A/N - Thanks so much for the reviews and followers :) Just to clear up a few things and recap, the story is set a few years in to the future when the zombie virus is over. Beth and Daryl are now married and living in Atlanta. It will also follow what happened to some of the characters too.
- The flashbacks are in italics and are telling Beth and Daryl's (and some of the rest of the groups) story leading up to present day. So far, Beth survived the hospital switch (yay), the group were then surviving on the road when all the females apart from Beth and Maggie were taken mysteriously. Meanwhile Beth and Daryl had finally started a romantic relationship together, then Beth and Maggie were mysteriously taken too, leaving Daryl devastated. This chapter picks up with what (unbeknown to Daryl ) was happening to Beth and Maggie next, ...I know there are a lot of questions, but all will be revealed I promise. Keep reading ;)
Also I know Daryl was a bit of a jerk last chapter at the end, and that will be addressed in coming chapters. As much as I love Daryl I think it would be unrealistic to have him be too perfect as a husband in fanfiction, I hope you'll agree. Also, yes, Aaron is the same character that's on the show now, but as this is an AU version of the show, here he is a doctor and Beth's teacher. Please leave a review if you can with any other thoughts, comments, questions! :)
Maggie gave Beth's hand a reassuring squeeze. "It's going to be okay, Bethy, we're going to be okay, we'll find a way out of this," she said, trying to sound as reassuring as possible.
Beth just nodded, shivering from where she was sat next to Maggie in the back of the large truck.
She couldn't believe they could have been so stupid. After Maggie had found her, by the stream where Daryl had left her. They had been on their way back to the road to find the others. When a group of men in military uniforms had approached them, they hadn't seemed at all threatening they had simply asked Beth and Maggie if they were lost, if they needed help. Their accents had been foreign which had thrown them a little, Beth wasn't quite sure but she guessed British or maybe Australian.
At the sight of them both herself and Maggie had immediately raised their guns ready to protect themselves, but the men had said they weren't intending to harm them; they were just there to help them.
They had insisted they walked them back to the road, so they could speak to their leader, they had been friendly, charming even, despite their army uniforms and large guns. They had said they would explain everything soon. Somehow, they had managed to persuade the two women to lower their weapons and go with them of their own accord.
The next thing the Greene girls had known, far from being reunited with their men, they were being led to another truck, similar to the one they had seen Carol bustled on to months before. Despite their screams and protests, they had been thrown in to the back of it, before it had sped away. They hadn't stood a chance.
Beth looked to her sister from where they were still sat in the back of the large truck, frightened and disorientated as the large vehicle raced on, further and further away from the spot they had left Daryl, Glenn, Rick and the rest of their smaller group.
Beth knew she had to be brave. She was tough now and she had been through worse, at least this time she had her sister by her side, they needed to be strong.
But somehow, something else took over Beth this time a feeling she had no control over, a feeling of complete and utter helplessness, different to anything she had experienced before. It both shocked and panicked her at the same time. She'd never felt so afraid, even back at the prison when the governor had rolled up with a tank, or in the hospital when she'd had a gun pointed at her face, she hadn't she felt as terrified as she did at this moment in time.
This time, something was different, this time she knew she had more to lose.
She clutched her stomach, feeling as though she wanted to wretch. She felt sick and dizzy. The ground was bumpy and the truck was going fast. She could hear the men talking faintly in the front. She wanted to yell out, but her voice felt hoarse. Instead she gripped her sister's hand even more tightly, shaking slightly now.
Maggie was right, Beth thought, it was going to be okay, because it had to be. They had no idea where they were being taken, but they'd find a way to escape somehow, back to the others.
Suddenly Beth felt as though everything was spinning at a hundred miles an hour, her vision quickly becoming blurry. She cried out in pain, her palms sweaty as a sharp stabbing pain hit her abdomen and for a moment everything went black.
"Beth, Beth..are you okay?" She woke to hear Maggie's panic stricken voice saying next to her.
Beth opened her mouth to speak, but instead of words all that would come out were more sharp cries of agony. She felt as though someone had taken a knife to her insides.
Drifting in and out of conciseness her eyes half closed, more and more sharp cramps hit her.
"Daryl, where is Daryl? I want Daryl," Beth moaned, as Maggie looked on at her sister in horror, helpless to do anything.
