Title - Bodies And Souls Collide
Chapter title - Win Some, Loose Some
Author - OblivionsGarden
Genre - Hurt/Comfort/Romance/Family/Horror
Disclaimer - I do not own The Walking Dead in anyway shape or form. I only own the plot points surrounding my oc's, not recognized from the show or comics.
Chapter Word Count - 2954 words.

Burning. Back of her neck. Tightly gripped hands. Her wrist. Stinging. Her cheek. Bruises forming. Everywhere. Screaming. Louder. Someone shaking.

"Wake up!"

Teddy dragged in a ragged breath, shooting up so fast she nearly knocked her head into Beth's. The blonde was staring down at her, arms tentatively gripping her shoulders with a panicked look in her eye. Teddy took a minute to look around, remind herself where she was, who was there and who wasn't. It was still dark, probably the early hours of the morning. She sighed and ran a hand over her face. This was the third time that week.

"You ok?" Beth whispered, releasing her shoulders when she relaxed.

"Yeah. I'm good."

"Wanna talk about it?"

"No. Just a nightmare." Teddy smiled reassuringly. "Go back to bed. I'm just gonna get a glass of water."

She tiptoed past Daryl's sleeping form on the perch, stopping briefly to look at him. She sighed again when she noticed his cover had been pushed down to his waist. It might be hot as all hell in the day time but the big empty room made the nights feel cold as a fall wind. She gently lifted the cover back over him, startling when she heard a soft snigger behind her. Turning she saw Beth peeking out from her bunk with a childish smile on her face. She pointed at Teddy, made a heart with her hands and then pointed at Daryl. Teddy flipped her off and continued to the cafeteria, ignoring the kissy face Beth was making.

She got her water and took a seat at the table, shivering a little at the cold concrete beneath her feet. She forced herself to forget the dream, that's all it was after all. Just a dream. She smiled to herself at Beth's antics. She was happy that there were still moments when Beth got to act like that, she was only seventeen after all. She hoped there would be more of those moments for Carl too, he deserved to stay a kid for as long as he could.

She wondered if Daryl would've been annoyed at her, if he'd woken up to see her stood over him. She told herself she didn't care, she was just caring about her friends but she knew, deep down that there was something else with Daryl. Beth thought it was a crush but Teddy wasn't sure. There was a connection, some kind of deeper understanding than she had with anyone else. Not really a crush. Besides, Daryl wasn't even her type.

Although... What is her type? She sipped the water as she thought of her exes. She only had two. Well, technically three if she counted the handful of kisses she'd had with her old friend Sarah when she was fifteen. They were young and experimenting. Sarah insisted she was straight and Teddy had done the same. Teddy was lying but her mother was very Catholic and so she kept it to herself.

Her first boyfriend was when she was thirteen so he wasn't so much her type as a school friend who had a crush on her. They dated for four months and then Teddy and her mom moved so she forgot about him. Her second boyfriend was when she was seventeen. They dated for almost a year and then he left her because she wouldn't put out. Teddy may have been naive at seventeen but she had always been stubborn as a mule. After that music took up her life and she never dated again. She made out with a few people, drunkenly after shows but it never went further than that.

So she didn't have a type. But when she thought about Daryl she just didn't see it. He was a friend, a very good friend and he meant alot to her but she couldn't see herself making out with him or anything. Maybe Beth's just still the hopeless romantic she always had been, like the time she tried to play match maker with Maggie and one of the local boys that worked at the autobarn. Teddy chuckled to herself as she swirled her water around in her glass.

"Too many thoughts for a good nights sleep?" Rick came into the room with bags under his eyes. He got himself a glass of water and sat opposite. "What were you laughing about?"

"Beth once tried to set Maggie up with a local mechanic." She smirked. "She told him that Maggie had a crush on him so he'd ask her out. Maggie went nuts at her. Told the poor guy he was repulsive and chased Beth around the farm with a cattle brand." The two shared a laugh at the memory. "It all ended in laughter obviously. Those two could never be mad at each other for longer than five minutes."

"That was what I always wanted with you and Carl." Rick bit his lip, getting lost for a moment in his own mind. Teddy waited for him to continue. "I always thought I'd find you and bring you home. I knew you'd be a protective older sister. I can see it coming out in you already and when this baby comes along..." Rick smiled and shook his head. "I always imagined you teach him things that only a sibling can."

"Like how to get away with anything?" She smiled warmly. "As I recall it was just a sweet voice and a bat of the eye lashes.

"Yeah, you always had me wrapped around you little finger. Right from the day you were born."

