Do you hate me yet? I hope not. Keep reading.
Rick spoke up quietly from behind Daryl, his own voice cracking. "There's nothin' else you can do?"
Denise shook her head. "It's been over twenty minutes. In my experience, if a patient can't be revived after that time… " She looked down at Beth and whispered. "And the brain bleed from her ears. I'm sorry. Whatever it was that she did out there caused more trauma than she could take."
Maggie turned and sobbed loudly against Glenn's shoulder, and he wrapped his arms around her, looking over at Rick helplessly, who was trying to hold it together for his friend, too.
Daryl had sunk down to the floor next to the table in anguish, still gripping the edge as he drew in shaking breaths, tears streaming down into his open mouth.
Rick came forward and put his hands gently on Daryl's shoulders, swallowing his own pain to comfort his friend. "I'm so sorry, Daryl."
The room went silent except for Maggie's crying.
Daryl stared ahead, unseeing, still crouched down below Beth, until something clicked inside him.
His hands flexed against the steel, and he shook his head bitterly, remembering. Finally he stood up, yanking on the table. The metal feet dragged over the cement floor with a loud grating sound, and Beth's body rocked gently with its movement.
Daryl stared down at her, and his words were laced with both anger and the sting, the deep inconsolable hurt, of being betrayed by a loved one. "You promised. You promised you wouldn't leave."
He choked out an indignant sob and stood there, blinking for just a brief moment before placing the heel of his hand on Beth's chest like he'd seen the doctor do, and started doing compressions. Only, his fury over her failure to keep her word meant that he pressed down too hard, and after just a few counts, one of Beth's ribs broke.
Glenn called out to him, still holding Maggie, who was unaware of what was going on. "Daryl!"
Rick had stepped back to give Daryl his space but now he came forward, gripping his friend's arms, and pleading with him. "I know you're hurting, brother, but this isn't the answer."
Daryl ignored both of them, lost in crippling rage and grief, and kept pushing down, counting out under his breath, Beth's head rocking slightly with his hurried compressions.
Another rib broke.
This time Glenn let go of Maggie and screamed at him to stop, but it had no effect on Daryl.
Rick was pulling more forcefully on his shoulders now, trying to get him away from the table but Daryl swung back and clocked him across the face before turning back to continue his ministrations on Beth.
Denise had been watching the scene unfold from the sidelines, and she made the decision that she just couldn't let it continue. She yelled out at some men she could see lingering in the hallway. "Can we get some help in here, please?"
The three men came in the room, quickly assessing the situation, and along with Rick started forcefully dragging Daryl away from the table.
He roared at them. "Get off me!"
Just before he was out of reach of her body, Daryl swung his one free arm high in the air and brought his closed fist down with a thud on her breastbone, and Beth's mouth opened wide in a shuddering gasp for air.
She stared up at the ceiling, coughing loudly but then clutched her side in agony.
Everyone's eyes were drawn to the table in disbelief. Daryl started struggling even harder to get back to her side and the men released him when Denise nodded at them.
He clutched her hand and raised it to his mouth, laughing incredulously against the back of it when she smiled up at him weakly.
Daryl couldn't speak for nearly a minute. His shoulders were still shaking from crying so hard, but he eventually got out the words in a rough voice. "Thought I lost you."
She moved her head from side to side slowly, swallowing with difficulty before replying in a hoarse whisper, "Made you a promise."
Maggie had come to her other side, still crying but smiling now through her tears. Denise pushed her down further to make room for her to check Beth's vitals, but she still gripped her little sister's leg and looked up at her. "You scared the hell out of us, Bethy, "and seeing the weak shrug she got from Beth for an apology she continued on with a raised eyebrow, "and you've got some explainin' to do, not tellin' your own sister about everythin'."
Daryl's head snapped up and he stabbed his finger at Maggie, growling, 'We ain't talkin' about none of that right now. You hear me? She was just dead two minutes ago, for Christ's sake."
Maggie looked sufficiently guilty so he turned back to Beth and said in a low voice, "All you gotta do is get better, alright?"
