Hello again everyone! It has been a while since I have worked on this fanfiction, I apologize. However, I wanted to get this next chapter out before season 5 premiers tomorrow, which I will definitely be watching!
Daryl's POV
Daryl touched Beth's arm gently, feeling that if his hand pushed too hard, she would disappear from underneath his touch. The redneck pulled his worn rag out of his back pocket and rinsed it in the river. Then, he used the damp cloth to clean the long cut that ran down Beth's arm. He mentally cussed at himself for not being more careful. When he had burst into the ceremony room and shot Mary's hand with a bolt, the damn woman had dropped the knife, causing it to fall and slice Beth's arm. The cut wasn't deep, but if it got infected Beth would be in a lot of trouble.
The girl sat in front of him on a large rock. Her blonde hair was plastered to her face with sweat and walker guts were smeared on her now tattered white dress. She was pale from the loss of blood and bruises surrounded her wrists and ankles. However, between the grimaces that came from her cut being cleaned, a shy smile peeked through. That was a smile Daryl had worried he would never see again. He wanted to take Beth into his arms and hold her and smell her hair, but he also felt like if he held her too close, she would somehow learn all of the horrible things he had done while they were apart. Beth's blue eyes saw everything, so he didn't look directly at her out of fear that she would see all of his failures. Daryl wanted to erase his time with the Marauders, a time when he had almost turned back into the Daryl he had been before the apocalypse. At that last thought, Daryl hung his head even lower and concentrated on Beth's wound.
"Hey," Beth said, putting a hand on his chin and forcing him to look up at her. Daryl looked up and the sight took his breath away. Sunlight was pouring through the tree leaves and creating a golden halo around Beth's head. Her blue eyes were bright and sparkling just like the river they were by.
"Whatever is bothering you," Beth said quietly, "stop. It's over. We are all here, we are all back together again, that's what matters."
Daryl pulled his face out of Beth's palm. She had already seen into him too much.
"Let's wrap your wound," Daryl growled, ignoring the young woman's comforting words, he didn't deserve them anyway.
The redneck picked up the tatters of a fairly clean shirt that he had cut into strips and began wrapping it around Beth's forearm. The deep blue cloth stood out against her pale, almost porcelain skin. Daryl focused all of his energy on wrapping it correctly, as if doing so would protect not only Beth's wound, but Beth herself from the horrors of the world. Daryl opened his mouth to ask how Beth had ended up at Terminus, but then he shut it. He didn't know if she was ready to talk about it and he didn't know if he was ready to hear.
"Daryl," Beth said, his name dripping from her lips like honey, "It's not your fault, what happened back at the house. The whole time we were apart all I could think about was…."
"It's done," Daryl barked, cutting off Beth reassurances. He stood up and looked down at the young girl. He could see in her large expressive eyes that he was hurting her, but he couldn't seem to stop. If he let himself get close to her again, he would only fail her like he had done before. Daryl knew he wasn't good enough for Beth and their time together in the house seemed like a distant dream. He was used to getting his hopes up and having them crushed, but never like the time he had run all night after a car that was long gone. He couldn't let that happen again. The only way he could keep Beth safe was by not letting her get into his head and distract him from what needed to be done.
Daryl didn't admit it to himself, but that was also the only way he knew how to keep himself safe. Losing Beth made him realize how attached he had become to her and Daryl wasn't used to being so emotionally dependent on another person. Merle would have called it weakness. However, Daryl no longer saw it as a weakness, but it terrified him nevertheless. He was used to people he cared about being taken away, the only way to protect himself from that was to not get too close. He had already let Beth get far too close and he couldn't let it happen again.
The blonde stood up with a determined look in her eyes that told the redneck he was about to get a telling off, but that never happened. Instead, Maggie walked up and they both pretended like nothing had happened.
"Beth," Maggie exclaimed, "I told you not to wander off too far."
"Maggie," Beth replied, rolling her eyes, "I am only a few yards from camp. Besides, I'm with Daryl, he was dressing my wound."
Maggie's eyes took in Daryl and the perfectly wrapped wound with surprise. However, the older sister understood that the two had grown closer during their time together. Maggie herself had become much closer to Bob and Sasha.
"I'm sorry if I'm being a bit paranoid," Maggie said, "but I have good reason to be."
"I know," Beth replied, her exasperation disappearing.
Daryl shuffled around at the edge of the conversation. He had known Maggie for a while and respected not only her ability to fight but also her ability to say what she really meant. However, after his time with Beth, Daryl felt awkward. If Maggie ever found out that Beth and him had slept in the same bed, she would flay him alive. Daryl felt like an old pervert just remembering it, but he couldn't bring himself to regret it either.
