Finally, another update! Is that what you're all thinking? Sorry! I've been working on a dozen other fics and one shots for some personal stories and have little motivation to do much else. But I woke up this morning and told myself that I wasn't allowed to write anything before I updated this story. So, ta-da!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own TWD, blah blah blah! :P

Necessary Philosophies to Survive a Zombie Apocalypse

Chapter Five: Learn By What You Do

Finally, there was good news.

Marlie woke to find that Glenn, Rick, and Hershel had all returned, much to everyone's relief. As expected, Rick was discomforted to hear that his wife and Marlie had gone off looking for him the day before and were almost eaten by walkers as a result.

But attention was taken away from that situation and placed on the man that was seated in the back seat of the truck that the men had arrived in. His name was Randall and he was just one more thing to add to the list of "Shit the Group Has to Deal With".

There was a discussion about what to do with the newcomer, who's injured leg had been stitched up and repaired—for the most part—by a helpful Hershel. As if the group didn't have enough crap to worry about…

"We couldn't just leave him there," stated Rick. "He would have died."

"And that would have been a problem how?" Shane was furious. Like always, he didn't agree with yet another one of Rick's decisions and he wasn't holding back his voice on this issue.

Marlie hung back beside Daryl, arms crossed as she leaned against the wall behind him. The headache from the night before had dissipated a little, but remained. And her nose was bruised and sore. She was grateful that she was alive, though. That always made her laugh inside. Where once she had tried to relieve herself of a cruel, sad existence, now Marlie was glad to make it through each day. A suicide attempt had the tendency to make one better at living.

"I'm gonna go get some flowers and candy for him," announced Shane then, a very unhappy look plastered on his face as he made his way out of the dining room, where everyone had gathered to discuss the situation that was Randall. "Look at this folks! We're back in fantasy land!" He glared at Marlie as he passed her, causing an unhappy expression to flit across Daryl's face.

But Hershel stepped in, pointing a stern finger at Shane. "You know, we haven't even dealt with what you did to my barn yet?"

The other man paused and spun around.

"I'm gonna make this clear once and for all: This is my farm. Now I wanted you gone. Rick talked me out of it, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. So do us both a favor and keep your mouth shut."

While nobody clapped and cheered for Hershel's stern and much-needed approach to Shane, it was clear that several members of the discussion circle wanted to. Or at least, wanted to smile about it.

And that's what Marlie did. Just a small grin that she wiped away when Daryl glanced over at her with a cocked brow. She just shrugged, mentally kicking Shane out the door, because he really deserved to be kicked. And slapped. Slapping always seemed to knock sense into people, as Marlie had found out with Daryl.

When Shane stormed out of the house, taking care to push the outside screen door hard enough to smack against the house, Rick sighed. "Look, we're not gonna do anything about it today." He made eye contact with everyone to further engrave his statement. "Let's just cool off."

It was the signal for everyone who wanted to, to leave.

Carol walked in front of Daryl, pausing to look at him with a gentleness in her eyes, but the hunter grimaced and hurried away from her, taking Marlie's hand and dragging her along.

She half-smiled apologetically at Carol as she left. Obviously, the older woman and Daryl still hadn't worked things out.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

The next day, it was decided by Rick to drive the new kid, Randall, out about eighteen miles down the country road. Shane came along, too.

Everyone was really starting to get used having members of the group leaving and coming back and leaving again.

Lori came looking for Marlie later on. The younger woman was with Daryl at the hunter's own little camp sight away from everyone else. Marlie had moved in with him, partly because she had found herself in love with the man, and partly because she needed to keep an eye on him. The last thing she wanted or needed was for him to run off.

"Marlie? Marlie, I need your help."

She had been cleaning her blade and assisting Daryl in smoothing out the feathers on his crossbow bolts when Lori called out for her. Marlie stood up, worried as to why the deputy's wife would suddenly require her assistance. "What's wrong?"

