This is going to be just three or four parts. I wanted to try and write more of the prison life and practice at it since writing the Zombie universe stories isn't my strong suit. I hope you like it!
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Beth didn't feel like getting out of bed that morning though having a bit of a lie in was never an option anymore. She was warm and still a bit sleepy and she laid curled on her side, watching as Daryl moved around their cell, getting himself ready for the day. Tugging on his jeans and then his tee-shirt followed by a flannel shirt.
It was getting colder outside, winter right upon them, and she knew Daryl was restless at night, his mind heavy with thoughts of getting everyone through the upcoming months. He had to make sure everyone had enough clothes and blankets and that they had enough food. She would tell him more than once a day that they were all going to be fine and he was taking care of them and Daryl nodded and Beth knew that he heard her but he was never really listening.
Beth wished Daryl believed in himself like she did. She wished he was able to see just how well he was able to care for all of these people and this prison and how they would all fall without him there with them.
She wished for it more than anything but she knew that Daryl would probably never believe it – no matter how many times she told him. He had no problem in believing in other things. In Rick and in her and in this place that they had built to be their new home – safe and strong – but he never took the time to believe that he was one of the reasons all of this was such a success. It's just who he was.
Daryl sat down on the edge of the bed to tug on his boots and he looked over his shoulder, smiling a little as he looked at her. Beth smiled, too, in response. She knew that she was really the only person to get an actual Daryl Dixon smile and not just his usual smirk like he gave to most of the others.
"Time to get dressed, girl," he said and bent over to double-knot his laces.
"Mmmm," Beth just hummed pleasantly, snuggling herself deeper beneath the covers. "I love to feel the cotton on my naked skin," she said as she had already told him more than once before this morning.
"Can't be naked all day," he told her as if she had been thinking of doing such a thing. She smiled at him, almost giggled, and he leaned over her then, his arms on either side of her body, propping himself above her, and she turned onto her back so she could look up at him. "I'll stop gettin' you naked at night if you have such a hard time gettin' dressed in the morning," he then threatened her but when she gasped in horror, a small smile slipped through on his face.
"Don't even joke about that," she said and then her hands fisted in the front of his shirt and pulled him down.
"Addicted to me that bad, Greene?" He smirked this time and then his lips were meeting hers, soft like all of their kisses usually were in the early mornings.
"Don't act like I'm the only one," she murmured against his lips before she slanted her mouth against his and Daryl deepened the kiss, his tongue reaching to meet hers, swallowing her soft moan, and Beth's arms slipped around his shoulders and more of Daryl's body relaxed on top of hers.
They could hear the others in their cell block beginning their days. Rick trying to get a reluctant Carl from bed, Judith whimpering from her pen – she had slept in Rick's cell the night before – Maggie asking Glenn and Hershel if they wanted coffee, Carol telling Rick that she was off to check on Lizzie.
Daryl slowly pulled his lips back from Beth's, smiling a little as her lips seemed to follow after his, not nearly ready enough for their kiss to end.
"Come on," he said. "Time to start the day."
Beth sighed this time because she knew there was no more lingering and she nodded her head, watching as Daryl pushed himself from her and stood up. Beth sat up, finally pushing the covers from her body and nearly immediately breaking into goosebumps from the coldness of the air. As she began getting herself dressed, Daryl finished with himself, slipping on his leather vest and then beginning to arm himself with his several knives, storing them all over his body.
By the time he was done, Beth was done, too, making the bed now and then going to stand in front of the small mirror on the wall, combing out her hair and braiding it. She discovered that the best way for her to wear her hair was in a braid pinned up and circling her head like a crown. Judith had gotten into the nasty habit of pulling on her ponytail if she wore her hair in one and Beth got the image of a walker doing the same thing if she got too close to the fences. She felt this was safer for everyone.
Daryl had leaned against the wall, watching her. "What are you doin' today?"
"The little ones are working on adding and subtracting double digits and the older ones are working on multiplying and dividing double digits," Beth said. "That should take all morning. All of this time later and I still have kids moaning about why they have to know how to do this stuff and how much they miss calculators."
Daryl smirked at that. "Tell 'em that they need to know 'cause someday, they're gonna be in charge of this place and they need to know math to figure out how much food each person here gets."
Beth smiled at that and going to him, she stood on her toes and kissed him. "Maybe you'll want to help me teach math class this morning."
He smirked again and shook his head. "Headin' out this morning."
She looked at him for a moment and her brow furrowed. "I didn't know there was a run today. You didn't say anything."
"Jus' came to me last night," he shrugged. "Gonna go talk to Glenn and Sasha 'bout it."
"Daryl-"
"You were shiverin' somethin' fierce this mornin' 'fore you woke up. We need more blankets," he said.
"I'm fine," Beth was quick to assure him with a shake of her head. "I have you to keep me warm. Just because we're together doesn't mean you have to go on a run just for me," she said.
