Mistelgirl23: Thank you for the review and the compliment about my character. I'm really loving writing her and rounding her out more and more as I go along.

RaphaeltheCowboy: Your predictions were half right and half wrong. I have plans for Andrea that require her original storyline to be kept, for now. And as for Carol, well, you'll see. And it's more like a REAtatorship...lol...

ChildishAssassin: Unfortunately, I did not see her having time to set the traps with her having to take up a leadership role and Daryl's neediness at the loss of all her attention. I just didn't see it as being something that came to the forefront of her mind as she processed her new responsibilities.

Hope y'all enjoy this one as we delve into season 3! I know I'm kinda hacking the episodes up right now, buuuuuuuuuuut...it is what it is...lol

They rode through the early morning fog on back roads, making their way back up to the highway and passing many walkers along the way. They only stopped momentarily to discuss what they should do now. Their supplies were in one of the cars that had gotten away, so all they had were her knives and gun that was out of ammo and both their crossbows. Determining that the only landmark the entire group had to go on was the highway where they'd left supplies for Sophia, they began to loop around.

About halfway there they spotted the car Glenn and Maggie had been in and Daryl revved it to come up beside them. Tea gave them one of her jaw dropping smiles, so happy to see that a part of her family was safe. As the sun rose over the horizon, they were caught up to by T-Dog and the girls. They all formed a convoy as they reached the highway and got closer to the old meeting spot. Tea smiled even wider as she saw Rick, Carl, and Hershel waiting there. The happy reunions that ensued were almost enough to make Tea tear up. Almost.

"Where'd you find everybody?" Rick asked Daryl.

"Well, those guys' tail lights zigzagging all over the road," he said nodding to Glenn, "I figured it had to be Asian, driving like that."

That got a light chuckle from everyone, including Glenn who said, "Good one."

"Where's the rest of us?" Daryl asked.

"We're the only ones who made it so far," Rick told him.

"Andrea?"

"Went down afta savin' me when I went afta Carol," Tea answered quietly, unable to bring herself to believe her friend was dead.

"Patricia?" Hershel asked.

"They got her too," Beth said quietly. "Took her right in front of me. I was, I was holdin' onto her daddy and she just, she just..." Hershel held her as she cried into his chest. "What about Jimmy? Did you see Jimmy?"

"He was in the RV. It got overrun," Rick told her.

"You definitely saw Andrea," Carol asked Tea.

"There were walkas everywhere. I couldn' stick 'round ta see if she got back up and I couldn' get ta her 'cause I was cut off by the damn things."

"I'm gonna go back," Daryl said, hoping back on his bike.

"No!" Rick and Tea said in unison.

"We can't just leave her," Daryl said, knowing that the woman was Ania's only real friend and it was going to eat her up inside if she abandoned her.

"We don't even know if she's there," Rick said.

"She ain'. Ain' no way in hell she's still there. She's long gone, and we ain' splittin' up ta chase 'er when we won' have a headin' and the dead fucked the trail," she told him. "She's smart and resourceful. It'll take more'n a herd ta take her down. We'll see her again some day."

"So we're not even gonna look for her?" Glenn asked.

"We gotta keep moving," Rick told him. "There have been walkers crawling all over here."

"I say head east," T-Dog said.

"Stay off the main roads," Daryl offered. "Bigger the road, the more walkers. More assholes like this one. I got him."

And he did; he'd already loaded and aimed his crossbow as he was talking, so as soon as he was done the arrow was released and the walker was down. After that, they loaded into the cars with Tea and Daryl on the bike and headed out. They'd been on the road most of the day before Rick honked his horn. All the cars stopped and waited as he walked up to Daryl and Tea.

"You out?" Daryl asked.

"Running on fumes," came the response

Looking around, Maggie said, "We can't stay here."

"We can't all fit in one car," Glenn told her.

"We'll have to make a run for some gas in the morning," Rick said.

"Spend the night here?" Carol asked.

"I'm freezing," Carl complained.

"We'll build a fire," Lori told him as Rick handed the boy his coat while Tea was helping Sophia into one of her hoodies.

"If ya go lookin' for firewood, stay close. Don' go wanderin' off," Tea said.

"Only got so many arrows," Daryl told the group. "How you doin' on ammo?"

"Not enough," Rick said.

"We can't just sit here with our asses hanging out," Maggie said.

