Daryl couldn't remember the last time he was really happy, but today had been an especially shitty one that was sure. Rick had called a meeting to explain why he had made the decision to make Carol leave. A horrible decision. He would've told Rick so if he had even bothered to ask, but he hadn't. The whole council thing was bullshit if Rick could just go off and make decisions like that without asking people.

Anyway Rick had apparently felt some remorse because he called a council meeting to explain the decision and the concerns he was having. Mostly it was a bunch of excuses, like always. He respected Rick, he really did, but sometimes the man was so mentally unstable that Daryl couldn't help but feel some sort of distaste towards him. The issue of the children had been raised. He himself had raised it. Daryl was worried about Mika and Lizzie. Carol was suppose to be their mom and now she was gone. They had no family. He remembered how it felt to have no one but his brother. Merle hadn't been the best, but he had been the only thing he had. The only person that had ever shown him an ounce of care. Now he had the whole prison group and that was the best thing that had ever happened to him. There was nothing better than having a family to protect and care for while they cared for you in equal measure.

He wasn't great with words. He wasn't one for affection, but he liked to think his actions showed that he was grateful. Actions were what really mattered anyway, especially since the world had fallen apart.

Apparently he should've been more clear about who he was talking about because everyone else immediately thought of the lessons Carol had been giving to the children not to the two girls that had no family. There was some question now about just what the children had learned from the woman. As if Carol was raising them up to go shoot people in the heads and burn their bodies. Carol was a whole lot of things but she wasn't raising any of those kids with malicious intent.

Rick had been clear.

"They need some sort of normalcy. The lessons are good for that. They should continue, but under supervision." Daryl had to agree with that call and then suddenly, as if he had volunteered all of the members had put it on his plate to watch over the very first lesson with the children's new instructor. An instructor that Rick trusted with all of his heart. Littlest Greene.

Seemed like Beth was starting to get more respect around the prison lately. She was suddenly brought up in conversations like she was actually relevant and not just some nameless kid. He supposed that was good, because Beth definitely wasn't a kid. She still held some girlish qualities but her figure, attitude, and disposition were beginning to scream woman.

Beth was alright he supposed. She was definitely the main caretaker of Lil Asskicker. She did a damn fine job too for a girl just becoming a woman. A lot of girls her age probably wouldn't have been able to handle the stress even in the best of environments. Beth had managed, more than managed. She was thriving. Beth walked around the prison giving a little bit of sunshine to everyone she saw. Beth was purity in a human. She was beautiful too. Daryl had noticed it more than he should've. He remembered Merle had made some pretty crude comments about her when he had been around. Just thinking about it made Daryl's blood boil.

Anyway the kids were filing in and sitting around. He made a point to stand off to the side, didn't want to get too mixed up with all this business. Kids made him uncomfortable, especially in times like these. They were just so damn pitiful at surviving that he tried to keep himself from caring too much. He had enough people to protect as it was without feeling some sort of moral obligation to the little ones.

Beth entered the room and sent him a smile. He didn't smile back, but he nodded in acknowledgement. He tried to ignore the way her sweet scent wafted towards him and lingered after she passed. She went right up to the front of the room, her pace quick. The girl hardly ever walked like that. She was walking like she had a purpose, like her presence meant something. He began to wonder if they should be giving her more rewarding things to do other than care for Judith.

"Hello," Her voice was like the breeze on a hot day, a melody that the ear was grateful to hear. Daryl felt himself relax. The children seemed more tense than him he realized. There was a noise at the door and he looked over to see Carl standing in the doorway of the room. He looked hesitant to enter but soon took a seat next to Lizzie under Beth's kind gaze.

He understood Carl's apprehension. If he was Carl's age he wouldn't have wanted to spend his time here. This was little kid's stuff, hell, even though he was supposedly supervising Daryl wished he could be anywhere but here.

"So I thought today we could learn about how the body works," She looked at the children, her eyes shone in excitement. "I think it'd be good for you." He thought about how Beth must have looked as a small child on the first day of school. He assumed that her eyes had probably been just as excited back then. She was always excited to learn and to teach. He envied the way she was so outwardly expressive, like she didn't need to hide herself away. At the same time he hoped she didn't lose that. It was what made Beth so great. She provided to the group a sense of belonging and hope and although it wasn't tangible he was beginning to understand the value of that.

"We're supposed to be learning about weapons." Daryl's head snapped to the thin girl. Lizzie looked defiant. He subconsciously squared his shoulders. This one was always a little off.

"Yeah we usually learn about walkers with Carol." The little boy spoke up. If he remembered right he had just recovered from being sick. Beth's lips pursed. He watched as her eyes turned bright to dull. Beth started talking to her boots. He noticed her hand clasped tightly around her wrist, around the bands that covered her scar. She was insecure and looked uncertain very suddenly. He couldn't help but study her.

"I know you all loved Carol, but I'm going to teach you now. That's the way it's gotta be for right now. Part of being in this world is learning to adjust and adapt to it." She cleared her throat. He relaxed slightly as her eyes snapped back up and she adjusted to the critical stares on her. "The thing is I am teaching you about walkers, but to know walkers you gotta know who you are first. You have to know what makes you different." Daryl watched as she slowly raised her head high.

He thought about a much younger looking Beth, a Beth that had sobbed over her mother's loss. A Beth that had believed that a walker was her mother still.

"Do any of you know what keeps us going? What our bodies do every day to keep us alive?"

"We gotta eat," Mika whispered sweetly, "To keep going that is." Beth's smile lit up the room.

"That's right we gotta eat. We have to have food and water. Why is that?" Her tone pushed for a deeper answer.

Carl cleared his throat. "So we don't starve to death?"

"Yes! So we don't die. See the body needs the nutrients in the food for a whole bunch of things like the heart, the brain." Beth paused. Daryl squinted his eyes. Where was she going with this.

