Note: Hey peeps! I'm back with another chapter, as promised! The reviews have been wonderful, but unfortunately I haven't had time to reply to them here on ff due to the fact that the site was down all day yesterday!

Either way, I just wanted to say thank you for the lovely comments and I'm happy that you liked the chapter! And please, don't hate me after this chapter... Oh, and read the ending note! :)

Enjoy!

In The Blink of an Eye (Hear The Beat of My Heart)

Chapter 11

Beth stared at the man in front of her. He was kneeling on the grass, hands bound behind his back. His white hair and white beard and kind eyes... She took him all in. Her focus was on him as she watched the scene in front of her unravel. She could see Rick, talking to someone; a bunch of blurry people in the distance.

Someone gently, quietly tried to get her attention, pressing something into her back. She took the shotgun automatically, arming herself, preparing for battle, it seemed.

Rick was still talking to the blurry figure that was standing behind the man; the same man who held Michonne's katana sword in his hand. Beth's gaze moved to the side and she saw Michonne kneeling as well.

What was happening?

Panic filled her chest as the old man lifted his head. It felt as if he was looking right at her for a moment, right before his gaze settled back on Rick, head still held high. Rick said something else, but he was too far away and Beth couldn't hear him. She clutched the weapon in her hand.

The man with the white hair, white beard and kind eyes looked ahead, a calm passing over his face. She could just barely make out the hint of a broken smile on his lips, as if he knew what was coming.

The next thing she knew, the man behind him had swung Michonne's sword, the blade embedding itself in the side of the old man's neck.

"No!" Beth screamed, agony filling her as she tried to move forward, but something was in her way. Next to her, she heard Maggie scream and then all hell broke lose when bullets started flying. Beth watched in horror as the old man fell to the ground, blood pooling by his neck, his smile still on his lips.

-§-

Gasping, Beth shot up in her bed, grabbing the knife she slept with under her pillow in her hand. She breathed heavily, eyes moving around the room to make sure that she was safe. Swallowing thickly, she pushed her covers away and moved toward the door, her knife still clutched in her hand as she swung it open. She stopped then, her hand still on the handle as she stared at Daryl's closed door, trying to figure out what she was doing.

Had she really been about to run to Daryl's room?

Since when had she began feeling so comfortable around Daryl that she actually went to his room? She had never been in there since the archer had moved in and she wasn't sure that he would be comfortable with having her there, no matter how much more regularly the two of them had begun talking to each other.

Two weeks had passed since that night on the porch, when she had decided to tell him that she understood that he didn't want anything to do with her. Two weeks since he had surprised her, but instead of pushing her away, letting her in by sharing a story from his past. It hadn't just been any story either. No, it had been about someone he had once cared about, someone he still probably thought of and missed, if he had decided to tell Beth about the person.

Beth wasn't blind. She had seen the emotions playing on Daryl's face as he had told her about the girl who he had though sung too much until she had disappeared and stopped singing. Although, she couldn't say that she was a hundred percent certain, since she was still learning how to read the hunter, but she was at least ninety percent sure that Daryl had been kind of in love with the girl he had told her about. It had just been something about the look on his face, that had made Beth think that if she had ever been in love, that would have been the way she would have looked if she had been thinking about the person she loved.

If Daryl was aware of the fact that he had loved the girl he had spoken about, she wasn't sure.

He seemed like the kind of man who didn't really understand what love was. Not that she would be any better at knowing, since she knew that she hadn't been in love with anyone. Maggie had told her a bit more about her past boyfriends, and yes, she might have cared for them, but she hadn't loved them. The word love was something that she would reserve until she was absolutely sure that she had found the one man that she wouldn't want to live without. In a world like the one they were currently living in though, she realized that finding that man would be difficult enough, but also managing to keep him alive would probably be damn near impossible. She just couldn't see herself ever falling in love.

Yet, there had been a moment, when he had allowed her to hold his hand, that she had felt something. She suspected that he too much have felt the change inside of her because he had just watched her silently for a moment, almost as if he had been hoping for her to say something, but she couldn't think of anything to say. His story, about the singing girl, had seemed familiar, but at the same time so foreign. It was as if she had known the girl herself once upon a time, but she hadn't been able to bring herself to actually ask him about the girl that Beth suspected he had had feelings for.

