The pain was overwhelming and for a while breathing was a struggle. Yet somehow he managed to get all the way from Woodbury to the Greene farm on foot before passing out just a short walk from the house. Which was why it surprised him so much when he opened his eyes and found himself inside of the actual farmhouse with his side bandaged.

"Daryl!"

The last person he'd ever expect to see again was hovering over him, her eyes filled with worry but also the greatest amount of happiness he'd ever seen.

"Beth..." he groaned.

"I don't know where you've been. I thought you died."

"I didn't...I was coming back...I..." He sat up and saw Beth's protruding stomach for the first time. "Damn girl, look at you." He reached a hand to touch her stomach but the pain suddenly struck his side hard.

"Don't, your gunshot." Beth tried to get him to lie down again. "Oh God, Daryl. What happened to you?"

"Terminus..."

"What?"

"I was in Terminus," he said. "Some Central guys jumped me at the house. Damn Governor let 'em."

"The Governor? But Rick talked to him. He said he didn't know anything."

"Goddamn...Rick." Daryl remembered. "Those Central bastards took 'im!"

They heard the bedroom door open and Hershel came in. "Welcome home, Daryl," he said. "You're lucky Beth found you when she did. You were losing a lot of blood. What's this about Rick being taken?"

"It's my fault," said Daryl. "All of it."

"What you talking about, Daryl?"

"I...I killed the Governor."

Hershel and Beth were in shock. "They were gonna kill Rick...I had ta..."

Beth tried to console him. "Daryl, it's okay."

"We've been hearing gunshots all night," said Hershel. "They're getting close to the farm."

"Central...," said Daryl. "We gotta leave the farm."

"We can't leave the farm," said Beth. "Maggie and Glenn had to leave their house last night. They had no other place to go."

It was worse than Daryl feared. The Central people were already invading much of the Western Georgia Territory. If they got to the farm then it would be all over. They would have conquered the entire territory. Daryl couldn't allow that to happen. The people of Central were nothing like the Governor. They were far worse than that.

Daryl struggled to get up. Beth tried to help him. "I'm fine," he said. "The pain ain't bad no more."

"Daryl, what do you think you're doing?"

"What I gotta do," he said. He got out of bed and picked up his crossbow. Walking past Beth and Hershel, he made his way down the stairs. Beth didn't like what this seemed to be leading up to as she followed him downstairs nearly startling Glenn and Maggie who had been on watch downstairs all night. "Daryl, you're not doing what I think you're doing are you?"

"Gimme one good reason why I shouldn't."

Beth managed to reach Daryl just as he was heading for the front door. She forced him to turn around and look at her. "You were gone for months and I had no idea where you were and now you're gonna leave? How do you plan to stop them all by yourself? You don't have to do this. I don't care if the Governor's dead!"

It was hard for Daryl to watch Beth cry knowing what he intended to do. "And what about Rick, huh? I can't let 'im get killed. I get 'im out and maybe he can put a stop to all of this."

"And what if you can't? You were just shot. Please don't do this, Daryl. Or at least...lemme go with you?"

Maggie, Glenn and Hershel were looking at them and Daryl looked at them. They all seem to agree without words that they couldn't let Beth leave this house. "I'm sorry, Beth." He turned towards the door.

"Daryl, no!" Glenn and Maggie managed to hold Beth back the moment she tried to pursue Daryl. "Daryl! Don't leave me again! Please!" Hershel went around standing between his daughter and Daryl. "We can't let you go out there, Bethy."

"Daddy, please get him to stay."

Hershel knew he had no control over what Daryl wanted to do. But he tried to assure Beth. "I'm gonna have a quick word with Daryl outside." Hershel and Daryl could both hear Beth still crying as they stepped out onto the front porch. "Are you sure you have to do this?"

"Trust me, I don't wanna," said Daryl. "...but I gotta do somethin'. These Central folk...they ain't like the Governor. They're gonna wanna take over everything. We need Rick, man."

"I know." Hershel then reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of keys. "My truck should have enough to get you where you need to go."

"Thank you. Um...listen, I'm sorry..."

"You have nothing to apologize for, Daryl. Not after everything you've done."

Daryl tried to drown out Beth's crying as he took the keys and headed towards the truck.

