Shattered faith

Summary: Beth returns to team family but she's different. She's less open. Once upon a time she made Daryl see there were still good people, but now it's his turn to show her and its harder than it first seems.

Her lungs burnt as she ran breathlessly forward, her tired, bare feet slapping against the hot concrete. The sun was giving her no mercy, blaring down on her making her sweaty and thirsty. She refused to stop though. There was no way she wanted to go back there to those terrible men and their terrible camp.

Her legs were like jelly and she knew she had to stop for a rest otherwise she'd pass out and the walkers would get her. So she just stopped and slumped down onto the road, head in her arms and knees to her chest as she took deep breaths to try and steady her nerves. Keeping an eye out for walkers, she placed her backpack beside her and began to remerge through it. No water. No food. Nothing apart from a few useless bullets for a gun she didn't have and an empty plastic bottle.

She sat there for a second, one hand on her forehead as she tried her hardest to figure out what to do before kicking the useless backpack in frustration. It had been a year since Beth Greene had felt so utterly hopeless.

It was then she heard the faint sound of a car coming up the long seemingly endless road and she twitched back into survival mode, grabbing her backpack and getting back to her feet. She shaded her eyes with her hand and squinted to see if she recognised the car as one her old group used to use. Even though she didn't recognise it she'd learnt by now to be as weary of the living as she was of the dead so she turned towards the forest. Her muscles ached as she attempted to run towards it. If she could get there, the car wouldn't see her and she'd be safe. But as she began to run there was a sudden pain in her ankle and she tumbled to the ground with a thud. The car was getting closer and closer, slowing down as it got near her. She assumed she'd sprained her ankle by turning funny so there was no way she was running from whoever this was. Instead she tried her best to crawl away from the vehicle which was now parked behind her. She heard the door open and a mans voice

"Are you alright miss?"

Beth gave up. She didn't look at him as she lay there feeling defeated "Does it look like I'm alright?"

He circled around her so that they were facing each other and held out his hand "Come on. Let me help you."

Beth sighed as she reached out her bloodied hand and took his. He pulled her to her feet and she flinched, grabbing his arm as she almost fell again. He kept her steady as he took her over to the car and sat her in the back seat, legs outside the car.

"There's a camp not far from here where there's people living. I could take you there – we could fix up that ankle. Looks like you've sprained it."

Beth didn't even look at him as she swung her legs into his car, giving up. She didn't care where he was going to take her she'd been through hell and there was no place worse than that.

"So is that a yes?" The man asked with a smile. She didn't reply, simply slammed the door shut.

Beth woke with a jump. Another nightmare- but when had she drifted off? Must've been down to the dehydration.

She looked at her surroundings. She was in a small bedroom, tucked into a thin sheet on a single bed. On the bedside tables there was a glass of water and some saltine crackers. The window was open fully, the thin satin curtains swinging back and forth in the cool breeze. Lifting herself up she realized her ragged clothes had been replaced with a nightgown and her cheeks flushed as she realised that someone must've undressed her. She looked down at her ankle which was wrapped in a few clean bandages. This was confusing…it was almost like being back at her home. Everything was so clean and pretty. It was as if she wasn't living in the zombie apocalypse anymore.

She chugged the full glass of water in one go before attempting to get up. The pain wasn't as bad anymore. It was alright to walk now even though she did so with a limp. She hopped over to the window, pushing the curtains out of the way and looking out around the small town-like camp. There were kids playing outside and people who looked like they were simply being normal which she wasn't used to. There wasn't a gun in anyone's hands. It was frightening to see after being so used to seeing people highly alert and clattered with guns, knives and more. Strange how everything seemed to…normal.

Sighing to herself she turned and caught sight of herself on the mirror that was nailed to the bedroom door. Bruises covered her face and scratches but it seemed whoever dressed her had cleaned the blood off of her as well. She wasn't used to seeing herself and at the sight she turned away, feeling sick. She hated what she looked like now; raggy blonde hair chopped hastily after someone had grabbed her ponytail, scars, and bruises- there was nothing to like anymore. She could faintly remember being with her family back at the prison where she was able to get a wash at least once a day. She took pride in herself back then since she was never really assigned to do any work apart from take care of Judith. She missed that so badly; everything had been so simple not like now.

She heard the door creaking open and she turned her head swiftly. Watching as her reflection disappeared and to her absolute shock, her older sister appeared in front of her. Beth felt her jaw drop slightly as she let it sink in that she had actually found her older sister alive. They stared at each other both seemingly in awe of the other.