Nevertheless, it wasn't her place to pry when it came to Daryl and his potential feelings for the girl. She still didn't know what it was that had prompted her to ask him to tell her a story, but as soon as she had uttered the words, she had worried that he would become defensive and never speak to her again. He hadn't though, which she was grateful for, and now, the two of them engaged in almost daily conversations.

Their talks were usually short though and they weren't as deep as that conversation on the porch had been, but she liked them anyway. She liked being around him, despite his sometimes sour state, and he seemed to genuinely be enjoying her company. At other times, she could see that he was tense and simply didn't approach him until he sought her out and he seemed to be able to tell when she was having a particularly bad day as well.

Sometimes, all it took was a look, and she would know that he was aware of her presence. He would work hard on a daily basis, never resting and she would, after finishing her own chores, come out and sit either on the porch or on the bench and watch him work. She wondered if he found her staring at him creepy, but since he never said anything, she was sure that he didn't mind.

Eugene had proven to be quite kind once one got to know him. He had apologized to Beth several times over for the way he had acted, awkwardly stalking her and gawking at her. Beth found that Maggie had been right when she had told her that Eugene was harmless and truth be told, Beth quite enjoyed hearing the scientist (who wasn't actually a real scientist) explain to her how some of the technical things worked around the farm.

On their latest run, Rick, Tyreese, Abraham, Glenn and Daryl had found some solar panels on some houses a couple of miles away. They had gone through great lengths to take them off the roofs and bring them back to the farm, where they hoped that Eugene would somehow manage to make them work. The scientist had been working day in and day out in his room trying to figure out how to attach them to the roof and to connect them to the back-up generator that still hadn't been fixed in the basement. Daryl and Tyreese had been helping him repair it though and they were all hoping that they would have power by the end of the week or so.

Things were moving on smoothly on the farm. Maggie and Rick had taken to farming a bit, even going as far as to put out a plan on how they would plant the seeds they had found once winter was over. Carol and Noah had happily taken on the kitchen duty and Carol had told Beth how much she enjoyed being back in a real kitchen and just be able to relax while stirring a stew. Beth herself liked cooking well enough, but she much rather spent her days either in the backyard, teaching Carl how to throw knives, or helping Tara and Rosita with the cleaning. She hated physical work though, even though she had pulled her own weight when she had been alone with Morgan. Now however, she figured that there were more than enough people around so that she could skip out on it. She only helped when she knew that it was absolutely necessary. Glenn, Sasha and Michonne seemed to be the people who focused the most on going on runs. Sasha didn't seem as used to it as Glenn and Michonne though, but she loved going out, hating to be stuck on the farm for more than three days in a row. Her brother sometimes shared his concern about her restlessness, but Sasha insisted that she would go nuts if she were to start farming next to Rick and Maggie.

Then there was Father Gabriel.

At times, the reverend helped Carol and Noah in the kitchen, but mostly, he spent his day either in the garden reading from his Bible, or walking by the far fence. He would still sometimes look at Beth, but she had learned how to ignore him after Noah had told her that it wasn't worth getting into arguments with the man who just wouldn't change his strange behavior. Each and every night though, for two weeks, the pastor had insisted that they all say Grace before eating, to thank God for giving them another meal in these dark times.

Beth had fought hard to keep a snicker from falling from her lips when Daryl had mumbled that Father Gabriel should be thanking him for catching such a delicious rabbit, while Carl had started laughing out loud, earning a stern look from Rick and Michonne.

Baby Judith had been getting more active too. She was now crawling around the house and when he wasn't working with Eugene and Tyreese on the generator in the basement, Daryl had taken to baby-proofing the house. He and Glenn had found some gates that they used to block the stairs and the front door so the little girl wouldn't crawl out when no one was looking and he had made sure that all the doors had some kind of block so that Judith wouldn't hurt her fingers. Beth thought it was very sweet, which she had told Daryl and she had been surprised to see the man blush before he told her that he would do anything for the girl that he had named "lil' Asskicker" when she had been born.

Beth wanted to know more about the people in her past, but at the same time, she was a little scared of what she might find out. She knew that there was a reason for them not being there on the farm and that reason was that they were dead. How they had died, was something that she felt torn about wanting to know. From what she had understood, most of them had passed because of walkers, but others, like Carl's mother for example, had died in childbirth due to blood loss. She didn't ask about it though because she knew that it was also a touchy subject, however, sometimes, she would overhear Maggie and Glenn talking to each other as they remembered past friends.

