A/N: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Emotionally charged chapters are some of my favorite to write…

Chapter 6 –

When Daryl woke up the next morning, he panicked when he realized he was in his cell and not with Beth. He had been so exhausted after fighting for the medicine at the Vet college and then fighting to save Beth's life, that his original plan to just shower, put away his towel, and return to Beth had not happened. Guilt tore through his stomach, along with fear. What if Beth hadn't made it through the night? He liked to think that someone would have come and woken him to tell him, but at the same time he wasn't sure if Maggie or Hershel could stand the grief long enough to come find him and tell him. Daryl stood up and stretched. He grabbed his crossbow that was leaning against the wall in his cell and he struggled to remember if he had brought it with him last night. He couldn't even recall it being with him in Beth's cell. Someone else must have brought it up for him. He felt stupid for having left it where ever he did.

Daryl walked out of his cell and down the stairs to the common area they used to eat in. He froze on the bottom step when he saw Carol and Rick talking in hushed tones. In the few days it had been since the flu outbreak started, Daryl had let himself get wrapped up in what was going on with Beth and getting the medicine to save her that he had almost forgotten what Carol had done to Karen and David, and what she had almost done to Beth. Now, though, he could feel the rage boiling in his blood. Carol met his eyes from where she was and he walked over to where her and Rick were talking.

"What are we gonna do with her, Rick? She was gonna kill Beth and she killed Karen and David, she can't just stay here! We can't ignore this any longer," Daryl realized his voice was quiet despite the rage tumbling inside of him. His words were thick with the emotion though and he could see Carol flinch slightly at them.

"Daryl," Carol began but Daryl interrupted her, pushing his way right into her face, putting his forehead against hers and using pressure to make her lean back. She shifted slightly, a sign to him that she was uncomfortable with him being so close and that she could see and feel his rage. Good, he thought.

"No, you don't get ta tell me nothin'. Everyone trusted you. Beth, Karen, and David trusted you. I trusted you! Then you go about murdering them. You tried ta convince Beth ta let ya kill 'er. You toyed with her emotions and you made her think it was somethin' that absolutely had ta be done! That she absolutely had ta die ta save everyone's lives! You knew the guilt of the idea tha' she would get everyone else sick would eat her up, tha' she would come crawling out of that cell, weak an' feverish, and that she would let you stab her in the head and kill her, all to save everyone she loves and cares 'bout! You toyed with her, you made her fear everyone who walked by her cell. Made 'er wonder if the next person who walked by was gonna be tha one ta realize that she was a risk tha' needed ta go! All of that to Beth alone.

"Don't you even get me started on what you did to Karen and David, Bitch." He roared into her face, recalling the pale, terrified face Beth had on her face when he first saw her in Cellblock A after it had happened. Daryl suddenly remember Rick was in the room with them. He was surprised Rick wasn't trying to pull him away from her. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Rick leaning against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. Watching them. He was relaxed. Daryl would never hit a woman and he knew that. Evidently, Rick knew that as well. He was glad to see the trust and faith Rick was placing in him at that moment.

Because as much as he swore he would never touch a woman in any manner other than whatever he and they were mutually comfortable with (a couple of his past lays he'd had before the world went to shit had come awful close to his discomfort level and those were almost enough to make him want to stop finding women to fuck), Carol's actions had him wishing he could raise a hand and teach her a lesson about messing with his Beth.

He paused for a moment. His Beth? He couldn't deny how he felt about the young woman and apparently everyone but Beth and him had known about his feelings towards her. Or maybe she did know how I felt, he thought to himself, recalling the numerous touches and hugs the two had shared before the flu started its rampage. The thought made his rage simmer down and he stepped back from Carol slightly and took a deep breath. He could see a small smile form on Rick's face at this and he frowned. What he wouldn't do to wipe that smile off his face right now. At the same time, seeing the smile made Daryl feel slightly better. It almost like an acceptance from Rick. Hell, he thought, I'm becoming a pussy and thinking too much into things.

