Daryl felt a chill as what Rick had just said set in. The man was just a little crazy and that made him a formidable enemy and a damn good ally. He was glad he was on the right side of that wrath.

Then another thing set in. Maggie was here. How the hell was he supposed to tell her that he had lost her sister? That he had failed her family again?

Everyone was hugging and swapping getaway stories after the prison. He noticed how certain people gravitated towards each other. Rick and Michonne sat close to each other with Carl on the other side of her. Sasha and Bob seemed to have become close, their hands were clasped between them. The military people and the fat doctor stayed together. And of course Glenn and Maggie were glued to one another with the strangest little tag along, a young woman he recognized as one of the group that attacked the prison. And then there was him. Daryl sat alone in a corner, quiet and withdrawn.

Then Sasha asked everyone in general if they had seen Tyrese get out. This was followed with a chorus of no's and sorrys. And then his chest seized when Maggie asked the same of Beth. Most everyone said no and sorry but Rick and Daryl looked at each other in tense silence.

"Rick? Daryl? Did you see what happened to Beth?!"

Rick said that he hadn't which led Maggie to pin Daryl with an intense questioning stare.

"Well?"

"I-" he cleared his throat and tried again. "Me'n Beth got out t'gether. We was on the road t'gether. Doing good. We found this little place stocked with food, decided to stay for a while. She had hurt er ankle in a snare a bit before. But we was good" He paused to think of how to say what he had to say.

" What happened?" Maggie pressed, she needed to know.

He swallowed hard and looked around at the expectant faces of their group and sighed.

"A dog come by earlier and run off when we opened the door. Thought the damn thing was back, stupid. Shoulda checked. My dumb ass, I just opened the door to a small herd of walkers- had to fight em. Told Beth to run. Meet at the road. Managed to take some of em down- run from the rest. Went to meet back up with er. Got to the road found her bag on the ground and a damn car drivin too fast to catch runnin but I tried. Run till I couldn't run no more and kept goin. came to an intersection. No way to track the car. I lost her. Shes jus gone."

He slumped down on the wall but kept eye contact with Maggie as her eyes flashed with emotion after emotion until they settled on a mix of joy that her sister may be alive and pain that they didn't know where or what she was going through. Those he understood, but what he didn't understand was Maggie getting up, walking up to him, sinking onto her knees and grabbing his face when he tried to look away. He didn't expect to hear her whispered thank you or to see the gratitude in her eyes.

"What n the hell ya thankin me for? Shes gone cause I was stupid! Your sister could be dead or worse and yer thankin me?!" He pushed her away with most of the energy he had left.

Glenn started to protest but his wife shushed him. "Now you listen to me Daryl Dixon, and you listen good! You got her out, you stayed with her, you did everything you could for her and now you care enough to feel guilty and miss her. That is more than most men would have ever done!" When she paused for breath in the middle of her tirade Rick chimed in.

"Yeah, and even I know that you would have put any marathon runner to shame tryin to find her again!"

"Exactly!" Maggy exclaimed. "You need to stop takin this whole world of guilt and responsibility on yourself and realize that you did everything you could. Hell you were fighting a herd of walkers to protect her. How can you say some jackass taking her was your fault?! So you need to suck it up, man up, and live with the fact that I am so grateful for everything you did for my family. Everyone in our group has something to thank you for not just me. So deal with it, you are just gonna have to live with the love!

He had been gaping at her as she ranted on and on until she spewed that last line. That triggered something most of them had never really heard. Daryl Dixon was laughing. And not his usual quiet chuckle, either. He was full on guffawing as everyone else started to laugh for no reason.

When the laughter quieted Carl asked what had been so funny which caused another chuckle to rumble through Daryl's chest. " I was laughing at that last bit o what Maggie just said. It reminded me o how when everyone was doin that creepy hero worship thing at the prison to me. Carol told me that I was just gonna have to live with the love.

Everyone but Rick smiled at that and then Daryl remembered why Carol had left. To push it from his mind, he decided to bring up what they were all wanting to avoid.

"So, has anyone got a real plan as to how we get outta this place?"