I know, I know, I said I would update only once a week until the new season came on and there is no way in Hell its Tuesday or Wednesday already, however, I wrote this chapter and quite frankly, I would have gone batshit crazy if I had to wait . . . three? Four? days to post it. So consider this a treat and don't get used to it ;)

As you can probably tell, I'm extremely happy with how this chapter turned out. Its the second part to the previous flashback chapter (your welcome, Halo ;)) and there's one more part to this flashback that is gonna be posted either this week or the beginning of next before I go on to the next one. However, that's not what I'm excited about. I think you guys are gonna love this one because it contains some very exciting Daryl interaction with . . .

Wait for it . . .

His father.

Yup - Will Dixon makes a very exciting appearance in this chapter that's partly the reason I love it so much. But anyway, enough of my exciting chatter, onwards to the review replies and then onwards further to the actual good stuff!

NanamiYatsumaki: Yeah, I thought the fox reference would be amusing and that's probably what Aayla was thinking, your right :)

HaloHunter89: If you guys like how I wrote Will in this chapter, then I probably damn will, just to write more of him. Hope you like this chapter :)

DarylDixon'sLover: Thanks, as always, hun :)


"I loved her not for the way she danced with my angels, but for the way the sound of her name could silence my demons."

- Christopher Poindexter

Daryl didn't know why he was doing this. He really didn't.

He opened the door to JT's that one warm spring night and he'd be damned if the entire place didn't immediately go as quiet as the grave. Even his own father nursing a glass of his signature amber colored beer in one of the more dully lit corners of the bar with a couple of his friends, went completely quiet at the sight of his youngest son entering Shooter's Mill's number one hangout for all ages, not just those looking to drown their sorrows in a pint of Pabst Blue Ribbon or Budweiser.

Hell . . . even the jukebox was dead.

The fucking jukebox!

That or maybe the town wasn't used to having two Dixons together in one confined space. Daryl could see more than a few uneasy glances being shot between him and his old man, of whom was still wearing his grease-stained mechanic shirt – him and all his friends. 'Will' was embroidered across the left pocket in a scarlet scrawling hand and when Daryl nodded in greeting towards him, Will wasted no time in nodding back as he picked up his glass and took a healthy swig. When he set it back down and resumed his quiet conversation with his friends, it was like a collective breath of relief was expelled from the remaining patrons of JT's.

Will Dixon ran the town of Shooter's Mill. He might have been a drunken asshole whose family was infamously considered 'white trash, redneck scum' (but actually say that to his face, many would dare you!) but nothing went on in the small Southern town without him knowing about it. And likewise, his Hell raising days back when he was in highschool, as well as his numerous drunken bar brawls that both had him spending a night in the town's jail, as well as causing many of his opponents to be sped to the nearest hospital for numerous – sometimes a few life-threatening - injuries, made more than a few people wary of him. It also didn't help that his eldest son had been more of a Hell raiser than he had been and while that had always brought him a sense of dark pride, his constant and vehement declarations that Merle Dixon was not and never would be his – and even though he had his last name - kept him from opening his mouth too much.

It always had been Daryl who was his favorite and the one he loved most . . . although he never would admit it to his youngest son's often blackened face.

"Hey, you made it!"

Daryl's heart jumped in his chest and he was brought roughly back down into reality when he saw a beaming Tessa trotting her way over to him. He didn't miss the immediate look of interest that speared through his father's eyes when he saw the beautiful young girl reach him and upon standing up on her tip-toes, peck him lightly on the cheek. Will Dixon actually completely stopped talking when he saw the movement, and Daryl nodded at her words, hoping and praying that nothing would come of it.

"Yeah . . . yeah, I did. Didn' think I would for a minute there, but . . . I changed my mind . . ." He told her, his voice quiet and totally giving away just how uncomfortable he was being there, but when he saw Dirk standing by one of the pool tables with a couple of other mutual friends, a glass of Coke in his hand, he felt better. It seemed like Tessa had thought of everything.

Except for one thing . . .

