By the end of the day their biggest concern was Judith's fever and its cause. Any type of infection or illness was dangerous. Beth and Maggie bathed her again and gave her more baby aspirin. She fell asleep before dinner. Beth was laying her down in the playpen when Rick came in.
"She asleep?" he asked.
"Mmmhmm. She feels cooler too. We think it's probably her teeth." Beth stood up and looked at Rick.
"Thanks for taking care of her." he said. "No problem Rick. She's no trouble." Beth smiled. Rick continued to look at her. Beth was beginning to feel uncomfortable.
"Well I better…" she started to say.
"Hey Beth I wanted to talk to you." Rick said.
"What's up?" she asked.
"I know something has kind of started between you and Daryl. And well I think that your dad would want me to…" Beth held out her hand.
"Rick I.."
"No just listen. Daryl is a good man. He's my brother." Rick said. "You two are just so different.." Beth shook her head.
"No. We really aren't. In fact we're more alike than anyone could ever guess. Besides age. And that isn't even a factor worth mentioning." She started to leave the room. "But thank you for thinking of my dad and for being concerned about me." She headed out and back to the kitchen. Carol had put together a stew and half the group was in there eating. Daryl looked at Beth from across the room then he glanced towards the bedroom where Rick was. She just shrugged. Suddenly the back door burst open. Abraham came in followed closely by Rosita and Eugene.
"We got a horde down by the firetruck. We're concerned with the size and the fact that they might be being herded towards us." he said. Everyone went into action. Beth went for her knife in her backpack. Daryl grabbed her arm.
"No. Not yet." he said looking at her.
"I need to help!" Beth said jerking her arm away.
"Please Beth. This is the last time I'll ask you. Stay for me." Daryl pleaded and Beth relented because the look in his eyes scared her. She nodded and he headed towards the back door. Rick was giving Carol and Eugene instructions.
"Daryl wait." Beth walked over to him. Standing on tiptoe, she kissed him on the cheek. "Come back." she whispered. He looked at her and backed out the door. Rick followed with Carl close behind him. The cabin was suddenly quiet. "We're alone?" Beth asked. She turned and looked at Carol and Eugene.
"Father Gabriel is on a lookout that we constructed in the tree. But otherwise we are currently alone." Eugene looked nervous. Carol was closing the wooden shutters on the windows. She barred the front door. Beth peeked in at Judith. She was still asleep. Beth strapped her knife on.
"I'll get the loft windows." She climbed the stairs into the loft. There were four windows total. She shuttered up three and the fourth one that looked out over the back of the cabin drew her attention. In the tree where she assumed Father Gabriel was keeping lookout, a small light was flashing. "What the hell?" Beth slammed the shutters and took off down the stairs and headed for the back door. It was already closed and locked. Beth struggled with it.
"Beth! What are you doing?" Carol hissed.
"Let me out! He's flashing a light!" Beth said. She got the door open and took off across the yard towards the tree. A crude ladder had been constructed to reach the upper branches. Beth scurried up it and knocked a small flashlight from the Father's hands. "What are you doing?!" Beth tried to keep her voice down.
"You broke it!" Father Gabriel said trying to see the flashlight in the dark.
"It looked like you were signaling someone!" Beth said. Carol was on the ground below them.
"What's going on Beth?" she called up trying to be quiet.
"I saw him flashing a light. It looked like a signal." Beth said.
"Why do you have that light? You're a lookout, you can't draw attention to yourself!" Carol said.
"Get out of the tree!" Beth said pulling on his jacket,
"Stop it!" he said. Beth kept tugging on his jacket.
"Father Gabriel just come down. Eugene can take over." Carol said.
"No! I was told to take this post." he said.
"I don't trust you!" Beth yelled no longer caring if she was quiet.
"Stop it! Get off me!" Father Gabriel pushed Beth and she slipped and fell. She landed at the base of the tree and her head slammed into the tree trunk. Carol pulled out her gun.
"Get down!" she yelled.
"I'm sorry Beth, so sorry!" He scrambled down the from tree. He tried to reach out to Beth, but she pushed him away and tried to stand up. Her head was pounding and she felt a wave of nausea. Leaning against the tree she threw up.
"Beth, are you ok?" Carol kept the gun on the Father and tried to see Beth.
"I'm ok. Get him inside." She followed Carol back into the cabin. Eugene had lit one lantern. His eyes went to Carol's gun.
"What's the problem?"
"He was signaling with a flashlight." Carol said.
"I wasn't! It was just to help me see!" Father Gabriel whined.
"We'll figure that out later. I'm gonna tie you up until the others come back." Carol said. She went to hand off the gun to Beth. "Beth you're bleeding!" Beth touched the bandage on her forehead.
"It's ok. Tie him up and then you can help me." She took Carol's gun and held it on Father Gabriel. She wiped blood from above her eye with her cast. She winced at the sharp pain.
"It's not what you.." Father Gabriel started.
