You'll Always Find Me

Grady Memorial Hospital

"One of mine for one of yours."
Rick's voice echoed loudly down the hallway, and Daryl felt his heart slide up into his throat.
Breath caught in his chest, his finger caressing his gun tucked against his waist, Daryl watched as Carol was slowly met in the middle of the crowded hallway between the two groups. Her eyes darted to Daryl and she was calm. None of them dared to utter or word or exhale too loudly, the metaphorical bomb that they were attempting to defuse could go off at even the slightest hair trigger.
Placing his arm around Carol's frail shoulders, Rick slowly lead her back to their side of the dimly lit corridor. Daryl could feel slight tension ease among his companions but he refused to breathe. He couldn't. Not until they had them both. Not until he had Beth.
Daryl felt his palm shake as he pressed hard against the pistol strapped to his side. They had agreed to lower their weapons during the exchange, however nothing was going to put him at ease until he had saved her, until he could look at her, and know that she was safe.
Feeling her eyes on him, Daryl allowed himself a single glance upwards into her porcelain face. She was the perfect embodiment of everything that was 'good.' Her hair was matted to her face; deep cuts had been broken through her delicate features and then stitched up, likely leaving permanent scars across something that was so beautiful and pure.
Her scars would heal, she would heal, and once they had escaped these assholes he would do everything in his power to track down a spare jar of pig's feet just to make her gag and smile; before asking her what had happened, before apologizing for not finding her sooner.
Daryl wanted to grab her and run, he wanted to get her as far away from this place as humanly possible, but he didn't move. He needed to be cautious to get her out, and there was nothing he wasn't willing to do.
His mind fell backwards to the days in which he had spent chasing after a car that had long since out run him; the nights where he lay awake and wondered desperately where she was, who she was with, and if she felt like he had let her down.
The mental torture temporarily subsided as Rick motioned for Beth to come forward. Daryl readjusted his footing, preparing himself to grab the blonde girl and shield her from a hail of gunfire; preparing to shove her out the door and make sure she escaped before anyone could get the bright idea of changing their minds.
Beth walked slowly down the tiled floor, her footsteps echoing with every step her light feet took. Daryl bit his lip, and suddenly felt Carol's petite hand on his shoulder, a comfort he hadn't known he needed, but was appreciative of beyond words.
Reaching out for her, Rick made no hesitation in bringing Beth into his arms, planting a small kiss on her forehead before quickly ushering her behind him and into the security of her people.
Rick's hand had not left Beth's body before Daryl's reached it. Without a thought, without a moment's hesitation, Daryl took Beth's face into callused hands. The pads of his thumbs rolled over her cheeks and he let out a low, gutted, exhale that he felt like he had been holding in since the moment he had lost her.
Her blue eyes gazed up into his; watery with tears that she had long ago promised herself she would never spill again. Her hands clung to his arms, holding onto him tightly as if she was petrified of being torn away from him at any second.
"Daryl...I..." Beth's voice was no more than a whisper when her lips parted to speak, however, they were quickly cut off by Daryl pushing himself forward, covering her mouth with his own.
Beth felt Daryl's chapped lips caress and move over her own roughly, his hands tightening across her cheeks as he pulled her face up to meet his. Her shock was short lived and Beth quickly allowed herself to melt into a moment that she had feared would never come.
Opening her mouth was a decision she would forever be grateful that she had made, as Daryl's rough and bitter tongue slowly rolled into her mouth, making contact with hers and leaving a stale taste of old cigarettes and salt across her taste buds.
Daryl could feel Beth's small, panted breathes against his open mouth as he quickly pulled away from her, becoming all too aware at what he had just allowed himself to do. Letting go of her face, he stared into her eyes, silently savoring the sweetest taste he had ever had dance across his tongue.
In that moment, seconds felt like days, and Daryl knew she was what he never thought he would find. He knew that she was something he had long ago convinced himself was non-existent.
"Thank you." Her voice was light and quiet when she spoke and sent a small shock wave down his spine.
Daryl let out a small, forced laugh.
"For?"
"For finding me."
Daryl couldn't form words; he didn't know how. He was never taught how to comfort, how to know what to say; all he could do was look at her, look at her and hope that she knew he would never stop looking.
Beth hadn't expected him to answer, she knew Daryl better than that. She just nodded her head slowly and moved forward to lock her arms around his stomach, leaning into him and holding on for dear life.
Daryl let the weight of his arms collapse around her as he leaned down and buried his face into her tangled blonde hair, inhaling deeply and gripping onto her like the two lost ships in the night that had finally found each other after weeks at sea.
"I'm glad we could work this out."
Daryl looked up when he heard Dawn's voice call to him from across the hallway, his arms tightening their grip on Beth even more.
"Yeah..." Rick turned away from the woman and began to make his way back towards his people when he heard her voice speak again.
"I'll just need Noah to stay, and then you can go."
Daryl felt Beth pull from his arms and a small piece inside of him panicked as he gripped her left forearm tightly, attempting to pull her back into him once more.
Rick slowly turned back to face the uniform-clad woman before eyeing Noah at his right and shaking his head in a firm 'no.'
"That wasn't part of the deal."
"Noah was my ward, Beth was his replacement. If you are taking her I am going to need him back, you have no hold over him."
Rick did not hesitate to walked several steps towards Dawn, challenging her with unbreakable eye contact.
"The boy wants to go home, so you have no hold over him."
Rick attempted to turn back around only to have Dawn cut him off once more.
"Then we don't have a deal."
Rick Grimes slowly looked down at his boots for a moment, and Daryl knew his sheriff far too well. Rick Grimes does not give into threats.
