"Wait!" Beth shouted, her feet scrambling to run forward. She got one step, then another before she got pulled back. She turned to look at what was stopping her and found Daryl's hand grabbing the back of her sweater so hard his knuckles were white. "Daryl, get off!"
"I sure as shit will not," he hissed at her. "You fuckin' stay put, girl."
"They can't take Noah!" she shouted, not caring who could hear. "Y'all can't have him! He doesn't want to be here! Just let him come with us!"
Dawn's eyes were hard, their darkness glittering. She had found one last way to get at Beth. One last bruise to press on - one last cut to rip open. Beth struggled again to move forward, but Daryl stopped her, his other hand roughly grabbing her arm and hauling her up beside him.
"We got this, Beth," he whispered to her. "Trust us. We're all goin' home. Y'can see Maggie. Hell, Judith, too. Y'just gotta calm down."
"They're alive?"
"Y'were right," he said simply. "Y'can see everyone again, y'just gotta stop."
Up ahead, Rick was talking in hushed tones to Dawn. It was hard to make out exactly what he was saying. He gestured at Noah, then at the group. A cop stepped forward, nodding. Rick met his eyes, and suddenly, Dawn was down - the gun shot echoed in the hall. Beth flinched when Daryl pushed her behind him, and everyone raised their weapons, but there were no more shots.
"We're taking Noah, and anyone else who wants to come with us," Rick said. "Y'wanna stay, that's your business, but we don't wanna hurt nobody else."
They waited for a moment, seeing if anyone else would take them up on their offer. When it became apparent that no one would, Rick led everyone out of the hospital. Before Beth even got a chance to appreciate being outside again, she was wrapped up in her older sister's arms, bones lax with relief.
"You're okay," Beth breathed, "I knew ya'd be okay. Knew you'd make it."
"I'm sorry," Maggie said, pulling away to look in Beth's face, tears swimming in her eyes. "I shoulda been lookin' for ya. It was just... too hard. After Daddy... I didn't want to look for ya, cause if somethin' had happened... then I couldn't pretend ya were alright."
"Shush," Beth said, pushing her sister's hair back from where it was sticking on her tears. "It's fine. May be the end of the world, but I did grow up with ya - I already knew what y'were thinkin'. Y'don't gotta be sorry. You bury your head in the sand, and I get aggressively optimistic. It's what we've always done."
"That man over there," Maggie said, looking in Daryl's direction, a few feet off from the rest of the group and hovering, "y'oughta go thank him. He didn't stop lookin' for ya. Not for one second. Looked like he wanted to wring my neck when I didn't join him, which I deserved, but you... go talk to him, okay, Bethy? He's been a mess."
"Alright," Beth said. "Y'distract Rick from leavin' for a while?"
"Y'got it," Maggie said with a smile, taking off in the direction of everyone else.
Daryl watched Beth approach. Ever since he had laid eyes on her, he had not stopped following her every movement, as if she was about to disappear again. He drew himself up to full height and waited for her to stop in front of him.
"Heard ya were a mess without me," Beth said teasingly.
"Who told ya that? Yer sister?" he asked. At Beth's nod, he huffed out a breath. "She's got a big mouth."
"Yeah," Beth agreed. "Can't argue there. One time I got detention and I begged her to cover for me so I wouldn't get grounded before the dance, but could she keep it to herself? Noooo."
"Hmm," he hummed in agreement, not really sure what to say.
"Thank you," Beth said simply. "Sounds lame for all you've done for me, but thank you. Ya got me out of the prison, ya taught me how to survive, and ya spent all this time lookin' for me... not to mention ya stopped me from stabbin' Dawn with the surgical scissors I still got shoved up my cast."
"Jesus, girl, y'serious?" he demanded. Instead of answering, Beth shook the scissors loose and handed them over to him. "That woulda been a dumb move."
"Yeah, well," Beth said with a shrug, "I hated her. But thank you, for stopping me. Daryl Dixon, the begrudging voice of reason."
Without warning, Daryl was hugging her. Hard. Tight. Like maybe the only place she would ever be safe was inside of him. She rested her cheek on his chest, enjoying the thump-thump-thump of his heart. Beth felt his lips on the top of her head, pressing a kiss against her hair.
"Y'can't... not again... y'gotta be safe," Daryl told her. "I couldn't take losin' ya again. Bad enough the first time."
"I'm sorry," Beth said, moving away to look into his face.
"Ain't nothin' t'be sorry for," Daryl said to her. "Hell, I oughta be the one apologizin'. I mean... you're hurt. Look at ya. Are y'okay?"
"Yeah," she said, nodding. "I'll have some kickass battlescars, but I'll be okay."
"And the... the cops?" Daryl asked, hands fisted by his side now. "Noah told us 'bout the men... they didn't...?"
"One tried," Beth said, and Daryl whirled around to face the hospital again.
"Which one?" he asked, not letting her finish. "I'm gonna kick the shit outta him! I'm gonna kill him!"
"He's dead," Beth said. "I smashed him over the head with a jar of lollipops and a walker got him."
"Y'swear it?" Daryl asked.
"Of course," Beth said, rubbing a hand down his arm to relax him. "I'm back, and I'm safe, and everything is fine, Daryl."
"Might take a while for it to sink in," he said. "All this has felt like a fuckin' nightmare since you disappeared."
"You were a mess, weren't ya?" Beth asked, more seriously this time.
"I did miss ya when you were gone," he said, pressing his lips against her forehead in a chaste kiss, "real bad. You got no idea, Greene."
Beth stretched up on to her tippy-toes and kissed him on the lips; mouth closed, just for a second. Just 'cause she had wanted to for the longest time and she finally could. He was right in front of her, and she finally could.
"I dunno 'bout that, Dixon," she said, teasingly, "I think I got some idea."