**A/N: Sorry again for the delay... and possibly for the quality of this. It's pretty long but is that a good thing? I guess we'll find out! I had a lot of writer's block issues with this so I hope it was worth the wait.
All they could do now was wait. Wait to see if the small group of walkers surrounding their hide-out dispersed during the night. Wait to see if they could escape in the morning or if they would need to wait for help from the rest of their group. Wait to see if Glenn's bite would prove to be fatal. In a way it was both familiar and yet not, a step back into the past where it was the bites of animals that people had to fear and not those of the shuffling, groaning dead.
It only seemed right to give Maggie and Glenn privacy, considering what they were going through. With Maggie promising to come find them if anything changed with Glenn, Daryl scooped Beth into his arms and carried her into the kitchen despite her protests.
"I can walk, you know!" But she was smiling faintly as she looked up at him with her arms twined around his neck. "I can shoot a bow, too, I think you'll remember."
"I know." His reply was gruff as he settled into a chair at the kitchen table with a little grunt and adjusted her where she sat sideways across his lap. Neither of them seemed to care that they were being far closer than they normally were in the company of others; though Maggie and Glenn were in the other room and Michonne had gone down into the store again to search for food and other supplies. "You need to take one of these pain pills." He frowned down at the bottle in his hand, and then added, "Maybe half of one."
With a soft chuckle, Beth teased him, "What, you don't think I can handle a whole pill?"
"Tiny thing like you?" He offered her a hint of a smile, even as he teased, "'sides, I've seen you drunk before. Don't need you burnin' this place down."
Despite her teasing protestations about moonshine and pain pills not being the same, Daryl still took immense care. He borrowed her clean knife as he set the pill on the table and used it to delicately snap the pain pill in half before gently brushing it into his palm and offering it to her with a bottle of water. Gentle really was the best way to describe the care he took with the woman in his arms. He couldn't help remembering the way she'd shown like a beacon for him in the window as he'd fought with everything he had to get back to her again and now that he was here, all he wanted was to make sure she was okay.
So after she took the half of a pill he set the water aside and focused on her wound. His work-worn fingers were as gentle as possible as he carefully peeled the bandage from her forehead. Hands that might have once been more accustomed to making fists were now almost delicate as he used water and some cotton balls he had snatched from the pharmacy to clean her wound of the dried blood that remained. His hand shifted to softly brush back a few loose strands of hair from her face, sweeping it back into her ponytail with a soft hum before turning his attention to applying antibiotic cream with careful sweeps of his fingers across the wound.
All the while she stayed curled in his arms and cradled against his chest, looking up at him with a faint smile as he tended to her. "Never would have pegged you for the nursing type before all this," Beth murmured as he began applying the bandage to her forehead.
"Cause I ain't the nursing type," he grunted back, even as he knew that wasn't true. Or maybe it was and like most things in his life these days, Beth was the one exception. When it came to Beth it wasn't really nursing in his mind. It was taking care of the woman he loved, the same way she'd have for him. The way she had for him already before, tenderly caring for his wounds. The difference was that Beth did the same for everyone, even if her care for him was far more affectionate and personal. Daryl knew thanks to Beth that he was capable of far more care and concern than he'd ever realized before, but he still knew he wasn't like her. This wasn't the sort of thing he'd be comfortable doing with anyone else but Beth. It was different with her. He was different, with her.
"Well you make a good medic, anyway," she replied after a moment as she leaned into his chest and settled her cheek against his shoulder. "Better be careful or I'll start asking for you to be my assistant when people get injured."
A chuckle rumbled up from his broad chest to vibrate through both their bodies before he replied, "The only person I nurse is you, got that? You're a special case. Besides," He let his hand brush lightly up her back, and went on, "Everyone knows you're the natural nurse, of the pair of us."
She hummed in response, but didn't say anything else; an instant clue to Daryl that something was bothering her. These days they just knew each other too well; interpreting her silence was as easy to him as it was to her, interpreting his grunts and nods. They had long since become fluent in each other's languages; he knew that silence from Beth in a moment like this was tantamount to a big flashing sign reading: I'm upset about something. He could have asked what was wrong, but he didn't need to. He just ran his hand slowly up and down her back, knowing she would talk when and if she wanted to.
"I just wish I could do more for Glenn. I wish there was something other than that medicine, or that we could have found it." Beth's head turned in the direction of the living room and though neither of them could see the couch from here, he didn't doubt they were both remembering the same thing. The sight of Maggie on the floor, leaning to the side with her head on Glenn's stomach as he curled his fingers through her hair and they just looked into each other's eyes and whispered to each other, caught up in the intimate privacy that some couples could create even when they weren't entirely alone.
"You did what you could. We all did." Daryl found her hair, toying with her long ponytail by curling his fingers through it in a way he knew sometimes relaxed her. "Got him cleaned up, found him antibiotics. Can't do much more."
