It was over; for now at least. Rick and everyone in Alexandria came out from their hiding places to fight the horde.
Carl was unconscious and bleeding out from a hole in his face where his eye used to be but Denise was calm and collected, she knew exactly what she needed to do.
Once she was finished cleaning his wound and stitching him up; only then did she notice how quiet the place was becoming.
She heard the endless hacking of blades against flesh somewhere off in the distance. Then the brightness of a fire being lit from an explosion.
She sighed a great breath of relief. Alexandria was not lost; she was not dead and she had managed to save Carl's life. She thought of how closely she came to dying today; how lucky she was to have made it through alive.
She went to the Windows ad peeked through the crack in the curtains; still afraid of what she would see. She was shocked that there were hundreds of the walkers lying dead on the street.
She saw Rick with the rest of the people of Alexandria hacking away at the undead, picking them off until there was no one left.
A couple of hours later; the group was finished and there was not a walker left in Alexandria. They all stood exhausted and tired o the porch of the infirmary.
Denise sought out Tara, she needed to see her, to touch her, to believe that she was okay.
Tara looked mad with all the blood spattered on her clothes and on her face. She walked over to her, breaking her distant state as she met her eyes.
"Are you okay?" Denise asked her, prying the knife from her hand and setting down on the porch railing. She took her hands and pulled them around her in a hug.
Tara relaxed into the embrace and sighed, Denise could hear the emotion and fear in that breath. She could hear her heart beat slowing down. "I am now". She said, wrapping her arms around her too.
"Let's go get cleaned up" Denise told her, pulling her with her as she headed toward one of the houses that had not been destroyed or broken in to by the fire or the walkers.
Tara followed her with an absence in her eyes, stepping over corpses as they went. She stared all around her, still in shock that they were still alive; that they had killed all of them.
Denise pulled her upstairs to the master bathroom. She had used this house before, it had a large shower with a rainfall shower head. She turned on the water and waited for it to warm. She was halfway surprised that the pipes even worked.
She helped Tara take off her clothes, the girl was still in shock, still staring off like a mad woman. Denise unzipped her jacket, pushing it down her arms and then tugging her t shirt off as well.
"We did it" Tara said softly, "we're okay?" The girl asked, looking at Denise with such fear that it stopped her heart. The girl held her face and kissed her sweetly on her lips.
"We're okay" she said between their lips, pulling away to look at her again, so she could know it was the truth.
Tara stared back, the madness seeming to break away now. She began to kick off her shoes. Denise helped her unbuckle her belt, and get off her jeans. She held her breath when she saw that Tara was almost completely naked in front of her.
Tara looked at her; waiting. She was nervous, but she told herself that after everything was over that she was not going to take anything for granted. She was going to take what she wanted; she wasn't afraid anymore.
Tara watched her as Denise pulled off her own tshirt, she watched her with gentle eyes as she pulled off her shoes.
The steam from the shower billowed out of the top, the drops falling expectantly for the two of them. "I thought I lost you, Denise" Tara said, her eyes welling with tears. "Before I even got to see you like this, before I even got the chance to tell you..." Tara couldn't finish, tears sprang from her eyes and her head fell.
Denise took her head in her hands and kissed her. Tara didn't have to say it, she already knew. She knew that it was not just a miracle that they had found each other in this horrible world but that they both came so close to losing each other so soon after they had found this.
Tara reached behind Denise's back and unhooked her bra. She pulled the straps slowly down her shoulders as their mouths continued to taste each other.
Tara could barely catch her breath, her heart was racing and her mind whirling, trying to forget the horrors she had seen tonight. Trying to stay present. She hooked her fingers in the waistband of Denise's underwear, slowly pulling them down Her legs. She could see how the doctor shivered, even in the steaming bathroom.
They both got into the shower, they held each other, kissing and pressing their wet naked bodies as close together as possible under the shower head. Their hands roaming and caressing every curve of each other's bodies.
Denise grabbed the bottle of shampoo and squeezed a generous amount into her hand. She ran her fingers through Tara's heavy wet hair, washing the blood and dirt and sweat from her scalp. When she finished Tara did the same for her.
