The Girl Next Door • Carl Grimes

Chapter 69: Sweet 16

Grace

Things were going better again. I was talking to Carl, all thanks to Noah and the fact that it was Carl's birthday. The night of January 7th, 2013 we all had dinner together to celebrate Carl.

"How does it feel to be the youngest one here, Grace?" Maggie teased at me from across the dinner table.

I left my fork in my pasta and laughed.

"Uhhh hello? Judith is the youngest." I said, pointing out the obvious.

"Yeah, but other than her you're the youngest." Carl added.

"Oh hush up. You're only a day older than me." I rolled my eyes playfully and then continued to eat my dinner.

"Have I ever told you all about the days Carl and Grace were born?" Rick asked as he set down his fork.

I put my face in the palm of my hand dreading the story that he was about to tell.

"Judy, Grace's mom- she actually went into labor on January 6th, 1997." Rick began the story.

Carl and I's eyes widened.

"What?!" We both exclaimed.

"Wait, this is not the birth story that mom told me about. I know by the look on Grace's face that Judy didn't tell her this either." Carl said, looking surprised.

I was too confused to speak, if my mom went into labor on the 6th, why was I born on the 8th?

"Well guys... Lori and Judy were... how do I put this nicely? Two weird ass women. They wanted to tell completely different stories about the days you were born until you turned 16. They of course planned to tell you themselves, but.." Rick stopped himself before he said something about our dead moms that he didn't want to say.

"Let me get back to the story. Save your questions for after." Rick said as he continued.

"Like I said, Judy actually went into labor on the 6th. It was in the middle of the night, and Jeff called me in a panic. I woke up Lori, who was also very pregnant, and we drove to the hospital to be with them. Judy was moving along pretty slow, but man, she was in a lotta pain. I think that seeing her best friend like that really scared Lori. It scared me too, but I wasn't the one about to have a baby any day." Rick laughed at his own joke.

"Anyways, the whole stress of it sent Lori into labor. The two of them had to be seperated to get their own exam rooms obviously, but Lori was always sending me over to Judy to see what was going on. Judy was also always sending Jeff over to us. It was so funny. By the time Lori was admitted into the hospital for her own labor it was January 7th. Quite a few hours passed, maybe half a day, I'm not sure. It was almost time for Lori to have the baby. But then we found out that Lori would need a c-section." Rick continued.

"Lori was horrified. She was scared about the surgery, but she was more scared about leaving her best friend. They were so close. When they brought Lori in for her c-section after they prepped her, it was later in the day of January 7th. The 8th was approaching. The doctors wouldn't let me into the operating room with Lori. It was horrible. We were all so scared. I remember that I sat in the waiting room and cried while I knew Lori was in surgery. Jeff had came over to me and he asked where Lori was. Apparently Judy was asking for her, because the doctors thought Judy was about to have the baby." Rick stopped to collect his thoughts.

"I told him about Lori. He just gave me a hug and grabbed me by the hand. He pulled me into the delivery room with Judy. At first I didn't know what to do, it was such an intimate moment for them and I was just there. But we were family, Judy wanted me there. I stayed by her side the whole time because I couldn't be by Lori's. The clock hit 11:46 PM on the 7th when a nurse ran into Judy's delivery room. She told me that Carl was born. I was about to leave and go check on Lori. But that's when Grace decided she wanted to make her way into the world after making her momma wait all that time. So I stayed with them for 30 more minutes until Grace was born. January 8th 12:10 AM. I was one of the first people to see Grace. I saw her before I even saw Carl." Rick teared up as he told the story.