Newly Revised
The sun hadn't even risen above the horizon when Tea and Daryl were standing outside the shed door sharing a cigarette. They'd talked about strategy last night after they'd made the decision to go into the shed together and had agreed that she would enter first and Daryl would enter after she gave a signal or if he thought the situation had become dangerous. Neither of them had slept well last night until she'd pulled him into her chest and they both were able to settle down and get a few hours of peaceful sleep. Tea told him she could do this herself, that he didn't have to help, that he could just stand outside and listen and come to her rescue if she needed it, everything she could think of due to how much he was already upset about it. She could tell that he really wasn't looking forward to what they were about to do and had tried to talk him out of it to spare him from it but the stubborn man shot her down at every turn. Since she couldn't talk him out of it, she'd simply offered him a smoke she'd managed to steal from T-Dog and wrapped her arms around him, laying her head on his chest. She reached up and brought his lips to hers for a moment before looking him right in the eye and promising everything would be alright.
Turning from him and grabbing the pail of water next to the door as well as the glass and towel before waiting for him to unlock and open the door. Tea stepped through and kept her focus on her peripherals so that she could get a decent impression of the man before the interrogation truly began. Even though she wasn't watching him directly, she saw his leer and how he licked his lips when he thought she couldn't see. She didn't say anything to him while she gauged him as he desperately tried to get her to talk to him. He was making himself look weak, as if he wasn't a threat, pleading for her to let him go and that he wouldn't hurt their group. If it weren't for the fact that he was so desperate and there were no tears in his eyes, she might have thought it was real. Instead, she was on high alert, looking for anything that could be used against the boy. Daryl came in after Randall had offered her a place with their group, saying a cute, little, mute girl would get along just fine with them. Tea had caught the glint in his eye at that, which was exactly why she had decided to remain quiet until Daryl came in, and why he was waiting outside for the time being.
Tea sat and listened as the boy talked, cleaning around his wound like that was the only reason she was in there. She didn't say a single word or make any noise that didn't pertain to her task as Randall tried to sway her over to his side. The thing that brought Daryl in immediately was when the kid started talking about how their group didn't have the resources to 'protect a cute, little mute girl like her' while in his group she'd be well taken care of and wouldn't have to worry about anything. She couldn't blame Daryl for barging in and punching the kid a few times before he started demanding that Randall told him where his camp was and how many were in his group. After several rounds of questioning from Daryl, each getting more and more aggressive, the boy had begun to 'cry,' which went to say that he began to wail like he was crying and act like he was crying, but again, not a single damn tear came out, not even those due to pain. Randall kept looking to her to try to get sympathy, begging her to make him stop, claiming he didn't know anything about his old camp. Because he kept doing that, Daryl kept punching him with more force the longer it went on. Tea went up to him and put a gentle hand on his back to make him look at her and moved her head to indicated that he should take a step back. Daryl sent her an angry glare, but moved a few steps away to begin pacing in a predatory way behind her as she kneeled down with the rag wet and in hand.
"Where's ya camp?" she asked sweetly, wiping the blood on his face off and acting like she was trying to help him.
"I dunno, I swear I dunno!" he answered with wide eyes and a barely perceivable frown, something Tea saw and was very aware of.
"How many are there?" that same sweet voice rang out, watching the boy carefully.
"I, uh, I, I, I'm not sure!" he stuttered.
"So be it, but don' say I didn' try ta give ya an easia option," she told him, standing up and going over to Daryl, who looked at her and walked up to Randall while he stuttered 'no' on repeat.
They kept switching back and forth for nearly two hours getting little to no information from the boy. Aside from being told that the group would move every couple of days and there was no telling where they were now, the kid wouldn't say anything other than he didn't know anything else. The problem was that, while he claimed not to know, he refused to tell them about their camp, which made Tea wary and keep giving signals to Daryl that he knew more than he was saying. So far, Daryl had been the only one to harm the kid, throwing punches and threats at Randall left and right until Tea took over once again to wipe the wounds clean. She didn't want them getting infected or the man to get too bloody before they were done. As it was, if they couldn't get anything out of him soon, Daryl's hands were going to be in bad shape by the time they were done. She could see some of his knuckles already starting to bleed and had gotten a second rag and thing of water to start cleaning his knuckles after each round of beating. Tea didn't give two shits whether or not Randall saw the act of affection as Daryl once again backed off and she cleaned his knuckles before shaking her head and heading to the young man. She was over playing nice and over Daryl hurting himself and getting more and more upset the more he beat on the kid.
"Ya gotta give me somethin', hun," she said with a sigh, wiping the blood off his face again. "Othawise I'm gonna have ta let 'im do the talkin' again. And 'e don' talk too nicely like I do. And if ya don' answa him, ya really ain' goin' ta like the next time I got ta talk ta ya. Do ya know where the sayin' 'death by a thousand cuts' comes from? The Chinese used ta have a method a execution in which a person was tortured with 1,000 relatively small cuts ta their body. If ya don' answa him, I'll centa each and every one a those cuts on one specific location 'til I get the information I want out a ya, one, small slice at a time," she told him menacingly with a smile, pulling out one of her throwing knives and playing with it without looking at the boy while she talked.
The boy blanched at her implied threat, smile, and how she was playing with the knife, begging and pleading again before crying, "I don't know! I swear I don't know! They left me behind!"
Heaving a deep sigh, she simply said, "Love?"
"I told you!" he cried as Daryl sucker punched him in the face again, making him fall over as Tea leaned against one of the spare barrels in the shed with her arms crossed.
"You ain't told us shit!" Daryl said, hauling the boy into a sitting position.