Tessa furrowed her eyebrows in slight confusion. "Why -?"

"Hey Daryl! Get ya ass over here, boy!"

Daryl closed his eyes and sucked in a sharp breath when he heard his father's gruff, no-nonsense voice reach him from the corner he was occupying, and which temporarily silenced everyone in the bar again before a sharp look from the old Vietnam corporal, caused everything to return to its semi-normal state.

"I almost didn' come 'cause of him!" Daryl muttered to her before releasing a deep breath and burying his hands deep into his pockets. He shot her an apologetic look then. "And ya might wanna come with me. After all, ya the only reason he's givin' me tha time of his night right now, anyway!" He told her before he began the trek across the bar that would eventually end at his father. Tessa's eyebrows furrowed even more in slight confusion as she took off after him, her hand latching onto his arm as she did so. It was a gesture that seemed to comfort him somewhat, to the point to where his back straightened slightly and when he shot a glance down towards her, she could have sworn she saw a look of weak thanks.

"Ya wanted me?" Daryl asked upon reaching them and Will Dixon's jaw hardened slightly.

"What tha Hell ya call me?" He demanded and immediately, Daryl's shoulders slumped back down from the semi-confident place Tessa's touch had placed them in. Her eyes widened slightly but she was wise enough to not say anything. She had hung out with Daryl a lot ever since their tentative friendship began and there were times when she could have sworn she wasn't hanging out with the same Daryl because of how cocky and confident he could be – especially when they were around their own friends. In fact, just about anyone could come up to Daryl and get in his face and Daryl wouldn't waste any time in either telling him to back off, or decking him. There were times when Daryl was the most confident, cocky guy that Tessa had ever met in her life and it was at those times when her heart would pound so hard in her chest, that she was afraid of going into cardiac arrest. It wasn't a . . . a painful, horrifying pounding though, it was . . . it was a giddy, almost excited pounding . . . a pounding that made Tessa never want to leave his presence when he was like that.

But then this man, the man currently sitting in front of them – the man with the slicked back dark hair, coal black eyes and who held a vague resemblance to a young and handsome but scruffy, Marlon Brando – had taken that cocky and confident Daryl that she loved being around, and destroyed it. This man made all that confidence and cockiness disappear as if they were a deck of cards collapsing against the wind. This man made Daryl looked as cowed as a whipped slave whenever he stood in front of him . . . forever paranoid of when the next set of slaps or punches would rain down on him.

Tessa had never remembered hating someone so much in her life.

Daryl swallowed hard. "I-I mean – ya called for me, sir?"

"What are ya doin' here this late?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion as he gazed up at his son, a cigarette burning in-between two motor oil-stained fingers, and Daryl simply shrugged in reply.

"I'm jus' . . . hangin' out with friends, sir. Tha's all." He replied, his tone respectful – always respectful – and it was then that Will Dixon nodded. He held a look of amusement on his face and at that look, Daryl flinched, almost violently, and immediately, Tessa's eyes widened in alarm. He had flinched like he was expecting a blow (for it was at those looks that some of Will Dixon's cruelest barbs were born) and her hand immediately flew up to grip his upper arm. He practically melted into her touch and when she turned her eyes onto his father, anger filling her eyes, Will Dixon simply smiled, his look of amusement growing.

Sadistic piece of shit . . . Daryl couldn't help but bitterly think.

"Damn, son, how'd a piece of shit like ya get this pretty little lady . . .?" He asked with a charming smile and an incline of his head towards her. She opened her mouth to angrily snap back but Daryl interrupted her by reaching down and taking her hand. Their fingers automatically entwined and he gave her a warning squeeze, a squeeze that caused her to immediately shut her mouth. Will Dixon might be a vehement advocate of his credo never to hit a woman, but that didn't mean he wouldn't take it out on his son later.

"Deddy, this is Tessa. She's . . ." He trailed off and turned to gaze at her for a moment then, at a temporary loss for words. She returned his gaze with a polite look of amusement that quickly overrode the anger that had found a home there, and for a moment, his forgotten fear of whose company he was standing in, made his walls come down enough for a small smile to appear on his face. "She's, uh . . ."

