Okay, I lied, this is not the last chapter of season 2 lol. This technically takes places during the season finale of season 2 and since there's just SO much I wanted to do for this episode, the chapters kinda . . . exploded. I think there's one more chapter after this one and then its done, I promise lol.
This chapter does skip around POVs pretty regularly and I'm sorry if it you maybe get lost (although I doubt it)but its how I designed it. You guys get Tessa, Ethan and Daryl's POVs and that's it.
PS - What in the Hell happened to all my regular reviewers? I mean, seriously guys, makes me think that I done something :(
Favorite Line(s):
"This better not be goodbye, old man! Here we are, just starting to have that annoying father/son bond . . .!"
"Daryl – Ethan!"
Daryl immediately opened his arms to allow Tessa to run into them when he, Ethan and Glenn arrived back from the woods a good ten minutes later and stepped into the farmhouse, the screen door banging shut behind them. Maggie ran into Glenn's while Beth, who was standing beside Jimmy, did nothing, although it would have taken a blind man not to have seen the small smile that she shared with Ethan.
"Oh my God - I was so worried about you!" Tessa told them as she released Daryl and pulled her son into another tight embrace. Daryl's hand hooked into her elbow and he pinned her with a firm stare.
"Are ya feelin' this too?" He asked her, his voice lowering and Tessa nodded, her gaze swapping with his and their son's. Ethan nodded as well.
"Don't worry - I feel it too." He told her, his voice lowering like his father's and Tessa swallowed hard as they all turned back to the group huddled in the farmhouse's living room. Daryl gazed around at them all, his arm moving to loop around Tessa's waist as he did so.
"Rick and Shane ain' back yet?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowing in slight concern and Lori shook her head, her features contorting in a mask of nervousness as her hand flew to her collarbone again. Daryl shared an uneasy look with Glenn and Ethan.
"No. We haven't heard from them at all."
"Well, we heard a shot on our way back . . ." Daryl responded and Lori shrugged, hoping to all Hell that it meant nothing.
"Maybe they found Randall,"
"No, they didn' – we did." Daryl replied, ignoring the way that Tessa's hands fisted into the sleeves of his jacket.
"Is he back in the shed?" Maggie asked from her place standing beside Glenn, and Ethan shook his head and glanced back at her.
"He was a walker. We had to kill him."
Everyone fell silent at that and Hershel was the one who broke that silence, his hands moving to bury deeply into the front pockets of his pants. "Did you guys find the walker that bit him?" He asked, and Daryl shook his head as Glenn pursed his lips.
"Yeah, the weird thing was that he wasn't bitten."
"His neck was broken." Daryl added, his voice soft and his tone solemn, and Patricia's eyes widened slightly at their ominous words.
"So he fought back . . .?"
"The thing is," Daryl began with another shake of his head as he shouldered his crossbow and allowed Tessa to fall even more into his arms, trembling slightly. She was already beginning to piece together what had happened before Daryl even explained things and quite frankly, she didn't like the potential outcome at all. "Shane and Randall's tracks were right on top of each other. And Shane ain' no tracker, so he didn' come up behind him. They were together."
"I am so sorry Tess, but will you please get back out there and find Rick and Shane and find out what on earth is going on?" Lori begged him as she came up to them, her voice close to breaking. Daryl smiled a small smile and nodded as he gave Tessa's hip a squeeze before turning around and heading back towards the front door. Lori smiled gratefully as Tessa allowed him to go, choosing to stay with Lori and make sure she wouldn't have a mental breakdown.
"Ya got it."
"Thank you, so much, Daryl!" Lori thanked him with a gentle squeeze on his arm and Tessa watched him go for a moment before turning her eyes back onto Lori. She smiled comfortingly as her hands moved to grasp her shoulders, grounding her and forcing her friend to gaze into her eyes.
"Lori, honey, everything will be okay, I promise! It's probably just a huge misunderstanding! Rick and Shane will be fine!"
