The way I sees it, I got one more "present-day" chapter to do, which will encompass the second half of the mid-season finale and then after that, I got two more flashback chapters I need to get out of my system. So, I'll probably be writing, right up until the season comes back on, which is pretty awesome for me because if I do this right, I won't have to do a short hiatus until it comes back on the air. So yeah, this chapter starts right off the bat pretty damn heated and it stays that way until the end, so get ready - hope you guys like it :)
DarylDixon'sLover: Keep readin' honey :)
HaloHunter89: Yeah, it was pretty easy to see what would happen to him but really, I thought that was the only sensible way I could have ended it. Actually made me depressed to write it, too lol. As for her not telling anyone else, I clear that up next chapter :)
edeo: You do bring up a good point - I never really thought of it from that point of view, so the only explanation I can offer, is that since Sam was there for her throughout the entirety of her return, when she was at her lowest to her best, she - in a roundabout way - trusted him more than she trusted anyone else. When she's at her lowest, she wants him because he's always been there for her, etc. And now that she has Daryl and she's happy, she doesn't need him anymore, which is where the friction comes from. I don't think she "used" him per say, she was just at a very weak point in her life and he offered her stability, which is what she craved.
NanamiYatsumaki: Yeah, Jeremy ain't coming back. I can tell you guys that right now. Cause really, it'll be difficult to explain how he survived and how no one knew he survived and I'm sorry, but my creativity does NOT stretch that far LOL.
PS - I did my research when it came to the information on the dog tag but if there are any Navy SEALs out there or anyone who knows a Navy SEAL and knows for sure what goes on their dog tag, then please, let me know :)
"Ya fucker – ya couldn' have waited -?"
"Waited till when, Daryl?" Rick hissed, interrupting the enraged man mid-sentence as he whirled around to face him. He shook his head, his eyes wide and pleading. "Till you guys got back? Until Tess had her baby – was that how long we would have had to wait? And what were we supposed to do – keep her in quarantine until then?" He shook his head. "And besides, what would have happened if she would have been here and Tyrese figured out?"
Daryl shook his head as he turned around and moved away, his anger bubbling just underneath the surface of his skin. Even though Tessa had warned him what it was that Rick wanted to talk to him about, that still didn't make it any easier to hear coming from his lips. "I could have handled that," He told him gruffly. "Jus' as long as Tess got what she needed, I could have handled it."
Rick wordlessly shook his head. "Hey, hey, Daryl – she killed two of our own! She couldn't be here!"
"Ya think I give a shit when it comes to ma own?" Daryl hissed, his eyes flashing with anger as he crossed the distance between them in two large strides. He shook his head. "I told ya in tha fuckin' beginning – back at tha' Goddamn farmhouse - tha' I'd put ma family before anythin' else! Ya think I give a shit 'bout this group ahead of ma wife and ma kids?" He shook his head. "Ya might have killed Tess, Rick . . . and right now, I'm torn between rippin' ya damn head off and chewin' it off!"
Rick swallowed hard, managing to keep his head level underneath the angry eyes of his best friend. "If it's any consolation, Carol's gonna be alright. She had a car – supplies and weapons . . . she's a survivor -"
"AND WHAT 'BOUT MA WIFE?!" Daryl roared, feeling something snap inside him before shaking his head. The Bad Wolf snarled inside him along with his roar and he only felt his anger boil even fiercer inside him. "I don' give a shit 'bout fuckin' Carol, I don' give a shit 'bout anyone except for tha' woman inside tha' cellblock tha's terrified of givin' birth – tha' ma sons and ma daughter might lose their mother 'cause of ya decision!" He shook his head, anger still flashing in his eyes although his body calmed down slightly. "I might lose ma woman 'cause of ya. 'Cause ya didn' think to make a decision without me – without anyone else's input!"
He turned back around then and walked off again, his body trembling with anger as he forced himself to calm down. He saw Rick nodding his head behind him out of the corner of his eye and when he turned around, he saw his best friend's eyes wide with apology.
"Daryl, she did it! She confessed and everything! She was trying to save everyone – that's how she saw it in her head! She . . . she wasn't sorry . . ."
