Another semi-filler chapter. It does lead up to important events in the next chapter though.
Considering we only have, oh . . . two or three more chapters to go until we get to the so called "Epilogue" of this part, I have decided that I WILL be creating an entirely different story for part 4, 5 etc. It will be the same story, the parts will just be in another fic-like-thing. I'll let you guys know towards the end, when I've posted it :)
Thanks HermioneandMarcus for your review - glad to see your still reading :)
HaloHunter89 - Well if someone was looking at my man, would you create a bond with her? Nope, didn't think so! ;). And really, I set on this KNOWING that Tessa would never create a friendship with Carol - that Maggie and Lori would be the women she would gravitate towards because #1: Lori was in the same boat she was and #2: I just think Maggie's awesome. And oh yeah, Merle's death is gonna be pretty cool :)
Read, Review and Enjoy!:
- Nagiana
PS - Sorry for the shortened length, I wanted to give you guys a break because I anticipate the next three (the final two for sure) being kinda long.
"It's the only way."
"You gonna tell 'em?"
Rick shook his head before swallowing hard. He glanced at the three people standing around him, Hershel being supported on his crutches beside him while Tessa stood with her arms crossed in front of her chest in front of him with Daryl standing beside her, his crossbow slung across his back. A cool fall breeze blew through, ruffling their jackets and long sleeved shirts and causing Tessa to shiver slightly as her arms crossed tighter in front of her chest.
"Not till after. We have to do it today and it has to be quiet." He answered, his eyes turning onto the man standing in front of him and Daryl nodded in agreement as he glanced at Tessa. She swallowed hard.
"You have a plan, I assume?" She asked and Rick gave a half-hearted shrug as he moved towards her.
"You tell her we need to talk. Can you do that?" He asked and Tessa nodded. "And away from the others, okay?" She nodded and Daryl glanced at Hershel over Rick's shoulder and shook his head as he took a step closer to Tessa and Rick.
"Rick, this jus' ain' us, man!" He told him, his voice lowering slightly and Rick glared at him for a minute before nodding. In that space of a minute, though, Hershel finally made his voice known.
"No. No, it isn't." He spoke before making his way back towards the door leading to the cellblock. The three of them watched him go for a minute before Rick stepped closer to the two of them.
"We do this, we avoid a fight." He told them, his eyes seeking out Tessa's in particular and as she swallowed hard, Daryl's lips pursed, in irritation or dislike, Rick didn't know. "No one else dies – we avoid the possibility of anyone else dying . . ." He trailed off and eventually, he nodded and murmured a quiet 'okay' as his hand reached down and spread out on the small of Tessa's back. She knew he didn't agree with anything Rick had just said and quite frankly, neither did she but like she was going to tell him she disliked his plan. Number one, she wasn't the leader, he was, and number two . . . if this worked, then they ran the possibility of avoiding a conflict . . . a conflict that could potentially kill everyone she knew and loved.
"We need someone else." Rick spoke up again and they turned their eyes onto him again. Tessa shook her head.
"And it can't be Ethan this time. I refuse to allow it. This could . . . this could kill him." She replied, her voice brooking no argument, and Daryl and Rick nodded in agreement.
"I wasn't going to say Ethan to begin with. I was thinking someone else." He assured her, his eyes holding Daryl's and eventually, Daryl nodded.
"Yeah . . . yeah, I'll talk to him." He told him, but Rick shook his head.
"No, I'll do it."
"I'll go with ya, then. No offense, Rick, but ya ain' exactly his favorite person in tha' entire world!"
"Yeah, I know, but . . ." Rick heaved a sigh and shook his head. "No, it has to be just me." He told him with a nod as he turned around and headed across the prison yard to one of the other abandoned cell-blocks that they had managed to clear out and where they knew Merle was ripping out mattresses trying to find hidden drugs. They watched him go as Daryl turned to face her, his hand curling around her hip, where he brought her closer to him as his voice lowered.
"Ya sure ya can do this, babydoll?" He asked her and Tessa licked her lips before nodding resolutely.
"Yeah . . . yeah, I'm pretty sure I can." She promised him as she turned her eyes up to his. "It's for the good of the group, yeah? And not-to-mention if we do this then we avoid any conflict and . . . and that means possibly having the two of you and Wren and the twins safe to see another day!" He knew she was referring to him and Ethan when she said 'the two of you' and he stayed silent as she continued: "And besides, it's not like she's Maggie or Beth. I don't know her – I don't know her from Adam! I shouldn't care about doing this to her! After all, she abandoned you guys in Woodbury – almost got you all killed!" Daryl gazed at her keenly.
"But ya do . . ." He spoke quietly, slowly and Tessa swallowed hard as she gave a shaky nod.