"It's fine. Really." Noah spoke from Rick's side and both groups from either side looked at him with a slight, unspoken surprise.
"No!" Beth's voice was loud, too loud almost to come from such a small body. She pulled away from Daryl once more, only to be yanked back again. Daryl couldn't let her leave him. He was not willing to risk her being taken from him a second time.
"No." Rick's voice was so matter of fact that even Dawn looked slightly taken back.
"Excuse me?" Her face did not waiver, however there was something in her eyes that Beth recognized as fear.
"I don't know who you are, or what you've been doing here..." Rick looked over Dawn's shoulder at the few medical staff and deputies in matching-Dawn attire. "All I know is that you have know idea what being out there does to you; but I know."
Dawn's gaze faltered for less than a second as she looked to Beth, before meeting Rick's solid gaze once more.
"Don't make me kill you..." Rick's glare was murderous and Dawn suddenly became aware of just what had made Beth so fearless of her reign over Grady Memorial Hospital.
"...Because I will."
Locking eyes for several more seconds, Rick awaited Dawn's response but was only met with silence.
"Alright, let's go."
Hugging Beth tightly to his hip with one arm, Daryl turned around and moved forward past Carol, leading the group towards the exit as Rick backed up slowly, clutching the gun hanging at his side.
Just as Daryl's palm reached the swinging door, Dawn's voice could be heard once more down the long, boxed, hall.
"If you take from me, I will be forced to take from you."
"Yeah, you can try, but I really wouldn't recommend it."
Rick then turned towards his people, watching them file through the open doorway, and then motioning for Noah to walk out ahead of him, making sure he was the last person Dawn saw as they left.
After making it around the corner, Daryl took Beth's hand tightly in his own, picking up his pace to a hustled jog.
"We need to get out of here before Lady Cop gets any bright ideas."
"Truck is this way, Carol, lean on me." Rick leaned down to get under Carol's weight as she let out a small whimper while trying to keep up with the quickened pace.
"I'm fine, Rick..." Carol gave the sheriff a small, telling smile.
"Yeah, well, still." Rick placed Carol's arm around his neck, quickly lifting her up into his arms and jogging along side Daryl.
The sun shown down brightly on the group as they broke free of the hospital doors just beside where the truck had been parked. Noah quickly ran to fling open the back, allowing everyone to begin piling in.
Tyresse and Sasha quickly climbed up and took Carol from Rick's arms, gently laying her in the back of the truck. Daryl jumped up and onto the vehicle, turning around to grab Beth's outstretched hand, when suddenly something caught her attention from the corner of her eye.
"Beth, hurry up..." Daryl's voice trailed off just when he too turned his head in the direction that Beth had.
Exiting a bloodied fire truck; Maggie, Glenn, Tara, Abraham, Rosita, and Michonne were making their way around the corner and towards Grady Memorial, weapons drawn and looking as if they deserved cavalry music playing in their wake.
Maggie stopped dead with Glenn just feet behind her. Her jaw dropped and tears instantly rushed to her eyes, streaking dirty down her delicate face.
"Beth!"
Maggie Greene ran to her little sister's side, taking hold of her and kissing her head over and over; letting loose loud, uncontrollable sobs of disbelief as she finally held Beth once more.
"Maggie." Beth's voice caught in her throat and choked as she buried her face into her sister's chest, clinging to her tightly.
"What are you...?" Rick looked from the back of the box truck counting heads as the remainder of their group joined them from the fire truck. "Where's Carl? Where's Judith?"
The concern in Rick's voice was undeniable and Michonne quickly spoke up to inform Rick of his children's safety.
"They're fine. Carl, Eugene, Father Gabriel, and Judith are all in the truck. We locked them in with guns. Figured they had better not join us in your rescue."
"Oh, our rescue was it?" Rick looked down at Michonne with a small, teasing grin imprinted on his face, before nodding to her. "Thank you."
"Come on, every one get in a damn truck! We need to get out of here. We're still on that crazy bitch's turf." Daryl was all too anxious to get as far away from Grady and Dawn as possible.
Offering her his hand once more, Beth gripped tightly to Daryl's dirty fingers and let him hoist her up and into the back of the truck. Maggie and Glenn followed them up as Michonne and the rest quickly ran back to the fire engine.
Exiting Atlanta was the only thing on Daryl's mind, as he pressed down hard on the gas pedal beneath his foot. They were quickly approaching the out skirts now, and he finally was letting himself breathe again.
"Hey..." Beth's small voice entered his ear and he turned and looked at her over his shoulder. She did not get a 'hi' in return, but instead a characteristically correct grunt from deep within Daryl's chest.
Beth knew better than to try and talk about what Daryl had done when he had seen her, especially in front of the rest of the group. She would not dare force Daryl into the embarrassment of trying to dissect the timeless moment of when Beth's lips had silently whispered everything she had ever wanted to say in a single kiss.
Instead, Beth squeezed her small legs between the driver and passenger seat in the cramped cab of the truck. She didn't say a word, but laid her head gently onto Daryl's shoulder, allowing herself to close her eyes as they drove into the night.
Just as Beth was beginning to drift off into a sleep deeper than any she had had in days, she heard Daryl's voice whisper her name, his voice so low and husked she knew only her ears would catch it.
"Beth?"
"Hmm?" Beth didn't open her eyes but instead just hummed her response before readjusting her head on Daryl's shoulder.
"Don't you ever take off on me again, understand?"
A light smile spread across Beth's pale lips, however she still did not open her eyes.
Her voice answered him in a small, singsong manner, stirring up warmth deep within Daryl's stomach.
"So what if I do? I know you'll always find me."