The Road, a walking dead fanfic

A/N. This is just a short alternate ending to the season five episode 'Coda'. I know there's probably hundreds already out there by now but I needed to write this for my own healing process, so in my own mind I have a happy ending.

By now I think most people... or perhaps just the most ardent Bethylers' amongst us, are trying to cling onto any glimmer of hope that the good ship Bethyl will still be sailing come 5b! That the supposedly brilliant writers of TWD wouldn't really leave us with such an abysmally bad MSF where perhaps their strongest character throughout 4b and 5a dies for no good reason except to further one mans misery.

Today is the first time I've attempted to write any Bethyl since 'Coda' and I really only put this together for my best friend L. She assured me I should post this for other people to enjoy too... so here it is.

I hope you enjoy it and I'd be so happy to hear what you think... reviews make me a happy little Bethyler!

Best Wishes and thanks,

E xxx

The Road

The nightmares had happened this way almost every night. Almost every night for a year since Beth had been shot. Daryl would wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat screaming her name, his heart thumping, eyes wide as he sat bolt upright. The sound of that gunshot echoing in his head so vividly it was like it was happening again. Like he was reliving over and over the worst moment his sad broken life had ever known.

They were stood in the corridor of the hospital. It was silent. Nobody wanted to be the first to move, the first to speak. But he could see her. His Beth. She was alive, she was okay. His heart flipped, his breath hitched and his mouth went dry. She'd saved herself, she'd survived. He knew she would, he'd never doubted it, not once. She was strong, so much stronger than anyone else knew. He knew though. The time they'd spent together had enlightened him to every good and pure thing that Beth Greene was. She'd forced him to face his demons, to feel things he never knew were possible. He finally understood that there were things more important than physical strength and just surviving. Even with the world as it was now; hope, belief, thriving, giving and receiving love and kindness all mattered, maybe more now than when the world was how it used to be. He'd seen how without these things you might as well be one of the undead, hopelessly wandering alone for all eternity. And she'd got him wanting all of it, she'd made him believe someone like him could have it all. That his sorry ass deserved it just as much as anyone else. But he only wanted it with her. With Beth Greene, the woman that had healed his broken soul without judgement or condemnation. No one else would ever be enough now, he knew that. He wanted to always feel the way she'd made him feel that night at the moonshine shack; loved, respected, understood and worthy of being loved. He wanted her to love him the same way he loved her. Desperately. With an indescribable passion he only before believed existed in damn romance novels and fairy-tales. He wanted to curl his arms around her and never let go, as she'd curled her arms around him and made him feel worthwhile for the first time in his pointless life.

"One of mine for one of yours." Dawn finally broke the silence and Daryl's train of thought with it.

Rick just stared at her and nodded. He then looked at Daryl who immediately understood. He grabbed hold of the officers' arm and started to walk them forward, slowly along the empty quiet corridor. An officer began to push Carol forwards in her wheelchair, towards the exchange point.

Daryl smiled at her, a genuine joyous smile. But as happy as he was to see Carol again, Daryl's thoughts were only of Beth, he wanted this whole sick and twisted nightmare to be over. He wanted his girl back. He desperately wanted both his girls back, but his heart needed Beth back in a way it had never needed anything else in his life before, as if she was the air that kept him breathing. He hardly wanted to admit it to himself and hoped he would never have to, but he knew if he had to choose one, it would be Beth. It would always be Beth. Now he knew what it meant to connect to another person, to want someone so badly that you were completely and utterly dead inside without them, he couldn't go back to how he was before. He couldn't go back to just existing on emptiness, to pretending not to understand what it really meant to be alive. Because he did know, she'd taught him and he didn't want to forget.

He looked past Carol and the officer, almost through them, as he found Beth's bright blue gaze. Her eyes were smiling at him, filled with hope, the way they had been that night at the moonshine shack. They were telling him she was okay. That everything was going to be okay from now on. He wanted to believe they were telling him something else too. Telling him she felt the same about him as he felt about her. He didn't dare to think on that right now, the priority was to get his whole family to safety. Then they could talk. He never wanted to stop talking. He wanted to say so much to her. He'd run the conversations he'd have with her through his head over and over, since the moment she'd been taken. He'd promised himself if he ever found her he wouldn't hold back, he'd tell her how he felt, tell her how she'd changed him. He didn't care if she didn't say the same things back, he just needed her to know she'd made him a better man. That she'd changed his mind about almost everything and he felt new exciting things for her he'd never felt for anyone before. He needed her to know he loved her and if she'd let him, he would spend every single second of his life showing her just how much.

