This chapter does skip around a little and it might be a little boring at times but that's kinda how I wanted to write it. There's going to be a filler chapter after this one that does come with its own amount of drama, but the one after that is when I really plan for some shit to hit the fan. And when I mean shit I mean Merle Dixon shit. As excited as I am to be writing him again in a few chapters (Merle is one of my favorite Walking Dead characters to write) I need a few days to think about how to go about doing exactly what I want to go about doing, so if I don't update for maybe a couple of days after the next chapter, please, don't worry, its just me getting all my ducks in a row before I slam you guys with one HELL of a chapter!

That being said! Onwards with the show!

HermioneandMarcus, HaloHunter89 and Smittendebs: Thanks so much for your continued support! Hope you guys keep reading :)

Reviews are my crack. Please help me fund my inspiring addiction :)

- Nagiana


Daryl was pretty damn sure he was asleep before his head even hit the pillow. But it still didn't seem like his brain had shut off, even for a second. He still had too much shit to deal with and he had to take care of things he had never given more than two seconds thoughts to before then. He had to see to every fucking thing that came with stepping into Rick's shoes until the other man was ready to re-assume his role after his mental breakdown upon Lori's rather gruesome death. Maybe this is why Rick looked so damn tired all the time.

Surprisingly and maybe to spite his previous assertions that Glenn was never really pulling his own weight, he found the man constantly proving him wrong by offering to rework the watch schedule, ensuring that despite their losses, they still had enough coverage. Daryl had quickly agreed, knowing Glenn wouldn't put any of them at risk – especially Maggie and the kids.

As he lay there in the gloom of the Guard Office, the gears in his mind still turning full blast as he went over the things he still had to do tomorrow, he was again propelled back to the scene that greeted them a few days ago when Andrew had let in the walkers and ultimately, killed more than just T-Dog . . .


Earlier That Day . . .

He remembered seeing Rick's baby, still dirty with the white vernix and dried, caked on blood that covered its soft pink skin, as it struggled in the blood covered arms of Tessa, her cheeks reddened and scarred with the sore tracks left in the wake in the near-constant flow of tears that fell from her eyes. He had to shout the man's name more than a couple of times before Rick's eyes finally focused on him and even then, he could see how faraway he was – how he still wasn't completely registering his voice or what exactly was happening.

"Tessa let me see the baby."

It was Hershel's strong voice that finally spoke and Tessa nodded, giving a sniff as she turned and carried the baby over to Hershel, Daryl giving up on Rick in order to follow her. "What are we gonna feed it? Tessa already has her hands full feedin' the twins – there's no way in Hell that she could handle feedin' this one as well!" He spoke and Hershel nodded in agreement as he observed the baby being cradled in front of him. Tessa shook her head.

"I don't have enough milk for three babies; I can tell you guys that right now. The twins are all I can support."

"Well, do we have anythin' else that a baby can eat?" He asked and Hershel shook his head as he moved aside the edges of the jacket covering the baby.

"I don't think so, but the good news is that she looks healthy. She does need formula, though, speaking we are in agreement that Tessa cannot feed her," He spoke as he turned his eyes onto Daryl. "And she needs it soon, or she won't survive." Daryl nodded.

"Nope. That baby ain' gonna die – not her. I'll go for a run." He spoke and Tessa nodded as she handed the baby off to Maggie again.

"I'll back you up, baby." She spoke, her voice coming stronger than they had ever thought it could and Maggie turned a concerned look onto her.

"Honey, are you sure -?"

"Lori was my best friend, Maggie, and I was forced to cut her open in order to save that baby," She shook her head, a determined look appearing on her face. "I'm with Daryl. That baby is not going to die – not after what we had to sacrifice to ensure its survival!" Daryl nodded as he gestured for her to follow him before he turned his eyes onto Glenn.

