LIGHT A FIRE

{Author's Note: Thank you to all who have reviewed/added to alerts & favourites/followed. I have gone over all the chapters and corrected anything that may have been confusing-so I apologise over that :). This chapter features Daryl/Tessa on the road and danger...Enjoy! Please read and review if you have time :)}

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the character(s) you don't recognise.
Lyrics: I'd Come For You by Nickelback.

I finally know just what it means to let someone in,
To see the side of me that no one else does or ever will...

-+-
[THE PRISON]

Bullets were flying from all directions.
Smoke billowed around us as the tank kept firing at our buildings; already obliterating our guard towers.
The thick smog from the fires that were raging were proving too much as it started to fill the air with it's pollution.
Everywhere I turned all I could see were people-my people-screaming and struggling to hold up their weapons.

'The children!'
My heart sank at the thought of any of them being hurt or suffering, as I moved away from the fences to try and protect them.

"Tessa!" Daryl quickly reached out to grab onto my arm, "Head for the bus!"

I locked my gaze with his, "I'm not leaving when the children are still in danger!"
Quickly, I ran off before he could protest, as I looked around, my hair flying loose from it's messy ponytail as the thick, wavy strands clung to my face.
I still felt weak and slightly nauseous, but I knew that I had to conquer those feelings.

Refusing to give up, I ran into the prison, desperately looking around for anyone who needed my help.
I didn't get the chance to look far before part of the prison wall came down, making me gasp and widen my eyes in shock and fear.
The tank was ripping everything we had built into shreds.

Coughing, I looked around frantically for a sign of anyone still being inside the prison before knowing that I had to leave.
Stumbling, I rushed out of the prison before the ceiling collapsed on me, only to come face-to-face with a horde of walkers who had found their way in through the now destroyed fence.

"Jesus…"
They were suddenly everywhere I turned; there was nowhere I could move to without seeing smoke, walkers or people running for cover.
I needed to make a move for it and take down as many of the walkers as I could.

Positioning my gun better, I took a deep breath and started to move forward, aiming for the heads of anything that was stumbling towards me.
Two, three bodies fell before I heard the dreaded clicking noise coming from my gun.

Sighing in frustration, I threw it to the ground and took out my knife, gripping onto the handle tightly in fear.

"TESSA!"

I turned to see Daryl come running towards me with his eyes saying everything that I had feared; it was over.
"No…I can't leave-"

"We gotta go Tessa…" He looked devastated as he indicated for me to follow him.

Feeling numb, I took one last look at what had been my home, my eyes filling with heartbroken tears.
I wanted to go back, I wanted to have that peace of mind that no one was hurt or killed.
Life doesn't always give you those chances though.

"Tessa!" Daryl looked at me in frustration as he took my hand, pulling me with him, my legs were starting to feeling the weight of my trepidation.

-+-
[TWO DAYS LATER|ON THE ROAD]
-+-

We had been trudging through the same stretch woods for what felt like months.
I was tired, hungry, wary…you name it, I felt it.
All of the emotions and pain that had been present with me since the fall of the prison was slowly building up inside me and I couldn't take it.
Most of all though, I couldn't take seeing someone I cared for retreat into himself like it was something he had no choice in.

Finally I couldn't take the solemn silence anymore.
"Daryl…please…just stop!"

Either he didn't hear me or chose to ignore me, as he carried on walking.

"DARYL!"
Coughing at having to shout, I gasped before noticing that he had finally stopped but didn't turn to face me.
"We need to talk about what happened-"

"Why?!" When he had finally turned to look at me, his eyes blazed with so much raw emotion and pain that I found myself getting even more emotional.

"Because I can't carry on like this! I…" Trailing off to hold back tears, I then finished quietly, "It's like I've lost you too! So, yell at me if you need to, but don't shut me out…I can't take that."
My eyes lifted up to his as tears started to fall slowly down my mud-stained cheeks.

He stiffened, "Ain't nothin' to talk about…"

I shook my head, "You know that's not true-"

"Everythin's gone! You wanna talk?! Talk about how you can barely stand! That everyone else is dead!"

"You don't know that!" I looked at him firmly, "And I'm standing right now! Trying to get through to you because you're acting like you have no one! I may not be who you wanted to find Daryl-"

"It ain't that!" He cut me off angrily as he chewed on his bottom lip in irritation.

