Favorite Line(s):
"Truthfully . . .? It is a little . . . strange. I figure out jus' a couple of days ago tha' I have a kid and already he's startin' to call me dad - even if he doesn' exactly mean it!" He shrugged and when he turned his eyes onto her, they were full of longing. "I want it, Tess, don' get me wrong! Hell, I've wanted it with ya since tha' night in tha barn, but . . . it's still alarmin' to hear when you haven' spent all of tha first year of their life preparin' yaself for it, to say tha least!"
Tessa awoke that morning and found that she almost didn't want to move. She was so warm and comfortable that all she wanted to do was curl even more under the covers and into Daryl's arms, however, the smell of frying bacon coming from the end of the hall that lazily wafted into their room, would have roused any human from their sleep.
"Is that the smell of bacon?"
Tessa laughed at Ethan's awed words, and nodded as she turned drowsily over, where she saw Daryl waking up as well, rubbing the sleep from one eye with the heel of his hand. It wasn't him that said it, though, and when she glanced over at Ethan, she saw that he was awake as well, his nose scrunched up and a curious look appearing in his eyes. She grinned.
"Yes it is – isn't that awesome? It's an amazing smell - God I've missed bacon!"
"It's tha most disgustin' smell right now to me! The smell of all tha' damn grease makes me wanna hurl!" Daryl mumbled and Tessa turned back around.
"Well that's what you get for getting shitfaced drunk! Of course, you didn't seem that drunk in the shower last night!" She spoke, her voice quiet so that only he could hear her, and she could see him grin. He opened his mouth to say something but they were interrupted by Ethan jumping up and pulling his clothes on.
"Well what are ya'll waitin' for - come on! Come on, momma – deddy! There's bacon for God's sake!" He spoke excitingly and Tessa grinned and nodded.
"Well go and ask Dale or T-Dog or whoever's cooking, very politely for some bacon – we'll be there shortly." She told him and Ethan nodded before he pulled on his shoes and bounded from the room. Daryl laughed from his spot lying beside her.
"Did I jus' get called 'deddy'?" He asked her in slight incredulity and Tessa nodded as she leaned over and kissed him. He kissed her back for a moment but when they broke apart, she found that he was still grinning in slight shock. "I jus' got called 'deddy' . . .!"
"What's wrong with it?" She asked him with a little laugh and he shook his head.
"Nothin', I suppose . . ." He shrugged. "Guess I jus' can' call him 'ma kid' anymore, though, can I?" She laughed as she flipped the covers off of her and pulled out an outfit of spare clothes that she had packed from the nearby duffel bag.
"Yeah, that's kinda expected because, after all, when a kid calls you 'deddy', that normally means 'just-call-me-by-my-first-name' with a boy. With a girl, it signifies that you can start giving her nicknames like 'Princess' and 'buttercup' -!"
"What tha fuck kind of men have ya been around since ya left me?" He interrupted her with a scoff. "'Cause, I don' know 'bout ya, Tess, but any daughter of mine ain' gettin' those damn pansy nicknames!" He got to his feet then and she couldn't help but laugh.
"Of course I'm not referring to you, Daryl – just another population of men that you, quite obviously, do not fit into! However, there's also the slim to medium chance that he could have just been so excited about finally getting some bacon, that he wasn't watching what he said." Daryl rolled his eyes as he pulled on his jeans.
"Yeah, watch tha be ma luck, too!"
Tessa had finished dressing by then and was stooped down, placing her and Ethan's dirty clothes into the duffel bag, when she turned her eyes back onto Daryl. "Do you want him to call you deddy?" She asked him, and he gazed at her for a moment, thinking on what to say before shrugging. He pulled on his shirt, his eyes moving downwards to the floor.
"Truthfully . . .? It is a little . . . strange. I figure out jus' a couple of days ago tha' I have a kid and already he's startin' to call me dad - even if he doesn' exactly mean it!" He shrugged and when he turned his eyes onto her, they were full of longing. "I want it, Tess, don' get me wrong – I've wanted it with ya since tha' night in tha barn, but . . . it's still alarmin' to hear when ya haven' spent all of tha first year of their life preparin' yaself for it, to say tha least." Tessa nodded in understandably as she gave him a weak smile and got to her feet, where she moved over to him. Hands smoothing over his shoulders to grasp his neck, she gazed into his eyes.
