First we go almost a month with no updates and now there's two chapters in one week... what kind of craziness is this?

Chapter 15: Red Sky at Night… Pt. I

Beth rifled through the cabinet in the largest of the doctor's offices with a flurry of barely-restrained energy as she reeled off, "Inventory's good and the green house'll be okay except for waterin', but Aaron's gonna do that – I worked it out with Jeffery – and I've got the nurses' schedule reworked so that you'll always have an assistant and I sent notes out with runners to the folks who were plannin' to come see me this week for check-ups so there shouldn't be anyone extra added to your plate unless it's an emergency, but, of course, you'll know how to handle that."

She finally turned around, slightly out of breath, to see Emmett Carson watching her from his seat on the cushioned stool with a raised eyebrow and a bemused smile, "It's not the first time you've made rounds at an outpost and, oddly enough, both I and the medical unit survived without you."

Beth could feel her cheeks flame up in embarrassment, "I know, Dr. Carson, I'm bein' a bit ridiculous, I suppose. Negan springing this trip on me early has put me all off-balance. I just don't want you to be inconvenienced."

"You know, from what I understood, Negan was only sending a work detail. if you're not prepared, you don't have to make this trip."

Beth sighed, "I do know. But I was already gonna need to go out there mid-April, what with Nicole comin' into her last trimester and all the spring births that come with livestock. Goin' now saves on fuel and I don't have to listen to Negan naggin' me about not havin' any kind of security on the road."

Carson shrugged, "Well, then, you should go and not worry about anything here. This place was running before you got here and I'm pretty sure I can keep it running for a week while you're gone."

Beth struggled to keep her bristling emotions hidden. She knew he didn't mean it to be anything other than reassuring, but his comments dug up her old feelings of uselessness, of being a burden to all the far-more-capable adults around her. Instead, she covered with a grin and a quick quip, "Nice to know I'm needed."

Carson chuckled good-naturedly, "Please, you know you're the favorite around here. Now get going, you're holding up your own trip. Whatever else pops into that head of yours can wait until you get back."

Beth nodded and grabbed the backpack she'd filled with medical supplies. She'd almost made it to the door when she remembered, "Actually, there is one thing. I was gonna see to it myself but I don't want it to wait… there was a couple at the last meetin', I ain't sure of their names, I think they just came in a couple of months ago. The man is tall, brown-hair, light-skinned, and his wife more average, real thin, black hair, more of an olive complexion… sound familiar at all?"

Dr. Carson pondered a moment, "Could be the Lassiter's. They came in right around the first of the year. Craig and Ruby, I think. They've got a son, too, eight or nine years old, Isaac? Or maybe Isaiah? Why do you ask?"

Beth frowned, "At the meetin', I noticed the woman, Ruby, she seemed to be in pain, arms wrapped around her belly and hunched over, real tense-like. And her husband had his hands on her like he was supposed to be comfortin', but somethin' was just… off. I meant to say somethin' to her once the meetin' ended, but I forgot. I just want to make sure she's okay."

Carson tipped his head, considering, "If she were really hurting, I'm sure she would have come down here by now."

"Maybe, bein' new to the Sanctuary and all, they don't realize they ain't gotta pay to see a doctor."

"It's possible. I'll look for them at lunch and, if nothing else, send a runner with a message that I need to follow up with her. It's probably nothing, but as it matters this much to you, I promise I'll look into it, okay?"

Beth smiled in relief, "Thanks, Dr. Carson, see you in a week!" she called out over her shoulder as she hurried to get her children organized in the van heading to the Lykins' farm.

Emmett Carson kept his pace deliberately casual as he worked his way to a rarely-used hallway. Even in the poor lighting, he could tell the closed-in space was already occupied, so he didn't see any reason not to get right to the point, "Beth Dixon is getting suspicious, took notice of that woman. She'd have had her in an exam room today if she weren't already on her way to an outpost."

"What does she think is going on?"

"She's not sure, only that the woman seemed hurt the other night, wants to know why. Whatever it is you're planning, you'd better make it quick. I thought you'd have done whatever it is you're going to do already."

"We would have, if Negan hadn't taken his sweet time getting around to Alexandria. None of this works if there isn't someone else to blame it on. And now, we have the perfect patsy."

