War Of The Damned - (Daryl & Beth) - The Walking Dead

12. Diverge

12. DIVERGE

| BETH |

Daryl had broken his promise. I try not to think too much about that today. Just like I try not to think too much about the fact that him and Glenn hadn't come back last night. There was no good to come from me worrying about two people I know cannot possibly be dead. So I help Tyreese re-erect the barbwire fence circling the parameter of the property. My ankle had healed some since the night Daryl and I shared a bed - the one time that I was conscious of - and now I am able to move around with only a slight limp as unnoticeable as the crescent moon orbiting alongside the midday sun above me.

Lizzie and Mika had been assigned to watch over baby Judith while I helped Tyreese, and it was beautiful to see all five children playing together in the grass. The scene brought to light a memory of my own childhood with Maggie, when we used to play together too. Then I squash that beneath a mental fist because thinking about how things used to be is not good for me right now. Right now she is just a reminder of all that I am losing.

I hammer another nail into the fencepost to fasten this part of the wire to it and make sure it will not succumb too easily to little interfferences. Once I am satisfied I move on to the next. There is at least seven more posts left on my side of the parameter, which gives my mind more than enough time to mule over our next move. We cannot stay here forever, partly due to the fact that this place might still have living owners who might return sooner than we think. Secondly because our supplies are getting low. True we could probably make it work here, there is a few deep wells and plenty of land to cultivate on but still there is the greatest threat of what if someone returns. I'm not sure I'm ready to face people like the Governor and his men. I don't think any of us are.

Sunset comes quickly and Daryl still isn't back. I do my best to keep my mind occupied with thoughts that have nothing to do with the redneck. Mostly I think about Judith, about what future she will have, what life she will live, and what life can we give her now that we are all that she has left. That only makes my heart ache for the people she has lost, the brother and father she could have grown up with had it not been for...

No. I can't think about that now.

I finish putting the remainder of food in front of the children and Tyreese. It isn't anything special, jus a few varieties I managed to throw together without using too much of the ingredients in the kitchen cupboards. Faces brighten at the sight of warm meals nonetheless and I can only smile in return. Taking Judith from her seat I leave them to eat and head for the bathroom. Poor girl smells like death itself from her day in the mud.

Once she is fully undressed I lower her into the shallow water and start washing her smooth skin with a strong scented soap. Judith giggles at the movements my hands are making on her hips, she's ticklish. I didn't know that. I do it again just to hear the sound of her laugh. We continue our little game until the water starts to cool and I wash the product from her short, wiry hair. I dress her in a clean change of clothes I'd hand washed during the early hours of the morning. Thankfully they fit her just right. Maybe not for long, what with the pounds she gains daily but for now they fit.

She doesn't settle into the dazed state of near-unconsciousness that she usually does after a bath, even though the room that might as well belong to her is dark and lulling. Her cries are loud and painful, her cheeks puffy and red. "I think you're teething." I mumble to no one in particular, thinking we are alone and knowing Judith cannot understand me yet.

So when a accented voice says something I couldn't quite make out over the noise, I almost drop her out of shock. He speaks again, and Judith stops crying too, equally as happy to hear he'd returned as much as I am. I turn on my heels to find him there, just standing there with a shoulder against the frame of the doorway and his crossbow in one hand. The air in my lungs catches, lodges itself deep inside and it is only released when Judith has been tucked into my side and I'm standing much, much closer to him.