"I don't see any wounds!" Beth heard her daddy say as she started to come too. "But we need to figure out what is making her so faint all of a sudden!"
"You should have seen her, Hershel!" Glen said. "She took out four walkers with nothing but a garden spade holding Judith the entire time. The fourth one knocked her to the ground and that was when she just decided to guard the baby!"
"Mama Bear mentality!" Hershel chuckled. "Never underestimate how much my Bethy loves Judy. It sounds like it was a good thing that Daryl got to her in time."
Beth's eyes flung open.
"Judith!" she tried to shout but it only came out as a whisper.
"She is fine Beth! You kept her safe." Rick was suddenly at her side and reassuring her. "She is just fine!"
"Beth!" Maggie said rushing to her. "We thought you might have gotten scratched!"
Beth looked at her sister who had tears running down her cheeks and then around the infirmary realizing that she had quite a bit of company. Carl, Sasha, Carol, and Tyreese all hovered above her bed with relieved looks on their faces. Daryl was standing against the wall in the corner, covered in blood and looking relieved. Glen was holding onto Maggie, who was beside her.
"Bethy what in the world is making you pass out all of the time?" her father said as he ran his fingers over her head, face, and throat checking her lymph nodes.
"Maybe it was just shock?" Carol suggested as the old man checked her ears and her eyes.
"Yeah but that is not like her!" he insisted while feeling around on her abdomen.
Hershel froze and by the look on his face Beth knew her secret was out.
"Daddy…" she went to say but her father simply turned around and walked out of the room.
Everyone else watched Hershel leave in confusion. However, they were in for a huge shock when a few seconds later the usually gentle man walked back through the door with his shotgun. Her Daddy loaded two shells into it and slammed the chamber shut!
"Beth….Which bastard got you pregnant?" he shouted.
Every jaw in the room dropped except for one in the corner. That face just turned white.
"She's pregnant!" Beth heard Maggie shout. "Daddy there had to be a mistake because I don't even think Beth has even had sex before!"
"Maggie! There is no mistake! She has to be about three months along!" the old man snapped at her sister before turning back to Beth. "Now Bethy you are going to tell me who did this to you!"
This was a nightmare and not at all how she expected her father to find out! Their entire family was now looking at her waiting for an answer, except for Daryl who was still frozen in the corner. Thankfully, everybody else was too distracted by her news to notice him.
"No Daddy! I am not telling you because it does not matter!" she finally said. "Don't even ask me that!"
"You are going to tell me right now!" Hershel demanded.
Beth refused to answer.
"I will not!" she responded defiantly.
Daryl suddenly became fully alert.
"Fine, don't tell me then!" her father shouted at her angrily and headed toward the door. "I will get it out of the bastard myself"
"Rick, stop him!" Beth pleaded. The leader immediately blocked the her father from exiting the room.
"Now Hershel," Rick said as calmly, pushing the riffle down. "I understand that this is upsetting and all but Beth just damned near died! She is probably in shock still herself. The prison is in a panic at the moment and I'm not sure running around pointing a gun in every man's face is going to help matters!"
"Get out of my way, Rick!" her daddy sneered. "When you discover that your unmarried innocent daughter is pregnant, then you can tell me what will help matters!"
"Daddy this is crazy!" Maggie pleaded trying to reason with their dad but to no avail.
"Shut up Maggie!" he just huffed back at her. "Just stay out of it, darling!"
Glen cling to her sister tighter, half afraid of the normally gentle man who seemed to have just gone insane.
Then just as Hershel Greene was about to storm out the infirmary door to track down the culprit, Daryl decided to join the discussion!
If everyone there thought that Beth being pregnant was the biggest shock, they hadn't seen anything yet.
"Hershel, it's mine." The hunter told her Daddy. "I am the baby's father."
For a moment everyone stared at Daryl with eyes as big as saucers. No one knew what to say.
What the hell had he done? This did not go at all like Beth had planned! She had never counted on him telling on himself!
At first her father just stared at the man. Suddenly he pulled back the lever and stuck the gun in Daryl's chest.
"Daddy, DON'T!" Beth screamed.
Rick rushed over to the corner to where Hershel was about to shoot the redneck. "Hershel, now let's just calm down and think this through a minute!" he pleaded desperately with the old man.
"Daddy, please stop!" Beth continued to beg her father. "It's not what you think!"
"This man got you pregnant behind my back, Beth!" he father bellowed. "I trusted him!"
"No Daddy. It wasn't like that!" the youngest Greene tried to explain.
"So you are telling me that he is lying and did not sleep with you!" Hershel demanded.
"No he's not lying" she admitted as the old man pressed the gun further into Daryl's chest. "But it wasn't like you think! It was just one night…a mistake…and then he went hunting….everything went back to normal….well except for this!"
"Sounds exactly like I think! You are telling me that he took your innocence, got you pregnant, and then left and went HUNTING!" Her daddy yelled.
