Beth sighed as she dumped out the contents of her backpack. "Where the hell could it be?" She grumbled, sifting through the bits and bobs now laying on a blanket before her. Back at the prison, just after her eighteenth birthday, Glenn and Daryl had gone on a run and found (of all things) a little portable walkman. At least, that's what she thought it was called. It played CDs and ran off batteries and needed headphones to listen to. At first it had just sat on the little table of her cell, reminding her of times back on the farm when she'd be doing her homework. A week later she'd found a package of batteries sitting next to it on that table. Three days later she'd found a set of ratty headphones (the kind that went in the ear, rather than over your head). It took another two and a half weeks before she found a few CDs added to her collection.
She never asked who was giving her these gifts, but then again she never really had to. Daryl had always been trustworthy and never balked at any requests that were put to him when he went on runs. He never made a big deal about things and always, always, always found whatever was asked for. She'd mentioned that she missed listening to music the most from life before the world had gone to shit and it was shortly after that she'd gotten the walkman. Once she'd gotten all the pieces together (batteries, CDs and headphones) she'd rationed her time listening to the various songs, but she'd relished in every musical note that hit her ears. Today, now that Daryl had gone off to hunt, Beth had decided she wanted to listen to some music to help take her mind off all the crap going on.
Sure she'd coped with the fact that she'd watched her father die, and she and Daryl (both) had worked through some demons after the moonshine shack, but every once in a while she found herself slipping back into the darkness and rather than let it consume her, she would listen to the catchy beat of some long-dead pop song and it would take her back. Quickly she shifted through the odds and ends sitting before her and sighed, accepting the fact that no matter how much she moved everything around, the music player wasn't going to just appear before her very eyes. She shoved all the bits back in her backpack, rolling up the blanket and placing that on top before looking around. She didn't remember leaving it behind at their last camp. Maybe Daryl had it in his bag? A quick glance around told her Daryl had his bag with him. She stood, brushing the dirt and dead leaves from the legs of her jeans, and looked around. "Which way did he go?" Biting her lip she strode purposefully out of their little camp, maneuvering around the string and noise-makers hung up around the perimeter.
He couldn't have gone far. He'd only left a few minutes ago. She moved quietly, he was hunting after all and would no doubt be pissed if she scared away any prey by stomping through the underbrush. When she entered a little clearing she stopped in her tracks. Her eyes landed on the back of one Daryl Dixon, hunched over his crossbow, staring down the sight (which was a common enough occurrence it wouldn't have phased her) but he had on her headphone, the CD player sitting next to him on the ground and he was…he was humming! Not just humming, but humming loudly, and very, very out of key. It was so strange she stood and just gaped at him for a solid minute before she couldn't help the giggle that crept up her throat and bubbled out. The second her voice broke the silence, Daryl stiffened and looked over his shoulder. The look on his face made her laugh all the more.
She watched as he pulled the headphones off his head, tucking them away as if to hide the evidence, but the cheap pop song blasted from the tiny speakers making the tips of his ears go red. "This ain't what it looks like…" Beth bit her lip and tried to nod while keeping a straight face. It didn't work.
"You know…if you wanted to borrow it all you had to do was ask."
"I ain't borrowin' nothing. Just wanted to see what kind of crap was on the radio back in the day. You actually listen to this shit?" He wouldn't look at her and Beth could tell he was embarrassed. "It really ain't what it looks like…" She let out a hum and then moved to sit next to him.
"It helps me relax too. To forget." She said softly, soothingly. He looked at her with a scowl on his face. "You know what it looks like to me?" He didn't respond. "All I see is someone gettin' lost in the sound. There ain't a whole lot of it nowadays…so there isn't any harm. It's not like we have a wide selection or anything." His scowl faded and he could tell she was trying to make him feel better. Sooth his manly pride or something god awful like that. It was working. She smiled softly up at him and she lightly picked up the headphones. "Mind if I listen too? We could share?" Wordlessly he took one of the headphones and popped it into the ear closest to her and she put hers in as well. Slowly, silently she leaned into him, resting her head on his shoulder while he scanned the area for an animal to hunt. If he started humming while she bobbed her head no one mentioned it. They were both just getting lost in the sounds.