Daryl walked, more like sprinted from the hospital with the girl in his arms. Her blonde hair was soaked with blood and all that he knew was that he had to save her. They had not come this far just for her to die. She had to be saved! Beth Greene would not die today, not when he just got her back.

Maggie noticed Daryl holding her sister's limp body in his arms. She nearly started crying but the determined look on Daryl's face made her realise Beth wasn't dead. Yet.

"We've gotta lay her down," Maggie said. She knew very little about all of this stuff, but with everyone's help, they could save her little sister, right? "What happened?"

"Gun shot...Think it just grazed 'er," Daryl said. Abraham wordlessly helped get the girl into the fire engine. Maggie climbed in side too. "We need a needle and some thread," Daryl called out to the rest of the group.

"We may have something in here," Rosita began looking through the fire truck and found a first aid kit. There were sutures and a small bottle of rubbing alcohol. Daryl disinfected the graze as best he could, it was pretty deep, but not deep enough to hit bone―luckily. He threaded the needle and began sewing it up as best he could. Once that was done, he sat behind her, her head resting on his leg to keep her head higher than her heart―so the bleeding would slow. He had a gauze to her head as they drove down the road. He didn't know where they were going, he didn't care. As long as Beth lived. She had to live...all of this couldn't be for nothing!

"Daryl, you alright?" Glenn asked upon seeing the blue eyed man's zoned out stare.

"Mm," he nodded, he hadn't noticed that unconsciously his hand had taken hers. He started to release it, but he couldn't. He felt like maybe he was her only lifeline, her only hope of living.

"We're here," Glenn said, trying to get Daryl to move, to say something, do something.

"I'm gonna stay out here 'til she wakes up."

"Daryl..."

"I said go. I'll be here." Without further protest, Glenn left. Daryl sat with Beth for two more hours. The sun was about to go down when her blue eyes finally met his.

"My head," she groaned.

"Bein' shot don't feel too good, does it?" she started to move her hand that wasn't holding his to her head, but he stopped her. "Don't. Let's get ya inside."

"What happened?"

"We'll talk 'bout it later," he scooped her up and took her into the small motel they were currently residing. It was something, he supposed. It was out side of the city, but not far enough for his liking. He wished they were in the middle of the woods. The further from walkers and people alike, the better.

"You saved me, didn't you?"

"Mm hmm," Daryl replied, taking her into one of the open bedrooms and setting her gently on the bed. "I'm gonna go get ya some water." Her hand grabbed his tightly, used all of the strength that remained.

"Please don't go..."

Daryl obliged and sat beside the bed on the floor. "I won't." Her eyes had closed again, but she was breathing softly, maybe she would fall asleep.

"Anything else hurt?" he found himself asked.

"Just my head...So what did happen?"

"Ya got shot. That bitch shot ya, it just grazed ya, though...She's dead, I promise."

"She shot me...?" None of this made sense. Everything was so foggy in her mind. She didn't remember much of anything, especially not her stay at Grady. She did remember Daryl though. Very well. She remembered when they were alone, back at the funeral home when he had taken care of her, she also remembered being taken from there.

A knock came from the door and Beth tried to look, but the light was blinding.

"Oh Beth," Maggie knelt beside her―on the other side of Daryl. She took the other hand and kissed it. "You're not gonna die on me too, are ya?" she asked.

"No, dyin' ain't on my to-do list," she said, giver her sister the best smile she could muster, even though her eyes were still closed. "You're stuck with me. You too, Daryl," she squeezed his hand and he couldn't help but smile just a bit.

"Good, don' go leavin' us any time soon," Daryl said. Maggie looked up right away. There was something different with him. Something...off. Maybe it was his tone of voice...maybe it was the way he was smiling at her sister...Daryl Dixon certainly was not acting like the grumpy redneck everyone knew and loved around their group, well not in this aspect anyway. She supposed she could write it off as he wasn't ready to loose someone else...but still...something felt strange to her.

"I'll be righ' back. I'm gonna try to find ya some medicine or somethin'," Maggie left the room, leaving Daryl and Beth alone for a moment.

"'M sure your sister wants to talk to ya for a bit," Daryl started to get up.

"Just stay...a little longer," she pleaded. Unable to say no, Daryl sat back down.

He stayed for a whole hour more. When he finally left, Beth was sleeping deeply and rather comfortably. Daryl's hand was wrapped in both of hers as she cuddled it close to her.

Carefully, he wiggled it free and she grunted a bit in her sleep, but consoled herself quickly. Before leaving the room, Daryl felt the urge to kiss her forehead. A gesture he had never done for anyone...But then again, he had never held someone in his arms as they clung to life before he saved them. So Daryl kissed her forehead before leaving the room to set up his own.

AN: Hey guys, I'm really pissed at the writers of TWD right now. I know I'm not the only one. Please feel free to rant in the reviews. Make it your therapy session. I cried my eyes out at last night's episode and you know what I'm gonna do now? I'm writing the second half of season 5. HOW IT SHOULD BE! As you can tell, Beth is not dead here (omg almost started crying) please review if you want to read how it should take place (if you hate it for some reason, please don't flame. I write these stories to express my emotion, so if it's horrible and amateurish, I am 16 and haven't perfected my work yet). Please do enjoy the story though :D.

UPDATE: 1 December 2015

I can't believe this story was published a whole year ago. Sheesh...I considering returning to it, so now, I'm going back through and editing the original 7 chapters. If those of you who had been reading before still have interest, reviews are still welcome.