"Beth?" Carson was incredulous. "People love her, you saw them the other night. Even when they want to be suspicious of her, they can't help falling all over themselves once she opens her goddamned mouth."

"Leave that to us. How long will she be gone?"

"Few days, a week at most."

We'll have everything in place before she comes back. Once we're ready, the woman will do her part whether she wants to – "

Carson waved him off, "No, I already told you, I don't want to know. I did what you asked, I got them in through the medical screening and into the Sanctuary without anyone asking questions. Everything else, I'm hands-off. That was the deal."

The man nodded, his face still in shadow, "Agreed. You did your part, and when Negan's gone and we're in charge, things will go back to the way they were, the way they should be. And Beth Dixon is no longer a part of that picture."

Daryl paused shoveling just long enough to wipe the sweat from his brow, using the moment to take a lingering glance across the open pasture to where Beth was helping Nicole Lykins hang bed-sheets on the clotheslines to dry in the sun while several smaller children ran among them, their laughter carrying on the pleasant spring breeze. The weather alone made working here infinitely better than anything he'd done in the last few weeks. The view and the company weren't anything to sneeze at, either.

The ride over could have been better. Being forced to stay on his knees in the van's cargo-hold, jammed among overstuffed duffel bags with Dwight glaring at him from his perch atop a stack of empty crates, while Beth drove and her (their?) kids chattering away in the front and middle seats.

Watching them interact had made the short but uncomfortable ride more bearable. Daryl knew Tim pretty well by now after their daily walker-killing sessions, but this was the closest he'd come to Beth's daughters and younger son. Aside from her green eyes, it would be hard to imagine any other mother for the older girl. Sunni's blonde hair was nearly the same shade as Beth's, split into matching pigtails that barely brushed her shoulders, and their faces were similarly-shaped – same small nose balanced neatly between rounded cheek bones, same determined chin. But where Beth had always been petite, Sunni was, even seated, clearly tall for her age and lanky, as if in the midst of another growth spurt. Daryl guessed that she'd be taller than Beth before she hit her tenth birthday.

But it was the twins who kept drawing his eye. He shouldn't discriminate – Beth made it clear that she didn't – but these two were her kids, the ones she'd actually carried inside her belly. And Daryl couldn't help but watch them for that reason alone. He'd thought they'd look more alike, being twins and all, but they were clearly not identical. The boy, Liam, had soft brown hair that curled at the ends and Beth's wide blue eyes and pale skin. The girl, Lily, was also pale, but that's about all Daryl could see that was like her brother. Straight strawberry-blonde hair framed her heart-shaped face from which her bright green eyes stood out strikingly. Maybe if they'd had the same temperament, he might have seen more connections between the pair, but Beth was right, they were as different as could be, Lily all but demanding to be the center of attention with constant babble and an insatiable need to crawl on every surface of the van, while Liam sat quietly in his seat, his index finger in his mouth and the other hand gripping a stuffed lion by the tail, which he absently rubbed under his nose as he watched his sister's antics.

Negan had accompanied the group as well, but not in the van. He rode ahead on a Victory Kingpin 8-ball that made Daryl keenly aware how much he missed riding his – or any – motorcycle. But beyond making sure the group got through the Lykins' reinforced steel and barbed-wire gates and a brief but obviously friendly exchange with the farm-owning couple, Negan had left for parts unknown.

Even just a cursory glance around made it clear to Daryl why Beth had been drawn to this place. It was easy to draw parallels between this and her childhood home: the open fields of the working farm, the large home and barns, all surrounded by distant woods, even a small pond towards the southern end of the property. There were differences, too, like the fencing being far more extensive and obviously reinforced to reflect the dangers of herds of walking dead coming into close proximity with the farm's sheep, cows, and other livestock. The house was much larger and more modern with rooftop solar panels mounted between the several brick chimneys and, while inviting and comfortable, could still be barricaded at a moment's notice, as could the three massive barns spaced out over the central field surrounding the home, which itself was on a sizeable hill, affording whoever was in the rooftop watchtower a full 360 degree view of the entire property. But once one accepted the security measures as necessary facts of the world they now lived in, the farm was highly appealing to someone who had grown up with a quiet country life and wanted nothing more than to sit on the porch on a quiet night, listening to crickets and counting stars, as Beth had once told him was her favorite way to fall asleep as a child.

