Hey guys! After that amazing season premiere I was left with the whole "I need a bethyl reunion ASAP" complex (even though I'm guessing it's gonna be halfway through the season). So I figured the next best thing would be to write one. After seeing how Daryl reacted to Carol, this is how I hope he'd react to Beth. Bare with me, Daryl might be a bit OOC, but then again I never would have guessed he'd throw himself in Carol's arms aha. So I guess anything goes? Currently, it's a one shot but I'm contemplating adding to it. If I do, I'll try and keep it as close to canon as possible.

Please let me know what you think!

-Lexi

PS: Obviously I own nothing about the walking dead, I just love it and the characters

Morgan found her the day she escaped. When she killed the last of her pursuers he emerged from the trees behind her, and before she could pull her knife on him she saw the SWAT team gear. It reminded her of Glenn just long enough for him to level a gun at her. She had cursed herself for being so stupid. Good people didn't survive and if they did they sure as hell didn't stay good. She was testament to that.

They didn't speak out loud but their eyes had a full conversation. Morgan didn't want to kill her. She didn't pose a threat to his armed advantage. He had lowered his gun and walked past her towards Terminus.

"It ain't safe there." Were the only words she'd spoken. Her voice had been raw and when he looked closely he saw her shaking. He'd nodded and watched her silently until she jerked her head in a different direction and started walking. Since then they hadn't exchanged more than 2 or 3 words at a time. Yet still, they fit. They protected each other. Knew that they were both damaged and needed physical stability. They didn't talk about their pasts and didn't pretend to have a future.

At least they hadn't thought they'd had a future until Beth had picked up the track of a large group of people including men, women, and a teenager. They'd started veering off when she saw the green fletching of an arrow that fit a crossbow. The same green he had been sporting when they'd still been together.

Neither Beth nor Morgan needed much rest. Their stamina had grown as they were together, and it wasn't long the before the tracks were fresher, as the pair advanced on the group. With each gain they made, Beth grew more wary and retreated even further into her mind. She could not let herself hope. It had to be coincidence. The tiny voice in the back of her mind she had cornered off reminded her that he was alive. It was the only hope she hadn't squashed purely because it was logical that if anyone could make it, it would be him.

Night was falling when the distinct sound of feet snapping branches became audible. They maintained a far enough distance that both survivors knew to wait for the group to set up camp before scouting out the members.

It wasn't long. The feet stopped crunching and hushed voices were heard.

Beth and Morgan crept through the trees, as silent as the night was dark. When Morgan moved in front of her as a signal for her to wait for him to look and come back, she accepted the decision. She was too on edge to be as stealthy as they would need to be to get close to the camp.

When he returned he didn't speak. He didn't have to. His eyes were enough. Beth had never seen them water. She had never seen the slight crinkle near his eye, as though if he were able to smile he would. She swayed slightly at the realization this was happening. She couldn't resist pinching herself to make sure she wasn't dreaming- that this hadn't been a long dream and she'd wake up to hell.

The pinch hurt but she remained awake. Cautiously she followed Morgan as they went back. She continued to remind herself there was no way they were all together. Morgan only knew Rick. It didn't mean anyone else she was looking for was there.

When they got close enough they began to let themselves make some noise, a few branches snapping here and there, to alert whoever was on watch. The noise from the camp stopped and the distinct clicks of guns being drawn was audible.

They broke through the trees into the clearing, with Morgan continuing to block her. It was a habit- he hid her. Hid her from Walkers and leering men. But this time he served as a much needed buffer when she heard Rick's voice.

"Morgan?"

"Rick." The two men stepped up to each other, Beth in Morgan's shadow as they shook hands. It wasn't until Rick peered over Morgan's shoulder that anyone even noticed she was there.

His eyes widened into saucers and tried to move Morgan to the side. Morgan didn't move until Beth's hand fluttered to his shoulder as consent to see the man who had led her before.

"How did you- with Morgan- I can't believe-" He cut himself off to spin around. "Maggie!"

Beth's heart dropped as her sister emerged from behind Glenn who was slightly behind a large red haired beast of a man. Maggie's gun clattered to the ground as a sob broke from her lips and then the older woman ran. She raced across the distance to tackle Beth in a hug she couldn't reciprocate. Beth remained stiff as her sister clung to her- her mind racing. She wasn't angry about Maggie's omission of her name on the Terminus signs at the moment. She simply couldn't reconcile this reality. There were no happy endings anymore. How was it possible that she had found her family?