"I know, but-"
"No buts." His fingers found the slope of her jaw and curled underneath it to turn her gaze towards him until her blue eyes met his own. Her skin was so soft beneath the rough pads of his fingers, which brushed gently over her cheek as he murmured, "Don't you go feelin' guilty about this. Ain't none of it your fault, alright? Ain't nobody's fault." He paused and blinked, and a faint unexpected chuckle rumbled low in his chest.
He didn't even need to explain it because Beth knew exactly what was so funny, and she smiled right back at him as she teased, "Hey, aren't you supposed to be the guilty one and me the one convincing you not to feel so bad? You're stealing my lines, Dixon."
"You're stealing my guilt, Greene." They fell into the banter as easily as they always fell into one another, and the familiar patterns and teasing tones had them leaning in until they were inches apart, noses grazing as they breathed together and looked into each other's eyes. And suddenly the mood shifted, suddenly the laughter faded and his heart gave a throbbing ache in memory of the adrenaline-filled brush with death he'd just had a short while ago, and the words came spilling out of him in a rush:
"I thought-"
"When you were out there-"
Their amusement at having spoken at the same time brought more laughter and a brush of Beth's lips softly against his own, but the ache in his chest didn't fade. His lips parted again, but before he could put to words what he'd felt out there lying on the street with a fierce wolf pinning him to the ground, he heard the creak of a door and the sound of Michonne clearing her throat.
When he looked up the woman was standing there smirking down at him, her eyes flashing with amusement. "You got somethin' to say?" He growled out the words but lightly and almost playfully for him, and of course Michonne knew that. Quiet as she was, she knew how to read him better than most... though of course not like Beth could. (No one could read him like Beth could. If he was a language the way she'd once said, than she was the only one fluent in it.)
"Hey, I'm not saying anything," Michonne drawled as she moved up to the table and set down the bag full of whatever she must have found downstairs. She flashed them a slow smile and teased, "Just wondering if you two lovebirds got room for me at this table."
Before he could make a gruff reply, Beth was humming into his ear. offering Michonne a soft smile as she murmured, "Of course we have room for you, Michonne. Always." And that was his Beth, really. Open and welcoming, especially to their family. The funny thing was that even just a few months ago he'd have glared until whoever it was left, despite Beth's words. But now it seemed easy to let Michonne join them even though he had Beth curled in his arms rather intimately.
Maybe what Maggie had said about Beth rubbing off on him was even more true than he'd realized.
Despite the day they'd gone through there were still things to be somewhat grateful for. They'd been attacked by wolves and surrounded by walkers, but it could've been worse. It could always have been worse but Daryl tried not to think about that right now, just like he tried not to think about how easily it could become worse if things went badly with Glenn.
It was easier to think of the positive things when he had Beth in his lap, under the effects of a pain pill that had clearly started to work. Even just giving her half of one had affected her and he wasn't surprised; she was tiny like he'd said, and they were all undernourished these days. Despite his attempts to feed her, she spent most of 'dinner' chattering away. He'd been amused to discover that not only had the half pill of Vicodin eased the ache in Beth's head, it had also made her the tiniest bit loopy and prone to giggling and rambling.
Keeping her fed was his solution to stop her from getting too affected; after all, the logical part of him knew he needed her focused if things went bad. Of course that was easier said than done when she just kept going like one of those energizer rabbit things he'd seen on TV years ago. He had to admit he didn't really mind the way she cuddled against him though, just like he didn't really mind the soft rise and fall of her voice as she started to ramble on about imagining that the can of beans they'd found downstairs was really stew instead like the stew her Mama used to make back on the farm.
Michonne watched in amusement from across the table as Beth went on, telling some story about the dog they'd had once and how her Mama had tried to feed it medicine by hiding the pills in a bowl of beef stew, only to come back to find that the dog had lapped up every last drop and left the two pills sitting right in the bottom of the bowl.
When Beth finally trailed off and he managed to get a few bites into her, he nodded his head towards the door and said to Michonne, "Should make sure they eat, too."
Without hesitating, Michonne set her can down and rose to her feet. "Don't worry, I've got it. You have your hands full with that one right now, anyway, don't you?"
He would have argued except Beth was giggling to herself and nuzzling into the crook of his neck and yeah, his hands kinda were a bit full. Not that he minded at all; there was even a smile on his lips as he looked down at her and tried to get her attention. "Hey, Greene."
"Heyyy…" Beth hummed as she focused on him and reached up to brush his hair back away from his eyes. "Mm, you have such nice eyes. Have I ever told you what nice eyes you have? Cause you do. You know what else?" She sighed. "I'm glad you're here. I missed you, you know. And I was real worried. Michonne was mad cause I wouldn't sit still and then she almost didn't want to let me up because she said you'd yell at her for it."
"Maybe I should have," Daryl remarked lowly as he reached down to brush her hair out of her face in return. His fingers lingered on her cheek, the worn pads grazing her soft skin as he looked into her eyes.
