It was night and Beth walked down the street. It was lit up with torches like streetlights and she felt completely comfortable as she held onto Daryl's hand. He was on high alert and was tense. She squeezed his hand and said
"Don't worry."
"The governor used to put on 'performances' in Woodbury."
"This isn't gonna be like this I promise." He grumbled back, still tense. Carol had invited them earlier to a play that the village put on every month. She said they worked hard at it and it gave people something to do and enjoy other than constant work. Beth smiled at the thought of potentially being able to sing on a stage again. She used to do school talent shows and even a couple of beauty pageants. She liked being up there and singing her heart out more than any prize she got for it. They joined a line of people filing into a building. After moving down a hallway the room opened up into a large theater. She saw Carol standing up and looking for her near the front. She called out
"Carol!" She saw her and waved them down. Holding onto Daryl, she moved through the crowd. When they reached the row she spotted to empty seats next to Carol. Lizzie and Tyreese were also there sitting on her other side. Beth took the seat next to her while Daryl sat on her left.
"So what's the play?"
"They're doing Shakespeare's Othello." Beth didn't recognize the name and said
"What's it about?"
"It's a tragic love story. It's too much to explain, it's good though, you'll like it." Beth got comfortable in her seat and a few minutes later, all the torches lining the room were blown out. She looked over at Daryl who was still tense. She took his hand in hers and lightly stroked it with her thumb; he looked over at her with a softened expression. Letting him know it was going to be alright, she smiled and turned back to look at the stage.
The play was an hour and a half long. Due to an overactive bladder thanks to pregnancy Beth had to get up a couple of times to go to the bathroom but she kept up with the play's story line. It was about a military man named Othello and his soon-to-be wife Desdemona. Othello picks another man named Cassio to be his partner rather than his friend Iago which makes him angry. Iago then decides to turn Othello against Cassio by telling him that he and Desdemona are having an affair. Othello becomes jealous and he and Iago plan to kill both she and Cassio. Othello ends up killing his wife while Iago kills Cassio. Iago's wife Emilia tells Othello the truth about Iago's lying but it is too late. He confronts Iago who then kills his own wife then is arrested by guards. Othello then commits suicide out of guilt and sadness.
Beth thought it was a tragic but beautiful story. She turned to Daryl and said
"See they didn't use walkers. That was good."
"It was alright," he said in his usual grumpy fashion. She stood up and turned to Carol.
"That was good, how do you get involved with the plays?"
"Let Richard know and he'll introduce you to the lady who runs it."
Beth didn't waste any time and the next day went to see Richard. She went to the main office he was usually in and found him there behind the desk.
"Hey." He looked up and said
"Oh hi, how are you?"
"I'm good," she said, "I was wondering who I could talk to about the plays."
"Diana is the one who runs and organizes them. She actually lives two buildings down from here on the right. She's on the second floor, her room number is 201." Beth smiled and said
"Thanks!" She remembered his directions and walked down to a large light blue building. It looked as if it had been an office building before the apocalypse and when she walked in she saw an old sign with each room number and what business had been in them. Room 201 used to be a psychiatrists office. She found the stairs and walked up to the second floor. She found Diana's room and knocked. A few seconds later a tall blonde woman opened the door.
"Hi," she said with a friendly smile, "Can I help you?"
"I'm Beth," she said, "I saw the play last night and it was awesome. I was wondering if I could become a part of the next one?"
"Definitely," said Diana, "We actually have a meeting later today at noon. You're welcome to come! It'll be in the town hall." Beth smiled and said
"Thanks I'll be there." It sun's position told her that it was about nine in the morning. She knew Daryl was taking a day off and sleeping in so she decided to let him rest and went over to Brenna's.
Daryl was dreaming, he knew it but it felt so real.
They were in a small bedroom. He was standing up by Beth's head. She was lying on the bed, writhing in pain and screaming. It was clear to him that she was giving birth. Her belly was much bigger than it was now. There was a nurse standing at the end of the bed encouraging her to keep pushing. It was clear something was wrong. Beth had gone paper white and when the nurse lifted up her hands into sight, they were covered in thick bright red blood. He felt a wave of nausea and looked back at Beth. He tried to talk but couldn't find the words. It was like she didn't even know he was there. The nurse didn't even look up at him. Beth had gone limp and her eyes were shut. Frantically the nurse called out
"I need more help in here!" Two other women rushed in. again no one acknowledged him, it was like he wasn't even there. One of them came up to Beth's head and took her pulse. He felt fear crash over him when she said
"She's dead! But the baby could still be alive!" He finally found his voice and said
"What the hell is goin' on?!" They didn't answer him, or look up at him. Was he a ghost? One of them said
"I see the head!" When the baby came he expected to hear it crying but to his horror, hissing and snarling instead filled the room. The woman holding the baby screamed and dropped it to the floor. Daryl rushed over and looked down. The baby was obviously a walker. It was covered in blood and its little arms reached out hungrily, clawing to get at that them. He yelled in anger and sadness, his whole world had crashed down around him. He stumbled backwards, not wanting to see it anymore. He tripped over his own feet and fell to the floor.
