Beth fires one last arrow into a screaming man on the ground, ending his suffering and ensuring he doesn't turn. As a healer, she should have checked to see if his wound was treatable. As the fighter who saw what that monster was doing with the kneeling people on the ground? No one who stood and watched that deserves an ounce of her sympathy or care.
Then she hits her knees next to the man who was hit with the bat before she could stop it, feeling her body armor shift around her. He's belly down in the dirt, laughing softly and trying to get back to his knees. Laying down her bow and shrugging off her pack with the medkit, she first cuts his bonds, and he rolls to his back before she can stop him. She hears cries of the man's name but ignores them. It's the others' job to sort that out for now.
"Well, you're a damn sight prettier than that bastard." His speech is slightly slurred. It could be anything from concussion to brain injury.
"I should hope so, considering I put an arrow through his eyeball." Her smile is more of a grimace than soothing as she puts on gloves, she knows, and she eases the cervical collar in place. "You gotta stay still, please. The way he hit you could have fractured your neck as well as your skull."
"Can do." He blinks up at her, the blood from the wound still flowing. Sasha sinks to her knees next to him, drawing his attention even though he can't move his head. She's got tears running down her face as she holds his hand.
"You behave yourself, Abe. They're getting Denise free so she can come to help you."
Relieved that it sounds like the doctor is about to take over, Beth finishes checking his vitals before ripping open a package of non-stick gauze and gently lays the cloth over the wound. It soaks through so quickly it makes Beth feel sick, but she rips the next package open and starts layering.
"Should we be applying pressure?" Sasha asks, looking terrified at all the blood.
"Not unless the doctor says we should. We don't know if his skull is fractured, so we don't want to put any pressure on his head at all. That's the same reason we aren't trying to flush the wound." Beth adds a third gauze pad and prays she doesn't run out. At least with the gauze layer against the wound, she can use cloth if she does.
"What do we need to do to help?" A Latina woman is standing beside Beth now, one of the ones who was tied and kneeling.
"We need to improvise a backboard. No matter how we transport him, it's going to be rough."
The woman disappears, but then another woman approaches. Sasha moving away from Abe's side is Beth's first clue that this is the doctor, Denise. Denise is blinking owlishly but nods as Beth gives her a quick update and passes her a pair of gloves from her kit. Leaning forward, Denise peeks under the gauze.
"I can't tell if there's a fracture with so much blood, but I can see bone."
Beth had, too, but she'd not said it because she wasn't sure how Abraham or Sasha would react. That barbed wire on the bat had shredded Abraham's skin in addition to the blunt impact.
"We're gonna get you to Harlan, Abe, and we'll get you sorted out," Denise tells him before looking up at Beth. "How much medical training do you have?"
"EMT training to be a nurse," Beth replies, because physician is years down the road, but nurse is much sooner. "I'll travel with you once they sort out how we're going to transport him."
She hasn't removed her cap, which hides her hair, and she knows Rick, Carl, Maggie, and Glenn all still think she's dead. They're huddled together, watching Denise and Beth work, not moving closer to potentially get in the way, all clustered protectively around Maggie. Sasha hasn't said a word to reveal who she is, but Beth suspects Sasha is too pragmatic to allow a reunion to potentially interrupt Abraham's medical care.
The tabletop from the RV ends up serving as a backboard, and Abraham is carried to one of the Saviors' trucks and eased into the truck bed. Tyreese and Sasha take the front, and the woman who'd gone to arrange the backboard climbs in the back with Denise and Beth. Shane lays a hand on Beth's shoulder before they leave, squeezing lightly and jerking his head toward the others.
"Gonna follow with Luuk and the others," he murmurs, pressing a kiss to her temple before signaling for Tyreese to drive off. She watches him bound to another vehicle appropriated from the Saviors and swing into the back before it follows.
With Abraham as stable as they can make him, Beth isn't surprised that both women focus on her with intense curiosity.
"Are you from the island group Eugene was communicating with?" She offers a hand to Beth, who shakes it before Rosita leans back into her alert position with her rifle at ready. "I'm Rosita. This is Denise and Abraham."