Daryl took hold of Carol's wheelchair, reluctantly turning his back on the love of his life as he guided the injured woman back to safety, far behind the shelter of Rick, Tyreese, Noah and Sasha's guns. Now it was Rick's turn. The last cop in exchange for Beth. Daryl could hardly breathe his heart was thumping so hard. He carried on looking at Beth, holding her hopeful gaze until Rick brought her close enough for him to touch her. Until she was close enough for him to pull her behind his back and shelter her from every single harmful thing this god forsaken world had left.

Rick let go of the cop, pushing him forward and grabbed for Beth's arm, pulling her into his side to safety. He kissed her golden hair as she wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him close in a show of love and relief. Her eyes and smile were still on Daryl though, soothing him until he could physically get to her.

It felt like an eternity to Daryl, he just wanted to touch her, to know she was real. To know she was back with him, taking her place at his side, where she belonged and where he was going to keep her forevermore.

Rick let Beth go, his eyes still on Dawn and the cops behind her. It was done. Rick almost let out a sigh of relief but there was something in the way Dawn was looking at him, looking at all of his family that stopped him from celebrating just yet.

Beth immediately ran to Daryl the second Rick relinquished his hold of her. Daryl felt her small delicate arms around his waist, her head against his chest and he knew he was in heaven once more. He was back with his angel and he was home. He could finally breathe, his heart could beat once more. It had stopped dead weeks ago as he stood outside the funeral home and watched helplessly as Beth disappeared into the night, her beautiful hopeful light fading from view as a cloak of pain and darkness descended over him. He'd tried, he'd tried so damn hard to get her back. He'd run for hours, until his lungs burned, until his muscles throbbed, until he ached so much his limbs refused to move one more inch. He'd sobbed, he'd screamed and he'd eventually stopped, unable to feel her presence any more as the trail went cold. He'd been in such pain that night he thought he'd actually died, he couldn't tell the difference between that world and this because without Beth he was in hell anyway. Whether he was dead or alive made no difference. He'd been stumbling for weeks, stumbling through what was left of his existence since she'd been so cruelly ripped from him mere moments after acknowledging his true feelings for her. Realising how he really felt about her but before he had chance to tell her.

Now he could see her once more. His beautiful hopeful light was back with him. He could touch her, smell her, feel her heart beating against his and he was so full of joy he wanted to explode. Hell with what anyone else thought of it. He wanted to scream out loud how much he loved her, tell anyone who'd listen that Beth Greene had saved his goddamn soul from eternal loneliness and sadness, and he was so happy right now his heart just might give out from the ecstasy, unable to take the joy she brought into it.

"Now I just need Noah." Daryl didn't hear the words straight away. He was lost in the woman he was holding onto tighter than if she was his life support machine. His arms were curled around her tiny frame so hard she was almost completely covered. He wanted to cover her, to hide her from view, to keep her safe and protect her from everything awful this world could still throw at them.

When he finally realised they had a problem, he slowly and reluctantly unfurled his arms from Beth, pulling back to smile at her. His hand touched her face as he pressed his lips into her temple before gently guiding her small frame behind him, his solid body completely covering her from view once more. Beth placed her hands on the small of his back, lightly, just to let him know she was there with him. "Daryl." It was barely audible but he heard her. Her soft sweet voice, the voice he thought he might never hear again, was whispering his name and it soothed his soul. He knew then she wanted to get out of here just as badly as he did. That knowledge made him angry. He'd seen her cuts and bruises and broken wrist and he couldn't stop his mind from wandering to thoughts of what else they'd done to her whilst she'd been held captive here. Wondering if they'd touched her, violated her, forced her to do... he shook his head, he needed to stop those thoughts before they got him, or Beth into trouble. He couldn't afford to lose it, not now. There was too much at stake. But if he found out later that one of these bastards had so much as looked at her wrong, he would come back and shoot every last one of them in the fucking face.

He tried to think of something else. Something happy. Then he sucked in a breath, his mind and body exploding as he felt Beth brush her fingertips over the skin of his naked waist. Her small warm hands had pushed under his shirt, as if she knew he needed distracting from his thoughts. "S'okay, I'm here. I'm not leavin' ya again." Beth's voice was so hushed he knew only he would hear her. He knew her words were meant for him only.

