Beth. She was the first thing to cross Daryl's mind as he drove his bike back towards Alexandria's walls. Morgan was in the car with Aaron and Daryl was solo on his bike. He didn't know what Beth would've thought if he had never came back. Would she have eventually accepted that he was dead? Would she have moved on. Then he corrected himself. Moved on from what? What were they? Whether he liked it or not, the blonde meant a hell of a lot to him. It wasn't just because they were "together", it was more than that. Despite everything―their age gap, their backgrounds, and their differences in pretty much everything else, they made it work. They had become more than just friends. More than just close to one another. With or without the words, they were a couple.

He felt guilty. He had volunteered himself in order to save Aaron's life. That was something he wouldn't have thought twice about before he and Beth had gotten close. Why was that? Why was it that he felt bad just because he could've hurt her feelings. That was not something that Daryl Dixon should be concerned about. What the hell was wrong with him? I let out a low growl and pushed his focus to the road.

XxX

"Maggie," Beth walked hurriedly down the steps to find her sister sitting quietly on the couch. Soon, there was to be a meeting to find out what Alexandria wanted to do about Rick, given that he had been in a fight just yesterday, while pointing a gun at other people.

"Yeah?" she asked, pursing her lips.

"Can I talk to you?"

"What is it? You're not pregnant, are you?" That was Maggie's first thought. She didn't know the entirety of what was going on between her baby sister and a certain cross-bow wielding redneck, but she had assumed that something must have happened to make it possible for Beth to be pregnant.

"No!" the blonde exclaimed. "Daryl and I haven't even...done it."

"Really?" Maggie asked surprised. That was how she and Glenn had started their relationship.

"Really! But...I think I want to." a blush crept onto her cheeks and Beth looked away.

"Make sure you use protection," Maggie couldn't fault her sister for wanting to have sex. Beth may have been young, but she wasn't a child. She had waited longer than Maggie had when she was in her teens. Plus, even if they were staying in a nice little town where stuff rarely happened, you could die at any point in time.

"Do you think I should?" Beth asked nervously.

"You were the one who had always wanted to wait until you were married," Maggie laughed a little. "And, I don't know Daryl like you do, nobody knows him like you do." She paused for a moment. "He's not pressuring you into this, is he?"

"Daryl? No way!" she said. "He hasn't even suggested it...I...I don't know. I feel like he waits for me to make a lot of the moves..." Beth was kind of uncomfortable talking about this stuff. If the world had been how it used to be, she would have had a best friend to ask these things, instead of her sister. But, she reminded herself, if the world hadn't changed, she wouldn't even know who Daryl Dixon was. And that, she had to admit, would be a shame.

XxX

He had to pull over for fuel. Daryl was nearing empty on his bike. There was about half a can left in Aaron's car and they knew it wouldn't get the both of them back. He cursed under his breath, stepping off.

"I'm going to go check the cars," Morgan said, they had stopped where three cars had pulled over on the side of the road.

"You okay?" Aaron asked Daryl.

"'M fine."

"You seem deep in thought. Thinking about your girl?" it was just a question, but Daryl didn't know how to answer. Beth was his girl. So he nodded, slowly. "If you wouldn't have come back, you were wondering what she would've thought, right?" Daryl nodded again. "That's what I was thinking to...about Eric. Love is a tricky thing," he gave a small smile and the trio gathered what they could from the vehicles and were on their way once again. Daryl hopped on his bike and Aaron and Morgan into the car.

Love. Daryl didn't know what to think of that. Was that how he felt? Love. He never thought in a million years that he could love anybody. Hell, he didn't even know what the hell "love" felt like. Was this it? If it was, it sucked. He didn't want to feel guilty for something like this.

XxX

"Your dad's going to be fine, y'know," Beth said, crossing her legs under her as she sat on the couch. Shrek played in the background as she babysat Judith with Carl during the meeting.

"I know," he replied. "This is home."

"It is," she smiled a little, holding Judith close to her. "And if the worst happens and we leave this place...we still have each other. That's what matters."

"We're family," he agreed. They sat in silence for a moment, neither paying attention to the movie, both deep in thought. "Are you thinking about Daryl?"

"How'd you know?" she asked.

"You guys are totally together, so why wouldn't you? Just like earlier when Maggie was sitting in here thinking about Glenn. You worry. But neither of you need to. Daryl can handle himself."

"He can," she agreed, smiling a little. "You sure are wise for your age."

"Don't you know? Age really doesn't matter know. I may be younger than a lot of people here, in number, but I'm also older than them."

"You have had to grow up really quickly." How he had changed from the shot little boy who came into her house so long ago. He was practically an adult now, at just the age of fourteen.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I don't want Judith to have to. She deserves to be a kid before she can't be any more," he said sadly.

"She will, Carl. I don't think we're going anywhere for a while," she ruffled his hair. She didn't think about it until then, but she had also grown up a lot. She had toughened up quite a bit from the beginning of this all. She even remembered when she was much like the Alexandria group. She hadn't been prepared for this world until Rick's group had come in and taught them how it had to be. "I'm going to go make French Fries, do you want any?"

"I'd love some."

AN: I know it's been a minute since I've updated, but here's another chapter. I don't know how I feel about it. I wrote it in a short amount of time and...I dunno. Do you all think things are progressing properly? I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but this is my first fic without an OFC. So I'm not used to this characterisation.