I know that I usually write each chapter from one character's POV, but for the purpose of not having to split this chapter up into two and therefore make it shorter and perhaps a little more confusing than this version is, I've decided to split it and alternate from Daryl and Beth's POV's. I think it's quite clear when those switches are but I apologise in advance if it's not.
Enjoy!
The sight of the house that Beth had called her home for the past twenty years stirred something within her as she peered out of the carriage window. It hadn't been all that long since she had been here in reality, but a lot had changed in her life in the last week and a half and Beth was beginning to feel like perhaps she didn't belong in this old farmhouse after all.
She knew that her father was waiting for the pair of them outside of the front door but she still took her time as she got out of the carriage. Daryl had jumped out first and held his hand out to her to assist her as she gracefully followed, holding tightly to his hand and gripping her skirts in her other. Beth offered her husband a soft smile as thanks for his help and moved her way around the side of the carriage whilst he busied himself with shutting the door and discussing when they were going to be leaving with Randall.
It wasn't the view of her father that made her smile, but the sight of Patricia as she stood slightly behind him; wearing a worn dress and tatty white hat with a warm smile and kind eyes, Beth was hit with the realisation of just how much she had missed the older woman.
Propriety saw that Beth greeted her father first and was slightly taken aback when he wrapped his arms around her middle and held her close, smiling into her shoulder. Beth's chin rested on Hershel's shoulder and her blue eyes dramatically widened in shock at his affectionate embrace, but the knowing look that Patricia was shooting her from behind her father caused Beth's own tense body to slump slightly as she relaxed into the hug. Her father kissed her on the head and chattered away to her about how much he had missed her and how a grand dinner had been prepared for their arrival, but he quickly shooed his youngest daughter towards the side as Daryl began to climb up the steps of the farmhouse.
It wasn't as though Beth minded being dismissed by her father. If anything, she was used to it nowadays, and she knew from the way in which he had greeted her that he clearly had been longing for her presence around the house. Beth took the opportunity to rush over to Patricia, beaming as she did so.
"I've missed you," Beth told her as she took the older woman's hands in her own, her light eyes dancing with joy and excitement at being reunited with the woman, even if it was only for a few hours.
Patricia gave Beth's hands a little squeeze.
"And we have all missed you, ma'am," Patricia said, her tone gentle and soft.
The words that she spoke almost made Beth want to cry.
"Come on," Patricia said, tugging slightly at Beth's hand. "Let's get you inside. Dinner will be ready soon."
"Maggie has been to visit us," Beth said as she walked around the bedroom that had once belonged to her.
It was exactly the way that she had left it, although she hadn't really expected her father to do much with it anyway. In this house, he had far more rooms than he knew what to do with. But at the same time, it was obvious that someone (probably Patricia) had been cleaning it still. There was no evidence of dust anywhere nor a musky smell. The bed had been made and the curtains had been drawn and the vanity table was still neatly organised with brushes and hair pins and powder for her face.
Patricia must have noticed Beth gazing longingly at the table and nudged her closer towards it, motioning for her to sit down. The younger woman's pupils went wide at that, suddenly feeling incredibly bashful for being caught in her daydreams, but Patricia's kind expression only encouraged her to sit down at the table.
The older woman wasted no time in picking up a hairbrush and running it through the sections of Beth's long wavy hair, taking her time as she did so. Neither of them were in a rush today, and although that had not mentioned it to one another, both of them knew that this could perhaps be the last time they saw each other - at least for a very long time, if not forever. The thought of never seeing Patricia again made Beth feel incredibly sad and so she pushed the thoughts away, locking them in a box at the back of her mind so not to upset herself even further.
"So," Patricia said. "What exactly is it that your sister wanted when she visited you, ma'am?"
Beth sighed, certain that Patricia already had her suspicions about why Maggie would visit her sister and her brother-in-law at their home.
"It's Mister Walsh," Beth began to explain. "He's hurting her. Only it's getting worse - much, much worse."
Patricia was quiet as Beth paused, thinking of how to describe everything that had happened over the past few days. Maggie had confided in her about her abusive husband and about how she longed for a world where she could run away. But Maggie didn't want to run away on her own; she had found love in another man, a good man named Glenn who she said was honest and kind and loving towards her.
