Caught Me With His Crossbow (Daryl Dixon TWD Fanfiction)

Chapter 13 - Take Care Of My Baby

Hershel has woken from his coma and is now on the mend. He woke with Maggie and Beth by his side. I was glad that Hershel was okay. He was the only one in our group that had medical knowledge.

I sit on the picnic bench as the men make plans to clear out the entire prison yard. I saw the two prisoners, Oscar and Axel at the fence pleading to be let back in. We couldn’t trust them after what happened with their leader.

Daryl fixes his motorcycle near the gate beside the prisoners. The door swings open behind me. Hershel walks out with crutches helping him. Everyone cheered as he hobbled over on his crutches. But our happiness is ruined. The baby kicks rapidly as the walkers turn the corner. Daryl abandons the motorcycle and gets his crossbow. My Mom, Maggie and Shae rush to my side and drag me into the prison. The baby kicks as I attempt to run down the walker infested hallways. Maggie takes out her gun and shoots the ones that are closest. She runs out of ammo. Shae opens a door and pushes us inside. Pain rushes to my stomach as I lean against the wall. The walkers hit the door furiously with their fists. What if the baby was dying inside me? I had never felt pain like this throughout my pregnancy. What if I was going into early labor? I was only around 33 weeks. My Mom helped my sit down and another pain rushed through me for around fifteen seconds. I bit down on my lip to stop myself from crying out. The pain was so intense that I had to grab my Mom’s hand so tight she had to pull away. “What’s happening to me?”, I cried. “It’s probably just early contraction from the stress, you aren’t giving birth yet”, My Mom reassured. The pain eased off but I was still freaked out from the entire experience. It made me think about how the hell I was going to give birth here without pain medication.

An alarm blares from further in the prison. Shae is about to go and check but Maggie pulls her back. “You can’t go out there, you’ll get bit before you ge the chance to even open the door properly”, She declared. Shae sat back down and “Wheres Carl?”, I ask, realising he’s not here. “With your Dad, I hope”, My Mom says uneasily. We wait there for what feels like hours. “Bree!”, Voices call out from the hall. I manage to get to my feet and waddle to the door. I open it and a pair of arms crash around me. I feel so drained that I don’t think I can walk back to the cell block. Daryl, Theo and Alex hold me up as I begin to wobble. “She had braxton hicks contractions earlier”, My Mom says nervously. “She could give birth early if we don’t get her back to the cells”, Shae chokes out. Their voices turn into echos as I feel muscular arms lift me up and carry me bridal style.

I wake to the tight feeling in my belly. “The baby!”, I cry. Daryl rushes over with Hershel. “You’re alright”, Hershel says calmly. I rest my head on the pillow and Daryl kneels beside the bed. “You scared me to death”, He breathed. “I thought that I was dying, I thought the baby was too”, I said as the tears formed in my eyes. He kissed me softly on my lips to calm me down. “I’m going on a run. We need to find pain medication and supplies. Hershel thinks you might be at risk for pre-term labor”, He says, running a hand through his shaggy hair. “I need to walk around, I can’t stay in bed all day”, I say. He takes me by the hand and helps me stand. “First you need to get changed, you reek”, He commented. “Can’t exactly have a shower with all of this going on”, I say. “Stay safe while I’m gone, and try not to go into labor”, He says with a smirk. “I’ll try”, I say with smile. He leaves and I begin to get dressed. Getting changed is a handful for me now. My belly gets in the way of everything, whether it’s tying a shoe or reaching to pick something up.

I was scared at the risk of giving birth early. I don’t think I’m mentally prepared to go through labor yet. Daryl is still freaked out and scared at becoming a dad in these circumstances. It stressed me out when I thought about the future. I changed into a dark green long sleeved top and jeans. I was in need of fresh air. I wandered out into the prison yard. I spotted Alex, Shae, Theo and Erik sitting on the picnic bench. I went over and sat down inbetween Theo and Shae. “You feelin’ better?”, Shae asked. “A bit”, I said. “Never in a million years did I think we’d all be back together again”, Alex sighed. “Especially not in a zombie apocalypse”, Theo scoffed. Erik put his hands together and looked guilty. “I wanted to say that I’m sorry for how I treated you all, before all this. I’m not going to blame it on the drugs, I know they contributed to the fact that I was friggin’ insane”, Erik said with a sorrowful expression. “Everyone deserves second chances, even you”, I blurted out. No matter how much I hated him, I had to try and forget all the horrible things he did to me. “We can’t afford to be annoyed at each other, we have to have each others backs. Just like a few years ago”, Theo said wisely. “We need to stick together because we can’t lose more people. We already lost a good chunk of our group”, I said.

Daryl and Maggie came back from their run into one of the nearby towns. They had bags full of supplies. “We found a walmart”, Maggie said happily. I sat Maggie down. “If I die in childbirth you have to put me down”, I say. “Don’t be thinkin’ about that Bree”, She sighs. “I need to make sure that if I die I won’t come back and attack the baby”, I say firmly. “You can’t let fear take control of you”.

Daryl sits down beside me as it begins to get dark. “Maggie told me what you were sayin’ earlier”. I didn’t want Daryl to know that I was preparing for the worst thing possible. “We both need to be prepared for anyhting to happen. I might not make it through labor, I think we all know that”, I explained. “You need to focus on staying healthy to avoid that. I know you’re scared, I am too. I never pictured myself being a Dad, I can’t be a single Dad. You will make it through this”. I snuggle my head into his collarbone. “What’s going to happen when the baby is born?”, I ask. “We take care of it, obviously”. I roll my eyes. “I mean who’s going to look after it when we go on runs?”, I correct myself. “Beth happily volunteered months ago to look after the baby”, he says with a smile. “At least we aren’t on the run anymore. This will be a good place for the baby.”