A/N: Oh, I hope y'all like this chapter. Enjoy and thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who has reviewed, followed or faved! I cannot tell you how much it means to me!

I have included scenes from the season finale simply because I think they were important and while I've given Beth her own set of actions, I hope I didn't take anything away from what Rick and Carl went through.

I've tried to keep the descriptions of violence to a minimum and it doesn't go beyond what was shown on the show.

This is the last chapter for this story! I hope to be back next week with the next story in the series: Fusion.

The third day starts with Michonne throwing up in the bushes; Beth by her side holding her hair back.

"Cans of soup must've been off," she says, handing Michonne a rag to wipe her mouth with and a bottle of water.

Michonne just nods. "Always hated that barley kind."

She straightens and glances over her shoulder, then asks, "Menfolk still looking all awkward?"

Beth looks over her own shoulder at Rick, Daryl, and Carl standing between two pine trees looking everywhere but at Beth and Michonne.

"Yep," Beth says grinning. "Our heroes. Be still my heart."

Michonne chuckles, then winces. "Better push on."

"Are you sure?" Beth asks, concerned. "You still look a little green around the gills."

"I'll be fine," Michonne says, stuffing the rag in her back pocket, taking a sip of the water, swishing around and spitting it out. "Can't let that group catch up with us."

"If you're sure…" Beth trails off. Michonne just nods and they walk over to the men, who straighten and try to look stoic.

"You okay?" Rick asks Michonne.

"Ain't the first time I've puked after a bad dinner," she says. "Ain't going to be the last. Let's go."

Carl looks especially worried, although he's trying real hard to hide it. He hands Michonne his bottle of water and says, "Keep drinking. Stay hydrated. That's what mom always said to do."

Rick looks at Carl with a small, sad smile on his face and Michonne just nods and takes the bottle.

They all head off, going slower than usual. Beth's own stomach doesn't feel the greatest and she wonders if they should just throw the other cans of soup away.

She gives Daryl a lift of her shoulders when he looks at her. He falls back a bit to walk beside her.

"You okay? You looking kinda gross yourself," he says.

"Now, that's what every girl loves to hear," she says chuckling. "I'm fine, I think. Stomach's a little upset, too. You'd think after all the squirrel my stomach could take a little bit of out of date soup." A thought occurs to her. "Oh, hell. I hope it's not botulism. Learned about that in health class. One bowl of bad potato salad can wipe out a whole picnic."

Daryl snorts. "Stop that. I'm the pessimist around these parts."

Beth laughs and grimaces at the rumble in her stomach. Michonne has paused up ahead to throw up beside a pine tree and Carl's not looking so great himself. She sighs.

A little white moth flies past her head and darts off into the trees and Beth frowns.

Did you start this off, Mr. Moth? she thinks darkly. You and your little wings? Jerk.

Naturally, Beth throws up an hour later, Carl soon after.

"Maybe we should stop," Rick says, rubbing Carl's back, while Michonne gives him his bottle of water back. "Let y'all rest."

Carl shakes his head. "I'm fine, Dad. We can keep going."

Daryl, who's hovering beside Beth as she wipes her mouth and washes it out with some water, asks, "Beth?"

She nods. "Keep going. It'll pass." She glares at Rick and Daryl. "Why aren't you two puking?"

"Iron stomachs?" Daryl offers.

"Luck?" Rick adds.

"I hate you both," Carl groans.

Beth laughs, then groans herself when the laughter makes her stomach roll. "Oh, God. Keep walking. Better when I'm walking."

They make terrible time, barely covering a few miles, and when the light starts to fade, they come across a beat-up SUV that must've been someone's camp once. The windows are covered with trash bags and the seats are ripped.

Beth, Carl and Michonne stopped throwing up a few hours back, but Beth has that worn out feeling and her stomach and throat is sore and aching.

She sits down against the tire of the SUV and closes her eyes. She hears Carl open the door to the SUV and crawl inside. He shuts the door after him and the sound makes Beth wince.

A hand brushes against her forehead and she looks up into Daryl's worried eyes. She smiles. "I'm fine. Just wore out."

He nods. "Just rest easy. Okay?"

She closes her eyes again as she nods. Michonne sits down beside her and Beth appreciates the warmth of the other woman's body.

