So, this is based off of a prompt that someone left in the Bethyl tag. If I can remember their url, I will definitely credit them! And if they happen to see this, hi! I hope you like it! Also, this is just the first half. Still working on the second. ;)
Beth was painfully aware of the hand slithering like a snake up her bare leg. She cringed as she took in her surroundings and the other person in the room, the hand belonging to a man with greasy black hair and whiskey breath. He'd been visiting her a lot lately, and every time he exited, she was left with a bad taste in her mouth. "We got somethin' real special for you today." He said as his eyes crawled tardily over her undressed body.
"Get you hands off of me." Her voice was eerily calm, swimming through the air with grace. The man's eyes shot up to hers, a laugh bursting through his body. He had no mercy when he clamped his fingers down on her thigh, squeezing until Beth felt like her leg had lost circulation. He had a disgusting grin, somehow finding pride in watching the girl squirm in pain.
Then he let go, grabbing something to the side of him. Even without his hand, Beth still felt the pain lingering on her leg. It reminded her of the time that her dad had brought home a man's dog from down the street, hiding it. He did it because Beth had been walking home from school with her friends in seventh grade, when she heard a high pitched yelp. She told them to leave, walking towards the home she suspected was where the noise came from. After some snooping around, she found a man in his back yard, beating his dog with a metal pole.
The second she got home, Beth told her father. Hershel had always been a cool, reasonable man and his daughters rewarded him by always telling him the truth. He had told her to stay put, leaving the house. She sat for hours wondering when he'd be home, if the man found him... When he returned, he had the scarred up dog wrapped in a towel. Handed it to Beth, letting her try and nurse him back to health.
No body knew that the dog would be sensitive to any contact. So, when the dog bit down hard on her thigh, blood dripping down her leg, no one had seen it coming.
She couldn't help but compare the pain to what was happening now as she watched the purple hand prints start to form.
Something was shoved into her lap, and with further inspection, she came to realize that it was a uniform. A dirtied up school girl uniform to be exact. It wasn't anything new. It had become a daily custom for the men to bring her a costume, get her dressed up, make her prance around, do what they want as they watch. Not a day went by that she didn't feel sick with them and herself. Not saying that she didn't fight them, but in the end, she was left fidgeting with her fingers trembling, doing exactly what they had intended the entire time.
"We gotta do it tomorrow, Jesse." A younger man said, throwing Beth's old torn up clothes in her face. "Time to get Leslie in here for the night. This one's gonna sleep." He said, rubbing his rough hands down her face.
Beth jerked away, pulling her shirt over her head, then yanking on her pants. One of them grabbed her, pushing her hands behind her and thrust her towards the open door. They forced her towards the room that was the closest thing to solitude she had gotten since she'd been there. She buckled to the floor as the man kicked her legs out from beneath her, grabbing the chains and hooking them to the metal bracelets she was forced to wear.
They left her there then, and Beth sighed in exhaustion, letting her chin fall to her chest and sleep overtaking her.
–
She awoke barely two hours later. That was more than she usually got in one go, which led Beth to believe that maybe she might possibly be coming to terms with what was going to happen with her life. A life of loneliness and torture.
Thick dark bruises lined her usually pale soft skin, and a dull ache was sitting involuntarily in her head, leaving her breathless and shivering in pain. Her thoughts weren't helping, the smallest things were filling her mind with pictures of days that have passed. People, places, things that she could never have again. Trees outside the small rectangular window brought back the memories of the farm, the bars on the door broke her down further with images of the prison. Judith. Maggie. Daryl.
But, that wasn't nearly as bad as when the other thoughts came. The thoughts that tore at her insides like knives, the thoughts that made her wonder if life was even worth living.
How could it be? Everything was gone. Humanity had fallen, being pushed to the brink of extinction. If anyone survived this, it would be the world starting over again. Maybe the bible wasn't talking about just how the Earth began, maybe it was stating how the Earth would continue. Adam and Eve together, populating the Earth with their children. Perhaps the time had come for a new Adam and Eve.
