Some of you have guessed parts of this chapter already and I hope this doesn't disappoint.

…

Part Eleven.

There's a part of her that isn't entirely surprised when it's happening. Merle comes back and Daryl begins pulling further and further away and it's almost as if a part of her has been expecting this to happen. He's hardly home anymore and when he is, she's asleep and wakes up the next morning to him already gone and she's convinced that she just dreamt him beside her with his arm across her hip.

But the less she sees him, her heart grows heavier until it's all the way to her feet and she knows it's over. They don't have some big conversation about it. That would mean they would have to be in the same room to actually talk to one another. She just knows because he's always with his brother and doesn't seem to want to be around her – or have her around – anymore and she tells herself that it's just been a few months. She can't be heartbroken over a few months.

But she is completely broken because she loves him and she just imagined being with him for a little while longer but it's not going to happen because Daryl is the sort who will always choose his family over anyone else and his loyalty is one of the things she loves about him. Except now. Because now, she's driving back to the farm with tears streaming down her cheeks and trying to curse Daryl Dixon in her head.

She pulls up the drive of the farm and as she nears the house, she looks at it through the windshield and wonders if she should just move back here. She had had no plans of leaving Evergreen and she doesn't want to be the sort who lets some guy chase her out of town but the thought of Daryl coming into the diner and having to bring him his dinner and not be able to kiss him or smile at him anymore just makes her cry a little bit harder and running away doesn't seem so bad.

…

She doesn't tell Maggie but Maggie hugs her tight anyway as if she knows already.

"It'll be okay," Maggie tells her softly.

Beth shakes her head though because she loves him and he doesn't want to be with her and in what world is that okay?

…

Glenn has practically moved into the farmhouse with Maggie and when Beth wakes up on Saturday morning and comes downstairs, Glenn is in the kitchen, standing at the stove, making pancakes.

"Hey," he grins at her. "Morning. Making pancakes. You want some?"

Beth nods and even though her eyes hurt from crying, she is able to smile. "That sounds really good. Smells good, too."

"And I have coffee, too," he says.

Beth gives him another smile before moving to the cabinet, taking a mug down from the shelf and then moving to the coffee machine on the counter. She sips and goes to look out the window over the sink that overlooks the endless fields and endless sky.

And this has always been her home and she has always loved being here but now, she feels just like a vistor. This will always be her home and yet, she feels like maybe she doesn't belong here as much as she had once thought. It's like when she was a kid and she would go away to camp for a few weeks in the summer and then come home again. It still smelt like home and felt like home and the one to be different was her. And she was different now, too.

"Here, Bethy," Maggie comes into the kitchen with an envelope in her hand. "I was going through some of daddy's things to give to the church and I found this."

Beth puts the coffee mug down and takes the envelope, her name written on the front in Herschel's handwriting. She can't help but frown a little, confused, but when she looks to Maggie, her older sister just shrugs.

"I have no idea," Maggie says. "My name isn't the one on it."

…

After eating pancakes and taking a shower, Beth gets dressed and then goes outside. There is only one place where she can read this letter in the needed solitutude it requires. She climbs the ladder to the hayloft in the barn and sits down in the large open door so she can read by sunlight. Her fingers are nearly shaking as she opens the envelope as carefully as she can.

Her eyes are already flooding with tears before she even reads a word because just seeing her daddy's handwriting again is completely overwhelming.

…

Dear Bethy,

I came back from the lawyer's office and I made a decision while there that you will know of when I pass on from this earth. I have left the farm to Maggie and not to you. You, who have been with me, working this farm for the past few years, deserves your rightful piece of it but there is a reason I am keeping it from you and it is a simple one.

You do not belong here. I have watched you work by my side every day and every day, I wait for you to realize it. I cannot imagine what it would have been like for me if you were not here to help me. With your mother and brother having passed on and your sister living hours away, you are all that I have and you are the reason I rise from bed each morning. You and this farm. You have helped me keep this farm – and myself – going and there are not enough words to express how thankful I am to you and how much I love you.

But your love and loyalty to me, and my own selfishness, have kept you here and you are living a life you are not supposed to live. You are not supposed to spend your life on a farm. You are meant to be out there, singing your songs and falling in love and making others as happy as you have made me. I have left the farm to Maggie in hopes that once you find out, you will leave and find yourself finally living your life.

That is my hope. Please do not be hurt or angry with me or with Maggie. She had no knowledge of me doing this. This is the only way I can think of to finally help you. I hope you have the fullest, best life, my Bethy.

Love daddy

…

Beth isn't sure how long she stays up in the hayloft, crying and hugging the letter to her chest.

…

When she returns to Evergreen on Sunday afternoon, she drives to the Grimes house first before going back to her apartment. She has had an idea over the weekend and she wants to talk it over with Lori to see if it is even possible.

Lori is happy to see her as always and Judith is immediately stretching her arms up for her. Beth smiles and picks her up and follows Lori into the living room.

"How was the visit with you sister?" Lori asks.

"Wonderful," Beth smiles and she means it, her daddy's letter tucked into her bag.

She almost asks about Daryl but she stops herself before she can. She has other things more important on her mind right now than Daryl Dixon. He's done with her so she'll be done with him, too.

"I actually wanted to talk with you about something. I know how good you are with numbers and math has never been my strong suit," Beth says. "You know that little vacant store on Court Street?" She asks. "Would you like to come see it with me?"

Lori is already smiling though. "You want to open a bakery."

