Thanks so much for reading! Obviously I'm glazing over the whole CPS thing. There is much more to it than that. ;)
They split up. Michonne and the part-timers searched the premises, looking for, well, anything that might be out of sorts or incriminating. Daryl kept an eye on everyone. Simon was sequestered in the kitchen area. Last Daryl saw he was casually sitting on a barstool at the counter, playing Solitaire with a deck of cards. Daryl got the feeling he didn't really care what happened, or what was to became of this.
People still meandered about, going about their business, avoiding Daryl and his team like they didn't exist. Only speaking to them if they had to. Negan paced around. He watched closely as Denise and Jadis sat down with each and every child and their mother.
Daryl was worried Negan's presence would no doubt sway what they say. They'd be less likely to openly talk if he was there, so Daryl asked him to leave and accompanied him to his own cabin. He wasn't about to leave him alone while all this was going on.
"This is quite the set up you got here," Daryl stated, staying by the open door. It was cold, but he wasn't closing it to be trapped in the small space with Negan.
"Yep," he said, sitting casually in the high back chair near the fireplace. "You're wasting your time. Nothing illegal is going on here. Everyone wants to be here and is here of their own volition."
"It's not a waste of time to make sure everyone is safe."
"I wouldn't peg you to be such a good boy," Negan chuckled.
This was comical, no one in his entire life has thought of him as being a good boy. Except for Merle. But that was just brotherly teasing.
"So, why do this?" Daryl asked, not wanting himself to be the topic of discussion.
"What?" Negan asked.
"This. Keeping all these people up here."
"I'm not keeping them here," he protested. There was a slight annoyance in his words. His boot began bouncing where it was propped up on his knee. With impatience? With aggression? With nerves? Daryl wasn't sure.
"You see, your problem is not that you think I'm keeping people here against their will. Your problem is you don't understand. People are by and large afraid of what they don't understand."
"Tell me, what don't I understand," Daryl said. He couldn't wait to hear the line of bullshit Negan had in mind. He wasn't afraid of anything. In fact, he had no time for fear. He acted, did the next thing that needed to be done and moved on. Still, he was interested in what Negan thought he didn't understand and especially what Negan thought he was afraid of.
"Putting your life in a greater power," he said simply as though that explained it all.
Daryl lit a cigarette, leaned against the door jam. Breathed in, breathed out. "Care to elaborate?"
"You come up to my mountain and see us living differently than you do. You, with your pea-sized brain, thinks no one would want to live this way so it must be wrong. Right?" He grinned at Daryl, showing perfectly straight brilliantly white teeth. In the back of his mind, Daryl wondered if he snuck down the mountain and went to the dentist regularly.
"You don't know shit 'bout me." He wasn't going to tell him he grew up on this very mountain, no way. "You can live whatever way you want. But when ya' bring innocent people into it, we," he pointed from himself to Negan, "got a problem."
"Is that a threat?"
"No. It's a fact."
Negan chuckled again, throwing his head back. "I'm telling you, you won't find a thing on me. I'm squeaky clean. Hell, I even pay my taxes on time. Every spring. And every damn fall."
Daryl flicked his cigarette out the door onto the pathway. He doubted Negan wouldn't know that'd be one of the first things Daryl checked out. If tax evasion was enough to bring Capone down, it's enough to bring a tyrannical cult leader down too.
"Uh-huh, not only do you pay it on time, you pay it with cash. You wouldn't happen to be getting all that money from your people would you?"
"Hey, if they choose to contribute to something they believe in, I can't stop them."
"Something they believe in?" Daryl asked skeptically. "More like something they're brainwashed into believing."
Negan made a tisk-tisk noise this his tongue. "The mind is a feeble, malleable thing. People are weak. I simply lead them. I give them the direction they crave."
Daryl scoffed scornfully. "Direction? To this hell hole? Who would want to live here? He spent a good part of his childhood dirt poor in a shack similar to the ones these people live in, at least he had the freedom to roam wherever he wanted. To come and to go. To do whatever the hell he wanted.