And now, Beth had dreamed about a man, whose head had basically been cut off in front of her.

As she had thought about the way things had changed over the last two weeks, her breathing had calmed somewhat and she had gathered herself. She walked back into her room and shut the door behind her, closing her eyes as the horrible image of white beard turning velvet filled her mind again. The pain in her chest wasn't subsiding and she just knew that she had known this man somehow. No name would come to mind, but she felt like they had been close.

She had had the nightmare before, but the people around the old man, Rick and Michonne, had been just as blurry as the man who had dealt the blow with the sword. Now that she knew their voices and recognized their faces, they would appear more clearly in her dreams which meant that she was able to put some things together. It wasn't much though; no full blown memories yet, but just simple smiles from time to time or a nice word of sentence that still didn't make much sense when she woke up, but at least it was something.

She wondered about the man though and she wondered who he had been. She wanted to find out but she wasn't sure that she knew who to approach with it. It wasn't exactly as if talking about seeing people get decapitated in her dreams was something that normal people talked about. Besides, it would most likely bring forward more painful memories for the rest of her family and she didn't want them to hurt emotionally just because she was curious and wanted answers.

Looking out the window, she noticed that it was still dark outside. Sighing to herself, she lit the candle on her desk and opened her journal, opening the page where she had previously scribbled down her nightmare. She erased some things and wrote Rick and Michonne's names there instead, now that she knew that they had indeed been there. Filling in the rest of the details that she remembered, she tried to figure out who to approach about the dream, knowing that it would have to be someone she knew she could trust.

-§-

"Beth is teachin' me how to throw knives," Carl stated as he sat across from Daryl on the bench.

Daryl looked up at the kid with a raised eyebrow as he continued cleaning his bolts with his red rag, not having had time to do so after his last hunt. "I know," he stated. "She's been teachin' ya for two weeks now."

"Yeah," Carl drawled, looking a little dazed. "I just still think it's kinda amazin' that she's alive. Guess I never would have expected to have her teach me something like knife throwin'," he mused.

"Ya getting' any good at it?" Daryl questioned, not really wanting to talk about how it was still difficult to sometimes believe that Beth was with them after everything; that she had survived after everything.

"I hit the tree this mornin'," Carl said, "but Beth keeps tellin' me that I need to patient."

Daryl nodded quietly as he moved on to cleaning his crossbow. "Then ya gotta listen to her an' pay attention," he simply told Carl. "She's good at the throwin' an' if she tells ya to be patient, you be patient."

Daryl meant what he was telling Carl. He may not have watched her train the kid, but he knew for certain that Beth was good at the knife throwing, since he had seen it first hand when she had saved his life all those weeks ago in the woods. She knew her way around with those things and he didn't doubt that she could teach Carl. The only problem Daryl could see with it was that Carl was still somewhat trigger happy. The boy wanted to learn and all that, but he was used to guns, which meant that he actually had little to no patience. Either way, if there was anyone who could teach him the virtue of patience, it was Beth.

He remembered how she had been when he had been the one teaching her how to use his crossbow. In the beginning he had corrected her posture about a thousand times as well as her stand, but she never complained about his nagging. She picked up on things quickly though, so perhaps patience wasn't exactly relevant in that matter. After just a few days, Beth had learned how to aim and shoot straight with his crossbow, but the strength in her arms wasn't there, which meant that she still depended on Daryl when it came to loading the weapon again. Nevertheless, he taught her as much as possible in those weeks they had been together and she had never once complained to him. He wondered how much of that determination was still inside of her and how much of that that had developed during the months she had been alone with Morgan.

Noah had told Daryl how Beth had looked like she had been about to punch Father Gabriel's lights out when the man had been making her uncomfortable. Daryl had snorted and told the younger man that he was sure the reverend deserved it if Beth had been close to actually physically harming the man. He had noticed that Beth's face always seemed to cover in distaste whenever Father Gabriel passed her by and looked at her for too long. Daryl had thought about intervening, but after hearing Noah's story, he was sure that Beth could handle herself just fine.

There was something off with Beth today though. She had been...twitchy.

It began at breakfast, when she offered him and everyone else a quick 'good morning' before hurrying outside. Daryl had shot Morgan a questioning gaze but the other man had merely shrugged, telling them all that she would come back when she got herself straight. Apparently, that was something Beth did whenever there was a lot on her mind and she needed time to figure things out. Maggie shared her concerns but they all figured that Morgan knew best when it came to the young woman Beth was now.