Beth hunched over her legs, trying to keep out the constant memories that invaded her mind. The ones of the men, snapping at her, tugging at her, striking her. But, nothing seemed to remove them. Her stomach felt sick, and she closed her eyes, yanking at the chains keeping her by the wall. The clanking of the metal had become a sort of lullaby for her, a necessity. If she were left in silence, she'd go insane.
She needed to stay in her right mind in case someone came to save her. Someone had to come, right? Her life couldn't end like this. This kind of thing only happened in movies.
But, the more she thought about it, the less likely it seemed. She had been there for over a month, being tossed around like a damn rag doll. Every day, a man came in right after the sun came up, took her into a room, and allowed the men to tease her and touch her, but so far, that was all that they had done. Then, when it got dark, they sent her back to her room, chained her back up, and left her alone, and then the morning came again, they came back and got her, repeating the same cycle day after day, refusing to let her have even the slightest bit of freedom. It seemed pretty damn real to her.
All hopes for giving herself to a man she loved had flown out the window the second day she was there. That had been the day they brought her out, and a man with little to no teeth and a bald head had grabbed her, trying to touch her through her clothes. She was sure that these men would be forcing themselves upon her completely any day. As of now, she still had hope. Hope that she would be rescued and still be able to find someone that she can have a family with. Not like she had any candidates, but a girl could dream, right?
Coincidentally, directly after that thought, someone popped up in her mind. Not someone she had thought of doing anything sexual with, but someone that she cared about and missed. Maybe, one day, she'd see him again. And when that day came, she would rush into his arms and hug him like no one else existed. Even if he probably wouldn't respond to it, and even if it was a one sided relief.
But, how high was that hope really? Was anyone even looking for her? Someone with mud caked clothes and a rather intimidating crossbow? When Daryl put his mind to something, it'd take an act from God himself to keep him from doing it.
Beth recalled the night she was taken, how her and Daryl were overrun by walkers, and he risked his life to distract them while she ran. She was never going to leave him. Never intended on going farther than the road. But, fate had other plans. Someone snatched her up as she was going to grab a knife from her backpack. Her fingers had dropped it, letting all of her stuff fall on the ground while she was dragged away. Beth had heard him scream for her, but before she could respond, she was hit over the head with a blunt object and a dark void took over her mind. It dawned on her a few days later that he had no way of tracking her. She should have left some sort of clue, something to lead him to her. She clenched her hands and closed her eyes at the thought of him out there looking for her, finding ghost tracks that lead him nowhere.
Sometimes she wondered if he was even alive, worried herself sick thinking about it. The pain it left her with made her current situation look like child's play. Beth was insignificant in her mind, it was the other people that mattered. Daryl held so much more importance than she did and she was okay with it. He just had to be alive...
Then she put her worries to ease when she recalled that if anyone in this filthy world was capable of living, it was Daryl Dixon. He was literally the epitome of how you should live your life in the apocalypse. Emotionless, without any true connections, strong, capable. But, that wasn't entirely true, was it? Daryl cared. He cared about Judith, you could see that in a second. He cared about Carol and everyone knew it. Beth couldn't blame him, she cared for her too, in a different way of course.
Somewhere, somehow, he even cared about Beth. She had been completely oblivious to it until that look he gave her.
"What changed your mind?"
It was the question that had gone unanswered. The question that peaked her interest often, always ending with her over analyzing everything they had been through together. But, the look he had given her after she asked spoke so many answers, so many emotions. She wasn't sure if he had simply related to her, which seemed to be the likely choice, or that he actually cared for her. She knew that to him, she was just some girl who was overly optimistic. A girl who would never be able to make it on her own because she was too weak.
If he saw her now, Beth wondered what he would think. Would he pity her? Save her? Despise her? These men hadn't exactly deflowered her, but they had come close plenty of times. Would Daryl hate her now if he knew that filthy hands had been all over her body? The thought of him thinking negatively of her at all made her curl further into a ball, unable to sustain the pain in her heart.