"Well," demanded Maggie.
Daryl came out of his thoughts to see that Maggie was staring expectantly at him.
"Wat," he asked, immediately feeling defensive even though he didn't know what Maggie had said. Although it was impossible, he feared that Maggie had her sister's ability to read his mind.
"Are you coming back to camp with us or not," Maggie repeated.
"Ummm," Daryl muttered, "I need to finish hunting."
The redneck tried not to look at Beth's downcast face as he picked his crossbow up.
"But Daryl," the blonde said, grabbing the corner of his vest, "you are hurt and tired. You should get some rest."
"Beth's right," Maggie agreed, "you took quite the beating these past few days. Won't kill you to sleep for a couple hours and get clean."
"Hell no," Daryl snarled, yanking himself out of Beth's grasp, "We aren't that far from Terminus, I don't have time to be taking it easy, laying around like some pussy."
The redneck continued cussing under his breath as he walked off, leaving the two sisters standing by the river.
Beth's POV
Beth sighed as she watched the angle wings on Daryl's jacket disappear into the forest. She felt better when he was around, safer, but he couldn't seem to understand that. Beth knew he blamed himself for her being kidnapped, but there was something else wrong too. However, they hadn't had much time to talk about it since they escaped Terminus.
It had been a long night. All the walkers within a ten mile radius had been drawn by the commotion going on in the old railroad station. The group had all banded together and fought their way down one of the railroad tracks running away from Terminus. Beth had fought between Daryl and Maggie, darting out every now and then to stab a walker. After a couple of weeks being kept captive, she had had a lot of energy to burn off. After what felt like several hours, Beth had gotten tired of running and fighting. That was nothing compared to what the rest of the group must have felt though. Maggie looked like she hadn't eaten in weeks and Daryl was covered in bruises and cuts.
Slowly, they had come across less and less walkers. When the sun started peaking over the horizon, Rick had finally called for them to stop. Everyone had collapsed where they were standing. The last thing Beth could remember was falling asleep with Daryl's arm around her and Maggie's hand in her own.
This morning, she had woken up to Maggie shaking her shoulder. Several others were sleeping nearby in the grass, but they weren't people she knew.
"Wake up sleeping beauty," came Maggie's teasing voice.
At that, Beth had flung herself into her sister's arms. They had rolled all over the ground, crying and laughing as they tried to convey their happiness at being reunited. Finally, once they had calmed down, Beth had started looking around for a face she had become very familiar with. However, Daryl wasn't to be seen. Terror grew within Beth as she searched desperately for his face and couldn't find it.
"Maggie, where is Daryl," Beth had asked.
"That sour-face? He is out hunting, barely said a word to anyone this morning. The guy just grunted a Rick and walked into the woods," Maggie had replied.
"He's out there by himself," Beth had exclaimed, her worry only rising. Beth knew Daryl was more than capable of taking care of himself, but accidents could still happen. "Maggie, I need to go looking for him, I need to talk to Daryl."
"Beth," Maggie said, cupping her little sister's face in her hands, "it's all right. Daryl will be back, you know nothing could kill that redneck. I'm going to go get Bob so that he can clean that wound of yours, just stay right here till I get back."
"But Maggie," Beth had complained as her sister went off to find Bob.
The blonde knew she was being unreasonable, but she had to see Daryl. She only felt truly safe when he was around and honestly her feelings were a bit hurt that he had left for the day without even saying goodbye to her, especially when they had just been reunited.
Beth had looked around and when she didn't see her sister anywhere close, she had headed toward the forest. She could make out the familiar boot prints in the dirt that belonged to Daryl. At the edge of camp, Rick was keeping watch. Beth made up something about having to use the restroom and continued following Daryl's tracks. She hadn't made it very far when her arm started stinging. Due to her slight exertion, the wound had started bleeding again. The blonde was near a river so she began washing her wound off in the water. A shadow fell over her and Beth jumped, reaching for the knife at her waist.
"Need some help," came a gruff voice from behind her.
Beth whipped around to see Daryl standing a few feet away like he had appeared out of thin air. The young woman suddenly became very aware of the fact that she was wearing a tattered dress covered in walker guts. All the things she had wanted to say to Daryl suddenly flew out of her head and she was left standing in the shallow running water until he made the first move.
"Sit down," Daryl ordered pointing at a rock nearby.
