A/N: Surprise, it's a Christmas chapter! I realized that with the timing of this week and the plans I had for this chapter, this would fit in perfectly. I hope you all enjoy it. Also, I decided to make a little map of what Haven currently looks like, but unfortunately you can't add pictures to stories, so if you'd like to see that, please just check my AO3. Hope you enjoy!
It was a crisp, cool December day. Though snow was rare in the area Haven was located, it at least was beginning to feel somewhat like winter. According to the thermometer they kept on their window, the temperature was hovering in the forties today. Beth had bundled both her and Annie-May up for a morning trip over to cabin one, where Thomas had a bit of an upset stomach this morning. She'd made him some peppermint tea (he didn't like ginger), which seemed to help, and given him a brief exam. Since he didn't have a fever or anything, she told Sasha and Tyrese to just keep an eye on him and let her know if anything changed.
She suspected it was just an upset stomach, possibly from something he ate, but more likely from anxiety or nerves. The boy had settled in at Haven in the last month, but as his false bravado faded the longer he was away from the influence of the Butchers, the more his natural inclination towards anxiety and doubt kicked in. His hero-worship of Tyrese seemed to be helping in that regard, not the least of which because Tyrese was a very soft-spoken, kind, and understanding man, always willing to lend the quiet boy a listening ear.
In fact, it had been Tyrese who had confided a few days ago that he suspected some of Thomas' recent worries had come from the realization that they were approaching what would once have been a very auspicious date. Christmas. Unfortunately, the upcoming holiday had sparked more melancholy for most of the children than anything else, as all of them except Judy and Annie-May were old enough to remember what Christmas had once been like. Enid, Avery, Thomas, Laila, and even Carl had all lost one or both of their parents, and so it was no surprise that the approaching holiday conjured up both nostalgia and pain for them.
Beth, however, was determined to find a way to lift not only the spirits of the kids but the adults too. The children had it tough, but they weren't the only ones who had lost family, friends, or partners. All of them had memories of Christmases spent with people they'd never see again, doing traditions that were lost now. She couldn't bring those traditions back, but she could help them all make new ones.
As she exited cabin one and began the trek back to her and Daryl's cabin at the opposite end, she not only spotted a few signs of her plans in action, but also was treated to a visual tour of everything they'd accomplished over the last month since the battle with the Butchers.
While crossing the gap between cabin one and cabin two, she could see Carol's motorhome parked behind cabin one. Though it wasn't in view from this angle, she knew there was a fully completed shed behind it now. It had taken a few days to build, then a day more to add some insulation to the bare walls. They'd also carefully cut a hole in the roof for the chimney pipe of the small wood stove they'd added to warm the shed at night. The final addition had been a makeshift tarp-roof stretching from the shed to the RV, allowing Avery and Enid, who slept in the shed now, to cross to the motorhome without getting rained on. Carol was still sleeping inside the motorhome, and the trio liked to sit in the area between, with chairs and a small fire set up under the tarp.
To the left of it was cabin two, which now housed Hank and Alberta, Ivy and Noah, and Laila. Behind their home was the well they'd spent a couple weeks finishing, and next to that was the root cellar they'd constructed in the weeks following, though from the outside it mostly looked like a mound of dirt with a door set into it. Alberta had quickly and happily gone to work filling the cellar with both the stock of food they'd gotten from the Butchers, and that which they'd harvested from their own garden. In time they would only add more to it, and hopefully build up a stock of preserved food to keep them all well fed.
Beth walked on, adjusting the straps of the backpack she wore over her green jacket. She used to keep her medical supplies in a handheld bag, but these days she needed to carry both them and Annie-May and still have her hands free, so the backpack was a far more convenient option. For her part, Annie-May was snug against her chest, dressed in a warm purple hooded onesie with feet and ears that always made Beth want to call her little lilac bear. At over a month old now, she was growing fast, at least in Beth's opinion. Her eyes, which were still a bright baby blue, tended to look all around, though she was most drawn to familiar voices and faces. She often looked up at Beth or Daryl and gave little sounds that Beth liked to think were from her recognizing their faces.
They walked past cabin three, and in the distance behind cabin four she could see the completed rabbit run that Rick, Michonne, and Carl had finished a few weeks ago. They'd erected a series of wooden poles in a square shape and wrapped fencing around it, with a gate on one side for them to get in and out. More fencing was laid on top to create a roof and prevent any hawks or other birds of prey from swooping down to catch the rabbits. They had a large rabbit hutch inside, with a ramp so the rabbits could get in and out if they wanted more shelter and food.
The rabbits seemed to be doing well; she and Maggie had become the camp's default vets, she assumed because of their Daddy. She'd checked most of the rabbits over recently, and to Carl's excitement, one of the females was pregnant, which meant they'd have rabbit babies soon. Considering that the rabbits were intended for meat and not pets, she hoped he didn't get too attached to the babies. (Though frankly, she was liable to have the same problem. Rabbits were pretty cute.)
