Newly Revised

The sun was rising over the horizon when Glenn came out to find Rick, "She's fine. A few stab wounds that needed stitching up, but Hershel says it was exhaustion more than blood loss that made her pass out. Daryl gave her a transfusion anyway, though."

"She told me I'd regret it," he muttered.

"We couldn't be sure," Glenn muttered, feeling a little bad for the guy.

"She told us. You all trusted her. You all agreed and thought like her, and I fought against y'all," Rick said quietly.

"You know, she's awake and wants to talk to you," he told Rick.

Rick looked down and put his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, "I can't. She was right. I took a stranger's word over hers. I...I thought...Maybe if I could...if I could reunite her with her family, that things might be okay. That Lori would..."

"Rick," Glenn said, putting his hand on the older man's shoulder. "Tea already told us Chrystal played on your grief. She doesn't blame you. Merle, on the other hand."

Even though he left the sentence open, they both knew Merle would be on the warpath. "Daryl?" Rick asked.

"He hasn't left her side," Glenn said. "He hasn't really spoken, either, though, aside from telling Merle to shut up."

Rick stood up and followed Glenn into the prison and no one gave him a second glance or even said anything to him. Tea had told them not to blame him, that Chrystal was a master manipulator, to which Merle had not only told her to fuck off for telling him not to blame Rick and also aired the fact that Chrystal had convinced her a few times to attempt suicide. Daryl had been unusually quiet; even though he'd already been told that, he wasn't happy Merle was telling everyone else her business. On top of that, he wasn't sure how to feel about Rick after all this since the man had become like a brother to him. He had promised to help protect Tea and instead was the reason she was laid up with three different stab wounds in places that she could have lost her life. The only thing that made him feel better was the fact that none of the wounds had been serious; all solely muscle wounds and not deep enough to do any real damage. She'd be up and about in no time so long as she took it slow according to Hershel and he supposed he should be lucky for small favors as Hershel finished dressing her wounds.

"You're lucky," Hershel told her. "If the knife had been any bigger and you didn't have so much muscle, things would have been worse. She got along your clavicle; the bone and muscle will be sore for a long time. We'd be in trouble if it was your right shoulder," he joked.

"Ya ain' kiddin' there! I'd be reduced ta handguns! I'd be fuckin' useless!" Tea laughed, entwining her fingers with Daryl's as the man sat looking constipated. "Penny for ya thoughts, D?"

"S'nothin'," he said, looking down and away, not reciprocating her hand.

"It's somethin', but I'll let it lie for now," she said as Rick came into the cell. "Yo."

"How you feeling?" Rick asked quietly.

"How's she feelin'?" Daryl growled.

"D," Tea warned.

"No!" he yelled, all but throwing her hand away. "You can be as understandin' as you want." He walked right up to Rick and shoved him against the wall. "You said you'd keep an eye on 'er. Said you'd help me keep her safe! You don't even know! You don't fuckin' know!"

When he went to throw a punch at Rick, he found his fist blocked by a much smaller arm, "It ain' his fault, D. Ya takin' ya anga from earlia, for Chrystal, out on 'im, and that ain' fair."

"The hell it ain't!" Daryl yelled at her, pushing her away getting angrier that she'd gotten out of bed and was still calm. "You coulda died 'cause he don't have his head on straight, Ania! You had to kill your own fuckin' sister because of him! And you don't even care!" he roared, the entire group hearing his words.

Tea slapped him then, the deafening silence that ensued broken only by her cracking voice, "Don' tell me I don' care."

She walked away, pulling Rick with her and using him as support so she didn't put too much pressure on her leg. Really, she wasn't supposed to be up and moving, but she couldn't stay in the cell with Daryl at the moment. He was too angry over everything; angry over her past, angry over Chrystal, angry at Rick, and angry at her for being too understanding. But that was the thing, Rick had been emotionally manipulated during a time when he was extremely vulnerable. She'd gotten the details of her absence and knew he was suffering still; Chrystal had made things worse, as always. Tea could feel the hot tears on her face as they made their way down the steps, the fact that she had slapped Daryl after his accusations weighing more heavily on her mind than what had happened with Chrystal. Chrystal had deserved every last blow delivered to her body; Daryl was just angry and trying to look out for her and she'd slapped him. She knew in her heart that he wouldn't forgive her for that or for the fact that she wasn't angry at Rick and that made it all the more harder to walk out of the cell block with Rick.

