A little bit of a time jump again in this chapter. No matter how many "years" have passed since I've begun Beth and Daryl on this journey, in my mind, they will always look together as they did in S4.

Thank you to everyone. A million times thank you.

…

Chapter Forty. End.

It was a beautiful, slightly warm, spring day and Beth opened all of the windows in the kitchen before she began making preparations for breakfast.

She took down the jar of acorn flour and she then stood on her toes and untied one of the bushels of lavender that was hanging upside down from one of the exposed rafters, drying out. With her pestle, she then began grinding down the flowers down into the mortar. She began humming as she worked, but stopped after just a few seconds when she felt a patting against her foot. Beth looked down and instantly broke into a smile. She bent down and hefted the baby up into her arms and kissed her plump cheek.

"What are you doing over here, baby girl?" She asked and Cecily Dixon smiled, putting her fingers to Beth's lips, and smiling wider still when Beth kissed them.

Beth then turned to see where Jack Dixon had gotten to, but unlike his twin sister, Jack was still where Beth had placed both babies; on their play mat near the stove less than a foot away, currently gnawing on the ear of his stuffed rabbit.

From the moment she could feel two babies kick inside of her and had told Daryl that they were having twins, it seemed like everyone – except for her – promptly began freaking out. Even Eli watched her like a hawk, sitting with her every day in bed to make sure she didn't get up and she had to remind him that, yes, she could still get up to go to the bathroom. And she really had to go to the bathroom all of the time.

Twins. What the hell would they do with twins, Daryl had asked. Beth had smiled and had shrugged, telling him that they would do what they had done with one baby; just times two. Daryl hadn't looked amused and every day, it seemed like he was going out on runs to try and scavenge for anything and everything that could be considered helpful for their surprise coming in three more months.

The real jackpot had come during her eighth month. Spencer and Aaron had left the mountain and headed a bit further west, still staying in Georgia, and had found another antiques store. They had scouted it out first and then had come back to their mountain, telling them everything still inside of the dusty shop. Blackie had succumbed to old age the month before – giving them enough meat to easily last them for the rest of the cold winter and enough fat to make soap and more candles and still have some left over for cooking. Anna, Eli, Aiden and Bee had taken his horseshoes as mementos.

They hadn't known how they were going to get things back from the antiques store until Matt suggested they hitch up the goats. There was a smaller wagon than the big one they used to hitch to Blackie and taking three of the goats, they hitched them up to the small wagon and it was decided that Aaron, Spencer, Matt and Rosita would go while Anna and Daryl stayed with Beth – in case the babies decided to come early. Anna would know how to deliver them and Daryl didn't want to leave Beth's side in case something – anything – happened while the others were gone.

It had taken two trips – spaced a few days apart so the four were able to rest before heading out again. The antiques store seemed to be like the one Daryl and Beth had found years earlier when still living in the St. George subdivision and it was amazing to Beth – and slightly confusing – that people still hadn't thought to scavenge. Even if they didn't want antiques, the stores still had quilts and candles.

The four brought back every single thing they could – leaving the heavier machinery behind since they already had a corn sheller and grinder and didn't need another pair. But they had brought back a crib, having taken it apart, and then Daryl putting it back together once the pieces had been brought up into the tree house and the babies would be able to share it with no problem.

Mulligan's family had already had a highchair that they had used on Eli, Aiden and Bee when they were babies and had needed it so they had only brought back another so the two babies could sit in a highchair of their own at the same time.

There had also been quilts, candles, books and records. More empty jars for canning and kitchen utensils that they didn't know if they needed, but they brought back with them anyway. Sewing thread for the machine and more knitting needles. Gardening tools and vegetable seeds as well as few toys for the kids and babies.

And wherever they were scrounging and found onesies, they grabbed them.

Beth's water broke just at the end of her eighth month and Rosita and Anna had all of the herbs already picked for her that she needed and Daryl held her hand the entire time and never left her side as everyone else waited below with fists clenched around their hearts and their breath held in their lungs.

Beth had been absolutely terrified along with the rest of them, but she also knew that whatever happened would happen and that it was in God's hands.

But God must have been listening to all of the sudden barrage of prayers coming from everyone on the small farm in the Blue Ridge Mountains because he answered.

The labor had been miraculously easy – as easy as giving birth to two babies could be. Jack had slipped out first and Rosita had cut the cord with the sterilized knife and then handed it back to Anna before cleaning the baby's mouth and wrapping him up in a blanket, the baby crying in protest and wanting to be put back in. And less than a minute after her brother, Cecily came with much the same reaction.

Beth had been crying with pain, but then she had been crying for a completely different reason, completely overwhelmed because there were two babies crying. Two babies with ten toes and ten fingers each and healthy lungs and they were here. Safe and sound. Looking over to Daryl, she saw that he was looking at their babies, a mixture of surprise and shock on his face and tears in his eyes.

