Ch.15

Maggie woke to Glenn tangled around her. The sun was shining through the crack in the curtain, and she figured it was time for her to get up. Untangling herself from his body, she got out of the bed and started heading down the hallway. She paused when she got to Beth's room. Opening it carefully, making sure not to make any noise, she peeked her head in, surprised by what she saw.

She had expected to see her sister, yes, but she hadn't expected to see Daryl. He was sitting beside her bed, his head resting against the bed and his hand laced with Beth's. She tried to make sense of what was happening, but for the life of her couldn't figure out why Daryl had slept in Beth's room. She brushed the thought away and went to the kitchen. Sasha and Rick were already up.

"Mornin'."

Maggie gave a slight smile and went to join them at the table, her mind still trying to make sense of the scene in her sister's room. She didn't have much time to think about it before both Daryl and Beth entered the room. She eyed them suspiciously, but didn't say anything.

Beth had been put on baby duty again. She wasn't exactly thrilled about it, but she couldn't say no when Rick had asked her at breakfast. She had wanted to stay by Daryl, but Beth knew that saying no to watching Judith would draw questioning stares, and she very much wanted to stay under the radar. Maybe being around Judith would be good; maybe it would allow her mind to focus on something different. Back at the prison she loved being around Judith, it was almost therapeutic, like a sort of escape. But things had obviously changed since the prison; and any ounce of escape Judith had once offered was now gone.

It had started out fine. Judith was all smiles and giggles, but she must have sensed that something was wrong, because as soon as Beth picked her up she started crying. The baby kept crying, her wails piercing Beth's ears. She tried everything to calm her down, but nothing seemed to work. She tried singing her a lullaby, one of the songs she always used to sing to her, but it didn't work. She bounced her on her hip, but her crying only grew louder and louder.

Beth began to panic, her heart started racing and she started to get dizzy. Judith's cries slowly transformed into her own cries, as a flood of emotions raced through her body and memories she wanted so badly to forget invaded her mind. She felt as if she were going to collapse; this was all too much, she just wanted to leave and runaway and never look back. She sat Judith in her crib and crumpled to her knees, her hands covering her ears.

Her chest was tight and it was becoming difficult to breath. She tried to pull herself back together, knowing that someone could walk in the room any minute now, and then she would be forced to explain herself. She tried thinking of something else, anything else, but the bad memories kept winning.

"Have you noticed Daryl and Beth spending a lot of time together today?" Maggie still couldn't get the two of them off of her mind. After breakfast this morning Beth had stayed right by Daryl, following him like a shadow. The last few days it had seemed like Beth had gone out of her way to avoid any contact with the man, and now it was like she was doing anything to stay by him. Maggie just couldn't figure it out.

"Yeah, kind of. Why?" Glenn responded.

"Daryl was in Beth's room this morning. They were holding hands." She looked to Glenn, and when she saw confusion and anger flash in his eyes she quickly added, "He was on the floor, she was in the bed."

"Have you talked to her about it?"

"No. I don't want to push her, not if she isn't ready to talk about what happened back at the prison."

"Maybe she needs to be pushed to talk about it."

"Maybe," Maggie said, as she made her way back to the house.

She knew that Beth was watching Judith. Rick had asked her earlier today if she would watch the baby when he went out hunting with Daryl. That had been her main job at the prison, and it had come natural to her, almost as if it was something she was meant to do. Sure, Carol was good with Judith, but nobody seemed to have the same connection with the baby as Beth did. When Judith would get in one of her moods, Beth was the only one who could calm her.

That's why when she walked into the house and heard crying she was confused. It sounded like two separate people crying. But only one of the sounds caught her attention; the sobs weren't high pitched like a babies, but they sounded like they were coming from somebody much older than Judith, and the only other person inside the house was Beth.

Maggie walked towards the sound and stopped just outside of the room, listening for a moment before peering inside. Beth was crouched down on the floor, her hands covering her ears and tears running down her face. Judith was in her crib crying as well. Maggie moved just an inch and a floorboard creaked, catching Beth's attention and causing Maggie to step back out of sight. She waited a moment before walking into the room.

Beth was now standing and she quickly wiped any remaining tears away. She was trying to hide the fact that she had been crying, but her stuttering inhalations gave her away. Maggie walked over to the crib and picked Judith up, and the child instantly quieted down. Maggie returned her attention to the broken girl in front of her.

"You ok?"

The distant, far-off look in Beth's eyes told her that something was wrong, but Beth didn't seem willing to provide any details or even answer her question. Instead she just stood there, her eyes trained on the ground and her chest rising with her shaking breaths.

"You wanna talk?"

Beth shook her head no.

Maggie sighed. "Beth, what's been going on with you? Is it daddy? The prison?"

Once again Beth didn't answer. Judith had fallen asleep so Maggie laid her back in the crib. She then walked over to the couch, and patted the seat next to her, motioning for Beth to take it.

"You want to tell me what's going on between you and Daryl? I saw him in your room this morning."

Beth's watery gaze finally met Maggie's. "He keeps the nightmares away."

It was barely audible, just above a whisper, but Maggie caught it, and it broke her heart. Her voice sounded exactly as it did when she was just a little girl and scared. She hadn't asked Beth about the nightmare she had had the first night she was here, and from the little she had learned from Daryl and what Beth had just given away, the nightmares seemed to be plaguing her sleep.

Maggie just nodded her head in response. She wasn't sure how to respond to Beth. She wanted to ask her more, try to get Beth to open up to her, but she knew Beth wasn't going to go for that. Doing the only other thing she could think of, she wrapped her arms around her sister and held her tight, taken aback when she felt Beth flinch at her touch.

Author's Note: I hope you all liked the chapter. It's not my favorite, but it is needed. Beth sort of had a breakdown, and Maggie was there to witness some of it. Maggie thinks Beth is just struggling to deal with the loss of Hershel and the prison, but boy is she wrong.

And, who else is extremely excited for tonight's all new episode of The Walking Dead? We are finally going to get to see Daryl and Beth!