A/N: Hey guys! I just love Bethyl so much, and I am still upset about her death in the Season 5 Midseason Finale. I know, it was so long ago, but she's my favorite character! And I wanted her and Daryl together so bad. So here is my attempt at Beth surviving the gunshot wound to the head!

Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead, or anything related to it. Nor do I own the song that the title is based off of.

She's Still Alive, but She's Barely Breathing

~Bethyl~

When you care about people, hurt is kinda part of the package.

You gotta stay who you are, not who you were.

I know you look at me and see another dead girl.

Wouldn't kill you to have a little faith.

There's still good people, Daryl.

I'm not Michonne, I'm not Carol, I'm not Maggie. I survived, and you don't get it because I'm not like you or them. But I made it.

You're going to miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon.

Her body crashed onto the floor. The sound was enough to set me into action. I didn't even think about it before my gun was aimed straight at Dawn's head. I pulled the trigger before a word came out of her mouth. As Dawn's head whipped back from the force of the bullet, Rick and the others readied their weapons. The men in uniforms called for a halt, but I ignored them and stared at the body on the floor. Red liquid continued to seep out of the hole on the back of the left side of her head.

I made my way towards her fallen body feeling the gaze of the others on me. But I didn't care. I didn't care about anything anymore. I dropped to my knees and cradled her upper body to my chest and did something that I haven't done in years. I cried. Broke down was more accurate. My body shook with the force of my sobs, and I squeezed her lifeless body to my chest and buried my face in her golden hair. She can't just be gone. Not when I just got her back.

And that's when I felt it. The unmistakable feeling of blood running through her veins. She has a pulse!

My head snapped up at the people of Grady searching. This is a damn hospital so there is bound to be a doctor. In less than a second, my eyes landed on a man in a doctor's jacket near the back of the group.

"She has a pulse!" I growled out and headed towards the presumed doctor with Beth in my arms. "You better God damn heal her, or I'm killin' every last one of ya."

The doctor, Dr. Edwards his name tag read, cringed back, but immediately went into action. He quickly called for a stretcher and for some people to get a room prepped for surgery. I paid them no mind and hugged Beth close one last time before letting her go in the hands of these strangers.

I paced the length of the hall furiously while Rick and the gang went outside. Before Rick left, he asked, "You alright?"

I could only nod and continue my pacing.

Not much later, a hysterical Maggie came running into the hall. She demanded one of the officers to tell her which room her sister was in, but they wouldn't let anyone in there. So she sat in one of the chairs right outside the door, and I continued my pacing.

What was she thinking? A pair of scissors? In the shoulder? Just when I got her back, she gets taken from me again. I won't let anything happen to her again. Not on my watch. Though, this whole thing happened because of me. Because I didn't check before I opened the door for that damn dog. I sighed. This is all my fault. I'm so sorry, Beth.

I couldn't take the pacing anymore. And there weren't any woods nearby to go hunting so I could clear my head. So I dropped into one of the unoccupied seats on the opposite side of the room. Our family was all gathered around Maggie, who still was in hysterics. I didn't want attention on me, but I could feel the concerned gazes directed my way. I rested my head in my hands and sent a silent prayer to something I don't even believe in. But Beth did, and if she did, then I will beg on my hands and knees for forgiveness, if it would save her.

Hours later, I was woken by the sound of the creaking operating room door. I hadn't even realized I had fallen asleep. I jumped up and asked, "How is she?" It was more of a demand.

I must have spoken it louder than I thought because I woke up everyone else who had fallen asleep waiting on the results. They all jumped up and surrounded the doctor.

"She is stable. We induced a coma to help her brain heal. Damage was only done to the left hemisphere of her brain. When she comes too, we will have to run some tests to see if there is any problems. The most likely problems we are going to encounter are: muscle weakness on her right side, loss of coordination, problems with understanding speech and talking, muscle pains, poor memory, lack of concentration, slowed thinking, problems with perception, reduced attention, depression, irritability, low motivation, and poor emotional control. We are lucky it only went through one hemisphere of her brain and didn't ricochet off of her skull. This greatly increased her chance of survival." We all let out a breath. "But, she won't wake up until tomorrow evening at the earliest. We made sure to give her a lot of sedatives to ensure that she didn't come to during the procedure."

