The farm gets overrun. They try to keep it going, take it back. The first person Glenn sees is Maggie, so he hops in the car and she drives that Hyundai around while he's trying to shoot as many walkers as he can. He thinks about Beth. There was no time to track where she's gone, but he knows she's safe. She has to be. He was looking for her when this all started, but everything became jumbled, and now Maggie's crying in the car and he is trying to reassure her. They'll find her sister and her dad, he says. She just nods, her hands shaking. He takes over driving, and it occurs to him to go to the part of the highway where they had left the signs for Sophia.

They pull up as Daryl does, and he almost bursts into tears when Lori, T, and Beth stumble out of the car. Glenn's little blonde warrior princess made it. He sees her running to her dad. He wants to comfort her, too. He wants to so badly, but he asks about Andrea instead. She isn't here, and he knows she's somewhere. Don't leave anyone behind. That's his personal motto, but Rick says otherwise.

It's cold, this dawn. Now Glenn realizes that Andrea, Shane, Patricia, and even Jimmy are gone. Just gone. It hits Glenn in a way that nothing else has.

They're gone.

And that's when Beth flings herself into his arms. She's sobbing and looking to him for comfort. He embraces her and holds her as close as his physical being can manage. There's an ache in his chest like he's never felt before. He closes his eyes, and tries to absorb her pain, leech it out of her. Hershel sees them, now. Glenn knows he really sees. And after what happened after the bar and Randall and the barn, he hopes Hershel won't cut him down. He's ready though. Ready to take on whatever her father has to say.

Instead, Hershel gives him a small smile. That smile relieves Glenn of whatever tension he was feeling on top of the crippling fear as the farm fell.

Now that they're (mostly) together, Rick decides it's time to move on.

0o0

They've stayed together on the road all winter. They've all become hardened. Tough in they're own ways. Even his girl, because Glenn can call her that now,has toughened up. She's still soft where it counts. She's eager to comfort and gentle in touch. He knows because he sleeps next to her every night no matter where they are. They seek each other after being apart during runs or watches. But that's all they do, just sleep next to each other. They steal intimate touches and kisses in the brief and delicate private time they get together. Glenn and Beth have tried several times to consummate their relationship, but are always interrupted.

But, it doesn't bother him, and he's pretty sure it doesn't bother her. Their day-to-day lives and constant proximity to each other help them grow together. More intimate than if it had grown from a physical relationship. At least, that's what they tell each other in whispers in front of the fire.

Nobody questions the connection they share. Hershel or Maggie, the two that count don't say anything. Glenn and Beth love each other, that much is clear- and that's all that matters.

0o0

Once they took the prison, it goes without saying that Glenn and Beth will share a cell. They glance around nervously at each other, and at the bunks. She sits on the bottom bunk and he smiles down at her. It's their first private place they've had. Well, private in that it's a separate room…right next to other people's rooms. When he sits down next to her, he wraps his arms around her and sighs. This could be what they've been looking for this whole time. Somewhere safe. Really safe.

The group decides that tomorrow will be the day they push further into the prison, so everyone takes the bunks they've claimed as their own for maybe the first real good night's sleep they've had since the farm. Glenn holds Beth under the thin sleeping bag they have on the dirty prison mattress, and he couldn't be happier. When Beth turns around and smiles at him, it takes all his willpower not to tear her clothes off right then and there. She runs her fingertips up his dirty shirt and presses her lips against his.

Glenn tells Beth he loves her. They've never said it out loud to each other, because they've never had to. He was hers and she was his. He hopes she doesn't think he said that because he's going to clear, and that it's dangerous, but because he does. He's so hopelessly in love with her. She gives him the smile that could stop a war when she says she loves him too. They need and want each other, but the safety and comfort the prison brings lulls them both to sleep.

0o0

The stress and the anxiety of the next few days keep them apart. Hershel lost his leg, and Glenn was there to witness it. He tried to tell Beth that it was necessary and that he'll be fine, but he doesn't need to. He finds her in their cell sewing Hershel's pants up. He thought he couldn't lover her more, but when he sees her determination, he knows that maybe-just maybe they could get though all this together. Together in a…well…marital way. Maybe, she would agree to be his wife in this world. He loves that she's the hope and light at the end of the world. She may be young, but she's not stupid. This is what this new world needs, he thinks.

Hope.

It isn't until Hershel is up and walking and Beth is hunched over their makeshift kitchen that Glenn decides that now is the time. He's already talked to Hershel, who just chuckled and slapped him on the back that makes him think that it's all going to be okay.

So he takes all the courage he can muster to tap her on the shoulder. Beth curiously looks behind her, and when she sees who it is she smiles. Glenn wants to be romantic, or smooth, or witty, but all he can do is hold up the ring. It's the biggest ring he found (on a walker) and it's spit shined to the extreme. Beth looks at it in his hand then looks at his face. He still can't say words, like actual words, but he smiles at her. She can't say words either, because all she does is nod her head and jump into his arms.

It's a zombie apocalypse marriage, and that night their bed is no longer just for sleeping.

This wasn't how it was supposed to be, but Glenn wouldn't have had it any other way.