"I barely knew those guys! I met 'em on the road!" Randall said; finally, they were getting somewhere.
"How many were in ya group?" Tea asked.
Randall was looking back and forth between the two like they were psychopaths while he kept stammering away at his defensive replies. Daryl punched him again, landing a haymaker right to the boy's brow before asking him again. He simply refused to answer with anything but pleas to be let go and empty promises that he wouldn't come back. Tea even threatened him again, going over and grabbing Randall's bangs and forcing his head back to look at the two of them, their faces wearing twin expressions of anger. Her threat was that this was his absolute last chance before they got serious and stopped just using their fists. It was clear that the kid was scared of the both of them now that they weren't just beating him but preparing to torture him in earnest as Tea held a knife against his cheek and asked him where his camp was and repeated her question of how big his group was. Daryl watched the interaction with a pissed off look on his face as he stalked back and forth behind her. Since Randall still wouldn't answer them, Tea removed her blade and harshly let go of his hair in order to force his head to go down as Daryl pulled his own buck knife out of its sheath, quickly replacing Tea as he slammed the blade into the floor.
"How many?!" he snarled into his face, holding Randall's injured leg.
"Uh, uh, uh thirty! Thirty, thirty guys!" he told them nervously, finally getting a crack in his resolve that the two hunters could exploit.
"Where?"
"Uh," at the hesitation, Daryl ripped the bandage off the wound causing Randall to scream. "I don't know! I swear! We were never in any place for more than a night!"
"I doubt that. If ya were out scoutin', that means ya were eitha tryin' ta find a home base, or ya were lookin' for somethin' else, and I doubt it was booze. So, which was it? Were ya out scoutin'? Tryin' ta find a home base? Or were ya lookin' for an easy target ta fuck ova?" Tea asked, pushing herself off the barrel she'd once again been leaning on and stepping closer to the boy so she could get a better look with Daryl crouched in front of him.
"I...I don't know. They...they left me behind!" he insisted.
"You ever pick off a scab?" Daryl asked amidst protests from Randall.
"Come on, man!" the boy said as Daryl placed his knife along the wound. "I'm...I'm tryin' to cooperate!"
"Start real slow at first. Sooner or later, you've just gotta rip it off," Daryl all but growled in the boy's face.
"Ok! Ok," Randall said, finally caving completely. "They have weapons, heavy stuff. Automatics. I didn't do anything!" he insisted when Daryl refused to move.
"Your boys shot at my boys, tried to take this farm. You just went along for the ride? You're trying to tell me you're just innocent?" Daryl growled at him, voice fluctuating as he tried to play off being truly enraged and not sick to his stomach.
"Yes!" Randall cried, letting out a sigh and looking around, voice cracking as he continued. "These...these people took me in. Not just guys, a whole group of 'em. Men and women, kids too, just like you people. Thought I'd have a better chance with them, you know?" So far Tea believed him, and signaled as much with a light touch on Daryl's shoulder, making him give the boy some leeway to which he simply began pacing behind Tea again. "But, we go out, scavenge, just the men. One night we, we found this little camp site. A man and his two daughters. Teenagers, you know? Real young. Real cute."
He looked up to gauge their reactions as he was speaking, attempting to make himself seem as innocent as possible while Tea turned her back so he couldn't see her face pale and Daryl glared at the boy as she moved away. It didn't take a fancy degree to know the two in front of him were going into true rages when Tea turned back around behind Daryl and stared at him as he kept talking. Randall hung his head in shame as they shot daggers at him but his voice gave away what his true thoughts on the entire situation had been. It was too calm, too collected to be full of shame for even having witnessed the situation. He was acting the part that he thought they would both fall for and give him sympathy for by telling them a true story but omitting his own actions, even if it had been just to watch it take place.
"Their daddy had to watch while these guys, they...and they didn't even kill him afterwards. They just made him watch, as his daughters...they ju-ju-just left him there," he swore profusely as he kept looking between them and the floor until both Tea and Daryl were staring at him with a predatory glare. "No, but, but, but I didn't touch those girls! No, I swear!"
Whatever he was going to say was cut off by Daryl's kick to the stomach followed by another punch to the face. He wasn't even trying to hold his strength back anymore as he wailed on the kid. After what Tea had almost had happen to her just last week, hearing what these men had done to two young girls while this asshole watched on was too much for him to even consider the guy's age. Looking back at Tea for a second, he could tell that she wasn't going to be stopping him from getting whatever he needed to do to the situation out. Daryl was pissed at the boy and also pissed at himself because here Tea was under threat yet again and he had yet to be able to protect him how he should have. The one time he'd thought he was protecting her he'd accidentally made her go through a momentary flashback of her own childhood and he'd gotten angry at her because he hadn't realized he had. Even though they'd made up from that fight, he still couldn't help his anger nor control his strength the longer he was listening to Randall speak.
"You gotta believe me, man! Lady, please! I ain't like that!" Randall insisted.
"Ya liked what happened jus' as much as the men who did it did, ya jus' didn' join in 'cause ya morals held ya back. Ya'd be jus' like them othawise, and ya'll break 'ventually," Tea said coolly. "Ya had the glint when ya thought I couldn' talk, thought I was easy pickin's. News flash for ya; I'm the killa in this camp. He jus' didn' want me gettin' my hands dirty."
