Make my Way Back

Chapter 9

(I don't own TWD)

….

Carl recovered slowly over the week following the fall of Alexandria, spending most of his time inside with Judith while anyone who survived helped rebuild. Glenn, who had been outside of Alexandria on a run with Nicolas, a survivor from Alexandria had yet to return, causing Maggie to be wracked with worry.

Daryl had barely said two words to her since that night, choosing to take more shifts on watch and volunteering for jobs left and right. She wanted to talk to him about their kiss, had he meant to do it? Did he regret it? Had he changed his mind? She knew what she felt for him, it had been slowly building when they were out on their own together, their time apart during and after Grady only strengthening it.

She bit into her bottom lip as she helped hold down the large board as Abraham hammered it down, Rosita and Michonne on either side. They had to rebuild the fence so the first few days were focused on cleaning out the debris and now rebuilding. It had taken a couple of days but they were almost done, sweat beading on everyone's brows.

"Beth, you doing alright?" Michonne asked, noting the way Beth grimaced as her stomach flipped from the heat.

"M'fine, it's just the sun. Reminds me of the summers back home" Beth replied, swallowing dryly.

"You're starting to turn pink, go inside for a bit before you faint" she suggested, looking her up and down.

"It's okay Michonne, I feel fine"

"Yeah, and then in two minutes when you pass out I'll have that redneck of yours after me"

Beth blushed despite the heat, stubbornly refusing to back down "I'm fine Michonne, I can work just like everyone else"

"Everybody else doesn't have a bullet wound in their head"

Beth scowls at that "Thanks for reminding me, you're not gonna get off my back until I go, are you?

Michonne shakes her head with a smile

"…Fine, have fun one person down" she says, dusting off her hands on her pants. She goes inside, joining Carl and Judith for lunch. Not even twenty minutes later there's a knock at the door and she leaves the siblings to answer it.

Maggie is standing on the other side, twisting her hands nervously "can we talk?"

Beth nods, ushering her inside and towards her room. Maggie glances at the broken crossbow bolts lying on the drawers next to the bed but chooses to say nothing, sitting on the bed.

"Beth… I-I'm so sorry" she says, quickly starting to cry "I should've looked for you, I shouldn't have given up on you. I'm so sorry"

Beth sits down next to her weeping sister, wrapping her arms around her she lets her cry onto her shoulder "It's okay… it's okay Mags. I forgive you"

That only makes Maggie cry harder, clinging onto her sister. Beth joins in at one point, her own sobs mingling with her sister's. Eventually they tear themselves apart, sniffing and wiping their eyes.

"Beth how can you forgive me? I abandoned you, more than once"

"Life's too short to be so bitter Maggie, last week… I could've lost you and you would've still thought that I hated you. I don't want to fight anymore" Beth says, wiping her cheeks "especially now I have a little niece or nephew on the way"

Maggie grabs at her stomach with a sad smile "Rick told you… Beth I don't think I can do this alone"

Beth grabs her wrists "Don't talk like that Maggie, you don't know what's happened"

Maggie shakes her head "He's been gone for too long Beth, something's gone wrong I can feel it"

"Don't Maggie, stressing yourself out like that isn't good for you or the baby. Glenn would never leave you, not if he had any say in it" Beth says, trying to sound like the hopeful, optimistic Beth that her sister once knew "I'll send Daryl out tomorrow if he's not back, he'll probably come back with Glenn and a deer or two"

Maggie lets out a watery chuckle "Speaking of the redneck archer, what's going on with you two?"

Beth shrugs "You know men, run off whenever things get complicated"

Her sister frowns "I thought you two were pretty close?"

"We were, or at least I thought we were" she bites into her lip "We kissed, but now…. he's avoiding me. I can't help thinking that maybe I did something wrong, maybe he changed his mind. Maybe he liked the old Beth" she mumbles the last part, Maggie barely catching it

"Beth, you can't honestly think that! The man looks at you like you're an angel sent from the heavens or something" Maggie says, making Beth smile "If you want anything to change, you need to talk to him. No one can afford to waste time anymore"

A shout from outside interrupts their conversation, Glenn's voice calling out Maggie's name filtering through the air. The sisters glance at each other in shock for a moment before bounding downstairs, Maggie already in tears again.

The older woman barely makes it onto the front porch before she's swept up by her husband, his own tears trailing down his face as they embrace. They fall to the floor, crumpling in on each other in a mess of tears and kisses and they check each other over for any sign of injury, not giving a thought to the fact that they had an audience.