Even though the thought of Beth being stuck up here angered him deeply, the last thing he needed was to get into a tit for tat with a crazy man, so he turned his back on him and stepped outside before Negan had a chance to respond. He watched as people shuffled along. They were dressed in long white dresses and long wool coats. There was a lack of men, he noticed. The women and children far outnumbered them. They were no doubt scared and unsure of what was going on or what will happen next. They whispered to one another as they walked past him. Looked at him wearily, giving him a wide berth.
To them, he was the bad guy, not Negan. He tried not to let it bother him, but it did. He didn't want to uproot their lives, he just wanted them to be safe.
A woman with a child on her hip and a toddler following walked up to a nearby cabin, really, nothing more than a ramshackle structure, and knocked. As the mother briefly entered the cabin the boy stayed outside, eyeing Daryl curiously.
Daryl squatted down, smiled warmly. "Hey there. What's your name?" Maybe he could bring that tiny bit back to Beth, the name of a boy with black hair and striking dark eyes. Something so simple would mean so much to her.
The boy took a hesitant step toward him, holding something in his chubby small hand.
"Whatcha' got there?"
The boy held out a green plastic army figure. Daryl took it from him. Inspected it carefully. "Wow, that's a mighty fine soldier."
The boys' eyes lit up and he smiled shyly.
"Eli," Negan sounded from behind Daryl. The boy stiffened, looked past Daryl's shoulder and up at Negan. "Where is your mother?"
He glanced back at Daryl and Daryl winked at the boy before handing his toy back to him. He scampered off, disappearing into the house his mother had gone a moment before.
Eli. With the dark hair and eyes. He cataloged that away. For Beth.
"Find anything?" Daryl asked Michonne when after a long day, they reconvened at the vehicles.
Daryl didn't find any more information out from Negan while he was keeping watch over him. Didn't really expect that he would. He hoped the others had more luck.
"Nope. Nothing," she said, a disappointing ring to her voice.
"I didn't figure you would."
"I told everyone I spoke with they are free to come with us today. No one wanted to." Denise added in a hushed tone. "No one appeared to be harmed in any physical way. Other than being a little on the thin side."
"Their home accommodations leave something to be desired. But they each have clean bedding and proper heating." It was true. Daryl inspected a few of the cabins himself, they were all neat and orderly. Their beds were even made equivalent to his military days. "The children are well-spoken, if not a little reluctant of us," Jadis said, bringing a sad smile to her face.
"And their educational needs are being met, in a perfunctory way. Every woman that has children is said to be above eighteen, though there is no proof. No one had any identification. I entered everyone into a database. I'll compile a list of ages to go with those names in my report. There is nothing we can right now."
Daryl expected as much, still, he had hoped.
"Well enough stocked pantry too. I imagine in the warmer months they have quite a garden. It's not uncommon for those who live up here to live this way," Denise said.
Daryl nodded. This much he knew. First hand.
Before leaving, he informed Negan they'd be in touch at some point. Negan didn't appear to be listing or care what he was saying anyway.
They loaded back up, he and the other officers in the Bronco, another cigarette hanging from his lips. Michonne with Denise and Jadis getting situated in the other vehicle.
"One more thing," Negan said, oozing faux charm. He sprinted up to the driver's side window, leaned in and said, "One more thing. Tell me," he paused for added effect, "is Angel as excellent of a lay as I think she is?"
Daryl saw red. "What the fuck did you just say?"
"Angel, or whatever her real name is, I bet she's a gooood fuck."
Daryl was out of the Bronco and had Negan slammed against it by the neck in less than a second. A million thoughts sped through his mind. He knows? He knows of his involvement with Beth? Panic mixed with the reddened anger. Where was Beth right now? Was she safe? Daryl hadn't talked to her since he left her at the house. As far as Daryl knew, he didn't pose an immediate threat. Apparently, he was wrong.