"Nooo, it was all me, not her." She smiled again all loosely. "Besides you didn't seem mad when you had me in your arms."
He just chuckled. "I ain't never mad when I've got you in my arms."
"I know." Beth went quiet finally, and there was a softness in her eyes as she looked up at him. He took advantage of her silence to feed her another couple bites of beans, only stopping when she nudged his hand away. When he lowered the spoon away, her hand came up to cover his other hand where it still rested across her cheek and she held it there as she murmured, "I'm glad you came back to me. I was scared. I didn't panic- I thought I was going to, but I kept it under control. I was afraid though, Daryl, I was. I know I shouldn't be, I know you always come back to me but I was still so worried." Her brow furrowed in concentration, as if she were struggling to find the right words. "I know… I know we're all gonna go some day, and it might be sooner than we want to but… but I'm not ready, yet. I want more time with you. Okay?"
He knew she was out of it from the stress of the day and her wound and the medication, but her words still tugged at his heart. Even like this she could reach inside of him and find his sore spots, the ones he tried to hide away under shadows where the light of day (and reality) couldn't find them. But Beth always did, and she always managed to hook her words in like fingers and gently tug them up until he couldn't avoid acknowledging them, couldn't help but expose them to her light.
Daryl leaned in to press a kiss to her forehead. "Okay," he said simply, even as his heart gave a little ache at the thought of losing her. "It ain't time yet, you hear? We've got a lot more left together." To himself he thought: We have to. We're meant to. He had never believed in anything like fate or hope or 'meant-to's' before Beth, would never have even thought to say something like what he just had before her. But a part of him believed it now, a part of him all wrapped up in her goodness and her light, and he was damned if he was gonna let this shit world take that away from them too soon.
Tonight he would keep her close and safe and tomorrow they would find a way out of here with Michonne and Maggie and Glenn, and then after that… after that they would keep moving, keep searching for a place to make theirs. A place to have all the time that he and Beth wanted (and deserved) to have together. He would do everything he could to make that so, and looking down now to see Beth dozing in his arms half-asleep from the medicine and the food… well it only made him even more determined to ensure that.
Sometime in the middle of the night he woke up and missed Beth's warmth beside him. They had encroached on Maggie and Glenn's space after a few hours to take back over the other couch so that they could get some rest. Michonne was on watch and scheduled to wake him for his turn, but it wasn't her that drew him awake, not yet.
At first he thought it was the lack of Beth's warmth against his side where she'd been curled up asleep, but as he slowly awoke and his hearing sharpened, murmured conversation reached his ears instead. Slowly so as not to disturb them, Daryl turned his head until he spotted Maggie and Beth sitting side-by-side on the floor with their backs to Glenn's couch. Maggie had her head resting on Beth's shoulder, and it was the closest he thought he'd seen them in a long time. The last thing he wanted was to break up that moment, fragile as their relationship had been up until very recently.
So his eyes fluttered shut to give them privacy, but he couldn't help overhearing some of their murmured words.
"I don't know what I'd do, Beth, if he-"
"Don't." Beth's voice was low but firm. "Don't think like that, Mags. I told you, Daryl told you, there's a good chance that those wolves weren't rabid, okay? And Glenn… Glenn is gonna be okay. He loves you, Maggie. He won't leave you. I bet he'd fight off the rabies by force just to stay with you, if he could."
"Sounds like something Daryl would do," Maggie remarked in a wry tone that made him imagine what he was sure was a sad smile on her lips.
"Him too. Both of them. They're strong, Mags, they are. Both of us fell for very strong, tough men." He heard Beth shift a little and cracked his eyes to see her pressing a kiss to Maggie's head right onto her dark curls. "And they love us," Beth whispered. "That's a powerful draw, loving a Greene woman. That'd keep anyone fighting to stay alive."
Daryl couldn't help but agree with that. Hadn't he fought day after day to get Beth back, and then to keep her at his side? Wouldn't he do it again and again if he had to?
"Yeah." Maggie's voice sounded a little stronger, a little firmer, and through his slitted eyes he saw her nod her head before she wiped at her eyes and gave a wet little laugh. "I guess that's true. And Glenn is a fighter, he really is underneath all those jokes of his. I'm sure he'll- I know he'll-"
"He'll be okay," Beth breathed out her reassurances as she pressed another kiss to Maggie's head. "He will be, Mags, you'll see. Tomorrow, you'll see. Just get some sleep, okay? And when you wake up in the morning you'll see that he's alright. Go on…"
It was another half hour later before he heard movement again and looked up to see Beth gently guiding her sleeping sister's head onto the couch where Glenn, half asleep himself, instinctively reached out to comb his fingers through her hair. Silently Beth shifted onto her knees to crawl across the floor and back to the couch where Daryl had been laying stretched out on his back this whole time.
She seemed to know instinctively that he was awake, sitting with her back to the couch and tipping her head against his hand. Without hesitating he brought it up to run his fingers across her cheek and into her loose tresses just like Glenn had with Maggie; twinning the curls around his fingers as she tilted her head against his hand like an affectionate cat.
