No Tomorrow

.

"No, no way. Not her, not a chance in hell. She's got some saved up that Belle found a few months ago before winter hit, wanna come with me to get some more?"

Maggie nodded before she handed the baby to Carl and walked over to Daryl's bike parked a few feet away from us, I whined when he passed me but he just patted the side of my face and continued on.

"Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can but that baby is gonna need a lot more food."

He kick started his bike to life and he and Maggie roared away from the prison without another glance back and I whined until even our ears lost track of the bike's noise, I was content to stay right there but my body had other ideas; Jay heard the growling in my belly and nosed me in the ribs with a good hard jab.

Food time for the princess.

Eat shit already.

*

"I hate to ask, but can you hold her? She's cold."

A quick dinner of noodles left my belly sated for the time being but Beth was having a hard time getting the baby to calm down, she dressed her in some of the clothes I'd gotten and fed her a bottle but the poor little thing wouldn't stop fidgeting and fussing.

"I'm all dirty..."

Jay sat still like a stone on top of the table with me while Beth tried to hand me the baby again, Carl was on the other side of the room but he just kept staring at the floor in anger; I finally gave up and made an awkward cradle with my arms and Beth sighed with relief before I took the baby. Feeling the extra heat rolling off my body, the baby stopped crying and nuzzled her face into my chest through my thin shirt; Beth smiled before she walked away and Jay leaned in to get a better look once she calmed down.

"See? She likes you."

He put one of his fingers near her fist and she grabbed it with a tiny coo noise before her fuzzy little head thumped against my chest and she was out cold, Jay still had a shit eating grin on his face by the time I looked at him with an eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"Nothing."

Jay leaned in and grazed my earlobe with his teeth before he chuckled and whispered so his words wouldn't echo around the room.

"I'm just saying that you'll make a great mother one day."

*

Days passed without much incident and I'd taken to living in one of the cells some days with Jay on the times our family needed help with something, and I was supposed to go on a baby formula run with him as soon as the sun came up; Carl had gotten around to trying to find some names for his baby sister but nothing stuck yet. It was in our shared room that we were getting ready in now just as everyone was waking up and I was making a mental note on random things to get while I pulled on a pair of hikers' leggings.

"I'd be fine going with Glenn you know, he volunteered to come with me yesterday."

"My house needs a few more things anyway and then I'll be on my own for the most part, besides, we haven't really had the chance to do anything together really since the start of the outbreak."

I heard steps echo on the floor outside and I knew who it would be before I saw him, funny how my brain registered noises from the way he walks....and sure enough, Daryl parted our faded yellow curtain with the back of his hand and gestured to me with a pointer finger.

"Hershel's awake if you want to get your check up done before you head out."

"Mmk, are we good on fuel? That one store is at least 50 miles away from here-"

Jay gave my shoulder a squeeze.

"I think I can handle fueling at least if you're not going to let me come with, just go get what you need done."

*

"All done?"

Hershel was removing a pair of gloves from his hands while I redressed the lower half of my body and he just leaned against one of his crutches halfway across the tiny room.

"Yeah, and everything checks out as it should....your reproductive health is very...er....good for your circumstance."

"My what?"

Hershel folded his hands into his lap before he coughed and gently touched the knee above his stump, something he did whenever he was thinking heavily on something I noticed; all the blood leeched from my face and my gut was telling me it was something bad.

"I don't mean to pry, but in order for you to understand, I need to ask a few things....when was your last mentrual period?"

"Before all of this? Maybe two weeks before the outbreak- I haven't had one since the experiments...I thought that part of my life was long gone."

"Well, it's not. It seems to have the opposite effect because you're pregnant. Very early stages from the looks of it, three weeks at the very most."

I sat there dumbfounded until tears rolled down my cheeks and I couldn't say anything else, three weeks pregnant and I was fighting as my wolf self just days ago...

"I can imagine how much of a shock this must be to you, but were I you, I wouldn't change until this baby's born. It could very well kill it."

I scrubbed at my face with my hands and cleared my throat before I got to my feet and paced over to the open cell door, hyper aware of how every bit of movement felt to me now.

"I...I would appriciate it if you didn't tell anyone....I want to do it myself."

Hershel nodded and I shook my head just as I left his cell and watched my feet until my body led itself outside, I blinked and looked up when the fresh air hit me full on in the face; the sun was up, but the morning was still cool thankfully.