Guest - I've always really like Dale - I always thought he was something of the Socratic conscious of the group and with the exception of Tessa and his conversation, the one with Daryl I took from the show. I just interjected my own lines in there here and there to make it more relevant to my plot-line. I agree, the timing could have been better but really, does anyone have good timing in the show? LOL

Maddy120296 - I told you guys that the sex scenes would get raunchier as the story progressed! And yeah, the bit with the blood I had to include because, Hell, Daryl was in his "Bad Wolf" mode, he had to have something in there bloody! ;)

HermionaandMarcus - Thanks for the review, hope this one doesn't disappoint :)

This chapter was really boring for me to write and I hope to Hell that its not boring to read for you guys. The ending I'm not really content with - it just doesn't settle me, but then again, after just writing a love scene, does any next chapter after that compare? ;)

- Nagiana

PS - sorry for the short chapter; hopefully they'll get longer soon.


"Ya'll get me back Tess, I promise. I'll do anythin' to get back to ya, remember?"

"Okay, let's just see how everyone stands and then we can just talk through the options, okay?"

Rick began the meeting once everyone had gathered and then managed to squeeze themselves into the living room of the farmhouse. The atmosphere of the room was clearly tense, with everyone but Daryl and Shane completely relaxed. Even Tessa, who was standing beside Daryl with her arms crossed in front of her chest, found herself slightly on edge.

"The way I see it, there's only one way to move forward from here." Shane began but didn't say anything more as Dale turned his eyes onto him.

"You mean killing him, right?" Dale immediately replied as his eyes flew around the room, holding a few people's gazes here and there. He shrugged. "I mean, why even bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind is blowing."

"Well now, see here, if people believe that we should spare him, then I want to know!" Rick told him, his voice coming out drawn and slightly exasperated. He felt the bare bones of a migraine thumping against his head and knew that the end of this meeting could not come fast enough, nor that it would come as smoothly as he had hoped.

"Well I can tell ya that it's a small group – maybe just me and Glenn." He spoke, his eyes avoiding Tessa and Daryl's but then immediately settled on Glenn sitting beside him on the piano bench, avoiding his eyes in turn. Then, slowly, he turned them uneasily onto him and a look of stark disbelief settled on the older man's face.

"Look, I think you're pretty much right about everything all the time," Glenn started out, quickly moving to try and appease him. "But with this -!"

"They've got you scared!" Dale interrupted him passionately but Glenn shook his head.

"He's not one of us!" He fired back and it was then that Tessa's lips pursed in irritation.

"That is a bullshit argument, Glenn!" She spat and Glenn turned a shocked gaze onto Tessa. She had never used that tone of voice with him before and now that she had, everyone seemed to be turning a slightly shocked or surprised gaze onto her.

"But Tessa, we've – we've lost too many people already!" Glenn hurried to defend himself and she shook her head as her eyes flitted to everybody else's in turn. Her body tensed slightly at what she was about to do but then eventually heaved a sigh and shook her head. She had been thinking about it all day and the previous evening once Daryl had fallen asleep. Granted, he probably wouldn't agree with her decision but she, however, would stay firm in it.

"I thought about it all day and last night and I have to say that I agree with Dale," She started out and dammit all to Hell if Dale hadn't been right earlier. Everyone's attentions – complete and undivided attentions, too – snapped onto her and she blinked in surprise a couple of times before shaking herself back into awareness. Even Shane was giving her his attention. "I just . . . I cannot condone this!" She continued and Daryl, sensing the amount of drama and tension that had been steadily building in the room since the meeting started and which dramatically increased since she stepped up with her piece, curved a hand gently around her hip and attempted to bring her closer to him. She shook her head and shrugged out of his embrace, however. "And I call that a bullshit argument, Glenn, because when Daryl found me and our son, Ethan was holding a rifle and I a bow. We were armed – it was clear that we had killed before," She shook her head, disbelief starting to echo in her eyes. "What makes us so different from that boy in the shed - the fact that we didn't shoot at you but he did? The fact that we knew Daryl and he could testify for our good name, although at the time, he wasn't exactly inclined to?" She swallowed hard as her eyes connected with Dale's grateful ones. "And of course, I cannot change anyone's minds. I cannot change yours," She looked at Rick. "Yours," Glenn's this time. "And especially not yours," She glanced behind her at Daryl. "But I just want everyone to know that whatever you decide, that I will have absolutely no part in it and neither will Ethan. This is a level of brutality that I cannot, for the life of me, even begin to understand, nor condone as a woman who already has a child and is expecting another one!" Her eyes connected with Lori's then and the woman pursed her lips and quickly averted her eyes to the floor as Tessa stepped back. Finally, she allowed herself to be drawn back into Daryl's embrace, his arms wrapping snugly around her waist as he pulled her protectively against him.