They'd reserved space behind the rabbit pen for a chicken coop within a similarly fenced area. Though they'd yet to find any chickens, Rick had begun building the area in his spare time, figuring it would be better to have it ready if they did ever find some chickens to put there. To the left of the rabbit and chicken pens was the new horse pen. It was set a little bit further back from cabin five, to allow room for another garden Maggie and Glenn had started planning for the upcoming spring. The horses had a pretty large area cordoned off with a wooden fence and a big gate. In the back of the pen, one of the shed kits from Walmart had been turned into a shelter for the horses, when they wanted out of the elements. In time, they'd like to build a larger one, but it would do for now.
From here she could see all five of the horses roaming happily around their pen. It had taken barely a day before they'd gotten names, and by now she was also familiar with all their personality quirks. Night, the all-black horse, was the only stallion of the herd and though dominant, surprisingly curious and friendly. One of the light chestnut horses, the one with the white stripe down his face, was a gelding. They must have been part of this same group for a while because he seemed to have no issues with Night. He was relatively submissive, meek, and friendly, and liked to spend his time with the other mare that looked similar to him, albeit she had a little white snip just above her nose. They looked so similar everyone thought they were siblings, which was why they'd named the boy Linus and the girl Lucy.
Then there was Sugar, the bay mare with the black socks, who had been named as such by Alberta, due to her fondness for anything sweet (which was much harder to come by these days). And finally was Beth's favorite horse, Sahara, the buckskin mare with dappled tan skin, black stockings, and a black mane and tail. She was a feisty little thing who didn't let just anyone go near her. Perhaps unsurprisingly, given who had been her previous owners, she didn't seem to like men much and preferred women, especially Beth and Maggie, who so far were the only ones allowed to ride her.
Spotting Sahara standing at the edge of the pen watching her, Beth shook her head and took a detour towards the paddock. The mare would never let her hear the end of it if she didn't say hello. So she took a few minutes to greet the horse and pet her face, laughing as Sahara nosed Annie-May on her chest and coaxed a surprised gurgle from the baby.
As she turned away from the horses, she spotted Rick and Michonne coming out of the back door of their cabin, both of them clutching one of the sturdy axes they usually used for tree-cutting, as well as some weapons to protect themselves if needed. Her lips twitched into a smile as she gave them a little wave, knowing exactly what secret mission they were on their way to fulfill. When they waved back, she tapped her finger on the side of her nose, playfully alluding to their secret, and then turned and headed back towards her and Daryl's cabin.
Just as she reached the little inlet of water that split part of the ground between Maggie and Glenn's cabin, and her and Daryl's cabin, she heard the creak of a door opening behind her, and half-turned just in time to spot Glenn stepping out onto the front porch to wave at her. "Beth! Perfect timing. Are you free for a minute? I think Maggie needs a look over."
Her brow furrowed at the question, and she immediately turned and hurried up towards his steps. "What's wrong with Maggie? Is she okay?"
Glenn lowered his voice, darting a worried or nervous glance over his shoulder. "It's, uhh… Well honestly she'll probably be mad at me, she keeps telling me she's fine and not to bother you, but I just think it would be better for you to check her over, you know?"
"I understand," Beth murmured reassuringly, ignoring Glenn's rambling tone and the fact that he hadn't exactly answered the question in favor of comforting him instead. "What exactly are you worried is wrong with her?"
"Well, uhh… she has headaches a lot. Also her feet and ankles seem to be swollen like, every day lately." He darted another glance behind him, and then gave her a half-frown and a shrug. "She says it's just from being on her feet, but… maybe you could just look her over?"
"Well, those could be normal, or it could mean something. You're right, it wouldn't hurt to check." She looked him over and gave a little smile at how nervous and twitchy he was. "Don't worry. I come bearing the perfect excuse and the perfect deflection for Maggie's anger." She patted Annie-May's back and gave Glenn a grin that immediately eased the tension in his body.
Beth slipped past her brother-in-law and into the house, calling out her greetings to Maggie as she went. "Hey, Mags! How's it going?"
Maggie was sitting on their couch, her feet up on the coffee table. When she heard Beth's voice, she craned her head to look at her and immediately groaned. "Let me guess, he dragged you here to look at me? I told him, I'm fine."
"Dragged me? Never!" Beth kept a smile on her lips as she crossed the floor and around the couch to her grumpy big sister. "I was just walking by, and Annie-May here was begging to see you. I think it was something like—" She paused to affect a babyish little voice, and went on, "Mama, mama, pwwwwease can we see Aunt Maggie?"