He didn't have a chance to reply to her before Daryl was back to beating him for even trying to talk to his girl. All the pent up anger and frustration from Shane's attack on her he took out on Randall. By the time Tea decided to pull him away, Randall was out cold with a swollen brow, most likely a broken cheek bone, or at least a cracked one, and was bleeding from his cheek, nose, and lip. Tea didn't care so much as she led Daryl outside and took Daryl over to sit down on a pile of wood while she took care of his injuries. She washed his hands carefully from her canteen as the water she'd used inside was rather bloody already before checking for any major damage. Tea sighed once she knew there had been nothing but busted skin, kissing each knuckle after she was done. It was a rare and tender show of affection from her that wasn't simply leaning on him or him leaning on her and after what he'd done in the shed, it made Daryl's heart burst that she had still done that. Sure, she often made sure he was okay with touches and would initiate contact when she needed emotional support or wanted physical intimacy. But affection like this, the kind that wasn't for anything more than for his emotional support, she had never needed to give it to him before and this was the first time he'd had that kind of support in his life.
He had been feeling like a little bitch this past week for wanting to know where she was, and even more so for making sure everyone knew who she belonged to by keeping her under his arm whenever they were in camp. Daryl was being even more careful now that Rick had given Tea the second-hand man status. It seemed like any time they were near the group, she was being stolen away by everyone else, especially the women of the farm. He wasn't sure when he'd became so needy, possessive, and protective, but he'd never had a good thing in his life until now and he wasn't ready to lose it. Especially not when, this past week, damn near everyone in the camp had started talking to her, not even being able to get ten steps without one of the others stopping them to talk to her or ask her a question. He had grown accustomed to Sophia hanging around; Carol's resentment of Tea after everything she'd done for the little girl had her at their camp almost as much as she was in camp with the group. Even though they could go back to the camp now that whatever they'd been dealing with was over, neither of them were really ready to. Not only had he noticed the looks both Carol and Lori had been giving them when he pulled Tea under his arm, but Tea was still nervous being around the others thanks to Shane's influence. As it was, her assault had reminded him of a time long past when his father would pin him and try to beat him half to death in a rage. Daryl had been so focused on making sure she was fine that first evening that when his brain started providing him with nightmares reliving those hellish years every night. He'd been waking up drenched in sweat with Tea looking at him in concern with the lamp on before she wiped the sweat off his brow. Every time afterwards, he'd held her to him and tried to remind himself that he was with her and not back at his father's shack of a home. Last night had been the first time he'd slept on her chest, though, and for a few hours he had had a dreamless sleep listening to her heartbeat. After she was done cleaning his knuckles and told him he would be fine, he pulled her under his arm as they walked back to camp where the others were sitting around the campfire, Rick's look containing a question that didn't need asking.
"Boy there's got a gang, 30 men. They've got heavy artillery and they ain't lookin' to make friends. They role through here, our boys are dead. And our women, they're gonna" Daryl informed them as he paused and pulled Tea closer, not really wanting to think about what the group of men would do to her. "They're gonna wish they were."
"What did you do?" Carol asked disapprovingly, noting his bloodied hands.
"We had a little chat," Tea answered for him, coming to stand in front of him protectively. "Ain' nothin' worse than they'd do ta us, so don' fuckin' judge us for doin' what ya couldn' fuckin' begin ta stomach."
"No one goes near this guy," Rick said as Carol walked away with a dirty look shot at Tea.
"Rick," Lori asked quietly when she walked up to him. "What are you going to do with him?"
"We have no choice," he told the group3 with conviction. "He's a threat. We have to eliminate the threat."
"You're just gonna kill him?" Dale asked, walking up.
"It's settled. I'll do it today," Rick answered.
Tea and Daryl were walking away when Carl came up with Sophia to ask them, "So he's a kid?"
"Nah, not really," Tea said.
"How old is he?"
"Old enough ta know right from wrong and still do wrong," Tea answered him. "Ya can' believe a single thing that comes out ta that dude's mouth, Carl. Ya've got jus' as much a risk as I do these guys are gonna use ya. As in rape ya. The world ain' what it was."
"Can I see him?" Carl asked while Sophia paled and grabbed a hold of her knife again.
"Hun, I wish I could answa that one; ya know as well as I do what the answa would be. But that ain' my call, now is it? Ya eitha have ta sneak in and risk bein' caught, which is absolutely stupid if ya ask me, 'specially since this guy lies through 'is teeth, or take mine and ya daddy's word for it. The man is dangarous and capable a spinnin' tales out 'is ass, Carl. Ya should go back ta ya dagga-glarin' mommas and keep 'em company and off my back for a bit, yeah? Ain' nothin' ya can do taday, so ya might as well keep 'em company," she told the boy before he smiled at her, grabbing Sophia's hand and heading towards his mother, leaving the hunters alone.
Daryl dragged Ania away after that and out to their camp so that they were out of the eyesight and earshot of the others. She had a small stash of herbs out there in case either of them got a minor injury getting it out and ransacking it before throwing a few in her mouth. She chewed them up before coating Daryl's knuckles once they sat down before she wrapped his hands in some gauze she had out there, too. Neither of them spoke through the entire process, but as soon as she was done Daryl had pulled her into his chest. It wasn't extremely comfortable to Tea because of how she was sitting and he knew it, but he just needed to hold her as he tried to get the images going through his mind to stop. Shifting as gently as she could to keep as much contact as possible with Daryl, Tea laid down against his chest and brought one knee beneath his upturned leg, her other leg leaning against the opposite side of the same one. Her entire torso was folded into his chest pressing into him as much as she could with how they were sitting and trying to help him calm down. For once, it was his body that was shaking as they sat and Tea doing her damnedest not to let him fall apart.
"I'm no better than my dad," he said in a broken whisper, tears falling into Tea's hair as he let himself have a moment of weakness in front of her.
