Beth blinked and slowly opened her big blue eyes.

She tried to focus, but her vision was hazy, only just being able to make out the room she had woken in was plain and white, with the added scent of disinfectant, as well as the faint beeping of a monitor beside her. She tried to move, pulling herself up to sitting to discover she was wired up to an IV drip. She wriggled around in the strange narrow bed to discover that the sheets felt stiff and starchy, she glanced down to she was dressed in a hospital gown.

She screamed.

She wondered if she was still sleeping, if she had woken in a nightmare again and she was back at Grady. But as her vision quickly became clearer she could tell it wasn't Grady. The décor was more modern, and there was a low hum of busy voices outside her door, almost like a hospital from before the turn. She turned her head to see that to the the side of the bed there was a small table with a single box of tissues placed at the centre. On the wall a clock ticked. Displaying the time, it was 10 past 12 in the afternoon.

"You're awake, how are you feeling? You had us worried there for a bit," An unfamiliar female voice said, as a woman looking to be in her mid to late 40's came bustling in to the room. Her accent was foreign. Beth was pretty sure she was British.

"Where am I?" Beth snapped, her eyes wide with fear and confusion.

"I'll get the doctor," the woman said, smiling at Beth. She was dressed in khaki green trousers and a dark coloured blouse.

"No, wait," Beth yelled watching her disappear out of the room.

Within seconds, the woman had returned with a younger man, he too was dressed in similar style clothes and had an accent, "Diana tells me you're awake. I'm Dr Willis. How are you feeling, Miss..um Green?" He said, picking up a chart from the foot of the bed and scanning it.

"Ho-how d'ya know my name?" Beth said hesitantly, starting to feel even more uneasy.

"Your sister told us, my dear," the woman Beth presumed was Diana, said gently, perching down on the side of the bed by Beth, reaching out to touch her.

Beth jumped back like a frightened animal.

"Maggie? Where is she?" Beth exclaimed.

"Relax, she's right here, when we've finished talking you can see her," the woman said. Her voice had a sort of softness to it that Beth found reassuring. Although her head was telling her to be on alert, she trusted no-one.

"What was the last thing you remember?" The doctor said.

"I…err…don't know," Beth said truthfully, her mind flashing to a mass of muddled images, none of which made much sense to her, or that she would be willing to share with the two strangers in front of her.

The bursts of memories were hitting her hard; of being back at her family home on the farm, to shivering by the road on a dark night with her father and sister, to being back at the prison site, to Rick, and Maggie and Glenn, and baby Judith crying in her arms. To then sitting opposite a campfire staring at Daryl, to suddenly being surrounded by walkers, to waking at Grady, to then being back in Daryl's strong arms again, to kissing him, holding him, laughing with him. But none of it made any sense to her. Where was Daryl now? Where were Rick and the others? Why was Maggie here?

"Can you tell me what year it is?" The doctor said calmly. Beth wanted to hate him, to be fearful of him, but despite the grave seriousness of his face, his eyes were kind. He wasn't bad, Beth could tell.

Beth shook her head, her long messy blonde hair swaying from side to side.

"Can you tell me what wildfire is?" He said.

Again Beth shook her head in confusion and panic, should she know that? She thought helplessly.

The doctor looked away from Beth for a moment over to the woman as they shared a surprised look.

"How long have you been out there?" The woman spoke this time, placing her hand on Beth's. Beth wanted to pull away again, but she found the strangers touch weirdly comforting.

Looking away from her, she muttered, "I dunno."

Beth honestly had no idea exactly how much time had passed. She remembered the start of the infection, to hearing it on the news, before the shock of seeing the first person stumbling around snarling and growling dead behind the eyes. She remembered the fear and anxiety, the crushing pain of the losses, losing the farm, and then having to survive under the worst conditions. But how long, that she couldn't remember.

Her eyes prickled with tears.

"It's okay, you're safe now, it's over, nothing more is going to happen to you," the woman said gently, breaking in to another kind smile.

"I don't understand," Beth said quietly.

"You will," the woman said still smiling.

Clutching the chart tightly in his hands still, the doctor spoke up again,"Okay, Miss Greene, well your general health is very good considering. You're a little malnourished and dehydrated and your blood shows your iron levels are pretty low, but apart from that you've managed to keep yourself fairly fit and healthy. There is just one thing I need to ask though, and I need you to answer as accurately as you can?" He said, his eyes down looking at the chart. "When was the first day of your last period?"