They both obviously knew that Annie-May was nowhere near talking yet, but it didn't matter. Maggie immediately laughed, breaking the tension, and Beth joined her as she unwrapped the baby carrier and handed Annie-May carefully to her sister. Thankfully she'd been out on a medical visit to see Thomas, so she had her backpack of supplies slung over her shoulders. As Maggie cradled her niece and began to coo at her and babble praises, Beth casually set the backpack down and began to rummage through it, coming up with her manual blood pressure checker.
Maggie glanced up in time to see her readying the equipment, and groaned. "I knew it!"
"Oh, you just shush now. Go on, cuddle your adorable niece, and this will be over quicker than you can say Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.."
Which, of course, was not the easiest word to say, so as Maggie jokingly tried getting Annie-May to say it, Beth quickly got to work giving her sister a little check-up.
"Well, it's not awful," Beth said a few minutes later, wrapping up her blood pressure cuff and slipping it back into her back. "But your blood pressure is definitely still high. At this point, given how far along you are, I'm worried it could be gestational hypertension." Spotting the worried looks on both Glenn and Maggie's faces, she added, "It's not a huge deal, as long as we treat it." She closed her bag and stood up straight, giving them a reassuring smile, "Step one is rest. I know that sounds tough in the world we live in, but try to take more time off your feet. Sitting like you are now is great. You can still do watch shifts, but try to sit when you do. And don't do quite as much manual labor, okay?"
Maggie opened her mouth, Beth could only assume to argue, so she held up her hand. "Doctors orders, okay?" A smile twisted Maggie's lips as she sighed, but didn't argue further. "Some low impact exercise is good and will help, though. Swimming, or taking a walk." She tried to remember what else she'd read in her books, which was easy since she'd been a bit worried about this for a few weeks now, with Maggie's BP always a bit high, so she'd committed a lot of it to memory. "Cut down on salt, which is easy enough for most things these days. You'll have to avoid the salt cured meat, but I'm sure Alberta would be happy to accommodate you." The woman was already always fussing over Maggie as it was. She was a bit like a grandma to a lot of them, so no one minded, not even her prickly sister.
"And you'll need some medication." Beth sighed at that, crossing her hands over her chest. "Unfortunately, I don't have the kind that's best for you. But we may be able to find some. Daryl and I are going on a run later today." She tapped her nose, indicating it was for the 'secret surprise' even though there were no kids to overhear her. Regardless, you never knew who was listening. "So I'll be on the lookout. I have some other high blood pressure medication which might help if we have nothing else, but I'd prefer to find the specific ones you're meant to take. It's called nifedipine, it's a calcium-channel blocker, my books recommend it."
She uncrossed her arms and reached for Annie-May, taking her from a semi-reluctant Maggie with a little smile. "But for now, just rest today, okay? I mean it. I'll come see you tonight or tomorrow, depending on when we get back." As she wrapped Annie-May back up in her chest carrier, she looked over at Glenn and gave him a stern look. "I'm trusting you to make sure she holds to it." Then her serious expression faltered, and she added with a teasing laugh, "Good luck, Glenn!"
Beth craned her head over her shoulder, looking back through the grimy rear window of the green truck. She could barely see Haven at the end of the gravel road they were traveling, its walls and gate quickly swallowed by trees even before Bear blocked her view. His goofy face popped up, tail wagging and nose booping the glass, leaving wet spots in front of her face.
"You know you can't see her from here, right?" Daryl's teasing words cut into her thoughts, though he quickly punctuated it by giving a gentle squeeze to her shoulder. It had been hard for both of them to leave Annie-May for the first time since her birth, though Beth had shown it more outwardly than Daryl had. She'd been looking back since the moment they'd dropped her off with Alberta.
"I know," Beth added a little whine to the words, and then sighed as she turned to face forward. Her hands came up automatically to cup the baby who was usually wrapped to her chest, only to fall limply to her lap once she realized Annie-May wasn't there. Leaving her had been incredibly hard, much harder than she'd even imagined it might be. She'd known logically, and still did, that Annie-May was better off at home. Sure, she was a quiet baby, but they were planning on going into a town, into houses that may have walkers in them, and there was no point putting her at risk when there was a fortified community full of people willing to watch her. And yet…
"Alberta will keep her safe," Daryl murmured, his low-voiced reassurances chasing away the icy-fingers of anxiety. "Prob'ly coddle her quite a bit, too."
"I know," Beth repeated, softer this time and less whiny. "I do. Alberta will take great care of her. And Laila, too." Having become very close with Brigid during their time in captivity, Laila was very protective of Annie-May, and often came by to spend time with her, or watch the baby while Beth and Daryl were nearby working. They hadn't quite felt comfortable letting the teenager watch Annie-May on her own for their first time away, but Alberta had offered to assist and they couldn't say no to that. Not only was she a mother who had raised her own child, she was a bit like a mother figure to most of the camp these days. Her and Hank together were probably the closest thing Annie-May had to living grandparents.