"Thank you, Tessa! Once again you are a voice of reason when this group so desperately needs one!" Dale thanked her quietly – gratefully - and Tessa smiled a small smile and nodded. Her hands moved to entwine with Daryl's and she pulled his arms tighter around her, a motion that he immediately obliged. Now that she was done speaking, she was just now starting to register how hard her heart had been pounding in her chest. It was almost painful!

Their fingers entwined on her stomach, seemingly cradling the child contained within and even though she was pretty sure he would be siding with killing the kid, Tessa still wanted Daryl to hold her – to protect her and their child from all this philosophical bullshit. It was a foolish, childish desire, but one that she couldn't help but want nonetheless.

She saw Lori sneaking glances at them out of her corner of her eye – at the protective embrace Daryl had Tessa wrapped in and an embrace that he would continue to have her wrapped in for the remainder of the meeting. Both of them were pregnant – both were the same amount of weeks along and both were the same age. The only difference was that at least Tessa had a man that was there for her – that had been there for her since the second she told him, if only he took him a moment to realize it. He had wanted their baby from day one and he would fight through every legion of Hell to make sure she was safe and had everything she needed.

The look of slight jealously in her eyes was clearly apparent.

Dale's eyes lingered on Tessa's for a moment longer before turning onto Maggie and Hershel sitting and standing on the other side of the room. "How about you two – what do you guys think? Do you two agree with this?" Maggie gave him a weak look before turning that same weak look onto Rick.

"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" She asked, and Tessa felt Daryl shake his head behind her.

"He'll be jus' another mouth to feed." He spoke for him, his voice coming out soft and diplomatic for once, and Tessa felt herself swallow hard.

"It may be a lean winter . . ." Hershel brought up, slightly reluctantly.

"We could ration better?" Lori added before Dale threw up his hands.

"He could be an asset! Give him a chance to prove himself!"

"We could put him to work?" Glenn suggested and Rick shook his head, successfully blitzkrieg-ing that idea.

"We're not letting him walk around - I can tell you guys that right now!"

"We could put an escort on him?" Maggie suggested in turn and Shane let out a snort of a laugh.

"Who wants to volunteer for that duty?" He asked and immediately rolled his eyes when Dale announced that he would gladly do it.

"Look, I don't any of us should be walking around with this guy!" Rick spoke up, his voice clearly tense with anger. His migraine was certainly starting to come in a quicker stride then as he pinned a hard look on Dale. Lori nodded in agreement as she moved to cross her arms in front of her chest.

"Rick's right; I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."

Tessa reluctantly nodded in agreement with the idea and barely missed the look of slight disbelief that Dale shot her. "I agree. I mean, I've pretty much made it apparent that I am an advocate for not killing this kid, but . . . I gotta agree with Lori, though! I have a child on the way – she does too! It's going to be a child that's going to be born defenseless from day one – I don't want anything around that could double or triple those dangers!" She shook her head and gave another shrug. "I'm sorry, but whatever we decide, just allowing this kid to walk free cannot be an option!" Lori found herself nodding in agreement with her words in turn as Andrea gave a weak shrug.

"Well we can't exactly put chains on his ankles and sentence him to hard labor, now can we?" She laughed then, making it first time she had spoken in the meeting for a while.

"Look, say we let this kid join us, right?" Shane spoke up. "Maybe he's helpful, maybe he's nice – maybe he doesn't put anyone in danger," He nodded to Tessa and Lori then before continuing on. "We let our guard down and maybe he runs off, brings back all thirty of his men. What happens then?"

