Ruins

45

This pregnancy was kicking my ass. Carrying Noah was easy and actually... Enjoyable, but this baby was kicking me in the middle of the night, sitting on my bladder, and making me sicker than a dog.

"Again?" I heard Daryl's voice as he pushed through the door, as I squelched whatever I had left in my stomach into the toilet. His hands wrapped around my hair, picking it up.

"Oh my God." I panted, taking the wet rag from him. "This is definitely your kid. Asshole." I breathed, letting out a small laugh.

I was around 23 weeks and things weren't getting easier.

Later, once I finally felt better, I watched Daryl rush into the house to grab his crossbow.

"What's going on?" I asked, setting the book that I was reading down.

"'Nother herd's coming through." He breathed, rushing out as quickly as he entered.

My mind raced, multiple herds within a day? That couldn't be a coincidence.

Hour after hour. Wave after wave. This had to be Alpha. Daryl informed me of the meeting and told me he'd be going back out to clear the gate.

"Daryl." I held onto his arm.

"I gotta go, Sam." He sighed.

"No, I'll go. You-"

"Nah." He shook his head.

"Daryl, you are exhausted. You cannot keep go like this." I pulled him back. "You need to rest." I stood up from the couch, leaving him sitting. "I won't go outside the gate. Okay? I know how to kill a walker- hell I made it from Oceanside to here by myself while I was pregnant." I sent him a smirk. "I love you."

"I love you too." He huffed, as I didn't give him I choice. I knew he didn't like me out here, especially with this pregnancy making me so sick, but I took my knife and spear, and joined Aaron at the front of the gate, anyway.

"What in the-"

I turned at the voice, rolling my eyes at Negan.

"I don't remember putting that baby in you-"

"Do you think this is funny?" I growled, stalking towards him. Aaron stopped me.

"Calm down, he's not worth it." He shook his head.

"I'm sorry." Negan chuckled. "No, it's not funny. Daryl's gonna be a daddy. That's wonderful-"

"He already is a dad." I spat, slamming my spear through the fence, watching the black blood gush from its eye. I averted my eyes, knowing how sensitive my stomach was. God, maybe this was a bad idea. I hit the next one, getting the blood on my arm.

I huffed, swinging my spear to get the extra blood off. I tuned out Negan's remarks and continued helping until I could see a gap in the walkers.

"We're almost clear." I breathed, sticking another walker.

"You should go rest." Aaron panted.

"I'm alright." I nodded. "I know when I need to stop." I told him. We cleared the gate and I let them go outside and clear the rest. I kept an eye on the gate and used that time to catch my breath.

Later on I joined the rest of the town in a meeting. I sat between Lydia and Daryl as he held Noah. Michonne immediately asked Lydia if this was Alpha.

"No, if this was her she'd send the whole horde, not just parts of it." She answered, shaking her head. I peered over at her, hoping she was telling the truth.

I listened to the others voice their opinions and growled hearing one of the young men refer to Lydia as the enemy. Lydia noticed and stared at him with nervous eyes.

I immediately reached for her hand, pulling it into my lap. I held her hand, rubbing my thumb over her knuckles. I shook my head at her when she looked at me, silently telling her to ignore it.

Michonne dismissed the meeting and I let Lydia help me up and wrapped my arm over her shoulder, watching the young man who was talking about her walk passed us, and send her a glare.

"Hey." I called, getting him to turn from her to me. Daryl held Noah and glanced between me and the boy I was shooting daggers at.

"Sam, you don't have to-"

"Do you know you she is?" I asked the boy curiously.

"Yeah." He scoffed.

"Good, so then you know that she's been out there since this started and probably knows how to handle herself better than anyone else here... So if I were I wouldn't mess with her." I sent him a sweet smile.

"Yeah right-"

"Oh..." I chirped. "Okay, so do you know who I am?" I asked.

"Yes, Mrs. Dixon-"

"Mrs. Dixon." I laughed. "That's right. So then you know that I am not scared of some asshole, little boy, that's scared of someone just because he didn't take that time to get to know her-"

"Alright." Daryl nudged me toward the door.

"And that goes for everyone. Not just you." I raised my voice. Michonne caught my eye, with raised eyebrows, and after everyone filed out she approached me, shaking her head. "What?" I spat, ready for whatever Bullshit she was gonna scold me with.

"You cannot just threaten a kid-"

"I was just voicing my opinion." I shrugged, Daryl was watching us nervously. I knew they had bigger things to discuss, but Lydia and her safety were important to me.

"You threatened him-"

"So lock me up Michonne!" I cut her off, holding my hands out in front of her.

"Nah, stop it." Daryl pushed my hands down before Michonne could react. "Calm down." He shook his head at me.

"So he can threaten her, but when I do it you want to say something?" I asked, nodding. "That's alright. I understand." I pulled Noah from Daryl's arms and held him and took Lydia's hand. "Let's go."

"Sam!" Daryl called after me.

I ignored him and took the kids straight home.

"Noah go play." I pushed him toward his room, and sat on the couch. "Lydia..." I looked up at her. "Are they giving you a hard time?"

"I'm fine, Sam." She furrowed her brows together and shook her head. "Really you don't have to protect me."

I hung my head and felt my eyes begin to burn. "I know that I don't. But you're my family now, and I'm not gonna sit there and let that asshole make you feel like shit. Do you understand?"

"Yeah." She nodded. "Thank you... For caring."

I nodded, letting her go upstairs. I leaned back into the couch and brought my hand to my face, trying to catch my tears as they fell.

"Aye." I heard Daryl come through the door and I let out a huff. "Sammy." He sighed, moving around the coffee table, to wrap me under his arm.

"I'm fine." I groaned, wiping at my face. "You need to be figuring out what to do. I-I will be fine."

He was silent, but rubbed his hand over my thigh.

"You really pissed Michonne off-"

"I really don't give a shit!" I laughed through my tears. "She should be worried about that little prick." I pointed towards the door.

"S'all he is... Is a prick." He shrugged. "Ain't worth gettin' all riled up." He rubbed his hand over my belly, making me relax further into the couch. "I gotta go." He sighed. "We're gonna go to the border."

I shut my eyes and sighed.

"I wish I could go with you. I hate not being with you."

"You got kids to protect." He pressed a long kiss to my lips.

"And you got kids to come home to." I held his face. "Be safe. Don't be stupid."

"I never am." He pushed off the couch to stand and leaned down to kiss me once more. "You get some rest."

I nodded, and let him say bye to Noah, before I let myself nod off into the couch.