Little Sister
Beth swore as she drove her knife deep into a walker's skull. She was too tired for all of this. She'd been running for a while now, trying to get as far away from her captors as possible. They had claimed that they'd saved her life, but all they had really done was take her away from Daryl, and she was determined to get back. She just had to stay alive long enough.
And that was proving rather difficult with the amount of walkers on her. She quickly pulled her knife out of the dead walker's skull and kicked the one closes to her, knocking it to the ground. She backed up, trying to avoid as many as possible and just catch her breath for a minute. Only, she didn't see the walker behind her. Beth screamed and tried to pull away, tried to keep its teeth away from her flesh.
"Damn it girlie," a gruff, familiar voice swore. Beth's eyes went wide when the walker attacking her fell dead to the ground and she came face to face with the one man everyone thought was dead. He quickly dispatched the last three walkers before looking at her. "The hell you doin' out there all alone?" he demanded.
"Merle…" Beth just smiled and reacted without really thinking about what she was doing. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly. All she could think about was how happy Daryl was going to be when they found him again. To her surprise, Merle didn't push her away like she'd expected. Instead, he wrapped his good arm around her and hugged back.
"Well hell, didn't know I'd be missed so much," he muttered. He pulled away just enough to look down at her. "What are you doin' out here?"
Beth frowned a little. "We lost the prison…"
She could see the anger and confusion rising inside of him. "What do you mean you lost the prison?" he asked through grinding teeth.
"The Governor attacked, her had daddy and Michonne as hostages." She shook her head, remembering everything in vivid detail. "Rick tried to talk him down, offered to share the prison. He…he killed daddy." Tears were welling up in her eyes and she tried to push them away. "Everyone attacked, they had a taken…people tried to get out but we all got separated." She looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "Daryl and I got out together."
Merle grabbed her shoulders with a bruising grip, glaring down at her. "Where is he?"
Beth shook her head. "I don't know, I was looking for him."
He growled. "What do you mean you don't know? You just said ya'll got out together."
"We did! We were at this house and walkers attacked…he told me to run…I got kidnapped." She shook her head a little bit and sighed. "I tried to get them off but they threw me in a car. I just managed to get away from them."
Merle sighed and rubbed his eyes. "How long ago was that?" he asked.
Beth frowned a bit and tried to remember. "Two days ago."
He nodded with another sigh and picked up the bag he'd dropped. "C'mon, if I know my baby brother half as well as I think, he'll be headin' for Terminus."
Beth followed him as he started walking, following the train tracks. "Terminus?" she asked.
"Don't tell me you haven't see any of the signs."
She shrugged her shoulder. "Daryl and I pretty much kept to the woods. The only reason we ended up at the house was because I sprained my ankle when he was giving me a tracking lesson." She hadn't been looking up; she'd been looking at the ground, trying to avoid holes so she wouldn't make her ankle worse. It still hurt. She ran into Merle's chest because he'd stopped and was staring down at her. "What?"
"Darlina was giving you tracking lessons?" he questioned. Beth nodded her head. "Go figure he'd go for the jailbait."
Beth huffed as they started walking again. "The hell does that mean?" she demanded.
Merle laughed and looked at her. "Daryl don't give trackin' lessons to just anyone princess. Yeah, I reckon you must be somethin' pretty special to him. Ya'll bump uglies yet?"
Beth blushed, she couldn't help it. "No, and I don't think we will."
Merle whistled and looked at her. "Don't count on it." He smirked a bit and looked at her. Beth just shook her head and sighed. Something had happened between them, only moments before the morgue had been attacked, but she couldn't say for sure what it was. She knew what she thought it was, and there was no denying it on her end. She felt something for Daryl, something along the lines of love that went deeper than a brother and sister kind of thing. She missed him, so much that her chest hadn't stopped hurting since she'd been taken. She knew Merle was watching her but she didn't care. They walked until it started to get dark.
Merle threw down his back and sat against a tree. "We'll make camp tonight," he told her. Beth nodded her head and started to gather firewood. She hadn't said anything since earlier. Wasn't really in the mood for talking anymore. She kept running through that night in her head, trying to figure out what Daryl had been trying to say when he'd just stared at her. He couldn't be in love with her, not really. She figured he was just acting differently because they'd had a little moment when they'd burnt down that old shack, and they were the only two there. It would have happened with anyone else he'd been with.
Beth was starving as she sat next to the fire Merle started with his old lighter and some dry leaves they'd found, and her stomach wasn't being quiet about it either. "When was the last time you ate?" Merle asked, looking at her.
She blushed a little. "The night I got kidnapped," she admitted. He dug around in his bag and pulled out an apple and tossed it to her. Her eyes got wide as she looked it over. It was still good, no brown or rotting spots on it. "Where did you find this?" she asked.
He smirked and pulled another one out of his bag along with a pocket knife and started to cut pieces off. "Found an orchard. There weren't many left, but there were a few good ones."
Beth smiled and took a bite and moaned, her eyes rolling. "I can't remember the last time I had something this good," she whispered, enjoying the crisp taste on her tongue.
Merle laughed and shook his head. "Well enjoy it, only got two more left." They ate in silence the rest of the night and when Beth had finished the fatigue that she'd been feeling intensified now that she had something in her belly. She yawned and knew he'd probably push her off, probably tell her to get the hell away, but she didn't care. She rested her head on Merle's shoulder and closed her eyes. If he cared she didn't know. She was asleep before she'd heard him react.
…
Beth sighed, she could hear voices but tried to go back to sleep. She was still exhausted. "So Daryl's still out there somewhere?" Her interest piqued, Beth cracked an eye. Carol, Tyreese, and Judith were sitting across from her at the fire.
