Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Ninety-Two: The Hilltop

•ninety-two•

Beatrix

I rest my hand on my stomach, a habit that I've picked up over the past few weeks, watching as part of our group loads up onto the RV again. This time, we're heading to another community. A couple of days ago, Daryl and Rick went out on a run and came back with a man who calls himself Jesus.

Apparently Jesus has another community likes ours, the Hilltop. He says they have a doctor there, which we don't need, but he also said they have an ultrasound machine. The ultrasound is the only reason I'm getting to load onto the RV with everyone else. It was pretty difficult to convince Daryl to let me come, but in the end the idea of getting to see his child on an ultrasound won and I get to go. Besides, Maggie is going too, and she's not as pregnant as I am. It would have been so unfair if she got to go and I didn't.

There isn't a ton of room in the RV, so Daryl lets me sit on his lap. There aren't a lot of us going, but because Daryl didn't want to leave Jesus out of his sight, and I didn't want to leave Daryl out of my sight, we're all in the front.

"Listen, when you two were pouring the Bisquick, did you mean to make pancakes?" Abraham breaks the silence, looking between Daryl and Glenn.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Daryl's face scrunches at him, while Glenn just looks confused. I, however, laugh so hard I almost wake Maggie up.

"I don't know about Glenn, but Daryl did," I can't help but to laugh at both the question and the answer. "Pancakes were intentional."

"Uh, yeah, it's something we had talked about. Why?" Glenn still seems confused, though he obviously caught on to the fact that Abraham was talking about getting us pregnant.

"I'm just damn near floored that you two, or anyone else for that matter, have the cojones to do something like that," Abraham shakes his head at us, and Daryl shifts his weight uncomfortably. "I mean, given the state of the world and its occupants on any given Sunday, why the hell would you want to do something like that?"

"She wanted it," Daryl shrugs with his answer, and even though it seems so nonchalant, it makes me feel over the moon. Sometimes he can be so sweet.

Before Glenn can answer, though, Rick starts to slow down the RV, pulling off to the side of the road.

"What the hell's that?" Daryl looks out the window and stands up, pushing me off his lap, but luckily he catches me before I fall and sits me down where he was sitting.

"Car wreck. Looks like it just happened," Rick throws the RV into park, and Jesus jumps up.

"It's ours," he says, rushing out of the RV.  Rick and Abraham immediately follow after him, while Daryl stays back for a moment.

"You stay here," he warns, leaving me in my seat before heading out behind them.

Of course, I'd like to go and help, but I made Daryl a promise. I promised him that if I got pregnant, I would stay behind and stay safe, no risks. Especially not after last time. So I do what I'm told and stay sitting, just watching them out the window. Even Maggie follows after them, but I still sit in the RV. Putting extra stress on myself just isn't worth the risk of losing another one.

The group walks off toward a building after Daryl finds some tracks, leaving me actually alone. It makes me nervous, but I try to shrug it off and just wait. Thankfully, I only have to wait for the about ten minutes before they return, this time with even more people. Apparently, they are from Jesus' community, and they were bringing back medication to their people.

"I was an obstetrician before," one of the men, Harlan, says, and it catches my attention.

Of course, I introduce myself to him, and Maggie and I talk to him about our pregnancies. Obviously I know a little about obstetrics, but not as much as he does. He has years of practice and the specialty under his belt. I just have med school knowledge and emergency surgeries. While we drive, I tell him about what happened with my last pregnancy, without all of the gory details, of course, and he thinks I'm a high risk pregnancy. Of course, I agree, but letting Daryl hear him say that was a mistake.