S1-S4 are my favorites so I tend to use characters from those seasons rather than these later ones. And I can't express how much I am blown away by the response this story has been getting so far. Thank you so, so much for everything.

…

Three.

"Where the hell are you, Elizabeth Anne Greene?" Hershel Greene yells into the phone. "You get your ass home right now!"

And obviously, she knows her daddy is angry, but if she hadn't known, his cursing would have given him away. Her daddy never curses.

She hears a slight rustling from over the phone and then she hears her mother, her voice soft and watery as if she's been crying constantly. And Beth believes that she has and it instantly causes her own tears to rush into her eyes.

"Beth, where are you? We'll come and get you," Annette says. "No matter where you are, we'll leave right this instant and come and get you."

Beth shakes her head even though she knows no one can see it from over the phone. "I can't…" she begins to protest, her voice sounding weak and for a second, she considers it. She actually considers just packing her car up and leaving to go back home again.

Maybe it won't be that bad. Maybe everything she's told herself that convinced her to leave in the first place won't actually come true. Maybe the townspeople won't whisper whenever they see her and maybe they won't call her horrible names and maybe it won't be like the same small town that is fueled on scandal.

Why is it that she's a whore and her baby will be a bastard, but the man who also had a hand in getting her pregnant is never called anything?

"I can't, mom," Beth says, feeling a little more firm this time. Everything she said in the letters to her family is true. She's doing this for them as much as she is for herself. And they'll see that. Eventually. "I'm so sorry, but I can't come home."

"Beth…" Annette sounds as if she's going to start crying again; if she even stopped. "We don't care about anything that's happened. You come home and we'll get through it together. As a family."

Again, for a split second, Beth feels her resolve falter.

But, then she reminds herself of everything she had only just reminded herself of. She's doing this for them. For herself. For her baby. She doesn't want to get through it. As if her baby is something that they have to get through. It's not her baby's fault and she's not going to live somewhere where she can't hold her baby with her head held high. She is the one who made the mistake. Not her parents or her baby. She's not going to punish any of them.

The only one she is going to punish is herself and going home won't do that.

"I'm not going to tell you where I am," Beth responds. "But I promise I'll call you every week and let you know how I am. And after the baby's born…" she swallows – or does her best to swallow – the thickness in her throat. "We'll come and visit. I promise."

"Beth-" Annette begins to speak, but then there is more rustling over the phone.

"You're being so selfish right now, Beth," Maggie is the one speaking now. "We're all worried out of our minds and if you would just come home-"

"Maggie." Beth speaks firmly now. Listening to her parents scared out of their minds is one thing, but this is her older sister and if anyone understands about their small town, it's Maggie and Beth refuses to believe that Maggie doesn't understand her actions right now.

Maggie Greene – along with their brother, Shawn – had always been a bit wild. Staying out late, getting caught drinking on the football field with her friends on a Friday night, playing mailbox baseball and having to spend her Sundays, fixing the mailboxes she had ruined. The town had plenty to say about that wildcat Maggie Greene. And Maggie had absolutely hated it and had told more than one person to mind their own damn business.

"You understand why I did this," Beth tells her sister and she's not asking for Maggie to understand. She's telling her that she already does.

And it seems to do the trick because Maggie is quiet on the other end and Beth finds herself nearly holding her breath, waiting to see what her sister is going to say next. Beth knows how protective Maggie is of her. It's the way it's always been between them. Maggie has always taken her duties of older sister to Beth very seriously. And Beth still needs Maggie to look out for her – just not in the way that Maggie obviously would like.

Maggie then sighs softly and Beth sighs on her end, too, with relief.

"I'll talk to dad and Annette," Maggie says.

"I'll call in a few days. Don't worry. And tell mom and daddy not to worry either," Beth tells her and Maggie snorts softly.

"Yeah, right." Maggie pauses. "Do you have a roof over your head? Are you in a good place at least?"

Beth has only been in Scott for two days, but she nods with confidence. She thinks of the little town and her apartment and oddly enough, she thinks of Daryl, too. That man has helped her already so much more than she would expect.