Simon stood off to the side a hand resting on the butt of the handle of a long knife strapped to his belt. Yet he didn't make a move. Michonne reacted quickly, squeezing herself between Negan and Daryl.
"Daryl, don't do this. You don't want to mess everything up over this piece of shit." She grasped his wrist with her hand, caught his eye. "I know you want to, but this is what he wants. He wants you to slip up. Come on. Let go."
Calm returned as suddenly as it had left his body only a moment before. He allowed Michonne to pull his had from Negan's neck and he stepped away. Michonne was right, he didn't want to put everything at risk because of Negan. Not his job, and definitely not the case that he will inventively build against Negan - he'd find something to send his ass to jail. But first, he had to get home and make sure Beth was okay and then get her someplace safe.
Before he got back in the vehicle, he leaned in an inch from Negan's face and said, "You better watch your mouth Sunshine. Cop or no cop, you lay one hand on her and I'll kill you."
He sped as fast as he dared back home, dropped the part-time officers back at the station, gave Michoone a quick nod before speeding back out of the parking lot.
Beth heard his truck barreling down the road. It was unusual. Unless he was heading out on an emergency, he rarely went over the speed limit. The roar of his truck had her standing from the kitchen table and going to the front window. Sure enough, the Bronco was speeding down the road toward the house.
She went to the door, watched through the screen as he parked and hurried up the front steps, bypassing the first two. She held open the door for him and once he was in the house, he slammed it shut. He grabbed her, holding her tight in his arms. He breathed in her scent. He'd been outside most of the day, but Negan's parting words left him feeling strangled. Claustrophobic. Kissing her hard, it felt like he'd been gone for a month instead of nine hours.
"Are you okay?" She questioned, sensing something there, hanging heavily on him. "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine, but we gotta problem."
Needless to say, Beth fought him. She didn't want to leave him. Didn't want to leave the town, their home, didn't want to leave what they had created. She pleaded with him to let her stay. She said she'd stay with him every waking minute, knowing that couldn't be done. Even when she was staying at the station, she was often alone. She declared she could handle herself. That she wasn't stupid, she knew to watch her surroundings.
That might be true, he knew she was smart. But Negan was no one to be messed with and her safety wasn't worth risking. Daryl was sure he was a psychopath, a literal psychopath and while Simon was subdued today, Daryl had no doubt he would do anything Negan told him to. If Negan knew she was with him, he could easily take her whenever Daryl wasn't watching. The idea alone sent panic slicing through him.
He argued his point. Keeping her safe was his number one concern. His words fell on deaf ears. She felt betrayed, and rightfully so. He was supposed to keep her safe, promised her as much and now he was sending her away.
Through tears that he didn't dare let fall, he tried to explain that he didn't want to let her go. But keeping her there with him was selfish. She needed to go where she'd be safe.
When she finally gave in, realized he wasn't going to give up or change his mind, she became small and defeated and hurt, too much like the girl she'd been when he found her. She quietly packed her bag and sat silently in the Bronco as he drove her back up the mountain to Merle.
He watched behind them to be sure they weren't followed and by the time they made it back up the mountain it was dark as pitch. Snow silently fell, little specks of white in the darkness.
Beth didn't tell him goodbye. Walked right past him with a fixed stare and into the house bypassing his hand that he stretched out, hoping to catch her.
He had to let her go.
Merle witnessed their interaction as he stood a few feet off at the woodshed, lit by the woodstove he was feeding with large chunks of oak. He whistled sharply, shaking his head.
"Oh, lil' miss is pissed at you."
"No shit," Daryl mumbled, stomping over to him. Lit yet another smoke, blew it into the biting wind. Daryl went on to explain what had happened that day and what Negan said.
"So, can she stay here for a while?" He asked Merle.
"How the fuck do you think he found out she's with you?"
"Hell if I know. He's got spies everywhere probably. It's my fault for not being more diligent," Daryl mumbled, pulling his coat closed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Can she stay? Keeping her with me is askin' for trouble. She's just property to that crazy bastard. He'll do anything to get her back if for no other reason to prove he can."
