Chapter Text
“Oh fuck, Daryl!” Paul shouted as his boyfriend pounded his cock deep into his ass, nailing his prostate each time. Sweat dripped down Paul’s forehead and onto the bed beneath him. They’d just gotten back from run that morning on which they’d had a very close call with a walker that had fallen out of a closet and tackled Daryl to the ground. Paul nearly had a heart attack, but was able to move quickly enough to kill the walker before it could take a bite out of Daryl’s neck.
A year into their relationship and this is how they usually dealt with close calls, arguing about being more careful on the way home and then fucking each other in a rough doggy style position until they couldn’t walk. A particularly strong thrust had Paul crying out and clutching the sheets as Daryl continued to thrust roughly into his warm heat from behind.
“Fuck, Paul. I’m close.”
“Me too, baby.”
Without slowing his pace, Daryl shifted his hands from Paul’s hips to his chest and pulled Paul back against his chest. Paul groaned loudly at the change in angle as Daryl now fucked up into him as he was sitting on Daryl’s lap, their lower legs tucked behind them. Paul had released his death grip on the sheets in favor of tangling them in Daryl’s hair instead by reaching up and over his own head to get at Daryl’s.
Paul could feel as Daryl’s rhythm began to falter a bit, he was close and so was Paul. Daryl moved on of his hands from Paul’s chest to his cock and began jacking him off in time with his thrusts. It didn’t take Paul long to scream out in orgasm as he spurted cum all over his chest and the bed.
Daryl groaned as Paul tightened around him and he bit down on the junction of Paul’s neck before releasing deep inside his lover.
Daryl’s pace slowed significantly as he fucked Paul through their orgasms as they both began the process of coming down. Paul reached his hand behind Daryl’s ass and gripped one of Daryl’s ass cheeks to communicate that he wanted Daryl to stay inside him for a while yet. Daryl acknowledged Paul’s request and took great care to lie them down sideways on the bed without letting his cock slip out of Paul’s ass. Paul moaned in contentment at the feeling of Daryl’s flaccid cock still inside him, his cum running down the sides of his shaft and leaking out of Paul’s ass and onto the bed in between them. Often after rough sex, Paul liked to have Daryl stay inside him after; Daryl liked it too whenever he bottomed during their rougher sexual encounters.
They’d come a long way with their sex lives since they got together almost a year ago due to their family’s meddling. At first, Daryl had been overly cautious and insecure because of his lack of experience and Paul had been afraid of Daryl judging him because of his extensive experience. In the end, they’d agreed that it didn’t matter how much or how little experience the other had, they’d move at their own pace and focus on loving each other not only in words but also in actions.
There was a knock on the door and Daryl groaned in frustration, they’d barely had a minute to themselves over the past couple days and they wanted to be left alone.
“ How dare someone interrupt the first decent amount of time we’ve been able to spend together, ” Paul thought, grumbling a bit under his breath.
“What?” Paul shouted, already annoyed at whoever it was for disturbing them.
“Sorry to disturb you, but Maggie needs to see you and Daryl in her office immediately,” Kal spoke through the door.
There was no way in hell he was opening that door, he wasn’t deaf, he knew what they’d been up to just before he arrived. Sometimes they were so loud after difficult runs, it was surprising more people didn’t complain or gossip about it.
Daryl groaned and pressed his forehead into the crook of Paul’s neck like a frustrated puppy. He did this often when he was frustrated, rubbing his head against Paul in some way. That action alone was one way Daryl showed just how touch starved he’d been before he started dating Paul.
“Come on Daryl, Maggie needs us,” Paul said moving his hand back over his head to run his fingers through Daryl’s hair.
Paul let out a light moan when he clenched his ass around Daryl one last time before allowing the hunter to pull out and start getting dressed. Paul cleaned himself up a bit, not wanting to get a lot of cum on his fresh underwear. He hated doing laundry before the turn, now doing it was just downright awful; so, anything he could do to keep from having to do it as often, he would. Finally, the two were decent enough to leave the room; Paul even made sure they combed their hair since it made it obvious what they’d been up to. Not that it mattered, Paul had yelled so loud towards the end he wouldn’t be surprised if Maggie had heard them. They could be so shameless at times and it was wonderful.
“Come in,” Maggie called through the door of her office.
Paul opened the food and stepped inside leaving Daryl to close the door behind him. Maggie was sitting at her desk pouring over a few maps of the areas surrounding Hilltop. Her gaze was concentrated and concerned, her lips moving but no sound coming out as her finger glided over the roads on the map.
“What’s up?” Daryl asked moving to stand in front of the desk.
