Her hours at the police station were only supposed to be a few in the afternoon but as it neared time, Beth and Tara realized they had made a mess of the office. If they didn't clean up, Dawn would throw a fit. But cleaning took longer than either of them had expected...more than an hour. By then, it was already too late for Beth to go to the soup kitchen that day like she had planned and took the metro over to the nicer part of downtown. Glenn's apartment was there and while Beth felt a little bad about having to stay in an already cramped apartment with him and Maggie, it was something they all came to an an agreement to as the best use of their finances. On the days she wouldn't be working, Beth would try to make it back to the farm. It was an hour's drive out of the city but almost another extra hour when counting traffic.

Beth didn't realize how exhausted she would be when she finally got to the apartment door.

"Oh my god, Beth." Maggie held Beth because it looked like she was going to fall asleep. "I thought your shift at the station was supposed to end at 4."

"What time is it?"

"It's 7. I can't believe they would keep you there so late on your first day."

Beth reassured her sister. "It's fine, Maggie. Just some cleanup work. There was a lot of it."

Beth knew she would have to get use to crashing on Glenn's couch. And it would be the first thing she did after she came home from the station. In the morning, Beth would also be the first person to leave the apartment. She was grateful that they were trusting her enough with a spare key. The station was too far for Beth to make the journey from the apartment on foot so she would have to get up in the morning with enough time to take the metro.

It was Tara who had warned her, "Better get here early. Even if you're just under the wire, you'll still get the evil eye. I got in about a minute before my shift started one time and Dawn was like 'the hell kind of cop are you, lazy bitch."

Beth couldn't believe that Dawn would be like that, but once more, the workload of criminal records were piled on and it seemed like more time was spent cleaning up after their messes than was actually doing work. Constantly returning to the apartment late at night was starting to worry Maggie. "You might want to reconsider this, Beth. This is too much work that you're not making any money for."

"But I want to help," Beth protested.

"I don't think dad would like what he's seeing. This Dawn person sounds like she's slave-driving you. She maybe a cop, but I bet you she wouldn't survive five minutes with dad..."

"Maggie, don't. I have to handle this myself. I can't always have you or daddy looking after me."

Maggie sighed. "And you're still gonna volunteer at the homeless shelter on top of all that?"

"Why not?"

"Cause you're always trying to help out other people," said Maggie. "It's gonna take too much out of you overworking yourself like this. And by the way, I'd be careful. Working in a homeless shelter in Atlanta isn't like doing a coat drive."

Beth rolled her eyes. In all honesty, she was getting kinda sick of people trying to protect her. She might be new to Atlanta, but she was determined. If her own family wasn't going to let her spread her wings, how was she going to able to achieve her goals?

After several days of the difficult routine at the police station, Beth told herself that she would make time to use her day off to do what she had intended to do in the first place...go to the soup kitchen that Rick told her about.

Much like the police station, it was a cold and difficult trip into the city. Hard to believe that only a few blocks away from the station, Beth felt like she was in a completely different world from where Glenn and Maggie's apartment was. Many buildings were rundown or boarded up. The sidewalks weren't very smooth and have cracked with age. It all seemed like something out of a post-apocalyptic movie. Though she remembered what Tara said about The Walkers and the old park where they were rumored to hang out. Beth was grateful that there seemed to be no sign of that said park anywhere around here.

She approached a white building that stood out from the others, bearing a black cross: Saint Sarah's Mission. She rang the buzzer and waited.

"Over here." Beth looked around the building and saw a man in a preacher's suit behind a fence. "I'm Father Gabriel. Sorry about the fences. It's really just a safety measure, I assure you."

"This is a mission," said Beth. "What would be so dangerous about it?"

"I try to do good work here," he said. "But the people I do the Lord's work for...can be very difficult. I like to think it's his way of testing me sometimes." Once he got Beth inside, he had her sit in his office in the back of the building. "I know your friend Sheriff Grimes. He and his family volunteered here a couple of times before around Christmas. We could use all the help we could get."

"Would once a week be okay?" Beth asked him. "I thought I could do more but I might not be able to with my job."