"Mister Walsh has forced himself upon my sister several times over the last week, and he has started using other... ornaments, not just his hands and his fists. Maggie... Well, Mister Walsh hurt her quite badly just before he left to go on a business trip a few days ago, and the night that he went, Maggie came to Dar- my home."
Beth stopped then to compose herself and to clear her throat, her downcast eyes filling with tears that were threatening to spill. Patricia was still yet to say a word as she continued to brush through Beth's silky hair, her movements calming the younger woman in a way. Beth drew in a deep and shaky breath before she continued.
"I hate to think of what will happen when I leave her," Beth admitted, her fingers fumbling with a part of her pastel blue dress. "Maggie needs me, but I have a duty to my husband. I have to leave with him - I can't stay here, even if I want to."
Patricia nodded her head at that and made a noise in her throat that sounded very much in agreement with what Beth was saying.
"But even so," Beth said, her voice becoming stronger as she fought away the tears to the point where they dissolved in her eyes. "I love my sister and I can't bear the thought of leaving her here with that monster of a man that she has to now call her husband. I have a plan; but I don't know whether or not it is foolish or reckless, and I'm asking you - as a friend - to tell me the truth on what you think of it."
It was then that the women's eyes met in the mirror that sat on the vanity table and Patricia raised an eyebrow at Beth in the reflection, spurring the younger woman on.
"I want to tell Maggie to come to America with me and my husband. I want her to leave with us or perhaps even shortly after and she could follow us there with this... With this Glenn man."
The silence that filled the room at her words only encouraged Beth to push her case even more, desperate for the older woman to understand where she was coming from. Beth knew that she could trust Patricia not to tell her father of her plan, and even if it was putting her in an awkward situation; there was no way that Beth was going to voice this idea to Daryl - not until she had confirmation that her idea was reasonable, that it was sensible - even in a reckless way.
"I can't leave her here to be killed at the hands of her husband," Beth said, her voice quiet and meek. "I could never live with myself if... If something were to happen to her because of him. Because I left her with him."
Patricia's hands rested on either side of Beth's shoulders then, the two of them still locking eyes in the reflection of the mirror. Patricia let out a long sigh before she offered Beth a weak smile.
"If anything were to happen to your sister..." Patricia began, shaking her head. "It would not be your fault, ma'am. The only people to blame in these situations are the men who think that a good marriage consists of copious alcohol, sleeping with women of the night and beating their wives. Mister Walsh is the only person to blame for his actions."
Beth nodded her head.
"I know that," Beth said, her voice cracking as she spoke. "But... I could never... I would always feel guilty. I would always think that I could have done something - that I could have prevented it from happening."
"I understand, ma'am," Patricia said, continuing to brush through the last sections of Beth's hair. "I have seen you grow from a young girl into a young lady, and now you are a woman. A strong woman with a kind heart. And I've known you Greene's long enough to know that you're all as stubborn as each other; particularly when you want something."
Beth smiled at that, a little laugh escaping her lips.
"You and I both know that if you feel this strongly about it, then nothing I say - or nothing anyone says, for that matter, including your husband - is going to stop you. You've asked me for some advice, and I've given it to you, ma'am. There's not much else I can do."
Patricia was silent again then as she placed the brush down upon the vanity table, running her fingers through Beth's hair tenderly before she took a step back. Beth looked at herself in the reflection of the mirror for a long few seconds before she turned her head over her shoulder, her gaze locking with Patricia's.
"Thank you," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Patricia smiled knowingly.
"Any time, ma'am."
After dinner, Daryl excused himself with Hershel and the pair of them left Beth in the dining room alone. Hershel led the younger man in the direction of his office, and Daryl vaguely remembered the last time that he was here as he passed through the corridor's of the Greene home, his eyes scanning the portrait's that decorated the walls.
Hershel entered the office first and Daryl shut the door to the room behind him with a click, his eyes roaming around the room and taking it all in.
He had stepped into this room not even that long ago to sign a contract to confirm that he had purchased Hershel's land and his properties in return for paying him out of his debt and for marrying his youngest daughter. At the time, Daryl had been somewhat resentful for the second part of their deal and had been anything but excited to meet the youngest Greene girl.
