As the day wore on, Tamara felt more and more scared. No one had come to check on them and the guards outside the door didn't come into the room even to taunt their captives. The idea that Daryl would so easily give up his life to save her made her feel as if she was drowning in her own fear. Whenever she tried to wrap her mind around the idea of him not being there, terror choked her and she felt sick.

As the door to the bare room was unlocked and swung open, Daryl got to his feet and put his body between Tamara and the four grim faced men that filed into the room, sacks and duct tape in their hands, guns at their hips.

"Time to go." One of the men said with a cruel smile.

Daryl didn't make it easy for them. It took three men to subdue him and put a sack over his head before they could even get close to Tamara. Fighting them every step of the way, Tamara alternated between digging her heels in and relaxing suddenly into dead weight until her captors, tired of dragging her, threatened to shoot her or Daryl if she didn't walk quietly.

Swallowing hard, Tamara did as she was told.

The sound of a large crowd screaming and yelling as they were dragged closer to the destination made Tamara renew her efforts to get free.

And then the Governor's voice rose above the deafening noise, silencing it. "These are two of the terrorists!"

The sack over Tamara's head was ripped off and bright fire-light pierced her eyes before everything came into focus. She was in the middle of a circle of people, all listening to the Governor, all glaring at her and Daryl.

Daryl was dragged forward and the Governor grabbed onto his arm and pulled the sack from his head, "Merle's own brother!" he yelled to the crowd.

Tamara's stomach dropped when she saw Daryl freeze at the sight of his brother, guns trained on his back, opposite him and the Governor. And then she saw a familiar blonde standing in the crowd, Andrea was staring at Daryl and Tamara with wide astonished eyes.

The crowd was starting to become angry again and the Governor knew just how to whip them up into a frenzy. He let go of Daryl and started to circle him, his gaze on the crowd. "What should we do with them, huh?"

Shouts of "Kill them!" erupted around the crowd as even the children and elderly of Woodbury called for their blood.

Tamara struggled to pull away from the men holding her back near the edge of the crowd only to have the Governor move to stand near her, grab her by the hair and drag her to stand in front of him as he revelled in the chaos he had created. Seeing the fear in Daryl's eyes as the yelling of the crowd grew, Tamara tensed ready to pull away from the hold the Governor had on her.

Then, Andrea was there, fighting against the restraining hold of the Governor's men to try and convince the tall leader that Tamara and Daryl were innocent.

"Phillip, they're friends." She told him.

"It's not up to me anymore." The Governor drawled lazily, his attention fully on the growing rage of the crowd. "The people have spoken."

Tamara twisted suddenly in his hold, breaking it. She flew across the small space between her and Daryl and threw her arms around him, holding onto him for dear life.

"Run." Daryl rasped out, his hot, shaky breath curling through her hair.

Shaking her head, close to tears, Tamara pressed herself closer to him. His bindings were cut and his hands came up to grasp her upper arms, torn between pushing her away and pulling her closer.

"Run." He rasped again, hopelessness making his voice crack.

The tears the small brunette had been fighting broke free at that and she cried against his chest. Rough hands grabbed her and she was dragged back, collapsing to the dirt helplessly as they wrapped her wrists in duct tape behind her back. The crowd went deathly silent, the only sound was Tamara's harsh sobs.

"I asked you where your loyalties lie. You said here. Well, prove it. Prove it to us all." The Governor told Merle. "Brother against brother. Winner goes free." The crowd started to call out again. "Fight! To the death!" The Governor succeeded in riling the people up again.

"No!" Tamara's cry was drowned out by the yells of the crowd, pressuring for the fight.

A few lonely voices protested, but then Merle spoke up, "Y'all know me." He yelled. "I'm gonna do whatever I gotta do ta prove," he turned and sucker punched Daryl in the gut making him fall to the ground coughing and gasping for breath. "That my loyalty," Merle continued, punctuating the word with a savage kick to Daryl's stomach. "Lies here."

At the governor's nod, four men marched out of the surrounding buildings with walkers on the end of poles.

