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Chapter Fifty : Daryl

"Oh, my precious baby boy," Taylor cooed to our son as he settled into her arms. I saw her eyes suddenly go wide when she realized that we had a boy and not a girl. "Oh no, it was supposed to be a girl. We needed a girl. I'm so sorry." Tears started to slowly slide down her cheeks.

"Hey, Taylor...honey, it's okay. Denise will figure something out or we try again," I told her.

Then she started to cry harder and she let Carol take the baby away. I knew we really needed that girl, but I had the feeling that wasn't why she was crying like this. "What's wrong?"

She tried to choke back the tears, "You just called me honey for the first time!"

Was that a good thing or bad? She was crying so hard I didn't know which it was. Leave it to Carol to laugh at me. "That was very sweet of you. Her hormones are a bit out of control right now, but that was a good thing."

Alright, I did something right. It felt easy calling her that. My parents never had anything nice to say to each other, so when Taylor first started calling me that I thought it was a bit mushy, but now I liked it. It was good.

All of a sudden her crying that was letting up turned into a loud groan. "What's going on?" I asked looking at Denise. And why was she still sitting at the end of the bed? Wasn't she done?

"She's expelling the afterbirth. It's not nearly as bad as the baby. Here we go, Taylor. Almost done."

Carol came over to me and handed me the baby...my son. "Here take him. I'll help clean up Taylor while you show off your newborn son." Then she kissed me on the cheek. "You're going to make a great father, Daryl."

"Thanks," I barely got out. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the fact that I was now some kid's old man.

It was something I couldn't dwell on right now as I had to show the baby to Rick and Michonne. Except, when I stepped through the door and headed down to the waiting room, it was packed with people.

"Congratulations" everyone shouted.

"Shh! Don't scare the baby!" Michonne told everyone, before turning to me. "Well, what is it?"

"It's a...boy. I want to say that I'm sorry, but I ain't. I got a kid and that's more than I ever thought would happen."

Maggie walked over to me and peaked in the blanket. "Daryl," she said. "This was a big chance that we took. There was no guarantee that the baby would be a girl. We'll figure something out, but we're all happy for you and Taylor. This couldn't've ended up any better. Now you both have each other and a son. Congratulations."

Everyone from our group was there. This odd collection of people that made up this ragtag family that I belonged to were all there for me and Taylor. I was stunned by the love I felt from everyone. I didn't say much as everyone took turns looking at the baby. The women may have wanted to hold him, but I wasn't offering. It was too soon to give up holding my son.

"What are you going to name him?" asked Tara.

That's when I laughed. "No idea. We came up with a girl's name...Hope, but never even considered a boy's name. Guess we gotta work on that."

Suddenly, the baby began to cry and I didn't know what to do. I looked at Michonne for help and she smiled back at me. "He's hungry. Bring him back to Taylor."

As I turned to head back, Rick slapped me on the back. "Congratulations, man. I've watched you with Carl and Judith and I know you'll make a great dad."

I appreciated his words more than he could know. He had complete confidence in me that I could do this and that meant a lot. I nodded my thanks to him. I just couldn't find the words to say anything right now.