It worked. An internal groan, a thrill, an electricity bolt pulsed though his entire body as her skin collided with his. A beautiful vision of him and Beth played out in his mind. They were laid out naked in a meadow, midday sun beating down hard onto his back, warming him as he slid his hands over every inch of her smooth beautiful body and she murmured how much she loved him, over and over as he moved inside her warmth. He was still distracted, but now by thoughts of Beth; loving, arousing and happy thoughts.

He wanted to turn around, he wanted to grab hold of her and press his lips into hers until she melted into him and he no longer knew where he ended and she began. He needed it to be the two of them for a while. He just wanted to look at her, look at her goddamn beautiful face forever and touch her. Never stop touching her in case she vanished again. In case her light went out once more. He wanted to soothe her wounds, make everything better and never ever let her out of his sight again, not even for one second. The words she's said to him that night still echoed in his mind 'Yer gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone Daryl Dixon.' Miss didn't even start to describe what he'd been feeling since she'd been gone. He'd died inside. The thought he'd never see her smiling face again, never get to tell her how he felt, never get to touch her and never get the chance of having the life he wanted with her had almost broken him.

"That wasn't part of the deal." Rick looked pissed. He'd had about as much as he could take from these assholes and his patience was now non-existent.

"You're taking Beth and she was my ward, she replaced Noah. So I need one of them back." Dawn stated it calmly and simply.

"No fuckin' way. Uh uh. Ain't happenin'. He's with us. Beth and Carol are with us." Daryl had had about as much as he could take too. If he didn't get out of here soon he was going to murder every last motherfucking one of them. He didn't need an excuse but they'd bloody just given him one anyway.

"Then there's no deal." Dawn now had her hand on her holstered gun.

Rick turned slowly his head to look at his family, then back to Dawn as he menacingly cracked his neck side to side in frustration and anger. "The deal's already done lady."

Noah could see where this was heading, he knew Dawn was never going to let it go and it would turn into a blood bath in a few seconds if he didn't do something.

"It's okay, I'll stay. Let them go. They did as you asked." Noah spoke to Dawn and handed his gun over to Rick before moving across the corridor to Dawn.

Daryl felt Beth move her hands, he felt the loss as her warm softness disappeared from his skin but before he could turn and grab her, hold her back, she was already in front of him, walking towards Noah. It was like he was stuck in a bubble and everything was happening in slow motion. He wanted to scream and pull her back to safety, to shoot every last one of them and take her in his arms and hold her so tight she moulded into him.

"No, you're not havin' him, he's comin' with us Dawn. He got out. You can't change the rules." Beth's small frame was stood directly in front of Noah, covering him as much as she could as she raised her voice at the demented and delusional woman in front of her.

Dawn took out her gun and pointed it at Beth. "Out of the way Beth. This is not your fight. He's staying with us."

"S'okay Beth. I'll stay."

"No it's not alright Noah. It's not okay." Beth was unmoving, she stood her ground, staring down Dawn. "People don't get to use other people. He wants to go home and you have no right to stop him. He got out."

Daryl was watching the interactions between his girl and these people and he wanted to move, to do something but it was all happening in a blur, it was all so fast that he couldn't. He was unable to do anything except look on like some powerless spectator behind a pane of glass.

Beth turned to wrap her arms around Noah. That was when it happened. Dawn pulled the trigger. No one believed she would, not even her. She didn't mean to do it, it just happened. Beth probably spooked her by moving suddenly.

Daryl didn't think, he didn't process it, he just pulled his gun out and shot Dawn dead. It was automatic, retaliation. He shot the woman that had just stolen his life, his future, his whole reason for living, for the second time.

Beth was on the floor, blood pooling quickly around her as the extent of her injuries became apparent. She'd been shot through the head. The bullet skimming along the edge of her skull. As if his world hadn't been moving slowly enough already, it almost stopped turning completely and fell from it's axis. He was dizzy, disorientated as the noise and movement around him merged into a muffled babble of screaming, shouting, wailing and sobbing. He fell to his knees next to her, dropping his weapons as he bowed his head, chanting her name. He was staring at his angel through blurry eyes, as if he stared long enough she'd open her eyes and talk to him like she was just waking from a long sleep.

"Stop! Holster your weapons. Hold your fire. It's over." Shepard took charge in place of Dawn, ordering the officers to not make things any worse.

