Daryl stalked through the darkened streets of Alexandria, his eyes as dark as the houses around him, each as empty as he currently felt. He walked stiffly, his head down, hands balled into fists at his side. There were no sounds other than his quick paced footsteps and own breath, which puffed from his flared nostrils, his lips pressed tight together as his jaw remained clenched.

He was flushed with anger, so much so that his chest felt constricted and he found it hard to breathe. He could feel his heart beating, rapid and painful, in what felt like his throat, but he held on to the anger. He understood the anger, knew the anger, so he allowed himself to revel in it. Besides, he had every right to be angry, or so he thought. Beth had lied to him. She had kept secrets from him. And a damn well big one too. This wasn't just your every day white lie, this was huge. Yeah, damn right he had a right to be angry.

Daryl made his way across to Deanna's house, hearing the muffled sounds of inside laughter and conversation as he walked up the street, only serving to irritate him further. He paused for a moment just outside of it, taking in a deep, shuddery breath, then stepped up the stone stairs and pushed open the front door. He stepped past every person in the room, ignoring all of them, letting the sounds of merriment wash over him without touching him as he sought out the one person he was looking for.

'Rick,' he said.

Rick was alerted by the quiet anger in Daryl's voice, suggested by the breathlessness in his tone. It may not have been picked up by any other, but Rick was tuned into all of his families small nuances for they could alert him to all and any signs of danger. He sensed this danger now as he turned to see his friend, and the smile he had been wearing instantly disappeared, fading from his face until he was frowning across at his close friend's pale yet flushed face. Rick stepped away from the woman he had been speaking to and out towards Daryl, his grey eyes sweeping over the man before him as he struggled to work out Daryl's mood.

'Everything alright?' he asked, his voice low.

'Rick,' Daryl said, a little breathless as he tried to keep himself in check. 'I need t'talk t'yer.'

Rick looked steadily at him.

'What's happened?' He asked, and Daryl saw his hand go to where his gun should be.

'It don't affect no-one else.' Daryl said. 'Everyone's fine. I jus' really need t'talk t'ya.'

Slowly, Rick nodded, and Daryl saw him swallow. Rick knew Daryl as well as he knew himself, and the two men could often communicate without words; but this needed words. Rick could not figure out Daryl's plight alone.

'Alright,' he said slowly. 'C'mon then.'

Rick nodded to Daryl to lead the way, and the two men headed out of the loud house, back into the night, and back towards the first house they now inhabited.

Rick pushed the door open and stepped inside, flicking on the light as he did so. He led Daryl across to the kitchen counter where he paused to pour a glass of water, whilst Daryl stood silent and solemn beside him, his hands still tightly fisted. Rick pushed a glass towards the other man across the island, then stood back to look at him, his eyes narrow beneath his dark brows as he really took in Daryl's demeanour, noting the ashen pale of his face, the tight lipped scowl and the guarded hunch of his shoulders.

'What's going on?' Rick asked.

Daryl ground his teeth for a moment then looked up at Rick through his hair.

'She fucking lied to me,' he said.

Rick chewed on his bottom lip for a moment as he contemplated the man before him.

'Who did?' He asked slowly, trying to diffuse Daryl's boiling temper by keeping himself calm and quiet.

'Beth,' Daryl snapped. 'Fuckin' – Beth.'

'Beth,' Rick repeated. He was curious, but he knew better than to push Daryl.

Daryl ground his teeth together again then took a deep, shuddering breath before exhaling it shakily.

'Beth's pregnant.' He said.

Rick looked at him.

He took a deep breath.

'Okay.' He said.

'She's known for ages an' she didn't fuckin' tell me.' Daryl said.

Rick nodded; he understood now why Daryl was so angry, not just because of the situation but because she had kept it from him. Still, he was unsure of what to say.

'S'fucked up,' he snapped. 'T'keep something like that. Ain't I got a right to know? She reckons its mine don't I get a say?'

'I'm sure she had her reasons,' Rick said slowly.

Daryl angrily shook his head.

