For all of you wondering what Tessa looks like (in my mind anyway), you only have to Google Janina Gavankar. She starred in True Blood as Luna and also the L Word, although I haven't watch that show at all, so I don't know what type of character she played. And another thing, I didn't realize I had almost styled Tessa to look like Pocahontas until someone brought it up in a review and then I realized that she does kinda resemble her and I laughed for a good five minutes, so thank you, I needed that LOL
- Nagiana
Favorite Line(s):
"In other words, ya didn't expect ya momma to get pregnant with some redneck asshole's kid, right?" It took a moment, but finally, Ethan nodded. He opened his mouth to say something further, but Daryl interrupted him with a heaving sigh. "Believe me, kid, I've been findin' myself wonderin' that as well lately. . ."
"Thank you so much, Tessa - you have no idea how much of a big help you've been today!" Lori thanked her in an almost breathless voice as they finally sorted out the last of the clothes and delivered them to their various owners. The look of exhaustion on the other woman's face was quite clear and Tessa shook her hands.
"No, no, don't mention it, Lori! You guys need all the help you can get after the attack and I'm happy to help! In fact, I would feel like we were imposing if we didn't do anything to earn our keep!" Lori smiled thankfully as she turned to face her, clutching Carl's folded shirts to her stomach as she did so. Tessa smiled cheerfully as she clasped her hands together. "So, where will me and Ethan be on the road?" Lori sighed and thought for a moment.
"Well, we could probably fit you guys in the Winnebago, but it'd be a rather tight fit, I'm afraid . . ." She told her with a slightly apprehensive look, and Tessa heaved a sigh as she gestured to the ladder bolted on the side.
"What about on top? We can ride on top if it makes things any easier." She replied, and Lori's eyes widened slightly in alarm.
"On top . . . of the Winnebago? Don't you think that would be dangerous?" She asked, and Tessa merely shrugged, her fingers moving to skate along the smooth wooden carved surface of the talisman that still hung from her throat. The chain had to be replaced variously over the years, but the talisman remained – a forever reminder of the grandmother she had so loved and adored.
"Well, what other choice do we have, Lori? And I suppose me and Ethan have probably done much more dangerous things before while making our way through Atlanta! Like I said, it's no big deal." She spoke, her voice weak, and Lori's eyes glanced in the direction of Daryl, who was standing at the side of his truck, busy helping T-Dog load various things into the bed around Merle's bike.
"Well, now that I think about it . . . I'm pretty sure that Daryl has room in his truck up front with him and a semi-free bed. Ethan's not exactly a big boy – I'm sure he could fit!" She suggested, and Tessa sighed as she glanced at her son standing beside her. Ethan shrugged and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Shane lingering a little ways from Lori and her, doing what she could bet was listening in on their conversation while all the while pretending to be fiddling with one of the last bags to be loaded. When she noticed him standing there, she knew she couldn't think any more about it. If she wanted to keep creepy Shane off her back, then she and Ethan both would have to travel with Daryl – as awkwardly painful that might be.
She nodded at her son and he silently turned around, where he began the short trek to Daryl and his truck. Tessa sighed and quietly thanked Lori with a soft word and an even softer smile as she took off after her son, catching up with him as they neared the truck. T-Dog was just leaving as Daryl caught sight of them, and he heaved a sigh, one that she could tell was one of slight irritation.
"Tha kid can have tha bed. Tess, I guess ya up front with me." He mumbled as he checked to make sure the bungee cords keeping Merle's bike upright in the bed, was secure enough to withstand the bumps and jostles of the half-broken highways and dirt country roads. Tessa nodded and smiled weakly at her son as he placed their things in the bed with everything else before climbing into it himself. It took him a moment to find a comfortable spot, but he finally did and it was then that Tessa moved around to the passenger seat. She hopped inside right as Daryl slid into the driver's side. Turning around, he rapped two knuckles on the back windshield and Ethan turned slightly to face him. "Ya good to go back there, kid?" He asked, and Ethan merely grunted and nodded in response as he turned around. Daryl sighed and rolled his eyes as he turned around and started the truck.
