Yeah, I took a pretty big Beth part and assigned it to Tessa in this chapter. It did majorly tweak it to fit Tessa, though, so don't harp on me too much. And by the way, there is a lemon in this chapter too, but really, is anyone complaining?

kat hatake90: Prepare for more feels this chapter. I know, I hate em too but dammit, they keep coming! LOL And I'm fine with obsession as long as you don't Lennon me (too soon?) ;)

HaloHunter89: Yeah . . . yeah, I'm still anxious over what the Hell I'm gonna do in future chapters, but I'm kinda just taking them a chapter at a time - helps me keep my sanity that way lol. And like I said previously, be prepared for more heart-wrenching feels this chapter - 'cause I always deliver on them there feels :)

GACfan4Life: Thanks for the review, hun - it was awesome! I'm very flattered that I moved you to tears - means I done my job :)

DarylDixon'sLover: Don't worry - Tessa looks after her family :)

Enjoy!

- Nagiana


"Hey . . ."

Daryl looked up at Tessa as she moved to join him out on the darkened front porch, and he nodded when he saw her. Her heart immediately gave a pang at the sight of him. Poor Daryl – he looked miserable. Miserable and exhausted.

"Are tha kids finally asleep?" He asked and she nodded as she gently closed the screen door behind her.

"Yeah. Thank God, too – me and Wren didn't think we'd ever get them to sleep!" She replied with a laugh and he replied with a weak smile. She heaved a sigh. "Look baby, you don't have to beat yourself up anymore! I understand why you snapped and quite frankly – I'm shocked it took alcohol for it to happen!" He shook his head.

"Tha' ain' gonna happen. I'm gonna beat maself up as long as I wanna beat maself up. I crossed a line back there, Tess. Even if ya forgive me, and Ethan and Wren and everyone else, I can'. Tha' was a line I had no business crossin'."

Tessa heaved a sigh as she took a seat across from him, her back moving to sit against the wooden pillar behind her – the same as him. "When are you going to stop then?" She asked and when he didn't answer her, she opted to change the subject instead. "Well . . . I kinda know now why Hershel stopped drinking . . . and while Will wouldn't." Daryl nodded in agreement.

"Ya feel safe. Ya feel like nothin' can hurt ya 'cause ya on top of tha world and 'cause of tha' feelin', ya do stupid shit." Tessa arched and eyebrow.

"Was that how you were feeling?" Daryl shook his head.

"Nah . . . I was jus' pissed," He replied before shaking his head. "Goddamnit, Tess, I ain' never been tha' pissed in a very long time! And tha bad thing is, I don' know if it was always there and tha moonshine jus' made it worse, or . . ." He trailed off and Tessa smiled.

"It's always been there, Daryl, trust me. I've known for a while that you've been feeling angry and frustrated – I'm just shocked you didn't snap sooner." He glanced at her.

"Do ya feel safe 'round me babydoll?" She waited a moment before she shook her head.

"At that moment . . . no – you had me terrified. Now . . . I still don't think so." She answered him truthfully and he nodded.

"I'm sorry, babydoll, but I ain' gonna forgive maself for a long time, then. I showed my ass to ya guys in a way I never wanted to show my ass." She nodded, her eyes softening.

"I know, baby. And I can forgive you for that because I know you never would have done that if you were sober. I just . . . it might take me awhile to get back to feeling safe, you know? That shook me, I won't lie." He nodded as they fell silent, and Tessa leaned forward and craned her head up slightly to look into the room beyond the screen door. The twins were lying in-between Ethan and Wren on their sleeping bags on the floor while Beth lay curled up in the recliner that Daryl had been sitting in earlier. They were all sleeping soundly – Wren and the twins because of the stress of the day, and Beth and Ethan because of that alcoholic drunkenness that made it so damn easy to sleep at night.

"Thank God they're happy drunks . . ." Daryl muttered with a relieved tone to his voice, and Tessa glanced at him.

"Yeah, they became pretty happy after everything was over . . ." She agreed before shooting him a teasing look. "Some people can be real jerks when they're drunk."