She admits, she has a bit of a jarred opinion of men right now, and she also admits, that she had judged Daryl like judging a book by its cover. She hadn't been expecting a man who looks like him to be so nice to her. She's not interested in men whatsoever – and she wonders if she ever will again – but she needs as many nice people in her life that she can get right now and she's thankful for Daryl and everything he has already done for her.

Beth gives a little smile into the phone. "I am."

…

The drugstore, Milton's, has an old-fashioned phone booth in the back and after Beth hangs up the receiver, she pushes open the glass door and steps back into the store.

When they had left the Salvation Army store together, Daryl had given her a slip of paper.

"Friend of mine," he grunted as she looked down at the name, address and time. "Thinks he might be able to find you a job. Go and see him."

Beth looks to the clock hanging on the wall at the front of the store. She has a half hour more before she has to go see Rick Grimes. She had been so excited and so grateful, she hadn't even thought to ask Daryl what Rick Grimes does. But it doesn't matter because she needs a job and she will not be picky.

She stops at one of the coolers and gets herself a can of ginger ale. The last thing she wants is to get her morning sickness during her interview. She's already planned on not mentioning her pregnancy to anyone until she's no longer able to hide it. Technically, it's illegal to not hire someone because they're pregnant, but honestly, why would someone hire her when they know she has to take a little bit of time off in a few months?

The only one who knows is Daryl and that's only because he saw her looking at a baby crib and she doesn't know the first thing about him and yet, she has a feeling that maybe, her secret will be safe with him.

"This it for you, Beth?" The store's owner, Milton, asks her with a smile as he scans the can.

Having already spent so much time and money in the drugstore, Milton already knows her. He's a bit of a bookish-looking man – perhaps some would even refer to him as a nerd – but he's very open and friendly and is the store's pharmacist as well as the owner; the third in his family to own it, the first being his grandfather, Milton the first.

"Until I get back to my apartment and realize I forgot something else," Beth smiles as she hands him a dollar.

Milton smiles broadly at that and bids her to have a good day as she leaves the store.

She smiles as two kids run past her, down the sidewalk, shouting and shrieking as they fire at one another with squirt guns. She taps the top of the can a few times before breaking the tab open and taking a grateful sip. It's cold and welcome because even though it's still spring, the familiar Southern humidity seems to be slowly creeping through the air, blanketing over them.

She stands there for another moment and takes another sip of Ginger Ale and whether it is the baby or the upcoming job interview or the talk with her family just now, the tightness in her stomach seems to be relinquishing just a little and Beth hopes that it's enough.

"Andre! Watch out!"

Beth hears a woman call out and then a moment later, she feels something slam into her legs. She turns and looks down, smiling when she sees that it is a little boy, having just run out of the drugstore from behind her, wearing a pair of swimming goggles on his face. And then a woman with flawless dark skin and dreadlocks in her hair hurries out of the store and gently pulls the boy back.

"I'm so sorry. I swear, I am not raising him in a barn."

Beth laughs at that, turning completely towards the woman and child. "That's alright." She then bends down in front of the boy. "It's very nice to meet you. And I love your goggles."

"I'm going swimming!" The boy exclaims excitedly.

Beth smiles wider. "That sounds wonderful. Where are you going swimming?"

"Daddy's bought me a pool!"

"I am super jealous of you for that," Beth says and the boy grins, obviously pleased by that.

Beth straightens and smiles at the woman. "I'm Beth Greene," she introduces herself.

"Michonne Grimes," the woman says in return and they shake hands. "And you have to be new here because there's no way you're just passing through. No one passes through Scott."

"I'm new here," Beth nods her head. "Just got here a couple days ago and moved into an apartment in one of those renovated buildings on Maple."

"I love those. They're from the '20s," Michonne smiles. "One of mine and my husband's closest friends helped renovate all of those."

"Daryl?" Beth guesses. "I live across the hall from him. He's my building manager."

"You're lucky," Michonne smiles. "That man can fix just about anything you need him to. Some people have that skill and some people don't. My husband, Rick, definitely doesn't and has to call Daryl for anything happening at our house."

"Rick Grimes?" Beth wonders and Michonne nods. "I'm actually going to go see him right now. Daryl said that he might have a job for me."

"I hope he does," Michonne says. "And if not, I'll make him find you something anyway."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," Beth quickly shakes her head, not sure if the woman is joking about that or not, but just in case she isn't joking, Beth doesn't want to be difficult for anyone.

