Yeah, so I wrote this out today and I'm the kind of person that if I write out the chapter I have to post it THAT DAY or I feel weird and incomplete the rest of the day. SO, with that being said, hope you guys enjoy this one and on to the fabulous reviews! :)

wickedclownsmile: What I'll do is what I did when the season first came on. I normally like having one episode ahead of me at all times because that way I feel like I have some wiggle room to write my own scenes, as well as the scenes that AMC throws me. So I'll be updating at least once a week, hopefully. And yeah, I never doubted you ;)

HaloHunter89: Yeah, its been awhile since Tessa went apeshit on anyone - I think she kinda needed it ;). And don't worry, you'll get the Jeremy answer this chapter :)

DarylDixon'sLover: Thanks hun :) xxxx


"It's kinda funny, babydoll . . . ya look a little two-toned there! Nice ass too, by tha way . . ."

Tessa rolled her eyes and let out a bark of a laugh as she sunk down underneath the surface of the river and after reappearing, began frantically scrubbing at the blood that had coat her skin and which had now dried to a hard crustiness. It was proving quite the feat to get off.

"Does blood ever get off?" She asked him, her voice coming out irritated, and as she ignored her husband's words. He was standing on the bank, crossbow in hand and keeping watch while she bathed and tried to get the blood off of her. She had managed to get the most of it out of her hair but a few flecks remained here-and-there, dooming her hair to smell like a coppery salt block until they could get some soap.

"Oh, it does – ya jus' gotta scrub really hard." He told her and she shot him a What-The-Fuck-Do-You-Think-I'm-Doing-Out-Here, look. He grinned and gave a shrug. "Well Hell, look at it this way, babydoll - at least its summer and warm enough to bathe, instead of bein' winter and too damn cold."

"I still would have done it anyway – just to get this fucker's blood off of me!" She muttered bitterly as she finally managed to scrape the blood off one of her arms before moving to the other one. The scraped off blood let a red mark behind on her copper-colored skin, and she knew it would take a few more baths before it was completely gone from her body.

She was exhausted; more exhausted than she had ever felt, in fact. She didn't want to think about how the group had been separated and scattered into the four winds like bits of paper on the breeze. She didn't want to think about how Hershel was dead now and Carol hopelessly gone – the two people who could safely deliver their baby. And it was then, as the thought did manage to worm its way into her head, that she placed a shaky hand on her stomach, where she had yet to grow that tell-tale pregnancy bump. She knew, with an innateness that only came to a mother, that her baby was alive and well within her.

And the thought scared her to no end.

After scrubbing the blood from her arm, she dunked herself under the water, palms scrubbing against her cheeks, hoping she had gotten the last of the blood from her face before she left the water of the river. When she broke through the surface, she turned and began her careful ascent out of the water, her skin holding a pinkness that did not at all come from how Daryl's eyes ran over her glistening body.

"My eyes are up here, you perv." She muttered to him and he grinned as she yanked up the towel at her feet and wrapped it around her.

"What? Are ya gonna smack me 'cause of it?" He asked and the corners of her mouth twitched upwards in a smile as she shook her head.

"No. What good would that do? You're already pretty invested in me." She replied with a laugh as she bent down to pick up her clothes. Wren had scrubbed them the best she could but again, she couldn't do much without soap. Large pockets of the blood had been washed cleaned, but like her body, a thin pink residue had been left behind and which would take many washes with lots of soap to get the stains out. Still, they were better than nothing and when she dropped the towel and began pulling her clothes on, Daryl's eyes once again landed on the tinkling dog tags hanging around her neck. He opened his mouth to inquire about them, but stopped himself when Wren appeared at the opening of the trees to tell them that Ethan was back from hunting and was busy cleaning his catch.

"Okay, we'll be up in a minute!" She called and Wren nodded as she turned around and began the short trek back to the makeshift camp they had set up not that long ago. She was exhausted as well – they all were. Hell, Tessa didn't even want to think of how Beth was doing at that moment.

