Don't Go, Songbird. Please Sing.
A.N: Hi guys. Normally I would use my limited time to finish a chapter of "Seeking a Friend for the End of the World", but given recent events… well let's just say what I had in mind was a bit fluffier than I could handle right now. Like all of you, I am absolutely devastated by the loss of Beth. After I watched it and calmed enough, I went on a major rant on Tumblr about my opinions on her death. But, I'm not going to do that on here. This is basically how I think the last 10 minutes of the mid-season finale should have gone if the outcome had to have been the same. I'm sure this has been done a thousand times already, but I needed to get this out. Coping mechanism really. Warning, this is going to be very angsty and tragic. I'm sorry.
I don't own TWD, if I did the ending would have gone much differently.
The sounds of boots clacking against the cold linoleum floor echoed as the group made their way to the trade-off spot. Despite the years of death and decay, the sharp smell of antiseptic still lingered throughout the dimly lit hallways of Grady Memorial Hospital. The eerie odor made the hairs on the back of Daryl's neck stand on end. He'd hated hospitals. Whether it was from the too many times Alice Dixon had dragged her boys in, claiming they'd fallen in the creek bed again or from countless bar brawls with Merle; they just never sat well with him. By the time he was 25, Daryl started avoiding hospitals all together. A decade later and a lifetime wiser, he found himself marching through the too clean corridors of Grady Memorial, for a trade he desperately needed to make.
Beth.
All he could think was Beth.
Her gold hair. Her deep blue eyes. Her purity, her goodness. If he was honest with himself, her everything. In a few short minutes, he would see her. She would be in his arms and God help anyone who attempted to pry her from him again. Noah let out a shaky breath behind him as he limped along.
"We'll get 'em back," Daryl said. "Dawn's got too much to lose."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Noah said.
Daryl didn't respond and gripped his gun a little tighter.
"We're here," One of the officers, Shepherd said.
"You try anything…" Rick warned.
"We won't. Don't forget, we want this to work as much as you."
Rick opened his mouth, for another warning perhaps, when something caught his attention. Footsteps. Heavy footsteps, clacking their way towards them. At first, Daryl could only make out the semi-distant echoes. Then the shadows, the silhouettes, until finally, he could see them. He could see her.
And there she stood, in all of her blonde glory. From all those feet away, Daryl studied every inch of her. Every line, every curve. From the scars that marred her pretty face to her pale little wrist encased in a blood stained cast. Beth looked older, like a part of her had died since their time in the funeral home.
But not weak, never weak. Despite it all, she had made it. She was a survivor, a fighter. She was right. And by God, he was so proud of her. Nevertheless, his relief didn't hide the fact that she'd been hurt. Bad. Daryl scowled at the cops surrounding her, his gaze fixated on Dawn. Those marks on her face were fresh and sure as hell hadn't come from caregiving.
The woman at the front, Dawn, looked different than he imagined, younger. Hell, before she would've been kinda pretty, beautiful even. Not the hardened and wild-eyed captor she'd become. If didn't know any better, Daryl would've felt sorry for her.
"Where's Lamson?" She asked.
"Rotters, saw him go down." Shepherd said.
"Oh…I'm sorry to hear that." Dawn said, her voice devoid of emotion. "He was one of the good guys."
They all watched her.
"One of yours for one of mine." Dawn said as she squared her shoulders.
"Alright," Rick said.
Daryl rushed forward with one of the cops, O'Donnell, in tow. He stopped in the middle, as if there were an invisible partition between him and the cops. A burly man wheeled Carol, looking worse for ware, forward. When they came to a stop, Daryl gently helped her up and out of the chair.
Throughout the whole exchange, he never took his eyes off of Beth.
Once Carol was standing, he watched as Beth was roughly jerked forward by another man much bigger than her and handed off to Dawn. From the way she flinched, it didn't take a rocket scientist to put together what sort of treatment went on around here. How dare they put their hands on her like that? Like she didn't matter? The sight made his blood boil.
Rick held out his hand.
The whole exchange took less than thirty seconds, but to Daryl it was longer than a lifetime. He watched as she crossed over that imaginary threshold and out of the standoff. And then, for the first time in his life, a miracle happened. She was there. Beth Greene was there, standing right in front of him, her beautiful blue eyes locked on his. He bit back the smile that had been itching to appear since he first caught sight of her. He longed to take her into his arms, hold her close and never let go. And maybe, just maybe, they could pick up where they left off. Starting with that "Oh,"… But later, they could talk about it later.
"Glad we could work things out" Dawn said stiffly.
Rick nodded, and it was over. Daryl placed his hand on the small of Beth's back and nudged her forward. Even with the lightest of touches, Daryl's fingertips burned. She was there. She was really there. They were going to get out of there. They were going to start over. They were going to be happy.
"Now I just need Noah, then you can leave,"
"That wasn't part of the deal" Rick said.
"Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her so I need him back."
"Ma'am please don't…" Shepherd started.
"Shut up!" Dawn snapped.
The following silence was deafening. Daryl could feel the tension in Beth's shoulders rise with every passing second.
"My officers put their lives on the line for him. One of them died."
"He's with us now! He's staying'." Daryl growled.
"He's one of mine, you've no claim on him."
"The boy wants to go home so you've no claim on him." Rick argued.
"Well then we don't have a deal." Dawn said.
Over my dead body, Daryl thought.
"The deal is done." Rick said.
"I-it's okay," Noah said.
"No, no." Rick shook his head.
"I gotta do it." Noah said, resigned to his fate.
"It's not okay." Beth stepped forward.