Daryl shook his head, Rick relieved to find him calmed down but he also knew he couldn't rely on that. Like a ticking time bomb, Daryl could go off at any moment, especially when Tessa wasn't there to hold him back or calm him down. "Ya don' understand where I'm comin' from, Rick!" Daryl hissed. "Yeah, what she did was horrible and unforgivable and deserves the worst for what she did, but now tha' she's gone, there's only one person left who can deliver this baby if Tessa still has it. And what if somethin' happens to Hershel, huh? We're stranded – no one to help, no one to know if anythin' goes wrong and can help accordingly . . ." He shook his head, his eyes expressionless except for the tiny flickering of uncertainty and fear that occasionally flitted across their beautiful blue depths. "Tess is already writing this off as a death sentence for her, Rick – the same as Lori did - I know she is! Hell, she's told me as much! And do ya know what tha' does to me – tha' one person whose supposed to be her strength and her protector – who has to promise her tha' nothin' is goin' to happen to her from day-to-day? I feel like I can' do it anymore 'cause I'm quickly runnin' out of hope maself and I feel like a Goddamn hypocrite whenever I try to be a husband to her and comfort her 'cause I'm tha bastard who knocked her up in tha first place! I'm tha bastard who placed tha' fear inside her womb!"
Daryl heaved a heavy, slightly tearful sigh then before motioning in the general direction of the cellblock. "And if tha' ain' enough, then what tha Hell are we gonna do 'bout those two girls? We're already lookin' after Wren and even though I ain' complain 'cause I already look at her as ma daughter and I have for tha longest time now, it's still hard with tha twins and Ethan too, as well as this potential new baby news. Me and Tess can' be a surrogate momma and deddy to two new kids, Rick – we can'!"
Rick heaved a sigh and nodded. "I know, and I told her . . . I told her we'd look after them." He told him and Daryl pursed his lips before looking away and shaking his head. He let out a violent curse underneath his breath before moving to lean over the second-landing railing, where he placed his face in his hands. He shook his head again and when he removed it, Rick could see the weariness etched onto every line of his face and knew that once again, Daryl was suffering from insomnia due to the insurmountable amount of stress that had been placed on him ever since Tessa told him of the miscarriage and the chance that she might not have lost it.
"Rick, we can' -!"
"I know. I know, Daryl, I know!" Rick interrupted him gently before taking a step closer to him. "Look, I know you and Tess's resources are spread pretty damn thin right now – I know they are! You guys' stress levels are through the roof and all this shit getting back in order isn't helping either, although things are looking up!" He told him before swallowing hard. He shook his head as he moved to lean up against the railing beside Daryl. "I haven't told Tyrese about it yet either, ya know?"
Daryl licked his lips as well as he moved to look out the window across from them, feeling his boiling anger back down to a more comforting simmer. "I don't exactly know how he's gonna take it . . ."
Daryl got to his feet then and gazed at him for a moment before nodded. "Shit, let's go find out, huh? Get it outta tha damn way . . ." He suggested quietly and a little irritably before moving past him and down the nearby stairs. Rick stood there for a moment before turning around and following him, not sure if he should be relieved or uneasy about Daryl's sudden cool-down pertaining to his anger.
"Aren't you totally glad you don't have a lot of stuff to transport back to your room?" Wren grinned as she plopped a stack of blankets down into a nearby box. Tessa grinned as well and nodded from her place across from her, after letting out a laugh.
"Oh believe me, honey, I am! If I had any more stuff to transport back to the cellblock, I'd be ripping my damn hair out!" She replied and she heard Wren give another laugh behind her, as she plopped a stack of clothes into a box sitting beside her. She quickly sorted through the next pile of clothes and plopped them into the box as well before coming to an abrupt halt. Her eyebrows furrowed in slight confusion as she picked up the decently sized cardboard box that had been hidden underneath the piles of clothes and which had caught her eye so quickly. She turned it over in her hand and observed it for a moment. It seemed like any other, plain and completely ordinary cardboard box, and it took her a minute to remember that it had been with her since they had left their home at the beginning of the walker apocalypse. In fact, she remembered that it had been one of the first things she had grabbed and shoved into Ethan's hands with the stern words: "Do not lose this!"