'Ain't no reason t'keep somethin' like that a secret. It ain't a little thing man, that's a big fuckin' son of a secret.'

'Maybe she was worried of how you'd react,' Rick said quietly.

'How I'd-' Daryl looked incredulous at Rick, his face flushed. 'What the fuck she expect man?'

'Where is she now? Beth.' Rick asked.

'She's-' Daryl ran a hand down his face. 'I left her with Aaron.'

Rick nodded slowly; he did not understand the connection to Aaron, but he just needed Daryl to see straight. To see calmly.

'I fucked up man,' Daryl groaned. 'I ain't ready t'be no dad – I ain't got tha' in me.'

Rick just looked at him, knowing what he really needed right now was to vent, and for someone to listen. His anger was seeming to have ebbed a little, which was better at least. Although as his anger showed signs of subsiding, Rick could make out the real raw emotions behind it – fear.

'I dunno what to do,' he said. 'I'm fucked. This is a mess – it's a mess. I need t'just – just get out. Leave.'

'No,' Rick said seriously. 'You don't get to do that.'

Daryl smacked his fists down onto the kitchen island, but Rick remained calm.

'I can't do this!' He shouted.

'Daryl.' Rick said seriously. 'Take it easy.'

'How can ya - ' Daryl growled. 'How can I? I'm fucked.'

Rick shook his head.

'There ain't no way any of this comes good.' Daryl groaned.

'Is she keeping it?' Rick asked quietly.

Daryl looked across at him; he had not asked her, but from her attitude, he had assumed that yes, she planned to keep it. Rick sighed.

'Look. We're a family.' He said. 'We will get through this as one.'

'I ain't a dad.' Daryl said firmly.

'Looks like you're gonna be,' Rick said. 'You did this man. You knew the risks.'

'I never thought-'

'No,' Rick sighed. 'I don't suppose you did. But you knew you were playing with fire when you started sleeping with Beth Greene.'

'Yeah,' Daryl scoffed. 'An' I got damn well burned.'

'Mm,' Rick nodded. 'It ain't ideal, I'll give you that, but you will be okay.'

'How?' Daryl scowled. 'How will I be okay? How is any of this okay?'

'Beth loves you,' Rick said seriously. 'And I'm pretty sure you love her too. This could be a good thing. It doesn't have to be a bad thing.'

Daryl shook his head.

'I'm completely fucked,' he groaned. 'How's this gonna look? Playin' happy families in this fuckin' place. It ain't gonna go down well with no one – what about Maggie? How's she gonna react when she finds out I've knocked up her sister?'

Rick couldn't help but smile at that; he felt for Daryl, he really did. It was a difficult situation for any one to find their-selves in at any time, let alone during the end of the world. Daryl's relationship with Beth had been difficult from the beginning, this was just another hurdle for them. It just so happened to be a life changing, terrifying one. He understood Daryl's anger; he was hiding behind it, allowing it to keep away the inevitable fear. As there was no way he wasn't scared.

'I dunno th'first thing about being a dad,' he grunted. 'Or babies.'

Rick shrugged.

'No one does. We make it up. Get through it.'

Daryl shook his head.

'But that bullshit about leaving – that is not on. You can't do that. You wont do that. Not to Beth.' Rick said seriously, his eyes locking onto the man in front of him. Daryl lowered his head. 'She's gonna need you now. More than ever.'

Daryl groaned. He ran a hand down his face, before leaning himself down and putting his forehead down against the counter top. He hadn't asked for any of this, and he was drowning.

Rick leant across and patted his shoulder.

'You're gonna be alright,' Rick said.

Daryl just groaned against the table top.

'You will,' he said, an edge of amusement to his voice now.

Daryl pushed himself back up, looking across to his now closest friend, who was watching him steadily with his own grey blue eyes. Daryl sighed.

'I'm gonna need me somethin' stronger than that, man,' he said, pushing the glass of water away from himself.

'You need to talk to Beth,' Rick said.

'Not yet,' Daryl shook his head. 'Soon. But not yet.'

Rick studied him for a moment, then nodded.

'Alright,' he said. 'Let's get you a drink.'

