Sorry for the long wait, for everyone reading this who resides in the US, I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving . Everyone else, hope you had a nice weekend :)

This is a rather interesting chapter, namely because Michonne has a little chat with Sam. Sorry if she might come off a bit OC, couldn't really avoid it :)

DarylDixon'sLover: All I can tell ya, hun, is to keep reading :)

NanamiYatsumaki: Yeah, I felt sad writing it :(

HaloHunter89: Yeah, another Jeeper man! I got a 2006 Sport myself which is probably why a vast majority of people in my stories drive around in Jeeps. Its what I drive, so it what they drive lol. I kinda viewed what Merle did, as both a selfish act and in his own twisted way, protecting his brother and his own hide. If Tessa came back, it would have caused drama, maybe have shed some light on what he did to her . . . don't know exactly, but does anyone fully know Merle's motives but Merle? And yeah, I agree, I really wanted to show that they were both suffering, not just Tessa.

Did anyone else get completely excited when Daryl lost his cool and threatened Martin on the overhang? I know I did - how could someone not? ha ha


"Are you sure you're gonna be alright?"

Tessa gave Maggie a soft smile and a nod. "Yeah, hun, I'll be fine, I promise. It's not like I haven't went through one of these before. The bleeding won't stop for a while, I suspect, so what I have to do is just sit here and rest until it does. That means the two of you are going to have to make my rounds for me," She spoke, directing her words towards Beth and Wren then and the two girls nodded as she continued: "And only come get me unless you think it's something bad. I cannot stress to you the importance of me staying in this bed and resting." Maggie nodded in agreement.

"She's right. That's what daddy said: rest and plenty of fluids." Tessa gave her a small smile as Wren leaned forward and took her hand, her eyebrows knitting together in worry.

"Are you going to lose the baby?" She asked and Tessa gave her a weak shrug.

"Without an ultrasound, I'm not sure. I'll . . ." She trailed off and sighed. "I'll have to wait until the bleeding stops and if the pregnancy progresses past that point, then we have our answer. If it doesn't . . ." She gave another shrug. "Then again, we have our answer." Beth bit down on her bottom lip as she crossed her arms in front of her chest and as Maggie leaned forward and took her other hand.

"The baby is a Dixon, Tessa. It'll hang on, I know it will!"

Tessa continued to smile as she nodded, although inside she wasn't sure. They had the twins – two eight-month-old babies that already demanded so much of their time as it was – they didn't need another baby. Then, they had the virus to combat and even though she knew Daryl and the others would be getting back with the meds in a couple of hours to a day at the max, she wasn't sure if she wanted to bring another child into the world when something so dangerous was running rampant. They already had to worry about the twins catching it!

And then remembered Daryl's words the night she had shown him the negative pregnancy test that had quite obviously been faulty (she knew she should have gotten Michonne to grab more than one – you always took more than one pregnancy test – how could she have been so stupid?!). He had told her he was too old to be chasing after another baby along with the twins and for a moment, Tessa wondered how he would react to the news. Would he greet it as joyfully as he had the news of the twins? Or would he treat it impassively – coolly? As much as she had hoped for the first, she knew he would probably treat it the same way she was now – with trepidation at the most.

Tessa was yanked out of her thoughts by Maggie leaning forward and taking her hand again. She turned her eyes onto her and Maggie smiled apologetically. "I'd love to stay and sit with you but I have to get back on guard duty. You'll be fine here, right?" She asked her and Tessa nodded.

"Oh yeah, I'll be peachy. I have Wren and Beth to help out and if we need anything, Carl makes his rounds pretty routinely." She told her and Maggie nodded and squeezed her hand before releasing it and getting to her feet. They watched her leave and when she did, Beth and Wren turned to her, where Tessa heaved a sigh. "You guys go make the rounds now, okay? Ask if anyone needs anything and look out for signs of the sickness or any other symptoms. Just because they're sick, doesn't mean they're infected, but still, don't get too close just in case. And only come get me unless you think its really important." They nodded before sharing a slightly uneasy look.

"You'll be fine here, right Tess?" Beth asked her a little nervously, and Tessa gave her an reassuring look before nodding.

"I'm exhausted, Beth. Like, you have no idea how exhausting a miscarriage or a potential miscarriage is. So yeah, I'll be fine. I'm just gonna stay here and try my hardest to get some sleep. I need to relax and I aim to do just that!" She told them and they nodded as Wren stepped forward and took her hand as well.

"I'll bring you some water when we're done, okay?" She told her and Tessa gave her a kind smile and nodded.