"Thanks for helpin' me outta there," Tea told him as they sat in the commons.

"Not sure I should have. You really shouldn't be walking around," Rick said, gauging her face.

"Eh, a little sting and pull, sore muscles. Nothin' I haven' dealt with 'fore. Jus' not so deep and all at once, ta be honest. Should a neva let 'er get the drop on me. Was too caught up in my own head ta hear 'er," Tea told him.

"It's my fault. I should have never let her come back. You were right."

"When am I wrong?" she joked before saying, "Don' answa that. If I'd a been 'ere 'stead a runnin' off, we might a had more people. Might not a lost Axel. Would a neva brought Chrys back, that's for sure. Might a jus' killed the bitch in the woods, ta be honest. I jus', I couldn' handle everyone knowin'."

"No one really knows more than what Chrystal told us. Merle took Daryl away to tell him."

"Did he, now? That was nice a him, though 'e did jus' air some a my dirty laundry ta everyone else, minus Mags and Bethy," Tea mused before letting her shoulders slump. "Do ya wanna know?"

"I thought I did, but now? I think I'll just take your word for it," Rick said. "How can you think any of it is your fault?"

"Well, like I said, if I'd a jus' quit bein' a pussy and not run away, she'd a neva been 'ere and ya wouldn't a thrown Tyreese and the othas out."

"Yeah, about that. They didn't want me to know, but they're in the cell we put Axel and Oscar in the first time," Rick told her.

"Really now? Awesome sauce!" Tea laughed before turning serious. "Ya got ta know I don' blame ya, Rick. Shite happens and she played ya. She was good at that. And I'm not sure what all she's told ya, but yeah, I got a lot in my past that's even got Daryl shaken up. Hell, he jus'...what he said..."

She couldn't continue as the gravity of it all started hitting her because Daryl's words stung more than the wounds she'd suffered. Of course she cared that she had just killed her sister and was struggling to come to terms with that. But she didn't have time to wallow in self pity when the Governor had declared war, the tombs were full, and the field was over run all over again. There wasn't any time for her to sit down and have a cry over what she'd done even if she wantedto cry, which she didn't. On top of that, how the hell was she supposed to tell Daryl that what set her off was the threats Chrystal had made against him. Exactly what expression, what feeling, was she supposed to be portraying right now so that he knew just how much she was struggling with what she'd done when everyone was scared and she had to lead? Tea wiped her face before looking down with a rather defeated expression that she kept trying to hide as Rick watched her.

"He's angry with me for not bein' mad at ya. Angry that I let it go so easily. He jus' don' get it. He don' get why I ain' angry when even I know I should be. But I can' 'cause I get it and I know what happened. I jus' can' be angry at ya knowin' she played ya," Tea sighed. "Come on, we got ta get a strategy tagetha. Let's get back in there and jus' deal with it."

They'd spent yesterday afternoon just taking stock of the situation in the prison and the damage done outside, no real planning being done as Tea and Rick had been at odds the entire time. Now was the time to actually come up with a plan as to how to deal with the Governor. Tea had a few ideas, but most involved taking the fight to them or attempting to negotiate. However, negotiating with a man like the Governor was not something she was willing to risk and taking the fight to Woodbury was also a bad idea because they would be out-gunned. There weren't enough options that weighed in their favor and the biggest obstacle was the fact that Woodbury had way more weapons and ammunition than they did. She sat on the stairs beside Hershel and holding Judith, Tea listened to everyone's arguments about why they should stay or leave before speaking up.

"We can' leave. Ya know, when we were out there, we heard a baby cryin'. It was practically ringin' the damn dinna bell. I ain' takin' that risk with Judith. Let alone the fact that Hershel can' fuckin' run. We got nah choice but ta stay and fortify and defend."

"What if there's another sniper?" Maggie asked. "A wood pallet won't stop one of those rounds."

"Nah, but the tables from the cafeteria are made a material thick 'nough ta do the trick. That plus the pallets, whammo bammo, hidin' spot," Tea said, having already thought of that scenario.

