Yay, I'm back! Aren't you guys glad to see me? My surgery went fine and while I'm still recovering, I'm on the last leg of recovery and I'm feeling almost as good as a spring chicken (almost). Its good to be back too - especially with this fic, although I must confess, that this serves as nothing more but a shameless filler chapter. You heard me right - a filler chapter. It takes place during the Grove episode that's dedicated fully to Carol, Tyrese and their problems, so I wrote this one a little AU to see what's been going on with Tess and Daryl and then Sam and Maggie. So yes, there is a little bit of Protective Daryl in the beginning (Yay! Everyone loves Protective Daryl!) and then shameless Mam . . . Saggie? Dammit, there isn't any good way to combine their names, is there? Oh well, beats 'Gaggie' and 'Mlenn' ;)
Its also a short filler chapter, and for that, I apologize.
HaloHunter89: I am so sorry for the anxiety filled chapter, darlin' but it had to happen. I couldn't have done it any other way ;)
"I don't like this Daryl - I don't fucking like this at all!"
"What did ya expect me to do, Tess, when all those bows and guns were pointed in our faces? Huh? If I hadn' done somethin', then we'd be fuckin' dead right now! Every single fuckin' one of us!" Daryl snapped back, anger lacing his tone, as well as Tessa's, and her jaw hardened. They stood opposite each other, having the first real fight they had, had in a long damn time, while Ethan sat a little ways off with the twins. The others from the strange new group they had found themselves so unceremoniously inducted into, were too busy getting their camp set up, that they hardly noticed the quarreling couple.
At least, they didn't think so.
Tessa crossed her arms in front of her chest as Ethan shook his head. "I don't like this either, deddy." He told him, and Daryl glanced at him, but didn't say anything as his eyes returned to Tessa. She glanced at a few of the others helping to set up camp – her eyes lingering on those whose eyes she felt linger on her the most, and shook her head.
"I don't like this Daryl -"
"Tess, ya know I will protect ya -"
"The way they look at me -" She began trembling then, her voice taking on a small edge that immediately made Daryl's anger disappear in favor of concern. She had taken that voice a long, long time ago, back before they first found the farm and Merle's rape had really started to plague her again. He feared she was about to fall down that slippery slope again, and was desperate to grab ahold of her before she did.
"Tessa, look at me -!"
"All I see is what they want to do to me -!"
"Tessa -!"
"Every. Single. One. Of them -"
"Tessa Dixon!"
His sharp words finally got through to her and her gaze snapped onto his, her eyes wide and frightened. He shook his head as he crossed the short distance between them, their anger at each other and their fight, all but forgotten. He framed her face with his hands, holding her close as his eyes held hers. "Tess, I love ya, ya know tha'! I tell ya every Goddamned day tha' I love ya! I would lay down my life for ya if tha situation called for it! I would take a bullet for ya, I would jump into the path of a grenade for ya!" He told her and she swallowed heavily before nodding. He could see her calm down the longer she gazed into his eyes – those beautiful blue eyes of his.
"I know . . ."
"Then ya gotta know, tha' tha first scumbag who touches ya or tries to touch ya or even looks at ya and thinks about touchin' ya, is gonna lose his hand or his eye or whatever tha fuck I decide he loses, right? Fuck – I'll even take his life if I'm angry enough!" She nodded again, a look of intense relief appearing in her eyes at his impassioned words, and he shook his head. "I failed to protect ya once, Tess – I ain' doin' it again. I'll be damned if I let it happen to ya again."
"But what if you can't stop it from happening, though?" She asked, her voice tremulous and barely above a whisper, and he gazed at her for a moment, his eyes cold. When he spoke, his voice was equally as cold. She felt his grip on her face tightened and he pulled her closer to him, his forehead meeting hers.
"Ya look me in tha eyes, Tess, and ya tell me tha they won' have to kill me first, before they'll be able to land a hand on ya." One of his hands left her then, and drifted downwards. She closed her eyes and her body wracked with dry sobs that wouldn't come, as his hand moved underneath her shirt to cover the slight paunch of her stomach. "Ya or Luke . . ."
"Daryl, I'm so scared . . .!" She hissed, her voice thick with emotion and unshed tears as her hands came up to grip the leather sleeves of his jacket, and he nodded as he moved to press his lips to the corner of her mouth.
"Ya can admit tha' to me all ya want to, babydoll, 'cause I know! I know how scared ya are and I ain' gonna let anythin' happen to ya! Ain' nothin' gonna happen to ya or Luke or tha' twins or Ethan . . . I'll make damn sure of it!"
"Everything okay over here?"
Tessa turned her head to hide the tears burning in her eyes, as Joe slowly approached them, hands on his hips. Daryl's grip on her tightened as he swallowed heavily and nodded. "Yeah . . . yeah, everythin' fine. We're fine. Jus' . . . day's been hard, ya know? All we wanna do is jus' go to sleep and hope tomorrow's better."
"That's all we can do, really . . ." Joe answered him as his eyes ran over them, first over Ethan with the twins, and then onto Tessa and Daryl. He noticed the way Tessa refused to look at him and how close Daryl kept her to him. His eyes lingered on Daryl's hand over her stomach – protective in its intent and its voice, and one of his eyebrows rose. "It's a little bit early to be havin' another baby, ain' it? How old ya twins, there? Eight, nine, ten months?"
