Hope Lost: A Daryl Dixon Story (The Walking Dead/ Bethyl )

31- Water

'I'm fine,' Beth said for the third time. This time, however, Daryl had just swept her up in his arms and carried her against his chest.

'What happened?' He asked as he kicked the front door of the farmhouse open. The sound woke up Judith, because her cries could be heard.

'Doesn't matter now.' She mumbled.

Daryl grunted, annoyed at her at the moment but he let her be. She slid out of his arms and started to limp towards Judith to comfort her, but Daryl got in her way.

'Sit.' He ordered, gently guiding her by the arm to her bed.

Beth rolled her eyes but sat anyway. Daryl, instead, walked over to Judith's crib and picked the crying baby up. He gently rubbed the infants back until she stopped crying. Beth watched Daryl handle Judith, and noted his gentle and affectionate nature towards the child.

'She'll be hungry now.' Beth said.

'I'll make her a bottle.'

Beth narrowed her eyes as she thought to herself. 'She'd be eatin' solids soon. Her milk teeth are out see? I've been putting it off for a while.'

'I'll go out tomorrow to go find some.'

Judith's mouth curled down and she let out a whimper. Daryl smiled sweetly at the little girl and said, 'Yeah, she's hungry.'

Daryl handed Judith to Beth so that he could prepare her some formula. He came back after several minutes with a warm bottle of milk for Judith.

'Here,' he said. 'I'll take her. Why don't ya rest a bit?'

'Don't mind if I do. Maybe I'll go take a bath.' She smiled at him, handing him Judith. Daryl didn't smile back, but took Judith in his arms and gave her the bottle. Beth quietly left the room. Judith squirmed out of Daryl's arms and onto the bed, her bottle still in her mouth. She sat up and heartily drank her milk as Daryl stood by the door and watched. When she finished, she threw her bottle quite a distance and it landed by his feet. He chuckled lightly as he picked the bottle up.

'You liked that, huh darling?' He said sweetly. Judith gurgled a bit. Daryl picked up a knitted doll in the crib and handed it to Judith. She immediately put it in her mouth. Daryl heard the tap running upstairs and his mood shifted again. He wanted to know who Beth had encountered in the woods. The thought of a stranger laying his hands on Beth made his blood boil, but Daryl had learnt that erupting from his anger was not a good idea. He knew that he said things he sometimes didn't mean, and that last thing he wanted now was to hurt Beth even more. So, he'd do the respectable thing and wait for Beth to speak first. He figured that whoever her attacker was, Beth would have killed him or her. That was enough to keep his rage contained. Daryl heard a car pull up onto the lawn outside, and he checked out the window. It was Bob, Sasha and Maggie returning from their run. Daryl picked Judith up, stuffed a small quilt under his arms and went outside.

'Would ya take her please?' he said to Maggie.

She nodded and gave Judith a big smile. 'Hey, baby!'

Daryl had to stare; Maggie had been quiet, sullen and cold since Glenn's death. That was probably the first time in a long time that she'd shown a glimmer of a smile. He handed Maggie the quilt and said, 'Just to let ya know, Beth ran into some trouble in the woods. She's alright, but she probably has a few bruises here and there.'

Maggie frowned. 'I'll go check on her.'

'No.' Daryl said stiffly.

She raised an eyebrow. 'Excuse me?'

'She doesn't want to talk about it.' Daryl shifted his weight to his other foot. 'I think she had to kill that person, and yeah...' Daryl was almost sure that Beth had never taken another person's life before. She had never participated during the war between the Governor, or if she had it had been the day Hershel was killed, and not a personal one on one attack. Daryl was certain that whatever happened out in the woods had left a mark on her. Daryl turned his back to Maggie and headed to the farm house.