Keeping herself from being a burden is the reason she left her parents' farm.

Michonne just smiles. "Come on. I'll walk you. It's no trouble," she says when she sees Beth open her mouth, rightly guessing that Beth was about to tell her that she didn't have to do that, either. "I'll fill you all in on the Scott gossip as we walk."

Beth can't help but stiffen a little at that. "Is there a lot of gossip?" She asks, but of course there will be. She's still in the South and Scott is even smaller than her hometown she's just left. Of course there will be gossip and everyone will want to know her business and maybe she should keep on moving towards California or someplace like that.

But she doesn't have the money to live in a big city.

"There's enough," Michonne answers with a casual shrug.

She takes Andre's hand in hers and she and Beth begin walking down the street. Beth takes another sip of Ginger Ale. Once again, her stomach is tightening.

"So, actually, the big thing to happen in this town in the past few years actually included me," Michonne begins. "I'm Rick's second wife and before me, he was married to Lori and they have a son together. Carl. He's going to be a freshman in the fall, God help us all.

"Anyway, Rick and Lori were married for a few years, but Lori, I guess wanted a bit more passion and Rick, I admit, is content to just sit at home in his pajamas. They realized they just didn't mesh that well anymore and didn't even love each other like a husband and wife. So they got a divorce.

"Lori started seeing a man who works with Rick, Shane Walsh. Shane and Rick grew up together and are good friends. Still are, oddly enough. Lori and Shane are now married and have a baby girl, Judith. And then Rick and me got married and Rick is now stepdad to my son, Andre, and we all raise Carl together."

Beth can't help, but smile and shake her head slightly. "Wow," is all she can think to say. "And you like Rick being home in his pajamas?" She asks.

"After my ex-boyfriend, Andre's father, I love it."

Beth smiles faintly at that.

"So, what about you?" Michonne asks. "What brings you to Scott?"

And there is a moment where Beth considers telling her everything. About falling in love with the completely wrong man and being blindsided and finding herself pregnant and completely alone in this world and choosing to run away and start completely over where no one knows her or her past.

But she stops herself before she can. She has just met Michonne and though Michonne informed her on her life story, Michonne is married to Rick Grimes and Beth is hoping to get a job from this man without knowing everything about her.

In the end, Beth just shrugs her shoulders. "I just needed a change of scenery."

…

File Room Clerk.

It sounds so important and Beth smiles as she finishes filling out the last form and handing the clipboard to Patty, the woman who is in charge of HR in the Sheriff's station.

"And I can either do physical checks or direct deposit?" She asks Patty one more time.

"That's right," Patty smiles. "A lot of the guys here still like getting an actual check. They don't really trust that something will put their money into the bank for them."

Beth smiles, completely understanding. Her daddy isn't the biggest fan of banks either and only is a member of one for loans he might need for things concerning the farm.

"All set?" Rick asks, poking his head into the room then as if he knew exactly how long it would take her to fill everything out.

"Yes," Beth smiles and nods. She's actually unable to stop from smiling. She has a job now. And she has health insurance. Oh goodness, she hadn't realized how worried she was about that until she asked Rick and he told her that they all have Blue Cross through the county.

Her baby will have a doctor now.

It's probably the best thing to happen to her since she's left home. One of the best things. So many good things have actually happened to her, despite everything that has made her leave in the first place.

No. This is her home now – after just a couple of days. Scott, Georgia where she is the file room clerk for the Sheriff's Station.

"Come on. I'll show you your new home," Rick smiles and Beth eagerly follows him down the hall. "Florence retired a few months ago and I admit, finding her replacement has been kind of on the back burner. Everyone's been doing their own filing and well… you'll see."

And the instant Rick pushes open the door to the small room and flips the switch on the wall, she certainly does see. Instantly.

"Oh, wow," she says before she can stop herself.

"You're allowed to ask for a raise already," Rick jokes. "No one will blame you."

Beth steps further into the room. It's a small room with filing cabinets lining the walls and more making aisles. There is a desk in the back corner and a window behind that, but other than that, there are just filing cabinets and folders. Folders absolutely everywhere.

"Yeah…" Rick rubs the back of his neck and looks embarrassed to have showed her the state of it.