"Watch your mouth," Hershel told his daughter, making Tea turn her head to hide a smirk; she cussed in his presence all the time, but that was just the way she talked. "Everyone stop panicking and listen to Rick."

"Alright, we'll set up a perimeter. In the morning we'll find gas and some supplies. We'll keep pushing on," he told the group.

"Glenn and I can go make a run now," Maggie suggested. "Try to scrounge up some gas."

"Nah, we gotta stick tagetha for now, no one goes alone, no one splits without knowin' when, where, and how long they'll be gone," Tea told them.

"God forbid something happens and you get stranded without a car," Rick agreed.

"Rick, we're stranded now," Glenn said.

"But with cars," Tea chimed in unhelpfully, once again internally smacking herself for her lack of brain to mouth filter, "he said without."

"I know it looks bad," Rick said, doing his best to ignore Tea's quirks in his stress. "We've all been through hell and worse, but at least we found each other. I wasn't sure, I really wasn't. But we did. We're together. We keep it that way. We'll find shelter somewhere, there's gotta be a place."

"Rick, look around. There's walkers everywhere. They're migrating or something," Glenn said.

"There's gotta be a place. Not just where we hole up. But that we fortify, hunker down, pull ourselves together. Build a life for each other. I know it's out there. We just have to find it," he passionately told the group.

"Even if we do find a place," Maggie droned out, "And we think it's safe, we can never be sure for how long. Look what happened at the farm. We fooled ourselves into thinking that that was safe.

"We won' be makin' that mistake again," Tea tried to assure her.

"We'll make camp over there," Rick said, pointing to some run-down ruins that might have once been a train stop. "Get on the road at the break of day."

"Does this feel right to you?" Carol asked Daryl, who just glanced at her before turning his eyes back to Tea and Rick.

"What if walkers come through? Or another group like Randall's?" Beth asked, walking up to Tea.

"Betta question, what happened ta Shane? He turned, but he wasn' bit," Tea said.

"How's that possible?" Beth asked.

"Rick," Lori said, "What the hell happened?"

"Shane killed Randall," Daryl said. "But he was a walker when he did it."

"How'd Shane get turned? He get bit?" Lori pressed.

"We're all infected," Rick said quietly.

"Oh fuck," Tea said as her worst fears since finding Shane were vocalized.

"What?" Daryl asked.

"At the CDC," Rick started. "Jenner told me. Whatever it is, we all carry it."

There was a moment's pause in which Daryl paced a circle and many of the rest of the survivors looked around at each other. Carol took two steps forward and said, "And you never said anything?"

"What difference would it a made?" Tea asked her. "How the hell were we s'pposed ta know that crazy as man was tellin' the truth?!"

"You knew?" Daryl asked her angrily.

"Pretty easy ta figure out when Shane was stabbed and still turned," she shot back at him. "I wasn' sure 'til jus' now, but damn if it weren' the obvious conclusion given the facts."

"You knew this whole time," Glenn said accusingly to Rick.

"How could I have know for sure?" Rick asked him. "You saw how crazy that mo-"

"That is not your call," Glenn cut him off. "When I found out about the walkers in the barn, I told for the good of the group."

"But that was an immediate and known threat," Tea countered. "This? How could we have known for sure?"

"I thought it best if people didn't know," Rick stated. He looked around at everyone before walking off, Lori following him.

"Alright, Glenn, Maggie, get collectin' firewood. T-Dog, Hershel, ya good with look out and perimeter? Daryl and I'll do some huntin' ta get us some suppa. The rest a y'all, get inta the ruins and stay there. Clear a fire pit and keep on high alert," Tea told the group.

Everyone got busy setting up camp and looking for firewood. The two hunters had gone in opposite directions, a pre-planned distance into the woods, they would loop around and take opposite ends of the perimeter before reconnecting with their people from the other's end. Tea took down four walkers and bagged six fat squirrels by the time she made it back to camp, not bothering with careful steps and breaking a few branches along the way. Daryl was standing by the fire with his crossbow ready and everyone was looking at her as she came into the ruins.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly. "Thought steppin' on a twig would let ya know I was comin'. Didn' mean ta scare y'all. Got some squirrel, though."

Another breaking branch sounded out in the distance, immediately making all the survivors tense.

"What was that?" Beth asked.

"Could be anything," Daryl said. "Could be a raccoon, could be a opossum."

"A walker?" Glenn suggested.

