The noises of bustling footsteps and chatter echoed through the hallway, as the prison began to come to life to start the day. The unmistakable sound of Maggie's laughter in the distance reached Beth's ears as she slowly gained consciousness. Then the curtain to her cell was pulled back and light flooded in obtrusively. Beth instinctively threw a hand over her eyes.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" Maggie greeted cheerfully.

Beth just groaned in response. She opened one eye to see her sister standing there with Glenn in tow. He gave her a half-wave. "Is it morning already?"

"Yep! Time to get up!"

Normally Beth was an early riser. All of the Greene children had been brought up to wake up at the crack of dawn to help their parents on the farm before school, and it was a habit that sort of stuck with her even though there were no longer any cows to milk or chickens to feed. But the night before had been restless, as Judith kept waking up crying, and Beth had to pace around the prison, rocking her back to sleep more than once.

Still, Beth just nodded as Maggie closed the curtain and walked away. She pushed herself out of the bunk with a yawn and groggily rose to her feet. The first thing she did every morning was open her notebook and mark down the date. She wasn't sure why she still did it, or whether it even mattered anymore, but it gave her a sense of normalcy. September fourth, she jotted down. Nineteen days until her birthday.

It was hard to believe that just two years ago, she'd been having a normal birthday party in a normal world. For her sixteenth birthday, the house was filled with all of her family and closest friends. Her boyfriend Jimmy had been by her side the whole night, holding her hand and staring at her like a lovesick puppy, earning them both teasing nudges from Maggie and Shawn. Beth was treated to an enthusiastic rendition of Happy Birthday, blew out the candles on her favorite carrot cake, and opened gifts while her mother snapped away on the camera. At the end of the night, her parents presented her with a brand new acoustic guitar, after she'd hounded them for months about getting lessons. She fell asleep that night with a smile on her face, sure that this birthday couldn't be topped.

She was right. By the time the next year rolled around, both Shawn and her mother were gone and the world had fallen to shambles.

Her sixteenth birthday felt like a lifetime ago. Beth knew that her life had once been different, but she found it hard to remember. It just felt so strange that her biggest concerns had once been biology tests and homecoming dresses, rather than day-to-day survival.

Beth began to get dressed for the day. She rifled around in her cubbies for a clean blouse and a pair of jeans. These days, pretty much all of her clothing had tears or stains from sweat, blood, and spit-up. Still, she always tried to make do and look as presentable as she could - probably the normalcy thing, she guessed. She found her mama's old pearl earrings on the nightstand, and fastened them, before brushing and braiding her long blond hair. She pulled on her socks and boots, grabbed her toothbrush, and headed to the bathroom.

As she walked, she recalled the other day in the cafeteria when she'd told Rick she was turning eighteen. It was mostly just intended as a matter-of-fact statement, really. He'd mentioned her age and she'd just informed him. Simple. But she knew that there were underlying connotations. And it had been fun to watch Rick squirm.

She couldn't deny that she found Rick disarmingly handsome. For as long as she'd known him, Beth had harbored a crush that only grew stronger with time. But she always felt a little bad about it - he was a married man. Something had changed between him and Lori, sure, there was tension and distance, but the ring on his finger remained. And then... she was gone, and he'd lost himself for a bit. Beth was concerned and wanted to help, but didn't know how. So she did her part by looking after his children.

Now Rick was slowly recovering and Beth wasn't quite sure how to tactfully hit on a grieving widower. For that matter, she was positive that a decent man like Rick Grimes would never reciprocate the feelings of a silly teenage girl like her. So she tried to keep her feelings under control and resign herself to the idea that it was a fantasy that would never come to fruition.

When Beth finished brushing her teeth, she stared at her reflection in the mirror and smiled. Today is going to be a good day, she told herself.

She'd always considered herself lucky, since her parents had taught her the importance of gratitude and optimism. Even after things fell apart, Annette would grab her family members and say, "We're so lucky we still have each other." Then one day, she and Shawn were bitten, and they turned. Her daddy insisted that they were just sick, and that the Army would come soon to fix everything, and they'd be cured. Maggie insisted privately that their father was just in denial, but Beth wanted to believe him. Then her mother nearly sank her teeth into Beth before being put down, and it hit her at once that they weren't coming back and the world would not be getting better.

The realization drove her to a failed suicide attempt, but she ultimately decided to keep going. In times like these, she felt that optimism was essential - it was the only way to keep living and fighting. And she did feel lucky, despite the losses and constant danger they experienced. She was still alive. She still had her father and sister. She had a group of people who cared for each other. She had food to eat, and a safe place to live. She had Judith.

She had Rick.

Beth left the bathroom and continued walking down the empty hallway until she reached the room where Judith's makeshift crib was kept. Carl was sitting on a bench nearby, holding his baby sister and feeding her from a bottle.

She approached him and silently put her hand on his back as an expression of comfort. Carl looked up, his face stoic. Beth knew he was still in mourning for his mother, but he tried hard to be strong. He'd brushed off her attempts to get him to talk about it, so she didn't push, hoping that the day would come when he would be ready to open up.

Carl carefully passed Judith off to Beth, and put the bottle back in her mouth. "Make sure you hold it up like this," he mentioned, showing her the right angle. "Otherwise she drinks too fast and gets gassy." She didn't know how a thirteen-year-old boy knew the first thing about caring for an infant, but figured he must have been taught by Carol, who occasionally watched Judith when Beth was busy.

Beth gave him a nod and a smile, and he left. She was alone with her thoughts and the baby once more.

There had never been any formal assignment of roles. Nobody had ever sat her down and told her that she was in charge of taking care of Judith. It was a responsibility she'd assumed for herself. Although she helped out as much as she could with other tasks around the prison, she knew she wasn't as strong or as fast or as good of a shooter as some of the others. This, she figured, was how she could contribute while the others worked to keep the prison safe.

It was easy to get frustrated and wallow in the unfairness of the world. But her daddy had always said that everyone had a job to do, and Beth knew that she had a little girl who needed her. That's just how it was. Besides, the sleepless nights and endless diaper changes were worth it when, every so often, the infant looked up at her and cooed with happy recognition. Those moments were what made her keep living.

Today is going to be a good day.