Although Beth had figured out names for the latter two, it's good to have them confirmed. "Beth. And yes, we'd met with Carol when the girls came running to warn her that Saviors were blocking the gate at Alexandria. Our people came along to help there and then to help find you when they indicated you wouldn't be allowed to reach Hilltop."
Denise makes a sound near a sob. "Dammit, this is my fault. We could have been safe behind the walls."
Abraham huffs, reaching a hand up to bump Denise's shoulder. "Ain't your fault, Doc. We thought it was safe enough when you needed to get Maggie to Hilltop."
"I'm sorry, Abraham. I couldn't get the shot off fast enough." Beth can still feel the horror when she didn't have the right angle to put Negan down. "Bow is trickier than a gun, and I was supposed to take him down quietly as the others moved in."
"That's fine. Got a thick skull."
"You can say that again," Rosita mutters, but it sounds near tears. "How far are we from Hilltop, Sasha?"
"Ten minutes. Can't go any faster, not in the dark."
"Tell me about this island," Abraham says, voice slurring worse than before. Denise has the worst of the bleeding staunched, for now, so Beth activates an icepack and passes it over. If swelling is starting, maybe it will help. Denise mouths to her, 'keep him talking.'
"Ever hear that Beach Boys song? Kokomo?"
"Yeah. One of those?"
"Montserrat. Ireland of the Caribbean. Got the Atlantic on one side, the Caribbean on the other, and a nice active volcano on the south end of the island."
"A volcano?"
"Yep. I've hiked right up as close as it was considered safe to go back when they had a team monitoring it. One of the locals who survived was a guide for tourists before, and he takes all the newcomers on a trek. Sailing around it is pretty fun."
"Any good fishing down there?"
Beth tells him about the fishing and the hunting and the joys of life without walkers or bandit groups, keeping it short so that he has to reply. He's probably aware of what they're doing, but he plays along. When they're let through the big gates at the place the others identify as Hilltop, a tall man is waiting as Denise rattles off information.
After verifying she's not needed, Beth heads back to her own people. Now that their services aren't needed for guard duty, they're standing by as Tyreese updates some of the Hilltoppers with the night's events. It's full dark now, and she wraps her arms around Shane's waist, irked by her body armor that gets in the way, but she's not relaxed enough to take it off yet. Shane isn't wearing any, having loaned his to Carol. Both Muffin and Biscuit lean against their legs, drawing comfort from the contact.
Before they can get much past introductions, where it seems Hilltop had been in the dark about Alexandria being in contact with a new community, there's the sound of multiple engines outside the gates. The rest of the Alexandrians have arrived, and Beth takes a deep breath.
It had been easy to reunite with those so far because she hadn't had time to build any expectations. Carl will be like Sophia, but she has no idea what seeing Maggie will be like. If her sister is in medical distress, though, maybe it's best if they don't see each other at all until she's seen the doctor?
Uneasy, Beth shifts, watching as people she knows pour out of the RV. Maggie is on a stretcher, carried by Rick, Daryl, Glenn, and someone Beth doesn't recognize. They swarm past to the building that Abraham was carried into, with only Daryl paying any attention to Beth on the way by. But he doesn't say anything to interrupt the trip, so Beth takes that as a sign to allow herself a little bit of cowardice on an already emotionally exhausting day. She knows she could have stayed with Judith and Sophia at Alexandria, but with no idea what would happen out there, leaving the only medic behind was too foolhardy.
There will be time to talk to Maggie later, she's sure.
When the others arrive, all Shane can see is Carl, who looks so grown up compared to the twelve-year-old he last saw at the farm. Carl also looks exhausted, and based on what little the attacking group witnessed, Shane's not surprised in the least. Before he can bring himself to call attention to him and Beth, Carol takes it out of his hands. Grabbing Carl's shoulders, she starts steering the teenager toward Shane and Beth, pointing them out.
Stunned, Carl stumbles and nearly falls before Carol catches him. Then reality sets in and he runs toward them, Shane's name a hoarse cry on his lips. He thuds into Shane, arms around him in a tight hug, mumbling about imagining things.