Beth had done as she was told and watched as he pulled a shirt out of his backpack. Daryl skillfully cut it into strips and then took his rag out and dipped it in the stream. Then, he came and knelt down in front of her and began cleaning her wound. Beth watched as Daryl meticulously cleaned the gash on her arm. Although he was very careful, she couldn't help but grimace a few times in pain. The scenario reminded Beth of the time Daryl had wrapped her ankle. Daryl could be surprisingly gentle when he wanted to be. The blonde smiled to herself as she remembered Daryl telling her he was going to give her a serious piggyback ride. Beth could see why Daryl was so intimidating when she first meet him. Now that she had gotten to know him, she had discovered that there was much more to the rough man than meet the eye.
While watching Daryl, Beth realized he never made eye contact with her. She watched as he hung his head over her arm like the weight of the world was bearing down on him. The blonde couldn't stand to see him like that.
"Hey," she whispered softly, reaching out to take hold of his chin. He froze under her touch but then let her lean his head back so that he was looking at her. His blue eyes widened when he first looked directly at her, but then Daryl began looking past her, adverting his gaze. Something was wrong; Beth just couldn't quite put her finger on it. She knew he always blamed himself when things went wrong. If Daryl had blamed himself for her father's death, then he probably blamed himself for her getting kidnapped. She had to make him understand that it wasn't his fault. The blonde could also guess that something had happened between now and the last time they had seen each other, from the looks of Daryl, something pretty bad. It upset Beth to think of anyone hurting Daryl.
Whatever is bothering you," Beth said quietly, "stop. It's over. We are all here, we are all back together again, that's what matters." She wanted to pull Daryl out of the past where he was hurting and into the present.
Her words didn't seem to have any effect. Daryl just pulled his face out of her hand and went back to focusing on her wound.
"Let's wrap you wound," Daryl growled with his back to her as he picked up the strips of cloth.
Beth sat in silence as she watched Daryl wrap the fabric around her cut. She knew she couldn't be in better hands, no matter how qualified Bob might be. Beth could feel the tension practically rolling off the man in front of her. He seemed to want to say something to her, but decided against it. Beth had never had trouble with words, but at this moment they seemed light-years away. The blonde wanted to make things better for Daryl, she wanted him to know that she didn't blame him for what happened.
"Stop being a wuss and just come out with it," Beth told herself.
"Daryl," Beth began, "It's not your fault, what happened back at the house. The whole time we were apart all I could think about was…."
"It's done," Daryl barked cutting her off. Beth immediately recoiled at his sharp tone. He obviously didn't want to talk about what had happened, but that gave her the feeling that Daryl had stuff he needed to get off his chest. She remembered how cold and distant Daryl had been right after the prison had been attacked. Once they had gotten drunk, the older man had become a real jerk. However, once Daryl had broken down, Beth realized that those were ways he hid his emotions and problems. It wasn't good for someone to keep things locked up inside of them.
Beth stood up, ready to make Daryl talk, even if she had to scream at him, but then Maggie appeared.
"Beth," Maggie said with a slight hint of annoyance in her voice, "I told you not to wander too far."
The blonde knew she would get nothing out of Daryl with Maggie around, so she decided to drop it for now.
"Maggie," Beth replied, rolling her eyes, "I am only a few yards from camp. Besides, I'm with Daryl, he was dressing my wound."
Maggie's eyes took in Daryl and the perfectly wrapped wound with surprise. However, the older sister understood that the two had grown closer during their time together. Maggie herself had become much closer to Bob and Sasha.
"I'm sorry if I'm being a bit paranoid," Maggie said, "but I have good reason to be."
"I know," Beth replied, her exasperation disappearing. She couldn't stay mad at Maggie, especially since they had just been reunited.
"How about we go back to camp and get you some cleaner clothes," Maggie suggested.
Beth looked down at her ruined ceremony dress. She wanted to get out of what would have been her funeral clothes.
"Yes, I would like that if we have anything else," Beth admitted.
"I think some of the others who came with us might have grabbed some extra clothes and supplies on the way out, we can go ask them," Maggie told Beth before turning to Daryl.
"Are you going to come back with us, you could use some new clothes as well," Maggie asked Daryl.
Daryl shuffled around, obviously feeling awkward. He looked like he was going to bolt into he woods any second.
"Well," demanded Maggie.
Daryl fidgeted some more before he seemed to register that her sister had spoken to him.
"Wat," Daryl snarled unsociably. Luckily, both sisters were used to his mood swings and weren't intimidated.
"Are you coming back with us to camp or not," Maggie repeated.