The door sprung open, a man she now knew as Mark walking in with her daily plate of food. "There's the little bitch." He said with a grimy smile, revealing his yellow teeth and specks of dip that stayed day after day as if his mouth was a hotel. "Bill decided tomorrow's the day for you, little girl."
Beth attempted to give him a deadly glare, but found that she was too scared to muster one. "The day for what?"
He walked forward, tossing the plate on the ground, letting the mush slosh out. It fell all over the floor in front of her and Beth didn't realize how hungry she was until her stomach began to growl loudly.
His hands trailed up her front, landing on her chest. She looked away, the feeling of some man groping her was becoming unbearable. "The day for you to lose that pointless virginity." Bile rose in her throat. She knew the day was coming, but to know that it had been scheduled and talked about when she wasn't around made it somehow worse. She wasn't sure she'd ever be able to trust a stranger again. Never wanted to be in a large group again, that's for certain. "Or, maybe we can just... Get rid of it now." He said, scooting in closer.
Before Beth knew what she was doing, she threw her head forward, smacking into his nose and causing it to make a disgusting cracking noise. Blood spewed out, running down into his mouth. "Fuck!" The man yelled, grabbing at his nose. He barely gave Beth a glance before lifting his hands, striking out at her face. Her head was throbbing, vertigo coming in full force when he kicked his leg out, it slamming into Beth's stomach.
The pain was excruciating to the point that Beth wasn't completely sure she was going to survive, but if she died, she sure as hell hoped that this guy was near her so she could rip his throat out when she came back. Beth coughed in an attempt to get her breath, but the man had her by her hair and yanked in a quick fashion, not giving a damn that her neck felt like a bent twig, ready to snap at any moment. "I'm gonna enjoy watching you writhe and beg for him to stop." He said, then shoved her back. He kicked the tray with her food, causing it to slide to the other side of the room and slam against the wall. "I hope you starve." He said, then shut the door, the impact ringing throughout her ears.
Tomorrow. Tomorrow was the day they finally decided to stop 'taking it easy' on her, even if what they think is easy is what will be fueling her nightmares for the rest of her life.
Yet, she couldn't stop smiling. It had been the first time she stood up for herself in here. Truthfully, that was probably the only way she'd survive. No one was coming. If Daryl hadn't come yet, he wasn't coming at all. She felt terrible for relying solely on the very man that she heard had wore zombie ears on a necklace, whose brother had attempted to make a move on her before she was legal, who was so incredibly infuriating in every sense, but that was because she knew he was alive. Who knew if Maggie, or Glenn, or any of them were still breathing? She had slowly began to come to terms with Maggie being gone, but not once did she settle for thinking Daryl was, even if she sometimes had doubts.
Sometimes she prayed for Daryl and the others, hoping God would respond somehow. It wasn't like he had too many prayers to listen to these days anyway. How he could sit up there and allow all of this to happen was beyond her, literally. But, he must have a reason. Maybe God just finally gave up on humanity. All of the drugs, hatred, war. Humanity's been killing each other, their selves, and maybe God just finally sat down and said, 'I'm gonna end this.'
A sudden scream could be heard in the distance, and she sent a prayer up once more for whoever it was. Whoever they were torturing now out of the half a dozen girls they had pent up in there. She was in constant emotional turmoil to just have to sit idly by and wait for them to kill or rape someone.
She wasn't the only girl that had been in there, but the men liked to tell her she was their favorite, much to her disdain. She would gladly trade it for basically anything in the world, yet she preferred it to be her than anyone else. No one deserved to be put through what they did to her and especially not the other girls that were in there. Some of them were maybe twelve years old, probably less.
It was when a gunshot rang out, followed by many more that Beth became frightened. What if they were under a raid? If these men could do what they did to Beth, than anyone could. There was no safety, no one capable of being trusted. This world changed good human beings into horrible creatures capable of very inhumane things.
Beth crouched against the wall, trying to not be too noticeable in case someone decided to walk in. More shots echoed, and Beth shifted in her stance. They were coming closer. Someone begin yelling in the distance, but this time it was a man. Beth couldn't make out what he was saying, but she heard men responding with insults.