"Then what is it?" My voice took on a soft tone as I watched him closely.

"I failed you! I shoulda' stopped The Governor! I stopped lookin' and…"

"And you blame yourself, but it isn't on you! Daryl…" I moved slowly towards him as I touched his cheek, smiling tenderly at him leaning into my touch after a moment of being hesitant.
"I remember with Sophia, you wanting to keep looking no matter what anyone said. I was just…in awe that you didn't let anything stop you! I just remember thinking that if I could trust anyone, then it'd be you…"

Carefully I moved my hand away, "If you had given up then you'd of cut your losses back at the prison, but you didn't! So, we need to start living like human beings and not as though we are just going through the motions."

Daryl scoffed lightly as he replied back quietly, "We got nothin'…"

"Not true, we've got enough to defend ourselves and the clothes on our backs. I want to see Daryl Dixon showing me how to survive off the land…" I smiled up at him before saying gently, "Show the 'pampered rich girl' what to do."

"'Pampered rich girl'?" He shook his head, "You ain't like them."

"How come?" I let him talk, thankful for the silence between us being broken.

"They wouldn't of survived…"

I chuckled gently, "I'm just incredibly lucky. Really, I'm just some Irish-American rich girl who was lucky enough to come across a guy who knew what he was doing."

"You're Irish?"
He raised an eyebrow.

"My Grandmother was. It is true! I just haven't really been there and I'm not the biggest fan of the colour green…" I smiled cheekily before looking at him, "How about you?"
I was guilty of trying to distract him from the predicament we were in-but it did seem to be working.

Daryl shook his head, a ghost of a smile still present on his lips, "No, just some redneck asshole with an even bigger asshole for a brother."

"That's not true. To me you're Daryl Dixon, you're not 'some redneck asshole'…You don't need to be worried that I'm going to judge you-I'm no saint."
I could see the disbelief present behind his eyes as I sighed and moved away from him to inspect the dense woodland to my left.

"I got into trouble as a kid, a lot! I was always my Daddy's little girl, so when he wasn't around I just didn't know how to handle it. And when he went abroad for six months?" Shaking my head, I wiped away the tears from my cheeks, "I was so angry that I just got out of control! After the second time sitting in a police cell my Mom gave me an ultimatum; 'stop being a brat and face your responsibilities, or go down a path that will leave you facing having a criminal record and disappointing everyone.'"

He listened intensely before saying quietly, "You stopped…"

"Yes. Stupid story, I know, I'm just trying to show you that we all have things we're not proud of Daryl. I have so many regrets, I just don't want you to be one of them."

Both of us stood there in the now quiet woodland, our breathing the only sound that could be faintly heard.

"Hayley thinks that her pain and suffering is greater than other's, but…how can you measure pain? Rick losing Lori, Carol losing her daughter! You losing your brother! Those are all painful memories! What happened to me…" I shook my head, bringing my right hand up to run my fingers through my hair.
"At night I still see their faces and hear them taunting me! I get so angry that sometimes I dream that I actually did kill them all! Because there is no greater pain than knowing that they could still be out there!"

Daryl made a move towards me, his face full of anger, "The blood on your clothes…"

Knowing that I had said too much to not continue, I hesitantly lifted up my vest top to show him the scar that ran from underneath my breastbone to my hip.
"They thought it'd be funnier to mess with my head and make me fear the day that they might rape me. But, you want to know what the sickest thing is? They had women with them! Women who acted like I was the problem! That I shouldn't cause trouble or answer them back!"

Sobs were starting to build up as I whimpered aloud, "One of the men-Harry-held onto my neck to hold me in place against a tree, whilst…" I angrily wiped tears away from my cheeks with the palm of my hands before continuing, "His wife forced me to drink something that they had drugged with sedatives! I was out cold for a long time, when I came to I just remember this feeling of terror that I had been raped or sexually assaulted-they let me think that for DAYS! The second time it happened, Caleb…"

The heartbroken expression on his face was tearing me in two; I regretted letting too much slip.

"Tessa-" He spoke quietly as he made a move towards me awkwardly to try and soothe me.