"No, buddy, you aren't seeing things. It's really me." When Carl tips his head back to stare at him, Shane grips his chin gently and turns his head toward Beth. "And she's not a ghost."
Carl doesn't quite believe him, because he reaches out with a grubby hand to touch Beth's cheek before he abandons Shane for Beth. "How?"
"I never made it to that hospital, Carl. They hit a deer, and I escaped the car." Beth keeps explaining, voice soft and thick with tears. Shane can't resist resting his hands on Carl's shoulders while she does. It's not the same feeling as holding Judith, not entirely, but the sense of too many miracles for one day settles over him.
He almost lost Carl all over again on the same day he found out everyone was still alive. If they'd been slower to get there; if that bastard had chosen differently… he can't imagine Carl or Maggie's smaller frames absorbing that blow like Abraham had.
Hilltop's guards are on full alert. Although Carol's questioning had been mercilessly thorough, there's always the risk that the Saviors might lie. He's at least glad to see they brought no survivors from that clearing. No one who stood by and watched that is redeemable. Those who survived being captured by Carol's people may be a different story, but his skin is itching with the sensation of getting his family far away from this state and any potential strays.
When he sees Daryl and Rick exiting the building, Shane steps away from Carl and Beth. He knows Carl missed him, but he never thought Shane was dead, so his attention is focused on Beth. That's for the best, because Shane has no idea how Rick will react, and the tenseness in Daryl's shoulders tells him that Daryl's probably spilled at least some of the beans. Whatever truce Beth demanded earlier isn't likely to last, Shane's afraid. The last Daryl recalls of him is a man losing his mind, and there's no way that sets well with how protective he is of Beth.
"Shane?" Rick sounds broken, and after the day he's had, Shane can't blame him one bit. His eyes are bloodshot as he approaches, and he wobbles enough that Shane ends up catching him. When Rick starts touching with the same disbelieving delicacy that Carl used with Beth, that's when Shane knows that Carl might not have thought he was dead, but Rick? Rick had given up hope.
"Yeah, brother, it's me."
The husky, emotion-filled words make Rick lose what control he has, and held up bodily by Shane, he sobs like Shane hasn't seen him do since Rick's mama died. Comforting Rick has always been a second nature to Shane, and he's forgotten nothing of it in the two years since he went walking.
When Rick's collected himself again, they've gained an audience, because Carl's brought Beth closer and Carol is standing with Daryl like sentinels. No one else is coming near, and he can't blame them. Beth's stories may have only rarely included Rick as a feature, but Shane will bet that things have changed in the months since the prison fell.
"Hey, Rick? Got someone else you might want to see."
When he shifts enough to make sure Rick can lay eyes on Beth, he feels the tremble run through Rick. It makes him remember Beth's story of Rick breaking down completely after Lori died, and worry creeps through him. He also remembers Beth's voice in the dark that first night, when she said she wanted to shoot Rick in all her grief over Hershel's death, and thinks maybe this is a mistake, but it's not anger on Beth's face.
Her expression is nothing but compassionate as she wraps her arms around Rick's too-thin waist, worming her arm between Shane and Rick. "I never made it to that awful place, Rick. Carol told me y'all thought I was dead. I was never there."
The soothing croon seems to work because Rick manages a tenuous smile. "We shoulda known you'd escape somehow, yeah?"
"Yeah. Maybe we should have known the same after we found Terminus."
"You found Terminus?"
"We did. But we took a few days. Went back to the prison first, then retraced mine and Daryl's path. Finally found the railroad tracks." Beth's brow furrows at that, but she pushes away the old hurt. "But that was the third day after I got separated from Daryl."
When her fingers find the chain around her neck, Beth grins. "I have your hat, Carl. And your mama's picture from the prison."
"Really? Her photo. I thought it was gone forever, and it was the last one I had."
"I don't have it with me, but it's at my house back on the island. If everyone goes, you could get it all back soon."
Carol sighs and smiles ruefully. "If only I'd asked to talk to Eugene's friend on the radio," she explains. "He's been talking to Shane for weeks now."
