Okay, I don't do this very often anymore, but this chapter IS dedicated to HaloHunter89, a very loyal fan whose super long, amazing review a couple of chapters back, gave me the amazing idea for this flashback chapter. Hope ya like it honey, because I sweated over a hot keyboard to give you guys this! ;)

NanamiYatsumaki: Thank ya, I plan to :)

scoobydoo0811: Just keep reading - there's more to it than ya think :)

HaloHunter89: I'm glad at least one of you reviewed telling me about how you liked the "fight scene". I didn't know how I wanted to do it at first and I'm happy that how I did end up doing it, struck a chord. I didn't think an outright fight would have been the right thing to do and I didn't want to skip over the fight too, so I kinda went with the middle ground. "Bunch of rough, sweet-talkin' fellas" - Probably one of my favorite lines of any review I have gotten LOL. As for the girl fight - gonna have to wait for that :)

DarylDixon'sLover: Just keep reading! Not all is what it seems . . .

PS: Daryl might be kind of a dick in this chapter. But like anyone cares. Also Merle comes back briefly and for those of you who catches the Blade II reference I made in here, you get brownie points ;)


Eleven Years Ago . . .

"Hey, welcome to JT's, just have a seat wherever you like – holy shit! Tess, is that you?!"

Tessa grinned and nodded as she shifted Ethan to her other hip and continued to stand there uneasily in the doorway to Shooter's Mill's only bar/diner, the dull light that was shining on her from the dusty windows and the lights hanging above them, were hazy with cigarette smoke. The waitress standing behind the bar who had once been one of Tessa's good friends, as well as JT, the bartender, the owner, Tessa's old boss and finally, one of the only father figures she had while growing up, gazed at her, mouths held agape with shock.

"Hey Medina, hey JT. Long time, so see, right?" She spoke, her voice quiet and slightly apologetic for being gone so long without a word, and the both of them glanced at each other before dropping everything and immediately making their way around the counter. They quickly crossed the distance between them, where they each hugged her tightly, always remaining aware of the little boy being carried on her hip. When they broke apart, she saw tears shining in their eyes.

"Holy shit, girlie - we thought ya were dead!" JT finally spoke and her eyebrows furrowed in confusion as a grinning Medina held out her hands.

"May I hold him, Tess? He's jus' the most scrumptious little thing . . .!" She asked her and Tessa smiled and nodded.

"Oh yeah, sure – here. He's been in the car all morning, so he might be a little energetic . . ." Medina nodded as she shifted Ethan over to the ever-so-slightly older African American woman as she turned a still confused look onto JT. "Why did you guys think I was dead?"

JT gestured her to come take a seat at the bar and she did just that as he reached underneath for a glass, where he then filled it with coke from the nearby machine. He slid it to her and she took it gratefully as he moved to fill up a pitcher of beer for another customer. Tessa, meanwhile, ran her eyes over JT's constantly growing "Hall of Memories" situated behind the bar, which was, in actuality, just a large corkboard covered in a massive amount of pictures – some faded and some brand new. A majority of them, though, were pictures from Tessa's scant highschool years, when the town had been overrun with teenagers wanting nothing more but to see Shooter's Mill in their rearview mirrors as they left as soon as they graduated. However, those wants turned out to be simple pipe dreams.

Her eyes found the picture quite easily – the picture that JT had tacked up there the morning after the highschool's Homecoming Football game with its rival, and which had been taken at one of the town's numerous tailgate parties before. It was a picture of a much younger, extremely handsome Daryl (something that was often vehemently denied by him) sitting on the hood of a big, black and very beautiful Jeep Wrangler YJ (Daryl had always been a Jeep Wrangler nut - always). A much younger Tessa was standing in front of him and the Jeep, and in-between his parted legs. The both of them were wearing the same huge, almost dopey grins on their faces that they always had when they were around each other, as Daryl hugged her tightly from behind, his chin resting on her shoulder.

Tessa smiled a small smile of nostalgia and moved to lean on her elbow on the polished surface of the bar, her chin moving to rest in the palm of her hand as she continued to gaze at the picture for a moment longer. JT had always told her when she worked there, that she was the best thing that had ever happened to Daryl Dixon – despite what his father said when he was drunk. She had gotten him to graduate when he had originally wanted to drop out, as well as been the one thing that had kept him on the same straight and narrow that his brother had taken a U-turn off of. She had gotten him his first job at Ansel's Garage right across the street, and for a while, they were the Golden Couple of Shooter's Mill, to the point to where old ladies would stop her in the street or in one of the shops and grinningly ask when the wedding was whenever they noticed the engagement ring on her finger, as well as how soon they could expect to see the next generation of Dixons afterwards.