Shaking my head, I sniffed and went to cover up the scar again, "All of us are in pain, and no one is suffering more than another. I just want to show you that nothing you can say to me will make me judge you or hate you."

Daryl paused momentarily as if deliberating whether or not to tell me something before saying in a quiet tone that was full of guilt, "The first night Merle and I found the camp? He wanted to rob them; I was gonna help him…"

I paused, looking up at him silently before taking a hold of his hands in mine, "But you didn't-"

"Cause he weren't there!"

"That sounds like Merle talking and not you Daryl. The point is that you shouldn't let something as minor as this upset you! Rick trusts you, that is something that I know you don't take lightly. We've all done things that shape us and define us, but it's how you handle those experiences that determines whether you're a better person or not."

Something shifted in the air between us as I could tell that he was processing what I had told him.
It was almost as though some of the weight had been taken off his shoulders regarding his past.

"We need to set up camp before it gets too dark…"

I nodded with a smile, knowing that I was starting to get through on some level to him, "I'll go and find something to help with the fire…I guess that we'll be eating more mud snakes?"

He grunted in response, "Ain't no apples around here…"

Throwing him a playful glare, I replied back with, "Another vegetarian joke Mr. Dixon?"

I could see the playful glint behind his blue eyes as he glanced up at me briefly before going back to what I suspected was him hunting for something to eat.

I watched him for a few minutes, marvelling at how someone could have so many layers to their personality.
He had a beautiful soul, and maybe with me being here with him, is God finally granting me the help that I need.

Moving away quietly as not to disturb him, I started to trek through the mud and leaves, my eyes glued to the ground so that I could find anything that'd help.

Suddenly a hand was thrown across my mouth whilst another was wrapped around my waist in a vice-tight grip.
Struggling, I tried to scream but was muffled by the large hand as I tried to throw my head back and injure my attacker enough to let me go.

"Now, now Tessa…that ain't no way to treat an old friend is it?"
His breath felt hot on my ear as I could feel my whole body freeze in dread.

My eyes widened as another man came into view with a sadistic smirk on his face.
"Almost didn't recognise you without the crying and pleading…"

Harry.

I started to struggle again, doing anything I could to loosen his grip on me.
Not seeing any way out, I knew that I had to try one last thing that made me feel sick; I had to bite him.

Steadying my nerves, I got enough space to open my mouth and clamp my teeth hard down on his hand before using that moment-a millisecond-to try and get back to Daryl so that I could warn him.
I didn't need to escape fully-I just had to warn him to go and not look back.

Stumbling, I tried to dodge out of the way of flailing hands and use my height to my advantage by ducking underneath tree branches.
Then I could see him; I could see Daryl.

Gasping in relief, I made a move to jump over a fallen tree branch before being lifted off my feet and a hand was put partially over my mouth, still letting me have the illusion of being able to scream but not being able to project it.

"Did you think it'd be that easy? The dumb asshole won't even notice that you're gone sweetheart, and if he tries to track us?"
I knew whose voice it was immediately, and that caused me to start shaking.

Harry smirked as he roughly ripped the bandana from my neck before throwing it to another one of his men, "Find one of the undead and put this on them! Don't matter what gender…just gotta mess with the asshole long enough to distract him!"

"He could track our footprints?"

He answered back smugly, "Walk around like one of the undead and make sure that Marty walks over your footprints; he won't be able to distinguish the culprit!"

Nodding, the man smirked at me with a wink before staggering off like a walker, finding a place to leave the bandana.

Whimpering, I tried to reach for my knife but was held back by another member of his group who had reached down and grabbed my knife from it's sheath before patting me down to search for other weapons.
I shook in anger and fear, my eyes burning a hole in the back of his head before feeling Harry grip onto my chin roughly and turn my face towards his.

"Sorry Tessa, but you know how it is…" Smirking, he then used the back of his hand to hit me hard across the face, knocking me to the ground as his wedding ring had cut the skin above my upper lip and I felt darkness take over before passing out.

"Jonas! Help me drag the bitch back to camp…tell Lucas to distract the redneck. If he gets killed?" Harry shrugged, "Collateral damage, we are all living on borrowed time anyway. But no one kills the redneck; I want him to suffer first…"