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“I’m pregnant.”
Glenn lifts his head. “What?”
Maggie sits up, the covers of the bed wrapped around her as she moves a hand through Glenn's hair. “We’re going to have a baby.”
Glenn was silent for a moment, enough time that Maggie thought she’d broken him. Then, his lips curl into a gleeful smile. “Oh my god.”
Before Maggie can reply, he's engulfing her in the tightest hug, and she can feel the smile on his lips as he buries his face in the crook of her neck. “Maggie, this is amazing.”
“Yeah?” Maggie pulls back to see tears begin to form in his eyes. “I know we talked about it, but I wasn't sure how you’d feel about it all happening now.”
“I’m the happiest I’ve ever been.” Glenn sits up, letting Maggie cradle his face and wipe the tears that had fallen. “We’re having a baby.”
“We’re having a baby.” Maggie repeats, reaching over to kiss him on the lips.
Glenn returns the kiss before breaking away and leaning his forehead on hers. “How long have you known?”
“A couple days.” Maggie replies, kissing him on the cheek and getting out of bed. “I had my suspicions, but Denise helped me confirm it. With everything that's been going on with Nicholas, I wanted to wait until the right moment to tell you.”
Maggie could see Glenn’s face fall at the mention of Nicholas. Only a few days ago, there had been a disastrous supply run involving Glenn, Noah, Tara, Eugene, Nicholas and Aiden to try and help the power grid. It ended in Noah and Aiden getting killed, but Noah's death was completely avoidable. It was Nicholas who fled and left both Noah and Glenn for dead. Tara was injured and still in the infirmary. When Nicholas returned, he’d spread the word that Glenn was the reason the two boys were killed. Ever since, he and Glenn had been struggling to co-habituate.
He only faltered for a second before his face fell into a smile again, following her out of the bed and wrapping his arms around her from behind. “He doesn't matter right now. All that matters is you and me and this little baby in here.”
Maggie turns around, wrapping her arms around his neck and scrunching up her nose. “You, me and the baby.”
They decided they would keep quiet about the baby for now, just for the next couple of weeks, so they’d have something that was just for them to share, their little secret from the world. Denise was sworn to secrecy, but she did make Maggie promise to come in for regular check ups.
Only a few days had passed since Glenn had found out about the baby, but he was already playing the role of the devoted father to perfection. His joy was contagious, and couldn't be ruined by anything in the world. He’d been speaking about names, bottles, cribs, you name it. Maggie had seen him holding Judith more too. Late at night, Maggie could even hear him whispering to her stomach, his voice so low she couldn't even make out the words. Maggie knew he always wanted a baby, but had been so anxious about it in the past. Every time the conversation had been brought up, he would practically shake like a leaf while he came up with a million reasons it was unsafe and out of their reach. But right now, safe in Alexandria, Glenn was ecstatic.
He had also started hovering around her more than usual, carrying around bottles of water and snacks in case she needed them, making sure she didn't exert herself too much. He was terrible at keeping secrets, but Maggie wasn't expecting him to be so obvious about it. He was the sweetest person alive, and if anyone else noticed his fretting, they didn't say anything.
It was perfect. He was perfect.
Denise had found a book on pregnancy and it had become Glenn’s bible. He’d read that getting Vitamin D in short bursts was good for the baby and so they had started going on daily walks in the mornings.
He was holding her hand now, brushing his thumb against her knuckles as they took their loop around Alexandria. It was blissful, and it felt like they had stepped back into normality. No walkers, no threats, just them. And the sound of kids playing in the streets, and adults chatting and walking around. Their people were spread around, no longer fighting for survival. Maggie could see Rick, Michonne and Carl sitting on the porch of the house, with baby Judith. Daryl and Carol were sharing a cigarette (Glenn had steered Maggie far away from the smoke.) Abraham and Sasha had just returned from a watch shift.
Maggie had started to feel Glenn relax over time, his conflict with Nicholas and grief over Noah subsiding over time as he focused all of his energy on the baby. Maggie had seen Nicholas around, but he seemed to steer clear from her and Glenn, and she didn't know him well enough to tell if he actually listened to Glenn when he threatened to tell Deanna the truth if he didn't tell her himself.
“What about… Oswald?” Glenn smirks, swinging her hand back and forth.
Maggie raises an eyebrow. “Oswald?”
He’d been trying to come up with the most old fashioned, far fetched names over the last couple of days, just to make her laugh.
“You don't like Oswald?” Glenn teases. “Okay fine. What if we call them… Ernest?”