As he drove he could see settlements boarded up and more wandering walkers than he'd ever seen in the area. The gun battles were heading towards his direction but he managed to diverge from them. He drove past the hills were his old home was and could see smoke through the trees. He feared the worst, especially since he hadn't seen Merle since Woodbury. But Daryl had to get those thoughts out of his head. He was already running out of time.

He got to the border of Central and as he suspected, things were quiet. Most of the men were gone, so he was able to make his way towards Terminus. The only way his luck would run out now is if Rick was already dead.

...

Once Daryl was outside the gateway to Terminus, he could hear gunshots and then silence. His heart skipped a beat. Another minute later, he was shocked to see Rick coming out. He looked like a mess but the son of a bitch managed his way out. All that was left were a few outside guards and some walkers. Daryl made his move then helping Rick to clear them out.

"Son of a bitch," said Daryl. "You had me thinkin' I came all the way here for nothing."

Rick knew the invasion had occurred and that the Governor was dead. "How bad is it?" he asked Daryl.

"Pretty bad, man. They're pushing through."

"I have to get to Lori and Carl."

"They might make it there before we do."

"Then let's get going."

...

The Greene farm was preparing to arm themselves. Glenn and Maggie were barricading the doors. Hershel insisted that Beth take their son upstairs to wait things out. By the time everything was set the first men began arriving on the grounds. From the window Beth could see is what too many for the family to handle unless she picked up a gun.

The fighting went on for what almost seemed like hours. Fortunately it seemed like they were doing good against Central's army thanks to some good aim. The handful that still remained became distracted by lose walkers that were now approaching the farm. Those who could flee did while the others were being devoured. Beth realized at that moment that she was running out of ammo, the same would go for the others in the house. The walkers' meal would only last for so long before they continued moving towards the house and the herd was getting bigger.

Suddenly they could hear loud vehicles approaching the farm. The Greene family feared the worst, that it was more of Central's people. They started shooting and steering the walkers away from the house. One truck then pulled up to the front door and everyone went out to the porch to investigate. They were still armed just for good measure.

The moment Beth saw Daryl and Rick come out of the truck, she sprinted past everyone straight into Daryl's arms.

"I'm sorry," said Daryl. "I'm really sorry for leaving you."

Beth didn't care about that anymore. It was all in the past.

"Are you okay, Rick?" Hershel asked him.

"I'm alright. Soon as I realized most of the guys were headed here, I was able to get out. If Daryl hadn't been there to meet me, we wouldn't have this situation under control. We managed to chase some of them back to Central. But it looks like the walkers are taking care of the rest of them. We'll need everyone on hand to finish them off."

"We're in," said Maggie and Glenn.

"Thank you. For now just stay tight and defend the house. We'll take out as many of them around here as we can."

...

By sundown the dead were no longer rising outside of the farmhouse. The nearby settlements stood strong against men and walkers and by nightfall all the fires were being put out except for those intended for burning corpses. The death count was highest in Woodbury where the chaos began. Rick seemed to be getting things under control and that was exactly how Daryl liked it. He was likely to become the new "Governor" but who knows whether or not Rick would even want to keep that name.

Gareth had not been heard or seen. But with his army pretty much vanquished, that didn't seem to matter anymore.

Daryl had stayed with Beth in their room the entire night. "You okay, Beth?"

"Yeah," she said. "Are you?"

"Yeah." But Beth could see right through his bluff. And he could see that too. "Well, I dunno about Merle. Haven't seen him since Woodbury."

"If you want to go look for him, I won't stop you."

Daryl shook his head. "I ain't leavin' this time."

AN: This fic has been a pain for my head. I'm just gonna wrap it up in another chap or two. I never had much idea for where to take this story up to this point anyway but I do know how I want to end it. I do want to thank all the fans who have been patient with my updates. I can't believe this fic became as likeable as it did. This for me is one of those fics I wish I hadn't started. Funny how my most reviewed fics always turn out that way. LOL. Anyway, i'm looking to finish this and Atonement soon as that was my goal anyhow. I also came up with a recent Bethyl idea that I may do but I'm scared I won't be able to finish it. Perhaps I should write an excerpt of it in "Drabble Goodness" and see how people feel about me continuing it. In the meantime. Love you lots.