I do not own the Walking Dead or the characters, if I had any control Beth would have never been separated from Daryl in the first place. I still believe she is coming back. One must not lose hope.

Daryl was out in the woods again with Aaron searching for possible new recruits as he had been for quite some time since he accepted his role as Alexandria's second recruiter with no luck, not that he was complaining. He preferred the loneliness of the outside world to that of the community they now found themselves a part of. Although he wasn't completely alone seeing as Aaron was always at his tail, he didn't mind because he rarely initiated small talk and understood that Daryl needed space every now and then.

Behind the walls the people were too cheerful and disconnected from the terror that was lurking on the outside. They couldn't truly understand the suffering and great losses they had all experienced out there in the real world. Everything inside those barriers was a façade. The naïve idea that things could be the way they were before. Things could never be like before, not after all that happened. But even through all that, he couldn't wish it away because despite everything, if none of it had ever happened, he would have never met her. No other circumstances would have brought Beth into his life.

It still hurt to even say her name in his own mind, and he sure as hell he hadn't been able to say it out loud since...

She's just gone but she was never truly gone. No matter what he did he couldn't escape her. He couldn't sleep without dreaming of that horrible day, always the same moments playing over and over and over like some sick record and he would try to reach out and stop her but his body wouldn't move he'd scream but no sound would come out of his mouth and she would be on the floor and then in his arms as he carried her out and she was just gone so he tried not to sleep. You're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone Daryl Dixon. Wherever he looked he saw things, heard things that reminded him of her. She wasn't there but she was everywhere. In the trees, the breeze, the sunlight, the birds chirping only reminded him that he would never hear her sing again, her blade was kept on his belt and he gripped it when missing her grew into a current threatening to wash him away. Putting out his cigarette on the calloused skin of his hand because damn it he wanted to feel something other than the empty ache and the guilt. He should have done something. Even his damn crossbow was tainted with her memory. I'm getting pretty good at this, soon I won't need you at all.

He chewed the inside of his cheeks sore trying to keep himself from letting it out because he didn't want anyone to see him like that, not like she had when they had thrown back glasses of moonshine and he turned into a drunken asshole telling her things he didn't really mean, things she didn't deserve and he broke down as she held him and he let her. None of it matter anymore because she was just gone.

Daryl continued treading through the foliage, brushing away the branches in his path and searching for any signs of others out there. Aaron was now walking by his side and looked as though he was debating whether or not to say what he was thinking. "Daryl, I know you and I aren't really best buddies but sometimes it's good to talk about things. You might feel better" Daryl kept his face straight ahead and was moving brush aside in a slightly more aggressive fashion. "Ain't got nothin' to talk about" he was dismissive but nowhere near convincing. "They must have been special, whoever you lost. I'm sure they would have-" "Don't" Daryl firmly interrupted reaching down to grip her blade momentarily. "You can't spend your whole-" suddenly Daryl raised his hand to signal that he had heard something. They were silent for a spell, there wasn't a sound except the breeze flowing through the leaves and the light hum of the insects. It wasn't a walker, someone was out there.

"C'mon out right now!" Daryl demanded as he held his crossbow in ready position scanning the area around them. It was a moment of quiet tension before a man stepped out from behind a few large trees will his hands up in a position to surrender. "I don't mean any harm, I've been looking for you all for a very long time"

Daryl narrowed his eyes and strengthened his grip on the crossbow remaining very cautious of the stranger. Signaling for him to set down his gun. The man paused for a second and then slowly lowered it to the ground and Aaron picked it up. Daryl replied stiffly, "who're you? What d'ya mean you've been lookin' for us" The man appeared calm and genuine "My name's Morgan, you're here with Rick. I've been trying to get to him since he saved me"

Aaron remained quiet but vigilant during the interaction, Daryl was better at handling the questioning on his own, but he didn't get a bad vibe from Morgan and he hoped Daryl was on the same page. "How many others you got with you" Aaron looked around them trying to see if there was any sign of other people nearby "I've got one girl with me, says she was part of your group before." Daryl couldn't help the flicker of hope that shot through him but he pushed it away immediately because that wasn't possible. It couldn't be her. It wasn't her. She's just gone

"We ain't left no one behind that wasn't dead, you're lyin'" Just then he heard a twig snap from behind him and he spun quickly

And then he froze.

"Daryl." He struggled to hold the crossbow in his left hand hanging down on his side, his words caught in his throat as he looked at the blonde girl in her bloodstained yellow polo and torn jeans with healed scars on her cheek and forehead. Her sweet smile. The tears resting in her eyes competing with the disbelief in his. He opened his mouth and then closed it over and over again, unable to get anything out besides his shaking breath. Shifting his feet uncomfortably as his knees threatened to give in.

She's just gone

She couldn't be real. She couldn't be here.

He scoffed with pain in his eyes, "no no you ain't here, I carried you outta that hospital, you were... you were dead" Daryl pointed his finger at her as he shuffled back and forth his voice wavering

"Can't get rid of me that easy, Daryl Dixon" she let out a short laugh and her smile quickly turned down as the tears finally escaped her eyes and she quickly took the remaining steps to him as he was frozen in place and wrapped her arms around his waist tightly sniffling on the leather of his vest, nails digging into the angel wings on the back holding him together. "I missed you" her words were muffled by his shirt but he heard them all the same. She felt real she felt alive and he dropped his crossbow and returned the embrace with all the strength left in him, hands gripping onto her as if she might vanish any second, crying into her tangled hair because she was okay.

Because she was never just another dead girl

Hope you all liked this fic, I haven't been able to write fanfics for a very long time and this one hit me at midnight as I was trying to sleep to avoid doing my past due essay on Global Warming for my ENG 101 class so naturally I pulled out my laptop and feverishly wrote till 3 in the morning. Please Review and let me know what you think!