"You do not ever have to worry about us leaving you again, Daryl!" She assured him, her voice firm and to-the-point. She shook her head. "It was a stupid decision borne on impulse – a decision that I've regretted making for the last thirteen years of my life. It's not going to happen again - ever - you have my word!" Daryl nodded and shrugged.
"Why ya gotta keep sproutin' off shit I already know, Tessa?" He asked with a look of slight confusion on his face and tears immediately flooded her eyes as her arms moved around him in a shaking embrace, an embrace that he readily reciprocated. Even now, a decade and a few after they first met and Daryl Dixon still had the ability to shock her and make tears appear in her eyes.
That morning's breakfast had been amazing – full of eggs and bacon and coffee – all the luxury food that they had to give up when the walkers hit. Daryl, of course, stupidly hung-over like Glenn and Rick, ate much of nothing, the grease making them all want to hurl, but Tessa and Ethan both had - probably more than they should have, to tell the truth. That afternoon had been informative with Jenner showing them the video of how exactly the virus attacked and reanimated a body.
But it had quickly gone to Hell after that.
They had been arguing over Jenner not telling them what was really going on – that, and exactly why was there only one generator left working - when suddenly, there was a great buzzing that began echoing around the room - a buzzing that immediately had a majority of the group panicking. VI, in her mechanical, robotic voice, announced that there was thirty minutes left to decontamination and Shane and T-Dog quickly began herding everyone to the doors to get their stuff – telling everyone that they were leaving as they went. Daryl was the one who made sure his family was the first to the doors when they slid forbiddingly shut.
The look of horror and fear that started echoing on everyone's faces at that moment was practically simultaneous in its appearance. "Did he just lock us in?" Glenn asked, fear written more evident on his face than maybe anyone else's, as he turned back to face the vast majority of the others grouped around the stairs that led to the bank of computers - those who had not had the chance to reach the doors like Daryl, Tessa and Ethan did. "For the love of God – he just locked us in!"
"Oh Jesus Christ – Daryl, what do we do?"
Immediately (for was starting to seem - rather creepily - that his senses were beginning to tune into them whenever he was around them) he glanced back and saw the fear that echoed in Tessa and Ethan's eyes as Tessa pulled her son into a protective embrace that wasn't at all different from the one Lori and Carol had their children in. He immediately felt anger bubbling up in him again as he turned around and quickly found Jenner hanging on the outside fringes of the group.
"Ya son-of-a-bitch -!" He roared and Rick twirled around on his heels when he heard Daryl's outburst.
"Shane -!"
"Ya fuckin' locked us in here!"
"Shane -!"
Daryl had just enough time to latch onto the back of Jenner's chair when Shane all but football tackled him to the floor. He carried him off as T-Dog quickly tried to talk him down, a bottle of gin held aloft in Daryl's hand. He had originally wanted to smash it over his head like his old man did to him and Merle plenty of times (and Hell, he knew how much damage that could do!) but now, he found himself now wanting to shove it up his ass.
Jenner was visibly shaking when Tessa and Ethan climbed the stairs to rejoin the rest of the group, where Dale immediately put his arm around Tessa in as comforting a fatherly gesture as he could. She shot him a weak look as Daryl found himself still needing to be restrained.
"Open tha damn door ya fuckin' cunt!" He roared out as he fought tooth and nail for Shane and T-Dog to release him, however, the men were stronger than they looked, although holding Daryl back was proving to be a feat in and of itself.
"Jenner, open that door now!" Rick spoke next, his voice diplomatic but also emphatic, as he made his way over to the shaken scientist, who shook his head.
"I can't do a thing! Everything topside is completely sealed, as is the emergency exits. There's not a thing I can do."
"Well, open tha damn things!" Daryl snapped in reply, his anger considerably cooled but still bubbling nonetheless. Jenner shook his head.
"That's not something I control – the computers do - I told you! I also told you guys that once those front doors closed, they wouldn't open again – you guys heard me say it!"
