So first off, I'd like to give myself a pat on the back for being able to stretch this fic out until the season premiere that aired tonight and not have to do a hiatus, so yeah, feeling pretty good about myself about that :)

This is mainly a filler chapter - I'll get started on the first episode and everything that goes on for these guys during the first episode through their perspectives, next week. You also get to see a little bit of a vulnerability with Ethan in this chapter that you guys don't get to see very much, so enjoy that too and I'll see you guys sometime next week :)

wickedclownsmile: I know I am too and I have to say, I'm a little anxious at what AMC is going to throw me this half of the season because I do have quite a curve-ball I'm going to attempt to throw you guys while also juggling whatever it is that AMC throws me, so I'm going to see how that goes. Very, very excited about the rest of this season :)

HaloHunter89: Yeah, that curve-ball I mentioned up there ^^ and then mentioned in the last chapter or the chapter before last, I don't forgot which, is going to come much later, so you can calm down for now. LOL, I'll let you know before I decide to smack you with it ;)

She awoke that morning to Daryl's hand flattened out across her stomach and for a moment, her heart gave a lurch in her chest. All while she had been pregnant with the twins, she would wake up every morning with her man's hand across her stomach and more often than not, one of the twins tiny little feet or hands moving against it. She had grown so used to it, in fact, that every time she awoke without it on there, she ended up feeling weird all day – like she hadn't slept well at all.

She felt his chest gently moving against her back alongside his deep, even breaths while he continued to sleep, and for a moment, she lay there, her back spooned against his front, marveling at how in the Hell they had managed to come this far – how they had managed to build the life they had always wanted together, but in this new, increasingly dangerous world. And she knew that they wouldn't have nearly lasted as long as they did in this world without her loving, irritated, sarcastic, standoffish, surprisingly funny and yet completely amazing father, of a husband.

He was still wearing her necklace too, she noticed, and she smiled at that. The intricate wood shone out against his tanned skin and once again, she had no idea how they would survive everything stacked up against them, but knew that they would find a way.

Daryl always found a way for them to survive. Always.

She snuggled deeper into him and he shifted to allow her better movement, which only ended up pulling her tighter against him. A movement that would have made many women feel stifled by their man, only made Tessa feel better – safer, more protected.

"Momma, you up?"

Tessa looked up and nodded when her eyes connected with her son's tired ones a few feet away from where he was sitting against one of the fallen logs grouped around their now dead fire. She gave a small smile and a nod before gently and carefully moving out of Daryl's arms, where she sat up. She stretched the sleep from her limbs and worked the crick out of one of her shoulders for a moment before finally getting to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm up. I gotta go pee, though, so I'll be back in a minute, okay?" She told him and Ethan silently nodded as she moved off into the woods, where she chose a respectable but safe distance away from the camp to do her business. She squatted there and forlornly observed the state of her nails while she did her business. Before this started, she would find herself in the salon every two or three weeks getting new nails - French manicured, intricate little designs on acrylics - anything and everything that struck her fancy. Now, though, her nails were bitten and cracked and held dirt and dried blood underneath them . . . they made her depressed whenever she gazed at them for too long.

She was drawn from her thoughts and immediately jerked up when she heard shuffling in the brush behind the tree she was kneeling in front of. Her body tensed but she relaxed when she heard a chuckle come from behind her.

"Good Lord, its jus' me, babydoll!" Daryl told her and she let out a laugh and shook her head.

"God, you almost scared the . . . Hell out of me, Daryl! But you can never be too careful out here on your own, you know? And . . . do me a favor and go do your business over there."

Daryl gave her back a weird look. "Like I . . . haven' seen ya pee before?"

Tessa let out another laugh. "Yeah, I know. But with privacy being something of a luxury these days, you kinda take it in whatever small bursts you can." She told him and he gave a snort at her words but complied with her request nonetheless. She stood seconds later when she was done, pulled up her jeans and zipped and buttoned them before glancing in Daryl's direction. Eventually, she moved to join him and leaned on the tree next to the one he was currently marking his so-called territory on. He glanced at her too, a look of slight irritation splitting across his features.

