Daryl placed his finger up to his lips, letting Beth know to stay very quiet as they crept closer to the edge of the forest. As they got closer, they could make out a jeep, broken down. Standing around it where a group of guys, surrounding Rick and Michonne. The biggest one, they said his name was Joe, had a gun to Rick's head, while another one had the katana pointed at Michonne. Neither of them could see Carl, but they could hear him crying.

"You stay here" Daryl said just above a whisper to Beth, his eyes full of worry and rage

She nodded and mouthed "Be safe" . He slightly smiled at her as he placed his hand on her arm as his eyes tried to speak the volumes that he could not. Then he grabbed his crossbow and crept out of the woods.

Beth stood back as he watched him creep up behind the guy farthest away.

"Don't move" Daryl snarked as he placed his knife to the guys throat and moved him toward the rest of the group. Rick and Michonne's eyes got wide when they saw him.

"Let them go" Daryl demanded angrily.

Joe laughed as he cocked his gun "He killed my friend so he deserves to die. What's right is right."

Carl let out a squeal which made Daryl turn to look at him. When he did, the guy he was holding attacked him, along with two of his friends.

"Teach him boys, teach him good" Joe said as he turned his attention back to Rick.

Beth knew he told her to stay put, but she was not about to let those guys attack Daryl. She came running out of the woods and jumped on one of the guys backs that was beating up Daryl. She kept swinging and slashing at him with her knife, landing a few blows. All of a sudden she was slammed up against the jeep, and she fell to the ground. Daryl saw her fall and he started pummeling the two other guys as hard as he could.

"Well lookey here. Aren't you a nice piece of tail. She's claimed boys" he said with a sneer as he moved toward her with a knife.

"She is already claimed asshole" Daryl said as he swung his crossbow at the guys head, knocking him out. Daryl lunged for him, punching him over and over, till his hands were covered in blood.

"Daryl, he's dead" Beth said softly as she placed her hand on his arm, causing him to stop swinging.

Daryl turned and looked at her, his chest heaving up and down, his eye already starting to swell. As he did they both heard Rick

"Let him go" he screamed as Joe held his arms down.

"What are you going to do about it?" Joe laughed. In that instant a flash went off in Rick's eyes and he bit down on Joe's throat, ripping it apart. Michonne took that opportunity to snatch her sword away from the guy holding her and slice his head off. Joe fell to the ground and Rick walked over to the guy on top of Carl.

"He is mine" Rick commanded as he saw Michonne, Daryl and Beth moving closer. Beth saw the guy on top of Carl and started to run toward him, Daryl held her back as he nodded toward Rick.

Rick started stabbing the guy over and over and over, till he was a bloody mess on the ground. All the rest of the newly reunited group just watching, stunned.

Michonne took Carl to lay down inside the jeep as Daryl and Rick sat down on the ground up against the jeep. Beth walked past them both, she could feel Daryl's eyes on her as she did.

"How are you two doing?" she asked as she opened the jeep door and smiled at Michonne. Carl was laying with his head in her lap and she was gently stroking his hair as he softly cried.

"We are ok, thanks Beth. I am glad you two found us" Michonne said with a smile as she looked down at Carl. Beth grabbed her hand and squeezed. She then took off Daryl's poncho that she was still wearing and laid it over Carl. He looked up at her just slightly "Beth" he said with a small smile. She smiled back at him and ran her hand on his cheek. "I will come check on you both later, let me know if you need anything" she said as she shut the jeep door.

"I'm glad you found us" Rick said as he looked at Daryl.

"I am too man. It's just been Beth and me this whole time" he said as he watched Beth walk over to the tree line and grab their bags. He smiled slightly watching her, he was just so relieved she was ok. Rick saw him watching her and smiled.

"You are my brother Daryl. You and Beth are family" he said as Beth sat the bags down beside of them and dug out a bottle of water and handed it to Rick, along with a hankerchief out of Daryl's bag. Rick looked at her puzzled.

"You can't see yourself brother….he can" Daryl said, knowing what Beth was asking.

"Thank you Beth. It's really great to see you again" Rick said as he started wiping off his beard.

"You too Rick. I'm really thankful we found you all" she said sweetly with a smile, throwing a glance at Daryl as she stood back up. She grabbed her bag and started to walk back around the jeep, stumbling just a little. Daryl was up and by her side in an instant.

"Are you ok. You should sit down Beth. I told you to stay back, are you dumb girl? Why did you come out?" Daryl asked worriedly as they moved around the jeep.

Beth turned to look at him, her blue eyes hurt and angry.

"I couldn't let them sit there and pummel you like that. Not when I could try to stop them" she stated angrily.

"But you are my responsibility Beth. I need to make sure you are safe" he stated back as he placed his hand on her arm. She looked down at his hand on her arm and then back up at him, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

"Look, you don't have to worry about me" she said as she pushed his hand off of her. The anger inside of her spilling out, everything they had been thru, and he still thought of her as a child.

"You don't have to worry about me kissing you or me being your responsibility. I can take care of myself. " she angrily seethed thru clenched teeth as she turned and started to storm off. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back to him.

"Why did you kiss me?" Daryl asked in a tone just above a whisper.

"It doesn't matter" she said, looking away from him as she struggled to get her arm free. This time he was not letting go of her. He wanted an answer.

"It does matter Beth" he said as he grabbed her other arm, forcing her to look at him. The look she gave him when his eyes caught hers caused a lump to form in his throat.

"I wanted to show you how special you are. How much you meant to me. I thought you wanted me too. But don't worry, I know now I misread the signals. It will not happen again" she said as she looked back down at the ground. Daryl was struck dumb. He looked down at this beautiful woman in front of him, telling him that he meant something to her, that he was special and that she thought she had misread what he was feeling. He was the dumb one for pulling away from her.

"But what if I want it too? " he asked gruffly as he took his one hand off of her and lifted her chin up so she was looking at him. He leaned forward before she could move and gently placed his lips on hers.