The past year hadn't been easy, but nothing had ever been too easy and they were all used to working hard. And it wasn't as if Daryl and Beth had to do this on their own. Everyone had a hand in helping with the babies and the kids and the farm. Some mornings, Beth woke up before anyone else and she laid in bed for a moment longer, just watching the bedroom get lighter with the rising sun and listen to Daryl's soft snoring from beside her in her ear and she could still remember that last day at the prison so clearly – before she and Daryl ran off together to escape it – and she thought of it sometimes and everything that had happened since that day.

Sometimes, it felt like she had already lived enough for five lives and she was so grateful every morning that she was still here and actually living; not just surviving.

Whistling a tune, Matt entered the kitchen through the backdoor, a basket of eggs in one arm and a small pail of milk in his other hand. He set both down on the counter.

"Good morning," Beth smiled. "Can you take her? I need both hands."

Matt didn't even pause before leaning over and plucking Cecily from her arms. He kissed the baby on the cheek and Cecily giggled as she always did when Matt kissed her cheek or head. He had spent the past few months, growing out a beard, and the babies always laughed when they felt it against their skin.

Hearing light footsteps coming from upstairs, both turned to see Bee hurrying down, dressed for the day, her curly hair a mess on her head. Rosita did her hair for her, but Rosita had already taken a basket of clothes to the creek to start on washing bright and early that morning. Bee poked first into her parents' bedroom and then came back out into the kitchen.

"Is my daddy home yet?" She asked.

Beth gave her a gentle smile and shook her head. "Not yet. Maybe today."

The little girl seemed to deflate at that a little and Matt reached over, playfully rubbing her head.

When the snow began melting and they could tell spring was on the way, Aaron, Spencer and Anna decided to go on a run; their first since the antiques store over a year before, before the twins were born. Beth had run out of cinnamon during the winter and though she had assured everyone that it was alright – that she could still make their tree bark without it – they had been determined to find her more.

They had been gone for nearly a week now.

"They'll be back soon," he promised her. "Want to go see your mom?" He asked. "She can help with that rat's nest you call hair," he teased and he grinned when Bee gasped at him. "You can't push me." He took a step back from the intimidating almost-six year old. "I'm holding a baby."

Bee did her best to keep her angry frown up at him and Matt just grinned. He gave Cecily another kiss and then went to go place her down once more on the mat next to Jack. He straightened and looked back to Bee.

"Want a piggyback ride?" He asked her.

Immediately, Bee's frown was gone and she was beaming as she hurried over to Matt; Matt crouching down and Bee scrambling up onto his back.

"We'll be back," he promised to Beth.

"You have plenty of time," Beth smiled at them both. "I haven't even finished mixing the biscuits up yet."

As she stirred the biscuit mix together in the bowl and then began making twelve separate little helpings on the tray, she glanced over to the babies every few seconds. Jack was still chewing on his rabbit ear and Cecily was crawling away again, towards one of the chairs at the table. She smiled as Cecily gripped the seat of the chair and then pulled herself to her feet.

The twins had been crawling for a few months now and were now entering the beginning stages of walking. It was hard enough to keep up with their crawling. They seriously had to start baby proofing things around here.

Beth finished rolling the biscuits out and slipped them into the oven, closing the door with a firm push. She looked back again and this time, Jack was crawling away, heading towards Rosita's sewing supplies in the corner of the living room. Beth hurried after him and he huffed at her with displeasure when she hoisted him up into her arms.

"I know. I'm a terrible mother for not letting you play with knitting needles," Beth told him as she carried him back into the kitchen.

She kissed Jack's cheek and then set him down into his highchair and then went to grab Cecily to do the same.

"Whew. When did that happen?" She asked, looking at her, and Cecily just smiled.

Luckily, Daryl chose that moment to come into the cabin, having been helping Eli pick flowers to lay on Ruby's grave as they did every other morning.

"Perfect timing," Beth smiled at him and passed their daughter to him.

He took one whiff of her and smirked, giving a nod before carrying her outside to go change her cloth diaper and get her cleaned up. Beth went to the sink to wash her hands so she could get started on frying tomato slices when Jack began to cry.

"Eli, can you get his rabbit?" She asked her oldest son as he came into the kitchen and he nodded, going to collect the stuffed animal from the play mat on the floor and going to give it to him. Jack instantly stopped crying as he began gnawing on the floppy ear once again.

"Need help?" He asked as she dried her hands.

Beth smiled, wiping her hands. "Could you go down to the cellar and bring me up a jar of tomatoes? Thank you, sweetie," she said and he nodded, turning and heading down the stairs. Beth turned and opened the oven door just enough to peak in to check on the biscuits, to see that they were baking alright, before going to the basket of eggs Matt had brought in, looking over each one, picking those she would fry for breakfast and setting aside those she would cook with later that day for dinner preparations.