"You were right, you know." He breathed out the words in a low murmur, his eyes finding hers in the darkness as she turned her face up to look at him. With his fingers running across the soft curve of her cheek, he admitted roughly, "'bout loving a Greene woman. S'powerful draw."
Normally he might not have said something like that at all; he certainly never would have even thought to before. But in the darkness with her warm and close and with the weight of Maggie's worry for Glenn resonating so deeply especially after their conversation in the kitchen earlier, it just seemed like something he needed to say.
He knew that it was the right thing to say when Beth looked up at him and murmured back, "Just so you know? So is loving a Dixon." Her upturned face caught the moonlight shining through the window, gilding her skin as her lips curved up in a smile. She reached for him, combing back his hair to look into his eyes as she murmured, "It's a mighty draw, loving you. I'll never stop fighting for that, you know."
His fingers untangled from her hair to cup the side of her face, keeping her head turned up into the moonlight as he leaned in to rest his forehead to hers. This close he could see the glow of the moon on her skin, could feel it on his own too, as if it were that inner glow that Beth always had, spreading to him and warming him to his core as he murmured back, "I know."
Because he'd never stop fighting for her- for them- either.
Daryl leaned against the wall beside the window, peering down through the smudged glass. The rising morning sunshine was a welcome warmth on his face that felt like a stark contrast to blood-stained street beneath him, full as it was with milling walkers; their faces upturned and their jaws snapping as if they could somehow sense him above them.
Maybe they could. Hell, even after two years they still weren't entirely sure what these damn things could and couldn't sense.
All he knew was that when he'd woken to the rising sun that morning they had been there and their numbers had only been added to, albeit incrementally, throughout the day. It wasn't hard to figure out what might be drawing them. The first had been drawn to the sounds of their fighting last night but it was the carcasses of the dead wolves laying on the street that had kept them there. The walkers had feasted overnight, leaving little behind but fur and guts and blood. It didn't churn his stomach- not much did these days- but it worried him for other reasons. The blood and guts on the street would only draw more walkers, and the more of them that came the bigger threat there was to the safety of him and the others trapped above the shop. And Beth. Always Beth.
He turned to look at her now where she was curled up on the couch, her crossbow in her lap. She was cleaning it with a spare rag they'd found and for a moment the tension eased from his face as he just watched her. The sunlight streamed through the window to catch on her hair, making it shine around her head again and reminding him of the beacon she had been to him in the window yesterday; the beacon she always was to him.
Sensing his gaze on him she looked up to meet his gaze. Though there was a smile on her lips there was also a distance in her eyes, but he knew that wasn't personal. She was focused, lost in thought, using the routine of cleaning her weapon to allow her mind to churn and work over their problem so she could come up with solution.
He would have put his faith in her doing so, even though they'd spent most of the dawn as a group doing much the same and discarding every idea they came up with. The most straightforward way was to just go for the front door, but they all knew where that lead and none of them wanted to risk trying to fight their way out. Just the thought of pushing open that door to face the small herd of walkers made Daryl inwardly shudder.
(Every time he tried to imagine it he saw another night instead, saw himself like an idiot opening the front door of the darkened funeral home to allow the walkers inside. Saw himself calling out to her to run, to save herself, heard her shouting back: I'm not gonna leave you! But she had. Not by choice, but she had, and there was no way he was gonna risk that happening again.)
They couldn't go out the back either, though Glenn had suggested it. The entire area was closed in by other buildings with only a driveway leading down the side of the building; unfortunately right down to the front and the small swarm of walkers. There were no other exits that they could think of and Daryl was starting to think they were going to have to fight their way out the front of the building or risk being stuck here and hope that the others came back to get them. His stomach churned again at the thought of pushing open that front door to reveal rotted faces and hands reaching, reaching for them (Beth! Beth! Run! Run!), reaching for her...
"Think I might have something." The sound of Michonne's voice from behind him had the memories fading from his mind... or at least retreating, hiding in the shadows like wolves in the dark waiting to rear out and snap their jaws when the time was right. But for now he focused only on Michonne standing in the doorway with a look of determined confidence on her face, her words tossed out at him like a life-preserver in a churning sea, "There's a window in the bedroom that leads up to a fire escape over the driveway. Can't go down of course, but we can climb up. Cross the roofs, get a safe distance away and maybe make an escape."
As she explained the plan his mind was already racing ahead to picture every step they'd need to take, every possible way it could go wrong. The biggest of which was…
"But what about Glenn?" Beth asked softly from the couch, beating him to the punch. All three of them turned at the same time to look at Glenn where he was stretched out on the couch cradling his injured arm to his chest. He'd spent the whole night there resting in between Beth changing his bandages; which she'd unfortunately had to do quite a few times already. He kept bleeding through them, and Daryl knew that was making Beth nervous. Each time she tried harder to pack to wound with gauze and stem the bleeding as best she could, though she was still not feeling 100% herself.
