It had been three days of walking and Daryl never let Beth leave his sight the whole time. Maggie was doing the same. They were probably driving Beth nuts but she took it in her stride, smiling all the time. Beth got to know Abraham and the others on the walk. Laughed with Rosita and Tara. Learnt to avoid Eugene.
Maggie and Daryl had both given Beth a heads-up on trying to avoid Eugene, telling her that he was annoying more than anything else. Rick and Daryl took it upon themselves to run interference, waiting for Eugene to make some fumbling pass. But, as it happened, it was Abraham who managed to intervene quickest when it happened.
The red headed man grabbed Eugene by the shoulder when he tried to approach Beth as she was washing out her clothes by the small stream they were camped out by.
"Nope. Keep moving your ass." Abraham told a crestfallen Eugene. Rick smiled at Daryl and shook his head at their apparent saviour. Daryl tried to return it but kept his eye on Abraham. It wasn't that he didn't like him. Just didn't know him yet. There might've been something going on between him and Rosita, but he couldn't tell. Daryl picked Rosita out and found she was also watching the pair on the riverbank.
Beth's tinkling laugh pulled his focus back. Her damp hair was tumbled over her back as she laughed more heartily than Daryl had heard her laugh in days. Daryl had never made her laugh like that, his mind whispered. Abraham clapped her on the shoulder as he finished whatever joke it was that he was telling.
Beth stood up to start wringing the water out of her clothes, turning her back on Daryl and Abraham. C'mon man, move on, Daryl thought. But Abraham wasn't answering Daryl's psychic call and took a handful of wet laundry, shaking them out alongside her as he carried on blowing out hot air. Beth protested for a moment but then gave in, smilingly. Worst of all, though, Daryl saw her smile up at the man under her eyelashes. He hadn't seen her do that since Zach.
Daryl fumbled at his jacket pocket and pulled a cigarette out of its box with shaking hands. Weren't no reason for him to be behaving like this, but something about the image of the blonde and the army man was putting him on edge. He puffed the smoke out into the cool air, willed it to take his burden away.
In fact, as she often was, Beth had been waiting for Daryl to muster up the courage to come and help her out. Maybe even loosen his tongue a little and try talking to her. In the three days they'd been walking, he hadn't once spoken more than two or three words to her, usually "how you doin'?" or "you okay?" All well intentioned, but frustrating none the less.
Beth knew he cared, had an inkling now of just how much, but would it kill him to just talk to her? She huffed as she whacked the dirty clothes against a small boulder. At the very least she'd thought he might offer with the workload.
Deep as Beth was in thought, she failed to notice Eugene creep up alongside of her and couldn't help letting out a yelp when he waved his hand into her eye line. He smiled at her goofily even as she nearly collapsed at the shock, heart thudding away like a wild thing. Beth smiled back at him through the fright he'd given her, wondering how to extricate herself.
Beth never noticed that her hand was on her knife. She'd been taught well. Before she could try and make her excuses, Abraham had come up behind the younger man and steered him away by the shoulder.
"Nope. Keep moving your ass." He told him. Beth couldn't help but laugh at the disappointment on Eugene's face. Abraham stood watching him walk off, tail between his legs.
"Thanks, but I feel kind of bad now." Beth said.
"Don't worry about it," Abraham told her, looking thoughtful, "he's harmless, really, just a pain. Best he keeps his head clear, anyhow."
"If you say so. Any way, I can handle myself." Beth's fingers unwrapped from the knife hilt and Abraham's eyes flicked down to her hip.
"Whoa. Guess so, little lady. Guess I shouldn't have doubted it after your great escape."
"It was nothing, really." She demurred. She'd been dodging everyone's questions about the specifics, but she just wasn't ready to talk about it yet.
"Seems like something," Abraham narrowed his eyes at her a little – this was their first real conversation and Beth couldn't help but feel she was being assessed somehow – but he smiled, "glad you're on my team is all." He clapped her on the shoulder affectionately. She smiled back at him. She knew she was right. Beside those at the hospital, there really were still good people in the word.
"Glad to be on it, too!" Beth stood to dry as much of the laundry as she could, assuming their conversation was over. Abraham was always bustling about, moustache bristling with importance. She was surprised he had talked to her at all, really. But then Abraham was holding his big hand out to her and she was blinking owlishly at it.
"What?"
"You look like you could use some help."