Good Lord, what is she to me? Daryl couldn't help but wonder and after a moment, one of Will Dixon's friends gave a little chuckle. He was a massive man, built like a mountain and who had the beard of a lumberjack but Daryl liked him, nonetheless. He was one of the less assholey of his father's friends and the only one who even remotely treated him well. He teasingly elbowed Will in the side for a moment before taking a swig of his beer.

"Goddamn, Will, are ya blind, old man?! She's his damn girlfriend! Ya're actually meetin' one of Dar's girlfriends for once!" He told him and a look of shock briefly flitted through Will Dixon's eyes then that momentarily took his son aback. When had he ever seen a look of shock flit across Will Dixon's face before?

"Is this true, son? Am I finally meetin' ya girl?" He asked him, his tone coming out slow, slightly awestruck and strangely respectful, and Daryl swallowed hard before opening his mouth to speak, however, Tessa interrupted him.

"Why, yes – yes, I am!" She spoke with a confidence and a cockiness that threatened to make the corners of Will Dixon's mouth turned upwards into a grin. But while he remained solemn, his friend's certainly didn't. They immediately grinned at the fieriness of this young, ridiculously tiny (but still quite shapely for her age) young woman standing in front of them, talking to the indomitable Will Dixon like he did nothing to intimidate her while men twice her size cowered underneath his steel-like gaze.

Will had to admit . . . he couldn't help but like her.

That and he couldn't figure out if she was stupid, suicidal or just wasn't scared of him. Either way . . . he respected her and he found himself approving.

Will Dixon turned his eyes onto his son then and nodded. "Ya be sure to keep ya hands on this one, ya hear me, boy? Any girl tha' has tha guts to talk to me like she's the damn Queen of England, is a keeper in ma book." He told him and Daryl quickly nodded, his heart pounding in his chest. What had just happened? Was . . . was his father actually being civil for once?

"Yes sir, I will." He told him and Will nodded again before nodding towards the pool tables, taking another healthy swig of his beer as he did so. He settled a level gaze on Tessa then and Daryl was surprised to see her holding her own ground underneath the gaze, a slightly angry, determined look on her face. Will continued to smile.

"And ya, sweet-pea. I haven' the slightest idea, in every Hell on earth, what in tha pretty little head of ya's find's desirable enough 'bout ma own good-for-nothin' son tha' ya'd wanna be with him when ya could clearly have ya pick of Shooter's Mill. But there's somethin' and ya do and I can' fault ya for tha', especially after I was married to his momma for so Goddamn long . . ." He trailed off then for a moment, his gaze finding and holding Daryl's for a moment before he spoke: "But I raised him right, all thing's considered and he should treat ya right. If he don', then tell me, and I'll tan his hide for ya, ya understand?"

"And what about the other times you tanned his hide? Was a girl involved then?" She asked and Daryl flinched, his heart jumping down into the pits of his stomach. However, Will Dixon didn't fly into a rage, he simply sat there and grinned. He shook his head as he moved to stamp out his cigarette.

"Oh no . . . jus' a few shots of whiskey, I guess . . ." He confessed and Tessa nodded before replying:

"Mr. Dixon, you will not have to worry about Daryl treating me right at all. Despite what you've told him while raising him, he's an amazing guy and there's a lot of reasons I'm with him, least of all because he's the exact opposite of the 'white trash, redneck scum' that the Dixon family is supposed to be around here. So really, if there are any problems - I doubt there will be, though - then I will handle them, not the one man who couldn't resist beating up on his son because someone dented up his truck in the Little General Store parking lot one afternoon." Tessa replied, her tone venomous and for a moment, Daryl thought he was going to faint in fear. His body was tensed, readily prepared to jump in-between them should Will decide he wanted to get up and lunge at her, but nothing happened. Will Dixon's friends continued to grin like Cheshire Cats while Will remained expressionless. Eventually, he nodded.

