Stay With Me

July 16, 6 PM

***Carl's POV***
Amie's words rang inside my ears. I couldn't think straight.
I'm pregnant.
I'm pregnant.
I'm pregnant.
Two words. Two words that change everyone's life somehow. Most other people would be happy. Not us. For two nineteen year olds living during the apocalypse, those words are practically a death sentence. My thoughts were going crazy. There were so many things.
I can't lose Amie.
I can't lose the baby.
I can't let her go through this alone.
Then the questions.
How is she sure?
What will everyone else think? We're just kids!
What will I do if I lose Amie or the baby? Or worse, both of them?
Then there were the happy thoughts.
I'm going to be a dad!
We can all be a family.
Then the reality doomsday thoughts.
We aren't equipped for a baby.
Having a family requires settling down.
There's no guarantee that you'll survive long enough for you to see the baby.
Everything was spinning. I couldn't see. I heard Amie shouting. I saw people above me. Hershel. My dad. I felt weightless. Then I didn't. I started fading. Then all I saw was black.
***A/N***
Just kidding! I couldn't help myself. So suspenseful. Please vote on this chapter tho!

***Amie's POV***
"He just fainted. He'll wake up in a few minutes." Hershel is such a comforting person.
"Thank you Hershel. I was scared for a little bit."
He nodded and signaled for everyone to come with him. Everyone did. Except for Beth.
"What's the scoop?"
"What do you mean?"
"Carl is strong. He doesn't just faint randomly. Now spill."
"Ugh fine. I'm a defective typewriter." (***A/N*** name the movie for a shoutout or follow)
"What? No metaphores please. My brain can't handle it today."
"I skipped a period."
"Oh my god! You don't think you're..."
"I think so. I'm really worried. What if something happens to the baby? To me? I can't let that happen. It would destroy Carl. I wouldn't be able to see him like that."
"I know. I see the way you look at each other."
"What do you mean?"
"I have never seen two people more in love with each other. There's affection and there's love. You two are truly in love. You would make it yourself against the world to stay with him. He would do the same for you."
"Wow. Did you go to psychology camp or something?"
"No. It's a special gift that I've always had."
It was silent for a minute. Until the sheets rustled and Carl rolled over and looked at us.
"Well, Ms. Greene. I don't think anyone has ever been more right about anything. I do love this girl. To the moon and back. That's why I want you to hear this. Amie Jacobs," he said, taking my hand. "I know we haven't known each other very long, but we have mad it clear that we love each other. So I have a very important question for you."
Oh my god. Is this really happening? He got down on the floor.
"Even though we are young, we are wise beyond our years. So will you do me the immeasurable honor of becoming my wife?"
My hand flew to my mouth, my breath catching. Beth nudged me. I couldn't form words. Instead, I tackled him and started kissing him. He was surprised at first, but he soon reacted, pulling my body in to his. I was in his lap, his forehead touching mine. Beth cleared her throat, clearly annoyed.
"I'm going to give you guys some time alone." She walked out, shutting the door behind her.
"Did you talk to your dad about this?"
"No. This world has corrupted all of us. We need to find happiness somehow. We shouldn't have our happiness govorned. It's the end of humanity. There's no such thing as superiority anymore. We have to go with our gut. Live in the now. Put our big girl panties on and get over it. Which is what they're gonna have to do. I don't care if we get kicked out of the group. As long as I'm with you, I'll be happy."
There has never been a more perfect moment between two people. Then my stomach had to go and ruin it. The silence was filled with the gargling sound that was basically saying 'give me food!!!!'
"Damn it. I don't want to move," I said, looking up at Carl's stunning blue eyes.
"Me either," he said, gently kissing my forehead.
But apparently, Carl's stomach had ears and decided to agree with mine.
"The only reason I would ever want to be a walker is so I'm never hungry. Or are they always hungry?"
"Wow Carl. You're a jackass. But you're my jackass."
"Yup. Is it safe to assume that your reaction earlier was a yes?"
"Well what do you think Sheriff?"
"That's what I thought," he said, kissing me.
We waited for a while, not saying anything. I was the one to break the silence.
"Do you smell steak?"
"Yup."
"Race you down there?"