Before Beth's eyes jolted fully open again.
She looked across to where Maggie was sat next to her in the fast moving vehicle, to see her sister's mouth flying open in shock. "You're bleeding," Maggie exclaimed.
Beth reached down between her legs to feel a gush of liquid, bringing her hand up to her face to see it was stained bright red…
FOUR YEARS LATER
"Here," Daryl said, passing Carol a coffee as he slid in to the driver's seat of their patrol car beside her.
"Thanks," she said with a smirk.
"What?" He said scowling, taking a sip of his coffee.
"Oh nothing," she replied with an amused smile.
His eyes narrowed as he looked at her some more.
"Suits you," she said again a twinkle appearing in her eye.
Reluctantly breaking in to a small smile as well, Daryl glanced in to the rear view mirror. "Beth's been on at me to get it cut for ages," he muttered, sighing, looking at the reflection of his newly cut shorter hair and cleanly shaven appearance, he knew it was part of his new role now to look smarter and surprisingly he quite liked it.
"Well, didn't realise you cleaned up so well," Carol teased some more, still smiling. Before letting out a reflective sigh, thinking back to the many times when they'd been surviving on the road together during the outbreak and he'd flat out refused to clean himself up, despite there being access to fresh water. How times had changed.
"You've still got it Dixon," she said with a little chuckle leaning over to nudge him with her elbow. She had to admit she was impressed at how seriously he was taking his new role. He was unrecognisable now with his new clean cut image and police officers uniform. She couldn't help but feel proud, the way things had worked out.
Daryl shook his head slightly embarrassed, taking another sip of his coffee, looking away and out the window on to the quiet trouble free street. The only people in sight were a dog walker, a teen on a bike and a mother with a child in a pushchair. He put his hand up to the radio attached to his shirt pocket. He still couldn't quite get his head around the fact he was a cop. At one point in his life that would have been totally out of the question.
He glanced at the clock on the dash board.
"Mind if I shoot off a little early," he said casually.
"Oh I see, trying to sweeten me with me coffee eh, so you could skulk off early?" Carol replied playfully.
Daryl shrugged, feeling a little uneasy.
"I'm kidding. Of course, everything okay?" Carol asked, her eyes turning more serious, examining his flustered face.
"Yeah, just something I gotta do," he mumbled awkwardly, avoiding eye contact.
She arched her brow, her eyes burning with curiosity as she looked at him intensely.
Daryl swallowed and shifted in his seat. He wasn't quite sure what it was about Carol that still had the ability to make him feel like a naughty teenager sometimes. But she always seemed to find a way to get him to open up to her eventually.
"Okay, when you see Beth you gotta act like you don't know okay, cause we're not meant to be telling anyone yet. But she's pregnant. We got a scan to go to at the hospital," he said, feeling a little emotional again, telling someone and saying it out loud suddenly made it all very real.
"That's wonderful, congratulations," Carol immediately said, her face turning in to a wide excited grin, leaning over to throw her arms around him in a friendly embrace.
It hadn't been exactly what she had expected him to say, it would be a little weird to see Daryl as father, but she was thrilled none the less. Carol had to admit she had wondered whether Beth had been pregnant back when they had got married and then on a couple of occasions since she'd had her suspicions, but seeing as that had never seemed to be the case, Carol had just presumed having kids wasn't on the cards for them at the moment.
"Thanks," Daryl said, breaking in to a relieved smile.
"Daddy," she added with a playful nudge.
Daryl froze at the sound of that name.
Suddenly it hit him; he was going to be someone's daddy, a father. And a slightly uneasy feeling hit him. He'd been drunk when Beth had first told him the news and overwhelmed with the rush of initial happiness and excitement it had stirred in him. But now that he'd had the chance to think it through, reality was kicking in.
He'd always liked kids, he'd loved little Judith Grimes as his own back in the early days of the outbreak when she'd first been born, but she wasn't his and had ultimately never been his responsibility. Having a baby of his own; having to raise it, love it, teach it the difference between right and wrong, that was suddenly a very scary prospect to Daryl. He had always presumed coming from his family, he would make a lousy parent just like his own had been, and for that reason alone he had vowed never to have kids. But like a lot of things, that had all changed when he had fallen in love with Beth, the idea of it somehow then not seeming quite so ridiculous.