Beth looks at her for a moment, shocked, and then lets out a little laugh. "I want to open a bakery," she confirms. "Can you read minds?"

"No," Lori's smile somehow seems to grow even more. "It just is so perfect for you. Everyone in this town is crazy about anything you bake."

"I still have plenty of money left over from the inheritance my father left me but I don't want to blow it on something you don't think has a chance," Beth says.

"We'll go first thing tomorrow morning and look at it," Lori says and Beth beams.

…

She gets home and he's not there. She's not surprised in the least but she is surprised when she goes into the bedroom to unpack and sees his things still there – clothes in the dresser, his extra pair of boots in the closet. She thought for sure he would have moved out over the weekend – not even talking to her, just leaving.

She goes into the bedroom to unpack and she tucks her letter safely into the top drawer of her nightstand. She has already read through it four times and she sees herself reading it every night before she goes to bed. Her daddy wanted her to have a full, happy life for herself. He wanted her to sing and play her guitar and fall in love and be happy. And she met Daryl and fell in love with him and she was so happy for a little bit in time and she could just imagine Daryl and her daddy meeting. Hershel Greene would have loved him because Daryl is so much more than his last name whether or not he believes it. She sees past it and her daddy would have, too.

She goes into the bathroom to take a shower and when she comes out, she can't resist slipping on one of Daryl's flannel shirts hanging in the closet. She knows she won't have much longer to wear them and she loves how soft they are against her skin. She knows that even if she goes to the store and buys a men's flannel shirt, it won't be the same.

Maybe she can hide one so she can keep it for herself even after he's gone.

…

"Why won't you go out with me, Beth?" Shane asks, leaning into the counter and smiling at her in a way that makes every muscle in her body knot tightly.

"I can't," she does her best to keep smiling and be polite. "I have a boyfriend." Even as she says it though, she doesn't know if that's actually still true or not.

Shane smiles even wider then. "You sure 'bout that?" He asks. "Heard he's been in Atlanta with his brother for a few days now. Daryl'll run anywhere his big brother tells him to. Prob'ly up to no good either."

Beth feels her throat grow dry and she tries her hardest to swallow past it. She wants to argue with him and tell him that Daryl is a good man and is his own man but ever since the return of Merle Dixon, she knows that's not necessarily true. He's a good man but when it comes to his brother, Daryl is very much under his control. It makes Beth's stomach twist at the possibilities of what Daryl is getting into.

"Come on, Beth. You went slummin' for a while and I'm sure it was real nice. But I can be nice, too," he says and his hand reaches out to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind her ear. "I'll treat you like a girl like you deserves to be treated." His fingers drop down and brush along her arm.

Her entire body stiffens and goes cold and she tries to get as far away from him as she can but behind the counter, there's only so much space she can put between them. She wants to call out for Martinez but he went out into the back to call his wife and she's completely alone with him. And Shane be may an officer of the law but he scares her because he's one of the figures who thinks he's above the law and is there anything that can actually stop him from doing something?

When the door opens and the bell rings, she lets out a breath of relief. And even more so when she sees who it is.

"Daryl," she breathes his name and she can't help it. She races around the counter and hurries up to him, throwing her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

She feels Daryl's arms around her then and she's so angry and so hurt by this man and yet, with him there now, she's not afraid. And she's so grateful that he's actually holding her, she feels like she could cry.

…

Daryl stays in the diner for the rest of the night and waits as she cleans up, wiping the counters and sweeping and mopping the floors and he takes the trash out for her. They step outside together and she locks up and when she looks at him, she has no idea what to say to him and she hates that because she always knows what to say to Daryl. He stares at her, too, his hands in his pockets and she's surprised when he opens his mouth and words are actually to leave his.

"Can I walk you home?" He asks and she smiles a little, nodding her head.

She walks on one side of the sidewalk and he walks on the other. He seems sure not to put himself too close to her and she wishes he would hold her hand though she knows he won't. Even when his brother isn't around, he still very much is.

"Thank you for tonight," she says as they stop outside the dentist's office and the door that leads upstairs to the apartment.

He nods once. "You'll let me know if he bothers you again?"

"I will," she nods as well, never taking her eyes from him.

She feels like they had just returned from their first hunting trip together and he has walked her to her motel door, both of them lingering, neither quite sure what to do.

She wants to ask him if he still lives here with her but she can't form the words.

"I'm stayin' at the motel with Merle for a while," he says as if reading her mind.

She does her best to nod.

"You can find me there if you need me."

She has to get away from him before she starts crying again. She still has no idea what happened between them. All she knows is his brother came back and he began to immediately start pulling away from her with no warning or explanation. And now, it's like it is like when they first met. She feels this need and this want to be close to him but she doesn't even know him.

"Good night, Daryl," she says quietly as she feels the first tears start to prick her eyes and she quickly turns towards the door, heading inside.

She really needs to stop crying over him. It's done. He's gone. He'll come get his stuff eventually and that will be that. It's not like he's crying over her and she is planning on having more important things in her life than Daryl Dixon.

…

The phone call comes in the middle of the night, ripping her out of a deep sleep. She is disoriented for a moment until her tired brain realizes what it is. She reaches for her cell blindly on her night stand and answers it without looking at the number, her head back on the pillow and her eyes closed as if ready to go back to sleep.

"Hello?" She croaks out an answer.

"Beth? It's Sherriff Grimes. I'm sorry to wake you but I'm down at the station and I need you to get over here. It's Daryl. He's been arrested."

…

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