Author's Note: So I've been working on my first Bethyl fic, but it's in shambled pieces and no where close to being ready to post. Then I got this idea for a smutty one-shot and came home to write it. But I couldn't work myself up to rush it and this happened instead. I live for the smut, so it's coming, I swear! But I thought I would at least post what I have so far before heading to bed and work on the smut another day based on whether I get any interest here or not. I have no beta, so all mistakes are mine.

So maybe getting drunk with Beth Greene wasn't the best idea. It started as a simple journey to get Beth her first real drink. Should have just let her drink that damn peach schnapps! Instead it involved a trek through the woods and a total break down of the wall I so vigilantly built around myself. Play the chaperon I told myself. Stay responsible, Mr. Dixon. But those baby blues looked right up at me as she held that mason jar of 'shine and I couldn't resist.

I knew full well what a dick I could be when I was drunk. Pair that with that stupid game she insisted we play. I never. I never done a lot of things, but I have done plenty I was ashamed of. Plenty of things I didn't want her to know about. Where did I expect that game to go? The last thing I wanted to do was point out the extensive differences in our lifestyles when I was too ashamed to admit them to anyone before.

Truth of the matter was, I never felt more guilty, more responsible for what happened at the prison; what happened with Hershel. And my inebriated verbal vomit laid it all out there for her. I threw it all in her face and she embraced me anyway. She embraced me while I crashed and burned, my emotions spilling over in a wave of tears as she held me. Like a baptism from what was, to what was to become. I saved Beth that day from the prison, but it turns out, she saved me. Feeling her support, both physically and emotionally, changed something inside me.

And as we set that building ablaze, it cleansed me of my past. Of my shit father raising me in a shit house. My good for nothing shit life overcome by my ability to provide security for this angel who breathes light into this dark world. My dark world.

It was refreshing to feel this weight lifted off me. It freed me to speak to Beth. To share my thoughts and even my past. I knew that whatever I shared with her, she would still accept me; support me. What I didn't expect was something to change in her too. I could feel it in the way that she looked at me. Her eyes would bore into me until her pupils bled out into those crystal blue irises. I could feel the air go static around us and I would have to walk away to clear the fuzz in my head.

Then she started touching me. It wasn't aggressive, nor inappropriate. Fingers delicately caressing mine when she handed me something. A nudge of a shoulder, a brush of an elbow, a graze of a knee. And when she wasn't touching me, she was touching herself. Fingers combing through her hair, nails scratching over thighs, hands ghosting over skin.

At first I could dismiss her as a naive teenager. Hormones raging and all that shit. But when I looked closer, I could finally see. Beth Greene was a full blown woman. An air of innocence still shrouded her, but there was more than that. She held wisdom beyond her years and emotional strength far greater than mine. Life on the road had changed her body too. A small bundle of muscle stood out from her lithe arms. Her legs toned from running, her hips spreading slightly to fill those now perfect fit jeans she wore. Her face no longer had that soft roundness to her cheeks left over from childhood, but a beautiful angle to her jaw leading down to her slender neck.

I knew that I shouldn't be noticing such things. I was here to protect her, not ogle the poor girl. But close quarters over the course of 3 months and it became harder and harder not to notice. To become comfortable with the looks, with the proximity in which she placed herself whether we were camping out in the open or found shelter in a building.

I was keeping that door locked up tight, with me on one side and her on the other. I was foolhardy to think she wouldn't break that door down. My plan was working until we found the cabin.

"It's kind of perfect, don't you think?" Beth slid her backpack off her arms, kicking her boots off and flopping down on the double bed in the corner of the room. She grabbed a pillow, thumping it against the bed a few times to remove the layer of dust, before squishing it to her face and snuggling it. "Oh, pillows, how I've missed you!" She rolled off the bed, giving Daryl a whack with the pillow before tossing it back on the bed. She went to the sink along the wall, twisting the faucet with a groan before water began sputtering out of it. It chugged out some off colored water before turning clear and flowing normal. "Water!" Beth gasped, immediately undoing her belt as she hurried towards the bathroom. The door was barely closed before she yanked her pants down and turned on the shower.

Daryl could hear her cry out from the shock of the cold water and he chuckled softly. As he busied himself around the cabin to see what else the place had to offer, he could hear her raving over soap and what sounded like shampoo. But when the sounds became almost... orgasmic over her pure enjoyment to finally cleanse herself of walker guts, dirt, sweat and the like, he cursed to himself before noisily opening and shutting drawers. It was all he could do to somewhat muffle and distract himself from those suggestive sounds.

While merely a distraction, he did uncover a decent amount of canned and dry goods, some hunting supplies, fishing gear, and a few guns with ammo. Even some clothes left over from the previous Mr and Mrs. That along with the supplies they had collected from the last town they hit, they could settle here for a bit and catch up on some much needed rest.

But before he could relax, the water stopped abruptly and a short minute later Beth was stepping out of the bathroom in only a towel. Daryl inhaled the water he was trying to drink, choking and sputtering on it. She hurried over and slapped him on the back, her wet hair tickling over his arm. He caught his breath, standing swiftly and grabbing his bow before charging out the door. "Going hunting, stay here." he croaked before slamming the door behind him.

The abrupt exit startled Beth before a slow smile crossed her face. She flopped back on the bed again, feeling that prevailing tingle in her belly that she could no longer ignore.