So I actually did manage to NOT hit the two week mark this time (yay!) however I do know I am still a little bit late by being over the one week mark. Damn, but see, at least I'm working on getting back to being on schedule! :)
This chapter does contain more drama in the Sam and Maggie territory. The Dessa territory does see some drama in the beginning before collapsing into nothing but sheer silliness. I'm sorry - I couldn't help myself with the pig's feet ;)
HaluHunter89: Yeah, I figured I'd cut Sam some slack and let him actually be happy for once (or as happy as this situation will allow him to be anyway). And one parallel that I especially want to draw and make aware to everyone, is how very similar, The GlennxMaggiexSam triangle is, to the AbrahamxRositaxJeremy triangle. Mainly, that both triangles have unrequited love that are at times reciprocated, at times not (Rosita - Jeremy (and who hopefully are going to make more appearances soon) and then Sam - Maggie). Just thought that was an interesting parallel I'd bring to your attention in case it hasn't come up before :)
DarylDixon'sLover: Keep reading, hun :)
"We're at the crossroads my dear
Where do we go from here?
Maybe you won't go maybe you'll stay
I know I'm going to miss you either way
It's such a lonely road . . ."
- "Where Do We Go From Here?" by Alicia Keys
"Here, hold Little Man for me, would ya . . .?"
Beth nodded as she took Danny from Daryl, only to step back when he swung the front door of the house open. It opened with a horror movie-esque creak, and Daryl banged on the doorframe before letting out a sharp whistle. They waited a few moments to make sure no walkers lumbered out at them, drawn by the sound, before cautiously inching their way inside. Daryl held his crossbow at the ready and the others filed in slowly behind him, Ethan bringing up the rear.
"Sounds empty . . ." Ethan spoke up and Daryl nodded in agreement as he peered around a corner into a dim hallway.
"It's so clean . . ." Beth mused, and Tessa nodded in agreement as she looked back at the young girl.
"I was thinking the same thing," She returned her gaze onto Daryl. "This house is way too clean to have been abandoned when this whole thing first started - of even if someone had abandoned it a few months ago. Someone's been living here."
"Your right - someone's been tendin' to it." He agreed and Tessa shot him an ever-so-slightly uneasy look while his remained expressionless. His eyes had adopted a wary look to them, however, and Tessa knew he was on high alert. Him and Ethan both were.
He nodded to his son. "Check these two front rooms – people might still be 'round." He told him and Ethan nodded as he immediately moved to check the room adjacent to them, while Tessa moved closer to him.
"You think we could rest here tonight? I really want to keep Wren off her feet for just tonight. Don't want her ankle to get any worse, you know?" She asked him and he nodded.
"Yeah . . . let me and Ethan check tha rest of the house and then we'll get set up. We'll keep watches too . . . don' wanna be spooked by nothin'," He told her, referring to the possible owners and/or squatters of the house, and she quickly returned the nod as Ethan returned. He nodded.
"Rooms are clear." He told him and Daryl motioned for him to follow him.
"Ya'll stay here. We'll be quick." He told her and Tessa nodded, her grip on her daughter tightening slightly as Daryl and Ethan disappeared down the two hallways branching out from the front foyer they were standing in, hoping that they'd loop around and meet in a dining room or maybe even a sitting room or a kitchen.
Tessa watched as they disappeared down the hallways and contented herself to moving into one of the room adjacent to the foyer, her eyes running over the clean rooms decorated in a country farmhouse theme. However, the room she entered, immediately caught her eye. There was an open casket in this room, frilly white bedding inside a shining mahogany (or was it walnut?) box. Chairs stood lined up in two columns in front of the open casket and it took Tessa a moment to realize the house they were in, was a funeral home.
The corpse resting in the casket looked like he was made of wax. And even though she knew there was no way he was going to wake up since formaldehyde filled his veins instead of blood, cotton had replaced his brain and his eyes had been sown shut, instinct and good old fashioned habit, made her reach out and tentatively touch his cheek. She quickly withdrew her hand, only to find make-up coating her fingers.
"Jesus Christ . . ." She murmured in awe and she heard a chuckle come from beside her. She glanced as Daryl as he moved to stand beside her, and he too turned his gaze down onto the body.