"Ummm," Daryl muttered, "I need to finish hunting."
Beth couldn't help but feel like Daryl was trying to avoid her. However, she pushed the hurt feeling away. She watched as he picked up his crossbow, bruises coloring his arms. Beth wouldn't have noticed if she hadn't spent so much one-on-one time with Daryl, but she thought she could detect a faint limp in his gait.
"But Daryl," the blonde said, her hand shooting out to grab the edge of his jacket, "you are hurt and tired too. You should get some rest."
"Beth's right," Maggie agreed, "you took quite the beating these past few days. Won't kill you to sleep for a couple hours and get clean."
"Hell no," Daryl snarled, yanking himself out of Beth's grasp, "We aren't that far from Terminus, I don't have time to be taking it easy, laying around like some pussy."
The redneck continued cussing under his breath as he walked off. Beth sighed as he disappeared into the forest. Daryl was a wonderful man, but his mood swings might just drive her crazy.
"Come on," Maggie insisted, leading Beth back towards camp.
The two sisters walked side by side, enjoying each other's company.
"What happened after…, ya know, the prision," Beth asked, avoiding the topic of her father's death.
Maggie looked off into the trees and Beth could tell she was remembering Hershel too. The brunette cleared her throat before replying.
"Beth, I am so sorry, I should have looked for you more," Maggie admitted, "After the prison fell, I searched for the bus thinking both you and Glenn would be on it. When neither of y'all were there, I kept searching for Glenn, but once I found him I didn't go back out looking for you. I wanted to be done running for my life. I was with a group and we heard about Terminus, I was so relieved that the nights outside were finally over, that I didn't even think about anyone else in the group."
Maggie stopped walking, tears dripping down her face. Beth didn't say anything; she just pulled Maggie into a hug. She couldn't be mad at her sister. Beth had done almost the same thing. The last night in the house, when Daryl had mentioned staying there, Beth had been ready to take him up on the offer. She knew how tempting it could be to stay in safe location with people you cared about rather than keep on fighting out in the wilderness looking for people you didn't even know were still alive.
"It's alright," Beth said.
"No it's not," Maggie cried, "you are my little sister, I'm supposed to watch out for you but I was willing to forget about you just because Glenn and I thought we had found a safe place to stay."
"That's the thing," Beth replied, "I am your little sister, but you don't have to watch out for me like you used to when we were little kids. I will always have your back and you will always have mine, but we can also make it apart."
Maggie quit crying and managed to give her sister a weak smile.
"When did you get so tough, hunh," Maggie asked.
"I learned some things about myself these past couple of weeks," Beth said.
"Tell me about it," Maggie asked as the two sisters started walking again.
"Well," Beth began, wondering where to start, "When the prison fell, I escaped with Daryl. We didn't get along very well at first."
"Ha," Maggie snorted, "It's a miracle that anyone can get along with that man, I mean I will admit that he has the group's back, but he will also bit your head off if you step wrong."
"No kidding," Beth laughed, enjoying that she could joke with Maggie about Daryl's mood swings, "but he is a good man, the best actually, he just doesn't know it yet."
"I wouldn't say the best," Maggie said, squinting her nose, "but if he showered every now and then, I might say that he is an alright companion."
Beth didn't want to laugh at Maggie's taunts but she couldn't keep it in, her laughter bubbled up from within and burst out. The two girls strolled into the make-shift camp still giggling as they headed to find new clothes. Beth was so focused on her and Maggie's conversation that she didn't look where she was going and ran straight into someone.
"Oof," protested the person Beth had run into. Beth looked up to apologize and gasped.
"Beth," exclaimed the young man in front of her, "Is that really you?"
"Logan," Beth gasped. The young man in front of her could barely be recognized as the boy she had met several years ago. He was much taller and leaner, his muscles had filled out. However, his hazel eyes were the same.
"I didn't think I would ever see anyone from high school again," Logan said in amazement, pulling Beth into a tight hug.
"It's good to see you," Beth said in astonishment.
"Hey Logan," called a distant male voice.
"Coming," Logan yelled back.
"We can catch up later," Logan said before he released Beth and went to find the person who had been calling him.
"Who is he," asked Maggie.
"I had Logan for history class my freshman year of high school," Beth replied.
"Oooooohhhh, history," Maggie taunted.
"No Maggie, it's not like that between us," Beth protested.
"Well it should be, he is cute Beth," Maggie insisted.
"No going to happen Maggie," Beth said firmly, "now let's go find me some new clothes."
