A/N: A big congratulations to prettylittleliars39464 for winning my one-shot contest! This was written based off of the prompt that they gave to me. This was a fun one to write. Enjoy! Xoxo
Back Home
Maggie and Glenn were just about to leave and go on a run when they saw Beth running out of her cell and down the stairs.
"Woah, where's the fire?" Maggie asked as she watched her sister take the stairs two at a time.
Beth shook her head. "What? Huh? Oh, no. No fire." She shook her head, "I just wanted to catch you guys before you left. I wanna go with you."
Maggie and Glenn both shook their heads and Maggie spoke up. "Absolutely not. It's too dangerous out there."
"These days, livin' is dangerous. It's just a small supply run, Maggs. And I can take care of myself." Beth said, trying to assure her sister.
Maggie looked to Glenn for support, but he just shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't about to get in the middle of that.
"I haven't been outside of this prison since we got here. I'm goin' crazy in here and I need a change of scenery. One small supply run ain't gonna kill me." Beth said.
Maggie shot her a serious look. "It might." She took a step toward her sister and placed her hands on her shoulders. "If anythin' were to happen to you, especially if it were on my watch, I'd never be able to live with myself. I'm sorry, Bethy. But you have to stay here, where it's safe."
Beth shook her head and let out a frustrated groan before mumbling a quiet, "Fine," and then heading back to her cell.
Maggie sighed as she watched Beth close the curtains hanging on her cell. She wasn't trying to be the bad guy. She was trying to protect her.
Inside of the prison, Beth was safe. She was able to walk around without a gun or knife in her hand. She was able to live. Maggie just wished that her sister could see that she was only trying to protect her from the world that was outside of those walls and fences.
"We should get goin'." Maggie said, turning to face Glenn.
Glenn agreed and they started to walk out the door.
"Maggie, Glenn." Herhsel called out, stopping them both in their tracks.
He watched as they turned around to face him.
"What is it, daddy?" Maggie asked, eyeing her father.
"I want you to take Bethy with you." Hershel said.
"But, daddy-" She began, but he cut her off.
"No buts. It's not up for discussion. She needs to get out. I know you two will protect her, and she'll protect you." Hershel said, finishing the argument before it had even started.
"We could get Daryl to go with us." Glenn suggested.
"Does Daryl even know she wants to go?" Maggie asked.
Hershel shrugged. "I'm not sure. My guess is that he probably doesn't. Somethin' tells me he wouldn't be too keen on the idea of her goin' outside of these walls."
"If we can get Daryl on board, then fine. She can go." Maggie said, "C'mon, Glenn."
Glenn gave Hershel a nod before following behind Maggie and up the stairs.
Daryl and Beth were in her cell and they were, of course, having it out over what Beth had suggested to her sister and Glenn.
"When exactly were you plannin' on tellin' me 'bout this? When you came back from the run bit, or when Maggie and Glenn came back carryin' your corpse?" Daryl spat, turning his back on the blonde girl standing in front of him.
Beth scoffed. "I didn't tell you because I knew you'd act like this! Jesus, Daryl. It's just a small, lousy supply run. I don't see what the big deal is. You go out on runs all the time."
She had switched from standing behind him to sitting down on the bed and folding what little laundry was left from this morning.
"Yeah, a lousy supply run that could get you killed!" He turned around to look at her and shook his head. "I go out on runs because I know how to protect myself from all the ugly shit that's out there."
He knew as soon as he said it that he'd screwed up. He'd gotten his words twisted again and they came out all wrong. They came out like he was calling her weak and unable to protect herself. But that's not how they were intended at all. He just meant that the world out there was too ugly for someone so beautiful to have to see if they didn't have to. He wanted to protect her from it.
She stood up from the bed and got within two inches of his face and shot him a cold look. "It's bad enough that everyone else in this prison thinks I'm useless, I don't need it from you too."
She shook her head at him and started to walk out of her cell. She met Maggie and Glenn as they were coming up the stairs. They could both tell that she was heated.
"You okay?" Maggie asked, eyeing her younger sister curiously.
"Fine." That was all she said as she looked from her sister to Glenn. "Figured you two would've left already.
"We would've. But we changed our minds. I changed my mind. I want you to come with us, Beth." Maggie said, a small smile forming across her face.
Beth shrugged. "No, you two go. I gotta feed Judith anyway. Pick me up somethin' sweet."
