Thank you so much to all of those who showed such support, love and encouragement for this story. And with that, I end another Daryl/Beth story.
xxx
Chapter Twenty-Five.
They brought back with them a goat and a little girl and Eric wasn't there.
The goat belonged to Rosita's uncle – the only member of her family still alive back in Texas. But he had gotten bit during a run for supplies and he forced his niece and the others away from him before he could turn, making them take the goat as they left.
And the little girl had been holed up in a supply closet in a boarded up gas station and none of them knew how she had survived. She was about six and her dad's dead body was just a few feet away from her, along with the walker that had attacked them. The dad had killed the walker and then himself, leaving the little girl to fend on her own.
The girl's name was Anna and she didn't talk that much and they could only just imagine what she had been through and what she had seen.
Beth hugged them all tightly – Rosita, Spencer and Aaron – and she didn't ask about Eric because she could see how distant and empty Aaron's eyes were and she hugged him for the longest because she could only just assume and he hugged her tightly in return, hanging on, almost as if he didn't want to let go. And Beth didn't mind.
"You must all be so hungry," she said. "And tired," she then added, looking to all of them. Anna was behind them all, standing near the door, her hands holding the rope around the goat's neck and the little girl looking down to the ground.
She couldn't help but think of Judith as she looked at the little girl. Was Judith still alive? Was she somewhere safe? How big was she now?
But then Beth shook those thoughts from her head. She and Daryl didn't think about their old family anymore. There was no point to it. Either they were out there or they weren't and they clearly had all moved on. Daryl was her family now and considering they were back now, maybe Rosita, Aaron and Spencer would be her family, too.
She didn't ask them about Texas or why they were back and they noticed Jack's absence but thankfully, they didn't ask about him. Beth didn't know if she could tell them without wanting to cry. Every time she looked at Jack's grave marker under the cherry tree in the backyard for too long, tears still flooded her eyes. She missed that fox every single day and she wondered how long it would be before she moved on from her grief. It had taken time with her mom, brother, daddy and Maggie. It would take time with Jack, too.
"We brought supplies back with us," Spencer said and he looked stronger than he did when they had first been here.
"We'll unpack it in the mornin'," Daryl said. "'m gonna open up the garage and you pull in next to the Buick," he told Spencer and Spencer nodded and they went back outside.
"Come on," Beth smiled at the others. "Let's get you to the fire and Daryl and I had soup tonight and we have leftovers. I'll get you bowls."
As Aaron and Rosita moved into the family room, going towards the fire and taking off their boots and coats and outer-winter wear, Anna didn't move from the back door and Beth went to her slowly, approaching her like she would a startled animal. She knelt down in front of her and gave her a smile. The little girl was dirty and skinny - greasy blonde hair and all knees and elbows - and it looked as if she hadn't slept in days.
"Hi, Anna. I'm Beth," she said in a gentle voice. "And the other man is Daryl. We live here and you're going to be staying with us now."
At least, that was what she assumed. She couldn't imagine them leaving again. Especially since Texas seemed to not have worked out for them and Rosita seemed dead set against of going north. And Beth hoped that they would stay. She liked them and trusted them and she and Daryl had their own little world here. They could share that.
"Would you like something to eat?" She asked.
Anna didn't say anything. She just kept staring down to the floor.
"It's a potato and carrot soup. Do you like potatoes and carrots?" She asked. Again, nothing. Beth tried a different approach. "I really like your goat. What's her name?"
Finally. "Lucky," Anna said in a quiet voice, as if she was afraid to speak much louder than that. Beth wondered how long she had been in that supply closet, alone. Beth wondered how this little girl had been able to survive that or how Rosita and the others had managed to coax her to come with them.
Beth saw the goat's udders and she began to think of things she would be able to prepare with goat's milk. She smiled faintly at the little girl. "She certainly is," she agreed and then reached out, rubbing a hand on the goat's head. "Anna, would you like some chocolate?" She then asked and she smiled at Anna looked at her as if she could hardly believe that Beth had just asked her that.
Beth stood up and went into the kitchen, getting four bowls and spoons and then went to the pantry, taking out one of the Hershey bars. She broke off one square and as she passed Anna, she handed it out to her and the girl took it, instantly popping it into her mouth as if she was afraid that Beth would take it back from her.
Aaron and Rosita were sitting in front of the fire and Beth sat with them, spooning out the soup still in the kettle next to the fire into the four bowls.
"Thank God for you and Daryl," Rosita said, taking her bowl. "Texas was good for a while. And then it wasn't," she said and that was all she said on the matter.
Aaron didn't speak but he gave Beth a nod of thanks as he took his own bowl of soup.