"Kid don' say much, does he?" He asked, and Tessa shot him a look.
"No, Ethan doesn't. He's just like his father in that respect," She replied and like father, like son, Daryl merely grunted in response. She rolled her eyes as she ran her fingers through her black hair. They were taking off by then, the truck rumbling along behind the Winnebago and a silence pervaded the inside of the truck for a good ten minutes before a grin of remembrance spread across Tessa's face then. "You know, when I gave birth to him in the hospital, the nurses thought he was the most beautiful damn baby they had ever seen! 'Oh, where did he get those eyesfrom?' and 'Why doesn't he ever cry?' Ethan never cried as a baby, Daryl – I swear to God! And whenever I would get those two questions, I'd always say that he got his good looks from his daddy and like his daddy, he wouldn't say a damn thing until there was something that needed to be said! And then, Goddammit, you'd hear him out or it'd be your ass on the line later!" Daryl grunted again although she could tell there an amused gleam in his eyes nonetheless.
"And which daddy was tha one tha' he got his good looks from? Was it tha sperm donor hick or tha educated Yankee tha' took tha sperm donor's place?"
"Daryl, stop it!" Tessa pleaded with him quietly as she turned an exasperated gaze onto him. "You were never just a . . ." A look of abhorrence crossed her face. "You were never just a sperm donor to me! Ethan is your son, Daryl and you know it! Hell, you knew it since the moment I first told you – I saw it in your eyes when you looked at him." Daryl let out a reluctant grunt.
"Yeah, but tha's only 'cause tha kid never says anythin'! Hell, if he had said more than two words to me tha first time he met me, then it wouldn' matter if tha kid was tha spittin' fuckin' image of me or not – I'd be disputin' his right to call himself ma son jus' out of principle!" He mumbled, his voice slightly teasing, and immediately, a grin split across Tessa's face. It was a grin that momentarily caused Daryl to become dumbfounded at the sight of – not just because it was probably the happiest grin he had seen in decades it seemed like, but because it was Tessa, and every time Tessa grinned, it was like the Angels themselves were grinning.
Hell, not even Merle could be in a bad mood whenever Tessa started grinning.
"Why ya grinnin' like tha'? Ya look like tha fuckin' Cheshire Cat, I swear to God!" He asked her as his eyebrows furrowed in confusion, and Tessa simply shook her head as she moved to lean on her elbow on the truck door. The grin disappeared, only to be replaced by a slightly smug smile as she continued to gaze at him.
"Oh no reason . . . just that it's a damn good start!"
"It's a damn good start of what?" He asked, feeling himself getting more and more irritated the longer she sat there and forced him to play 20 Questions with her. Tessa shrugged as she returned her eyes to the road stretching out before them, that same slightly smug smile still on her face.
They sat in another silence for a moment before, suddenly, she shifted towards him and quickly moved over to sit in the middle space of the truck seat, Daryl jumping at the abruptness of it all. Then, the fingers of her hand moved to run through his short brown hair as her other hand remained in her lap and at first, he recoiled violently from her touch as a stormy look appeared in his eyes. "What tha fuck are ya doin', Tessa?" He demanded, his voice dripping with nasty venom, but Tessa couldn't help but gaze at him in amusement as she continued to play with his hair. He felt himself curse inside as he gritted his teeth. Dammit! It was like when he halfway admitted to one thing, it was impossible for him to be taken seriously by her from then on out. What the Hell? Why were they back to this highschool bullshit?
"I like your hair longer, Daryl. You don't look good with short hair," She grinned then. "You look weird. I don't know - short hair just doesn't fit you somehow . . ." He glanced at her and although his face remained expressionless and slightly wary (he still didn't like being touched, even by her) his eyes held a teasing gleam that she was thankful they were starting to adopt around her again.
