*See Author Note At The End* Thanks
"But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."
~Luke 21:36
Beth Greene read the words over and over trying to understand what was going on. It wasn't working. In a fit of rage she threw the bible at the other side of the prison cell, it made a clashing sound and then everything was silent. She hated the silence, when everything was silent she had to listen to her thoughts, and they tormented her. She always thought the bible had all the answers but that book was of no use nowadays.
Ever since the world had gone to hell she had taken to reading the bible, she didn't understand what exactly was she was trying to accomplish or find for that matter; but whatever it was, it wasn't there.
There was no hope. It didn't matter how much you try to hold on to faith, there was nothing left, there were dead bodies walking on earth, for Christ sake; it was a joke, a sick joke, she thought. The way it was written in the bible that the "dead shall rise", well somebody had a very twisted sense of humor, what kind of God could give a literal interpretation to those words? It was blasphemy she knew, but she didn't care, after all they were all lost, there was no mercy for the living, only dead and rotting and the constant reminder that in this world "You needed to kill, or be killed". They were all murderers. Nobody was innocent anymore.
Growing up in church and in a Christian family with a preacher for a dad, taught her many things but mainly about the perception of how the world sees a preacher's daughter, how everyone assumed she was a good girl straight up, how that perception affected the way she behaved. It was the predisposition of what people thought of her that made her act a certain way, she was proper and well behaved, and she was, to the outside world, a good girl. Nonetheless it never taught her how to survive in this new place, a place she could no longer call earth, not when it seem so much like hell.
Beth knew that going to school every day and basically doing what you're told, when you're told doesn't exactly put a woman in the "Good girl's category". Yes, she was naïve and yes she had that certain innocent appeal from being untouched but no, Beth Greene was far from being a "Goody two shoes". Ever since the day she tried to commit suicide, her life had changed. She knew that she wanted to live, and that knowledge came with a heavy burden. It was the fact that now, she understood that this life was hard, this was an ugly world and it was made only for the strong people and although Beth Greene knew she was fighter, she often wondered if she was strong enough to survive.
Life on the farm seemed so far away, almost like a dream. Most days she had a hard time separating what was real and what was a fragment of her imagination. The prison was her home now.
These people, Rick with the strength to lead them all and take hard decisions for the good of the group, Carl with his somber look and cold personality almost to the point of being detach from any emotion whatsoever was far from being the sweet boy she once saw on a bed with a bullet wound, Baby Judith, the little toddler she took care of and the daughter of Rick was as innocent as a child could be in this world, with her sunshine smile she could steal a smile from her, something that almost nobody could accomplish anymore.
Carol with her mother-like personality was a shoulder to cry on when she had nobody to hold on to. Michonne with her quiet character and her constant watchful eyes hardened by this "new life" barely said a word and yet she seemed to always be intent on patrolling the perimeter taking care of all of them, Glen with his way of making everyone smile and giving Maggie the comfort she needed, Sasha and Tyreese with their unconditional bonding and sibling bickering of love.
And Daryl, she didn't know what to make of him, he was rude, quiet, racist, violent, far from being proper and definitely not well behaved. He had a dirty mouth and yet at the same time he was willing to sacrifice his life for all of them, and she often wondered what moved him to act like that, but most of the time she was wary of him; and she just kept her distance. Even the new Woodbury people were her family. She was thankful she had Maggie and her dad by her side but many days she often wondered how long that would last. In this world you couldn't take anything for granted.
The menace of the Governor had tested their ranks, and every day she woke up with the awful knowledge that he was alive, still out there somewhere; maybe plotting how to kill them all, how to exact revenge, or how to hurt her family, that though was enough to make her get out of bed. It was always the same, thinking about the possibilities of the governor attacking them always left a sour taste on her tongue.
She got up, went to the common bathroom at the prison and got dressed. She put her boots on, her black pants, and a black t-shirt, and she let her hair loose. It had grown out quite a lot, it almost reached her waist now, but she didn't have time for fashion, she mostly looked for comfort, so she barely took notice of her appearance. She slid on the tight gun holder with the small handgun on it. She knew how to shoot alright but she was far from being good at it, nonetheless after what happened with the governor she had taken to wearing it every day. In this world it was always handy to keep a weapon by one's side.
