A/N: I've wanted to write something like this for a long time and I finally did it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I loved writing it. Please excuse any mistakes.
Disclaimer: TWD and its characters are not of my property. Unfortunately.
It's late, maybe almost dawn, and a noise awakes her. Her head lifts brusquely and she blinks, trying to see something through her still hazed state. Beside her, Amy is sound asleep. Her friend has always been able to remain asleep even with the loudest of the noises, but Beth lost that capacity a while ago. Now, she sleeps with an eye open, always alert, always ready for anything. Even for the people approaching them.
A beat-up car which looked like it was stolen appears. It's how brusquely it's being driven and how loud the music is –a heavy metal song that quickens her heart- what woke her. The car stops, the music is turned down and the car's front windows roll down, showing two men.
"Hey there, pretty" the driver says, a man with short, gray hair, flashing a wolfish smile. However, Beth can only stare at the man beside him. He's younger, but he still looks older than her, and unlike his partner, his hair is long, so long and dark that it barely leaves space for his eyes, blue and just as dark as his hair, piercing her. Besides her, Beth feels Amy stirring against her shoulder, but she doesn't move her sight from the car. Her body is completely tense, and without turning, she presses a hand against her friend's shoulder and shakes lightly until she manages to wake her up.
"C'mon, up" she murmurs softly.
"What… what's wrong?" Beth feels her lifting her head, "They're friend of yours?"
"No" she whispers back.
"I think you need a lift. Los Angeles?" the driver says, pointing at the ground, towards the cardboard in which they wrote their destination.
"Yeah" Amy answers cheerfully, a wide smile in her face. The man lets out a chuckle.
"Well, here it is. C'mon, girls, hop on" he says, and Amy hastens in get up, but Beth grabs her by her arm, "Wha's wrong? You already have a ride?"
"Bethy, what are you doin? They're going to Los Angeles too!" her friend whispers excitedly. However, Beth doesn't let go of her and her heart is already pounding.
"I don't trust 'em. How are we gonna get in some strangers' car when no one's around?"
Amy huffs, but Beth won't give in.
"Oh, really. They're just a couple dudes having fun. What's the matter? Let's be fun and get them to take us to Los Angeles, and then we won't have to see them again. It's perfect".
"I don't think they want us to amuse them" she murmurs, her gaze still fixed on them.
"Okay, so you're not interested" the driver says.
"Bethy, please" Amy pouts and nods, trying to convince her. Beth looks at her for a second before she sighs.
"If they try anything…" she starts, but her friend is already opening the door. Beth stands up and gets her guitar before she takes a sit beside her, trying to put the guitar case carefully.
"To Los Angeles!" the man exclaims, starting the engine with a roar. Beth holds on to the armrest and Amy lets out a squeal of delight.
The car disappears into the night.
It turns out those men are brothers. That Merle is the elder, and he's more in every bad sense of the word. He makes all the jokes, he won't stop laughing, he talks the loudest, and he draws all the attention, and somehow, he's nice. That Daryl is his baby brother, and he's the one who makes sure that Merle doesn't get into too much trouble. That they just wander off, crashing on motels, in roadhouses or in the very ground, and that they just need is a car with gas and their smokes.
It turns out Beth isn't unfamiliar with all of this. She, who has always lived in a farm where she has always had everything, surrounded by a good family who protected and loved her, who has slept in her own bedroom, now just needs a half-decent place in the floor to sleep.
She's not the Beth Greene that lived in her daddy's farm, and she hasn't for awhile. As long as she's been wandering off with Amy, both of them running away from their respective homes, trying to get by, and both carrying with different secrets, different scars. Amy with her scar on her left side, where her ex-boyfriend's knife pierced her. Beth with the scar on her wrist, always covered with bracelets, trying to forget the night her mama died and all the nights after that, when her sister wouldn't be home for days and her dad would appear stumbling in the doorway, attempting to feign serenity even if he was completely drunk.
It's been long since Beth, unlike Amy, stopped seeing just the beauty in this world. She's come to a point where she wonders if maybe that was being blind. When you just see what you want to see. She convinces herself of that and she almost feels bad for her too naïve friend. Because Amy is easy to trick, because she's too vulnerable. There isn't just beauty anymore. There aren't just good people anymore. The world is a dangerous place and you have to adapt or suffer the consequences.
And still, when Beth looks at Daryl, she can't help but wonder if she may be wrong.
Days pass by like a blur. They don't drive straight towards Los Angeles: they stop at every city, every town, trying to get more money to keep going.
Merle always gets some cash from somewhere, and none of his companions ever asks him how he gets it. They all knew, and really, they don't want to say it out loud, maybe slightly afraid that they might hear some cops' cars if they dare to pronounce the words.
Daryl fixes things for money. Sometimes cars, but mostly constructions. Anything that needs a manual work, actually. It turns out he's good at that. He has strong, calloused hands, the kind of hands that aren't afraid of hard work. However, there are times when Merle tells him something quietly, and those times he doesn't fix anything. He just follows his brother and when they come back, he has money too. Beth always notices the look on his face those times. Like he's embarrassed or he feels guilty. Maybe both.