Still, at times during the day, Daryl would see Beth sneaking glances his way and then at Maggie before simply lowering her head again. It was strange and he wanted to know what was going on with her, but he didn't want to be the one to approach her. If anything, he didn't want her to feel pressured to share what was bothering her and he also didn't want to scare her away.

"Hey, Kid," Daryl said, glancing at Carl who was still sitting in front of him. "Did ya train with Beth today?" he asked. Carl looked up at him and nodded. "She seem alright to ya?"

Carl picked a little at one of the bolts before shaking his head. "She seemed nervous," Carl admitted. "She wasn't as focused as she usually is."

"Mhm..." Daryl hummed, making mental notes of what Carl was telling him. "She say anythin' to ya? Or anyone else?"

Carl shook his head before lifting his gaze. "She's on her way over here," he said quickly. Daryl didn't turn around to look at her approaching, because he was pretty sure he had felt it the moment she had settled her gaze on him.

"Hey Daryl, uh, could I talk to you for a second?" Beth asked as she came to a stop by the table. Daryl looked up at her from his seat before looking at Carl, motioning with his head for the kid to leave them alone. He was pretty sure that Carl rolled his eyes before he stood up and walked away and he reminded himself to tease the kid a little in retaliation later.

Beth sat down across from him instantly, her elbows resting on the table as she bit into one of her fingernails nervously. Daryl observed her for another moment before putting his crossbow and his rag on the table.

"You okay?" he asked, his voice coming out a bit rougher than he would have liked.

"Yeah, I just..." Beth shook her head. "I feel like I'm going crazy," she admitted, putting her hands on her head as she closed her eyes.

"World's crazy," he told her blankly, although he was sure concern showed in his tone. "Why would you be any crazier than the rest of us?"

"I'm not even sure where I should begin with that one," Beth chuckled, but there wasn't much amusement in her tone.

"What's botherin' ya then?" Daryl asked.

"Are you willing to be my therapist for today?" Beth said, a challenge in her tone. He looked her over once and nodded. She played a bit with a loose tendril of hair before once again clasping her hands together. "I'm not sure where I should start," she admitted, this time more serious.

"Tell me a story then," he suggested, looking down at his crossbow again as he picked up his rag and started cleaning it again. "Tell me a story and I'll pretend it ain't 'bout you."

As soon as he had spoken, it all sounded like a stupid idea. He remembered how she had told him to tell her something about himself two weeks ago, and since he had opened up after such a simple request, he figured that she might as well. She was staring at him though and he felt embarrassed for even suggesting it.

"Ya don't have to–"

"I want to tell you, Daryl," she cut him off before he could finish his sentence. "I wanna tell you and you don't have to pretend that it isn't about me."

He thought back to his own story, the one about the girl who loved singing; the one about Beth. Then, he had pretended that it wasn't about her too, but since she didn't remember her past, she didn't know that. Instead, she probably thought that he had liked some other random girl that she hadn't even known.

"I had another nightmare last night," she finally confessed. "Though, it was more like a memory... I think."

"Ya think?" Daryl frowned. "What was it 'bout?"

"An old man," she told him. "He was... He looked so kind but he... He was killed. Beheaded, actually. It was like an execution or something. He was kneeling and then someone cut his head off." Daryl froze in his seat. "Am I crazy?" she asked him again, this time looking worried.

Hershel.

She had remembered Hershel.

Or well, she didn't know who the man she had dreamed about was, but the scene she was describing was definitely the one where her father had been murdered. Panic began flaring in Daryl's chest. What was he supposed to tell her? How was he supposed to tell her that the man with the kind eyes had been her father and that yes, he hadn't been killed by walkers, but rather by a human who had lost his mind and was just evil through and through?

Daryl swallowed thickly, knowing he couldn't send Beth Maggie's way either. He knew that Hershel's death was a sensitive topic for Maggie still, just like Beth's had been a few months ago. He wasn't exactly sure that the older Greene sister would handle telling Beth the truth very well.

But maybe Beth didn't need to know the entire truth? Perhaps it would be easier not to tell her everything about what had happened to Hershel?

"Ya ain't crazy," Daryl slowly began, putting his rag back down on the table. "'t was a memory. We were attacked once and the man you described was killed during the battle."

Beth breathed out, looking a little relieved but at the same time he could see that her shoulders were still tense.