"We need to leave. I mean, what are we waiting for?" Carol said.

"Damn it, Carol, grow a fuckin' pair already!" Tea tensed up as Rick walked up next to her. "Ya don' got time ta act a coward no more."

"Which way?" Glenn asked.

"It came from over there," Maggie said, motioning towards the road.

"Back from where we came," Beth added.

"Yeah," Maggie agreed.

"The last thing we need is for everyone to be running off in the dark," Rick told them. "We don't have the vehicles. Nobody's traveling on foot."

Another branch snapped, causing Hershel to say "Don't panic" to his girls.

"I'm not," Maggie started. "I'm not sitting here, waiting for another herd to blow through. We need to leave, now."

"No one is goin' anywhere," Tea all but growled at them from beside Rick.

"Do something!" Carol told them.

"We are doin' somethin', dammit!" Tea spat at her.

"We're keeping this group together, alive!" Rick agreed. "We've been doing that all along, no matter what."

"I especially didn' ask for this, ta be put in this position, neitha did Rick. But here y'all are, half a ya still think I'm crazy, the rest lookin' ta us ta lead but wantin' ta pull out soon as the goin' gets tough," Tea told the group, pacing in a circle and running her hand over her face, the other one placed on her hip. "Fuck, I killed fuckin' Shane for ya people!"

A collection of gasps ran through the survivors from their side of camp, the loudest being from Lori, who got up, strode over, and slapped Tea. "You crazy bitch!"

"Nah, Shane was the one that went crazy!", Tea said, shoving her just enough to make her take two steps back, but still gently considering she was pregnant. "Killed Otis, threatened Dale. Fuck, Lori, he tried ta rape ya at the CDC!" Another collection of gasps followed as Lori's face distorted in shock, anger, and betrayal. "He tried ta do the same damn thing ta me! That's how I got those damn bruises a week and a half ago! He fuckin' had me pinned ta the damn ground, knees on me damn forearms, pinnin' me damn hands, too! Would a fuckin' had 'is way if it weren' for 'im forgettin' all me knives! Wasn' even sure 'e was dead 'til I saw him in the woods! Jus' knew 'e was fuckin' gone, and good fuckin' riddance!"

"You saw what he was like," Rick said quietly from beside the fuming woman, face pale at the new information about his wife. "How he pushed us, how he compromised us, how he threatened us. Tea did what she had to do for the good of the group."

"You can't possibly believe that?!" Lori said.

"Yes I do," he responded with a sigh. "Truth is, I already knew it was comin'. If it hadn't have been Tea, it would have been me. One way or the other, Shane was going to try to remove the threat, and we were the threat."

"He gave me no fuckin' choice, Lori! Did ya roll ova or fight back when 'e put 'is hands on ya? Hmm?" Tea asked her, snarling at the woman.

"I didn't kill him!"

"And I didn' fuckin' mean ta!" she roared as she stepped up into Lori's face. "I did what I had ta! I always do what I have ta! That means killin' a fucka for tryin' shite like that or shootin' Dale and Patricia in the head in mercy, I'll fuckin' do it! Ya can' barely keep an eye on ya kids," she spoke to both Lori and Carol now. "How the fuck ya think ya can make it in this world like ya are now?! Harden the fuck up, ladies! 'Cause I ain' waitin' 'round for ya ta pull ya heads outta ya asses anymore. Ya wanna leave, there ain' no doors, jus' pick a damn direction and get walkin'! But let me make one thing clear here and now; if ya stayin' ya listen ta Rick and me word like gospel and ya don' fuckin' complain 'bout it!"

"Maybe you people are better off without us," Rick stepped in to show his support. "Like she said, go ahead. I say there's another place for us, but maybe, maybe that's just a pipe dream. Maybe, maybe I'm fooling myself again. Why don't y'all go ahead and find out yourself. Send me a postcard. You can do better? Let's see how far you get." He waited a few minutes to see if anyone left. When no one did, he said, "No takers? Fine. You're staying, this isn't a democracy anymore."

