WOOHOO! Tom Brady is allowed to play! My happy dance has been continuous today :-) Hope you all enjoy this one! Thank you so much to everybody that has reviewed and favored!
Beth smiled softly as she looked around at the group all around the table. They were laughing and eating and some of them were drinking. She felt a few moments peace as she took a drink of her soda that Dr. Jenner had offered her, and then her thoughts went back to the people that they had lost, to leaving Jim on the side of the road. He had hugged her, and told her he was sorry for how he had acted with her the night before. She told him that it was ok, and then kissed his cheek, because what more could she do. She remembered turning and seeing Daryl standing a little bit away, his eyes locked on hers. She had smiled a little at him and then walked toward the truck, gently touching his arm as she did. A few moments later they were all on the road again and one group member less. Just as her thoughts went to her family and how they were, she was pulled out of her thoughts by Daryl's booming voice.
"Keep drinking Glenn! I wanna see how red yer face can get" Daryl joked as he clapped Glenn on his back, the other man swaying already and had not even finished his first glass. Beth laughed a little, and when she caught Daryl's eye, her smile widened just a little bit more. He was having fun, well as much fun as he would allow himself with also keeping watch on everything. She noticed that he did that a lot, just watched everything, everybody. She found herself wondering again what it was that he saw when he watched her.
"Can I try some?" Carl asked as he pointed toward Lori and Rick's glasses of wine in front of them. Rick, already looking a little toasty, just shrugged his shoulders.
"Oh what could it hurt?" Dale said from the end of the table, a sweet smile on his face. Lori sighed and nodded, pouring a little in his glass. Beth let out a laugh at the face he made when he tasted it, remembering her face probably looked the same when Maggie had let her try a taste too. But they always had to be more secretive. There would have been no way that Hershel Greene would have been ok with any of his children drinking, let alone finding out that his youngest had been given her first taste by his oldest. She felt her smile fading at the thought of Maggie and her dad so she took a drink of her soda and turned to face Glenn, who had a huge smile on his face.
"Beth, you having fun?" He slurred out. She smiled back at him and nodded her head.
"There are two of you. So much blond" he slurred again, this time causing her to laugh out loud at him.
"Don't worry Glenn, it's just the wine. There's not two of me" she said as she patted his hand
"Can only handle the one of ya anyway" Daryl said as he walked up beside of her and sat down. She narrowed her eyes at him, but her smile betrayed her as his smirk got to her. He then leaned over, so close to her that she could feel his breath on her neck.
"Yer too pretty for there to be two of ya. Wouldn't be fair to everybody else" he growled out, his tone so deep that it sent a shiver all thru her. Did he really just say that to her? He had to be drunk, because he would never have said anything like that normally. She pulled back to look at him, but before she could say anything in reply, Shane interrupted.
"So Doc, what happened here?" He asked, his tone commanding and arrogant.
"You certainly know how to kill a mood" Glenn slurred out, taking another drink
"Naw, this was the whole point of coming here right? To find out what happened? To see if there is a cure? Isn't that why we came here instead of Fort Benning, Rick?" He growled out, his eyes narrowed at Rick. Daryl instantly tensed beside of Beth and she silently cursed Shane for ruining his good mood and everybody else's.
"Come with me and I will show you" Jenner said, standing from his seat.
"So this patient was bit, and she volunteered for us to study her in her finale moments" Jenner stated as he walked up to all the computers in the main room.
"Vie, bring up subject 13" he called out, instantly a picture of a human lying down was up on the screen.
"This was an hour after she was bit. As you can see everything in her brain is still functioning" he said as he motioned toward the picture.
"What's all tha?" Daryl asked as he pointed toward the brain and all the little shocks that appeared to be going thru it.
"That's her brain waves" Beth breathed out as she watched the screen in front of her in wonder. She was planning on going to school to become a nurse, so all of this fascinated her.
"You're absolutely correct Beth! Those little flashes, those shocks! They are what make you, you. They are your memories, your emotions, and your thoughts. This subjects brain was a work of art" he stated as he looked back at the monitor. Beth turned a little to see that Daryl's eyes were on her, a look going through them that she had never seen before. She felt her cheeks light up from his stare and turned back around to the screen.
"Vie, jump to 2 hours after initial injury" Jenner called out, the screen transforming to later on. They could see the subject's last breaths and her body slumping on the table, her brain waves diminishing till there was nothing but blackness.
"She died, didn't she?" Beth asked as she walked up to stand beside of Daryl as they watched the screen.
"Yeah, now there is nothing left where before there was so much" Lori stated sadly as she gripped Rick's hand.
"We don't know what causes it. We don't know what started it, or how to stop it. We were on the verge when everything started going to hell outside and people in here started panicking, taking other ways out" he mumbled as he glanced toward Rick and then Shane, everybody understanding what he meant.
"So you don't know either what this is?" Shane asked, his voice hard but you could hear the hint of sadness as well.
"It could be a number of things" he started. "Vie, go to end event please" he stated and then turned his head away from the screen as it changed.
"Look at that" Beth said as she watched the first sparks start to come back into the brain. "It starts the brain stem back?" she asked, her voice filled with emotion.
"It does, but as you can see, everything that made you, you, is gone. There is no life there anymore. You are just a shell. You are just a body, none of your memories, none of your emotions. They don't survive. It just starts your brain stem enough to get you moving, but nothing else. " he said sadly
"What was that?" Lori asked as they saw a streak go through the head of the subject.
"You killed her didn't you?" Andrea asked, the first time she had spoken in a while.
"She asked me too. She was the one! She could have saved us all. She was the genius here! I was just a flacky. It should have been me on that table and she would have been able to solve this. Vie, shut it down" he growled out as he started to walk away.
"You loved her didn't you?" Andrea asked, her voice sad.
"I did. I'm sorry but there is no cure" he whispered out as he turned and walked toward the hallway, leaving all of them standing around stunned.
Beth entered their room a little later. After Jenner's big reveal, Daryl had taken off with a bottle of wine and she had not seen him since. As she slowly opened the door, she saw him, sprawled out on his bed face down, the wine bottle empty on the floor, all of his clothes still on. She smiled just a little and shook her head at the site of him. She slowly shut the door and placed her cup of soda on the table beside her cot then turned and started to slowly untie Daryl's shoes. She wanted to try to make him a little more comfortable. After she was done, she looked back up at his face. He looked so peaceful, so calm at that moment. She wished she had a camera to capture it. She gently moved a piece of his hair from his face and leaned down, kissing his cheek softly.
"Thank you" she whispered as she pulled herself away. She wasn't sure what exact thing she was thanking him for, but in just the few short days that she had actually been talking to him, he had done more for her than anybody.
"Beth" he breathed out as he rolled over onto his side. She froze for just a moment to see if he was awake but when he lightly snored again, she felt the blush rise to her face. He had whispered her name while he was sleeping.
'It doesn't mean anything Beth.' She told herself, but even with her own thoughts she could not stop the smile that fell on her face. Even with the events of the night, she was able to fall asleep knowing that he was near her.
I know some of you wanted Beth and Daryl to just go to the farm and not go to the CDC but I felt Beth had to come here, to see for herself about the walkers before they get to the farm and she finds out about the barn. Just FYI, I am not going to have Beth attempt suicide in this story. She is stronger and more informed...and has Daryl :-) And don't worry...they will have more alone time