"I shouldn't, but I do. I don't know why I do, but I do. Maybe its cause she brought us that crib, even though I know for a fact that was Carl's idea or maybe it's because I see her genuinely trying to endear herself to this group, but whatever it is . . ." She trailed off as she gave a shrug and raised her hands in the air before allowing them to fall back against her body. "I didn't say this was going to be easy, Daryl, but it ain't exactly gonna be hard either!"
They heard someone calling Daryl's name then and Tessa looked over her shoulder to see who was calling for him, only to see Maggie and Glenn standing by the truck. They had been getting ready all morning – preparing the prison in any way they could for an attack from the Governor and his forces – whatever his forces happened to be, anyways.
"We've stapled some barbed wire to some two-by-fours and we're gonna put 'em down by tha entrance over in tha field. Figured tha' if tha jackasses tried to drive up here, then we'd put a bullet in tha' dream quick." He told her and she nodded, turning back to look at him as he waved his hand at them, telling them he'd be there in a minute. His eyes moved back onto hers though and she looked down at the cement under their feet. "Ya gonna be okay?"
"Are you?" She asked him, one of her eyebrows cocking in interest and he heaved a sigh as he placed his hands on his hips.
"I'll try to be. Promise me ya'll do tha same?"
Tessa gazed at him for a moment before nodding and averting her eyes to the ground again. "Yeah . . . yeah, I promise . . ." She told him, her voice quiet and he smiled as he moved closer to her.
"I gotta go before Glenn busts a nut waiting for me. But come on . . . do me a favor and give me a kiss . . ."
"You think you deserve one after last night." She grinned, her eyes still downcast to the cement and she could practically feel Daryl grin too as he cradled her waist in his hands and brought her slowly towards him.
"Well considerin' tha' it was pretty damn good, I suppose tha' yeah, I reckon I do! But how 'bout ya jus' look at me instead?" He asked her and she let out a scoff of a laugh and rolled her eyes. She finally turned her eyes up to him and his eyes softened as he moved to sweep a lock of her dark hair out of her face. "Now there are those beautiful eyes of ya's . . ." He murmured and she continued to grin as she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his. It wasn't a passionate or rushed kiss, it was a slow one filled to the brim with love and heat and they found themselves savoring each other as they slowly pulled away.
"You be careful, okay?" She told him and he nodded as he held her close for a minute.
"Tha same goes for ya, too, babydoll. Ya got a pretty big role too, in case ya didn' notice." Tessa nodded at his words, her expression falling slightly and he mentally kicked himself for those words. She didn't need to hear those words.
"Yeah, don't remind me."
"Merle . . . are ya down here?"
"Hey, little brother - I was jus' 'bout ta holler back to ya!"
Daryl lowered his crossbow when he moved into the generator room, finding Merle leaning against one of the turquoise colored workbenches in the corner. "What'cha doin' down here?" He asked as he stepped deeper into the room and Merle gave a shrug as he rubbed his lips with his hand for a minute.
"Jus', uh . . . lookin' fer a little crystal, ya know?" He told him, trying so desperately to keep his voice level and nonchalant, however, Daryl knew that he was majorly craving and he sent him a look that could momentarily freeze fire, which immediately made Merle regret the tone of voice he had used. Shit, was his baby brother about to go all 'Papa Bear-that-shit-could-hurt-my-family' on him again?
But instead, Daryl shocked him by giving a snort of laughter and turning around, where they headed back towards the center of the room, seemingly aimlessly wandering. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Shit will mess ma life up and when everythin' is goin' so sweet, right?" He let out a chuckle and when Daryl addressed him next, his voice was low but held a slightly menacing tone that Merle noticed he had adopted around him ever since they arrived back and he had that little 'talk' of his with Ethan.
"Ya talk with Rick yet?"
"Yeah, oh yeah. I told him tha' I was in. Like he, uh . . . like he has tha stomach fer it, anyway, ya know?" His caught his younger brother's eyes then and held them. "He's gonna buckle, ya know tha', right?" It took a moment, but eventually, Daryl nodded as he turned his eyes down to the floor.
"Yeah . . . yeah, I know. Tess knows too – we've already talked 'bout it." He gave a shrug then as he turned his eyes back onto his brother. "But as far as we sees it, if he does, he does. There ain' nothin' we can do to stop him."
"Ya want him too?" Merle asked, his eyes taking on a gleam that Daryl didn't exactly like and once again, Daryl didn't answer for a minute. But when he did, Merle immediately grinned and let out a scoff of a laugh.
"Whatever he says, goes."
"Shit, Daryl . . .!" Merle spoke, and with a wondered shake of his head. "Do ya even . . . possess a pair of balls – are they even attached?" He asked him before shaking his head and giving a shrug. "I mean, I know ya do – ya 'ave to, or how else would Tess 'ave had Ethan and tha twins, but . . . do ya ever wear 'em outside of bed with her? Hey!" He slapped a hand on his chest then, his eyes lighting up with a playful gleam. "Does Tess keep 'em in a glass jar beside the bed – is tha' it?"