With a look of confusion still etched on her face, she glanced behind her and told Wren that she would be just a moment before turning her attention back onto the box in her hands. The younger girl nodded and left the room then, her arms weighted down with boxes as Tessa still observed the one in her hands. It was a pretty good weight and when she finally felt her curiosity get the best of her, where she undid the cardboard latch at the bottom and flipped it open, she remembered exactly what it was.
There was a folded American Flag lying slightly faded at the bottom of the box, and lying on top of the said folded flag, were three pictures and a pair of shiny silver dog tags.
It was Jeremy's box . . .
Tessa immediately felt a lump begin to form in her throat and she blinked back tears as she shakily set the box down on the nearby table before lifting up the dog tags. The metal felt cool and abnormally heavy in her hand and when she gazed down at the words engraved on the smooth face, she had to blink back the tears that steadily filled her eyes.
"ROTH, JEREMY A
236488915USN
O POS
NO PREF"
She released a heavy breath as she curled her fist around the dog tags, hard enough for the edges to bite unforgivably into her palm, before picking up two of the pictures and separating them from the first so that they were all easily viewable. There was a picture of the both of them – the picture that she remembered his Commanding Officer telling her he had died with it on his person at the funeral before he handed her the neatly folded American Flag. There was a picture of him and Evan – the beautiful little girl grinning and with her arms wrapped tightly around her father's neck as he held her. Briefly, she found herself wondering where she was now – if she was safe and well but then resigned herself to the knowledge that she was probably dead or a walker.
Sam had somehow managed to find his way back to her . . . why in the Hell couldn't it have been that adorable little girl that had temporarily become like hers for that short year and a half? She would have gladly taken Evan Roth over Sam any day of the week.
The third, and the one Tessa had avoided looking at until she absolutely had to, was a picture of the four of them together – him, her, Evan and Ethan, at the fair. They had appeared the quintessential family, the bright, blurring lights of the Merry-Go-Round and its colorfully painted ponies, behind them. They had been so happy before he was shipped out – Tessa so close to divorcing Sam and marrying the one man who had managed to make her happy aside from Daryl - who could have made both her and Ethan happy.
How could life have been so cruel to her? Was it Karma forcing her to make up for what she had done to Daryl – how she had walked out on him and then kept the fact that he had a son a secret for all those years? Had it had punished her for keeping Ethan a secret, by taking away the one man she had grown to love again?
She was torn from her thoughts by a loud 'BOOM' splitting through the air and which shook the very walls of the prison and caused dust and dirt to rain down from the ceiling. Her eyes widened in alarm and quickly, without thinking, she slipped Jeremy's dog tags around her neck before tucking the pictures back into the box. She closed it and shoved it down into the backpack at her feet before zipping it up. She then swung the backpack over her shoulders before running down the corridor towards the nursery area, where Beth and Wren were grouped around with Maggie - stricken looks on their faces.
"What's going on?" Tessa demanded and Maggie shook her head.
"I don't know - I think we're being attacked."
"What? By who?"
Maggie swallowed hard. "We don't know – we're about to go find out – come on!" She told her and a look of horror appeared on Tessa's face then as Maggie grabbed ahold of her hand and pulled her towards the entrance. Their pounding footsteps reverberated in the cement walls around them and when they burst out of the doors, they saw the others spilling out of other entrances leading to the courtyard.
"Daryl!"
"I'm right here, babydoll!"
Tessa's hand latched onto Daryl's as he met her halfway, Ethan behind him. A wide-eyed look of horror was on her son's face and Daryl gave her hand a comforting squeeze as they move to the others by the chain-link fence.
"Who is it?" Maggie hissed and immediately, Rick's eyes widened in horror.
"Fuckin' Hell!" Daryl spat through gritted teeth before pulling a frightened, shell-shocked Tessa into his arms. And suddenly, when a voice came down from the grouping of cars by the fence, they realized, with dawning horror who it was.
It was the Governor . . . with a Goddamn tank.