Daryl frowned, "Why did ya decide to ask me 'bout it?"

Beth bit her lip and met his gaze before shrugging. "I guess I felt like you wouldn't sugar coat it," she admitted.

Daryl instantly felt horrible again. She had come to him because she thought that he would be honest and tell her the blunt truth instead of trying to cover it up, while all he had been doing to her since the two of them had started talking was sugar coat it. Guilt filled him but he managed to rise calmly from his seat, so that Beth wouldn't suspect that something was wrong.

"I gotta talk to Rick 'bout somethin'," he told her. "I'll see ya later."

He picked up his crossbow and his bolts, securing them in their place before walking off, feeling Beth's eyes boring into his back as he did.

-§-

Rick had been in the kitchen, playing with Judith when Daryl walked in, looking upset.

"I need to talk to ya," he grunted and Rick looked at him confusedly.

"Eveythin' okay?" he frowned, immediately handing Judith to Michonne who looked just as confused as he felt. Daryl shifted on his feet and shook his head.

"It's 'bout Beth," Daryl said, looking around the room as if to make sure that the young blonde wouldn't just pop up out of nowhere.

"What about Beth?" Michonne asked.

"She remembered somethin' an' asked me 'bout it," Daryl said quickly. "Rick, I need to talk to ya," he added, a little more urgently.

Rick nodded and stood up, patting Judith's head lightly before squeezing Michonne's shoulder, assuring her that he would be back soon before he followed Daryl out of the kitchen.

Everyone else was out for now, so the two of them walked upstairs to the master bedroom that Rick shared with his kids and Michonne. The two of them would be able to talk privately there, since Rick could see that something was clearly bothering Daryl.

"Ya said that Beth remembered something," Rick said. Daryl confirmed it by nodding. "And she told you about it?" Once again, the hunter replied with a curt nod.

It didn't surprise Rick that Beth had gone to Daryl. The two of them seemed to have been opening up to each other more and more these last couple of weeks. Quite frankly, Rick was glad that Daryl had finally decided to let Beth in a bit more and even though he didn't know for sure what the two of them talked about when they were alone, he had made sure that the rest of the people in their group wouldn't intervene if they saw them talking. He wanted Beth to be comfortable around all of them and he could see that the girl seemed to like spending time with Daryl the most. At times Rick wondered if it had to do with them having been separated from the rest of the group for a time, but then again, Beth didn't remember that. Or maybe a part of her did?

"She remembered Hershel," Daryl finally said, earning Rick's attention again. He looked over at the man who he now saw as a brother. "She remembered him bein' murdered."

"I see," Rick said, sitting down on the bed. He drew his hand over his face. "What exactly did she say?"

Daryl began explaining how Beth had been acting strange all day; distant and nervous. Rick refrained from saying that he hadn't noticed, because he knew that Daryl would most likely feel uncomfortable knowing that he was probably the only one who picked up on such things when it came to Beth. Instead he stayed silent as Daryl continued and told him that the girl had had a dream about Hershel's death, but that she didn't know who it was that she had dreamed about.

"What did ya tell her then?" Rick wondered.

"I told her that we'd been attacked and the man died," Daryl admitted. "Then she told me she came to be because I wouldn't sugar coat it."

"And now you feel guilty about not telling her the truth?" Rick asked.

"I don't know, man," Daryl shook his head. "I ain't sure there's ever gonna be a day when I won't feel guilty 'bout that girl."

Rick opened his mouth to speak when the door suddenly opened. They both turned at the same time, only to see Maggie, Glenn and Carol walk in.

"What's Michonne tellin' me 'bout Beth rememberin' somethin'?" Maggie asked, getting straight to the point.

"She remembered Hershel's death," Rick explained, so that Daryl wouldn't have to. "But she doesn't know who Hershel was."

Glenn frowned at that, "You didn't tell her?"

Daryl looked up sharply, disbelief written all over his face. "You woulda told her?" he challenged.

"I don't know," Glenn shrugged. "Depends on how much she remembered."

"She remembered his Goddamn head bein' cut off!" Daryl exclaimed. "That's what she remembered!"

"In that case, I probably wouldn't have told her," Glenn agreed, his voice low. He looked over at Maggie who looked at Daryl.

"Maybe it would have been better to tell her? It could have maybe triggered something else," she said, looking at Carol for support, but the other woman merely shrugged.