"Go get the fence and then go check out the perimeter with the two inmates. Too many pile up, we're gonna have a problem, 'kay?" Glenn nodded hurriedly as he jogged to join them and as Tessa gestured for Wren and Beth to quickly join them as well. The two girls immediately jogged up to her and Tessa's voice lowered slightly as her eyes flickered onto the still stunned Rick kneeling on the nearby concrete mere feet away.

"I know we're short of people right now, but I need you two to look after the twins while we're gone, as well as the baby. Her mother's dead and her father looks like he's about to put his own gun to his head. Watch out for them, okay?" The two girls immediately nodded and Tessa gave them both a small smile as she gently pushed them away before returning to Daryl and Glenn. It was then that the three of them moved towards the fence and vehicles.

"Rick!"

They skidded to a stop and turned around, right when they saw Rick get to his feet, pick up the ax he had dropped when Carl and Tessa had first come out of the abandoned cellblock with the baby, and moved quickly towards the rusted metal door, his jaw set and a determined, almost bloodthirsty look in his eyes. He was through the door and gone before anyone else could do anything. The three of them simply turned and continued on their way then, knowing that there would be nothing they could do for him at this stage anyway.

"The supermarket's a no-go – it's been looted already. So is there a place that hasn' been yet?" Daryl asked and Tessa nodded as she turned to face him.

"Yeah; remember that daycare I was telling you about a couple of days ago? We can go there. It didn't look as ransacked as the other places, so we might have some luck there." Daryl nodded as he started the bike and Tessa hurriedly moved to get on behind him as Glenn moved to get the fence, closing it securely behind them with the help of Oscar when they had rode through.

They drove to the daycare in absolute silence except for when Tessa was giving him directions, although the tenseness of her body language as she clung to him from behind was clearly palpable. When they finally reached the abandoned building and he cut off the bike after making a slow stop, he wanted to ask her if she was okay – if she needed to talk about anything. However, she swung off the bike and was heading towards the front entrance of the daycare before he could even open his mouth. He quickly followed her, a breath of slight irritation escaping past his lips as he did so.

"Tessa, babydoll, wait up; this place doesn' exactly look like the safest in the world – ya need to stay close!"

Tessa hardly heard him as she stopped to peer into one of the dusty windows. When she was sure she couldn't see anything that could be identified as a walker, she picked up a brick lying on the ground beside her and smashed in the window. Daryl glanced behind him as he closed the distance between them, his eyes carefully scanning the surrounding tree line to make sure that the sound didn't attract any walkers. When he was sure they were alone, he silently watched her as she climbed in the window and observed her surroundings for a moment before moving to unlock the front door. He entered seconds later and he saw her eyes land longingly on the two white cribs pushed into one of the darkened corners before they fell elsewhere. The cribs would have to wait – namely when they had a vehicle with them that they could actually transport larger things with.

"Kitchen looks to be through there . . ." He murmured as he placed a gentle hand on her back and she glanced up at him before nodding and moving through the tight hallway into the small kitchen. Opening up cabinets, she grabbed a couple of plastic bottles and a large handful of diapers as Daryl continued to keep watch. He didn't know what they were looking for and Tessa quite clearly did, so that plainly left him on guard duty, something that he was more than fine on handling.

Tessa suddenly froze when she heard a faint scratching come from behind her and she immediately felt Daryl tense beside her as well when he heard it too. He slowly moved in front of her, to protect her from whatever might choose to suddenly lunge out at them, and she quickly allowed him to as he turned towards a close cabinet behind them where the scratching appeared to be originating from.

"Wait - what are you holding?" Tessa hissed, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion when she spied the folded yellow clothe in his hand and he glanced back at her before returning his eyes to the cabinet.

"It's a one-sy. Don't expect the baby to go around nekked everywhere, do ya? Hell, even Danny and Aayla we've managed to find jumpers for!" He asked her, a hint of laughter appearing in his voice, and she shook her head, angry at herself that she hadn't thought of that to begin with. Hell, that should have been one of the first things she thought of!