"Can we see her?" Maggie asked.

The doctor nodded his head. Without any more acknowledgement to the doctor, I followed Maggie straight into the room. She started sobbing seeing Beth attached to all those machines. The steady beeping of the heart monitor calmed my nerves. She's okay. She's going to be okay.

~~Bethyl~~

Everything hurts. I can't move. All I can see is blackness. What's happening?

I don't know how I got here, wherever here is. I don't even remember my name. The only thing that comes to me is an image of a tough looking brunette with a crossbow. Who's he? Images of him teaching me how to use his crossbow, us burning down a cabin, me hugging him from behind, all ran through my head leaving me with a feeling of security. I know him?. And then pain. Such an intense pain in my jaw and the back of my head.

Again the question: Where am I?

I can faintly hear a beeping noise, which made my headache feel even worse. I tried to move my hand to my forehead to soothe it, but then I remembered I couldn't move. I wish the pain would just leave…

The sound of someone crying confused me. As far as I knew, I was alone in this darkness. The sound got louder as if it was right next to my ear. "Oh, Bethy…" it sobbed.

Bethy? Is that me?

The voice continued, and I felt a warmth on my hand. "Fight hard Bethy. I love you. You can do this." The pressure on my hand strengthened.

Then another voice chimed in, "Stay strong, girl."

Daryl. The name came to me, and I recognized this voice. More images flooded my head, but this time with sounds.

Faith ain't done shit for us.

I ain't going to have your first drink be no damn Peach Schnapps

Yea, it's a serious piggyback.

The pain came back full force. But I did as they asked. I didn't let this fog push me under. I concentrated on their quiet voices and the sounds of their breathing.

And I fought.

~~Bethyl~~

The next morning, Rick came in to see how she was doing. I stayed up all night with her, despite the doctor saying that she was not going to wake up until the next evening. Maggie had fallen asleep about an hour after they let us come into the room.

"You wanna come eat? They are giving us food in return for what…what Dawn did." Rick's jaw clenched near the end of his sentence.

I shook my head in response. There was no way I was going to leave Beth again, even if it were just for a minute to go eat. Rick sighed but turned and walked out the door. Not a minute later, Glenn walked in and woke Maggie.

"Is she awake?" Maggie immediately asked as she was pulled out of her slumber. "Oh…"

"They have food waiting. Do you want anything?" he offered.

She nodded and followed him out of the room. She first doesn't believe me that she is alive. And now she doesn't stay by her side while she is here? What kind of sister is she? I shrugged it off. No time to worry about her when Beth is still out. Though according to the clock on the wall, it was still only 11am, so she shouldn't wake up for a few hours.

Since we were alone, I grabbed her left hand and sighed. "I know you're strong, Beth. I know you'll pull through this."

And I swore she squeezed my hand back.

"Can ya hear me, Beth?" I asked and held my breath. Another squeeze, this one stronger than the first. "Oh thank God."

I stared intently at her face and could see subtle hints of her alertness. Her eyes were moving under her eyelids. Her jaw was twitching, as if she were trying to talk. And her breathing patterns changed. I squeezed her hand tightly. The clock read 11:30am when her eyes started fluttering. And then slowly, her eyes opened, and her beautiful blue eyes were staring directly into mine.

~~Bethyl~~

Slowly, the fog started clearing. I started to feel more aware. I felt a breeze. There must be a window open. The beeping in the background got louder. I could hear two people breathing on either side of me, and I hoped to God that one of them was Daryl. He's the only one I can actually somewhat remember.