"We can't even go outside," Beth said.

"Not in the daylight," Carol added.

"Why not?" Tea asked. "They ain' goin' ta be sittin' there waitin' ta pick us off one by one. That man, if he's as sick as Merle says he is, he'll leave us ta stew and sit in our own fuckin' fear and worry 'til we can' think straight 'nough ta defend. We ain' sittin' with our damn thumbs up our asses waitin' for 'em ta return. We clear the field again, we fix the fence, we take out the walkas in the tombs. Absolutely nothin's changed 'bout what has ta be done 'ere. We're not leavin'."

"If Tea says we're not running, we're not running," Glenn spoke up.

"No, better to live like rats," Merle quipped.

"You got a better idea?" Rick asked him.

"Yeah, we should a slid outta here last night and lived to fight another day. But we lost that window, didn't we? I'm sure he's got scouts on every road outta this place by now."

"We ain't scared of that prick," Daryl said, refusing to look at Tea as she sat calmly next to Hershel, watching his every move out of the corner of her eye.

"Y'all should be," Merle shot back. "That truck through the fence thing, that's just him ringing the doorbell. We might have some thick walls to hide behind, but he's got the guns and the numbers. And if he takes the high ground around this place, shoot, he could just starve us out if he wanted to."

"Let's put him in another cell block so we can plan in peace," Maggie said, wringing her hands.

"No, he's got a point," Daryl said.

"What's it matter? What do we do?" Beth asked.

"I said we should leave," Hershel said. "Now Axel's dead. We can't just sit here, Rick."

Rick looked at him and realized that they didn't know he was no longer in charge, "Ask Tea."

He walked off only for Hershel to stand up and holler, "Get back here!"

"No, let 'im go. He ain' in charge no more," Tea told him. "There's been a change in leadaship."

"No fuckin' way," Merle said a little heated. "I ain't followin' some little girl."

"Some little girl who could still beat ya ass even with my injuries," she shot back at him.

"So what do you say we do, then, girly?"

"Like I jus' said, we fortify the cages usin' the tables from the cafeteria. We go for a run for more ammo and supplies; there's gotta be a place 'round the area we haven' checked yet, even maybe a little furtha out. For now, we gear up ta go inta the tombs ta clear out that walkas we can."

"We?" Hershel said. "You're not going anywhere but back to bed, young lady. You might be able to lead, but you need to stay off that leg for the rest of the day. Your arm needs a couple days to heal before you can really use it and that wound to your abdomen needs even more time. You've got to take it easy for the next couple of days at least. You can start helping more than directing tomorrow, but today, you need to rest."

"Alright, alright, 'ere, Beth, can ya take her?" she asked, handing Judith over before carefully standing up and using the guard rails to hop up the stairs and over to Daryl, who was standing alone and watching Beth and Judith, still adamantly not looking at her. "D?"

He just turned around and walked away, into the cell they had been sharing, without saying a word to her as he did so. Daryl wasn't sure what he was doing, just that she'd slapped him. He'd once said that he wished she'd just smack him around, but now that she had actually hit him, it stung more than just his cheek. And the worst thing was that she'd walked away afterwards, as if it didn't affect her at all what she'd just done. But then again, why would it? She'd just killed her sister and that didn't have an affect on her. What would leaving him mean to her? He didn't even realize he'd started packing his things until he heard her strangled gasp as she got to the doorway, still refusing to .

"Wh-what are you—D, what..." she couldn't finish the sentence as she slumped against the frame of the cell.

He stilled his movements, frowning at the sight of his bag half full, "You just don't care 'bout nothin', do you? Get stabbed, don't care. Slap me 'round, don't fuckin' care."

"Ya said I didn' care, D. You said that. I neva once said I didn' care. I can admit that I lost it when ya said that and lashed out, but ya jus' don' get it, get me, if ya pissed at me for not bein' ovaly emotional 'bout this shite. Ya got no clue, Daryl. None," she said quietly

"Then why don't you fuckin' tell me 'stead of just standin' 'round tellin' us all not to be angry at Rick? Hmm?" his voice raising once again as he threw the bag into the corner of the cell.

