Yeah, again, sorry for the last chapter length - like scoobydoo0811 said, there was just so intensity in it for a variety of reasons, that I didn't want to cut anything. I probably should have split into two different chapters but I didn't know "where" to split it. So, that being said, here is a much shorter, more comfortable chapter :)
Read, review and enjoy!
- Nagiana
Favorite Line(s):
"Tha's easy for ya to say, Tess! Ya didn't see me almost shit ma pants when I saw ya laying there, almost bleedin' to death 'cause of somethin' she did! I'm sorry, babydoll, but I ain' trustin' anyone who makes me waste a perfectly good pair of pants over somethin' they're tha cause of!"
The missing men drove up that next morning, when practically everyone who knew how to shoot a gun, was getting ready to go out and get them back. Everyone let out long, held-in breaths of relief while every fiber and cell of Daryl's body practically sung out his relief!
"Thank tha fuckin' Lord!" He breathed out and Lori gave him an intensely relieved look as Rick bypassed the camp and drove up all the way to the front porch of the farmhouse, the rest of them following them at a run. No one ran faster than Daryl, however, and he skidded to a stop as the doors opened. Rick, Glenn and Hershel fell out looking beyond exhausted. Carl and Lori immediately fell into Rick's arms as Hershel started his way around to the back of the house.
"Patricia, prepare the shed for surgery -" He announced but Daryl quickly stepped in front of him, keeping him from going anywhere. The older man's lips pursed in irritation but at the look of weariness in Daryl's eyes, he immediately relaxed.
"Ya gotta . . . ya gotta check on Tess before ya do anythin' else, though!" He spoke and Rick eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he broke apart from his family and moved over to him.
"Why - what's wrong with her?" Daryl shook his head.
"She got in a car accident yesterday with ya wife and stabbed her leg up bad – we've been waitin' on Hershel to get back so tha' he can check on her!" Hershel turned to gaze back at Patricia, who nodded while Rick turned an inquiring look onto a sheepish looking Lori.
"I cleaned and stitched it up last night. It looks good and we've been giving her antibiotics, we just . . . we need you to make sure she's completely all right!"
"Please, man . . . please!" Daryl begged him and Hershel turned one longer, searching look onto Daryl's pleading eyes before nodding. He turned back to Patricia.
"Patricia, go ahead and prepare the shed for surgery. While you do that, I'm gonna go up and check on Tessa, alright?" Patricia nodded hurriedly and moved to head towards the shed. As Rick and Lori asked each other if they were alright and as Shane brought attention to the strange guy fading back and forth into consciousness in the backseat, Daryl was gratefully accompanying Hershel into the house, no longer giving a rat's ass to anyone else's well-being but Tessa's.
"You do know that you and Daryl have the potential to put every relationship in the book, to complete and utter shame, right?"
Tessa grinned and laughed at Maggie's words as she glanced at the younger woman sitting on a nearby chair beside the bed. She was wearing her jeans again, although the leg that covered her wound had been cut off, revealing the padding of gauze that had been wrapped and then taped around her thigh. Ethan lay on the bed beside her, his head tucked just underneath her chin, and Maggie couldn't help but smile at the image. The previous night had been rough – one of the roughest ones of her life and she doubted it had been any easier for Ethan or anybody else who had been there. He had clung to his mother all morning and with good reason. It had been hard for her – a grown woman – seeing such a usually calm and collected man like Daryl, almost reach his breaking point multiple times when Tessa's screams grew too loud and he had to remain unwaveringly strong for her. She had no idea how hard it had been for Ethan, sitting outside the room and forced to listen to his mother's screams!
Maggie didn't blame him for clinging to his mother the way he was – not after thinking he had almost lost her.
"Why do you say that?" She asked, and Maggie shrugged and smiled a she looked down at the hardwood floor underneath them.
"Last night, before we began and you told him that you loved him and he sat there for a minute before telling you that he loved you back," She shrugged. "It was just . . . so intimate! You can tell you guys love each other – that he loves you!" She shook her head, giving a laugh as she did so. "In this day and age, you guys are a rare bird!" Tessa chuckled.