But if the rural landscape and easy access to the woods Daryl loved and missed so much were what appealed most to him, it was nothing to the way Beth was so clearly drawn to the people who lived here. Caiman and Nicole Lykins were a middle-aged couple who had a visibly comfortable and close relationship with one another and their children and, while Daryl had never known Beth's mother, he could easily imagine that their family mirrored Beth's own when growing up. Caiman certainly shared many traits Daryl had come to associate with Hershel – faithful and God-fearing without being overly pushy about religion to others, respected and authoritative without demanding it. He was more energetic, more enthusiastic in his interactions than Hershel had been, but every bit as sincere in his welcoming everyone to the farm with hearty handshakes (and back-slapping hugs for both Negan and Beth) and being genuinely glad for their arrival. And his wife, Nicole, was every bit as welcoming, and it didn't take long to realize that, while she might not be as openly excitable as her husband, she was very strong-willed in her own right.

As she greeted everyone, she'd walked right up to Daryl and pulled at the sleeve of his sweatshirt, "Negan, what is this?" And without bothering to wait for the man's response, she turned directly to Daryl, "Is this something you choose to wear, or something he makes you wear?"

Daryl hadn't been told whether he should act with these people as he did at Alexandria, making no eye contact or any other kind of communication, or behave as he was made to with the Saviors, obediently following every order and speaking when spoken to. He settled for something in between, not raising his head but honestly answering, "It's what I got to wear."

Negan tried to interject at that point, "He's from Alexandria, Nicki, and while he is here to work and won't give you the slightest bit of trouble, he is still a prisoner."

But Nicole was already shaking her head, "Not here he isn't. You're welcome to keep your rules at the Sanctuary and we will keep our rules here, and here, we don't have prisoners, we have guests. And guests wear regular clothes and are treated like regular people. Sawyer!" she suddenly called back to one of the children hovering a few feet from the group, "Sweetie, radio the Elmore's and ask Kevin to bring a couple extra sets of clothes for Daryl to borrow while he's here. I'm sure they haven't gotten on the road yet," she muttered the last bit to herself before turning back to Negan, "And you know I don't like it when you call me 'Nicki', just like you knew when you brought him here that we weren't about to go treating a member of Beth's family like he isn't just as welcome here as she is."

And she, and everyone else, had made good on that sentiment. Daryl was immediately made to feel an equal part of the group as they sat down to a hearty, home-cooked breakfast at the picnic tables off the back porch, waiting for the Lykins' friends from a nearby community to arrive so they could start working on repairing a section of pasture fencing that had been washed out by the recent rains. But when everyone was there and well-fed and on their way to the field, he'd been kindly but firmly stopped by both Caiman and Nicole, who insisted that he take as long as he like in getting cleaned up and changed into the clean jeans and t-shirt they offered. With Beth discretely nodding from behind their backs, Daryl had taken them at their word, using their downstairs bathroom to scrub at the layers of filth and grime until he was cleaner than he'd been in more than a month before hurrying to join the group already working in the field, where he'd been easily accepted as if he'd always belonged.

Rather than take time to marvel at his once-again rapid-fire change of circumstances, Daryl focused his attention on Beth, who moved and spoke with the family here with an ease he'd never seen in her before. Even at the prison, with her own flesh and blood, she'd always seemed somehow set apart, shy and reserved. Loved and accepted by all, of course, but there was an open closeness and familiarity between her and Nicole that he'd never seen with her and Maggie, or with any of the other women. It could be any number of things, Daryl reflected as he dug his shovel deeper into the soft earth. At the prison, she'd been the daughter and baby sister, rather than an equal. And he had no idea how she'd related to her family on the farm, all his observations clouded by their unfamiliarity and mutual distrust along with his frenzied search for Sophia and the accompanying grief of failing to save her. And there was a two-plus year history between Beth and this family that he didn't know or understand, either. But he couldn't help thinking, every time he glanced in her direction, that she looked every bit as happy and at home here as she had when they were at the funeral home. And he wondered what, if anything, he could do to help that feeling last.

Admittedly a much shorter chapter than I usually push out, but this was the best place to stop (plus it let me get this to you faster!). As always, reviews make me smile (and draw me back to my computer, which makes me write faster, which gets you updates sooner... just sayin', people!)