Her light, his fire

24

Suggested Music:
(Roslyn- Bon Iver)
"Aren't we just terrified..."

NOW-
"Beth! Michonne! Daryl's here." Aaron said as he came through the front door. Michonne was in the middle of making breakfast, my two men quickly looked up at each other then at me. "Here? Why has he came here?" I asked. Aaron shrugged "He's not alone." He then added. I looked at Michonne, then back at Aaron. I quickly stood up, pushed myself from out of the chair and grabbed my gun from off the top of the shelf shoving into the holster. My men grabbed there weapons and followed behind me. Michonne quickly stopped cutting the onions, wiped her hands, grabbed her sword and followed behind us. As soon as we reached the gates, I went to the top of the walls and peered down at the group below. Daryl looked up at me, holding Henry on his side.

"Nice of you to join us." I hollered, a small smile on my face, Daryl gave me a small smile back. "Closest place for us to go, I hope yah' don't mind." He said to Michonne. Michonne looked over them, then at the girl. "And the girl?" She asked. "She stays with us!" Henry quickly said. "I don't think so." Michonne quickly said, she looked at me and shook her head. "She cannot he trusted, I won't risk it." She whispered. "I won't ask you too." I softly said. "But these are my people, from my community." I added. "Then you ask me too? Don't you?" Michonne said. "No risk, if any risks shall come, Hilltop will deal with it, I will deal with it." I softly said. Michonne puffed out a sigh and looked back at the group. "She stays, but she stays under supervision." She said. "Open the gates." She ordered. I headed back down the stairs, and over to them, Aaron and Connie quickly took Henry to a doctor. I looked at the girl who's eyes scanned her surroundings, once she noticed me staring she turned and gave me a weak smile. "Thank you..." She softly said, lowering her head. "Don't thank me." I said to her, she lifted her head and nodded it, she then looked at Michonne who was scanning her with her eyes. Michonne took her eyes off the girl and quickly began to question Daryl. Daryl looked at me then at Michonne. "Had to find somewhere safe, somewhere the whisperers didn't know about. I ain't wanna put RJ or Judith at risk, but it ain't many options for us." He said watching his dog run across the roads, and through the grass. "The girl can't stay permanently, but I am more then happy to open my gates for you and Beth to stay another night." She said. "The girl can't leave neither." Daryl said. "She can't go back to hilltop." He added. "Is hilltop in danger?" Michonne asked. "I'm not sure.." Daryl admitted. "Not sure? What happened out there?" I asked him. "We broke a deal, sooner or later they'll come searchin' for her, best thing we can do is keep her from where they expect her to be." Daryl said. "I need to go back to hilltop." I splat out, looking at the two men. "Ion' think that's the best idea Madam." Genesis said. "Your ain't going back to hilltop." Daryl said looking at the blonde haired boy then me. "I can't allow anything to happen while I'm away!" I defensively said. "Tara is there, she'll handle it." Daryl said. "Tara is headed to the Kingdom to help with the Fair." I said crossing my arms. "Hilltop will be fine for a night, we gotta deal with this situation first. If we jump at the chance we will do nothing but make things worse, they are out there looking, and they could be as close or as far as we could even imagine.

We stay another night, Hilltop will not fall." Genesis said. I looked at the Man, then Daryl then at Lydia who stood there and listened. "Hilltop will not fall." I repeated, I quickly turned on my heels and began to walk away. I could hear footsteps following me, Daryl followed behind me, Lydia close behind. "How many of them are there?" I asked him. "More then what we thought." He admitted. "We can't afford to start another war." I said looking back at him. "I know." He mumbled. "I ain't mean to start anythang, I love my people, and I don't want any harm to come to Henry or your people." Lydia said. "It ain't." Daryl growled. "There more communities like this out there? I always thought we was the last few to be livin'.. how could y'all survive like this?" Lydia asked. "It's takes people united to live the way we do, to grow food, to survive, everything here we built it off through everything we've been through, they lost a lot to get to this" I said to the girl. "It's built off of faith." She said. "We all gotta find a way to survive." Daryl mumbled. Daryl stopped in his tracks and looked up at the house he once stayed in. "You'll stay here, upstairs room to the right, got some business to take care of so stay there until I get back." He said to Lydia, Daryl took out a key that was hidden in his shoe, he went up the porch, unlocked the door and pushed it open for the girl. "Don't be doin' nothin' you ain't supposed to, you already on thin ice." He told the girl, he watched her sneak inside as she looked around the half empty home, she then looked back at us before going up the stairs. Daryl shut the door and looked back at me. "Whatcha doin' here Beth?" He asked me. "I told you, I had business to take care of. I couldn't just sit pretty and wait for you to return." I said as I watched him sit down on the porch stairs. "Did you see em?" He asked me. "I did." I admitted, Daryl's expression on his face quickly changed as he rubbed the side of his face. "What he say to you?" He asked. "Doesn't matter Daryl.. I was able to have Michonne agree to the fair, The Kingdom will be back running. This issue, those people, it's not going to stop our communities from growing.