"I don't know whether it's a good idea," Carol said, giving her opinion. "We should just let her remember things on her own."

"But we all agreed that if she came to us with something, we would tell her the truth, no matter what," Maggie argued, turning to look at Daryl again. Rick took a step toward Daryl as the hunted took one closer to Maggie, staring her down. "You agreed too," she told him, almost angrily.

"What the fuck was I s'posed to say, Maggie?" Daryl asked, his voice raised. "'Sorry, Beth. Your Daddy was killed in front of ya by a mad man with a vendetta against our group?'"

"He was my father?"

They all turned sharply at the sound of Beth's voice. The girl was standing in the doorway, her cheeks a little red and her mouth slightly open as she stared back at them.

"Fuck," Daryl swore under his breath, but Rick was close enough to hear him and he honestly couldn't had phrased the situation better himself.

"Beth," Maggie said softly, taking a step toward her sister, but Beth shook her head, backing away. Rick watched as the young blonde turned her attention to Daryl before once again shaking her head, walking out of the room. They all remained quiet and a few seconds later, they heard a door further down the hallway slam shut.

Rick closed his eyes and sighed, pinching the brig of his nose. Sometimes he wished the only thing they had to worry about was being eaten alive by the dead.

-§-

Beth sat on her bed, furiously crossing out notes in her journal, replacing the word 'old man' with 'dad'. She didn't know what she was feeling because everything inside of her was in shambles.

She was upset with Daryl for not just telling her the truth. Did he think she was weak or something? That she couldn't handle it? Sure, the pain in her chest would indicate that she wasn't handling it very well, but she had been feeling it ever since she had first had that dream.

Even though she might not have known who the man had been to her, she had felt and remembered just how much it had hurt to see him be killed. That feeling was now magnified as well as joined by grief for a father she didn't even remember.

She hadn't heard much from the argument that had gone down inside the master bedroom, but she had gotten there just in time to hear Daryl explode at her sister, asking what exactly he had been supposed to tell Beth.

Beth had instantly seen guilt flash in Daryl's eyes when she had looked at him and it had proven to her that her instincts earlier when she had told him about her nightmare had been correct. A part of her had known all along that Daryl had kept something from her again, but she had hoped that she had been wrong.

Of course she hadn't been, and now it hurt to know that Daryl had once again lied, or at least hid a part of the truth from her.

"Lil' Lady?" Morgan's voice was heard from the other side of the door. "Could we talk? I heard what happened."

Beth sighed deeply, standing up as she walked over to her door, opening it without a word. She paused when she saw Maggie standing next to Morgan before turning to shoot a glare at the man. He should know her well enough to know when she didn't want her sister near. The only reason she had opened that door was because she had thought that Morgan was alone. Even if she wanted to know more about her real father, she wasn't ready to talk to her sister about it just yet, since she was still to upset, even though she didn't want to show it.

Wordlessly, she walked back to her bed and sat down, closing her journal up before putting it on her nightstand.

"You okay, Kid?" Morgan asked her as he and Maggie stepped inside, closing the door behind them. Beth shrugged, not really knowing what she was supposed to say. "I heard that you remembered your dad," Morgan stated.

"I remembered a man being killed," Beth retorted, eyes narrowing. "I didn't know he was my father because Daryl withheld that information from me on purpose."

"Beth," Maggie sighed, taking a step forward. "Don't be mad at Daryl."

"You were the one who was just telling him that he should have told me the truth!" Beth exclaimed, staring at her sister in disbelief. "You were the one who was mad at him for not telling me!"

"It's not... This is such a complicated situation," Maggie said, putting a hand to her forehead.

"What? You mean that it's completely fucked up that I don't even remember my father being murdered?" Beth deadpanned. "Believe me, I know."

Maggie seemed to be taken aback by her choice of words and her sister quickly shook her head. "Beth, no one is saying that," she said. "What I meant to say was that I shouldn't have yelled at Daryl either. It wasn't easy for him to talk to you about our father, because he was close to him too."

"So what? Don't you think I deserved to know?" Beth frowned.

"I think it was wrong of me to try and blame Daryl for not telling you," Maggie confessed. "I know it wasn't easy for him and I know that he was just trying to keep you from coming to me before he had a chance to talk to me and prepare me."

"Did he tell you that?" Beth asked, crossing her arms over her chest, staring her sister down.