"That's more than we ever get around here. Most people who volunteer here...they work once and hardly ever come back. As I've said, the people who come here for even a simple meal can be pretty unpredictable. We've had a few riots in the dining room in the past. One, I had to call the police for. But it would mean alot just to have any help at any time. You seem like a sweet girl. I hope you consider it."

Reluctantly, Beth agreed. "I'll give it a chance."

"Oh thank you," said Father Gabriel. "You can work with Noah. He's one of a blessed few, been here longer than any volunteer I've had." He led Beth to the kitchen which seem rather rundown and dingy. Noah was scrubbing away at the dishes. "Noah, this is Beth. She's come to help us out."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "We'll see how long this lasts."

"It can't be all bad," said Beth. "You're just giving them a meal, right?"

"Yeah...well some of them can be picky. The others either want more than their share or just want some booze. Last girl we had working here only lasted about 20 minutes before she headed out the door. I'm just warnin' ya."

"I think I can handle it."

"Then let's prep for the dinner rush."

The mission was nothing like the police station where everything had to be tidy and orderly. The first homeless to enter the dining room for the dinner rush were unkempt or had a strange odor to them. Difficult as it was, Beth did like the change of environment. And she felt confident that if she can handle working long hours under Dawn's "neat and tidy" rulership, then surely she could handle a bunch of rough aggravating homeless people.

It seemed strange how the diners were giving Beth looks, but she ignored them and focus on the task of giving them a smile and a meal. Only a few seemed friendly. One man that caught Beth's eye, mostly out of sympathy for him, wore crutches as he only had one leg and wore an army jacket. He had to have been a war veteran. "Excuse me," he said. "I could use something to drink."

"We have water, juice, and milk," Beth said with a smile.

"No, I mean something like a forty."

"A what?"

"He means malt liquor," said Noah. "Come on, Bob. You really think we'd have liquor around here? You ask every time. You're going to your AA meetings, are you?"

"It never hurts to ask. Have a nice day," said Bob as he limped away with his meal. But Beth really felt bad for him. "That poor man."

Noah didn't share the sympathy. "Eh...don't feel too bad for him. He maybe a war vet but it's the drinking that got him where he is."

After Noah went into the back to make more food, Beth was left alone and a skinny mustached man then approach the counter. Who smiled upon seeing Beth. "Well hello, there. You must be new to us." He read the tag on Beth's apron. "Beth is it? I'm Axel."

"Hi, what can I get for you?"

"Whatever you think is good. So...you plan on staying a while?"

"Once a week if I have the time," said Beth.

"I'll look forward to it then. How old are you anyway?"

Beth was starting to get really uncomfortable now. Was it really any of this man's business? "I'm...18."

"18, huh? That's a good age..." he stopped midway as he sniffed something in the air. "Is that lilac, I smell?"

It finally caught on to Beth that this Axel guy seemed a little to interested in her. She also realized the shampoo she used this morning on her hair used a lilac blossom scent. She was ready to lean back as he tried to lean forward.

"Axel!"

Forks began to drop and the noises in the dining room went quiet. Right behind Axel came a larger, scruffier man. He wore a flannel shirt with a denim jacket over it and a blue baseball cap to cover his long hair. The diners in the room just froze in place as the man got closer to Axel. The confident suave Axel now seemed to be shaking. "D-d-d-daryl...easy, I didn't know you were here. You can have my place in line."

"Screw your place in line," said the man in a gruff redneck voice. "This girl here ain't for smellin'. Now I suggest you get the hell out, less you want me to tell 'er what you went to jail for."

Just great, Beth thought. Axel was also a former convict.

"No, no it's fine, Daryl," he said nervously as he walked past him. "I'm going out the door!" Axel stepped out for good and the noises in the dining room started up again.

The man...Daryl, he seemed to move out of the food line as well and instead went to hang out by the main entry door where people would hang their coats. Beth watched him from the counter as he pulled out a cigarette from his jacket with the intent to light it.

"Sir!" Father Gabriel was running up to him. "Sir, I'm sorry...there's no smoking in the soup kitchen."

The whole room went silent again as Daryl gave Father Gabriel a cold glare. "Don't matter," he said. "The food here's shit anyway. I was just lookin' to keep warm." With that, Daryl angrily left the soup kitchen, leaving Beth a little disappointed that she never got to thank him.