"With Daryl, Maggie . . . his love is earnest. His loyalty and his trust are hard to earn – his love, almost impossible! So when you finally manage it, it's . . . its earnest and it's real!" She smiled as she pressed a loving kiss to the top of her son's head and then chuckled. "I don't know what I did to get such love from him, but I thank God every day for him. He makes this world bearable – he puts another light at the end of the tunnel . . ."
"So, you're saying that you guys make it through every day because . . . because all you have is your love?" She asked, and Tessa shook her head.
"No – God no, it's not just love! We have our fights and we have our anger at each other sometimes – Hell, I'm pretty sure a fair amount of his anger from last night is partially directed towards me as well as Lori - but it's not just love. We don't have enough love for that, believe it or not. What we do have, though, is our child. Although, pretty soon, it'll be our 'children', won't it?" She smiled as she wrapped her arms tighter around Ethan, who smiled and hugged her back, his eyes closing in contentment. Right now he wasn't the young man interested in Beth, he was the thirteen-year-old boy he really was.
Tessa glanced back at Maggie. "That's what keeps us going, Maggie, not our love. It's the fact that we have one other person and soon, two that will need us every day." Maggie smiled as they heart booted footfalls on the hardwood landing outside the bedroom – booted footfalls that ended up being Daryl and Hershel's as they turned the corner into the room. Maggie adopted a look of relief on her face as she hopped up and bounded into her father's arms. He hugged her close for a minute before nodding to Tessa, who nodded back as Daryl moved to take the chair Maggie had so recently vacated.
"What about Glenn, is he alright?" Maggie asked, and Hershel nodded and gestured to the door.
"He's outside with the others, I imagine." Maggie grinned and nodded as she bounded from the room. His eyes landed on Ethan's.
"I have to check your mother's wound. Can we have some privacy?" Ethan nodded as Tessa pressed another kiss to his head before he got up off of the bed and left the room then, as silent as when he had come in. She glanced at Daryl as Hershel moved to wash his hands in the nearby wash basin.
"He's been quiet since yesterday night." She told him, concern in her voice, and he smiled a small, tight smile as he took her hand and brought it to his lips, where he pressed a lingering kiss to the back of it.
"Think 'bout what he's been through tha past night – what all of us have been through! In his defense, we've all been kinda quiet!" Tessa nodded in agreement as Hershel moved over to them and gently undid the tape keeping the gauze down. He unrolled it and his eyes quickly scanned the stitched up wound. He grimaced.
"That's gonna make one ugly scar! How did you get it?"
"Me and Lori were in a car accident yesterday," Tessa told him. "She walked out fine but I ended up with a shard of Plexiglas in my leg." Hershel arched a slightly surprised brow in her direction.
"And you pulled it out yourself?" She nodded
"Yes, I did." Hershel nodded, a look of respect glittering in his eyes as he carefully redid the wrapping and the tape before standing back up.
"Your leg is looking good, Tessa – looking real good! It doesn't seem to be as red as I heard it was in the beginning and Patricia has stitched you up quite nicely. The cut above your eye seems to be healing quite nicely as well!" He told her as he washed his hands off in the nearby washbasin. Daryl let out a breath of relief as he pressed a loving, lingering kiss to her temple, his eye closing in relief as he held her close. Tessa, still as pale as a sheet and as weak as ever, nodded and smiled her thanks as she allowed Daryl's arms to wrap around her and hold her close.
"Thank you so much, Hershel – and thank Patricia for me too!" She added, and Hershel smiled and nodded as he turned around, wiping his hand off on a nearby towel.
"You're quite welcome. Are you having any problems with it?" He asked, his eyebrow furrowing in concern, and she shrugged.
"It still throbs but other than that, the pain meds are working nicely," She hesitated for a minute and it was then that Daryl murmured:
"Tha baby . . . ask him 'bout tha baby . . ." Hershel adopted an even more confused look on his face and Tessa sighed.
