*Beth*

I knew it; I knew it wasn't just my imagination playing tricks on me. There was an ever-growing closeness between them, and as much as I had tried to deny it, the sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach told me my intuition was right. I may not have known Carol all that well, but I did know Daryl Dixon, and it hadn't escaped my attention the way he had been looking at her. I had seen the way his deep blue eyes drank in every word she said, the way he seemed to always gravitate towards her and how his body would relax every time she was near him, almost as if she offered him some sort of comfort, just by being there next to him. I knew it wasn't in my head, I had felt it from the first moment I had seen them again. They were closer now, closer than ever before. The spark of friendship had become a flame whilst I had been gone, and just the very thought of that broke my heart in two.

The kitchen was busy with Rick, Michonne, Judith and Carl all enjoying a family breakfast, whilst I sat quietly at the adjoining table in the house we had commandeered for the winter. Today was my first time of being out of bed after being injured during my escape from Grady. Maggie, who had nursed me back to health, had put me on strict bed rest whilst my cuts, bruises and stitches all healed. But after eight long days of staring at the same four walls, I was going stir crazy. It had reminded me too much of the time I had spent in my room in the farmhouse after I had cut my wrists, and that wasn't a time I liked to dwell on for to long if I could help it.

Most importantly though, I wanted to see Daryl; needed to see him just to feel that sense of familiarity that had been lost the night I was taken to Grady. So I had pleaded my case, begged in fact, and thankfully Maggie had agreed to at least let me eat in the kitchen with everyone else, as long as I promised to rest up for the remainder of the day. For me, if it meant I got to see Daryl, speak to him even just for a moment, it was worth agreeing to.

Daryl and Carol had been sharing a private joke as they walked into the kitchen, a playful smile pulling on her lips whilst he had his crossbow in one hand and his other arm loosely draped over Carols shoulder. The closeness of their bodies and the ease with which they spoke to each other made my heart sink and I immediately regretted having left the safety of my bed. After all, the heart can only deny what the eyes don't see. And sat there in the kitchen watching them exchange knowing looks and hushed words, meant I no longer had the luxury of pretending not to see what had been right before me all along. Daryl Dixon loved her.

At first they had been so engrossed in conversation that they had been oblivious to anyone else in the room, and the longer his eyes stayed on her the more my stomach twisted into a knot, only unraveling when he finally looked over the room acknowledging everyone in turn until his eyes finally fell to me. I greeted him with a small smile, a genuine but feeble attempt to hide the turmoil I felt inside at seeing the person I had fallen in love with, grow so close to someone else because I had been so cruelly taken away.

The whole time I had been in Grady the only thing that had kept me alive were my memories of Daryl, and the thought of him out there somewhere looking for me, just like he had done with Sophia. I had fought to survive every single day at that hospital, and it had been brutal and it had been bloody. But I stayed strong, did it because I needed to know that when he found me, he would be proud of me. Proud of the fact I had never stopped fighting and never once given up the hope that we would somehow find each other again. I wanted for him to know that I wasn't just another dead girl, and that our ending would not be how it had been with Sophia.

Right now though, as I saw him briefly nod his head at me and turn back to Carol, his eyes showing none of the emotion I had seen when we were alone in the funeral home, I started to doubt myself and the hope I had held onto for so long. Instead of being relieved to be back alongside him again, all I felt was sadness and loss.

Carol finished plating up his breakfast alongside her own, and together they moved and sat at the bench to eat with quiet words and soft smiles being exchanged between them, whilst I sat at the table alone. I wasn't even a passing thought for Daryl Dixon, the man who was slowly breaking my heart.

I looked down at my breakfast, trying to compose myself as my stomach churned, and I tried with all of my might to block out the soft gravelly cadence of his voice and her light laughter as they talked amongst themselves. Daryl seemingly oblivious to the pain he had caused me ever since he had carried me in his arms out of that hospital.

The first few days after Grady were hazy, my broken and weary body finally succumbing to my injuries left me slipping in and out of consciousness, and as my mind struggled to fight the darkness and voices swirled around in my head all I saw were glimpses of his face. His deep blue eyes piercing through the haze of my unconsciousness, calling me back home. Maggie had told me I had been out of it for three whole days, barely holding onto life, but as I finally became more coherent I realized there was really only one person I wanted to see, wanted to talk to and that was Daryl. I wanted to look into those eyes of his and tell him that it was him, and him alone that had brought me back.

At first he had visited each day, his time spent always brief and only when accompanied by Carol or one of the others. Then slowly as the days passed he stopped visiting altogether, leaving me with nothing but my memories and thoughts of what I had done to make him abandon me, after I had fought so hard to come back to him.

All of a sudden the sadness consumed me. The overwhelming loss I felt at being kept away from him for so long, only to be reunited and still feel like I was a million miles away, became just too much for my fragile heart to bear. And before I realised it had even happened, I let out a desperate sob, tears splashing from my eyelashes hitting the table below. Aware that everyone had now turned to look at me I lifted my head and although all eyes were on me, it was his eyes and his eyes alone that captured mine completely. Steely blue but full of confusion he held my stare until I saw Carol reach out and gently touch his arm, an act of familiarity that he had once shared with me. In that moment my resolve gave way to the reality I had felt creeping up on me over the last week, the realisation that nothing would ever be the same again. I had been foolishly clinging on to a fantasy, and would forever be haunted by an unrequited love, because I had fallen for a man who would never feel for me, as I did for him.

As I ran from the room, only the sound of his voice calling my name could be heard over the pounding in my chest, the sound of my heart breaking into tiny pieces.

*Authors Note*

A 'Daryl' chapter is coming up next

This is my very first time writing fan fiction, so please feel welcome to leave any feedback you may have.

Fought For You, started out as a 'one shot' but has since become a multi chapter.

Thank you once again for all of your support and kind words so far. It truly is appreciated. Xx