In that moment he shot up off the pillow, finding himself in bed. He was covered in cold sweat. On high alert, he heard the door open and he jumped out of bed. He left the bedroom to see Beth in the living room, holding Gwen.
"What's wrong?" She knew something was up with him.
"Just a bad dream." He didn't want to tell her and scare her. He moved forward and pulled her to him, making sure not to crush Gwen in their embrace. He looked into her beautiful blue eyes and said "It's ok now." She nodded and said
"What was it about?"
"I'll tell you later," he said, remembering the baby walker on the floor. Her smile was like a ray of sunshine and he felt the sense of dread melt away.
"I was coming to ask you if you could watch Gwen for me." He was shocked.
"You want me to watch her? I've never taken care of a baby by myself before." She smirked and said
"Well now's the time to learn daddy, and you were great with Judith." She handed him Gwen, not really giving him an option. The little girl rested comfortably in his arms, smiling up at him. "If you need any help you can come and find me," she said, "I'm going down to the meeting for the play."
"Well have a good time," he said, "I'm sure you'll fit right in." She gave him a quick kiss and then left. He went and sat down on the couch still holding Gwen. There was no way in hell he was gonna go down there and pull her out her meeting if something went wrong, he had to figure it out for himself. Soon he'd be taking care of his own child. He set her down on the soft carpet and went over to look inside Beth's bag. There were some toys in there, bottles, diapers, a blanket and cans of baby food. He brought the bag back over to where Gwen was and set out the blanket and put her on it. Then he gave her a few toys which she gladly accepted with a big smile and wide blue eyes. Would he and Beth's baby have eyes like that? He watched her play, not knowing exactly when to feed her, did she have a nap time? She seemed pretty content for now.
Beth walked into the town hall and looked around. She could hear the buzz of conversation coming from behind two large doors off to the left. She opened them up and saw Diana standing around with a few other people. Feeling a little shy, Beth took a few steps forward and looked around some more. There seemed to be about twenty people there. A few sat at a large round table in the middle. She approached Diana and said
"Hey,"
"Oh good you came! Everyone this is Beth." The conversation died down and they all turned to her.
"Welcome," said another woman, walking forward. "I'm Jess, I'm the choreographer of the group."
"You do dances?"
"Well sometimes. We like to switch it up. Sometimes we put on shows that the kids will enjoy and sometimes we do more mature pieces like the one we did last night."
"Do you do musicals?"
"We do."
Daryl watched the little girl some more and then got up to get himself some lunch. As he was opening up a bag of jerky he heard her start to cry. He rushed back into the living room and found her still on the blanket, with tears coming down her chubby cheeks.
"What's wrong?" She didn't answer him and continued to cry. "You hungry?" He reached into the bag and cracked open a can of baby food. He got some out onto his spoon and held up to her face. She shoved it away. She clearly wasn't hungry. He then saw the diapers sitting inside the bag. He picked her up and hesitantly checked inside her diaper. The smell made him feel sick and he quickly set her back down on the blanket. He had no idea what to do. He'd never seen anyone change Judith's diaper back at the prison. How hard could it be? He went into the kitchen and brought back a huge roll of paper towels. He lay them out on the blanket and then put Gwen on top of them. He unsnapped the buttons on her onesie and moved up the cloth until so he could get to her diaper. He carefully undid it, the smell full force now. Letting out a sound of disgust he quickly wrapped the diaper in a roll of paper towels and ran into the kitchen, throwing it into the trash. He came back and saw the baby laughing and smiling at him.
"This ain't a joke kid," he said, as she continued to giggle at him. He grabbed the baby wipes from the bag and cleaned Gwen up. Then he put on a new diaper and snapped her back into her onesie. She continued to laugh at him. If only Merle could see him now. He could hear him laughing at him in his head, telling him that he was becoming a whipped, domesticated softie. He went to wash his hands and then to grab his lunch. When he came back Gwen was lying on the blanket asleep. She looked so sweet and peaceful and he set down his lunch and gently picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. He carefully set her down in the bed and pulled the covers over her. She looked comically tiny in their big bed. He didn't want her to wake up and roll off by accident so he grabbed his food, sat down on the small couch on the other side of the room and watched her.