"Ya a thousand times betta than that rat bastard," she told him with conviction, spitting the last two words.
"I beat that kid just like he used to beat me. Tied up and unable to fight back. How's that any different than what he did?"
"I could a stopped ya if I wanted ta, but I didn'. I didn' 'til I knew the kid was out. If 'e weren' tied up, 'e could very well lead 'is group back 'ere, and we tried playin' nice. It was 'im that fucked up by tryin' ta proposition me. And 'ere's the biggest difference 'tween ya and that bastard, love, the shitebag in the shed deserved that beatin' for what 'e let get done ta 'em girls, what 'e'd do ta us. Ya neva once deserved what ya got. Neva fuckin' once. Ya wouldn' wail on a kid jus' 'cause."
"I lost my shit, Ania!" he all but yelled as he held her as tightly as he could.
"And I let ya. Ya needed it and he was the propa outlet. Afta everythin' that happened, what 'e said, what happened with Shane, ya needed ta get ya anga out, and if I'm bein' honest, I needed ta see that. I jus'...I needed ta see it," she told him gently, fighting back her own tears.
"There's times I wish you'd fuckin' hit me when you get angry," Daryl admitted. "Or when I'm bein' a pussy like this. Merle'd beat the shit outta me."
"It's a good thing I ain' Merle then, ain' it?" Tea asked before she turned her left wrist up and showed him several thin lines. "When was I first on my own, I couldn' handle not feelin' the pain. I didn' feel nothin' inside, didn' even know how ta feel or what ta feel, so I thought physical pain was the only way ta feel. That's all I'd had at home, so that was all I'd eva known. It's easia for ya ta take a punch than ta hear words a encouragement or take support 'cause no one eva used their words with ya. Same as me, needin' ta learn how ta feel without pain, and I still don' do that right, 'cause undaneath everythin' I feel is jus' fear. Ya fear bein' like ya daddy while I fear...I jus' fear not eva bein' good enough. 'Sides, ya really think I'd let Merle wail on ya?" she said with a little laugh.
Daryl caught her hand and brought her forearm up to his lips and kissed each of the scars still prominent on her skin, and some of the ones that were barely visible. These were the first scars he knew of that hadn't been caused by her family during the years she'd spent in their house. Her thighs, back, and stomach were covered in scars, tally marks from her sister, lash marks from her father, and thick cuts she had said her mother had caused her. She'd told him how she'd gotten many of the scars, only excluding the random letters at the base of her spine; T, E, C, P. He'd seen it the first day they'd been together and she had jerked away from him the first time he'd touched it and had buried herself in his chest when he'd asked about them. She'd adamantly refused to tell him what they meant and when or how she'd gotten them, and it had made her extremely uncomfortable the first few times he'd touched it afterwards. Ever since her attack, though, he would often trace his name over those letters and it had become cathartic to both of them now.
Tea knew that it wasn't just Randall that had Daryl in the state that he was in. He hadn't had a chance to deal with anything any more than she had after what had happened before they'd left those damn woods and found out Merle had been left in Atlanta. Even if he wouldn't admit it and had taken on the burden of being there for her, he was just as stressed as she was and even angrier about everything that had happened. She had managed to get him to tell her about his nightmares after the third night she'd had to wake him up and she could understand why he was having them now, but until last night, she hadn't been able to get them to stop. And if she was being honest, she'd only pulled him into her chest because it was his heartbeat that always helped her sleep when she had problems. It was only because of Daryl that she had even been able to hold it together at all and Tea would be happy if she pay back just a fraction of what he'd done for her. To know that he trusted her so much that he was willing to show his real emotions and not just the cold exterior he showed everyone else was truly something that touched her more than anything else had. She let him hold her as tightly as he wanted to while he got himself back under control, gently rubbing the marks she hated the most on her body and rested his chin on the top of her head. Pulling back and taking his face in her hand, Tea brought his eyes to her before leaning in and kissing him gently on the lips.
"You, my dear Daryl Dixon, are a fuckin' amazin' man and the only person I feel completely safe with, and not jus' 'cause ya can savive in this damn world. Ya have neva once judged me, neva treated me like I was nothin', neva made me feel unseen and unwanted. Ya said and ya've proven that ya love me, and I can' even begin ta explain how grateful I am for that. Ain' nothin' ya eva do is gonna make me think less a ya, ya got it?" she told him. After a second she paused and said in a serious tone, "Unless ya cheat. Ya cheat, I'll cut ya dick off and feed it ta ya."
Daryl scoffed at her before hitting her thigh, telling her, "Yeah, well, ain't gotta worry 'bout that. Let's go wrangle up some dinner, huh?"
Tea couldn't help but chuckle a bit before leaning in and kissing him once more, Daryl deepening it for a moment until they both pulled back and she stood up. They both started to double check things around their campsite, Daryl making sure they had enough wood for the next couple days while Tea checked on the wild herbs she had strung up on Daryl's hunting line. Tea went into the tent to grab her own crossbow only to come back out and have a bunch of arrows shoved right into her face, making her laugh again as Daryl cursed, not having expected her to come out right at that moment. She just grabbed his vest and helped him into it before she walked around him and reached up to kiss him again. Daryl could get uncomfortable when she was clinging to him constantly, but the little touches and the gentle kisses, the small acts of affection when he was having his own problems, she knew meant just as much to him as him holding her meant to Tea herself. They had just parted and gone around the wall for Daryl's quiver and some more arrows for him when they looked up to see Dale walking over to them from the group's camp.
"The whole point of us comin' up here is to get away from you people," Daryl scoffed.