Without looking up Maggie replied, “Siddiq came up just a little while ago to inform me at least three people have come to him so far with severe flu symptoms and we don’t have a lot of medication left over after the war. There is a veterinary hospital almost a two day trip, there and back, from here that looks secluded enough that people may not have found it. I need a few people to go on a run ASAP to see if there are any medical supplies still there.”
Paul looked at the map to see where she was pointing, he’d thought about going there in the past, but length of the trip and the possibility of it being over run had always deterred him when he was scavenging on his own. Too many things could have gone wrong at a big place like that if he’d gone by himself. He was good, but since they’d never had a huge problem with illness in the camp, he hadn’t deemed it necessary.
“You think it’s really necessary to go all the way out there? Maybe...”
“Yes,” Maggie cut Paul off, “Daryl and I have seen something similar to this before at the prison. If it’s as bad as that, a lot of people are going to die very quickly so I need a team ready to depart in less than an hour.”
Paul nodded, “Who do you think should go? I mean obviously me and Daryl, we’re the two best scavengers we have.”
“Yes,” Maggie agreed, “You, Daryl, Jack, and maybe AH!”
Paul stared at Maggie gasp of pain. Maggie clutched her almost 9 month pregnant belly and looked down in horror at the puddle of water at her feet; her water had just broken, she was going into labor.
“Oh my god, you alright?” Daryl immediately jumped into action, “here, sit down.”
Paul’s stomach dropped as he came to a realization, he couldn’t go on the run now. A few weeks after Glenn was killed, Maggie had expressed her fear of giving birth on her own having seen what happened to Lori with her own eyes. Paul swore to her that when her baby came that he’d be by her side throughout the entire birth.
“Don’t worry, Maggie. We got you,” Paul assured her, “just breathe.”
Maggie took a deep breath, pushing aside her fear of giving birth and dying like Lori did, “I still need a team to... to go on that run. Paul, you...”
“are staying right here,” Paul finished for her taking her hand, “just like I promised. Daryl can go, he is more than capable of leading a team on his own.”
Maggie nodded and turned to Daryl, “Take the maps... ugh, ouch... and get going as fast as you can. I don’t... oof... want to waste time.”
Maggie groaned a bit as one of her first of many contractions hit.
“Don’t worry about that, just focus on bring this baby into the world, I’ve got it covered,” Daryl reassured her.
He reached down and pulled Maggie into a warm hug while also being mindful of her midsection. He stood up and gathered Paul into a hug and kissed him deeply before heading for the door.
“I love you!” Paul called after him.
“Love ya, too prick.”
“Asshole.”
Maggie giggled behind Paul at their antics before it was cut short by another grunt of pain.
“Let’s get you to bed and then I’ll go get Siddiq.”
“Okay,” Maggie agreed, allowing Paul to help her up and into her bedroom.
He helped her remove her maternity pants and climb into the bed to lie down. Paul then disappeared downstairs to locate Siddiq and alert him to what was going on. He was Daryl by the gate talking to a small group of people, looked like Daryl, Jack - who’d been at Hilltop even longer than he had, and Diane - who’d worked for points in the sanctuary before and during the war, were the ones going on the run. They were all very good scavengers, but Paul wished he was going with them. It would be the first run he and Daryl hadn’t been on together since they started dating. Paul waved his goodbye and smiled as the team waved back as he stepped into the medical trailer.
“Siddiq?” Paul called, closing the door behind him.
“Paul, what brings you here?” Siddiq asked.
“Maggie, she’s gone into labor.”
“She’s early. Not too early to be worried, but still early. Where is she?” Siddiq asked beginning to gather the things he’d need for the birth.
“In her bed at Barrington. Is that alright?”
“She might want to move to one of the guest rooms because whatever mattress she gives birth on is going to get blood on it. Usually doctors would lay down a tarp so the bed wouldn’t get bloody, but I can’t think of any that are sterile at the moment.”
“Ah, maybe she’ll want to move since it’s the bed she shared with Glenn when they stayed over before he died, or maybe that’ll be what makes her want to move. I don’t know. Perhaps I could ask around, find someone willing to clean off a tarp or something.”
Siddiq nodded, struggling to gather all of the blankets and medical equipment into his hands, almost dropping something on the floor.
“You need help with that?”
“Yes, that would be wonderful,” he said handing Paul a bowl for water, some of the blankets, and a heating pad. He wasn’t going to pretend to know anything about giving birth; he is gay, watching a woman give birth to a baby had been low on his list of things he’d thought he’d experience. Then again, so was the dead coming back and walking around until the turn. After dropping everything in the spare bedroom, Paul went to fetch Maggie.