"No, of course I didn't! It's just . . . I'm a little angry that I didn't think of that myself." She told him and he couldn't help but grin as he slowly reached forward and grasped the handle of the cabinet.

"Yah, well, hate to say it, babydoll, but eventually ya gonna have to realize that I'm good at other things that are not directly related to the bedroom." He told her and Tessa rolled her eyes, although she couldn't help but swallow heavily as he mentally prepared himself to throw open the cabinet, speaking not one of them had any idea what could be in there.

When he finally grew the balls to yank open the cabinet door, Tessa immediately jumped, not because it was a walker crouching in wait for them like they had thought, but because it was a possum who immediately fixed its beady black eyes onto them and let out a dangerous-sounding 'hiss' as it backed itself further into one of the cabinet's corners. An arrow loosed itself from the crossbow and embedded itself in the possum's head before either of them almost knew it and when Daryl straightened up and glanced at Tessa, still grinning, she let out another roll of her eyes as she turned around and began opening the cabinets again.

"Hello dinner!" He spoke up as Tessa opened one of the cabinets and immediately grinned herself when she saw the full tins of baby formula sitting there.

"Yeah, I love you baby, but I am not putting that in my bag!" She told him with a snort of laughter as she plopped her bag on the counter and began loading it with all the tins of baby formula she could fit in the leather space. Daryl glanced at her.

"I wasn' gonna. Did ya notice how I was the one who walked towards it and not ya?" He replied, slightly snidely but still teasingly and Tessa shot him a dirty look over her shoulder as she closed the cabinet and turned back to him after latching her bag shut and swinging it over her shoulder.

"That's all I can hold and if we need anymore, we can always come back and search for some more, speaking this is a bigger place than I thought it was. We should go, though – before we lose the daylight." She told him, her voice terse as she squeezed by him and headed down the hallway to the front door he had walked in through. When she didn't hear his booted feet behind her on the wood floor, she paused, her eyebrows furrowing in slight confusion. Why wasn't he following her?

She opened her mouth to call out to him – to ask him what was up, but she found herself silenced when hands closed around her upper arms that thrust her backwards against the nearest wall as lips descended onto hers. His lips were chapped and his tongue was hot as he demanded entry into her mouth. Teeth found her bottom lip and her groan of desire became a groan of slight pain. Despite the ferocity of his kiss, however, he wrapped his lips around her bottom one before sucking, his tongue swiping over the cut to ease the pain and that groan of slight pain returned to the groan of desire it had been previously as she moved to sink her hands into his hair, pulling him closer to her.

"What was that for?" She asked him, breathless, when their kiss finally slowed and they broke apart, eyes foggy with lust and Daryl grinned.

"Because, after everythin' that has gone on our last couple of days in Hell, it has jus' occurred to me that ya need kissing - badly! Tha's what's wrong with ya. Ya should be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how." Tessa couldn't help but grin back, immediately recognizing the famous Rhett Butler line he employed and she pulled him back down to her, where her lips met his again for a moment. It was a softer, more loving kiss and when they broke apart, he held her close for a moment before she gently pushed him away and they headed for the front door. She couldn't help but feel a little bit irritated towards him, though. That first kiss made her want him – bad – and while she didn't doubt that he wanted her too (she had felt it when he had pressed her up against the wall) she still had a few weeks to go before sex could even become an option for them and she knew that fact alone had given him the strength he needed to slow their kiss and pull apart from her.

"Ya want to talk 'bout anythin' 'fore we get back? 'Fore ya get swamped by questions from the others?" He asked her, his voice coming out gentle and comforting as they exited the daycare and headed for the parked bike, his hand settling onto the small of her back as they walked. She glanced at him, feeling a shiver of warmth bloom on her body underneath his hand.

"Like what - the fact that I could rip your fucking clothes off right now or the fact that only a few hours ago, I had to butcher my friend in order to save her baby?"

Daryl looked away and chewed on the inside of his lip for a moment, knowing that the Best Damn Mood Killer of the Year award had to go to her at that moment for her cold words.

