AN/Hello all! I am starting my newest story! I know I have so many going right now but this little plot bunny was whispered in my ear by my beta yourroyalyaverageprincess and now I can't seem to get it out of my head. (: I will try and finish up Blood Bank as soon as I can! Thank you for reading and enduring my ability to do too many things at once!/

From Where You Are

It's been 4 years since Beth left Claxton, Georgia with no intention of going back. But when Missy Shay dies mysteriously and the Dixon boys are falling into more and more trouble Beth can't find a reason not to go back.

(Spin off of Under the Peach Grove-don't need to read to understand)

Part I

"In the green rags of the Bible I tore up
The straight silk of childhood on my head
I left the house, I fled
My mother's brow where I had no ambition"
-"Running Away" by Rosemary Tonks

xxx

She was sitting on the floor of a bathroom in some rundown bar in the middle of Atlanta. The only company was the sound of Chloe gagging and puking behind her.

How did I get here?

She doesn't really remember.

Four years of running and all she remembers is to keep moving.

But she always ends up back in the same place.

In the same cheap motel in Atlanta.

Chloe continues heaving in the stall behind her and it's starting to make her head swim. Gag, Cough, Spit.

Gag, Cough, Spit.

Why the fuck am I here?

"Chloe," Beth says softly and desperately, "Are you okay?"

She tilts her head ever so slightly. The cold hard press of the metal against her overheated cheek makes her shiver.

Chloe doesn't respond. But the sound of gagging tells Beth that her friend isn't done yet.

I feel like I'm 15 again.

And maybe she is. Maybe she is just her 15 year old self sitting in a 19 year old body, on the floor of a bathroom in some run down bar in Atlanta. Maybe she hasn't changed. Maybe all those years of running around Georgia haven't taught her anything. Just taught her to keep her back straight and her hand clenched around her pocket knife in her purse. Maybe it has just taught her how to be tough.

But she still feels like 15 year old Beth standing in her childhood home holding an envelope full of cash.

"Never coming back," Missy's voice says in her head, "I love you."

Beth's eyes go to the wall across from her. The bright stained tile, the fluorescent lights above her head making the whole room drown in yellow.

Drowning and drowning in it.

"Doesn't this remind you of that time when we were 15?" Beth says out loud. She knows Chloe can't hear her. The story is mostly for her own ears. "Remember how you drank so much because of something your mom said... that stupid bitch." Beth breaths out a laugh. Her thin fingers begin to twirl her beaded bracelet on her wrist. Beth tilts her head to the side again, so that her cheek is pressed against the cold metal of the stall.

"Remember? You were so pissed. I told you not to drink too much. Told you to be an adult about it. We were kids. It was stupid," Beth looks back to her hands in her lap. "We were stupid," it comes out barely a whisper this time and Beth is sure that Chloe really can't hear her at all.

She tilts her head up and stares at the ceiling.

"It was Justin Laker's party. That one kid that told all of Claxton and beyond that I tasted like strawberries. Remember that? God you were so mad. Tried to fight all of them." Beth shakes her head at the thought.

"Anyway, you were sloppy drunk. Puking in Justin Laker's mom's private bathroom. Like all, over the bathroom. I don't think you knew at the time how bad it was. But it was everywhere and Justin came in screaming to get out of his house." Beth pauses again to let out a laugh.

"So I carried you. Carried your heavy, drunk, ass down Justin's long ass driveway. I had to call Merle. Do you know how embarrassed I was? After not talking to him for two years I had to call him to come save us from the side of the road." Beth moves her hands to her face and pushes away the blonde strands that were beginning to fall there. She hadn't realized that she was crying.

As soon as she felt the cold tears a sob broke out from her lips followed by a laugh.

"And then... and then we get back to my house to find Missy sitting on the front porch like a real mom. Siting there with her hands on her hips glaring at us until she saw how fucked up you were. I've never seen her be so... so good before. She carried you up those front steps. Laid you down on the couch and fed you bread and water until you fell asleep."