I tried to move my arms again, but like last night, they didn't budge. This frustrated me to no end. I heard a door open, and someone offered food, but left shortly after. I didn't hear anyone follow, so I assume they declined the offer.

The door opened again, and a quiet voice spoke. Too quiet for me to pick up. But immediately following, I heard a girl ask if I was awake. Yes! I wanted to scream. But of course, my mouth and vocal cords disobeyed me. This time, two sets of footsteps left out the door.

Suddenly, my left hand felt warm. The heat spread throughout my body. Daryl. I pushed harder and focused all of my strength into my fingers. And they moved, just barely. His breath faltered, and then I heard his rough voice.

"Can ya hear me, Beth?" Yes. But my voice box still refused. So instead, I focused again on squeezing his hand. My muscles obeyed me this time, and I squeezed his hand with as much strength as I could muster. "Oh thank God."

I tried to speak, to ask him what happened. To ask him anything, really, because all I can remember is him. And that's just images and snippets of conversations between us. I tried desperately to open my eyes. Nothing seemed to be responding to my internal commands. Finally the fog lifted, and my eyes opened and landed on the face of Daryl.

I opened my mouth, but nothing came out. Panic flashed through me, and I clutched his hand like a lifeline. He seemed to understand.

"Shh, it's okay, girl. Side effect of..." he cut himself off and scowled. "I ain't goin' nowhere." He assured and squeezed my hand back. And that's when the door opened again.

~~Bethyl~~

I looked at the door, and Maggie was standing there with a look of shock on her face. Quickly it was replaced with relief, and she sprinted to Beth's right side.

"Bethy!" She cried and went to pull her into a hug.

Beth let out a whimper and scooted out of her reach towards me. She looked at me with fear in her eyes and let out more whimpers.

"It's okay." I said lamely trying to comfort her.

"Beth…?" Maggie questioned and reached for her again and grabbed her arm.

This time, Beth let out a screech and pushed her away. She then pulled my hand, which was still holding her left one, to her chest and clung to it like a lifeline. Her eyes darted from me to Maggie, and I got the silent message. Help me.

"Beth, it's okay. That's yer sister." I tried to assure her.

Maggie looked like she was about to start crying. She tried one more time to come closer to Beth. She looked at me again with fear, and I nodded to her letting her know everything would be okay. She looked back at Maggie, still scared but allowing her to come close to her.

"You don't…You don't remember me?" Maggie asked.

Beth shook her head from side to side. Then released my hand and brought both of hers to the sides of her head. Her face showed how much pain she was in, and I was immediately at the door shouting for the doctor.

He hurried in, followed by three girls, each with their own clipboard. I went back to Beth's side, and her eyes pleaded with me to stay.

"I ain't leavin' ya, girl." I assured her. "They're doctors. They are gonna make the pain stop."

Beth nodded, and the doctors got to work.

Everyone was gathered in the hall right outside of Beth's room. All the tests were finished, and she was now resting. Dr. Edwards started his medical summary.

"Okay. Well, she is experiencing muscle pains. Completely normal considering the circumstances. We have also determined that she has suffered from memory loss. She doesn't seem to remember much of anything. She did recognize Daryl, but she couldn't express through words what she remembers. This is due to the path of the bullet. Her vocal cords have received extensive damage. It will take months of recovery before she will be able to form complete sentences again, assuming that they heal properly within these months. Her emotions were also all over the place. She would go from being calm while we assessed her, to crying hysterically, frantically looking around as if in a panic, and trying to push us away. Daryl was able to calm her back down during these episodes. She knows Daryl, whether it's just from instinct from her subconscious or if she still has some memories of you." He paused and looked at me. "So, I recommend that you stay close to her, Daryl, until she regains more memories or begins to trust the rest of you all again. Other than that, her entrance and exit wounds from the bullet are healing fine. The stitches will be able to come out in a week. Until then, the wounds need to be cleaned and bandage changed every 6 hours."

