A little shorter of a chapter to close this story out. This story began as a simple one-shot and I never planned on making a full story out of it, but with this ending, I'm glad I decided to go for it.

…

This time, it's completely different.

There are no alarms blaring. There are no walkers inside anywhere. And this time, they're in the medical room of the prison rather than on the floor of a boiler room.

The labor has been a long one. When Lori had given birth to Anne, it had all seemed to happen so fast, it had practically been a blur. This time though, after her water broke, there are still hours to go until she is dilated enough to even think to begin pushing.

At first, the others had been waiting in the hall outside the medical bay, but after being told they would be waiting a long time, slowly, they all went off about their jobs. Walking the fences, killing walkers through the chain-link, weeding and picking in their garden, seeing and tending to their animals, beginning preparations for dinner that night. Lori ushered Carl and Anne back to the library for the rest of their lessons; At three, Anne is beginning to learn her letters and numbers and Carl has discovered a love for writing and creating his own stories and Lori is more than happy to encourage her son's interest.

Every day, there is always something to do. The prison is massive for their family and there are still sections that they're going into and cleaning out, finding more things for them – or to make traders with Woodbury, but Rick still stands firm in his decision and they all stand with him. No one else will be allowed in this prison except their family. The work never ends – even with a baby coming – but today, they're all a little distracted in their work because a baby is coming.

The only one who stays outside of the closed medical room door all day is Panzer, but that's because the dog goes wherever Beth goes and if he's not allowed to be physically inside the room with her, he'll be as close to her as he possibly can.

"Panzer?" Rick had smiled a little when Beth and Daryl returned to the common room and Beth showed everyone the puppy Daryl had gotten her for her birthday and she had decided on a name.

"Panzer," Beth smiled in return as everyone crowded around, the puppy being passed from one pair of arms into another so everyone could meet and hold him. "Daryl loves reading about World War Two and I started reading a book about it that I found in the library. Panzers were the biggest, baddest tanks around."

"Panzers tried to kill your grandpa," Hershel spoke up as he checked Panzer's ears.

"I know, but I think everyone hears a name like Panzer and immediately thinks of the German tank and how indestructible they were. It will be good for our security if we have our own Panzer around," Beth explained and it was such a silly name and an equally silly reason, but everyone was smiling, none arguing.

Hours later, the others begin returning to the hallway – because it's been hours – and how long can a labor last? They can hear some things – Maggie screaming, Beth shouting over the screams for her to push, and they all stand there, holding their breaths for that one sound they want to hear more than anything.

And just a few minutes later, they finally hear it. A baby starts to cry and they all exhale at the same time.

A few minutes after that, the door opens and Beth steps outside to join them, Panzer jumping on her legs at the sight of her. She is sweaty and obviously tired and she's wiping her hands on a towel.

"It's a boy," she tells them all.

"Maggie?" Axel is the one to ask.

"Is doing great," Beth smiles with a nod and they all exhale another breath and start smiling and hugging one another as if they've all just been through childbirth as well. "Glenn almost fainted a couple of times, but he's still with us, too," she adds.

"Whoo, boy!" Merle is the one to laugh. "You should not have told us that."

"Don't torture him too much," Rick says, but he's smiling, too, and then he bends down, picking up Anne into his arms so the girl will stop trying to pick Panzer up. She's still too little and Panzer is just heavy enough to make it hard for her to pick the dog up; that doesn't mean she stops trying though.

"Daddy's going to stay in there with them for a while, just to keep an eye on things," Beth says. "We'll be able to all visit and meet the baby in a little bit."

"Four for four," Lori smiles as she pulls Beth into her side for a hug.

"Let's give me a break for a while," Beth says, hugging Lori back. "Between you and the women in Woodbury, everyone just needs to stop having babies for a while."

"Well, that probably won't happen since these women know there's a good OB/GYN around," Lori replies.

Beth isn't sure how it happened. She delivered Anne, yes, but she had thought maybe she would want to focus on educating and being something of a teacher.

But then, her daddy caught a cold, which then Axel, Rick and Glenn all caught and Beth found herself being the one to seeing to them all. And after that, when he was feeling fine again, Hershel took her into the medical bay of the prison so they could take stock of their inventory before they went out into the woods where he began teaching her the different plants that could help for medicinal purposes as well.

"I am getting older, Bethy," Hershel told her.

Beth immediately shook her head. "You're fine, daddy."