It sounded like a war was going on out there.
"Where is she?"
Beth's eyes shot open. She knew that voice. It haunted her dreams every night, whispering hope and promises that couldn't be kept. Was this even real? She needed to get a grip. The worst thing that could happen now was for her to fall to pieces. But, the voice called out again, this time using her name.
"I know you got her! Where is Beth?" The heavily southern voice yelled, making Beth's pulse race in anticipation.
"I'm in here!" She screamed, her voice scratchy, but she didn't care. She lifted her arms, clanking the metal against the wall so that she could be found more easily. "Daryl!" She screamed when he didn't respond. One more shot could be heard, then, everything had gone quiet. Too quiet. She had absolutely no idea who had won the attack. "Daryl?!" She yelled as she slumped back against the wall.
You're gonna be the last man standing, you are.
She hoped to God she was right.
The door slowly opened, a body falling through and falling unceremoniously to the floor. She didn't know the person and shrunk back into the darkness. They were coming for her. The men had won, and they were coming to show her the deaths that she had caused. Came to tell her she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. As her mind went into overdrive and she was planning to mourn for who she knew had to of died, she noticed something peculiar. An arrow sticking out from the man's chest. Yellow arrows that she easily could recognize.
Beth saw the tip of a crossbow, then a face. Daryl's head shown through, eyes worn out and hair even more shaggy then the last time she had saw him, but she couldn't imagine anyone that she'd be more happy to see.
When his wild gaze met hers, his feet could take him no further. Everything she had been afraid of dropped, falling on the floor and rolling away. He came. He actually came.
Daryl slowly walked in, his steps creating loud thumps. Blood covered him from head to toe, new blood, not walker blood. His Horton slipped from his fingers, slamming onto the floor as he took one more step, dropping onto his knees in front of her. "Beth?" He asked as if he wasn't quite sure it was really her, her name falling off of his tongue like a prayer.
Tears stung her wide eyes as she looked at his face, filled with so much worry and relief. He did care.
"I been lookin' for you for months." He said in a broken tone, his hands lifting up to touch her face, but stopped just short of reaching her. He took a deep breath, looking at her with hesitation and fear. Fear that she wasn't really there. Fear that she had died, just like Sophia. Just like Merle. Then his skin touched hers, his eyes shut and he let out a small laugh. "Can't believe I actually found you." Beth sighed in contentment, a tear rolling down her battered up face.
She knew that all of his relief was coming from how he had finally found someone he was looking for before they were killed, not because it was Beth. She wasn't going to allow herself to be fooled, thinking it was something it wasn't.
"I could say the same." She said and despite knowing he didn't feel the same, she yearned to have him just hold her, telling her that everything would get better from here and he'd never leave her sight, but he was more focused on the blood and cuts and bruises. Besides, she knew he would never do that. That wasn't the kind of person Daryl was.
"This from them guys?" He inquired about the cut above her lip as he moved his hand away, suddenly feeling awkward, unknowingly fueling Beth's opinion of how he felt for her. He couldn't help it, though. He had never been a person to show physical affection.
Beth looked down, her eyes avoiding him at all cost. She was ashamed, even if none of it was her fault.
He noticed her torn clothes and how she was holding her legs near her, keeping them closed tightly. Some bad things happened to her here. He'd never seen the girl look so damaged, and he was sure as hell hoping it didn't last. She was always bright and happy, even with the world falling to shit around her. It was one of the things that drew him to her.
Fear was dripping off of her like sweat, but it had nothing to do with where she was. She feared what he thought about her now that he knew. Sad that the world that she used to know is gone, yet she still is living her life for someone else. Still wanting someone elses approval. "Don't ask questions you already know the answer to, Daryl." Beth breathed out, shaking her head. "Please." Daryl took a step back, yanking up his Horton as he went. He angrily wiped off his face, seething at the fact that someone had hurt her, but even more so that he couldn't protect her. If he couldn't protect people, what use was he in this world? Protecting others was the only thing he had ever been good at.