Rick did the same with his family. Guns were poised and cocked but he couldn't afford more bloodshed. He wanted to concentrate on making Beth alright. He wanted her to live more than he wanted the others to die, although he was sure it was already too late. She looked dead. She looked pale and lifeless and already gone from this world. He hoped he was wrong.

Rick looked down at Daryl and saw something that scared him. He'd never seen such a sorrowful sight in all his days. He was pretty sure he'd never even looked like that when Lori had died. His friend, his brother was suffering, he was in pain, completely broken and he had no idea how to help him. Rick scanned the room through teary eyes and found his gaze falling onto the doctor far behind the cops and wards. He needed to try to help Beth, to help Daryl.

"You, get here now." Rick waved his colt at the doctor, beckoning him over to the heart breaking scene playing out in front of him. Silence fell through the corridor once more. Daryl's heart wrenching sobs had subsided to a steady hiccup of heavy breaths as he stroked his girls face softly, murmuring incoherent words to her. Although maybe to him they weren't incoherent, just things only his Beth would understand, like she understood and accepted everything else about him. Daryl's tears fell freely, quietly but quickly onto the unmoving pale woman he'd now pulled into his lap and was rocking back and forth with as if she was already gone to heaven.

Doctor Edwards moved towards Rick, apprehensively but quickly. He was probably half expecting a bullet to the brain if he didn't.

"You're a doctor. Deal with this fucked up mess. Beth does not get to die in this shit hole place you call home. Understand? She doesn't get to die. Period. She made it. She fuckin' survived. It ain't over." Edwards looked sheepishly at Rick, as though contemplating telling him it was worthless even trying. He pushed his glasses back in place over his nose nervously as he thought better of it.

As if Rick could read his thoughts he answered the doctors unspoken doubts. "You better pray she doesn't die and you do you're best, 'cause if she does then each and every one of you sick bastards die too. You first. And it won't be pleasant or quick." Rick was looking first at the terrified doctor and then from person to person. His body starting to shake as the realisation and severity of the situation finally hit home. He wasn't losing her, not Beth, not the only light they had left in this world. And he wasn't losing his brother either, they'd lost too much and he'd be damned if he was letting it happen again.

Edwards swallowed hard and nodded in response as he beckoned for a couple of wards to help move the lifeless girl off Daryl. Daryl wouldn't let go of her, not for a second though. He held onto her, pulling her further into his chest and moved her into one of the rooms himself, lying her lovingly down on the bed. He held her floppy cold tiny hand in his, stroking his thumb rhythmically over her knuckles in an attempt to soothe himself, to stop himself shaking. His tears wouldn't subside. He thought they maybe never would. And that would be fine with him because it's what he deserved for letting her get taken, for not even being able to save her now.

Edwards detected a pulse, a light erratic pulse, but the likelihood she would survive was still minimal. Not that he wanted to break that news to Rick or Daryl anytime soon. He did all he could, but with no other qualified staff and not very much working equipment or useful drugs he held little hope she would pull through.

Hours later Beth was finally stable. Critical but stable. The bullet had gone straight through her head but had only just skimmed the right edge of her temple. She'd lost blood, a lot of blood. Edwards had managed to stem the bleeding and done all he could with what he had to work with but he had no idea what damage the swelling would do over the next days and weeks. Daryl didn't leave her side, not for one second. He was dazed and confused and continued to hold her as he cried, lying on the bed next to her. He told he all the things he promised himself he would. That he loved her, that he would always love her, that he was a better man now because of her, that she'd changed him, that he wanted to take care of her, that he was never letting anyone hurt her again. He told her that he wanted to settle down with her and marry her, that he wanted her to have his children and that he would never love another soul as long as he lived. That he'd given her his heart and it belonged to her now. He didn't know if she could hear him or understand him but he wanted to tell her anyway.

He didn't speak to any of the others, not even to Rick who sat with him for a while, his hand firmly on Daryl's shoulder. Daryl felt useless, he hated the thought her life was in the hands of these moronic idiots, these people that had held his angel captive, hurt her, done all kinds of shit to her that he might never know about. He felt trapped. As though the walls were closing in on him, his air was disappearing, he couldn't settle, couldn't breathe. He felt panicked and sick but he knew he had to hold on. He had to be here when she woke. He owed her that much. He had to tell her again all those things he'd wanted to tell her since that night at the kitchen table. He had to be positive she knew he loved her.