"Today, I am. But one day, I might not be and you're the one who's going to need to know these things."

"Me?" Beth couldn't stop her eyes from widening.

Hershel smiled at her. "You."

So, Beth's medical education began. She and Hershel were in the medical bay just about every day, going over drugs in their supply, Hershel quizzing her on symptoms, and if they weren't there, Daryl would go and kill a walker and drag it back into the yard so they could cut it up and Beth would have her anatomy lessons.

"I don't know why daddy chose me," Beth confessed to Daryl as they sat in her cell one night after dinner.

They hadn't moved in together. She had her cell and he had hers and even though they spent as many seconds a day together that they could, they still slept apart. They were moving at a snail's pace together. They had kissed so many times now and one night, brave enough, Beth had taken her shirt and bra off and Daryl had kissed her bare breasts, but more than that, they hadn't done. Yet.

Beth knew it would happen between them. She didn't doubt that. She knew that in this new world, no one knew how long anyone had and they shouldn't be taking anything slow, but Beth liked that she and Daryl were moving so slow; and Daryl certainly wasn't pushing for something more. They were building towards it. They both knew it. But right now, they were building something so much stronger between them and when they did have sex together for the first time, Beth already knew it would be the most incredible experience either of them had ever had.

"Why wouldn't he choose you?" Daryl asked. "What you did in that boiler room showed it more than enough that you're the best choice to have this role."

Beth shook her head at that though. "With Anne and Lori, that was just luck. Anyone else in that boiler room would have been able to do the same thing."

Daryl slipped an arm around Beth's waist. "No one, but you, thinks that."

During a trade with Woodbury, Beth had gone with Daryl and Rick and during their talk, Andrea had mentioned that one of the women was pregnant and they only had a dentist in Woodbury; not a doctor.

"Beth can take a look at her," Rick volunteered and Beth's eyes immediately whipped over to look at the man, wondering why he would say such a thing.

But Beth had gone and examined the pregnant woman, Karen, with her husband, Tyreese, and four months later, Beth was in Woodbury to deliver their healthy baby. Another Woodbury baby came a few months after that and now, Beth has helped deliver her older sister's healthy baby boy.

Stepping away from Lori, Beth then goes to Daryl and he smiles, wrapping her up in his arms.

"Shower or sleep?" He asks.

"Shower, definitely, and then sushi pajamas and sleep," Beth answers and Daryl kisses her on the forehead.

As Beth takes a prolonged shower, Daryl goes to her cell and gets her a fresh pair of underwear, her sushi pajama set, a comb and a rubber band. When he gets back to the bathroom, he smirks when he sees Panzer curled on the tiled floor right outside of the stall Beth is showering in.

"Beth!" Daryl calls out over the running water. "Your stuff's here on the sink. You want somethin' to eat?"

Beth pokes her head out from the shower curtain. "Saltine crackers and jelly?" She asks. Daryl nods and turns to leave the bathroom again. "You're the best!" Beth calls out after him and Daryl just smiles to himself.

The others have returned to their jobs and in the kitchen, Carol is continuing on with preparations for dinner, Merle sitting on one of the counters, watching her. Daryl and Merle are brothers and they have one another's backs, but they don't have the relationship where they open up about their thoughts and feelings. When Daryl dared himself to ask Merle about Carol one day when they had been picking off walkers through the fence, Merle had just shrugged.

"That one's had enough assholes in her life," Merle said. "A woman deserves to blush every once in a while."

"Hi, Pookie," Carol smiles at him when she sees Daryl come into the kitchen and Merle gives him a grin at the nickname. "What does she need? We're having the rest of the deer for dinner and I'm making warm potato and green bean salad if she thinks she'll be awake."

"Thinks she just wants to pass out after her shower. She did want some crackers and jelly," Daryl said. "I got it," he quickly steps in when he sees Carol moving towards the shelves.

As he starts working on Beth's snack at one of the counters, Carol continues dinner prep and Merle keeps popping oyster crackers from a bag into his mouth.

"Did Beth say yet what Maggie and Glenn have named the baby?" Carol asks.

"Hope they didn' name him after Hershel," Merle adds. "He's a good man, but we can give the kid a better name than that."

Daryl just smirks and shakes his head to Carol. "She didn't say. 'm sure we'll all know soon enough. I know they've been talkin' 'bout namin' 'im George if they have a boy. Might 'ave gone with that."