He took another look at her, seeing some blood on her forehead and shirt. His eyes fell away, and Beth realized what he had been looking at.
"The blood isn't mine." She said with a laugh, but it never reached her eyes.
Daryl didn't seem amused, but couldn't fight a small smirk that appeared on his lips. "Good girl." He told her with pride and Beth's cheeks were powdered red in the attention.
He stepped back towards her when he realized he had never got her out of the chains, sitting down his weapons after hesitation, reaching into his pocket to grab the little metal key that he had taken off of one of the bodies, and finally began unlocking Beth from her shackles. It wasn't until the metal left her wrist that she realized that she hadn't been truly independent since she got there. As soon as she was free, she fell, barely holding herself up. Daryl rapidly bent down to assist her, but was completely taken aback as she launched forward, not wasting a moment to wrap her arms around him. Her face buried in his chest and her hands clung onto his torn up shirt for dear life. Daryl's arms hung by his side as her fingers dug into his back in a brutal embrace, just like she had done twice before. Once in the prison, and once when he was blubbering like a fucking baby. He had never been so embarrassed in his life, crying in front of some girl. But, at that time, that's all she was.
Now, he didn't know what the hell she was to him. Something changed for both of them after that hug. When he told her how he felt about Hershel's death, blaming himself. They bonded without either of them even realizing. She saw the worst part of him when he was drunk, forcing a bow into her hands, and somehow, she didn't run. Beth stayed, talking to him, hugging him, burning down a house with him. How was he not supposed to feel something for her now after everything they went through together?
No one else touched Daryl because everyone else knew that he wouldn't reciprocate, but not Beth. She held out hope that one day he would return the favor, and if he hadn't just spent the last month searching for her in every house he found, driving slowly to see if she had been tossed into a ditch, looking each walker over carefully to make sure they didn't have her face, then maybe he wouldn't have lifted his trembling arms. Maybe he would have wrapped his hands around her, crushing her in a hug that made her ache and smile at once.
"I hoped you'd come." Beth said.
His hands went into her hair, pulling her even more into him. Her floral scent filled his nostrils, and he relished in finally remembering what it felt like to be complacent. The time without her felt like years. He didn't know what had happened to her, just knew that somewhere out there she was waiting, afraid and alone. It ripped his heart out every night thinking up all the possibilities of what could be happening to her. He gripped her even tighter, not wanting to let her go.
The only reason he came by her tonight was because he found the black car with a cross on the back in a small town. He knew instantly what car it was, the image of Beth's bag laying behind it in the dirt burned into his memory like a brand. So, as much as he wanted to get in and kill the assholes who were driving it, he kept some control and hid in the shadows, then he followed it back.
"Did you find-" Glenn asked walking in, but his voice stopped when he saw the two people before him. Daryl's hands instantly released Beth, turning to look at the Korean. "Her." He finished.
Daryl stood up, picking up his crossbow and holding out a hand for Beth to grab. "We gotta get outta here. Dunno how many more are on their way, but we're gonna be gone when they come." Daryl said, noticeably avoiding Glenn's persistent stare. Beth took his hand, allowing him to pull her up and onto her feet.
They all began to hurry off, but Daryl felt the tug on his hand that caused him to spin around. Beth was wobbling, her eyes looking all around the room. She looked terrified. "Beth?" He asked, diving forward before as she fell to the side. His left arm caught her before she hit the floor, and with further inspection, he looked over his shoulder at Glenn.
"What the hell happened to her?" Michonne asked, running to them with her sword by her side.
Daryl looked down at the girl in his arms as her eyes searched their surroundings. "Bastards." He whispered as he saw even more bruises. "We need to get her to camp."
"I can carry her." Glenn said, stepping forward, but Daryl gripped Beth tighter, his posture like a bear protecting its cub. It made Glenn step back, his hands slightly up in the air. "Or not. That's cool too."