"Thanks sweetie. If I'm not sleep, then just leave it on the desk, okay?" She told her and Wren nodded as Tessa pressed a kiss to the back of her hand before watching the two of them leave the room. She heaved a sigh when they were gone and moved up the blanket on her cot slightly in order to shift herself downwards so that her head was lying on the pillow. Her eyes immediately grew heavy and despite the thoughts swirling around in her head like they were caught in the middle of a hurricane, as well as the twinges of pain deep within her womb, it wasn't long before blackness overcame her and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.


"Hey, how are you feeling?"

Sam looked up at Michonne approaching him, face void of any and all emotion like it normally was, and he let out a sarcastic snort and shook his head. Her and Tyrese were done chopping the ivy and branches that had grown over the van they had found and while she made her way towards Sam, Martin and Tyrese were hanging around the doorway to the garage, watching Daryl and Ethan's back, as well as constantly surveying the surrounding area for signs of walkers.

"Like fuckin' raw hamburger meat – what do you think?" He replied and she nodded.

"Well . . . that's what ya get for messin' with Daryl." She turned her eyes onto him, a slightly amused look on her face. "Just as a point of curiosity . . . but how hard does he hit? No one's actually felt it but that doesn't mean that a sick part of us doesn't wonder." Sam gave her a look as he gingerly touched his swollen shut left eye.

"It's like gettin' kicked by a damn mule three or four times in the face! I'm surprised he didn't break his hand . . ." He grumbled and Michonne grinned and laughed as they watched as Daryl and Ethan ducked into the newly opened door of the gas station, crossbow and rifle held aloft. She could sense Sam growing stoic at the sight and turned her attention back onto him as he slowly shook his head.

"They're a really good team, aren't they?" He mused and Michonne nodded slowly as well.

"They're father and son – what do you expect?" She returned and Sam didn't deign to answer her. Eventually, Michonne heaved a sigh and turned to face him. "What game are you playing at, exactly?"

Sam furrowed his eyebrows in confusion as he turned to face her. "What do you mean?" She shook her head.

"Antagonizing and fighting Daryl at every turn, trying to get Ethan to see your point of view even though he's made it clear by now that his loyalties lie with Daryl – giving goo-goo eyes to Tess whenever you think she's not looking. . ." She shook her head again as she trailed off, a look of curiosity flickering in her eyes. "I just want to know what fuckin' game you're playing at. 'Cause quite obviously you ain't doing this for your health!" She told him with an upturned brow at the sight of him.

"I ain't playing at any game -!"

"Well that's too bad, 'cause I think you are," She interrupted him tersely before glancing at the opened doorway to the gas station that the two Dixons had disappeared into. "You weren't around back then and neither was I, I'll admit, but from what Tessa has told me and from what I witnessed the few scant months before you came, you don't stand a bloody chance. This family has been through Hell and back multiple times over and each and every one of them have done things that they are not proud of since leaving Atlanta. But they get through it because of each other – because they help each other get through it because they have no choice. What gives you the right to try and rip that apart because you don't have Tessa anymore and you're throwing a tantrum because of it?" Sam wordlessly shook his head.

"I-I'm not -"

Michonne shook her head again. "Okay, then say you're not trying to split this family apart - you still need to stop whatever shit you're trying to do or you are unconsciously causing to happen. You're causing stress and strife in that family and you need to stop. The twins don't need to grow up with that much familial stress, as well as the stress that living in this shitty world brings people on a daily basis. Ethan does not need to continue to grow up in that either – he does not need to cultivate a relationship with Wren in such a stressful environment."

Sam shook his head and gave a light laugh. "Look, Michonne, I respect your opinion and all, but this doesn't really concern you -!"

Michonne interrupted him once again by placing her hands on her hips and letting out a laugh. "Daryl just handed you your ass on a silver platter not an hour and a half ago and yet you still act like your shit doesn't stink!" Her jaw hardened then as her grin disappeared, as well as the laughter from her eyes. "Tessa is my sister and my best friend. Those twins and that boy in there are like my nephews and my niece. When Judith's mother Lori died, me and Maggie – Maggie more than I did at first – tried our damndest to help out with her as much as we could, not only with the twins but with her grief at losing the one best friend she had, had from the beginning. Hell, I'm even in a relationship with the man that Daryl considers his brother! So understandably, I'm quite close to that family." She shook her head and took a step towards him. "It was not my intention to threaten you right after your little squabble with Daryl but considering that you still have one Hell of a chip on your shoulder, I feel I have to. You do anything to try and ruin what family Daryl and Tessa has managed to create despite everything and I will make what Daryl done to you today, look like love bites." She arched an eyebrow. "You dig?"

Sam swallowed hard before nodding. "Y-Yeah, I dig." He told her and she nodded.

