A/N: A few reviewers suggested I continue this and... well, I couldn't resist. This is Daryl's point of view. I'm in the middle of writing a Bethyl AU, so I might consider opening this up again... but, for now, it's a two-parter.

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Beth didn't like travelling at night, but she hadn't come across anything that resembled suitable shelter. It was so tiring, doing this all by yourself. She thought of Michonne and Carol and wondered how they did it. It was too dangerous to fall asleep in the woods alone. When it had been her and Daryl, they could take turns on watch if they were somewhere unfamiliar. Even though, Beth acknowledged, Daryl did more than his fair share of staying up at night alone.

It had been two days since she had left that... place.

The place (Beth wouldn't call it her home - NEVER her home) was a disused hospital. Beth wondered if the smell of death had always been in the air, even before the world went to shit. Hospitals are a bizarre place, toeing the line between life and death with methodical prospect. The City of Hope hospital (yes, even Beth could acknowledge the irony) had been her captor for three weeks.

Three weeks without him, without knowing if he was still alive.

The City of Hope was under strict leadership. Everyone had their jobs to do. The Righteous were the group who enforced the local law. They paraded around in police uniforms to lend them an undeserved level of respectability. It was hard not to subconsciously react to a uniform. If you did something wrong, it was the Righteous who you would have to answer to.

The leader of the Righteous was known only as Aisha. She was a woman of medium height, hard faced but not ugly, hair pulled back into a tight bun which gave her an air of efficiency and stoic coldness.

Aisha was one of the few women who belonged to the Righteous. What made Aisha so terrifying was the way she rewarded her male Righteous members. Any slick young girl who lived at the City of Hope could be made 'available' to members of the Righteous if Aisha thought they warranted it. Beth thought that Aisha didn't just do it to try and placate her male subordinates, but that she got off on the power itself. Whispers from some mouths said that Aisha often watched when one of the Righteous was enjoying his spoils.

The thought made Beth sick.

Beth paused for a second as she came across another tree. In bloody writing the name "BETH" had been smeared on the tree. She felt the familiar flutter of happiness settle in her stomach. She couldn't tell whose writing it was, but it meant that at least some of the group had survived.

Reading those signs was all that was keeping her going.

Daryl had taught her a bit of tracking, but those trees were darn well obvious, which Beth was grateful for. In her delirious state of mind she didn't know good her tracking skills would be. She was so tired all the time from the running (always running) after her escape.

She thought back to the day she had left the City of Lies. She had been brought before Aisha for refusing to help pin down another girl who had to be punished for disobedience. Aisha liked using knives to punish. Cutting. Bleeding. Slicing. Beth wanted to cut out Aisha's withered heart and burn it.

You are a nasty, devious little girl who needs to learn her place here."

Beth's chin rose defiantly.

"Oh? And what if I don't wanna learn?"

Aisha's eyes flashed; her white palm raised in ready anger.

"Disobedience," Smack. "will not," Smack. "be tolerated!" Smack.

Crumpling to a heap on the ground, Beth bit her lip to keep herself from crying out. Her cheek felt like it was on fire - could feel the flames soaking into her skin. She wouldn't let this woman see her suffer; let her know the pain - no, the hurt - was getting to her. Beth had seen a documentary on cults before the world had ended... She knew that Aisha's power depended upon her breaking down Beth's emotional barriers. She had to stay strong. Only one bitch was winning this fight.

She looked up at the gun resting on the table above her and smiled.

Beth was distracted from her thoughts by a faint rustling in the distance. She gripped her knife firmly in her right hand, slightly crouched, listening to the noise. It was unlikely to be prey and the movements were too even to be a walker. Walkers had many ways of sneaking up on you, but they weren't known for being real quiet.

"Who's there?" she said sharply, knife raised high above her shoulder, poised to strike. Her eyes darted around quickly, body tense, until they rested on something she didn't think was even possible.

"Daryl?"

His eyes were wide, face frozen in shock. It was as if he didn't really believe she was there.

"Daryl," she repeated, edging forwards slowly as if she was hunting game that could spoke at any moment. "Daryl, it's me."

"Beth," he croaked, finally.

She stood before him, an soft smile hovering on her lips. He looked good, if a little slimmer than he was before. Didn't look like he'd eaten all that much lately.

"Told you you'd miss me when I was gone," she said coyly.

He gave a sharp bark of laughter, stepping forward to grip her upper arms in his.

"Beth fucking Greene," he announced, like that was the first time he'd ever said her name. "It is you."

She nodded shyly. "It's me."

"You saw them notes we painted ya on the trees?" he asked, stroking her arms slightly as if he still didn't really believe she was real.

"We?" she asked, failing miserably to hide the hope in her voice.

He gave an uncharacteristically wide grin. "Ya sister, me and Glen wrote em. The whole group's here and -"

"Everyone? Even Judith?" Beth asked in a small voice. Daryl nodded and she let out a noise that was half a cry and half a sob.

"Lil' Asskicker is doing just fine. We all made it to Terminus then we... They weren't real good people... We had to leave. Carol and Tyreese helped us escape. We been heading to DC ever since with this big red headed fella and this whack job scientist who thinks he's gonna save us all." Daryl snorted.

Beth's lips twitched. "You ain't too fond of him?" she asked innocently.

"Hell no. He's just some crazy sonabitch who thinks he got the answer to life in that thick skull of his," Daryl scoffed. "Ain't no cure, that's what I been saying to everyone. Crazy old coot with his dumb hairstyle."

Beth threw back her head and let out a loud laugh.