Beth glanced up at Daryl, studying his stoic face, outlined by the sunshine shining through the window as he focused on the road ahead. He was so steady, so reliable. She knew he missed Annie-May too, having seen it in the way he'd cuddled the little baby close before they'd brought her over to Alberta. He was either better at masking it, or more likely, better at putting it aside and focusing on the task at hand. Which was admittedly an important one, especially now that they'd added searching for medicine for Maggie to the mix.
After that moment of thought, Beth leaned against Daryl, whose arm immediately lifted to wrap around her shoulder. She snuggled against him, breathing in deeply to fill her nostrils with his scent. Then, after an exhale, she admitted, "I guess I just didn't realize how much I'd gotten used to having her close all the time until now. Funny, I used to never be able to stand going more than a few days without leaving Haven. It still bothers me but… something about her grounds me, I guess."
Daryl glanced at her briefly before returning his gaze to the road. "But I bet under all that missing her, it's still nice to get away for a bit, isn't it?"
She hesitated a moment and then laughed. "Alright, yes, I'll admit it. It's nice. I was starting to go a bit stir crazy, honestly. It's good to be on the road, feeling the breeze through the open window, going somewhere different." Her laughter mellowed into a smile, and she couldn't help but add, "But I'll also be relieved to get back to her. Honestly, I can't wait till she can come with us. Then the three of us will be able to escape now and then." From behind her, she heard the sound of Bear giving a little 'roo' through the glass, as if he'd heard her and took offense. With a laugh, Beth added, "Sorry, the four of us."
"That'll be perfect." Daryl said it easily, and when Beth tipped back up her head to look at him, she knew he meant it. That to him, there was probably nothing better than the thought of their family—once just the two of them but now, three (four, if you counted Bear)—spending time together, alone.
They had decided to focus today on the outskirts of Clayton, the Butcher's former headquarters. This was in part because presumably most of the walkers had been cleared out, but the Butchers themselves had been relatively focused on certain survival supplies and would have ignored most of the things they were looking for, like Christmas decorations and toys. For whatever reason, they hadn't had a huge stock of medication besides the more standard stuff (antibiotics, pain pills, etc) so Beth was hopeful that they'd find what they were looking for in that regard, too.
Of course. just because they were in an area once maintained by the Butchers didn't mean that they could take things easy. Anyone else could have moved in, humans or walkers. So they were still on guard as Daryl eased the truck to a stop in front of a cluster of houses on a dead-end road named Peaceful Lane. "Let's hope that name holds true," Beth remarked as she stepped out of the truck, shading her eyes to look up at the nearby faded street sign. Behind her, Daryl climbed out as well and lowered the truck gate to let Bear out. They'd been training him up over the last month and at Daryl's whistle he stuck close to them, staying quiet rather than exploring the yard.
The street sure seemed peaceful, but these days most areas did from a distance. In reality, the peacefulness tended to be a bit more eerie than anything else. The houses here had fallen into disarray; their weed-choked lawns overgrown, abandoned toys and cars and belongings studding the grass along with the occasional corpse, long since rotted to bones.
She avoided staring too long at those, instead scanning the yards until she found one scattered with children's toys. "This one might make a good start," she remarked, pointing at a small two-story house with paint that had once been blue but had faded to gray with a coating of grime. Family homes were their goal today, because they fit a myriad of purposes. Their original goal had been to find Christmas decorations. It had been Beth's idea that rather than looking in stores, which would likely have nothing due to the timing of the turn, they should check the attics and basements of family homes for stored decorations. On top of that, those homes would hopefully have things they could get as presents for the various kids, so it covered multiple needs.
Plus, she was hoping that some of these homes might have once housed pregnant women, or women who had been pregnant and who had kept their supply of nifedipine, the medication she was hoping to find for Maggie. It would likely be expired, but so would anything they found at a pharmacy, too. Expired or not, it was certainly better than nothing.
They entered the house in their usual method, knocking on the door to flush out any walkers that might be inside. The door was unlocked, there were no walkers in sight, and Bear didn't alert to anything. So they stepped cautiously inside and began their sweep of the ground floor. There were still no signs of walkers, but plenty of signs of the family that had once lived there. Beth paused in the living room by a framed photo of a mom and dad with three kids, frowning as she picked it up and studied it.
From the doorway of the cleared kitchen, Daryl asked, "Everythin' alright?"
"Yeah." She put the photo down. "It just feels… macabre, I guess. Or morbid. Going through these people's homes, rummaging for their christmas decorations. It's been years and it still feels weird, no matter how necessary it is."