But things were different now, even it hadn't even been that long at all.
Daryl knew that he didn't love Beth and couldn't be sure when he would, but he was certain that those feelings would come with time. Beth was all sunshine and bright smiles and happy laughter; golden hair and soft skin and breathy moans that made his heart burn in a delicious way, and Daryl found that he was actually enjoying life as a husband - as Beth's husband.
And he knew that Beth was trying to be a good wife for him, too. She was always cleaning and organising their house and their things even though he had workers who were there to do the exact same thing and were paid for it, too. Daryl often reminded her of that but she just laughed at him in a gentle dismissal and insisted that she enjoyed behaving this way, indulging in the idea of domestic bliss, and who was he to put her down about that? He was learning from her and knew that she made him pretty damn happy, so he wanted to make her happy, too.
Daryl knew deep down that moving to America was not Beth's dream. Throughout all of her life, the young girl had probably thought to herself that she would marry a local man who lived not too far away from her daddy, a man who she had grown up with and had fallen in love with instead of being pushed into the whole thing by her father and a man who she had never even met before. Beth was very much a small-town girl and didn't seem like the type who dreamed of anything more than this simple life, and although Daryl knew that he shouldn't blame himself for it, all reason was pushed out of his mind and he couldn't help but feel responsible for her misery.
But the young man knew what he could do to make Beth happier about the idea of moving to America and he was damned sure that he was going to go through with it whether Hershel liked it or not. Granted, it would be much easier with the older man's blessing; but not everything could be guaranteed and there wasn't much that Hershel could do to stop Daryl from doing something that he wanted.
He may have been Beth's father, but that sure as hell didn't mean that he was Daryl's.
Hershel sat himself down at the chair behind the old wooden desk and Daryl's cool blue eyes roamed around the room, flickering over the books and the trinkets that littered the walls. He could feel Hershel's eyes burning into the back of his head, all ice and fire as they sizzled with curiosity; but Daryl didn't hurry himself as he strolled over towards the chair that sat parallel to where Beth's father was positioned. Daryl placed one of his hands on the back of the chair first before moving himself to sit down, eyes taking in all of the paperwork that was sprawled messily across the surface of the desk, but he didn't bother to try and attempt to read any of it.
"So," Hershel said, leaning back slightly in his chair. "What has she done now?"
Upon hearing those words come tumbling out of Hershel's mouth in an almost cruel tone, Daryl's gaze instantly rose from where his eyes had been looking down at the papers to meet with Hershel's own pair from across the desk. The man was curious, that much was apparent; and that demeanor reminded him somewhat of Beth. Still, the exhaustion in the older man's voice caused a flash of rage to crash through Daryl's body.
The only thing that managed to reign in his sudden anger was by reminding himself that Hershel wasn't like his daughter - not at all. Beth was innocent and pure and sweet and kind whilst Hershel was tainted, burned and scarred and tormented by demons that pushed him to drink and to gamble.
Admittedly, the older man looked better now - healthier, almost - after the talk that they had exchanged the eve before Daryl's wedding to Beth, but that still didn't mean that he had recovered from his addiction. Daryl knew all too well about the way in which alcohol could destroy a man - had seen it happen to his own daddy; hell, he'd seen it happen to his mama, too - and more than anything, he didn't want that for his wife.
Not for his Beth.
"Not here 'bout Beth," Daryl said, clearing his throat before he spoke.
Hershel raised a brow at that.
"No?" the older man said, clearly taken by surprise at that.
A quick learner was something that Daryl would definitely describe himself as, and he was observant, too. He could see the fire that sparked in his wife and it was clear as day that she was anything but an angel, even if she did look like she was sent from heaven with her golden halo of hair and a radiant glow to her pale skin. Still, it caught Daryl off-guard to hear Hershel talk about her as though he had expected his youngest child to have done something that she shouldn't.
After all, Beth seemed as though she was the type of girl who played up to her father with big eyes and batted lashes and playful pouts. If Daryl had to take a wild guess at which one of Hershel's daughter's caused him the most trouble throughout his life - and gave him the most attitude, too - he would definitely put his money on Maggie.
"Nah," Daryl said as he shook his head from side to side. "S'about Maggie."
Hershel frowned at that.