She started to walk away, but Maggie grabbed her wrist before she could.
"I'm sure Carol won't mind feedin' her. We all got jobs to do, remember? Right now, goin' on this run is yours." Maggie said, and Beth sighed.
"Okay. Just let me go grab my knife. I'll meet you guys downstairs." Beth said, starting to walk toward her cell.
"One more thing," Maggie said, "Where's Daryl? We should ask him if he can come with us."
"Somethin' tells me he ain't gonna be all that willin'." Beth called out to her sister behind her as she walked into her cell.
Daryl was sitting on the bed with his head in his hands.
She didn't want to forgive him. She wanted him to live with what he'd done for just a little while. What he said hurt her, and it hurt her really bad. She wasn't weak. She knew that. She just wished that everyone else did, too. It seemed like the only person that even had the slightest clue was her daddy. He knew she was strong and that she could protect herself and anyone else that needed it.
She let out a sigh as she sat down on the bed beside of Daryl. He looked like he felt terrible and Beth knew that he did. So she caved and placed a hand on his knee.
"Look, I know you don't want me goin' out on that run. And I know you just want to keep me safe. But you have to let me keep myself safe too." She leaned her head down to rest on his shoulder, "And you know I'd never go out on this run if I didn't think I'd be back in time to say goodnight to you."
He sighed as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and held her close to him. "Just don't want nothin' to happen to you, 's all. You're my world, Greene."
She blushed as she listened to him speak and lifted her head up to press a soft kiss to his cheek. "The feelin' is mutual, Mr. Dixon. Now how 'bout you grab that bow of yours and we go out on a run."
He gave her a nod before standing up from the bed and shouldering his bow.
Maggie knocked on the bars of the cell and said, "You ready?"
Beth looked at her sister and nodded her head as she grabbed her knife off of the bedside table. "Hell yeah."
Glenn drove the car with Maggie in the passenger's seat and Daryl and Beth in the back. They'd been driving for about an hour or so now and Beth was still trying to take everything in. It'd been so long since she'd been outside of the prison and since she'd been in a car.
She was excited to go on this run. Maybe she'd be able to find things to put in her cell. She made a mental note to look for a new blanket and maybe a new pillow. They weren't essential, but she didn't know when she'd have the chance to get them. Sure, she could write it down on a list for the next group that went out on a run, but she wouldn't be able to pick any of it out. And there was a good chance that her wants would be passed up for other people's needs.
They were driving on a road that looked all too familar to Beth. She realized that the road that they were on was the same road that they'd taken the night that everything went down at the farm.
God, she missed that place. She missed Otis, Patricia, her mom. She missed everything about it. It was her home, but now, it was the dead's home.
Still, she wanted to go back. She wanted to see if things were still as bad as they were when they were forced to leave. So she took a deep breath and then spoke up.
"Can we.. go back to the farm?"
Maggie's eyes widened as she turned around in her seat to face her sister. "Beth, I'm not sure that's such a good idea. I mean, we don't even know if there's anythin' left."
Beth shook her head and proceeded to plead her case. "And we'll never know if we don't go back. I'm not sayin' that we stop and make it a temporary home, I just wanna see it. I need to."
"I don't like it, but we both know that arguin' with you will just waste my breath 'cause you'll get what you want anyway." The eldest Greene said as she looked over at her Korean husband.
Daryl snorted and mumbled under his breath. "Ain't that the truth."
Beth shot him a playful glare and slapped his shoulder.
The drive up to the farm was quiet. No one said a word. They were all trying to take in where they were and look at how much everything had changed since the last time that they were there.
To everyone's surprise, there weren't that many walkers. There were a few stragglers, but other than that, the place was a ghost town. That was just on the ouside though. It was hard telling what was on the inside.
As they pulled up to the house, both Greene sisters took a deep breath before getting out of the car. They'd both lost so much here.
On the inside, there were three walkers. Beth and Maggie quickly took them out as Glenn and Daryl watched. This was their house. They may not live in it anymore, but it was still theirs. And the dead had no right to be inside of it.
After the walkers had been taken care of, the sisters began to walk around their old home. Maggie came across a picture that was hanging on the wall of her and Beth when they were younger and her lips curved up into a wide smile.
"Remember this?" Maggie asked, holding the picture out for Beth to see.
Beth smiled as she inspected the picture. She couldn't have been any older than six years old in it. She and Maggie were both in their new church dresses that Hershel had gotten for them a few days before it was taken.