Maggie took small steps towards her younger sister, almost as if she was afraid she was going to run off. A smile was tugging at her lips as she got closer to her sister.

"M-Maggie?" Beth stuttered furrowing her brows as she felt that all too familiar burning sensation welling in her eyes. Maggie nodded, tears also spilling down her cheeks as she held open her arms. Her little sister fell into them, hugging her back pressing her cheek into Maggie's shirt and crying. Maggie rested her cheek on top of Beth's head as she also cried tears of pure joy. There was an immense feeling of happiness in the air right then as the sisters fell to the floor in floods of tears. Tears of pure and utter joy.

Beth didn't want to let go of her sister in case this was some kind of dream and she disappeared and Maggie seemed to feel the same way as she cradled her, both still crying. Maggie pushed her sister back abit so she could look at her

"I can't believe you're alive." She laughed a little bit as they tried to calm down. She had been the one who had changed and cleaned her when she'd been brought in by Aaron and even then she had cried so many tears. Nobody else knew she was alive yet, since Maggie wanted to keep it to herself just for now. She had wanted her own private reunion with her when she woke up.

Beth looked down at her sister's stomach which she was only just realising now "Y-you're pregnant?"

Maggie grinned tears still threatening to fall "'Bout four month now…really showin', huh?"

" So…that means the rest of the group are alive, right?"

"Yeah. God, they're really gonna be shocked once they see you." Maggie held her sisters hand "I haven't told them yet…just wanted it to be me and you when you woke up."

"Can we go see 'em?" Beth asked almost excitedly. Maggie looked like she was thinking it over

"You sure you don't want to wait until tomorrow? You've just woke up an' been put through the shock 'a' seein' me alive."

Beth nodded her head "I wanna see 'em. I need to. I want them to know I made it."

Maggie smiled "Alright if you're sure. I'll let you get changed. There's some clothes in the wardrobe I put in for ya. An' don't worry you'll be coming to stay with me after you get changed."

With that said Maggie kissed her sisters forehead and left the room, waiting outside the door. Beth got to her feet still slightly shocked as she limped over to the wardrobe and pulled open the doors. Jeans and a red checked shirt. Smiling to herself she took out the clothes and changed before tying her hair up and leaving.

xxxxx

The journey over to Maggie's house was a quick one but it made Beth nervous. She didn't know how long it had been since the last time she saw any of her family, but she knew it had been a long time. So, holding tightly onto her older sister's hand they entered the house.

"You sure you wanna do this today?" Maggie asked in a whisper. Beth stared at her for a second as if unsure before nodding her head. Maggie squeezed her sisters hand as the sound of familiar voices filled the air. She was led through the passage and into a nice, spacious living room where all of her family were sitting. She almost gasped at seeing them again…after all this time thinking she'd never see them.

Nobody noticed the two at first, all of them involved in some sort of deep discussion. She felt Maggie's arm go around her shoulders as she cleared her throat

"Got someone y'all wanna see here." She announced over the loud chatter. All of them stopped what they were doing and turned.

Shock all throughout the room.

She took in everybody's reaction all of them looking confused and happy at the same time. Her eyes stopped at Daryl who was perched on the windowsill in the corner of the room, staring at her. She knew he was as shocked as the others but his face remained unreadable.

Beth moved a stray piece of hair out of her face awkwardly. That's when all the exclamations such as 'Beth!' and 'oh my god, you made it' came flooding in as all of them emotionally came over and hugged her. All except for Daryl who stood where he was just staring at her. There was a look she'd never seen before on his face…and as the others were bombarding her with question she couldn't stop staring at him, everybody else's voices faded away.

There he was. She gave him a small smile, looking over Carls shoulder who was rambling on at her. He looked pained and happy all at once, frozen to the spot. She thought he was going to stay there forever but he began walking towards the group, dropping his beloved crossbow as he pushed the group out of the way and took her into his arms, hugging her tightly. She shut her eyes and wrapped her arms around him as she felt him shake and cry…something she'd seen him do once.

She gripped the back of his vest as they hugged, her own tears beginning to fall as his hand gripped her blonde hair, keeping her held to him. The rest of the group watched the two who had obviously had some kind of emotional bond before Beth had been kidnapped, reunited finally.

The rest of the group joined them, all giving a big welcome back family hug. But Daryl and Beth didn't even notice.

Please tell me what you thought I'd love to hear !

We will find out more about what has happened to Beth whilst she's been away as we get deeper into the story. Thank you for reading x