From the corner of her eye, Beth saw Anna slowly come closer to the fire and Beth didn't say anything but she smiled and held out the bowl of soup for her to take. And Anna did, going to sit a little bit away from them, still holding onto Lucky's rope. She sat on the floor and began eating her soup with one hand.
Daryl and Spencer came back in from the laundry room and took off their boots and coats, coming towards the other at the fire. Beth handed Spencer the last bowl and they sat down, Daryl sitting next to Beth, looking at the girl and the goat and then the others.
"You stayin'?" Daryl asked, directing the question to Rosita, and she paused, swallowing the chunk of potato she had been eating.
She nodded. "If you'll have us."
"You gotta truck now," he then stated. "That's good."
"Are you going on a run? Do you go on runs?" Spencer asked and Daryl gave a nod.
"Haven't in a few weeks. Haven't had a need to." His eyes glanced over to Anna before back to them. "But prob'ly should now. Pick up a few things. Whatever we can find." Except for the toys still left in their basement, they didn't have things for a small child.
"We brought all of the food my uncle had – cans and junk food – and we have a few random supplies, too," Rosita said.
"We'll go through it tomorrow. Sort it out and see what we have," Beth said. "And then we'll figure out what we need more of."
"Is this going to screw things up for you?" Spencer asked, not eating his soup, rather looking to Daryl and Beth, as if waiting for permission to eat it.
He had changed, Beth noted. Not just in strength but he looked older now. He certainly wasn't such a stranger to this world now and she wondered what had happened to them, and what happened to Eric, but she wouldn't pry. Not until one of them wanted to talk about it.
Beth shook her head with a smile. "We'll be alright. I promise," she assured them. "I just need to sit down and plan a few things out." She'd do that in the morning though. Between making love with Daryl earlier and now, welcoming their friends back, it was late now and it was beginning to catch up with her.
And Daryl must have been reading her mind because she felt his hand, warm and heavy on the small of her back. "Sleepin' arrangements. How do you want to do 'em?" He asked all of them, giving a glance towards Anna again. Beth knew that he was probably thinking about Judith, too. It was hard to look at the little girl and not think of Judith.
Spencer was the one to answer. "Rosita and Anna take the pullout bed in the office. Aaron takes his old room. And I'll stay out here," he decided and Rosita nodded.
"The goat sleepin' in here or the garage?" Daryl asked, looking to Anna and Lucky and Anna didn't answer but they all saw the girl's fingers visibly tighten around the rope.
"She can sleep in the office with me and Anna," Rosita said.
After eating their soup, Beth took the bowls and spoons and put them in the bin to wash them in the morning and Daryl lifted the iron kettle onto the table, also to be taken out tomorrow to be washed out. They made sure the doors were locked up tight and everything was secure for the night and they all went their own ways for bed.
In their bedroom, Daryl closed the door and they got undressed again, slipping beneath the comforter and quilts, and Beth rolled towards him. She rested her head in the crook of his neck and both of his arms were wrapped warmly and securely around her body.
"Think we got enough to still get us through winter?" Daryl asked after a few minutes.
"Yes," Beth answered with confidence. "Especially since they brought their own food, too, to add to the pantry. I just have to sit down and figure out our rations again. And I don't think we can have corn cakes every morning anymore."
"Son of a bitch," he grumbled but she heard no anger or malice in his tone and she smiled, closing her eyes, trying to nestle as closely to him as she could. His body was so hard and yet, she found him as comfortable as any bed she had ever slept on.
"That just means we plant more corn in the spring," Beth said with a faint smile and she began to drift off, her thoughts wandering to those of her garden and what would be planted. She already missed being in her garden every day with her fingers in the dirt.
She hoped they all made it through the winter.
xxx
"How the hell you know how to do this?" Daryl asked, leaning against the workbench in the garage, watching her with his arms crossed over his chest.
"Did you forget, Daryl Dixon? You got yourself a farm girl," Beth teased him as she sat on an overturned crate and gently squeezed Lucky's udders, filling a small bucket with milk. She had never really liked goat's milk but that had been when she had had a choice to like it or not. Now, she was pretty sure she had never seen anything more delicious and lip-smacking good than goat's milk.
As they had the first time, Rosita, Spencer and Aaron were still sleeping and Beth figured they'd sleep into the afternoon. Anna had woken up the instant Beth poked her head through the office door to check on them and Lucky had stood up. With a finger to her lips, Beth gestured for Anna to come and to bring Lucky with her.
Anna now sat on the steps that led up into the laundry room, watching Beth and Lucky.