Armed with a plate of saltine crackers smothered in grape jelly, Daryl leaves the kitchen, heading back towards their cell block. In the common room, Carl is sitting at one of the tables, a spiral notebook open in front of him and his pen moving across the lines. Oscar is standing behind him, his arms crossed over his chest and his eyes peering over Carl's shoulder.

"You're bringing Robb back?" Oscar asks. "They killed him pretty brutally. How are you gonna manage that?"

"They killed Catelyn, too, but she came back as Stoneheart in A Storm of Swords. And it's my story and I want to be able to bring Robb back," Carl turns to frown at the man behind him.

They were able to find Carl all five books of A Song of Ice and Fire, he devouring all of them in a matter of weeks and then insisting the book club read them, too, he decided that since the series never was finished, he would take it upon himself to finish it.

"Why don't you bring back Ned?" Oscar wonders.

Carl sighs impatiently. "Ned's story is finished. Killing him sucked, but it was the right thing to do."

As Carl and Oscar continue to bicker about Carl's storyline, Daryl just smirks a little and heads towards the cells. Beth is sitting on the bed in hers, wearing her sushi pajamas and eating one of the Reese's Peanut Butter cups from the pack Daryl has left for her on her nightstand. Panzer sits with her, begging though knowing he won't be getting any.

"One of these days, I'm going to find your stash of these," Beth smiles at him as he sets her plate of crackers and jelly on her nightstand. She then scoots over so he can sit on the bed with her.

"Good luck. This prison is massive and I'm never tellin'," Daryl smiles back.

Saving the other peanut butter cup for later, Beth leans over Daryl so she can take the plate of crackers. Daryl leans back against her pillows, watching her as she eats, occasionally feeding a bit of a cracker to Panzer. When he got her the pajamas, he knew they would be too big, the arm sleeves having to be rolled up a few times to keep away from her hands and the collar slipping a bit to show off her pale shoulder. Her hair is damp, but she's dried it enough where it's not sopping and she's put it back into a braid.

He remembers coming into this cell for the first time, her just waking up from a nap, coming to give her Reese's Peanut Butter cups and he had stared at her as if he had never seen her before. And until that moment, he hadn't. Not really. She had been sitting on this bottom bunk, a completely new person to him; a completely new person he realized he couldn't wait to meet.

"You're staring," Beth breaks through his thoughts, turning her head to smile at him.

"Yeah," Daryl doesn't deny it.

Beth just smiles at him. "Will you take a nap with me?" She asks.

"Yeah, girl," Daryl doesn't hesitate. "Always."

Beth smiles again and leans in, giving him a kiss, Daryl tasting the faint saltiness and jelly on her lips. He takes the plate to set on the nightstand and they both shift, Daryl taking off his boots before they both slide under her goose down comforter. She lays on her side and Daryl curls his body behind hers. Panzer takes a spot at their feet, curling himself into a ball and promptly falling asleep.

Daryl holds Beth tight and close and Beth hums softly from her throat, nestling her body against his, both having noted a long time ago how perfectly their bodies seem to fit perfectly together despite the differences in sizes.

"I love you," Beth murmurs, already drifting off.

Daryl closes his eyes and dips his nose down, pressing it to the back of her neck. "I love you, too, Beth," he murmurs back to her, soft enough to where her – and only her – can ever hear.

And he can't see her face, but he can hear her smile. Beth always smiles when he says those words to her. Her always smiling makes it easier for him to say it to her.

"'m goin' on a quick run with Rick tomorrow. Wan' me to be on the lookout for anythin' special?" Daryl asks.

Beth doesn't answer right away and he thinks she might be completely asleep already, but then she shifts again in his arms.

"Just come home safe," she says quietly. "And when you get home… maybe it's time we take the top bunk down and make us a big bed."

Daryl is quiet, thinking that over. "Yeah… think that sounds good."

Again, he can't see her face, but he can hear her smile and he kisses the back of her neck as Beth settles further into his arms and Daryl holds her as he, himself, begins to drift off, their bodies completely relaxed as they lay together, neither, at this moment, feeling a worry in the world.

…

Thank you very much for reading and I hope you liked this final chapter. I know that there are a few questions of things I didn't address, but I kind of like having a few things hanging out there, letting everyone picture their own complete ending. I have an idea for my next story - either a long one-shot or a short multi-chaptered story - of Daryl, Beth and their kids in the Fifty Four Days world.

Thank you again for reading and still wanting to read my stories!