Okay, so after this last completely AMAZING episode of the Walking Dead, I have got SOOOO many things planned for this season already that I have come to the conclusion that you guys are gonna absolutely love it (Halo, I know you will although you probably have already watched the episode and figured out what I have planned ha ha). As for this chapter, it takes place at the beginning of 'Infected' and lasts till roughly about the middle. So it does deal with the attack and there is ever-so-slight Dessa fluff in the beginning. Not much, but I suppose its there.
scoobydoo0811: I actually debated on that in the beginning but I decided against it for some reason. Might happen in later chapters though :)
Katara Melody Cullen: Thanks for the review, muchly appreciated :)
NanamiYatsumaki: Thanks, I was kinda going for sweet and I'm glad someone caught that :)
MaddyMarie1212: Who says they were mad at him? ;)
HaloHunter89: I don't think at this point, that Sam is even going to remotely entertain the idea that he can win back Tess. She has Daryl - the one man that he's never been able to compete with - as well as two babies and, for all intents and purposes, a happy life - a happy life he's never really been able to give her. I don't think he's that big of a dick to want to stop that for her, although your right, his words were mean, especially considering Daryl was restrained. But they were mean towards Daryl, not Tess. When it comes to Tess, he's largely a good guy, I think (or he wants to be, anyway and the same goes for Ethan) but with Daryl, there's just so much bad blood there that I think its impossible for them to even hope to get along. And yeah, you know Ethan can sense that tension. As for shitting himself, wouldn't you ;)
Enjoy!
- Nagiana
"Shit, Tess . . .!"
"Was that really . . .?"
"Tha' damn amazin'?"
Tessa grinned at Daryl's words as she felt his arm move to wrap loosely around her waist, bringing her even more into his side as she lay there, beside him, half on and half off him. His chest gently moved up and down underneath her along with his breathing, creating a steady rhythm that almost lulled her to sleep. Her hand dangled over the edge of the bed with her fingers wrapped around the glass neck of the half-empty bottle of Maker's Mark. They were pleasantly buzzing but nowhere near being drunk or shitfaced.
"Yeah, considering the fact that you seemed to have it working pretty superbly, you liar!" She grinned and he couldn't help but grin too.
"I didn' lie, Tess! I ain' shitfaced yet, so, knowing tha', I am still perfectly able to get my dick hard – as ya've so recently experienced!"
"Wait – shitfaced, yet?" She laughed with a cocked brow in amusement, and he nodded.
"Yup, ya heard me right - yet." He echoed good-naturedly as he gently pried the bottle from her fingers before taking another drink. It burned pleasantly going down but the feeling of warmth that hit his stomach and spread quickly throughout his body, creating a languid liquid heat that seemed to spread throughout his entire bloodstream, made him feel wonderfully lazy. He set the bottle on the floor before he turned his head to the side, where he buried his nose in her hair. He closed his eyes and breathed in deeply the scent of gardenias that seemed to cling resolutely to every strand of her blue black hair and felt his mind become foggy with both it and the alcoholic warmth that coursed lazily through his body. He felt the tips of her fingers ghost through the light dusting of hair just underneath his belly button, over and over again and he fought the instinct to shudder at the feeling. There was a small indentation in the edge of the white sheet wrapped around them where her fingers hit before they moved back up again.
"Is this better than the barn?" He murmured and immediately felt her tense against him slightly, her fingers coming to an immediate stop.
"Which time?" She asked him and Daryl grinned and gave a laugh.
"Ya know good and well which time I'm talkin' 'bout, Tessa Dixon! It was our first time and our first bottle of Maker's Mark . . . tha' time in tha barn . . .!"
"Oh!" She replied with a laugh, and he felt her grin against his skin as she nodded. "Oh yeah, this time is infinitely better! But then again, we've had a lot of practice since then, haven't we?"
"We've better. After all, ya've been fuckin' me enough for twenty men lately, ya know it?" He teased her and Tessa rolled her eyes and heaved a sigh as she shifted along him. The tips of her fingers left him then, only for her hand to curl around his side as she hugged herself to him even more.
"Sam's so full of shit, I swear to God he is!" She muttered bitterly and a little angrily, and he heaved a sigh.
