Beth crossed her arms and leaned against the porch rail.
"I can't believe you talked me into this."
Daryl flashed her an uncharacteristic smile. "I'm charming."
Beth fought to keep a straight face and not return his grin. It was a struggle because he had a mischievous glint in his eye and she was only human after all.
"If you say so."
"We decided that we needed help," Daryl pointed out.
Beth threw her hands up in the air. "I know but now that I'm here, I'm a little-"
"Scared?" Daryl suggested.
"No!" Beth rejected.
Daryl chuckled and knocked on the door before she could raise any more objections.
"Daryl?" Aaron's face appeared in front of them.
Daryl glanced at Beth quickly before returning his attention to Aaron. "I need to take you up on your offer to talk."
Aaron's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "You want to talk?"
"For once," Daryl said evenly.
"Come in then." Aaron led them into the sitting room and Beth started pacing, filled with nervous energy. Daryl discreetly shook his head in her direction but she continued patrolling backwards and forwards.
Eric was reading on the lounge but stood when they'd entered.
"Daryl? This is pleasant surprise."
"Daryl wants to talk."
Daryl narrowed his eyes in Aaron's direction. "You don't have to make it sound like that. It's a conversation, not a murder plot."
Beth snorted and earned herself another withering glare from Daryl.
"I'll leave you to it." Eric stood and made to leave the room.
"No, stay."
Beth's mouth dropped open. "This isn't part of the plan," she hissed at Daryl.
"Better to tell both of you together now." He spoke to Eric and Aaron but Beth knew it was directed at her. "I'm sure you'll tell him anyway after I'm gone."
Beth's arms folded protectively across her chest. "Well go ahead then, since you've already decided."
Daryl inhaled and summoned his words while Aaron and Eric waited expectantly.
"You were right about yesterday," Daryl began. "I did see Beth out there."
Aaron leaned forward, his fingers forming a steeple over his knees. Eric didn't appear to fully understand Daryl's confession but he didn't interject.
"I told you, Daryl, it's completely understandable after everything you went through."
"I ain't finished."
Beth recognised the way his features twisted. She'd seen it when he had shouted at her outside the cabin, flushed with moonshine and fervour. She'd realised quickly that he hadn't been motivated by anger then and he wasn't now. Daryl was afraid. He was scared to open himself up and admit the truth to Aaron and Eric despite it being his decision in the first place. Beth immediately regretted behaving like a brat. He was doing all this for her after all.
Maybe she was frightened too.
"They'll believe you," Beth assured him gently. He pinned her with the full force of his piercing stare, seeing right through her and making her forget to breathe.
"Daryl?" Aaron prompted softly. The two men were sitting very still, trying not to spook the one sitting across from them.
Daryl laughed in a way that said he didn't find it funny at all.
"You know, I think I hallucinated her half a dozen times after she was shot. I'm not sure if I was crazy or if I just wanted her to be alive that badly." His fingers fidgeted as if seeking a weapon to occupy his hands. "I'm not an idiot, I know we're all on borrowed time but a few people don't deserve to die. So many people let this world beat them, let it break them, but she wasn't one of them."
Beth was rooted to the spot, transfixed by what he was saying. Daryl had never spoken so candidly before. Certainly not about her.
"She was a big loss," Eric said slowly, finally getting the context of the conversation.
"She told me I was going to miss her when she was gone."
Unable to bear the intensity, Beth spoke up. "I'm right here," she told Daryl at the same time Aaron said, "She's not gone. Everyone important lives on in your memories."
"You're half right, Aaron. Only Beth isn't only here in my memories. She's just… here."
He studied her again and Beth inhaled sharply. It was like he was looking at her to change the world and Beth didn't want to disappoint him.
"'Here' as in in here?" Aaron tapped his chest above his heart.
"No," Daryl snorted. "That would be stupid."
Aaron and Eric's relief was short lived.
"I mean 'here' as in here," Daryl explained and gestured around the room. "Well, specifically there." Daryl pointed in her direction.
"It's rude to point," Beth informed him, which made him smile weakly.
"I beg your pardon?" Aaron burst out, eyes wide.
Eric lowered his hand on to his partner's knee. "How about we let Daryl finish explaining," he suggested evenly.
"Oh well they think you're insane," Beth blurted out, reading their disbelief all over their face.
"I know how it sounds," Daryl hastened to explain. "But we can prove it."
"We?" Aaron repeated in a daze. He summoned his poise. "Daryl, you're in a safe space. But you need to acknowledge that what you're seeing isn't the real Beth."
"Whichever one she is, she's flipping you off right now," Daryl revealed.
Beth blushed and lowered her hand. "You didn't have to tell them I was doing that." She had gotten used to nobody witnessing her actions.
