So, this started as a one shot and turned into...whatever this is. This story will break into two, possibly three sections - all will be posted here, and this chapter is the end of the first part of this mini-series. More to come, probably sooner rather than later. Next part of this little series is called: His Halo Lights the Way. Part one will be posted within the next day or two.

Thanks to everyone reading it; if you feel like commenting on it, that would be great. Feedback is always appreciated.

He don't know how long he sits there in the dirt; only knows he'd stay there forever if he could. Beth is wrapped around him like a limpet and, for the first time since she was taken, he feels like he's breathing properly again. He can smell her – dirt and sweat and salty tears; warm skin, rain and Beth, Beth, Beth. All his senses seem to have gone into overdrive, and every single one of them is focused entirely on the girl crying in his arms.

He buries his hands in her hair; big, square palms cupping her jaw; dirty, scarred thumbs wiping away her tears; and tilts her face up enough so that he can really look at her. Her eyes – which he didn't really believe could be as blue as he remembered – are even more so, the tears in them making them shine and refract like a universe of stars. Her pale skin is only visible in the tracks of her tears, her face and hair so dirty he almost can't see the blonde at all. He don't think he's ever seen anyone so beautiful in his whole like.

"Damn, girl," he whispers hoarsely, "ain't you a sight for sore eyes."

Eventually, after what seems like hours and still isn't long enough, he manages to disentangle his arms from around her and pull her to her feet. She's lost weight – a lot of it – and her collarbones stand out like blades against the neckline of her filthy shirt. Her hands, which immediately reach out to clutch at his vest the minute he's got her up, are emaciated; fingers like twigs, wrists so brittle they look like they'd snap at the slightest pressure. He gently takes one and lifts it up to his face, kissing the scar on her wrist. He still ain't asked her what happened to her and how she got away, and he don't want to – at least not until the others arrived. Figures it will be hard enough to hear it once. Instead, he gently leads her around the cabin to the steps on the porch, keeping one eye on her and the other looking out for his people. "Rest of the group'll be here soon," he tells her as he sits on the top step, cradling her against him. "We bin lookin' for you a long time. Christ, Beth…I'm so sorry I lost ya."

~A~A~A~A~

The reunion between Beth and the group – her sister – is just as emotional as he'd thought it would be. Maggie can't stop crying and hugging Beth, which is just slightly awkward, if only because Beth won't relinquish her hold on him. In hardly no time at all, he's got two Greene girls in his lap. Everyone is talking over everyone else, and they're louder than they should be considering they're in the middle of the goddamn apocalypse and the walkers have excellent hearing, and normally he'd be telling everyone to shut the hell up, but he can't. All he can do is stare at the miracle in his arms – the blonde one, not the miracle's sister. His right hand seems to have a mind of its own, running up and down her back, fingers trailing against the notches of her vertebrae, occasionally splaying out in the narrows between the back of her rib cage. His left hand is being held tight by Beth.

It isn't until some time has passed – five, ten minutes, hell, maybe even more for all he knows – that he realizes that even though everyone else is talking, Beth most definitely isn't. At first, he thinks it's because she's overwhelmed, and Maggie – who is talking a mile a minute and asking a million questions – isn't giving her any time to respond, but he quickly realizes that's not it. Beth's eyes are darting around the room, taking everything in, and although she's undeniably joyful to be back with her family, when her eyes catch and hold with his, he can see her absolute fear. He's still trying to figure out what's going on when he realizes that everyone else has stopped talking as well, and they're all staring at him and the two girls on his lap.

"Beth…Bethy? Are you…can you tell me what happened to you?" Maggie's question seems shrill in the sudden silence. "Bethy?"

But Beth only shakes her head, shrinking in on herself and burrowing into his side. He can feel the pounding of her heart through her thin back, can hear each shaky exhale that escapes her chapped lips as she sobs – silently – against him.

Soundtrack song: If It Be Your Will by Leonard Cohen

If it be your will that I speak no more
And my voice be still as it was before
I will speak no more, I shall abide until
I am spoken for, if it be your will

If it be your will that a voice be true
From this broken hill I will sing to you
From this broken hill all your praises they shall ring
If it be your will to let me sing

From this broken hill all your praises they shall ring
If it be your will to let me sing

If it be your will, if there is a choice
Let the rivers fill, let the hills rejoice
Let your mercy spill on all these burning hearts in hell
If it be your will to make us well

And draw us near, and bind us tight
All your children here in their rags of light
In our rags of light, all dressed to kill
And end this night, if it be your will

If it be your will.