"Do you like goat's milk, Anna?" Beth asked her. Anna nodded and said nothing. "We'll put this out in the snow for a few minutes and get it nice and cold. Just think, Daryl," she then smiled back at him. "A nice glass of cold milk."
"Now, we just have to find us some chickens," he said, remembering the list she had given him and the way she had jotted down goat and chickens as a joke. She could still hardly believe that there was actually a goat here now.
"Here," Beth said once she finished milking and lifted the bucket of milk for Daryl to take. He did and headed out the back door into the backyard. She then turned on the crate to look at Anna. "Do you have to go to the bathroom? It was so late when you got here, I didn't get to show you the outhouse."
Beth stood up and held out her hand and after looking at it for a minute and hesitating for another, Anna then stood up and slid her small hand into Beth's and Beth smiled and squeezed it gently, walking Anna outside. Beth saw the little girl looking at the bare trees and the secured fence and the plowed out space where the garden had been before harvest and canning. It had probably been a long time since the girl had seen a safe, quiet place like this.
She showed Anna the outhouse and then waited for her nearby. She watched Daryl as he walked the back fence. He then came up the side and approached her. She gave him a smile and Daryl's hand slid onto her hip and his lips were cold against her forehead as he kissed her there but she didn't mind.
"Think I'm goin' huntin' today," he said and she nodded. "You want anythin'?"
"Surprise me," she smiled, teasing him because she knew he didn't like when she said that and he smirked a little now and gave his head a shake. He grumbled something she couldn't decipher and it made her laugh.
They heard coughing and they both turned to see Anna come out of the outhouse, the door slapping shut behind her and she was still coughing. For a moment, Beth thought that maybe she was coughing because of the smell – though she didn't think the outhouse smelled that bad compared to other things left in the word – but the more Anna coughed, the more Beth could hear the dampness of it. It was coming from her chest and didn't sound that great.
She looked to Daryl and saw that he was frowning, growing tense, and she knew that he was probably thinking of the prison and all of those sick people that he had to try and save. Beth reached out and squeezed his arm and gave him a comforting smile.
"Come on, Anna," she said. "I know what to give you that will make you feel better."
In the kitchen, Beth saw that Spencer was awake now, sitting up on the couch, yawning, and Daryl, after setting the bucket of milk down, went to go toss another log onto the fire. Beth went into the living room, sensing that Anna was following her, hesitantly but obviously curious. Beth went to the front windowsill where she was growing several things in plastic flowerpots that she had found in the garage from the house across the street.
She began humming as she went to one of the green plants, gently plucking a few leaves. There was thyme and rosemary and basil, peppermint and sage. She then went back into the kitchen, Anna following behind her once again. She went into the bathroom, taking a cup and filling it with a bit of water from their supply in the bathtub. She then took it back out to the fireplace in the family room and held it out for Spencer to take.
"Hold that over the flames until it's boiling," she said and he nodded without question, moving closer to the hearth.
Anna began coughing again and Beth went into the kitchen, taking her small strainer from the sink where she always had it. She looked at Anna standing on the other side of the counter, peering over with just her eyes and top of her head visible, watching her, and Beth smiled at her. Spencer brought the cup of boiling water and set it down on the counter in front of Beth. She looked up and saw Spencer and Daryl now watching her, too, and she almost wanted to laugh with the audience. Putting the thyme leaves in the strainer, she took another cup and then slowly, poured the boiling water through the strainer and the thyme leaves.
"It's not the best way to infuse but it's really the best I can do," she said and set the cup down in front of Anna. "There you go. It will help with your cold. We'll give it to you twice a day," she explained and then looked to Daryl. "Maybe they have a tea pot that will be better for infusing at the antiques store."
"You tell me what you need, I'll find it," Daryl said without hesitancy.
They all watched as Anna held the cup with both hands and looked down at the drink for a moment.
"Don't forget to blow on it. You'll burn your tongue off," Daryl told her and Anna blew light breaths onto the water and Beth smiled as she then tilted her head back and took a sip.
Once the cup was empty, she placed it back onto the counter. "Thank you," she said softly, looking back to Beth, and Beth gave her a smile.
"You're welcome. I can teach you all about herbs and flowers if you want me to," Beth then offered to her, thinking that it wouldn't be a bad thing to teach this girl anything that might make her survival a little easier and her mind went to thoughts of Jack and Judith. Little things couldn't make it in this world anymore and Beth had just met Anna but she already couldn't stand the thought of anything happening to this little girl.