"Margaret?" he repeated, sounding incredibly confused. "Why, what is it that she's done?"
Daryl didn't say anything to that and simply chose to look at Hershel for a long period of time before the older man began to speak again.
"It's not Shane again, is it?" Hershel asked, and Daryl nodded his head once. Hershel let out a loud sigh and used one of his hands to cover up his eyes. "Goodness me. That girl will never learn to keep her mouth shut."
Daryl's eyes widened dramatically in surprise at that, genuinely taken aback at the older man's words. What in the hell was Hershel talking about?
"Wha?" Daryl stuttered, his throat suddenly feeling very dry and his jaw tight as his knuckles turned white from where he was tightly holding onto the arms of his chair. Hershel seemed completely oblivious to his tense state and let his hand fall back down to his side.
"Maggie," Hershel explained, sounding incredibly bored. "I've been tellin' her for the longest time to stop running her mouth to her husband, but she won't listen to me. Shane's not got the patience to put up with her antics, and I don't always blame him, either."
A long silence buzzed around the room and Daryl tasted blood in his mouth from where he had bit down on his tongue so hard in an attempt to keep his own mouth shut. There was plenty that he wanted to say to Hershel in response to his previous comment about his oldest daughter - about Beth's own sister - but he chose not to, deciding that arguing with his father-in-law about this was the last thing that he needed to do.
If Hershel wanted to be a shitty dad to Maggie, then so be it. He could suit himself for all Daryl cared. After all, it wasn't as though Maggie was going to have to put up with it for much longer, anyway - not if Daryl had anything to do with it, at least.
"Me an' Beth leave for America in three days."
Hershel nodded at that. Daryl had already informed him about that.
"Maggie's comin' with us."
The silence that filled the room this time was much more tense than it had been before.
"Excuse me?"
"I said, Maggie's comin' with us."
There, it was out in the open now. Daryl had been honest with Hershel and told him the truth, and the man couldn't hold that against him, at least. If there was one thing that Daryl Dixon was not, it was a liar. He refused to sneak Maggie out of the country without even letting her father know where she would be; that she was safe and happy with her sister and that she would be starting a new life for herself.
"She ain't happy here, Hershel. An' I know that she's married to Shane, but I ain't sittin' back and lettin' this happen. Not on my watch. Maggie's not my responsibility an' I'm not the sorta guy to go stickin' my nose in other people's business. But Maggie is Beth's sister and this is upsettin' her, so I ain't gonna put up with it any longer."
The only indication that Hershel was angry (apart from the bitterness that was more than evident in his tone) was the way in which the older man's hands were trembling as they were balled into fists.
"Maggie is my daughter," the older man practically spat at him. "Beth is my daughter, an' I -"
"Beth is my wife," Daryl retorted, interrupting him from going any further. "An' I already told you, I ain't havin' her be upset about this 'cause o' some guy you married your oldest off to."
Hershel didn't say anything back to that and chose simply to narrow his eyes at the younger man. Daryl pushed his chair backwards and stood up abruptly, never breaking eye contact with Hershel as he did so.
"Your my father-in-law, an' for that, I gotta give you my respect. But the only person I care about is Beth. If this is what she wants, then I'm gonna make sure that it happens, an' there's not much you can do t'stop me."
Daryl let out a sigh before he turned around and made his way over to the closed door of Hershel's office.
Before he left the room, Daryl turned his head over his shoulder and gave the older man a final stare.
"Your daughter's are safe with me."
With that, Daryl exited from the office, slamming the door to a close behind him. He shut his eyes tightly shut and exhaled a shaky breath, hoping that he hadn't just inadvertently caused a war by doing all of this.
Just as he opened up his cool blue eyes that were still widened with anger, a set of pale arms wrapped themselves around his neck and the strong scent of Beth overcame him. It took Daryl a few seconds of being frozen on the spot in genuine surprise before he made a move to return her embrace, sighing softly into her hair as she pressed soft kisses across the column of his throat.
Eventually, Beth loosened her hold on Daryl and stepped backwards slightly so that she could get a view of his face. Her hands instantly reached up to cup his jaw and she smoothed her thumbs across his face, smiling softly up at him with tears prickling in her eyes.