"Hey, do ya mind! I'm peein' here and I kinda need ma privacy, woman!" He told her, his voice lined with good-natured teasing, and she grinned and rolled her eyes, an action he couldn't help but mirror.

"Is everyone up?" She asked him and he gave a shrug.

"The twins were wakin' up when I was; Ethan's been up and the girls are up as well and their now feedin' the twins – I guess to keep themselves busy while we figure out something to do . . . and to keep their minds offa things . . ." He bitterly shook his head then. "We should never have left the prison without more supplies. We ain' got no food – water . . ." He shook his head. "Guess we can pray the game don' get scarce, huh?"

Tessa gave him a soft look as he finished up and righted himself before turning fully to face her. "We didn't know the prison would get attacked. We didn't know we'd get separated from the others. We didn't know we wouldn't be on that bus – that we'd be alone out here." She gave a little laugh and placed a gentle hand on his arm. "We didn't know a lot, Daryl. I just . . . I just hope that everyone is okay . . ."

"Everyone is fine, Tess, I'm sure of it! Rick, Carl, Michonne . . . Maggie, Sam and Glenn – even Sasha and Tyrese - everyone got out safely!" He told her, his voice firmer than he had honestly expected it to come out, and she turned a soft, mournful look onto him.

"Hershel didn't make it." She reminded him before shaking her head. "And Beth hasn't spoken a word since we left. I don't know what to do with her, Daryl. We're both mourning Hershel in completely different ways – I don't know how to be there for her!" She looked away. "Or even if I should. Maybe she just wants to be left alone – maybe she just . . ." She trailed off and shook her head before returning her eyes onto him. "You remember how she was after the Barnyard Massacre. She tried to kill herself, Daryl! What if . . . what if she tries to do that again? What would we do - how would we handle that?"

Daryl confidently shook his head. "No, she won'. Beth's gotten stronger, Tess – she survived Zach, she survived everyone else dyin'." He shook his head again. "She'll get through this, Tess."

"Hershel was her father, Daryl. Zach was a guy that she was dating while all the while keeping in mind that he could die any day. She had distanced herself from him so that when he finally did die, he was at least somewhat prepared. Hershel was confined to the prison - he didn't do any runs, he hardly went outside the fence - for all intents and purposes, he was untouchable. His death came from out of left field for her - Hell, it came out of left field for all of us! It shocked all of us, but most of all, her and Maggie."

"Then keep an eye on her. It can' hurt." He told her, in way of a compromise, and Tessa thought for a moment before finally nodding.

"Yeah, I-I suppose that I can do that . . ."

Daryl gave her a small smile as he stepped closer and after placing his hand on her stomach, pressed a loving kiss to the corner of her mouth. "We'll get through this, Momma Bear, I promise." He assured her and she gave him a smile and a nod. Her hand moved down to cover his, keeping it there and when she turned her eyes up to his, she wasn't shocked to find the level of fierce determination that was gazing back at her. Daryl would do anything for his family, something she had never doubted.

"Ya know . . . havin' a big family might be more fun than we give it credit . . ." He eventually spoke, his voice playfully hopeful, and Tessa let out a bark of a laugh.

"In case you haven't noticed, we do have a big family, Daryl! There's Ethan, the twins, Wren and this one - Beth now too!" She shook her head. "That makes six kids we're looking after," She told him before giving a laugh. "So yeah, I'm pretty sure we've always been destined for a big family, all of them being ours or no."

He chuckled then as he leaned down, where he nuzzled her, Tessa closing her eyes as she tilted her face up to his. She reveled in small moments like this - cherished the little things that God gave her in this hellhole. "So we have Cat Liz and what else? Thought of any boy names yet?" He asked and she gave a laugh.

"Are you kidding me? Of course I haven't – I've been too focused on surviving lately!" She grinned in way of reply, and he gave a half-shrug as she took his hand, their fingers entwining, before she led them back in the direction of camp. He gave a little shrug and looked off into the forest, perpetually on the alert for any walkers shambling through the brush. The forest was empty though – empty and completely peaceful.

"I've always liked Luke."