She went to the cafeteria of the prison, there was always loud sounds coming from it, everybody was chatting and she took a moment to take it all in. When looking from the outside she could almost forget that this world had gone to hell, it seemed to her that this time in the dining room while everybody was eating and chatting happily was their haven, a safe place where they could almost forget, almost. Because when you see children with knives in their tiny waist and not playing with dolls you knew this was no conventional world, this was a fucked of place full of dead people walking the earth and trying to eat you, and it was a hell of a scary place.
She made her way to the stove where Carol was serving everybody scramble eggs, and she smiled at her.
"Are you okay?" Carol asked.
"I'm fine." She replied smiling.
"Have some food; you're way to skinny child." Carol said giving her a once over. Beth felt her cheeks tint red and she blushed under Carol's eyes because she was not used to having her body inspected like that.
"Are you going to help me with Judith today?" She asked trying to divert Carol's attention from her body.
"I'm cooking for the guys today, I'm sorry babe, I could..." Carol said with a frown, Beth quietly interrupted her before she could finish.
"Don't worry about it, its fine." She smiled; Carol just looked at her with an apologetic smile. She knew that sometimes baby Judith could be a handful.
Beth went to sit by one of the tables, with Glen, Maggie and her dad; they were in a really good mood today.
"Beth, come hear this." Maggie said excitedly, she smiled at her sister and looked expectantly; there was hardly anything that caused Maggie to be this excited anymore so she listened intently.
"So apparently there is this untouched supermarket that the guys found in the east side of town which means that we could have a lot of food and basic stuff that could be used, and also the guys could use a real meal, with you know proper stuff...and you know toilet paper and such." Glen rambled on tripping over words and talking so fast you could barely understand a word he said.
It was hilarious to see somebody so excited over toilet paper, but that was the world they lived now, a harsh place where people got excited over toilet paper, not IPhones or technology shit just a simple thing such as toilet paper.
Beth couldn't help but be excited too; after all it's been awhile since she used toilet paper so she smiled at them. She had come to suspect happiness was contagious.
"I could use toilet paper; it's been a while, yeah." Beth remarked with a smirk and a sassy face, all of them turned their heads to look at her in surprise and then started to roar with laughter. It was these times that made Beth had a bit of faith, if they were still able to crack a joke and laugh after all they had been through then there was still a little bit of hope for this world. And she decided then, maybe she didn't believe that there was still a God out there but she'd believe in family and in the power of showing the people you love how much you love them, with that thought she finished eating, she listened intently but didn't contributed much, she was a little quiet like that. Even after she finished eating they were still talking about the possibilities of new stuff from the supermarket and new things they will need; fantasizing about what amazing things such as a jar of Nutella they could find.
There was so much to do around the prison. The chores were equally divided and while women took turns of cleaning the clothes, cooking the food, doing the dishes, taking care of the garden, the animals, and generally keeping the prison a home, the men were in charge of protecting the fences, looking for food and going on runs, hunting, and killing the walkers through the fence. Maggie and Michonne most of time went on runs but the rest of them took turns doing things around the prison.
Today was her turn of taking care of baby Judith, most of the time it was just Carol who would help Beth out but today she was cooking the dinner for the guys who had gone on a run. They all knew the drill, deep down inside they would say a prayer to whatever God was up there and hope that the guys were safe, but there were no guarantees, you could go out and never come back, every time they came through those doors they would always have solemn expressions on their faces and a sense of anxiety followed by a sense of relief once they were able to see that all of them had made it, well most of the time; it is not always like that, they have lost many people. Whenever they came from a run they were always hungry, tired and mostly covered in blood and walker parts from head to food. It was a rough world all over.
Baby Judith was fussing in Beth's arms, and she took her time looking at the toddler. She was a beautiful healthy baby but lately she was too pale, she noticed. She was already babbling and speaking words in her own language. She was a sign of hope to everybody in the prison, a miracle; the fact that no matter how much dead this world encountered there was always the possibility of life, human life was the hope they needed. Beth decided that it was time for Baby Judith to feel the sun on her skin; because it had been a while since the child went out. She took the toddler in her arms and walked her way out of the prison, people were very fond of the child so she was stopped at least four times in order for people to make funny faces at her or take her from Beth's arms and into their owns.