Beth poured out all of her emotion and her heart into her voice. The melodic sound echoed off the walls. The people watching her were mesmerized and when she finished loud clapping filled the room. Diana came over and put a hand on her shoulder.
"That was beautiful!"
"Thanks."
"We should definitely do a musical this time around," said Diana, "Maybe something Disney, for the kids to enjoy." People nodded in agreement. "Next meeting is the day after tomorrow," she said, "Feel free to think up some ideas so we can come up with something solid next time." Before Beth could leave Diana stopped her and said "You have an amazing voice, you'll be a great asset to the group."
When Beth returned she found Daryl sitting in the bedroom with the lights off, looking through his hunting magazine. Gwen was asleep in their bed. She whispered
"What are you doing?" He looked up at her and said
"She was tired so I put her to bed." It was absolutely adorable and Beth couldn't help but smile.
"I told you you could handle her." She walked over and leaned against him. "You're gonna make a great daddy."
"Ya maybe."
"Don't doubt yourself," she said, "I know you will be." He pressed his forehead against her belly and said
"I'll try my best." He quickly shifted the subject and said "How'd your meeting go?"
"Great! I sang for them and they loved it!"
"That's good," said Daryl, "Do you think it's safe to set roots down here?" All the hesitation Beth had felt a month ago was gone. This place was starting to feel like a real home to her.
"I think it is," she said, "It's safe, there are good people here, the baby could at least be raised somewhat normally here." Daryl nodded and said
"You're right." But she knew he would never be completely comfortable somewhere after what happened at the prison.
When Gwen woke up Beth got her things together and headed back over to Brenna's. She was impressed to see that Daryl had changed her diaper. He was a natural at taking care of babies. She spent the rest of the day taking care of Gwen and when Brenna came home around five she was starving. She quickly made her way back across the street. She made it to the door when she felt something hit her hard in the side of the head. The pain was intense as she fell to her knees and held her temple, feeling the warm rush of blood. The rock that had hit her landed next to her, a smear of her blood on it.
"Oops sorry, didn't mean to hit you." She looked up to see Steve approaching her. She didn't know what to say. She couldn't believe what had just happened. Feeling embarrassed, angry and upset she got to her feet and dashed up the stairs. She heard him call after her. "Go on, go cry to your redneck baby daddy." When she stormed into the apartment Daryl was on his feet in an instant.
"What the hell happened?!" The blood dripped down her face and she grabbed a paper towel to clean it off. "Hey! Are you gonna answer me?" She couldn't hold out any longer. The hot tears streamed down her face and she said
"Steve, he hit me with a rock." Daryl was gone almost immediately. She wasn't going to try and stop him this time. If he got in trouble she had the cut on her forehead to prove that Daryl was in the right.
Daryl completely lost it. He saw red. That douchebag had bothered her for the last time. He saw him walking back down the sidewalk. He didn't see him coming and Daryl grabbed the back of his shirt and slammed him to the ground. Steve let out a yelp of pain.
"You fuckin' hurt my girl, now I'm gonna hurt you." He brought his fist back and pounded it into Steve's face. He continued to do so until his nose was broken and streaming blood like a broken pipe, and both of his eyes were swollen black. He felt a pair of hands pull him back. It was Tyreese and two other men who had seen the fight.
"What are you doing?!"
"Giving this asshole what he deserves!" He pulled against Tyreese's grip.
"What'd he do?!"
"Hurt Beth, threw a rock at her." He heard more approaching footsteps and saw Carol and Beth walking up. There was now a bandage over Beth's wound. "See!" He pointed at Beth's head and the three men released him. He looked down at Steve who was still lying on the ground groaning in pain. "He better stay away from her or next time he ain't gonna be so lucky." Daryl pushed past everyone and stalked back towards the building, still seething with rage.
While everyone left Carol remained. She watched Steve as he curled into a ball on the sidewalk.
"Shouldn't have gone after her like that." Steve looked up at her with disbelief in his eyes.
"You asked me too!" Carol smirked and said
"What are you talking about?"
"What are YOU talking about?! You told me to go after her, now where's my pay?" Caro continued to smirk and just turned away, leaving him there.
Thanks electrickpanda, DarylDixon'sLover, K. Lynn Perks, Caitiann, stateofgrace-xo, and eliza for commenting :) Tomorrow is the season finale! I'm super excited and I hope we at least catch a glimpse of Beth. I really don't think they're going to kill her. Emily Kinney talks in her interviews like she'll be around next season, she just bought an apartment in Georgia and her singing tour ends in April in Georgia which is the time they start filming.
Thanks for reading,
Wanderlustt