Beth takes another moment to look at the room and then spins back towards him. "Sheriff Grimes, thank you! It's perfect!"

Rick looks at her for a moment as if to see whether or not she's insane and then he smiles a little. "Well, if you're happy…"

"Oh, yes!" Beth can't help but exclaim. "It's perfect!" She says again. "It truly is."

"Let's take a few minutes and I'll show you what you're going to need to do," he says and steps into the room to join her.

Beth listens to his every word as he picks up the first folder he comes across on top of the first stack that has been placed on top of the filing cabinet rather than in it. He explains how they're supposed to file and it's her job to put the basic information into the computer's database with each new file that is brought in before she files it in the cabinets.

"The guys type up their own reports," Rick tells her. "You just put the name and their case # into the system. They add the rest. If they are expecting you to do more than that, you come and tell me. I'm not having a station of lazy asses take advantage of you."

Beth smiles up at him for that.

"And then it's your job to get whatever file someone needs it when they need it. Lot of guys going to court need the files again or sometimes, someone gets the itching to work on a cold case. Everything's in here and it's up to you now to be able to find when it's needed."

"I can't wait to get started," Beth says with a smile and looks around the room once more.

She's quite aware that it's a complete disaster and it will take her days, maybe even weeks, to get it all straightened out again, but she's not seeing that. She's seeing, instead, that she has a job; a job she knows she will be good at. A steady job with a steady paycheck and with health insurance for her and her baby. What more can she ask for than that?

…

Beth hesitates for a moment before she raises her fist and knocks on the door to A1 and then waits, her fingers curling tightly around the plate in her hands.

She's not sure why she feels nervous, but she does.

It takes a moment, but then she hears the locks of the door turning and then it is opened and Daryl is standing there in a tee-shirt and sweatpants.

"Oh, goodness, you were sleeping. I'm so sorry," Beth says in a rush. "I didn't mean to wake you." She takes a step back. "I should have just left these on the floor for you."

"You're fine," he says and his voice is a bit more rough as it usually is when a person has been sleeping and hasn't used it for some time. "Wha's goin' on?"

"I made you these," Beth says and holds the plate up so he can see. "They're nothing fancy. Just chocolate chip. I don't even know if you like chocolate chip cookies, but I wanted to make you something because I got the job today at the Sheriff's station and I know you had something to do with that so I wanted to say thank you." She holds the plate closer towards him. "Thank you for everything, Daryl."

Daryl stares down at the plate for a moment and then he moves his face towards her. "You got nothin' to thank me for. I just gave Rick your name. You're the one who got the job."

Beth shakes her head. "I don't believe that. I wouldn't have even known about the job if it wasn't for you… I'll have money and insurance and… and I should have made you something so much more extravagant than chocolate chip cookies, but I went to the grocery store and it's the only thing I know how to bake without my cookbook and I didn't bring it with me when I… Do you even like chocolate chip cookies?"

Daryl looks at her for another minute. "'s my favorite," he then says quietly.

Beth didn't realize how nervous she was about that until she heard his answer. She feels a pressure in her chest lessen and she smiles, holding the plate out, and he finally takes it.

"Do you have milk?" She asks. "I just picked up a gallon when I was at the store."

Daryl shakes his head. "Don't worry 'bout it. You need the milk more than me right now."

"Thank you, Daryl," she says and she hears how soft her voice has gotten and she's looking up at him…

Looking up at him in a way that makes her ashamed and she quickly drops her eyes and steps back. Men are the worst and though Daryl has done so much to help her, he's still a man and she's just not interested in men at all. Never again. How dare she look at him like she's thankful and her voice can almost be construed as flirtatious.

"I hope you like the cookies," she says, nearly back to her own door, safely on the other side of the hallway. "I'm sorry I woke you. Sleep well."

And then she slips back into her apartment before he can say anything and before she can say anything else.

Beth leans against the door once it's closed and locked behind her and she closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. For the briefest of seconds, he enters her mind even though she never wants to think about him again despite having his baby in a few months.

She hates herself for wondering if he thinks about her at all.

…

Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to review!

Far more Daryl/Beth in the next chapter. I'm doing it on purpose where Beth is in Daryl chapters a lot more than he is in hers.