"Wh-what? Why do you need to know that?" Beth stammered, her face flooding with confusion again. "I have no idea." Her periods had always been a little sporadic she thought, she could go months without bleeding and she didn't have the faintest idea when she'd last had one with everything else that had been going on.

"Try and think, take your time." The woman said.

"I really don't know," Beth said, overwhelmed. "What's going on? Why am I here? What's happening?" She said, raising her voice with panic once again, moving suddenly across the bed, feeling a dull ache in her abdomen.

"You had a miscarriage Miss Greene, you collapsed on your way here, you lost a lot of blood, but you're going to be fine," the doctor said.

Beth gulped; her eyes wide with shock.

Then it all came flooding back to her, every last detail. She'd been with Maggie. They'd been taken against their will by some mysterious men, they were being driven somewhere. She'd been faint and dizzy, and then there had been the blood. Confirming what she had been too scared to admit but deep down had known for a while, she'd felt it at the very core of her. She'd been pregnant! Responsible through this hell, for carrying a growing new life inside her.

She had messed up, big time. There had been more than one occasion when she and Daryl had got too carried away with the moment. At the time she had stupidly pushed away any thoughts that it could lead to a pregnancy. She had just presumed that it wouldn't happen, that it wouldn't be possible, that her body would prevent it given the environment. Well it had prevented it alright, in the cruellest way possible.

She thought to Daryl, to what he would have said had he known. She feared he would have been angry; he would have blamed himself, withdrawn from her again and pushed her away. But if anyone had been responsible Beth felt certain it was herself, stupid naive girl that she was. Maggie had warned her and she had disregarded it. She only had herself to blame.

She felt sick.

"I'm sorry," the woman said, still with the same soft comforting tone, her eyes displaying genuine empathy.

Beth waved her hand, indicating it wasn't the big deal they were making it out to be, she had been through worse she thought, she'd get through this. But despite her best efforts she was unable to stop the big fat tears from rolling down her delicate pink cheeks.

Slowly and carefully the woman moved towards her, wrapping her arms around Beth's neck allowing the younger girl to sob quietly in to her shoulder.

"We can get your sister for you," the woman said looking up and over to the doctor.

"No," Beth said moving away, wiping her eyes with the back of her hands. "Not yet." She said, embarrassed and disappointed with herself for crying the way she had, for showing emotion and weakness in front of these strangers. She could almost hear her fathers voice in her ear, they all had their jobs to do, and hers was to stay strong, now more than ever, no matter what was thrown at her, she'd deal with it.

Beth knew what she needed to do, she needed to compose herself, re-focus, and never mention this again, to anyone.


FOUR YEARS LATER

"You want to stop for food?" Daryl said, stopping at a red light, looking across to where Beth was sat next to him in the car.

She shook her head, her eyes down staring at the scan pictures of their unborn child clutched tightly in her hand still. "I aint hungry," she muttered.

He sighed, his eyes still fixed on her, trying to work her out. She'd been the same ever since they had left the hospital, quiet, distant, thoughtful. He knew that she was pissed at him over something. He just wasn't a damn mind reader and he was running out of patience.

If he was honest it had been the same on and off for days. Her mood swings recently had been driving him slightly crazy. He wondered if she was still annoyed with him for coming home late drunk the other night. Or whether this time it was more to do with him turning up late at the hospital for their appointment. However if he was being completely honest with himself Daryl feared it was more to do with the new role he had taken on, policing their out of control city, alongside Rick, Michonne and Carol.

The long hours he had been away from her working, along with the nature of what he was doing, the risks involved, he knew she didn't like it. The fact he hadn't managed to arrive on time for their scan earlier, together with the blood stains on his shirt could only have fuelled that too.

He looked away, shaking his head, the lights turning green.

"Damn it woman, what's wrong with you?" He said, raising his voice in frustration, putting his foot down.

Beth looked up and over at him startled.

"I'm just not hungry, that's all," she said, folding her arms looking away from him and out the window at the depressing run down early evening city landscape.

"Well you gotta eat, this aint just about you," he said angrily. His eyes staring straight ahead.

…...

Beth took a small sip through the straw of her drink, looking over to where Daryl was sat opposite her shovelling fries in to his mouth like he hadn't eaten in weeks.