Beth watches them with a smile, her eyes flickering up and as if they were magnets, immediately locking with Daryl's. She nods towards the house, already moving back up to their room. She sits on the bed, waiting for a few minutes before he comes in.

"S'everything alright?" he asks gruffly, keeping his distance from the bed

"That depends, you gonna tell me why you've been avoiding me?" she asks, turning to face him even though he would not meet her eyes

"I ain't been avoiding you"

"I'm not stupid Daryl, you practically run whenever I come near you" she says "Did I do something wrong? Is it because I didn't respond when you kissed me? Because I didn't exactly have time"

"No, it's not that" he groans

"Then what?" she asks, exasperated "… Is it because I'm not the same? Maybe…. Maybe you liked the Beth from before and I'm not her anymore?"

He looks up, horrified "No! Course that ain't it! That honestly what you think?"

"I don't know! I don't know what's going on in your head anymore, you keep pushing me away!"

"Cause I can't lose you again!" he bursts out, immediately stunning her into silence "I-it almost killed me before and we weren't… we weren't even together then.."

"So how could you handle it if we were anything more" she finishes for him, moving forward so she could reach out and cup his face with one hand "Daryl… I can't promise nothing is ever going to happen to me"

"I ain't gonna let anything happen t-"

"Just let me talk" she says, cutting off his protest "This world is too unpredictable, we don't know if we're going to get overrun by walkers tomorrow. But I'm not going to let anything take me away from you, not without a fight. That I can promise"

"You deserve better than some old redneck" he mutters, still staring at his palms

"There is no one better" she says "You ran all night after a car that had taken me, you tracked down the people who kidnapped me and came to rescue me"

"Yeah and look how that ended up" he mutters, the image of her falling to the ground after being shot in the head echoing in his mind

"None of that matters now, I made my way back, to you. I want to be with you, the only question left now is, do you wanna be with me?" she asks, moving her hands so they gently covered his, his rough palms scratching against hers.

"Course I wanna be with you" he mutters

"So, what's the problem then?" she asks softly, their eyes both rising to meet almost instantaneously

"I…I'm not good at this type of thing… I ain't really ever…" he trails off, leaving her to figure it out

"I don't know what I'm doing either Daryl, I've never felt what I feel about you before…but that's the beauty of having someone, you get to figure it out together" she says, moving in closer to him

"I don't know how to change, girl"

"I'm not asking you to. I happen to like you just the way you are Daryl Dixon" she says, dropping his hands and moving hers back up to his face "We can take this as slow as you want Daryl, we don't even have to tell anyone if you don't feel ready"

He leans into her hand, his gruff hair on his chin scratching against her palm "Ain't gonna be like Glenn and Maggie"

She nods "I don't want to be Glenn and Maggie, I wanna be us. Daryl and Beth. Now will you please stop trying to make excuses and kiss me? Ever since the first one all I've wanted is a repeat"

He gives her a small smile, it barely raises the corners of his lips but for her it's everything. She allows his to remove her hands from his face, placing his own on hers and leans in, her eyes drifting shut just as their lips meet.

His mouth is soft, gentle against hers, barely pressing against her as his thumbs stroke her cheeks. She leans into him, further deepening the kiss and winding her arms around his neck. Just as she's about to attempt to slip her tongue into his mouth, they're interrupted by a cough at the door.

They break apart quickly, both flushing deeply as they make contact with a sheepish looking Glenn, who hesitantly steps into the room "uh… sorry. I'm sorry… Rick's looking for you Daryl"

Daryl grunts in annoyance and glances at her before leaving, too embarrassed to say anything. Beth turns to her brother in law, who's smirking at her "Glenn Rhee, don't think that just because you're my brother in law and the father of my niece or nephew that I won't still punch you "

Glenn blinks at her in surprise, the Beth he knew from the prison would never threaten physical violence, and he could tell just by the way she was looking at her that she wasn't joking "What did I do? I didn't know you two were going to be in here making out like a couple of teenagers"

"I mean it Glenn, not a word of this to anyone. Not even Maggie. And don't tease him, it took us long enough to get here, if you screw this up I will make sure you can never have babies again"

Glenn nods, inwardly shuddering at the glare Beth was giving him. He leaves, one hand instinctively protecting his nether regions which has Beth laughing. Things were good, if only they knew how long that would last for.

….

Do you guys want me to introduce Negan into the story? And if so, should the deaths remain canon, or would you like me to mix it up a bit?

Review and let me know!