I have no idea what this is, but it obviously needed its own one-shot.

Also, writing about the same couple every day for a couple of years becomes extremely difficult - especially when there hasn't been any new material on the show for them in a long time, but I still love these two. No one should doubt that. I'm just beginning to explore other shows and pairings at the moment and am also working on my original story. That's a lot of writing and all I ask for is patience, because I'm not going to stop writing Daryl/Beth. I just have other things sharing my mind now. Thank you for understanding.

...

"What the hell is that?" He frowns the instant he walks into the bedroom and sees her standing in front of the long mirror she has hanging on the inside of their wardrobe door and he doesn't mean to sound like a dick but he can't help it.

Beth spins around and beams at him. "What do you think?" She asks him, holding her arms out to her sides. "I went shopping and can you believe the stores already have their swimwear on sale because it's June and to them, the summer clothes season is already done? I got such a good price on this one."

Daryl doesn't know what to say. He stands there and tries to ignore the way his jeans feel a little tighter as his eyes move down her body, taking in every inch of her that he can see. And the problem is, he can see a lot. And if he can see it, everyone else will be able to, too. Because he married himself someone young and someone so pretty but that's another problem because he's not the only guy who sees how pretty and young she is.

"Daryl?" She asks because he's still looking and not saying anything. "Do you like it?"

"'s a bikini," he then states the obvious, still staring, not really able to blink. It's a bikini and he's seen her naked plenty of times and in her bra and underwear but this is a bikini – a little bikini – and she's going to be wearing it in front of everyone with two – or even one – good eyes in their head.

Beth's smile falls a little because that's not exactly the response she had been hoping from it when he saw her wearing it for the first time.

She looks down at the bikini. She thought it was so stinking cute when she saw it. Black with little hot pink flowers and it's a little smaller than the swimsuits she usually wears but it was on sale and fit her perfectly and she feels hot in it. Not beautiful, but actually hot and she doesn't feel like that very often. Hardly at all. Sometimes, when Daryl stares at her – when he doesn't say anything and just stares at her – she'll feel hot, but most of the time, she just feels beautiful because that's how Daryl sees her but to feel hot? Well, if she can try on anything in the dressing room that makes her feel like that, she is definitely going to buy it.

She just had been hoping that seeing her in this would give him something more of a reaction. Daryl's face certainly seems to be showing her that likes he likes her in the bikini and yet, he's not really saying or doing anything. He's just standing there, staring at her and saying absolutely nothing.

"Of course it's a bikini, silly," Beth smiles at him and then she looks down, resisting the urge to adjust the cups over her breasts; not like she has that much breast to cover up.

She looks up to Daryl once more. She's starting to feel a little uncomfortable because maybe he really doesn't like her in it. And she's not the type of girl who dresses to please her man, but she is going to be the kind of wife who definitely takes her husband's opinion into consideration. She's learning. They both are because it isn't as if he knows how to be a husband. But she thinks of daddy and mom and daddy is always sure to tell mom that she's beautiful no matter what she's wearing or if she's really beautiful right then.

"Daryl?" She says his name because now he's just really starting to make her nervous.

Daryl straightens as if she has just called him to attention and he clears his throat. "You look nice," he finally says and her husband is a man of few words and it might not seem like a lot – and Beth knows that there are other women would probably demand more of their husbands – but anytime Daryl says anything like that, Beth bursts into a smile.

And this moment is no exception. She smiles happily and tucks hair behind her ears and looks down to the bikini once more before looking back to Daryl. She doesn't ask if he's going to be wearing swimming trunks. She has bought him a pair that were on sale at the same store where she bought the bikini, but when she brought them home, she wasn't too sure of her purchase. Daryl doesn't even like to walk around their little house when it's just the two of them without a shirt on. He's not going to go to someone else's house – someone they hardly know – and get down to his swimming trunks in front of everyone, leaving his back exposed.

"Thank you," she says, still smiling, and she then steps to him, her arms sliding around his waist, and pushing herself up on her toes, she pops a quick kiss on his lips. "Are you almost ready to go? Vicki wanted everyone there around one," she says as she moves past him and leaves their bedroom, going through the living room and into the kitchen. She's aware of him following after her. She opens the refrigerator to check and see that the peanut butter pie she had made is setting.

