A little thing I wrote up for this universe but didn't think it should be it's own one-shot.

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately and with my confidence of Beth coming back being at rock bottom, I keep reading spoilers of Daryl dying in the season finale and it actually makes my chest hurt thinking about it all. I don't think I'm able to watch the show anymore and unfortunately, I don't know if I'll be able to write this couple for much longer anymore either. I can't thank you all enough who opened your arms to me and pulled me so warmly into this fandom and have enjoyed my stories as much as you have.

…

Hershel Greene knew the Lord had tested him many times throughout his life; to see if his faith in Him would remain strong or if Hershel would falter and dunk back into that bottle.

The way his father had treated him. The loss of his leg in the First World War. The death of his first wife. And then, what was undoubtedly the most crushing blow in his life, the death of his son on that beach in Normandy, so far from home and probably crying for his mother.

And though he had had moments where he had looked to the heavens and asked Him why He insisted on testing him so much, the dark moments in his life, he was shown, and later able to see for himself, were far fewer when compared with the brightness he was forever grateful for.

He was a man blessed enough to have found another wife and he knew a man had trouble sometimes finding even one love of his life but Hershel had managed to find two. And though he sometimes still missed Joanna, mostly when he looked at his older daughter, Maggie, who looked just like her, Hershel knew she was in a far better place and that he would see her again someday. And his second wife, Annette, made him smile every day and made him feel young.

He was able to see Maggie meet and marry a fine young man, Glenn Rhee, and even though they moved away to Glenn's home state of Michigan, they spoke often and wrote to one another and he knew Maggie was happy and well taken care of. Glenn owned his own little grocery store and he and Maggie worked side by side, true partners, and Maggie had written to him that she thought they were both finally ready to start and try to have their first child.

And then, there was his youngest. Beth. His Bethy.

She had stayed at the farm and had married a man a bit older than her but one who treated her as if his entire world circled around her – she the sun of the entire solar system and he a mere planet. It was Hershel's decision to finally retire from farming – much to the relief of Annette – and bequeath it to his son-in-law, Daryl Dixon. And Daryl worked hard, sun up to sun down, as if determined to show Hershel that he hadn't made a mistake in allowing Daryl to have the farm that had been in the Greene family ever since they had come over on the boat from Ireland.

They had four children of their own and Hershel had never realized how quiet the house had gotten until his grandchildren were making noise in every room; noise he relished in. Shawn – named for his lost son and Beth's brother – was five, Henry was two and the twins, Patrick and Hannah, were just a few months old. They seemed to have one after another but Daryl had mentioned once that he would like four children and Beth wanted to give him that and once Beth delivered the twins, they knew they would have no more. Four was plenty and the children ran their parents ragged each day.

For three years of the war, Daryl had been in Europe, mostly stationed in France, and though he never took his dog tags off from around his neck, he never talked about what it was like over there for him. Hershel could just imagine though. Daryl still cringed whenever he heard loud noises – the fireworks at the yearly Fourth of July carnival always making him freeze in his spot and Beth would reach over, grabbing hold of his hand and rubbing her thumb over his knuckles. Most years, the Dixon family didn't stay for the fireworks.

They had been in California for a couple of years right after they had gotten married – Daryl first working for the Sunkist orange groves and then working at an auto garage and Shawn had been born out there. But Beth and Daryl both missed Georgia and were ready to come home. And since Daryl had taken over the farm, it was thriving like it never had been before. Hershel was a good farmer and had made a comfortable life for himself and his family. And Daryl was doing an amazing job of doing the same for his family. For having never been a farmer, for not having grown up in this life, he certainly had a knack for it and every time Hershel would tell him something like that, the tips of the man's ears would turn red with embarrassment.

Since Daryl had taken over, he had gotten the farm pigs – Beth had always wanted pigs on the farm – as well as a few more dairy cows. They had cleared a small field and were now growing cotton in addition to their apples and the farm was good and prosperous.

It was a lot of work and Hershel knew it drove Beth crazy with Daryl working himself into the ground but they still had Otis, who had been working at the farm for as long as anyone could remember, and Jimmy Campbell worked there now, too, living in the cabin down the hill. And the Lord had showed his presence once again in Hershel's life by revealing Daryl's older brother, Merle, to be alive. He had been a POW in Germany for so long, he no longer spoke. For as long as he had been at the farm, Hershel had never heard the man utter a word.

But things like that didn't matter. He had lost his left hand to infection but he didn't need his voice or his left hand to take care of the animals. He saw to the horses and the pigs and though he couldn't help milk the cows, he made sure they were fed and happy, too. And Hershel saw the way that man smiled whenever Shawn and Henry came running to him, shouting for their Uncle Merle. He grinned and Hershel thought that the man wanted to speak so badly but he was never able to. But that didn't bother his nephews who clambered all over him.

They all lived together in the farmhouse and though the farmhouse was big and had plenty of room for everyone, Annette and Hershel tried to give the young family time on their own without the parents always around. Their bedroom was the largest in the house with its own sitting room and sometimes, after dinner, he and Annette would sit in there, Annette reading or doing needlepoint as Hershel listened to the radio, able to hear the sound of the children's laughter coming up from downstairs or a Johnny Mercer song playing and they both knew that Daryl was dancing with Beth. She had taught him how to dance and now, the man danced with her nearly every night, know how happy it made her.

And a few times every year, he and Annette would travel up to Michigan to see Maggie and Glenn and when they returned home, Shawn would run from the house at the first sounds of their car coming up the drive, followed by Henry, eager to see their grandparents and Hershel would get out of the car, able to lift both boys up at the same time and he'd then lift his eyes to see Daryl and Beth with the babies coming to greet them as well, all with smiles on their faces, and Hershel always smiled in return.

In such moments, Hershel would look upwards to the heavens and never think of questioning Him ever again.

…

Thank you very much for always reading.