"You pushed me out of that tree! Just shut up!" Beth waved the gun at him. Carol pulled out rope and secured his legs and arms to the wooden chair. Eugene watched nervously. Once she was done Carol turned to Beth.
"Lets check out your head." she told her. She moved the lantern to the table and Beth sat on the table. Carol brought over the first aid kit.
"Eugene can you be a lookout?" Beth asked.
"Yes I can try. Do I need to climb the tree?"
"No just stay on the back porch." Carol told him. He headed out the backdoor. Carol gently removed the bandage from Beth's head. The wound from the shooting had been healing nicely. "It looks like you opened up one side of the old wound. " Carol told her.
"It hurts." Beth said.
"And this will sting. Sorry." Carol cleaned it with an antiseptic and put a butterfly bandage on under neath a new bigger gauze patch and taped it all up. "I think that should hold." she said.
"Thanks Carol." Beth said. She slid off the table. "What are we gonna do about him?" Beth said referring to Father Gabriel.
"Wait for the others and see." Carol said. "You're sure of what you saw?" Carol asked quietly. Beth nodded.
"He pushed me out of that tree Carol. If he had nothing to hide why would he do that?"
It was no use trying to see anything out the windows in the dark. Beth paced the cabin, her nerves a mess.
"I should've gone to help. He treats me like I can't do anything! He taught me how to use his damn crossbow!" Beth muttered to herself. Carol smiled in the dark.
"He almost lost you Beth. He's just scared." Beth's voice softened.
"He can't keep me locked up forever." she said. She sat on the couch beside their backpacks. Her head hurt and she couldn't get rid of the anxious feeling in the pit of her stomach. This was how it was going to be now every time Daryl went out. She had a new found respect for Maggie. But at least Maggie was usually with Glenn. Beth must have fallen asleep because she woke up with her head on Daryl's backpack and a blanket covering her. Carol was on the other couch. "It's been hours. What if they ran into trouble?" Beth asked. Carol was silent.
"First light we'll come up with a plan." she said. Carol looked worried too. They heard footsteps and Eugene opened the back door. Maggie and Glenn came in looking tired and dirty.
"Finally! What happened out there?" Carol asked.
"Where is everyone else? We've been worried." Beth said.
"Beth what happened to your head?" Maggie put her stuff down and walked over to her sister. Beth pointed at Father Gabriel tied to the chair. Just then Rick, Michonne and Carl came in.
"What's going on?" Rick demanded when he saw Father Gabriel. The room was in chaos as Carol tried to explain to everyone what had happened. Beth kept glancing at the door. She made her way over to Carl.
"Where is he?" she asked. Carol looked at her and glanced up at the bandage on her head. He shrugged his shoulders.
"I don't know Beth. We all split up after we took out the first horde by the firetruck. I haven't seen him but he'll be back." Carl said. Rick came up to her.
"Are you ok? What the hell happened?"
"I'm fine. I just saw him with that light and it was suspicious. And then the way he acted, he pushed me Rick! I don't trust him." She rubbed her arms. Rick hugged her.
"We'll handle it."
"Rick where's Daryl?" Beth asked and she tried to sound strong, but her voice broke.
"He split off from us. I really didn't see anyone except Michonne and Carl. We had our groups. But he's fine Beth. He'll be back." Rick told her.
"But you can't promise that." she said.
"No I can't." She looked at the floor as he walked away. All around her the rest of the group were cleaning up, shedding grimy clothes, showering, and eating. Beth picked up towels and pumped water for dishes. She helped Michonne re-bandage her arm where she'd been injured at the farmhouse the day before. And she answered question after question about Father Gabriel. As daylight broke Abraham, Rosita and Sasha and Tyreese came in followed by Tara. Tyreese was limping. Beth watched the door.
"Here let me move these." Beth grabbed her and Daryl's backpacks and moved them to a corner, She reached into hers and grabbed her gun. She checked the chamber for bullets and put more in her pocket. She zipped the bag shut and dropped it. She tucked the gun into the back of her jeans and underneath the the flannel she had on over her white blood splattered t-shirt. She grabbed her jacket and slowly made her way to the back door. No one paid any attention to her as she slipped out. Eugene watched her as she closed the door gently.
"Are you leaving?" he asked loudly startling Beth. She took a deep breath.
"Oh no, I'm, um just walking the fence Eugene. Rick asked me too." Beth lied.
"Would you like my help?" he asked.
"Oh no. I can do it. I need to help somehow." she smiled.
"Okay. Well you call if you need me." he said.
"I'm covered." she patted her knife. She took off down the stairs and went out the back gate and headed in the direction of the fire truck. She really had no idea where she was going. She only knew that Daryl hadn't come back. And she couldn't just sit and wait anymore. With her hand on her knife she headed into the trees. She followed a path the others had made either going in or coming out. It was a direction to go. She kept an eye out for landmarks so she didn't get lost. There were a lot of walker bodies. She picked her way around them. She kept going in one direction hoping for the best.