"It's Beth. She…I think she…"

"Well, spit it out," asserted Daryl, eyeing the two women beside him, arrow in his hands.

Lori just eyes Daryl impatiently. "She wants to kill herself."

Marlie blinked. Alright, so maybe the last thing she needed wasn't Daryl running off, but rather, someone coming to her about suicide. The one thing she hated most about herself.

"Look, I know you don't want to talk about it and I'm not saying that you have to, but you know more about it than any of us. Please," she added, practically begging.

With raised brows, Marlie looked down at her feet and shook her head, saying, "Fine." She turned to Daryl, who gave her a warm look before nodding for her to join Lori.

"Go do your thing," he said as he resumed his work on his weapon.

Marlie hurried after Lori then, towards the house.

"Maggie's talkin' to her now, but I was hoping you'd have a word with her next."

"Yeah, sure. What did she do? I mean, how was she going to do it?" Marlie asked, sitting at the dining table with Lori beside her.

"She took a knife off the food tray I brought to her."

Marlie, with her arms out in front of her on the table, rubbed her scars quietly, remembering. God, how she hated her memories. When a hand suddenly appeared on her own, the younger woman stopped her fidgeting.

"Thank you, Marlie, for doing this. If anyone can help her, it's you and Maggie." She smiled comfortingly at her.

Oddly enough, the smile worked and Marlie did feel a little better. Maybe she wouldn't have to explain her own suicide attempt, but would just have to convince Beth that life was worth living after all.

Ten minutes later

"Doctor's found me before it was too late and here I am, alive and with the scars to prove it." Well, okay. So Marlie had ended up having to explain, in detail, what had happened to herself. But Beth was a hard soul to convince that suicide wasn't the answer.

The light-haired woman listened with moderate interest and once the story was finished, asked, "Why haven't you tried again?"

Marlie tilted her head and frowned. That was a good question.

"This isn't a world that anyone should have to live in, so why haven't you opted out?"

"Because. I found things worth living for."

"Like Daryl?"

She nodded.

Beth's head hung lowly. "Jimmy doesn't mean to me what Daryl means to you."

"Why do you say that?"

With a shrug, she said, "We haven't been together that long. We're not in love. We're not going to ever get married. We—"

"Woah, woah, woah," interrupted Marlie, shaking her head as she scooted closer to Beth on her bed. "So you're saying that just because you guys haven't known each other long means you can't love each other? I've only known Daryl for, like, less than a few months and while we're not perfect, we still care about each other."

"Do you love him?"

Marlie inhaled deeply before replying, "Yes. I do." Officially, Beth was now the first person to be told that. She deserved a metal. "But that doesn't matter."

"How can it not?"

"Because, you and Jimmy have a future. It may be scary and unknown, but you still have one. Would you really be willing to give that up? Life's hard, Beth, but it's hard for everyone. You have to be strong and—"

"I've been strong since this whole shit-storm started."

Marlie blinked. She'd never heard Beth curse before.

"My dad made sure of it, saying that there'd be a cure and my mom would be fine and we'd be a family again. But that's never gonna happen now, so there's really nothing keeping me here." Her voice was quiet, lifeless, completely devoid of energy as she sat there in bed, staring at her hands in her lap.

In some ways, Beth was right, Marlie knew. She'd known it all along. One bullet to the head, one cut of the wrist would be all it took to end pain, suffering, fear, everything. But it would also be the end to everything good that happened on occasion, every smile that revealed itself once in a while, every laugh, every positive thing that still awaited them in the future. The bad outweighed the good by a long shot, but because there was still good, there was still hope. And destroying that was worse than the act of suicide itself.

Marlie crawled up to the bed's headboard and explained this to Beth, who sat quietly beside her, listening as the woman spoke about things that she could still look forward to. Some of Marlie's words sunk in; others flew in one ear and out the other. It was impossible to make the decision for someone so ready to take her own life, but it helped to try and push her in the right direction.

