A/N: Sorry if these first few chapters seem slow; I'm just trying to set things up!

Hopefully you enjoy this one! :)

Beth liked her job enough. It was very laid back and Carol, her boss, was pretty lenient with what days Beth wanted to work. It wasn't the most exciting thing in the world; there was only so much unexpectedness that could come from being a seamstress (or Cinderella, as Maggie used to love calling her. "It was the mice that did the sewing!" "Then I guess you're a rodent, Bethy.") But it definitely had its perks; she had made a number of acquaintances and even some friends through it, which was probably for the best given how intimate she sometimes had to be with customers.

She was typing away on a calculator, crunching numbers for the end of week totals, when she heard a rush of wind suck into the storefront. Looking up, she recognized Rick immediately and smiled warmly.

He used to rarely stop by; it was always Lori who was in and out, dropping off dry-cleaning and leaving Rick's pants to be hemmed. Beth was quite fond of her, how she held the title of housewife with such dignity and grace. It might not have been obvious to everyone, but Beth knew how much Lori juggled and handled on a regular basis. And when she was pregnant with Judith, she was glowing. At first, at least. Beth prided herself on being able to read people and it was clear to her that something wasn't right with the woman she had grown to adore. It wasn't in her right to pry but how she wondered what was making the spark in her every day demeanor fade and how Beth hoped it wasn't the baby. Rick had come in on his own shortly after, asking her to make a blanket from old t-shirts that he, Lori, and Carl had; it was gonna be a surprise for his wife. The sentiment warmed Beth's heart and maybe, she entertained, she had simply lost her touch and nothing was wrong with Lori at all.

When she first heard of Lori's passing from Carol, it didn't seem real. For days, Beth expected her to waltz in with an armful of projects to keep her busy, that twinkle back in her eye, all genuine and curious to the ongoings in Beth's life. But she never saw her face again and whenever she remembered that, there was a dull ache deep in her chest. She'd written plenty in her journal about everything; their friendship, her death, the way that she somehow filled a maternal role she hadn't acknowledged missing before. Lori was a gem to her.

Rick started coming by once in a blue moon again and the first time Beth met Judith, she melted. She was the most precious thing she'd ever laid eyes on and damn if she couldn't see so many bits and pieces of the woman she revered in her little girl. The blanket Beth had taken weeks to make was still wrapped in plastic, sitting and waiting for the right moment to be given back. And when she finally did present it to Rick, his face tensed and Adam's apple bobbed repeatedly. He didn't verbalize his thanks but he didn't need to; Beth knew how grateful he was by the gleaming of his eyes.

He was better now, for the most part. He smiled more easily and he didn't seem to carry Lori's death around his neck like an albatross, which Beth appreciated because now it was like they could just be themselves. She could continue to admire the Grimes family, even if it wasn't complete anymore.

"Hey Sheriff, what can I do for ya?" He was dressed in his uniform and seemed in a bit of a worried state, but her attention was stolen as soon as she focused in on the one-year-old in his arms. "Hi, sweet thing." Reaching a hand out, Judith grasped onto her finger without much hesitation. Beth's smile grew.

"Sorry for troublin' you at work, Beth, but I was wondering if you could watch her for a few hours? I gotta head in for some important stuff and I can't get ahold of her normal sitter."

Beth was a bit surprised at the favor but she wasn't about to turn it down. She couldn't imagine how stressful things had to be for Rick these days and damn if she could say no to Judith's big ol' eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, of course. I don't think Carol will mind. And I'd love to spend some time with her." Rick let out a sigh of relief and thanked her profusely before dumping off Judith's things (and personally handing her Judith's stuffed bear that had been tucked in his back pocket), offering Beth a ride home in the evening for all her trouble. She just waved him off and explained she had Maggie's car for the day. And as quickly as he came, he was gone.

"Looks like it's just you and me today, Jude-bug," she hummed to the girl in her arms, who reflexively grabbed at the end of her braid.

"Still don't see why we couldn't take your bike," Carl all but grumbled, slamming the passenger's side door to Daryl's truck a bit harder than he would've liked. Daryl didn't warrant him with a response, just shook his head and let himself smirk; he supposed he understood where the kid was coming from. A certain amount of rebellion was normal in a young teenager like himself (lord knows Daryl had his fair share of that when he was younger), plus the death of his mom certainly changed him, but Daryl knew he still had to draw a line somewhere. He respected Rick too much to purposely induce stress on him by letting his son do whatever he wanted.

"Maybe when you're older and can get one of your own, your dad won't kill me." He didn't bother locking the door, since the Grimes' house was just a couple yards away and he was only gonna pop in to say hi to Rick.

The house was in a bit of disarray, which was normal, and Daryl was used to it anyway; it wasn't nearly as bad as his home was when he was growing up. The TV was on and Judith was locked in her highchair, wailing bloody murder. Daryl heard Rick in the kitchen, calling out in attempts to calm his daughter and he couldn't help but grin.