"Fine," he frowned at that. "I'm goin' to find more blankets for everyone."
Beth sighed softly, knowing there was no arguing with him. If Daryl wanted to go on a run that morning, there would be nothing for her to say to get him to change his mind. No matter how often he went on a run – at least twice a week – Beth never got used to it and she knew she probably never would. It may have been safe inside of their prison home but it could never be forgotten that on the other side of their fences, the world was anything but safe and the walkers weren't the only dangerous thing out there. Each time Daryl went outside those fences, Beth felt as if she was able to hardly breathe until she saw him return again.
They left their cell together – Beth heading towards Rick and the instant Judith saw her coming, the baby stretched her arms out for her. Beth eagerly took her into her arms and kissed her on the head and Judith snuggled her head happily against her neck.
Rick was trying to spend more time with daughter after going months of hardly being able to be around her and though Judith slept some nights in his cell – sleeping in Beth's the other nights – the baby was still getting used to her father and brother. It was no secret to any of them that she still preferred Beth above all others and Beth was still her main caregiver while Rick was off each day, caring for his crops.
"Thanks, Beth," Rick said to her.
Beth smiled at him and then looked to Judith. "Come on, Juju. Let's get you washed up." She stopped by her cell and grabbed the baby shampoo and a fresh cloth diaper and onesie before carrying Judith from the cellblock and heading to the bathrooms.
Daryl watched her go and then turned back to Sasha and Glenn, who had gathered with him beneath one of the windows. "We need more blankets," he informed them though it wasn't really anything new. It seemed like every other day, they were talking about blankets and winter coats.
Sasha nodded. "I actually think we need to hit up some offices," she said.
"What for?" Glenn asked, frowning a little with his confusion.
"When I worked in an office before," Sasha began and Daryl had a hell of a time imagining the Sasha he knew spending her days, sitting in a cubicle. "One of the biggest issues was the thermostat. Some people would be freezing and others would be burning up and no one could ever agree on the right set temperature. I had coworkers who began bringing in their own little space heaters and putting them under their desks to keep them warm during the day."
Daryl hadn't thought of that and he nodded his head, feeling a little excited at the idea. He never would have thought of that one on his own. He hadn't exactly been the sort to step inside of any office before this happened.
Glenn was still frowning though. "Space heaters are a fire hazard though. What if someone forgets to turn it off and the block catches on fire?"
"There's too many people around who will be able to check on them," Sasha said confidently. "Besides, it's not like we're going to be able to get one for everyone."
"We'll head towards the town and see what we can scrounge up," Daryl said even though they had pretty much already taken everything from the nearby town that they could and there would probably be nothing useful left. "The houses, too."
"Just the three of us?" Glenn asked. "Maybe Michonne, too."
"Yeah. Just the four of us," Daryl gave his head a nod. "We'll leave in an hour."
They dispersed after that, Glenn heading out, probably to go find Maggie and Sasha headed outside to get herself some breakfast. Daryl headed towards the bathrooms.
There were others in there, brushing their teeth and shaving at the sinks and others in the shower stalls, warm steam hanging in the air. Beth was kneeling on the floor at the small plastic tub they had found for Judith to bathe in and the baby was happily sitting up, splashing the water with giggles as Beth laughed too and washed her hair.
Daryl watched for a moment from the doorway. He wondered if Judith would be the last baby they would ever see. A part of him hoped so – especially with the way lil' Asskicker had been brought into this world. He wondered, sometimes, if Maggie and Glenn would get pregnant and Daryl was already thinking about what would need to be done if that happened. They had the things from Judith they could reuse and hopefully, Maggie would be able to feed the baby so they wouldn't have to rely on formula which was damn near impossible to find. It wasn't as if none of them could handle a baby. It's just Daryl really didn't want to handle one. Life had gotten better for them since finding this place but it still wasn't easy and a baby would just make already hard things even harder.
He wondered how Beth felt about a baby because over his dead body would he ever have one.
"Hey," Daryl approached her, his lips twitching a little as Judith seemed to splash water all over the floor and seemed to be quite happy about that judging by her wide smile, a few of her white baby teeth exposed.
"Hey," Beth smiled at him as he crouched down beside her.
"Headin' out in an hour," he said and watched as her smile faded.
She nodded. "I'll come find you before you leave."
Daryl nodded, too, and looked at her, wanting to say something to her but not quite knowing what to say because it wasn't as if he could promise to her that everything would be alright. Promises like that were empty and Beth would only be insulted and probably get angry at him if he made a promise like that to her.
So he didn't say anything and there were too many people around so he didn't lean into her. It was obviously no secret that him and Beth were together but he still didn't like to take out advertisements about it and put on a show for everyone. They definitely weren't Maggie and Glenn. Those two could be downright disgusting with all of their open displays and he didn't understand how they could be comfortable with everyone knowing their business like that.