"He didn't have to, Beth," Maggie said. "I've known him for years now and despite his tough outer shell, he does everything to protect us."

Beth didn't say anything. She wanted to ask what he had done to try and save her, if she had still ended up dead. How could Maggie stand there and tell her that he cared about them all, if he had told her himself that he and Beth had never been close?

Her mind decided that that was the opportune moment to remind her of her own doubts regarding Daryl. She had known, deep in her heart all along that he had been keeping something from her regarding their past together. Maybe this was it? Maybe it was all about him wanting to protect himself because he actually had hurt when she had supposedly died?

If what Maggie was saying was true, Daryl might actually be one of the people who cared the most.

Beth lowered her hands slowly and took a deep breath. Deep down she wanted to both scream and yell, but she knew that it was no use. It wasn't Daryl's fault that she had put him in a bad position. She had been weighing her options all day long until she finally decided just to speak to him, because yes, even if she knew that he had been and maybe still was keeping something from her, he was someone she trusted. She just had a good feeling about him in her gut and so far, her instincts hadn't failed her.

"I'm sorry," Beth finally said. "It was just... It became too much."

"We understand that, lil' Lady," Morgan said softly. "No one meant to keep anything from you. They were just trying to figure out how to talk to you about it."

"It's okay," Beth said, closing her eyes as she willed tears away. She wasn't going to cry in front of them; she wanted them to know that she was strong enough to handle it. Once again she met her sister's eyes, seeing that Maggie wasn't as good as her at keeping her emotions at bay. "I would like to know more about our father," she told Maggie, who nodded, even though a sad smile covered her features.

"I'll leave you two alone," Morgan said, as he started toward the door, but Beth grabbed a hold of his wrist.

"Stay," she told him. "I want you with me. You promised me that you wouldn't leave."

Morgan watched her silently before nodding, sitting down on the armchair in the corner of her room. Beth walked over to Maggie and took her hand, leading her sister to the bed as they both sat down. Maggie seemed to understand why Beth needed Morgan there. The man was the person she had depended on and trusted for seven months straight while she had been both injured and scared. Now, even though she had her family again, he was still a part of her life and she would always need to have him close. He was the only father figure she knew of and Beth didn't want him to leave just because she was about to learn more about her past.

Maggie cleared her throat as Beth took her hand and squeezed gently. "Our father's name was Hershel," she began, a lone tear rolling down her cheek as she started telling Beth of the man she had seen so many times in her dreams, but no longer remembered.

-§-

Daryl was laying on his back when someone knocked on his door.

He nearly growled out loud as he got up and stomped up to it, ready to chew whoever it was that had come to him this late out, but he stopped when he swung the door open, only to reveal Beth standing there. She was in her pajamas once again, hair up in a messy bun, nervously twisting her hands together.

"Can we talk?" she asked. "It'll be quick, I promise."

He eyed her and then looked behind himself at his mess of a small room before turning back again. She seemed to sense his hesitation, so she shook her head lightly, "I don't have to come in, I just have something to say."

Daryl didn't say anything, not entirely sure that he would be able to find the words, but he knew that whatever this conversation was going to be about, he didn't want it to happen outside in the hallway where anyone could overhear them. He turned around and walked back to his bed, not even looking at her as he sat down, but he left the door open.

It was her choice to make, after all.

Beth seemed to make her decision quickly though because she stepped inside his room and closed the door behind her. He still felt guilty over not telling her the entire truth about Hershel, but what had he been supposed to do? Whatever scenario he had tried to imagine, whichever way he had contemplated telling her the truth in, had all resulted in Beth ending up hurt by him. Although, no matter how hard he had tried to protect her, he had still ended up hurting her, if her reaction earlier tonight had been a sign to it.

"You feelin' better?" he asked, not being able to help himself. He was aware of the fact that Morgan and Maggie had gone to talk to Beth after she had stormed away from them and Maggie had told the rest of them that she had told Beth the truth about Hershel. According to Maggie, Beth had proceeded to ask about the rest of their biological family and Maggie had told her both about her mother and about her older brother and how they had died.

"Yeah," Beth nodded, biting her lip. "I just wanted to tell you that I'm not mad at you... For not telling me the truth about Hershel... Dad, I mean." She shook her head a little, as if to clear it before continuing, "I understand that I put you in a difficult position, Daryl and I promise that I won't do so again."

It sounded rehearsed and short-clipped, as if she had been repeating the words to herself a thousand times before gathering her courage to knock on his door.

