broke." I said.

"But you're three weeks early. This is all my fault. What if the baby dies because of me?"

"Daryl!" I snapped sharply at him. "Almost eight and a half months is just fine for the baby. It'll be fine! We have a doctor and this baby is fully developed and ready. We'll go to our room and send someone for chuck. I'm making you a father tonight."

"Daryl took my demanding tone to heart and led me into our room where he helped me into a night gown. He stripped the bed and put a plastic covering over it and then some worn sheets. He helped me into bed, arranging the pillows and then he walked to the next room and hammered on the door. Abby opened it, looking confused.

"It's the baby." He said, "It's coming. Go get chuck and Elaine."

Abby didn't need to be told twice and she ran for the doctors. Maggie and Glenn showed up before the doctors even did.

"You're going to do great." Maggie said. I gave her a weak smile and nod as another contraction struck.

The doctors showed up and after over an hour of contractions he gave the same instructions to Daryl as he had given to Glenn. "Get behind her and support her. It's time to push."

Daryl climbed behind me, taking both hands in his. "Come on now, baby. We gotta meet our little one. You can do this. I'm right here behind you."

With his encouragement in my ear, I pushed hard as soon as the next contraction hit. And then again, and again, and again. The baby came quickly, only twenty minutes into pushing I felt his head come out.

"One more big one, baby. One more and it's all over." Daryl urged. I took a deep breath and pushed with a strength I never knew I had. I screamed as I expelled my baby's shoulders and body and then slumped back into Daryl, exhausted. My eyes lit up as my baby cried for the first time. Elise began wiping it down.

"Another boy!" She proclaimed.

I felt Daryl's breath catch. He wrapped his arms around my chest and buried his head into my neck and cried. I held out my hands for my son. Desperate to hold him. Elise handed him over and Daryl released me so he could stroke his sons face.

"What should we name him?" I asked.

"What do you think?" He asked.

"I was thinking maybe James after my father and Merle after your brother."

"It's perfect." Daryl said and he kissed me soundly.

"Say hello to James Merle Dixon." I said to everyone. Chuck cut his umbilical cord and I handed him over to E to clean him. I passed the placenta and Chuck stitched up a small tear I had sustained during the birth. Daryl slid out from behind me allowing me to lay back and rest. He went off to watch Elaine with our son and came back a while later with him in his arms. My heart melted as I saw the tiny bundle settled so carefully in arms I had seen break bones. I fell more in love with Daryl as a father than I had ever been in love with him before. He brought James over to me and I lowered my night gown, exposing a swollen breast. With Elaine's help we got him latched and there was a quick pain as he suckled milk from my breast.

Daryl leaned down and smoothed my hair back. "I love you baby. You did so good today. I'm so proud of you." He kissed my head and then kissed the back of his son's head as he nursed. Tears of joy fell down my face and everyone left the room so we could have our time as a family.

"He'll need a brother or a sister." I said after a while. Daryl looked at me surprised.

"Already?" He asked.

I laughed, "Well maybe we'll wait a year or so. At least until he's walking."

"Shit, I thought you wanted to get started tonight." He teased, tweaking my other nipple.

I slapped his hand away, laughing. "Those are for your son now." I scolded, "And now that we have a baby you're going to start having to watch your language. This world may have gone to hell in a hand basket but I'm not raising a child without manners."

Daryl just laughed. "I'll try." He said.

"I've heard that before." I grumbled.

"Baby, I promise you I'll do my best to raise and protect our son. You know that right?" He asked.

I smiled softly at him. "I love you Daryl Dixon. Don't ever forget it."

"I won't." He promised. He placed a calloused hand gently on his son's head. "I won't ever forget."