"Far as we know. Figured he'd head to Terminus," Merle said above her. At some point she'd either moved, or Merle had moved her so her head was in his lap. Beth sat up slowly, rubbing her eyes. "Mornin' princess."
Beth smiled and got up when Carol and Tyreese did, hugging them both before taking Judith from Tyreese and holding her close. "I'm so glad you're all okay," she said looking at them.
Carol smiled and nodded. "You too. Merle told us what happened." Beth blushed a little bit, looking at the older Dixon. She wondered just how much he'd told them. He just gave her a wink and stood up, pulling an apple from his bag and handing it to her before snuffing out the fire.
They started to follow the tracks again, but they walked in the woods, trying to keep out of sight, Merle thought it was best and no one disagreed with him. Beth just smiled at Judith who looked up at her and babbled. "I'm glad she's alright," she said looking up at Carol. "Rick would have died."
Carol nodded her head. "I found her with Tyreese," she said. Beth thought there was more to the story, but she didn't press for information. When Judith started to yawn they stopped for a moment so Beth could get her settled into the makeshift carrier on Tyreese's back before they continued. "How far away do you think we are?"
Merle shrugged. "If the maps are accurate, not far." He looked down at Beth. "Gonna go get your man," he teased, causing her to blush.
Tyreese raised a brow at them. "Somethin' happen between you and Daryl?" he asked.
Beth shook her head. "I honestly don't think so."
"Little brother was givin' her trakin' lessons and playin' house." Merle smirked and put his arm around her. "May be gettin' a little sister here soon."
Beth was mortified. There was no proof that anything was going on between herself and Daryl and she wished Merle would shut up. She was about to tell him to when they heard rapid gunfire. They all started running, not knowing if it was friend or foe. They reached a chain link fence and Beth covered her mouth, staring in horror as they watched Rick, Carl, Michonne, and Daryl being chased around what had to be Terminus. She wanted to kill someone, she wanted to run down there and get Daryl out. Merle sensed her anxiety and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her into him. "Don't look," he whispered. She buried her head in his chest, gripping his shirt, not wanting to see her family get shot. Not wanting to see Daryl get shot.
When the firing stopped and she heard a man giving orders she looked again. They were being forced into a train car. "Damn it," Carol swore and looked around. "We need to get them out of there."
Merle nodded. "We will. Ain't about to leave my baby brother in there." He leaned against a tree and sighed. "We need a plan though; they're heavily armed from the looks of it." His eyes scanned the ground around them before he smirked and started walking.
"Where are you going?" Tyreese asked.
Beth looked at the ground, noticing the faint foot prints. "He's tracking," she muttered, following the same clues he was, trying to remember what Daryl had shown her. She saw it before he did. "Merle!" She ran over and started to pull away the upturned earth.
"Good job princess." He knelt beside her and helped her pull the bag out. He whistled low when he opened it up. "Looks like Officer Friendly here left us a present." He pulled out guns and started handing them out until everyone was armed with at least three guns. He looked down at Beth after they decided to wait until nightfall, coming up with a semi decent plan, it was still a suicide mission, but it was the best they had. "You ready to get your man back?" he asked.
Beth wasn't going to deny it anymore. Daryl was hers, even if she wasn't his. "Hell yeah."
…
Beth followed Merle, keeping close to the wall of the building, covered in the shadows. Tyreese and Carol were close by, keeping look out for them in case someone came to check on the prisoners. Merle led her deeper into the city until they reached a picnic area. "You got the bag?" Merle asked looking at her. She nodded and handed it to him. "Good girl." Merle pulled out his lighter and smirked when he saw a can of gas fluid. He doused the bag in it and started to dump it all over the place. "You get ready to run back to that train car princess."
"I'm ready when you are." Beth pulled out her gun and got ready. Merle nodded and lit the bag on fire, dropping it. The fire quickly spread and they took off running back to the car. They were hoping that while everyone was busy trying to put the fire out they'd be able to get their people out. They could hear the screams from people as Merle climbed the stairs to the car and opened it up. Beth gasped when a bullet hit the ground beside them. She looked up and shot the man on top of the building aiming at them.
"Good shot princess." Merle pushed the door open and jumped down as Beth kept shooting people who came after them and as their people climbed out of the car he helped.
"Merle?" Daryl asked looking at the two of them. "What the hell is going on?" he asked.
"Not now little brother."
"Daryl, there's a gun on my hip," Beth told him. Merle handed out his extras to Rick and Carl while Daryl walked up behind her and slipped his hand around the gun, pulling it out. She felt his lips on her neck as he braced his arm on her shoulder and fired, handing another gun to Maggie. Beth bit her lip but kept fending off the people trying to kill them.
"Alright gals and pals, let's get the fuck outta here." Merle led them back to the fence where they'd cut a hole and left Judith, Carol and Tyreese joining them before they went through. Once they were safe on the other side Merle pulled his brother into a hug. "Good to see you."
Daryl hugged back and nodded his head. "Thought you were dead, jackass."
Merle chuckled and looked at Beth who blushed. "Nah, found little miss though."
Daryl turned and looked at her, eyeing her up. "What happened?" he asked.
Beth smiled and just shook her head. "Doesn't matter. We're all together again." Daryl smirked and pulled her into him, cupping the back of her head. "Daryl?" He didn't answer her; instead, he covered her lips with his and pulled her closer. Beth's blush intensified as she gripped his vest. He pulled away and put her arm around him as they started walking, getting as far away from Terminus as possible. Beth didn't know what was going to happen to the two of them, but she had him back, that was all that mattered to her.