A/N – This is the first time I have written for this show and the first time I have written anything for a very long time. But I just can't get enough of these two at the moment, and after recently watching season 4, I wanted to write a little more to their journey together after leaving the prison. I plan to take it in a slightly different direction to the show and explore what could have happened if Beth hadn't been taken. Will be rated T/M for some hot action in future chapters ;) Please let me know what you think and if you would like to read more.

Hugging her knees to her chest, leaning in slightly closer towards the bright orange light of the small crackling fire in front of her. Beth finally allowed herself to breathe again.

Slowly and deeply.

Feeling her tense muscles reluctantly relax. They were safe. For now. But she was scared.

Once a sweet, homely and somewhat sheltered country girl, Beth was now no stranger to roughing it, to being on the road and surviving with next to nothing under some pretty grim conditions.

But being homeless on the road before, Beth had always had her dad there too and Maggie, along with Rick and the rest of the group to look out for her. This time it was different.

...

The past day had gone by in a blur. Beth had focused on one thing, survival. Somehow she had managed to get away from the flames and devastation of the prison. The place she had grown to think of as home for the past year of her life.

But now as the night drew in, the woods finally quiet. The sound of the dead diminishing. Beth allowed herself, just for a moment, the luxury of self pity. The chance to take it all in. Everything and everyone she had ever known was gone now. Well almost everyone.

She glanced across at the hunched dark figure sat opposite her. Watched his expressionless eyes staring in to space, it was like she was invisible to him. Beth had always prided herself on being able to read people, to sense what they were feeling. But with him, she had absolutely no idea what was going on in his head, what he was feeling. He was an enigma.

If she was completely honest Beth had been numb to her own feelings even, ever since Daryl had grabbed her arm and led her away from the burning prison, shielding her from the darkness erupting all around them. In a strange way escaping with him at that moment in time had felt like the most natural thing in the world to her.

Up until that moment Beth had been desperate to find baby Judith and make sure she was safe. But from the instant Daryl had appeared, signalling for her to follow him. Beth had felt as though somehow it would be okay.

The whole world might have gone to shit again, but as long as she was with him, she would be okay!

But now, looking across at his still lifeless silhouette, unable to make even the slightest eye contact with her, Beth wasn't so sure.

Despite his dark mood, Beth had tried to cling on to any small piece of optimism. She knew, somehow they'd cheated death again. She owed it to herself and everyone that she had lost, to keep pushing on, to keep fighting. Until things got better, because they had to get better.

But right here, right now, with the adrenaline of the fight quickly wearing off, and nothing but a small token fire for comfort. Beth had never felt so alone, so desperate, so lost.

She missed her dad, her sister and the rest of her new survival family. She could scarcely believe she would probably never see them again.

...

Unable to bear the silence any more, Beth sighed forcefully.

She opened her mouth to say something, before thinking better of it. Instead she smoothed a strand of her silky blonde hair behind her ear in frustration. They were out here in the middle of no-where and it would be pitch black soon. Daryl looked as though he had given up, he had made no attempt to even contemplate finding the others.

She shifted her foot slightly, willing him to say something, anything, any small sign that he was there, that he gave a damn.

But nothing.

Was she that much of an irritation to him?

He couldn't even bring himself to look at her, to talk to her. He probably wished he'd got away with Michonne…or Carol, Maggie even. Anyone but her. He saw her as weak, as a problem, just another dead girl.

As they continued to sit in silence, Beth forced herself to re-trace what had just happened. Her father was dead, her sister possibly too. She had been terrified. Daryl had still been there, forceful and brave as as he'd grabbed her arm, ushering her away with him, saving her life.

"We have to go, Beth," he'd yelled at her, "We have to go! He'd barely uttered a word to her since.

...

For a while now Beth had been curious about Daryl.

She had wondered what it would be like to have a proper conversation with him, one that went beyond an obligatorily nod of the head, or forced smile. To look in to his eyes, find out who he really was. There was just something about him, something that Beth hadn't been able to get out of her head.

