The sound of mental clattering on the hard floor makes Beth jump and the standing tears in her eyes start to fall. Once they start she can't stop them, and great heaving sobs follow.

They won't stop because it suddenly hits her that she almost died and the realisation jars her into a state of near hysteria. Her lip trembles, her jaw shudders as the tears cascade down her numb cheeks. She can't shake the image of Dawn reaching for her gun from her mind. It's stuck playing on repeat in slow motion. In that moment her heart stopped. She was dead.

Would have been, if it weren't for Daryl.

She watched his gun come up in front of her, Dawn's head explode around his bullet, and then felt the solid comfort of his chest at her back. His forearm caged her in so tightly her lungs strained for breath, but she didn't mind it. It was comforting knowing he had her, and if he had her, she was safe.

Now he can't even look at her.

Another sob bursts from her throat and she feels a hand wrap around her forearm. It's only then that she realises her entire body is shaking as the hand serves to steady her arm. Through blurred eyes she makes out Carol looking back at her, eyes alight with sympathy as she gives her arm a reassuring squeeze. Behind her Rick shifts uncomfortably as another sob rattles Beth's tiny frame.

"Hey," Noah soothes, huge palm coming to rest between her shoulder blades, "It's ok. She can't hurt you anymore."

The way Carol's eyes hold hers tells Beth she knows her tears having nothing to do with Dawn and everything to do with someone else she just lost.

Beth bites her trembling lip and drags in a stuttering breath, willing herself together with every fibre of her being.

"Everyone's tired," Rick says to the group. When his gaze drifts back to Beth her cheeks grow hot, feeling every bit the overtired, blubbering child she must appear to be.

"We'll stay in one of these wings tonight. Figure out our next move tomorrow," He jerks his head down the hallway, eyes scanning the surrounding area thoughtfully, as though taking it in for the first time. Electricity. Untouched by walkers. She can see him registering the value of those things and an idea starting to form.

"Ward twenty two hasn't been touched, all the beds are still made up," Noah says, stepping forward.

"Lead the way," Rick nods, hand coming to rest on Noah's shoulder. The simple gesture tells Beth so much. That Rick trusts him. That he's earnt his place in the group in the short time he's been with them. She wonders what he did to prove himself as an ally. Or was he just Noah; kind and true. Maybe Rick isn't as far gone as he looks.

When Noah passes her and limps down the corridor with purpose, the group follows him.

Beth rubs the heels of her hands into her eyes until they ache, scrubbing the last of her tears away like they have no business being there in the first place. Because they don't.

I don't cry anymore, Daryl.

...

Once they enter the ward, the group busies themselves with making camp. Beth joins them in picking the room apart for things they can use, finding comfort in the familiarity of the process and the people, moving together like a well-oiled machine. Noah is the busiest of the group, digging out extra blankets and pillows, he even manages to find a stash of chocolate pudding from somewhere. It's not long before Rick is ducking out through the doors where Sasha is standing watch. To find Daryl, Beth thinks, and feels her stomach tighten.

"Noah told me what you did."

Beth turns to where Carol is sitting on one of the hospital beds. Despite the exhaustion evident on her face, she proffers a small smile, "Thank you."

Rolling a shoulder, Beth comes over to sit beside her on the bed, "It's what anyone would have done."

Carol takes her hand and gives it a meaningful squeeze that makes her chest ache.

"It was brave," She tells her firmly, then studies Beth's face a moment, "There's something different about you. You're not the same girl from the prison."

Beth swallows under her scrutiny, breathing deeply.

"No, I'm not," She answers with conviction that straightens her spine. Neither are you.

Carol continues to hold her gaze for a moment before nodding and giving her hand another squeeze.

"Daryl didn't mean what he said. You just scared him is all," She says softly.

Beth blinks at her, "I scared him?"

A wry smile works its way across Carol's face, "You did."

Her mouth falls open but no words come out because she doesn't have any. Her forehead creases as Carol's softens.

"It took a lot out of him losing you on the road," Carol says, her eyes filling with something like sadness, "and then he almost lost you again back in that hallway."

"He didn't..." Beth protests.

"I know," Carol cuts her off and gives her hand one last, firm squeeze before releasing it, "Just go easy on him ok?"

Speechless, Beth nods weakly and pushes herself off the bed.

Go easy on him.

Her stomach curls itself into a ball as she feels the implication in those words, as though she has some kind of power over Daryl she might misuse. As though has any power over him at all.

...

Daryl's anger is circling the drain as he descends the steps of Grady Memorial Hospital, quickly being replaced by a steady stream of guilt pouring down his spine. He can still see the tears pooling in Beth's eyes as she defiantly refused to let him see them fall. That girl is so damn stubborn. He can still hear the sob that cut through him when her resolve broke, ringing in his ears and rattling in his chest.

His stomach is busy tying itself in knots as he fumbles for a cigarette to steady his nerves when he sees them. Glenn, Maggie and the others heading towards the entrance with their weapons raised. Maggie looks tense, bottom lip caught between her teeth and she doesn't relax when she sees him. Nothing in his furrowed brow and tight jaw does anything to reassure her, instead her eyes widen and her mouth falls open, chin trembling.

"Where is she?" She asks, voice breathless and wrecked with emotion as her darting eyes search helplessly.

"She's inside. She's ok."

The voice that speaks from behind him is Rick's. Daryl feels a flutter of anxiety that he didn't hear him approach as he watches all of the tension leave Maggie's brow, eyes filling with tears of pure joy.

"Oh, thank God," She whispers as she crosses the distance between them, "Thank you, Rick."