"I'll do it." Daryl grumbled in a muffled voice. Promptly, he put the Horton on his back and wrapped his arms beneath Beth's arms and legs, picking her up. He held a pistol in his left hand, prepared to kill anyone who tried to stop him from taking her. The whole situation made him remember how he had picked her up in the house before she was taken, and when he looked down at her foot that had no shoes in, he saw how it was purple and swollen. Of course the creeps wouldn't give her any medicine for it.
Beth was content in his arms, leaning against him and placing her hand on his chest. Her mind was swimming, still suffering the after effects from being hit in the head so hard. She took the moment to allow her mind to run wild of thoughts about the man holding her. He had gotten more buff since she left, his muscles clear as day through his maroon flannel. Beth allowed her hands to slowly drift down, feeling a tremor run through Daryl's body. Her eyes slowly began to fall, and soon she was unaware of the world around her, only barely hearing a loud pop in the distance.
A shot rung out, this one by her ears, and Beth's eyes darted open. They were surrounded by dead bodies.
"Daryl..." She said, clinging onto him and closing her eyes, wishing it all to disappear. "This isn't you, killin' men." Her voice quivered, and Daryl took in her words, believing that meant she was afraid of him. Beth was innocent, there was no way she could understand. This was why he couldn't get close to her, he'd corrupt her.
"You don't know nothin' 'bout me." He whispered to her, and Beth felt the ice that shot through her heart with his words. She turned her head away from him as her eyes began to water. This wasn't the reunion she had wanted.
She shoved away from him slightly, moving her leg out of his grasp. "I can walk." She told him.
Daryl looked down at her as Glenn and Michonne ran out of the doors ahead of them, noticing her angered expression. "Yea, well I don't care if you can run a damn marathon. I'm carryin' you." She was so stubborn. He lifted the thin girl up, making sure he had a good grip, before walking out of the building.
"Oh, thank God." Rick said, running up to them. "Are you alright?" He asked her, and Beth smiled and nodded. No, she wasn't. Wasn't sure she'd ever be okay again.
"Beth!" Beth turned her head, seeing Carl standing in the back of one of two trucks. She then saw everything around them. Blood everywhere. There were more dead people from when they had fought their way into the building. Daryl waited for her to say something about it, almost patronizing her. She wanted to comment, let him know she knew he had to do it, but Beth didn't know how to get the words out, so she allowed him to put her in a dark gray truck instead.
The interior looked brand new and unused, other than a few things here and there that showed Daryl had been using it. A broken arrow lay in the floor board, and a few sleeveless shirts were strewn around in the back seat. Beth lifted herself up gently but became distracted, seeing something on the dash. She reached forward, picking up what appeared to be a photo.
Daryl watched silently from beside her as she picked up the image, flipping it over to see her own face, just a bit younger. Her eyes flashed from the picture to him. "How did you get this?" She asked, her fingers gingerly gliding over the worn out paper.
"Went back to the prison, had to get somethin' to show people I met. Ain't no one gonna tell me the truth if I asked them if they seen a pretty lil' blond girl with big blue eyes, so I needed the picture to be able to read their faces when they saw you." His eyes looked away from her. "Found it in your daddy's cell." He opened the glove compartment, pulling out a small object. "Along with this." In his palm sat Hershel's wedding ring. He had taken it off after Beth's momma was finally dead, but there wasn't a day that went by that he didn't have it with him.
No, that was before. Before the governor.
"Daryl, we're gonna head on." Rick said, hinting that they needed to get going. Daryl nodded, and Rick looked to Beth. "Glad to have you back." Then he walked off toward the truck his son was in, Michonne and Glenn following after.
"Thank you." Beth said with a grin as she slipped the ring on her finger. She looked up at him, needing to see his face again, but his eyes deflected her own. "It wasn't your fault. My dad would never have blamed you for any of it."
"That's 'cause your dad was a good man. Always seein' the best in people even when it wasn't there."
Beth put her hand out to grab his, but he took it away before she could. She tried to fight the hurt that had been overwhelming her since she saw him. The feeling of rejection was painful enough without it coming from the one person she really needed. "There's good in you, Daryl. Not a damn thing you can say to me that would make me think otherwise."
