Yay, some more friction between Tessa and Lori that culminates in them majorly butting heads! And Seth actually says more than a few words to someone for once! And more Daryl and Tessa fluff!
God, I can't wait until I can write another lemon for them two :/
As always, thanks be to HermioneandMarcus for your support :)
- Nagiana
Favorite Line(s):
"I can guarantee you that Daryl already knows that and he's more than prepared to do it. We already know what family means to him."
Tessa had underestimated how badly people in the group needed her, until they had commenced to trying to save Hershel.
"Tessa, we need more bandages!"
"Tessa, what do we do about this?"
"Tessa, we need you!"
Tessa . . . Tessa . . . Tessa . . .
Her head burned with a migraine and her eyes burned as well with exhaustion. Her body ached and throbbed with pain from moving so much when she had promised Hershel and Daryl that she would take it easy, so when a hand slid across her shoulders, she reflexively moved to lean against the body that hand belonged to (Damn Daryl for that reflex! She found herself cursing). "Tess, are you alright?" Seth's voice came worriedly above her and her eyes grew slightly wide when she turned her eyes up to the tall, handsome young man that seemingly towered above her. After swallowing heavily, she nodded. Daryl had told him and Ethan to return to the cellblock to tell the others what was going on and Tessa would be lying if she said she wasn't thankful for their return. Somehow, they being left behind in the cellblock with only Glenn and Carl as protection didn't offer her that much comfort.
"Y-yeah . . . I'll live. Where are Wren and Beth – are they okay?" Seth nodded to the office behind them. They saw shadows flickering behind the slightly dirty windows and she knew they belonged to the two girls.
"They're still up there with the babies. Your right – focusing on them is allowing them to take their minds off of what is going on down here. Good call." Tessa nodded.
"I told you guys it was a good call, didn't I? What about Ethan?" She asked and he nodded towards the gate they had come through.
"Guarding the gate like Daryl told him to." He answered and Tessa nodded before she swallowed heavily and quickly latched onto his shoulder. She collapsed a little then, her knees buckling underneath her and Seth's other arm immediately came up to wrap around her waist, keeping her steady.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa – take it easy there Tess!" He spoke before barking for Ethan. Ethan's eyes latched onto them at Seth barking his name and his eyes immediately went wide. He quickly took off at a run for them, skidding to a stop beside them as he helped to support his mother.
"Momma, what's wrong?" He asked and Tessa shook her head as she fought to control the exhaustion marching through her body.
"I'm fine – I'm fine! I just . . . I felt faint all of a sudden . . ." She turned her eyes onto Ethan then and held them for a moment before glancing at Seth. "I need you boys to do something for us – you boys and Carl and for the love of God, do not tell Lori!" She spoke and the two of them nodded as she heaved a sigh. "We need antibiotics and more bandages – we need a lot of things. I need you three to go find the infirmary. It shouldn't be far from us. Go and try and find -"
"We got food!" T-Dog announced and Carl ran to go get the gate as him and Rick, arms full of food, entered the cellblock. At Tessa's quick urging, Ethan and Seth helped her quickly to her feet as the two men brushed past her. While T-Dog didn't spare her a second glance, Rick cast her a slightly inquiring look before stopping at the cell they had Hershel in. "We've got canned beans, canned corn, canned everything!"
"How is he?" Rick asked and Lori nodded.
"We've stopped the bleeding but his breathing is labored and his pulse is way down." She told him and Rick nodded as he turned around, his back to her.
"Take my cuffs and cuff him to the bed." He told her, a note of finality in his tone and Lori blinked at him for a moment before taking them from his pocket and handing them to Glenn. Rick then turned to Tessa after dropping off the sacks of food he was carrying in the free cells that T-Dog had dumped his boxes of cans, and shot her a comforting smile.
"Don't worry, Tess, Daryl's fine. He's with the others."
"The others? You mean those inmates?" She asked him, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion as she felt a twinge of fear in her heart. Her grip on the two boys on either side of her, tightened slightly. Rick's lips pursed slightly before he nodded.
"Tess, we've reached an agreement with them. They promised -!"