"So the answer is to kill him – to prevent a crime that he may never even attempt?" Dale retorted emphatically before turning to gaze at everybody else in turn again. "If we do this, we're saying there's no hope. Rule of law is dead – there is no civilization!" Shane rolled his eyes again as Andrea turned an expressionless gaze onto him.

"Could you drive him further out?" Hershel asked and Lori shook her head and let out a scoffing laugh. "Leave him like you planned?"

"You barely came back this time." Lori reminded him as she continued to shake her head. "There are walkers – you could break down . . . you could get lost -!"

"Or get ambushed . . ." Daryl interrupted her, his voice still quiet and diplomatic and Rick glanced behind him at Daryl and Tessa before turning back to the rest of the group. Tessa's hands tightened on his and he squeezed her ever-so-slightly in return. Glenn nodded.

"He's right – we should not put our own people at risk."

"If you . . . go through with it," Patricia spoke up from her place standing between T-Dog and Maggie. "How would you do it? Would he suffer?" Rick didn't answer her yet but turned his eyes up to Shane's instead, who shrugged.

"We could hang him, right? Just snap his neck?" Rick nodded.

"I-I thought about that, actually . . ." He spoke but shrugged as he turned to glanced back at Daryl and immediately, Tessa tensed in his arms, a tensing that Daryl alleviated slightly by bringing her closer to him. "Shooting may, uh . . . shooting may be more humane, though."

"What about the body?" T-Dog asked. "Do we bury him?"

"Hold on, hold on!" Dale suddenly interrupted them, his hands moving into the air in continued disbelief. "You're talking about this like it's already been decided!" Daryl heaved a sigh, his voice finally taking a slightly impatient tone.

"You've been talkin' 'bout it all day and all yesterday – jus' goin' around in circles!" He spoke up as Tessa moved her eyes down to the hardwood floor underneath their feet – anything to avoid Dale's eyes as Daryl continued to speak. "Ya jus' wanna go around in circles again?"

"This is a young man's life!" Dale spoke up, his voice taking on another passionate tone. He turned a pleading eye onto Tessa and Daryl again. "He's close to your son in age -!"

"Ya can say tha' all ya want to, Dale, but he ain' Ethan!" Daryl snapped back at him as he interrupted him mid-sentence. He shook his head. "Comparin' him to ma boy ain' gonna get us anywhere but drawin' useless comparisons – comparisons tha' will end up bein' useless bullshit – no offense – for tha simple reason tha' he ain' ma son!"

"Daryl, honey, please . . ." Tessa's quiet, warning voice brought his anger back down and he glanced down at her before nodding and returning back to his same brooding self.

"Well I'm sorry if I think that a young man's life is worth more than a five minute conversation!" Dale replied, his voice gathering an angry tone, however, his ire was no longer focused on one direct anymore. "Is this what it's come to - seriously? We kill someone now because we can't decide what else to do with him? You saved him and now look at us!" He continued, directing his last words towards Rick. "He's been tortured – he's going to be executed! How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"

"We know what needs to be done -!"

"No, Dale and Tessa are right," Rick interrupted him, his voice taking on a much quieter and diplomatic tone than the anger it had moments earlier. "We can't leave any stone unturned here. We have a responsibility -!"

"So what's the solution?" Andrea interrupted him in turn and Lori shook her head.

"Let Rick finish, Andrea -!"

Andrea shook her head, interrupting her. "I'm sorry, Lori, but I'm not! We haven't come up with a single viable option yet and like Tessa said, we cannot allow him to just walk free because of safety issues! I wish we could, but we couldn't!"

"So let's work on it!" Dale replied, his voice still that same passionate tone it had been earlier, however, another voice that cut through the air stopped anyone from talking any further.

"Stop it!" Carol suddenly spoke up, her voice shaking and slightly frail – weary. "Just . . . just stop it! I'm sick of everyone arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this – none of us asked for this and you cannot expect us to make this kind of a decision! Please, decide – one of you, both of you, I don't care – but leave me out."

"Not speaking out and killing himself yourself – makes no difference!" Dale replied before gesturing towards Tessa and Daryl. "At least Tessa told her piece first before backing out!"

"All right, that's enough!" Rick spoke out before things could get any more heated. "Anybody who wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."

