Zedler, M.D. // Daryl Dixon

Chapter Eighteen: The Farm

•eighteen•

Beatrix

"Let me see Beth," I cross my arms, looking at Maggie.

"No," Maggie crosses her arms back. "I need to watch her. She can't be left alone."

"Do you think I'm going to leave her alone?" I raise my eyebrow at her. "I'm not an idiot, Maggie. I'm also a doctor that was trained to deal with situations like these. Being hostile isn't going to help anything. In fact, it's going to make her feel a lot worse. So if you don't mind, I'd like to keep my promise and teach her the ways of a surgeon."

"Beatrix, I swear to God if you let her out of your sight for one second-" Maggie doesn't finish her sentence.

"I'll look after her, Magge," I give her a small smile and pat her on the shoulder. "You need to let me deal with this. I understand you're her sister, but I've got this under control."

"I trust you, Bea. I do," she returns my smile before walking off to the kitchen, letting me in to see Beth.

"Hi, Beth!" I smile and take a seat beside of her on the bed. "How are you feeling today?"

"The same as yesterday," Beth frowns at me.

"Well, you shouldn't. Remember our deal from yesterday?" I ask and she nods, waiting for me to continue. "I'll start with your lessons today if you promise not to attempt to harm yourself with any of the medical supplies. Medical supplies are there to help you, not to harm you."

"I promise," she smiles, sitting up.

"Good. I trust you," I smile back at her before standing up and gesturing for her to follow me outside. "I promised Carl he would get doctor lessons too, so he'll be there. Is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine," she says from behind me.

"Good. Since we are kind of in the middle of the apocalypse, doctors are pretty scarce. We need all of the ones we can get," I explain as we make our way over to Carl, who is hanging out on the porch swing.

"Good morning, Beatrix!" Carl exclaims, jumping up. "Do I get doctor lessons today?"

"Of course you do!" I smile and ruffle his hair. I do that every time I see him; I'm surprised he hasn't hit me for it yet. "I'm bringing Beth too. She wants to lean just as much as you do."

"Are we going to your trailer now, Doctor Zedler?" Beth asks quietly as we walk.

"Yes, we are," I answer as we get to the trailer. I open up the door and lead them in, leaving the door open so it's lighter inside. "And you don't have to call me that. Beatrix is just fine."

"Okay," she nods and takes a set on the first bed, Carl taking a seat on the stool. "Do you sleep in here with the man with the crossbow?"

"I do," I answer as I pull up another stool to sit in front of them. "Now, before you can even think about doing anything with medicine or operations, you need to know how the human body works."

I can already tell that I'm going to love teaching them everything I know, but it wasn't my intention to start today. For me, today is all about avoiding Daryl after our awkward conversation yesterday. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he doesn't like me. But if he doesn't, I know that I have potentially ruined a perfectly good friendship, which is truly tragic.

--

"Learn anything good today, honey?" Lori asks Carl as we walk up to her. "You should have after five hours in there."

"Yeah! I can tell you all about your arteries," Carl smiles up at her.

"Well, I'd love to hear all about them," she kisses the top of his head before turning to me. "Thank you, Beatrix."