"Nine. They're nine-months old." Tessa finally spoke, her voice thick with emotion. She turned her head slightly to gaze at him out of the corner of her eye but did by no means show her face to him. "And this one . . . it snuck up on us."
"Don't they all, though?"
Daryl felt Tessa tremble in his grip and pulled her into a comforting, protective embrace. His hand never once left her stomach though, and for that she was thankful. His hand there was the single-most comforting thing he could possibly be doing to her at that moment. She didn't know what she would have done if he had removed it.
"Like I said, we're all tired, it's been a long day. Early mornin', I suspect?" He spoke, and Joe nodded.
"Like always, ain' it? But uh, we got a camp already made – fire roarin' and food on and everything. Ya'll welcome to group with us." Daryl felt Tessa stiffen in his arms and he shook his head.
"Naw. For now, we'll stick over here together. We can take care of everythin' ourselves." He told him and Joe nodded as he began backing away towards his own camp.
"Suit yourselves – just thought I'd extend the offer." He told them, and Daryl gave him a nod of thanks as he and Tessa turned to make their way to Ethan and the twins.
"What's happening? What are we doing?" Ethan asked and Daryl was the one who spoke as Tessa immediately began tending to the twins, silent and morose.
"We're stayin' with these guys a little bit longer – maybe we'll find Rick and the others, maybe Wren, Beth. But it won' be long, I promise." He told him, and Ethan nodded.
"I'll help you set up camp." He told him, and Daryl nodded. He moved to help his son, but Tessa's hand shooting out and grabbing ahold of his, stopped him while Ethan continued on.
"Can you take second watch tonight? I don't . . . I want to fall asleep in your arms. That way, I go to sleep knowin' I'm safe." She told him and Daryl swallowed hard before nodding.
"Yeah . . . yeah, of course Ethan can take first watch. Ya okay with tha'?" He asked him, glancing at him over his shoulder and seeing his son's untrusting, hawk-like stare already on their compatriots across the way. They all knew they were looking out for more than just walkers in the woods that night.
"Yeah, don' worry deddy . . . they ain' gonna be able to take a piss without me knowin'."
"God I feel disgusting!"
Sam grinned up at Maggie as she stood over him, a look of distaste on her face as the fire crackled behind her. Sasha and Bob were already conked out across the way, the fire separating them and shielding them ever-so-slightly from view, although either of them seriously doubted anything heavy would happen. They weren't that mean and besides, exhaustion didn't even cover how tired they were.
Maggie scratched at her collarbone, itching to take the shirt off of her – the dried sweat and blood made it itch like fire, but knowing she shouldn't. It was chilly that night, and she didn't want to run the risk of catching a cold or something.
"Please tell me you aren't going to become like Tessa with Daryl!" He told her, and Maggie smiled and shook her head.
"No, I'm not going to become not nearly that bad. Although, come to think of it, I can completely understand why she is like she is. If you came home at the end of the day smelling like squirrel guts and deer piss, then I'd make you take a shower too before crawling into bed with me." She joked with a smile as she got down on her knees beside him. Still grinning, he held open his arms to her and she immediately crawled to tuck herself into his side. Her head tucked just underneath his chin, and she closed her eyes and gave a sigh of contentment as she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tight for a moment - a squeeze he readily returned. They might not smell the best at that moment, but he was warm and comforting and even then, Maggie couldn't help but feel drawn to him. True, he was much, much older than she was (Holy Hell would Hershel have a field day if he knew everything that was happening with them!) but like she had told him many times before, Sam was different than Glenn. And it was those differences that made her love him more.
"Are you taking first watch?" She asked, and felt him nod against the top of her head.
"Mmhmm. I'm not that tired right now. Bob said he'd take second so you girls can sleep tonight." He told her, and she nodded, feeling more and more tired as she lay there, completely comfortable and relaxed against him. However, she found she still couldn't sleep – like something was gnawing at her and keeping her awake. She didn't exactly know what it was, but she found herself shaking her head nonetheless.
"I can't help but feel worried for Tess . . ." She spoke, her voice low, and Sam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he glanced down at her.
"Why just her? 'Cause you've mentioned this before, being worried about Tess." He asked, and she gave a shrug.
"I don't know . . . and I don't want to say that it's exclusively just her, but I won't lie – she's a large part of my worry – her and the twins all are." She tilted her head up to gaze at him then. "She was pregnant when we left the prison, Sam. Carol was gone and daddy died. How do you think she must feel knowing that she's probably gonna have to deliver a baby on her own?"
"But she won't be alone. You know she would have gotten out with Daryl and Ethan and at least Wren too."
"Yeah, but they know nothing about birthing babies. Not like Carol did – not like daddy kinda did . . ." She shook her head. "And even though she's with Daryl, I can't help but feel worried for her. I can't put my finger on it, but all I know, is that after we find Glenn, we have to find them next. Tessa is my friend, Sam, I can't go on without knowing what happened to her." Sam nodded.
"Agreed. We find Glenn, hopefully, I won't get shot for stealing his woman, and then once we find him, we'll find Tess and the others," He gave her a smile and she immediately returned it with a light laugh. "Sounds like a damn good plan to me." He told her and she leaned up and kissed them, their lips meeting in a sweet kiss that ended with her breaking apart and tucking her head back up underneath his chin. She lay there for a moment, his arms still wrapped around her and thinking more about Tessa and Beth and everyone else who was missing, until she eventually did drift off into sleep, Sam's heart the backdrop to her sleep.