"I'm pregnant, Hershel, about a few weeks along, in fact. At first, Patricia didn't want to stitch me up because she was worried that the stress of the pain would add on top of the stresses that the rest of the day had brung, and cause me to have a miscarriage." Hershel smiled a small smile.
"And I take it that you didn't?" Tessa nodded, smiling.
"You're right, I didn't. The kid is still hanging on – miraculously!" The older man sighed as he moved to sit on the edge of the other side of the bed.
"You seem to be in the clear now, I think, but for the sake of the baby, I will say that you probably need to take it extremely easier from here on out, understand?" He asked before his eyes flickered onto Daryl. "No going off and getting yourself injured – no sudden and massive amount of stress!" He shook his head. "I'm not saying be bedridden until you give birth – God no! But what I am saying is to take it easy! They have found links to support cases where extreme amounts of stress in the first few months of pregnancy can drastically heighten your chances of miscarrying and premature births in later months. Hopefully, that won't happen to you, but just as a preventative measure, please take it easy! I also would like you to stay here for another night – just so that you can get some good rest and I can check on you in the morning." Tessa and Daryl nodded as Hershel smiled and stood. He excused himself at that moment and they nodded as he left, squeezing by Ethan as he did so.
Tessa smiled when she saw her son and he smiled back. "There's a meeting goin' on downstairs in the dining room. They said if you're up to it that you should probably come down too with deddy, but if you can't, then that would be fine as well." He told them, directing his words to Tessa at one point and she nodded as Daryl backed off of her and helped her sit up. She got gingerly to her feet and balanced herself and all her weight on her one good leg before they made their slow way out of the room and into the hallway.
"We couldn't just leave him behind. He would have bled out - if he had lived that long . . ." They heard Rick speak as the made their slow way down the stairs and when they stepped into the archway leading to the dining room, they were brought to everyone attention by Dale looking up and giving a thankful, "Oh thank God!"
Everyone turned around at his words and Tessa gave a weak smile as Lori immediately got to her feet and darted over to her friend, where she hugged her tightly. "Oh thank God you're alright! Tess, I am so sorry!" She told her, tears filling her eyes again, and Tessa grinned and nodded.
"It's fine, Lori – at least we're both alive, ya know?" She asked and Lori nodded half-heartedly, her eyes finding Daryl's expressionless ones as she stepped back, allowing Rick, Dale, and Maggie to take her place. They each hugged her in turn, their hugs a lot more gentle than Lori's had been and when they were done, Rick kindly smiled and gestured to the chair he had been leaning on. She gave him a thankful look as Daryl stepped forward and then gently deposited her in the seat before moving to take a protective stance behind her. Ethan moved to stand between her and Glenn and the two friends smiled weakly at each other – their eyes taking on an exhausted look as they did so. The both of them had very tough nights. Glenn spent his fighting for his life while Ethan spent his hearing his mother fight for hers. They both couldn't wait until they could get some much needed and desired sleep.
"We've been discussing the new addition to the group!" Shane spoke up, his voice falsely cheerful, and Tessa and Daryl's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"New addition . . .?" She asked, her voice coming out small and weak as she glanced up at Daryl, who only shrugged in reply. Rick sighed and nodded as he filled them both in.
"His name's Randall. He and his group attacked us when we were in town yesterday night retrieving Hershel. He was injured and we brought him along. Hershel's out in the shed fixing his leg as we speak." Tessa nodded in understanding as everyone began talking again.
"It's gotten bad in town . . ." Glenn spoke up, his voice quiet and it was impossible to see the curious look that flitted across Maggie's face when they crossed gazes.
"What do we do with him?" Andrea asked and it was then that Hershel walked in, wiping his hands off with a rag.
