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What Future is There?

Chapter 15

Carol had never really thought of Michonne as someone you could read very easily. In fact up until now Carol had only seen Michonne wear one or two expressions. That was until now. Now she was wearing an expression that Carol had actually never seen her wear. The Michonne that sat down at the table in front of her looked absolutely terrified.

"Do you want to talk about it now?" Carol asked. She sat down at the table and handed Michonne a bowl of peaches.

Michonne didn't really know what there was to talk about, at least not yet. She looked at the peaches and then looked at Carol with an odd look. She'd never gotten fruit for breakfast. The canned fruit, when they were able to find it, was sacred. Everyone loved it and it was reserved for when they wanted to celebrate things.

Carol smiled. That was one of the facial expressions she was used to seeing Michonne wear. Michonne seldom asked anyone anything. That expression always did the asking for her.

"The baby didn't like oatmeal, but I know you like fruit, so I thought you could try it out. At least it'll be more pleasant coming back up if the baby doesn't like it either." Carol said.

Michonne really wished Carol would stop saying the word "baby". It was making her stomach feel far less settled than it was before and she was getting sore from all the retching. Still, the peaches were delicious, and he she was thankful for that, even if she'd regret eating them later.

"So do you want to talk about it?" Carol offered again.

Michonne knew what Carol wanted. She wanted one of those feel good moments where they chat back and forth about their feelings and emotions. This had the potential to be one of those "best friend" chats that's best accompanied by some kind of coffee beverage at a café. Michonne looked around. This wasn't a café. It was some kind of coffee break room in a prison. And this wasn't a fancy coffee beverage; it was a bowl of canned peaches.

"I don't really feel like talking right now, but thank you for the peaches." Michonne said. To her surprise Carol looked a little disappointed.

"Ok. I'm here if you decide you want to." Carol said. She sat there for a minute longer. "You need to tell Daryl." She added.

"We have watch together." Michonne said. She was guessing that he was already up there. He hadn't come to bed the night before.

Carol nodded. "And you need to talk to Hershel." She said. Michonne made a face. "Are you getting sick?"

"Maybe." Michonne said. At any rate, delicious though they were, Michonne decided not to take any more chances with the peaches. She stood up, picked up her katana and started toward the tower, with absolutely no idea how she was going to tell Daryl.

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Michonne walked in the watchtower, trying to steady her breathing and still trying to figure out how she was going to tell Daryl. He was in his customary position, sitting on the floor, leaning loosely against the wall. He smiled when she came in.

"Hey you." He said. "I didn't expect you up. Feeling better?" Michonne sat down in the chair, leaning her katana against the wall. No, at this moment she was feeling much worse. Her mouth was dry, despite the cold she was sweating, her heart was pounding, and she really wanted to vomit. She propped her elbows on her legs and put her head in her hands. Daryl was worried. Michonne didn't look good at all. "Hey, 'Chonne, I can handle watch by myself, you know." Daryl said. He thought maybe she should go lie down. It was obvious that she wasn't over whatever bug had jumped on her and it worried Daryl. He'd never really been good at knowing what to do for sick people. If you were hurt, he knew how to patch up some things, but he didn't know what to do for sick people. Carol knew what to do for sick people, and Hershel knew what to do for sick people, but that wasn't Daryl's forte. That's one reason that he hadn't slept in the cell with Michonne last night. He didn't think she'd want him there, and he didn't really know what to with her being sick. It made him feel helpless. "I'm serious," he said after seeing that she wasn't responding to him "I think you maybe need to go back to bed."

Michonne was trying very hard to figure out how to tell Daryl about this. She hadn't actually said it out loud now, and she realized that maybe she should have practiced a few times before she walked in here. What was the right way? When she'd told her husband she was pregnant, they had been trying to start a family. They had a future planned out, and though it didn't go as expected, their future at that time had involved wanting babies. She had told him both times the same way…meeting him at the door, grinning from excitement and offering him the stick. She remembered being so happy then.

They hadn't actually ever said "I love you" before and now she had to figure out how to tell him that she was bringing a baby into this?

"'Chonne, you OK?" Daryl asked. "Do I need to get Carol or Hershel?" She was just sitting there with her head in her hands, swaying back and forth a little. Then Daryl realized she was doing something that he'd only seen her do once before. Michonne was crying. Daryl didn't know what to do. Was it something he'd done? Was it something he even knew about?

