Whatever Happened To Normal?

Chapter 22:

Wrong. He was dead wrong. It was a terrible, horrible, fucking stupid idea.

How hard could it be?

Watching kids when you don't like them or understand them is the hardest thing in the world. Not to mention having to make them breakfast, change a diaper, potty train the other, keep the one off his cell phone during homework time. Daryl is completely shot and tired and confused on how to take care of these kids. He has no clue what he is doing. Another reason why he never wanted kids.

Walking around the grocery store with Judith running around and Andre in the shopping cart screaming and crying, Daryl just tries to find everything he needs to make dinner. Turning around to look at potatoes, he doesn't realize that Judith has run off. When he turns back around to put the sack of potatoes in the cart, he finds her missing and begins to panic.

"Judith! Judith come here!" The last thing he needs is to have her kidnapped by someone. Rick would kill him. Taking Andre out of the cart, he leaves it there and starts fast paced walking around the store. He notices Judith holding the hand of a woman and races up to her. "Judith."

Turning around, Daryl finds the woman is actually Beth, and Beth is actually heavily pregnant. His eyes widen and he rubs them to make sure he's seeing this correctly. Her smile fades slightly and then perks back up again.

"Beth...I...uh...thank god you were here to catch her. I turned around for two seconds and she was jus..."

"It's okay Daryl. Things happen. Next time put the back pack leash on her or put her in the cart." She hands the child over to him and he can't help but continue to stare at her stomach. Pushing him slightly with her finger tips, she catches his attention. "My eyes are up here, genius."

"You look..."

"Fat, I know...twins, what can I say?" His heart plummets and he feels his throat start to close slightly. "Any day now- their boys."

"Wow...umm...wow. That's uh...that's great. Congratulations." He's so out of it. His whole body aches from the scream of terror he's holding in. "So...yer married..."

"Yep. A year already. His names Paul." She says and he just nods his head as if he cared for the information. Readjusting Andre on his hip, Beth just stares at him. "You were gone for quite some time."

"Kentucky...brother was going through some stuff- thought I'd be some help for him. Support. How uhh, how um..."

"How did I meet Paul?"

"Yeah."

"He was around...ya know. Just kinda, hit it off." It's frustrating to him that she moved on. He was sure she was going to be waiting for him, but she wasn't. But he can't blame her, after all he did leave her abandoned early in the morning when she was upset and needed comforting. He was pretty terrible to her. "Well, I better get going."

She starts to walk off when he gently grabs her arm.

"Hey, um...do you think, maybe, you could give me some pointers?"

"On being there for someone or babysitting?"

Ouch.

"Right, um, never mind." He lets go of her and starts to walk off. Now she feels slightly terrible for her actions.

"I'll send you a link to a nanny tip website. It should help you, if yer willing to learn from it." Turning back around, she leaves him standing there utterly hurt and yet almost completely thankful. She could have punched him in the face or kicked him in the family jewels, but she simply offered him help.  Maybe he underestimated her in a lot of categories.

***

Fifty videos later and he still can't understand what he's doing wrong with this nanny thing. Each video went of the basics of being a nanny and he has even taken notes on them and has applied them numerously throughout his days- but still he is having a hard time being a good nanny. What's worse is today, Rick asked Daryl to take the kids to the park to play with other children. The park is a big place full of strangers and dangerous jungle gym equipment and he is simply one person. How the hell did Beth do all this and survive?

Well for starters, she is a woman with a high sense of maternal instincts, which Daryl significantly lacks. His sense of parenthood is like a tiny scratch on a piece of glass- from far away you can't see the issue but up close it can be analyzed and discovered- ruining the over all safety of the glass in the long run. One scratch can turn into a crack- which will eventually lead to a broken window.

Sitting on a bench, Daryl watches Carl run around the playground while he sits besides the sand box  where Judith is playing. Andre naps in his stroller and Daryl is thankful he isn't crying bloody murder like always.

"Heads up!" Someone yells and a frisbee whips into the back of his head. Bending forward, holding his head, Daryl squeezes his eyes shut in hopes that the pain with dissipate. "Sorry man. Didn't see you there."

"Fine. Take yer frisbee and go. Next time aim away from kids dude." Daryl chucks the frisbee back at the stoner and his friends and Shakes his head. Turning back, Judith is lumbering her toes in the sand, Andre is sleeping and Carl is...Carl is... Carl is missing. Frantically standing up, Daryl grabs the toddler and the stroller and goes to the other side of the play ground. When he gets there, Carl is still out of sight. "Carl! Time to go! Carl!"

Looking around Carl is gone and Daryl feels sick to his stomach. Picking up his phone he calls the one person he knows he can't count on to help him.

Beth.