Beth breathed out shakily and shook her head.

"God, are we just meant to relive that for the rest of our lives?"

A sharp snort from behind her made her realize that Chloe had finally stopped puking and was now leaning back against the cold metal directly behind her. Beth could almost feel her best friend's presence pressed against her back.

"I remember cryin' on your mama's shoulders for two hours straight that night," Chloe said in a slur. Beth could tell that she was sobering up a bit. But she was still drunk. On account that she actually called Missy Beth's mama.

"Missy ain't never been so good to anyone before," Beth says with a smile. She swears she can feel Chloe smiling on the other side of the bathroom stall.

"Do you miss it?" Is Chloe's soft question.

Beth raises her eyes to the fluorescent light above her and stares until she thinks she is blind. She slams her eyes shut and lets out another cold hard sob.

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Chloe has never dealt with hangovers well.

So when she wakes up on the floor of Beth's motel room moaning it is no real surprise.

Except that maybe the fact that she is even there is a surprise.

Beth sits up from the shitty bed and looks down at Chloe who is sprawled out on the floor below her. Her arms and legs splayed out like an octopus.

Why is Chloe here?

Right, Right.

Beth knows why Chloe is here.

Her eyes wander down to the bandage under her blue beaded bracelet and sighs.

She knows exactly why Chloe is here.

She also knows the exact moment that Chloe is awake.

"Cat got your tongue?" Beth asks. She pulls her knees up from under the blanket of the bed and rests her chin against her bony knee. Chloe doesn't make a move to look at her for a moment. She just lays there on the dirty carpet with her eyes open, staring into space.

"Hello," Beth says loudly, "Earth to Chloe."

The brunette turns her head and looks up at Beth, squinting her eyes ever so slightly.

"Hey, Bethy," She says. Her voice is hoarse from all of the vomiting she did last night. Beth smiles despite the situation. That was Chloe. Silly, drunken, adorable Chloe.

"Hey," Beth responds softly. She rubs her chin against her knee absently. Her blonde hair flying lose in all directions. Chloe sits up off the floor and stretches her arms above her heads. She looks around the room and then looks up to Beth on the bed.

"This place is really disgusting, Beth," Chloe says her lips curling in disapproval.

Beth snorts, "We've slept in worse."

Chloe shakes her head and then laughs lightly.

There is a moment of brief silence where Beth is waiting for Chloe to just say it. Beth can see the wheels turning in her friend's head. As if she is struggling with words.

"I didn't just come here to get drunk and puke on you all night," Chloe says suddenly. She looks up to Beth and stares into her blue eyes with intensity.

"I came here for a reason."

Beth nods, "I figured as much. Been four years. Must be serious for you to show up now." Chloe flinches. And Beth knows that it hurts. She knows that Chloe must feel guilty. But Beth also knows that it is partially her fault. In all of the time that Beth was gone she never tried to contact Chloe. Not once.

Chloe shakes her head and then speaks again,

"I came here to bring you back to Claxton."

Beth's head lifts off her knees quickly and her blue eyes widen.

"You... You what?"

Chloe takes a deep breath.

"Beth I don't know how to say this..."

"Is it Daryl?!" Beth says loudly. There is panic in her voice. The same familiar sense of fear and nausea rising in her stomach. Is he hurt? Is he in trouble? No words can leave her lips as she stares wide eyed and shaking at Chloe.

Chloe's eyes widen in surprise and then a relative calm takes over her body.

"No, Bethy. Daryl is fine... well as fine as Daryl Dixon can get."

Beth relaxes. Her whole body going slack on itself.

"It's not the Dixons... well it's Missy."

Beth stays silent and waits for Chloe to continue.

"Missy is dead," Chloe states gently yet firmly. She watches Beth for any reaction. But when none comes Chloe decides that she should explain.