"The both of ya's - go on and get, now; have fun. I'll see ya at home later, okay?"

Daryl nodded and without saying goodbye, whirled around on his heels and moved quickly in the direction of Dirk and the others, trying to still his rapidly pounding heart the entire time. His mind immediately began checking himself for the bruises, cuts and other bodily harm that he normally underwent whenever he and his old man struck up a conversation and when he found none, it was almost like his mind shut down, unable to figure out what to do for once. He didn't have to do sulk in a corner licking his wounds – he didn't have to worry about getting away before Will's anger went too far ahead of him . . . for once, he was safe and unharmed.

And for some reason, the change of scenery scared the shit out of him.

"Do ya know how stupid tha' was?" Daryl hissed to her and Tessa's eyebrows furrowed in confusion again.

"Daryl, I don't understand -"

"Fuckin' Hell, ya have no idea how scared I was!" He confessed breathlessly once he felt himself finally able to rein his heart back into its normal pace of beating. "My father ain' someone ya can jus' talk tha' way to, Tess! He's . . ." He trailed off then and rubbed his face with his hands. "He's jus' . . . he's not!"

Tessa gazed at him for a moment. "He's the one who beats you, I know it. You've insinuated as much anyway. And besides, I swear to God, Daryl, I ain't ever seen anyone look so scared standing in front of someone, as you did your father a few seconds ago!" She shook her head in slight bewilderment. "What kind of man is he?"

"He's a sick, sadistic bastard, Tess, tha's what he is." Daryl answered her with a shake of his head. "A sick, sadistic bastard tha' I jus' wish I would roll over and die!"

Tessa's eyes widened then in slight shock before they softened again. She stepped closer to him and upon laying her hands on his chest, stood up on her tip-toes and placed a gentle kiss to his lips. Daryl froze for a moment, feeling everyone's eyes on him and when she broke apart and lowered herself back down onto her feet, he saw everyone gazing at them.

Including Him.

"Gotta keep up appearances, don't we?" She asked him with a small smile and Daryl shook his head.

"Tess, ya don' gotta do this -!"

Tessa gave a resolute nod then. "Yes, I do, Daryl. If being with me means that jackass respects me enough to keep his hands off of you, then so be it! I'm tired of seeing you come to school with a fresh black eye every week and flinching whenever you make the slightest movement because he beat you to the point to where you can barely move! I'm tired of you thinking your dirt and your scum and that you don't deserve half the shit that you do because he told you, you don't! I want that confidant, cocky guy that'll deck any guy that walks up to him and gets his face, around all the time, not just when He's not around!" She shook her head, a slightly sly look appearing on her face then. "And besides . . . I could think of much worse guys that I could be with than you . . ." She told him before giving a wink and turning around, where she headed in the direction of her friends. Then, it was his turn for his eyebrows to furrow in slight confusion.

"Where ya goin'?" He asked and she gazed at him over her shoulder.

"I'm gonna go talk to Medina for a minute. I'll be back to you soon - don't worry."

He nodded before allowing his feet to take him in the direction of Dirk, who held both a simultaneous look of confusion and concern on his face. "You okay? What the Hell was that about?" He asked and Daryl heaved a sigh before burying his hands in his front pockets again and shrugging. Strangely . . . strangely, he felt better about everything.

"Apparently, me and Tess are now datin' and ma old man respects her enough to where – hopefully . . . I won' have to deal with him and his shit anymore."

Dirk's eyebrows rose in shock as he pushed a glass of Coke towards him, a glass that Daryl gratefully took. "Are you serious?" Daryl nodded.

"Yeah, I know. I don't know what to think about it, truthfully . . ."

Dirk let out a laugh. "What's there to think about, Dar? Your dating one of the hottest girls in the school, you don't have to worry about ya old man beatin' ya anymore . . . seems like your life, my friend, just got a Hell of a lot better!" Daryl shook his head.