Tessa doubted that Daryl and his family had ever heard the same words being spoken with as much excitement and happiness, as they were whenever Tessa found herself accosted, with or without Daryl.

But of course, they all knew there had been no wedding, nor any future generation of Dixons (in Shooter's Mill, anyway). She could only imagine the town's shock when it got out that Tessa Nightrun had left Shooter's Mill for good . . . and without the man that she had seemed to love so much.

JT returned her a minute or two later. "That's a good lookin' son ya got there with ya, girlie. Looks the spittin' image of a certain Dixon, too . . ." He told her and she nodded and smiled. It was no use lying to JT – he wasn't a dumb man and Tessa didn't think she had ever met a more observant one.

"Yeah . . . yeah, I know, right?" She asked him as she took a sip of her coke. JT nodded.

"The reason we thought ya were dead, was because when ya left, Merle went around and told everyone that you had died in a car accident comin' back from Atlanta." He told her and she furrowed her eyebrows in both shock and confusion this time.

"Are you serious?" He nodded solemnly. She had never known JT Wallace to lie.

"As serious as a heart attack, girlie. But little did we know that ya had simply left . . . pregnant . . . with his younger brother's little rugrat." Tessa nodded slowly and a little sheepishly.

"Yeah, and I know how it looks, JT, but there is a reason why I left, I promise you!" JT nodded sagely, his eyes softening.

"I know, girlie, I know. Merle isn't exactly the easiest man to live with and if there is a reason why ya left like I know there is – 'cause I know ya, Tess, and ya wouldn' have left Daryl without a damn good reason - then it's 'cause of Merle."

"How . . . how is he, JT?" She finally got up the courage to ask, swallowing hard as she did so. Her voice had lowered as well and the older man knew she was talking about Daryl. He nodded slowly as his eyes moved to train on something on the opposite wall.

"He's . . ." He trailed off before heaving a sigh. "I won' lie to ya, Tess, he's had a few run-ins with the law over the years since ya left. Mainly, it's been public intoxication and a few minor drug possession and distribution charges, but then . . ." He told her, trailing off again and when he started talking again, Tessa's eyes widened slightly in growing horror and sadness. "There are also the assault and battery charges . . ." He shook his head, his eyes sad as he turned them back onto her. "His life took a swan-dive into the shitter when ya left him, Tess. First time I ever saw him come in here to get drunk, was the day he realized ya left him. It was also when his first assault charge could have been filed against him but the Sheriff let him off with a warnin' on account of ya and the good behavior ya inspired in him over the years. The next night, though, he came in again, got drunk again and then really did have an assault charge filed against him."

"What happened?"

"Ya know yourself, Tess, that Shooter's Mill ain' exactly a large town – shit has a tendency to get around fast here. So by that time – even a day or two later - it was pretty damn apparent that ya had left him for whatever reason, and split town. This was before Merle came up with his little plan to tell everyone that ya had died on the way back from Atlanta and maybe if he had come up with it a little sooner, maybe Daryl would have nearly as many assault and battery charges stacked up against him as he does. Well, when he got drunk and it was pretty damn apparent that he was drunk, one of the other drunken assholes in here decided that he wanted to pick a fight with Will Dixon's youngest. Ya know yaself that's probably a stupid move in and of itself, speakin' Dixons are formidable fighters sober, however, when you put liquor in their system . . .!" He shook his head. "Ya don' wanna piss 'em off!"

"What was said?" She asked and JT's lips pursed slightly before he leaned further into her, his voice lowering.

"The asshole told him that maybe the reason ya left him, was because he wasn' stickin' it to ya good enough."

Tessa immediately flinched, knowing damn good and well just why that had made Daryl go off. The last time they had slept together, had been the night she left him. So it was understandable that cracks like that would really get to him.

JT shook his head. "And once these drunken asshole figured out that they could get to him with any crack said against ya, it didn' matter how many times they saw him hand the poor sap in question his ass on a platter, they hardly didn't stop! Daryl hadn't exactly been popular before ya came here, Tess, and ya comin' here and then hookin' up with him as quickly as ya did, certainly didn' help matters either."

"Why?" She asked in confusion, and JT rolled his eyes.

"Every jackass that came in here and started shit with him, Tess, was those asshole jocks in highschool that had always been jealous that 'a piece of white trash shit like Daryl Dixon, ever managed to get ya – one of the prettiest girls in school' – and those were some of their own words, too!"