Tessa let out a mental whoop when Daryl smiled a small that threatened to turn into a grin as he nodded. "Yeah, I'm pretty damn sure I step over tha line and into dick territory . . . when I'm drunk."

They both gave little laughs then before dissolving into a silence punctuated only by the chirping of the crickets in the forest and tall grass surrounding the house. Daryl averted his eyes to the ground. "Not long after ya left, Merle got this dealer," He suddenly spoke up and Tessa turned her eyes onto him with a gleam of curiosity echoing in them. This was new . . . Daryl hardly ever talked about his life after she left him. She knew it was too painful for him to relive those days, even in memory, but she supposed he knew he was already in pain at that moment and he mineaswell add to it some.

"It was this . . . janky little white fucker – Mike Peterson – ya remember him? He graduated with me?" Tessa nodded.

"That guy who would get high in chemistry class by inhaling the fumes?" Daryl nodded and she grinned and nodded. "Fuck - how could I not?" She asked with a snort of laughter, and Daryl smiled a little and continued:

"He was tweaker too . . . got really heavily into it. Well, one day we were over at his house watching TV – gettin' high. We wasn' even doin' anythin' yet but was still completely wasted. Merle was higher than a kite, I was gettin' there . . . and we were watchin' this show, right? Well, Merle was talkin' 'bout all this dumb stuff 'bout it and he wouldn' let up," He gave a laugh. "Hell ya know tha' Merle never could!" She nodded and he continued still: "It turned out . . . this was tweaker kid's favorite show. And he doesn' ever see his kid, so I guess he felt guilty or somethin' 'bout it, and ended up punchin' Merle in the face! BAM – right here . . ." He curled his hand into a fist and showed her where Merle had been hit – the knuckles sliding smoothly into the spot right in-between his bottom teeth and his cheekbone. Tessa grimaced and Daryl nodded.

"So of course, I get up and I start hittin' tha' tweaker hard – as hard as I fuckin' can! And then he pulls a gun and sticks it right here," He did the gun motion with his fingers right to his temple and Tessa nodded, although she couldn't help but swallow hard nonetheless. "He said: 'I'm gonna kill you, bitch!'. So then Merle pulls his gun on him – everyone's yellin', I'm yellin' . . . I thought I was dead . . . all over a dumb cartoon 'bout a talkin' dog." Tessa gave a laugh.

"Courage the Cowardly Dog," She spoke and Daryl looked up at her in slight confusion, where she nodded. "Yup, I know it pretty damn well. Ironically, it was Ethan's favorite show too." She told him and Daryl gave a laugh and a shrug.

"Well if it means anythin' – I prolly woulda done tha' same thing if I was in tha tweaker's shoes." He told her and she smiled.

"How did you get out of it?"

"Tweaker ended up punchin' me in tha gut. I puked – of course. And they both started laughin' – him and Merle." He shook his head with a little laugh. "And we forgot all 'bout it."

He stayed silent for a moment before eventually turning his eyes up onto her. "Ya wanna know what I was doin', tha day all this shit happened?" He asked and she nodded. "I was jus' driftin' 'round with Merle, doin' whatever he said we were gonna be doin' tha' day. But yet . . ." He trailed off and swallowed hard. "Every night I couldn' help but pray to God tha' I'd find ya out there. 'Cause, even though Merle told me ya were dead, I couldn' believe him. I kept tellin' maself, over and over again for fourteen long damn years, tha' I would have felt it if ya died. And since I didn' feel anythin', I knew ya were alive and I allowed Merle to boss me 'round, 'cause I was too busy puttin' all ma energy into findin' ya – keepin' ma eyes open for ya," He gave a shrug and his heart pounded at the soft look in Tessa's eyes as she gazed at him. "I was nobody, Tess, without ya – a nothin'. Hell, tha day tweaker put a gun to ma head, I was prayin' he'd pull the trigger, jus' so I wouldn' have to live ma life high all day so I could get numb to tha fact tha' I didn' have ya anymore. When ya left, I jus' . . . reverted back to bein' some redneck asshole who became an even bigger asshole jus' for his older brother!"