–

Aaron and Eric led Beth back towards their sofa, sat her down and draped a blanket across her shoulders. Beth was not really in shock, not in the general sense of the word, but she did appreciate the gesture. Any form of kindness was appreciated right now.

Eric was beside her, a glass of water held against his knee, which he offered to her from time to time, whilst Aaron was sitting in the lounge chair opposite, leaning forward, his hands folded on his knees, watching her. There was a heavy atmosphere over the room, a mixture of regret tinged with an air of awkwardness. Beth believed she had caused this atmosphere by revealing such a revelation at what was meant to be a casual dinner party, whilst Aaron felt he had caused it by forcing Beth to reveal it in his presence. Both felt they were to blame, and it was creating a difficult range of tensions.

Eric glanced across at Aaron.

'How are you feeling?' Eric asked Beth, his voice soft and gentle. He understood perhaps better than Beth and Aaron that no one was really to blame; it was just one of those things, a build up of feeling that was bound to erupt at some point. He didn't think Aaron had caused it, nor did he blame Beth for snapping.

Beth nodded, a little too fervently as she tried to prove herself calm.

'I'm okay,' she said, but her voice was shaking.

'Even if you're not,' Aaron said slowly, 'you will be.'

Beth looked up at him, feeling her lower lip quiver.

'So, you and Daryl,' Eric said softly. 'You're a couple?'

'Uh huh,' Beth sniffed. 'For a while. I know it's – I mean, I get that -'

'You don't have to explain anything to us,' Eric said, and Aaron smiled across at her. 'Love is love. We understand that.'

Beth nodded.

'I do – I do love him,' she sniffed.

'That's okay then,' Eric said. 'Babies are a product of love.'

Aaron looked across at his partner, and Beth did not miss the slight frown.

She sniffed again.

'I never meant – I never meant for it to turn out like this,' she said as her blue eyes began to fill with tears. 'I meant to tell him – I really did. I just didn't know how...'

'And you are sure?' Aaron asked quietly. 'You are sure you're pregnant?'

Slowly, Beth reached into her shirt and pulled the scan out of her bra, where she had been keeping it safe and secure, warm snuggled against her heart. She looked down at the grainy image, and her stomach flipped as she did so. With a half sigh, half sob, she held it out towards Aaron, who reached out to take it.

'I spent some time in a hospital,' Beth explained as Aaron looked down at the scan, his own brow furrowed as he took in the small image in his hand. 'After our home at the prison fell I ended up there, they did some tests on me and they found out. They gave me this.'

Aaron looked up at her, his face serious yet soft. He handed the picture across to Eric.

Eric took it and looked down at it for a moment, then he smiled.

'This is your baby,' he said a little wistfully. 'That's an amazing thing.'

He gave it back to Beth, who took it in shaking hands. She ran her thumb over it.

'Yeah,' she murmured.

'Daryl will come round,' Aaron said softly. 'I watched him for a long while. He's a good man.'

'I know,' Beth nodded. 'I should have – I should have told him sooner.'

'You've told him now,' Eric said, softly patting her on the arm. 'He'll come round.'

–

Aaron had walked Beth back home to the second house, and she had climbed into the large bed of the room she had bathed in the day before – she found she had a strange connection to it now. She had curled herself up in the middle of the bed and cried herself to sleep, sobbing until her body was exhausted, her eyes swollen, and her throat sore. She had fallen into an uneasy sleep, full of restless dreams, full of Daryl's anger and her own tears.

Daryl had spent the night in the first house, only meters away from Beth, on the downstairs sofa as every room there had been taken. Himself and Rick had polished off a bottle of whiskey, drinking long into the night as they mulled things over. Whilst Rick had no real stake in Beth's pregnancy, he was still not best pleased with the news; a new baby only added a new threat to the survival of the group, another person to look after, a helpless thing that they would need to look out for all the more. As much as Rick loved Judith, he knew the threat she posed to the group. Another new born would only add to that.