"So, what has he been up to lately?" She asked and JT promptly raised an inquiring brow.

"Do you mean before or after he lost his job at Ansel's?"

Tessa's mouth fell open in shock. "He lost his job at Ansel's? He loved that job – Hell, Ansel looked at him as his own son!" She told her and he nodded.

"It broke his heart to do so, but yup. Daryl just . . . stopped comin' in after a while, accordin' to Ansel. Best damn mechanic he had since he opened and he had to let him go 'cause he wasn' doin' his job and Ansel was losin' money."

Tessa shook her head. "Well what's he doin' now?"

JT grimaced. "Rumor has it that he's dealin' drugs now, Tess, which accounts for the couple of drug possession and distribution charges he has against it. There's also a rumor that he's makin' and growin' his own product too so he can cut out the middleman."

"And he hasn't been caught yet?"

"No one knows how he's avoided the cops until now but he has. He's smart, Tess."

She nodded vaguely. "Yeah . . . yeah, he always has been." She muttered as Medina finally returned to them, a broad grin on her face as she bounced Ethan up and down on her hip.

"Tessa, darlin', he is the most adorable thing on the entire planet, I swear to God! What's his name?" Tessa smiled a small smile and glanced at JT.

"Ethan. His name is Ethan Daryl Dixon."

JT smiled a small, amused smile as Medina immediately stopped bouncing Ethan on her hip, only to turn another look of gaping shock onto her. "Ethan . . . Ethan Daryl . . . Dixon?" She repeated, and Tessa nodded as JT reached out and smoothed his hand over the blue-black downy hair covering Ethan's head.

"Never thought ya'd live to see the day where a Dixon this young would walk through that door, huh, Medina?" He asked with a laugh and she jerkily nodded as she continued to glare at Tessa.

"You . . . you had Daryl's son and you let no one know?"

Once again, Tessa felt a stab of guilt and she opened her mouth to explain – to explain to them just why she had left and that she had absolutely no idea she was pregnant when she left because the night they had conceived Ethan was the night she had left, but the words didn't come. They refused to come, in fact.

The door opened behind her and immediately, she saw JT's lips purse in irritation. She felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and her body tensed when she heard His voice.

"Hey JT, how's it hangin'? Same shit different day?"

There was a silence for a moment, a silence in which JT made no reply, before He must have realized she was there. She could just sense the grin that spread across His face when he saw her. She heard him laugh as he sauntered over to the bar, where he leaned on it on his elbow beside her.

"Well, well, well, if it ain' Tessa - a bonafide walkin', talkin' zambie, ain' ya, sweetpea?"

Tessa's eyes were full of hatred as she turned them onto Merle Dixon. "I wouldn't know about that, Merle, but from what JT's done told me, you know plenty, don't you?" Merle gave a casual shrug.

"I did what I had to in order to drag ma baby brother outta tha fog ya abandonment left him in." Tessa gave him a glare.

"I did not abandon him!" She snarled and his eyebrows immediately rose in surprise.

"Oh ya didn', did ya? So ya fuckin' him and then leavin' him in the middle of the night without an explanation, could not be classified as abandonment?" Tessa bit down on her bottom lip. All this time she'd been gone – all this time without making any sort of contact with Daryl – she had not once considered what she had done to him, as 'abandonment'. She didn't know why, but it wasn't exactly the first word that popped into her head whenever she thought back on what she done. She always said 'left' or 'dumped him' if she was feeling bitter about something – never 'abandoned'. To her, you 'abandoned' someone in a life-threatening situation.

But even that rationalization sounded lame to her ears.

Merle heaved a sigh and it was then, that his eyes landed on Ethan sitting on the bar beside her. His eyebrows immediately knitted together in interest as he gazed at him. "Now, who's this little guy?" He asked and Tessa gave him a tense smile.

"He's your nephew, Merle." She told him and the look he gave her was one of ever-so-slight anger. He straightened up slightly, his body thrumming with anger.

"Ya left ma baby brother and never bothered to tell him ya were expectin' his son?" He shook his head. "Ya don' walk out on a man carryin' his only son, Tess – ya don' do it!"