Tessa bit down on her bottom lip. She knew all this – she really did. She could see it in his eye whenever he looked at her, but yet . . . even though she already knew all this, it still made her heart pound faster in her chest whenever he would tell her. Telling her shit like this, was Daryl Dixon's own little way of telling her he loved her.

"You miss him, don't you?" She asked, and Daryl gazed at her for a moment before nodding. "I mean . . . I miss Maggie and Michonne . . ." She trailed off and gave a laugh that was slightly accompanied by the burn of tears. "Jesus Christ, Daryl, I miss Lori every damn day!" She sniffed and rubbed at her nose slightly then. "Hell, even to some extinct, I miss my mom and my dad. I miss my mom bossing me around and my dad being completely oblivious to it like every man is. She was so annoying and overprotective, and . . . oh my God, did she hate you!" She told him with a laugh and Daryl forced himself to hold back a grin as she continued: "But by the same token, she absolutely adored Ethan. She thought he was most beautiful, intelligent little baby that had ever crawled and walked and baby talked his way across the earth and he was such a grandma's boy, it's not even funny! She always used to say that Ethan was the only good thing that we ever done together."

She shook her head again. "And the prison . . . I think only you know how much that prison meant to me. It was a place where we could raise the twins – where we could watch them grow up in relative peace and safety . . . I always thought that Maggie and Glenn would have a baby next, or even – God forbid – Michonne and Rick!" She trailed off and gave a heavy swallow then. "It was a place where, eventually and hopefully a very long time in the future, we could grow old and Wren and Ethan could give us grandbabies. You'd be papaw and I'd be mamaw . . . it wasn't the farmhouse and the white-picket fence that we always wanted, but . . . it was still our home and I . . . I still loved it. It was quiet and I thought . . . I thought we'd be okay. Hershel would go out in the way that Dale should have – surrounded by people he loved and who loved him." She shook her head then and the burn of tears came fiercer and suddenly, a few of them managed to escape and she let out a laugh. "It was a . . . horrendously stupid idea, but fuckin' Hell, was it beautiful!"

"Tha's how it was supposed to be, babydoll," Daryl spoke after she was done, his voice quiet and mournful. "Me and Rick and Glenn – we tried our hardest every damn day to make it tha' way. It's all what we wanted – it's all tha' we ever wanted."

"And sometimes I can't help but feel like the only reason we were the ones who got out of there, was because of you, and . . . that thought makes me feel so safe because here you are, seemingly born for this shit!"

Daryl shook his head. "Tess, come on – I'm jus' used to this, you know tha'! I'm used to growin' up with shit bein' ugly – in a place like this." She nodded.

"But you got away from it. Sooner or later, with or without me, you got away from it." He shook his head.

"But I didn' -"

"You did!" Tessa interrupted him firmly, her eyes wide and brooking no argument. He smiled a weak smile.

"Guess ya gotta keep on remindin' me some days, huh?" He told her and she smiled a small smile in return. She sat there for a minute before biting down on her bottom lip.

"You're gonna be the last one standing, Daryl," She finally spoke and he immediately shook his head.

"Tess, no I ain'!" She nodded.

"You are. You are! You and Ethan both are gonna make it – I know it."

"Tessa, stop this!"

"In fact, you are gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon." Tessa told him with a confident tone and an arched eyebrow in amusement and Daryl slowly nodded.

"And I hope to Hell and back that I never have to deal with tha', either."

"Yeah, well, you might have to."

"Tessa -!"

"Daryl!" She interrupted him, her voice firm. "We have to be adults about this. We have to open our eyes and accept all the possibilities, no matter what they are and no matter how hard they are to deal with." She placed a hand on her stomach then and Daryl's eyes immediately followed it. They grew pained when he realized what she was going to say next. "This can very well kill me and you know it. It was a fluke of luck that I didn't die with the twins last time and even then, I'm halfway convinced that's because we had Carol and Hershel in standby mode. But we don't have either of them anymore, and . . . the way you acted today, made me realize how fucking fleeting our lives are now, which is why I need you to promise me something, baby . . ."

Daryl's heart pounded in his chest as she leaned forward towards him. He didn't want to have to promise her anything. He wanted her to be there beside him always – he wanted to walk beside her until the both of them dropped dead. He wanted . . . he wanted . . .