"She died in Jacksonville. They sent the body back to Claxton. The state buried her in the Claxton Cemetery. Everything Missy owns has been given to you. So you need to go back to Claxton and arrange for her things to be taken care of." Chloe says all of this slowly and patiently. Still. Still staring at Beth as if she is waiting for a breakdown to happen.

Beth is speechless for a few moments. She stares at her bracelets and runs the beads in between her fingers repeatedly. Then she stands, so suddenly that Chloe jumps, and begins to grab her things around the room and shove them into the duffle bag on the chair near the bathroom.

"When do we leave?" Beth asks without turning around. She continues to throw clothes into the duffle bag and pulls out an outfit for herself to wear for the day.

Chloe simply watches her with sad eyes.

"In an hour."

Beth nods numbly.

She's going back to Claxton, Georgia.

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It definitely doesn't feel the same as Chloe pulls into the familiar campground that Beth grew up in. 'Claxton Peach Grounds' is written on a tall entrance sign on the side of the road. The paint is chipped and falling off of the sign in clumps. Beth stares at it sadly as they slowly drive by it. It looks the same. Except maybe worse. Beth isn't sure.

The whole campground began to fall apart back when Beth was still a child. When she was 13 was when she really noticed it. The way the whole ground seemed to be drying up. The grass a sad brown and gold. The buildings chipping and sagging with age. Beth thought that it was still beautiful when she was 13 and naive. Now she sees the campground for the shit hole that it is.

Chloe pulls onto the gravel road passed the front office. The way is familiar. Down the gravel path and then the first left. Right at the end. The last house by the woods.

Beth's house.

They pull up in front of the old white building and Chloe pops the car into park. The silence and tension hang around them in that car for what feels like hours.

"You gonna go in?" Chloe asks looking over to Beth, "You gotta do this."

Beth doesn't spare a glance to Chloe as she stands and pulls herself out of the small car.

She steps around the front slowly and stands staring at the front of her childhood home.

The sun is still shining through the trees around her house, illuminating it against the green and blues of the place around it.

Almost making it look beautiful.

Beth turns her head to the left. There, not even 5 feet away, is an identical house.

It is cared for– The house has no evidence of chipped paint, or a sagging roof.

Peeking out from the side of the house Beth can see a brown plastic play house. She turns away hastily and looks back at her childhood home.

"Go in," Chloe says from the car behind her.

Beth looks over and down at Chloe.

"I have to go to work. Do you think you will be alright?" Chloe asks looking at her nervously.

She nods. Chloe gives Beth a sad smile and then pulls out. Leaving Beth behind in a cloud of dust.

Beth looks back to her childhood home and frowns. She was supposed to clean all of it? The inside was a mess. Beth knew that. When she left Claxton, shortly after Missy, she remembered leaving the home in a disarray. Clothes and belongings thrown across the floor.

The door to the house next door flies open and smacks against the siding. Beth jumps in surprise.

There standing in the door frame with wide eyes is Will Dixon.

"Beth Anne?" He asks suddenly. Beth finds herself smiling and then she feels her eyes become wet with tears.

"Will," She breathes out. They both move to meet each other on the steps of his screened in porch. Beth throws herself into Will's arms and cries. Loud gut wrenching sobs. Will simply rubs her back and pats her head as he did whenever she would cry as a child.

"You're back," Will says after Beth's sobs turn into quiet gulps of air. She pulls back a little to look up at him. His familiar face, lined with years of work and smoking. His hair is graying and Beth can't help but think that he is finally starting to look like a dad. He was really young when he had Merle. Then when Daryl came along it was too late to back out of parenthood. Just so happens that Will is really good at being a dad.

Beth nods and closes her eyes, "Missy..she..."

Will cuts her off, "I heard. I'm sorry."

Beth nods her thanks and then pulls back completely. She takes a step down and looks up to her surrogate father.

"I have to clean her house out. I don't know what I'm going to do after. I don't know if I'm going to stay," Beth watches Will's face fall as she says this. He looks at her sadly and then nods in understanding.