Shane does wonder at the irony. If they'd been a little less careful in their exchanges, or if he'd asked to speak to Eugene's group's leader… There's no way he wouldn't have recognized Carol's voice, even thinking she was dead. Beth's fingers are tangled in the rings on her chain, so he reaches out and stills the nervous gesture before she breaks it and spills its precious cargo. She grabs his fingers instead, meeting his eyes in a mix of dread and anticipation that makes him give her that little push she needs.
"Betcha they'll be okay with you going in there, Beth. Go see your sister," Shane tells her.
Carol seems to understand Beth's hesitance and tugs her gently from Rick and Carl to lead her away to the medical building. Beth pauses to tug her armored vest off, passing it to Shane. With it gone, there's no evidence of her working with Denise to save Abraham. She shakes her head when he tilts his head toward the building, not asking his company. "Stay with Rick."
Beth and Carol don't make it to the building when Denise emerges, looking relieved.
"The baby is fine. Harlan thinks it's a kidney stone that led to a kidney infection. He's treating Maggie with fluids and antibiotics for now."
"And Abraham?"
"He got really lucky, we think. He has a skull fracture, but nothing got into the cranial cavity. We'll monitor him heavily for the next couple of days, same as Maggie."
"Is Maggie up for visitors?" Carol asks, laying her arm around Beth's shoulders. "I have some really good news she and Glenn need to know."
"She's resting, but I don't see why not. We have to be careful with pain medication, so any distraction might be beneficial."
"You ain't going with her?" Daryl's tone is just acidic enough to draw everyone's attention once Beth and Carol disappear inside. "Meet the family officially and all that?"
Thing is, Shane would have pushed a little harder, even with Beth telling him to stay, but he's pretty damn sure if he lets go of Rick, the man's going to hit the ground and they'll have a third patient for the doctors. All the months Shane anguished between fear, grief, and anger at what happened on the farm, and in the end, the reigning emotion had settled on grief. There's nothing more to grieve now. Just like Judith and Carl, Rick is alive.
"She told me to stay, and I'm not in the habit of disrespecting her wishes." He doesn't keep the reprimand out of his voice one bit.
Rick and Carl are frowning, confused by the tension. It also draws the dogs away from where he'd ordered them to stay with Luuk. Muffin thunks into Shane and Rick's legs broadside, but Biscuit does what he always does in a crisis: finds the smallest person there. The big dog isn't sure what's upsetting Shane, so he whines, the sound high pitched and distressed. Carl drops to his knees with the ease of a boy who always wanted a dog, running a hand along Biscuit's back and soothing him.
"Shane? Why is Daryl asking about meeting Beth's family? You know Glenn and Maggie both." Rick isn't as distracted by the dogs, and Daryl already knows them, so he's also easily ignoring them.
Daryl's glare tells Shane that he's pushing without Beth here on purpose. She'll kick his ass later, and honestly, Shane can't blame Daryl. Beth's return is a joy. Shane's return? That's just going to cause heartaches all around, he suspects.
"Because Beth and I got married in March."
He expects a reaction closer to Daryl's, but instead, he gets the first smile he's seen on Rick tonight. "Yeah? Married for real?"
Shane holds up his hand to show his wedding band. "In front of a priest in the church and everything. We've got a little cottage up in the hills with banana trees, and she's got hummingbirds that visit every night to these vines she's trained up around the porch. I taught her to sail, just like we learned as kids, and the doctor on the island says she's going to take his place one day."
The response makes Rick blink away tears, and Shane desperately needs so many blanks filled in that he wishes he'd had time to corner Carol longer. "Never thought I'd ever hear you sound so soft and happy about being married."
"That's a good thing, ain't it, Rick?"
"Yeah, brother, it really is."
And that's when Shane knows they'll figure this mess out, because the rejection and anger that drove him away from the farm are no longer in Rick's voice or in how he tightens his arm around Shane as if he's as precious to Rick as holding Judith earlier was to Shane.
Everything rides in that word, all the old love and meaning in the depths of Rick calling him brother again.