"Hate feeling sick," Michonne mutters, adjusting her katana.

"Me too," Beth says. "Especially when I can't be curled up in a bed with a romance movie on the TV."

Michonne chuckles. "I'd always catch up on my soaps. With a big glass of Gatorade and ice."

"Were you a General Hospital woman?" Beth asks.

"One Life to Live," Michonne says. "Let me guess – Days of our Lives?"

"Of course," Beth says grinning.

"Partial to Passions myself when it was on," Daryl says from where he's about to make a fire. Rick snorts from where he's going through his pack.

Both Beth and Michonne look over at him and Beth just grins while Michonne shakes her head.

"Knew it," she says. She makes a face. "Could really use a wash. Feeling all sorts of nasty right now."

"Me, too," Beth says, thinking fondly of that hot tub they'd come across. It's a credit to how awful she's feeling that when her mind recalls the sight of Daryl Dixon practically naked, it only musters up a small shiver of appreciation.

"Think there could be a stream round these parts," Michonne says getting to her feet and strapping her sword to her back. "Land dips down over that way. I'll check it out."

"I'll come with," Beth says standing and grabbing her crossbow.

Daryl stands. "I'll come, too."

Michonne and Beth wave him off. "Ain't too sick to not look after ourselves," Michonne says. "Y'all get that fire on."

Daryl salutes her and Beth smiles at him, then follows Michonne.

It feels as though night has come along faster than usual as they head into the woods. Michonne is silent on her feet and Beth follows suit.

Michonne pauses when the reach a thick copse of small trees, then puts her hand on her katana while Beth lifts her crossbow. Past the trees, Michonne edges down a small embankment. Sure enough, there's a small stream. It isn't much to speak off and looks muddier than Beth would like, but it's cheerfully trickling along.

They kneel and splash water on their faces and necks. Beth shoves the sleeves of her jacket up as best she can to wash her arms off.

"Need to tell the boys," Michonne says after a good few minutes of scrubbing at her face and mouth. "They could use a scrub."

Beth nods, and after one last splash of water, she picks up her crossbow and they turn to head back. They're halfway up the small embankment when a shot rings out in the dark.

They freeze. Beth's heart starts to race and Michonne flies silently up the slope, Beth right behind her.

The sound of voices they don't recognize has Michonne stopping several yards from the camp. She holds up a hand and Beth bites down on her lip to hold in her worry.

"Now, that we have your attention, we can get things started," a man's voice is saying, his tone pleasant and amiable and it immediately sours Beth's stomach. "We have been looking for you for some time now."

"The woman ain't here!" another voice calls out.

"Her pack is," a third voice calls out.

"Must be tending to nature's call," the pleasant voice says. "Go look around, see if you can spy her. I want everyone here for our little family meeting."

"There ain't no one else," Daryl says, his voice low. "Just us."

There's a sharp grunt and the sound of a body hitting the ground and Beth sucks in a breath knowing that Daryl just got punched. Michonne moves slowly and quietly through the trees, her sword drawn and at the ready. Beth holds up her crossbow, her fingers trembling and her breath coming in short gasps that she's trying to soften.

Michonne catches her eye and gestures for Beth to look around one tree, while she heads to another. Beth inches around the tree and looks towards the camp.

Rick is on his knees with a large man with dirty blond hair holding a gun to Rick's temple. Daryl's hunched over on the ground, glaring up at two men who are poised to start hitting him

There's a heavyset man standing beside the SUV and Beth hopes Carl stays out of sight. No sooner does she think that, the man opens the SUV and drags Carl out.

Rick and Daryl call out as Carl struggles and Beth tastes blood in her mouth from where she's bit her own tongue in fright.

Michonne sidles up to her and whispers harshly in her ear, "You start firing that bow of yours and I'll go around."

Beth just stares at her for a half a second until what she's said gets past Beth's terror. Then Beth nods and takes aim. She waits until Michonne has slipped off and then Beth starts edging closer to the camp.

"No!" Rick is yelling. "It's me you're wanting, leave the boy out of it."

The blond man leans down and says, "You're right. It is you we're after. You took out one of our own. Our friend. So, we're going to beat your friend over there to death, take the boy, find the woman, and take her, too. Then we'll kill you."