"Tessa's important to the group, Sam. So are Daryl and Ethan. Everyone looks up to them – everyone goes to them when there's a problem. I think I can also safely say that if you hurt any of them, you won't have just me gunning for your ass. You'll have everyone else, including those that Daryl and Tessa don't get along with."

"Why?" He asked, shocking her with the question, and she shook her head.

"Tessa's a good woman and she makes a point of trying to get along with everyone in order to keep the most peace we can. She's compassionate, kind, understanding . . . traits that are being bred out of existence in this day and age. And with her around, Daryl becomes a better person too, believe it or not. He's not angry anymore – at least not when he's around you. He's responsible, he does what's right . . ." She gave a shrug. "He sets an example that Ethan and Carl and the other kids can look up to – a good example. Again, that's something you won't find very often anymore."

Sam nodded and opened his mouth to reply but Ethan calling to tell them that they had found a new battery, interrupted him. Michonne smiled and nodded, telling him they would be there in a minute and he nodded as he followed Daryl, Martin and Tyrese to the car. She turned her eyes back onto him.

"Remember what I said 'cause I won't tell you again." She told him and he nodded as she then turned and headed towards the rest of the small group. Eventually, Sam followed her and they reached them, right when Ethan was popping up the hood and Daryl was lighting a cigarette.

"Where did you get those?" Michonne asked in shock and he nodded to the garage as he slipped the pack into the back pocket of his jeans.

"Found on tha counter back in tha garage. Why, ya want one?" He asked and Michonne shook her head with a grin.

"No, I quit." She told him and the corners of Daryl's mouth twitched upwards in a smile as Ethan stepped aside so that he could take his place in front of the car, taking the battery from his son as he did so. He glanced back at Martin leaning up against the nearby wall, a cigarette burning in his fingers too.

"Ya never told us 'bout tha group ya were in before." He told him and Martin nodded.

"Which one?" He asked with a wry smile, and Daryl nodded as he leaned underneath the hood to take a better look at the battery. "You know, when you found me on that road, I almost kept walking." He confessed and Daryl let out a laugh as he took the carton of water from Ethan.

"Why's tha'?" He asked before he leaned further into the car to pour water into the battery.

"'Cause I was done being a witness. Two times, two different groups. I was the last one standing from the last one – like I was supposed to see it over and over, like it was some kind of curse." Daryl nodded as he took the cigarette away from his mouth and issued out a long plume of smoke. He glanced at Ethan.

"By tha way, if ya tell ya momma I'm doin' this, I'll tan ya hide!" He told him and Ethan grinned.

"Doin' what?" He asked and Daryl grinned and ruffled his hair as he turned back to Martin when he began speaking again.

"But when it just you out there with the quiet . . . used to be I'd drink a bottle of anything at night in order to be able to shut my eyes at night. Figured the prison, the people . . . thought it'd be easier, you know? The run to the Big Spot, I did it for me." He told him and Daryl gave a shrug as he picked up another carton of water and after popping off the cap, took a swig. Sam watched him for a moment, in awe over how relatively unscathed Daryl seemed to be. Granted, he had heard him say his entire torso was almost black and blue, but he held almost no scrapes or bruises from when he had punched him. Maybe they were right . . . maybe Dixons did heal fast.

"We all gotta keep busy . . ." Daryl told him and Martin shook his head.

"No . . . I did it so that I could get me a bottle." He confessed and immediately, Daryl's eyes snapped onto him. "Of anything. I picked it up, I held it in my hand . . . but then I put it down. I put it down so hard that it took the whole damn shelf down with it. That's what brought on the walkers and that's what got Zach killed."

Daryl gazed at him for a moment before saying: "Tha's bullshit."

Martin immediately turned his eyes up to his. He shook his head. "I know how it feels . . . to crave tha' drink. Hell, I crave it now." He told him and Martin furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion, as did Ethan and Daryl glanced at him before turning his eyes onto the engine in front of him. And when he began speaking, everyone seemed to turn their attention onto him – including Sam. "When Tess left me all those years ago, I did tha one thing tha' I promised her I'd never do, and tha' was become ma old man. I drank for tha same reason he drank – to forget. He drank to forget 'Nam, I drank to forget tha' I didn' have her anymore. I fucked for tha same reason tha' he fucked – to imagine, even if it was but for a fleetin' moment, tha' tha girl I was fuckin' was someone else. And ya can stand there and feel sorry for yaself all ya want to, but at the end of the day, it all boils down to what ya think ya willin' to fight for. And what I'm willin' to fight for is more than enough to keep me off of tha' bottle or at least make it easy for me to know ma limit and put it down." He then turned to Ethan and nodded toward the car. "Go on and test tha motor, Ethan. It's tha red and green wire like I taught ya – it ain' rocket science." He told him and Ethan nodded before darting forward to do as he was told. As he did so, the engine rumbling to life seconds later, Michonne turned a look onto Sam.

