7 YEARS LATER
"Daddy!"
The little four year old girl with long dark brown hair and blue eyes came flying at him, hugging onto Daryl's leg as he swung his crossbow over his shoulder. Beth held their dark-haired two year old boy in her arms as she strode down the pathway to the courtyard as the summertime sun set on the horizon, lighting up the sky with colors of orange. Beth looked as beautiful as ever, long blonde hair catching in the winds, the light of the sunset bouncing onto her flawless pale skin and brightening up her light blue orbs, the same color that their two children shared.
She looked at him with love and affection in those eyes, always had. That combined with the very sight of her still made Daryl lose track of his thoughts and stop him in his place.
He had a life now that he never imagined that he would. Strange that the apocalypse gave him that. Gave him a home. Gave him a family. Led him to Beth. And then gave him a small family of his own.
He remembered running his hands over Beth's swollen stomach, she seemingly glowed from the inside out through the months of pregnancy as their daughter grew inside of her. The one he put there after a kind of crazy and passionate and very much unplanned evening with Beth in the woods after hunting. Seemed fit, though. That their child would be conceived in the woods, a place where Daryl had spent so much time. The woods had always felt safe. It was a place that felt like a second home to him.
He had been so scared as Beth entered her third trimester. He didn't want to leave her side. It made him nervous and anxious whenever he was away, despite Beth assuring him that everything would be fine if he was gone for a few hours or so.
Now, Beth approached him once she made it all the way to the courtyard. "Hey, you," Beth greeted, kissing him on the lips.
Daryl then leaned in and kissed his son on the top of the head, ruffling up his hair, causing him to laugh and hide his face into his mother's shoulder.
Turns out, he actually was a good father, and Beth reminded him of that every once in a while when he might need a little reassurance. For some time there when Beth was pregnant with their first, he had flashbacks to his own childhood, to his father and how he was treated. He thought that maybe he would not be good enough once their baby came, that he would mess things up because Daryl had nothing to go on other than pain from this childhood. He had no good memories that could help him out. No way of knowing what the right thing to do was.
Luckily, that was were Rick came into the picture. He helped him out when he saw that Daryl was stressed about something concerning the baby that grew in Beth's belly. Rick noticed the signs of Daryl being scared and offered up some much needed advice. He remembered exactly what Rick told him one day, something that calmed his nerves as Beth's estimated due date nearer. Rick had said, "Don't worry. All you gotta do is what feels right. I had absolutely no clue what I was doin' when Carl was born. And Lori seemed like such a natural at it. She knew what to do. And I was so jealous of her. But all I had to do was look to her and she would direct me in the right direction, let me know what I needed to do. She let me know that I was doin' everythin' right with Carl. All you gotta do is look to Beth. She'll help you out."
And Beth did that for Daryl when he was in need to some guidance.
He remembered her squeezing his hand so tight that he thought his bones might break when she was delivering their girl. Hell, he would have let her break every bone in his body if that was what she needed to do to get through the birth. He stayed by her side the whole time, hand in pain, but definitely not as much as the pain Beth was in.
However, no bones broke, and all the pain was forgotten when Bob had announced that their baby had entered the world. Maggie even got to cut the umbilical cord, ecstatic to get to be one of the first people to lay eyes on her niece and hand her over to Beth.
And just like Maggie, Beth did great. She delivered a healthy baby girl who came out crying, all pink. Daryl thought he had been ready to faint at the sight of his child. She was beautiful, just like her mother.
Beth held their daughter in her arms and Daryl stared at the two most beautiful things in the world.
He remembered that he had been really afraid to hold her, but Beth encouraged him, so he sat down on the bed next to her and she handed the tiny little girl to him. It was one of the best moments of his life.
When the boy came, Beth had been past the point of being ready to get him out. She had actually laughed as she went into labor, said, "It's about damn time." Again, the birth had no complications, and Daryl got to hold his son, another best moment in his life.
Daryl kept them all safe. He was their protector.
And he loved Beth more and more every single day that he woke up, having her there right next to him. She was the first and only love of his life. That spot in his heart had been reserved and meant just for her.
Beth.
His wife.
Yeah, it was kind of strange to hand over a silver ring with a sapphire in the middle to her one night in bed, but she gratefully accepted it with a sweet smile, an understanding between them that it really was not that big of a deal. But he figured, hey, why not make it official.
And from there on out, they considered themselves to be married. And believe him, he remembered that smirk on Lizzie's face when she found out. Daryl wondered if maybe she knew all along what Daryl's life would turn out like, going all the way back to when she had asked him in the hallway if he and Beth would get married like Glenn and Maggie, and have a baby.
Daryl's mind traveled back to when Beth had told him years and years ago about how she believed that the two of them would have met no matter what had happened to the world, back when they were in the guard tower during the thunderstorm. He recalled the specific topic of fate being talked about. And now, he thought about it again.
Had fate brought him to Beth at the Greene farm in the first place?
Had he always been destined to meet Beth and have her teach him how to feel, and to love, and how to accept himself for who he was? He would not have been able to do it without her, he knew that for sure.
Maybe fate was a real thing after all, even in this kind of world, and Beth's and Daryl's fates had always been intertwined.
Because now he had pure, true happiness.
He had family of his own, along with a large tight-knit one with the people of the prison.
And he had love, Beth's love, and a love that he returned to her.
He never would have thought that something as bad and devastating as the apocalypse would grant him all of these wonderful things, the things he had never had before.
He threw a glance back over to Beth, his boy, and his little girl who were now all over with the people of the prison in the background to help hand out dinner for the nice summer evening meal, Beth motioning for him to join. He was captivated by it for a moment, a moment in time that stood still.
Daryl had everything that he needed and could ever ask for right there. Within the walls of the prison, and within the walls of his heart.
A/N: And there you have the last and final chapter. I'm kind of sad to be ending it but it is the right time to do so. The story I wanted to tell all came together and wrapped up in the way I wanted it to. I'm quite proud of how it turned out. And it has been a blast writing this and I am so grateful for all the lovely comments I have gotten over the course of me writing this story. So, one last time, I would like to say that I am so thankful for everyone who has followed, favorited, reviewed, and read my story. It means so much to me. Thank you so, so, so much for the support with the story.