~x~

Winter was terrible. They'd spent it running from one place to another, never being able to stop for more than a couple nights in most places. Others were better; they'd spent two weeks holed up in a department store that was pretty well stocked with food. Another month had passed at the worst of winter in the confines of storage units. Tea had earned the respect and gratitude of T-Dog, Glenn, and the Greenes and had even come to a sort of truce with Carol after giving the woman self-defense and knife lessons; she'd given them to everyone in the dead of winter when they had nothing better to do, but paid extra attention to Carol. Sophia and Carl followed her every order and had even been taken on a couple runs. Both were armed with a buck knife, a set of throwing knives, and a gun with a silencer now. If it weren't for the cold shoulder Lori was giving her and Rick, and the cold shoulder Carl was giving Lori after finding out the baby might be Shane's, they might be considered one big happy family.

Tea refused to believe Andrea was dead, and so she did not grieve. Instead, she was left with constant worry and fear. Worry over whether or not her friend was safe but fear that she would find the woman as a walker like she had Jesse. Daryl had tried to help ease her worries, but as the days turned to weeks he realized that until she knew one way or another she would be worrying. Now there were two names she was muttering in her sleep.

She and Daryl hadn't been able to do any hunting during the worst of winter. They'd taken snowmobiles out on runs to nearby towns with sleds fixed behind them. Tea had surprised Daryl the first time she got on one and let it rip; even he didn't trust the damn thing to go over 80mph but his little woman flew by him going at least 120! When she expertly brought it to a skidding halt and took her helmet off, she just smiled at him as he caught up and more carefully stopped his ride.

"What?" she'd asked smugly when he took his helmet off, taking in his confused and impressed appearance. "I'm from Michigan, rememba? Damn near three months a the year we got snow like this. Skiin', sleddin', snowmobilin', ice fishin'. Ya ain' a Michiganda if ya ain' done any a that. Or, well, ya jus' really, really hate the winta and the cold." He'd just shaken his head and gave her a quick kiss before they went into the store they'd marked.

~x~

They'd taken to moving about again as the snow began to melt, only to constantly get cut off at every turn it seemed. Food was starting to come up short and Tea was starting to get worried as scavenging became harder and harder. Spring was in full force now, though, as they scoped out a house they were hoping to stay at tonight. Tea signaled to Rick from the window that there were at least 2 walkers inside near the door. Handing T-Dog a fireplace poker, she motioned for him to follow Rick, another hand signal to Daryl and Carl. The four of them lined up at the door as Tea went around the back with Sophia, leaving Glenn and Maggie to sweep the perimeter. When she heard the door kick open, she kicked open the door and quickly entered the kitchen area. Separating and searching the house carefully, Tea watched as Carl took down a walker that had been in the upstairs bathroom. The two of them went back downstairs where Carl wandered off. Sophia and Daryl came down the stairs as well, Daryl carrying an owl. Rick whistled for the rest of the people to come in.

Unfortunately, they had only just gotten settled in when T-Dog noticed a group of walkers closing in on them. In a rush, they all packed up everything they had and ran to the vehicles. They still had Maggie's car and the red truck, but had also added a new truck that kept most of their supplies under a tarp. Daryl and Tea were still traveling on the motorcycle. Tea sighed and rested her forehead between the angel wings on Daryl's leather vest. Her hands were loosely holding his hips as they trudged on.

She was tired. It wasn't the burden of leading that was getting to her. It was the lack of stability, the constant change, the constant moving that was wearing her down. Leading came easy to her, though she let Rick be the mouthpiece for most of it as her mind started getting the better of her. She talked less and less until the only people she talked to unless necessary were Rick, Daryl, and the kids, Beth included even though she wasn't a kid technically. Tea had completely pulled away from any and all physical contact except with Daryl, and even then, he found himself having to initiate it all now. He didn't hold it against her, though; she'd told him when she started getting overwhelmed by the constant moving around.

They pulled over on a seemingly deserted road near a railway. Carl ran up to Tea and Rick as they stood looking out over the road, quietly talking to each other. Tea looked behind her to make sure everyone that was out of the vehicles were holding a weapon. Lori looked like she was about to be sick, which explained why they had stopped so suddenly.

"15, your on point," Rick told the boy as the two of them turned back to the group.

"We got no place left to go," T-Dog said as Glenn and Maggie spread out a map riddled with Tea's color coding, new colors indicating where they had met with herds and where they had picked clean.

"When this herd meets up with this one, we'll be cut off," Maggie said, indicating areas on the map. "We'll never make it south."

"What would you say? That was about 150 head?" Daryl asked Glenn and Ania.

"That was last week. It could be twice that by now," Glenn answered, having gotten used to Tea's lack of conversation as she just nodded her head along with what he was saying.