"If I die in labor with this one -"

Daryl shook his head, eyes burning with tears again. "Tessa, babydoll, please stop!"

"If I die in labor with this one," She repeated the words, her voice and eyes still firm. "You need to promise me – flat out promise me, that you will carry on. You can't go shoot yourself in the head or get yourself bitten, or any of that other bullshit because you can't live without me – you can't! That's not an option anymore, Daryl, because our kids cannot grow up without a parent – they cannot survive without you! You shoot me in the head so I don't come back, bury me and then move on – you keep on walking and you keep our kids safe, you got that? Promise me!"

Daryl shook his head. "How can I? Even now, Tess, I don' think I could even crawl if I lost ya! All I'd wanna do is lay down and die, so tell me – how can I promise ya this?"

She smiled a small smile. "Because you love me above all others, Daryl, and I know you will because you know how much our children mean to me."

She was right. Dammit to Hell, if she wasn't right.

Eventually, after a long, excruciating moment, he nodded. "Alright, I promise ya everything . . . like I always have." He told her and she gave him a relieved look.

"Thank you. You have no idea how much that puts my mind at ease!" She told him with a laugh, and he nodded and gave her a weak smile. It might have put her at ease, but it certainly didn't with him.

Daryl looked away then. "We should go inside . . ." He spoke, his voice gruff, but Tessa shook her head.

"No, let's stay out here for a moment longer. I haven't been outside like this at night for a long time now - I miss it." She told him and he glanced at her.

"Yeah, well, I got a headache now, thanks to ya, so -"

"Well awesome – I'll go get you a couple of Tylenol. Glad I brought 'em, now!"

"Tess -!"

Daryl abruptly cut off what he was going to say with a frustrated sigh as Tessa stubbornly got to her feet and made her way back indoors. She came back out a few seconds later, a smug look on her face as she held them out to him. "Headache problems?" She asked, and Daryl gave her a look at he took them.

"Ya know I don' like takin' pills, Tess."

"It's Tylenol, Daryl, not fucking Valium. I'm pretty sure it's damn near impossible to get addicted to Tylenol."

Daryl shot her another look. "Tessa, I don't -"

"Daryl, don't be an ass! You've gotten drunk off of moonshine and probably have a splitting headache. Take them – they'll make you feel better!"

Daryl rolled his eyes as she took a seat beside him. "Fine - there, see – see 'em?" Tessa grinned and nodded as he placed one of them in the palm of his hand with the other before popping them both in his mouth and then chasing it down with the bottle of water that she gruffly pushed into his hand. "There ya go – are ya happy now? Do I get a gold star on ma next report card?" He asked slightly teasingly, and Tessa arched an eyebrow in playful amusement as she shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but you don't get a gold star this time - you get a silver one. You were naughty earlier today, remember?"

"Naughty?" Daryl replied with a grin – the morose, depressing subject matter of earlier now forgotten. "I was naughty? Oh, tha's it – come here, I'll show ya naughty!" He spoke through gritted teeth and Tessa grinned and let out a shriek of laughter as Daryl grabbed her wrist and pulled her on his lap, where he began tickling her. Laughter spilled forth from her throat in waves and when he was done, figuring he ought to give her a break to breathe before she choked herself, she sat up on top of him and gave him a playfully mean look as she grasped his shoulders. The look disappeared, however, when she felt his hand gently slide over the hard, ever-so-slight swell of her stomach. His palm flattened over and warmed the space "I never thought I'd see ya like this again . . ." He confessed in a slightly awed murmur and she nervously licked her lips.

"You won't feel anything right now . . . it's still too early."

"Damn . . ." He murmured as he smoothed his hand a little higher. "That's one of the things I used to love – feelin' the twins move inside ya . . . feelin' their little kicks and punches against my palms . . . havin' 'em wake us up at night . . ." He trailed off and turned his eyes up to hers. "Will ya tell me when it does start to move?" He asked and Tessa nodded in slight disbelief as she felt the prickle of tears in her eyes.

"Of course I will! Why wouldn't I?" She asked him, and he swallowed hard as he moved to lean on his hands on the porch behind him, where his eyes bore into hers. He shifted slightly so that one of his hands moved from her stomach to grasp her hip as hers moved to grip his neck.