"Hey," Glenn replied, giving them a weak smile. "I'm not useless, you know."
"Glenn…" Maggie leaned over him from where she was sitting by his feet, gently resting her hand on his side. "If you don't feel up to it that's okay, we can figure out something else…"
Except Daryl didn't think they couldn't, frankly, but for once he bit his tongue without even seeing the warning look Beth was giving him (or the smile that briefly crossed her face after when he held himself back all on his own). Instead he gestured to the couch and asked gruffly, "How about we see if y' can get to your feet first, alright? One thing at a time. Then we'll make for that window an' give it a try."
It was a good plan. Or it could have been, anyway. Unfortunately he could see the problem from the start when it took both Michonne and Maggie just to get Glenn onto his feet and they then had to carry him slung between them just to get him to the bedroom door. In his gut Daryl knew it wasn't gonna work, but he couldn't bring himself to tell them to give up, not when he had his own arm slung around Beth's back and her leaning against him as they walked, too. At least she could walk without swaying; he was pretty sure she at least could get out the window and up to the roof. He wasn't nearly as sure that Glenn could.
But there was some tiny part of him that still had hope. Maybe they could figure it out somehow, maybe they could still get him out the window and to the fire escape, maybe somehow they could drag him up to the roof and over to the next building and…
And then the moment Michonne moved to open the window Glenn swayed and almost fell to his knees. The only thing that stopped him from hitting the ground was Michonne's quick movement as she spun around to help Maggie catch him, both of them letting out grunts as they strained to lift him back up between them,
"We've got to sit him down." Maggie's voice was thick with worry as her gaze strayed to the bed, where a thin sheet did little to hide the shapes of the two bodies beneath it and almost nothing to hide the buzzing of flies trapped under the thin fabric. "Not here. Just not here. Michonne, can you help?"
Together they turned him around and for a few moments Glenn seemed to have regained some of his strength, but it didn't last. He almost fell again in the kitchen on the way back, his weak legs splaying out underneath him as Michonne and Maggie strained their muscles to heave him back up between them and struggled to practically drag him to the couch. The moment they laid him down Beth was slipping from Daryl's side to go to him.
Worry was etched in the furrow of her brow as she crouched down next to his couch but it was nothing compared to the fear he saw on Maggie's face as she hovered over her husband, frantic hands fluttering like panicked birds as she kept reaching for him only to nervously draw back. Her voice was tight as she pleaded,"Is he okay? Beth, please- Is it- Is this it? Is it rabies, does he have it?"
Apparently ignoring her sister's frantic questions for the moment, Beth raised the back of her hand to Glenn's forehead, checking his temperature as she looked down at him. "How do you feel, Glenn?"
He groaned, blinking his eyes as he looked up at her. "Dunno… kinda light-headed I think. Dizzy. My legs felt really weak."
Beth's fingers smoothed over her brother-in-law's forehead, brushing back his sweat dampened hair as she slowly nodded. Her touch across his temples was as soft and careful as her voice was when she asked, "Do you have a headache?" He shook his head slowly. "Okay. And how does your arm feel?"
"Like I got bitten by a wolf," Glenn rasped out with a low chuckle that had even Maggie managing a faint, if tight, smile.
"Well I'd imagine," Beth teased as her hands moved to his bandaged arm, checking to see if he was bleeding through again. "So it hurts, then?"
"Like a… like hell. Think those... pain pills are wearing off…"
"We'll get you another one, okay? Do you feel anything else? Itching maybe, or anything prickly feeling?"
Glenn's eyes fluttered shut for a moment as he drew in a deep and shuddering breath before finally shaking his head again. As his tongue swiped across his dry lips he opened his eyes and looked up at Beth to ask, "So what's the verdict, Doc?"
Beth focused her smile on him for just a moment before she looked up at Daryl. "Well I still don't think it's rabies." Her gaze shifted to her sister as she added in a warmer, reassuring voice, "It seems like it's just blood loss, Maggie. Maybe even a bit of shock still from the wound. It's making him light-headed and dizzy, which fits both those things. He needs another pain pill and some more antibiotics, and some water if we can sit him up a bit to drink it. He'll get better eventually, but..."
She trailed off hesitantly but Daryl knew what she was gonna say before her eyes even met his. With a sigh, he finished for her, "But he ain't gonna be up to making it out a window and across a roof any time soon."
"No. Not without us somehow carrying him the entire way and I just don't think we can manage it." Guilt darkened Beth's expression and Daryl automatically closed the gap between them, reaching out to settle his hand on her shoulder and give it a slow squeeze even as she turned to Maggie again and breathed out, "I'm sorry, Maggie. There's just no way, not without more help."
He might not have known Maggie's face the way he had long since mapped out Beth's, but even without that deep knowledge he could read the emotions flashing across her face. He could see as panic shifted to guilt and then to anger, could see as it finally settled into determination in the end. There was a set to her jaw and a furrow to her brow that he knew all too well; they might have only been half-sisters but when it came down to it they'd definitely both inherited the same stubborn determination.