"Seems like a long damn time ago tha' we had these kind of funerals for our dead, huh?" He murmured, and she nodded, still feeling slightly in awe. It seemed so long ago that they spent thousands and thousands of dollars preparing their dead for burial in their best suits and the prettiest, most environmentally fuck-you caskets. It seemed so very long ago that they had funerals like these, where the dead were put on display surrounded by white calla lilies and carnations while surrounded by sobbing family members dressed in their best black dresses bought that morning that they would only (hopefully) wear once. Now, they buried their dead as quickly as they could, with a lot less pomp and ceremony. Gone were the days of expensive cherrywood, mahogany, oakwood, maple etc., caskets. Now, they buried their dead in a simple pinewood boxes – or without a box or an actual grave if they were in a hurry. Gone were the days where they could have long, Catholic funerals; where you could mourn as long as you wanted to. Nowadays, there was no time for mourning. It was survival of the fittest now – mourning only got you killed.
"Whose was tha last funeral ya went to?" He asked her, curiosity lacing his tone, and without even thinking, Tessa answered:
"It was Jeremy's, believe it or not. It was a beautiful service; his family was Catholic, even though he didn't practice anything, so it was one of those typical excruciatingly long services. But it was still beautiful, nonetheless. And we didn't exactly have a body to bury, so we just . . . we just buried a very expensive box - like that did anything to help with closure! But everyone was there – his family, the men he served with, the military men and women he had met over the years – his Commanders . . . and you want to know the funny thing? I remember not really getting any closure at all until the moment those men draped that American flag over that coffin and fired their guns in the air. Then I knew, with absolutely certainty, that he was gone and . . ." She trailed off and swallowed heavily before she shook her head. She felt the burn of tears behind her eyes but didn't show them to Daryl. She knew better than to show those tears to him and even if she could, she never would. Jeremy was gone and in her past. Daryl was her present and future. She wasn't about to taint that.
"But enough about that, okay?. That's . . . those memories aren't important anymore. What about you? Do you remember the last funeral you went to?" She asked him as she turned her gaze onto him. She saw him hold her gaze for a moment, deep in thought, and when he finally spoke, it was slow and filled with ever-so-slight awe.
"It was ya's, Tess."
She immediately recoiled in shock. "M-Mine?" She asked, and he nodded.
"Well . . . yeah. Merle told everyone ya were dead, remember? So, understandably . . . tha town wanted to hold a service for ya. Now, don' look at me like tha' – it wasn' nothin' extravagant or anythin'! Medina made sure it was simple and tasteful, and . . . I made sure it was beautiful." He looked away then, his eyes pained. "Tha' funeral – eventually completely unnecessary or not - was possibly, one of tha single-most excruciatingly painful things I've ever had to go through, Tess. I had to stand up there by tha' casket Medina chose for ya - 'cause it wasn' like I was gonna do it – and . . . lay down and take it as person after person after person came up to me with tears in their eyes, tellin' me how sorry they were ya were gone – how sorry they were tha' I had lost ya!" He shook his head. "I went home tha' night and I got so fuckin' blind, pissin' drunk tha' . . . shit, I would have made my old man look bad!"
"I . . . I went back, you know? To Shooter's Mill. It was a few years after Ethan was born and in hindsight . . . I don't know why I went back. Stupid, wishful thinking, I guess . . ." She confessed, tears in her eyes, and he turned an expressionless gaze onto her before nodding.
"I know."
A look of confusion appeared in her eyes. "You do?" He nodded again.
"Merle got stoned one day and since he has a tendency to be an apologetic stoner, told me everythin'. He told me how he chased ya outta JT's . . . how he told ya I didn' want ya anymore cause I was supposedly married and shit . . ." He let out a laugh and shook his head. "Like I'd ever get married to April! But he . . . he got it good tha' night, Tess. It was tha only time ever managed to beat tha shit outta him, and understandably, it wasn' exactly a time he liked to brag about." She shook her head.