Carl pressed a kiss to his sister's head before darting down the hall to his room, just as Rick emerged into view, clad in his Sheriff uniform with an addition of some kind of food (or maybe something else) splattered on his chest. "Daryl, hey." He sounded exhausted and Daryl felt for the guy. "Carl botherin' you again?"

"He ain't no bother," Daryl replied honestly with a shrug. He figured maybe it helped out too, taking Carl off his hands for a few hours every couple of days. The company was nice, anyhow. "Kid still wants a cruiser though." The older man laughed at that, his tired eyes crinkling at the corners. He knew he shouldn't linger about; Rick had enough on his plate and Daryl hated feeling like a hinderance, which was a little ironic given his buddy's choice of words on his son. "Have a good'n, Rick."

The sun was just starting to sink when Daryl hopped back into his truck and lit up a cigarette. Going home and dealing with Merle wasn't exactly something he was looking forward to today, so he was gonna make the smoke in his hand last. The neighborhood was quiet and he nearly lost himself in his thoughts when he heard an engine.

A car he didn't recognize pulled up in front of Rick's house and a petite blonde emerged from the driver's side, clutching a purple bear that he knew to be Judith's.

It was the girl from the library.

Daryl sat up straight in his seat, leaning forward towards the windshield. Suddenly paranoid that he was obvious, he hunkered down a bit and flicked his cigarette out the window. He wasn't sure if he expected her to spot him and stomp on over, screaming at him for taking her journal, but his stomach clenched none the less. All she did though was ring the doorbell and hand the bear off to Rick with a smile and a wave, before popping back in her car and taking off.

What a small damn world, Daryl determined.

When Beth got home, she was surprised to find Maggie at her place. Since that night, she had spent nearly every moment with Glenn, not to mention every night. The elder Greene looked ragged and Beth almost called her out on it, but she didn't have the heart.

"Hey. You doin' okay?" Beth inquired in a gentle voice, setting down her purse and making a beeline for her sister, curled up on the couch. Maggie managed to flash a shaky smile her way.

"Yeah, I'm okay. Sorry I just let myself in; I thought you'd be home by now." Glancing at the clock on the end table, Beth realized she'd gotten home quite a bit later than she normally did.

"Don't need to apologize, you can always come by here. I was watching Judith, Sheriff Grimes' little girl?" Maggie seemed to tense at her explanation and maybe if she didn't know her sister so well, Beth wouldn't have noticed. "Maggie, I know you don't want to tell me what's going on but you can talk to me, about anything." Just speaking about it had a little bubble of anger growing in the pit of Beth's stomach; it wasn't just about curiosity, it was about pain. Seeing something so wrong with her sister and not knowing how to help, let alone what was causing it, was the absolute worst feeling.

"Glenn's waiting for me. I just wanted to check in on you." Beth wanted to scream and maybe even cry a little bit when her sister stood and lightly grabbed her arm, but she didn't. Before Maggie could pull away, Beth lunged at her with a hug, arms wrapping around her back tightly and her head to her sister's shoulder. It was a small relief when the gesture was returned.

Maggie took off and Beth was left alone again, silently wishing she had a child to watch over or a stranger in a library to make small talk with. She'd need to get a new journal soon but for now, her Walkman would have to be enough.

He didn't know what he was doing back there, at least so soon. Daryl knew he should avoid the library for at least a few more days, because the guilt of what he did (and the thumping of the journal like the Tell Tale Heart on his workbench, in his car, in his fucking hands) and the uncomfortable reality that he may just run into B. Greene again. Maybe he secretly wished for that to happen because since he saw her at Rick's place, she had lingered on in the back of his head. He wanted to know what her relationship to the Grimes family was. And part of him wanted to know what spurred her on to write the few things he had read.

For whatever reason, he ignored all logic and reason, taking a seat at the same damn table the two shared less than a week ago. And the inkling to read more overtook his common sense. Starting from the beginning made it seem too much like a novel, so he thumbed through a few random pages before catching a date at the top that stuck out. His birthday.

Sometimes I want to be a hero. Sometimes I look at my life and see nothing but insignificance and I wonder what I am missing. What am I not doing that would make the world, the lives of the people around me, better? I spend so much time pondering that but I've yet to do anything about it. We become the things we do, not the things we think or dream of maybe, possibly doing someday. So if I continue doing nothing, then I guess that means I am nothing.

Daryl didn't realize how quiet the room had been until he heard a girlish voice babbling on only a couple of tables away. It's the girl again and without even thinking, he shut the journal and tucked it inside his leather jacket, hiding it the best he could.

"Did anyone happen to turn in a blue journal the last few days?" Daryl couldn't hear the the response of the librarian but he knew the answer anyway. And as if she could smell his guilt, the blonde turned and looked straight at him, making a beeline for his table once she recognized him.

"Hi... sorry to interrupt your Danish studying or whatever you're doing today, but do you remember seeing a journal the other day? I lost it here. Or something."