Tessa let out a sniff as she straightened and turned to Daryl, her eyes on the ground underneath their feet instead of on his eyes. "I, um . . . I'm pretty sure I'm still pregnant." She told him and Daryl nodded, slowly.

"It's only been a couple of days, though, babydoll . . . how can ya be for sure?" He asked, and she gave a shrug.

"I know, I know; it's just . . . I can feel him – or her! It's hard to explain, but I think it would be prudent for us to treat me like I'm pregnant from now on out, okay?" Daryl nodded and shouldered his crossbow as he stepped closer to her.

"Okay, I can do tha'. Have ya told tha' others yet?" He asked and Tessa glanced in the direction of the camp before halfway shrugging her shoulders.

"Wren and Beth were there when I had my miscarriage, so they probably won't be that very much surprised if I told them. Ethan, I'm not sure, though. I mean, he knows about the miscarriage, but . . ." She shook her head. "I think he would be worried. And I don't want to give him any more stress than he probably already has."

Daryl heaved a sigh then as he placed his hand on the small of her back and gently prodded her into walking the path ahead of him. It could be treacherous in some places and he didn't want her to lose her footing and fall back with nothing to catch her until she hit the ground. "Ya know, Tess, our son could surprise ya sometimes." He told her and while she had to admit that he was correct, they stayed silent all the short while back to the camp. They found everyone sitting in a somber silence while Ethan gutted and dressed the three squirrels and one rabbit he had managed to find. Daryl nodded contentedly at what he had managed to bag the small, ramshackle group, and Ethan gave him a small smile of thanks as he continued with what he was doing.

"How are they doing?" Tessa quietly asked as she moved to sit down beside a sleeping Danny and Aayla curled up beside each other on a couple of blankets situated close to the fire with Wren. They had fallen asleep as soon as they made camp and were settled down, the long trek away from the burning prison and the horrors now swarming within, tiring them out as much as it had everyone else. Wren smiled a small smile and nodded.

"Sleeping like angels – as usual." She told her and Tessa gave a small smile and nodded. The ripping of flesh filled the air, along with the sounds of wet plops as Daryl and Ethan shook the animal guts from their fingers to the ground. It was practically the only sounds they heard, and when they were done a few moments later, they were slid onto a spit and placed over the roaring fire.

"Food should be done in a couple of hours." Daryl spoke in a gruff, quiet voice and everyone nodded as he got up and took Wren's place on the other side of the twins. She got to her feet and moved to sit next to Ethan as Daryl and Tessa's eyes met across them. They shared the same thought. Would another baby grace the two they already had? What if it didn't? What if she didn't?

The multiple questions that sprung up in lieu of a good question, frightened her, and for a moment, Tessa managed to block both from her head as Daryl reached across and upon taking her head, gave it a comforting squeeze.


"What are we gonna do?" Daryl quietly asked her once Beth, Wren and Ethan had fallen asleep after eating their dinner. The fire was crackling merrily before them by then, and Tessa shot him a look of interest. The twins were still sleeping soundly between them and she found him gazing at her expectantly as she tucked the blanket more snugly around Danny, lest he get cold.

"What are we gonna do about what?" She asked and he nodded towards her in reply, but more specifically, towards her stomach. His tone was gentle when he spoke:

"Hershel is dead now, babydoll, and Carol is still AWOL – has been since Rick cast her out. Who the Hell is gonna deliver that baby?"

Tessa gave a shrug as she looked into the fire then, purposefully avoiding his eyes. This was her fault and she knew it. She should have been more on top of things – should have made him pull out more, should have been smart enough to have Michonne get her more than one pregnancy test. She should have . . . she should have done something! The frustration she felt was almost crippling.

Tessa eventually shook her head and gave another, more frustrated shrug. Of course the thought had occurred her - not long after they witnessed Hershel's head being separated from his body by the Governor wielding Michonne's sword, in fact. She had just . . . managed to push it away somewhat in the heat of the moment by making sure the girls and the twins were safe.