If a war is what we have to result to, then we will, like we have before." I said to him. "They ain't the saviors, and Alpha ain't Negan Beth. I already lost you last time, can't lose you again." He said to me. "And you won't!" I sat down beside him and placed my hand on his knee. "We don't know what this group is capable of, and it's far to dangerous to lead them here. Judith is here, RJ is here, Beth... this is our home, no matter where we stay, no matter where we go, this right here, this will always be ours." Daryl softly said. I looked over the rows of houses, the chapel that sat in the middle of our town, the fields of grass, the lake, everything that made this place what it is. I then looked at the people working in the gardens, the people talking down the street. "So we just allow them to go back to Hilltop?" I questioned him. "Stay." Daryl mumbled. His words caught my attention as I quickly looked at him. "Huh?" I mumbled. "Stay here, where it's safe." Daryl spoke up. "Daryl I—" "Join the council and leave Hilltop to Tara." He interrupted. "I can't just give up Hilltop to run back home Daryl." I said. "You can." He said. "Why?" I questioned him. "Because here, you are safer then you'll ever be at hilltop. At hilltop your a target." Daryl said. "And here I'm no one, why are you so afraid?" I asked. "I ain't afraid." He defended. "You are! You talked me into taking power at Hilltop, and now you're talking me out of it?" I said scouting away from him. "Things were different then, I wasn't expecting things to turn out like this Beth!" He quickly said. "You can keep running as much as you want, but I won't. I took the responsibility to lead them out of a dark time, to keep Hilltop on its feet, I will not back down, give up, or let any of them down. You're wrong, as long as Hilltop stands, I am safe. This is our home, but hilltop is my own."

I stood up and walked towards the front door, Daryl kept staring off as I shook my head and headed inside. Lydia sat on the stair case looking down at me. "He's only trying to protect you, the same way my mom tries to protect me.. he's a lot like us you know, way more alike then he is to you and your people. Do you love him?" Lydia asked me. I stood there just staring at her, I didn't answer her question, I couldn't answer her question. Did I love Daryl? I knew I did, but I never admitted it out loud. We never even admitted to a relationship, we just knew we cared about each other in a larger way then what we had ever intended. There wasn't that "be my girlfriend" or the layer of cheese that comes with relationships, it was a, hey.. the world is shit and I think your kinda cute. But that question, if I loved him, bothered me. I hadn't told Daryl I loved him even when I did, and still do, and he hadn't told me he loved me. Those words were never spoken but I knew it was there, should it be said? "You do don't you?" Lydia then said before tilting her head. "You must be hungry.. I'll see what I can find you to eat." I said to the girl as I walked away from her question, I went into the kitchen and could hear footsteps behind me. I opened up the cabinets and began looking through what was optional to eat. "I'm not picky.. I'll eat anythang." The girl said as she jumped up and sat on the counter. "Good, not much of any than' here." I said pulling out a can of beans. The sound of the front door opening then shutting grabbed our attention as we looked at the front door from the kitchen. Daryl finally came inside, he threw his crossbow on the dresser that sat against the wall just by the stairs. The living room right from the stairs and the kitchen door right behind it. He looked up at us before going up the stairs and disappearing. "I think he loves you too." Lydia mumbled.