She hated the way he was looking at her...a cross between disillusionment and something else.
"Daryl?"
His attention was now turned away from her, trying to make sense of it.
"Daryl, please say something."
Beth couldn't tell what he was feeling.
Devastated...that was the closest possible explanation for Daryl's range of emotions. Questions were swirling in his mind. Yet when it came down to it, there could only be two possible realities...
The first was that she had found someone. Eight months was a very long time to be separated from her family. He couldn't believe, at first, that Beth would forget about them and moved on to a different life. That wasn't the girl he gotten to know after the prison. But then Daryl realized during their time together, he had been convinced that the others were dead...he beat it into her head. That day at the moonshine shack... Did she finally take Daryl's words to heart and accepted that they were now all alone? Being separated from him had probably made her more alone than ever. Of course she would need to find comfort elsewhere. He couldn't blame her for that. But Daryl wondered though where "he" was unless "he" was already dead.
The other option, he doesn't want to think about. He couldn't deal with anymore guilt.
The circumstances that led them here...Beth being taken...Daryl had no one but himself to blame for that. This wasn't like losing Sophia or Hershel. He knew that he could've done more for them but he wasn't directly responsible for their losses. But Beth being found in her condition, he knew that was on him.
His voice was low but shaky. "Just tell me somethin'..." The look on his face was rather cold but also frightened. "...d'you at least, wanted it?"
Beth wasn't sure what he was asking her. Did he mean did she wanted to have a baby? That wasn't something on alot of people's minds in a zombie apocalypse. Was he asking if she was going to keep it? Well she hopes she'll able to. It was rather complicated.
But Beth knew that Daryl's "it" was the circumstances that led to this baby's existence.
"I..."
"Answer me, girl. It ain't that hard. D'ya wanted it to happen or didn't ya?"
Daryl was now losing his patience with Beth. Demanding as he was for answers, he already knew that he wasn't going to be happy with either answer. The way he was feeling inside right now a "yes" or a "no" were more than enough to twist the metaphorical knife in his gut.
Beth didn't know how to answer his question unless she attached the answer with a "but". There was so much to explain about the past eight months, she wonders if anyone was going to even believe her. It didn't matter thought because Maggie had been right. She couldn't hide anything anymore.
So she gave him the answer closest to the truth...she looked down and shook her head.
"I'll kill him..." he growled. "You tell me who he is and I'll kill him!"
Beth knew she had to calm him down before he started really losing it. "Daryl...it's not like that."
"What do you mean it ain't like that?!"
"I mean, I didn't have a choice...but it's not what you think it is."
"Stop messin' with me, girl!" He grabbed Beth by the arms. "I want answers! You didn't have a choice? Then tell me who took it from you?! Tell me!"
It was too late. Beth had unintentionally unleashed all of Daryl's rage and she couldn't control her tears. She just wanted him to listen...to understand. But she knew he wouldn't listen. The truth was crushing him.
"HEY!" Maggie ran over and pulled Daryl away from her sister. Rick was also beckoned by the commotion and was shocked to see Beth without the blanket for the first time. "What the hell, you think you're doing to her?!"
"She said she was raped!"
"I never said that!" Beth cried.
"Then hell...how do you think this sh*t happens, huh?! You ain't bein' straight with me!"
"Just stop it!" Maggie yelled. "Haven't you done enough?"
Rick knew that was his cue to pull Daryl away from this nasty situation to the far end of the auto garage. "Just give them their peace, man."
"Not till we find out who did this to her."
"And we will," said Rick. "You think she's ready to talk about what happened to her? I'll tell you, you're not gonna get it outta her the way you are right now. You need to calm down...give her time to deal."
It was clear that Daryl needed to stay away from Beth the rest of the night. Maggie would stay close to her sister and comfort her after that nasty Q&A. "Beth, you know, if you did sleep with someone...it's okay."
"But I didn't! I'm telling you."
"Okay...I believe you. Is there anything you can tell us?"
Beth was horribly nervous. "I...there's a lot but...it's really hard to talk about."
"Don't let Daryl get to you. He doesn't get to decide when you can talk. You do. When you're ready to talk about it, we'll be here."
"What about the others?" Beth asked. "They're gonna think..."
"They won't think anything," said Maggie. "They'll know that you went through some stuff and it's not gonna change their opinion of you. Plus we have some new people with us who don't even know you so I doubt they care."
...
By morning, the herd of walkers had dispersed and they were able to move on. The rest of the group had been hold up at a former plantation home. On the drive there Beth learned about the plan to go to D.C. and of a possible cure.
Maggie asked "you alright, Beth?"
"Yeah...it's just...you said a cure?"
"Well we're not exactly sure. That Eugene guy who's with us is being pretty tight-lipped. Says it's not safe to say to anything until we get there."
Daryl had been quiet the entire time keeping his distance from Beth. Being around her and her obvious pregnant belly was becoming to painful for him but he had to keep those emotions in.
When they arrived at the plantation, the familiar faces came out of the house, worried about the group since they had not arrived back last night like intended.
Maggie hugged Glenn. "We found Beth."
"Really?" he said. He didn't see her so she was probably still in the van.
"Yeah, but...listen, try not to say anything when you see her."
"Um...should I ask why?"
But by that time Rick was helping Beth out of the van. Sure enough, the others were pretty shocked to see what had obviously changed about her. Some of them were already thinking the worst but for the most part they still hugged her, welcomed her back into their fold all the same. They knew she had gone through a trauma and they weren't going to ask the big questions.
While Beth was meeting the new people, Maggie wanted a word with Daryl away from . "Are you gonna tell me what that was all about?"
"What?"
"The way you treated my sister last night. I thought you of all people would've been happy that we even found her."
"It ain't that."
"Look, I know okay. Whatever happened, it's really eating me up, too. But it's what it is right now. She has a baby coming and we need to help her with that. You can start by getting a hold of yourself and just accept it."
"Well I'm tellin' ya. She's hiding somethin'. She ain't tellin' us the whole truth."
"Don't you get it, Daryl? She's scared, okay? I don't even know if Beth is still Beth from eight months ago. So far...I think she is. But that doesn't mean you need to start shaking answers out of her. Later on, I think you should apologize."
"Fine, whatever," said Daryl. He sulked away from Maggie and followed the others back into the house. It would be business as usual now as their plans for what came next was now being set. He wasn't on board with D.C. in the beginning, even if they had found Beth. But now he was starting to question it. Running around Georgia wasn't going to be suitable for Beth anymore. It wasn't when Lori was pregnant with Judith.
At least in D.C., Beth would have a better chance even if he wasn't in the picture.
So how you liking this so far? I know you're probably confused as hell and upset about this not being Daryl's baby. I mean they could've screwed (or as one reviewer put it, the "frickle frackle") but I didn't have it that way for a reason. Just remember when Beth says "it's not what you think". You'll see in time. Loving the favs and follows. Extra love for the reviews.