"Fucker's in for it, I swear he is!" He told her before she felt him shake his head. "Good Lord, Tess, I don' even think I hated ma old man more than I hate him!"
"And that's saying something, too!" She grinned and he nodded.
"Tell me about it . . ." He muttered before he shifted his head ever-so-slightly so that he could gaze down at her. "Ya know, I don' mean to kill our buzz or anythin' -"
"You don't have to worry about that; we still have plenty more liquor to go." She told him in reference to the bottle sitting on the floor beside them and he nodded, in agreement or understanding, she didn't know, but he continued on nonetheless.
"I heard ya guys talkin' before I came up on ya and I heard him say tha' . . . ya guys tried for a kid a little after Ethan was born?" He asked her, his voice quiet and coming out strangely gentle, and she swallowed hard before nodding.
"Yeah . . . it was hard and mentally exhausting and in the end, it turned out all the heartache was for nothing."
His eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion then. "How so?"
"Well, it was already difficult for me to get pregnant to begin with, so it didn't help matters when they later found out after two or three false alarms, that Sam's sperm count wasn't exactly the highest in the world. It would have been difficult but possible for me to have a baby if his count had been normal and quite easy if he was higher than average – lookin' at you now, Mr. Dixon!" She spoke and he grinned but didn't say anything as she continued on: "But considering that it was lower than average, that put us in the damn near impossible range."
"So basically, our kids are walkin', talkin' reminders to him of his failure as a man!" He replied slowly, his voice dripping ever-so-slightly in gleeful amusement and she nodded and let out a low chuckle.
"I wouldn't have put it that way, but basically, yeah. You've always been the one man that he's never been able to compete with, Daryl – I've made that apparent since the first day we were reunited at the quarry and the entire thirteen years me and Sam were together. And all while Ethan was growing up, we thought the pregnancy had been a fluke – that you made a shot and somehow didn't hit a blank," She shook her head. "But then we had the twins pretty damn easily after being reunited, I figured that knocked Ethan being a 'fluke' out of the equation – in that way, I mean. I didn't expect to be pregnant with him, Daryl, so he was a surprise in that sense."
"While we're already on this topic, ya ain' . . ." He trailed off and stayed silent for a minute before gesturing to the trashcan across the way. She followed his gaze and immediately knew what he was going to say before he even said it. "Ya ain' worried 'bout havin' another one?"
"If it happens, it happens." She told him and he let out a laugh at the simple tone of her voice before stiffly nodding.
"Tess, ya know I love ya – ya know I love Ethan and our twins with every fiber of ma bein', but babydoll, I don' think I can handle another one – not now, anyway!" He told her as she moved to prop herself on her elbow beside him before flipping her hair out of her face and turning to gaze at him. Her face was impassive yet stern as her eyes locked with his.
"Daryl, we are not going to stop having sex anytime soon, you know that as well as I do. And then taking in the fact that you continue to bottom out in me more times than you pull out for various reasons, I just think we need to be adults about this and acknowledge the fact that we either need to be more careful or accept the fact that if it happens, it happens." She shook her head and heaved a sigh. "You know I love Danny and Aayla just as much as you do, and I completely understand how you don't want another kid right now, Daryl, because I don't either! So understandably, I'm not exactly rearing to get pregnant again – it doesn't exactly end in a fun way for me!" She told him before giving a roll of her eyes. "But then I have to remember your sneaky fuckin' track record and then I realize that it's never exactly been hard for us to get pregnant – consciously or not and I think that maybe . . ." She gave a half shrug as she lowered her eyes to his chest, where one of her fingers was currently outlining the one tattoo located there. "Maybe it couldn't hurt to be more careful, you know?"
He gave her a half skeptical, half-interested look. "Be careful, how? 'Cause usable condoms ain' exactly easy to come by anymore and I hate to tell ya, babydoll, but even pullin' out ain' a hundred proof!" She nodded and opened her mouth to speak but the baby monitor sitting on the table beside their bed suddenly went off, immediately filling the room with one of the twins' cries. The both of them then heaved a sigh as Tessa pushed herself off of him.