"You think I wanted to, you son-of-a-bitch?" She hissed to him, anger snapping in her eyes as she got up from her barstool and moved to face him, her voice lowering substantially. JT must have noticed because he gently wrapped a hand around Medina's upper arm, where he steered her in the direction of the other side of the bar. Tessa quickly grabbed up Ethan so that he would fall off the bar with JT and Medina leaving them, and propped him on her hip. Her eyes had remained on Merle's the entire time though and anger remained in her eyes as she shook her head. "You forced me to leave, Merle, after what you done to me in the barn! And for your information, Ethan was conceived the night I left! I had no idea I was pregnant until about a month went by!"

"And ya think tha' justifies this, sweetpea, huh?" He asked her, anger causing his hands to ball into fists at his side. He let out a laugh and rolled his eyes. "For the love of God, ya could pick this kid out as Daryl's in a fuckin' line-up!" He shook his head. "And I don' regret what I did, but -!"

"But what, you fucking asshole?" She hissed, interrupting him mid-sentence, and he shook his head.

"Why are ya back here, Tess? Ya left – ya got outta here but now ya back and for what? Are ya here to see Daryl again? Tell him ya have his son and ya want to be with him again?" He shook his head as he changed the subject, giving a shrug afterwards. "What makes ya think he does want ya back, sweetpea? What makes ya think he even loves ya anymore?"

Tessa balked at that. Why exactly had she come back? She had rationalized it by coming to see all her old friends and get in touch with those she unfairly left and it had occurred to her that word would eventually spread around town that Tessa had been back and when that happened, it would also eventually get to him. And really, it had been a spur-of-the-moment decision and really, she didn't know if she wanted to see Daryl or not.

She shook her head. "I have his son, Merle -"

"Yeah, well Tess, if ya went to see him, then ya could call yaself a home wrecker, 'cause he's got himself a family now too."

Tessa's face paled. "W-what . . .?" She asked and Merle nodded as he hooked his hand underneath her arm, where he steered her in the direction of the door, where he opened it. He pointed across the street towards Ansel's Garage, only to see Daryl standing in front of the lowered tailgate of his truck, a woman standing in front of him – a woman who looked the epitome of the opposite of Tessa. Platinum blonde hair, willowy, almost rakish figure and what she could tell was bright blue eyes, the woman was currently lip-locked with her man.

Or . . . the man that had been her man . . .

Tessa numbly shook her head and Daryl gave a shrug of his shoulders. "Sorry, sweet-pea . . . but everyone moves on eventually."

She glanced at him and turned back to gaze at the both of them for a moment before she shoved past Merle and walked quickly down the street towards where she had parked, JT and Medina both shouting in alarm after her. Tessa hadn't heard them, though. All she could hear was the rush of blood in her ears and all she could feel was the prickling of tears in her eyes as she held her son close and as her heart snapped in two in her chest.


"Hey, you . . .!"

It was a particularly hot, balmy day, as Daryl sat on his lowered tailgate in the parking lot beside Ansel's Garage, waiting for Merle to get done with whatever he had to do in JT's across the street. He arched a brow inquiringly as he looked in the direction of the voice, only to see a tall, willowy blonde woman making her way over towards, walking shakily over the gravel on sky-high heels. He rolled his eyes and mentally cursed, especially when he saw the flirtatious smile on her face. Jesus Christ, not this bitch again.

"What do ya want, April?" He growled and she gave him a grin and a light laugh.

"Ya didn't call me last night. Ya said ya would."

"I was busy. I had shit to do."

"Well, that's funny, 'cause . . . ya've said that for the past four days." Daryl gave a laugh and nodded as he took out a cigarette and stuck it in-between his lips. He lit it and took a drag before he took it away.

"Yeah, well, I've been busy for the last four days. It's not exactly unheard of – somethin' tha' happens a lot when ya grow up."

April shook her head. "Daryl, I don' like bein' led around, ya now? And doin' this with ya – this takes me off the market -!"

"This?" He interrupted with a laugh. He grinned and shook his head. "Darlin', we ain' doin' nothin'! Hell, we only slept together once and I hate to say it, but ya weren' exactly tha' best lay I've ever had and likewise, I wasn' exactly givin' ya tha' best I could have given ya, so . . ." He gave a shrug. "Don' know why ya so hung up on me, to tell ya the truth. It's not like I slapped somethin' on ya that's makin' ya come back. Not-to-mention, I don' want anythin' from ya and besides, ya graduated what? Last year?" She nodded and he let out a sarcastic scoff. "That only makes it worse. And, jus' to let ya know . . ." He threw a glance her way. "When ya drunk and ya get picked up drunk in a bar, typically, it's not by a guy who wants commitment with ya ass!"

He could see the hurt look that speared through her eyes, but felt nothing. There was only one woman for him and unfortunately, that woman was God only knew where.

