A/N Hey guys i'm back! Sorry for the huge delay (again!) The last few months have been crazy as I had to finish up university stuff, my final exams and graduating high school! As long as I don't work too much I plan to finish up this sequel by the end of the summer. Thank you to all my loyal readers for sticking with me (and Beth, and Daryl) throughout It's Time to Run and Look After You. Y'all are the best!

Daryl POV

Once his new group returned to Earl and Emily's camp, he thought they'd be safe. In the physical sense they were.

But Beth wasn't safe from all the nightmares that the past weeks would bring her. One night, Daryl woke up to the sound of her lightly crying. Not wanting to wake the others sleeping in the room, he quietly padded over to her. "Hey," he whispered, hugging her tight. "What's goin' on?"

"I-I can't sleep," Beth hiccupped, wiping away a tear from her cheek. "I keep having nightmares..."

"You wanna talk about 'em?" Daryl asked, knowing it's what she would do for him.

She began with a shaky breath. "The hospital...they were awful, Daryl. They kept me locked up the whole time, only dragging me out when they wanted to do experiments...they said they were trying to find a cure but they weren't getting anywhere."

Daryl nodded, showing he was listening but not wanting to interrupt.

"That gang I was with...the hospital staff traded me to them for supplies. It was even worse there. They treated all the girls like they were nothing." She leaned into his shoulder, letting out a shaky breath. "Thank you for saving me…I don't know how much longer I could have taken it."

Daryl wrapped his arms around her and lightly kissed her forehead. "You're safe now. I'm never going to let something like that happen again."

This seemed to make Beth relax a little more. "Daryl, what are all the other girls going to do? They're still trapped there."

"They're tough. They'll make it," he reassured her.

"Can we help them?" Beth asked him.

He smiled. "You always want to go helpin' everybody, don't ya?" he chuckled.

Beth smiled back at him. "It's the right thing to do."

"Tell ya what. We stay here for a couple days, recover an' whatnot. Then we'll see what we can do 'bout freeing those girls."

Beth beamed up at him, wrapping him in another hug. "Thank you, Daryl!" He looked up into her sparkling eyes and noticed she was looking at him with an intensity he'd never seen before. If there was one thing he could say about Beth, it would be that she was one of the most passionate people he knew.

Before he could say anything else, the pretty blonde pressed her soft lips to his. He found himself responding instantly. "Sleep with me tonight," she whispered to him. "You make all my nightmares go away."

His response was to wrap his arms tight around her and hold her. "Goodnight, Beth. I'll keep you safe. I promise."

She offered him a sleepy smile. "I'll try to make that an easy promise for you to keep."

With a final chuckle, the pair went to sleep holding each other, back to things has been before Beth had been taken.