"Ya prolly right, Tess. 'Cause, there ain' exactly much to hold on to anymore . . ." He spoke, his voice quiet and a tad silky and Tessa shook her head and bit down on her bottom lip in slight awe. Was he flirting with her now? Was Daryl Dixon actually flirting with her now? This new Daryl was so different from the Daryl she used to know, that it was taking her a while to figure him out. However, if she didn't know any better, she would definitely say that he was flirting with her.
Tessa cocked her head, a look of thoughtfulness appearing in her eyes as she observed him for a moment. "No, now don't be hasty there! I think that there's still plenty to hang onto, Daryl . . .!" As if to prove her point, her fingers suddenly buried in his hair and curled into a fist. His head jerked back slightly with the firm grip and her eyes flashed. It was a flash and a movement that made his mouth go temporarily dry. "And if it's not the hair, then you know good and well that there's also that very fine ass of yours that I won't hesitate to grab onto too!"
For once, Daryl didn't grunt a response.
For once, he didn't answer, period.
And for once, in a long, long time . . . Daryl Dixon found himself shocked into speechlessness!
And for some reason . . . that pissed him off more than anything else she had done since arriving back at the camp with him.
With a slightly irritated hiss, he jerked his head forward and she allowed him go with a grin. He glanced at her as he rolled his head, making sure there were no kinks in it. "Don' know what I expected with ya," He shot a slightly angry gaze at her. "Ya were always a flirt!" Tessa grinned as she moved to lean back against the passenger side doorway, where she placed her feet in his lap. She could see his jaw harden and when he glanced at her, she could tell his angry gaze slid down to her cleavage more than anything – especially more than he wanted her to know about.
"I'm only a flirt with you, sweetie-pie!" She replied cheerfully as she moved to chew on the corner of one fingernail. He let out a sound of anger as he devoted his attention back onto the road, vowing that he would not say anything more to her for the duration of what he begged and hoped, would be a very short trip.
He didn't move her feet away though, and by the time they had reached their new campsite, his left hand was resting on them.
"Hey, Daryl, where are you runnin' off to so fast?"
They had reached their planned campsite faster than they would have expected, although it had still taken quite the trip, and almost immediately upon stopping, Rick noticed how quickly the man had gotten out of his truck and reached into the bed to pick up his crossbow. It had been so fast, in fact, that Rick's eyebrows knitted together in slight confusion at the speed. He figured it had something to do with him being cooped for so long on the road, but he'd be wrong. In fact, Daryl just wanted nothing more but to get himself away from Tessa! Even then, thirteen years after the last time they had made love (or had they angrily fucked? Hell, he couldn't even remember, it had been so long ago) the woman still had the power to make his head swim and his blood rush white-hot through his veins.
"I'm goin' huntin'. We still gotta eat, right?"
That was all he said and he said it so gruffly that it temporarily took Rick aback. He was becoming used to Daryl's often volatile temperament but this gruff attitude had him slightly wary.
"You know I don't want you going alone -!"
"It'll be fine, Rick – Daryl, take Ethan." Tessa interrupted him quickly, and Daryl immediately stopped and turned back around to face her. Rick heaved a sigh and chose to back out at that moment then in favor of helping everyone else get their things unpacked, knowing that the situation was most probably already settled. He didn't care who went with him so long as he wasn't the only one going out there alone.
Daryl gazed at her in confusion for a moment. "What'd ya say?"
Tessa nodded resolutely. "You heard me - take Ethan with you." Daryl pursed his lips in irritation but he managed to hold her gaze. He needed to get away from her and think, not teach some kid still wet behind the ears how to hunt! He couldn't think and teach someone at the same time - he wasn't nearly that damn talented!
"Tessa, I'm not 'bout to -!"
"You don't even need to teach him anything!" She interrupted him again with a shrug. "He already knows how! He knows how to hunt and track and move like a hunter. You, literally, cannot teach him anything that he doesn't already know!" Daryl arched an eyebrow, seriously doubting that, that was true. He didn't care who you were or what the Hell you were doing - you could always learn something new.