"So you genuinely think the ghost of Beth Greene is here right now?" Eric asked, moving to take in the whole room.
Beth rubbed her forehead, trying to alleviate the familiar spikes of pain.
"You ok?"
Beth squeezed her eyes shut and nodded. She'd dealt with worse.
"Is who ok?" Aaron pressed, peering in the direction Daryl was talking.
"I think he's talking to Beth," Eric guessed astutely. Aaron opened his mouth, perhaps with another question but Eric spoke instead.
"You said you could prove it?"
"Yeah. Look, I sound nuts. I'm not disagreeing on that front but give me two more minutes and I bet you'll believe me."
Aaron and Eric exchanged a glance and an entirely wordless conversation before Aaron inclined his head. Beth could tell he didn't believe Daryl yet but his affection for him overrode the doubts.
"It's simple. You go into the kitchen and write down a word. Pick any word you want and I'll stay here. Beth will look at the word and tell me what it is."
"This sounds like a bad magic trick."
"Do I look like a magician to you?" Daryl demanded impatiently.
"What do you want us to do with the paper, Daryl?" Eric asked, attempting to pacify the situation.
"Throw it out, rip it up. Eat it for all I care. Just don't bring it back in here. There can't be any chance I've seen it or heard you say it, understand?"
"We do," Aaron guaranteed. They got hesitantly to their feet before making their way to the kitchen. Beth followed closely, keeping her eyes fixed on them rather than look at Daryl. She didn't think her heart could beat any harder.
Aaron slid the kitchen door shut and Eric fetched a pen and paper.
"I was right to be worried," Aaron said in hushed tones.
"He does seem highly strung."
"Highly strung? He just told us he can see a dead girl. He just talked to her in front of us!"
Eric tapped the pen against the paper. "And the least we owe him is the chance to prove that he's telling the truth."
Beth experienced a rush of gratitude for Eric's willingness to keep an open mind. Not that she held Aaron's reaction against him. His fretting over Daryl's mental state only reinforced how much he cared for him.
"Are you saying you believe him?"
Eric scrunched his face up in contemplation. "I guess I'm saying I don't not believe him. And that means there is a possibility that Beth is standing here listening to you call her boyfriend crazy."
"He's not my boyfriend," Beth exclaimed even though neither man would hear her. "We're just friends." The statement was technically true. Couldn't be much more than friends when you couldn't even touch each other.
"Daryl, doesn't like it when people make assumptions about them," Aaron advised Eric with raised eyebrows.
"Alright so I'm supposed to believe this girl clawed her way back from death to be with him because they're just friends?" Eric asked sceptically.
"I am standing right here." Beth spread her hands wide in frustration, wishing she wasn't blushing furiously.
"I mean I love you," Eric continued, "but if I ever die I am staying in heaven where there is a never ending supply of chocolate and toilet paper."
"You romantic," Aaron sighed sarcastically.
Eric winked at his partner then gestured towards the paper. "Do you want to pick a word or shall I?"
"Please pick," Beth begged, tired of hearing too many home truths with no ability to weigh into the conversation.
Eric scribbled down a word and then lifted it up to what he thought was an empty kitchen.
His handwriting was poor but Beth managed to distinguish the word 'penguin' before Aaron tore it up and threw the paper scraps in the bin.
Not bothering to wait for them, Beth returned to the living room. "The word is 'penguin' and boy, are they nosy!"
Daryl watched her return to the corner of the living room and cross her arms. She avoided meeting his eyes, still uncomfortable with the way Aaron and Eric had dissected her intentions.
The men walked in a few seconds behind her.
"Penguin," Daryl informed them without preamble. "What did you say in there? She's annoyed."
"Wha-what did you say?"
"Penguin," Daryl repeated edgily. "That's just plain dumb."
Aaron collapsed onto the couch in a state of disbelief. "How did you know?"
"What have I just been telling you, man? Only reason I've been seeing her is because she's here!"
"I don't mean to interrupt, but Beth? She's a petite, pretty blond right?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, how'd you know?"
"Because she's standing in the corner of my sitting room," Eric explained casually.
Beth started and discovered Eric was looking right at her. The shock of his declaration was almost enough to make her forget that Daryl had just said she was pretty.
"Holy shit!" Aaron cried, tumbling to his feet.
"Calm down, darling," Eric requested levelly.
Aaron took a step closer to Beth. "Oh my god he was telling the truth."
…
Daryl observed Aaron's reaction with extreme satisfaction. Served him right for encouraging Daryl to talk about feelings. Well Daryl saw that invitation and raised him the ghost of Beth Greene. All for the price of one.
Beth and Aaron were examining each other like they were exhibits in a zoo.
