Chapter Text
Tess was walking back to the house the next morning, having just dropped Luke off at the house that was used as a small daycare/classroom of sorts. It was taking everything in her not to turn back around and snatch him back up before locking them both in a room. She climbed the steps to the porch and plopped herself down in one of the rocking chairs. Daryl, who was sitting on the railing messing with his crossbow spared her a quick glance before resuming his focus.
“How’d it go?”
She exhaled an exaggerated breath of air, nearly pouting. “Fine. For him.”
“Us’ally the way.”
“Mhm.”
The front door opened then and out stepped Carol, decked head to toe in her Susie Homemaker best and sporting her new, vaguely creepy sunny smile.
“Time to punch the clock and make the casseroles.”
“Wha?” Daryl questioned, looking all but repulsed by this new mask she was intent on wearing.
“Make dinner for the older people, moms who need a break, people who can’t cook. You get to meet a lot of the neighbors that way.” she explained.
He just scoffed at her, a rare, amused smile playing at his lips that immediately had Tess’ twitching. “Yeah, al’righ.”
“...Have you taken a shower yet?” she suddenly asked, all pretenses of her happy disposition gone.
“Mmhmm.”
She gave him a dry look. “Take a shower. I'm gonna wash that vest.”
Tess had to duck her head down some to hide how utterly entertaining she was finding the little interaction. It made her think of the first interaction she’d ever seen between them after Terminus, when they had tightly clung to each other in reunion. She could see clearly, now, how wrong her original assumption regarding the nature of their relationship truly was. It wasn’t maternal like she had initially deducted. While the act itself could have been perceived as motherly in nature, she was able to easily see now that that was mostly because Carol was a mother, in her very make up, and it was just an expression of love that was ingrained within her. But they had their own special bond, no doubt, that far exceeded that. A certain kind of fated kinship, born out of pain and heartache and understanding. Tess hated that they even had those kinds of experiences to relate on, but she was glad they had found each other in this broken world. They deserved each other, deserved something good in their lives.
Much the same way Carol suddenly felt Tess deserved her undivided attention.
“And you.”
Tess’ head snapped up to meet the woman’s stern gaze, surprise coloring every bit of her features as she now found herself in the hot seat. “Me?”
“Yes, you.”
“What about me? I showered!”
“Yes, yes you did and I appreciate that,” she agreed, sending a pointed look to Daryl before refocusing her attention back to Tess with a raised brow. “The dress.”
And instantly her face fell flat again.
“Jesus, not this again...”
“Yes, this again. Deanna is throwing this welcome party for us tonight and we’re supposed to be making a good impression, that means all of us. You’re wearing the dress.”
“I don’t need to wear a dress to make a good impression…ain’t no dress that nice lookin' anyways…” she grumbled mostly to herself, crossing her arms over her chest and nearly missing Daryl’s snort before she turned back to see Carol all but staring daggers into her.
“You listen here,” she began sternly, tone leaving absolutely no room for argument. “That boy of yours spent over an hour picking out something special for you to wear and he’s excited to see you in it. You’re wearing it, and that’s that.”
“Carol -” she began before swiftly being cut off once more.
“You are wearing it if I have to tie you down and dress you myself young lady, is that clear?”
Tess could only gape at her in response, not entirely convinced the woman wouldn’t do it and also feeling a sense of begrudging acceptance she hadn’t felt since the last time her grandfather had lectured her as a kid. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good,” was Carol’s swift reply, staring her down for another moment before her beaming smile was back in place like nothing as she looked at the both of them. “You see that children? How easy things can be when we all just cooperate a little?” she fixed her cardigan before bouncing down the stairs and bidding her goodbyes. “I'm off now. You two have a lovely day. And take a shower!”
“Ya look ridiculous!” Daryl yelled after her, to which she called back with a cheeky ‘thank you’.
Tess, still feeling slightly unnerved by the whole interaction just shook her head lightly.
“You know, it was kinda funny before, but her whole Serial Mom act is officially startin’ to creep me out.”
“Can say tha’ again.”
She was so focused on her Carol discomfort that she nearly missed what had just happened. When her mind caught up she sent wide eyes his way.
“Are you kiddin’ me?”
Her words brought on his own look of confusion. “Wha?”
“Of all the pop culture references I’ve made to you that you claim to have no knowledge of and this is the one you know? Some obscured cult comedy film from like, twenty years ago?”
“Yeah, Kathleen Turner, righ'?” Tess confirmed with a nod and he went back to tinkering with his bow. “It was playin' on t.v at this little motel Merle and I stayed at once. He was high outta his mind and became convinced she was gonna come through the screen and kill ‘em.”