"Well," He says stepping back and into the screened in porch. He holds the door open for her, "Why don't you come in and have something to eat. Must have been a long ride from... where ever you were." Beth hesitates on the edge of the steps of his house.

"They aren't here," Will says finally, "Left a few months back. They usually stay gone for 6 months at a time. So you have a couple more months to hide from them." Will smiles knowingly. Beth can't help but think that it is a sad smile.

Beth lets her eyes wander back to the brown plastic log cabin.

"C'mon Daryl! We can't have a dinner party without food and our guest!"

"Our guest is a cat, Beth."

"Pft. Still a guest!"

Beth closes her eyes and soaks in the memory.

"C'mon," Will says gently. His voice soft and warm. He places a hand on her arm and gently guides her into the house. Beth opens her eyes and takes in the warm smell of wood and soup. Will lets her into the house and then closes the door behind them. There is a giant pot on the stove which is steaming and filling the home with an overwhelming aroma of tomatoes and what Beth assumes is deer meat.

The living room is the same. Large comfy brown couches that Beth remembers sleeping in during summer nights when she was a child. Her eyes scan the room for any sign of them. A pair of boots. A jacket. Anything. Any sign of Daryl Dixon. But there is none.

Beth sucks in a breath and turns to Will who is already pouring a glass of iced tea for Beth.

"Do they do this often?" Beth asks watching Will closely.

He looks at her with a raised eyebrow and simply nods.

Beth frowns. "Why? When did it start?"

Will places the jar of iced tea onto the counter and hands Beth her glass.

"I think you know the answer to that," He says gently.

Beth feels her eyes go wet again but she quickly pushes back the tears. She has cried more in the last two days than she has since she was 15.

"I'm sorry I left," She says looking at Will. She is trying to show him. With her eyes, how much she cares. How sorry she is.

Beth thinks he gets it when a small smile comes up on his lips.

"We love you, Beth Anne," He says with a shrug, "Could never hold it against you... after... after everythin' with Missy. Woulda left too." He shrugs and turns to sit at the stool next to the counter.

"I should have said goodbye," Beth says. Her voice cracks uneasily.

Will looks up at her and then shakes his head, "You said goodbye to Daryl. Don't owe Merle or I nothin'." A smile creeps back into his face.

"But you're back," He says, "I knew you would come back. Even if it's just to say goodbye."

Beth lets her eyes water this time and doesn't fight it. She places her glass onto the counter and falls into Will's arms for the second time that day.

She sobs into his chest and whispers "I'm sorry" over and over. Will rubs her back, "it's okay, kiddo. It's okay."

After a while Beth begins to think that it is okay.

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Missy's house is a shit hole. Beth can't lie about that. 4 years of no one being in it has definitely done it's toll.

She stands in the front room looking around the tattered remains of her once familiar home. She can almost see it, see Missy sitting on the couch with her pipe in her hand. Her blonde hair shining against the light coming from the window. Beth used to love Missy. She really did. She loved her. She was her mother. At least she pretended to be.

Beth lets herself wander around the living room absently. Her hands fall onto the dusty couch. Beth lefts a forest green blanket off of the back of the couch and sneezes when it lets out a puff of dust.

She sighs and drops the blanket back down to the couch. Her eyes scurry across the dirty room. Newspapers, glasses, used plates, and ashtrays all full of cigarette buds litter the space.

Beth falls back into the couch with a huff. The whole room filling with light dust. Beth can see it from the light streaming from the window behind her.

She lets her eyes take in the room one last time before sighing.

"Home sweet home."

New story. Oh yeaaah. I have too much happening at once haha but that's okay. It distracts me from the bullshit that is this season of the walking dead. So here is the Under the Peach Grove spin off. I hope you guys like this. I love Under the Peach Grove but I wanted to play with something that had no zombies at all. Should be interesting.

Let me know what you think!