Beth nodded up at him gratefully, and Denise wrapped her stethoscope around the back of her neck, saying, "Well, Miss Greene, you are a living, breathing miracle, as far as I'm concerned. Your vitals are all completely back to normal. I will have to wrap those ribs of yours," she raised an eyebrow at Daryl, "thanks to him."
He narrowed his eyes and glared back at the doctor. "I ain't apologizin' for nothin'. You gave up on her."
Denise sighed heavily and started searching through a cabinet for a roll of bandages, not hearing Daryl lean down and whisper to Beth. "Sorry, 'bout your ribs."
She giggled and then clutched her side again, and Daryl grimaced like he was the one feeling the pain.
Beth let out a breath carefully, smiling up at him. "It's okay, Daryl. They'll heal just fine."
The doctor returned to the table, sweeping her hands toward the door. "Alright, everybody out. She'll be moved next door to the hospital bed after we're done, but no more visitors until tomorrow morning. This girl needs her rest."
Beth clutched Daryl's hand tighter and looked up at Denise. "He stays."
The doctor let out an amused sigh. "How did I know you were going to say that?"
Daryl spent the night with Beth, finally allowing her to coax him into the bed with her, but he insisted on laying on the side that didn't have the broken ribs, and even then he handled her like glass.
He only begrudgingly left her side for a couple hours in the early morning because Rick stopped by and said they were all being summoned to the hall for a community meeting about Beth.
She was awake when he returned, and watched him lay his crossbow down tiredly on the chair before he came over.
Beth took his hand and looked up at him, concerned. "Everythin' okay?"
He sighed and rubbed his eyes, not wanting to lay more troubles on her, but knowing she wouldn't let it go until she found out. "Deanna called a meetin'. Handful of idiots here were getting' their asses up, sayin' you were a danger to the community."
She tried to pull herself up but winced. "A danger? But I just about died tryin' to save them. I did die."
Daryl shook his head, saying, "You don't gotta tell me. The whole family was standin' up for ya, yellin' back at them each time somethin' even more stupid was said.
"Came down to all of us sayin' we'd leave if you weren't welcome here. That the next time a herd came along they could kiss their dumb asses goodbye, 'cause they wouldn't be gettin' any help from us."
"And?" Beth waited nervously.
"And Deanna sided with us. Basically told them to shove it."
Beth let out a long sigh of relief as he hauled a chair over to her bedside, and he said, "Oh. Eugene said to make sure to tell you he finished tunin' your piano."
He leaned his elbows on the bed and took her right hand, thinking on something for a second before asking her, "You remember that song you sang for me at the funeral home?"
She thought back to that time and then smiled and nodded.
"Think maybe once you're feelin' better you could play it again?"
Beth squeezed his hand affectionately. "I'd like that."
Daryl nodded and looked down at their hands with a pleased smirk. "So you really think we can make a life here, huh?"
While he asked the question Beth realized she'd been playing absentmindedly with something on her left hand. She lifted it up to see what it was, and froze.
There was a worn pink thread wrapped around her little finger, and she sucked in a breath, her eyes starting to brim with tears.
"Somethin' wrong?" Daryl was looking at her with concern, but she shook her head quickly and smiled up at him with a little laugh.
She thought about his original question while he waited, imagining their future together.
"Yeah, I think we can." Beth rubbed the thread thoughtfully with the tip of her thumb, and looked up at the man she loved, saying, "In fact, I've got a really good feelin' that we will."
I guess I didn't really go about this the usual way by posting all the chapters at once, but where this is my first fic I wanted to be sure I could finish it, and I'm also an impatient kind of person. I don't even like keeping other people waiting. Maybe that means I'll get fewer comments overall. I hope not.
If you've gotten all the way to the end, I do hope that means you enjoyed the story. Please please please, take a moment and leave me some feedback about what you thought...likes, dislikes, the whole shebang. It'll do wonders for helping me decide if I should take another shot at a different story down the road.
Thanks for reading!