Once they made it outside the sun touched their skin and it was glorious, it was a beautiful day, the baby looked pale in contrast to the light reflecting on her little body and she knew she had made the right decision then. This child needed a bit of fresh air and sun. Beth started walking around the prison with the toddler in her arms and baby Judith kept making sounds of babbling and fussing with her arms, she had a smile on her face. Beth was too focused on the baby to notice the shuffling of feet, and the breach on the fence that was broken by the side that she was coming through.
Daryl's POV
Daryl was tired and pissed off. Every damn time he came home yes he called the prison home now, he'd smelled like death. It was as if the odor was permeated on his skin. He had blood covering his shirt, walker parts attached to the sole of his foot and his hair was way too long and got into his eyes all the time, he had to constantly reach a hand to his temple and move it away only for it to fall a second later in his eyes again, and on top of that. IT. WAS. FUCKING. HOT. The sun was blazing and he could feel sweat pouring down his back through his vest. He was dying of thirst and he was dead tired on his feet.
It had been a close call this time; they almost didn't make it out alive, fuck that damn supermarket. Daryl thought he was having a heart attack when he saw almost fifty walkers come out of the street banging at the windows of that place. Daryl was a very proud man and he would never admit that he had been scared but truth be told it had been too close, too fucking close.
He was thinking about a hot meal and a cool shower with a nice bed to rest when fuck his life, he heard it. It was a piercing scream that made his heart stop in his chest, and his blood run cold, it was a woman... that much he could tell. He forgot about the shower, the meal and the bed, he just ran; the adrenaline rushing through his body, propelling his feet to move faster. He was the first to get there and with horror he saw the panorama.
There was that Greene girl with his baby girl, yes he called baby Judith his girl, and various walkers surrounding her making disgusting snarling sounds. They were coming for her, the closest was a walker woman in her mid twenties Daryl guessed, with half her face hanging loose and dried blood on her arms. She was dragging her left leg and a long white dress covered her decaying body complemented with her bald head, it was a sight alright, he couldn't for the life of God get use to how ugly these motherfuckers were, that creature barely resembled the human being it was once. The thing was gnashing her teeth in the Greene's girl direction.
The kid couldn't do anything about the walkers because she had the baby in her arms. She had tried to run that much he could see but there was another tall walker man with beefy arms coming the other way with his intestines hanging open and his arms reaching out for her. So now she was trapped in a corner. He was observant so he noticed that it must have been at the last minute when she decided to scream for help and that notion made him furious.
He lifted his crossbow and put an arrow through the woman walker's temple and the lifeless body fell to the ground with a heavy sound. In less than a second he killed the walker man and then Maggie took out two of the walkers with her machete and Glenn killed the rest with a baseball bat. He glanced at the girl and noticed that she was crying, he looked at her with a frown and went to snatch the baby from her arms.
He was about to give her a piece of his mind for taking the baby out and being such a fucking irresponsible human being when Rick looked hard at him and shook his head. He huffed in annoyance and gave the dirtiest look he could manage to the idiotic girl. He felt the need to shake her and slap some sense into her because she was petrified to the spot. She hardly breathed and barely did something when he snatched the baby from her. It made him want to whack her.
Daryl didn't consider himself a patient man, but hell he didn't have a fucking ounce of tolerance for stupidity and that was what this situation was, fucking moronic. How on earth did this girl thought it was a good idea to take the toddler outside with so many walkers lurking around.
He had to get away from the situation or else this could get ugly. He had baby Judith in his hand and he realized with distaste that he was getting the toddler bloody, too late, he thought.
He saw Carol and before she could utter a word he raised his hand stopping her in her tracks and with all the arrogance he was able to muster said, "Not know I'm not in the mood for shit or fucking chit-chat."
"I was just..."Carol looked at his eyes and she closed her mouth. Everybody knew not to mess with Daryl when he was in a mood and clearly he was in a mood, a really bad mood.
She raises her arms to take the toddler from him and he complied. He slid past her and made his way to the showers.
