In Hope Of Falling In Love (A Walking Dead Fanfic)

Chapter 33: Nobody's Going To Feel Your Pain

Beth spooned another mouthful of food into her mouth, Daryl's shirt handing loosely over her shoulders.

The night before had been great and Daryl had been willing to go another round while Beth was still recovering.

"Hey babe," a voice grumbled tiredly in Beth's ear.

With a smile, she spun in her seat to see Daryl standing behind her shirtless.

"Oh, god, put it away. It's so gross!" she teased.

Daryl ruffled her hair playfully and took the seat beside her. He replied, "Not what ya said last night, Greene."

"I'm joking," she said, and leaning in close to his ear, she whispered as sexily as she could, "It's actually quite sexy."

She could see Daryl blushing as she pulled away from his face, smiling at him.

Beth leaned forward and kissed him, their noses bumping slightly as Daryl almost tumbled backwards at the force and surprise behind the kiss.

"I love you," she said, touching her forehead to his.

Daryl nodded. "I'm going to take a shower, don't wait for me, okay?"

Beth sighed.

No invitation for her?

"Jesus," a voice said from behind. "What have you done to ma cousin?"

Beth turned to see Aislynn standing there holding Judith as the baby slept finally.

Her cheeks turned a pink at she remembered what had happened.

Poor Aislynn had made her way to Daryl's cell the previous night to ask him if he could hold Judith for a while before she walking right in on Beth and Daryl having sex.

"I just... He doesn't say I love you anymore. He doesn't mean it now, does he?"

Aislynn shook her head sadly, tears welling in her eyes and she said, "I don't think so. Carl doesn't mean it now either. He says it but his words are hollow, ya know?"

Beth nodded.

"I know. I just... Last night was the first night he's said it back in a long time."

"Do you know why he was crying last night? He thought you were dead, you know? He went straight to his cell and cried his poor heart out. None of us had the heart to tell him Carol died and not you. Just hearing him cry again almost killed me. It was like when the Governor took you and he cried for weeks. And I didn't know what to do."

Aislynn sighed then added, "Nobody cares, ya know? That's what I've learned. No matter what you're going through or who says they care, they don' really, Beth. I hear you talkin' at night and I know he means what he says about being afraid, about being in pain and hating having to tell everyone when someone they love dies. I would too."

Beth just nodded again.

"Nobody's going to hold your hand and help ya, yu' gotta do it yourself. In a world like this, everyone knows how to pretend. Don't blame him for not saying it back, I don' blame Carl because I know we're young and I could die tomorrow and if I do I don't want to leave him behind. Having no family is better than having a large one. The more people to take care of, I guess, and I won't forget when I fell in love with Carl because one never should, never have to. I love him, I do and maybe one day we'll get married or maybe one day I'll die or he'll die and that's it-"

"That's love."

Aislynn smiled sadly at Beth, "It is. I find that sad. The weight on my shoulders is love, not walkers or babies or anything. Love. It's stronger than anything and it can turn armies away, it can defeat evil and it can rule whole worlds but the only thing it can't do is make you happy. How sad it is?"

"Aislynn?" Carl called from above. 

She turned to look at him, faking a smile. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"

He nodded, "Where are my socks?" 

Aislynn laughed. "Where are your socks? That's what you wanted to ask? Uh, they might be under your pillow or I might have given them to Karen, she's doing the washing now. Check with her okay, sweetie?"

No reply.

She sighed. "See what I mean?" she asked Beth.

Beth nodded. "I do, I really do. It's very sad. But, I don't want to let Daryl go. I can still save our relationship and you can still save your relationship with Carl. I just... I'm here if you need to talk, okay?"

"I've lost hope," Aislynn said quietly. "I'll never see my dad again, or my mother who died before this whole thing, or my three brothers but I'm here now, right, I guess? I have Carl and everyone here and I've never had so many people care about me like this before and I guess I kind of like it. I've always had Daryl and I always had Merle and I don't now and I know how hard that is on Daryl because he really did love his brother... The first time you talked? Alone. What did he say?"

Beth shrugged.

"The first thing he said? 'You scared the... Shit out of me, girl.'"

Aislynn sighed.

"Meet my cousin, the most sophisticated man in the whole apocalypse. Listen, I'll have a talk to Daryl but if you could also have a talk to Carl that would be great. Also, Maggie wanted to talk to you about something. Said it might be important."

Beth nodded her thanks and walked quickly past Aislynn.

Was Aislynn right? Did Daryl really not love her anymore?

"Maggie!" Beth called.

"Beth," Maggie called back and Beth quickened her pace to find her sister, worrying something was wrong.

As soon as she got to her sister's cell she stopped immediately. "Maggie," she breathed heavily, "What's wrong?"

Maggie stood up and wrapped her arms around her sister.

"Glenn's sick," she whispered into her ear and Beth could only just guess that her sister was crying and needed Beth her for support.

"It's okay," she comforted. "He'll be okay."

Maggie sniffed, wrapping her arms closer around her younger sister. "Dad's sick too. He went in to see Glenn and now he's infected. Rick has organised a run to find medicine, he wants to take Daryl, I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

"It's alright, Mags," Beth soothed, patting down Maggie's hair as they clung to eachother; one crying and the other trying not to.

"Glenn's got it and Nevaeh isn't well. I don't know what to do."

Beth nodded, her older sister crying into the crook of her neck, "I'll figure this out. Glenn will be okay and so will Nevaeh, I'll sort it out, okay? You won't have to worry, I can fix this."

 OKAY, SO, I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER. I'VE REALLY MISSED YOU ALL LATELY, GINGER-NOTS. LET'S TALK SOME TIME, OKAY?

THANKS, AMY.