Authors note: Hey! Just a quick little story that I've been thinking about ever since that dreadful midseason finale. I felt like my heart had been stomped on and I don't think I'll ever get over it , hence this story! My little piece of hope that the events in this fic will in fact come true lol! Enjoy, review and subscribe because if enough people rave about it I'll carry it on :)

With heaving shoulders and breathless whimpers, Daryl hunched over her lifeless body. His hands ghosted over her, undecided where to lay his touch, as if a single tap would make it all real. Because it wasn't real, how could it be? Swallowing his fears he settled on her cheek, stroking her red-stained skin with his thumb, his head shaking as he tried to convince himself that she wasn't dead. Beth's eyes were closed lightly, and he wished he could see their sparkling blue again, filled with hope and love like they were the last time he saw them, in the kitchen of the funeral home.

"What changed your mind?" her voice was so loud in his mind that he couldn't hear the sobs escaping from Carol down the hall. He was disorientated, his thoughts a mass of chaos as he struggled to make sense of the moment. Throughout the anarchy of his mind only one thought was made clear to him: "You," he whispered into her ear, enveloping Beth's unresponsive form in his strong arms which were now made weak by the raw shock coursing through his body. Tears cascaded onto her shirt and neck as the truth that she was dead started to seep into his veins; the realisation surged through him, leaving him with a dry throat and sheer need to vomit.

"No… No… No, no, no," he muttered through clenched teeth. He felt as though his heart had disintegrated and he was dying too. Removing his grip from Beth's body he moved his hands to his face, digging his nails into his forehead as he continued "no, no, no, please," like a mad man into his palms. He fell from where he perched on his toes onto his back and splayed his fingers over his eyes, his entire body shaking.

His family stood aghast as they took in not only Beth's death, but the state in which Daryl had found himself. None of them had ever seen him cry before, apart from Beth, the only person he'd give himself to wholly. Besides that, they had no idea she had meant quite so much to him, because the truth was he'd felt this way, truly, for so little time, since the prison fell and they were forced together. She'd affected him so quickly that the feelings were still foreign when he'd finally found her again. Daryl was new to these emotions, he'd never had them for anyone in his life and now here he was, laying in a pool of his tears and her blood, desperately gripping onto the idea that this is all a cruel joke, a nightmare from which he'll awake in a moment. He had the urge to pinch his skin but he could barely lift his arm to do so.

"Daryl..." Rick's soft voice penetrated his thoughts. "Daryl, come on now."

Daryl didn't reply, he simply pushed himself up and crawled back over to Beth.

"You..." He whispered again, disregarding the confused faces of those nearby. He had so much more he wanted to say; he wanted to tell her she was his light, his hope, his reason for carrying on when they thought they'd lost everyone else, that she was the one person who could convince him that there will still good people, even if that was only true because she was the only good person. But that light and hope and reason had been extinguished like a candle, and the only good person left in the World had been snatched away by evil people. So what was he to believe now?

"Let me, let me help you carry her out," Rick spoke gently, as though he was coaxing a baby deer into submission.

"I'll help," Tyreese squeaked from the back, an audible choke in his voice.

"Nah, nah, no," Daryl breathed, standing up and gathering her in his arms with difficulty, her dead weight too much for his weakened frame.

Seeing his struggle Rick again offered support, "Daryl, please."

"I got her, I'VE GOT HER." His sharp reply made everyone jump apart from Rick who simply raised his hands and nodded in understanding.

Daryl continued his attempt to lift the girl with blood-stained blonde locks, purposefully ignoring the wound on her head. He had no desire to look at it, he wanted to remember her always as beautiful, unharmed little Bethy.

He raised her as high as he could and cradled her gently in his arms. The memory of carrying her bridal style at the funeral home flashed across his eyes, and he noted the contrast, how she had giggled and held on tighter back then and how she hung like a doll in his arms now. He grimaced as the thought slapped him hard in the face, tears prickling his eyes, his head throbbing.

Slowly, they all dragged their feet out of the hospital, Daryl trailing behind. They made their way to the front doors after an infinite death march, sunlight blinding everyone but Daryl, who was left in a dark abyss of destructive thoughts. He spied Maggie and the rest of his family walking towards them, excited grins greeted him. He saw Maggie's face fall as she saw her baby sister in his arms; it hit him like a lead weight in the pit of his stomach. Maggie stumbled forward, tripping over her own feet in a state of overwrought emotion, crying hysterically on the ground. Daryl lost it for the thousandth time, his tears cascading unashamedly as he bent down to Maggie's level, Beth hanging loosely in his shaky arms. Maggie fingers twisted in Beth's matted hair, eyes closed as Glenn squeezed her shoulder and kissed her head in support.

"What... What happened?" She gasped through hurried breaths. Daryl found himself unable to formulate a coherent response so Rick stepped closer to answer Maggie's question.

"Beth just stabbed Dawn, the woman in charge in there, but Dawn had a gun in her hand and..." Rick shrugged his shoulders at a loss for words, "it was just triggerfinger, I guess."

Maggie's brows furrowed at the thought of her innocent baby sister attempting murder.

"Beth? She would never do that!"

"She was changed, I've never seen anger in her like that," Rick whispered.

"Nah, she wasn't different, she was just strong," Daryl interjected, tears stifled as he recounted their argument at the cabin. Now, he wished desperately that he'd never shouted at this girl, this angel in his arms. He wished he hadn't wasted their precious time together by being an asshole.

"Look at the wound," Eugene interrupted with a blank, matter of fact tone. Daryl glared at him under his eyelashes, teeth bared like a vicious dog.

"Look at it!" Eugene repeated.

"Eugene, is it possible for you to stop being an asshole for one second?" Rosita piped up, her voice laced with her trademark attitude.

"No, look. The bullet clearly went straight past her frontal lobe, pretty cleanly, straight through and possibly without even touching her brain."

Everyone stared at him blankly for a moment before slowly grasping his point.

"Did anyone even check if she's actually dead?.." Eugene's question was an obvious one, and Daryl was cursing himself internally for having been so quick to assume. Daryl raised two shaky fingers to Beth's neck, and as he felt for a pulse his breath suddenly became erratic, a smile could be heard in his gasps as he yelled:

"Her pulse is faint! It's there, it's there!" He felt hope creep back inside him and he knew it was all Beth, his symbol of hope and luck, his lucky charm.

"Get her back in the hospital, there are doctors!" Carol responded whilst everyone else was paralysed by shock and confusion.

"Back in there?" Daryl was wary of sending Beth back to the place which had seemingly took her from him, it could only be counter productive to take her back in.

"It's our only hope," Maggie smiled tightly, her eyes glazed over with unshed tears.