"You can see me?" Beth whispered.
"I can see you?" Aaron's response sounded just as much like a question.
"Nice to meet you, Beth," Eric introduced himself with a wave, definitely taking it the best out of the pair of them.
Aaron suddenly tried to touch her arm but his attempt passed through her like a cloud.
"Please don't do that, I don't like that," Beth said dryly.
Daryl got to his feet and tugged Aaron a safe distant away from the girl. Neither of them had expected that they'd be able to see her once they believed Daryl.
"We told you to get your help, not to treat her like a science experiment."
"I am sorry," Aaron apologised sincerely. "But this is fascinating."
"Calls into question everything we know about life and death," Eric agreed.
"I don't have any profound answers," Beth pre-empted.
"Do you know why you're here?" Aaron inquired, finally sinking back onto the couch and reaching out absently for Eric's hand. Daryl swallowed with jealousy that he couldn't hold her hand while Beth took a place next to him. She sat closer than was necessary but all they had was proximity.
"I don't have much memory of the first few weeks of being dead," Beth advised. "I know now that I was shot but I didn't remember until after I'd been following the group for a while."
"And you've been here the whole time?"
Beth didn't know how to properly explain the concept of limbo but she tried. "When I'm not here I'm in a place that's in-between." Her fingers twisted in her lap.
Aaron propped his chin up in the palm of his hand. "Incredible." He cast a subtle peek at Beth's forehead causing Beth to touch the skin there self-consciously.
"Is Daryl the only one who can see you?" Eric asked.
"Until now," Daryl replied.
Eric mouthed a word to Aaron and Daryl could've sworn that word was 'romantic.' Heat swam up into Beth's cheeks and Daryl suspected he was missing something but wasn't certain he wanted to be let in on the joke.
"I was in the kitchen remember?" Beth stated pointedly.
They shifted uncomfortably whereas this just puzzled Daryl further.
"How did Maggie take it?"
"We haven't told her yet," Beth disclosed.
"You haven't told your sister you're ali- here?" Aaron corrected his phrasing at the last minute.
"It's complicated," Daryl grumbled.
Beth ignored his attitude. She thought he didn't understand but he did. Aaron and Eric didn't mean what Maggie meant. If it went wrong with these two that didn't matter. But Beth couldn't bear it if Maggie found a way to shut her out. He didn't think that would ever happen but all Daryl's reasoning had fallen on deaf ears.
"You have to tell her, Beth," Aaron encouraged mildly.
"I'm not saying I wasn't going to ever. Just not now." Beth was defensive.
Daryl tried to subtly signal that Aaron should back off and thankfully he was paying attention.
"Of course, Beth." Aaron lifted his hands soothingly. "We won't do anything until you're ready."
This promise pacified Beth who seemed slightly overwhelmed from being able to converse with someone besides Daryl. Seeing Aaron and Eric interact with her was conflicting. In one sense it induced a comfortable warmth that settled pleasantly in his chest. However, an unwelcome but just a present voice pointed out the he could no longer jealously hoard her to himself.
But when all was said and done, Daryl would chose Beth's happiness over his own selfish desires every time.
"Now that we actually know you exist, can we formally invite you to dinner?" Eric appealed.
Beth paused before responding. "That's so considerate but-"
"She can't eat," Daryl interrupted. Beth would spend five years finding a polite way to say what he was quite happy to blurt out.
Eric slapped his palm to his forehead. "Of course, how stupid."
"Not every day you get a ghost as a house guest," Beth joked, trying to set them at ease.
"Cards?" Aaron suggested.
"Can't touch anything." Beth wiggled her slender fingers in the air for emphasis. Daryl appreciated that Aaron and Eric were going out of their way to make Beth feel included but they were just drawing attention to all the things she couldn't do.
"This explains how you won all the time though," Aaron griped, recalling the game where Beth had helped Daryl cheat his way to victory. She had the grace to appear somewhat embarrassed.
"I've got it," Eric announced, grasping Aaron's shoulder in excitement. "Charades!"
"I can actually play that," Beth concluded after a moment's consideration.
"Oh god no," Daryl groused.
Eric's enthusiasm was contagious and now Beth was beaming at him. "Oh god yes."
"I don't play games." Daryl intended to manoeuvre his way out of humiliating himself by having to act.
"Please?" Beth's bottom lip popped out in a pout that should have been annoying but veered into adorable. "I did get shot that one time."
Daryl spluttered at her blatant use of guilt. "You play dirty, Greene."
"You have no idea, Daryl."
And while Daryl wondered if anyone would notice if he snuck off for a cold shower, Aaron sniggered and stated, "I want to be on her team. I have a feeling we'll win."