"Oh God!….Please understand!….he just freaked out about the bruises and stuff! I mean I looked like a damn walker!" she said instantly regretting the last part as Hershel's face turned bright red! That little tidbit of information was the last thing that she had wanted her family to know!
"YOU LEFT BRUISES! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO MY DAUGHTER?" Hershel Greene howled as he pulled the trigger. Thankfully, Rick was a little faster and moved the barrel in time for the bullet to hit the wall beside Daryl! The redneck did not even flinch. He just stared at Beth.
Tyreese's eyes looked like they were going to pop out of his head, Sasha turned pale, and Carol just about fainted! Maggie was horrified! However, Glen somehow found the whole thing funny and could not help but crack up in laughter before her sister elbowed him.
Rick motioned for Carl to make a quick exit before turning to a shameful Daryl and raising an eyebrow.
But then just when Beth thought things could not get any crazier, Daryl opened his mouth again!
"Let me marry her Hershel!" he said. "I will take care of her and the baby! It's not her fault. Beth was completely innocent until I touched her and I did not mean to hurt her! I never would! Please just let me make an honest woman out of her!"
This time Beth froze. Even though she could still hear and see everything going on, she could not move!
Why in the world would he say that for?
At first, her father seemed speechless but then he relaxed a minute while actually considering what the hunter just proposed.
"Hershel!" Daryl said this time quite determined. "I will marry Beth one way or another but I would rather you do it!"
Oh my God! Daddy No!
"So you are telling me you want to marry my baby girl and take responsibility for this." Hershel said in a voice still hard but much lower. "And how soon would you be willing to do that?"
"Right Now!" Daryl answered firmly. "Here in front of everyone!"
Wait! What? What the hell is he talking about? No!
"Well, that is probably a good idea! He would protect her, Hershel!" Rick pointed out hoping that this mess might just get resolved with his right-hand-man still being alive. "The man did just climbed barb wire to save her from that walker!"
Shut up Rick! That is not how you are supposed to be helping! That is a horrible ideal!
"I think I have a dress somewhere!" her sister offered still shaking over watching her Daddy damn near kill Daryl. "I-It's not white but still fancy."
Butt out Maggie!
But then to Beth's horror Carol also pointed out "Well, there is stuff to make a cake and Patrick could fetch those beef roasts!"
No! No food! There would be no wedding! Why were the words not coming out!
"If one wanted to go all out, there are some beautiful flowers growing just outside the fence!" Sasha whispered.
What the hell was wrong with these people?
All of a sudden the room erupted in chatter revolving wedding plans while Rick helped Daryl and her father negotiated the details!
You have to be kidding me? The young woman just wanted to disappear. Once again, she had enough!
Everyone in that prison acted like Beth was so helpless and that made her blood boil. For one night she was the strong one for perhaps the strongest person who even resided there!
Beth wasn't weak. Sure, she didn't take out walkers by the dozen like some of the others but she had also proved countless times she could take out a walker or two if needed and suspected even a person, if they threatened harm to her family.
Yeah, Beth had her moment back at the farm, but everybody else had their own emotional break one way or another too. She had been there to help each and every one of them through it too – even if helping one of them led to her being in the current state she was in at the moment!
Beth wasn't a little girl anymore either and it was getting real old that everyone still treated her that way. She had turned 18 among the chaos of this world and would have graduated high school last June. In fact she would have been away at college this very moment if the world hadn't gone to shit!
The only damn thing left that had made Beth different from any of them had been her purity and now even that was gone too. Hell, she even had the scars to prove it! She wondered how many other women could have survived a night with Daryl Dixon long enough to get knocked up! Especially, if it was their first time!
Determined to find her voice, the young woman finally snapped!
Beth picked up the vase of wildflowers off the table beside the gurney and threw it as hard as she could against the concrete wall! The glass shattered into a million pieces.
Startled, everyone instantly got quiet and stared at the shards scattered on the floor in shock.
"Hey!" she shouted on top of her lungs! "Remember be? You know the dumbass that slept with Daryl Dixon and got knocked up the first time she ever had sex! Well guess what? I am not marrying him!"
Daryl glared at her.
"Watch your mouth, Beth!" her Daddy snapped. "And of course you are going to marry him!"
"I know you think I am with the way you are acting! You are trying to trade me like one of those pregnant cows out there!" she shot back at her father motioning toward the ranch. "But I am not marrying someone who I spent one night with and you cannot make me!"
"So are you saying that you let this man take your virginity and you don't even love him?" her exasperated father asked. "Bethy, I did not raise you to be that way!"
Daryl seemed pretty intent on knowing her answer as well.
"No Daddy!" she said in a cracked voice. "Of course I love him! But….but the only reason he wants to marry me is because I am pregnant!"
Tears started rolling down Beth's face.
"Beth…." Daryl started to say.
