Disclaimer: dont own Walking Dead show or characters
Setting: starts near the end of 4x01 with the bethyl hug and then take some AU turns, the fall of the prison still happens in this one as well as the sickness in the prison but not immediately like in the show.
It all started with a hug.
Daryl hadn't expected it and there was little time to react. Once Beth Greene hugged him, he froze. At first, there was confusion...and uncertainty as to what was happening and how to properly respond. But suddenly instinct kicked in. Instinct was always the way with him. And when it came to Beth, instinct compelled him to show her kindness when possible. She was one of the last people in the group that deserved to get the third degree from him. To his surprise, his instincts resulted in him caressing her elbow as she held him. And for the first time since the world went to shit Daryl felt safe. Yes...he actually felt safe with Beth Greene.
There was an awkward moment when her sweater slipped revealing part of her shoulder and they both stared at each other until Beth pulled it back up and shyly mumbled "sorry".
"It's nuthin," was all Daryl could say.
But after he left her cell, Daryl realized it was too late. The moment had already taken a strange hold on him.
...
She's on top of him. It wouldn't be the first time with women, but he knew with Beth it would be different. There was something much more profound, more meaningful to it all.
The women of Daryl's past were all the same. He only fucked them because that was what he thought was his obligation. As a man, he was to want only the physical experience with a woman and those times, Daryl would never admit, he often let the women do most of the work. He never felt a true desire to really put himself out there. But with Beth Greene, he could imagine it. He could see what it would truly meant to make love, not just to shove his dick in someone for a few moments of release. True intimacy...something that he felt he was still a complete virgin to.
He watched her lower her head down and just took in the moment of the act. "Ooooh...shit."
The words weren't foreign to him but the way he said it was like nothing he ever felt before. Who would have thought that innocent little Greene would could pleasure him with such gentleness and affection? This truly was a new experience for him.
She leaned over him and her long blonde curls cascaded their way down her frontside, barely covering her twin peaks...the only ones that fitted perfectly in Daryl's hands.
"Say it."
He knows the words but he could not find his voice.
She lowers herself until their foreheads touch and her lips were just inches from his own. "It's okay. Just tell me."
For the first time in his long life, Daryl actually felt safe with someone, and it was someone that he never expected to have a hold on his life...and his heart.
He sat up until he could whisper it in his ear. Perhaps someday, he could say it much louder.
"I love you."
Daryl woke up to the hardest erection he ever had.