Lily came trotting in then and first, she stopped to sniff at Jack's foot and then she went to go to Beth, who rubbed her behind her ear. The wolf then went and plopped herself down in front of the stove, setting her head down on the floor between her paws. Lily usually went out hunting at night and returned in time for the others to eat their breakfasts and they were always relieved and happy when she returned. Buck and Spitz had left just before the first snow fell that winter and even though the kids had been upset, Daryl had told them – reminded them – that they were wild animals and Buck and Spitz were still young wolves. They wanted to go and find their own packs.

And who knew? They might want to find their ways back here one day.

A few minutes behind Lily, Rosita, Matt and Bee all returned – Bee once again on Matt's back and a basket of wet laundry to be hanged on the line outside in Rosita's arms – and Eli came up from the root cellar with a jar of tomatoes in his hands. And then Daryl came back with a freshly changed – and much better smelling – Cecily in his arms. He gave her a kiss and set her down into her high chair next to her brother.

"I'll go get Aiden," Matt volunteered, leaving once more. With Anna gone for the past few days, Aiden had been helping Matt out in the barn and he was now making sure that all of the animals were getting their breakfasts, too.

Bee went to Daryl and took his hand, tugging on it. "Is my daddy coming home today?" She asked him just as she had asked Beth and Matt and Rosita down at the creek.

Daryl gave her little hand a squeeze. "Maybe," he said, not wanting to promise her. Bee had been asking this every morning for the past week and the adults all knew that Aaron, Spencer and Anna had had to walk a long way for anything.

And all because of cinnamon.

No one had any idea when they would get back. And no one was going to think of the possibility of them not getting back at all.

Beth fried the tomato slices and eggs and Rosita went to pull the lavender biscuits from the oven and just as they were setting the table and putting the food out, Lily lifted her head and let out a bark suddenly, startling them all. They all sat and listened for the sound that had disturbed her. They then all heard it.

A sharp whistle.

"Daddy!" Bee exclaimed and pushed herself from the table, running outside, followed close by Aiden, and then everyone was hurrying outside.

Daryl grabbed his crossbow and ran for the gate and Matt followed after him, Lily right at their sides. They made sure the gate was closed securely behind them before they ran off, hearing the whistle again. The three were coming through the trees and as soon as Daryl saw them – all alive and accounted for – he let go of a breath he felt like he had been holding for the past week.

Matt took off running and when Anna saw him, she began running straight for him.

They collided with one another and Anna knocked Matt down onto the ground and he laughed as he hugged her tightly and she peppered his face with kisses. Aaron and Spencer were both smiling as they and Daryl walked to one another. Aaron took his pack off one shoulder and brought it around, opening it up and pulling out a decent size container of cinnamon. Daryl smirked a little when he saw that they had found it and without a word, he put one arm around Aaron's shoulders and his other around Spencer's and he pulled them both into a hug.

He hoped they didn't think he was hugging them because of cinnamon.

…

Daryl's eyes slowly peeled open and for a moment, he laid there, wondering what had woken him up. The room was nearly pitch black, letting him know that it was still the middle of the night and he listened for a sound, wondering what had brought him out of his deep sleep. It took another second for him to realize that Beth was no longer in bed at his side.

He sat up, scrubbing a hand down his face, and he looked towards the crib next to their bed, but Jack and Cecily were both sound asleep. He then heard a soft murmuring from across the tree-house. It was Beth and she was sitting on the edge of Eli's bed, stroking the little boy's hair.

"But since it falls unto my lot,

That I should rise and you should not,

I'll gently rise and I'll softly call,

good night and joy be with you all.

Good night and joy be with you all."

Beth sang the song softly and Daryl heard the familiar song, being transported instantly to years before, when he first heard her singing that very song – him hearing her singing for the first time at all – and he remembered how he hadn't been able to take his eyes off of her at that moment.

"Thank you, mom," Eli said softly.

Beth leaned down and kissed his head. "Good night. I love you," she said.

"Love you, too," he returned and she kissed his head again.

A few moments later, Daryl heard the creaking of floorboards as she crossed the tree-house back to their bed. She paused, peeking in on the twins, smiling faintly, and she then lifted her eyes, seeing that he was awake, and she remained smiling as she slipped back in beneath the quilt. Daryl flipped it over her, making sure that she was completely covered, and she snuggled into his arms as they both got themselves settled once again.

Daryl's head came to a rest on her shoulder and Beth began sifting her fingers through his hair. "He okay?" He asked, already falling back asleep.

"Just a bad dream. He's okay," Beth answered and her lips rested against his forehead. Daryl closed his eyes, his arms tight around her, not wanting to let go.

Never wanting to let go.

His wife. The mother of his children. His best friend. His partner in every sense of the word.

Without Beth, Daryl was pretty sure that there would be no him anymore.

"I love you, Beth," he mumbled to her, falling back asleep. "Love you so damn much."

And Beth squeezed her arms around him and kissed his forehead. "I love you, too."

To the sound of their children breathing – all safe and at peace – and listening to the breathing of one another, Beth and Daryl slowly fell back asleep.

…

The End.

I honestly feel like crying. I already feel a loss from not having this story to write anymore.

Thank you very much for reading and please leave me a review one more time!