He didn't want to be fighting with her, but he couldn't understand how she was still going with everything she'd been through and how she wasn't angry at Rick. He was misplacing all the rage from the last couple of days onto her and he knew it, but he couldn't stop himself either. She'd hit him after saying she never would and had killed her sister without even batting an eye yet now was saying that he didn't understand? In the back of his mind, he knew that she was just doing what she had to do to cope, like she always had, but he simply could not understand how she wasn't angry at Rick. It was Rick who had brought her sister back, who had given the bitch a knife, who had given her the opportunity to try to kill Tea. Even after all that, she wanted him to just let it go like she did when all he could see was her laying in a pool of her own blood and all he could feel was the dread he'd felt at thinking he'd lost her.

"Why the hell you go 'round actin' like it ain't botherin' you? Hell, is that what I am to you too? Somethin' you won't miss even if we-"

"What the hell do ya want from me?!" Tea roared, cutting him off and moving to stand right in front of him, feeling the stitches in her stomach pulling roughly. "Ya want me ta cry? Ta scream? I ain' got the fuckin' time for that shite right now, Daryl!"

He stood staring at her for just a moment before scoffing and turning around, "Do you even care?"

"Of fuckin' course I care!" she yelled. "What do ya want from me, D? Ta tell ya I don' know how the fuck ta feel 'bout it all, cause I don'! That I'm happy? That I'm sad? That I'm scared? That I don' know how the fuck ta come ta terms with the fact that I kicked my own damn sista off the side of a guard towa and killed 'er?! That she fuckin' threatened ta carve ya up and try ta force ya and that's what set me off?! That the last thing I expected from ya was ta..ta..." her breathing was hard as she fought the emotions in her. "Last thing I thought would happen was for ya ta fuckin' leave," she said before laughing at herself scornfully. "Should a known I couldn' keep ya. Should a fuckin' known."

She didn't even look at him, just went and sat on their, her, bed, not knowing what to do, let alone if she could fix anything. When she heard him leave, her walls broke completely as she laid back, eyes wide open, just staring at the bottom of the top bunk. Well, they do say when the goin' gets tough, the tough get goin'. Jus' didn' think they meant it like that, she thought to herself as she willed the tears away. Will didn't work very well as the traitors slid down her cheeks and into her hair anyway due to the gravity of everything that had happened. She'd told Daryl the truth about how she felt about everything that had happened and how she really didn't know how to take it all. She was happy that Chrystal was dead, but at the same time she couldn't stop herself from feeling guilty even after everything she'd put her through. She was upset about the entire situation, from what happened in Woodbury to what Chrystal said in the tower about Daryl. There just wasn't enough time for her to properly process it all because there were more pressing matters she had to focus on. It was easier to just try to forget all the emotions she was feeling rather than let them consume her like the anger had consumed Daryl. She closed her eyes and put her right arm over them in an attempt to block everything out, but it only heightened her senses. She could hear people coming towards the cell and turned on her side to face the back wall so she couldn't see what happened or any pitying faces after she'd yelled at Daryl. Tea had let her emotions get the best of her, both in slapping Daryl and in how she'd screamed her frustrations to the world with her little tirade.

"-is bleedin' again," she heard Daryl say as she heard Hershel walk in with him.

"I told you to take it easy," Hershel said as he sat on the bed, looking at the trembling woman. "I can't fix the stitches until you calm down. I need you still, not shaking."

"Sorry," she mumbled, unable to do anything about it.

"Give us a few, Doc," Daryl said. "Should a been more careful. You ripped your stitches."

"Don' matta."

"'Course it does," Daryl said as he sat down on the edge of the bed, looking at the cell wall.

"It don'. Jus' give me a knife and a fire and I'll take care a it. These'll cauterize jus' fine and then I don' gotta worry 'bout nah damn stitches."

"You ain't burnin' yourself."

"Wouldn' be the first time."

"Dammit, Ania! Why are you bein' like this?" he said as he stood up and turned around, anger sprouting again.

"Like what?"

"Shut down even to me."

"Ya leavin', so what's it matta?" she asked.

"I ain't leavin'," he said with a sigh. "Don't even really know why I was packin'. Just a stupid slap anyway."