"Is this about her?" April suddenly asked and Daryl's snapped onto her, where they vibrated with a sudden angry intensity.

"Ya say anythin' bad 'bout her and I swear to God, April, I'll cut ya off!"

There was a look of fear that speared through her eyes then before it disappeared and Daryl smirked. Never fuck or end up fucking your drug dealer - it always ended up blowing up in your face.

She shook her head. "I wasn' gonna. I was just gonna say that she had to be a right amazin' woman to have the ability to hold ya attention all these years . . ." She trailed off and Daryl nodded stiffly, finding himself wishing and praying that Merle would hurry up and get done with whatever he was doing so he could away from her and stay away from her until she was calling him needing her next fix. Stupid damn meth whore; only good thing about her was her Preacher daddy's money.

"She was. Prolly the best damn woman I've ever had, too."

"Is that why you murmured her name when ya were in bed with me – when ya came? Was it 'Tessa'?" She asked, her eyebrows furrowing in interest as she took a few steps towards her and his eyes snapped onto her again. He slowly shook his head as she continued on: "Is she the woman you're with in the picture at JT's – the one of you on the Jeep? If so, I don' blame ya . . . she's gorgeous!"

"Ya have no right sayin' her name and ya have no right talkin' 'bout her!" He told her, his voice hard, quiet and cold, and his eyes angry. "She was a better woman than ya will ever be!"

"Do you think of her every time ya in bed with another woman?"

Daryl's jaw hardened and his teeth gritted. He looked away as he felt a migraine start to beat away in his head. Come on, Merle!

"Every time the woman I'm with don' do anythin' for me." He replied to her, his voice a little snappish and terse, but she could tell by his stiff, slightly angry posture, that, that was a lie. Why else would it be blatant knowledge that every woman Daryl Dixon took home from the bar, should expect to have sex while bent over something? Daryl Dixon was not a loving man and sex with him should not be expected to be loving and gentle. It was well known for its roughness and brutality – the kind of sex you had when you either wanted to get another man out of your head or you were just in the mood to get used and then left there like a soiled napkin.

His life had become empty without Tessa . . . empty and dark and no amount of drugs, alcohol and sex would be able to fill that emptiness.

Maybe this is what people called, 'depression'.

"Ya know, everyone says ya've become just like ya brother and ya father ever since she left ya," She told him, her voice quiet and soothing as she started clearing the distance between them. He let out another scoff of amusement. It was funny, this little teenybopper standing beside him, saying he was like his father when she didn't even know Will Dixon. Just went to show him how no one could keep their mouths shut in this shitty little town. "But I think ya just misunderstood."

Daryl let out a laugh as he turned his eyes onto her, watching as she finally closed the distance between them. "Oh, really?" She nodded.

"Absolutely. Ya just need another woman to get her out of ya head."

One of Daryl's eyebrows arched in amusement. "And ya think ya tha' woman, huh, April?" He asked her and she gave a sheepish smile before giving a shrug.

"Well . . . maybe . . . if ya let me . . ."

Daryl could remember, clear as day, their first night up in the barn – the night where him and Tessa had slept together for the first time. He remembered the way his heart had pounded so hard in his chest that it hurt, and the way his breathing had torn ragged from his lungs as he lay there on the mattress, hands digging into the sheet underneath him and fisting into the clothe until his knuckles turned white. He didn't act that way because she was blowing him, or climbing on top of him with the intention of lowering herself down onto him (the sheer mind-blowingness of those things came later) - no, he was acting that way, because of one completely simple reason:

She had been standing in front of him, body outlined in the low, dim light coming from the kerosene lantern not that far away from them, about to slip her dress down her – even then – voluptuous frame.

That was it.

He had been lying there, about to go into cardiac arrest, because the most beautiful damn woman in the entire world was about to get naked in front of him for the first time and he didn't know if he could take it. And even later, the 5th, 10th - even the 100th time they slept together - Tessa always made him sit or lie down fully clothed while she undressed in front of him, simply for the reason that she knew how badly it fucked him up in the head to have to sit there and watch her.

And until a woman could make him do the same thing every time they got ready to go to bed with each other just like he had with Tessa, he wouldn't move on – he refused to move on.

Daryl grinned and shook his head. He gave out a laugh as he took another drag of his cigarette. "April, hun, ya'll never be able to compare to her, so don' even try. Go find yaself a good guy, get offa tha drugs and most of all – get out of this good-for-nothin', Podunk town. I'm not who ya want." She nodded stubbornly as a look of slight confusion on her face.