And to think . . . they could have done just a little bit more than just simply cuddle that night.

"Tess, ya didn' butcher Lori -!"

"How do you know? It's not like you were there with us, Daryl!" She told him as she came to a firm stop beside him. He stopped with her and they turned to face each other, Tessa's eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly in an emotion that he couldn't rightly decipher. He saw her red-stained hands ball into fists at her sides, though, and knew that she was hurting more than she wanted to admit to both of them at that moment, which was probably why she was lashing out at him instead of someone else. She knew Daryl would take it because he wouldn't blame her. She might not be so lucky with someone else in the group.

"I had to cut her open to get that baby out, not because I wanted to – but because she made me! She looked me in the eyes and told me to do it because she would rather her baby live instead of her," She shook her head, her eyes shining with tears that she was shocked that she could still manage to make. "How do you cope with that, Daryl? How do you cope with your best friend telling you she loved you and then telling her son the same before you cut her open like a deer in order to save her baby? Now, my best friend in the entire world right now, is dead and all I'm left with is her fucking baby with Shane of all men!" She swallowed hard then and Daryl immediately pulled her into a tight embrace against him. Daryl didn't know what to say so he simply stood there, holding her, as she cried some more, her hands balling into his shirt as she clung to him.

"And you want to know what's so bad – why this is so damn hard for me?" She continued when they finally broke apart, and Daryl continued to stay silent as Tessa, wiping away her tears with the heels of her hands, sniffed. "The normal way I would cope with this, I can't use right now because I can't have sex with you for God only knows how much longer and even though it is at the very fucking top of the list of What-I-Would-Chop-My Arm-Off-to-Do-Right-Now!" She placed a resounding punch into his chest then as she spoke those words through angrily gritted teeth and he stood there and allowed her to, still not knowing what to say.

"Tess, I don't . . . I don't know what to say -!"

"Save it; of course you don't! Let's just go, okay? We're burning daylight and the others are probably wondering where we are." She muttered as she quickly wiped away the last of her tears and turned to head back towards the bike. He rubbed his face with his hands too for a moment before turning to follow her.

"You don' think I wish for that too?" He asked her, his voice laced with slight irritation. "You don' think I would give an arm and a leg to be able to have sex with ya tonight? Do ya know how badly I am burnin' for ya? Hand only gets ya so much satisfaction, Tess!" The last sentence came out a tad bit more condescending than he had originally intended, but thankfully, Tessa only heaved a sigh and nodded as she turned to face him again.

"Of course I know that, Daryl! Hell, I felt it when you shoved me against the wall in there! The point is, though, that one of Lori's arguments was that you could help me cope with this! And you can, Daryl – you know you can, simply by being with me when I need you or when I feel exhausted or whatever else you do for me already that you just discount as meaningless motions but I count as being some of your sincerest forms of affection!" She told him before she gave a snort of laughter. "And I don't want that to stop, it's just the normal way you would help me cope is temporarily marked off for me! And you know me – I'm not exactly one who can just come out and tell people what's wrong with her!" Daryl couldn't help but nod in agreement as he stepped closer to her. He gently took up her hands and pulled her closer to him, where his head moved down to touch hers. She nodded and swallowed hard. "Stuff like this . . ." She murmured and he nodded as well.

"As much as I would give to be able to be inside ya tonight, believe it or not, I am content with simply jus' bein' here for ya, Tess – as long as ya need me to." He assured her and she smiled tearfully then as they stood there for a moment, blissfully burning daylight but Tessa found that she didn't mind. The longer she stood there, the more she slowly felt her aching heart lose some of its pain.


When they had finally returned to the prison, it was nightfall and the baby's loud cries were clearly agitating and irritating everyone. Wren and Beth had closed the door to the Guard Office in the hopes that the baby's cries wouldn't disturb the twins, but it had proven to be been a useless gesture. Their cries could be heard in the Office as well and as Tessa and Daryl entered the prison, they could see the looks of relief echoing on everyone's faces.