Her face was almost buried in Maggie's hair as sobs wracked her sister's body. Glenn was grinning to wide it nearly split his face in half.

Yet, her blood relative was not who Beth's eyes scoured the camp for. Her blue eyes raced over the members of the group, past Carl and his smile, Michonne and her strength, Carol and her surprise, Tyreese, Sasha, Bob, Glenn, the red haired man, a tubby fellow with a mullet, a Latina girl, and another dark haired girl she didn't recognize. Yet his face was nowhere in the group.

Rick noticed her mental perusal, "If you're looking for Daryl he's out hunting and tracking. I don't know how he still sees in this light but the man still manages to find something. Should be back-"

There was a brush of branches as Daryl emerged from the trees with his crossbow up. He'd obviously seen the weapons of his friends, but also taken notice of how they were lowered. He never would have come out if he believed there was still a threat. The man possessed a stealth that was life changing in tight circumstances.

When his eyes reached Morgan and Rick's close stance and smile, he dropped the cross bow to his side. It wasn't until he shifted his gaze to Maggie's entwined state with the other intruder that his eyes widened and his crossbow clattered to the ground along with his knees. He didn't pull his eyes away from the shock of blonde wrapped up in Maggie's brown hair.

His shoulders were slumped as he stared at Beth as though he were seeing a mirage. His hands rested on his knees as he watched in disbelief as Beth's gaze engulfed him.

She pried Maggie's hands off her and slowly approached the man at the edge of the clearing. Her hands shook violently as she got closer to him. Her eyes never stopped moving as they committed and compared every detail of him to memory. He had a cut under one eye that must be stinging as tears coursed down his cheek into his beard. His hair was as wild as his eyes. Yet he didn't move as she approached him. He was frozen until she was right in front of him.

Her hands fluttered in front of her, as confused as ever about what to do first. She finally met his dark blue eyes and what she saw shattered the towering walls she had painstakingly built and hid behind.

What she saw was a man whose soul had been given back. His life was knitting itself back together as the only faith he'd ever had hovered in front of him. His gaze worshipped her fire-lit form as he spoke her name in the only prayer he had ever uttered.

"Beth." It was a whisper but it broke along with the barriers between the two of them as they crashed together.

Beth stepped forward as his arms wrapped around her waist and his head buried itself in her stomach. Sobs shook them both as his shoulders shook against her and her chest heaved with the tears she hadn't let fall until that moment. Safety fell like a net with his arms wrapped around her. She cried for her kidnapping, she cried for those she had killed, and for what she had been through. She cried for Morgan and she cried for their lost hope. But most of all she cried happily as the man she would have searched the entire planet for held her tightly.

Daryl's arms tightened around the waist of the girl he thought he'd lost. He held her close enough to make sure she would never leave his arms. The world could have come crashing down around them but it wouldn't have mattered as long as she remained wrapped up in him. Soon her knees gave out as she collapsed into him. He heard the rest of the camp move around but he didn't care. She had found him. She had survived and because of that he would too. He had needed her to breath and as he tried to absorb her into himself he finally took in the breath he had so badly needed.

He had never once wavered in the faith that she would survive. Never did he allow himself to consciously believe she was anything but alive. He had never had faith in anything other than that truth. He would have moved mountains to find this girl and instead she was here and he would never lose her again. His resolve was as strong as the grip they held each other in.

Eventually the sobs turned to shaky breaths and Beth loosened her grip on him. He didn't let go even as she stood up. She carefully pulled him up to stand with her and ran her arms over his shoulders, across his angel winged back, and down to his waist, checking to make sure he was okay and alive and there, before resting her head against his chest. She would never let him go.

Still no words were spoken as he lifted her chin with his hand, as gentle as if he were holding glass, and wiped the tears from her face with his hands. His tanned palm had never seemed so large against her pale, porcelain face. But as he did this, she took comfort in them, in these hands that had and would keep her safe.

With this thought she reached up and did the same for him, watching her tiny hands take away his tears- resolving to never let anything make this man cry again. She would protect him too this time.