"Alright," Maggie said in a tone that made Beth sure the topic would come up again.
Daryl's POV
Daryl kicked the sweetgum tree in front of him.
"God dammit," he cussed.
"Stop being a wussy, Darlena," teased Merle.
"Shuddup," Daryl said to the apparition.
"You are like a whipped dog, the way you take act around that pretty little blonde thang," Marle mocked, "Tending to her wound like she is the damn queen of England."
"Get out of my head," Daryl yelled as he started pacing. His fist tightened but there was nothing physical for him to punch, it was all in his head. Maybe the apocalypse was making him insane, he was pretty sure that talking to dead people got you thrown in the crazy house.
"Just you wait baby brother," Merle said smugly, "Just you wait till she realizes that you have it bad for her. She will turn tail and run once she realizes what a pervert you are. She is nearly half your age little brother, I guess you ain't a Dixon for nothing."
"Go fuck yourself," Daryl snarled, but when he whirled around there was no one there.
Daryl shook his head, his long hair slapping the sides of his face. Maybe Beth was right, maybe an hour or two of sleep would do him some good. Daryl snorted at the thought, it seemed like Beth was always right.
Just as Daryl was going to start heading back to camp, he heard a crashing in the woods. It wasn't a walker or an animal, so it had to be other people. The hunter backed up behind some bushes for cover and lifted his crossbow. The crashing got closer and closer until it was almost right on top of him. As two people ran toward him, Daryl came out of his hiding place and pointed his crossbow at them.
"Stay where you….," Daryl's voice trailed off as he took the people in. "Carol," he whispered, "Tyreese."
They all stood frozen, staring at each other until a wail broke the silence.
"Asskicker," Daryl murmured in astonishment.
"Daryl," cried Carol, as she flung herself into his arms. They hugged as tightly as they could, considering they had a baby between them.
"Not to interrupt the reunion, but we have several walkers on our tail," Tyreese cut in.
"I can take care of that," Daryl said, "We have a camp not far from here."
"Thank god," Carol gasped, hoisting Judith up higher on her hip.
"Let's get going," Daryl said, taking command, "I will cover y'alls backs."
His two companions nodded and they all started heading back towards camp.
Rick's POV
Rick kept guard around the camp, if it could even be called that. He hadn't been able to sleep since the night when he, Michonne, and his son had been attacked by the Marauders. He was scared to let his guard down, scared that something would happen. Also, there was more pressure on him than ever. Not only did he have his own people to worry about, but he seemed to have become the leader of all the people who had escaped with them.
It had all happened so fast. They had been in the boxcar, contemplating possible escapes when a single pair of footsteps could be hear sprinting across the concrete outside. Metal scrapped against metal and suddenly the door had been pushed open. A teenager with brown hair and hazel eyes stood in the doorway.
"Comon," he had whispered.
"Who are you," Rick had asked.
"Logan," the kid had answered, "One of the groups in the boxcars managed to get out and now we are freeing everyone. The Termites are nowhere in sight, we have to go, NOW!"
Everyone had stood froze, wanting to run right out of the boxcar but also worried that they were running into a trap. Heads turned one by one towards him. Rick could still feel the pressure mounting as they expected him to fulfill the role of their leader.
"He is telling the truth," Rick had said after a moment. Immediately, there was a fluster of activity. They woke an unconscious Daryl up and Rick had to leave his best friend, his brother, with almost complete strangers while he went in search of weapons. It hadn't taken long to find the weapons, which had only one guard that they easily overpowered. Once armed, everyone had felt better. The group had been about to go find Daryl and the others when his crazy brother/friend came running out of nowhere with Beth and a whole bunch of chaos behind him.
Rick snorted at the memory. Daryl always seemed to find a way to be in the middle of everything. However, the harsh redneck had been softened since the prison, which was surprising. After everything that had happened, Rick expected him to be angry and more withdrawn than ever. Instead, Daryl seemed to have handled things somehow. Rick suspected that Daryl's current state had something to do with Beth, he just wasn't sure how.
"Rick," said Abraham.
"Hello, Abraham, what can I do for you," Rick asked.
"Well, when we were escaping Terminus, I had Rosita knock Garith unconscious. He is tied to a tree at the edge of the camp. At some point, we have to do something about him," Abraham explained.
"Ahhh," Rick replied, he had known this talk was coming, "I will call a meeting then."
Thanks so much for reading! I don't know how season 5 will go but I will continue to follow the storyline I have set. It will be interesting to see if any of my fantasies match up with what really happens.