Bethyl Song Rec: I know you care -Ellie Goulding

He didn't know if it was the way she moved through the children, laughing as if nothing mattered outside those high steel walls, or the look on her face, soft and warm, that brought him in dangerously close to something he wanted to avoid. For so long, months on end, days and nights, he wondered about her. Beth Greene was the first person to open up to him and he did the same. She wouldn't back down like most, her words just as loud as his, and sometimes, when her quietest moments sank deep into the dark night, his was just as silent. They shared that bond for weeks. The beginning was nothing but agitation, loneliness, and the unsettling feeling of losing their family forever. Yet their bond grew, it grew into a multitude of emotions and feelings all mixed into one fateful night that separated them seemingly forever. He was then reunited with their family, and not with her.

But he never gave up. Never lost the hope she somehow seared into his brain. She was just gone, a temporary leave, but she'd be back with him. She'd be back home soon enough. At least that was what he thought. And that moment of seeing her for the first time in months was brutally bittersweet; blonde hair pulled back like normal, along with blue eyes that lit up with anxiety, not happiness. His gut wrenched at the sight of two rookie stitches that took up too much room on her contrasting skin. She was different in that small hallway, guarded in the most, and much to his comfort, some tension was relieved from her eyes when their gazes met.

That relief was soon wiped away and no one was prepared. Just like that, she was gone, again. And Daryl couldn't think, couldn't breathe when he saw her blonde curls tossed carelessly on the ground along with the rest of her crumpled body. Like a knee-jerk reaction Dawn was finished and he was on the ground, picking up her lifeless body.

"You're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon," Those words cut deep into him as he walked down those long flights of stairs. He tried to keep his tears at a minimum when exiting the hospital, but seeing the lone surviving Greene fall to the ground in a fit of hysterics brought his emotions back to the forefront. She was gone and never coming back.

Yet she was never forgotten. He saw the way Maggie silently cried for weeks on end, curling into herself while Glenn could do nothing more but hope for the best when there was nothing to hope for anymore. And Daryl did the same as Maggie, though wandering off into personal seclusion was his prefered method of grieving.

"I sure as hell never cut my wrists lookin' for attention," He tried to stop thinking. Her words echoed in the back of his mind while the cigarette heated up his dirtied skin, "I know you look at me and see just another dead girl," His vision became blurry. Did she truly think that? Of course they didn't start on good terms, but he secretly thought the world of her naive ways. She was the only pure thing in this god for saken world, and he learned that she could soon hold her own, that she wouldn't be just another dead girl. She was going to make it, and she would make it right by his side.

That was gone now. Though he never truly meant his last goodbye-he could never say goodbye to her-the final moment of parting from her body had been the hardest thing he had to endure. Harder than losing his brother, and almost harder than losing her altogether. It just didn't seem fitting leaving the one person who insisted funerals were important no matter who the person was, stuffed into a vehicle and left at the place she was trapped in for too long. He couldn't bare to pull away Maggie while the rest of the group fought off all those Walkers, but he had to. She was the only connection to Beth, and he couldn't stand to disappoint the young Greene and let her older sister die. So he grabbed Maggie, and they ran. The group ran till they couldn't run anymore, and soon they were miles away from Atlanta and back on the road.

He could clearly remember the final moments of surviving on the road and the treacherous journey to Alexandria. There were mixed emotions of finally finding a place that seemed to yhold good people-people Beth insisted still existed. He welcomed a warm shower and a full stomach, but he despised the children playing and the smiling people. Because they didn't deserve these moments. Beth Greene deserved to be smiling again and walking down the street with no more worries. She deserved to be in the Safe Zone and he couldn't let himself think it wasn't his fault she wasn't here.

And in a blur of one unimaginable day, there she was. He couldn't believe his eyes, couldn't understand why she was standing in front of the tall metal entrance, alive and well. Stitches turned into scars, and what he thought was an everlasting bullet hole turned into a new, cleaner stitching. Though she had finally found her way back to her family, her eyes were lost. He didn't see the spark of recognition he thought he would when he dropped to his knees a few feet away from her. The same went for Maggie as she grabbed onto her sister for dear life. The blonde girl in front of them certainly seemed to be Beth Greene, but she didn't know anything about them. She was practically a stranger and what scared Daryl the most was the man that walked up behind her, shaking hands and hugging Rick Grimes as if he was family.

His confused rage and sadness ripped through his knuckles as he attacked the man.

"Who are you! How'd you find her?" Was all he could yell as Rick screamed for him to stop, screaming that this man, Morgan, was a friend. But Daryl wouldn't listen. He couldn't listen as tears of rage and sadness flooded his vision while Glenn added to dragging him away from Morgan. They let go once Daryl let up his fight, sinking to the ground once again. He couldn't look at Beth, he was too ashamed to see what her reaction would be to a stranger lashing out at her friend.

So he got up and walked away, wiping the pitiful tears from his eyes and setting out to his "home" he shared with the Grimes family and Michonne. He climbed the stairs and threw his fist into the closest wall.

"I, I don't know what happened to me," Her voice was soft and ashamed, as if it was her fault she couldn't remember the people in front of her, "I'm sorry...I just can't.." And that was when they knew the bullet had, in fact did some damage. Enough damage to wipe away the most important memories she had. The ones that involved her family, the ones Daryl held close to his heart.

For days he refused to talk to anyone. He could do nothing more than ease his mind with hunting, and that is exactly what he did. He left at the crack of dawn and didn't come back till night was hours past midnight and the guards near the wall were amazed he always came back alive.

Because he was a dead man walking.

And Beth Greene didn't remember a thing. The moonshine, the hugs, the piggyback rides, nothing. It wasn't her fault. She did come to him one evening, watching him from afar as he sat on his porch staring off and in his own thoughts.

"I wish I could remember," He watched to way she slowly dropped down next to him, sliding her back on the railing with slender legs pulled up to her chest, "I wish I could remember what happened on my own."

He stayed silent, but that didn't make her uncomfortable. She had the feeling he wasn't a talker to begin with, "It was a lot to take in when Maggie told me. I don't know how I survived in that hospital. Hell, I don't even know what happened that made me get these scars." And he chuckled at her unusual cussing. Somewhere, deep inside, she had that recognition. He had rubbed off on her in their time together, but he didn't think it was enough to make her realize that wasn't how she normally talked.

"Were we close?" Her eyes so blue compared to the darkness around them. He nodded and she pursed her lips. There were so many things he wanted to say, to shout out into the night while wrapping his arms around her and pulling her close to show how close they were. But instead he picked at his hands and remained quiet.

In the end, she said her goodnight, but not goodbye, because somehow she still managed to not like goodbyes. He watched her walk down the street, enter Maggie and Glenn's house, and slowly close the door. He saw the hesitation, and for a split second she thought he'd watch the door fly all the way open and she'd come running back to him with memories regained. Instead, the door shut slowly and the night was silent again. Whether she would remember him or not, he wouldn't forget the girl and the times they had spent together. He couldn't forget.

The only thing he'd hope for was another miracle, because Beth Greene was a miracle herself.


A/N: I sat down today and this came to mind after seeing so many TD theories. I thought I'd make something of them to ease the heartbreak of this ship. Beth needs to come back! Anyways, I thought about making this into a multi chapter fic, so tell me your thoughts and if I should keep going. Thank you!