These Awkward Moments

Part 67 Balancing Act

** Hey readers, as I write this chapter we have just seen the season 8 mid-season finale. I am shocked and mourning the loss of Carl. I am so disappointed that Mr. Gimple plans to use Carl's new found humanitarianism followed by his death as a way to make Rick's decision to allow Negan to live to be more believable. Kirkman did an amazing job of that in the comic without sacrificing such a pivotal character in the storyline.

Carl plays a huge part in the comic in his relationship with a jailed Negan. I believe their relationship has a lot to do with making Negan more likable to the fans. He also plays a major role in connecting with the Whisperers. Carl was the future for Alexandria. I just don't see how they can plan on bringing in alternate characters to fill in these plot lines without sacrificing the storytelling.

Carl was also the last male survivor of his generation. Since they aren't exactly finding huge groups of sane survivors to attract to their community now, how exactly are they planning to repopulate? It will really gross me out if the young females like Enid end up having to hook up with old men to have babies! Carl's death feels like the end of humanity in more ways than one.

Sorry about the rant, but I really needed to vent a little. We now return you to your regularly scheduled fanfic.
Thanks for reading!**

2 Weeks Later
Daryl's POV

Delilah still hadn't gone into labor, and she was absolutely miserable! She had started slowly increasing the time she spent walking to rebuild her stamina. She was now walking 3-4 times a day in the hopes that this might get something stirred up.  Even though her stamina was rapidly returning, her pace was still slow due to the weight she was carrying and the change in her center of gravity in her advancing pregnancy. I admired the strength and courage it took her to get through each day.

Since she was no longer on bedrest we had returned to eating dinner with the rest of the community again. Everyone was becoming more accustomed to her extremely pregnant presence. I had heard that there was even a large betting pool on when she would finally go into labor, but I sure knew better than to get in on it.

Negan and his family had been separated from the community for the first couple of weeks as the council had put them though a rigorous interviewing process. It had been twenty times more involved than what Deanna Monroe had put us through. Negan and Maggie had revealed that following the time after Negan had left Alexandria, she had Dante follow him and watch him. Maggie told us about going to him in the house he was living in alone. They had quite the conversation that day. He apologized for what he had done to Glenn, and Maggie got to speak her peace about the memories it left her with. Negan had begged her to kill him that day, but she didn't. She had been satisfied that his punishment in the end would be more just in making him live with what he had done.

Delilah had examined Jess and Abigail. Jess was a bit underweight, but had been breastfeeding the baby who was a healthy weight. Other than nutritional worries, they both seemed to be healthy. Delilah seemed impressed by Jess and was surprised that a woman like her was attracted to Negan at all. I had to remind her that there were probably many folks who were shocked that she had been attracted to a man like me in the beginning as well.

The council had decided to allow the new family to come to community dinner beginning that night so they could begin to integrate. Delilah and I settled in at our usual long table and began to work on getting Mercy and Bowyn to eat. Jess and Negan arrived with Rick and Michonne. Several people stopped to greet them and to speak with Rick and Michonne as they crossed the room. Jess looked a bit overwhelmed by all the attention.