"Stop Daryl! Everyone get the hell out!" she ordered. "I mean it! I just want to talk to Maggie and my father!"
"She's right!" Carol asserted. "The girl has been through hell. Let's just give her a moment to think."
Rick looked down at Beth and then nodded at the others. Daryl picked up his crossbow and stormed out of the room. One by one everyone else reluctantly followed him.
"Bethy, you don't understand!" Hershel Greene was gently pleading with his daughter as he sat beside her on the bed, griping her hand. "The best thing for everyone – including you and that baby – is to marry Daryl."
"Daddy is right!" Maggie said agreeing with her father as she crawled up behind Beth in the bed and was snuggled against her back. "Despite everything, he is a good man and would do anything for you and your child."
"No! This isn't how I pictured any of this, you know!" Beth sobbed trying to make them understand. "I thought…..Well I thought that when I got married and had a baby it would be with someone who would love me. Not this! I am so ashamed of what I let happen!"
They did not respond but just glanced at each other.
"I thought it would be like you and Glen!" Beth continued peering up at her sister.
Maggie gave Beth a half smile like she was holding back something. She went to say what was on her mind but their father gently shook his head stopping her.
He stared at his tearful youngest daughter intently for a long while before asking her, "Bethy, what makes you so sure that he doesn't love you? The man was quick to ask for your hand."
"Not to mention him being ripped to shreds climbing that fence in order to save you!" Maggie added.
"That's just because he is… well Daryl! He just does that kind of stuff!" the blond sniffled not understanding why they did not get that.
They both just stared at her without a word.
Finally her father said "Never less, Beth, please listen to me." Hershel continued looking into her eyes with a sad look on his face. "I am a crippled old man. I am afraid that I cannot always protect you anymore. In this world we are living in, women and children do not last that long! Most of those people out there once had kids. Now there is only nine left! Nine Beth!
The blonde's heart sank at the thought of all of the new arrivals who had lost their children.
"I know that Maggie already has Glen who has proved he would die for her." He continued. "It would just help me sleep so much better at night if I knew Daryl was also watching out for you - especially now that you are in this condition. Regardless of how I feel about the man at the moment, I know deep down inside that he would!"
Her father grinned a sad smile which broke Beth heart even more! She had no idea that the old man worried about this!
"Don't be silly Daddy! Nothing is going to happen to you or me" she said smiled back reassuringly. "We are safe now. I already take care of Judith practically by myself. I can take care of another one too."
Hershel took a breath.
"Yes, we have been lucky as of late. Very lucky. But that is what this is Beth – luck! We won't know when and if the day will come that it we finally use it up! One day we might just have to run and I am sorry sweetheart but I'm afraid that I am no longer able to do that!" he said looking down at his missing leg before adding. "If that time comes, Judith will have Rick protecting her, keeping her safe. Who will look out for you and your child?"
Beth was taken aback by her father's statement. It had never occurred to her that the prison would not always be their home. Perhaps, it was just too painful to contemplate.
"You don't know what it is like out there Beth!" Maggie whispered into her ear with a shudder. "The Walkers have herded up in greater numbers now and are desperate for food! We run into bad people from time to time when we are out. You know what happened at Woodbury! It is even worse than when we left the farm and you were there to see how hard it was with Lori. Imagine if we were also toting around an infant!"
The gravity of her situation finally dawned on her. They were right! Beth had fooled herself into thinking that things were fine now but the truth was that as long as dead people walked the earth, no one was! She had almost died just today, in their usually safe potato field! She would have been glad to if it meant saving Judith but what if she found herself alone! How would she be able to keep now two of them truly safe?
Beth looked up at her father and sister, seeing the concern in their eyes. How could she be so dumb? This was not the regular world anymore where people fell in love and got married! That was only just a stupid dream. A relic of the past! Yes, Maggie had been lucky to find it with Glen but that was just by chance! Regardless of rather or not Daryl loved her, Beth knew that he was the most capable person in that entire prison. If she was going to be knocked up, it was probably best that it was by him.
"Okay!" she whispered as another tear rolled down her cheek. "But let's just get it over with! No dresses, flowers, cake, or food!"
Hershel kissed her top of her head.
"I know that you would come to your senses, Bethy!" he whispered. "It can be as simple as you want!"
She bravely smiled up at the old man, though tears were still falling. She had trapped Daryl after all and the thought of that killed her.! She already wondered if he would hate her! There was no way she was going to rub it in by trying to make this wedding more than it really was.
Seeming to read her thoughts, her father added with a wink. "Quit thinking so much, darling! Things rarely turn out how we think! Always remember that the Lord works in mysterious ways!"
"Besides Beth, think about it!" Maggie continued with a chuckle as her father went to collect her groom and the rest of their unusual but tight knit family. "In all the time we have known Daryl Dixon, when has he ever tried to make a move on anyone else besides you?"