"I . . ." She trailed off and gave a weak shrug. "Carol taught Beth some things . . . before she left -"

Daryl immediately let out a snort of laughter and shook his head, interrupting her mid-sentence. When he spoke this time, his voice sounded nothing like the gentleness it had been before. Now it was strained and very don't-fuck-with-me-like-that sounding. "Tess, don' get me wrong – I like her and all and Beth's a good kid, but she ain' gonna deliver our baby, so ya can forget about tha'!" He told her before shaking his head. "But what are we gonna do afterwards, too? What if we don' hook back up with tha' others – what if we never find them? What if . . ." He trailed off and sat there for a moment in an emotion she couldn't rightly place before speaking again. "What if ya have twins again?"

Tessa rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Daryl, don't be -"

"Ya chances of havin' twins after one set, increases, Tess – ya age makes it increase too - ya gotta know this!" He interrupted her, his voice still slightly strained as he then shook his head. "And if they are, then I don' know how we're gonna -!"

"Yeah, well, it's too late to ask for a puppy now, ain't it?" She interrupted him with a bitter laugh and he pursed his lips in slight frustration.

"Tess, I'm jus' tryin' -"

"To wrap your head around it – yeah, I know! After all, you didn't exactly have time when you came back and before the Governor came crashing down our gates like I did!" She interrupted him again before rolling her eyes and shaking her head. "But you also gotta know that I didn't exactly ask for this either, Daryl; this gave me as much of a shock as it did you! I didn't plan it - I didn't childishly sabotage what scant condoms we had or some other highschool needy girl bullshit because I felt like I needed a baby! So, understandably and rather regrettably, I'm not exactly thrilled that I'm pregnant either!" She hissed and he shook his head.

"Tessa, this is our baby and ya know I'm gonna love it as much as I do Ethan and Danny and Aayla, but still -!"

"I know, Daryl. I . . . I know. You don't have to say anything." She interrupted him for a third time before heaving a weary sigh. She shifted herself downwards so that she could lie down on the pile of blankets stretched out underneath her. She turned onto her side, her back facing him as her arms crossed in front of her chest in a hug. "I'm just exhausted, okay? Can we possibly talk about this later? Maybe in the morning?" Daryl wordlessly – numbly – nodded his head.

"I told Ethan I'd take first watch, so I'll stay up." He told her and she nodded, closing her eyes as she did so. She felt herself shivering, though, after a series of cool breezes blew through the slight clearing and the coolness they settled upon her skin, was the one thing that kept her from nodding off into blissful sleep. Eventually, though, she felt a heavy warmth cover her arms that immediately made her turn an alarmed look upwards, just in time to see Daryl solemnly take off his leather jacket and lay it over her. Her look of alarm turned questioning and he swallowed hard as he gave another purse of his lips.

"Say and think what ya want 'bout me Tess, but ya know I take care of ma own. And tha' one inside ya - he or she is as much ma own as Ethan and the twins are. And even though we . . . we didn' exactly plan for it and we don' exactly need it right now, it's still gonna be ours and I'll be damned we won' take care of it!" He moved to lean above her then, where he planted a gentle, loving kiss at her hairline. "I'll be damned if I don' take care of ya!"

"Tessa, if either of us is going to survive this, then make no mistake that it will be you. Your strong, you've done this before – Daryl will do everything and anything in his God-given power to save you if anything happens – including fighting through an entire herd of walkers to get you anything you need to survive the birth . . .!"

Tessa felt tears prickle almost painfully in her eyes as Lori's tearfully spoken words appeared in her head minutes later. She felt a sharp pang in her chest as well and knew that she never before had wanted her former best friend so much in her life. Hell, she'd even take Michonne and/or Maggie!