That was something people did these days from time to time. Sometimes they would just cry. It was like somewhere, at some point, a dam just broke. You could only hold it together for a while, but eventually you just broke. Most of them understood that when they were with each other and the reality of it all just sunk in around them and they started to cry. The truth is that they were trying their best to make this new life seem normal, and sometimes they had moments where it did seem that way. Sometime it even seemed pleasant, but sometimes it just got to be too much. Daryl wondered if that was what was wrong with Michonne.

He pulled himself up and went over to her, dragging the other watch chair next to hers. He hesitated a moment before placing his hand on her back. He leaned in to try to look at her face, but she had it mostly hidden.

"It's OK." Daryl said. "It's OK." He didn't know what else to say to her.

"No, Daryl, it's not OK." She finally said, trying to dry up the tears a little. Daryl fumbled around in his pocket and found one of his handkerchiefs. He offered it to her.

"It looks dirty, but Carol washed it." He said, realizing that the discolored handkerchief probably didn't look like anything she wanted to put on her face.

Michonne dried her face and blew her nose. Daryl was just looking at her with the same sweet concerned face that he always made when he thought she was going to tell him something important.

"Daryl…" Michonne started. She still didn't know what to say. She really wanted to just spit it out, but she felt like she couldn't do that. She felt the peaches rising in her throat and she swallowed hard, not wanting to get sick again. "Daryl, I…I've got a problem." She said.

Daryl was a little struck by the comment. A problem? Hell they all had problems. What kind of problem could she have that Daryl didn't know about? Problems were everything these days. The Governor who hadn't reared his ugly head since the last attack, but was probably waiting just over the next hill was a problem. Walkers were a problem, fences down were a problem, shortages were a problem, that leak that had appeared in Beth's cell last week was a problem…they all had problems. If there was anything they could do these days, it was handle problems.

"What's wrong, 'Chonne?" He asked, taking one of her hands in his. "We'll fix it."

"Daryl…I'm going to have a baby." Michonne said. She immediately looked down at her legs. She really didn't want to see his facial expression.

Daryl sat there a minute, letting it soak in. Michonne was going to have a baby? They were going to have a baby. Daryl had always wanted children, back before the world went to Hell. He'd always had this sort of idea where he cleaned up his act, got a real job, married some amazing woman, and they'd always had four kids…they were always two girls and two boys. The best thing about his dream was that Daryl was a good father, and he was a good husband. In his dreams he never hit his wife the way that his father had pounded on his mother for no good reason. He never hit his kids, and he did things with them…dad things…the things his dad had never done with him. He'd always thought that's how it would end up. The world they lived in now sucked, but Daryl wanted to be a father.

Michonne had gone completely stiff. Daryl became aware of this.

"Damn, girl," he said "I thought you said you had a problem." Daryl put his arm around her, pulling her toward him, but she was so frozen for the moment that she barely moved. "Hey, this ain't no problem." Daryl added. Still no response. "And you ain't the only one in this, the way I see it."

Michonne wasn't sure what was going on right now. She didn't know what she had expected, but Daryl's tone was not what she had expected. She thought maybe he'd be angry, or maybe he'd be upset. Daryl did not sound like he was either of those things. He sounded like he was actually happy. Michonne didn't know if she wanted to look up or not. Finally, Daryl placed his hand under her chin and pulled her face toward him.

"And don't you be callin' my kid no problem anymore." Daryl said. He was actually smiling. Michonne didn't know what to say, but the kiss that Daryl planted on her lips told her there wasn't much to say.

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"Carol said you wanted to talk to me?" Hershel said, hobbling into the room. Daryl had already sent Michonne down there, excusing her from watch until she'd talked to him. Michonne was feeling a little bit better about the situation. It was far from ideal, but Daryl was about as happy as she'd ever seen him. She didn't know why, but he was really excited. She still wasn't excited, and she was the one that was going to have the baby, but his happiness had lifted her spirits a little.

"I'm pregnant." Michonne said.

Hershel hadn't expected that at all. He'd known that Daryl and Michonne had been pretty active. The entire prison knew that, but for some reason it had never entered his mind that Michonne could get pregnant. He'd thought about Glenn and Maggie, and he'd thought about Rachel and Rick, but he'd never really let himself imagine that Michonne could be a mother.

"I see." He said. "Any idea how far along you are?"

Michonne shrugged. She didn't know how far along she was. She didn't even know what month it was. "What month is it?" She asked. It was funny, since all this had happened those kinds of things didn't matter anymore in life. You needed to know it was getting cold, so you might need to think about shelter and food, but that was about all you needed. Days of the week didn't matter; months of the year didn't matter. Every day was just like the one before, try to survive and keep your eyes open for what was next.