At a nod, the two men poised over Daryl drag him to his feet. He lands a blow on one of them, but the other man rabbit punches him in the back and Daryl grunts.

Beth takes aim and fires her crossbow. She's too far away to actually hit anything hard and so her first arrow just lands on the edge of the camp, near to where Carl is grappling with the heavyset man.

He looks over in her direction and says, "What the fuck?"

The night hiding her, Beth steps closer and fires again. This arrow lands a bit closer.

She dimly hears Daryl call out, "Stay back!" but doesn't take that as a command to her. She keeps walking forward and wonders where the hell Michonne is.

She fires again, this time grazing the arm of the man holding Carl. He shouts and looks around.

Beth loads and takes aim once more, only to have something grab hold of her hair and pull her back sharply.

She cries out in pain as a horrible voice says, "Looky what I got, boys!"

Beth thrusts her elbow back but it only serves to make the man grunt and pull harder on her hair.

He shoves her forward, and she tries to hit him with her crossbow, but he knocks it aside. It lands on the ground and he pushes her past it.

"Found her!" he yells throwing her to the ground, near to where Carl is being held down by the heavyset man.

"No!" she hears Daryl cry out hoarsely.

Beth rolls to her back and stares up at the man who is now pointing a gun at her and grinning.

"Claimed," he says through his grin and Beth cringes back, sliding her hands around in the sand searching for some kind of weapon. One of her arrows is stuck in the ground two feet from her but when she reaches for it, the man stomps his foot down hard on her arm. She whimpers in pain as he presses down.

"All in good time," the man holding the gun on Rick says to the man leering at her. "We do this all orderly-like, now."

Beth's body goes still and her mind goes blank and all she can hear is the sound of Carl struggling nearby and fists repeatedly hitting Daryl over and over and she can't move and where is Michonne and oh God, someone do something, 'cause she can't move.

The crack of a gunshot occurs behind her and she jumps and gasps so hard her throat burns. The man on Carl has stopped and is just watching whatever is happening behind her.

She hears Rick moving around and fighting with the other man. Then it goes quiet and the man holding the gun on her takes his eyes from her and starts to look horrified. Beth glances behind her and sees Rick, his mouth full of someone else's blood and flesh. The blond man's face slack with death as he falls to the ground, blood gushing from his neck. Again, it takes Beth a second to realize what she's seeing.

Then the gleam of Michonne's sword cuts through the air into the neck one of the men beating up Daryl.

Beth looks back at the man standing above her. Life slams back into her and she's suddenly furious and cold, she grabs a fistful of dirt in her hands and when the man looks down at her, she throws it in his face,

He yells and steps back, his foot coming off her arm. She rolls to the side and grabs her arrow from the ground.

What kills a walker, kills a man, Daryl's voice says in her mind and she on her feet and grabbing the man's hair as she thrusts her arrow up through his chin into his brain. Blood spatters her hands and the front of her jacket.

He drops at her feet and she turns when she hears a strange sound behind her. The first thing she sees is Daryl as he stomps his foot down on the neck of one of the men who'd been hitting him, killing the man instantly. Then she sees Rick.

Beth watches as Rick just guts the man that had been hurting Carl.

Michonne is on her knees holding Carl and they're just watching Rick, who when he finishes gutting the man, just starts stabbing. Again and again.

Beth can't look away from it. She doesn't even look at Daryl when he limps over to her. She just grabs hold of him when he drapes himself across her shoulders. He's breathing hard and smells of blood and sweat. Her arm stings and throbs as she holds him up and just watches Rick bring his knife down again. And again. And again.

Eventually, she turns her face into Daryl's chest, but doesn't close her eyes. She just stares at the dark pattern of threads on his shirt, listening to the sounds behind her.

Beth spends the rest of the night in a daze. Once Rick finished, he'd crawled over to the side of the SUV and sat down, staring into space. Michonne helped Carl into the backseat and the boy immediately curled up in her lap. She'd just glanced at Beth and nodded once. Beth nodded back. Michonne needed to be with Carl.

And that was fine.

Beth and Daryl could clean up.

Silently, they drag the bodies away from the camp. The one Rick…took care of, they just throw a bit of plastic over.