"I'm sorry -"
"Don' be, babydoll," He told her soothingly as he wrapped his hands around her arms. "Ya and Ethan are here with me now. Ya gave me two beautiful kids and another on tha way. This might not be tha scenario we envisioned for ourselves growin' up, but it's one tha' I ain' about to take for granted. I love ya Tess, and . . . and I've been thinkin' over some stuff . . ." He trailed off, wanting to say what was on the tip of his tongue, but not knowing if he could, all the same. Eventually, he pursed his lips and made him. "And I promise ya. I promise ya, tha' if anythin' happens to ya, I'll keep on goin'. I'll take tha kids and I'll walk. I'll walk 'til I find Rick or Michonne or Maggie or someone. And if I don', then I'll keep walkin'. I'll walk 'til I find somethin' for us."
Tessa gazed up at him for a moment, tears brimming in her eyes, before she nodded and threw her free arm around him, where she hugged him tightly for a moment. Aayla was bunched in-between them, but for once, the little girl didn't seem to mind. It was almost as if she had sensed the solemnity of her mother and father's conversation and knew she shouldn't break it.
"Thank you . . . you have no idea how good I will sleep at night, knowing you have promised me this!" She whispered, and he nodded as he hugged her back tightly for a moment, before they broke apart. He gave her a smile and nodded down one of the hallways.
"If this is a funeral home, then medical supplies should be in the basement. Come on, we should go find something to help Wren's ankle . . ."
When they walked down the stairs to the basement, Tessa sensed Wren cringing away from the still body lying on the table, out of the corner of her eyes. Beth and Ethan's eyes nearly widened in shock as Daryl moved to lay his crossbow on the nearby stainless steel countertop. He cleared his throat as he began searching through cabinets before nodding towards Wren.
"What say we get tha' ankle wrapped, Little Bird?"
"Uh . . . deddy?"
Daryl turned his eyes onto them before following their gazes to the half-decayed corpse on the table – the corpse that was quite clearly a walker and which was in the process of being readied for a funeral or a burial or both. He gave a shrug as he moved over to them, undoing a package of bandages with his teeth as he did so. "Looks like someone ran out of dolls to dress up." He quipped, a little dryly, and Beth sent him a reprimanding look as she moved to stand beside the table and the walker.
"It's beautiful!" She told him, and he snorted as she continued: "Whoever did this . . . cared. They wanted these people to get a funeral . . . something that we don't exactly get anymore. We have . . . we have to remember that these things were people - before . . . all of this. They didn't let all this badness change them in the end." Her eyes trained on him and Tessa then. "That is what you two were talking about up there, wasn't it? The last funeral you guys attended?"
Tessa nodded and swallowed hard. "Yeah . . . unfortunately, both of those funerals we attended, did not have bodies to bury."
"Fortunately, in my respect . . ." Daryl gently corrected her, and she gave him a small smile and a nod.
"Yes . . . fortunately."
"Well, don't you guys think that's beautiful?" Beth asked, and they stood there thinking for a minute. Eventually, Tessa shrugged.
"I used to. I used to think it was beautiful because death was so rare that . . . we could afford to make it beautiful - that in some twisted way, all that mourning was beautiful too. But now . . . now, there's so much death, that it's . . . it's almost a fact of life and that alone makes it almost . . . abhorrent to me."
Tessa's words hung thick in the air as Daryl nodded towards Wren. "Come on . . ." He told her, his voice quiet, as he moved to kneel in front of her. He didn't have anything to say on the matter, and they knew it. Daryl didn't like talking about Death.
It was hard . . . talking about something you had known since childhood.
"You know, for being out in the woods, finding firewood is a lot harder than you think!"
Maggie smiled at Sam's words as she bent down to pick up a few larger pieces of wood as he did the same a few meters away. She didn't speak a lot anymore, figured it was because she was so caught up in worrying for Glenn – for finding him – however, she realized now that something else had entered into the equation too. She didn't want to admit it, but she had started developing feelings for Sam – feelings she had not intended on developing for him. And as she turned her head to gaze at him over her shoulder, she could understand why. Glenn worried for her, yes, but Sam worried for her in a different way. Glenn wanted to protect her by shutting her away – had ever since he fucked up and allowed them and Tessa to be taken to Woodbury by Merle. But Sam . . . Sam allowed her to do her thing, while always keeping a watchful eye on her. He didn't get in her way. In fact, he made a point of not getting in her way. She liked it. She . . . she really liked it.