"Don't worry, I'll go this time. We'll continue this when I get back, okay?" She asked him and Daryl silently nodded as he moved to prop himself on his elbows on the bed. He watched as she got dressed and when he saw the look she threw him over her shoulder, he let out a sound of sarcastic disbelief and rolled his eyes.
"What – I can't watch ya get dressed now?" He asked, his voice a little bit more on edge than he had intended, and Tessa grinned and laughed as she finished buttoning up her jeans before moving over to him. Her hands grasped his shoulders and she planted a sweet, loving kiss on his lips before breaking apart.
"Of course you can, baby, I'm just teasing you," She gave him a wink before she straightened up and pulled on a shirt. "Lighten up, will ya?"
He gave another roll of his eyes before he nodded towards the door. "Easy for ya to say – now go on and see what's wrong with one of ma kids. I'll be here . . . prolly tryin' to get some shut eye considerin' we didn' at all tonight!" He told her and she gave a laugh and pressed one more kiss to his lips before she shook her head as she left the room then, where she made her hurried way down the stairs towards the children's cellblock. Rick was already there, gently bouncing a still tired Judith up and down on his hip, and he smiled when he saw her. She gave him an apologetic smile in return.
"I'm sorry, I came as soon as we heard the baby monitor – who is it tonight?"
"Danny. Aayla's still fast asleep." He told her, his voice hushed, and Tessa let out a huff of relief.
"Thank God! If it was Aayla, we'd have to get Daryl down here and quite frankly, I don't think he's exactly in a daddy mood right now!" She told him with a wry laugh and he furrowed his brows in slight interest as he followed her into the cellblock. He watched for a minute as she picked up the crying Danny from his crib, lovingly shushing him as she did so before speaking.
"Is there anything wrong?" He asked, knowing it wasn't exactly a normal thing for Daryl not to constantly be in 'daddy mode' with the twins, and she shook her head.
"No, it's nothing bad – nothing like that, we just . . ." She gave a shrug. "We were in the middle of a conversation before I came down here and it had the potential to get pretty heated. Actually, Danny woke up right in the nick of time - yes he did!" She told him before placing a bottle in the heater and pressing a kiss to his forehead. He was sniffling but had stopped crying and was now lying in her arms with his head on her shoulder, eyes roving everywhere. Rick smiled.
"You guys hardly fight at all and the times you did in the past, things didn't exactly end well. So excuse me if whenever I hear that you guys do fight, I get a little nervous." He chuckled and she smiled as a small 'ding' filled the air, letting them know that the bottle was properly heated. Tessa picked it up and after situating him ever-so-slightly, brought it towards him, where he immediately latched onto the rubber nipple.
"Yeah well, we avoid fights because of that same logic," She told him before giving him a small smile. "So you don't have to worry." She assured him, and he nodded and said a quiet, slightly grateful, 'awesome' before moving to the alarm clock sitting on the nearby table, where he took a look at it.
"Where's Michonne?" She asked suddenly, and he nodded in the direction of one of the cells on the upper level.
"Still up in bed." He replied and she arched an amused brow, one that Rick couldn't help but roll his eyes at.
"I wish you wouldn't look at me that way whenever me and Michonne are brought up!" He told her and she let out a laugh.
"Why shouldn't I? I think it's great, Rick, I really do. You're like Daryl's brother and she's one of my best friends and well on my way to becoming like a sister like Maggie is, so . . ." She shrugged. "You were bound to move on eventually after Lori and I'm glad it was her."
They stopped when they saw Beth walking towards them and Rick gave her a smile as she took Judith from him. He gestured for Tessa to hold that thought just a moment longer as the alarm clock went off. He cut it off before moving in the direction of Carl's cell. He poked his head inside the darkened space and Tessa's eyes immediately flickered to the darkened cell that Ethan and Wren shared. Daryl would get Ethan up when he did, which would inadvertently wake up Wren as well.
"Me and Carl's got some work out to do in the garden and not-to-mention Michonne's gonna be making a run this morning to. Talk to her if you need anything, okay?" He asked her and Tessa gave him a thankful smile and nodded.
"Don't worry I will." She told him and Rick grinned and leaned in slightly.
"Oh and by the way: I don't think I've every thanked you for playing matchmaker." He told her and Tessa immediately grinned as she patted him on the shoulder.