"Not me," He can hear Rick shake his head as he comes to stand behind him, "Thank Daryl, he saved her. She's alive 'cause a him."

Daryl bows his head as Rick's hand lands on the cradle of his shoulder.

Maggie wraps him in a bone crushing hug that he can hardly stand when all he wants is to be alone and smoke a damn cigarette.

"Thank you, thank you," Maggie gushes and when she kisses his cheek quickly he feels hot tears spilling from her eyes.

She races up the steps, followed closely by Glenn who pats him on the shoulder and gives him a small, relieved smile as he passes.

Luckily, Abraham, Eugene, Tara and Rosita are content to just nod as they trail behind.

With a shaky exhale, Daryl sinks down onto the steps, pulling a bent cigarette out of his pocket and not bothering to straighten it before wrapping his lips around the filter. As he takes a deep, stale lungful of tobacco he feels Rick sit beside him. The rush of nicotine floods his nervous system, giving him a glorious moment of respite where everything stops and he's only aware of his head spinning. It passes all too quickly.

"This place," Rick says and Daryl can hear the contemplation in his voice, "They've got electricity, food, medicine."

Daryl takes another deep drag of his cigarette, chasing another head rush.

"They've got problems," Daryl rasps on his next smoky exhale.

"They do," Rick agrees, clasping his hands together between his knees, "But I think you just took out the biggest one."

Something rattles in his chest, teeth flattening the filter of his cigarette as he relives the moment Dawn's blood splattered across his face. How it must still be there now. He doesn't remember pulling the trigger or deciding to do so, it happened without conscious thought, a reflex. His gut churns at what would have happened if he hadn't, bile climbs his throat at the thought of Beth's blood splattering his face instead.

He can feel Rick's eyes on the side of his face. Decidedly doesn't turn to meet them, takes another slow pull on his cigarette.

"We need this," Rick says quietly, "Judith would be safe here."

Daryl huffs bitterly, "For how long?"

"For now," Rick admits, turning his head to catch Daryl's gaze and hold it for a moment, "Now's all we've got anymore."

Daryl sighs and nods, "The boy and the baby, they deserve a roof, I guess."

Rick nods, pushing himself up. His eyes climb the hospital building, face set with steely determination, before he turns back to Daryl.

"We'll make it work. And if they can't make it... then we'll just take this place."

...

Being reunited with those she hasn't seen since the prison is almost more than Beth can bear. Her heart feels fit to burst and her cheeks ache from smiling. It's not five minutes before Maggie is fussing her, asking when she last ate and demanding to know what happened to her face.

Carol saves her, interrupting and asking Beth if she can get them some water. She's on her feet and out of the ward before Maggie can protest, and moving too fast for Noah to follow her.

Pushing through the doors to the stairwell at speed, she comes into contact with something firm that brings her grinding to a halt. Someone.

"Daryl," She gasps when she blinks and finds him staring back at her with all the intensity of the sea.

His position on the step below brings them almost face to face, close enough for Beth to smell the cigarette he just smoked on his exhale.

Beth's breath catches in her throat as his eyes hold hers, impossibly bright even in the dimly lit stairwell.

"M'sorry," He rumbles, tearing through the heavy silence between them.

"I know. It's ok," She says, tone hushed as though he were a wild animal she doesn't want to spook.

"It's not," He says, looking down and away, head bowed in shame and Beth's fingers twitch at her side with the urge to reach out and comfort him.

He drags his eyes back up to hers, "I'm sorry for what happened out there."

His eyes flicker, straining with emotion and the urge to look away again, but he doesn't.

Beth frowns, "That wasn' your fault."

He does look away then, shaking his head and twisting his mouth, thrumming with self-directed anger.

"I told you to go out on that road, if I'd kept you close... maybe you wouldn't have been taken. Wouldn't have had to go through all this," He waves a hand at the doors behind her that lead back into the hospital.

She inhales slowly and deeply, watching as he catches a nail between his teeth.

"Maybe I'd've been eaten by a walker. Maybe we both would have," Beth shrugs, "You tried. That's all anyone can do."

His shoulders sag under the weight of the memory. How long ago was it? A few days? A week? She doesn't know anymore. Time gets twisted when you live from one moment to the next.

"I ran all night, Beth," Daryl whispers, his voice cracking with emotion as he looks up at her like a child pleading for forgiveness, "I ran after that car till the sun came up and my legs wouldn't move no more."

Beth's eyes flare as she imagines Daryl chasing the car that took her.

"You did that for me?" She whispers back in disbelief, her heart skipping several beats,

"Why?"

The question hangs heavily between them for a moment, his eyes burning into hers like he wants to say something but can't.

Feeling drawn to him as though by a force beyond her understanding, Beth sways forward, getting right in his face. His hands come up to catch her by the arms. But instead of pushing her away like she expects, he pulls her to him and their mouths collide.

For a moment his soft lips press against hers, moving insistently as they steal the air from her lungs, making her head spin. Her lips part on a gasp as his rough beard burns her skin and his hot tongue flicks into her mouth for just a second, wet and questing. Then, just as suddenly, he's gone.

Lurching forward, Beth's eyes snap open to find Daryl staring back at her as he pulls away. His lips are parted, swollen pink and glistening, eyes drowning in panic as he stumbles backwards.

"Beth, I…" He gropes for words, his face stricken and mirroring the shock that has her in a state of total paralysis. She's frozen; brain throwing out white noise and refusing to respond as she watches him take another clumsy step.

"Shit. M'sorry," He grunts. Face bled white with fear, he turns and disappears down the stairwell.

As the door slams shut beneath her with a vehement shudder, Beth brings her fingers up to trace her tingling lips.

Oh