"I've repaired his calf muscle as best I can. He'll probably have nerve damage, though. He won't be back on his feet for at least a week - the same as you . . .!" He spoke as he nodded to Tessa. She nodded back in understanding as she took a gentle hold of Daryl's hand resting on her shoulder. He smiled a small smile when she pressed a loving kiss to his knuckle. He was angry at her now that they knew she and the baby would be fine – God only knew he was! It had been a dumb move, her and Lori going out in search of three grown, very capable men, but above that and on the surface, he was just content and happy to find out that she would was safe and sound!
"When he is, we give him a canteen," Rick spoke up, his gaze meeting everyone's there. "And then we take him out to the main road and send him on his way."
"Isn't that just as cruel – leaving him out there for the walkers after you saved him?"
"He'll have a fighting chance, though." Rick replied to Andrea and it was then that Shane spoke up again.
"Ya just gonna let him go? He knows where we are."
"He was blindfolded the entire way here," Rick replied. "He's not a threat -!"
"Not a threat?" Shane interrupted him with a laugh. "How many of them were there? You killed three of their men, you took one of them hostage, but they just ain't gonna come looking for them?"
"Yes, let's listen to the mastermind behind the barnyard massacre yesterday, why don't we? God only knows how well that went!" Tessa spoke up a tad condescendingly, her voice still weak and quiet and the look Shane gave her could have frozen lava. Daryl shot him a look back as his hand tightened on her shoulder, however, but nothing happened, for which Tessa and everyone else there were grateful.
"They left him for dead!" Rick told him. "No one is looking for him!"
"We should still post a guard." T-Dog spoke next and everyone's gaze turned onto him. He was one of the ones who rarely spoke up in these kinds of meetings so whenever he did, people listened.
"He's out cold right now and will be for a few hours." Hershel informed them.
"You know what – I'm gonna go get him some flowers and candy!" Shane suddenly piped up sarcastically as he moved towards the door. "Look at this, folks – we're back at fantasyland!"
"You know, we still haven't even dealt with what you did at my barn yet," Hershel replied to him as he moved to follow him and Shane turned around to face him. Tessa remained seated, Daryl and Ethan remaining standing at her side. Besides, they could hear the conversation pretty well – they didn't have to see it. "Like Tessa said – that wasn't exactly the smartest decision in the entire world and let me make it perfectly clear once and for all that this is my farm, something that you, for some reason, cannot understand! Now I wanted you gone but Rick and Tessa talked me out of it," He continued as he glanced behind him at Rick and Tessa and Tessa realized that it was because of her and Lori's pregnancies that they hadn't been kicked off the farm yet. "But that doesn't mean I have to like it! So do us both a favor and keep your mouth shut!"
Shane nodded, a little-boy unhappy look on his face as he backed steadily towards the front door, his eyes moving to hold all of their gazes. Eventually, he left the house then and when he did, Rick stepped forward. "Look, we're not gonna do anything about it today because many people are still healing from the stresses of yesterday," He glanced back towards Tessa and Lori and they knew he also meant the boy in the shed. "So let's just cool off today, okay?" Hershel nodded as everyone started leaving then and when he walking past Tessa, she reached out and took a hold of his hand. He stopped and turned his gaze down onto her, a look of interest immediately appearing in his eyes.
"Please, Hershel, I'd feel a lot better if I was allowed to go back down to the campsite instead of sleeping here tonight. My bed is there – my family and my friends are there! It'd lift my spirits and I'd feel a lot more comfortable there!" She told him and he nodded.
"I guess I can come in and check on ya in the morning, so I suppose that's alright." He gave her his permission with a gentle smile before meeting Daryl's eyes. "Remember: no massive amounts of stress – of any kind!" He told him and Daryl nodded as he continued to move past them in order to go check on Beth. Daryl and Ethan helped Tessa to her feet then, her arms moving around their shoulders as they headed to the front door, Rick following them with Lori, Carl and Carol close on their heels.
They stooped down to enter their tent moments later and Tessa let out a breath of relief when she saw their mattress. "Okay, Ethan, nice and easy does it . . ." Daryl grunted as him and Ethan slowly lowered her down onto her ass on the mattress. She gave Ethan a thankful look as father and son both stood and nodded to them. The both of them standing up before her side-by-side like that, she realized just how much alike they really did look. Ethan really was just a darker complexioned Daryl.