The highly unlady like snort that came out of her was almost embarrassing, though she did try to get herself under control, unsure if he would take offense to her laughing so openly at his brother. But he brushed off her attempts, little smile in place again. “Nah, you can laugh at tha’. Shit was funny.”
They enjoyed the brief moment of brevity until her name was called from the house next door, Glenn waving her over as it was time for them to go meet with Aiden and Nicholas. She stood reluctantly, knowing she had no more time left to procrastinate.
“Guess that’s my cue,” she put a hand on the railing to make her way down the steps before pausing, turning back to him. “See ya later?”
“Hm. I'll be here.”
She couldn’t quite explain the reassurance that gave her. She turned with a nod but quickly turned back at the bottom of the stairs at his voice.
“Hey, watch ya self out there, ya hear?”
“Yup, always.”
And with that, she was off.
-x-
They met with Aiden and Nicholas outside the armory where they were given official introductions. Tess was already positive she wasn’t a fan of either. Twenty-something frat boys, one with an over inflated sense of self who seemed to think he was an unofficial leader just because his mother ran the place and he had his crony pal, who was ready to do anything to back his friend up. Tess might have thought she was being a bit too pessimistic with her evaluation had it not been for the barely restrained eye rolls from both Glenn and Tara at several points during Aiden’s run down of things and his history in the ROTC. Nothing sparked more truer irritation than when they passed out guns to each of them, though. The silent agreement that they’d much rather not have one measly little pistol a piece to rely on for their full protection. Too noisy, for one, and too small a firearm if the shit was to really hit the fan. Which it so often did.
Tess had her knife, at least.
When they made it outside the walls they began a tour of the surrounding area, giving the newcomers a feel for the local terrain. Tess did her best not to drown out Nicholas as he informed them of how they had been expanding their trips out and how much of a radius they had cleared so far, followed by Aiden’s voice as he further explained how they run their missions. She was able to at least empathize with the younger men when he spoke of the team members they had recently lost after a bad run left them spooked and panicked. He almost even apologized for being an asshole, but it got buried in another spiel of how he ran the show and he called the shots.
Basically, get in line or get out.
Again, their group of four exchanged glances but otherwise stayed silent.
“Sorry you lost your people.” Tara threw out.
“Yeah, well, we got ours.” Aiden replied back smugly before beckoning them onwards as Nicholas once again chipped in.
“Managed to snag one of the deadheads that took them down. Strung it up there.” he pointed to a tree just up ahead.
“What? Why?” Glenn asked, thoroughly perplexed.
“Now we have a little pregame ritual. Get our heads on straight.”
“To remind us what we’re up against.” Aiden clarified.
When they got to the tree in question, however, there was no walker to be found, just some hanging intestines and flaps of skin, the only remaining remnants to the demented pinata they had made themselves.
Both Aiden and Nicholas were incensed at the discovery. Or lack thereof.
“Son of a bitch! Help me find it!” Aiden barked out, immediately scanning the area for their missing captor. When Nicholas observed that the blood was still wet, meaning it couldn’t have gotten too far, Aiden began whistling, loudly, sending Tess and the others on high alert at all the unnecessary noise being created. Glenn tried reasoning that it was already gone and they didn’t need to waste time on tracking down one walker, but Aiden wasn’t hearing any of it, instead declaring, “It took down one of our friends! It’s nearby, and we’re not letting it go.”
They kept on with their noise making, whistling and clapping until the thing seemed to materialize out of thin air, appearing behind Aiden who barely had enough time to side step, allowing the dead one to stumble towards Nicholas, who was beckoning it towards him. Tess pulled out her knife, the others the guns they were given and Noah was about to take the shot, only to have Nicholas push him out of the way, Aiden ordering nobody to touch it and for the rest of them to back off.
Tess was ready to call an audible, grab her people and just head back, consequences of insubordination be damned, when the aforementioned and dreaded shit chose that moment to finally hit the fan.
Aiden had a hold of the walker, arms restrained behind its back as Nicholas attempted to get it wrapped and secured back in the chain they had confined it in when the skin began pulling away, leaving trails of blood that slipped up Aiden’s grip and allowed the walker to break free and turn on him. Startled, he struggled a moment before giving it a desperate shove, sending the thing straight into Tara.
Voices started flying around, a cacophony of them screaming for Tara, trying to get the thing off of her as the other two still demanded they not put it down. And, in Tess’ case at least, there was the near deafening sound of her blood rushing in her ears.
Fuck. This.