The movement feels good, it keeps Beth's mind from replaying everything, stops her from letting the chills that have started in her muscles from taking over.

They pile the bodies up deeper into the woods and out of sight. They don't bother to go through their possessions, and just leave them to let nature deal with them.

Dawn is breaking by the time they're done. Beth heads down to the stream, Daryl behind her. It isn't until she's watching the water turn pink does she realize how bloody her hands are. She pulls off her jacket with a pained grimace and looks at where that man had stepped on her arm. It's going to be a decent sized bruise and she can almost make out each individual tread from the boot.

She stares at it blankly until Daryl's hand covers it. Then she lifts her eyes. He just stares at her for a moment, then, wetting his bandanna, drags the wet cloth over the bruise. Beth closes her eyes at the cool touch of the cloth and something in her chest loosens a little. She takes the rag from him after a few minutes, wets it, and then applies it to his face, cleaning off the blood around his mouth and nose.

He just stares back at her and no one says anything.

Beth fills an empty bottle with water from the stream and hands it to Daryl before they head back to the camp.

Beth meets Michonne's eyes from where she still sits with Carl in the SUV when they get back. Daryl heads over to Rick while Beth heads to the edge of the camp and sits down on a large root. She drops her jacket on the ground and leans back against the trunk of the tree, the bark scraping at her back. The air is chilly on her skin, but refreshing and she closes her eyes.

She can hear the murmur of Rick and Daryl behind her, Rick telling Daryl that he's his brother. A smile twitches on her face. Good. Those two men need each other.

After a while, she hears Daryl tell Rick, "That wasn't you," then she hears Rick reply that yes, it was and Beth agrees.

It was them last night. It was them fighting for their lives and she knows that she'd do it again. These people are her family and this is her life and no one is going to take either of those things from her without a fight.

Not now.

Not ever.

She dozes for a few minutes, then opens her eyes and rolls her head against the tree when she hears someone coming her way. Daryl sits down heavily in front of her.

She'd smile at him if she wasn't dead on her feet. Ooh, she winces internally. Bad choice of words, there.

"You okay?" he asks after a few minutes.

"Think so." It's the first words she's spoke since everything happened and her voice is hoarse. She swallows. "Are you okay?"

He nods.

"Heck of a shiner you got there, Mr. Dixon," she says finally managing a smile.

"Ain't the first," he says. "Probably won't be the last, neither. You hurt anywhere else?"

"Just the arm," she says lifting it a little, then letting it fall back to her lap.

"Thought my heart was gonna stop when your arrows started flying," he says.

"Didn't do much good," she says with a sigh. She remembers shoving it into that man's neck and how his body just crumpled. "At first anyways."

"Wanted to get to you," he says, his eyes dark and his voice low. "I couldn't get to you."

"I handled it," she says quietly. "Eventually. I heard you in my head – telling me what to do."

He looks pained. "I'm sorry you had to."

"I'm not," she says shaking her head. "So don't be sorry for me, Daryl. You may have been trying to get to me, but I was trying to get to you. And we met in the middle. It's how it should be."

"Ah, Christ, Beth," he says looking down. "I don't want you to have to-"

Beth stops him when she slides off the root and straddles his lap. He freezes then just looks resigned.

"You gonna sit in my lap every time you want me to shut up?" he asks.

"Seems to do the job," she says, resting her hands low on his chest, her index finger tracing the curve of a button.

"It does something," he agrees, his hands settling to her hips. He sighs and looks down at the large bruise on her arm.

"I'm still here," she says firmly. "And I don't regret what I did. Do you regret what you did?"

He shakes his head. "No, I don't. Had to be done."

"Exactly," she says nodding. "It did. We had to defend ourselves and we did and I can't find it in me to be sorry about that." She pauses. "I guess I might feel sorry that I don't feel sorry, but it's not weighing on me that much, so I'm not going to worry about it."

"Been hanging around you too long," he says, cupping her face, his thumb smoothing over the apple of her cheek. "That kinda made sense."

"I'm a very sensible person," she says, her voice unsteady and her hands trembling as they curl into the fabric of his shirt.

He keeps his eyes on hers and his thumb is stroking warmth into her that's spreading throughout her body.

