Determination. That is the only way to describe my drive to find him. Determination. When I woke up in that hospital again after having been shot. Dr. Edwards told me that I may have permanent memory loss. I was foggy on who I was and where I was at first. Slowly things began to filter back to me. Moonshine and crappy hunting cabins, a funeral home and a scraggly dog. Blue eyes boring into my own blue eyes. I kept these memories a secret though, I don't want the people here to know that I know about the past. After spending a few months in this hospital helping out however I could by doing dishes and mopping I formulated a plan to escape. Dawn the woman who had held me here before was dead although nobody would tell me what happened to here and I didn't dare ask. Edwards talked to me daily about things going on in the world as if I didn't know already, he spoke of the dead and of things in the past like paintings and great exhibits. So now it's the middle of the night and even though it is beyond dangerous to head out into the heart of a metropolitan city at night I know it is the only time I will be able to escape. The guard on duty tonight is Lamson and he tends to pay little attention to things. I change into my jeans and yellow polo shirt that thankfully had been cleaned, grab my little bag of food I have been hiding away over the last few weeks and quietly head to the stair well.

"You leaving?" I hear Lamson say from behind me. I curse myself for not taking a different exit. I turn back to face him.

"You gonna stop me?"

"No, we have been wondering when you were gonna take off." I stared blankly at him. "We know you remember things Beth."

"I don..."

"We can see it in your eyes when you look at us. Here." He said coming closer and handing me a sheath, a large knife firmly tucked into it. "Figured you could use some kind of weapon and a knife is quieter then a gun."

"Thank you." I say automatically.

"Keep yourself alive Beth." He turned to head back to his post and I took off into the night.

-

I made it out of the city by dawn. The light rising slowly. I stopped to admire the pink and orange sky for a moment. A movement brought me back to earth as I searched for the offending person or animal. "Who's there?" I called out my knife in my hand and ready.

A tall black man appeared before me, his hands raised in surrender. "I don't mean no harm."

"Why are you here?"

"Lookin' for a car, trying to find a friend a mine who headed up to Washington."

"Who are you?"

"Names Morgan. You?"

"Beth."

"Nice to meet you Beth. You looking for something or rather someone?" His eyes were kind and I could see no malice anywhere. I lowered my knife and placed it back on my hip, however my hand hovered over it, ready to strike at a moment's notice.

"My group, I was shot and they had to leave me behind."

"Why would they leave you when you were injured?" He questioned.

I placed my fingers on my forehead and slightly rubbed the scar that now marred my face. "I think they think I'm dead." I said bluntly.

"Well I can help you find your group if you want. Two is better than one and we have a long trip."

"I can't go to Washington, they wouldn't leave Georgia."

"My friend Rick, he has a big group. If we find them we can get them to help find your group." He said. I stepped closer to him.

"Rick?"

"Rick Grimes, he's got a..."

"A son named Carl and a baby daughter. Judith." I answered. He looked at me surprised. "Your Morgan Jones. Rick mentioned you once."

"Well it looks like we are lookin' for the same people."

"Why would they leave Georgia?"

"I haven't the foggiest my dear but we can ask when we find them." I began searching cars for anything useful with Morgan, bottles and medicine pilling up in the bags we carried with us.

We made it near Richmond by the time our car sputtered to a stop and we had to keep going on foot. "Can we check out a place in Richmond, I think they may have stopped here, a friend of mine had a community with walls." Without any arguments we found our way to Shirewilts Estates. "It's overrun."

"We need to keep moving."

And so we did. We just kept going and going with barley any rest.

-

We made camp in the woods, Morgan stayed behind to make food while I went in search of water. The air had turned chilly as fall set in, Virginia being close enough to the north to have actual winter weather. As I walked I thought back to my life on the farm before this whole thing started, how simple everything was. Cooking and singing in the kitchen with Mama and Maggie. The thought of my sister made my stomach churn. She wasn't there that day in the hospital with the others, with Daryl. Did she even try to find me at all? I heard talking coming from the direction I had left Morgan. He never spoke to himself, didn't talk much at all really. That meant one thing. Someone had found him. I crept silently through the woods like Daryl had taught me all those months ago. One man sat in front of Morgan with a gun a strange mark on his forehead, another was off in the bush hiding. I made my way to the one hiding, and plunged my knife into his skull, he went down without a sound. I can tell the difference between good people and bad people. I could see these people for who they are. The man with the gun attacked Morgan who then used his white walking stick to effectively stop the man. I emerged from the tree line, "Morgan?"

"I think he was alone."

"No I took out a man hiding back there. We need to keep moving." Nothing else was said as we headed back out onto the road.