Tessa glanced back at him at his quiet words and nodded in agreement. "I do too . . . been one of my favorite names since I was a little girl, in fact." She told him and he silently nodded.

"Have to think of a middle name but if it suits ya, then I'm partial to Luke."

A comfortable silence engulfed them then at his words and they continued onwards in that same silence then, Tessa's mind constantly rolling the name 'Luke' over and over again on her mental tongue, as if allowing herself to get used to it. When the name wasn't as foreign on her tongue as it had been, she swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat and glanced back at him.

"Once its born, we're not having another one . . . you know that right?" She told him and he glanced at her before nodding, his face that normal expressionless mask.

"I know. Our dream of a big family in tha' equally as big farmhouse when we were stupid young teenagers, we can' have in this world. Although . . ." He trailed off and gave a shrug. "Four is a pretty good number . . . I can be happy with it as long as ya can." Tessa nodded in agreement.

"We settled on four a long time ago, remember?" She replied, her voice quiet, and he nodded again in remembrance. His voice came a little firmer this time, and he wasted no time in turning his eyes onto her.

"After this one, we stop, Tess. We stop at four – like we always wanted! And then we jus' . . . we wait until Ethan and Wren give us grandbabies."

She nodded and shot him a loving smile over her shoulder. "That's beyond good enough for me!"

The silence they returned to at the camp, was so awkward, that Daryl could have sworn he could have cut it with a buzz saw. Beth was being the silent, morose girl that she had turned into ever since the prison attack. Her eyes barely blinked as she sat and stared out at some indefinable space through the now smoldering embers of the fire, her knees tucked up underneath her chin and her arms wrapped around them. Wren was sitting with the twins as they played with the blocks Tessa had possessed the foresight into packing before they left, and Ethan sat on a log a feet away, staring into the smoldering embers as well.

They knew why Beth was morose. But only Daryl knew what was bothering Wren and Ethan and the thought made him purse his lips.

"Hey, can I talk to ya for a minute?" Daryl asked his son, his voice slightly gruff, and Ethan glanced up at him before nodding. He got to his feet and Tessa eyed them slightly as she moved to sit down on the other side of the twins. Daryl led them off a little ways before he turned to him. "What's goin' on?" Ethan gave a languid shrug, his eyes trained on the ground and Daryl's jaw hardened. "Ethan, look at me . . ."

Ethan ignored him and continued to train his eyes on the ground, and Daryl's teeth gritted in anger then. "Ethan, ya look at me when I'm talkin' to ya, boy!"

The words, when they fell from his mouth, were completely Will Dixon, and they immediately caused Ethan's eyes to shoot up onto him, as well as Tessa's in alarm from across the way. He shot her an apologetic look before turning one of the same down onto Ethan. "Look, I'm sorry if I snapped at ya, but ya gotta tell me what's goin' on. I ain' gonna stand for this awkwardness between ya two – we already have it comin' from Beth!" He told him, referring to whatever was going on between his son and his girlfriend, and Ethan didn't deign to answer for a moment. He gazed away into the woods, not meeting his father's gaze (which alone was strange) and when he finally did, his voice was quiet.

"I'm still reeling from Hershel dying, that's all."

"Bullshit -!"

"It's not!" Ethan immediately replied to him, his voice hardening as he finally met his father's gaze. He shook his head. "Without Hershel and Carol, momma might die deddy. But other than that, yeah, your right . . . that's not the full reason . . ."

"Then what is tha full reason?" Daryl asked, feeling himself get exasperated playing Twenty Questions with his son, and Ethan gave a shrug.

"Every time I look at her, I think she's with me because I look like you."

Daryl gazed at his son for a minute before letting out a laugh. "Ya kiddin' me, right?" He asked him with a grin before shaking his head. "Please tell me ya jerkin' ma chain!"

When Ethan glanced up at him, though, that grin immediately disappeared from Daryl's face. "Holy shit, ya not, are ya?"

Ethan shook his head. "Guess what Beth said got to me." He told him and Daryl's eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion as he took a step closer to him.

"Wait – what Beth told ya?" He asked and Ethan nodded.