"Promises don't mean anything in this new world, Rick - you know that!" She reminded him, her tone going firm as her eyes glazed over with anger. "And that damned Tomas had his eye on Daryl the entire time they were in that room together! You don't know what he was in here for – what all of them were in here for! By the time you and T-Dog get back they could have . . . could have . . ." She trailed off, feeling herself grow weak again and Seth and Ethan immediately moved to catch her and support her again. Rick opened his mouth to say something – to assure her that couldn't possibly be true, but Lori approaching them caught his attention.
"So what about those prisoners?" She asked him and Tessa pinned him with an almost sarcastic look of interest. Lori's eyebrows furrowed in slight concern when she saw how Ethan and Seth were holding her but passed it by when Rick spoke.
"We're gonna help them clear out their own cellblock and then they'll be there and we'll be here." He told them and Lori nodded as Tessa heaved a sigh.
"We'll be living beside each other, you mean?" She asked and Rick sighed as he moved in closer to his wife.
"Look, I'm not giving up this prison – the both of you know that!" He spoke, his voice hushed as he moved to hold both their gazes. Lori nodded as she bowed her head whereas Tessa held his gaze unflinchingly. Eventually, Lori spoke again.
"Do they have guns?"
"I only saw one," Rick answered her and this time, Lori brought up her eyes to gaze at him as he rubbed his face with his hands. The next thing he said was directed towards Tessa and Lori knew that was him asking the opinion of the Den Mother. However, she hung around despite this and after casting Lori a wayward glance, Rick continued on with what he was going to say. "I . . . I don't know if this is going to work . . ." He told her and Tessa's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"What are your options?"
Rick and Tessa turned slightly surprised gazes onto Lori when she spoke and Rick shrugged as he placed his hands on his hips and moved to face her. "Kill them?" Lori nodded then, her eyes flickering onto Tessa's, who ever-so-slightly nodded in agreement at what she was thinking. In fact, everyone in the group was thinking it.
"If that's what you think is best . . . then you do it." Lori told him and Rick gave a laugh.
"Y-You guys say this now?" He asked as his eyes fell onto Tessa's. "What happened to you advocating caution back at the farm with Randall?" He asked and Tessa rolled her eyes.
"I've got babies now, Rick. Ethan can take care of himself and so can Seth. Wren, you give her a gun and give her a target and she's a pretty damn good shot too thanks to Seth. But Danny and Aayla . . . they're babies, Rick - newborn babies! I can't have anyone around them who has the potential to be an enemy - it's simply not happening. If you can allow them to live, then great – I'm not going to put a price on a human life – but if there is even the slightest chance that they could turn on you, then you need to put them down!" Her gaze hardened then. "I can guarantee you that Daryl already knows that and he's more than prepared to do it. We already know what family means to him." Rick nodded, taking her answer as his eyes fell onto Lori and waited for hers. The woman rolled her eyes and sighed as she hooked a hand underneath his elbow and dragged him away so that they could talk more in private. The three of them watched them go and it was then that they heard Carol shout for Tessa again. Tessa nodded as Seth and Ethan slowly let her go, stepping away fully when they saw she could balance herself on her own feet again.
"What do ya want us to do, momma?" Ethan asked, his voice low and inquiring, and Tessa nodded as she gazed at him and then Seth in return.
"I want you two and Carl to go find the infirmary. You do it quickly and you take no chances, you understand?" Seth nodded as she turned to Ethan. "You guys do it silently but quickly – like Daryl taught you, okay? And if there is even the slightest chance that it is too much for you to handle – if the infirmary is too far away or if it's too much of a hot spot, then you come back, understand?" Ethan nodded then too and after pulling him into a tight hug and pressing a kiss to his forehead, pushed him away. Ethan hissed for Carl to join them as the three of them ran silently towards the gate on the other end of the hall, Seth running after them after he shot Tessa an assuring glance.
"Tessa – we need you!"
Tessa released the long held in breath she had been holding before she nodded at Carol's shouted words. "Yeah, yeah, I'm coming! Hold your horses!"
The three of them returned an hour or two later, all three of them holding leather bags stocked to the gills with medical supplies. Lori was the only one who held a slightly alarmed gaze as the three boys dropped the bags to the floor and as Carl began explaining that they had gone out in search of the infirmary. They had found it with relatively little trouble, putting down two walkers on the way there and then had stockpiled as much as they could carry before they headed back. Ethan and Seth had stayed silent the entire time, only nodding in agreement when they had to.