Shane and T-Dog had let go of Daryl at that moment and he shot Jenner a venomous look as Tessa immediately flew into his arms, shaking like a bird in fear. "Are ya guys okay?" He quietly asked Ethan when the boy joined them, his hand moving to grip one of his small, thin shoulders, and he nodded. He was shaken and clearly afraid, however, he'd be damned if he would show it. Daryl smiled a small smile. "Tha's ma boy . . .!" He murmured as he pulled him in his arms as well, where the three of them turned their attentions onto Jenner.
"It's better this way!" Jenner spoke with conviction and Rick immediately let out a scathing laugh.
"What is? What happens in twenty-eight minutes?" He asked, his eyes finding themselves glued to the clock hanging on the far wall that had been counting down since they first arrived there. Jenner pursed his lips and turned back around to type on his computer, an action that was greeted by Shane's boot in the chair's ass as Rick rephrased his question, with a little more anger that time. "What the fuck happens in twenty-eight minutes!"
"Do you know what this place is?" Jenner shouted at him as he finally had enough and got to his feet. He immediately turned his ire onto Rick, who stood there, momentarily stunned at the man's anger. "We protected the public from very nasty stuff! Weaponized smallpox and Ebola strains that could wipe out half the fucking country – shit you don't ever want getting out!"
Daryl still looked like he wanted to rip the man's head off, but his grip on Tessa and Ethan had grown tighter just a little at his words. Jenner sat back down then and straightened his clothes – getting himself under composure – before speaking again. "In the event of a catastrophic power failure – in a terrorist attack, for example – HITs are deployed to prevent any organisms from getting out."
"HITs – what are HITS?" Rick asked as he pinned Jenner with soul-ripping stare. Jenner asked VI to define at that moment and immediately when the computer began talking, was when Tessa felt her heart pound away in her chest and even more tears appear in her eyes. She knew what HITs were - Sam had known and he had told her about them one day. She remembered that he had called them a 'marvel of modern engineering'. She wondered if he would think they were so great now.
"HITs – high-impulse, thermobaric fuel-air explosives consist of two-stage aerosol ignition that produces a blast wave of significantly greater power and duration than any other known explosive except nuclear -"
Everyone began breaking down at that point. Carol, tears in her eyes, pulled her daughter close and when Ethan finally collapsed with tears in his eyes too, Daryl squatted down, the both of them following suit as he remained with them in his arms. Tessa immediately broke down into sobs against Daryl's chest and took her son in her arms as he began crying too. "The vacuum-pressure effect ignites the oxygen between five thousand and six thousand degrees and is useful when the greatest loss of life and damage to structures is desired."
"It sets the air on fire . . ." Jenner began, his voice pensive and almost wistful. "There is no pain . . . an end to sorrow, grief . . . regret," He turned his eyes onto the men grouped around him then. "Everything . . ."
Everybody had been so busy temporarily mourning, that they didn't notice it when Daryl gently pulled himself from Tessa and Ethan's embrace, to stand with Rick by the doors of the expansive lab. He stood there for a minute, glaring at the doors as if by sheer force of will alone he could open them. He stood there, feeling his anger steadily build up within him until, with an enraged roar he launched the bottle of gin at the door before wheeling around and heading back towards Jenner. "Open tha Goddamn door!"
Shane ran past him with a fireman's ax in his hand and T-Dog shouted Daryl's name before tossing him one. Daryl expertly caught it before he turned around and ran at the door. Tessa and Ethan moved over to sit beside Carol and Sophia and Lori and Carl, the pounding of the axes against the metal door were the sounds of their only salvation . . . a weak, impossible salvation.
"You should have left well enough alone – it would have been so much easier -!"
"Easier for whom, dare I ask?" Lori immediately asked with an enraged tone to her voice that Tessa had never heard her adopt before. She pulled Ethan closer to her, the boy's head moving to pillow in her lap and she fought to hold back more tears as she felt his hit her legs.
"All of you!" He replied as Rick came back to join them. "You know what is out there waiting for you – a short, brutal life and an agonizing death!"
