A really short Bethyl one-shot with a hopeful ending!

I own absolutely nothing!

"You need to back up!" Daryl yelled loudly, furious eyes on the tall, brown haired woman glowering in front of him.

"You need a reality check!" the woman yelled just as loudly, clearly not cowed by the Dixon Glare.

"Watch your mouth, girl," Daryl growled back, gripping his crossbow tightly in his large calloused hands.

Their family was all around them, watching the argument with varying degrees of interest. No one was particularly surprised by the blow out, tension had been building between the two of them for weeks. The only people who seemed concerned were Rick, Glenn, and Carol. They hovered close by anxiously, knowing the unpredictability of Daryl and Maggie's tempers.

"Maggie, calm do-," Glenn started to say, trying to get in between the two verbal duelers.

"I won't calm down!" Maggie shrieked at her husband, dodging around him. "He needs to stop acting like a God damned walker and wake up!"

"And what? Act like you? Like we're all happy families, sunshine and roses? Like everything is fucking alright? I sure as hell won't!" Daryl yelled, stalking away with a heavy gait, boots crunching on the bracken on the forest floor.

But Maggie didn't let him get far. Reaching out and grabbing a muscled, sweaty arm, she swung him around to face her, short hair standing on end.

"She's dead! She's dead and she's not coming back!" she screeched, green eyes bordering on manic.

Everyone in the group held their collective breath and those who had previously not been paying attention to the duo now watched as Daryl threw Maggie down with shock. Luckily Glenn caught her before she could fall.

Rick and Carol both stepped forward, unsure of what the hunter would do. Nobody had dared to bring her up. Not since it happened. Not since they had to leave her in a broken down car on an abandoned free way.

Daryl shot both of his friends a menacing glare, staying them where they stood, as he stalked up close to Maggie's face, leveling their gazes. Speaking softly, the group had to strain to him.

"She's not dead, not really. She's alive -here." He tapped his chest, right over his heart. "In me. I keep her here. She's a part of me. So until my heart stops beating, she will never really be gone."

A gasping sob filled the air as Maggie, once again, fell to her knees, Glenn clinging to her back. The deja vu was too much for Daryl. He turned and walked slowly into the forest, crossbow slung over his back, not sparing the other Greene girl a glance.

"Don't," Rick said, putting an arm out to stop Carol from following the redneck into the forest. "Leave him."

"But-," Carol started to say, but Rick interrupted her.

"He needs to be alone right now, " the leader said with a certainty that could not be disputed.

"Holy shit," Tara said, her voice shocked, looking in the direction Daryl disappeared in.

"Do you think we'll ever know?" Michonne asked calmly, stepping up next to Rick who was gazing off after the hunter with unseeing eyes.

"Know what?" Rick asked, absently stroking his beard.

"How much pain he's in."

Pain is the first thing she was aware of. It blinded, deafened and paralyzed her. Seconds could have been hours and hours could have been days. Time meant nothing to her anymore. All she felt, all she knew was pain. She succumbed to darkness again and again, wishing to never wake up and to have the perpetual agony cease, only to be forced into agonizing consciousness again. She wished and wished and hoped and hoped that it would all be over, that it would be the end. The end of life, the end of her.

Just as she was about to give into the darkness for good, she heard a voice. Either a hallucination from the pain or a gift sent by God, she was not sure. The only thing she was sure of was this voice, because it was the voice. The most important voice. His voice.

"Don't you fucking dare give up Greene! You hear me, girl? Don't you fucking dare!"

There was no choice after that, really. It was what he wanted. And she had decided long ago that all she wanted was to make him happy.

Gathering up her significantly diminished strength, she slowly opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness.

Credit for the line Daryl uses goes to the brilliant LJ Smith, from her book Soulmate from the NightWorld series. In my opinion Beth and Daryl were soulmates and I was absolutely devastated by the midseason finale. I haven't been able to watch an episode since! I have no interest in the other characters and I definitely don't want to see Daryl move on. In my head they are both living happily ever after, together.