"You want to do laundry?" Beth asked. Abraham just shrugged those huge shoulders at her and made a "gimme" gesture.
"Why not? Every little bit, right?"
"Sure. Thanks." Beth handed a heavy load of denim off to him and they stood in companionable silence for a few minutes, twisting and wringing. There was something comforting, Beth thought, about Abraham. He exuded the same kind of physical comfort that she got from Rick and Daryl, even if he suffered a little more self-importance than her friends.
"So: mother, laundress and warrior. Not bad, Greene, not bad." He said after a few more minutes of contemplative laundry wringing. Beth laughed.
"That makes me sound awfully grand."
"Well, maybe you are. Wouldn't surprise me none." Beth giggled. She was pretty sure he was flirting, but he did it without intent. It was nice, Beth thought.
"Just you wait and see, mister! Besides, I'm not really Judy's mom. And I'm certainly not a warrior."
"I wouldn't be so sure about that," He said as Beth cracked the poncho in her hands hard against the rock, "I just mean that I get now why they were so determined to get you back. I mean I get your sister, obviously. But Rick was a man on a mission. Or tryin' to stop a mission, really. And your boy back there," He tipped his head back into the shadow of the trees where Beth knew Daryl was lurking, "thinks the sun shines out of your ass. I just mean that I get it now."
Beth's hands stilled. Her mind whirred with that last bit. Abraham let out a gruff laugh as he pulled the poncho from her hands, giving it a ferocious squeeze and twist before dropping it in the basket with the other damp clothing.
"See you later, Blondie." He clapped her on the shoulder again before he slipped back into his usual march, heading to the camp.
Beth pulled the rest of her things together while she thought about Daryl. How was it that even the newcomers seemed to know more about what Daryl thought of her than she did?
She heard the sound of crunching gravel but didn't reach for her knife again. That week they had spent together meant she could pick his tread out from the crowd. That and the smell of cigarette smoke.
"Hey!" She said, trying to sound happy, pushing her hair back from her eyes. Daryl just nodded his head at her.
"Need some help with that?" He asked after watching her grabble with the basket.
"Wow, five whole words, Daryl Dixon!" She snipped, aware of how brittle her voice sounded, slicing through the river sounds. Daryl's eyebrows shot up somewhere above his fringe. He held his hands up defensively and Beth felt a little puff leave her sails.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap." She said.
"S'fine." He said, picking up the basket. Something about seeing him carry her workload was both sweet and bothersome.
"Was hopin' you'd come over earlier. Could'a used your company." She said.
"Mmmhmm."
"For God's sakes, use your words Daryl!" She shouted. Her outburst surprised even her; she clapped her hand over her mouth and scouted around to see if anyone had noticed. If they had, they were hiding it well and most were around the campfire, a ways off.
"You wanna talk? Thought you were all chatted out with Abraham." Daryl said after a pause.
"What?"
"You two looked might cosy over here. Thought you mighta found yourself a new boyfriend."
"You're crazy." Beth hissed, grabbing the laundry basket from Daryl and stalking away from him. For a moment it seemed he was going to let her go but then he ran after her, grabbing her elbow.
"Am I?"
"Yes! He was just bein' friendly. Talkin' to me like a human being."
"That's all it was?" Daryl asked, somewhere between accusatory and hopeful.
"I got no interest in Abraham, you idiot." He let go of her arm and Beth shifted the basket onto one hip.
"Okay, I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry. Just talk to me, okay?"
"Mmmhmm." Daryl looked contrite.
"Oh, lord. If you're not gonna do anything about this, then I guess I'll have to."
"What-" Daryl started to ask before Beth grabbed his jacket collar with her free hand and yanked his face down to hers. He just about had time to close his eyes before her mouth was moving under his. She smelt like the woods and water.
He raised his hands to her hair, reverently, threading his fingers through the blonde. He bit at her lower lip and she opened up to him. She groaned and Daryl distantly heard the thump of the laundry basket hitting the forest floor. Beth used her now empty hand to clutch at Daryl's hip. Suddenly things were moving too fast and Daryl had to unpeel himself from Beth before they lost control completely.
"So," Daryl said as they caught their breath, "Ya wanna talk, huh?" He drew lazy circles on her hips as she sagged against him. She whimpered slightly and Daryl dimly hoped they didn't have an audience as he hooked his fingers through her belt loops, her mouth moving against his neck.
"God, no."