"I've missed you, Daryl Dixon," she said fondly.

Daryl looked suddenly a little uncomfortable and let go of her arms to scratch the back of his head. If Beth didn't know any better, she'd almost think he was going to start blushing.

"You too," he eventually gruffed back, looking as if he'd had to force those words out with considerable effort. By now Beth had gotten too used to his emotionally stunted reactions to be surprised.

Seeming to recover himself a bit, he asked: "Tell me what happened. Who took ya? Where did ya go?"

The smile faltered slightly on Beth's face. Sighing deeply, she began to tell him all about the couple who'd grabbed her, the City of Hope hospital, all about the strict rules they had and... Aisha. By the time she reached this part of the story, she could feel her throat was thick with emotion. When she told Daryl what Aisha had done to her and the other girls, he gripped her upper arms so forcefully she thought they would bruise.

"...She couldn't be stopped, I mean she was evil Daryl a-and... I killed her. I shot her," Beth blurted out, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks. "Her brains splattered all over me and the... the worst thing was I was happy about it."

Daryl, hands holding her tightly, looking at her with such a fierce expression in his eyes that she was stunned into silence.

"She was an evil bitch Beth, you did right by stopping her. What she did do those girls, that's shit no human being would do."

Beth nodded furiously, biting her lip to try and stem the flow of tears.

"You're... you're right."

"-And if nothin' else, you managed to shoot the bitch right," he said matter-of-factly. "Normally when ya got a gun the trees take more damage than a walker does. Hell, I bet half the forest goes into hiding when it hears your cowhanded self comin'."

Beth knew he was deliberately trying to cheer her up in the only way he knew how. Insulting her skill with a weapon. It was so sweet and so Daryl that she couldn't help but throw herself into his arms with enough force to wind him, flinging her arms around his neck.

"Thank you," she whispered, smiling softly as his hair tickled her nose.

Daryl froze for a second, clearly taken aback by her violent display of affection.

"Hey now girl, it's alright."

After having some sort of internal debate with himself, he settled for wrapping his arms around her, one hand stroking her messy blonde hair. She had no idea how long they stayed like that, standing there together in the forest like they were the only two people in the world. She needed the comfort... No, she needed Daryl's comfort. Beth didn't wanna read too much into it just yet, but she thought it had to be telling she hadn't already run like a lunatic towards camp in search of Maggie, Judith and the others.

Eventually, Daryl separated them. Beth contented herself with lacing her fingers in his, not ready to give up on being clingy just yet. The pink tinge of Daryl's cheeks indicated he didn't mind all that much either.

"C'mon," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "Maggie is sat on watch and she'll be so excited when I bring ya back with me."

"I hope so."

"Bet she pisses herself," he added, almost gleefully.

"Gross," Beth replied, although she allowed Daryl to lead her back in the direction of the camp. She was really excited to see them all again. It seemed too good to be true, them all getting out together. It had been nearly two months since she'd see any of the group.

As they walked back together, there was a faint rustling in the trees. The rustling seemed to get even louder and Beth and Daryl looked up just in time to see a pretty brunette come crashing out of the trees to land in a crumpled heap at their feet, swearing like a sailor.

"Maggie," Beth breathed, uttering someone's name in disbelief for the second time in one day. She looked across at Daryl, who looked equally surprised. Looking down at their joined hands, Beth quickly snapped her hand out of Daryl's grip. She didn't want to look at him to see his reaction. She wasn't ready to deal with whatever this was. Especially not with her over-protective sister rolling around on the ground in front of them.

"Crap." Maggie muttered, huffing to herself. "Bethy, I am so happy to see you but please help me out of this tangled heap before I lose it."

Beth and Daryl bent over to help untangle her from the mass of twigs and leaves, chuckling to themselves. She really had managed to get herself into a mess. A bramble was sticking out at an odd angle from her bob. Beth bit her lip.

"It's not funny," Maggie growled at the pair of them, getting to her feet as she brushed all the greenery off her clothes.

"It's a little funny," Beth said, before pulling Maggie in for a hug.

"Beth..."

"I am so happy you're okay, Maggie," Beth said sincerely.

"You too girl. Wasn't the same without my little sister," Maggie replied, clinging Beth to her. Daryl hovered in the background, averting his eyes from the sisters moment. He didn't wanna pry.

"You might squeeze the life outta me if you don't ease up though," Beth chuckled, looking across her sister's shoulder at Daryl hanging back.

"Hah, sorry," Maggie mumbled, admonished.

"Daryl said everyone made it out." Beth said, bringing him back to the conversation. He'd had an equal part in painting them trees, it seemed. She didn't want Maggie to forget about all that now she was back. "C'mon, lets go on and meet them all. They need to get their fair share of squeezing me to death too. It's only fair."

Maggie chuckled to herself and nodded, picking up her abandoned knife to head in the direction of camp. They had left the others alone for too long anyway. Maggie took Beth's arm in hers and the two of them raced on ahead, almost skipping, babbling to each other about various nonsense.

A quiet Daryl followed behind, not wanting to get in the way. He felt almost jealous of the close bond the two had. If Daryl ever tried to skip along with Merle, no matter the situation, he thought his brother would've locked him up in a looney bin. Girls just seemed comfortable with all that mushy feelings and affection shit. Merle's idea of affection was a slap on the back.

The three of them walked on a little ways, before Beth looked over her shoulder. Daryl saw her hang back a little bit, to walk beside him.

"She didn't piss herself," she whispered in a hushed undertone.

Despite himself, Daryl had to laugh.

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