An awkward silence pervaded the room then, with a lot of people simply casting their eyes down to the floor. Daryl's arms around her suddenly felt stifling hot but she didn't have the courage to push them away from her. She didn't want to push them away from her. A lead weight had settled in her stomach – a lead weight that told her that something bad was about to happen.

Or that a couple of bad things were about to happen, for that matter . . .

"You once said that we don't kill the living!" Dale brought up to Rick, clearly grasping at straws now, and Rick shook his head.

"That was before the living started to kill us!"

"But don't you see?" He replied, his eyes wide and pleading with reason. "If we do this, the people that we were – the world that we knew - is dead! And this new world is ugly and its-its harsh! It's a Darwinian survival of the fittest! That's a world I don't wanna live in and I don't think either of you do either!" He turned his eyes onto Daryl again. "You told me not to compare the kid to Ethan but do you honestly want Tessa to give birth and then the two of you try to raise your child in a world where there is no law and order? Do you want to raise it in a group that has thrown all its morals out the window?"

Silence filled the room then, with neither Daryl nor Tessa answering him. Tears were starting to appear in Dale's eyes then.

"He and Tessa are right - I agree. We can't do this. We should try and find another way – whatever it is – whatever it entails." Andrea said, bringing Tessa out of her thoughts and back into the present situation, and Dale shot her a thankful gaze too but after her, no one else stepped forward. They all shamefully averted their eyes to the floor again and when Dale's eyes filled with tears, not even Tessa and Andrea had the strength to look at him, and they had sided with him!

"Well, I'm sorry, but what Tessa said, also applies to me. I will have absolutely no part in this! But are you all gonna watch too?" He remarked before shaking his head. "No, you all will hide your heads in your tents and pretend that we're not slaughtering a human being!" His tone was hard and icy as he chose that time to leave the group. He paused by Daryl and Tessa, though, and clapped a gentle hand on his arm.

"Your right – this group is broken!"


"I swear to God - don't do this, Daryl - please don't be a part of this!" Tessa found herself begging him just one short hour later as he held her close, her hands moving to fist into the tough leather of his vest. He shook his head as he pressed a gentle kiss to her hairline. Rick had told him and Shane to meet him later at the shed, where they would take the kid into the barn and follow through what the group had determined what was right. He had to admit, it made something heavy sit in his stomach and when he took one look at the pleading in Tessa's eyes, he almost lost his nerve.

"Tess, I've got to -!"

"No, the fuck you don't!" She interrupted him, tears filling her eyes. "You don't have to do a Goddamn thing! You could be like the others who agreed – the silent majority!" She shook her head. "What example is this supposed to set for Ethan, huh? You walk out of the shed earlier with your hands covered in the boy's blood and completely fucking changed and he had to see that! How is he going to take seeing you come out of that shed with Shane and Rick and your body covered in his blood and not just your hands?" She shook her head as her fingers touched his cheek again. "The first time with the kid, you said you had to for the good of the group and I almost didn't get you back. Will I get you back this time too?" Daryl rolled his eyes as he pushed her gently off of him before turning around and heading towards the shed.

"Good Lord, Tess, it's not like I'm gonna be killin' tha kid maself! Rick's gonna be tha one holdin' tha trigger, I jus' gotta be there in case he . . . in case tha kid tries to run, ya know?" Tessa shook her head in disbelief as she chased after him, her hand grasping his shoulder seconds later and forcing him to turn around and face her again.

"Look, I know I didn't exactly stand up and defend him nearly as much as Dale did earlier, but dammit, Daryl, why can't you see that just standing there and watching is the same as Rick killing him! You're all going to be guilty!" She shook her head. "Can you honestly blame me for being worried about you - especially after yesterday?"

Daryl chuckled then and leaned down, where he tilted her head back gently and pressed a loving kiss to her lips. There was no more of the brutality of the kisses that came the previous night, but a softness and a gentleness instead that she had long grown used to and expected. When he broke apart a moment later, Tessa had no choice but to stand there and gaze after him – watching him – as he slowly pulled away from her then, towards the shed where Rick and Shane were waiting for him. She swallowed hard as he shook his head.

"Ya'll get me back Tess, I promise. I do anythin' to get back to ya, remember?"