And when Anna nodded in agreement, Beth felt both relieved and happy and she immediately began thinking of all of the things she could possibly show her.
xxx
Winter passed and after more planning and adjusting rations, the six – plus a goat – made through it without losing too much weight. Each day, Daryl went hunting and tried to find them fresh meat to eat and he and one of the others would go out on a run once a week, trying to find more things to bring back. Clothes for Anna, clothes for all of them, a tea-pot, buckets, food if possible, books, more records, blankets, more gardening tools and spools of thread for the sewing machine and yarn for knitting. Anything really that they thought could be of any use to any of them.
There was talk about clearing out the house on either side of Beth and Daryl to give them more space but Daryl was the one to turn that idea down. He and Beth had worked hard on this fence and this house had the moat dug around it. It may have been a small house but there was enough room for all of them and too big of a place would be too hard to defend and keep safe. They all knew that from personal experience.
So, they worked on making it a home for all of them. Beth and Daryl stayed in the master bedroom. Aaron slept in the second, smaller bedroom that had been his and Eric's. They cleared out the big desk and couch from the office and turned it into a bedroom for Anna – and Lucky since the goat liked to sleep inside some nights – and they got a bed from another of the houses and Spencer and Rosita slept in the basement. And with the others there to help him, Daryl was able to carry out his plan of adding fortification to the driveway as well so they would be protected at all points.
Spring was slipping into summer and they had all settled into a life with one another. They worked on expanding the garden and it now covered nearly one entire side of the backyard. The wildflowers were in bloom in the front yard again and Lucky spent her days, eating the grass and being chased by Anna if she got too close to their vegetables.
"And what's that one mean?" Anna asked as she worked with Beth and Rosita in the front yard as they plucked lavender and Queen Anne's Lace as well as some marigold.
Anna had slowly become a diligent student of Beth, wanting to learn everything Beth knew and asked no less than thirty questions a day. Beth had gained a shadow in the form of the little girl but Beth didn't mind in the least. Anne felt safe here and this was her home now and Beth was eager to teach her everything she knew. Beth felt important that someone would want to learn what she knew.
Even caring for Judith and the other children and being on fence duty in the prison, she had never felt that important. It was only after fleeing with Daryl and finding this place and making it into a home did she feel like she was doing something that really helped. Yes, taking care of Judith was important to Rick and to everyone and she had loved that little baby so much but she knew she had so much more inside of her than just taking care of a baby. And Daryl had told her more than once since they got here and still told her.
He had no idea what he would do without her and Beth knew that he honestly meant it.
"That's a daffodil and daffodils mean new beginnings," Beth told her but then she gently took her hand and led her away from the bright yellow flowers growing along the fence. Daffodils had always been one of her favorite but she had learned about them. "But there is a poison in the daffodil bulbs and the leaves so you must never eat daffodils. Okay, Anna?" She asked and the girl quickly nodded her head with slightly wide eyes.
Hearing a car approach, she instantly lifted her head, sighing with relief when she saw that it was the pickup truck, Daryl behind the wheel and Aaron in the seat next to him. Spencer had been in the back, patrolling and he came now, opening the large garage door and then going to open the gate and the end of the driveway. A walker rambled too close and he stabbed it through its head as Daryl pulled in.
"Whadja get?" Anna asked excitedly.
"Nothin' for you," Daryl frowned at her but the girl knew he didn't mean it. They all knew it. Daryl was all bark and no bite – at least not towards them – especially when Aaron handed a stuffed floppy-eared dog that they had found for her. Daryl pulled a crate out from the back bed and tilted it towards Beth as she approached him at the back of the truck. "Gotcha some books," he said.
Beth's eyes scanned over the titles and she paused on one, reaching in and taking it out, her hand running over the cover. Love Letters of the Civil War. She looked at him and she felt tears in her eyes.
She shook her head and smiled, almost in shock. "I can't believe you remember that."
He shrugged, trying to act like it wasn't a big deal like Daryl always acted but she saw the tips of his ears turn red. "'member pretty much everythin' you've ever said to me."
With the book clutched in her hand, Beth stood on her toes and wrapped her arms around his neck, kissing him straight on the lips in their driveway. And his hands were on her back but then, he slowly pulled his lips back from hers, looking over her face for a moment, looking for something but what, she had no idea.
Keeping one hand on her back, Daryl then reached into the pocket of his jeans, pulling something out. And when he held up the white gold band with the small diamond, she didn't feel exactly surprised and yet, she couldn't quite believe that he had actually done this.
And Daryl seemed to be reading her mind because he shrugged then. "Jus' seemed like it was 'bout time. Don't you think?" He asked her.
And Beth laughed and nodded and felt tears splashing down her cheeks. She looked at him, her smile only growing. "Yeah," she agreed and she kissed him again as he slid the ring onto her finger.
xxx
The End.
Thank you very much for reading and please comment!