"Go on go," Carol said, noticing the thoughtfulness on Daryl's face, gesturing with her head for him to get out of the car.
"You sure?" He asked hesitantly, suddenly a rush of nerves shooting around him.
"Yes, it's not like there is much going on around here," Carol replied, as they both glanced out in to the now empty midday street where they were parked up in downtown Atlanta.
Daryl undid his seatbelt, just as a crackly voice came through on the radio.
"Dixon you copy? Urgent backup needed on Harrison Avenue," It was Michonne.
Daryl looked to Carol.
"It's five minutes away, I got it," Carol said firmly.
Daryl shook his head.
"Go, be with Beth, she needs you right now, we can handle it," Carol insisted.
"Urgent back up needed, we're at 15 Harrison Avenue, I said do you copy?" Michonne's voice came through again.
Daryl grabbed the radio, "Yeah, we copy, on our way." Doing up his seatbelt, he started the engine, blue lights flashing as the patrol car screeched away.
…
Approaching the building on foot, Daryl and Carol were met by Rick and Michonne stood outside a rundown looking apartment building. The four of them all kitted out in their police uniforms and bullet proof vests, holding their weapons ready for action.
"Neighbour called, there has been some serious shit going on in one of the apartments, if it's what I think it is we need to go in and we need to be prepared," Rick explained, several screams coming from inside the building as he spoke, as well as some all too eerily familiar snarling and growling sounds.
"Is that?" Carol said her jaw dropping open.
"Only one way to find out," Rick said banging on the front door. "Police open up….I said Police open up."
Rick looked back to his three deputies, gesturing for them to get ready as he fired at the door handle, causing the front door to the apartment block to fly back slamming against the far wall.
"Sweet Jesus, never thought I'd see that again," Michonne said as they all looked on in disbelief as a group of around six groaning rotting corpses ambled across the hallway towards them.
Screams from terrified residents ringing out still.
"Stay inside your homes," Rick yelled out as several frightened faces peered out from around their doors.
"He's been keeping them locked up," one woman resident said, her face full of panic and disorientation as she retreated back in to her apartment.
"Take them out," Rick ordered, firing the first shot, the others following.
Daryl not needing to be asked twice as he aimed expertly at the skulls of the two nearest to him, the memory of how to kill them flooding straight back to him, watching as they instantly fell to the ground as he penetrated their brains with bullets this time instead of arrows.
He rushed over to examine the pile of rotting bodies on the ground, "Clothes are decaying, flesh nearly all gone too, these are old," he said, crouching down, nearly gagging at their rotten stench. It was strange how quickly he had forgotten how bad the smell of the undead had really been.
"Do you think... it's starting again?" Michonne said, a little shaken, looking around the group, her eyes resting on Rick.
"Nah, someone must have been keeping them here from before," Rick said loudly.
Reports of seeing walkers were rare these days and getting rarer. The majority having been destroyed now, years after the declared end to the outbreak, no-one had turned in a very long time.
"We need to check there aren't anymore?" Rick said. "We'll take this way; you two go through there," gesturing for Daryl and Carol to go through an opened door to their right as he and Michonee walked ahead.
Nudging the door open cautiously, the first thing Daryl saw was the body of a man lying slumped across the floor, blood pouring from a wound to his side.
"He's been bit," Carol exclaimed, bending down to feel his pulse.
"He's dead," she said with relief. "Looks like he's been here for days too."
Daryl nodded slowly, happy that it seemed Rick was right it wasn't happening again, the dead really did stay dead now. The walkers in the hall must have just been the result of this crazy guy, unable to let go of the past. Not realizing they would ultimately be the death of him.
"Stay here, I'll look through there," Daryl said, raising his gun to creep down the hallway and in to what he presumed to be a back bedroom.
Taking one final look around the cluttered bedroom, Daryl was about to walk out, satisfied there was no-one there, when he jumped feeling the sensation of long twisted fingers grabbing him from behind wrapping around his neck. The overpowering waft of rotten rancid odour filling his nostrils, together with the blood curdling hissing sound, confirmed it could only be another decaying walking corpse.
He stumbled backwards, trying with all his strength to keep it away from him as he sensed its jaws snapping in an attempt to get closer and bite him. But luckily it was weak, as he realized it must be old by the undead's standards, giving him the edge.