A parking lot full of walkers came into view, they were surrounding a car. "Must be people inside. We should help."

"And kill them if they are a danger." I nodded my agreement as we went forth and attacked the walkers. Soon the two people were out helping take down the herd, once outside the gate I turned back to my bag I had left on the ground.

"Thank you." A man said, his voice sweet. I remained crouched down as Morgan spoke with the men. I stood up after a while and turned to see who we rescued, who we might have to kill in the end.

"Holy shit." I sputtered. They all turned to face me as I ran straight into Daryl Dixon's hard chest. His arms automatically wrapped around me. "Daryl, I found you." I cried out, tears running freely down my face. He remained standing there stunned into silence. It took a long stretch of time before he found his voice.

He looked down at me, his eyes hooded and wet with unshed tears. "Beth?" He formed it as a question even though I know he knew it really was me. I nodded my head and his arms tightened around me.

"Daryl?" The stranger asked.

"They come back with us." He said releasing me from his grasp. I stepped closer not wanting to be away from him.

"Is she the reason you nearly punched a hole in the wall at spaghetti night?" Daryl just looked at him, a look that I could see meant shut up. I reluctantly left his side and walked over to the man.

"Hi, I'm Beth Greene."

"Aaron." He said before realization of something hit him. "Greene? As in Maggie?"

"She is my sister." I said, a hint of bitterness in my tone. "I take it she is still alive."

"Ya she is." Daryl said, I whirled around to face him. "You know?"

"That she wasn't there. That she probably never looked for me after we lost the prison." I looked up to see his face, a strange look sat there lining his features. "Did you she look for me?"

"No. She looked for Glenn." I stepped back as if he had slapped me on the face. "I told her you were alive when we found them, she didn't say much to me about it."

"And why would she, all she could think of was her husband. Someone like me could never survive in this world."

"You did survive Beth, you survived a hell of a lot without her." Morgan spoke. I gave him a half smile for his efforts.

"We should move." Aaron said his voice quiet as walkers attempted to get through the fence. They led us to a car and a motor bike.

"You got a new bike?" I asked Daryl as he hopped on.

"Ya." He just looked at me, those eyes guarded yet telling a thousand stories. "How did you survive?"

"Edwards patched me up after I was left in that cop car in the parking lot. I don't know much else about what happened when I was unconscious, no one would tell me." He nodded his head and looked back at the car. Morgan had slipped into the passenger seat and Aaron stood waiting on Daryl to say something.

"You go on ahead, we'll be good." Aaron got in a drove off. "Hop on."

"You never took me out on your bike before." I told him.

"And risk taking you out the gates with Hershel and Maggie breathing down my neck."

"Good point." I swung my leg over and wrapped my thin arms around his waist. "I have never been on a bike before." He grunted in response. "Where are we going?"

"Alexandria. Gotta town there." He sped off and any thoughts of talking vanished with the loud rumble of the engine.

The large gate swung open as we approached, a small group of people were waiting inside. I had my hoodie pulled up over my hair and sunglasses to keep the dust out of my eyes. We got off the bike and I spotted rick holding Judith. Without any thought I ripped the glasses from my face and bolted over to him, pulling the little girl from his arms and cradling her against my chest. Rick stepped back much like I had earlier, shock evident on his face. "Beth?"

"Hi." I mumbled kissing the little girls head. "You made it sweet girl. You made it." A loud scream pierced the air and I turned to see Maggie on the ground, Glenn hovering behind her. I kept Judith firmly on my hip as I walked over to her. "Maggie." I said my tone indifferent. "Glenn." I went on a little more sweetly. She stood from the ground and attempted to hug me. I pulled back from her as a confused look crossed her face.

"Beth?"

"No touching." I announced. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Teaching me that you can only depend on yourself, family means nothing." I turned on my heel and walked back to Daryl who was now standing with Rick. Her crying could be heard throughout the main gate area. "This place..."

"You'll like it here." He said into my ear. I smiled a bit as I looked up at him.

"It is a safe place for Judy that is what matters." I followed Rick and Daryl through the streets.

"Rick she has not been interviewed." A woman spoke from somewhere in the crowd.

"Tomorrow." Came his one worded reply.

We came up to a big house, blue in color. I stared at it from the street not trusting what was behind the door. "It's home Beth." Daryl said from beside me. "Its a bit tight with everyone we have livin' here. Maggie and Glenn and a few new comers live next door."

"Who all lives in this one?"

"Rick and Carl, Judith, Michonne, Carol and me." I nodded back. "And now you."

"Really?"

"You don' gotta go live with Maggie, she'll suffocate ya."

"I don't even want to speak to her let alone live with her."