Frantically, Tamara struggled to her feet. Seeing the knife hanging on the belt of the man who was holding her still she turned and stepped back into him, slamming her foot into his knee cap. He went down with a scream as the joint popped and she dropped, grabbed the knife from his belt as quickly as she could, and turned it in her hands to slice through the duct tape around her wrists. She knew she had cut herself but her attention was too focussed on Daryl and Merle fighting in the middle of the circle of walkers that she didn't even stop to check.

Ducking out of reach of one of the Governor's men that had seen his companion fall and lunged at Tamara, she ran to the circle of walkers, side-stepped the man holding the pole of the nearest one, and drove her stolen knife into the skull of the walker. It fell, hitting the ground with a thud. Swivelling, the small woman buried the knife in her hand to the hilt in the thigh of the nearest guard.

The air suddenly filled with the sound of gunfire. Screams erupted as smoke bombs caused confusion and more bullets took out the large spotlights over the arena seating.

The people of Woodbury scattered. Tamara gasped as a hand closed around her wrist. She whorled, knife raised, only to see Merle smirking at her.

"Let's go, little girl." He ordered before Daryl appeared, crossbow in hand, and led them through the smoke. The blinking of a flashlight ahead told them that Rick was there and they followed the crowd out into the streets of Woodbury.

"Let's go. Let's go." Rick ordered leading them toward the south wall, Maggie at his side.

Dodging gunfire and returning some of their own they made it to the wall of buses that was their way out.

"They're all at the arena. This way." Merle said leading the group toward a loose piece of corrugated iron in the wall.

"You're not comin' anywhere with us!" Rick growled.

"Ya really wanna do this now?" Merle yelled before moving to kick the piece out enough for the group to squeeze out of.

Once the wall had been breached, Daryl nodded for Tamara to follow Merle out before he, then Maggie, then Rick climbed out as well.

Not stopping for anything, the small rescue party and those they had rescued jogged away from Woodbury and toward the car they had left on the road a few miles away.

They were about half way there when Tamara couldn't run any more.

"Daryl." She gasped out. "I need ta stop." She propped herself up against a tree, a protective hand over her stomach, bent over to try and catch her breath.

He was by her side in a moment. "Ya good? We gotta keep goin' 'Mara, ain't got time ta stop."

She looked up at him with tear filled eyes before she stepped into him and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don't ya do that again. Don't ya sacrifice yourself for me. I couldn't bear it if ya did." She mumbled against his chest before stepping back and turning to continue toward the car.

Merle suddenly grabbed her forearm and lifted her wrist, "What in the hell?" he growled out. "The Governor do this to ya?" he asked her gruffly.

She shook her head wordlessly and tried to pull away before Rick or Maggie saw either of the long shallow slices on the side of each of her wrists. But they noticed them.

"Why didn't you say you were hurt?" Rick asked throwing his backpack off and proceeding to search through it for the first aid kit they had brought along.

"I did it getting free ta help Daryl and Merle. They're nothing but long paper cuts." She tried to calm them down.

"Don't look like any paper cuts I've ever seen." Maggie raised a brow. "Don't bleed like a paper cut either, Tamara."

Biting back a retort about making sure they put as much distance as possible between them and the governor, Tamara stood quietly as Daryl took the medical kit from Rick and proceeded to quickly and efficiently clean the cuts and cover them with a small square of gauze and tape so that they stayed clean.

Packing everything up quickly, the group continued at a slow jog through the woods, skirting the area where they had been ambushed by walkers and the cabin they had hidden in, before finding the small track that led to the road where the car was parked and where Rick had told them Michonne had taken a badly injured Glenn.

As they caught sight of the road, Rick called out for Glenn. When he and Michonne rounded the car and walked a few yards into the woods to meet the group, Rick spoke up quickly, "Now we got a problem here I need ya to back up." He said a calmly as possible putting himself between Michonne and Merle just as Daryl stepped between Glenn and Merle.