"Aw shit – Tess, Ethan, Andrea and Glenn - ya guys might wanna come out here and see this!"
Tessa's heart plummeted into her stomach when they heard Daryl's uneasy voice come from outside on the porch and the people he called shared slightly confused looks with each other and everybody else as they quickly left their spots in the living room to join him outside. Tessa and Ethan immediately ran to his side, her heart pounding in her throat as Ethan swallowed heavily, her hand shooting down to grasp his. They heard walkers growling in the distance and slowly but surely, through the fog and the gloom of the night, they saw the biggest herd of walkers make their lumbering way towards the farm, that they had ever seen together.
"Oh shit!" Tessa breathed out in disbelief and Daryl nodded numbly. Everyone left inside soon came out to join them, and Hershel turned towards Patricia, heart pounding in his chest like everybody else's.
"Patricia, kill the lights!" He ordered her and she nodded before quickly running to do what he said and Andrea nodded as she moved back towards the house.
"I'll get the guns." Maggie nodded as she allowed her to squeeze past her and Daryl got the distinct feeling that Tessa was trying to cut off the blood circulation in his hand, she was gripping him so tight.
"Maybe they'll pass us by like the herd on the highway did. Should we just go inside and stay quiet?" Glenn asked Daryl, who felt the keen desire to snap at him for a moment, however, he shook off the urge. That's what a younger, more impulsive Daryl would have done. With Rick gone, however, and Shane most probably dead, Daryl knew he was the new second-in-command and with Rick gone, everyone turned to him for guidance.
No pressure.
Daryl shook his head as he glanced back at him. "Not unless there's an escape tunnel down in tha basement tha' I don' know 'bout. A herd tha' size will rip tha whole damn house down, easy."
"Well what do we do?" Ethan asked him and Daryl swallowed hard while raking his brains hard to find a solution. Meanwhile, Lori, breathless and clearly scared, jogged onto the porch.
"Carl's gone."
"What?" Daryl asked, his eyes immediately shooting back onto her and she swallowed hard and nodded.
"He-he was upstairs but I can't find him anymore."
Good Lord . . . already Daryl found himself swamped with problems and already he was feeling the heat. How the Hell did Rick do this from day-to-day without going insane?
"Maybe he's hiding." Glenn suggested and Lori shook her head.
"He's supposed to be upstairs," She told him, trying desperately to catch her breath and it was then that Tessa flew over to her, her arm moving to grasp her around her shoulders. She shushed her gently and Lori glanced at her and calmed down slightly but still remained on edge. "Tess, I'm not leaving without my boy!" She continued as she turned a wide-eyed, tear-stained look onto her best friend and Tessa nodded, taking her into a hug.
"I know, sweetie, and we're not!" She assured her, throwing a look Daryl's way and he pursed his lips slightly. Carol nodded in agreement.
"We're going to go look for him again, you wanna come with me?" She asked, her voice shaking as well as she took a gentle hold of Lori and steered her to the house, Tessa shooting her a grateful look as she did so. She flew back over to Daryl when they were gone, however.
"Daryl, this is quickly going to Hell in a handbasket -!" She hissed and he nodded, interrupting her as he glanced back at the herd of walkers steadily growing closer to them.
"I know, babydoll, I know!" He told her as Andrea returned with the gun bag and dropped it onto the wooden floor of the porch. She then started handing the guns out to people. Tessa watched with wide-eyes and Daryl forced her to turn her gaze back onto him. "Tess, I need ya to focus right now!" He murmured to her and she nodded.
"Y-Yeah . . . focused – I can do that!" She breathed out and Daryl nodded gratefully as they turned back to Andrea. Glenn settled a slightly alarmed look onto Maggie who quickly accepted a gun.
"You grow up country and you end up picking up a thing or two." She explained before he could say anything and Daryl shook his head, feeling Tessa's grip on his arms tighten slightly. Thankfully, she was putting on a brave face and his anxiety lessened somewhat. Thank God he wouldn't have to deal with a hysterical Tessa. There was already a hysterical Lori running around - they didn't need someone else in the same boat.