"It's what I do with my friends, Rick – it's what I do."
When Tessa first heard the gunshots, her heart immediately froze in her chest. She dropped the bottle she was holding and quickly moved to hold Danny closer and tighter to her than she normally would. There had been two gunshots in quick succession, but they had dropped off as quickly as they had come. However, that did not stop everyone in the cellblock from rousing from their sleep. Ethan fell out of his and Wren's cell while quickly pulling a shirt on and she heard the door to the Guard Office bang open as well as Daryl stumbled out, pulling on his boots and carrying his crossbow.
"What happened?" He quickly asked as he jogged down the stairs towards them, and Tessa shared a stricken look with Beth before numbly shaking her head.
"W-we don't know! We were standing here, tending to the babies and all of a sudden, we heard the gunshots – sounded like they came from D, too. Your guess is as good as ours, though." She told him and Daryl nodded before he turned his eyes onto Ethan standing beside Wren, where he nodded again. Ethan returned the nod back before he ducked into the cell and grabbed up his rifle. Daryl turned his eyes back onto Tessa, where he planted a light kiss on her lips. "We're gonna go check it out, okay? Ya and Beth stay here with tha twins and Judith, okay? Make sure you lock tha door behind us – me and Sasha will lock the tombs when we go out," He told her, his eyes flickering to the African American woman as she jogged past him towards the common room, gun in her hand.
"Be careful – we don't know what it is!" She told him and he nodded and hugged her tightly before running off after Sasha, Ethan hot on his father's heels. They heard the door to the tombs clang shot and lock and when that happened, Beth and Wren gave Tessa stricken looks before Tessa handed Danny off to Wren and then ran in the direction of the gate, where she turned the key. False alarm or real threat – Tessa wasn't about to take that chance.
"Tess, come quick – I need your help!"
Tessa could only numbly nod her head as Carol grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the crying kid she had been kneeling in front of comforting, and into a nearby darkened cell. The whole thing had been a walker attack and while Rick and Daryl were trying their hardest to figure out how exactly the whole thing had started, they could also not ignore how many people they had lost. There had been too many to count – men, women and children all – and she could tell by the green looks on some people's faces, that this might have been the first time they had been witness to how badly walker's tear apart their prey, let alone had been in the midst of an attack!
"Carol, what are you -!"
"H-hey, Tess!"
Tessa's face immediately paled when she saw Ryan Samuels lying there in the bunk, walker bite on his arm. She swallowed hard and nodded. "W-what do you need me to do?" She asked and Carol shook her head as they both turned their gazes on her.
"The arm isn't his only bite, Tess. He's bitten on the back of the neck too." She told her and Tessa nodded, her lips pursing as she did so.
"So amputation is a no go." She spoke and Carol nodded.
"Exactly."
Tessa glanced at her and shrugged as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. "So what exactly do you want me to do?"
Carol mournfully shook her head. "He's dying, Tess – he's not going to last much longer. We need to get Lizzie and Mika in here so that they can say their goodbyes." She told her and Tessa nodded in agreement as she gestured for her to wait with Ryan in the cell as she went and quickly hunted down the two girls. Craning to look in various cells and eyes quickly sweeping the crowd of people in her quest to find the two little blonde girls, she gasped when she felt a firm hand curl around her elbow and spin her around to face whoever the hand belonged to. When she saw it was simply Daryl, though, she let out a breath of relief and threw her arms around him in a relieved hug. He hugged her back tightly for a moment before they broke apart.
"Where's Ethan?"
"Helpin' Glenn finish off anyone who got bit but hasn' turned yet. How are tha twins?"
Tessa nodded. "They're with Beth and Wren over in C – safe and sound. I left them there when Carol and Karen came and got me and said they needed my help in this block," She then gestured to the cell she had recently left. "Ryan got bit – I'm going to go find Lizzie and Mika so that they can say their goodbyes." She told him and he swallowed hard and nodded.
"Okay, jus' checkin'. Shame though . . . Ryan was a good man . . ." He told her and she nodded before shooting her a relieved smile on his own. "Sorry for startlin' ya too, I jus' had to make sure ya guys were safe." He told her and she smiled a small smile.