Daryl crossed the room towards her, Bear at his heels, his hand leaving his crossbow briefly to rub her lower back. "Think of it this way… if there was a community with kids, an' they found your abandoned farmhouse an' your old family decorations all tucked away in a box an' they wanted to use them, would you mind?"
She had to think about it for a moment. Not the question really, but the memory that immediately sprung to the forefront. Daddy climbin' up into the attic to rummage around for the boxes, shoutin' to Mama that he couldn't find them every year even though Mama always told him to put them in the same place. Then, after a bunch of playful yelling back and forth, he'd finally come down with the dust-covered boxes. Mama would put on Christmas music and they'd gather in the living room, pulling out tinsel and lights and laughing at the little clay ornaments they'd made as kids, or the ones with their little baby photos. It was sad to think of them abandoned now, gathering layers upon layers of dust, never seeing the light of day. "I think I would be happy," she said suddenly, her expression brightening at the realization. "They deserve to be used and celebrated, not just… forgotten."
"So maybe this family would feel th' same way," Daryl suggested. It was a thoughtful sentiment, one others might have been surprised to hear from him, but not Beth. She knew he was a sweetheart underneath that gruff exterior.
"We can't know for sure, but I choose to believe they would." Beth gave him a soft smile, her guilt alleviated for now, then leaned over to scratch behind Bear's ears. "C'mon, I think this floor is clear. Let's see if this place has an attic or a basement and some Christmas supplies. Does that sound good, bud?"
She took Bear's soft wuff of noise as a yes, and they headed deeper into the house to explore further.
Most of the houses around here didn't have basements, so it wasn't surprising that they ended up finding the Christmas decorations in the attic of both the first and second houses. Beth went through each box, picking out and organizing ornaments, tinsel, and lights into one of the sturdier storage bins. Any of the personal and hand-made children's ornaments she set aside in a special tin, unsure if they would hang them up or not but not wanting to neglect them.
In the third house they hit a jackpot, finding not only more decorations but some outdoor lights that had little solar-panels on them, all stored in the closet of the main bedroom. Beth happily tucked them into the box and then sat on the floor of the bedroom with the rest of the Christmas supplies. She rummaged through the boxes of ornaments, smiling as she spotted a set of vintage glass in pretty colors and setting it aside. As she pulled out some strands of silver tinsel, Bear stuck his head in the box and almost immediately gave a loud sneeze.
"Uh oh, too dusty for you?" She looked up at Daryl to smile at him, only to instead catch him slipping what looked like a small box off the dresser and into his pocket. She arched one eyebrow and teased, "Find something you like?"
She expected him to tell her off, but she didn't expect him to flinch the way he did and look quite so flustered. Interesting. It took him a moment to compose himself, and only after a few seconds of silence did he clear his throat and say roughly, "Don't worry about it."
Beth was admittedly curious, since it was probably a Christmas gift for her, or maybe Annie-May. She couldn't blame him for that, she'd already gotten him a couple gifts; one from the stock from the Butcher's, one she'd been saving for a bit now, and another she'd gotten made by someone specially for Daryl. She was excited to give them to him for Christmas, so she wasn't going to tease him too much if he was finding things for her, too.
"I think I'm done with this box," she remarked to break the awkwardness, standing up and dusting off her knees as she did. "Do you want to check for more toys or presents for the kids, before we bring these to the truck?"
When Daryl nodded, she crossed the hallway and without thinking, pushed open the door to what she assumed was one of the kid's bedrooms. She was moving so quickly in her desire to break the tension that she didn't notice Bear growling at her feet until it was too late. The door opened to reveal a walker, mouth already stretched in a snarl. It was old enough that it was decrepit and barely standing, arms more tendons and bones than flesh, but it must have been lured by the sound of their voices because it was barely inches away and already lunging for her. She yelped instinctively and fumbled for her crossbow, only to realize she'd left it on the floor of the main bedroom, lulled into a sense of security by the nostalgia of going through Christmas decorations.
Idiot.
"Shit!" She fumbled for the knife at her belt as the walker grabbed for her, hands gripping one of her arms and trying to tug it up towards its mouth full of rotted, clacking teeth. Behind her she heard Daryl calling out her name, but she knew he wasn't going to get a good shot, not with her body between him and the walker. And then, just as she managed to desperately grip the handle of the knife at her waist, Bear launched forward with a growl, biting into the walker's knee and shaking his head until the fragile muscles and tendons broke with an audible snap.
The walker lost its grip on her arm and faltered, and Beth took the window of opportunity to grab her knife, slide it from its sheath, and slam it into the walker's dead. It fell lifeless to the ground and Beth sagged immediately against the doorframe in relief. Her heart was still racing and her lungs gasping for breath when suddenly hands grabbed her from behind and spun her around. She had one second of pure panic before she caught a glimpse of Daryl's frantic face and then she was being crushed against his chest in a tight hug.