"Daddy spent a lot of money on those dressed. We wore 'em to church one time, then came home and played in the mud. He was so mad at us when he saw us outside, gettin' our dresses all dirty. But then you offered him a mud pie and he smiled so big it's like all of his anger just disappeared." Beth said before taking the picture out of the frame it was in and putting it in her back pocket.
"You're keepin' it to take back to daddy, aren't'cha?" Maggie asked, already knowing the answer to her question.
Beth nodded before walking over to the wall that held most of their pictures, their memories.
She pulled a picture off of the wall and shook her head at it. It was a picture of her and her mom. She was just around six months old at the time. As she looked at the picture, a tear began rolling down her cheek. She missed her mom so much. And with each passing day, the reality of her not being there anymore hit her like a ton of bricks.
Maggie walked over to her sister and draped an arm across her shoulders. "She'd be proud of you, of the woman that you've become."
"Yeah. Guess you're right. I just wish she were here to see it happen, y'know?" Beth said, placing the picture back in its rightful spot on the wall.
"Yeah, I do." Maggie said, "Ooh, look at this one." She grabbed another picture off of the wall.
It was a picture of Maggie, Beth, and Hershel on the day of Maggie's high school graduation.
"Daddy was so proud of me. He went around all week talkin' to everyone, even people he barely knew, about how I was graduatin' on Friday."
Glenn smiled as he listened to Maggie speak. "I wanna see."
Maggie shook her head and hid the picture behind her back. "I looked horrible."
"Not a chance." Glenn said, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.
Beth looked at Daryl and stuck her finger to her mouth as she made fake gagging noises.
Daryl laughed and shook his head as he walked toward his blue-eyed girlfriend.
Beth pointed to a picture of her when she was thirteen years old, playing piano for the church's choir. "This was the first time I'd ever played in front of anyone who wasn't my family. I was so nervous. Daddy told me to just picture everyone in their underwear. I asked him if that was appropriate for church."
The corner of Daryl's lips curved up into a smirk as he listened to her speak. He could listen to her talk about her life for hours on end. Because almost everything that she'd ever told him were good memories. And since he didn't have any of those as a child, hearing her talk about hers was a reminder that he had a chance to start over. A chance to make new, better memories. With her.
Maggie had opened up a small chest that was behind the couch and began to rummage through it. Both Greene sisters were kneeling down in front of the chest. When Maggie pulled out a small, pink blanket with a "B" sewn onto the lower left hand corner of it, her eyes lit up. She unfolded it and held it out in front of her.
"This was what daddy and your momma brought you home in when you were born. It was your favorite blanket. You wouldn't sleep without it." Maggie laughed, "You were four years old, so you probably don't remember this, but you left it at grandma's one night. You cried and cried for hours until daddy finally gave in and went to get it. And as soon as he came home and gave it to you, you were out like a light."
Beth smiled as she listened to her sister speak.
Maggie handed the blanket to Beth and said, "You should take it. Just in case you and Mr. Tall Dark and Brooding over there decide to have kids someday."
Beth laughed. "What if we just have boys?"
Maggie shrugged. "I don't think wrappin' 'em up in a pink blanket will kill 'em."
Beth shook her head, took the blanket from her sister, and stood up from the chest and returned to the great wall of pictures.
Maggie stood up from the chest as well and walked over to Daryl. She grabbed his hand and placed something inside. When Daryl opened up his hand, there was a ring with a golden band and a purple stone.
Daryl cocked an eyebrow at her. But before he could ask any questions, Maggie began to explain the reason behind her actions.
"It was her momma's favorite ring. She put it in the chest so that when she thought Beth had found a man that deserved her, she could give it to him to give to her. I ain't sayin' you gotta pop the question right here, right now. All I'm sayin is, she would've given the ring to you." Maggie said, flashing Daryl a smile.
Daryl took the ring and put it into his pocket. This meant a lot coming from Maggie. Although Daryl had no idea why Beth wanted to be with him so much, she did. And he was glad that she did. He was glad that she was his and when the time was right, he'd give her the ring.
After Beth and Maggie had finished reminiscing, they each wandered through the house and picked up a few things to take back with them. Part of them wanted to stay but they knew that they couldn't. Even if they could, they weren't sure that they would. Not without everyone else here. This wasn't their home anymore. It couldn't be. They had a new home now, and a family to get back to.