"This river could have delayed them," Hershel said as Tea scanned over the rest of the group, proud at seeing the rest of them standing watch to the sides so that they could have their powwow. "If we move fast, we might have a shot to tear right through there."

"Yeah, but if this group joins with that one," T-Dog pointed out. "It could spill out this way."

"So we're blocked," Maggie said.

Tea nodded her head from side to side while alternately shrugging her shoulders, essentially saying, 'More or less.'

"Only thing to do is double back at 27 and swing through Greenville," Rick said.

"Yeah, we picked through that already. It's, it's like we spent the winter going in circles," T-Dog said.

"Yeah, I know, I know," Rick tried to say reassuringly, letting them know what he'd already discussed with Tea. "At Newnan we'll push west. We haven't been through there yet. We can't keep going house to house. Need to find someplace to hole up for a few weeks," he said while looking off towards Lori.

"Alright," T-Dog said. "Is it cool if we get to the creek before we head out? It won't take long. Gotta fill up our water. We can boil it later."

"Knock yourself out," he told the man.

He and Hershel huddled up as she and Daryl readied their crossbows. They waited until the two were done talking about Lori before Daryl interrupted.

"Hey, while the others wash their panties, let's go hunt. That owl didn't exactly hit the spot."

The three of them walked along, Daryl and Rick providing much of the conversation behind her. Daryl didn't notice her abrupt stop and ran right into her back, causing her to pitch forward and almost lose her balance down a small embankment. If both the men hadn't have grabbed an arm each, she would have ended up soaked and probably with a few new scrapes and bruises. But it brought to light the whole reason she had stopped to begin with.

"That's a damn shame," Daryl said as he righted Ania, brushing his fingers down her back as he looked across the way at a prison.

The yard had fifty or so walkers in it, but the entire thing was relatively closed off. It was too good to be true. If they could get inside, get the walkers cleared, they'd not only have a roof over their heads, but a good solid place they could potentially rebuild from. It wasn't perfect or pretty, but it could be a home.

"Rick," Tea said, giving him a look he shared, one of hope and determination.

"I know. Let's get back to the others. We should be able to clear the yard before evening falls."

"We do that, we can go huntin' some more around here so's people can eat," Daryl offered.

"If we can get inta that prison, it could be that safe space ya been talkin' 'bout," Tea said with a smile, making the men smile too.

She had become even more stone-faced these last few months. While Daryl took in stride, being able to read the woman's body through touch and having a much keener ability to read what little there was in her face or on her eyes, Rick had been obsessively worrying. It had even earned them a running joke about being the three musketeers. T-Dog had come up with it, but Glenn had taken it a step further and assigned each of them one of the roles. Apparently, Tea was Athos, because she was the 'troubled leader with mad skills and super intelligence.' Daryl was supposedly Aramis, seeing as how he was always so brooding and, earning a rare peel of laughter from the entire group, Tea's being the loudest and longest, dramatic. Daryl had told him to shut up and went about pouting until Tea said she'd always had a thing for Aramis, which earned an 'it figures' from T-Dog. That left Rick being Porthos, the one who held everything together when the other two were at odds with his wit and charm. They just worked well as a team, even though Daryl technically had second-man status compared to Tea's leadership.

Reaching the others just as they finished loading up their water containers, Rick told them about the prison. They drove closer to the structure, but left the vehicles a little way off just in case. Everyone geared up and grabbed whatever they would need. Rick carried the gun bag while Tea had a hold of the bolt cutters. As they reached the fence, Rick knelt and Tea instinctively held the tool out for him. While many of the others stood with their backs to those working the fence, he managed to cut a hole in the fence tall enough for a grown man to get through.

Maggie and Glenn tag teamed a walker coming up on them while Tea and Rick held the gate open. One by one the members went through, Rick following behind T-Dog, leaving Tea to bring up the rear. Daryl held the fence open from the inside for her and as soon as she was through he and Glenn got to work using a cable to close the hole up. They finished not a second too soon as a walker came crashing into the fence just as Glenn secured the cable. Running along the dog-walk, the group kept to the tight formation Tea had trained them to use as soon as they left the farm. Lori, Beth, Carol, and Hershel were in the middle. Tea, Daryl, and Rick took the front. Carl and Sophia each protected the four non-combatants, as Tea liked to call them, from their respective sides while T-Dog, Glenn, and Maggie covered the rear. As they rounded the corner and came up to the gate, they all stopped and dropped their loads.