She could hear Daryl's gentle shushing as he carefully took the baby from Carl and although her body thrummed and her mind screamed for her to run up to her own children and to see to them first, she immediately cast the thoughts aside. At that moment, Lori's baby was who needed her most at that moment and she and Daryl would simply have to check on their own in a few minutes.

The baby's cries had lowered a few octaves in Daryl's gently bouncing arms and Tessa wanted to shake her head in amusement. She swore – that man had the touch of the Gods when it came to babies. Her mother would have said he was simply a natural-born father but the thought were quickly pushed from her head as well as Daryl moved over to her and quietly told her to hurry up. She could feel his tense body language and the way his eyes would dart up to the Guard Office where their own children were crying and realized that he was like her. He was fighting tooth and nail to take care of the baby that needed them most at that moment, instead of their own that were quite alright on their own for a few more moments.

She quickly fit a rubber nipple onto the plastic bottle and after readying the bottle of formula, turned and handed it to him. He took it from her and, still shushing the baby, began feeding her. Grins appeared on everyone's faces at the big tough walker hunter Daryl Dixon so expertly feeding a baby and it took her a moment to realize that none of them had ever really witnessed him interacting with Danny or Aayla much. Only she, Beth and Wren were the only real witnesses to how good with children the man really was speaking the twins almost never left the Guard Office and even then, Tessa couldn't help but feel a twinge of something warm and fluffy move inside her at the look of her man expertly taking care of a baby.

"Have ya got a name for her yet?" Daryl asked, posing the question to Carl and the young boy shrugged his shoulders as he glanced at Ethan and Seth standing not that far away, their arms crossed in front of their chests as well.

"N-Not yet, but . . . I've been bouncing ideas off of Ethan and Seth and . . . and I was thinking maybe . . . Sophia?" He posed and immediately by the tensing of everyone's body language, he and Tessa could tell that, that name didn't particularly hit a chord. Daryl's eyes met with Tessa over Carl's head, who had crossed her arms tightly in front of her chest. "There's Carol too and . . . Andrea and Amy . . . Jacqui . . . Patricia . . ." He shook his head then as he turned around, his voice growing quiet. "I don't know though."

Daryl, whose face had been expressionless, suddenly grew softer as he turned his eyes down onto the baby in his arms. "Ya like that? Huh – ya like that Little Ass Kicker?" He grinned then as his eyes connected with an amused Tessa's before moving to the people grouped around them. "That's a good name, right? Little Ass Kicker?" Everyone laughed then except for Tessa but she had her own reasons for not laughing.

A particularly loud cry of Danny's split through the air and Tessa's eyes shot up to the Guard Office like a hound dog who had caught the scent of pray and by the immediate flickering of Daryl's eyes upwards too, she could tell it had immediately bothered him too. She gave him a soft smile though and shook her head. "I'll look after them, baby, don't worry none." She assured him and he nodded slowly as he returned to feeding the baby as she turned and headed slowly up the stairs towards the Guard Office. She opened the door when she reached it and the look of relief on Wren's face when she saw her immediately made Tessa's face soften and her heart ache.

"Oh honey, I'm so sorry!" She murmured with an apologetic shake of her head and Wren smiled and shook her head as well as she got up with Danny in her arms and moved over to her.

"No, no, no, don't worry about it. You were worrying about Lori's baby and . . . I can completely understand! And besides, they were fine until the baby started crying and no one could get it to stop. Hungry, right?" She assured her as she handed Tessa her son and Danny's cries became muffled as she hugged her son to her, his chin moving onto her shoulder as she gently bounced him up and down. She nodded.