"It'll take more than that," Dale said. "Especially with Tea playing second in command."
"Didn' ask for it."
"Carol send you?" Daryl asked, knowing full well the woman had only become more and more aggressive with her attempts at making him leave Tea ever since she'd returned.
"Carol's not the only one that's concerned about you. Your new role in the group," Dale said. "And you let him," he told Tea.
"Oh man, I don't need my head shrunk," Daryl told him. "Get enough of that from her."
"And we had ta know that information. I offa'd ta do it myself and by myself, but 'e said nah. What was I s'pposed ta do? Tie 'm up and knock 'im out?" she asked the man with a shrug of her shoulder.
"This group's broken," Daryl said. "We're better off fendin' for ourselves."
"It's not broken," Dale insisted.
"Lori goes out a her way ta go against me all the damn time. Carol's fightin' me and Phia while tryin' ta get Daryl's attention or at the very least tryin' ta get 'im ta leave me. Lori's pregnant with Shane's kid and that's not sittin' well with Rick, but he's doin' 'is best ta ignore it. T-Dog could care less and Andrea wants ta prove 'erself. Ain' a single person in that camp that is thinkin' in line with the othas. That group is broken, and will be 'til we got a single unit workin' tagetha 'stead a bein' at odds or at each othas throats all the damn time."
"You act like you don't care."
"Yeah, it's 'cause I don't."
"You do, Tea."
"Yeah, 'bout my family. Not some outsida who may very well come back and kill the people I've been lookin' afta since the beginin'. There are some risks that ain' worth the potential reward, and I don' see keepin' 'im alive as bein' anythin' but a risk afta that intaview."
"So the solution is just to kill the boy?" he asked them.
"What otha option do we got right now?"
"Why not try to save the kid's life? Do the right thing, the humane thing," Dale pleaded.
"I didn't peg you for a desperate son of a bitch," Daryl quipped.
"Your opinions make a difference. Both of yours," Dale insisted.
"Man, ain't nobody lookin' at me for nothin', 'xcept Ania and Phia," Daryl told him.
"Carol is. And I am, right now," Dale said.
"Carol's tryin' ta split us up, that's why she's up his ass," Tea spat; Carol had been trying to get Daryl's attention all week much to both her and Daryl's chagrin to the point that even Sophia was angry with her mother for her actions.
"You both obviously have Rick's ear."
"Rick ain' wrong, though. I don' care whetha or not the kid lives or dies, I care 'bout eliminatin' the threat in the most efficient way possible. If that means killin' someone near my age, I'll pull that trigga ta keep my family safe," Tea admitted.
"Don't matter anyway," Daryl told him. "That guy gets back to his people, we're done for."
"You both cared about what happened to Sophia. Cared what it meant to the group. Torturing people? That isn't you. Either one of you. You're decent people. So is Rick."
"Ya don' know me enough ta know what I'm capable a," she told the older man. "I've always done what I needed ta ta savive, and, again, if I got ta pull a trigga ta savive, that's what I'll do. 'Sides, didn' seem like anyone but ya have a problem with it."
"You can't believe that. You...you just can't."
"I can, and I did."
"Like I said," Daryl said, grabbing Tea's hand and heading to the woods. "Group's broken."
They both just wanted to be alone without anyone from the group coming out to bother them anymore until the meeting later in the evening. Tea didn't seem to mind trudging through the woods behind him as they were supposed to be hunting but in reality, Daryl just wanted to be in the woods. They didn't catch a single thing as they walked along until she reached out and pulled him to a stop, walking around him and kissed him gently before telling him was alright to let himself feel. His resolve began to faulter as he looked into her eyes until he fell to his knees, putting his ear to her chest and listened to her heartbeat. She wrapped one arm tightly around his shoulders while her other hand was running through his short hair and let her nails gently run along his scalp to soothe him as he let himself shed a couple tears. He had been there last week when her mind was taxed, and now she was here giving him exactly what he needed when he was in a moment of weakness without judging him for it like Merle would. Guess there's a first time for everythin', Daryl thought as he slowly gathered himself back together and pulled her up.
The two of them ended up sitting at the base of a tree just listening to the sound of the woods, not even talking, until they had to leave the woods to make it back to the farmhouse. The meeting was to happen before dinner, so everyone was already in the house when they walked in and Daryl pulled her into him as he leaned against a hutch. Tea watched with a smile as Carl and Sophia tried to stick around only to be forced to wait with Beth and Jimmy upstairs. It caused her to laugh and Daryl to smirk, leaning in to whisper to her that she was the one putting that defiant streak in them before she gently bumped her shoulder into his chest. The look on Carol's face when Tea turned her eyes back towards the others was priceless after seeing the act of affection between the two and made Tea briefly consider whether or not she should be smug. She'd seen Jesse and Chrystal have the look on their faces when it came to things like this, but Tea just couldn't muster the feel of anything but guilt if she was honest with herself. Tea knew she hadn't done anything that she should feel guilty for to the woman other than yell at her for how she was behaving as a mother, but there was nothing else she had done to win the woman's ire. If the woman was pissed about Daryl and Tea being together it was just tough shit; Daryl had chosen her and Carol wasn't going to get in between them just because she was jealous. She settled back against Daryl's chest and leaned on him more as the others looked between each other as they waited for someone else to speak.
"So how do we do this?" Glenn asked quietly, breaking the silence. "Just take a vote?"
"Does it have to be unanimous?" Andrea asked.
"How about majority rules?" Lori suggested.
"Well, let's just see where everybody stands then we can talk through the options," stated Rick.