"Hell yeah."
We both got up and started running down the stairs. Carl almost wrecked when he came around the corner in his socks. I laughed when I beat him to the dining room table.
"Suckah!"
"No fair! I was in socks!"
"I would have beat you even if you weren't in socks."
"Whatever you say, princess." He sat next to me and grabbed my hand, earning a dirty look from his mother.
"Hey Amie! Come help me." Beth called from the kitchen.
"What do you need?"
"I can't get the ring off this jar. Can you give it a try?"
"Are those the pickles you brought to camp?"
"Well duh!"
"Yay! Those things were freaking amazing!" I popped the lid off the pickles and inhaled the acidic scent. My stomach churned, making me feel like I was gonna puke. I ran to the sink, clutching my mouth. I gagged into the sink, the vile taste taking over my mouth.
"Fuck," I muttered, wiping my mouth with my shirt. Carl, Lori, Maggie and Hershel ran into the kitchen, looking at me with concern. I clamped my hand over my mouth again and spun around, throwing up in the sink. Carl ran over and grabbed my hand, rubbing my back. I rinsed my mouth out and turned to see everyone staring at me.
"I'm not hungry anymore. I'm going upstairs."
"I'll go with you," Carl said, taking my hand.
"You will not," Lori snapped.
"Mom. You know how in the wedding vows it says 'in sickness and health'? That's how serious we take this relationship. I will always be there for her, whether you like it or not." Everyone gaped at him. Thankfully, Hershel broke the silence.
"Amie, if you don't mind, I want to take a look at you. Make sure you're okay."
I nodded, not wanting to draw any more attention to myself. Like that was possible. Hershel lead Carl and I up the stairs and into the spare bedroom. I layed down on the bed and held back tears.
"Beth! Can you bring my bag please?" Hershel called. "Will you be okay with Beth being here or do you want her to wait outside?"I nodded and whispered, she can stay. Beth walked in and handed Hershel the bag. He dug around for a minute until he found what he needed. He checked my heart, lungs, and blood pressure.
"Your vitals look good. Can I ask you some questions?" I nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
"Have you ever reacted to a smell like that?"
I shook my head no.
"Any noticeable abnormalities?"
I shook my head no.
He nodded. "Okay. I don't know what happened. Sorry."
I nodded. "Thank you Hershel."
He nodded and left, Beth following him. As soon as they were gone I started crying.
"No no no no no. No crying. Stop crying right now or I will hit you with a pillow." That started me in laughing.
"Not if I get you first Sheriff." I grabbed a pillow and hit him as hard as I could. He grabbed a pillow and swung, leading to an all out pillow war. Then we brought blankets into the mess,which probably wasn't a good idea. Apparently we were being very loud. Lori walked (more like stormed) in, shouting. I almost hit her in the face with a pillow. Hehe. Oops. She didn't hang out long.
"I don't think your mother likes me."
"She's jealous of you," he said simply.
I was shocked. "Why would she be jealous of me?"
"Because I spend more time with you than I do with her. She just wants her little boy back. I don't think she understands what this world has come to."
"Have any of us? What do we know about this world? What it has come to? The world we knew is gone. We all have to accept it. But none of us want to."
"I know. I just wish it was all a dream. That none of this was real. No more monsters. No more suffering. Just happiness. We could stay together. Me, you, and the baby. We wouldn't know violence, loss, or anything bad. Only good. Our baby would be happy. Safe. Everything it can't be. It may never be safe."
"I know. I know." I didn't know. I didn't know that Carl's mind worked like that. But it makes sense. Why he's always so quiet. I pulled him into a hug. He buried his face in my neck. I rocked us back and forth, sobs shaking his body.
"I just want to protect you. I can't even do that. I'm weak."
"You're not weak. You're the strongest person I know. You will beat this world. And I will do everything possible to make sure you do. Even if it means dying."
We sat in silence for a long time. It was the perfect kind of silence. Not at all awkward. It was perfect.
"Carl?"
"Yeah princess?"
"You kind of fainted when I told you I was... You know."
"Yeah. You want to know what my reaction would have been."
"Yeah."