"So, it's settled." Dawn said smugly.
Noah made it about three steps when Beth darted forward.
"Wait!"
She threw her arms around Noah and hugged him tightly.
"It's okay." Noah said into her hair.
But it wasn't though, not in the slightest. It was never easy letting someone go. But leaving them behind in a shit hole like this was just plain cruel. Inhuman, even. Yet as demoralizing as it was, if it meant getting Beth out of there, then that was the way it would have to be.
"I knew you'd be back." Dawn sneered.
At that moment, something in Beth seemed to snap. Every so slowly, Beth unwound herself from Noah and turned to face Dawn head on. Even from a few feet away, Daryl could see the pure hatred gleaming from her eyes. Gone was the sweet girl who'd preached about humanity and good people. He didn't like it one bit.
"I get it now." She said icily.
Daryl held his breath.
Beth lunged.
A shot rang out.
And just like that, the world stopped turning. He could only watch as Beth curved inward on herself before crumpling to the ground. The grey of her sweater darkening to a deep crimson with very passing second.
Tears blurred his vision as he raised his gun without a moment's hesitation. Blind and deaf to Dawn's helpless pleas of forgiveness, didn't even blink as he pulled the trigger. Dawn's head whipped back in a smatter of red as she dropped.
His hands shook as he slowly lowered his gun. A sob escaped his lips as the gravity of the moment came crashing down. Beth lay there on the floor, motionless and covered in blood.
"No, Beth, no." He whimpered as he dropped to his knees at her side and pulled her into his lap. He couldn't hear the others around him crying and gasping in shock. He didn't register the frantic voices of the cops and hospital patrons. All he could see was the girl bleeding out in his arms and she was was still breathing.
The bullet hit her square in the chest, just under her heart. Her breath was shallow and watery, but nevertheless, she was alive.
"She's alive," He murmured. "She's alive!"
"She needs help!" He cried, looking at the others desperately for any sign of hope. His gaze even found it's way to the doctor, who held his hand over his mouth gravely. Each person had the same expression; pity.
"Daryl," Rick said gravely.
Her eyelids fluttered slightly.
"C'mon, Greene, look at me." He pleaded.
"Daryl," She coughed.
It was gurgled and feeble, but in all his life, he'd never heard a sweeter sound.
"Hey," She smiled weakly.
That was Beth Greene for them, in a tremendous amount of pain, and she went ahead and used her decreasing strength to smile at him.
"Hey," He said.
She giggled, or at least tried to before it turned into a whimper.
"Shh, shh. I gotcha, girl, I gotcha." He pulled her closer to his chest.
"You're alive," She whispered. "When the house was swarmed, I thought-"
"I got out, wasn't gonna leave you."
"I know. Last man standing, remember?"
A strangled laugh bubbled up and out of him as he thought back to that night on the porch all those months ago. The night she'd opened his eyes. The night she'd broken down his walls he'd carefully crafted over the years. The night he'd fallen in love with her, whether he realized it then or not. Tears flowed freely down his face now.
"Not without you," He choked.
Suddenly, Daryl didn't care that the others surrounded them. He didn't care how much they heard. He didn't care if they saw him fall apart. By God, he wasn't going to keep this bottled in any longer.
"Beth, ya need to know somethin'. Somethin' I shoulda told you back at that house,"
"Don't you dare," She said with as much force as she could muster. "Don't you dare say goodbye to me."
"Beth-"
"I hate goodbyes and I know you do too."
"Don't matter, and I ain't sayin' goodbye. Not today, not ever. 'Cause you're gonna live, Beth, you're gonna live. You're gonna make it, you always make it!" He said.
"Not this time," She whispered, her eyes sparking with tears.
"I ain't sayin' goodbye to you." He said again. "But, you gotta know, it was you. That night at the house, it was you. It was always you."
"I know," She smiled weakly, her voice barely above a whisper now.
Of course she knew.
"I shoulda told you a long time ago,"
She looked as if she wanted to speak again before her body began to shake and jerk with violent and gurgled coughs. With every strangled gasp she released, he could feel his shirt growing wetter and wetter with her blood.
"Daryl, it hurts…" She whimpered.
"I know, darlin', I know."
He brushed his dirty fingers against her pale face. Even like this, she was still so damn beautiful. He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her forehead.
"I wanted it too," She murmured suddenly.
"Wanted what?" He asked.
"To stay there, in that house. To make it work, like you said."
"I never shoulda opened that door,"
"I wish we could've stayed there forever."
"We'll go back there, you and me, Greene." He promised. "But you gotta hold on for me, just like in that old Tom Waits song you like to sing."
"I thought my singin' annoyed you," She joked feebly.
"Never," He said.
"Will you stay with me? When…"
"I ain't goin' nowhere,"
"Good," She whispered, her eyes barely even open.
Her breath grew shallower and shallower, until one moment, it stopped.
"Beth? Beth?" Daryl shook her. "No, no, no, no. Beth, Beth! Don't you do this, don't you die on me now." He pleaded like he had when she first dropped.
Only this time, her eyes didn't flutter open.
Only this time, she didn't smile up at him.
Only this time, Beth Greene didn't make it.
And that destroyed him.
A/N: I'm sorry. I know it may have been kinda cliche, but I really needed them to say goodbye to each other. On a lighter note, today is my birthday so that's kinda fun. You know what would be an awesome birthday present? Reviews! Seriously, thank you so much for reading and despite how sad it was, I hope you enjoyed it. By the way, I should have a new chapter for Seeking a Friend for the End of the World up soon. Love you guys, stay strong!