"They got the numbers – it's no use."
"You can go if ya want," Hershel told them as he loaded the rifle in his hands before cocking the gun and Daryl pinned him with a keen, expressionless stare.
"Ya gonna take 'em all on?" He asked slowly and Hershel chuckled.
"We have guns and we have cars." He spoke and Andrea nodded in agreement.
"Kill as many as we can, then we use the cars to lead the rest of them off of the farm."
"Are ya guys serious?" Daryl asked with almost abject disbelief in his voice and Hershel nodded.
"This is my farm," He told him. "I'll die here."
Daryl sighed before shrugging. "All right then. It's as good a night as any, I suppose . . ." He spoke and when he moved to walk off, Tessa's hands fisted like a steel grip in his shirt, holding him back. He turned his eyes onto her and saw tears welling up in her eyes. She shook her head.
"Daryl, don't leave me!" She murmured and he shook his head.
"I ain' ever gonna leave ya, Tess!" He promised her, his tone level and gentle. "But even if I don' make it, I've gotta make damn sure tha' ya and Ethan do! There ain' nothin' ya can say or do to change ma mind – it's gonna happen! Ya gotta have our baby Tess – ya gotta!" He licked his lips then in slight nervousness as he glanced back inside the farmhouse, where Carol and Lori were still frantically trying to find Carl. "I need ya to stay here. With Rick gone, I've taken over the mantle of leader. I need ya to stay here and keep tha peace as much as ya can while I'm out there. If we're gonna survive this, we need to work together – we can' be torn on anything!"
Tessa opened her mouth to speak, stricken, but Daryl shook his head as he framed her face with his hands and shook his head. "Tess, I'll do anythin' to get back to ya, ya know tha'! And if tha shit hits tha fan and we end up needin' to leave, then I'll come back for ya – I promise ya!" Tessa nodded as she stood up on her tip-toes and kissed him. She kissed him like it was potentially their last kiss together and her heart pounded in her chest at the thought, though she hoped to Hell it wasn't.
When they broke apart seconds later, Daryl turned his eyes onto Ethan. He shook his head. "This better not be goodbye, old man! Here we are, just starting to have that annoying father/son bond . . .!" He told him and Daryl grinned and chuckled as he shook his head.
"Ya know it ain', kid!" He told him before pulling him into a hug. "Ya know it ain', but jus' to make sure, come on and give me a hug for good luck, alright?" Ethan laughed as he embraced his father tightly, trying his damndest not to let any tears show. When they broke apart, Daryl turned his gaze onto Tessa again. "Ya protect ya momma, ya understand? Ya protect her with ya last breath!" He told him and Ethan nodded.
"Yes, sir – ya don' have to tell me twice!" He spoke and Daryl gave him another smile before ruffling his hair and turning back to Tessa. Swallowing hard, she grasped him by his leathers and pulled him close again. She held him close for a moment, her eyes closing as she willed back the tears that threatened to bloom in her eyes, their foreheads touching.
"You come back to me, Daryl Dixon, you hear? If you don't, then I swear to God -!" Daryl chuckled as he planted a soft kiss on her forehead, interrupting her mid-sentence.
"Ya damn right I'll come back to ya, Tess. I wanna be there when ma babies are born – I wouldn' miss tha' again for tha world!"
Tessa watched, frozen, from the window as the vehicles drove up the dirt driveway and into the front yard, where they immediately began fanning out, Daryl on Merle's bike leading the convoy. Gunshots could soon be heard and Carol flitted over to Tessa, a concerned look on her face.
"Honey, maybe you should come away from the window . . .?" Tessa shook her head as her fingers skated over the smooth bear necklace hanging around her neck.
"If he goes down, I want to see him go down, Carol," She told her, her eyes glued on her man firing as many shots as he could at the moaning walkers. She shook her head and glanced at her. "I want to live thinking that his last sight was looking up here and seeing me."
"Guys, look!"