She watches his throat muscles work as he swallows and she says, "I swear to God, Daryl Dixon, if you tell me to 'hold up'-"

"Not this time," he says roughly and then his mouth is on hers.

Her eyelids flutter shut and she makes a sound in her throat that he swallows up, her mouth opening instinctively to his. Her hands struggle for a moment between the crush of their bodies, but then she's threading her hands in his hair, her nails lightly catching on his scalp. He groans deep in his chest and his hand palms the back of her head and tilts it slightly to the side, moving his mouth roughly against hers. His other hand tightly grips her hip and shifts her body closer so that she's flush up against him.

Beth clutches at his head and shoulders as his hand slides up the curve of her spine and then back down. He flattens his palm and presses her lower back down, holding her tight against him. Her pelvis shifts slowly on top of him again and again and she didn't know she knew how to move like that, but she can't stop. All she knows is that she can't stop tasting him as her tongue slides alongside his.

The kiss is deep, visceral, and everything she's ever wanted and everything she never knew she wanted. Her mind is blank of all rational thought a part from:

This.

Yes.

Now.

She's not sure how long Rick stands there clearing his throat, until Daryl breaks away from her, grabbing and aiming his crossbow at the other man.

Rick holds his hands up and looks far too amused for Beth's liking. She presses her swollen lips together and looks up into the trees above, her cheeks blushing warmly.

"Sorry, just, ah," Rick says, sounding like he's halfway to laughing. "Just figured we'd better move on while it's light out."

"Yeah," Daryl says, his voice deep and husky. Beth shivers at the sound of it and he clears his throat. "Be right there."

"Sorry, man," Rick says and that is definitely laughter Beth hears. "Hang a sock on the tree or something next time."

"Fuck off, brother," Daryl says giving Rick his middle finger.

Rick just chuckles and heads back to the camp.

Beth can't help it and she giggles as she hugs Daryl, pressing her face against his neck.

"Oh, my God," she says between giggles. "His face."

"Asshole," he mutters, but hugs Beth back. He prods her a little and she raises her head to look at him. He opens his mouth to say something, but Beth just leans forward and kisses him. Lightly kissing his top lip, then his bottom lip and then teasing them both with her tongue.

When she leans back, he leans forward, his expression dazed. She waits until his eyes are clear(ish) and says, "I'm fine, Daryl. You don't have to ask."

"Okay," he says. He sighs and presses his forehead to hers. "Better get a move on."

"Kiss me again?" she asks.

He groans and then for a few seconds all she knows is his hands on her body and his mouth working over hers.

They go slow the rest of the day; Michonne and Rick walk in front, Carl close behind.

Daryl and Beth hang back a little.

She tries not to glance over at him and grin, but she can't seem to stop. He catches her from time to time and nudges her arm when he does.

Eventually, they come to another sign for Terminus, this one lying on the ground, and Daryl looks it over.

"Can't be too far from here," he says.

"Are we really sure we want to go there?" Carl asks Rick.

Rick frowns and looks around. "I'm not sure."

"If I didn't know that some of the others were headed this way, I don't know that I'd bother," Michonne says.

"It's going to be a trap, Rick," Daryl says, kicking the sign a bit. "Come on, man. It ain't like the odds are in our favor these days."

"I know," Rick says with a sigh. "But if the others are headed this way, I don't want to miss them."

"So we stay out here," Carl says. "Near the tracks. Catch them before them go in."

"Not a bad idea," Daryl says nodding at Carl. "Give us a chance to scope the place out, too."

Rick looks at everyone in turn, Beth nods when he meets her eyes and Michonne does, too.

"All right," he says grinning. "We get a bit closer and then we stake the place out. Council adjourned."

Carl grins while Daryl chuckles.

They set themselves up not too far from the tracks, Beth and Michonne arranging their alarm system around the perimeter, while Rick, Daryl and Carl go hunting for dinner.

That night, Beth sets her pack beside Daryl's and when his watch is over, he curls up behind her. Not quite touching, but close enough so that she can feel the heat from his body.

She smiles sleepily and scoots back so that his chest spoons hers. She hears him huff out a breath, but then his arm is around her waist and she falls asleep to the thrum of his heart against her back.

They camp out there for three days before they hear anyone approaching on the tracks.

The End.