WORLD PAINTED BLOOD ||Daryl Dixon|| #Wattys2020

13

*Things had been going great for these past five months. Alexandria was thriving. Rick and Deanna were working together rather than dividing themselves. Things with Spencer were still tense and probably always would be. But after what happened with Jessie’s husband, Peter accidentally killing Deanna’s husband in a rage and Rick shot him down, Spencer would probably never try to cause trouble again. But Jessie and her boys were a lot happier without Peter around so things had just been looking up.

Mia’s pregnancy was going by so smoothly and despite feeling anxious that this would just be a repeat of her son’s birth, Denise reassured her that everything was alright and she believed that. The baby was kicking constantly and Mia imagined that he or she probably sensed her uneasiness and wanted to let her know they were there happy and healthy. Daryl loved watching Mia’s stomach move around as the baby pushed and stretched. He got into the habit of poking at her belly to get a reaction out of the baby, which worked every single time. Sometimes that got the baby to kick Mia right in the ribs but seeing the look of amusement on Daryl’s face was worth it so she allowed it.

The baby kicked for him more than anyone else. Boy or girl, this child would be absolutely in love with their dad. Mia couldn’t wait for that moment. Daryl was embracing this more and more the bigger her stomach got. She was up to her ears in baby clothes of various sizes and colors and shoes, socks, hats, and toys. He’d recently found a crib but hadn’t built it yet. The box had been up against the wall for weeks.

Daryl was down in their garage tinkering with his bike while Mia was making him some breakfast. She was full term now, just waiting for the big day. She was getting uncomfortable at this point but still tried to keep busy. She cooked up some waffles and brought them out the garage.

“Hey,” she said, “Breakfast is ready.”

“Thanks,”

Daryl said, reaching out to rest his hand on her belly. As soon as his hand was on her belly, the baby started pushing against his palm. He glanced at her belly out of the corner of his eye, “Baby’s awake today, ain’t it?”

“Yep,”

Mia chuckled, “Crazy kid. I was thinking, with the baby coming any day now, we should probably get started on building that crib. I can help you if you want.”

“Nah,”

Daryl said, “I got it. You shouldn’t be on your feet so much anyway, right?”

“I’ll be alright,”

Mia said, pushing Daryl’s hair away from his eyes, “Moving around a lot is good. It might get labor going.”

Daryl nodded but Rick popped up in front of the garage before he could respond. Rick seemed a little uneasy but kept a straight face as he took a step into the garage, “Morning guys. I’m sorry to interrupt.”

“It’s fine, what’s up?” Mia said.

“We gotta talk about something,”

Rick replied, “Come on, I’ve gathered everyone at Deanna’s house.”

Daryl sat at the windowsill, staring at the window as Rick announced to everyone that only reason they hadn’t seen too many walkers near their walls was that they were all trapped in a quarry a few miles away from here. Apparently, their path was blocked by a semi-truck but that was barely hanging on and could fall any day. Hundreds if not thousands of walkers were just waiting for that truck to fall. They needed to start getting ready for that moment so they could lead the walkers away. Rick had included Daryl in this plan, which annoyed Mia quite a bit but Daryl didn’t argue so she wouldn’t either.