As this resolve filled her with a purpose, she felt a sense of future and with that something she barely recognized: hope. Her facial muscles started to do something she wasn't sure they still knew how to as she stared into his bright gaze. It wasn't big, but the tugging at her lips pulled her mouth into a smile.

"Hey." Beth spoke quietly, her words barely audible but there none the less.

Daryl didn't respond immediately- just captured her hand against his cheek- refusing to break contact. She watched as something filled behind his gaze- something that looked a lot like,

"I'm sorry. Beth I-" His words stopped as he stared at the ground.

"No." Her words echoed all that her eyes showed. It wasn't his fault. She didn't hold him accountable. She had found him, that's all that mattered.

They'd talk about this again at some point, but for now they didn't need to speak. They were together. He had found his family. He had found his faith. His light. He had found her.

It didn't matter what came next. She had found him. She'd found her family. He'd given her hope back the moment he touched her. And while she may be broken, and he had been shattered, they would fix each other. They would keep each other safe.

Nothing was certain in this world. Nothing except them.

It was later in the night as the camp settled down to sleep, with Daryl offering to keep watch. There was no way he would fall asleep now that she was there. He would not let anything harm her. Nothing would get near the angel that was curled up a few feet away. Maggie had tried to wrap her sister in her arms to sleep but Beth had stiffened and insisted she could sleep on her own.

He watched as she tried to sleep, closed her eyes, tried to even out her breathing. But nothing happened as she continued to move little muscles in her body on the ground. First her first tapped, then her hands started clenching and unclenching until finally she flipped on her back and stared open eyed at the stars above her.

She remained that way for a while until she turned her head the other way and found Daryl staring at her as if she still might disappear.

They still hadn't exchanged more than the words they'd spoken when the reunited. She knew he felt guilty and she ached to silence it but couldn't find words that he would believe yet. They'd just found one another; it was too soon for them to find all the words they would need to repair the other.

Giving up on sleep completely she got up and sat next to him, the warmth emanating from his arm emanating onto her side and into the rest of her.

"Can't sleep?" She shook her head and glanced at him- finding it impossible to take her eyes off him. He seemed to have the same struggle as he eventually tore his eyes away from her to flick across the camp before they shot back to her face.

He didn't have to ask to know that she never really slept. He hadn't since he lost her- it was no surprise if she was finding it difficult. Yet, he knew keeping her awake was a bad idea- the girl was emotionally exhausted. Daryl dealt with that kind of fatigue by doing something to fix it- in this case by keeping watch over her. But he knew Beth and he knew she needed to sleep it off.

"Try again." His voice was gruff as he mumbled out the last part. "I'm not goin' anywhere. I'll keep ya safe."

They were the last words they both had expected to come out of the mouth of the man who never shared anything that could be construed as emotionally charged. She watched as he accepted them and shrugged, looking over at her.

"'M serious. You stayin' up with me ain't gonna make you or me feel any better. Now go to sleep."

Beth nodded and decided that sleeping next to him where she could still feel his body heat was the best option. So, she lay back down on the ground, facing him this time and tucked her arms against her and curled her feet in. Surprisingly this time as she tried to close her eyes, fatigue washed over her like a wave.

It was as her mind began to numb she let herself whisper into the night, hoping he'd hear the words she spoke only for him,

"I missed you."

As Daryl heard her, he moved his hand over to untangle one of her hands and interlock it with his. He wasn't surprised by his need to touch her anymore. His collapse into her earlier had shot that barrier straight into the ground. When she opened one eye to him in question, he just shrugged and tightened his grip on her fingers. He needed to make sure she didn't disappear and anchoring her to him with his hands seemed like the easiest way to do so. He was never letting go again.

She let out a sigh and her breathing started to even out.

Words came unbidden to Daryl again- but he recognized them as the feeling he had been drowning in since he had lost her. This time rather than dragging himself under, he clung to her hand and spoke them out so she could save him like he needed her to.

"I missed you so bad when you were gone Beth Greene."

The slight upturn of her lips at his declaration and her shifting of her grip to hold their hands closer to her, wrapped him in a feeling of contentment he barely recognized, yet warmed him better than any fire could.

He'd burned down his past with the girl he was giving his future to. And as he watched their hands pulled close to her sleeping form, he knew she had given him hers.

No matter what this apocalypse gave and took from them, they'd finally found their way back to each other.

And they were never letting go.