Ethan's voice brought them out of their somber conversation and he moved to point outside the window over his mother's shoulder. The barn was fully ablaze, the midnight black outside world punctuated by a bright orange fireball in the distance. Tessa shook her head in awe.
"Rick must have done that." She spoke and Ethan nodded.
"It's drawing some of the walkers, too – like moths to damn candle flame!"
Patricia and Beth nodded in agreement as a door slammed upstairs and Lori came jogging down the stairs seconds later. "Tess, I can't find him anywhere!" She spoke, her voice heavy with unshed emotion as she continued to flit from room to room.
"Maybe he snuck outside -?" Carol suggested and Tessa shot her a look telling her that maybe that wasn't exactly the best thing to tell her, as Lori fell into her arms, tears finally showing up in her eyes.
"Oh God, Tess, what do I do?" She asked and Tessa shook her head wordlessly as Lori placed a hand to her mouth.
"He was here!" Carol continued as she neared them. "He must have run off – maybe looking for Rick or went after Randall himself -"
"Carol!" Tessa interrupted her with a snap as her eyes snapped with a slightly irritated electricity. "That's not probably the best thing you could say right now!" She told her through tightly gritted teeth and Carol promptly shut up as Lori moved out of Tessa's grasp and spun around in slow circles, her eyes taking in everything in her surrounding and trying desperately to think of where Carl had gone that encompassed nothing of what Carol had so recently said.
"Maybe he set the fire!" Patricia quickly added and Tessa swallowed hard. Not exactly the best thing ya could have said too, but she'd take that over Carol's two suggestions any day of the week. Her eyes connected with Ethan's and her son pursed his lips as well. He was lingering by Beth, who in turn, was lingering around him as well and Tessa allowed it to happen. Hell, Ethan was probably the one person who guaranteed Beth a ticket to survival.
"Ethan, hold down the fort, okay?" Tessa asked him and he nodded as Tessa corralled Lori and Carol outside. She did it partly to give Lori some fresh air to breath, but also because she had lost sight of Daryl.
"He's not in the cellar or the attic . . ." Lori told her and Carol nodded in agreement as Lori turned her tear-stained eyes onto Tessa. "Why can't he listen for once?" She asked her and Tessa shrugged weakly as she quickly found Daryl, letting out a breath of relief as she did so. Wonderful – he was still alive!
"Okay, okay, if he followed his daddy, then he went that way . . ." Lori muttered, more to herself than to the other two, as she marched down the porch. Tessa and Carol immediately followed her at a quick pace, Carol gazing after Lori weakly as Tessa's eyes remained glued on Daryl.
"No, you'll lead 'em right to him!" Carol told her before turning to Tessa, where she latched onto her arm. "Tess, we can't stay here, you know this!"
"But that's my boy -!"
"And I don't know if that's what Daryl wants right now!" Tessa told her as the both of them ignored Lori's tearful outburst and Carol shook her head.
"You're gonna have to trust, Lori! If we find him, he's gonna need his mother!" She turned back to Tessa then. "And look at them – they're losing! We've got to go! Daryl and the others, if they don't notice us moving out and back us up, will find us later!" Tessa pursed her lips and thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"Fine – go get the others – I'll worry about Lori!" Carol nodded as she ducked back inside the farmhouse, leaving Tessa and Lori outside on the porch. The two women scanned the field of walkers for their men and when neither of them found them, tears filled their eyes again.
"We're gonna find them, right, Tess?" Lori asked and Tessa swallowed hard and nodded.
"It's Rick and Daryl, Lori. It'll take more than a herd of walkers to kill those tough sons-of-bitches!"
"I hope . . ." The both of them added meekly at the end, neither one of them caring to know who deigned to speak the words first.
"Go – we gotta go!"
"Stay behind me!"
"Beth – come on!"