And besides, the kid was fucking thirteen. What could he possibly know that the thirty-six-year-old Daryl didn't?
"Can he shoot a bow and a rifle?" He asked, making it become Tessa's turn to arch an eyebrow.
"For the love of God, he's your son, Daryl! He practically came out of the womb with a six-gun in one hand and a bow in the other!"
He had to admit . . . the woman had him there.
After heaving a halfway defeated sigh, Daryl nodded before gesturing to Ethan still sitting almost expectantly in the bed of the truck. "Grab ya bow and follow me, kid. We'll be back shortly." He told him, and Ethan nodded and moved to hop out of the bed. Daryl immediately turned and moved to head off in the direction of the woods, hoping he could get at least a few minutes worthy of thinking time, but stopped when he felt Tessa's hand latch onto his forearm. Turning around to face her, he saw slight apprehension glittering in her eyes.
"Promise me that you'll give him a chance, Daryl!" She hissed, so that only he could hear her, and he nodded, giving her a half-shrug as he did so.
"Yeah, of course I will."
She shook her head and moved closer to him. "No, Daryl, I want you to promise me that you'll give him a chance! And I want a Daryl chance too, not a fuckin' Merle chance!" His jaw hardened slightly and a look of irritation appeared in his eyes again.
"Yeah, yeah, I promise ya tha' I'll treat tha kid good, Tess – ya happy now?" He asked testily and she nodded as she slowly let go of his arm. Their eyes still connected, he heaved a sigh. "Ya better be thankful that Merle's not here, though. Ya thought bein' around him back then was bad? Shit, think of tha names he'd come up for ya now – and not-to-mention for tha kid too!" He shook his head and let out a laugh as he turned around and headed back towards the woods. Ethan stopped at his mother and pinned his father's back with a look that Tessa couldn't rightly decipher, although the closest would probably be anger or mistrust.
"Give him a chance, honey, please – you just met each other!" Tessa begged him, her voice soothing as she gently ran a hand over his chest. "You guys are more alike than you think – than either of you wants to accept right now, in fact!" She glanced at the clearing in-between the trees that Daryl had disappeared into and her lips pursed. "And like he said, feel lucky that your uncle ain't here to complicate things!"
Another thing Daryl found that he had to admit, was that he was probably gonna have to start giving the kid more credit than he was already reluctant to do.
Four squirrels and a rabbit later still had Daryl mired in his own thoughts while the kid did all the hunting. Thank God he was such a good hunter too, or else they would have gone without meat that night and nobody liked that.
"So, where did ya learn to hunt?" Daryl found himself asking as they moved soundlessly through the woods, tracking what looked like turkey tracks through the brush. He found himself praying that it wasn't that Yankee bastard that came after him and Ethan gave a shrug.
"Growin' up on an Indian reservation in rural Georgia, you learn a few things. Momma, however, says that I'm a natural," He glanced at Daryl then, briefly, before he turned his eyes back onto the forested path in front of them. "Has me wonderin', though, where I got my so called 'natural' talent from, speaking you haven't made a single catch since we entered the woods."
Daryl let out a grunt of derision at the kid's challenging tone and found himself having to mentally stop himself from going off on the kid and calling him a little 'shit-fucker'. He was a cocky little bastard, he had to admit. Of course, then again, if Daryl would have been on his game, the kid would be left coughing in the dust – there would be no question about it! However, he had promised Tessa that he would be kind to him, so he supposed he should keep his anger under control.
Well . . . be as kind to him as Daryl Dixon knew how, anyways, which often resulted in him stuffing the Merle side of him back into the far recesses of his consciousness.
"Well, I reckon ya got it from me, 'cause from what I can remember, ya momma couldn' hit tha broad side of a barn with scattershot! Little bit better with a bow and a pistol, but not by much." Ethan nodded and let out a sound of acknowledgment, one that Daryl couldn't help but let out a little laugh at. Yup, from the kid's cockiness to his sounds of acknowledgement, the kid seemed to be most definitely his.