Rick nodded showing that we all understood. I stared through the glass window of her door at her sleeping form. She looks so peaceful. I headed back through her door while everyone else went to get snacks. Rick promised to bring me something to eat since I haven't eaten in almost twenty-four hours. I nodded to him, and he left me alone with Beth.

I sat back in the chair on her left side and grabbed her hand again. She made it.

The next few days passed in a blur. I rarely moved from Beth's side, even though for the most part, they kept her asleep. They said it would help her brain heal itself faster if she stayed asleep and relaxed. Rick brought me food twice a day, and he always lingered in the doorway before heading back to the others. Maggie came in every night and talked to Beth's sleeping body to let her know of how everyone is and what was going on. Every day, the same routine.

Finally, the day came to take out Beth's stitches. The nurse carefully removed them, cleaned it, and bandaged her up once more. Before she left, she took out the IV drip that was used to keep her sedated.

"Alright, when she wakes up, you guys are free to leave." The nurse informed, then left.

I grabbed Beth's hand and stared at her peaceful face. Thank you. Maybe you are real...

~Bethyl~

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that my hand was cold. I snapped my eyes opened and looked towards where Daryl was supposed to be, thinking that he left.

But he hadn't. He was leaning back in the chair, his head lolled to his right, while his right arm was outstretched, and hand resting just inches from my own. Thank God, he didn't leave.

I reached out to him and touched his arm. He jerked awake and snapped his head up, eyes darting from left to right before settling on me. "Oh, I fell asleep."

I just smiled at him and grabbed his hand.

"The others are packing up our stuff. We are going to be leaving soon." He informed me.

Finally, I'm getting out of here. I sighed with relief. "D—" I tried saying his name, but it was unrecognizable.

"Shh, don't try to talk." He grabbed my hand. "Your vocal cords…they were damaged." He grumbled. "The bullet…"

He didn't finish, but I didn't need him to. I could feel the pain and put two and two together. I squeezed his hand.

"The doc said you'd be fine in a couple 'a months." He assured.

I nodded my head. But hopefully with resting my voice, I will be able to speak much sooner.

A man with a scruffy beard walked in the door just then. "Hey guys. Glad to see you are up, Beth."

I didn't know him, but Daryl didn't react badly, so I assumed he was a friend. I nodded and smiled slightly.

He returned it, then looked to Daryl. "You guys ready? We just finished loading everything up into the fire truck. We were just gonna wait for Beth to be ready."

Daryl nodded and turned to me. "Think ya can walk?"

I shrugged my shoulders and tried to move. But when I got to my feet, I swayed.

"Woah, girl. I think you need a serious piggyback."

I gasped as that memory came to the forefront of my mind, then slipped away. I grinned at Daryl as he kneeled down in front of me and wrapped my arms around his neck. He quickly scooped my legs into his arms on each side of his waist.

I let out a little squeal of delight and clutched him tight as he took off out the door with the other guy looking after us with a grin.

~Bethyl~

I could feel the looks everyone gave me as I walked out into the parking lot of the hospital. Carol was confused. Maggie was irritated. Michonne was curious. Everyone else did a double take, since it is common knowledge that I don't like anyone touching me. Yet here I am, clutching Beth's legs to my sides while her arms were wrapped securely around my neck. I could still hear her laughter, now quiet from the strain on her vocal cords but still sounded like music, and her cheek was pressed against my shoulder. Just ignore them. They don't get it.

I didn't look at anyone as I walked straight to the fire truck. I opened the door, and swung Beth around to where I was holding her bridal style. It will be easier to set her down in a seat like this. I tried to tell myself that that was the reason. But as Beth let out another squeal and grinned up at me with twinkling eyes, I knew what the real reason was.

A/N: Hey guys! So what did you think? Should I continue this into a short story, or keep it a one-shot? I kinda like how it is, but if you guys want it, I will expand it. Just a forewarning, if this does become a multichapter fic, the updates will be slow. I am a full-time student at a University and also work part-time.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed this! Thanks for reading!