"I don' see much choice in this, ta be honest. He makes 'imself look weak, but 'e's got the glint in 'is eye, the one that says 'e's gonna turn out ta be jus' like those men 'e was with. He sat and watched as two girls were...taken...in front a their fatha. We can' trust 'im at all," Tea admitted, making sure they knew exactly why she had a firm stance on the matter.
"So we kill him, right?" Dale asked her in disbelief. "I mean, why bother to take a vote? It's clear which way the wind's blowing."
"Well, if people believe we should spare him, I wanna know," Rick said.
"Well, I can tell you it's a small group, maybe just me and Glenn."
The man in question looked down before telling Dale, "Look, I...I think you're pretty much right about everything, all the time, but this-–"
"They've got you scared!" Dale cut him off.
"He's not one of us!" came the counter. "And we've...we've lost too many people already."
After a pregnant pause before Dale turned to Maggie and Hershel, "How about you? Do you agree with this?"
"Couldn't we continue keeping him prisoner?" Maggie asked.
"Just another mouth to feed," shot Daryl.
"It may be a lean winter," Hershel told them all.
Lori suggested, "We could ration better."
"Or he could be an asset! Give him a chance to prove himself!" Dale insisted.
"Put him to work?" Glenn asked.
"We're not letting him walk around," Rick stated.
"We could put an escort on him," Maggie said.
"Who wants ta volunteer for that duty only ta be killed when ya turn ya back?" Tea asked.
"I will!" came the defiant answer from Dale.
"I don't think any of us should be walking around with this guy," Rick said.
"He's right," Lori said. "I wouldn't feel safe unless he was tied up."
"We can't exactly put chains around his ankles, sentence him to hard labor," Andrea said.
"I've seen people like 'im in my line a work," Tea said. "He's the kind who will do whateva it takes ta savive while also doin' as 'e pleases with the people around 'im. Not only is 'e a danga ta all the women and kids, the second the wind blows against 'im, he'll take up arms for the otha side. Yeah, we could let 'im stick it out with us, but 'e could run back ta 'is group and brings 'em rollin' in here, or any otha group with stronga numbas 'e might come across and lead back. He's gonna jump ship without a second thought. The risk a lettin' 'im stay or lettin' 'im leave is jus' too great."
"So the answer is to kill him to prevent a crime he might never even attempt?" Dale asked flabbergasted.
"Betta odds for us," Tea said with a shrug. "We have ta weigh the risks versus the gains when it comes ta the world as it is now."
"If we do this, we're saying there's no hope," Dale told her. "Rule of law is dead. There is no civilization."
"Dale, I hate ta tell ya, but the minute the military got ova run and the government fell apart, the rule a law was dead! Now it's the rule a land, meanin' our land, our rules, our say. That is how civilization started ta begin with; clans and turf wars. That's all this is now. Anotha breakdown ta the beginnin' a civilization and a need for different laws. It ain' pretty and ya ain' gonna like it, but that's the way it is now," Tea tried to reason.
"Could you drive him further out?" Hershel asked Rick. "Leave him like you planned?"
"You barely came back this time," Lori said, the look on her face making Tea think she was being incredibly selfish. "There are walkers. You could break down. You could get lost."
"Or ambushed," Daryl offered.
"They're right. We should not put our own people at risk," Glenn said.
Another pause ensued before Patricia tentatively asked, "If you go through with it, how would you do it? Would he suffer?"
"The most peaceful and painless for him would be execution style, bullet ta the back a the head," Tea told her.
"What about the body?" T-Dog asked. "Do we bury him?"
"Hold on, hold on!" Dale said. "You're talking about this like it's already decided."
"You've been talking all day, goin' around in circles," Daryl told him, waving his arm out in frustration. "You just wanna go around in circles again?"
"This is a young man's life! And it is worth more than a five minute conversation!" Dale exclaimed angrily. "Is this what it's come to? We kill someone because we can't decide what else to do with him?"
"And this is our lives," Tea retorted. "I hate ta say it Dale, I really do, but we ain' got the luxury 'ere a playin' it safe. I'm sorry ya havin' a hard time comin' ta terms with the world as it is now, but it is what it is. We keep ours safe, and do whateva it takes ta do so."
"Rick, you saved him!" Dale turned to the cop, realizing Tea was a lost cause to his. "And now look at us. He's been tortured. He's gonna be executed. How are we any better than those people that we're so afraid of?"
"We wouldn' rape their women or kill their men jus' for stumblin' across 'em!" Tea yelled. "I went in and tried ta see if 'e'd say anythin' ta be trusted and instead 'e sat there and tried ta get me ta go back ta his camp 'cause 'a cute, little mute girl like me would be loved' there, only for 'im ta turn 'round and talk 'bout how 'is group raped teenagas in front a their daddy. Raped 'em 'til they fuckin' died, Dale! If they were friendly, we wouldn' even be havin' this conversation at all. We'd be tryin' ta bring 'em inta the fold so we could savive betta! Pool resources! Have more people ta go scavengin'! But they ain', so we can' be friendly eitha. If they were, we could, but they ain'. I'm sorry Dale, I am, but we all know what needs ta be done 'ere ta protect ours."
"We have a responsibility –" Dale started before Andrea cut him off.
"We haven't come up with a single viable option yet other than death," she said. "I wish we could."
"So let's work on it!" Dale yelled.
"We are," Rick said in a hard tone.
"Stop it," Carol's meek and frail voice rang out. "Just stop it. I'm sick of everybody arguing and fighting. I didn't ask for this. You can't ask us to decide something like this."
