Sorry for not updating for a couple days. My husband works nights most of the time, which means he goes to work at 6pm and comes home at 6am. So when he gets nights off with me I try to stay away from the computer. =-) I hope you like it, the first part came out the way I wanted it to, and I just winged the second part.

Chapter 5

Amy and Tabatha were sitting next to the fire that night, chatting about random things that really didn't make much since to anyone else who were only half listening. Finally Andrea gave in to her curiosity and got closer to see what they were talking about.

"Dude, no fucking way. It's stupid, there is no way someone who has half a brain cell would really be that into it." Tabatha was saying, a look of disgust, pity, and humor mixed on her face.

"That's not true. It's so good, you just don't understand because you're so old." Amy shot back with a little grin.

"I don't care if you think I'm ancient. Anyone of them with any self respect would end themselves if they were anything like that." Tabatha replied, taking a drag from her cigarette.

"What are you guys talking about?" Andrea asked in that awkward way you asked someone something you aren't sure you want to know.

"Tabatha doesn't like Twilight!" Amy exclaimed with a shocked look at her sister.

By then everyone around the campfire had been listening in, trying to hid grins.

"Dear lord woman! No respectable vampire would sparkle! It's ridiculous!" Tabatha exasperated.

"So what, just because they don't burst into flame when they go in the sun you don't like it?" Andrea asked with a little grin.

Tabatha looked at her like she had grown another head. "No, I don't like it for a billion reasons. And just so you know, not all the lore on vampires say that they burn in the sun. It's just generally thought that because they are night creatures, but if you've ever seen Bram..." she cut off when a noise distracted her.

Everyone's ears poked up for a moment, confused at the sound of a muffled song coming from somewhere near the cars.

"Is that the 'Firefly' theme?" Glenn asked with a grin.

"Holy Shit!" Tabatha said, jumping up and running to her car. She reached on and flipped her phone open. It was still on speaker phone from when she was talking on the road.

"Tabatha, are you there?" came a man's voice from over the phone.

"Dennis? Oh my God! Dennis! Where are you, are you okay?" she asked into the phone. Ignoring the fact that the whole camp was standing around listening.

"Thank heaven your alive, Tabatha! I was so worried." There was banging and clawing in the background, and his voice sounded a little panicked.

"Dennis, what's going on?" she asked, confusion etched over her face.

"You haven't seen? It's the dead Tabatha, the dead are walking again, they're killing everyone," there was more noise in the background, she could hear Dennis's muffled curses.

"Dennis?" she asked, feeling like she was in a nightmare.

"They're here, I don't have much time. Tabatha, no matter what happens I wanted you to know that I love you." Suddenly there was the sound of wood breaking and screaming, followed closely by the sickening sound of flesh being torn away and chewing.

"Dennis? Dennis? Oh god please, Dennis! Answer me!" she gasped into the phone. When the line went dead everyone looked at her. Her face was as white as paper and she was shaking.

Everyone was deathly quiet, the silence only being broken by a sob escaping Tabatha's mouth. She climbed out of the car on shaky legs and nearly collapsed. Luckily Daryl had been the one standing next to the car door and caught her. He knew she was really bad off, considering the fact that she didn't start screaming or hit him. She just collapsed in his arms and sobbed. Eventually the rest of the group dissipated and went to bed.

Daryl held her until she stopped crying. He was going to say something, he didn't know what, but something, before he could she pulled away. Tabatha looked up at him, maybe she was dizzy from sobbing and the slight vertigo she got from looking up after spending so long with her face in his chest, but she swore she could see her old Daryl in his cool blue eyes. Her head started swimming with memories of their time together, well at the least the time they had together before the marriage.

He had been so perfect then, when they were just friends. Unfortunately she snapped out of it when she realized that he was leaning forward slowly, his lips getting closer to her's. She jumped up, stared at him awkwardly for a moment. He was still on the ground in front of her, looking up at her. Tabatha's mind kept flashing back to their night of passion in his truck, the way he had looked up at her from between her quivering legs. She shook her head slightly, trying to dislodge the memories.

"Thank you," she mumbled before climbing into the back of her car and pulling the covers over her head.

Daryl sighed and made his way back to his truck. He didn't know who that had been on the phone, and he really didn't know why he thought he should kiss her. He laid back and stared at the ceiling in his truck, he didn't know how he'd figure this all out.


Tabatha was sitting with Dale in the RV, he had pulled her in to talk to her about last night. She really didn't know why, but she felt like she could trust him, like she could tell him everything.

"Dennis is...was...my boyfriend. We hadn't been together long, but we were close." she cleared her throat awkwardly when she noticed Daryl standing next to the open door. She took a deep breath and decided to keep going, it would be better after she talked about it, at least that's what Dale had said. "We hadn't even gotten to the whole strange 'I love you' phase. If I'm being honest with myself, I don't think I loved him, at least not then...maybe...if we'd have more time. Not like it matters now."

Tabatha put her head in her hands, sighing.

"Did he know?" Dale asked quietly.

She looked at him with confusion on her face, "did he know what?"

"That you were still married," he replied, inclining his head in Daryl's direction.

Tabby didn't really know what she was feeling. Shock, guilt, shame, but she couldn't really stop herself from answering. "No," she replied, shaking her head.

"Why?" Daryl popped in, confusion etched on his face.

"Because if I told him about you I'd have to tell him about the..." she broke off, suddenly remembering that Dale was sitting there watching her. "The other thing."

"The 'other thing'?" Daryl said, anger spilling into his voice. "Is that all it was to ya? Another thing? Nothing important!"

"I don't want to talk about this right now!" she barked. "I've lost everything, Daryl. Even before all of this shit happened. And you want me to just what? Throw myself at you and sob about how sorry I am! I get it! It was my fault, all of it! I made the stupid decisions that made it all happen! And I know you've always blamed me for it." she finished, trying to catch her breath.

Daryl stared at her in disbelief for a moment, the anger fading away from him just as quickly as it had come. He took a step closer to her and stared at her. "Is that why ya left? Ya thought I blamed ya?" he asked quietly.

Tabatha blinked, this was really not going the way she had wanted it to. "Of course you blamed me, and you were right to. It was my fault, I was the one who seduced you, pissed you off all the time, I was the one who got in that fucking car."

He just looked at the floor, shaking his head slightly. "All this time, I thought ya left cuz ya blamed me."

"Why would I blame you? It was all my fault."

"Will ya stop sayin that!" he snapped. "I didn't blame you." he spoke deliberately. "I always blamed myself."

"What? Why?" she asked, almost dumbstruck.

"Cuz I treated ya like shit, Tabatha. I got drunk to fuckin' much, took out all my shit on ya." He swallowed hard for a second. "I hit ya that night. I couldn't believe I did. Then the cops called, said ya was in the hospital. When I got there they said that ya had already lost the bab..." Daryl didn't get to finish his recounting of that night, as Tabatha pushed past him out of the RV, mumbling something about needing air.

He went to go after her, but Dale stopped him. "Maybe you should give her some time. I think this might be a lot for her to take right now."

Daryl was going to put up a fight, but thinking about it rationally, he knew Dale was right. He sighed and grabbed his crossbow to go out hunting. At least he had gotten to talk to her about it, even if he didn't get to say everything he had wanted to.


Thank you to maawwge, 19, cuberftw, eloquent dreams, Miss E Charlotte, Amaya Dixon, and everyone that has read, added, or enjoyed this story =-). I hope you like it, and please, keep the comments coming. Daryl will try to redeem himself, but even though I know where I'm going with this story, I don't know if I'll have him complete that task =-)