Sacrifice

Beth frowned, changing out the rag on Daryl's forehead for a new one. He was running a high fever and had chills. She knew it wasn't good. They needed to get him medicine soon. Rick said he was going to talk to the leader of a group they'd met on a run. They weren't far away, but they kept to themselves. They had been through so much, the prison getting destroyed, then Terminus. They hadn't even had a chance to talk about what had happened between them. All she knew was that she loved him and she hated seeing him in pain. Maggie poked her head in. "Rick's back."

Beth nodded and got up. "I'll be right back, Daryl." She doubted he could even hear her. She made her way to where the rest of the group was waiting.

Rick sighed and looked at them. "James will give us the medicine, but only under one condition." They were all silent, not liking where this was going. "He wants one of our women for the night." They all let that sink in. Beth was the only one not spoken for, everyone else had slowly come together since Terminus, but she knew they'd never ask her to go, never make her go. She also knew that none of the men would let their women go either. They talked about it for hours. Beth could hear them at dinner from Daryl's tent. They didn't stop arguing about it until they went to bed, agreeing to wait until morning before they made a decision. She wasn't going to wait that long. Daryl couldn't wait that long. He needed that medicine as soon as possible.

She waited an hour to make sure everyone was asleep before she crept out of camp unnoticed. She knew the general direction she was supposed to go and quietly made her way through the woods. She could see the fire burning as she drew closer. She walked up, holding her hands up to show she meant no harm. "I'm looking for James."

He walked over to her and looked down. "You one of Rick's?" he asked.

She nodded her head slowly. "My name's Beth…Daryl needs that medicine."

James nodded his head. "Come with me." Beth followed him to his tent, grateful that he wasn't ugly. She knew it was shallow, but if she was going to do this, it would be nice to at least have something attractive to look at. He let her in and shut them in together. "Let me see you." Beth forced her emotions out of the way as she took off her clothes. She just kept reminding herself that this was for Daryl. Once she'd taken off her clothes he walked over to her, gently tilting her chin up. He was gentle with her, careful to make sure she was enjoying herself, or at the very least comfortable enough that he wasn't hurting her. She just pretended that it was Daryl. He got his fill of her, using her four times before the sun came up. "You love him, don't you?" James asked as she pulled her clothes back on.

Beth looked at him, taking the medicine he held out to her. "Yeah, I do."

"Does he feel the same?"

She shook her head. "I don't think so." She smiled a little. "Thank you."

He nodded his head. "Run along to your man."

Beth didn't waste any time. She all but ran back to camp. She knew everyone was likely to be up, but she didn't care. She'd done what needed to be done. When she walked into camp Rick and Glenn looked over at her from where they were talking by the fire. The looks on their faces told her they knew what she'd done, they didn't need an explanation. She stopped to grab some water from the boiling pot over the fire. "Beth…you…"

She looked up at Rick. "He needed the medication. Everyone else is spoken for." She stood up with the water. "Don't tell me you would have come to an agreement where your women were going to go." She walked over to Daryl's tent and quietly slipped inside, not wanting to wake him up. But he was already awake. "Hey," she said with a smile. "Glad to see you up." She knelt beside him and touched his forehead. He was still burning up. "Here, take this." She handed him the medication she'd gotten from James at the water. He just stared at the pill bottle in his hand. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Rick…told me about the deal." He slowly looked up at her. "Why?"

She shook her head and took the bottle from him, shaking a pill out before handing it to him. She waited until he took it before she answered him. "You need it, you're sick. No one else could go, they're all spoken for and it was the only way." She wrung out the rag and dipped it into the cool water from the river before wiping the sweat off his head.

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her onto his lap, burying his head into her neck. She wrapped her arms around him, holding him just as tight. "Thank you," he whispered. "You didn't have to do that."

She nodded her head. "Yes, I did. I couldn't let you die…I love you."

He looked up at her, cupping her face in his hands. "You're spoken for, ya hear?" She smiled a little and nodded her head. "Good."