» Time Is Dancing « | » Carl Grimes «

» 10 MILES OUT «

Love Isn't All You Need

"How did Beth get sick?" I muttered to Lori, peering around the doorframe to catch a glimpse of the girl. We were standing outside her bedroom, waiting for Hershel to finish a final checkup and hopefully confirm she would survive. She had shown a lot of improvement over the past day or two, it I wasn't quite sure what she was improving from.

"Well, sweetheart, sometimes that happens. When something bad happens to you, you can go into shock. Beth saw her mother die, she was attacked by her. That's gotta be a horrible thing." Lori answered, her arm wrapped around my shoulders to pull me closer. I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, my head titling up to meet her concerned gaze.

'Beth got sick from her mom?'

"Does it happen every time?" I wondered quietly, my lips pressed into a frown. "Because I never got sick when it happened to me. I don't think so, anyway."

"What happened to your mom?" Lori hesitantly asked, as though she already knew the answer.

"She died." I shrugged, the toe of my boot dragging against the floorboards distractedly. "I think my dad killed her. She came back, too, as a walker. But I didn't really know a lot about them back then. I never saw one up close before."

Lori looked at me with a sullen expression, almost sympathetic in a way that baffled me. Sympathy towards my mother was the last thing I expected.

I brushed off the tears floating along the brim of her eyes, my mind wandering. "Maybe it's different for someone you love. My Mom was kinda mean sometimes. But I think I would get sick if Glenn died. Or Carl. Probably even Daryl. I felt a little dizzy when Sophia died, does that count?" I thought out loud, my voice quiet and curious.

Lori knelt on the ground beside me, reaching my height. Her hands found my face and she held it, forcing me to look at her. "Listen to me, sweetheart. Love is something you earn, it's not a right. These people here have earned it, right?"

"You have, too. You earned it more than my Mom ever did." I smiled, my cheeks squished by her gentle hold on my face.

She tried to smile back but her eyes screamed with concern, the emotion pooling in the form of tears. Actually, she was kind of weirding me out.

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"Hi, Glenn. Hi, Maggie." I strolled into the kitchen, seeing them leaning against the counter in hushed conversation. Maggie kissed Glenn fleetingly before skipping out the room, ruffling my hair as she went up the stairs.

"Hey, kid. Beth okay?" Glenn asked, his face still glowing as he watched Maggie leave.

I pondered the question with a frown before finally shrugging. "Lori said she was in shock because her Mom died." I muttered, sinking into my chair as the woman's words replayed in my mind. "Did you go into shock when your Mom died?"

Glenn was slightly taken aback by the question but stuttered out an answer. "I-I don't know. She could still be alive. I don't know if I'll ever find find out." His voice drifted off sadly, his stare becoming distant as he considered it.

I just wanted to know if I was the weird one for not missing my mother now that she was gone.

"People need to earn love. That's what Lori says. She told me that it wasn't a right, or something. But...I don't know. I guess I wanted to tell you that you've earned it. From me." I awkwardly finished, my fingers picking at the wooden table to avoid meeting Glenn's eyes. Why was it so hard to tell people you loved them?

'Maybe because you've never done it before.'

Glenn softly smiled, a delighted gleam in his eyes. "You earned it too, Belle. From me." He stood up and kissed my forehead, smoothing my hair down from where Maggie messed it up.

The sudden smash of glass that bounced around the house broke up the tender moment, followed by whimpering shouts and sobs. They came from Beth's room.

I hopped from my seat straight away, taking the stairs two at a time in a panic with Glenn right behind, catching up to me just as we turned the corner into the room.

I didn't see a lot, just flashes of blood on Beth's wrist and her screwed up, painful expression, before Glenn dragged me out the room, holding me tightly to him.

"What happened-there was blood." I trembled, urgently shoving against his hold with fearful eyes. Glenn didn't let me go, hugging my head to his chest to stop me from looking no matter how hard I tried.

"It's okay. Let's go back downstairs, yeah?" He told me, glancing once through the door before nudging me down the stairs.

When we sat down on the couch, my whole body shook from beneath Glenn's comforting arm. "What's wrong with Beth?" I whispered, the words brimming with tears.

Glenn sighed as he struggled for an explanation. "Beth's going through a lot right now. When someone you love dies, it can really hurt. It can lead to...certain feelings. You can be really sad, or really angry, or sometimes you might not feel anything. Beth- she's feeling really sad. She's so sad that she, she doesn't wanna...be here anymore." He told me slowly, my face dropping at the realisation.

Beth wanted to die?

The shakiness had stopped, soon being replaced by an unfamiliar sorrow. I didn't want Beth to die, ever. "Can we make her happy again?" I whispered, wiping the tears from my cheeks, my eyes gleaming hopefully.

"We can try."

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(Edited chapter)

Greene family supremacy that's all I need to say

(Honestly though, this fic is gonna be dealing with some heavy stuff, but it's nothing you wouldn't see on the show so you've been warned.)