Merle had asked her a few days ago if she would be willing to bring dessert and Beth had been more than happy to agree. It's not as if she and Daryl are being invited to countless barbecues this summer. She and Daryl have been married for almost six months now and nearly everyone in their small town has made their opinion clear about their union. And that opinion is less than positive.

Many feel sorry for her – naïve enough to marry a Dixon and not aware of the beatings that are surely coming her way – and others are rather cold towards her now for the instant she married Daryl, she became like the rest of them. A Dixon. It doesn't matter that she's Hershel Greene's youngest daughter. She married a Dixon and is now a Dixon, herself, and everyone knows the Dixons are nothing but trouble.

She knows it bothers Daryl; pisses him off and upsets him. But Beth was raised in the church and she firmly believes in turning the other cheek. If they want to gossip about her, they are more than welcome to it. It just shows her how sad and boring their own lives are where her married life is the most exciting thing to happen to any of them.

Beth doesn't see the point in correcting them; in telling them that Daryl is the most wonderful man she has ever met and he treats her like a Queen. They are all small-minded ignorant folk who are set in their opinions and ways and Beth knows she'll just be wasting breath and energy on anger towards any of them.

"How many people are gonna be there?" Daryl asks as if she has any idea.

"Not sure. Just the four of us, maybe? Or maybe there will be others. I can't imagine her pool being that big."

"It's in a trailer park. It ain't," Daryl grunts and she looks at him, unable to help but frown a little. He shrugs. He doesn't say anything else though.

"Do you not want to go?" She asks him, slowly closing the refrigerator door once more.

Daryl shrugs again, but doesn't answer.

"Merle wants us to go. He seems to really like this Vicki woman," she reminds him.

"All Merle wants is to look at you in a bikini and with you wearin' that one, you ain' gonna be leavin' that much up to his imagination," he snaps before he can stop himself and almost winces as he hears his own words.

Beth blinks at him, not too sure what to say to that. She is beginning to feel an anger bubbling in the pit of her stomach, but she won't snap at him or start a fight. She has already made that mistake and when Daryl is yelled at – by anyone – he immediately reverts back to a six-year-old, crouching into himself like a turtle curling itself into its shell and trying to hide; hiding from his dad as Will Dixon yelled at him and swiped at his little body with a belt. Even as a grown man, nearing forty, there are some things a person can never get over.

So instead of yelling at him, Beth does other things to show that she's angry with him. And it's what she does right now. She looks at him for another moment, watching him almost squirm because he knows he shouldn't have said that to her, and then, she turns without a word to him and walks back into their bedroom. He doesn't follow nor does she expect him to. She knows that he probably didn't mean it; that he sometimes speaks without thinking things completely through, but that doesn't mean she can't be hurt or angry when his stupid mouth decides to say stupid things.

She tugs on a pair of blue jean shorts and a tee-shirt to wear over the bikini and she then comes from the room again, going to the closet next to the front door and tugging on her tennis shoes. She has already put a tote bag on the couch packed with two beach towels, the swimming trunks she had bought – just in case there's the slightest possibility that Daryl does want to take a dip – suntan lotion and bug spray.

She swings the bag onto her shoulder and without a word, Daryl comes to her then and takes the truck keys from her hand and she looks at him for only a moment, finding his eyes boring down on her rather intently, and she gives him a slight nod. She then goes to the refrigerator and takes out the peanut butter pie.

"Ready?" She asks and he opens the front door, holding it open for her so she can step through it first and when they get to the truck parked outside their little house, he opens the passenger door, too, for her.

Beth isn't entirely sure where Merle meets all of these girls. Bars and parties, she's sure, and the next seems to be almost just like the last. All generously endowed with an hourglass frame and a bit too much makeup on their faces and Beth has absolutely nothing in common with them. Many of them, they reminded Beth of Merle – if Merle had been born in a female body.

Daryl drove down the road through the woods and turned out onto the main road, heading towards the trailer park where Merle's latest female lived. He never would have done this if it wasn't for Beth. And Beth knew that. Daryl didn't care about meeting Merle's female friends and Beth admitted that she understood Daryl's feelings. None of them ever lasted too long and Daryl didn't see the point, but Beth always made an effort to try and get to know every single one that Merle had on his arm no matter how long they were – or weren't – there. She was Merle Dixon's sister-in-law now and Beth wanted to take the role seriously; and that meant getting to know all of these different women because maybe – maybe – one of them would stick around and Beth would find herself with a sister-in-law.