"Ready to be back in the same vehicle with him?" She asked him and he shrugged.

"As long as I ain't sitting next to him, I think everything will be fine." He told her as Daryl moved over to Martin.

"And by tha way, me and Sasha picked tha' spot. Ya had no way of knowin'. And yeah, ya used to stand alone, but ya ain' anymore. Ya got one big huge family worth fightin' for now."

Martin gave him a small, thankful smile as he moved to the driver's side, Ethan giving him a small smile as he traded places with him. He didn't say thank you but something told him he didn't need to or it would have been a waste of his time. Daryl didn't seem like the type who exchanged pleasantries like that.


When they reached the veterinary hospital about an hour later, they were surprised at how much they moved through the rooms and the building with an almost SWAT-like precision. They were fast, thorough and constantly on the alert. They searched everywhere, cabinets, shelves, long dead fridges - Martin constantly telling them to take anything ending with a '-cilin' or '-cin'.

It wasn't until they had to find a way to escape, jumping out a window onto a nearby metal overhang, that all Hell seemed to break loose, and Daryl lost his cool for the second time that day.

He felt the weight of the whiskey bottle in his hand and felt a anger vibrating through his entire being. He stood there, pinning an ashamed looking Martin with a look of almost pure rage (Sam had gotten the 'almost' pure rage earlier that day) and his jaw hardened. Everyone else stood behind him, bodies tense and waiting for something to happen, uneasy looks on their faces while Sam stood there, relieved that for once, he wasn't on the receiving end of Daryl's ire.

"Deddy . . ."

"Ya ain' got no meds in ya bag . . . jus' this . . ."

"Deddy, calm down . . ."

"Ya should have kept walkin' tha' day."

"Don't." Martin's quick reply when Daryl moved to throw the bottle away, over the crowd of walkers lumbering below them, drew everyone's attention and made an immediate bolt of fear split through all their hearts. He had flipped up the latch on his gun holster and the look of fiery rage that appeared in Daryl's face was almost akin to the fires of Hell. He immediately marched up to him, getting into his feet and silently demanding that he back down off of the hill he was attempting to wrest from him and immediately, Martin cowered down, his eyes flitting to the floor. Sam didn't blame him . . . he had been on the receiving end of Daryl's punches that afternoon and Martin had witnessed the entire thing . . . extremely stupid move of his, really, to test Daryl after having witnessed that.

That or he had some pretty big balls.

And likewise, all Daryl felt was numb anger. How dare this guy threaten to pull a gun on him – on him! And then how dare he cower when he moved to retaliate, knowing that he really had no chance? For the love of God, he had lived through Will Dixon, Marla Dixon and fuckin' Merle. Not-to-mention he had lived through an arrow being shot through his side and a tumble off a sheer drop God only knew how many feet. He dared Martin to try and take him on – he dared him to.

When he made no move to do just that, quickly, Daryl jerked the pistol from his holster and got up in his face again for good measure, pushing him back slightly again. "I am sick and tired of pussies thinkin' they can take me on, but only when they have a gun on 'em!" He growled, growing even angrier when he noticed that the bare beginnings of a migraine were starting to pound at the walls of his skull. Dammit, could he not catch a break?

He had him by the edge then and grabbed up his vest, where he brought him to him, his face always remaining inches from his. "Let it go Daryl!" Tyrese called when it became pretty apparent that Daryl was ready to hurtle the man over the side and into the crowd of walkers below. "The man's made his choice."

Ethan nodded. "Yeah deddy, come on. There's nothing you can do about it – you just got to let it go."

It took a moment but finally, Daryl released him, immediately backing away as he did so and Martin shook his head, still not able to meet anyone's eyes. "I didn't want to hurt nobody. It was just for when it gets quiet."

Daryl's face was frighteningly expressionless as he slowly thrust the bottle against his chest. His voice when he spoke was calm and level but so intertwined with barely-concealed rage, that even it was frightening to hear. "Ya take one sip . . . or if our meds don' get to our people in time . . . if tha' one sip causes ma Tessa or one of ma kids to get bit . . . I will beat ya ass into tha ground so much more worse than I ever did Sam. Ya fuckin' hear me?" He snapped, his voice tapering off into a threatening growl at the end and Martin nodded. He gazed at him for a moment longer before turning around and heading off towards the van, Ethan quickly falling into step behind him.

"Let's fuckin' get back. I jus' got tha strangest feelin' to make sure Tess and the others are fine." He told them and they nodded as gradually, everyone else moved to follow him, until only Sam was left with him. He shook his head, releasing a weak laugh as he did so.

"Welcome to my life."