Roe's POV
Delilah and Daryl returned late that afternoon holding hands and looking like they were floating about two feet off the ground. Mercy had snuggled into Daryl's neck on the walk home and fallen asleep. He refused to let Delilah lay her in the bed, and insisted on sitting on the sofa with her in his arms while she slept.
Delilah looked at me and rolled her eyes. "And we thought she was already as spoiled as she could possibly get."
I smiled and nodded. "I kinda get the impression we are only seein' the tip of this iceberg."
She set the basket she was carrying on the counter and went to her room to change into a t-shirt and jeans. She came back out a minute later. "Carol made some incredible fried rabbit, and there was quite a bit leftover if ya wanna use it for dinner tonight. There should be enough ta go around for everyone."
I hesitated. "Uhh, so about that... Ezekiel called Carlos and Billy back to the Kingdom today. I guess since the threat from Negan is over he decided they'd be more useful back there."
Her mouth dropped open. "What? They didn't wait ta say 'goodbye'?"
I shook my head. "If I hadn't been here when they came in ta pack their bags I wouldn't have known they were goin'. Carlos said that they would be a part of the patrols between there and Alexandria, so they'll be seein' us often. I think they are both kinda hopin' for occasional overnight assignments so they can drop in for dinner and ta see us and the baby."
She shook her head. "Wow! I can't believe that happened so quickly. Well, now what?"
I smiled. "Well... this does mean that I get my own room now. And you and Mercy have a room without me snorin' across the room. I already moved my stuff into their old room."
Delilah's POV
I nodded and smiled. "Ok, so maybe this cloud does have a silver lining." I looked toward Daryl who was sitting on the sofa with a goofy grin on his face. He hadn't said a word since he sat down with the baby.
I think he was afraid he might wake her up. "Daryl, it's ok ta talk while she sleeps. She's used ta the noises we make, and ya know Roe ain't quiet." Roe smirked.
Daryl smiled and whispered, "Are ya sure?"
I giggled. "I'll keep in mind that if I ever wanna win an argument with ya all I need ta do is hand ya a sleepin' baby."
He smiled and looked down at the sleeping baby on his chest. "She's just so sweet and snuggly, I don't want it ta end just yet."
I grinned and sat next to him on the sofa. I put my hand on his thigh. "You can hold her as much as ya like Daryl. I get it. I love snugglin' her too."
He shrugged. "Might sound kinda stupid, but I feel like I already missed out on seven months of her life. I don't wanna miss out on any more." I smiled into his eyes.
Roe grabbed beers for all of us and joined us in the living room. "I'm just impressed that ya talked her into trustin' ya with her precious treasure Daryl. She didn't have much choice with me, at least not if she wanted ta be able ta use the bathroom without jugglin' a baby on her hip. But I think I can count on one hand the number of folks she's let hold the baby since th..."
I shot a look with daggers at Roe. He stopped mid sentence. "Oh. Ya haven't told him..."
I shook my head. "We just hadn't gotten around ta that conversation yet."
Daryl looked at me concerned. "What is it?"
I shrugged and looked down. "Roe is referring to the story about the worst day of my life."
Daryl reached out with one hand and lifted my chin gently. "Hey, I promised I'd never press ya for anythin' ya weren't ready for. Ya don't hafta tell it now if ya don't wanna."
I shook my head. "No. I kinda wanna tell it. The only other person I told was Rick, and afterwards I almost felt like it took away part of the terror and made it less powerful in my mind."
Daryl nodded and watched me carefully as I started. "It happened about two weeks after Mercy was born. We were back on the road again. We had been finding shelter wherever possible. One day we passed through a smaller town that looked deserted. We found an old general store and decided ta sleep there for the night. We cleared the store and made sure it looked safe. There wasn't anything left ta scavenge from the shelves, so Roe went out huntin'. I laid down on my blanket roll ta rest and feed the baby."
"I musta dozed off for a few minutes. I woke up to the sound of voices outside the store. I jumped up and grabbed as much of our stuff as I could and hid in a janitor's supply closet. There wasn't a lock on the door, so I just tried ta wedge as much against the door as I could. I could hear them come into the store. They were lookin' for anything they could scavenge."
I could feel my heart rate increasing as I told my story. Daryl put his hand gently on mine. "I was just prayin' that the baby would stay asleep. She didn't make a peep, but it didn't take long for them ta sweep the store and realize there wasn't anything worth takin' off the shelves. One of them tried the door. He could tell that it wasn't locked because it gave slightly when he pushed against it. He called for help, and a couple of the others came ta help him. I had tried ta pile some things around us, so we wouldn't be seen easily if they just glanced in. But they pushed the door all the way open and walked in. I had the baby on my back, my hunting knife in my hand, and a small knife hidden in my boot."