But now that Lori was dead and gone, she knew she'd have to make do with what she had. She silently rose up then and pushed him gently backwards, so that he was sitting up against the fallen log that she had been sitting against moments before. His eyebrows furrowed gently in confusion but then the look disappeared in favor of a soft, loving one when she moved to settle her head on his chest and her arm loosely around his waist. She quickly got herself comfortable and he smiled a small smile and better fixed his jacket around her before wrapping his arms around her and giving her a loving squeeze. Her eyes closed in both contentment and weariness as she was immediately lulled to sleep by the powerful beat of his heart underneath her ear.

"We'll get through this, Tess - I know we will!" He promised her, his tone rather gruff as he placed another lingering kiss on her head and she gave a laugh.

"You keep saying that Daryl. Eventually, you're going to jinx us."

Daryl smiled in reply and when he spoke, his voice was good-natured and teasing. "Now, why do ya think I keep knockin' on wood, Tess?" She chuckled and they stayed in silence for a moment before Daryl spoke again, his voice slightly uneasy. "Hey Tess . . ."

"Mmhmm . . .?"

"Who do tha dog tags belong to?"

He felt Tessa immediately freeze in his arms and for a moment, Daryl wondered if he had drastically overstepped his bounds. While truthfully, Tessa had forgotten she had been wearing them this whole time.

After a moment, Tessa pursed her lips before sitting up. Daryl allowed her with a look of surprise on his face, watching as she shrugged off his jacket before moving towards the backpack that was sitting with the rest of the diaper bags. She unzipped it, withdrew the cardboard box and returned to him. Upon retaking her place beside him, Daryl straightened up as well and continued to watch as she unsnapped the box and opened it. His eyes widened upon seeing the folded American Flag and she spread out the pictures before withdrawing the dog tags from around her neck, where she replaced them in the box. They had no place around her neck – not anymore.

She stayed silent, allowing the pictures to speak for themselves, as Daryl's eyes raked keenly over the three pictures. "So . . . this -" He picked up the dog tags and upon reading what was engraved on them, replaced them and continued: "Jeremy, he . . ." He trailed off and stayed silent for a moment, thinking, before he spoke again: "Ya loved him."

Tessa sat there for a moment before nodding. "Yes . . . I did a lot. He . . . we would have gotten married if he ever came back from where he was stationed in Afghanistan. And quite evidently, he didn't, so . . ." She gave a shrug. "I was forced to move on. I mean, at first it was extremely difficult to cope. Here I was, having spent so much time with this person, created so many good memories with him and had been so intimate with him, and all of sudden, I was forced to say that we couldn't do that anymore because he was dead and gone and he was never coming back."

"How did Ethan like him?" He asked and Tessa gave a small shrug.

"Ethan was young when he came into the picture – around third grade, I think. He barely remembers him, but they got along well from what I remember. Jeremy, he loved Ethan a lot and he would . . . he would have been much better suited to Ethan than Sam ever would have."

"So . . ." Daryl trailed off and gave a shrug then. "Ya, uh . . . almost replaced me, huh?"

Tessa felt herself stiffen slightly and gazed at his expressionless face for a moment before biting down on her bottom lip. She gave a light laugh before averting her eyes down to the box as she closed it. "That . . . sounds horrible, but . . . I guess that's the best way to put it, huh?" She spoke, her voice quiet, as she got to her feet and moved over to their things, where she placed the box back into her backpack. She could feel Daryl watching her the entire time and when she turned her head to gaze at him, she found that she could barely meet his eyes.

"Daryl . . . I never stopped loving you – you know that! But during that time, you weren't around and I got to where I was miserable with Sam and when Jeremy came along, I -!"

Daryl shaking his head was what interrupted her. "Ya don' have to explain, Tess. I get it. I really do." Tessa shot him an uneasy look.

"You do?" He nodded.

"Of course I do. I might . . . I might not exactly love tha idea of ya fallin' in love after me, but . . . I'm mature enough to know that there was a pretty good chance ya might have. And he's not in the picture anymore and I don' have to worry 'bout him wantin' to get back in tha picture anymore like Sam does, so . . ." He shrugged. "I'm content to accept tha fact tha' he's in ya past and he's goin' to stay in ya past. And besides, by tha way ya talk 'bout him, I know he was a good guy, so I can' complain."