The drive was quiet. The radio didn't always work in the truck and most of the time, Daryl didn't even turn the knob on to try it so most of the time, Beth would hum her own music, but today, Beth supposed she just wasn't in the mood. Even though she wore shorts and a tee-shirt, she still looked down to herself as if she could see the bikini.

She should have bought a one-piece.

Girls like her were never hot. They were pretty or maybe even beautiful, but not hot. There was just something in their DNA that kept them from being hot and sexy and sultry. Girls like her older sister, Maggie, or the women Merle dated were the hot ones.

"You're drivin' me crazy," Daryl then muttered, breaking her from her thoughts.

Beth turned her head to look at him. "Excuse me?" She asked.

"'m sorry for snappin' at you, Beth, but I'm not sorry for what I said," Daryl continued, his eyes set straightforward through the windshield to the road as Beth continued looking at him. "I ain't gonna be the only warm-blooded male seein' you today, wearin'… that."

"Wearing what?" Beth felt like challenging him a little.

Daryl glanced at her, his mouth set in a firm line. "You know what."

He suddenly pulled the car over onto the shoulder along the side of the road and all but threw the gear shift into park. He sat there for a moment and Beth sat there, looking at him, the peanut butter pie still in her lap between her fingers.

"I ain't never had anythin' in this world that I could call mine. Jus' mine. Until you." He looked at her then and stared at her for a moment and Beth felt her breath lump in her throat, unable to exhale past her lips. "And I know I'm a prick, but I don't wanna share you with anyone."

Beth was finally able to speak. "You're not a prick, Daryl," she said quietly with a shake of her head and Daryl's lips smirked a little at hearing her use the word that sounded somewhat wrong in her voice.

"I ain't gonna be the guy who tells you what to wear," he pressed on. "My ol' man used to do that to my mom and I'm nothing like him."

As he spoke, Beth carefully set the pie down on the floor, beneath her seat, and slowly unbuckled her seatbelt so she could move across the seat, closer to him.

"I jus'… I jus' wanted you to know that seein' you in that bikini and seein' certain parts of you and knowin' that I wouldn't be the only ones to see 'em…" he trailed off then and he visibly swallowed and Beth knew that it was because he knew what he wanted to say; he just had no idea how to vocalize the actual words. Daryl had never been much of a talker, but he was trying with her. Since getting married, he knew that he would have to talk and he was trying. For her.

She moved closer to him across the seat until she was sitting right next to him.

"I bought it for you," she said quietly. "I thought you would like me wearing something more… grown-up." And even though it was how she felt, she felt immediately stupid because this was an issue they had already addressed and Daryl had told her more than once that there wasn't anything "little girl" about her.

Daryl looked at her and didn't say anything because just like him, she had her issues, too, and sometimes, there just weren't enough words to put them to a final rest. Maybe, in a few years, both of them would finally be able to realize that none of these things mattered.

He lifted a hand to her face and Beth's eyes locked with his. "You're fuckin' hot, Beth, and I don't want some trailer park pervert's eyes gettin' any fill of you."

Beth blinked at him. "You think I'm hot?" She asked, almost in a whisper; as if she was too afraid to ask the question too loud as if that might change what he had just said.

Daryl's brow furrowed. "What the hell are you talkin' about? You look at yourself? You look at yourself while wearin' that?"

And that was all he was able to say before Beth's arms were thrown around his neck and she kissed him, square and firm, on the lips. His words muffled and then within a second, he relaxed into the kiss, his hands lifting to frame her face. Beth wasn't sure how long they kissed, but when their lips finally parted so their lungs could fill once more, the truck's cab felt a little bit warmer and she thought of the peanut butter pie under the seat, more than likely becoming a pile of melted mush and Merle would probably have a few things to say about that.

"I won't take my tee-shirt off the entire time we're there," Beth swiftly promised, not even having to think about it, and Daryl stared at her for a moment, staring into her eyes and studying her and he then leaned in and kissed her slowly, his lips tasting every inch of hers and when he pulled back once more, Beth felt drunk.

"If you wanna wear the bikini when we're at home, when 's jus' the two of us… I wouldn't mind," Daryl managed to say with the tips of his ears turning red and Beth laughed before leaning in and kissing him again, not really caring about the peanut butter pie at the moment.

…

So… yeah. That's it. Not my best by any means, but it was an idea in my head I wanted to write. Still no idea what it is. Sorry about the changing of writing past and present halfway through. I really should delete this one.