Fucking shit, he was trembling, every time he got mad his rage would make him shake. It was out of his control, he knew that he had a certain level of anger management problems, but the fact that he could feel such strong emotions made him realize that he was still human. Sometimes in the midst of this world between all the killings and all the emotional detachment he would doubt that, in fact he would sometimes feel like a death man walking on earth.
Sometimes when he was alone in his cell block he would pinch himself in the arms to see if he could still feel and many times he was surprised to find that it still hurt, that's how numb he had become to everything.
He didn't want to think about what would have happened if he hasn't gotten there in time. Baby Judith would have been hurt… or worse dead. He shivered at the thought, he had come to care about the baby so much, he would never tell anybody but her smiles could light up his day, he took care of that infant when Rick couldn't, and hell he fucking found formula in the damn apocalypse; cause that was Daryl, rough around the edges but a fierce warrior. He was willing to do whatever it took to protect his people. Cause they were his people, the prison was his home and these were his family.
Daryl took his clothes off and got into the shower, his muscles were strained; he was running on of pure adrenaline. It had been an intense day. Too much emotion, he thought with irony.
A rage blast through his body when he thought of the Greene girl again, that fucking child making dumb decisions, he stopped his thoughts quickly. Rick had after all looked at him with a disapproving face, well fuck Rick and fuck his "disapproving look", he was his friend yeah and he respected him but it was about time somebody told that Greene girl the reality of the world they live in. There was no fairy tale, no romantic stuff, there was no time for sweet talking anybody and she was not the fucking exception. She did something wrong, made a mistake that could have cost a toddler her life and somebody ought to say something and if Rick or her dad didn't have the balls to do it, he would.
He got into the shower tuning out his running thoughts about the Greene girl and letting the cold water numb his body and calm his mind. His back was grateful for the water but he hissed at the sensation. The water felt like a torture on his overworked body and skin, he was breathing hard. The trembling had stopped but images of the last time he touched a woman's body surged through his mind, the images were coming fast like flashes, taking his breath away. It was always the same; he was twisted in a creepy kind of way. Every Time he came from a run, and he got in the shower he was as hard as a rock, the adrenaline made him high, and today was no different. It was like he was full of energy and that energy transformed itself into arousal.
Daryl felt his length growing and he closed his eyes, he wasn't thinking of anything in particular just a woman's body and how good it would felt to have a warm body next to him, curves to caress, someone to touch him. His breathing became labored and he could felt already on edge but he hadn't even touched himself yet. He was fucked up like that, he liked to tease himself.
He put his hand on the tile and grabbed himself looking down at his dick shuddering. He started to stroke himself, slowly building up a steady pace as images surged through his mind. He was biting his lips, holding back the moans that were threatening to get out of his mouth, he could almost feel it, that slow coil in his pelvis, and it was too much.
All the emotions of today's run, baby Judith, that Greene girl, it all came crashing down on him. The adrenaline coursed through his body and he released all his pent-up tension. He moved his hand quickly and with a moan he came, breathing hard, holding himself with his hand still on the cool tile, his body spasming with the aftershocks, and then just as easy as he was worked he was done, but he felt relaxed.
He finished washing his body and put a towel on his waist. He took his clothes and put them on. The day wasn't finished, not by far. He still had to eat and he was praying to whatever God could hear him that he didn't find the moronic child because he didn't know if he could control himself, in fact truth be told he was itching to say a couple of things to that Greene girl.
A/N: This is going to be a long fic with a slow build and lots of romance. What I want is an exploration of the characters emotions and personalities. I will keep this as realistic as possible and the characters of Daryl and Beth as much "In character" as the story allows me. This story will have some parts following the TV series but mostly it will have a plot of it's own. There are several warnings to this story that you guys must keep in mind before reading, first of all my writing resembles my personality so there will be Sexual situations, Graphic language, Explicit Material, Violent Scenes, Mature Themes, and Graphic descriptions, Some slight borderline Dub-Con scenes because to me (Daryl is a bit rough around the edges) *wink* *wink*, and lots of smut of course; this is my "Children cover your eyes" kind of warning, or not, it's up to you guys. I will have an actual plot with many twist and turns so is not just smut, but there will be a lot of it. Thanks in advance for giving this story a shot, it means a lot to me, in fact it means the world to me. (Rating will go up in later chapters as the story progresses) xoxo Besos ~ RomanticForever77