I wasn't sure to do this in Daryl's POV or Beth's, so I tried both. If you want to hear from one character or another, just let me know in a review or something.

Daryl

It can't be fucking real. It's her. Same pretty face and blond hair I saw die back in Atlanta. But… it's her. It's her all the same.

I run to her and give her a goddamn bear hug. I actually don't feel like a failure this time. I laugh, and she laughs too. Soon, Maggie joins in, in tears to see her sister again before death.

"H-How!?" Maggie asks. She wipes at her eyes.

"I was shot, but wasn't dead. The doctors called it a coma like they'd never seen before." She pointed at a nasty looking scar at the back of her left jaw. "Half an inch to the right and I'd be dead as a doornail." I had to touch it and inspect it, just to be sure.

"How'd you get all the way here?" I asked.

She went into quite the detail. "I convinced the others at Grady to come with me to find Noah and you guys. Over who knows how many months, we headed north, losing and gaining people along the way." She mentioned a number of places in the Appalachian mountains. "What was left of us reached here after being attacked by-"

"Men on motorbikes?" I asked. "Ran into some of those sons of bitches myself. Suffice to say they're not breathing anymore."

"I don't think it was one group," said Beth, more worried. "They said their leader was-"

Before Beth could continue, Rick and the leader of the Hilltop came out of the museum building, discussing a possible deal for the future. Near them, a returning scout group reported that a man named Negan killed two of their group because their drop was too light, and he's holding another one of their members, Craig, until they deliver a message. The old man asked for the message, to which one of the men stabbed him in the gut.

Rick's response was to fight the attacker, which ended with the man's blood pouring from his throat on Rick's face. Another from the scouting group attempted to strangle Abraham, and for a moment it looked like he had lost it. So I stepped in, and I broke the attacker's arm in the nick of time.

"Daryl, stop!" screamed Beth. Wasn't sure what the hell her reasoning was, but I did actually stop and stare at her. "I ain't dealing with this bullshit! It's him or Abraham, take your damn pick!"

Beth just looked horrified, but it wasn't the same look of the teenager from the farm. This was someone that had seen the new world, and had gotten used to it, but didn't like it anyways.

A confrontation was growing between the disgusted Hilltop residents and our group. The locals began drawing various blades and guns, while our people were on high alert. Beth stood somewhere in the middle, not really realizing where she was. Then again, she didn't seem scared anymore.

It looked like it was going to be a fight. Then the man who called himself Jesus quickly ran between Rick and the next person looking for a fight, and attempted to defuse the situation. "This is over! Ethan was our friend, but he was a coward who tried to kill Gregory. He brought it upon himself, and these people stopped it."

Guess that's where Jesus' nickname came from. His ability to keep the peace, or shit like that. A fight was the last thing we needed, but I'd give it to them if they were willing. But it didn't happen. Next thing I knew, Rick was putting his gun away and helping move Gregory to a better location to tend to his wounds. Beth and I went to help Abraham up on his feet.

"Thanks," was his reply. Abraham then stared at Beth for a few seconds, then said, "Are you with Daryl?"

"More than that. I'm Maggie's half-sister."

"She was at that hospital in Atlanta," I explained. "We thought her dead and went on. Turns out, it was a coma or some shit. Beth, this is Abraham. He's like Merle, but nicer."

"Who the dicknuts is Merle?"

"My brother. Did I not tell you about him?"

Beth

Jesus took everyone to the antique library to explain the Saviors and their methods to Rick's group. I, for the most part, stood back, talking with Abraham, whose colorful language would have made Daddy have a heart attack. He seemed like a good person, though, and I was glad he was a part of Rick's group. Everyone could use some extra muscle in these days.

From Daryl, I learned about the new settlement Rick had helped consolidate: the Alexandria Safe Zone. I also began running a list of the new people in my head:

-Abraham: red haired, former soldier. Strongest member of the group. Born fighter.
-Rosita: Abraham's ex. Nice enough, also a fighter.
-Eugene: weird guy who falsely claimed to have the cure to the zombie virus to stay alive. Intelligent, but socially awkward.
-Father Gabriel: pastor picked up along the way. Disliked at first, slowly accommodating to Rick's leadership.
-Tara: former Governor follower who abandoned him. Good at killing walkers.
-Aaron: Alexandria's main recruiter. Sees the good in others.
-Heath: another supply runner. Experienced.
-Enid: girl found on her own. Carl seems to like her.

There were others, but Daryl couldn't really point anyone out, since only Abraham was new among those that had gone to the Hilltop. Daryl had… well, not changed. The same rugged features, disregard for anything he didn't like, and disheveled hair and stubble were there. In fact, his hair had gotten even longer.