"Well I don't. Want. This." Rick hissed at him emphatically when Jenner turned his eyes onto him. "I don't want this for my family – nor for Daryl's or Carol and Sophia – not one of us wants this!"
An ax thudded against one of the computer banks as Shane rejoined them, his breathing tearing ragged from his lungs. "We can't make a dent in that door, although Daryl's fuckin' trying his damndest!"
"Those doors are designed to withstand a rocket launcher." Jenner told them patiently, slowly, as if he was telling it to a child, and Daryl let out another a roar of rage.
"Yeah, well ya head ain'!" He snapped, his eyes wild with rage as he ran at him, ax ready to swing downwards. Dale and Shane immediately jumped in-between them, however, and the two men grabbed ahold of Daryl by the waist and hoisted him backwards as T-Dog grabbed the ax from his hands.
"Back up – jus' back tha fuck up!" Daryl snapped at them, his anger just barely contained as he stalked around them, his eyes predatorily pinned on Jenner. "Can I get to ma fuckin' family?" He all but snapped again and they nodded and slowly parted as he stalked past them, where he reached Tessa and Ethan in record time. Nailed hands latching onto his shoulders and arms, he found himself dragged downwards as Tessa threw her arms around him. She could feel his anger throbbing just under the surface of his skin and she shushed him gently as his arms wrapped around her and he pulled her as close to him as he dared without shifting Ethan from her lap.
"There is no hope!" Jenner told them firmly, and Rick turned an incredulous gaze onto him.
"There is always hope! Maybe it won't be you, maybe not here, but somebody, somewhere -!"
"What part of 'everything is gone', do you not understand?" Andrea interrupted him icily, and Jenner nodded in agreement.
"Listen to your friend . . . she gets it."
Sobs could be quietly heard coming from the small group of people leaning against the bank of computers across from him and he turned his eyes onto Carol after shooting Daryl a hesitant look. Daryl wasn't worried about him, though, at that moment. "This isn't right!" Carol cried. "You can't just keep us here!"
"It is just one tiny moment – a millisecond – there is no pain -!"
"My daughter doesn't deserve to die like this!" She interrupted him through tears and for a split second, Tessa felt Ethan jump at the sudden high pitch.
And then, Tessa felt Daryl tense up. Their eyes shot up, right when Shane cocked a gun and made his way for Jenner. Rick shouted his name and immediately people flocked to him but Shane was obviously driven. He reached Jenner before anyone could get a firm handhold on him like they did Daryl, and pointed the shotgun at Jenner's face – squarely between the eyes. The scientist swallowed heavily as he leaned as far back in his chair as he could.
"Open that door, or I'm gonna blow your head off! Do you understand me?" He asked as Daryl immediately got the people behind him to move. They stumbled away as Rick leaned into Shane and jumped into the process of trying to talk him down. Apparently, it worked, because after letting out a roar of fury, he unloaded a total of four shots into a nearby bank of computers and one into the above light fixture before Rick managed to wrest the gun from him and pistol-butted him in the face.
Jenner explained to them exactly why they were there – that he had originally had to continue on for his wife's sake – for Subject 19's sake - and that he rather the world had lost him instead of her – an Einstein in their field. Daryl, meanwhile, had resumed trying to break down the door with his ax and even though he knew it would never work, he would do anything to get his anger out in a way that did not include beating or hacking Jenner's face apart.
Finally, Jenner heaved a sigh. "I told you that topside's locked down. I can't open those," The look of relief on everyone's face was clear as he moved over to a keypad, scanned a card and then entered a code that opened the door. Daryl glanced behind him.
"Tessa, Ethan, come on!" He shouted as he bent down and grabbed up the second ax standing against the wall beside the door and while Tessa and Ethan didn't have to be told twice, the others lingered behind until T-Dog and Shane started herding them towards the door.
Tessa looked back as she and Ethan followed Daryl down the hallway towards their room. They'd grab their shit and then make for the main floor, where they would try their damndest to get out before they were all incinerated and blown to smithereens. Her eyes connected briefly with Jenner's over everybody's heads and he smiled a small smile and nodded. It was a gesture that she readily reciprocated.