Maggie giggles, mock pushing his head away by his cheek. “Stop it.”
“Let's not forget about girls. Hmm, let's think. Beryl? Hilda? Myrtle?” Glenn’s stupid smile was plastered all over his face.
“You're awful.” Maggie shakes her head.
“You love me.” Glenn retorts, letting go of her hand to swing it around her shoulder.
Maggie snorts. “You're lucky I do.”
“That I am.” Glenn kisses her on the cheek. Maggie smiles and turns her face, kissing him on the lips. “I love you too, by the way.”
“I know.” Maggie nods, her hair falling out of its half up style as she turns her head back. She rests her head on his shoulder.
Glenn smiles, holding her even closer.
There were a couple of surprised gasps from further up the street that they were walking on, and Glenn pushes Maggie behind him, trying to see what the commotion was.
He stares straight into Nicholas’ eyes.
Dark, angry, cowering eyes.
A noise rang out, one that sounded so loud it felt as if Maggie’s eardrums had been blown.
There were screams, people were darting away, and Maggie couldn't understand why. The ringing in her ears never stopped, not even when her vision cleared up and she started looking around the street, trying to figure out what the hell happened.
People were running away from Nicholas. He had a gun.
“M-Maggie?”
She whipped her head around to look at her husband, hearing his voice come out shaky and unconfident struck her as odd immediately. His trembling hand found its way to his stomach, which was oozing thick dark blood that was seeping through his shirt.
Someone screamed.
She’d only realise hours later that someone was her.
It all happened at once.
Glenn was on the floor in an instant, folding into himself faster than Maggie could catch him. She feels the sobs rise in her throat as she flops to the ground, immediately finding the wound on his abdomen and pressing down as hard as humanly possible. “No. No. No. No. No.”
Rick yells a scream of utter desperation and rage, sprinting over and punching Nicholas in the face so hard he goes flying to the ground, the gun dropped out of his hands. Daryl isn't far behind, pacing around the scene like a possessive guard dog. Rick doesn't stop punching, sitting on top of Nicholas to pin him down, until Daryl forcibly pulls him away. “He ain't worth it, Rick.” He throws his hands towards him. “Let him rot.”
Glenn whimpers the moment Maggie’s hands touch his wound, and his eyes start to flutter. He coughs, but when he does he sprays blood, dripping it down his cheeks and onto the ground. He gasps, trying to catch his breath as his arms uncontrollably flail. “Mags.”
“I’m here. I'm here. I’m here.” Maggie repeats, her hands covered in blood as she attempts to stem the bleeding. Blood was pretty much soaking through his entire shirt now. He was staring at her with glazed eyes, and she doesn't think she's seen him more afraid in her whole life. “Stay with me, okay?”
Most of the Alexandrians had cleared out of the streets the moment the gun fired, but their family remained glued to their spots, the shock registering in their systems. Rosita had her hands over her mouth, Abraham was blankly staring forward as if he was reliving something. Michonne had a hand in front of Carl, who looked like he would've broken out into a run if it wasn't for the fact he was cradling his baby sister in his arms, her little foot touching the very scar from his own bullet wound.
“M..hurts.” Glenn slurs, starting to shake as the shock set in. He sounded different, almost childlike, and Maggie couldn't help but get reminded of how it felt in the prison, when he was so ill from the virus that he stopped being able to breathe on his own. She had her father by her side, then. Now, all she had was Glenn.
“You're gonna be okay.” Maggie forces her voice to steady. She gives him a reassuring smile. “I’ve got you, and you're gonna be okay.”
Carol was running over with long strips of white gauze but Maggie barely registered her. She kept sobbing and whispering the same things over and over again to Glenn, who was growing paler and paler. It wasn't until Carol shook her shoulders that she realised she needed to let go of the wound so that Carol could pack the gauze into it. Maggie's hands were totally stained with her husband's blood, but she crawled over to his head and cradled his limp body anyway, stroking his hair and trying to keep his half-lidded eyes open. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”
Glenn was whimpering, clutching at his throat as if it were stopping him from speaking. He looks up at Maggie, pinching his eyes closed before opening them again. “Mags.”
“Shh.” Maggie soothes. “Don't speak. You're okay. Someone help! Please!”
Her pleas seemed to push everyone to snap out of their shocked daze. Abraham ran past Rick, who was holding his gun to Nicholas’ head, the blood vessels in his head looking inflamed from his blinding rage. Daryl follows his lead, and the two of them crouch down beside Carol and Maggie. Glenn was only half conscious, murmuring delirious words as Maggie rocked him back and forth.