“Hey, Siddiq suggested we move you into to the spare bedroom. He doesn’t want to get the bed all bloody if we can’t find a tarp in time.”
“Makes sense,” Maggie said and took Paul’s outstretched hand.
She paused and leaned back over to grab the pillow on the opposite side of the bed. Paul raised his eyebrows in question, silently asking why the closer pillow wasn’t good enough.
“This was the pillow Glenn slept on. Even if he’s not... if he’s not here, I’d like to have something to remind me of him.”
“What happened to the watch you showed me?”
“Gregory stole it, I took it back and hung it on that hook on the wall,” she said pointing over to the coat rack next to the door, “but he must’ve taken it again before he ran to the sanctuary.”
“Maybe, I’ll see if I can locate next time I have to go there.”
“Thank you, ouch!” She grabbed her stomach.
“Come on, let’s get you to the other room,” Paul said as he wrapped his arms around her to support some of her weight and started leaving her to the other room.
Once she was settled in the bed with Siddiq checking her and making sure everything was in order for the birth, Paul left to go find a tarp of some kind. Before the turn babies born at home would normally be delivered on waterproof bed sheets, unfortunately they hadn’t been able to find any so far. Paul felt massively unprepared to deal with this, he couldn’t even imagine what Maggie was thinking and feeling right now. After all, she’s seen Lori die in childbirth herself, she had to be terrified; in fact, it was probably part of the reason she’d asked Paul to stay and be there for her since Glenn couldn’t be.
Paul made his was over to Janet’s trailer, she was one of the few people at Hilltop with experience in home births having used the process herself when she had her children. Most people would think she’d be essential to have in the birthing room now, but she flat out refused to enter any room in which a baby was being born after she lost her firstborn daughter to a walker and her second child - who had been conceived and born after the turn - had been stillborn. The loss of that second child had driven her and her husband, James, apart and he had left her and moved to the Kingdom to escape the memories shortly after.
Paul knocked on the door of her trailer, she would either throw him out or graciously help him depending on her mood that day. “Janet, you in there?”
“Jesus, that you?” she called back through the door.
“Yeah, you mind if I come in?”
“Door’s open.”
Paul opened the door and stepped inside. Janet was sitting on her couch reading a book. That couch had to be the ugliest thing Paul had ever seen. It was a mix of purple and green with sequins dotting the armrests and back. The thing honestly reminded him of Barney, a show he’d often been forced to watch at the group home. There were holes covered by pink, gray and blue patches from whatever material had been available when they first brought it back on one of the rare scouting missions he hadn’t been alone on. Paul had wanted to leave it, but Janet had adamant they bring it back to Hilltop.
Paul couldn’t fathom the reason for bringing it until they arrived home and seen the look on her nine year old daughter, Sindy’s, face when she saw it. Sindy had jumped into Paul’s arms and hugged him thanking him for helping her Mom being home the couch. Apparently the little girl’s favorite colors were purple and green and getting a couch in her favorite colors for her birthday had her over the moon. Paul hadn’t even know it was Sindy’s birthday, but was happy he had a hand in bringing a smile to her face.
“What do you need?” Janet asked, sticking a bookmark in her book and placing it on the end table.
“Maggie’s gone into labor...”
“I’m not going in that room, Jesus.”
“Oh, that’s not what I’m here to ask. I respect your desire to steer clear of childbirth. I just need your advice on what we could possibly use in place of waterproof sheets or a tarp. I’m pretty sure all of our traps are in use already. We thought we still had two more weeks to find some waterproof sheets. Daryl and I were supposed to go out to try again to find some tomorrow.”
“Waterproof sheets?”
“Yeah, that what Carson recommended.”
“Yeah, in a hospital. I never had anything that fancy, why not perform a water birth?”
“Siddiq has no experience with that and his research time was cut short by two weeks.”
“Ah, well, the first time I gave birth we used a fresh shower curtain. Got any of those?”
“I think we might in storage, I’ll go look. Thanks for your help.”
“No problem, Jesus,” Janet replied picking up her book and resuming her reading.
Paul left her trailer and quickly made his way over to the storage room in the basement of Barrington. Paul just about leaped for joy when he found a fresh shower curtain still inside the box. They only had a limited number of mattresses at the moment and destroying one with blood wouldn’t help anything. Paul rushed back up to Maggie’s beside to help Siddiq lay the tarp down while Maggie used the bathroom. Once Maggie was back in bed, Paul was able to rest a bit because all that was left to do was wait until she was ready to push.
It gave him time to think about Daryl, “ god, please let him come home okay. ”
Unbeknownst to Paul, at that moment Daryl was running for his life through the forest away from the veterinary hospital, alone - his team nowhere to be found.