It also took Beth out of most equations for some time as she grew bigger, and he knew once Daryl came round to the idea, there was no chance of him letting her out. Rick also worried about how useful Daryl would be to them now – how likely he would be to leave Beth behind or put himself in danger. He knew deep down Daryl was a good man, and once he had gotten over the anger and the shock, he would do everything in his power to keep Beth safe and happy, which probably meant him staying by her side at all times. Whether Beth wanted it or not, Rick thought.

As the two men spoke, Daryl's attitude had begun to change a little. The anger ebbed, at first giving way to fear, but slowly a nervous acceptance appeared. 'This is not happening' turned into 'I can't believe this is happening,' and 'I can't do this' became 'you gotta help me with this.'

Rick had known he would come around – and man, he didn't blame him for being scared, having a child in any scenario was terrifying, let alone the one they lived in now. But he was a good, loyal, and loving man. He would make it work, and however Rick felt about it, he would be there for him too, helping make sure it did work. They all would. They were a family.

So Beth woke, eyes swollen and her head pounding, to a sound she recognised, but could not place. Slowly, she crawled out of bed and wandered over to the window, where she pulled the net curtain aside and looked down.

Below, she saw Daryl; he had hammered posts into the grass around the front of the house, and was busy stringing up hubcaps and tin cans between them. Beth watched him for a moment, then left the room and made her way down the stairs.

She pulled open the door and stepped out onto the porch, the wood beneath cold against her bare feet.

'What are you doing?' She asked.

Daryl stopped what he was doing and looked up at her, his face glistening with sweat.

'Protectin'.' He shrugged, as though there had never been an argument between them, as though no new revelations had been made.

Beth looked around at his hard work, her head spinning.

'Does this go all the way around the house?' She asked, a little uneasy.

Daryl nodded.

'Why?' Beth asked again. 'We have protection. We have walls. People guarding the walls.'

Daryl looked at her, then swallowed. He took a deep breath and threw down the hammer he had been holding. Beth watched it bounce slightly as it hit the dewy grass with a thump.

'If yer gonna have m'baby, I want yer as protected as y'can be. No one comes in or out without us knowin'.'

Beth stared at him, her mouth dropping open.

Daryl kept his eyes on her for a moment longer, then returned back to his work, stooping to pick the hammer back up with a grunt.

'Daryl,' Beth said again. He sighed, but turned back to look at her. 'Thank you.'

Daryl nodded. Beth's face broke into an unexpected smile as he returned to his work once again; she knew this gesture was his way of saying he was on board. She put her hands to her stomach. They were going to have a baby.

Daryl joined Beth in the house about a half hour later; she had pulled up a chair to the kitchen island and was sipping on a glass of water, rehydrating herself after all of the crying last night. She heard him shove the door open and stomp into the house with a huff.

She spun around on the chair to look at him, taking in the sweaty sheen across his features, the surly frown.

'Daryl,' she said as he dusted his hands down on his pants. 'I wanted to say sorry.'

'A'right,' Daryl grunted as she made his own way over to the counter, forcing Beth to turn back around to look at him. He poured himself his own glass of water, hydrating himself after his morning of work, but also to fight off the headache he was nursing – although he wasn't going to tell Beth that.

'I should have told you sooner. I meant to tell you sooner. I just - ' she swallowed as Daryl looked at her over his glass. 'I'm sorry.' She said.

Daryl gulped down over half of the glass then put it down, narrowing his eyes across at her.

'M sorry too,' he said, surprising Beth. 'I should'na run off like that. Weren't mature.'

Beth shrugged.

'I can't blame you,' she said.

Daryl shook his head slightly, the he sighed.

'I dunno what yer want from me, girl,' he said, and Beth heard the light sadness in his tone. 'I never wanted t'be a dad.'

Beth swallowed past the lump his words put in her throat. Unable to speak, she just nodded.

'I ain't gon' run away, I'ma be there for ya – for the both of ya.' He said solemnly. 'But I can't promise I'll be any good.'

'That's okay,' Beth said quietly. 'So long as you're here with me, we can work it out together.'

Daryl nodded.

'How long have you known?' He asked, his voice low.

Beth bit her lip before replying.