I noticed Daryl begin to rub Mercy's back soothingly, and it seemed to calm me a bit also. I took a deep breath and continued. "I had curled up pretty tightly and was ready to spring, but knew I would be restricted in my movements because of the baby and because the closet didn't give me much room to maneuver. They assumed I was curled up because I was so frightened. They were laughin' and makin' comments about how they wouldn't hurt me 'much'. I waited until they got close to me, and as soon as the first one touched me I came up and shoved my knife between his ribs. I pulled it out and lunged at the second while kicking the third in the chest. The first man I stabbed had dropped to the floor. He grabbed my leg and kept me from thrusting the knife forward into the second guy. I managed to make contact with the third man's chest, but my kick wasn't as powerful because of the man holding my other leg. I tried to bring my foot back down ta kick him off me, and the second man took advantage of my distraction and pinned my arms. The guy that I kicked lunged forward and grabbed both of my legs, helping the first man. They had me restrained when the fourth man came into the closet. He seemed pretty happy with their 'find'. He told them to tie me up. That was when... when they noticed..."
Daryl squeezed my hand. "Ya sure ya wanna keep goin' now Doc?"
I nodded. "They saw the baby. One of them pulled the sling off my back and pulled her out of it. I screamed and she started cryin'. They started talkin' about all the horrible, unthinkable things they were gonna do to her... and they were gonna make me watch while they tortured her! Then they told me they would do all the same things ta me."
Daryl seemed ta be holdin' his breath. He let go of my hand and stood up and began pacing in the living room. His quiet growl was much more menacing than a scream would have been as he said, "Somebody just nod ta let me know that these poxy bastards are no longer breathin' air from this earth!"
Roe frowned and nodded his head at Daryl. "Hey Daryl... would ya like me ta take the baby now?" He asked calmly.
Daryl looked down at the baby in his arms and rubbed her back gently. He dropped his lips to the top of her head and kissed her gently while inhaling her sweet baby scent. He slowed down his pacing, but continued to stand. "Nah man. We're ok here."
He looked in my eyes, and I saw the pain of years of abuse reflected in his beautiful blue eyes. He nodded at me and said softly, "Go ahead Doc."
I continued. "I had just been prayin' that Roe would get back, that something, anything would happen that would let me get her safely away from them. She just cried the whole time they had her. It was killin' me inside. They were pretty distracted by all the braggin' they were doin' about what they wanted to do to my baby. They were talkin' about the fact that they didn't think I was here alone, and decided ta send one of the men outside ta stand watch. I still had the knife hidden inside my boot. I was scared that if they caught me tryin' anything that they'd kill my baby. But I knew if I didn't do anything we'd both be dead anyway."
Silent tears had begun to roll down my cheeks. "I sent up one more prayer that God would show mercy on my little one. I slid the knife out of my boot when they turned away. I wedged it between my hands with the blade pointed down. I lowered my hands to my ankles and began quickly cutting though the ropes. I knew that I probably wouldn't have time to free my hands also. I hadn't seen any guns, only machetes. They started ta pull the swaddling blanket off of her, and I knew I had ta hurry. I cut through the last rope. I stood and moved across the room as silently as possible."
I shuddered as I recalled this part of the story. "I approached the closest one from behind, and hit him with an axe kick to the head. He dropped like a rock. The other two turned with the sound of him hitting the floor, but I had already stepped up to the next closest one. I hit him just above the knee with a roundhouse kick and heard bones crack as he dropped to the ground. I flipped my wrists down and shoved my knife into his temple. The last man was the one holding my baby. He held her against his chest and held his knife up to her. I tried to calm him and reason with him. I told him that if he hurt her in anyway there would be nothing in this world that would keep me from killing him. He was the same guy I had stabbed in the closet. They had bandaged his wound, but I could see that he was weak and a little scared. I didn't want him to yell for help from the guy outside, so I tried switching tactics. I told him that if he put the baby down that he could just do whatever he wanted to me... that I would put down the knife and cooperate if he would just put her down."