The old Daryl – the Daryl whose anger had not yet been tamed by squalling babies waking them up hungry at two in the morning and who had yet to be tempered by patiently teaching a thirteen-year-old boy how to do much of the shit that he hadn't grown up knowing about, but Daryl had – would have either decked his brother or at the very least yelled a very colorful assortment of cusswords at him. This Daryl, though – the new Daryl . . . simply shook his head, a small smile on his face as he headed towards the door. Merle's voice kept him back, however.
"I mean, Hell, if they are right there, sittin' on tha' desk beside the bed, then they belong to ya – not the woman who cradles 'em every night – not tha' woman who birthed out ya three squallin' brats!" He shook his head, a look of hard disgust entering his eyes then. "I remember a time when ya used to call people like that sheep. Wha' happened to ya?"
Daryl gave a shrug then as a half-smile appeared on his face that was accompanied by a hard look and one that immediately made Merle uneasy. "I became a deddy, Merle. It's as plain and simple as tha'. But ya know . . . I've been meanin' to ask ya somethin', but I never got a chance to, what with this whole thing with the Governor and with Seth goin' on . . ." He trailed off then as he turned to face him fully, that same half-smile and unknown look still in his eyes and on his face. "What tha' Hell happened 'tween ya and Glenn and Maggie at Woodbury? Fuck, actually - scratch tha' . . ." A look of anger shot through his eyes then. "Wha' happened 'tween ya and Tess, Merle? What happened 'tween ya in the barn thirteen-years-ago – what happened 'tween ya back in Woodbury?"
"I'm surprised tha' she hasn' told ya."
"Oh, she has – believe me, she has!" Daryl told him with a nod. "But tha' doesn' mean tha' I don' wanna hear it from ya, too. And it might be somethin' tha' ya wanna tell me right now brother. Ya might wanna tell me right now!"
"Naw man, let her rest . . . she's been a good little mare for one day!" He laughed then. "I'm impressed, too - didn' think ma brother would have been able to train her right! She's a good little ride!" His laugh turned down into a chuckle as he grasped her chin in his fingers and forced her to look at him. She let out a sob and tried to yank her head away but it didn't work. Merle was stronger than her, after all, and only thought it funny when she still tried to resist him. "But dayum, man, now that I look at her . . . I wish I would have blew ma load on her face – just to see what ma white spunk would have looked like on that beautiful caramel colored skin of hers! Hell, if he's anythin' like me, then I can garun-damn-tee ya that Daryl's done it before!" Tessa flinched violently at the visual as Merle knelt down beside her, his voice entering a sickly sweet coo. "So what about it, sweetheart – we're all dying to know now that I've said somethin'! Have ya ever allowed ma baby brother to blow his load on ya face before -?"
Merle didn't answer him for a moment and when he did, his voice was quiet, his eyes focused on an indeterminable spot on the concrete floor underneath their feet. "I've done worse to her . . ." He focused a glare on him. "But if ya ask me, ya need to grow up and let go of tha' grudge inside ya. Things are different now." Daryl shook his head, his jaw hardening.
"What . . . did ya do . . . to her?"
"When ya scared and ya holdin' ma baby brother close to ya . . . when ya bodies are entwined and he's so deep inside ya that all ya wanna do is pull him as close to ya as ya can, do ya sometimes think of me?"
"Fuck you, Merle!"
Merle shook his head, a hard look appearing in his eyes. "Like I said – I've done worse to her than what I did at Woodbury! Ya people look at me like I'm tha' devil," He told him, his voice angry. "Grabbin' up those lovebirds and Tess like tha'. But ya weren' worried 'bout them were ya? Naw, ya tell 'em ya were, but ya weren'. Ya were worried 'bout Tess – tha' I was goin' to do to her what I done to her in the barn." He shook his head. "I ain' gonna lie - I was gonna . . . I was gonna in a heartbeat but then she sprouts off with this line 'bout how she had jus' had a couple of babies and tha' they were ya's – tha' she still hadn' slept with ya up until that point either!" He shook his head. "I don' know what made me stop then but I did. Tha's gotta be worth somethin', right? But Hell, what am I sayin'? Ya make me look like the devil, but yet ya'll are wantin' to do tha same damn thing I did – snatch someone up and deliver 'em to the Governor." He shook his head. "Ya might have tha family tha' I don', Daryl. Ya might 'ave the beautiful woman and the amazing, prodigal kid and the adorable babies, but don' ya for one minute lie to yaself. Ya jus' like me and me . . . I'm jus' like our old man." He let out a laugh then. "But wait, ya killed him, didn' ya? Tell me, how did ya get away with tha'?"