"You guys went out by yourselves?" Lori asked as Carol snatched up a roll of gauze and moved to wrap Hershel's leg, no questions asked, as Tessa brought Ethan and Seth into an ecstatic hug. Carl gave a half-shrug and nodded. "Are the three of you crazy?" She then asked, her eyes settling on each of them and Tessa immediately moved to interject herself.
"Lori, look, it's not Carl's fault. I told Ethan and Seth to go and to take Carl with them," Lori's eyes widened in shock and slight betrayal as she gazed up at her friend and Tessa continued quickly on, shaking her head as she done so. "We were losing him and the three of them were standing around doing nothing but twiddling their thumbs! Ethan and Seth know what they are doing and so does Carl! They were more than enough of a force to do it and I told them that if for any reason they didn't think they would be able to do it, then for them to come running back."
"Yeah, mom, it was no big deal. We only killed two walkers." Carl spoke up and Lori turned her shocked gaze onto her son again.
"Okay, do you guys see this?" Lori asked them as she gestured to Hershel breathing heavily before them. "This was with the whole group!" She turned her eyes onto Tessa then. "And Tess, I understand that Ethan is Daryl's son and that automatically gives him some ungodly power dealing with walkers, but that does not go the same way for Seth or my son! So please, before you make decisions like that again – consult with the other people here!" Tessa opened her mouth to say something – to snap back at her – but Carl and Seth both interrupted her, their voices angry.
"We needed supplies mom, and we got them!"
"I'm sorry, but I don't care who you think you are, but I will listen to Tessa over you any day of the week!"
Seth's voice was the one that caught everyone's attention the most and the seventeen-year-old gave a wry laugh then as everyone turned their attention onto the normally silent young man. "I'm sorry and I might be grossly speaking out of line here, but who exactly do you think you are? You all but relinquish the reins of 'domestic' power to Tess, but then turn around and try to grab them back when she gives orders that you don't like – during an extremely stressful situation that didn't leave her with a lot of options to begin with!" He spoke, his fingers doing quotation marks when he spoke the word, 'domestic'. "And let me remind you, sweetie, that your husband issues orders every day that various people around here have a problem with. However, they don't speak up because they know that Rick is the leader and what he orders is for the good of the group. This," He gestured, rather condescendingly, to the three leather bags filled with medical supplies lying in the middle of the group hunched around them. "Was for the good of the group, whether you want to see or admit it! Granted, we didn't want to do it, but we knew we had to or we'd be risking the one man who's the closest thing to a doctor that this group has – which is a pretty important person, in case you haven't realized! Now, I get you being angry that Carl went – he's your son, after all and Tessa should have maybe told you she was sending him – but please! Remain angry at him, not two people that are not even your kids and not at Tessa for making a decision that you never would have been able to make and if you had to, might have cost us Hershel!"
Seth left the group then in a huff, his booted footsteps pounding against the concrete walls of the prison and Tessa quickly pushed Ethan off in his direction, whispering for him to go after him and make sure he that didn't do anything stupid. Ethan nodded and ran after him as Tessa crossed her arms in front of her chest and turned her eyes onto Lori. The other woman's tear-filled eyes were pinned on hers and Tessa gave a weak shrug of her shoulders.
"I-I made a call, Lori. He's right, I should have maybe left Carl out of it, but I made a call – a call that ended up being the correct one, by the looks of it!" She told her, trying to feebly explain herself and Lori nodded as she brushed away the tears filling her eyes.
"You're right . . . the both of you are right, Tess. You made a decision that clearly needed to be made and it turned out to be a good one at that. You've always made the good decisions. Explain to me again, though, how you and your little family are so Goddamn perfect!" She snapped as she threw down the gauze pad she had been holding and got to her feet, where she marched off in a huff, her shoulder hitting Tessa's with unnecessary force.
"Lori -!"
"Let her go, Tess, let her go!" Glenn urged her gently as he stepped in front of her, where he kept her from walking after her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Tessa glanced at him before shaking her head.
"I'm gonna go . . . gonna go lay down for a moment, okay? I'm exhausted - been up on my feet all day . . . I hurt a little . . ." She muttered and Carol nodded, giving her a small smile as she did so.
"It's fine, you can go on up, honey - we've got things covered down here. And besides, you're right, you need to rest. You've been on your feet all day helping out." Carol assured her and Maggie smiled a small smile as well.
