Chaos

At Long Last

Daryl

"Up here." Meriwa murmured softly, giving him a gentle tug once the nurses were done doing their checks and whatever else they did before leaving the two of them alone.

Daryl nodded and climbed up beside her, stretching out on his side, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her temple. "I'm sorry I was useless, Meri."

"You weren't useless." She hugged him closer, nuzzling her face into his chest and letting out a breath. "But Ryker was totally on point, wasn't he?"

Daryl nodded and closed his eyes, feeling her relaxing with him, knowing both of them were dangerously close to falling asleep. "He's going to be a wonderful daddy. They're perfect. Alyosha and Sítheach and Ryker and Carbry and you. All perfect."

"And you, silly. I'm sorry about the needle." She mumbled against his skin before grinning. "Can you really not feel your legs?"

"I'm so afraid that I'm going to pee myself, cause I can't tell if I need to or not." Daryl laughed, rubbing her back. "I just felt what giving birth is like, and I can't feel my crotch. I don't know if I'm still a man or not..."

"You really turned off of sex with me?" Meriwa was teasing, but giving him a careful look. "That was tough, but not... not horrible."

Daryl grinned and kissed the tip of her nose. "Maybe ask me when I can feel my penis, ok?"

They fell asleep laughing, drifting into one another's dreams. 

It didn't feel like very long, but Daryl could see that Meriwa was at least a little rested when he woke up. Seeing her purple eyes focused on where Ryker was walking back and forth, gently rocking Sítheach in his arms and talking idly.

Carbry sat in the chair beside the bed, holding Alyosha, his gaze shifting between Ryker and the little girl in his arms. Both vampires had looks of unguarded affection on their features, soft grins on their lips, and an ease about them that Daryl had never seen before.

"Are they hungry?" Meriwa asked gently, drawing two sets of eyes to focus on her in surprise, though both vampires grinned and offered gentle nods. When Daryl moved to get down, Meriwa hugged him tightly. "No, you stay. These two meanies have been hogging our babies."

Daryl laughed softly and shifted, hitting the button to sit the bed up a bit more as Meriwa scooted over to give him room to sit shoulder to shoulder on the bed that was far larger than most hospital beds were.

When they were settled, Ryker handed Meriwa their son. "He's been fussing a little."

Ryker hovered, only moving far enough out of the way for Carbry to stand and walk around the bed, handing Daryl the tiny little bundle of pink to hold. Both of them looked almost reluctant to hand over their charges, but as Meriwa started feeding, Ryker sat down on Carbry's chair, pulling it close enough to the edge of the bed that he could rest his chin on the railing.

Carbry did much the same on Dary's side, though he rested his arms on the bed, propping his chin up in one hand as he grinned, murmuring in Gaelic.

"You two never did tell us the names you picked out." Ryker said after a few moments, grinning wickedly. "So we have Raspberry and Blueberry on their birth certificates."

"This is Alyosha." Daryl murmured, ducking his head to kiss his daughter gently on the top of her head, grinning happily and letting out a purr. He didn't care that he felt himself shift enough that he had some type of fuzzy ears and a tail. That side of him didn't matter right now. He just grinned. "Or Allie."

Meriwa grinned and nodded, gently petting her son's head. "And this is Sítheach. Or Hewie."

"Perfect." Ryker grinned. "Though they're still my little kumquats."