"We claimed self-defense. Tessa had the marks on her and everythin' so I said I was actin' in self-defense and the cops bought it. Besides, our old man wasn' exactly a paragon of virtue in our town, so really, I think they were partially happy jus' to finally be rid of him for good."
"How'd ya do it?"
"Do ya remember tha' old ax out by tha woodpile by the backdoor?" Merle nodded and so did Daryl. Merle's eyebrows rose.
"Really, now - ya used tha' old thing?" Daryl nodded again.
"Yup - right into the head. Messy as Hell but the only thing I wanted at the time was to get the job done, not how hard it was gonna be scrapin' his brain out of the linoleum the next day once they came and got tha body." Merle shook his head and let out a little laugh.
"Didn' think tha' thing could cut through butter but shows how much I know! Good riddance, too – the spiteful bastard deserved it!" He muttered bitterly before he shook his head. "But there ya go – there's another example. People do wha' they gotta do or they die - if ya hadn' done somethin' then Tess might 'ave died. Doubt it, 'cause tha' old man always stuck to his creed, but still . . . could 'ave happened." Daryl shook his head, his anger towards his brother once again cooled. Damn, where had his quick fire anger gone? Had he really calmed down that much since having the twins?
"We can' do things without people anymore, bro," He told him, his tone back to its former quiet timbre, and Merle scoffed.
"Maybe these people need somebody like me 'round, huh? Ya know, to do their dirty work and be tha bad guy whenever they need one." He nodded. "Yeah, maybe tha's how it is now, huh? How does tha' hit ya?" Daryl heaved a sigh as he placed his hand on his shoulder.
"I don' . . . when Tess first told me 'bout what ya done to her when we were back on tha farm before we came here, I couldn' . . . I couldn' see 'cause I was so blinded by anger. Hell, for the longest time I told her tha' if I ever saw ya again, I'd deliver ya head and balls to her on a silver platter! But . . . when we got here and we had the twins, I realized tha' . . . yeah, I could hang on to a grudge all ma life, but is tha' really fair towards them? Do I really want ma kids growin' up 'round a father who can' function 'cause he's constantly on this crusade against somethin' tha' happened thirteen-fourteen odd years ago – somethin' tha' in no way affects them? Do I really want 'em growin' up 'round someone who can' hardly control his own anger?" He shook his head then as he placed his hands on his hips. "But don' for a minute think tha' I'm downplayin' what ya did – the Hell I am and if ya do it again, I will kill ya! And fuck, don' ya ever expect Tess to forgive ya, but . . ." He gave a half-shrug. "I'm jus' gettin' up there in age, Merle. I'm gettin' tired of bein' angry all the damn time and . . . I have ma kids and my girl – I have what makes me happy now, despite the shitheap we find ourselves in now! I don' want to dedicate the rest of ma surely short life hatin' someone who I once thought of as family, ya know? Hell, I'd jus' be content with havin' ma brother back!"
Merle gazed at him for a minute before nodding. He looked away before Daryl could see the tears brimming up in his eyes. "Well, I'm still here, ain' I dummy?" He asked with a slight grin and Daryl shot him a smile as he slapped another hand on his back before turning around and heading back towards the door, knowing nothing further had to be said between them - that Daryl had gotten his point across.
When he neared the common room upstairs, he heard Hershel's reading from the little black Bible set before him, before he even saw him, and when he finally stepped through the opened gateway, he saw Tessa grouped around the table with him, Maggie and Beth, the four of them clasping hands. Her and Maggie's eyes were closed as Beth simply sat there, eyes opened and scanning the room for whatever could hold her attention for just a few seconds. So Daryl stood there for a minute, gazing at her and thinking. He himself didn't particularly believe in God - how could he after the childhood he had - but if he gave Tessa another way to stay sane in this fucked up world, then he supposed he couldn't be all that bad.
It would have taken a deaf man to not hear Tessa screaming Rick and Daryl's names as she came running from the cellblock later that afternoon. The sun was just starting its descent under the horizon and it bathed everything in a warm light that caught on the leaves of the trees and which created the illusion that the entire forest was burning down around them. Their eyes immediately snapped onto hers, though, as she quickly crossed the yard towards them and Daryl caught her as she ran into his arms.
"Tess, Tess, babydoll, calm down! What's goin' on?" He quickly asked her, and Tessa swallowed hard as she stood there and fought to catch her breath for a minute. Eventually, she shook her head.
"I was on my way to find Michonne so I could tell her that you needed to see her – like we planned!" Tessa started out by directing her attention onto Rick and the man nodded as she continued: "But I couldn't find her. I looked everywhere – Hell, everyone looked! We couldn't find her anywhere and then it occurred to us that we couldn't find Merle anywhere too." She shook her head as a stricken look appeared on Rick and Daryl's faces when they finally connected the dots in their heads.
"Guys – Michonne and Merle are gone!"
