Light at the End of the Tunnel {Bethyl Fanfic}

Epilogue

Epilogue
His POV

"Hey! You're running too fast!" I hear her scream from behind me. Instead of slowing down, I duck behind a tree an' wait for her to catch up.

She continues an' runs past me. I jump out from behind the tree grabbin' her from behin'.

All she can do is giggle. "Daddy! Daddy you scared me!" She laughs some more.

"Awe I'm sorry my little squirrel." I say an' kiss her head. My little Amelia looks just like her mother.

"Daddy? Where'd mommy go?" She says an' I stop. Where did mommy go? I put down the small child I'm holdin'.

I start lookin' around, panickin'. I don' see her anywhere.

"Ahhhh!" I'm jumped on from behin', an' taken down to the ground.

I roll over, so that I am on top of her.
She laughs adorably as I kiss her face.

"I thought I lost you." I whisper in her ear.

She kisses my cheek softly, leanin' into my ear.

"You'll never lose me, I'm always with you." She says placin' her hand on my heart. "In here." I smile kissin' her softly on the lips. "I love you." I tell her quietly. She grins, tears gatherin' in her eyes. "I'll always love you Daryl Dixon."

"I wanna play too!" Amelia, our five year old daughter, says runnin' an' jumpin' on top of us.

For the rest of the day we lay in the lawn, and we'll be good.

I wake up with a start, an' tears in my eyes. Why do I keep havin' that fuckin' dream? I know she's not comin' back, not this time anyway. I hate myself for that dream! All it does is remind me of somethin' I never could have an' somethin' I never will.

I sit up, an' automatically look to my right, to the other side of the bed. Half expectin' someone to be layin' there.

"No! She ain't there." I mumble to myself swingin' my legs over the side of the bed. Pickin' up my crossbow, I make my way down the stairs into the kitchen.

Walkin' through the doorway, I see Rick standin' with Judy by the counter.

"Mornin' brother." He mumbles softly an' quietly. He knows that I don' wanna talk, well not really anyway.

"Mornin'." I half answer. We stand there in silence as he continues to feed his little daughter.

"How did you do it?" I whisper to Rick.

"Do what?" He asks concerned.

"How did you keep goin', yanno, after Lori?" I say finally lookin' up at him.

He looks genuinely shocked that I even asked. I mean, I haven't exactly said much for a good three weeks.

"Well, that was a different situation. She was my wife, who apparently didn' think I was goin' to come back. Well yanno the story. My point is, we all deal with grief an' loss in different ways. For me it was goin' on a rampage, killin' about two dozen walkers, an' almost Glenn. Also some hallucinatin', which I don't suggest. I can't tell you how to feel, or how to hurt. All I can tell you, is that you have to feel, you have to let it hurt."

I just stand there, bitin' the inside of my lip. I nod slightly.

"Thanks Rick." I grumble, he nods back.

I go to leave, goin' to the same place I go every mornin', but Rick stops me.

"Here." He says handin' me Judith. "Take her with you, it might help."

I take the now basically talkin' child noddin' at Rick.

"D'uncle!" She squeals an' giggles bringin' a smile to my face. Someone apparently told her to call me 'Uncle Daryl' an' well 'D'Uncle' comes out instead.

The smile quickly fades, knowin' that she would be smilin' at the ass-kicker herself.

Her smile.

I try an' clear my mind of these thoughts for now, an' make my way towards the front of the house.

Steppin' outside, I head left, in the direction of the wall. When I reach the wall, I make another sharp left, through the trees to the make-shift Alexandria Cemetery.

I walk right up to the white cross, an' the not as freshly dug dirt.

Beth Greene-Dixon

I hadn't known that they put my name on her cross, until I came to visit her the next day. I dug the hole, an' even put her inside, but Maggie an' Glenn made the cross. I guess they some how knew, that I had been planin' on askin' her to be my wife.

I kneel down, placin' Judy in front of me, but still holdin' her tight.

"Look who wanted to come say hi." I say, lookin' at the ground. "I don' know whose idea it was to call me 'Uncle Daryl', but she can't even say it." I say laughin' slightly. The first time I've honestly laughed, since it happened.

For a while, I just sit there,not movin' or sayin' anythin'. I look back up at the cross, tears pourin' outta my eyes.

"I'm sorry Bethy. I'm sorry I couldn't protect you like I promised." My voice crackin' at the last word.

"I'm sorry I didn't say I love you sooner, even though that's all I would think about every time I saw your beautiful face. I'm sorry, I didn't get the chance to ask you to be my wife, no matter how many times I told myself that is was a
perfect time. Most importantly, I'm sorry about not bein' who you wanted me to be. I'm sorry that I didn' stay who I am. I'm sorry.... I'm just sorry."

Tears are now rushin' down my face like a mother fuckin' waterfall. I big Judy up an' hug her, just needin' somebody to hug.

But, at that exact moment, I could swear I felt someone huggin' me from behind. Just like she did when we fought at the moonshine house, what seems like forever ago.

I feel the embrace for a while longer, then, when the sun starts to set, it starts to diminish. When I realize that it's gone I stand up, carefully tryin' not to wake the sleepin' child in my arms.

Walkin' over to the cross that bares her name, I fill the tears start to fill up again. But I try an' fight them off. I kiss my hand, then place it on the white wood.

"I love you, an' I always will.... Beth."

That's the first time I've said her name since.

I walk back towards the house, not wantin' to leave her, but knowin' that she's safest where she is. I look to the sky, where the sun light is lessenin'.

Her.

She really was the light at the end of the tunnel. No matter how long, or how tough it was to get there. I'm glad I took the time to reach it, before the candle went out.

...........................................................

So I'm even crying! I absolutely loved writing this story, and I love all the positive feedback. You guys are the absolute best!

Stay strong. Be fighters. And watch your mouth sunshine.

ILYASM

~S.B~