"It's perfect," Rick said. "If we can shut that gate, prevent more from filling the yard, we can take out these walkers. Take the field by tonight."

"So how do we shut the gate?" Hershel asked.

"I'll do it. You guys cover me," Glenn offered.

"No," Maggie said. "It's a suicide run."

"I'm the fastest," he insisted.

"Ya wish!" Tea said, looking somewhat crazed with the smile on her face and the glint in her eye; the entire group was momentarily startled. "'Sides, got otha plans for ya. I need ya, Maggie, Phia, and Beth make some noise and move as many as ya can away from the gate here."

"Pop 'em through the fence," Rick agreed. "Daryl, go back to the other tower."

"Carol, ya became a damn decent shot, so go with Daryl. Take ya time, aim carefully. We don' have a lot of ammo ta waste," Tea told them, picking up after Rick. "Hershel, take this tower with Carl. Rick, ya go too. I'll go for the gate."

"Ania, no."

"Gotta get done and I actually am the fastest," she told him, placing a hand on his forearm. "'Sides, I've got ya lookin' out for me, don' I?"

He grabbed her around the waste and kissed her for all it's worth; over the winter he had gotten over his dislike of intimate contact in public more than some form of holding, be it hand or body. Glenn handed her a pair of clips as everyone got into position. T-Dog and the others got busy drawing walkers to the fence as Lori opened the gate to let Tea into the yard, giving a look that was somewhere between gratitude and disdain.

Entering the yard, she kept a firm hold of her Glock in one hand and kept a tight grasp of the cable in the other. She moved carefully around the overturned bus before running at top speed towards the gate. Shooting two walkers, she stopped momentarily as another dropped to the ground with a bolt through it's head. She managed to get three more paces before jumping back quickly as a bullet hit right above her toe. Carol had a sheepish look on her face that made Tea roll her eyes and smirk; that woman really needed to work on her aim. She killed a few more walkers before reaching the gate and kicking another walker out of the way. Quickly slamming the gate shut, she secured it with the cables and turned on her heel. Killing another two walkers, she ran into the guard tower near the gate and slammed the door shut.

By the time she reached the top, they were working on killing all the remaining walkers in the yard. From where they were, it was easy pickings and Tea couldn't help but whoop in joy as the last walker fell. She all but ran down the steps of the tower and back to the other gate as her family congregated together.

"Nice shootin'," she told the group.

"You okay?" Carol asked Lori as she passed through the gates.

"I haven't felt this good in weeks," came the woman's reply.

Carol was beyond delighted and even T-Dog had to take a minute to laugh and holler. Tea had them split into two groups then, one group to pile up the walkers elsewhere and another to get the cars. Car group had strict orders to bring the cars up and park them facing the road. Walker group was told to take all the walkers and put them in the dog run; they'd have to be burned or taken off sight to be dealt with and that was the easiest spot to put them to do either. She and Daryl went hunting, snagging a half dozen squirrel and a big rabbit.

By the time night had come around, everyone was settling down and getting used to the idea that they could relax for the time being. Tea was standing on the overturned bus staring out on the road on guard duty. Daryl was back at the camp, having taken guard duty the night before, not that there was even a need for guard duty right now. She and Rick had already discussed entering and clearing out a cell block in the morning with hand-weapons instead of guns. Surprise flashed across her face as she looked up to see Carol's form approaching. While they were at a truce with each other, it was safe to say they still weren't friends with one another. As the woman put a small tin bowl down and began to climb up the bus, Tea offered her a hand that was surprisingly taken.

"There's not much, but if I don't bring you something, you won't eat at all," she told the younger woman.

"It's fine. I don' need much," Tea said seriously. "'Sides, the little ones need it more'n I do."

"What is it with you and always looking after the kids? They're not yours to look out for?" Carol said, no hint of malice in her voice, just curiosity for once. "You've done it since the quarry, teaching them self-defense and knife play behind our backs, always giving them some of your portions. Why's it so important to you?"

"I don' know," Tea answered honestly before turning and looking the woman square in the eye. "Guess when it comes down ta it, I jus' do for 'em what I wish someone would a done for me. Ain' nothin' more'n that."

"Sophia said you had a family."

