Sweet Revenge - Bethyl Fanfic

Chapter Six

Disclaimer: This is a work of fan fiction. The story I tell about Daryl and Beth is my own invention, and it is not purported, or believed, to be part of the Walking Dead story canon. It is for entertainment only and is not part of the official story line.

Chapter Six  

We are consumed by your anger

and terrified by your indignation. 

You have set our iniquities before you, 

our secret sins in the light of your presence. 

All our days pass away under your wrath; 

we finish our years with a moan. 

Psalm 90:7-9 

.... 

Beth was sitting beside Glenn on the couch when she was struck with a totally random memory. Maggie was walking beside her, thirteen or fourteen year old Maggie with her with her tan skin, and short, choppy brown hair, denim overalls, a smile too big for her face, and her tom-boy personality. Beth remembered the moment like it was yesterday; the cloistering heat, the pale wispy clouds deceptively tricking you into thinking the day might eventually cool off. They'd ventured to the creek in the woods. The two of them stripped down to their skivvies and spent hours catching craw-dads - Maggie chasing Beth around the puddles, crawdads in hand - threatening to put one in Beth's bed that night if she didn't start helping. They'd stayed out way too long, both of them accidentally falling asleep, sunning, on a rock after being in the water all day. When they woke up it was getting dark. By the time they had collected their spoils from the make-shift crawdad trap Maggie had made, and set off toward home, the sun was going down. The darkness of the forest, its thick canopy keeping out whatever light the moon offered, disoriented them both, and they soon realized they were lost. After hours of wandering, they ended up cuddled together against a tree trunk, Maggie comforting Beth with stories about Christmastime, and kissing boys at the roller-rink. Just before dawn they saw flashlight beams, and heard howling dogs, and then their daddy was scooping them up in his arms, his face white as a sheet, and telling them everything was going to be okay.  

It was a painful memory, and not having Maggie there to memorialize it with her, put a large lump in Beth's throat. Maggie, that brave, tan-brown, craw-dad catching bohemian girl was gone, and all Beth had left was Glenn, sweet Glenn, to connect to her sister. She looked at him, and saw that the man who sat in front of her was only a shell of his former self. This Glenn barely resembled the happy-go-lucky, inventive twerp she remembered first meeting back at the farm. Instead, he looked hard, tired, and distraught.  

In hushed tones, with Daryl sleeping only ten feet away, Glenn had explained what happened. First he admitted to her that, Tara, the young looking brunette who had followed him and Daryl into the silo, was originally with the group who helped the Governor attack the prison. Beth's first reaction to learning this was anger but then Glenn explained that Phillip had lied to Tara, lied to everyone. He'd tricked Tara and her sister into fighting at his side. Tara lost her sister in the battle at the prison, and others loved ones. Glenn believed she wanted to die herself - disgusted with herself for her part in what happened at the prison. The way Glenn told it, Tara had saved his life more than once since they escaped the prison. Beth considered Glenn's words, and her temper cooled. At least Beth could still hope that her own sister was alive out there somewhere. She also knew how manipulative the Governor could be. He'd fooled an entire town into following him, good people like Sasha, Tyreese, Karen, and even Andrea.  

Then Glenn got to talking about Maggie - and cried a little - telling Beth how they were separated and how Daryl showing him Maggie's wedding ring, and her note was the first glimpse of hope he had that she'd survived the attack on the prison, in a very long time.