He didn't like it.

"Ya got nothin' to apologize for," he told her slowly. "I made the call not to tell ya the truth 'bout your father. That's on me."

"Doesn't change the fact that I asked you about something that clearly hurt you too," Beth said. She was still standing by the door, leaning against it while he was sitting on his bed. It wasn't about being uncomfortable though, he quickly realized; she looked far more at home in his room that he felt. No, it was about giving him the space he didn't even know that he needed. Yet, Beth seemed to have gotten to know him well enough to know what he needed.

"You cared about my father," Beth stated, her voice confident. "Maggie is convinced that you didn't just send me her way because you were trying to spare her feeling... Yet you claim that you and I weren't even friends before." Her tone was as sharp as her narrowed eyes.

"I respected your father," Daryl said quickly, "and I saw the pain your sister went through after she thought she'd lost you. I wasn' gonna remind her 'bout Hershel just because I didn't know what to tell ya."

His lies to Beth just kept piling up, but at least that was half a truth too. He had respected Hershel and he had watched Maggie suffer after losing Beth, but he chose to once again not tell her about his own agony.

"Whatever," Beth mumbled, looking away from him. He could tell that she wasn't fully convinced by what he was saying, and he wondered if the girl would ever just snap at him and call him out on the lies he was sure she knew he was telling. She had grown way too observant not to have noticed them. "It won't happen again," she told him. "From now on, I'll keep my nightmares to myself." She turned around and reached for the handle on the door when he stood up from the bed, moving almost automatically as he reached out and grabbed her wrist, stopping her. Beth didn't turn back to look at him, but her breaths came out a little heavier for some reason. His own heart was beating wildly in his chest and it felt as if currents of something were flowing into his fingertips from where he was grasping her wrist. The skin on skin contact was almost too overwhelming, which surprised him, because it wasn't as if he hadn't held her hand before.

Yet, it felt different. Almost like a small make-it-or-break-it moment where he had to prove to her where she had him, or if she even had him at all. He could sense that she was close to pushing him away and just being done with him, for both his sake and her own, but he found himself wanting to be selfish.

"It ain't wrong for ya to open up, Beth," he said, breathing out her name. He could see goosebumps rising on her exposed skin and he wondered whether he was just imagining it, or if he was actually somehow having an effect on her. "I know I didn't tell ya the entire truth before, but I didn't want ya to feel guilty 'bout not rememberin' your old man."

"You were protecting me then?" Beth asked, turning her head so that she could face him again. Daryl swallowed but nodded, nonetheless. "Why?" Beth wondered, her voice this time a mere whisper.

"Mhm..." Daryl mumbled, shrugging lightly. Beth's mouth dropped open a bit as she stared at him. Her eyes seemed to glaze over in that moment and he curiously watched as her eyes flickered across his face before she finally swallowed. Something had just happened, although he wasn't sure what. Beth seemed to be equally confused as him, if not more, but she didn't say anything or ask him again. Instead, she offered him a tired smile, which instantly made him forget about his worries.

"Good night, Daryl," she said, opening the door as he let go of her wrist, the charged moment easing away. He stood in his own doorway as she walked back to her room, looking over at him one last time before she shut the door behind herself, her lower lip clutched nervously between her teeth.

"Good night, Beth," Daryl whispered, knowing very well that she wouldn't be able to hear him anymore, right before he closed the door and went back to his bed, willing his stomach which was doing somersaults to calm down and let him sleep.

Note: So, I just wanted to quickly say that I originally planned on ending this chapter differently, which would have actually led to Beth and Daryl taking a step back in their relationship. I had planned for him to tell her to go to Maggie next time, which would have made Beth more hesitant to approach him, but as I wrote it, I realized that I didn't want them to take a step back, since they'll go through quite a few things in future chapters... So I hope this was okay with you guys, even though it ended a little...bittersweet in a way?

Oh, and also, since I live in Europe, I won't be able to watch the MSP until tomorrow (which is Monday for me), so I'll be staying off of tumblr until then and please, if you read this after the episode, DON'T WRITE ANY SPOILERS IN THE REVIEWS! Thank you for consideration! :)

As I said, thank you for all the support and for being so wonderful! I love all of you and I can't wait to hear what you think about this chapter! The next chapter is another one of my favorites and it seems like it's gonna be a long one too! ^^ Thank you for reading! :) xx