These Awkward Moments

Chapter 45 Recovery

One Week Later
Delilah's POV
We were finally back home. Dr. Carson had wanted us to stay at the Hilltop for a few days after I had completed a seven day course of IV antibiotics to treat pyelonephritis to make certain I didn't have a relapse. But I was determined to get back home. He was still concerned that the infection would reoccur, but he trusted that Daryl would bring me straight back if I started feeling symptomatic again.

Daryl hadn't pressed me for details about what happened with Carlos. I had tried to start the conversation several times, but we were always interrupted by people coming to check on me, taking care of Mercy, or my next dose of antibiotics. At night time I was so exhausted by my illness and everything that had happened, I fell asleep as I nursed Mercy to sleep each night. Daryl was being very understanding, and extremely attentive. He held me in his arms frequently and kissed me gently, but he didn't push for more than that. There just never seemed to be the perfect time when we were alone for us to talk.

During the week we spent at the Hilltop Daryl, Roe, and Max had filled me in on all the details of their search for us and our eventual rescue. I was so proud of Max for his quick thinking and all the ways he had helped Daryl. He was turning into a mini-Daryl very quickly. I had even noticed him occasionally drawling some of his words the way Daryl did.

When we got home I wanted to spend a couple of days resting and not leaving the house. Daryl thought he was going to have to argue with me to get me to agree to take it easy for a few days, but my recent illness had taken a lot out of me. There was a pretty steady parade of people coming by the house here to check on me also. Carol even volunteered to take over cooking breakfast and lunch until I was back on my feet.

It felt so good to be back with our extended family, and in our home. I felt as if a very long nightmare had finally ended. I was ready to put it all behind me, and in order to do that, I had to talk to Daryl. We immediately fell back into our routine of snuggling on the bed as I nursed Mercy every night, and I was finally feeling well enough to stay awake.

Daryl reached out and stroked my jaw lightly with his fingers. "I've really missed this Doc. It's good ta be back home again."

I smiled at him. "Yeah, it is. I feel like now we can finally start working on getting our lives back ta normal and puttin' this nightmare behind us. But Daryl, in order ta do that, we need ta talk about what happened."

He looked down. "Doc, ya don't gotta tell me nuthin' if ya ain't ready to. In fact ya ain't gotta tell me nuthin' anyway. You know I still love ya no matter what happened with Carlos. I just want us ta be able ta get back ta bein' us again at some point. I want ya ta know that I'll wait for ever how long that takes."

Now it was my turn to touch his jaw. I raised his chin until he was looking into my eyes. "Daryl. I love you darlin'. I'm ready now for us ta get back ta bein' us. I almost feel as if you're the one who's not ready for me ta tell ya what happened. I just wanna tell ya that it's probably not as horrible as what you might be imaginin' in your head."

I told him about everything that happened with Carlos. I didn't leave out a single detail. I even told him how close I had been to Carlos raping me the night before I got sick. He was disgusted with the way Carlos had jerked off while watching me breastfeed, and was completely amazed at the depth of the delusions Carlos had been having. "I can't believe that none of us ever caught on ta what was goin' on in his head! He never once let on in all that time that he felt anything special for ya. We actually thought it was Kenny who put the birth control pills in the bag!"

I nodded. "Yeah. He was pretty sick in the head. I had ta just try not ta make him too angry because I wasn't sure how far I'd be able to push him before he did something dangerous. The worst part of the whole experience for me was worryin' about what he might do ta Mercy if I pissed him off. I feel like I shoulda done more ta try and get away from him. I shoulda fought. I shoulda... done... somethin'."