Lori, Tessa and Ethan's voices were the only ones their small group heard as they made their quick way down the steps of the porch. Lori and Ethan fired guns over their shoulders the entire time, trying to keep the walkers off of them as they jogged towards the woods, where they hoped to lose them there. Ethan had an arm around Beth's waist, keeping her constantly moving as Patricia clung to the younger girl's arm.
"Ethan -!"
Beth's shriek made his heart stop in his chest and he twirled around, just in time to see a walker football tackle Patricia. Beth, still clinging to the older woman's hand, stood by, tears filling her big blue eyes as the walker sunk its teeth down into the older woman's neck. Ethan glanced behind him and saw his mother and Lori continue on, completely unaware that they were no longer following them.
He let out a curse as he wrapped his arms around Beth's waist and pulled her back. "Ethan, what are you doing – Ethan stop it!"
"Beth – she's gone – let go of her!"
Beth let out a sob and shook her head as she held stubbornly onto Patricia, even as more walkers grouped around the older woman and sunk their teeth into her. The sounds of tearing flesh could be heard and Ethan felt himself being dragged to the ground with Beth as Patricia iron-clad grip on the young girl drug her down with her, even with his heels digging stubbornly into the grass.
"Beth – let go of her!" Ethan growled, his voice coming out hard as he reached out and grasped their hands. With fingers grown strong by constantly drawing back a bow and stringing his father's crossbow, he pried their fingers away from each other's, Beth sobbing out a 'damn you!' as he did so.
When they were finally no longer holding on to each other, Ethan re-wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her off in a direction away from them, not caring where they were going just as long as they were going away from them.
His heart soon began a frantic pounding in his chest, though, when he realized that he had lost sight of Lori and his mother.
His mother . . .
Oh God – where was his mother?
"Tessa – Tessa! Ethan – where's ya momma?"
Ethan let out an intensely relieved groan when he heard his father shouting at him over the roar of the flames coming from the barn and the moan of the walkers. Beth still sobbed quietly and the youngest Dixon weakly shrugged his shoulders, his eyes wide with fear as his arms tightened around Beth's back. He made his way over to him, immediately noticing that Daryl was covered in walker blood, his eyes wide with fear when he saw that Tessa wasn't with them. Where was she? He had told Ethan to look after her!
Fear continued to thump in Ethan's heart as well when he saw the same emotion flickering in Daryl's eyes as he straddled Merle's idling bike. "I-I sorry, deddy, but I don't know! A walker grabbed ahold of Patricia and when I was pulling Beth away, we lost her – her and Lori and Carol! One minute she was in my sights and the next, I lost her!" He shook his head as he took a step towards his father, his arms temporarily leaving Beth. Thankfully, she remained standing there, her arms moving to cross insecurely in front of her chest. "Deddy . . . w-what if they got swamped? W-what if they -?" Daryl vehemently shook his head, successfully cooling his anger towards his son somewhat. He needed to keep a level head and remember that in such a situation, it would have been easy for them to get separated.
"Don' think like tha', son! Ya think like tha' now and she's already dead!" He rubbed his lips with his hand for a moment, his brain quickly thinking about what to do. Finally, he turned his eyes back onto his son and gestured towards Glenn and Maggie, who had recently stopped their car to take a few shots at the lumbering walkers. "Take Beth to safety and then go cover for Glenn and Maggie. I'll look for ya momma!" Ethan nodded and turned to go, but Daryl reached forward and took a firm grasp of his upper arm. Ethan turned around to face him and Daryl saw the tears ghosting his eyes. "I promise ya, Ethan, tha' I'll bring her back safe and sound – ya momma and ya little brother or sister!"
Lori and Tessa didn't think when T-Dog and Andrea sped up in front of them in the blue truck, Andrea hopping out and immediately giving them cover. They had lost sight of Ethan and Beth and no matter how hard Tessa kept telling herself that Ethan would be fine – that he would get them out of this because he was Daryl Dixon's son, she still felt her heart pound away in her chest, nonetheless. This was her son – this was her only child until the one she carried decided to be born and it was agony wondering if he was okay – if he was alive or-or . . .