"Damnit, Beth," he growled against her ear, voice breathless and full of fear and relief. Her heart clenched with guilt and she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly back.
"I'm sorry," she gasped into his shoulder, "I should have checked the door first, I should have had my bow with me—"
"I should have swept this floor better," Daryl grunted, apparently feeling just as guilty as she did.
Their eyes met and both of them began to laugh for a second, the sound fueled by hysterical relief. And then just as suddenly their lips met, faces crashing together in unison as they kissed hungrily and desperately, filled with both adrenaline and the relief that they were still alive.
Judging by the way their hands roamed over each other's bodies, it might have turned into something else if not for Bear, whose sudden whines from their feet caused them to break the kiss with a simultaneous gasp for air. Beth looked down at the dog, her kiss-swollen lips curving into a smile as she saw him staring up at her. "Yes, you did a good job, Bear. Good boy! You took that bad walker right down for me. Thank you."
She leaned over to scritch his ears in thanks and even fished out a bit of jerky from the pocket of her pants, but her eyes were still mostly on Daryl standing above her. She gave him an apologetic smile and he simply nodded in return, and she knew they'd both be far more careful for the rest of the trip. She didn't even want to think about what could have happened if it had been a stronger, newer walker.
(Let alone if they'd had Annie-May with them. No, she really didn't want to think about that.)
Instead, she focused on completing their tasks for the day, so they could get back to the safety of Haven and their little baby girl.
In the end, they'd found just about everything they'd needed or desired in the outskirts of Clayton, including a couple bottles of the medication Maggie needed. At least enough to last her about two months, which was time enough to find more, hopefully. But just as importantly, they'd found everything they needed to set up a perfect Christmas surprise for the kids of Haven.
So the next night almost all the adults gathered in the center of Haven, just to the right of the big announcement board. The kids were all asleep, and they were doing their best to set up the surprise without waking them up. Admittedly, it was hard to keep a large group of adults quiet when they were having fun, especially when someone had been passing around one of the bottles of rum they'd found in the Butcher's stash. There was a lot of shushing and giggling going on as they set up the lovely Christmas tree that Rick and Michonne had cut down and began to decorate it.
In the spirit of Christmas, they'd brought in one of the smaller generators they'd gotten from the Butchers, and hooked it up beside the Christmas tree for the lights, though they'd only turned it on briefly to make sure the lights worked, not wanting to waste it. Once Carol and Daryl had covered the tree in lights, Rosita and Tara began to wrap it in silver tinsel. To the side, Beth crouched above the bin full of ornaments and decorations, handing them out to the others to decorate the whole community. Rick went door to door quietly putting up wreaths, Michonne draped the announcement board in tinsel, and even Eugene was helping out, sorting the ornaments into matching piles so they could make sure the tree looked 'even.'
Maggie was sitting beside Beth in a chair they'd dragged over for her. In her lap she held the tin of special ornaments that Beth had kept separated, full of special ornaments hand-made with popsicle sticks or clay, or featuring little innocent faces in old photographs. "Aww look at this one," Maggie murmured, holding up one with a little brown teddy bear. "Baby's first Christmas," she read the words off the ornament's belly and smiled. "We had ones like these, remember? Each of us had one with our birth year."
"I remember," Beth murmured, voice soft with nostalgia. "Mama had one from when her and Daddy got married, too. And one for every year they celebrated as a family." She felt a pang of longing, not just for those ornaments but the lost years as well, for the family she would never get back. It was just her and Maggie, now. Well, not exactly. She looked up, catching sight of Daryl standing beside the tree, face light by the glow of the torches they'd lit so they could see their work. Beside him stood Glenn, gesturing to the tree and rambling to Daryl about something she couldn't hear.
Yes, they had more than just each other. They had Daryl and Glenn, and now Annie-May, asleep back in their cabin with Bear watching over her. And soon they'd have little baby Shawn or Shelly, and their family would grow again.
She turned back to Maggie, a smile on her lips now, and fingered the little bear ornament. "You should save this one for next year, for your baby."
But Maggie shook her head. "No. Use this one for Annie-May. I can find another for next year. Or make one, if I have to. Remember when we made some ornaments with Mom?"
Beth laughed. "Yes. Applesauce and cinnamon. I remember we made a mess, and Shawn almost got himself sick trying to eat them."
Their laughter mingled with those of the other adults as they all began to gather up the ornaments and hang them on the tree. Maggie scooted her chair closer to help and soon the tree was covered in a myriad of mismatched ornaments, whose randomness somehow only made the whole thing more nostalgic and wholesome. Vintage glass, wood, clay, even some sparkly balls and snowflakes.