"Thank you," she said, her voice crackling even though she was speaking in barely a whisper. Beth's head was shaking side to side as she spoke and her bottom lip trembled as a stray tear fell down her cheek. "Thank you so much, Daryl. You don't know how much this will mean to Maggie. How much it means to me."
In that moment, Daryl was completely overcome with emotion. It weighed down on him thick and heavy and he felt vulnerable under the scrutiny of Beth's gaze.
The sound of Hershel shuffling around in the office behind them caused Daryl to let out a frustrated sigh and worry etched itself across Beth's features. He shook his head at her in a way that he hoped was reassuring before he leaned close and kissed the tip of her nose affectionately. Daryl had never known much about love; about being tender and affectionate and sweet with another person, but with Beth, it just came to him so easily.
"C'mon," he mumbled to her, his voice low. "Let's get out of here."
Beth giggled at that, the sound causing his own lips to turn upwards in a hint of a smile as he took her small hand in his, allowing her to lead the way as they rushed through the hallways of Beth's childhood home. Daryl wasn't quite sure what came over him as he kicked open the front door of the large house, but he was certain that he was high on the sound of her laughter as he flung open the door to the carriage and helped her into it first, informing Randall that they were to leave immediately. The young man quickly hopped onto the carriage and stuttered out a "yes, sir" before Daryl shut the door and slid in close next to Beth, unable to fight the urge to grin at her as she looked up at him.
As the pair of them drove away from the farm house, it was now Daryl's turn to cup Beth's jaw as he leaned in and pressed a firm kiss to her lips, feeling her smile as he did so. His heart was hammering in his chest as they rode away from the farmhouse and in all honesty, Daryl would be happy if he never had to set foot in the property again; regardless of whether it belonged to him or not.
There had been a time when all that he had wanted was money and land. But now, that time was over. The only thing that Daryl Dixon wanted more than anything in this world was to make his wife happy.
I want to address the fact that I have made Hershel quite un-likeable in this story. I know the he was portrayed as a good father on the show, but I think that there's good and bad in everyone, and on the show we got a glimpse into the way alcohol caused him to behave when he just picked up and disappeared for that brief period of time. In this story, there's nobody really there to give Hershel a kick up the arse because it's not anybody's place to do that considering that he is the man of the house; and for that reason, Hershel is kind of left to his own devices to drink himself stupid. As with any addiction, alcoholics can have a personality change and I think I've made it clear in previous chapters that Hershel was a good father to his daughter's until his wife died. He's still struggling with grief.
I've also hinted in this chapter that Daryl had a discussion with Hershel about his drinking before the wedding (yes, there will be a flashback!) which a few of you actually guessed at in your reviews a few chapter's ago, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Hershel is still sober now. So far in this story, he is still very much off the rails as he grieves with the death of his wife and the loss of his daughter's in a way (even if he has brought it upon himself), and it won't be for a while that Hershel actually begins to fix his relationship with his daughter's. I hope that makes sense and you don't all necessarily think that I've written Hershel as an evil bad guy, because he's not supposed to be. The lines between good and bad are very blurred and in this story, Hershel is struggling with that.
A few of you have also expressed an interest as to whether or not Maggie will be a barrier to Beth and Daryl's marriage, and I hope that the last scene of this chapter gives you all an insight into the way that Maggie's predicament - as unfortunate as it is - will actually bring Beth and Daryl closer together as opposed to driving them apart. In this chapter, I've tried to get it across that the two of them are beginning to share the same sorts of ideas with things (I hope it's clear that Beth didn't actually say anything to Daryl about moving Maggie with them, it was something that they were both thinking about but actually didn't mention it to the other as of yet) and Beth only knew what was being said because she was eavesdropping.
I think that Daryl is a genuinely good guy (I mean, I'm sure you all do too!) who takes care of his own, and now that he considers Beth to be his family he wants to make sure that she is happy - which will mean taking Maggie with them to America. In my mind, Daryl looking out for Beth - and inadvertently, Maggie, too - in this way is an important factor in her falling in love with him.
Anyway, enough with my rambling - I'm sure all of the points that I've mentioned most of you have picked up on already and know for yourselves, but I just wanted things to be clear in case any of you still had any questions or were a little bit confused.
Thanks so much for reading and please review!