Sam chuckled. "It's something I learned from being married to Tess." He told her and it took her a minute to realize that she had spoken some of the words aloud. Blush burned across her cheeks but she didn't back down from them.
"What do you mean?"
Sam grinned as he got to his feet, arms full of sticks and a few wood logs the thickness of paper towel rolls. "When I married Tess, she was about as prickly as a cactus. No one but Ethan could get close to her. So, what I had to do, was learn to let her do her own thing, but still keep an eye on her from a distance - to make sure she was okay. Maybe, in the end, it didn't accomplish anything, but . . . it made me feel better, anyway." Maggie grinned.
"And how did that work out?" She asked, and he let out a laugh and shook his head.
"Things didn't work out between us, Mags, 'cause I wasn't Daryl. If you've notice, Daryl does the same thing, just . . . in a better way than I ever could."
"Well I like it," She admitted as she continued to search the surrounding forest floor for sticks and small logs. Her voice held a slight tinge of hesitation – a tinge that Sam was quick to catch. "Glenn tries to lock me in a tower, thinking I'm a fragile Princess who'll freak out over a broke nail -"
"Which you do . . . sometimes . . .!" Sam interrupted with a grin, and she shot him a playfully mean look as she continued:
"And I can understand why he does that, and in a way, I love it 'cause I know it's a way he shows his love and at the same time, it's also a little endearing . . ."
"But . . ." Sam gently prodded, and she heaved a sigh before meeting his gaze, where they kept it.
"But you look at me like a woman who can take care of herself. You allow me to take care of myself and do what I need to do, but yet, you watch my back too. Its freeing, it's . . ." She trailed off, thinking for a moment. When she finally spoke again, her voice had lowered a few decibels, and her gaze was uncertain as she held his. "I don't pretend to know what's going to happen when we finally find Glenn, Sam, but . . . I really want you, and I . . . I don't know how to comprehend that quite yet."
Well at least that was a start.
"When we had sex that one time, I thought you said it wouldn't mean anything." He told her, his voice coming out harder than he had originally intended. Another path of blush burned over her cheeks and the delicate bridge of her nose before she looked down. She was standing in front of him, arms filled with wood just like him, but with her, it made it her look surprisingly vulnerable – almost as if she was forcing herself to have this conversation with him and it was drastically out of her confidence zone.
"It didn't . . . until it did." She eventually admitted, and Sam stood there, gazing at her for a moment before he took a step closer to her.
"So it does mean something?" He asked slowly, and she turned a slightly stricken gaze up to him briefly before looking away.
"It . . . it does."
Sam shook his head. "Maggie, look, I don't want . . . I don't want you to feel obligated to have feelings for me -"
Maggie's look of anger was what interrupted him. "Obligated? Are you fucking serious?" She shook her head. "Do you think I want to feel this for you? I have a husband, Sam – a man I love with all my heart, but then you come along and we . . . we do something incredibly stupid -"
"But incredibly hot . . .!"
Maggie pursed her lips at his words before reluctantly nodding. "Something incredibly stupid, and all of a sudden, I find myself feeling things for you I do not want to feel." She shook her head. "What do you think I need to do, Sam?" He shook his head.
"All I can say is that I want you, Maggie. That I think you're amazing and strong, and . . ." He trailed off and looked away. "And that from Day One, what we did, meant something to me. That you're not alone . . . so you don't need to be alone."
Maggie stood there for a minute, looking uncertain of what she was about to do or say, before she pursed her lips and threw caution into the wind. She crossed the distance between them in large, purposeful strides, and when she reached him, it was to curl a hand around his neck and bring him down to her, where she pressed her lips to his. At first, Sam froze, unsure what was happening, was really happening. But then, he melted into the kiss and returned it, one of his hands curling into her hip as they stood there and kissed.
At that moment, a hole could have opened up in the earth and swallowed them both, and Sam wouldn't have cared, just as long as she kept kissing him like she was doing.
"Hey are you finding -"
"Whoa!"