How could he look her in the eye after she had seen what a mess he could make of more than just walkers? "How the hell can you be so blind? I killed all of these men, Beth. I did it, and I don't regret a damn thing. They deserved it after what they did to you. No, they deserved worse. Should'a... Should'a done something." Daryl's knuckles began to turn white on the Horton. "I couldn't save you, just like I couldn't save your daddy."
"What do you mean? I'm alive, ain't I?" Beth grabbed his hand, and he turned, looking at her. He had tears in his eyes, and Beth smiled up at him. "I'm here." She said, hoping to get him out of this state of recklessness he had suddenly slipped into. He tried to pull his hand back once more, but Beth wasn't so easy to give up, even in her weak state. "Don't pull away from me." She pleaded.
Daryl tried once again to pull his arm away, but once again, Beth held on even as it pulled her from the car and back into the field of dead men. He saw her wince when he foot hit the ground. "God dammit, Beth!"
"What do you mean you couldn't save me?" She asked, her grip on his hand tightening. "Tell me." He was trying to get away, trying to build up walls, but she intended on being inside when he did. This was what Daryl did. He kept everything inside, made people think he was just a scary guy, but then you see him with children and you know not a damn thing he makes people think about himself is true.
Daryl shook his head, finally ripping his hand away. "Look at you, girl! You can hardly fuckin' stand. And I know they didn't jus' beat you in there. You think I didn't notice you holdin' your legs together like a taped up pair of scissors?" He pointed at her, his voice low and scratchy. "Ain't nothin' gonna fix that. I came too damn late. A month too late."
And there it was. The truth. Beth was broken, and beyond saving in Daryl's eyes.
She finally moved her hand back, turning away from him. They stood like that for a while, him just facing her back. It was the first time he could remember her looking so defeated, her shoulders slumped, and he was the cause of it. He was the asshole that decided to yell at her right after she got away from being tortured, simply cause he was pissed off at himself.
'You ain't never gonna do anything right, little brother.'
Merle's voice echoed in his head, and Daryl realized what he had just told Beth. "Hold on a second. Beth, I didn't mean-"
She looked over her shoulder at him, her eyes glistening, but her mouth formed into a heart-wrenching smile. "We should get goin'." He wanted to apologize. Wanted to be the one to grab her hand for once, beg her to forgive him. Yet, his only response was a gruff mumble, then he turned away.
'I'm here.' She had told him.
Yes, she was here. Even if it didn't make sense to him. Of all the places she could have ended up, she ended up with him. Maybe he couldn't get close to her, maybe he couldn't care for her like he wanted, but he could protect her. Keep her from all of the evil in the world, but it had to be from far away. Not only would it be inappropriate, but he would destroy her. Vitiate her pure thoughts, make her into some evil creature, make her into everyone else that was in this world that was driven by survival at any cost. He would turn her into someone like him, and that was something Daryl Dixon couldn't allow.
When he thought back to anytime things had gone good in his life, Beth was there. Nothing was good until the prison, and even after the prison, he was happy. All because of her.
He closed her door, hiding the fact that his hand was on fire where she touched him, and he got in the front drivers side, closing his door and turning the engine. Beth watched his muscles move and she was unsure if she had ever seen anything so mesmerizing.
Daryl was aware of her eyes on him, and as much as he wanted to know the reason behind it, striving to know if she cared for him, he knew he couldn't allow himself to ask. He had spent the month making himself stop and get over his feelings the had emerged in that funeral home, but seeing her again, how happy she was to find it was him that rescued her, it made them all come rushing back ten fold.
It wasn't that he thought she was a little girl, no. It pained him how fully alert he was that this female beside him with toned muscles from yanking on the chains and curves that could break a man's heart was indeed a woman. Daryl had to fight his feelings for a few reasons. Besides wanting to keep her pure, he knew that no one would approve. No one at the camp would allow him with Beth, and even though he wished it wasn't true, he cared about those people's opinions. So, he had to stop. He had to cut his losses, and allow her to be with someone that actually could make her happy, even if the thought of it made him want to find the guy and break and arrow off into his damn neck.