"Well. It probably would have been something like this." He wrapped his arms around my neck and started kissing me. He started at my forehead and moved down, pushing me down on the bed. He pulled my shirt up from my belly and continued kissing me until he got to my abdomen, where he kissed every inch of skin between my jeans and my bra. He made me giggle, his soft lips tickling my sensitive skin. I traced shapes on his back with my finger. I switched to playing with his hair, then back to tracing shapes on his back. After a little while, he stopped and layed down next to me. We turned our legs into a tangled mass. I grabbed him and pulled him closer to me. I wrapped my arms around his torso, just below his ribcage. He started messing with my hair; brushing it out of my face, braiding it, wrapping it up in an amazing messy bun. Then he started stroking my face, relaxing me.
"I love you princess," he whispered in my ear.
"I love you too Sheriff."
"Will you stay with me princess?"
"Forever and always Sheriff."
We fell asleep in each other's arms.
***Carl's POV***
I'm so glad I had the proposal idea. That was literally the best thing I ever thought of. I love Amie from the bottom of my heart. I really, truly do. I will stay with her. No matter what happens. I refuse to lose her.
I didn't realize I had dozed off until I heard a knock on the door. I got off the bed, careful not to disturb my princess. I cracked the door open to see Maggie holding two plates of food. I invited her in. She came in and sat in the rocking chair, setting the plates on the nightstand. I went over to wake Amie up.
"Wake up princess. Maggie brought us food."
"If there's pickles I'm going to kill her."
"There's no pickles. I promise."
"Okay."
She slowly started moving, eventually getting to her plate. We both dug in, stopping only to thank Maggie.
"You're welcome. I wanted to make sure Amie was okay. That thing in the kitchen looked pretty rough."
"I'm okay. It was pretty awful. And it confirmed my fears."
"I know. Just remember that I'm here. I'll always be here."
"Thank you Maggie."
We sat in silence while Amie finished her large serving of steak. She finished eating and leaned over to whisper something in my ear.
"Should we tell her?"
I nodded.
"Maggie, can we tell you something?"
"Of course."
"Okay. It has to remain absolutely secret. Nobody whatsoever can know."
"Okay."
We were both silent for a minute, not wanting to say too much. Amie finally spoke.
"Carl and I, we're ready, well what I mean to say is, we..."
"We're engaged." I cut in, not able to control myself.
If Maggie's jaw could drop any more, it would have by now.
"What? No no no! Absolutely not. You guys are too young. No one will be okay with it. And besides, you can't just rush into a decision like that. It's-"
"It's what Maggie? Huh? What is it? I don't know if you've noticed, but the world we knew is gone. Gone. We may never get it back. And I'm fucking pregnant! Oh, but let me guess, I'm too young for that too? It doesn't fucking matter if we're fucking engaged! The only thing that matters is survival. That's all anyone cares about. We don't even know if there's anything left to survive for. All we have is each other. That's all we'll ever have!"
Oh damn.
I looked up to see everyone, and I mean everyone, standing in the hallway staring at us. And at the front of the group was my mother. Looking like she had just seen a ghost. I tried to make this less awkward.
"Umm. Hai?"
Wow. Talk about epic failure.
"Is this... True? That Amie's pregnant? That you're... Engaged?" She had tears in her eyes.
"Yes. Everything you heard is true. That's what caused the incident in the kitchen."
"I... I can't believe you didn't tell us. We wouldn't punish you. We wouldn't be happy either. It's okay. You should have come to us instead of trying to hide it."
I was shocked. So was Amie. I saw the tears well up in her eyes. She ran up to my mom and hugged her. Talk about unexpected.
Amie stayed in her arms and cried. I just sat there. I didn't know what to do. After a little while I saw my mom leave. Amie came over and layed down next to me. She was silent for a minute. She's never silent.
"She gave me this."
Well that was random.
"What did she give you princess?"
Amie held up her left hand, revealing my mother's diamond wedding ring resting on her finger. She pulled it off to reveal an engraving.
My queen.
What the actual fuck?
***A/N***
Wooooaaaaahhhhhhkay. Hehe. It's an update! Pigs are gonna fly in a frozen hell. Jk. I had no motivation this week. Please vote and comment what ya think! And this is a long ass chapter