They moved in silence for a while, still tracking the turkey tracks in the soft dirt, when finally, Ethan glanced up at him and spoke. "You know . . . momma told me the truth a long time ago . . ." Daryl's eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he glanced at him.
"Tha truth . . .?" Ethan nodded.
"Yeah, that she left you and fled to her parents on the reservation because she couldn't stand my uncle any longer, and that a few weeks later, she found herself pregnant with me." Daryl nodded.
"Yeah, ma brother could be . . . a little hard to handle, at times . . ." He muttered and Ethan nodded, his eyes glued to the trail winding through the forest in front of them. Daryl glanced at him again. "Jus' . . ." Ethan turned his eyes onto him and Daryl's eyes narrowed slightly. "Ya did . . . have a good life, right – before tha walkers came and fucked everythin' up, I mean? She did manage to give ya a good life, didn' she, her and tha' . . . tha' Yankee?" He spat the word out like it bile on his tongue, and a brief look of amusement crossed Ethan's face.
"You mean Sam?"
"Ya call him Sam?" Daryl asked in interest, and Ethan nodded.
"He was never my father. I mean, yeah, he treated me like a son and he raised me, but . . . for some reason I could never acknowledge him as my father. It felt . . . wrong, inside." He shrugged. "And yeah, momma gave me the best life she could have afforded – she and Sam both did. We weren't rich but we never went hungry," He glanced at Daryl out of the corner of his eye. "She missed you, though, you know. Sometimes, when I was really young and when Sam was asleep or wasn't home, I remember lying in bed in my room at night, listening to her cry herself to sleep in the next room. She'd say your name - a lot!"
Daryl adopted a scowl although he couldn't help but feel his heart twist in his chest at Ethan's words. "Yeah, well, it wasn' ma choice not to be in ya life, kid, let me tell ya!" His voice was bitter, and Ethan nodded.
"I know . . ." His voice was quiet and it was then that they relapsed back into the same silence they had been in a few minutes before. This time, however, it was slightly more awkward, with neither knowing what to say to the other. Of course, what could they say? All Daryl knew about the kid was that he was his son and all Ethan knew about the man walking beside him holding the crossbow, was that he was his so-called 'father'. And really, Daryl seemed the exact opposite of the clean cut Sam Moon who had always worn khakis or jeans and polo shirts or American Eagle styled flannel shirts. Daryl was dirty and rough around the edges. He was walker killer extraordinaire and probably the first textbook dictionary example of 'redneck' that Ethan had ever had the pleasure to meet. He found it hard to believe that this man ever managed to qualify as being his mother's 'type' enough to sleep with her, let alone that he was first conceived as a little white speck in the older man's gonads!
Daryl came to a stop beside him and Ethan stopped with him. The older man's eyes were gazing up into the sky above them and it was then that Ethan noticed the long shadows that had started to call the forest their home as the sun started fading over the treetops. "We should prolly head on back – we ain' gonna catch tha' turkey by nightfall, I'll tell ya tha' right now," Daryl spoke, his voice its customary quiet grumble as he dragged his eyes from the sky and instead, turned them back on to the trail behind them. "We got enough food for today and I should prolly get ya back before ya momma throws a fit!" Ethan nodded in agreement as they began their trek back to the camp, once again in silence.
"You know . . . you're not, uh . . . exactly what I expected my father to be like whenever momma would talk about you when I was a kid growing up." Ethan finally spoke and Daryl let out a scoff of a laugh, a look of amusement and curiosity entering his eyes.
"Oh yeah, is tha' so? And what did ya expect me to be like, kid?" Ethan shrugged.
"Not . . . not this way!" He admitted, and Daryl let out a laugh. At least he was truthful.
"In other words, ya didn't expect ya momma to get pregnant with some redneck asshole's kid, right?" It took a moment, but finally, Ethan nodded. He opened his mouth to say something further, but Daryl interrupted him with a heaving sigh. "Believe me, kid, I've been findin' myself wonderin' tha' as well lately."
