Beauty and Her Beast (Daryl Dixon Fanfic)

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"Your friend, what's his name? I need to talk to him. Your plan is going to get me and my friends killed." Shephard -the woman- spoke once we got back to the warehouse.

"We're gonna make it work." Sasha nodded. We stopped walking.

"It would work if you had different cops to trade. Dawn's running Grady into the ground. A bunch of us want her out and she knows it. Pretty sure she knows we want Lamson to replace her, too."

"Dawn doesn't know that." The other one spoke.

"She might. And she's smart. So there's a good chance you can't make this deal work. And that'll leave us all dead. But if you let us go, we'll take care of Dawn ourselves and then we'll let your friends go and this is over."

"No, we're not gonna do that." Lamson said.

"Do you want to die?"

"No." Lamson kept his eyes on the floor. "I just need you to shut up right now." He finally looked up at us. "You can make this work. But you gotta be able to talk to her."

"Noah told us all about her." Sasha nodded.

"I've know her for eight years, ma'am. I know this woman. And my only interest is a peaceful resolution, not dying, and sleeping in my bed tonight. So, please, let me help you. Please."

I looked at Daryl, shrugging. He nodded, turning. "Hey, Rick, you're gonna wanna hear this."

~*~

Lamson told Rick what Noah didn't know about Dawn. After that, Sasha brought brought him to a different room in the building. Said something about a walker Lamson saw when we were outside. They were gone for too long. Sasha is a good shot. It wouldn't take very much effort for her to take one walker out. We found her unconscious. Rick went after him, but came back alone. We didn't have to ask if the man was dead. We heard the gunshot.

Rick and Daryl walked away to talk. I tried to make out what they were saying, but they were whispering. They came back over after a minute. "He was a good man." Shephard spoke. "He was attacked by rotters. Saw it go down."

Rick nodded. "You're a damn good liar."

"We're hanging by a thread here. He was attacked by rotters. That's the story."

Daryl took a step forward. "You said the trade was a bad idea. What changed?"

"Lamson was our shot. So it's this or you go in guns blazing, right? You don't want that."

Daryl pointed at her. "If this is some bullshit you're spinning and things go south-"

"I know. I know the good ones from the bad. Let us help you."

Rick seemed convinced, looking to the man. "What about you? You wanna live? How much?"

He stared at Rick for a few seconds. "Dawn is afraid she'll look weak in front of us. Thinks it'll tip things against her. Hell, it will. She'll see this trade as a rip off if she thinks you took out one of her guys. So it's a good thing Lamson got aced by rotters."

~*~

We got two officers out into a parking lot so Rick could make a deal. That was the easy part. Now here we were, walking through Grady Memorial. We came to a set of doors through which we could see the officers, Carol and Beth behind them. They put their guns away. "Holster your weapons." Dawn spoke through the walkie.

Rick nodded, and we all holstered our guns. I could feel my heart pounding in my throat. We walked through the doors, stopping just inside. The officers allowed Beth and Carol to move in front of them. "They haven't been harmed." Rick said.

"Where's Lamson?" Dawn asked.

"Rotters got him."

"We saw it go down."

I barely saw a reaction from Dawn. "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the good guys. One of yours for one of mine."

Rick nodded. "All right."

Rick nodded to Daryl, who walked halfway with the man, meeting the other officer who pushed Carol in a wheelchair halfway. He shoved the man slightly, taking a bag of what I assume to be Carols belongings and pushed Carol back to us. I hugged her when she stood up, turning back to watch as Dawn walked forward with Beth and Rick walked with Shephard.

Rick kissed Beth's forehead, walking back with her. "Glad we could work things out."

Rick turned and nodded. "Yeah."

Just as we were leaving, thinking it was over, Dawn spoke. "Now I just need Noah." We all stopped in our tracks. "And then you can leave."

Rick turned, walking quickly towards her. "That wasn't part of the deal."

"Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back."

"Ma'am, please, it's not-"

"Shephard!" This woman really was as dumb as I thought she was. "My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died."

Daryl shook his head, putting a hand on Noah's chest when he tried to walk forward. "No, he ain't staying." He walked up to stand by Rick.

"He's one of mine. You have no claim on him."

"The boy wants to go home, so you have no claim on him."

"Well, then, we don't have a deal."

"The deal is done."

Noah rushed forward. "It's-its okay."

Rick put a hand out. "No. No."

"I gotta do it." Noah handed his gun to Rick.

Beth walked closer, her body tense. "It's not okay."

Dawn looked at Noah. "It's settled."

Noah rolled his eyes and started walking over. "Wait!" I quickly moved my hand to my gun, walking forward a few steps when Beth rushed forward, hugging him tightly.

"It's okay." Noah smiled.

Dawn stared at Noah. "I knew you'd be back."

Beth let Noah go, getting in Dawns face. "I get it now."

She took another step closer, stabbing Dawn in the shoulder. It happened so fast. Dawn pulled the trigger on her gun. Beth's head whipped back as a bullet shot through her skull. Blood splattered on Rick. My jaw dropped and I tightened my grip around my gun. Tears pricked my eyes. I forced my eyes away from her as she fell.

Dawn looked up from Beth's now lifeless body, fear in her eyes. She shook her head. "I didn't mean to..."

Daryl pulled his gun out, shooting Dawn in the head. We all raised our guns. "No! Hold your fire!" Shephard raised her arms. "It's over. It was just about her. Stand down."

The other officers lowered their weapons. Daryl still had his gun aimed at them. He was crying. I rest my hand on his arm and he lowered his gun, tears spilling from his eyes. We all looked at Beth. Blood was slowly pooling around her head. I covered my mouth, tears falling down my cheeks.

Rick finally lowered his gun, pacing, looking down at Beth. He looked absolutely mortified. How could one of the few pure things we had left be destroyed just like that? With a blink of an eye. Maggie was gonna be crushed. "You can stay." I looked at Shephard in disgust. "We're surviving here. It's better than out there."

Rick looked up, shaking his head. "No...and I'm taking anyone back there who wants to leave. If you wanna come with us...just step forward now."

Noah was the only one. Daryl bent down, carefully picking Beth up. None of us said a word as we left the building. My heart lurched in my chest when we walked outside and saw the others. Maggie smiled vanished and she dropped her gun when she saw Beth, falling to the ground sobbing. I would never forget the sound of her crying for her sister.