Daryl looked around the room, eyes wide as he tried to calm himself. His heart gradually returning to a normal rhythm as his eyes gazed downwards at the beautiful sleeping angel next to him. He slowly laid back down and hoped he hadn't woken her, although he knew he probably had, he did almost every time he dreamt of that awful day. It wasn't as often lately but it was still far too frequent for his liking.

"Sshhushhh…It's just a dream baby, I'm here, we're both here." Beth mumbled softly, only half awake, as she grabbed behind her for Daryl's hand and pulled it onto her stomach. Daryl rolled over, pressing himself into Beth's naked and warm soft body. His hand lovingly moving over his unborn child as he stroked and caressed his wife's distended stomach. He snuggled his face into the golden hair at her neck and let out a satisfied and relief filled groan as he acknowledged it really was just all a nightmare. As he realised his Beth and their baby were still here with him, safe and happy.

"Sorry… didn't mean ta wake ya. Maybe one day the damn things'll stop." Daryl murmured softly against Beth's shoulder.

"It's okay Daryl. I know it scared ya but I ain't ever leavin' ya again. Never. Me and Dixie are gonna be with ya always. I love ya Daryl. Dixie's gonna love ya too. Yer gonna be just the best daddy ever." Beth rolled onto her back, turning her smiling face towards him and pressing her lips into his, lingering there for a minute.

"I love ya Mrs Dixon. And I love 'Dixie' too. I know we're safer now but ma mind just goes back there sometimes. It's fucked up I know. Ya have no idea what it did ta me inside ta see ya almost dead. It fuckin' killed part a' me and I don't think it'll ever go away. Never."

"It will get better. One day you won't even think about it... and ya won't even realise ya haven't thought about it." Beth ran her fingers through Daryl's damp hair that hung heavily over his eyes, obliterating her view of the most gorgeous man she'd ever laid eyes on.

Daryl searched his wife's gaze for a while and found what he needed to soothe himself; love, understanding and a promise she wasn't going anywhere. Ever. He returned her smile. He thought it was so cute she'd already named their baby. There was no way in hell he was really calling his kid Dixie but he still thought it was sweet. He traced his fingertips along her face, over the scar on her temple that would forever remind him what he loved most about the angel in front of him. It wasn't her beauty or her wit or intelligence or her compassion or her sexiness or her playfulness or the way she could read his mind or even the way she didn't let a day pass without telling him she loved him more than anybody had ever loved another person… of course he loved those things about her too. But it was her strength, her belief, her faith and the fact that his happy ending had been forged at the very moment he thought Beth had died in front of him. It was that exact moment that he really understood that life wasn't something you undertook alone. You needed that one person that made you whole in every single way. Your soul mate. Someone to walk the road together, hand in hand. And he had been lucky, he'd somehow found his soul mate, Beth, the person he couldn't live without, and he was now walking that road with her, hand in hand. He had been since the moment she'd regained consciousness and his mouth spilled every damn thing he'd been thinking for months.

They were in the Alexandria Safe Zone now though, along with the rest of their family. They were sharing a house with Rick, Michonne, Carl and Ass kicker. Beth had been working as a pre school teacher and Daryl as a mechanic. But she was due to give birth anytime now so had stopped work a week back. Daryl was petrified of course. Not of becoming a father, which was the strange thing because that was what he thought he would worry about the most, not being good enough and turning out like his own father. But it was of losing Beth that he was most scared. He'd had the gunshot nightmares for months after she was shot, even though he got to spend every single night holding her close, and even though they were safe in Alexandria. The nightmares had gradually become less frequent, almost non-existent but then she became pregnant and they started again. His deep rooted fear of her leaving him, of her dying, coming to the fore again.

However six months later and Daryl was joking about begging for the nightmares to start again… just because that would have meant he'd have actually had to have had some sleep at some point. Beth had given birth to a healthy baby girl. They'd named her Annette, after Beth's momma, but they called her Annie. Annie Dixon. She had a set of lungs on her just like her momma's and she sure as hell knew how to use them too. All night long. Neither Beth nor Daryl, or in fact anyone else in the house had slept properly for months. Daryl would never admit it but he wouldn't have minded if it had stayed like that forever… because it made him feel alive. He knew he was actually living, not just surviving, and he knew he would always be walking that road with his soul mate and daughter by his side. He had hope and belief in something better, he was thriving for the first time in his life and he was utterly and completely in love. Without all those things he might just as well be one of the undead, hopelessly wandering alone for all eternity.