She tore at the corner of her burger, nibbling at it. She knew getting fast food from a drive through burger chain hadn't exactly been ideal, but they had both been tired, it had been a long day. She wasn't hungry, but she knew she needed to keep her energy up. He might have been a jerk about it, but Daryl was right, she needed to eat.

They ate in silence from where they were seated opposite each other in their small kitchen. Beth pushing away her half eaten burger and fries when she was done, glancing across to where Daryl was now sat head down fiddling with his phone, she thought how he hadn't shown the slightest interest in having a cell phone until he had met up with Rick and the others again, now he seemed to be constantly checking it, scrolling through his messages.

She pulled the scan pictures out of her pocket again, her eyes floating across the black and white image of the seemingly healthy unborn child they'd created, developing insider her. She didn't think she'd ever cease to find the wonder in it, staring at the pictures in wide eyed amazement.

"I guess we can start telling people now," she said, a small smile creeping on to her lips.

Daryl stopped what he was doing to look at her, not knowing quite what to say he just shrugged. He knew telling people their news was always going to be a big deal to Beth, but to him not so much. Until recently the only two people in the world that he had cared anything about and considered his family were her and Carol. And Carol already knew he thought guiltily.

He was pretty sure Beth wouldn't mind so much that he had told Carol without her, as much as they were fond of each other, the two women had never been close, especially since he and Beth had got married. It was more that Daryl knew Beth hadn't wanted to announce their news to anyone until they had received confirmation the risky first trimester was over and everything was okay with the baby. She had seemed so nervous and superstitious over it that he felt truly bad for not having respected her wishes.

"We could organise a party to tell everyone," she went on to say, her eyes lighting up. "We could invite Rick and the family, Michonne…Carol." She added, looking at him to note his body language changed subtly at the mention of the older woman's name.

He scowled.

"You could act a little more excited," Beth said, rolling her eyes.

He remained silent, shrugging again, as she glared at him provoking a response.

"You think I'm not excited? Just because I've got better things to be doing than having some stupid damn party," he said gruffly.

He knew he'd fucked up when he saw her shooting daggers at him. Rather than try and make it better though, he stood up and abruptly turned to open the fridge door noisily. Avoiding have to face the hurt that he knew would be creeping in to her eyes. Hurt that being the jackass he was, he'd caused.

They may have been married for a while now, but Daryl still had next to no idea how to go about tackling moments like this. The opposite sex had always been something of a mystery to him. Since being with Beth he'd been learning, but he knew he was never going to be perfect.

"Fine, but you don't have to be a dick about it," Beth said, her voice wobbling, fighting back tears, glaring at his back some more as she stood up too.

This wasn't how Beth wanted it to be. She was aware that she wasn't quite herself at the moment. She seemed to have little control over all the emotions swirling around her, coming as an annoying part of the package of pregnancy. But when Beth had daydreamed abut her future with Daryl, about them having a baby, she had never imagined they would be bickering and on edge about it like they were right now. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but something was wrong. This wasn't them.

This time Daryl turned back to face Beth's tearstained face, although he still had little idea what to say next, his blue eyes expressed deep emotion, almost as though he was debating something internally. He hated seeing her upset and being powerless to prevent it, even worse he hated seeing her upset knowing he was the primary cause.

"Damnit girl, what d'you want to go and cry for?" he said in a low voice watching her, his tone slightly softer.

Beth looked up to meet his gaze. "You know," she replied a tear sliding down her cheek.

"No, I don't," he responded, searching desperately for the right thing to say. "If it's about the party, then we can have the damn party," he said taking a step towards her.

"It's not about the party," Beth said the tears flowing more freely now. Daryl had seen her cry many times, but right now she felt a little silly crying in front of him, like she was acting weak and feeble. But there where things she needed to say.

"Then what, Beth?" He said, confused, his eyes full of concern.

"I miss you," Beth said dramatically.

"I'm right here," he replied, screwing his face up.

"No, you're not. You're different, it's like you're somewhere else a lot of the time. Since I started med school and now you've started your job with Rick, it feels like things have changed. And I can't do this on my own… I need you," Beth said her voice full of emotion.

He responded by stepping even closer towards her, instantly wrapping his strong arms around her slight frame, allowing her tears to seep in to his shirt.

"I aint going no-where," he said, putting his hand up to stroke the back of her soft blonde hair, calming her.

"You, me, the little un, that's it for me, always will be," he said, his gruff voice taking on a more soothing tone Beth rarely heard.