"No its fine – I'm glad you came to find me, in fact. Have you figured anything out?" She asked him and he nodded.
"Me, Rick and Glenn found Patrick in one of the cells. We didn' find any bites on him or anythin' like tha', so he prolly started it somehow. We don't know how, though, but tha Doc's gonna take a look at him as soon as possible. We're bringin' it to the council later this afternoon." He told her and she nodded as she put her hands to her face.
"Oh, poor Patrick – he didn't deserve that! He said he felt sick yesterday afternoon at story-time, but me and Carol didn't think anything of it – we thought the food hadn't settled on his stomach right or something like that." She told him and Daryl nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, I know, right? Poor everyone - but look, I got to get back to it, okay? Last time I saw 'em, the girls were outside with everyone else. Check there?" Tessa gave him a nod and a thankful look before he moved to plant a kiss on her cheek before moving off, his crossbow in his hands. She continued on herself and she indeed found the terrified girls milling around outside with the rest of the frightened crowd and issued them inside with gentle words and soft touches. And when they finally entered the cell, Carol's sympathetic eyes meeting them, she stepped aside as they approached their quickly dying father, tears appearing in their eyes.
"We-we need to go get Dr. S!" Mika immediately spoke up and Tessa gave her a sympathetic look as well as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and shook her head.
"He's already been bit, honey. There's nothing that Dr. S can do."
They descended into silence then, Tessa and Carol not saying anything as Ryan spoke a few last words to his daughters before falling completely silent and still. They knew he was dead with Lizzie reached out and upon taking his hand, began shaking it and calling 'dad!'. The two women shared a look and Tessa nodded as she gently took ahold of the two girls and attempted to pull them from the cell, Carol following, shushing them and telling them that what she had to do she had to do quickly and that it was something they had to do.
"Wait outside with Tessa, okay?" She told them before turning around, withdrawing her knife as she did so. Lizzie quickly grabbed ahold of her arm, however, and when Carol turned around to face her, she shook her head.
"No, let me do it." She told her and as Mika tearfully shook her head, she stepped back into Tessa's arms, who held her close as Lizzie remained standing there, gaze locked on Carol's.
"Are you sure?" Carol asked and Lizzie nodded.
"Yeah – you and Mrs. Tess taught us, remember?" She told her and Carol shared a slightly uneasy look with Tessa before handing her the knife and gently pushing her towards her father.
"Okay, but you have to do it now and quick, before he changes, okay?" She told her and Lizzie nodded as she stood there and gazed down at him, the knife in her hand. "Remember what me and Tess showed you."
Lizzie nodded but the longer she stood there and gazed down at her father, trying to build up the courage to do it, the faster she lost that nerve. Eventually, she shook her head and began whimpering as she backed away, the knife falling from her hands to the floor with a clatter and Carol quickly took her by the arms and turned her around to face her, where she shook her head. "It's okay, Lizzie – it's okay! You don't have to do it – we can!" She told her while nodding to her and Tessa and Lizzie nodded, her gazed flickering between the two of them before she took her sister's hand and pulled her from the cell, trying her damndest not to allow her tears be shown to them. They heard the girl's tears come from outside when the wet 'thunk' of Carol's knife disappearing into Ryan Samuels' head finally reached them and Tessa heaved a sigh as Carol glanced at her, her eyes mournful as she wiped off the blade on her pants before sheathing it. They stood there and gazed at him for a moment; the only sounds that filled their ears were the cries and sobs that echoed throughout the block.
Finally, Carol spoke and when she did, it was a question that Tessa did not expect to hear from her. "Would you ever be able to do that to Daryl, if you and him were in Lizzie and Ryan's places?" Carol asked her as tears appeared in her eyes and Tessa swallowed hard as she shook her head.
"No . . . he already decided what would happen if it came to that. He told me that if he didn't or if he couldn't pull the trigger himself, then he'd want Ethan or Rick to do it, not me."
Carol turned an interested gaze onto her. "Why?"
Tessa swallowed hard as she turned her eyes onto her. "'Cause he's smart enough to know that if I had to do it, Carol, then I'd turn that knife or that gun on myself afterwards."