'Since Grady,' she said.

'How far gone are ya?' Daryl asked.

Beth swallowed.

'Nearly four months,' she said.

'Jesus...' Daryl breathed, closing his eyes. He was silent for a moment, then he opened them again and focussed them on her. 'Right.'

'I'm sorry - '

'Stop,' Daryl shook his head. 'No point in that now.'

Beth nodded.

'I just – we were always careful,' he said, and Beth spotted the slight tint in his cheeks as he spoke, and it amused her slightly to know he was still sheepish about such things.

'I guess one time we weren't,' Beth said quietly.

Daryl nodded, then took another deep swig of his water.

'So this is really happening,' he said after, wiping his lips across the back of his hand.

'Uh huh.'

'An' yer certain?'

Beth sighed. Feeling like she was potentially digging herself into another hole, she reached into her top and pulled out the scan, which she slid across the counter top.

Daryl stared down at it for a moment, before gingerly picking it up. His hands were shaking.

'Fuck,' he murmured.

Beth watched him as his blue eyes swept over the image, taking in every tiny detail of it, although if he was anything like her, he would have struggled to make much out.

'Tha's mine...' he said softly.

'Of course it is,' Beth frowned. 'What do you take me for?'

Daryl looked up over the scan to Beth, his eyes steady and serious, but Beth believed she could see a mass of turmoil behind the steel blue.

'I'm sorry,' he said, 'I didn't mean to – I shouldn't have asked that last night.'

Beth nodded.

'It's alright,' she said softly. 'You were in shock.'

'Damn right,' he murmured. 'Still, was a low blow.'

Beth nodded, pursing her lips. It was, and it had upset her. But she had upset him. She could take that one comment on the chin, so long as he stuck around now.

'How long have you had this?' Daryl asked quietly, looking back down at the picture in his hands.

'Since Grady,' Beth breathed.

'Since -' Daryl ground his teeth together, and Beth knew he was trying to remain calm.

'You should have told me,' he said, and his voice as a lot softer than Beth had expected it to be. 'Y'had to go through all o' this by y'self. I'm sorry. I'm sorry y'felt you couldn't tell me.'

Beth raised her eyebrows; she had not expected that.

'I gotta be better,' he said, and his voice was laced with sadness. 'I gotta do better by ya. This is my fault, I can't change that, but I gotta be a better man.'

Beth stared at him, speechless.

'I wan' you t'be able to speak to me,' he said, and he looked at her with such an intensity Beth felt herself blushing.

'I can,' she said after a moment.

'But y'couldn't,' he said sadly.

'It's more – it wasn't easy for me to come to terms with, either. I was all alone when I found out, I didn't know if I would ever see you again. Maybe things would have been different if we had been together, but we weren't. And then when we were we were running, there was just never a good time – I know I should have made a good time, but it was hard. It was hard for me, too. Saying it out loud scared me.'

Daryl nodded.

'I'm here now,' he said.

'Yeah,' Beth breathed, and a light smile broke across her lips. 'You are.'

'I don't know what the fuck we're gonna do, girl,' he sighed.

'Neither do I.' Beth admitted.

'Guess we make it work,' he shrugged.

'Yeah,' Beth smiled. 'We make it work.'

Footsteps on the wooden floor forced Beth to look away from Daryl, with whom she had been sharing an honest and happy moment of eye contact, as they stood on either side of the island. Beth was full of a relief she had not truly felt in a long, long time.

'What's with the mess outside?' Tara asked as she walked into the kitchen; she had taken to sleeping in one of the bedrooms in the second house also.

'Protection,' Daryl grunted, as he stuck the scan of their baby into his shirt pocket.

'Why? We have walls an-'

'Protection.' Daryl barked, and Tara held up her hands in surrender, raising both her eyebrows. Beth laughed, and it allowed her to feel lighter than she had in days.

I just want to say a thank you to everyone who is still taking the time to read and especially review this story, it really means a lot to me! I love that people are as invested in the story line as I am, I'm so happy people are still enjoying it, so many thanks! And Happy New Year :)