"I don' know if it'll stop for sure – I jus' walked away without gettin' punched or slapped or whatever, this time. It might not mean anythin'."

"Or it might mean something! You never know, but either way, I'd count my blessings if I were you and never take that Angel of a girl for granted now. After all, she's agreed to go out with your ugly mug! Damn, love really is blind!" Daryl grinned then and shook his head.

"Dirk, she was tha one who said we were datin' to him." He told him and Dirk's eyebrows rose in shock again. He took a swig of his Coke then.

"You better watch out for her, Daryl. If that girl has the balls to stand up to your father, then she's gonna be a damn viper – if she ain't one already, that is!"

Daryl nodded and took a quick gulp of his drink as well before nodding towards her, his beautiful blue eyes crossing with his best friend's as he did so. "Ya know, ya shouldn' be talkin' tha' way 'bout her. I'm gonna marry tha' girl and she's gonna be ma wife, which means ya are currently talkin' down 'bout ya best friend's future wife. Tha' ain' cool, man – not cool."

The immediate raising of Dirk's eyebrows at Daryl's halfway teasing words, were almost comical, but Daryl wasn't exactly in a laughing mood at that moment. "Oh is that true now? You ain't pulling my leg right now, are you, Dar?" He asked and was even more shocked when Daryl nodded resolutely.

"Nah, I ain' – ya know I ain'. Ya watch, Dirk - I'm gonna marry tha' girl one day and her name will change from Tessa Nightrun to Tessa Dixon, which – now don' ya dare tell her this came from me – sounds much better. Don' know exactly when it'll happen, but it will happen," He shook his head then, a smile slowly spreading across his face as he continued: "She'll be gorgeous goin' to bed at night, gorgeous when she wakes up in the mornin' and gorgeous every moment in-between. We'll have kids and a house – Hell, we might even kick Merle out when deddy's finally fuckin' gone if he ain' in jail, and fix up the old place. Either way, we're gonna have tha whole family life tha' I never had, even if it kills me!"

Dirk's look of amusement on his face, grew just a little bit bigger then. "So . . . how many kids will you two have, you hopeless romantic, you?"

Daryl gave a shrug as a thoughtful look appeared on his face. "Two, I think – a boy and a girl, although I wouldn' be surprised if we ended up havin' more."

"So many? Sure you'd be able to afford to bring up that many?" Dirk laughed and Daryl gave a small little shrug as his eyes connected with his from across the bar – from where she was standing talking to Medina and one of her other friends. She smiled at him then, a genuinely happy, soft smile that made a knot form in his constricting throat and a warm, fuzzy feeling to gently bloom throughout his entire body.

"We'd find a way. And even if we couldn' and were livin' paycheck to paycheck, I wouldn' care. I'd have her . . . and tha's all tha'd matter to me." He told him and Dirk opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by Tessa bounding over to them. She broke out into a grin and reached forward, where she took Daryl's hand, their fingers entwining again moments later as she began pulling him in the direction of the entrance, Dirk furrowing his eyebrows in slight confusion as he followed them.

"We're going to the lake – me and a bunch of our friends. You guys are coming." She told him. her voice brooking no argument, and Daryl's eyebrows rose.

"Wait, we're coming too?" He asked and Tessa nodded, her gaze that she landed on him, suggested that he had suddenly sprouted two heads.

"Your my boyfriend, Daryl. You do whatever I tell you now." She told him, her tone turning teasingly firm and Dirk let out a snort of amusement, one that Daryl silenced with a look before he glanced at his old man. Will Dixon continued to gaze at them, his face its normal expressionless mask, and it was then that Daryl wasted no time in wrapping an arm around Tessa's shoulders and planting a kiss on her forehead.

"Then I guess I have no choice. Ya comin' too, Dirkie?"

"Depends . . . can I bring my pot?"

"I don' care -"

"No."

"But Tessa -!"

"No, Dirk!"

"Well, fine, who needs – OUCH!"

"Listen to ma girl, Dirk! Leave ya pot in the car."

"But -!"

"Leave it!"