There was a few moments of silence as they watched each other. Teddy liked these little moments, they happened every now and again, more and more as time passed, especially since they arrived at the prison. She was happy they were getting closer, she was finally getting the father daughter relationship she had missed out on. But there were still moments when she got uncomfortable of course, but Rick was understanding for the most part, despite how much he wished she'd call him 'dad' again.

"Are you serious? You want them living in a cell next to you? They ll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons, you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped. Bring them into the fold. If we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

Teddy listened to everyone discuss how best to deal with the prisoners patiently. If she'd learnt anything from Dale it's that everyone needs to decided together on things like this.

"They re convicts, bottom line!" Carol said and Teddy couldn't help but speak up.

"They're not murderers. Just petty crap. I've done shit just like 'em."

"You have?" Rick frowned, his Sheriff side coming to the surface.

"When I was just a kid I jacked a few cars, went joyriding... Petty theft. I only got off cause like I said, I was a kid. A year or two later I could easily have been in their place." She shrugged at Rick, noticing his expression, clearly disapproving of her past choices but saying nothing.

"She's right." Daryl nodded. "I get guys like this. Hell, I grew up with them. They re degenerates, but they ain t psychos. I could have been with them just as easy as I m out here with you guys."

"So you two with me?" T-Dog asked.

"Hell no! Let em take their chances out on the road, just like we did!"

"Teddy?"

"I don't know." She glanced over at the prisoners. "I mean mustache seems harmless enough, not sure about the big guy. But this is just like that kid at the barn all over again. We can't just kill 'em in cold blood, letting them go on the road is basically killing them anyway, they don't wanna stay in their old cell which I get... I don't know, man. I'm not sure I trust 'em enough to live with us."

The argument was soon over, settling on giving them a weeks worth of supplies and sending them on their way. Teddy was standing in the yard, idly wondering if there would be any sleeping pills in the supplies Carl found in the infirmary to help her sleep better at night, when Hershel came out on his new crutches.

"Stubborn old man." She murmured to herself with a smile, heading over to him. "Knew you wouldn't last in that bed a day longer."

"It was driving me insane." He chuckled.

"Ready to race, Hershel?" Carl asked.

"You give me another day, I ll take you on."

It was a warm moment as everyone turned to watch him. Smiles were on everyone's faces and again, Teddy made a silent wish for more times like this. But it was short lived as a sudden crowd of walkers emerged from around the corner, replacing the smiles with worry lines and frowns. Her first instinct was to grab her knife but there were too many to try and keep it quiet. Instead she pulled her gun, pushing Beth behind her and telling her to help Hershel back inside.

She took out a walker or two, backing up as she did, making sure Beth and Hershel were behind the fencing. She tried to cover Carl, Maggie and Lori as they were forced in a different direction, back into the prison. Once they had the gate shut behind them she aimed through it, trying desperately to help Rick and the other whilst also looking for where T-Dog and Carol had gone.

"What the hell happened?" Rick demanded when he, Daryl and Glenn reached them.

"The gate was open!"

"Where s Lori, Carl, everyone else?"

"Maggie led Lori and Carl into C block!"

"And T was bit!"

"Anyone else?"

"I don't think so." Teddy pulled open the gate and joined the boys, shutting the gate again to keep Hershel and Beth safe. "We'll find them, don't worry."

It was a frantic, disorganized search for the others whilst also trying to find a way to shut off the sirens. By the time they reached the boiler room, Teddy was out of ammunition and trying desperately to push back the walkers with her knife. There was no sign of any of the others and Teddy was trying to hold onto her last little bit of hope that they didn't get caught in the herd. It was bad enough that they already knew T-Dog was bitten.

Once the sirens were off and generators shut down, the other stray prisoner dead, the group were headed back to the courtyard. On the way they came across a body that they knew was T-Dog, eaten by the walkers. Daryl stopped to pick up a scarf, the one Carol had been wearing around her head. He said nothing but Teddy saw the look in his eye and the clench of his jaw. She made a mental note to talk to him later, once they were out of this mess. Besides, without a body, there's no proof she was dead.

"You didn t find em?" Hershel called when they emerged back outside. Teddy moved to pull the gate back open for them. Beth gave her a quick tight hug, squeezing the breath from her for a moment.

"You alright?" Teddy asked and Beth nodded, opening her mouth to speak when the cry of a baby cut through the air.

Everyone turned as Maggie entered the courtyard, baby in her arms. Carl was behind her, head low and gun in hand. Maggie was covered in blood as was the baby and Lori was nowhere to be seen. Teddy watched Rick, looking frantically for his wife before he collapsed on the floor. She felt the stinging of tears but forced them back, moving over to Carl and kneeling in front of him.

"Carl?" Tear tracks stained his cheek, his eyes still glassy as he slowly moved his eyes to meet hers. "Is she?"

"I did it."