Denise ran out from the infirmary, shouting orders that Maggie couldn't hear over the ringing in her ears and the sobs on her throat.
She was trapped inside of her own mind, watching as Abraham and Daryl picked Glenn up, out of her lap. She felt his weight being lifted off of her legs, but she could still feel him like a phantom limb. Her brain was going so slow it was like she was watching everything happen in slow motion around her. The world was in a haze. She saw Michonne rush to open the doors of the infirmary, as the two boys carried her husband inside, the red blood leaving a trail behind them. No longer being reigned in by Daryl, Rick bodyslams Nicholas as he attempts to make a run for it, picking him back up and throwing him against the wall, yelling words that Maggie couldn't make out in his face.
Her limbs felt like lead, and for a moment, it felt as if she was watching herself from above.
Carol nudges her. “Sweetheart, you’ve gotta get up. He’s gonna need you to hold his hand.”
Maggie whimpers. She couldn't feel the weight of him anymore. All that was left was the red blood that was everywhere. All over the floor, on her clothes, her hands, her face. No. No. No. She needed it off, she needed it gone. She starts to frantically wipe her hands together, slapping them together but all she was achieving was the spread of it further. She screams. “Get it off, get it off, get it off.”
“Okay. Okay. Shh.” Carol’s voice finally got through to her. She nodded to Rosita, who was over within moments with a bucket of water, and Carol was washing the blood from her hands, arms and face, until only her clothes held the memory of Glenn’s injury. “Let's go.”
Carol helped Maggie up, keeping a hold of her shoulders as she walked her into the infirmary.
The scene was chaos, and Maggie’s husband was right in the middle of it. Denise was the closest person they had to a doctor, and she was shaking like a leaf but she had also taken the lead. Glenn was even paler than before, he had a nasal cannula inserted in his nose and they’d hooked him up to the only heart machine they had (it was previously with Tara, but she was stable). In his arm, there was an IV giving him fluids or medication or something. Maggie couldn't tell. There was another tube attached to his arm, which had no bag secured to it. She didn't realise what it was for until she caught sight of Michonne in the corner of the room, giving her blood. Denise, Abraham and Daryl were running around Glenn’s bed, clearly panicking and trying everything they could to save Glenn.
The blood was staining the bed sheets.
Maggie’s knees go weak and she retches into the bin in the corner of the room. Carol holds her hair back, whispering comforting words to her until she stops vomiting. “Maggie, you're okay.”
“I’m pregnant.” Maggie sobs. “We’re having a baby and he's-”
“He’s okay.” Carol cuts in. If she was shocked about the revelation, she didn't say it. “They're working on him. He needs you to hold his hand.”
Maggie nods, using Carol’s help to stand up and weakly sit on the chair next to the bed. Glenn was unconscious, but he was still letting out small whimpers of pain every few moments. He now had Michonne’s blood donation running through his veins and Denise was digging around in his stomach in the attempt to get the bullet out. She tightly clasped his weak hand, running a hand over his hair. “You're okay.”
At Maggie's touch, his eyes open just barely. They were glassy and out of it, but he stared at her with a semblance of recognition. There was a whine on his lips as Denise took some of the gauze away, but his gaze on her never faltered. Maggie kept stroking his hair, not knowing how much he could even take in. He looked very out of it.
Daryl and Abraham both had holds on him, keeping him from writhing around too much. Denise had picked up a pair of tweezers.
“It was a clean shot, the bullet didn't break up.” Denise was muttering. Whether she was talking to everyone or herself, Maggie wasn't sure. However, she was very obviously spiralling. “If I can just get it out and close him up as soon as possible, the risk of infection is minimal, and he already has IV medication running through him, so now is the time to do it. I might be able to get him out of this.”
“Denise!” Carol calls, making the young woman look up in shock. She walks over, taking the red soaked tweezers from her shaky hands. “How deep do I go?”
“N-not too deep.” Denise says. “He’ll need more blood, too.”
“I’ve got a universal blood type too, hook me up.” Abraham volunteers.
As Abraham moves away, Glenn lets out a louder groan of pain, waking up more and suddenly trying to wriggle away from Carol while she had the tweezers in his wound. Carol tenses up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa.”
“Glenn, hey, calm down. Calm down. You're okay.” Maggie soothes, stroking his hair. “I know it hurts, baby, I know. It's almost out. It's almost out.”
Glenn let out another whimper, crying out in pain, before it gets too much for him and his eyes roll to the back of his head and he goes limp.