"Yeah . . . she told me that Wren was only with me because I looked and I acted like you. I didn't believe her at first but when I got to thinking about it last night . . . it made a little sense."

Daryl gave a bark of a laugh. "A little – Ethan, tha' makes no sense! I wouldn' give Wren the light of day and she knows tha'! Hell, I don' give any woman tha light of day aside from ya momma! What ya thinkin' – its idiocy!"

Ethan nodded but stayed silent and Daryl heaved a sigh as he stepped closer to him. "Look, Ethan, ya should know better, than to even entertain tha thought tha' I would ever go anyone other than ya momma, for what I want – especially not a fifteen-year-old girl! Good Lord, Ethan, I ain' a Goddamn pedophile and ya know it!" Daryl told him and when he immediately saw the look of guilt that flashed across his son's eyes, he shook his head. "Ya know, Wren told me 'bout tha' conversation she had with Beth – how it shook her up." He gave a shrug. "Maybe ya need to talk to ya girlfriend instead of tryin' to jump tha gun with ya old man, okay? Tha's what people do in a relationship – they talk things out. Hell, me and ya momma been talkin' things out for quite a while now and we're goin' be talkin' till ya little brother or sister is born."

Ethan's face went strangely expressionless then at his words, and he turned his head to gaze at Tessa for a moment over his shoulder. When he finally turned his eyes back onto Daryl, he saw a particular vulnerability and fear there for a moment, that it momentarily took Daryl aback. "She's gonna make it, deddy, ain't she? She's . . . she's not going to die, is she?" He asked, his voice small and quivery and it took Daryl a moment to realize that his eyes were glistening with unshed tears – tears he was fighting desperately to keep back.

And for a moment, Daryl didn't know how to react. Ethan acted so much like him – and he was like his father in the same respect that you weren't aware of whatever he was feeling until he made you aware of what he was feeling – that seeing those unshed tears in his eyes was almost daunting. For a while there, he had forgotten that up until a few years ago when they ran into Daryl and the others at the quarry, Tessa was the only real person that Ethan had in his life. For so long, he had relied so heavily on his mother – for so long had she been one of his only friends - that when the time came for the possibility of her death to loom uncomfortably close, he felt like a child facing the possibility of losing his mother.

He shook his head. "I don't . . . how do you wake up every day knowing that we don't have Carol or Hershel anymore, and then look at her stomach and act like everything is normal – that you're not as terrified as she is inside?"

"Everythin' is normal, Ethan." Daryl told him, his voice quiet as he gave a little shrug. "And everythin' is goin' to remain normal. And it's easy to be strong when ya don' have tha option not to." He stepped closer then, his gaze firm as he held his son's. "And ya momma is goin' to survive this. I can promise ya she will."

Ethan shook his head. "How can you? You can't do anything about this – you don't know anything about delivering a baby or what to do if anything goes wrong. How can you remain so confident in the wake of something that you know nothing about?" Ethan shook his head and gave a weak shrug. "How can I be like you right now, deddy?"

Daryl's heart gave a pang at the realization of just how much Ethan looked towards him for guidance – on how to be a man and a strong person in this world – and he thought for a minute before crossing his arms in front of his chest and answering: "I have faith. And it's not tha' religious kind of faith, either – its faith in her – in tha people I surround myself with." He shook his head and chewed on the corner of his thumbnail for a minute before nodding to Tessa. "I have to have faith tha' she'll make it, Ethan. I keep livin' for tomorrow 'cause she makes me live and jus' tha thought that she might not one day and make me keep goin' on without her, almost makes me want to break down. But I can' think 'bout tha' and I know I can', so I keep goin' on. I guess what I'm tryin' to tell ya, is tha' ya jus' gotta keep movin'. Ya learn to roll with tha punches – ya learn to make tha best of what life gives ya – ya learn to trust those who surround ya . . . and ya try to have a little faith."

Ethan smiled a small smile. "Oh ye of little faith, right?" He asked and Daryl gave a small shrug, although the corners of his mouth did twitch upwards into a little smile.

"Don't worry . . . ya'll find ya strength. Ya a Dixon - its what we do."