He nodded and Teddy understood immediately what he meant. Her stomach lurched and she fought the urge to throw up. She took the gun from his stiff fingers, placing it on the ground before pulling him into her arms. He was stiff and unmoving but she could hear his quiet sobs as he buried his face into her neck.

She stood up, lifting him with her. He wasn't heavy for his age thanks to the lack of food during their time on the road. Silently she carried him into their cell block, ignoring everyone else, to place him in her bed.

"I'm sorry." He murmured as she removed his hat and pulled the covers over him.

"You haven't got a thing to be sorry for." She whispered back. "You did what was needed, sweetheart. Just stay here ok, I'm gonna check on dad."

"Ok."

It killed her to leave him there like that but she knew the state that she had left Rick in. She had to make sure he way ok.

"He alright?" Daryl asked as soon as she came back outside. She shook her head, no, and turned her attention to Rick. "Can't get an answer from him."

"Rick?" Teddy kneeled down in front of him. "You hear me? Dad?" She tried but there was nothing. He just stared straight through her. "Shit."

"Hey." Daryl called her back over. "Me and Maggie are gonna go find some food for the baby. You gonna be ok here?"

"Yeah." She looked over at the crying baby in Hershel's arms for the first time. "Yeah, we'll be fine here."

"Rick!"

Maggie called after him, Teddy turning just in time to see him pick up and axe and go marching back inside. She made to go after him but Daryl caught his arm, recalling what Carol had said to him when he wanted to comfort Teddy not to long ago.

"Let him be."

She stayed to watch Maggie and Daryl leave on the bike, giving Maggie a brief thank you for handling the situation as best as she could. As soon as they were gone she went to follow Rick again but this time Hershel caught her arm.

"You don't need to see your father in the state he is in right now."

"We don't know how many walkers are in there, we can't just leave him."

"I'll get him." Glenn spoke up, not waiting for protest.

Needing something to do, Teddy helped Hershel back into the cell block, where Beth was trying desperately to calm the baby. Carl was with her, holding his baby sibling in his arms.

"It's a girl." Beth whispered to Teddy. "You were right."

"Told you." She ran a finger gently across the baby's cheek. "She won't settle? Come here." She took the baby from Beth, wrapping her cover around her a little more securely. She gestured for Carl to follow her back to her cell, sitting on her bunk and resting her head against the wall. She held the baby against her chest, letting Carl curl into her side so he could see his sister. "I'm lying on the moon. My dear, I'll be there soon." She sung the words softly, voice cracking as she did.

"Dad used to sing this." Carl murmured.

"It's a quiet and starry place. Time's we're swallowed up in space we're here a million miles away." Teddy finished the rest of the song, smiling when the baby was quietly sleeping, Carl watching her in silence.

By the time Daryl and Maggie got back she was awake, and boy was she hungry. Teddy let Carl carry her outside, following him closely.

"How's she doing?" Daryl asked, taking the baby from him. "She got a name yet?"

"Not yet. But I was thinking maybe Sofia." Carl answered, causing everyone to feel that too familiar lump in their throat. "Then there's Carol, too. And... Andrea. Amy. Jacqui. Patricia. Or... Lori. I don't know."

No one answered him. It was a harsh reminder of just how many people they'd lost and that was just the girls. Daryl took a bottle of formula from Maggie, taking his time to feed the baby.

"You like that? Huh? Little ass-kicker. Right? That's a good name, right? Little ass-kicker." Everyone chuckled at the usually surly redneck cooing over the baby. Teddy moved closer, cradling her head in her hand and watching as she greedily took her formula. "You like that, huh? You like that, sweetheart? Little ass-kicker. You like that, huh?"

"You're good with her." Teddy whispered, fighting a yawn and ignoring the smirk that had returned to Beth's face as she watched them together.

"You ok?" He asked and for a moment she hesitated before answering with an honest 'no'. He nodded, he understood.

Soon enough the baby was settled beside Carl in Teddy's bunk, Beth sleeping above them. Teddy herself sat on the floor, leaning on the wall to watch her siblings, right there in case they needed her in the night. Daryl came into the room, sitting beside her.

"He'll be alright." He looked pointedly at Carl. "So will Rick."

"I know." She leaned her head on his shoulder, feeling him tense for a brief moment before relaxing. "We'll find Carol."

"Find her?"

"There was no body. She could still be alive."

"We thought that about Sofia." Daryl's tone was harsh but Teddy knew it was just his natural defense mechanism when he was upset. She used to have a similar one.

"Carol is tougher than we think. Don't give up on her." She lifted her head, giving him a tired smile as he headed out of the room.

"Goodnight, Teddy." Daryl called from out on the perch.

"Night, Daryl."