"You can go ahead and rest. It's gonna be a while." He said, looking over at her, but finding she was already sound asleep. Her pink lips parted, breath coming out and filling the car with sweetness. His lower half began to ache, and he cursed himself for always thinking with the wrong head. Girl been through hell and back and all he could think about was getting her into his bed? He made himself sick.
'She's a perty little thang, brother. Grow a pair and give her a go.'
Daryl shook his head. He had never been able to get Merle's voice out of his head, and it was times like this that he really hated the guy. No doubt in his mind that Merle would have said the same thing if he was still alive. In fact, he had never asked Beth, but he wondered if Merle had ever tried to get with her, like he did with basically every other female he came across.
His eyes looked back to the girl as they drove down a small dirt road. Everything about her was beautiful to him. Her soft skin that was making him lick his lips, her wavy blond hair, spread out around her shoulders and trailing down her back. Everything about her made him want to be a good man for her. He wasn't gonna do her or anybody no good by being the man he was.
No, stop. Stop thinking about it as if it can really happen.
Daryl looked away, turning the steering wheel to get onto the main road. It suddenly hit him that he didn't tell Beth something, and as much as he knew she should know, he couldn't find it within himself to wake her up. How much shit had she gone through? What all had they done to her? Would she ever recover? He didn't know the answers, but he intended on finding them all out.
Both trucks got to the camp at the same time, the gates opening and allowing them to pass. Daryl pulled in beside Rick's truck, opening his door to get out. He was about to go around and get Beth whenever he felt something metal being pressed to the back of his head. "What did I tell you about leaving without my permission?"
Daryl turned around, facing his assailant. "Maggie, I had a lead. Y'know I had to take it."
Rick and Michonne came up beside him,Carl standing behind. "Put the gun down." Rick said, and she scoffed.
Glenn came from behind them, his hand held out. "Maggie, listen for a second."
"You shouldn't have left! None of you! A herd came through, breakin' down the South gate. Dozens got in and we had to fend for ourselves without four of our best fighters." Daryl went to speak, but Maggie cut him off. "And you with your 'leads'. Beth's dead, Daryl. Get off of your heroic high horse and let the rest of us grieve. You think I don't want to go out all the time and search for her? I do. But, we got people here who need to be taken care of. Children, elderly. Someone has to protect them, not go off on trips that lead to nothin'." She breathed out, and slowly began to lower her gun. "Get inside and gear up. We got a fence to mend." Maggie ordered, walking towards the building that everyone was sleeping in. Glenn went to grab her shoulder. "What?" She spun around.
Daryl stood in front of her with a petite blond in his arms, looking down at her with a ghost of a smile on his lips. "We found 'er."
Maggie looked at all of them, needing some reassurance that this was actually happening. If she went over there and that girl wasn't Beth, she just knew that something would give. "You... You found her?" She asked, and Rick nodded.
"Daryl found her. He's the reason she's here." Glenn said, reminding Maggie that Daryl did what he had to do.
She stepped forward, then her steps turned to runs and she hurried in front of Daryl. Her heart pounded in her ears as she looked at the face of her little sister in the arms of a man she had just threatened to kill. "Beth." She breathed out, her hand touching the girls hand, squeezing tightly. "Why isn't she waking up?"
"Fell asleep on the ride here. She's pretty beat up. We need to get her inside and get one of the doc's." Daryl answered, his need to be close to her becoming ever stronger as he realized he would have to put her down and leave long enough for someone to get her changed.
Maggie nodded, moving out of the way so that Daryl could go. She walked beside him, watching her little sister sleep with disbelief. She had always doubted Daryl would find her sister, and here they were. She was alive. Beth was alive.
Tears slid down Maggie's cheek while Glenn pulled her into his embrace. "I thought she was dead." She gasped, ignoring the blood stains on Glenn's shirt.
"We all did." He replied.
Maggie's eyes shot towards the man who held her sister, seeing the way he refused to take his eyes off the girl. "Not everyone." She commented, and Glenn turned his head, seeing Daryl's back as he let the door close behind him.