"Yes 'e can, same as a damn jury in a court, Carol!" Tea said. "Ain' no real damn difference ta that, 'xcept this is majority rules 'stead a unanimous. Fuck, ya kid's got bigga balls than ya!"
"Tea," Rick warned.
"Please decide," Carol continued, ignoring Tea. "Either of you, both of you, but leave me out of it."
"Not speaking out or killing him yourself, there's no difference," Dale said.
"Now that I agree with," Tea said to Dale, but keeping her eyes fixed on Carol; it was one thing to be against killing, it was another to be indifferent either way.
"Alright, that's enough!" Rick said, somewhat frustrated by Tea and Dale's attitudes. "Anybody that wants the floor before we make a final decision has the chance."
In a last ditch effort, Dale tried to reason with Rick by telling him, "You once said that we don't kill the living."
"Well that was before the living tried to kill us," Rick said with conviction.
"But don't you see, if we do this, the people that we were, the world that we knew is dead!" he insisted. "And this new world, it's ugly, it's harsh. It's, it's survival of the fittest! And that's a world that I don't wanna live in anymore. And I don't believe that any of you do. I can't. Please," he said getting emotional. "Let's just do what's right."
"The problem there, Dale," Tea said sadly, "is that what's right ta the old world ain' what's right for this one. It is survival a the fittest now. It's us versus them, goin' right back ta when cave people started formin' groups. Each group has its own laws, own way a doin' things, that's gonna make it ta where what's right here is what's wrong there. There is no right or wrong way 'bout this. It's simple risk assessment and the risk 'e poses is greata than the safety 'e offas."
"Isn't there anybody else who's going to stand with me?" Dale asked, understanding where Tea was coming from, but appalled by how comfortable she seemed with the idea.
There was a pregnant pause where everyone looked around at each other, some avoiding eye contact with Dale, but T-Dog looked at him and said, "He's right. We should try to find another way."
When no one else spoke up, most people not even able to look Rick in the eye now, he simply cocked his head to the side in a motion that clearly said 'you tried' to Dale. Tea had been in professional mode almost the entire time, only breaking it over Carol. It had been where she'd shined in the past since logic and debate had always been her strongest points. It was why she knew in the old world there wouldn't have been a need for this at all because the criminal justice system would have taken Randall into custody long ago. Now they had to decide the fates of those they ran into on the road and decide whether or not they would join the ranks or be purged. There was no right or wrong when it came to it, simply assessing the risks vs gains even though she felt horrible for Dale since she understood why he was having issues. He was in his mid-sixties and had an old soul. He was full of life and morality and all things good, but that was warring with the way the world was now. If he had been younger like the rest of them, aside from Hershel, he might have understood their viewpoints a little better. Unfortunately for him, his mindset would be impossible to keep in a time when there was only room for safety and numbers.
Almost in tears, the man asked, "Are you all gonna watch too? No, you'll go hide your heads in and try to forget that we're slaughtering a human being."
"Ain' slaughta. Slaughta entails it bein' violent and bloody, for food, or in large numbers. Murda, yeah, sure, but ain' slaughta," Tea said, internally face palming at her automatic English language lesson in a time like this while Daryl bit his lip behind her and gripped her hip a little tighter, trying to stifle a chuckle.
Dale scoffed at her, "I won't be a party to it." He walked out of the room and past Tea and Daryl. "You're right. This group is broken."
Everyone dispersed in silence, leaving Daryl, Rick, and Tea behind. "I hate to ask this of you after this morning," Rick said. "But do you think you can help me with this?"
"I can do it," Tea offered. "It won' affect me the same as it would ya."
"Naw, Ania."
"Daryl's right. I'm the one who made the decision to bring him back. I'll pull the trigger," Rick told her.
"Moral support then?" Tea asked, wondering why he needed the two of them.
"Something like that, yeah," Rick said.
"We'll be there," Daryl told him before pulling Tea out the door.
Sophia and Carl both joined them a little ways outside, asking about what happened inside. Tea didn't sugarcoat anything, telling the kids exactly what was going to happen and why. She felt like, although they were young, they had a right to know what was going on so long as it affected them. They were old enough to understand, so there was no harm in telling them in her mind when not only would it not change the outcome, but it would also prepare them for the reality of the world. When the two hunters had satisfied the two children's questions, they stayed in the camp so that they could be in camp when Rick was ready. Andrea came over and sat down next to them with some of the jerky Maggie had been giving them, handing a piece over to each of them before talking to them.
"You were good in there," she told the woman with the redneck leaning on her.
"I was doin' my job."
"I knew you'd be a great leader."
"That wasn' bein' a leada. I meant it, that was my job. What I did in there was simila ta bein' an expert witness in court. Not so much as provin' the evidence is correct or the specifics a the case and whatnot, but knowin' and assessin' the risks and behaviors and likely outcome a the situation before me."
"Do you think Dale's going to be okay?" Andrea asked, watching the man's back as he sat on top of the RV away from them.
Taking a deep breath, Tea looked back at the man, making Daryl grunt in protest as he was moved from his position, "Eventually. If I hadn' a had Phia ta look afta and then everythin' that's happened since, I'd prolly have been in a simila situation ta him when I quit smokin' weed," she said honestly as she moved back, rubbing a subtle hand down his bicep in apology.
"Never took you for a pothead," Andrea laughed.
"We all have our vices, and it jus' kinda happened 'cause I was gone and then hurt and jus' everythin' that's happened," Tea pointed out with a shrug. "He'll be fine. He jus' needs time ta adjust. Ya were a civil rights lawya?"
"Yeah, down in Florida. Kinda wish I had moved here to Atlanta when I got the offer, but I wanted to be closer to home," Andrea said.