"Oh my God . . . oh my God, Daryl, they have Michonne – they have Hershel!" Tessa hissed, her eyes widening even more with fear, and Daryl quickly nodded. His hands fell onto her arms and he gripped her tightly as he turned her and forced her look at him.
"Tess – Tessa, baby, look at me!" He demanded and when she did, his hands moved to frame her face. "Babydoll, this ain' shit – we'll get him back, I promise ya! Now do what I tell ya and go back into tha' cellblock and look after tha twins, okay? I'll come in and get ya if anythin' happens!"
"Daryl, they have a tank!"
"And I need ya to listen to me right now, Tess!" He replied, his voice moving down to a quiet, soothing murmur. He stepped closer to her and he saw the tears beading in her eyes as she locked gazes with him. He shook his head. "Ya know I'm gonna do everythin' to make sure ya guys get outta here alive – tha' we all get outta here alive! In order to do tha', I need to know tha' ya safe and I know tha' ya'll be safe in tha' cellblock – ya and tha' twins!"
"And Ethan?" She asked and Daryl gazed at his son before pursing his lips.
"I need him here with me, Tess."
Tessa shook her head. "Daryl -!"
"Tessa, he'll be with me – he'll be fine!" He interrupted her before shaking his head. He leaned forward and pressed his lips to hers in a loving kiss. "Ya gotta trust me, Tess – I promise ya we'll get outta this!" He told her and she nodded. Tessa opened her mouth to reply – to tell him that she did trust him – that she would always trust me – when Maggie and Beth's simultaneous screams interrupted them. The both of their eyes snapped onto what was happening, right when the Governor slammed Michonne's katana, right into the side of Hershel's neck, causing blood to spurt up from the wound in an vibrant arc.
They heard Rick's murderous screams from down in the grassy yard before the popping of gunshots split the air
Daryl felt Tessa go limp and he could imagine the wide-eyed look of unadulterated horror that had crossed her face at the sight. Immediately, he cursed violently under his breath and snapped at Ethan to cover them as he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him before shoving her face into his chest with his hand planted on the back of her head. She gripped him close and tight, her sobs wracking forth from her chest as everything – her entire life and her very future – flashed before her eyes.
That was it . . . he was dead . . . the one man who was left to deliver her child should it have survived – he was dead!
She felt a roiling sickness begin in her stomach and for a moment, her vision swirled before her as well, but she ignored it when Daryl pushed her away and after cupping her face in his hands, pressed his lips to hers again. It was a fierce, silencing kiss and when they broke apart, tears still streaming down her cheeks, he held her close. "Tessa – Tess, come back to me – come back!" He murmured and she wanted to – she really did, but suddenly, there felt like something akin to a poisonous stone, lying heavy and indomitable in her lower stomach. She couldn't ignore it and it grew bigger and bigger the longer she stood there and thought about it. She shook her head and he pressed another kiss to her lips before breaking apart again. His voice lowered slightly as Maggie and Beth's sobs ripped through the air along with the pops of the guns. "Tess, babydoll, listen to me – come back to me – it'll be okay! I'll figure something out – I'll do something, I swear to God, I will!"
Tessa sucked in a sharp breath and finally nodded. She was partly back down to earth but was smart enough to know that was partly due to Daryl's touch anchoring her. Like always, he was her strength – the one person she could lean on when she needed to, and at that moment, as her very life seemed in danger from every conceivable angle, she couldn't deny that she really, really needed him.
But she also knew that it wasn't the time for her to be weak. She had to steel herself and be the Momma Bear that Daryl was so confident that she was. She needed to protect her children. So finally, she cleared up her tears and nodded confidently as Daryl pressed a knife into her hand.
"Go into tha cellblock, okay? Take Beth too and look after tha' twins. I'll come get ya when its time to go."
"You promise?" She asked him and Daryl nodded as he held her close for a moment.
"I won' leave ya with this, Tess. I swear to God, I won'! I'll come get ya - ya have ma word!"
She nodded and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. "I love you - the both of you!" She told him before her eyes flickered to Ethan. Daryl nodded and told her that he loved her back before she hooked a hand around Beth's arm and pulled her back in the direction of the cellblock, Maggie shooting her a grateful look as she did so.