He tried to manoeuvre his arm to get the right angle to get a good shot at its head, but it was impossible as it's fingers gripped hold of his neck even more tightly, causing him to lose his balance and drop his weapon completely.
Reaching down, he felt something cold and sharp in his trouser pocket, it was Beth's old knife. He'd got in to the habit of carrying it everywhere with him after she had been taken by the stream that time years before. It had been his way of staying connected to her. Even now, he never told her, but he still always kept it on his person.
Curling his palm around it he lunged back and upwards with all his might, slicing it straight through the eye socket, causing the beast to instantly release its hold on him dropping to the floor in a heap.
Catching his breath, he turned around to see it had been a woman, long red hair falling in matted clumps around her sunken, rotting face. And he thought how for a long time he had become de-sensitized to that sight, seeing them had been second nature during the outbreak. But now in their newer more civilised society again, seeing the body of what once would have been a living person in that disgusting state, moved him, reminding him of the utter hell the world had been not so long ago.
About to go and find the others, he froze again, hearing a rustling sound, followed by a whimper coming from the closet to the side of the bed. He opened the door slowly, to see two startled green eyes peering back at him.
"Hey," he whispered, realizing it was a child and she looked scared to death.
She didn't say anything, edging backwards and away from him.
"It's okay, you can come out," he said softly. "I ain't gonna hurt ya, little girl."
She still didn't say anything, her eyes blinking back at him.
He carefully put his hand out to try and touch her, causing her to jump backwards some more, pressing her small body against the back inside wall of the closet. Without moving he caught her eye, breaking in to a small reassuring smile. He could tell winning her trust wasn't going to be easy as she scowled back at him.
He recognised the look on her small face well, fear masked by fury. She was petrified of him, but her instincts were telling her not to show it.
"You're scared aren't you sweetheart," he said gently. "That's okay, I aint going anywhere, when you're ready you can come out and we can go and find your Mama," he said kneeling down, offering her his arm. "Here, you wanna take my hand? I won't hurt ya I promise."
Relaxing ever so slightly, taking his time, he eventually felt small icy fingers reaching out and slowly he held her tiny hand in his, before he reached down to carefully lift the frightened child out of the cramped closet and up in to his strong arms.
Looking at her small shivering body he realized she was smaller than he had thought at first, she couldn't have been older than four years old, five at the most. She must have been born during the outbreak he realized as he held her tightly to him.
"There you go sweetheart, I got you, you're safe now, I aint gonna let nothing happen to ya," he said in a soothing voice, feeling her tense body relax in to his as she clung to him.
"Now can you tell me where your Mama is?" he said, stroking her soft red hair around her face.
Still the child didn't speak, instead she just simply pointed down at the floor to where clumps of bright red hair were sticking out of the bloodied remains of the walker Daryl had put down moments before, and his heart sank, realizing, the world was still a cruel and twisted place.
…
Glancing at the clock again Beth hugged her knees a little tighter to her chest, from where she was sat on the narrow hospital bed.
"He'd said he'd be here," she said again.
"It's okay, we can wait a little longer," Aaron responded, from where he was stood leaning back against the ultrasound machine.
Beth sighed, smoothing a strand of her blonde hair behind her ear. Frustrated and a little embarrassed that Daryl was taking so long. She felt like a fool.
She'd had a suspicion he would do this. She had reminded him plenty of times about this appointment, but his mind had always seemed to be elsewhere. It had been the same ever since he had started his new job, policing the city with Rick and the others.
Her eyes fell to her cell phone clutched in her hand. There was little point trying him again, his phone had been off and as soon as he switched it back on again he would be bombarded with her messages anyway.
"He must have been held up or something," she said quietly, her cheeks burning.
She knew Aaron was doing her a big favour performing her first ultrasound. When he wasn't teaching at the university he was busy working as a doctor at their local hospital, and seeing as appointments for non-emergencies were so hard to obtain these days, he had agreed to perform an ultrasound for her straight away.
"It's okay, we can wait a little longer," Aaron said with a smile.
Aaron had been surprisingly understanding when Beth had told him her news. He had said she could carry on studying until the baby was born, then whenever she felt ready she could pick it up again. It wasn't like before, when places at universities were highly sought after, when if you couldn't make the grade you were out. Nothing was quite like it had been before the world had gone dead, and this was one example of that where Beth was thankful the strict rules and regulations of the old world that she had lived in for the first sixteen years of her life no longer applied.