"You're right, I did all of that," Carol admitted calmly, as if Daryl hadn't just been roaring into her face but had been helping her plant flowers in the yard and then frolicked in the fields with her instead. Daryl felt the rage in his blood exacerbate at her calm admission. "I tried to get her to see it the way I did, and still do. The whole incident last night with all of the deaths and casualties may not have happened if Beth had stopped being cowardly in her cell. We would have never lost those people or almost lost Glenn if she would have let me take care of it."

"Cowardly?! You call that being cowardly?!" Daryl yelled and he could have sworn he heard Rick say "here we go" as he stood up and began to approach the two. "Beth decided to fight and stay alive, something that, if you recall, was a strength she didn't have on the farm several months, to almost a year ago!" Rick put his hand on Daryl's shoulder and Daryl shoved it off.

"Get offa me! I don' ever wanna see yer face again, ya hear me, woman?!" Daryl shouted at Carol, who looked near tears at his words. Deep below his rage, he felt his heart squeeze. He was losing another friend. One he had worked hard to overcome his insecurities and discomfort to build. "Rick, what's the decision? I say kick 'er out. Whose ta say she won't try ta kill Beth for rattin' on her? What if a cold comes through and Carl catches it?! She might go all Rambo on us again and kill anyone infected, child or not!" Rick heaved a heavy sigh and nodded.

"Daryl, I need you to go calm down. Go check on Beth," Daryl opened his mouth to yell at Rick for telling him to calm down but Rick's tired, heavy eyes met his and he froze. "Trust me, you need to go see her." Daryl nodded and walked away, gripping the strap of his crossbow that hung across his chest tightly, his knuckles turning white.

"Carol, we need to go on a run…" he heard Rick say. Daryl whipped back around to yell at him for forgiving Carol so easily but the words died in his mouth when he met Rick's eyes again.

To Beth, the night before

The darkness was relaxing and peaceful. There were no gunshots or screams in pain. No walker groans. Just blissful silence.

"Bethy," a soft voice called out to her. Beth looked around but only saw darkness. "Wake up, Bethy. Return to him. He needs you. Listen, you can hear him…" the soft voice said and Beth could hear somebody whispering to her. The voice sounded like it was in pain and she could hear chokes of sobs between the words.

"Please, Beth, please…you have given me hope again. You showed me that there are still good people in this world…you made me see that I can still trust people; that I can trust you. You shattered every damn wall I built around myself…You can't leave me now. I'll have nothing…"

It was Daryl. Daryl was begging her. Why was he begging her?

"You need to wake up," the voice came again. Beth fought hard to place that voice. She knew that voice.

"M…Momma?" Beth called out. She suddenly felt pressure on her chest. It was uncomfortable, borderline painful. "It hurts! Why?" Thump. Beth felt a heart beat in her chest and froze. She hadn't felt that yet…had she been dead? "No, I wanna stay with daddy and Maggie. I wanna stay with Daryl!" Thump…thump. Tears flowed from her eyes as the pain and pressure on her chest increased and suddenly she could hear cries and begging around her. Her lungs felt like she had swallowed a pool. She felt her body twitch as it tried to grab air.

"Daryl, she's turnin'!" she could hear Maggie groan out through her tears and Beth felt fear grip her tightly. She tried to scream. She tried to tell them I'm not turnin', I'm here! I can't breathe! But nothing would come out. Nothing except a groan and she knew that wasn't a good sound to make. If Beth could have laughed just then, she would have. The irony she felt at that moment.

"I can't…I can't do it, Beth…Please, don't make me have to do it…" she heard Daryl begged and she sobbed. The light she could see through her eyelids was fading again. She couldn't breathe. Please, Daryl! See me!

"Please, Beth…" she felt his forehead on hers and forced herself to give her body another jerking motion. She could feel herself getting heavier again, the darkness trying to consume her once more and she fought. She was losing herself to the darkness when she felt it. His calloused fingers on her neck.

"She's alive…"

Yes, Daryl, I am. I'm alive. I'm here for you. I love you. Help me.