Beth smiled through her tears into his neck as he continued to hold her. She knew that was about as much as she was going to get from her quiet introverted husband. But she didn't care, because those few simple words from his lips had told her everything that she needed to know, everything she had always known.

She knew Daryl better than anyone. He was never going to be the kind of husband that loved having people round for parties, or celebrating birthdays and holidays. But she knew that his bark was far worse than his bite, that underneath his rough exterior, he had the kindest heart she had ever known. He might not always be able to express it in the best possible way, but he would do anything for her and now their unborn child too.

Slowly she broke away from him, wiping at her cheekbones with her fingertips, still smiling, she said, "I love you, Daryl Dixon."

Daryl broke in to a small amused smile back, his eyes twinkling, "Love you too, Greene."

Beth felt a rush of warmth spread across her at hearing his little nickname for her, she was Beth Dixon now, but to him she would always be Greene.

…...

Beth sat up in bed, hearing the front door closing and the sound of Daryl triple bolting it shut. His heavy footsteps climbing the stairs followed, before she heard him opening their bedroom door. He switched off the main light, leaving the room dimly lit by the soft glow from the bedside lamp. Before taking off his pants and shirt and pulling back the duvet to climb in to bed beside her. A waft of tobacco entering the bed with him.

Surprisingly to Beth, she hadn't had to nag him about not smoking in the house anymore now that she was pregnant. He had simply taken it upon himself not to light up a single cigarette around her since he had found out.

Beth lay down again, resting her head on his chest, listening to the comforting sound of his heartbeat in her ear, breathing in his strong masculine scent.

"You never told me what happened earlier," she said lazily.

"Mmm.." Daryl grunted, his arm around her, his fingers stroking the curve of her hip, from where she was lying contently beside him.

She lifted her head up to look him in the eye, the ends of her long hair tickling his bare skin. "Earlier, you were held up doing something, what was it?"

Daryl hesitated, moving his hand away from her to lightly rub the side of his face, unsure how much of the earlier incident with the walkers to share with her. Looking silently back in to her questioning eyes for a moment, he realised he had to be honest with her, she'd already seen the depths of hell, there was little point in trying to start sheltering her from it now.

"Some crazy guy, had an apartment on Harrison street, he'd been keeping them alive," he paused to allow her to take it in, noticing she looked confused, "Y'know them," he repeated.

Beth's round eyes widened with shock as it hit her, her hand flying up to her mouth. She'd heard a few stories like that. But she had just tried to block them out. Presuming that no-one that had survived the outbreak could still be that deluded to keep hold of the dead, not now they knew there was no way back.

"They escaped, but we dealt with it," he continued. "They had already killed the crazy fucker before we got there, and one tried to take a chunk out of me, but it's over," he stopped instantly regretting saying that last part about the attack on him when he saw the look of fear cross her face, "Weren't nothing I couldn't handle," he added arrogantly.

She shook her head.

"Probably one of the last times though," he added, aware as he was saying it that she wasn't that stupid. They both knew there would be more instances like this throughout the city. Hell wasn't quite over everywhere yet.

"So no-one else was hurt?" she asked.

He froze; he had been so caught up with everything else since he had arrived at the hospital earlier that he hadn't had a chance to think about the little girl he had saved. He had reluctantly handed her over to Carol to take care of, while they waited for the ambulance to arrive, before he had raced across town to be with Beth.

"What?" Beth questioned, her eyes narrowing, she knew there was something he wasn't telling her.

"There was a little girl there too," he said quietly.

"A child? How old?"

"Around five I guess, must have belonged to the dead guy in the apartment," he replied.

A look of surprise flashed across Beth's face. It was pretty rare to see children over the age of around two or three alive these days.

"Was she okay? Was she?..." She asked hesitantly, afraid of what he would say next.

He shook his head.

"Nah, she was pretty frightened, but she was alive, she was okay, tough kid from what I could gather…..must have been," he added thoughtfully, looking to his hands, remembering the scared look in the girls eyes as he had lifted her out of the closet in to his safe arms, the haunted look on her young face had struck his heart a little, he knew only too well what she must have been through.

"Was her mother alive?" Beth asked, not wanting to know the answer.

Again he shook his head.

"What's going to happen to her?" Beth asked with concern.

Daryl looked up from his hands to meet her bright questioning blue eyes with his own. "I dunno," he replied truthfully…

A/N - Thanks for reading :) please leave any feedback/review if you have time.