"You need any help getting up the stairs?" She asked and while Tessa wanted to laugh at how much that made her sound like an old lady, she shook her head instead as she turned around.
"No, I've got it . . ." She trailed off as she climbed the stairs purposefully, holding back every stab of pain that flickered through her body as she did so. When she entered the office moments later, Wren and Beth paused in their conversation and smiled broadly when the saw her. The two girls had been completely oblivious to what had just happened below them and the innocence of it made her want to break down and weep. She smiled instead and gestured below them. "I-I'm gonna try and get some sleep before the others return and I have to feed them. You guys can take a break if you want – go check on your father. I'll be fine with them." She smiled at Beth as she said this and the two girls nodded and got to their feet. Wren shot Tessa an inquiring look but continued on nonetheless after Beth.
It was then that Tessa collapsed on the bunk beside her children, the two small, sleeping forms barely stirring as they felt their mother's weight descend beside them. She gazed at them for a moment and felt the exhaustion and pain envelop her and it was then, when she was all alone, that she finally broke down and sobbed.
She must have fallen asleep sometime after her little solo sob-fest, for she was eventually startled awake by gentle hands lifting her up slightly before bringing her back against a hard, bare chest. "Daryl . . .?" She murmured sleepily and felt him nod behind her as he slid in behind her and pulled the covers up around them.
"Yeah, it's me. Now hush up and go back to sleep – I didn' mean to wake ya." He spoke and Tessa shook her head as she sat up slightly.
"I've gotta . . . I've gotta go feed the twins . . ." Daryl shook his head.
"Already got tha' covered. Ethan found a small tin of baby formula in tha infirmary when they went to go clear it out. Guessin' it was for tha occasional prison staff tha' had to bring their baby in with them to work, but it was there all tha same. Beth and Wren handled them for ya, so don' worry." Tessa nodded and slunk back down onto the bunk, her head falling onto his arm as his other moved to wrap around her waist, bringing her even more against his warm body.
"Which means you've probably already heard about today's fiasco . . ." She grumbled as she buried her face even more into his bicep. She felt the distinct urge to just crawl into a hole somewhere and die and felt Daryl's chest quake behind her as he chuckled.
"Ya mean 'bout Seth cuttin' Lori down after tha three of 'em came back from tha infirmary?" He asked her and after Tessa nodded, he continued to laugh. "I'm startin' to like tha kid – I'm not gonna lie!"
"Daryl, how can you laugh at a time like this?" She asked him, her voice slightly on edge and Daryl sighed as he pulled her closer to him, where his lips pressed lovingly against the nape of her neck.
"I can laugh 'bout this, babydoll, 'cause Hershel woke up sometime after ya disappeared up here," He told her and she gasped as she turned to pin him with a surprised stare. He nodded as he gently wiped away a stray tear beading at the corner of her eye. "Ya made a call, Tess, and it looks like it was a good one. Thanks to tha antibiotics and tha wrappin's tha' tha three of 'em managed to bring back, ya saved Hershel's life."
She shook her head. "But Lori -"
"Lori is fine too. She's mighty sore at ya and I can partially understand where she's comin' from speakin' Carl is her kid, but tha'll change too. She'll see how much she needs ya and she'll come back, but for now, be grateful ya have Maggie and Beth and everyone else to help ya out when ya need it," He shook his head then. "But really, all her beef with ya, Tess, is jealously! She's angry 'cause Seth hit tha nail right on tha damn head and she's jealous over a whole lotta things between ya two – ya've already told me tha'!" Tessa laughed then.
"You know what she said to me before she left?"
"What?"
"She asked me to explain to her how perfect me and our family was." She told him and immediately Daryl let out a bark of a laugh then, a laugh that immediately rose in a crescendo as she joined in and the both of them started laughing even more.
"She can honestly sit there and think that we are perfect? Did'ya not tell her 'bout Merle and everythin' else?" He asked and she nodded as the both of them continued laughing until it gradually came to a stop. When it did, he pulled her closer to him and she felt her eyes began to get heavy. Daryl was back with her, the twins were fed and sleeping soundly . . . she was warm and felt protected . . . yeah, she felt like she could sleep for a good long while.
"I'm so grateful I have you, Daryl . . ." Tessa murmured with a weak laugh. "I don't think I could do this without you." She felt Daryl nod as he placed another loving kiss on her forehead.
"Yeah well, tha sentiment's tha same, babydoll."