"I'm, uh . . . I'm gonna go see what's up with Glenn, okay?" He asked and Tessa nodded, knowing he was going to go check up on Beth instead now that she was awake, and he smiled and bent down, where he pressed a gentle kiss to her cheek before standing. He stood and gave Daryl an awkward look, one that made his father let out a teasingly irritated breath and roll of his eyes.
"Oh good Lord, Ethan, don' jus' stand there with ya thumb up ya ass – come here already!" He huffed, his eyes shining with amusement as he reached out an arm, wrapped it around the back of his neck and then brought him into a one-armed styled bear hug. Tessa let out a laugh as Ethan immediately turned red, although he did hug Daryl back. He released him moments later and Ethan shot them both a grin before he ducked out of the tent. Daryl rolled his eyes again as Tessa moved to lie back against the mattress, letting out a sigh of utter contentment as she did so. She was so glad to be back in her own bed! The one in the house was too comfortable for her now . . . she couldn't sleep in a bed that didn't have at least a little hardness to it.
"It looks like things with you and Ethan are back on track." She remarked with a grin and Daryl nodded, although he still gave her a shrug as he moved to lie down beside her on the mattress. She pulled her pillow further underneath her head as she turned her head to face him.
"Yeah, though I don' know how, for tha life of me, I managed to get him back on ma good side!" He muttered and she smiled. She couldn't move over onto her side to face him because of her wounded leg, but that didn't mean he couldn't. He flipped over onto his side facing her, his hand moving down to spread over her stomach as he did so. She inched closer to him as her hand flew to his and before he knew what was happening, she was moving his hand up under her shirt. The warmth of his callused hand warmed her stomach and made her shiver slightly.
"It held on . . ." He murmured in slight awe and she nodded, a grin appearing on her face.
"I told you it would, didn't I?" She asked and he grinned as well.
"Ya sure it's a girl and not a boy?" He asked and she laughed.
"I don't know what it is, Daryl, but like I said, it's a Dixon, so I don't think that can be a determining factor. I have a feeling that a show of strength in the womb does not determine gender in your family!" She told him and he laughed as she shook her head. "There is one thing though . . ." His eyebrows furrowed in slight interest as she gave another short laugh. "If it's a girl, we are not naming my child Sophia!" She told him, referring to the conversation they had overheard between Lori and Carl in which Carl asked his mother if the baby was born a girl they could name her Sophia. Daryl immediately let out a grin and a barking laugh when he remembered, and shook his head vehemently.
"Ah, tha Hell we are!" He continued to grin as she lifted her head up, allowing him to slide his free arm underneath her head as his other hand remained firmly on her stomach. He kissed her gently for a moment and when they broke apart, he moved to nuzzle her. His voice was barely above a whisper when he spoke. "I want ma Cat Liz, babydoll – I don' want a fuckin' Sophia!"
Tessa felt tears come to her eyes then as she lay there, content to lie in his arms as she basked in the warmth of his loving words and his gestures and his soft, loving kisses and felt like she was the luckiest woman in the world. And indeed, in her situation, she was the luckiest woman in the world!
Daryl's eyebrows immediately furrowed in confusion as he asked her what was the matter, and she shook her head and simply replied:
"Thank God I'm not Lori!"
He opened his mouth to ask her what she meant but the crunch of boots on the ground made him stop. They turned their gaze onto the entrance to the tent expectantly and weren't surprised when Lori stepped sheepishly inside. Her eyes darted warily to the wrapping of gauze covering the wound on her thigh and smiled a weak smile, her hands moving to shove down into the back pockets of her jeans.
"I'm surprised you're not lunging at me now that you have time to actually breathe for once!" She told him and Daryl gave a lazy shrug of his shoulders as he pulled Tessa ever-so-slightly towards him, where Tessa let out a grin. Her hand smoothed up his forearm as his remained on its usual spot on her stomach.