Upon seeing the older Dixon, Glenn had cocked his handgun and aimed it at him and Michonne had drawn her sword and pointed it at him. Both were angry and wanted to kill him for what he had done to them.

Tamara stepped away from the group fighting a dizzy spell she had been waiting for since she woke up from the blow to her head.

"Don't be an ass, Merle." She gasped out as her brother-in-law started to purposefully rub everyone the wrong way and lewdly suggest that Michonne and Andrea were together.

"C'mon, Sugar. Ya know it's true." He grinned.

Knowing what he was like when he was defensive, Tamara rolled her eyes and sat with her back to a tree trunk, head hanging between her bent knees. She jumped when Daryl yelled at his brother.

"Merle, shut up!"

Merle turned on him, "Shut up yourself! Bunch of pussies, roll-."

He was cut off by Rick slamming the butt of his pistol into the back of his head, knocking him out.

Tamara groaned and turned, losing what little was in her stomach on the pine needles and dirt beside the tree. She recognised Maggie's hands holding back her hair as she straightened, hand to her forehead and eyes closed trying to control the nausea.

"'Mara," Daryl murmured lowly.

She turned to him and gratefully accepted the bottle half-filled with water he offered her. Taking a few sips she breathed in deeply and glanced over at Merle's unconscious form while Daryl kicked dirt over the bile she had brought up.

"What are we gonna do about your hothead brother?" she asked her husband.

Rick nodded for them to follow him, Maggie and Glenn to the middle of the road out of earshot of Merle if he woke up while they were talking, and Michonne who retreated to leaning against the car.

"So what are we gonna to do?" Maggie asked.

Daryl shifted his weight from foot to foot before settling with his body angled toward Tamara, "He comes back to the prison with us."

Rick studied the ground beneath their feet before shaking his head and looking at Daryl, "It won't work."

"It's gotta," Daryl was adamant.

Tamara could see that Rick was trying to be patient, "It'll stir things up."

Daryl wrapped his hand around the strap of his crossbow that sat across his chest and shook his head, "Look, the Governor's probably on his way ta the prison right now. Merle knows how he thinks, and we could use the muscle."

"I'm not havin' him at the prison," Maggie shook her head only to have Glenn talk over her.

"He had a gun to our heads. Do you really want him sleeping in the same cell block as Carol or Beth?" the younger man asked visibly trying to keep his temper.

Tamara looked up at him, "Merle ain't a rapist." She wrapped her arms around her body feeling suddenly cold in the shadows cast over the road from the large trees on either side of it.

Glenn looked at her, "His buddy is."

Seeing the horrified look Maggie sent her boyfriend, Tamara wondered if he really knew what the Governor had done to her.

Daryl shook his head looking to Rick, "They ain't buddies no more. Not after last night."

Rick sighed, "There's no way Merle's gonna live there without putting everyone at each other's throats."

Daryl glared stepping away from Tamara a little, "So yer gonna cut Merle loose and bring the Last Samurai home with us?" he threw an arm up in Michonne's direction putting more distance between himself and the group.

"She's not coming back," Rick shook his head, arms akimbo.

"She's not in a state to be on her own." Maggie said.

Glenn agreed, "And she did bring you guys to us."

And if Merle wasn't in a state to be on his own, would he be allowed ta come back with us then?" Tamara glared looking over the other three, Daryl standing almost behind her. "And did you forget who helped us out of the town and to you guys now?" seeing they were all set on sending her brother-in-law away, the small brunette shook her head and, turning on her heel angrily, she made her way back to where Merle was starting to stir.

He sat up slowly and she helped him to his feet. Once he was up he leant on her groaning a little and shaking the dizziness from his head. When he seemed to be steady on his feet, Tamara stepped back and smiled softly at him.

"Hey, Sugar," he said with a small grin.

Tears blurred her eyes at his smile and she pulled him into a hug, "Hey, Merle." She murmured when he hugged her back.