"I missed ya, ya know . . .?" He murmured with a shake of his head. "I missed ya so much! I jus' didn' want to say anythin' 'cause I thought . . . I thought ya didn' want me anymore."

Tessa gave a bark of a laugh. "Are you serious? Daryl, what in the Hell gave you that idea, baby?" She asked and he shrugged.

"Just . . . me bein' stupid, I guess." He spoke and she gave him a reprimanding look before she leaned in and pressed a kiss to his lips.

"You're not stupid, baby. And you know I hate it when you say shit like that." She told him before she attached her lips to his neck. Daryl let out a laugh as her kisses became slightly biting.

"Are ya serious, Tess? Here?"

Tessa nodded as she framed his face with her hands and kissed him again. It didn't take long for him to return her kiss with as much heat and passion as she was showing him. Her hands grasped for handholds on his body that she couldn't keep for longer than a minute or two, for the feeling of his tongue twisting with hers and his hands everywhere on her, seemingly at once, had her mind sunk deep into foggy mire. He grasped her hips in a tight hold for a minute before sliding one callused palm up her shirt to grasp one of her breasts. She whimpered into his mouth and then – before either of them could over-think things - they were tearing at each other's clothes. Hands moved to the buttons and flies of each other's jeans and while Tessa stepped off him and backwards to slide her jeans down her legs, Daryl's hands were busy undoing his belt and rooting himself out.

Hands eventually finished divesting them of any clothing obstacles in the way, and he took her hand, where he helped her back down onto him. She was straddling his hips again and Tessa bit down on her bottom lip as she grasped him and slowly began lowering herself down onto him, inch by careful inch. Daryl let out an almost immediate groan, his eyes closing and his hands moving to settle on her hips as she continued with her extremely slow descent. She could see how much it was torturing him to be this slow after how fast they had originally come together and Tessa would be lying if she said she wasn't taking a little bit of a voyeuristic pleasure in watching him fight tooth and nail to keep himself in control.

His arms tightened around her and Tessa let out a low moan as her hips began rocking against his. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer to her still. She whimpered his name in his ear and Daryl grunted in response as his hips bucked up into hers harder and faster than they had been previously and as his hand disappeared in-between her thighs, to stroke the small bundle of nerves located there and to make the throbbing ache in her lower stomach worse.

It had been so long since they last came together, that it didn't take long for the both of them to hit their respective peaks and when they did, there was no loud exclamations like usual. They held each other so tight, they could barely breathe, and Daryl's lips attached themselves to her jaw as her body shook with the force of her pleasure.

When they were done, they sat there for a minute on the porch, catching their breaths and reveling in the fact that they needed that so much.

"I fucking hate this . . ." Tessa murmured and Daryl's eyebrows furrowed slightly in confusion. They continued to sit there for a moment on the porch where they just made the quickest love they had possibly ever had, still so intimately connected in each other arms, and Tessa gave a shrug as her hands ran along his back. "I fucking hate everything that's happened to us lately . . . just bad shit after bad shit . . . no fucking end in sight . . ."

"Things always get better . . . they have to." Daryl answered her, his voice low and soothing, and she heaved a sigh.

"And how long will that take? We tried living without fear once, Daryl, and look what happened. A man attacked us because he was envious of what we had. Does it ever stop being a dog-eat-dog world? Will we ever get another chance to breathe?"

"When will we ever make love in an actual bed again?" He teased lovingly, and Tessa grinned and rolled her eyes as she pulled away slightly in order to catch his eyes with hers.

"I'm serious, Daryl."

"I am too – I'm tired of getting dirt in my ass and lyin' on pointy rocks whenever we want to fuck -!"

"Daryl!"

"Sorry, Tess! Geez, jus' was tryin' to lighten tha mood a little!" He murmured as he pressed a loving kiss to the horseshoe indentation of her collarbone. She let out a sigh and her fingers buried in his dark hair as she held him close. His arms wrapped around her and he held her just as close and for a moment, the two of them sat there, wondering when they would get another intimate moment like that again.