"Does anybody know what the heart does?"

"Momma used to tell Lizzie and me that its where love comes from." Mika boldly suggested her face opening up in a smile to rival Beth's.

"It does something else too." She pushed gently.

"Pumps our blood, so that we can move around and live." Carl's voice was steady and detached. It reminded Daryl that he had to keep an eye on him still. Carl wasn't all right in the head either. None of the little ones seemed to be. Maybe Mika. Hopefully Judith would be alright under Beth's watchful gaze and kind words. Her mere presence made people feel like the world still had some wholesome goodness to it.

"Yes, it pumps our blood. The heart plays a huge role in keeping you alive, healthy, moving around. Do you know what happens when a heart stops beating?"

"You die." Lizzie whispered.

"Do any of you know how long it takes after a heart stops beating for the brain to die?" Daryl suddenly realized where this anatomy lesson was going. He could see the gears turning in the little one's heads and he held his breath hoping this would go over better than expected.

The question was met by silence. He watched as Beth straightened. A hard look came over her face. She was preparing herself for the reactions as well.

"You're brain won't come back after the heart has been stopped for more than ten minutes. It won't ever come back. It's dead." Her voice was as calm and melodic as ever.

"It's not dead." Lizzie was stiff in her seat. He could see her face turning hard and red. "You come back. You get to come back so it can't be dead."

"Does anyone know what the brain does?"

There was silence again and this time he had a hard time believing that none of the kids knew.

"The brain is everything you are. It's your hopes and your dreams. It holds every memory you've ever had and every thought you ever will have. After ten minutes without circulation the brain is dead. Forever." The thin girl grabbed her knife, her fingers tensing and unbending around the handle. Daryl reached for his own. Something was wrong here.

"When your brain dies you're gone. All you are is what is physically left, a body." Beth's voice didn't waver under the vengeful eyes of the girl at the table. She met it with ease. "There is a difference between a person like you and me and a walker. Such a big difference that they aren't even people anymore. They are something else entirely. "

Mika swallowed hard and raised her hand high in the air. Beth nodded, ever encouraging.

"If they're dead then how do they get up, how do they walk around?"

"The brain does more than keep you inside of it. It controls your body. It's like a command center, all wired to your muscles. Can I show you something Mika?" The gentle girl nodded. "Come bring your chair to the front of the room next to me and sit down." The little girl obliged and drug her chair quite clumsily towards Beth. The other children looked on.

He watched closely as Beth, clever girl, pulled out her knife and a handkerchief. She wrapped the fabric around the blade and kneeled next to the girl who looked quite frightened by the sight of the weapon. With a obviously well practiced hand Beth brought the handle of the blade down just above the little girl's knee and he watched just as the children watched as her leg flew up. Daryl couldn't help but smile. She was smart, the lesson was sure to get the kids thinking. He couldn't help but think that this probably should've been the first lesson. What good was it to teach the children how to kill something if they couldn't understand that what they were killing wasn't human?

He wondered if the events with Rick and Carl would've been different under Beth's helpful coaching.

"Did you tell your brain to do that Mika? Did you want to move your leg?"

There was some obvious thinking going on in the little girl's brain as she turned the question over and shook her head in the negative.

"You don't have to. That's an instinct. A primal drive to react and move. Doesn't mean you had anything to do with it. That's why walkers move still even though every bit of them is dead. There is something left there, something not human and definitely not the same as the person that was once there. It's an invader. A primal something that has caused them to move. Nothing more." Beth's voice was like honey but her words were jarring.

"YOU'RE A LIAR!" A knife flew from Lizzie's hand barely missing Beth's head. "Let see how you feel about it when you're the one going through it." Beth's eyes were the size of dinner plate and Daryl felt himself moving without even realizing it. He was more angry than he had been in a long time. He was quickly across the room, tugging the angry girl towards him. Holding her as she struggled in a futile attempt to escape his grip.

Daryl would be talking to Rick about this.

"Daryl!" His eyes finally focused and he saw Beth standing before him. Her slim hand softly cupping his upper arm in a way that would make him uncomfortable even in the best of situations. "Let her go. I've got her." She urged but he was having a hard time relaxing his muscles enough to give the girl over. And the touch on his arm burned him in a way that made him frustrated.

"Are you crazy? She's messed up. She just tried to kill you!" He noticed that his voice was shaking. He couldn't remember feeling this angry since he had heard Merle had been left for dead in Atlanta.

"I know."Her blue eyes looked up at him from underneath her lashes. "I've got her." He swallowed slowly. He knew he couldn't keep the girl in his arms forever. Something needed to be done though. He turned the tiny, dangerous girl in his arms and looked her straight in the eye. She met his cold gaze defiantly.

"Listen to me girl. You try to kill anyone, and I mean anyone, ever again you're going to be at the wrong end of my crossbow and You best believe there won't be any 'coming back' for you. You'll be gone. Right then and there." The girl just glared up at him. He could hear Mika sobbing in the background. Felt Carl come up next to him. The opposite side of Beth.

"Daryl," Beth whispered, a soft warning in all the chaos that was going on in his mind and in the room. He shrugged her hand off his arm and pushed Lizzie at her. He was going to find Rick right fucking now.

"For Christ's sake keep her away from anything sharp or any guns." He knew his voice was overly gruff but instead of flinching away from it Beth met it with confidence. She simply nodded and took the girl's hand firmly, all the while gesturing to Mika to take her other hand. He had seen enough. "Carl."

"I've got it. Don't worry." The boy assured him and with that Daryl Dixon was flying out of the room. It seemed that more would have to be done to keep these children sane and although he wanted no part in it he would die before the little ones started killing his family. Sometimes you just had to bite the bullet.