"Why would I? I'm pretty damn comfortable right now . . ." Lori nodded, a small smile gracing her features as she glanced at the close way Daryl was holding her. She supposed Daryl would be holding her pretty close for the next few days, especially while they slept. She also supposed he wouldn't let them be alone together for quite a while as well. It was common knowledge that Daryl primarily blamed what had happened to Tessa on Lori, as it had been her that hadn't been paying attention while driving and gotten them in the wreck to begin with. And even though he knew he would never, in a million years, be able to tell Tessa what to do outright, he also knew she couldn't object to him watching her silently.
"Yeah, you look like you are . . ." She muttered and Tessa nodded to her, a grin still on her face.
"What do you need, honey?" Lori gave a halfway defeated shrug of her shoulders.
"I know . . . I know you already told me not to, but I've come to say I'm sorry again. I-I should have been keeping my eyes on the road – I should have had you looking at the map instead of me while driving, I should have . . ." She sighed when she saw Tessa arch an eyebrow in amusement at her ramblings, and smiled a small smile. "There's a lot I should have done." Tessa chuckled as she lightly ran her nails up and down Daryl's forearm.
"I'll forgive you as long as you agree with the fact that going out there was probably not the smartest thing we could have done!" She chuckled and Lori joined her as she and Daryl nodded, however, it was not Daryl who spoke, but Lori.
"Yeah . . . yeah, I can readily agree with that! If it had just been me, I wouldn't feel nearly as guilty as I do, however, speaking you were the one who got injured for one stupid little mistake, I guess . . . I guess I can readily agree with the fact that we never should have gone out there!" She turned a slightly apprehensive gaze onto Daryl then, a gaze that he arched an eyebrow at. "What about you? I suppose asking for your forgiveness is a waste of good breath?" Daryl let out an amused scoff at that and shrugged his shoulders.
"I told ya how it was when we first found ya, didn' I? If she didn' survive it, then it wouldn' be good for ya," He shrugged again. "Seems like she survived, didn' she?"
"So . . . is that your version of an 'I forgive you'?" She asked and he scoffed again.
"It's prolly 'bout tha best damn thing ya gonna get! Ya two didn' jus' risk ya lives, but ya guys also risked tha lives of your sons or daughters. I mean, Hell, Tess, ya know I love ya more than anythin' but I cannot stress how much of a stupid move tha' was! And while I think ya get tha', I'm not entirely sure she does!" He nodded towards Lori as he said that. "She didn' get a shard of Plexiglas stuck in her leg tha' she had to pull out and which taught her, her lesson like ya did, Tess!" Lori nodded in slow agreement, not able to meet his or Tessa's eyes.
"I-I know . . . and I realize that . . ." Daryl gave another shrug then as he closed his eyes and buried his face in Tessa's neck, her hair tickling his nose but filling it with such a good scent that he didn't complain.
"Realize it or not, it's no skin offa ma nose. Jus' don' do it again and I guarantee tha' we'll get along fine. Like I said earlier, I gotta look after ma family now and tha' includes guardin' 'em against people tha' do stupid shit enough to get 'em killed!" He fell silent then and Tessa sighed as she turned a gaze onto her that said Its-Daryl-what-can-you-do? Lori shot Tessa another small, slightly weak smile before graciously bowing from the tent then. Tessa sighed as she shifted slightly in order to lovingly press her lips against his forehead. His arms tightened slightly around her in reply.
"You know, baby, she's not really that bad! You should give her a chance!" She told him with a light laugh, and he let out a snort of amusement but didn't shift his face out of her neck. His voice came out slightly muffled when he spoke.
"Tha's easy for ya to say, Tess! Ya didn' see me almost shit ma pants when I saw ya layin' there, almost bleedin' to death 'cause of somethin' she did! I'm sorry, babydoll, but I ain' trustin' anyone who makes me waste a perfectly good pair of pants over somethin' they're tha cause of!"