Michonne's question took Hershel off guard and he scratched his head.

"Well, I don't know." He said. "From the weather, I guess it's probably December, or maybe January."

Michonne shrugged again. That really didn't help much. Come to think of it, she didn't really even know how long she and Daryl had been an item. In the world they knew before, they might have had an anniversary. They might have gone out to some nice dinner in a restaurant somewhere…nowadays thinking about things like that was about like contemplating the existence of aliens had been to her before. It was just too out there for her to really imagine.

"Well, I can try to guess. I should be able to feel the baby enough to give me some idea" Hershel said. You'll need to lie down for me." Hershel hadn't ever really examined Michonne other than with a few wounds. His only real practice with pregnancy had come from handling Lori's, but he had learned a few things.

Michonne took off her cloak and peeled off the jacket she was wearing underneath it, shivering a little at the coldness of the room. As an afterthought she unbuttoned her pants and rolled them down enough for him. She got on the table. While Hershel prodded her and tried to find the baby, she stared at the ceiling. She hated this kind of thing. She hated having anyone touch her when she wasn't in the mood to be touched, and his pressing wasn't helping her with the already nauseous state that she was in.

"I don't know, exactly. Hershel said, but I can tell you're under 12 weeks…could be ten, could be eight." Hershel said finally. Michonne sat up, buttoning her pants. "You need to make sure you're eating enough, drinking enough water, and you'll need to ask Carol about vitamins. I know we had some around here."

"Anything else?" Michonne asked.

"You'll need to slow down some." Hershel said. "You're going to be tired. You're going to need to adjust your pace. No heavy lifting."

"Yeah, I know." Michonne said.

"Beg your pardon?" Hershel asked.

"I know. Take your vitamins, get your rest, and eat your food. I've done this before." Michonne said.

Hershel was taken aback. No one at the prison really knew anything about Michonne. She hadn't exactly been one to come waving her past around at everyone.

"I've been pregnant before." Michonne said. Hershel stopped for a moment. Michonne had been a mother. He didn't want to push her to tell him anymore than she'd already said. That was the thing about their lives before. No one wanted to push anyone any further than they wanted to go.

"Did your pregnancy go well?" Hershel asked, somewhat timidly. He wasn't really sure what to do with a Michonne that was opening up to him, or was at least speaking to him.

"They both did." She said.

So she'd been a mother to two children. Now Hershel really wondered what she'd been like. They all saw her now as the closed down, unstoppable, and at times not human person. Now he knew that in a distant life she had bore two children. He couldn't imagine that world any longer, and he certainly couldn't see Michonne in it. Maybe there was something to her and Daryl. They'd often talked about it around the breakfast table and wondered what could make the two gravitate towards one another when Michonne was so…untouchable.

"I'm sorry to have to ask, but how did you deliver them?" This was information Hershel needed. He needed to know how prepared he needed to be and how careful they needed to be. They hadn't been careful enough with Lori.

"I mean…" Michonne hesitated, for a moment remembering what the delivery of her girls had been like. "I had the good drugs, but everything went fine." She finished.

Hershel sighed a sigh of relief. He was also surprised that Michonne had smiled for a moment. Not only had she been a mother in that other life, but it looked like she had been a happy mother.

"No cesarean sections?" He asked.

"No, nothing like that." Michonne said. It had been so easy with her girls. From the moment that she had found out she was pregnant it had been amazing…they had been amazing and wonderful…until the world had changed her life for good. Michonne tried to put the memory out of her head.

That was good news. "Well, I'm sure this is going to be just fine." Hershel said. He really wasn't too worried. Everything these days was unpredictable, but this didn't seem like it was going to be too big of an obstacle.

Michonne got off the table and put her jacket and cloak back on.

"Am I free to go?" She asked.

"I'd say so." Hershel said. "Oh, and Michonne?"

Michonne turned around.

​"Congratulations." Hershel added. Michonne just nodded at him and stepped out of the room.

Notes

Is anyone still reading here or has everyone migrated to Wattpad/Fanfiction.net where the larger versions are uploaded?

Comments

Just discovered your story and love it so far. Always thought Daryl and Michonne would make a good couple!

Grimesgirl63 Grimesgirl63
1/28/18

Really great story!

cemmia cemmia
7/18/14
I love it! start writing again!!!
neentje neentje
8/6/13
I love your story. Keep up the good work
SVJohnson21 SVJohnson21
6/23/13
This is very well writen and I enjoy reading it.
Thewalkingdixon Thewalkingdixon
5/27/13