Tessa nodded and smiled a small smile before moving back over him. She moved to straddle him, and he hurried to make her more comfortable. She placed her hands on his shoulders and kissed him, his mouth readily opening to her as his hands settled on her hips. They sat there in the warm glow of the fire for a moment, their lips moving against each other in that completely intimate way that was so very normal and innate for them, that when they finally broke apart, it felt like they were tearing something apart inside each other.

"I want ya bad right now . . . but I can' have ya, can I?" He murmured, Tessa feeling his heart race through his clothes as her hand moved down to cover his heart. She glanced at the twins sleeping soundly not that far away from them before skipping onto the others sleeping on the other side of the campfire. There was Beth curled up closer to the fire than Tessa originally felt comfortable with but it was am abnormally cool night, so she guess she couldn't have complained too bad. Then her eyes moved onto Ethan lying on his back with Wren's head on his chest and she realized that they were all sleeping like the dead – no pun intended.

She gave a laugh. "We could always do a Shane and Lori and go into the woods." She joked and Daryl grinned and let out a laugh.

"Ooo, now that's a low blow for ya dead friend there, babydoll! And I don' know 'bout ya, but I'm civilized! I don' do ma shit in tha woods. And besides, who would keep watch while we're doin' our thing?"

Tessa arched a teasing brow. "What? Like we'd take more than ten minutes? What can possibly happen in ten fuckin' minutes?"

Daryl's eyebrows rose in incredulity then. "Fuck ya too, babydoll! Now tha' was a low blow towards me! He laughed and she couldn't help but grin and laugh as well as he shook his head. "Nope; get offa me. Ya lost ya chance – I ain' wantin' it anymore!" He told her, a grin threatening to split his face in two, and she laughed as her lips trailed from his, to his jaw, where she nibbled slightly.

"What are you talking about? You always want it, Daryl!" She replied with a snort of laughter against his prickly flesh (he hadn't had a chance to shave in a while) and Daryl had to nod in agreement.

"Ya right . . . I am kinda a glutton, ain' I?" He murmured, and she gave another snort of laughter before nodding her head.

"Uh, what do you think Mr. I'm-Gonna-Get-My-Wife-Pregnant-Again-So-Soon-After-Getting-Twins?"

"Well, I guess it ain' exactly like we gotta worry 'bout tha' anytime soon, huh?"

Tessa nodded at his quiet words, and sat back, where she gazed at him. He returned her gaze, waiting patiently for her reply as his hand moved underneath her shirt and skimmed over the warm flesh of her back. He arched a conspiratorial brow then and she almost grinned at the sight - almost. "So how 'bout it? Ya wanna go get it on?"

Tessa bit down on her bottom lip and glanced at the others for a moment before turning her eyes back onto him. "You promise we'll be quick?" She asked and he rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, don' worry, babydoll. Apparently, I won' last longer than ten minutes." He quipped, only to grin when she smacked him unkindly on the arm.

"I was joking, you ass! Now come on, if you want to do this, then grab one of those blankets and follow me. I ain't doing it here when they could wake up and find us!" She ordered him before getting to her feet. Daryl continued to grin as he got to his feet as well and stooped to pick up a blanket.

"What, babydoll? Ya don' want our son and his girlfriend to wake up and see ya bouncin' on top of me? Hell, we might event teach them something!"

The look Tessa gave him at his joking words, almost made him split his sides in laughter, but he managed to rein himself back in. "Daryl, just . . . just no! Actually, ew . . ." She trailed off before flinching and violently shaking her head. "You know what, Daryl - no – fuck no!"

Daryl grinned and laughed as he nodded. "Okay, yeah, I get it; now hurry up – I haven't been with ya in forever and I'm kinda lookin' forward to it!"

"Patience is a virtue . . ." Tessa spoke in a sing-song voice and the look Daryl gave her made her grin with the very stoniness of it.

"Tessa, babydoll, get in tha woods!"