He and Beth shared a cell and a bed but no one had ever heard them going at it at night. Daryl made sure of that and Beth seemed to agree, judging by how hard she would bite down on her lip or the pillow or bury her face in the side of his neck, making nothing louder than a whimper.
He looked at her for another moment and then got up, heading from the bathrooms and heading outside. People had already begun their jobs. Cooking and eating breakfasts before heading out. There were those coming off of night guard duty and those reporting for morning guard duty in the towers. Those down at the fences, picking the walkers off and those getting themselves ready to go out and empty the pits and take the walker bodies away to burn them. Rick and Hershel were already heading down to the fields of crops with Carl, running late, hurrying after them.
He headed towards Carol, who was standing at the outdoor grill with a large pot over the flames, stirring whatever she was cooking. Lizzie was beside her, reading through a comic book that Carl had brought her. The girl stayed in her cell most days, staying under lock and key because they didn't know what else to do for her, but other days, she would come out as long as someone was able to always keep an eye on her. She was never allowed anywhere on her own.
Some days, she seemed fine. Perfectly normal. And it was hard to believe that this young girl was the same one who had stabbed Daryl and who thought walkers were people, too, and her friends. And then other days, it seemed as if she wasn't there at all. She didn't speak or make eye contact and today seemed like one of those days. As Daryl came towards Carol, Lizzie never lifted her head and kept reading. She seemed completely unaware of anything around her.
"Morning, Pookie," Carol smiled at him and Daryl just smirked, shaking his head. She picked up a plastic bowl and scooped a helping of oatmeal from the pot into it before handing it to him. "Sasha says you're heading out in a little bit."
Daryl gave a head nod, shoveling the first spoonful into his mouth. "Need anythin'?"
Carol shook her head but then she cocked it to the side, gesturing towards Lizzie. "Maybe some fake flowers or something like that? For her cell? Brighten it up a bit."
Daryl looked to Lizzie and then back to Carol, nodding. "Yeah," he agreed. He'd tell Sasha and Glenn to keep their eyes out for something like that, too.
"Good morning!" Beth greeted cheerfully, coming from behind to stand beside Daryl, Judith in her arms.
"Morning," Carol smiled in return and got Beth her own bowl of oatmeal.
"Hi, Lizzie," Beth said to the girl, her smile never wavering, but Lizzie didn't lift her head from the comic book and didn't seem to be aware of any of them standing there. Beth looked back to Carol and Carol shrugged. One of those days, she said silently and Beth nodded, shifting Judith to one arm, settling her on her hip, and took the bowl of oatmeal with the other. "Smells delicious," Beth said, taking a whiff of the steaming bowl of apple flavored oatmeal though the apple taste had long faded.
"How much we got left of this stuff?" Daryl asked Carol.
Beth slipped away then, letting Daryl talk, and she went to a nearby table, settling herself down and setting Judith up on the table in front of her. She had two plastic spoons and she would take a bite and then guide the spoon to Judith's mouth for another bite. Back and forth she went until the bowl was almost empty.
"Good, huh, Juju?" Beth asked as the baby nodded, swallowing her small spoonful down, and Beth smiled, wiping at her chin.
"Beth!"
She turned her head to see Luke and Mika running towards her, both looking eager, and at the sight of their own smiles, Beth smiled, too.
"Hey, guys. What's up?" She asked.
"Look!" Luke held up a heavy-looking small leather bag.
Beth turned on the bench and took the bag, pulling open the drawstring and peeking inside. "Where did you get these?" She asked, lifting her head from the piles of small red berries inside.
"Over there," Mika pointed towards the fences on the west side of the prison. "There's a bunch of bushes growing right over there."
Beth's brow furrowed. "Inside the fences?" She didn't know they had bushes like that growing in here that gave little red berries like this.
"Nope, right on the other side," Luke said.
"What?!" Beth gasped. "You went outside the fences?"
Both kids just kept smiling and nodded.
"We thought we could use them for math class today. It would give us something to count out as we worked the problems," Mika explained.
Beth didn't hear the reasoning though. "You went outside the fences?" She said again and she felt her heart racing, drumming at the base of her throat. "How did you even get outside of the fences without someone seeing?"
"There's a hole," Luke answered nonchalantly.
That was probably one of the worst words a person could say nowadays. Hole.
"Daryl!" Beth called out, knowing she sounded panicked but unable to help herself and she quickly stood up, scooping Judith up and watching as Daryl hurried to her.
"Wha's goin' on?" He asked, immediately taking note of the alarm clear on her face.
"Show us, Luke," Beth said and Luke and Mika, neither thinking much of what they had told Beth, nodded and turned and Daryl followed them without question. On the way, they passed Maggie and Beth passed Judith into her sister's arms.