"Then I'll go get help." Maggie issued the words lowly and firmly, a statement rather than a question.
"Maggie-" Beth rose to her feet quickly only to sway lightly in place. The sight of her knees going weak had Daryl instantly stepping up behind her. His muscled arms slipped around her waist and he drew her back to her chest, his sturdy frame keeping her upright as he looked down at her with worry. "I'm alright," she breathed back as she tipped her head to look up at him. "Just a bit light-headed myself, I promise. But Maggie-"
"No arguing." Maggie was already standing up straight and adjusting the belt around her waist. "I'm going, and that's it. I'll go out the window, head back and find the group. I'll bring them back here, and they can help us clear out the walkers below so we can get Glenn out."
When Michonne opened her mouth, Maggie cut her off before any of them could find out if she intended to protest or offer to go instead. Maybe it was both, but it didn't matter. "No," Maggie said again, pulling out her gun to check that it was loaded before sliding it back into the holster. "I want to go. I need to, okay? I need to do this, and you need to stay here."
Hearing Beth's intake of breath, Maggie turned to her and added firmly, "You do. You're injured too, Beth. You and Glenn have to stay here and Michonne and Daryl should stay to help protect this place, just in case. Besides, it'll be quicker if it's just me. I can be quiet and slip past the walkers if I need to. The more of us there are, the more attention we might draw."
She leaned down towards Glenn, smoothing the hair from his forehead again before pressing a kiss to his warm skin. "I'll be back for you, okay? I promise." But when she looked up her eyes met Beth's, and her voice was thicker as she went on, "I'll be back for both of you. For all of you."
Her words were thick not just with emotion but with the echo of the past flashing between them. Daryl knew exactly what both of them were remembering; the very betrayal that had caused the rift that was still not fully healed, though they had spent so much time recently easing it shut. Maggie might have been fighting to save Glenn again, but this time she was fighting for her sister too and she wanted to be sure Beth knew it.
And Beth did. Daryl knew she did the moment he felt Beth lean back against him, and he responded instantly and instinctively. His arms tightened around her and he splayed one hand against her stomach, a silent reminder that he was right there; that he understood what she was thinking as she gave her sister a slow nod and a faint smile.
He held her as Michonne lead Maggie back to the window, the two of them murmuring plans for what to do when she brought the group back. He held her until Maggie left through the window and they heard her footsteps on the roof above them. Even as those footsteps faded he still held her, turning her in his arms until he could reach up and gently brush her hair from her face to tuck it behind her ear. "It'll be alright. She'll come back and she'll bring the rest of 'em with her. Ain't nothin' could stop her from coming back to y'all." At the tilt of Beth's head against his hand, Daryl offered her a faint little smile and added lowly, "That's another thing about you Greene women. Stubborn and determined as hell."
From behind them Glenn gave a snort of amusement. "Now that's the truth."
Didn't they both know it.
They were reduced once more to waiting, though they didn't pass the time idly. While he urged Beth into sitting down and gave her some water to drink, Michonne got the antibiotics and pain pills to give Glenn his next dose. According to Beth it was the pain pills that had Glenn drifting in and out of consciousness after that, though Daryl could see the worry in her eyes as she studied him, her eyes always returning back to her brother-in-law even as she tried to get some rest herself.
With Glenn sometimes napping and sometimes joining in, they spent a good hour going over plans for what to do when the others arrived and running over every contingency; not only so they'd be prepared, but also because it kept all their minds busy and stopped them from focusing on what they'd do if Maggie didn't come back. No one wanted to think about that, even though in the back of their minds they all knew it was something they might have to plan for.
Despite his focus on planning ahead Daryl could still feel the worry clawing at his belly. Every once in awhile he would blink and instead of seeing Beth sitting on the couch or the view down into the street he'd see that night again. His mind would be filled with images of the walkers pressing at the door he was failing to hold shut as he shouted for Beth to grab her stuff and run, run, run Beth!
Each time he'd grunt and blink the memories away and look down at the walkers standing below them in the street, his brow furrowed as if by glaring enough he could ward off the past and stop it from happening all over again.
"Hey…" At the soft sound of her voice Daryl turned to look down at Beth, who curled her fingers around his bicep. Of course the furrow in his brow smoothed out the moment she gave him that warm, reassuring look.
"Should be sitting down," he said gruffly as he nodded back to the couch, even though he wasn't really complaining about the warm touch of her fingers around his arm.
"I'm gonna have to stand up when they get here, I should get some practice." A hesitant smile curved across her lips as she gently squeezed his arm. "Besides, someone has to stop you from glaring a hole in that window."