"Yeah, but Daryl's feeding her now and she should be fine. I'll stay with them for the rest of the night. You go down and get yourself some supper and have a nice long sleep. I'm going to feed them myself and then go to bed too, I think." Wren smiled and nodded as Tessa leaned forward and placed a loving kiss on her forehead before stepping aside and allowing the young girl to leave. She then moved over to the bunk, where Aayla was lying, crying as well. She took a seat behind her as she gently placed the now silent Danny down and picked up her little girl. Aayla's cries gradually came to a stop in her mother's arms and Tessa let out a smile and a light laugh then as she brushed her daughter's soft, downy black hair out of her face. "So this is the night you decide to not wait for your daddy to stop crying, huh? Taking it easy on your mother tonight, are you?" She asked her as she adjusted her shirt and brought her to her breast. The baby immediately latched onto the nipple, her small, warm hand flattening out on the olive-colored flesh that made up the top of her breast, and Tessa immediately gave a roll of her eyes and a laugh. "And it figures that tonight would be the night that you decide you maybe want to experience the other nipple, too, huh?"

She sat there in silence and nursed her daughter for a moment, only throwing up a cursory glance upwards when the door opened and Daryl entered. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he closed the door behind him. "Is that . . . is that Aayla?" He asked and she nodded in reply, a grin appearing on her face.

"Yup, it's Aayla, believe it or not."

"And she's on the other nipple for once?"

"Yup; it shocked me too."

Daryl gave a little laugh then and a shake of his head. "Who are ya and what have ya done wit ma sweet-pea?" He asked teasingly as he leaned over and pressed a kiss to her head before moving away. He pulled off his shirt and toed off his boots before returning to the bunk. He sat down beside her and gently picked up Danny as Aayla's eyes began to get heavy with sleep. He cradled his son in his arms as Tessa smiled and gently detached herself from her daughter.

"Here, she's getting tired; I think she's done for tonight. I'll trade you for Danny." She told him and Daryl nodded as he leaned over and upon pulling the clothe cradle closer to them, traded his son for his daughter before gently placing her in her makeshift cradle. Aayla shifted and yawned before closing her eyes and quickly falling asleep as Danny latched onto her other nipple - a tad bit more eagerly than Aayla had. Daryl sat there, leaning back against the wall and watching them, feeling - once again - his mind go back to what needed to be done tomorrow and he quickly went over the mental checklist. He would have to see that graves were dug for Lori, Carol and T-Dog in the morning – good way to put Oscar and Axel to use, he supposed. He would also personally have to see to the creation of their headstones, the same as he had done for Dale and Sophia. They may have had their disagreements, but Lori didn't deserve to die the way she did and Tessa didn't deserve to be the one who had done that to her, who had . . . butchered her, as Tessa was hellbent on describing it.

With the loss of Lori and Carol and the addition of the new baby, he also had no doubt that Tessa would find her time cut even more into – so much so that he could tell it was going to take a toll on her not being able to mourn for a good friend - something she would need to do, he suspected. Even her and Carol had started to grow close towards the end and to a certain degree, he was sure she was mourning her as well. But at least she still had Beth, Wren and Maggie to help with the kitchen, laundry and baby duties.

"Ya gonna be okay these next couple of days, babydoll?" He asked her, his voice quiet, and Tessa glanced at him over her shoulder as she continued to feed Danny and after a moment of wondering what he meant by that, nodded with dawning realization.

"Y-Yeah, I think so. I have Wren and Beth and Maggie to help me and . . ." She gave a shrug then. "It's not something I'm not used to doing on my semi-own anyway, so . . ." She trailed off then and Daryl nodded after Tessa carefully detached herself from her son when his eyes began to grow tired as well. She placed him gently in the cradle beside his twin sister and she sat there for a moment, gazing down at her children and watching them sleep. She so far gone in her thoughts, that she hardly noticed when Daryl had leaned forward and pressed his lips to the back of her shoulder.

"If it means anythin', Tessa . . . I'm glad ma children have a mother."

Any other woman might have grown angry at those words – might have called them mean and selfish – but Tessa didn't see them as such. She knew Daryl – she knew how he thought and she knew he hadn't meant them that way – not entirely. She knew how he had meant those words – what they had meant to him and if she had to admit something . . . she was glad her children had a father.