"Everything alright?" Maggie asked.
"I'm not entirely sure yet. I'm probably just overreacting," Beth said and tried to smile though how much could a person really overreact nowadays?
Luke and Molly led them down the sloping hill to the base of it, against a far corner of fence where they patrolled but not that often as most walkers tended to congregate in the front of the prison and here, there were remnants of a fallen brick wall that had never been cleaned away.
"Show us," Beth said again.
"Right here," Luke said and with that, he dropped down to his knees and began to shimmy forward on his stomach, sliding himself beneath a hole beneath the fence that no one besides small children or animals would ever be able to get through.
"Can I go too?" Mika asked.
Beth swallowed and didn't say anything but nodded her head and Mika quickly followed behind Luke. Within minutes, they were both underneath the fence and popping up on the other side, like gophers amongst the bricks.
"Ta-Da!" Mika exclaimed happily, giving them a toothy grin.
"And here's the bushes, Beth!" Luke pointed excitedly to the clumping of bushes all bursting with the red berries.
Beth didn't know what to say and she looked to Daryl, who also wasn't saying anything. He was looking down at the hole, studying it. Then, keeping the crossbow in his hands, he crouched down, inspecting it closer. He couldn't imagine anyone besides kids and small animals slipping through this. Looked like a maybe a gopher had burrowed it a while ago and the kids had stumbled upon it.
He lifted his eyes and looked to the kids. "You got knives on you?" He asked. He knew Carol had been teaching them stuff like that. But when they shook their heads, he frowned. "Get back in here then," he ordered gruffly, standing up.
He stepped back again to Beth as Luke and then Mika got themselves through the hole once more and stood before them. Daryl crouched in front of them, still frowning.
"You never go through this hole again without havin' a weapon on you, got it?" He told the children in his gruff way, unable to keep from frowning. The kids should know better than to go out there unarmed. Yeah, none of them had been outside the fences since they had first been brought in but still. They should all know better.
Luke and Mika nodded obediently. Beth knew no one dared disobey Daryl Dixon.
"Are you going to fill the hole?" Mika asked.
Daryl was quiet for a moment, standing back up, looking to the hole and then to them again. "Nah. If anythin' happens here and we all have to get out, you kids are gonna get out this way. It's your escape plan. Got it?"
Beth hadn't thought of that but she supposed that was why Daryl was in charge and not her. When Luke and Mika had told her about the hole, she had pictured a gaping one in the side of the fence that anyone could walk through. She had probably panicked Daryl, too, but leave it do Daryl to look at this and see something that most others wouldn't have been able to.
"We'll cover the other end of it out there more so no one can find it who shouldn' find it," Daryl added. "We'll do that later today when I get back from my run."
"We get to help?" Luke almost gasped as if he had just been asked to perform on stage with his favorite rock star and Beth nearly smiled, pursing her lips together.
Beth knew that that was how many of the kids looked to Daryl. He was some sort of untouchable, invisible God amongst them. She wondered if he knew just how cool they all considered him to be and what he thought about it if he did know.
"Course you get to help. 's your hole," Daryl said and Mika and Luke turned to one another with excited, wide eyes. Daryl turned to Beth. "Gotta get ready to head out. You need anything?"
Beth shook her head and didn't say goodbye. They never did. They both hated goodbyes and they didn't like to think about the possibility of never seeing one another again. The few moments Beth did allow herself to think such things, she really had no idea what she would do if anything ever happened to Daryl.
He kept looking at her and she knew he wouldn't say anything so she stood on her toes and pressed her lips to his in what she had been planning on being a quick kiss but as soon as her lips touched his, she found herself having difficulty pulling away. And when she finally did, she found herself doing it slowly. She could hear Mika and Luke, still standing there, giggling as they watched, but Beth didn't care and her eyes fluttered open, finding that Daryl was already staring intently at her.
She gave him a small smile. "See you when you get back."
Daryl nodded and leaned in, giving her a firm kiss on the forehead. "See 'ya when I get back," he said and then he strode away quickly as if he needed to put as much space between them as he could in that moment or he wouldn't leave at all.
Beth turned and watched him walk away and waited for the pressure in her chest to lessen like it eventually did every time he went outside the fences.
"Are you two gonna get married?" Mika grinned up at her.
Beth just smiled and put one hand on the girl's head and her other hand on Luke's.
"Come on. We have math to get to this morning," she said and let out a slight laugh as both kids groaned but they dutifully walked with Beth back up the hill towards the sunny patch of grass which had become their schoolroom.
Beth tried not to watch Daryl climbing into one of the cars. She couldn't stop herself from wondering what it would be like to be married to Daryl Dixon. Probably no different than it always felt with him. Comfortable and natural and happy and… and absolutely wonderful.
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Thank you so much for reading and please review!