"I wasn't…" He trailed off at the look she gave him and just sighed instead, because there was never any point in lying to Beth. Truth was he didn't even want to; he never did. Not with her. "Just… keep remembering, that's all. Keep thinking about those walkers down there pushing through the door while we're tryin' to fight our way out and it makes me remember…" He swallowed and gave a shrug of his shoulders, as if he could belie the moment to the woman who knew him better than anyone. "That night. Tellin' you to run."
There was never any doubt for him as to how well Beth knew him. It wasn't a thing he'd forget even without the way she reminded him each time she read him like a book, each time she knew exactly what to say or do. Like she reminded him right now with the way she leaned forward to rest her chin on his arm and looked up at him as her fingers brushed down to twine with his own. "So don't tell me to run, this time." She tipped her head forward and he felt the brush of her lips through the sleeve of his shirt before she looked up at him and added, "I'm not gonna leave you. Not anymore, remember? If we have to run then we'll run together."
Words failed him but that was nothing new, and it didn't much matter. Part of her knowing him inside and out was that he didn't need to say anything in reply for her to know he was grateful or that he understood. He just turned towards her and let his hand come up, fingers curling into her hair as he cupped the side of her face and leaned down to rest his forehead against hers in silent agreement. In silent promise.
Their quiet moment was broken seconds later when Michonne suddenly stood up straight at the window and dropped her hand right for the hilt of her katana. "Cavalry is here. Time to move."
Beth's hand found his and squeezed once more as she looked up into his eyes and gave a slow nod. They didn't need to speak. The words arched through the air between them and echoed in both their hearts as their fingers gripped and squeezed and released.
If we need to run, then we'll run together.
Like Michonne had said, the cavalry came from down the street, though perhaps not quite so literal as that. There was no pounding of hoofbeats on the pavement of course, but the stride of determined footsteps instead. From the window he could see them in the distance; Rick, Tyreese, Sasha, Carol, Rosita, and of course Maggie. At the end of the street they paused, but if he wondered why it was only for the moment it took before the crowd of walkers beneath the store began to shift in response. The sight and sounds of the new arrivals drew their attention, pulling more than half of them from the front of the shop to shuffle down the street after the new group. A distraction, luring enough of them aware to give those of them trapped in the shop a possibility to fight their way out against better odds.
"This is our chance," Michonne murmured as she lifted her katana. "You and me first, Dixon. Beth, think you can cover us from up here?"
It was the plan they'd discussed while they'd waited, but he saw the way Beth's eyes flickered to his for just one unsure moment before she gave a nod. "I know the plan. I've got you."
Beth was already shouldering her crossbow as Michonne headed for the door and Daryl knew they had to move now but that didn't stop him from borrowing a few seconds of time to lean down and looking into Beth's eyes. "Trustin' you to cover me, Greene. An' we ain't getting separated. If either of us are running, it's right back to the other. Y'hear me?"
"Always." She flashed him a grin despite the worry in her eyes and teased, "Now go! The faster you can clear out those walkers, the better." But even as he started to turn her hand snaked out to grip his arm, fingers curling around his bicep as she exclaimed, "Wait!"
The unspoken question in his eyes was answered the moment she leaned up on her toes and pressed a kiss to his lips and murmured softly against his mouth. "Together. Don't forget."
Daryl let his hand cup the back of her hair to press one more kiss to her forehead with a soft and murmured, "Deal." Ignoring the groaned 'gross' from Glenn behind him, he looked into her eyes and added quietly, "And don't you forget to breathe, okay? In and out, nice and slow." She'd been so good all day and yesterday too, not letting the panic get the best of her the way it sometimes could. He was so damn proud of her for conquering her anxiety day by day and it showed in his faint smile as he squeezed her arm and dropped his hand away.
He didn't mind Glenn's playful eye-rolling responses, though for good measure he did give him the middle finger as he strode past him to follow Michonne. The playful gesture almost made him forget the gnawing worry in the pit of his belly as he left Beth standing at the window behind him.
Almost, anyway.
Lately he wondered if that worry would ever go away. Maybe it wouldn't. Maybe it wasn't meant to go away, all tied up as it was in his love for Beth. Besides, the truth was that in some ways the worry only helped. It added determination to the fire that fueled him as he came up behind Michonne at the front door, his crossbow raised and at the ready.
And when everything sprang suddenly into the action, that lingering worry was the extra added bit of sharp clarity and concentration that he needed to ensure everything went his way.
It was the extra push behind the release of his first bolt, right into the eye of the walker that had appeared when Michonne pulled open the door and darted aside. It was the new edge to his strength when he stepped into the sunny street with his knife clutched into his hand and turned sharply to pin the next walker to the wall and slam the knife right down into it's skull.
Above him came the hiss of an arrow as Beth shot from the open window, firing down and hitting a walker who had turned back towards them at the sound of their fighting. She took it down in one shot and sent it crumbling to the ground, and his surge of pride in her made that adrenaline-fueled fire surge as he kicked out, hitting the backs of the knees of a walker heading towards Michonne and sending it crumpling to the ground where he could slam his blade through it's skull, too.