Daryl came up behind her as she placed the last vintage glass ornament, his arms slipping around her waist to pull her back against his chest. "Looks perfect." he murmured in her ear, taking advantage of the darkness to press a quick kiss just beside her ear.
"It is," she agreed with a content sigh, her hands resting over his on her belly. "It's beautiful." She looked around at all the other decorations and grinned at the others nearby. "And it'll look even better with some presents underneath."
The next morning they awoke before dawn, having planned to bring the kids to the tree before the sun rose so they could fully enjoy the twinkling of the lights. As she got out of bed, Beth imagined this was exactly how her parents had felt when they'd been woken up at four or five am by cries of 'mom, dad, santa came!' Admittedly, it did put a smile on her lips despite the house. But as she reached for Annie-May, she felt Daryl's hand at her back, and heard him whisper, "Let her sleep a little longer. I have a surprise for you."
She turned towards him, blinking blearily at him through the dim lighting. "A surprise?"
He chuckled. "C'mon, Greene. Get your cute ass up." He got out of bed, wearing only a pair of gray sweatpants and a dark green t-shirt, and came around to her side. Taking her hand, he helped her to her feet. She stood unsteadily, dressed in a pair of red flannel pajama bottoms and an oversized t-shirt she'd stolen from Daryl. Both of them barefoot, they padded down the steps and into the main area of the cabin, pausing just long enough for Daryl to light a stick on the banked coals and use it to light one of their lanterns. He spun towards the living room area, and the glow of the flickering lamp was enough to reveal his surprise to her. A tiny fake tree was set up on their coffee table, hung with miniature ornaments and tinsel and surrounded by a couple presents.
"It ain't much," he said as he led her over to it, as self-effacing as always. "I couldn't find any battery-powered lights, so it doesn't light up."
"I don't care, it's beautiful like this," Beth murmured, sinking to her knees in front of it. "Thank you, Daryl. I love it." She looked at the presents, both wrapped (only a little sloppily) in brown paper. "Are these both for me?" When he nodded, she suddenly jumped to her feet and exclaimed, "Wait a moment!"
As Daryl watched in amusement, she hurried to the nearby closet, rummaging around in the back of it before emerging with a large hunter-green gift bag with a slightly-smushed red bow. "Here. This is for you. Open it first?"
"This is supposed to be my surprise, Greene." But he laughed as he said it, and soon enough he was kneeling beside her in front of the tree, setting the bag in front of him to reach inside and pull out his gift. He emerged holding a green and black bag, one specifically designed for a motorcyclist to strap to their leg while riding. "I found it in the Butcher's supplies," Beth murmured, watching as Daryl ran his hands over it and began to try all of the openings. "I figured you could keep stuff in it on runs… do you like it?"
"It's perfect." His voice was gruff both with lack of sleep and, she knew, affectionate emotion. She could always tell by the way it choked his voice when he spoke.
To give him an outlet, she murmured, "Check inside."
"There's more?" He gave her a look of disbelief, but opened the zipper for the largest section of the bag regardless. The first thing he drew out was an old but well-kept red Swiss army knife with numerous attachments.
"I found it two months ago, I was saving it to give it to you for Christmas," she murmured, watching as he studied the knife in silence. "I remember you telling me once you always wanted one as a kid. It was this one, right? The red one?"
"Yeah." He paused to clear his throat, but his voice still sounded a bit choked up when he continued, "There was this kid at school who had one, used to flash it around all the time. I asked Santa for it one year. Didn't get it. That was the year I realized Santa wasn't real."
"Well." Beth scooted closer and pressed a kiss to his stubbled cheek. "Maybe Santa was just a little late." Sensing his swelling emotions again, she murmured, "There's one more thing, folded up in there."
He hesitated a moment and then put the knife down and reached back into the bag, emerging with a piece of paper folded in half. After a questioning look at her, Daryl set the paper on the table and flipped it open to reveal a surprisingly accurate pencil drawing of him standing behind Beth with Annie-May cradled in her arms.
"Did you do this?" His voice was hushed with awe.
"No, I can't draw this well," Beth admitted with a laugh. "Actually, Thomas did it. He draws, apparently. I saw him sketching the other week, he's pretty good. I asked him if he could draw a picture of us, and he gave me this. I thought it would make a good gift." She pulled her gaze from the picture and looked into Daryl's eyes. "Do you like it?"
He didn't answer, at least not with words. Instead, his hand cupped the back of her head and he pulled her close to capture her lips in a long, lingering kiss. When it finally ended, she barely had the breath to gasp, "I'll take that as a yes." She smiled, soft and sweet. "I'm glad. I wanted to give you a picture of us, to keep in the bag, but this was the closest I could get."
"Oh yeah?" Daryl flashed her a grin, and then slid over the larger of the two wrapped boxes towards her. "Your turn. Open it up."