"Holy shit!"
"Look at all this stuff . . .!"
Tessa couldn't help but grin as she was interrupted by Ethan, Beth and Wren letting out awed exclamations as soon as Daryl opened two of the kitchen cabinets and hit the proverbial Shangri-La of foodstuffs. And when Tessa turned around, she wasn't surprised. She didn't see one can of beans counted among the junk food and soda, and you wouldn't believe how happy that made her!
Daryl grinned at her over his shoulder. "Like what ya see Momma Bear?" He asked, and she crossed her arms in front of her chest before cocking an eyebrow.
"Are those Doritos?"
Daryl cocked an eyebrow too as he reached over Ethan's head to grab the red bag. sitting on the top shelf. He observed it for a moment before nodding. "Ya know . . . yeah, I think they are!" He looked at her and grinned. "Why . . . ya got cravin's?"
"Maybe . . ."
"Well, what'cha gonna give me for 'em?"
"Maybe not making you sleep on the floor while I take one of the beds?"
"Sure ya don' want pig's feet instead? Hell, it's a white trash's goldmine in them there cabinets."
She adopted a green look on her face. "Um . . . how about an eww? Yeah, no fuckin' thanks! Now hand me the Doritos!"
"Come on Tess – it'll put hair on ya chest!" Tessa let out a bark of a laugh.
"No, I still don't think so!" She made a grab for the bag but he yanked it out of her grasp at the last minute and she rolled her eyes. "Daryl -!"
"Come up to bed with me later?" He interrupted her, his voice lowering so that the others couldn't hear, and he leaned towards her slightly. His eyes twinkled mirthfully in the dim lighting and she recoiled slightly.
"Wait . . . what do you mean?" She asked and it was his turn to roll his eyes this time.
"Beds, Tess! When was the last time we slept in a genuine bed with an actual mattress of substance? Hell, when was the last time we made love in one?" In the back of his mind, he had a voice constantly nagging at him just why was there no dust on the food in the cabinets, but at the lazy look in Tessa's eyes, that voice was effectively hog-tied and ball-gagged.
"With sheets . . ."
"And a headboard . . ." Daryl grinned as he leaned down. "Ya know, I can bring out those handcuffs if ya want -"
"Deddy!"
Tessa laughed and grabbed the Doritos from him as Daryl scowled and turned to face Ethan still standing at the cabinets with Wren and Beth. "Yeah?"
"Why is there no dust? Shouldn't there be dust?" He asked, and Daryl licked his lips before nodding.
"Yeah . . . I noticed that too . . ." He glanced at Tessa as she ripped open the bag. "Someone placed this shit here – it's someone's stash. Meanin' they're still alive." He glanced back at Tessa, at the slightly dejected look in her eyes now that she finally had the bag open, before looking at the three kids in front of him. He then heaved a sigh. "Okay, tell ya guys what – we'll take some of it and leave tha rest."
"It's like I said, see!" Beth grinned, and Wren turned an interested eye onto her as Daryl stifled a grin and reached above their heads again, where he grabbed at something else.
"Like what?" She asked, and Beth continued to grin.
"There are still good people!"
"Oh my GOD, Daryl Dixon, that thing is gross! Did you just eat – eww! No – fuck no - get that fucking thing away from me!"
They all jumped and whirled around, right when a grinning Daryl popped a pig's foot into his mouth before reaching in the jar and withdrawing another one. "Oh come on Tess, they're good for ya!"
"No the fuck – I swear to GOD, Daryl -!"
They dissolved into laughter, the two of them, as Daryl's arm wrapped snugly around her waist and brought her into him. Her eyes closed tightly and her features scrunched up into an odd mix of laughter and disgust as she turned her face away from him. "Come on, babydoll, jus' a little kiss -!"
Ethan shook his head, a pained look on his face as he observed his parents interact with each other. "It's depressin', ya know?" He spoke, and Wren and Beth turned curious looks onto him then. "This is how they would act around each other every day, if this was how the world used to be." He looked away before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "I wish they could be like this every day, but . . ." He gave a shrug. "What did Sam used to say? Fill one hand with wishes and the other with shit and see which one fills quicker?"