"Why you wish you'd gone to Atlanta?" Daryl asked from his spot, not caring about the odd looks from the men or the glares from Carol and Lori as he sat leaning against his girl.
"I'd have met Tea earlier," Andrea chuckled. "You're a very interesting woman and I think you'd make a great friend."
Tea blushed fiercely, "Thank you."
"Not used to getting compliments, huh?"
"Nah, not really."
"Well, I think you should get used to it," Andrea said before she walked away laughing.
"She's a bit a a weird one, ain' she?" Tea asked as she watched after the other woman.
Daryl didn't bother answering her as he leaned against her, watching the others giving them either odd or dirty looks the entire time they sat under the tree. They even stayed in camp for the first time in a long time for dinner and even weighed in on some of the conversations the group was having after taking a short nap underneath the tree they'd leaned against. Sophia once again decided to sit with them and discuss a few things about what was happening that night, Tea making sure to tell her to stay away from the barn, Carl too. The last thing she wanted was for either of the children to see what was to happen in the barn later that night and emphasized that they were to stay with their mothers in camp and not wander around. By the time Rick came up to the camp to tell them it was time Dale had already walked off into the fields so as not to even hear what was about to happen. Tea, Rick, and Daryl moved as a single unit over to the shed Randall was being held in to get the boy and take him to the barn. The boy was pleading for his life the entire walk there and didn't stop even as Tea pulled out a strip of fabric and wrapped it around his eyes.
"Would you like to stand or kneel?" Rick asked as she and Daryl stood flanking Randall.
All the boy did was continue to plead his case, so Tea walked up behind him and kicked the knee of his good leg out, causing him to crumble before she forced him back up to be kneeling, stepping back with a pensive look on her face. She had told them both that she could do it herself, that it didn't matter to her and wouldn't affect her the same way as it did them because she had already killed in self-defense before but neither men were comfortable with her being alone with the guy. Both men told her that they had to be there in order to make things right; Rick for bringing the man back to begin with and Daryl for how he'd treated the kid in the shed. Tea simply looked at it as losses and gains, risks and benefits and she simply could not figure out a way to make sure the entire situation could go the way Dale had wanted. If there had been any other way out of this situation to save the others from the guilt she would have taken it. The only problem was that there were just too many risks and possible losses associated with both keeping Randall on the farm and sending him away. Even now as the kid was begging and pleading and crying his eyes out as Rick adjusted his gun, she could see that the guilt of the situation was bearing down on both Rick and Daryl. The look on both their faces had Tea about to speak up, ready to tell them that they didn't have to do it, that Dale might have a point about humanity, when a voice that she'd told to be no where near the structure rang out and made the three of them curse.
"Do it dad. Do it," Carl said as he walked into the barn.
"Ya have got ta be shite'in' me right now!" Tea yelled as she stormed past Randall and Daryl and grabbed Carl by the scruff of his shirt and forced him back through the door. "I told ya ya couldn' be here! That was the promise ya made me! Dammit Carl!"
"Take him away," Rick told Daryl as his voice broke, saying it once more with conviction.
Rick moved past her to take Carl back to the camp and talk to him while Tea and Daryl took Randall back to the shed. He kept thanking them and begging them to let him go, that he could help them, that his old group never stayed in the same place and would have moved on by now. They were both so lost in their own thoughts as they walked Randall back to the barn that they didn't listen to a single word the boy had to say let alone reply to him. Carl shouldn't have been anywhere near the damn barn and yet he deliberately went against her, his father, and his mother to come out and advocate the murder. Sure, she had never given the death penalty a second thought after dealing with her own family and the pedophiles she'd endured as a young teen. Sure, she'd started teaching the kids how to deal with other people and walkers and how to take care of themselves so that if they ever got separated from the adults they could still survive, but she had never once given them the impression that it was fine to kill someone without consequence and deliberation. Had he somehow overheard the conversation in the house? She gave them the final decision, but not enough details for Carl himself to want to see it himself.
As they locked Randall back in the shed, Daryl looked at Tea and asked, "Think it's right leavin' him alive?"
"I know it ain' right ta kill 'im right 'fore a kid. I ain' even sure killin' 'im is really the right thing to do anymore," she said flatly. "Was I wrong ta tell 'em the truth?"
"Phia stayed in camp."
"Phia takes my word as law anymore," Tea joked. "She's a good kid. Jus' wish things were differen' for 'er."
Daryl opened his mouth to reply only for the words to die on his tongue and both of their heads to swing around as screams cut through the night. They both took off in the direction they were coming from while Tea carried a flashlight and tried to find the source. It seemed to take forever before they found Dale screaming in agony with a walker on him that Daryl literally tackled off the man as Tea came to kneel at Dale's side. There was no way back from the wound he had, though, as his guts spilled from his body, many torn in ways that were irreparable. She yelled out to the others coming closer while Daryl put his knife through the walker's skull before returning to her and Dale. Rick and Andrea ran up then, the others following in short order as Rick told Dale to hold on before screaming for Hershel and Tea traded places with Andrea. When Hershel finally arrived and looked at the damage and told them there was no way he was going to be able to be moved, nor saved, the cop began screaming in distress. Practically everyone was crying except Daryl, Tea, and Hershel, many wondering how it could happen to Dale of all people.
Through her sobs, Andrea exclaimed, "He's suffering! Do something!"
"There's only one thing that can be done, Andrea," Tea told her as she knelt beside Dale and pulled out her gun. "Ya were right, Dale. I'm sorry," she said before shooting him in the head and easing his passing.