Not that I cared. It suited him.

A new deal between Alexandria and the Hilltop was put in place. Rick's group would receive half and only half of the Hilltop's supplies in exchange for dealing with the Saviors. Maggie also managed to arrange for me to return to my old group. Nothing personal against the Hilltop, I just liked having my sister back.

Before we left, however, there was one last thing to do. The Hilltop had an ultrasound machine it its infirmary. I was surprised Glenn and Maggie wanted to conceive at this point, but I figured it was going to happen eventually. The two of them were filled with nothing but glee. Their time together had only made them closer and stronger together.

"You're going to be an aunt," Maggie said lightly.

Glenn just smiled. "It's just great to have you back, Beth. Talk about a total godsend."

The three of us took some time to admire the baby. It was kind of euphoric, thinking about starting families and raising children in this world. Then I remembered Judith. "Is Judith still alive."

"Yep," replied Glenn. "Carol takes care of her mostly. She remains Rick's main reason for living."

"She must be so big now."

After some more talk about Judith and Alexandria, we headed on our way. Andy, the Hilltop resident whose arm Daryl had broken, was taken along as a way of building trust between the two survivor groups. Before leaving the Hilltop, Glenn and Maggie had printed out some ultrasound photos of their baby and passed them around for everyone to see in the RV ride to Alexandria. I had to point out the various features to Daryl. "So that's it's…"

"Feet," I said. "Have you never seen an ultrasound before?"

"Hell if I know. I doubt my momma used one ever, and Merle and I sure as hell didn't reply to any baby mama trying to make a dollar off of us."

"You got a girl pregnant?" I asked.

"Dunno. It was a drunken heat of the moment thing, and Merle was telling me her messages were a scam to milk me dry of paychecks. Before I could tell her anything, the walkers had overrun her hometown. Guess I'll never know." Daryl stared out the window for a minute, probably lost in thought. "You can't save everybody. But at least we found you." He tapped me lightly on the shoulder.

"You didn't find me. It just happened to be a coincidence we were in the same place at the same time."

"Bullshit. Everything happens for a reason. Even your little nephew."

Smiles around from everyone for Daryl not looking angry or grumpy all the time.

Alexandria ended up being a suburb surrounded by metal walls, a very clean and efficient looking community at that. There was so much room within the walls that everyone pretty much had their own home. Rick had offered the house behind his for me, but I decided to live with Glenn and Maggie, until I had settled in for a week or so.

There wasn't much time to explore, however, as Rick had insisted I go to his war meeting regarding the Saviors. I had told him about my slow and painful learning of how to use firearms, and for the most part he seemed to go along with it, although he wanted to test it later.

"These Saviors, they almost killed Sasha, Daryl, and Abraham on the road," said Rick. "Now, sooner or later, they would've found us. They woulda killed some of us, and they would try to own us. And we would try to stop them. But by then, in that kind of fight, low on food, we could lose. This is the only way to be sure, as sure as we can get, that we win. And we have to win. We do this for the Hilltop, it's how we keep this place. It's how we feed this place."

Rick was even more hardened than before. I know how he had dealt with the Governor and Woodbury but here he was talking about a preemptive attack, a clean sweep. That hadn't happened in before. Rick was now more like his partner that he killed, Shane.

"This needs to be a group decision," said Rick. "If anybody objects, here's your chance to say your piece."

A man named Morgan, who was said to be from Rick's hometown and knew him personally, wanted to try talking to the Saviors first, but Rick shut him down. "Look at Beth, look at Daryl. They tried talking. They're only alive because of luck. We have to make that luck ourselves."

After a few more minutes of going back and forth, it was decided that we were going to war, and making the first strike. Rick and Daryl took me to the top of one of the walls to test my shooting skills.

"Here," said Daryl, giving me a bolt action sniper rifle. "Kill six walkers. Prove you can fight."

He obviously remembered how naïve and inexperienced I had been. I hesitated for a moment, then picked off all the walkers on the ground, one by one.

"Not bad," remarked Rick, nodding his head. "Where'd you learn that from?"

"I had a good teacher."

"That teacher have a name?"

I hesitated again. "Leo. Some special forces guy from Kentucky. Didn't make it this far, obviously."

"Well," said Daryl, smiling, "he must have been one hell of a teacher to turn your fighting skills inside out."

I hope I'm in character for everyone. I probably need to rewatch seasons 4 and 5, but I think I did an ok job so far. I'll probably give more and more detail of Beth's road to Alexandria as time goes by.

What did you think? I enjoy getting emails telling me you reviewed.