Daryl sat back down next to me on the sofa and put his arm around my shoulder, pulling me close to him. "I promised him... promised him anything, everything... if he would just put my baby down. He told me that if I would drop the knife and lay on my stomach he would put her down. I put the knife down and kicked it away, but wouldn't lay down until he put the baby down. He finally agreed and set her down on the floor. I dropped ta my hands and knees and as he took steps away from her I lay on my stomach. I knew it was gonna be even harder to get out of it because with my hands tied up under my belly it decreased my leverage. He walked up ta my side being careful not ta get close to my legs. He pulled his leg back and kicked me in the ribs. As his foot hit me, I let the force of it push my body and rolled onto my back. I pulled my knees towards my chest and did a kip-up. He looked pretty surprised by the fact that I was suddenly on my feet. He turned to run, but I dropped my arms over his head and used the ropes on my wrist to choke him. I grabbed my knife, cut through the ropes on my wrists, and put my knife through the skulls of the two men I hadn't already killed."
I looked at Daryl wondering briefly if hearing this story would change the way he felt about me, but knew it was best if he heard the worst now. He stroked my shoulder with the arm he had wrapped around me. "I picked up the baby to calm her. I knew it was risky because the man on watch might get suspicious if she stopped cryin', but I couldn't just leave her there. I swaddled her up and got her quiet, then laid her on some blankets in the closet. I hoped that if anything happened ta me that Roe would find her there. I moved around inside the store and peeked around the edges of the blinds as much as possible. I finally made out his shadow at the corner of the building. I knew if I went out the front door he would see me before I could get to him. I stood by the front door and picked up some empty boxes that were scattered around. I threw them against the windows, just hard enough to make banging noises. A few seconds later he pulled the door open and started ta ask what was goin' on, but that was as far as he made it before I got my knife across his throat. I dragged his body the rest of the way inside and stabbed him in the skull. Then I went back to the closet and gathered up the baby and as much as I could carry and went to the back door of the store. I didn't wanna get trapped there again in case they had any friends that would come lookin' for them. Not sure how long it took Roe ta come back after that."
I looked up to see tears rolling down my big brother's face, and my heart was filled with love for him. He looked at Daryl. "I got back to the store before sundown and noticed their four bodies and a ton of blood everywhere. I didn't know if the blood was all theirs or if some was Delilah's. I called ta her, but she didn't answer. I found her at the back of the store, covered in dried blood, curled up in a ball, and holdin' the baby in her arms. I didn't want her ta hafta keep lookin' at what had happened, so I took us to a house down the street I had seen earlier. She wouldn't speak ta me at first, but she let me pull her into my arms and then get her cleaned up. It was hard ta get her to let go of that baby girl for hours after that."
Daryl looked at me and shook his head. "I'm so sorry ya had ta go through that. I knew ya were tough girl, but I just didn't know how tough till now. Thanks for tellin' me your story."
Mercy started to stir and fuss in Daryl's arms. "It's about time for her ta nurse again." I said, still reluctant to move her from his arms.
Daryl's shifted her in his arms and gently placed her into my arms. I got her latched on and Daryl and Roe got up to fill our plates with food. Daryl brought a plate to me on the sofa. "So... her name?"
I nodded. "Yeah. I had been having trouble pickin' a name for her. There were about four names that I liked, but none of them seemed ta fit her. That night I thought about how I had prayed so hard for mercy... and that just stuck in my heart."
Daryl smiled. "Yeah, it's right for her, isn't it? And since she's gonna be just as gorgeous as her mama, I'm sure we'll all be askin' for mercy once the teenage boys start tryin' ta get her attention."
I blushed and giggled. "I just can't imagine any boy brave enough ta try ta get past all this." I said indicating the two large, glowering men in front of me.
They stopped scowling and laughed. "Ain't no boys comin' around here till she's at least thirty!" Roe exclaimed, and Daryl nodded in agreement.
After dinner we played with Mercy on the floor for a few minutes. Until she started to get sleepy. Roe decided to go to his room, but I think he wanted to make sure that Daryl and I had some privacy.
I picked up Mercy and took her to the bedroom. I laid down on my side and pulled her to me. I latched her on to my breast again to let her fill her tummy before she slept. I patted the bed to ask Daryl to lay with us. He slid off his boots and lay on his side facing me with the baby between us. Mercy leaned back, reached out her little hand, and patted his face. I looked up to see a tear slip from his eye as he turned and kissed her hand.
I whispered. "Ya ok?"
He nodded and whispered back. "Yeah, I just can't believe how close I came to losin' y'all before I ever even met ya. Does it sound strange that I feel like I should apologize for not bein' there ta help ya?"
I smiled. "Nah. It doesn't sound strange. It sounds sweet." I reached out and put my hand on his shoulder and pulled him closer. Mercy was starting to nod off. He reached over her and wrapped his hand around my waist, snuggling the baby between us.