"No, it wasn'. I should a neva raised my hand ta ya like that. I should a neva," she said with a sob. "I'm sorry, Daryl. I'm so sorry," she cried as he gathered her into his arms. "I'll try not ta eva do that again."

Daryl huffed a laugh, "I'm glad you don't make promises you can't keep."

"I wish I could promise," she sobbed, angry at herself and her lack of control. "It ain' fair if I lose it and do that shite. It ain' fair and it ain' right."

"Thought when you lost it you went ape shit?"

"I do, that was. With ya, that was. Jus' raisin' my hand ta ya is wrong."

"I deserved it, to be honest. Been pretty shitty to you all day. I'm sorry," Daryl murmured into her hair, making to stand up. "Gotta get them stitches dealt with."

"Jus' stay here. Please, D. I-I jus'," she begged as she wrapped her arms around his. "I need ya, D. Please."

~x~

Daryl came down the stairs a couple hours later after Tea had fallen soundly asleep now that she had exhausted herself with the fight between them. Before she fell asleep, she told him he was in charge while she was out of it, and that he was the only one she trusted to be able to take the lead when she couldn't. It had brought him a sense of pride that she trusted him so much, but also filled him with regret. He'd doubted her when she was just trying to deal with everything that had happened, something he'd done a lot over the winter and thought he'd gotten over. He wondered if he would ever stop doubting her simply because she was the way she was but also wondered when she would stop thinking he would leave. They both had some issues with trust and abandonment and he could only hope they would resolve themselves as he walked over to Hershel and Michonne while Rick walked up.

"Field's filled with walkers. I didn't see any snipers out there, but we'll keep Maggie on watch," he told them.

"I'll get up in the guard tower," Daryl said. "Take out half them walkers, give these guys a chance to fix the fence."

"Or we could use some of the cars to push the bus in place," Michonne suggested.

"We can't access the field without burning through our bullets," Hershel said.

"So we're trapped in here," Glenn said. "There's barely any food or ammo."

"Been here before," Daryl answered. "We'll be alright."

"That's when it was just us, before we had a baby to worry about and Hershel has two legs," Glenn said. "I hate to say it, but maybe if we give Merle to the Governor, maybe it'll solve the problem. Give him his traitor, maybe he'll call a truce."

"Not happenin'. I ain't doin' that to my brother, and Ania wouldn't allow it either," Daryl said before walking back to their cell.

"Merle has military experience," Hershel told Glenn, making ready to walk away. "We'll need that if we're going to make it out of this."

Walking to where Merle was duct taping a a sharpened piece of metal onto his stump, Hershel made his presence known. Merle simply looked at him before going back to what he was doing, not really caring to talk to anyone. He was just as pissed as Daryl was about everything that had happened and hated the fact the girl wanted everyone to understand it wasn't Rick's fault. But it was; just like him being cuffed to the roof and almost dying to get out, Rick had made the choice to bring that bitch back and not listen to him or Tea about it. No, the man decided that because he didn't get to make it right with his wife he had to make things right with Tea and Chrystal. The biggest problem with that was that he failed to see the signs right in front of him and didn't trust anyone else's words because he was blinded by his own grief. It was the same beat played to a different tune, how Rick was acting; grief had played a large part of how the Governor had changed during the winter months. Merle wasn't interested in forgiving the man on principle alone because no one hurt his family but him, and he wasn't even interested in doing that thanks to the bitch's stories.

"You're the farmer? Hershel," he said without looking up.

"And you're the black sheep, Merle," Hershel responded in kind.

Merle simply smiled before looking at the man's missing leg, "How'd you lose it?"

"I was bit."

"Bit? Hack it off yourself?"

Hershel chuckled before sitting down, "No. Rick did."

"Awful kindly of him."

"Saved my life," Hershel told him. "Gave me more time with my girls. Gave you more time with your brother. Can't put a price on that."

"Can't put a price on anything these days," Merle told him. "'Sides, I think Tea had more to do with all a that than Rick."

