The End of a New Beginning // Daryl Dixon

Part 57

Meredith

I SAT IN the infirmary with Denise. I sat down in a chair, helping her keep an eye on some of the patients. I know Scott isn't doing too well. Well, at first he wasn't. Denise ended up extracting puss from his leg and he seems to be doing a bit better now. Just can't figure out why he isn't awake yet. He's got something going on, maybe some sort of infection, but I can't figure out what it is. What kind, if he's turning. He was shot in the leg, he should be fine. 

"Hey." I turn my head and see Morgan greeting Denise and I.

"What's up?" I greet him. 

"Everything going good over here?" He asks.

"Yeah." I nodded. "Denise is killing it." I smile. "N-Not literally." I smile.

"Do you need anything?" Denise asks him.

"Yeah, uh..." Morgan rubs the back of his head. "How are we doing on antibiotics?" He asks. I furrow my brows.

"Good." I nod. 

"I have a wound to the arm. I just wanna know what the signs are for infection." He shrugs.

"Fever, warmth, redness, puss, swelling." I answer. 

"Want us to take a look at your arm?" Denise asks.

"No, no. It's not me." He shakes his head. "But I could use you." 

"Yeah, alright." I nodded. "Uh, Denise, teaching moment. Mind if I bring her along, too?" I ask him. Morgan falls hesitant for a moment.

"Sure." He finally answers. We all walk out of the infirmary together, Morgan pauses. "Uh, I don't think it'll take two of you." He huffs out.

"It can be me." Denise nods. "I mean, if it's just signs of infection, I couldn't kill the person, right?" She asks me.

"Meredith." I turn my head and see Rick approaching me. I turn to Morgan and Denise.

"You two go ahead. I'll catch you later." I nod. Denise and Morgan walk off. I turn my attention to Rick.

"Look, about before." He sighs out. "I was just-"

"He was stupid." I nodded. "That we know."

"I just meant what you did for him, you didn't have to."

"I know."

"You could have died." He frowns. "And with what you told me this morning-"

"Hey." I call. "Look, just because I'm all knocked up, don't go easy on me. I know my limits. Besides, it'll be a little while before I'm too fat to even do anything. And the whole dying thing,  I mean, I'd like to say I was thinking about it, but I wasn't."

"So, that's why you did it? You weren't thinking about it?" He asks. I shake my head.

"No, that's how it works with us." I explain. "We're stuck with each other, right? I mean, nobody really thinks about it. We just...do it. Sometimes without stopping to think about it, you know?" Rick let's out a sigh. We hear footsteps approaching.

"Rick." Deanna calls. "You saved my son. I'd like to thank you." She smiles.

"Thank Meredith." He sighs out. Deanna turns to me and smiles. 

"I wanna thank you both." She nods.

"What Spencer did was stupid." I tell her.

"I can't argue with that." She nods. "At least he tried."

"That's not the point." Rick furrows his brows. "I could've tried. There was a chance."

"How's that?" Deanna asks.