It took three hours to get Glenn stable. They almost lost him multiple times, and there were a series of moments where he wouldn't stop convulsing from the shock and the blood loss. Michonne and Abraham had donated some of their blood, but he still looked pale and deathly. He hadn't woken up since he had passed out when Carol was digging the bullet out. They had to transfer him to another bed, since the one they did their emergency surgery on was covered in dark blood. Now, two more hours later, he was lying unconscious next to Tara in the infirmary.
Maggie hadn't left his side, praying to anyone who would listen that he would pull through his, that he'd come back to her and they’d raise their baby together. She held his hand in hers, rubbing it with her thumb. He looked so weak like this.
She barely noticed when footsteps walk into the infirmary. She finally looks up when Rick sits in the seat opposite her, visiting Glenn for the first time since he'd been stabilised. He looked almost as defeated as Maggie did, his beard covered in blood. Probably Nicholas’.
For a moment, there was silence.
Maggie spoke first, low and whispery. “What did you do with him?”
“Locked him in one of the houses.” Rick answers, a hand to his temple. “Daryl’s keeping an eye on him.”
“Did he say why he did it?” Maggie asks.
Rick pauses for a moment, licking his lips and sighing. “He told us he was afraid. Of what Glenn would tell Deanna about him. That he was drunk and wasn't thinking clearly. That he was sorry.”
Maggie scoffs, shaking her head. “God.”
“He’s a coward, is what he is.” Rick looks like he was trying to get control of himself.
“I thought you were about to kill him.” Maggie states, running her fingers through Glenn's hair.
“I wanted to.” Rick admits, his hands going into fists. “I got real close, Maggie. Then I thought about Glenn and how he doesn't want anyone to die. Even cowards like him.”
“He's too good.” Maggie says, with a sad smile. Glenn hadn't moved an inch in three hours, but his chest kept rising and falling, and Maggie was grateful it did. “He’s so damn good.”
“He’s gonna be a great father, Maggie.” Rick says. “Carol told us. I hope you don't mind.”
Maggie smiles, not looking up from Glenn's face. “I don't mind. You're right, he's gonna be an amazing dad. And he’s gonna pull through.”
“He is.” Rick confirms. “But we don't know when he's going to wake up. So I wanted to ask you what you wanted us to do with Nicholas. I mean, there's execution, exile…”
Maggie tenses. “He wouldn't want that. Either of those things. He doesn't- he doesn't leave people behind.”
Rick nods. “I understand. We’ll keep him locked in the house for now. He’s not getting away with this, Maggie.”
“I keep going through it in my head.” Maggie says, shaking her head. “I knew Nicholas was dangerous. I knew he got Noah and Aiden killed. We all did. I think we got so used to the safety of this place we forgot what people can do.”
“We’ll never forget again.” Rick’s voice was heavy with emotion. “I will not watch another member of this family bleed out on a table again.”
Maggie nods. The atmosphere in the room was thick, and the silence that followed weighed them both down. A faint, weak groan interrupted the calm.
“Glenn?” Maggie whispers, moving his sweaty bangs out of his face.
Glenn’s eyes were half open, and he looked around the room in a haze of confusion. He couldn't even lift his head from his pillow, but he frowned and tried to lift his hand up to the cannula in his nose.
“No, honey, don't touch that.” Maggie says softly. “You're okay. You’ve been hurt, but you're okay.”
“Hey, buddy, you're alright.” Rick adds, leaning in.
Glenn made a croaky sound, his hand falling limp again. Maggie smiles, grabbing the glass of water from the counter and bringing it to his lips. “Here.”
Glenn greedily took gulps of the water, sighing contently but still unable to lift his head. “Mags… wha- what happened?”
“You got shot.” Maggie tells him, still brushing his hair with her fingers. “But you pulled through. You're okay.”
“How- how long?” Glenn stammers, lifting his head up a little.
“A couple of hours, honey.” Maggie soothes. “We’ve been watching over you. You shouldn't be feeling any pain, you've still got some meds going through you.”
“You’re healing up already.” Rick speaks in an equally soft voice. “And you’ve got a hell of a story.”
“Okay.” Glenn flops back down. “Tired.”
“Alright.” Maggie takes his hand. “Just rest, okay?”
“Is the… baby resting too?” Glenn asks, a slight slur in his voice.
Maggie smiles. “They sure are. They're safe, and so are you.”
Glenn makes a content noise and closes his eyes. “Good.”
He was asleep again in seconds.
For the first time in many long hours, Maggie felt her heart finally slow back down to a normal rate. For the first time, she truly believed that everything would be okay.
Glenn would heal, and he was going to be a great dad.