"She say anything else?" she asked, earning a shake of the head in reply. "Me family was abusive. Y'all seen some a the scars on me shouldas and legs. That's what me family did ta me. That's why I was so hard on ya afta Phia, why I was angry with ya and resented ya. I wanted me momma ta be out in the woods lookin' for me when me daddy abandoned me in 'em, but she wasn'. She was at home with me daddy and me sista pretendin' I was on some trip for geniuses with the neighbors. I wanted someone ta look for me, and I took that anga out on ya for not lookin' for Phia. And it rubbed off on Phia, and I'm sorry. She's one tough little girl and I jus' didn' want 'er ta be the same as we were 'fore we escaped."

Carol had tears in her eyes, "Your entire family?"

"Yeah," Tea said nodding her head and looking down. "Well, they ain' family. More like, all me blood. This here's me family. Ya me family, as much a pain in the ass I've been."

"I've been a bitch too," Carol admitted, shocked at the revelation.

She had gained respect for Tea throughout the winter and after she'd saved her life on the farm, and then twice more. In fact, over the course of the winter, there wasn't a single person in the group who's life she hadn't saved at least once, most multiple. Not that she hadn't needed saving too, just that out of everyone in the group, she had done the most to keep them safe. While she didn't participate in more gun training, she did train everyone in close quarters combat and even Carol could take Rick down now during practice. If only she'd have known some of this stuff when she was with Ed.

"Were you teaching Sophia the close quarters combat in the quarry?" she asked her.

"No," Tea responded. "I started with self-defense. I wanted ta make sure if Ed tried ta grab 'er without ya bein' there ta keep 'er safe, she'd at least be able ta get outta his grip and run away. I was waitin', ya know, for 'im ta slip up, do somethin' ta ya in the open. Then I was gonna show him why ya shouldn' undaestimate the little woman. I shouldn' a waited. I'm sorry for that."

Carol looked absolutely stunned, "Why are you apologizing for that?"

"Ya had new bruises every few days. I knew what was happenin', but I didn' help 'cause I didn' think it was me place 'til it was out in the open," Tea said as her shoulders slumped in defeat. "I failed ya, like everyone failed me, like they failed Daryl. I knew, and I should a done somethin' ta help ya. Whateva pain ya went through at that quarry, it's partially me fault for not steppin' up."

"Oh honey," Carol said as she drew Tea in for a hug. While the girl tensed for a moment, she slowly returned the hug with one arm. Both women had tears in their eyes when they pulled away. "Come on, let's get back to the fire."

They walked back in silence, but Carol had her arm resting on Tea's shoulders, and Tea was smiling with her arm around Carol's waist. Sophia came up and hugged them both around the middle, causing her to be sandwiched between the women when they hugged her back. Tea went and sat down next to Daryl as she listened to the Greene sisters singing a song she didn't know. When they were finished, Glenn looked to Tea expectantly.

"What?" she asked oblivious.

"You know over seven hundred songs," he said. "You gotta sing at least one for us."

"Did ya bring the guitar?"

He handed it over and she sat cross-legged, "Don't be upset. Ya asked me ta sing and this is the first one that popped up. It's a bit sad, though."

She began playing the guitar in a slow and downbeat melody before singing in a softer and gentler voice than they'd ever heard her use,

"I've been looking in the mirror for so long

That I've come to believe my soul's on the other side.

All the little pieces falling, shatter

Shards of me to small to put back together

Too small to matter

But big enough to cut me into so many little pieces

If I try to touch her

And I bleed

I bleed

And I breathe

I breathe no more

Take a breath and I try to draw from my spirit's well

Again and again you refuse to drink like a stubborn child

Lie to me

Convince me that I've been sick forever

And all of this

Will make sense when I get better

But I know the difference

Between myself and my reflection

I just can't help but to wonder

Which of us do you love

So I bleed

I bleed

And I breathe

I breathe no

Bleed

I bleed

And I breathe

I breathe

I breathe

I breathe no more."

"Holy shit," T-Dog said.

"My girl's got a hell of a voice," Daryl said affectionately as Tea handed the guitar back to Glenn who began plucking away at it, Tea having taught him over the winter. She fell asleep leaning against Daryl to the sound of her family chattering away finally safe at last.

The song is Evanescence's Breathe No More...If you know it, imagine Tea's voice as being just a bit gruffer and less feminine than Amy Lee's but just as deep and forceful and able to carry emotions. And in case you're wondering, yes, that song came up because of the talk she had with Carol.

Updated 9/8/21