All around him the fighting raged, but it was focused and concentrated. There was none of the panic of the surprise attacks they'd faced yesterday, none of the desperate frantic rush of trying to figure out what to do, how to escape. This they knew how to handle. Michonne's blade shone as it whirled through the air, decapitating walker after walker. Up the street Rick took out two walkers with his machete as the others worked together to take down the others with their own blades. None of them risked using a gun these days unless they absolutely had to. Not only was it a risk just for the sound alone, but they were more and more aware of how rare ammo was becoming.
The truth was they didn't need guns, not anymore. Not after all the time they'd spent out on the move, fighting to survive. In a way they were like those damn wolves themselves just fighting to survive; but smarter and stronger, especially as a team. The last walker stumbled to the ground with a bolt in it's arm and Daryl moved in for the kill with a quick thrust of his blade, finishing off what Beth had started.
A team, as always. The entire group of them is, the whole family; one big team. But especially him and Beth, at least in Daryl's mind.
He shaded his eyes against the afternoon sun as he peered up at her in the window, hair glowing in the same sun that shone down on him, and knew that the look in her eyes was all for him as she mouthed silently: Dixon and Greene.
All he could do was smile to himself.
It was a smile that lingered on his lips as Maggie hurried past him into the house with Tyreese on her heels, a smile that only grew a few moments later when they came back down with Beth leading the way and Glenn behind her, slung between Tyreese and Maggie.
His arm slipped around Beth's waist the moment she was close and he drew her against his side, right where she belonged. This time there was no adrenaline filled kiss as he scooped her into his arms; nothing that passionate or public. She arched onto her toes and he leaned down to meet her, and the gentle press of his forehead to hers for a few lingering seconds was all he needed to ease away the last bit of worry from where it had tried and failed to gnaw permanently into him. It was all he needed to keep that smile on his lips, too.
What eventually turned that smile into a low chuckle wasn't Beth for once. Instead it was the sight of Carl appearing at Rick's waved signal to the others where they'd been waiting down the street, Carl running ahead of the others right towards them to fling his arms around Beth in a hug that sent all three of them stumbling. The chuckle rumbled within his chest as Beth giggled and wrapped her arms around Carl to return the hug, but it finally bubbled free from his lips when Carl pulled back almost instantly to scuff his foot on the ground, the picture of an awkward teenager suddenly caught showing affection when he hadn't meant to be. "Just glad you're alright, s'all." Carl shrugged and peered up at her from under the brim of his hat. "Knew you would be. Wasn't worried or anything."
"I know." Beth leaned in to ruffle his hair with a slow smile that had Carl instantly relaxing. Daryl wasn't surprised at the smile that spread across the kid's face; a smile from Beth Greene could probably inspire one in return from a rock, if she set her mind to it.
Carl of course launched into his usual round of questions about the wolves, her injuries, Glenn, and everything else he could possibly wonder about. Through the haze of the boy's seemingly-endless words, which Beth seemed to have no problem answering even as she leaned back into his side, there was something else he didn't fail to notice; another reunion, perhaps less exuberant and awkward than Carl's had been, but in a way even more revealing.
Quiet and calm, Rick and Michonne stood just a foot apart from each other a short distance from him, holding each other's gazes. Daryl watched, unnoticed as they both drew in deep breaths and exhaled with slow, understanding nods. Quiet. Calm. Until Rick closed the gap between them and wrapped his arms around Michonne to draw her right to his chest. He almost felt like he was intruding somehow and yet he couldn't seem to help from watching them in that moment. The fierce warrior woman that so frequently filled Michonne's skin didn't fade away, but Daryl saw that steel soften for just a moment as she rested her forehead against Rick's chest, letting his arms wrap around her and his hands press to her back.
When the two of them breathed again, they breathed almost as one, and Daryl couldn't help the hint of a smile that flickered across his lips once more. Neither could he help the way he instinctively drew Beth just the slightest bit closer, but there was no need to explain. She looked up at him for a second and then followed his gaze right over to Michonne and Rick, and her own breath exhaled in a soft sigh.
There was no surprise in Beth's eyes when she leaned into him and he reached down to brush a stray bit of hair out of her eyes. Maybe that little reunion wasn't so surprising. After all, he of all people knew the sort of bond that could form between two people on their own who forged themselves into a team; not just to survive the world, but to live.
So in the end, all he could do was hum in agreement as she glanced from him to Rick and Michonne and back, before whispering simply, "Partners."
Yeah. He could understand that.
**A/N: I hope you all enjoyed this, it is the labor of several very frustrating days. I will try to update as soon as I can, and hopefully this writer's block won't last. (If you're wondering, I do plan on finally moving the group ahead soon, probably in the next chapter!)
Special thanks to Abelina (/u/612230/Abelina) for helping me work through the escape planning section, it had me stuck for two days and four drafts total! You should all pop by her page and check out her fics, especially Fall Right In and Wild Things. She is AMAZING.