"Well you don't need to. We have space for you in our home." Rick told me.

We walked in and I could hear talking. "Enid, I can't today I gotta watch Judy when my dad brings her back to the house."

"Tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

"Carl?" Rick yelled.

"Dad in the kitchen." We walked in and I watched as Carl took in my appearance. His face lit up and I thought he might pass out. "BETH." He ran over and hugged me, being mindful of his sister who was playing with the braid in my hair.

"I'm so glad you are all alive." I expressed. I handed Judy back to Rick, the little girl fussing at the loss of contact. "Who got her out?"

"Tyresse did, he got Lizzie and Mika out too. They ran into Carol who saved the rest of us from a really bad place." Carl told me. I looked up at Daryl who was staring at the floor with his hands in his pockets.

"Are the kids here?"

"No they didn't make it. We lost Ty a coupla' weeks after you." Daryl told me. I nodded my head in understanding. "And bob we lost when Carol and I were out lookin' for you."

"Oh."

"We lost Noah about a week ago. He had gone on a supply run with Glenn and a few others, it was real hard on Glenn."

"I got him out of that hospital for nothing. I took a bullet to the head so he could die out here." I stammered, my heart falling to the floor. The anger was building inside of me. The strange girl sitting at the table kept staring and her eyes seemed shady. "Who the hell are you." I spit. Everyone in the room looked taken aback but I focused in on her.

"Beth she's my friend Enid. She's from the outside too." Carl said trying to calm me down. "Beth?"

"I'm fine, I'm sorry." I stepped out of the kitchen and sat down on the big comfy looking sofa. Daryl appeared shortly after and sat in the chair across from me. "I'm not the same as I was."

"I know."

"No you don't. I'm different then I was the day we drank the moonshine and burned a building down. I'm hardened. I don't like the person I have become. I'm not an inside cat any more. I'm an outside cat. I can't stay here." He shifted slightly, keeping his eyes locked on mine. "Judith is safe and she is well. You all have a safe place and Morgan has found Rick. My job is done. I got him here. Now..."

"No."

"What?"

"You can't just show up out of the blue sayin' surprise I aint dead and then leave us like that. Leave me like that." I cocked my head slightly at his confession. "You can't just do that.

"I'm not built for this kind of place not anymore. I spent so long locked in that damned hospital that walls freak me out. I won't stay locked behind walls."

"Then I'm going with you." He announced.

"I cannot ask you to come with me."

"You didn't ask."

"Daryl you have a life here." I said. His eyes never wavering.

"You could too. They don't lock us behind the walls. We can go out when we need to." I sat back into the sofa. "Try."

"What?"

"Someone once told me to have a little faith." He smirked. I smiled at him, one of my brighter smiles. "Try and if ya don' like it here we can leave and find someplace else."

"You would really go with me?"

"Ya."

"Why?" He grunted a response and just like that I was back at the small dining table in the funeral home, candles illuminated the room and I was asking him what changed his mind about good people. I snapped out of it and focused on him again. "Oh." I lunged forward taking him by surprise as I sat myself in his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck. My legs resting on either side of his. I slowly lowered my mouth to his, our lips meeting with an electric zap. I kissed him gently at first waiting for him to pull away and tell me to stop but he never did. He deepened the kiss, his tongue begging for entrance into my mouth. At that moment it was just the two of us alone again. I realized it didn't matter if I was behind walls or not. I was safe and I would never be alone again. My hands tangled in his hair as I pulled him closer, and it was a perfect moment.

A throat cleared in the background and we reluctantly pulled apart. "What happened when you too were alone?" Rick laughed. I looked back into Daryl's eyes before we both mumbled a 'nothing'. "Well then, I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that Carl does not have to give up his room for Beth."

"Nope." We both said at the same time. I smiled at how silly we sounded.

The room was empty again and it was just us. Together the way it should have been a long time ago. "Come on, I'll show ya where ya can put your stuff." I followed him to a small room at the back of the house. He looked down sheepishly as I surveyed the bedroom. A queen size bed sat against the back wall and a small table sat next to it with a comfy looking desk chair. I tossed my bag on the chair and sat on the bed.

"It's perfect." We stayed there grinning at each other for who knows how long. The world had finally righted itself. Happiness could begin finally.

Well I hope you like this little fluffy one shot. I am just starting to write for Bethyl, I love this pairing and I love these characters. I was a little disappointed with the finale and not because she never came back(although it would have been a nice surprise) It was really crazy intense and as a massive Glenn Fan I think I stopped breathing for a minute.

Anyway I don't own anything walking dead. If I did a few things would be way different.

Let me know what you think. I enjoy reading what you take away from a story.