"Something must have come up," Beth added, forcing a weak smile back at her teacher, her lower lip trembling. Hating to have to make excuses.
She wondered whether something really had come up, or whether Daryl had simply forgotten, or worse still if he just didn't want to be here. She'd told herself she'd be okay if Daryl wasn't here, but the truth was she wanted them to share this moment together, the moment they saw their baby for the first time.
She twisted her hands together fighting back the urge to cry, chewing her lower lip, looking over to Aaron, hardly able to stand the look of sympathy and pity in his eyes, she said hesitantly," I guess we better…"
He nodded picking up the container of jelly to shake ready.
Beth reluctantly lay back, pulling up her sweater, exposing her rounded abdomen. Jumping suddenly when doors to the room unexpectedly flung open, a flustered looking Daryl rushing through them.
A small smile crept on to Aaron's lips as he raised an eyebrow and said, "Ever heard of knocking Mr Dixon?"
Beth looked from Aaron's slightly amused face to Daryl's awkward one. She knew her redneck husband even in his uniform, wouldn't exactly have been what Aaron would have expected. He was a lot older than she was and he wasn't the best in social situations either. But Beth knew Aaron wasn't one to judge. He had once said to her anyone that had the strength of character to survive the apocalypse was alright by him.
"Sorry, and sorry I'm late," Daryl mumbled awkwardly, looking to Beth meeting her anxious blue eyes with an apologetic smile. His own eyes full of concern to see her looking so worried, he knew this was a big deal to her, to both of them. It wasn't ideal he had been so held up. Beth still wasn't exactly thrilled at his new position at the risks involved, and this would only fuel that.
"Well you're here now, no harm done and just in time too," Aaron continued warmly.
"This should feel a little cold," he said, turning to Beth smearing the jelly on to her stomach. Switching on the ultrasound machine, he reached for the wand holding it gently to her bump.
Daryl sat down on the seat beside her, reaching for her hand giving it a reassuring squeeze. Beth instantly relaxed, feeling a brief rush of relief and happiness, as her lips curled up in to a smile, before she was suddenly hit with a wave of nerves again.
The room fell deadly silent as Aaron concentrated. Moving the wand over Beth's stomach.
Daryl tensed, rubbing the side of his jaw; he could sense how nervous Beth was as he squeezed her hand again. Beth just frowned as she concentrated on the screen in front of her. The pregnancy hadn't exactly been planned. But she had slowly gotten used to the idea and if anything went wrong now she knew it would be devastating. Even more devastating than the time before, the time she could scarcely bare to think about. A memory she had kept deeply buried away.
"There you go, one healthy baby," Aaron suddenly said his face relaxing in to smile as a grainy image appeared on the screen, and the sound of a tiny little heartbeat thundering away like galloping hooves filled the room.
A huge grin spread across Beth's face her eyes filling with tears of happiness. There was a time when she had thought this moment would never happen. Looking across to Daryl she saw his eyes were flooded with emotion too at the first sight of the baby that had come crashing in to their lives so unexpectedly. It was real.
"Everything looks perfect," Aaron said moving the wand around as he pointed out the various different parts to an overwhelmed Beth and Daryl.
"Can you tell the sex?" Daryl asked.
"Sure from what I can see you have a…" Aaron started.
"I-I'd rather not know," Beth spoke up, looking to Daryl who just nodded.
"Don't matter it's a boy anyway, "he said with a cocky smile.
Beth laughed giving him a friendly tap, "Babies can be girls too y'know," she replied, looking to Aaron.
"I'm staying out of this," he said raising his hands, arching his eyebrows in amusement.
"Here," he said tearing off the printed images from the machine, handing them to Daryl,"Your baby."
"Thanks," Daryl replied, nodding gratefully at the other man. A rush of emotion hitting him once again as he looked down at the pictures of his unborn child. He never thought he'd see the day, but he'd created a life, there was no going back now, he was going to be a father.
A/N - Thanks for reading. I also have a favour to ask this time, I'm having a hard time trying to figure out whether they should have a boy/girl? Hence they didn't find out here, lol! So I'd thought I'd put it to a vote from you guys to see what you think they should eventually have ;)