Denise made her hands soapy again before she rubbed the sudsing gel over Tara's bruised body. "You're so beautiful" Denise told her, her hands trembling as her hands rubbed the soap into her things and brushed over the curls of her center.
Tara kissed her again, this time with so much passion it stole the breath from her lungs. She was pressed against the cool tile wall, and she groaned when she felt hands squeezing her breasts and lips on her neck. She was about to burst, about to completely fall apart in Tara's arms.
When Tara's hand finally touches her between her legs she hears herself sobbing and when she feels fingers sliding into her she could feel her legs giving out beneath her.
Her hips convulse and she moans breathlessly, unable to capture the air around her. Tara pulls her hand away, and kisses her sweetly, slowly. She needed Denise to know that she had her. That she was there for her just as much as she is to her.
They slid down the shower wall together, holding each other closely; sitting under the hot water as it cleansed their bodies of the horrible night they had just had.
Afterwards, when they were in the master bedroom, wrapped in their towels they say next to each other on the bed.
"I am so thankful for you" Denise said, her hands unable to keep from touching her. "I don't know if I would have had the strength to do all of this tonight if it weren't for you" she confessed.
Tara smiled and felt tears stinging her eyes again. "I was certain I'd never meet someone I could love again" Tara hung her head again, thinking of the woman she lost when she was living under the governor, how she had failed her completely.
"If anything ever happens to you..." Tara began but Denise wouldn't let her finish the sentence. She pulls her in for another kiss. Her towel fell from her breasts as did Tara's and they laid back onto the bed together, their nipples brushing over each other's and they thighs settling between their legs.
"I love you" Tara whispered as she kissed her neck. Denise pulled her away to make her look in her eyes. She searched them, for any sign that it wasn't the truth but she found no lies there.
"I love you too" Denise relented, pulling her mouth to hers again in a kiss so filled with passion that she found it hard to breathe again. "Tara, please" the girl heard herself beg. "I want to touch you but... I don't know how to" Denise confessed, her hands shaking as she slid her palm over Tara's stomach.
Tara smiled at her lovingly and gently guided her hand between her legs. She pressed her fingers into her flesh, and Denise gasped, her fingers becoming more sure of themselves.
She kissed Tara again, this time pushing her tongue into her mouth, tasting her and feeling how it lit her belly on fire for her. She bravely reached lower and felt for her entrance.
Tara's hips convulsed before Denise's fingers had slid all the way inside of her. "Oh god" Denise groaned against her mouth, feeling how Tara's muscles contracted around her fingers.
They laid in bed for awhile under the covers together, satiated and feeling warmth in their veins again. They basked in the glow for as long as it lasted.
Denise got up and began putting her clothes back on. She looked out the window across the street to where her patients were. She knew she needed to get back to them now.
As good as this felt and as much as she wanted to exist in this moment with Tara forever; she knew she couldn't. She has patients who need her.
"Do you want me to come with you?" Tara asked her, resting her head on her hand as she laid in the bed, watching Denise pull her jeans back on.
"No, you stay and get some rest. I'll see you at breakfast" Denise said as she buttoned her jeans. She pulled on her tshirt and headed for the door.
Tara reached out and grabbed her before she could. She kissed her one more time, pouring all of the love she felt for this amazing woman into it.
"I'll see you at breakfast" Tara smiled at her. Denise smiled back. It felt good to have a reason to smile, to feel this happy after she had spent so long feeling nothing but inadequacy and pain.
When she left the house, Michonne watched her from the porch of the infirmary as Denise walked back over. Even the stone faced woman could not help a small smile that crept at the corner of her lips.
"What?" Denise asked her, perplexed by the tall black woman's expression.
"I'm happy for you" she said, walking back into the infirmary with her. Denise didn't reply but she smiled to herself. She took a deep breath and tried to focus.
She was surprised how much easier facing the ugliness of their reality was when she knew that she had someone to love and that loved her.
She went back inside the infirmary, ready to face whatever she had to in there; knowing now that she didn't have to be afraid of anything.