Yes, proximity wise she was closer to Negan. They wouldn't expect her to be there of all places, practically right under their noses. He could count on Merle. He would keep her safe. He didn't leave the property much except to hunt, he'd be able to keep a close eye on things.
"Yeah, no problem," Merle nodded. "I'm sure Andrea would like the company."
In his small home office in the back of the house, Glenn poured over the notes he had on his patient that went by the name of Angel. He was digging for anything to disprove what he knew was to be true and wasn't yet ready to admit.
He sighed, tossed his pen onto his desk atop the open folder, leaned back in his chair. He compared the photo Sheriff Dixon had given him from the first days she was in his custody and the picture on her missing poster. He'd scanned the missing poster and printed it out, tucking the one he found in Maggie's memory box away just as he had found it.
He stared at the two photos until his eyes blurred. He was all but certain it was Beth. It had to be. He should be happy, exhilarated even. Beth is back after being missing and feared dead for over five years.
Reading over his scribbled notes, he'd written how Angel/Beth was in a delicate place. She was stronger than the first sessions they'd had, yet she was still very unsure about who she was and her place in the world. If he went to her with this information it could make her regress and cause another bought of amnesia. On the other hand, keeping this knowledge to himself was unethical from a doctor's point of view. And what about Maggie? His heart ached for his wife and what she'd gone through as well as Annette and Hershel and Shawn. At the very least, they deserved to know Beth was alive.
"Daddy!" Little Hershel came bursting through the door of his office, jumping on his lap. Wrapping one arm around his son, he quickly shut the folder with Beth's information on it and shoved it down in the bottom drawer of the desk a second before Maggie entered, toting Anna Beth.
"Hey babe, you about done with work? We're ready for some family time," Maggie said, looking at him pointedly.
That was code for, get your nose out of your work and help me with the kids. He nodded, a little too eagerly, hoping the guilt he felt didn't show on his face. He swung Hershel into the air, catching him, he sent him into hysterics.
"Sure! What movie are we going to watch tonight?"
Glenn prided himself on his honesty. He and Maggie had a solid relationship and he never lied to her. Though he was bound by doctor-patient confidentiality, counseling your missing sister-in-law was a definite conflict of interest. One thing he knew for certain, if he kept this to himself, in all likelihood it would be detrimental to his marriage and to his relationship with his in-laws. He couldn't sit on this much longer.
"How's the baby?" He asked. Shawn's girlfriend, Sam, had delivered the baby earlier in the week. Maggie went to see them that morning.
"Perfect. Tiny. You forget how small they are."
"Yeah. You do," he agreed, placing a comforting hand on her leg as they sat together on the couch as Toy Story 4 played for what felt like the millionth time since it came out.
She didn't need to say it. He knew how every happy occasion was marred by the absence of Beth.
"She don't wanna talk to you," Andrea told Daryl before he even got a word out when he entered the house. It was late and the house was dark and quiet. Beth was nowhere to be seen. Andrea stood next to the fire, rocking the newest member of their family back and forth. They had named the baby Miriam.
"She's pissed," Andrea stated the obvious.
"I guess she can be. It's for her safety," Daryl lamely explained. "Where is she?"
Andrea shook her head. "Just leave her be. Come back in a couple days when she's had time to cool off."
He hated it, but Andrea was right. Beth wasn't going to see his side of things through the betrayal she was currently feeling. He went to Andrea and placed his hand over the sleeping baby's bald head. Soft and warm under his calloused hand.
"Tell her I'm sorry and that I," I love her. No. Now was not the time. Beth didn't need to hear those words through another person. "Just tell her I'm sorry 'n I'll be back."
Andrea nodded and he placed his lips gently to the baby's forehead, breathing in her sweet innocence. She smelled faintly of Castile soap and lavender. It caused unexpected emotion to roll through him, reminding him of when he was a kid and his mother would force him into the tub.
His heart was heavy as he took that long and silent ride home.