After nearly an hour of talking and exchanging opinions about the world, Marlie realized that she had said all that she could to Beth. Patting her knee kindly, Marlie left her there, to think about everything and to decide for herself what to do about her life.

"Marlie?"

She looked over at Lori, who was with Andrea and Maggie in the kitchen.

"How'd it go?" Andrea asked.

"I think she really wants to do it. She reminded me of me when I tried."

Maggie shook her head angrily. "I'm goin' to talk to her again."

Nobody stopped her, but instead listened as she slammed the bedroom door closed. The shouting began less than a minute later. It continued for a while, making Marlie uncomfortable. The whole thing made her uncomfortable. Suicide was a touchy subject for her. For everyone.

"This could have been handled better," announced Andrea a short while later.

"How so?" Lori asked, nibbling on a cucumber slice.

"You shouldn't have taken the knife away."

Marlie looked up her feet, which she'd been staring at. "Andrea."

"What, Marlie?" the blonde growled unhappily. She looked at Lori. "You were wrong. She has to choose to live on her own. She has to find her own reasons, not be convinced by some…veteran of suicide."

"Excuse me?" Marlie stood up straight. Suddenly, the truce between her and Andrea was melting away.

"Andrea! Enough."

Marlie cleared her throat awkwardly, growing very uncomfortable about the conversation, especially now that Andrea had become a total bitch before her eyes. "I'm gonna go, um, clean something." She glared daggers at Andrea on the way out.

Lori was unhappy that Marlie felt the need to get out of the kitchen. She sent a disappointed look in Andrea's direction before saying to Marlie, "I'll find you if we need anything more, okay? Thanks again, Marlie."

She nodded before leaving the house. Once she was out of sight of the two women, Marlie stopped, standing amidst the green grass of the ranch, and cried. She wished she had her black, fingerless gloves to hide her wrists, because she figured everyone would be looking at them after they realized Beth's situation. She felt exposed, not only because of her bare wrists, but also because she was out in the middle of the field where anyone could see her sobbing.

Luckily, only Carol caught sight of the woman, who had crouched down to make herself small.

"Marlie?" the older woman called out.

Sniffling quickly and wiping her face, Marlie stood up and smiled hollowly at Carol. "Hey."

"Are you alright? What happened?" She hurried over to her with a confused, concerned expression.

"Nothing. I'm just having a bad day, I guess." It wasn't completely a lie. Her day had gone downhill since having to chat with Beth.

Carol's brows furrowed. "Do you want to talk about it?" she asked, placing a warm hand on Marlie's shoulder.

"It's okay, I'm fine." She couldn't tell her about Beth just yet. It seemed that that would be a secret for as long as Beth and Maggie decided it would be. "But since you're here, I just want to apologize for Daryl's behavior."

Carol smiled warmly and glanced at the grass. "You don't have to apologize for him. He should be able to do that himself."

"I know he should, but I'm still sorry. You don't deserve how he treats you. If it'll help, then I'll have a word with him later."

"No, don't worry about it. I think your speech in the RV last night did him some good."

Marlie snorted. "I hope so." Already, her tears had dried away in the sun and she was feeling better in the fresh air. She wondered if she should return to the house, to see if anything had changed or if Lori and Andrea were still disputing in the kitchen. Marlie decided that was probably best. "I should probably be getting back," she said to Carol, pointing a thumb behind her.

"Okay. Is Beth alright?"

"Yeah, she's good. Lori just might need me to help with chores." Marlie thanked the gods that Carol didn't offer to come along, not that her finding out about Beth would be so terrible, but it would complicate things.

Carol nodded. "I have a few things to take care of, too. Feel better," she added, kindly squeezing Marlie's shoulder before the two went their separate ways.

Marlie's timing back at the house was impeccable. Just as she was heading up the porch steps, Lori burst out, her face showing immediate relief that Marlie was so close. "What happened?" Marlie asked, suspecting something terrible as she quickly followed Lori to Beth's room.