It had all started the day Judith had been born and he'd gone out to find the formula for her, saving her precious little life. Before that Beth had just thought of Daryl as practical, brave and a valuable member of the group, but also a little moody and unapproachable. But after he had been so determined not to let Judith die needlessly, Beth had seen him in a whole new light. Becoming slightly fascinated with him. She'd wondered about his life before, who he had been. Whether he'd had a wife, kids, job. But she'd never dared to ask. He wasn't easy to talk to.

Leaning her chin on her knees slightly, Beth thought about what her Mom had always said to her. "Be careful what you wish for..."

How ironic that was now, she pondered. In a weird way, more recently back at the prison, Beth had almost developed a slight crush on Daryl. Not only had she been intrigued by him, but she had started to notice how handsome he was, in a rough and sexy kind of way. There was something about him, his eyes together with the way he seemed to get such a steely determined look on his face when he wanted to do something for someone he cared about.

Possibly her feelings towards him stemmed from boredom, from there not exactly being a wide selection of guys around for her to think about in that way. But Beth was a little embarrassed to think that there had been times when she had wished she could be on her own with Daryl.

But never once in her innocent fantasies had it ever been like this. Awkward, silent, uncomfortable, like he wished he could be anywhere but in her presence.

Back at the prison Beth had occasionally found herself watching Daryl from afar some days too, studying him. Despite the tough guy act, she could see that unlike his brother, he had a good heart. He was tentative and kind to people around him, she felt certain that there was an even softer side to him too, just waiting to be drawn out. Leading to further thoughts about what it would feel like to be held in his muscular arms, what he would be like as a lover even.

But Beth was under no illusion that Daryl had ever really taken much notice of her.

She knew to Daryl she was just a kid. The way he had teased her about her romance with Zach, how that had made her flush with embarrassment. Beth had cared about Zach and she was sad he was gone. But now looking back, she could see that when Daryl had come to tell her Zach hadn't made it, she was ashamed to admit, her first real emotion was relief! Relief that Daryl was still there. He'd made it back alive and he was her family, her proper family, which meant more to her than Zach, a boyfriend she had only known a short time, and a romance that despite her short term plans, Beth had always known wouldn't last.

It had also been the first time she had shared such an intimate moment with Daryl. She had instinctively flung her arms around him for comfort, a gesture she had known he hadn't been entirely comfortable with, but which had hit her with a sudden jolt of electricity all the same. Different to anything she had experienced before.

But all that felt stupid now, irrelevant. It was like a dream, from another reality. All that mattered now was staying alive another day. And looking at Daryl's cold, hardened face, Beth knew she would switch being alone with him here and now, to being distanced and invisible to him back at the prison again, in a heartbeat.

Daryl's depressed indifference was driving Beth close to the edge. So much that her no crying rule was nearly broken as she fought back the urge to shed a tear. She had to look for alternatives to keep herself going she thought, she could not simply lock away her mind and survive for the sake of surviving the way Daryl did. There had to be something more.

Quickly brushing thoughts of giving in and crying away. Beth felt a small tickling on her forearm. Looking down to her astonishment she saw a ladybug gracefully moving across her pale skin. Ladybugs were considered a good omen, she had always been fond of them, so much so that she had even put a drawing up of one on the wall in her prison room. They signified love, luck or protection. Letting the small brightly coloured insect crawl over her, Beth pondered its symbolic significance some more. She thought about how Daryl had ended up there for her during her times of doubt recently, and she knew no matter how infuriated and despondent she was with him right now, she was glad he was here, she would be lost without him.

Her mind then wandered to her father's insight, she thought about what he would be doing if he was still here. He wouldn't allow them to just give up, and she wouldn't allow Daryl to just give up either. Beth had to believe there was still a life worth living somewhere out of this darkness. She had to bring down Daryl's despair and give them both a reason to carry on.

"We should do something", she suddenly said forcefully.

Causing him for the first time to turn and really look at her, his deep dark blue eyes, meeting her wide brighter blue ones straight on…