She didn't know what she expected it to be. She only knew that ripping off the paper and tossing it aside created a sense of delight she hadn't experienced in ages. She'd missed this more than she'd realized. But even that nostalgic joy was eclipsed by the enthusiasm she felt when she opened the box to reveal a vintage polaroid camera. "Oh, Daryl. A camera?" She looked up at him, eyes wide and shining in the lamp-light. "Does it work?"
"Of course it does." He tapped the other package. "And there's plenty of film, too. So you can take pictures of Annie-May, and Haven, and be able to remember everything, just like you're always sayin' you wish you could."
This time it was her turn to kiss him, throwing her arms around him so hard that they half-toppled to the floor in a tangle of limbs. They kissed passionately, lovingly, lingering by the banked fire until finally they heard Annie-May stirring in the loft above them with the little grunts she always gave when she was about to wake up.
Laying half atop Daryl's chest, Beth gave him one last kiss and then sighed. "I guess we should go bring her to the surprise…" Then she blinked and smiled down at him. "But first, I just wanna say… I love you, Daryl Dixon."
And this time he didn't hesitate to murmur right back, "I love you too, Beth Greene."
She and Daryl got dressed and carried a half-asleep Annie-May towards the Christmas tree just in time to see it light up for the first time, the shimmer of the lights coaxing oohs and aahs from everyone around. But the real delight was from the children who were led in immediately after. Carl came alongside Rick, holding a squirming Judy in his arms. She rubbed her eyes with her fists and then squealed with delight at the sight of the lights, and even Carl, who liked to pretend he was too mature to be considered a child anymore, looked innocently delighted by the surprise.
Carol brought over Enid and Avery at the same time, and the normally-shy Avery tugged her good hand free from Enid's and ran towards the tree, her whole face lit up with delight. Laila happily joined them, Alberta watching through their open cabin door as she cooked up a Christmas morning breakfast. Though Thomas hid some of his excitement as he often did, at Tyrese's coaxing he joined the others by the tree, his mouth hanging open in silent shock at the decorations and the presents all heaped beneath it.
It was he who was brave enough to finally ask, "Are these presents… for us?"
Rick grinned. "I'm pretty sure Santa left some for all of you. Why don't you take a look and see whose names you can find?"
Of course, there were presents for all the kids, some wrapped in brown paper and others in old leftover wrapping paper that Beth had found in one house. No one seemed to care if the paper was old or if it wasn't Christmas themed. Once they figured out that they each had a couple presents, they were far too busy tearing the paper off to notice much about it. Soon each kid had a pile of presents; toys, clothing, books, comics, and more. Anything they could find that would still work in this post-electronic world.
Even Annie-May had something under there for her, though she was too young to do much other than grunt at the sight of the little plush doggie toy they'd found for her. Beth tucked it into Annie-May's hands and then leaned back against Daryl, both of them content to watch quietly as the kids experienced the joys of the holiday for the first time in years. She only left the warmth of his arms to take a couple photos on her new polaroid camera, wanting to remember the first Christmas in Haven for years to come.
Perhaps it was no surprise that the moment conjured up so much nostalgia and happiness in Beth that she felt like it would burst out of her. And soon, it did, in the form of a song. "Have yourself a merry little Christmas, let your heart be light," As she lifted her head in song, she felt Daryl's hands tighten at her waist, and she smiled as she went on, "Next year all our troubles, will be out of sight…"
From the other side of the tree came Maggie, hand-in-hand with Glenn, joining in melody with Beth, "Have yourself a merry little Christmas. Make the Yuletide gay. Next year all our troubles, will be miles away…"
Then, to all their surprise, a high-pitched voice piped in to join them, "Once again, as in olden days, happy golden days of yore…" It was Laila, her sweet voice matching Beth and Maggie's in almost perfect harmony. Everyone stopped what they were doing now, smiles on their faces as they listened to the three women sing. "Faithful friends who are dear to us, will be near to us once more."
Then finally they all began to join in, creating a chorus of voices. Even Daryl joined, his gruff voice rumbling from his chest as he sang softly along. "Someday soon we all will be together, if the fates allow. Until then, we'll have to muddle through somehow. So have yourself a merry little Christmas now."
The song trailed off, followed by laughter and soft chatter, and Beth turned to Daryl, a smile lighting up her face along with the glow from the trees. "Merry Christmas, Daryl."
He smiled back at her, happier than she'd possibly ever seen him, and pressed a soft kiss to her lips, not caring if anyone saw. Against her lips, he murmured back, "Merry Christmas, Beth."
A/N: Writing that last bit didn't make me emotional or anything, I swear! Haha. Anyway I hope you enjoy this little Christmas chapter. I will be on vacation next week, so there probably won't be a new chapter until 2024. Hope you all have a Happy Holiday!