Maggie was already there, banging on room's bathroom door.

"Where's Beth?" Lori asked, hurrying into the room.

"She's in there," Maggie informed, jiggling the bathroom handle. "I heard glass!"

"Shit," Marlie mumbled, approaching the door. "Beth, come on. Don't do this! What about all we talked about earlier?"

From behind the door, there was a shuffling of feet, sounds of glass, and Beth crying.

Marlie's mind flashed to the night at the hospital, clutching tightly onto the scalpel that the nurses had carelessly left in an unlocked drawer. Pressing the cold steel against her wrists had felt good, but Marlie had been terrified. There hadn't been anyone there to stop her, unlike Beth, who had friends and family knocking on the door, begging her to stop. Marlie could only imagine how the girl must be feeling. Rushed, confused, scared, probably.

"Beth?" called Maggie, "You alright? Don't do this, Beth, don't do this." She was trying to remain calm and strong, but her voice was faltering and there were terrified tears in her eyes.

Lori was frantic. "I left her with Andrea."

That was the last straw for Marlie. Even if Andrea was right in some obscure way, leaving a suicidal woman to her own devices was not right. "Where's the key?" Marlie asked, seeing a keyhole in the door.

"I don't know," Maggie replied. "Beth, please, open the door! I'm not mad, Beth, I'm not mad!"

Marlie remembered seeing a crowbar somewhere in the room, having caught a glimpse of it the last time she was there. She sprang into action and quickly located it in the far corner of the room. Weaseling between Lori and Maggie, Marlie prepared to make her assault when Lori grabbed her hand.

"I'll do it," she asserted, taking the heavy metal away from Marlie. "Step back." Then she jabbed one end of the bar between the door and the frame and pull the lever back strongly. The door broke open a few seconds later, revealing Beth standing before a destroyed mirror, clutching her left wrist as she turned around.

Her face was red from crying and there were steady streams of tears caressing her cheek. "I'm sorry," she sobbed.

Maggie hurried in and wrapped her arms around her sister, kissing the top of her head and adding pressure to her bleeding wrist as they exited the bathroom.

Marlie felt sick to her stomach, but something dawned on her. Maybe Andrea wasn't completely wrong about her statement on having Beth find her own reasons to live. Beth had tried to die, but in the end, it seemed that the only way to prove to herself that she actually wanted to live, was to bring herself close to death.

When Hershel was told what had happened, he was more worried than angry, just as a father should be. He was left alone with Beth, to stitch her wrist and be by her side.

Marlie, while told to leave the room to let Hershel have some time alone with his daughter, remained close by, choosing to sit at the dining room table and wait until she could see Beth. She wasn't mad at her. Andrea was right; she'd chosen to live. It didn't make the means of figuring that out any better, but Beth was alive and that was all that matter.

Even after Hershel came out to tell Marlie that Beth was resting and didn't need visitors at the moment, Marlie remained.

Daryl found his place by her side some time later after searching for her. He gently took her hands and brushed his thumb over the faint pink lines that symbolized the start of a new beginning for Marlie. "You did good."

"I didn't keep her from cutting herself."

"But you certainly tried. Hell, you might have even been the reason that she stopped."

Marlie thought about that before sighing. Maybe Daryl was right, or maybe Beth found her own reasons.

The hunter leaned over to her then and kissed her temple before bringing her left wrist to his lips and kissing that, too. "You did good, Marlie," he repeated quietly.

Some cute, touchy moments with Marlie Daryl! So, reviews? PLEASE? Now I'm only behind by one episode! YAY! You know, when I watched the episode "18 Miles Out", I was like, "Wow, this episode is perfect for Marlie!". Sometimes I'm amazed at how much she'd work in the series, for real. It's uncanny.

Anyway, comment, review, smite me with your rage for not updating sooner, etc! :D