Regarding Amy and Beth, they both have a pretty simple system: Beth sings and Amy makes her shine. Beth just does what she loves and Amy makes sure the whole street knows that her friend has talent. She shouts her name like she's already a superstar. She hops and waves the can in front of everyone, trying to get some money. Beth always tries to make her show her art, to sell her drawings, but Amy refuses. She says she loves drawing sirens over and over again, but just for herself, and Beth never pushes her. She gets it: the siren on her neck is the only thing she has left from her sister Andrea, and drawing it is the closest thing to reunite with her. So she never keeps insisting more than five minutes.
Besides, Beth is positive she wouldn't get half of what they get if she didn't have Amy making her look great.
It's been months and they're not even close to Los Angeles. It's like a silent deal: they will stick together. They make a good team, and they've also become like a family.
Merle and Amy are always who shout, who laugh loudly and the ones who drink the more. Amy is sweet and naïve, but she gets along surprisingly well with Merle, who seems determined to protect her. Beth and Daryl sit in silence, sipping at their drinks, watching them carefully. Sometimes their eyes meet from across the table, and it's then when Beth feels electricity coursing through her body. They've been traveling together for so long, but they haven't exchanged more than a few words yet. It's almost like they don't need them. They talk through stares. Beth always knows when he's looking at her, and he does it often. She feels him every time she laughs, every time she moves. She can feel his eyes on her when she sings. She notices how he always looks like he's going to smile. She can see the desire in his eyes, and she knows it's just a mirror of her own.
Just like the first time they meet, it's almost dawn when Daryl and Merle come back. It's a warm, humid night, and Beth is trying to refresh outside, sitting on the motel's stairs while Amy sleeps up in their room. Merle greets her with a nod and keeps walking, but Daryl stops in his tracks. She raises her eyes and smiles at him softly. He sits beside her, taking out a smoke and lighting it up, careful not to exhale towards her.
Neither of them says anything. They both keep silent, watching at the starry sky, she with her chin resting on her knee, and he slightly bent backwards. And then Beth feels his eyes on the back of her neck and a delicious shiver runs through her, and suddenly she doesn't care anymore about the sky, or the road. She turns and their eyes meet once more. Beth tries to smile, but it's like they're under a spell: they can't do anything, except for staring at each other.
It's not clear who closes the gap between them, but once their lips are sealed, they don't break apart, not until a few more hours pass by, until the sun rises and the heat of the night mingles with the heat of their bodies moving at unison to finally explode and fall asleep in each other's arms.
And for a while, that's their life. They wander off, singing, drinking, dancing, driving, moving, living. Daryl and Beth lock themselves up in one room every night and neither Amy nor Merle bat an eye, even though Merle lets out a few comments. Beth wonders if maybe they were obvious to everyone before they were even a thing.
"You're so pretty" he whispers to her in the darkness, while they're both still naked and sweaty, laying on top of the covers, and their fingers interlock softly, her head resting on his chest, absorbing his heartbeats. She places a kiss on his side and pretends she's not blushing. Daryl caresses her hand with his thumb, and he keeps going lower until he reaches her bracelets. Beth tries to move away, but then his thumb brushes the marred flesh, and she stops. She's practically shaking now, and not because of what they had been doing minutes apart, but he moves her hand and kisses the scar before he places it against his cheek, "So pretty" he repeats, and Beth blinks to refrain the tears. She promised herself a while ago that she wouldn't cry anymore, but seeing him now, wondering how long he has known, makes her want to pour. If he ever saw a flash of them, or if he just figured it out, just like he always does.
She just wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly, caressing his back.
"So are you" she murmurs, "So are you".
It was almost like a dream about to fade away, but then the car stops, and they're not in some lost town anymore. They're in Los Angeles.
A brief silence appears inside the vehicle as they try to process the fact that they've reached their destination. In other circumstances, Beth and Amy would've held each other's hands and would've got out of the car after saying goodbye to the brothers, probably hoping they'll never have to see them again. They would've left towards… whatever fate had planned out for them.
However, it's just Amy who gets out quickly, but it's not because she's leaving.
"C'mon, what are you waiting for?" she exclaims, as excited as a little girl. They all look at each other and smile and they hasten in follow her towards the beach.
Merle is the second one in taking off his clothes and run to the water, throwing Amy over his shoulder quickly. She starts laughing hysterically while they both walk straight to the waves. Beth looks at Daryl and Daryl looks at her, and they both share a smile before she moves forward and hugs him.
"I hate goodbyes" she murmurs into his chest, and she can feel him deflating a bit. She knows how insecure he is. She knows that even after all the confessions, after being together, after everything; he was terrified that she would leave without looking back. Scared that she would leave him, just like everyone had.
He hugs her back and kisses the crown of her head. Beth moves away and starts giggling as she takes off her boots and jeans and tries to get rid of her shirt. When she runs towards the water, she can hear him behind her, but she doesn't have to turn. She knows he'll be there.
That's her life, and she cannot be more content. Just the four of them, their music, their smokes and their midnight toasts. They don't need anything more.
A/N: Thanks for reading and please review!