Takes place immediately after the episode 'Still' and spirals into AU!

Chapter One

As they trekked through the pitch black woods Beth felt the chill in the air in front of her, losing the heat of the fire behind her with every step. Maybe she should have thought through burning the house down before being able to take advantage of spending the night in a warm, safe space. Oh well, crap happens. She snuck a glance sideways at Daryl, it was the first time he had slowed to match her pace, rather than forcing her to keep up with his. His face seemed more relaxed and younger somehow, like the fire was burning away all the shit memories in his life. Beth felt a pang of pity in her heart at his shit start in life but quickly shook the thought of before Daryl could read it in her face and start shouting all over again.

He caught her gazing at him and put his arm out in front of her to stop her walking. Beth felt her heart give a little flutter of excitement as she felt his hand lightly on her stomach. She knew something had shifted and changed between them. Daryl nodded his head forward giving her an amused smirk before resuming walking. Beth looked forwards and was surprised to find her face just a few inches from a large tree. She felt herself blush and couldn't decide what was worse, the fact he had caught her staring that intensely at him or if she had actually face planted the tree…

Beth fell back into step with him again and kept her mind focused on putting one foot in front of the other as quietly as possible, not really paying any attention to where Daryl was leading her until she spied a familiar rope holding two wheel trims a few inches of the ground.

"Are you kidding me!?" she blurted out, frowning in annoyance.

"It's just for tonight," he grumbled back, squatting down to begin arranging their blankets underneath their makeshift tent.

"But I just got you to leave!" she shouted without thinking. Suddenly Daryl was there right in front of her face, mere millimetres separating their noses.

"Do you wanna lure every walker here girl?" he whispered harshly in her face, "It's a safe space to stay till morning, without worrying about walkers killing me in my sleep, and then we will look for something new. Now get your ass into bed before I kill you!" he growled. But Beth knew him well enough to know he wouldn't actually hurt her, but she should definitely do as he says. She stomped over to the tent while he pointed looked at her with a raised eyebrow, daring her to make more noise. She rolled her eyes and worked on getting settled under the pile of blankets they had scavenged over the last few weeks. Daryl did one more sweep of the surrounding woods and came and settled next to her.

As she lay there facing his back she knew she was right about something changing between them in that cabin. Before shed never given a second thought about sleeping next to Daryl, it was smart and safe, but now it felt strangely intimate and made her nervous. She noticed his breathing hadn't evened out into the peacefulness of sleep yet either, meaning he was affected somehow too. She rolled carefully onto her back and looked at the tarpaulin above her wondering how she could prolong this intimate connection between them, before he probably bottled himself right back up again in the morning.

"I have never had a pet pony," she threw out there, he rolled over onto his opposite side to face her and looked at her pointedly, "I had a horse not a pony," she clarified.

"I don't have a drink and neither do you," he pointed out.

"It doesn't matter," she said looking him directly in the eyes, she could see the intimacy of the look was making him uncomfortable, so she averted her eyes back to the ceiling. A few minutes of uncomfortable silence passed between them before he grumbled "Fine," and mimed taking a shot. She smiled warmly at him, glad he wanted to continue, but she seemed to make him uncomfortable again so he looked away from her.

"I've never been on a boat," he said. She looked at him blankly.

"Me neither. I have never… had a job," she said, surprised that even after their earlier conversation he still mimed taking a shot, "What no paper round? No nothin?" He ignored her.

"I've never admitted how I like the world better now," he said stunning her to silence. A million questions barrelled through her head, but judging by his face it was better to ask nothing before he closed down completely, she mimed taking a shot herself and he looked at her surprised.

"Everyone used to treat me like I was stupid and useless and would never amount to nothing, I was going to marry some boy my dad picked out and keep house for him," she explained, hoping to encourage more explanations out of him.

"Is this going to go on all night?" he asked, but she could tell he was only feigning annoyance at her.

"Probably," she smiled at him, laughing when he groaned in exasperation with her. Oh yes she was definitely making this last as long as she could.