Beth's Old Sweet Shoppe

Chapter 51:

Chapter 51:

"Beth, we're home! Beth?" Daryl and Merle walk into the apartment and the silence fills their bodies. "Bethy?"

Finding the living room an kitchen empty, Merle checks his bedroom and Daryl theirs. It's only when he notices the shut bathroom door, that he cues into where she is. Knocking twice on the door, Daryl waits and listens.

"Beth, sweetie... You in there?" Opening it up a crack, all he sees in the mirror is her hand on the floor. Bursting through the door, Daryl rushes to her side and pats her cheek. "Beth, baby, wake up. Honey...come on baby. Merle! Call 911!"

Sitting with her, he listens to her heart beat, still going at a steady pace, but quiet. As Merle rushes in with Sasha and Bob, they check her vitals and mutter some medical nonsense before putting her on the gurney to wheel her downstairs. Taking her downstairs and into the ambulance, they allow Daryl to sit in the Ambo with her as Sasha cues up the IV machine.

"What's wrong with her?"

"I don't know, Daryl...I'm sorry." Heaviness takes over his heart and he sinks low in his seat. When they pull up to the hospital they leave Daryl at Triage and take Beth back to start working on her. Merle quickly makes his entrance into the hospital and sits beside Daryl on a couch.

"Daryl...I should've just went home."

"It's not yer fault Merle."

"If we'd have been there..."

"It still wouldn't have made a difference. Listen, things happen. I just want her to be okay. For Kylie to be okay." Sitting there, Daryl and Merle try so hard to act like everything will be okay, but the truth of the matter is is that they don't know. It's scary- the unknown. As an hour passes, more and more fear sets in both Dixon's. And as they wait, Daryl receives a text from Glenn and Maggie, asking where they are do the celebration. "Fuck, I forget to tell them...Merle, can you go outside and call Hershel since we can't use cellphones here and I need to wait for the doctor?"

"Of course, Baby Brudder." Getting up and taking Daryl's phone, Merle steps outside into the parking lot and has to explain things to Maggie, who obviously became panicked. As Daryl runs his hands through his growing hair, a pair of shiny black shoes lay in his eyesight.

"Mr. Dixon..." Looking up, Dr. Edwards is in front of him and Daryl stands abruptly.

"How is she? Is the baby okay?" Edwards takes a deep breath and starts walking down a hallway with Daryl by his side- Daryl in more of a rush than Edwards.

"She had a placental abruption...."

"No...what...what is that? What happens?" Daryl stops and so does Edwards.

"It means the placenta opened slightly in the uterus. It happens in only a good 150 women a year. It's not very common. I assume it happened because she got in that accident a while back and also because of her appendicitis."

"Is she okay though?"

"We found blood that was behind the placenta, which suggests she's been bleed for some time. We had to do an emergency Caesarian procedure to deliver the baby. Right now, my team is stabilizing Beth." Edwards adds and Daryl feels half the world's weight lifted off his shoulders.

"What about our baby? What about Kylie?" Rubbing the back of his head, a frown lingering on his face, he places a gently hand on Daryl's shoulders.

"We're doing all we can, but we don't think her survival rate will be more than a few hours, at most a day....I'm so sorry, Mr. Dixon. If there was anything more we could do, we would do it...but she's at God's mercy right now. We're just trying to make her as comfortable as we can. I'm really sorry." Leaving go of Daryl's shoulder, he walks away and The whole world around Daryl crashes and obliterates before him. Sliding down a wall, knees to his chest and hands grasping his hair, he can't stop the tears breaking through his eyes and streaming down his cheeks. Just as Merle is coming down the hallway, he slows down and the rest of the Green-Rhee family does too. His dejected and pained structure rings loud and clear in their hearts.

"Daryl..." Maggie kneels down beside him and places a shaking hand on his shoulder. "Is she..."

"Beth's gonna be fine..."

"And th..." Glenn stops in his sentence an can tell, it doesn't need to be stated, because obviously the answers right there.

"Mr. Dixon, you should come see yer fiancé now." A kind nurse quietly comes forward and Daryl stands up. Following her, Daryl follows her into a Staff Only area and finds Beth, just as sad, holding a tiny small baby in a pink hat with a breathing tube in her nose.

"Daryl....I'm sorry." That's all she can say and all he can do is kiss her gently and lean close to their daughter.

"Honey, we're okay...we're okay." Touching the small babies cheek, she seems fake by her sheer size. Just about the size of Daryl's hand, Kylie seems almost transparent- he's able to see her veins and a few organs even. "Hi, Kylie Rose...I'm you're dad and I love you very, very much."

Beth just cries a bit harder and looks down at the baby. She's fought so hard during this pregnancy to try and feel that overbearing love, for a while she couldn't feel it, but now, looking down at her child- on the verge of death- she understands and feels the overbearing love one gets for their child. After a few moments of just Beth and Daryl with Kylie, the nurses allow the others to come in two at a time to meet the child. Every single one walks in with a sad smile, knowing that this little girl isn't going to be with them for long. And at the end of the night, Daryl has to literally pull himself away from them to go home- this kills him even more inside, because what if his daughter leaves them in the middle of the night and he never gets to say goodbye?