"But . . . you are who I want, Daryl!" She told him and he shook his head, giving a roll of his eyes as he did so.

"No, I'm not, April! I'm a fuckin' asshole and I'll treat ya like shit 'cause ya not tha woman I want! Ya ain' gonna change me, ya ain' gonna . . ." He waved his hand through the air in irritation. "Ya ain' gonna make me move on and ya ain' gonna make me fall in love with ya the more drugs ya buy offa me! Ya wastin' ya breath with me – ya wastin' ya time with me, April! The only reason ya want me is 'cause ya think ya can fix me and I can ya right now tha' the only woman who can fix me is God only knows where out there and ya ain' her! Ya also want me 'cause ya think it'd somehow be glamorous if ya were known here as Daryl Dixon's 'girl'." He shook his head. "Ya ain' fixin' me, April, and ya ain' gonna be my girl. Now go do what I said and leave me the fuck alone. I ain' sellin' to ya anymore either."

April stood there for a moment, at a loss for what to say for a moment before shaking her head. "Ya know, when I first saw ya, I thought ya were . . . I thought ya were amazin'!" She told him and he let out a scoff.

"Don' know why."

"Me either," She admitted with a laugh. "I just saw how bad ya were hurtin' and I thought that maybe I could help ya get over whoever had done that to ya. But ya right – I can see now that ya won' ever get over her. Ya'll keep yaself miserable and alone until the day possibly rolls around where she steps back in ya life again." She shook her head. "And that ain' no way to live, Daryl, it ain'! Human bein's ain' made to be lonely – they ain' made to live without love."

Daryl glanced at her, his voice cold when he addressed her. "Why are ya still here?"

April shook her head then. "Don' worry, I'm 'bout to walk away and ya won' ever see me again, I promise ya that! But can I get somethin' first?"

"I ain' sellin' right now."

"It ain' drugs I'm wantin', Daryl."

Daryl turned a look of interest onto her then. "Then what is it?"

April smiled a small smile as she stepped closer to him, her hand moving to grip his neck. "Can I at least have a kiss? And not one of those stupid little pecks on the lips, either – a genuine kiss - one that ya would give her? I want to know at least a pale shadow of the love ya hold for her."

Daryl gazed at her for a moment before eventually heaving an exasperated sigh and nodding. He stepped off of the tailgate and motioned for her to step closer to her. "Fine – come here. But after I do this, I expect to never see or hear from ya again, ya understand?" She quickly nodded and he pursed his lips and stood there, steeling himself for a moment, before he grabbed her by the hips and yanked her to him, where he pressed his lips to hers. It started out as a slow, passionate kiss that was already making her knees week, however, when it grew much deeper upon her opening her mouth to him so that his tongue could slip inside her mouth, it made her head positively swim. Who knew this man could kiss so well?

Daryl, however, was counting down the seconds until she released him for air and he could push her away. Her smell was not Tessa's – the way she tasted, which was not all-together bad – was not how Tessa tasted. The bony hips his hands were holding were not the smooth swell of Tessa's. Everything about this girl screamed that she wasn't Tessa and he hated her for it.

Eventually, they finally parted and Daryl let out a breath of relief as she simply adopted a slightly stunned look on her face. He rolled his eyes when he saw her, however, the look of irritation disappeared when he saw Merle standing in the doorway of JT's, holding it open as a woman stood in the threshold, a woman with long, blue-black hair and with the same beautiful features as Tessa . . .

His eyebrows furrowed in immediate confusion but April's voice caused him to immediately cast a disgruntled look onto her. "Man, if you fucked me like you just kissed me, there would be no way I would go away this easy!" She laughed and he rolled his eyes again and shook his head.

"Thank God for that, then!" He muttered as he pushed her away and took a step forward towards the bar. He stopped, however, when he saw the woman was gone – that Tessa was gone – leaving only Merle standing there. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as Merle began crossing the street towards him. "Where is she?" He demanded and Merle gave him a confused look.

"Where's who?"

"Don' fuck with me right now, Merle – where's Tess! She was standin' right there!" He pointed towards the entrance to JT's, and Merle grinned and whistled as he shook his head.

"Man, Scud, either the sun done baked ya brain or all tha' pot ya smoked today did, 'cause I think ya seein' things! Tess is dead, remember?"

Daryl ignored him and instead, turned his eyes back onto JT's, where he scanned it for a moment before looking up both streets. Merle was right, she was gone. He really must have been seeing things.