She turned hearing Glenn call Daryl's name. Tensing when she saw that Daryl was striding back toward the car, Rick following him talking seriously to him, she glanced over at Maggie and Glenn and saw the shock on their faces. Her stomach dropped and she made her way over to where Daryl was talking with Rick at the trunk of the car.

"No him, no me," Daryl said, "That's all I can say."

Rick moved restlessly before his gaze lifted and fell on Tamara who was standing frozen a few feet away watching Daryl grab a backpack from the trunk of the car.

Glancing up at him, Daryl followed his eye-line and stilled when he saw his wife standing pale and still.

"No," Tamara shook her head not believing what she heard.

The hunter slowly lowered his pack and stepped toward her, "'Mara…"

She shook her head, her dark wavy hair fanning out around her shoulders, "No! Yah don't get ta do that, Daryl. Yah don't get ta up and leave, not now."

Daryl moved carefully closer to her, "Merle can't come back to the prison, 'Mara," he tried to reason with her.

"So what?" she scoffed, "Ya just up and leave?"

"'Mara," he reached out for her but in her anger and pain she lashed out, pushing him back a step, both hands flat on his chest.

And then she did it again.

And again, until Daryl's arms banded around her and he pulled her hard against his chest. She burst into tears, burying her face against his neck.

Once she had cried for a while she got a hold of her emotions and stepped back. Turning away she left him standing there and moved to the car, pulling the back passenger door open and slipping inside the car, slamming the door shut behind her. She sat hunched over, her eyes closed and her face buried against her knees which she pulled up to her chest. Shaking uncontrollably she didn't even realise Daryl had opened the car door until she felt his large hand tuck her hair behind her ear. Turning her head to lay her cheek on her knees she looked at him hunkered down beside the car, watching her silently.

"I'm coming with you," she said her voice weak with tears.

"Nah, ya ain't," she growled. At the fresh bout of tears welling up in her large green eyes he looked down at the cement under his feet and rubbed at the back of his neck, "I'll come back, darlin'," he murmured quietly.

Tamara was shaking her head before he even had a chance to finish the sentence, "We don't get ta plan that far ahead, remember?" she grit out bitterly.

His head came up and he glared, sudden anger masking the panic he felt at leaving her alone to head off with Merle, especially now that she was pregnant. "We get ta plan that coz I ain't gonna leave yah there alone, yah hear?" Tamara was still looking past him so he caught her chin and turned her vibrant eyes to his piercing blue gaze, "Yah hear?" he asked, his voice deeper and more intense than she had heard in a while.

That's when she realised he was scared just like she was. Not trusting herself to speak, she forced herself to nod even as hurt tightened in her stomach.

Daryl seemed to relax minutely and rubbed his calloused thumb over her lips, "I'm comin' back," he said in his soft gravelly voice, completely sure.

Emotionlessly Tamara turned her face away from him once more and refused to look at him again. Daryl grit his teeth and stood up, moving back to getting ready to leave.

As soon as he and Merle had disappeared into the trees, Tamara forced open the car door and scrambled out of the car, her chest heaving as she fought back a scream. She collapsed into Maggie's arms as the younger woman pulled her into a hug, her eyes turned to Glenn and Rick as the smaller woman silently fell apart, her eyes staring sightlessly at the trees around them.

They managed to get Tamara back into the car and started on their way back to the prison.

Tamara slowly calmed down the further away they got from the Governor and the stretch of road where Daryl had left her.

When Rick stopped the car because a tree branch had fallen and been hit by a now abandoned red truck, Tamara sat pressed against the passenger door, her glassy stare on the trees outside. Maggie, Glenn and Rick got out of the car to try and move the truck and the large tree branch.

Tamara watched as Glenn snapped and stomped the head of the walker that was in the truck into mush. "We're breaking apart," she whispered to herself missing the look Michonne shot her.

Seeing the hand she held to her stomach, the dark skinned woman spoke, "You're pregnant."

Tamara turned and smiled coldly, "I've lost a baby, a niece, a sister and a brother-in-law," she turned back to staring out the window again, "You'd think I'd be used to losing the people I love."