She marched forward, just as Glenn had moved to do the same, and drove her bowie straight into the walker’s skull, feeling it give that final twitch before falling in a heap at their feet. She gave a huff, flinging the blood off the blade before placing a hand on Tara’s shoulder, silently assessing for any damage or injury.
Aiden exploded.
“What the hell?!”
But he was no match for their seething anger now.
“Yeah, what the hell. What the hell was that?” Tara demanded, nearly being cut off by Glenn, who had officially lost his cool.
“You almost got her killed!”
“I told you to stay back! I told you to listen to every damn thing I said. I told you that.”
“Glenn,” Tess called out, hard eyes meeting his in silent communication. “Now?”
Were they done with this crap? Were they good to go back now?
Glenn gave a long stare to Aiden, struggling to keep himself restrained before looking back to Tess. “Yeah. Now.”
And with that he walked off, Tess and Tara following and Noah close behind them, covering point.
Thank God, was all she could think.
The whole walk back was like a vacuum of simmering rage. Tess had never seen Glenn, of all people, so close to losing it. He was a tightly wound coil, ready to explode at any moment and Mr. Inflated Ego was too stupid to read the signs. Or just didn’t care. Most like that option. He was still too worried about his standing of outranking them and giving out the orders.
“You four need new gigs. You’re not ready for runs yet.”
The condescension was nearly enough to get Tess’ already simmering temper to boil over.
“Yeah, pretty sure you got that backwards.” Glenn shot back.
“Hey. Hey,” he jogged up in order to grab Glenn by the shoulder, spinning him around to face him. “Look, we got a way of doing things around here. And if you -”
“You tied up walkers -”
“It killed our friend!”
“Jesus Christ, kid,” Tess finally snapped this time, completely unable to bite her tongue any longer. “Those things know food, and nothin’ else. They didn’t plot and conspire against you. Shit just happens, all the time, everyday. You need to accept that because bullshit games like this are only gonna get more people hurt, or worse.”
Aiden stared at her, mouth agape as if he couldn’t believe she had the audacity to speak to him in such a way, let alone in front of the growing audience of onlookers around them, before redirecting his focus back to Glenn, clear contempt coloring his feature and his voice. “I'm not having this conversation. You obey my orders out there.”
“Well then we’re just as screwed as your last run crew.”
Tess saw the flash in Aiden’s eyes, the indignation of hurt pride and fury that had Tess’ hand tightening on the hilt of her knife again.
He stepped forward, getting directly in Glenn’s face. Challenging. “Say that again.”
Both Tara and Noah attempted to interject and diffuse the situation before it escalated any further as Aiden kept trying to provoke Glenn, demanding he repeat himself, shoving him back, needling needling needling, all the while Glenn tried to keep his composure, taking a deep breath to calm himself. “No one’s impressed, man. Walk away.” he advised just as Deanna came running over with Rick and Michonne in tow.
“Aiden! What is going on?”
“This guy’s got a problem with the way we do things around here.” he was quick to reply, like a kid who went running to mommy to tell on his sibling.
Not to mention the dismissal of her own say in things did little to smooth over Tess’ already raised hackles.
“Not just him.” she corrected with a glare his way that he was all too happy to return before looking at his mom with something akin to betrayal.
“Why did you let these people in?”
“Because we actually know what we’re doing out there.” Glenn again interjected, much more snidely than any of his previous comments and a fact that Aiden did not take kindly to. He immediately swung, Glenn dodging easily before popping him square in the nose. It was utter mayhem again, then. Nicholas coming up on Glenn to help his buddy but not even getting a chance to touch him - and the rest not having a chance to step in - before Daryl appeared, brutally taking him down with a tackle. Rick intervened, getting Daryl off the guy and doing his damndest to hold him back as he paced back and forth wildly, all the while Deanna screamed for everyone to stop and Tess tried to understand why they weren’t letting Daryl loose.
Assholes deserved a punch. Or two.
Deanna was finally the one to regain order, stating clearly to her son and the rest of the peanut gallery of gawkers that Rick and his group were part of this community now, fully and completely and anyone who had a problem with that could come speak to her directly. She then dismissed Glenn, Tara, Noah and Tess, after strick orders to turn in the weapons they signed out, and ordered Aiden and Nicholas to go home to wait for her. Rick tried to talk Daryl down some more but was promptly brushed off, Daryl picking up his dropped crossbow and heading out the gates. Tess nearly followed, having no more desire to be here at the moment than he clearly did but thought better of it when she felt Tara’s hand slap her elbow, urging her to go home with her.
More and more she was wondering if she wanted to be here at all.