"It was pretty equal for a long time. Only recently has Rick slipped," Hershel argued before pulling out his bible. "I found this," he said showing Merle, "in one of the cells. Lost more than the Good Book there fore a while. Lost my way. 'And if your right hand offends you, cut it off, cast it from you. For it is profitable that one of your members should perish-'"

"'And not that they whole body should be cast into hell,'" Merle finished for him. "Matthew 5:29 and 30. Woodbury had a damn fine library. One of the only things I miss about it." He considered the old man for a moment before saying seriously, "When the Governor returns, he's gonna kill me first. Michonne, my brother, then your girls. Glenn, Carl, the baby, whoever else is left. He'll take Tea back and make her a play toy. He'll save Rick for last so he can watch his family and friends die ugly. Wait 'til he's forced him to watch what he does to that girl before he ends him. That's who you're dealing with."

~x~

Daryl was sat in a chair cleaning his arrows thinking about everything that had happened since the morning, looking over to Tea every once in a while. She was having just as hard a problem dealing with what happened as he was, she was just better at hiding it. He didn't know what he would have done if she really had died aside from possibly killing Rick and definitely leaving the prison. There was no way in hell he'd stay with the person who'd gotten her killed and he was half tempted to take Merle up on his offer of making it out on the road with just the three of them. He looked back over to the bed and noticed that Tea had begun to stir, her face contorting into a grimace as her breathing became shallow. For a moment, she was struggling with whatever was playing behind her eyelids until they were thrown wide open and she sat up harshly, hissing as she pulled the stitches again.

"Jesus, girl," Daryl said. "Are you tryin' to force me to cauterize the damn thing?"

"I jus'...I jus'," she said in a voice he'd never heard from her.

She sounded completely terrified, and the look on her face matched the voice as she sat there pale as a sheet and shaking as she tried to calm her breathing. He stood up and walked over to the bed and sat down next to her, putting a hand on her leg as she folded in on herself. Whatever her dream had been, she was scared in a way he had never seen her get, not even when they faced hordes of walkers or hostile groups. She had gone up against both Merle and Chrystal and hadn't been afraid at all, or at least he assumed she hadn't with how quickly she dealt with those situations. Seeing her like this now, it had Daryl's own heart racing as Tea worked on calming her breathing.

"You okay?" he asked her.

"Fuck, D," she whispered, a hand in her hair, the other holding her legs to her. "She pulled me ova. When she went, she pulled me ova."

Daryl grabbed her and brought her head to his chest, "Just a bad dream."

"I know, but fuck," she said as she started to calm.

"Are we interrupting?" Carol's voice came from the doorway.

Daryl kissed Tea's forehead before turning around while she crawled over to sit next to him and look at the woman, offering a small smile. Tea wasn't quite sure how to take everyone's attention on her now, but there was nothing she could do about it. They all knew she was a killer from an early age now; Chrystal had mentioned her trip to juvie and the reason, but not how she'd ended up in the situation. They knew she was abused thanks to both Merle and Chrystal opening their big mouths and telling everyone her secrets. They also knew a few other undesirable things about her past thanks to Chrystal, even though a lot of it was jumbled and garbled together. She'd spent her entire life fighting to survive, and now that she had a reason to survive, it felt like she was on the verge of losing it all because of the pieces of her past that had been dug up.

"Haven't had the chance to say I'm glad you're back," Carol told them, smiling to herself at how Daryl's hand immediately grabbed Tea's when she sat next to him now that she knew a lot more about the girl's past; it really was no wonder why she behaved how she did living with a monster like her sister.

"To what? All this?" Daryl asked. "Should've stayed on the road like Merle wanted to."

"This is our home," Carol told him cheerfully.

"This is a tomb," Tea said quietly. "If we're not careful, this will be our tomb."

"That's what T-Dog called it, remember?" Carol said looking up at the ceiling. "Thought he was right 'til you found me," she said to Daryl. "She might've been your sister, but she was a monster, Tea. No one looks down on you for what you did. And Merle might be your brother, but he's not good for you. Don't let him weigh you down. After all, look how far you've come."

The three of them looked around at the small prison cell and shared a laugh, "Yeah, I guess."

"Neither of you give yourselves enough credit," Carol said as they quieted down. "Seriously, you've kept us alive all this time with no thoughts for yourselves, only each other. Don't let Merle drag you down with him," she told them before walking away.