She forced herself to stop thinking such poisonous thoughts as those and forced herself to focus on getting themselves out of this predicament although she now fully understood and recognized how Lori was feeling at the moment, not knowing if Carl was dead or alive – not knowing if Rick was dead or alive too . . .
That was right . . . she had lost sight of Daryl too, hadn't she?
Tessa felt weak as Lori quickly helped her into the truck before climbing in herself. "Go help Carol – she's over there!" She heard Lori tell Andrea but that was about it. She felt numb inside . . . she had lost sight of both her son and the man she loved . . . were they even alive?
"Tessa . . . Tessa, ya can't think like that!" T-Dog told her gently, seemingly reading her mind - or her facial expressions or her eyes. "Ya gotta stay alert! If we find them, we'll stop for them, okay?" He promised her and Tessa shot him a grateful smile as Lori closed the door. Their eyes connected, they swallowed hard at the same time and then their hands clasped tightly together. Hell, Tessa wouldn't have been surprised if they weren't both praying at the same time.
"Are you guys okay? Ethan, where's Tessa?"
Ethan shrugged weakly at Glenn's words as Beth opened the backseat door of the car Glenn and Maggie were using and climbed inside, Ethan and Glenn giving them cover. He slid in seconds later, closing the door behind them. He shook his head and shrugged. Tears filled his eyes as he slid his fingers into his hair, where he gripped them by the locks. He sat there for a minute, trying his damndest not to cry. His father was alive, thank God, but that was because Daryl Dixon was damn near invincible! His mother, on the other hand . . .
"Holy fuckin' shit - I hope to Hell that she's alright!" He muttered as he shook his head and Glenn shot him a weak, sympathetic look as Maggie looked into the rear-view mirror and saw the blue truck retreating.
"Where are they going?" She asked and Glenn looked behind them. "Are they retreating?"
"I'd say yes . . ." Glenn told her and Ethan swallowed hard as Maggie followed them. He turned his gaze onto the outside world and saw his father driving around, roaring Tessa's name as he searched almost desperately for her. Tears filled his eyes again and he fought to hold them back, but the dam was building up just too much pressure.
He jumped when Beth's hand slid into his and when he turned to glance at her, he saw a small, comforting, but yet partially defeated smile playing out on her features. "It'll be alright . . . I promise." She told him and he nodded as he squeezed her hand with his.
"I hope so . . . I so fuckin' hope so!"
"Tessa - Tessa!"
Daryl's heart pounded in his chest and then jumped up into his throat intermittently as he drove around, frantically searching for her. His eyes wandered over the countless bodies lying motionless on the ground, making sure they weren't hers but no matter how many times he tried shouting for her and tried looking for her, it was to no avail.
She was gone.
"Shit – fuckin', Goddamn, shit!" Daryl cursed, feeling the bitter sting of tears enter his eyes as he spun the bike around and headed after the other two cars that were hightailing it. He hoped they had the good sense enough to make it back towards the highway – where they had first stopped seemingly ages ago.
A scream met his ears seconds later and he almost flipped the bike swinging it around to see who it was. He hoped to Hell it was Tessa but when he saw it was Carol, his heart deflated again. He let out a curse as he swung around and rode to meet her, hoping to Hell that Tessa was already off the farm.
He swore to God . . . if he ended up leaving her behind because of Carol . . .!
He shook the thoughts from his head. He had left her with Lori and Ethan and the others had been constantly patrolling the yard. Odds were that she was already off the farm – very good odds, in fact. However, hadn't Carol been a part of the group that he had left her with? He hoped she had, had enough sense to stay with Lori and not Carol.
"Come on – I ain' got all day!" Daryl shouted towards her gruffly and Carol gave him a grateful smile as she hustled to get on the bike behind him. "Did ya see Tess?" He shouted to her and she nodded as her arms tightened around his waist.
"She and Lori got in the truck with T-Dog and they sped off after Maggie and Glenn." She told him and Daryl heart immediately lifted. She was safe.
He would see her again.
