I do not claim to own anything having to do with TWD.

Checkerboard

"You know…I once shot a gun in the air because Maggie and Glenn were wrestlin' with Merle."

The dark-haired man scoffed and cut his hardened eyes over to the blonde woman.

She was smirking up at him from her position on the old, red and white checkerboard patterned blanket that she had laid out for them. She was lying on her stomach, her face resting atop her slim hands. Her sleepy blue eyes were sparkling with mirth.

He had just gotten back from tending to the perimeter of their trailer park, where they'd been for the last year, to find that Beth had laid out the blanket. He had wanted to join her but he had no intention of acting on his desire until she beckoned him over.

So there they were.

"I ain't jokin'."

"That right?"

"Mmhmm,"was Beth's only response.

Daryl stared at the woman as she brought down her arms to rest her head more comfortably upon them. She was still facing him, though she had her eyes now closed.

And she had him. She had piqued his interest with her random remark regarding the past. Their past. It wasn't the first time she'd done this to him and he'd more than likely be damned if it would be the last. He enjoyed these games with her.

"Alright. Go ahead and tell me your story, girl."

Beth smiled at how easily it was to rope him in. While coming off as nonchalant and uninterested, Daryl was indeed a very curious man. He would not outright ask a question choosing instead to be still, silent, and observing.

"It was before we took in all of those Woodbury people. When you, Rick, and my dad went out to meet that sorry excuse for a man…The Governor. You remember that, right?"

Daryl gave a short nod and looked away at the mention of his family. The missing and the deceased. Of course he remembered. It was also the two days before he had to put down his flesh-and-blood brother's reanimated body.

"Merle wanted us to go out and attack him before he got to us, but Rick told us to sit tight and Glenn was just tryin' to follow orders. Merle started packin' up guns and ammo, anyway. I wasn't in the room but I could hear all the fuss. He was worried about you, Daryl. That's why he was trying to go."

Daryl had known that his brother gave some sort of damn about him so this wasn't really a surprise but he was sort of astonished that Beth could recognize an emotional response from Merle other than anger and sarcasm.

He glanced toward Beth again because she had stopped speaking to give him a moment to process the bit that she had already told him, as if knowing that a rapid replay of depressing imagery was flipping through his head.

Her head was still resting comfortably on her arms, her wispy blonde hair down and on her shoulders with a small smile on her small lips.

Daryl shook his head and cleared his throat, "So why'd you shoot?"

"Glenn and Merle started at each other. And Maggie jumped in. I was tired of all the fussin' but that's not why I broke 'em up," Beth spoke, opening her eyes, "I wanted Merle to go take care of the problem. I wanted to go with him. To bring ya'll back. To bring you back."

The older man blinked and brought his hand up to his lips. He hardly ever chewed on his thumb around her anymore. He'd pretty much kicked the habit unless he was extremely stressed or anxious. Times now were still worrisome but they lived a calmer life.

"Why didn't you?" Daryl questioned after a few beats.

"Because I knew you'd be back. I told you, ain't nothin' goin' to stop Daryl Dixon. Last man standin' and all that," Beth said, her voice soft, filled with a truth that only she could know.

Daryl shook his head. He hated when she spoke like that. He never could make it as the last man. He never wanted to. Especially not after getting to know her over the last year and a half that they'd only had each other.

They had been residing in a fenced in trailer park in "Somewhere", Georgia for a little over a year. They had made their home in a dingy old RV that Daryl had repaired. They could easily make their home mobile in the event that they would need to.

It had been Daryl's intent for them to get the hell out of Georgia, try to make their way towards the mountains of North Carolina. He had wanted to get them away from all of the reminders but she had put her foot down. Either he'd stay with her in Georgia while she waited and searched for any sign of their family, or he could go on without her. He was sure that they were just one run short of going to the prison to see what could remain there.

And she had him there, too. She knew that he wouldn't ever leave her, so they'd survived in Georgia for all that time waiting for a sign that someone, anyone, had made it out of the prison alive. They did, after all.

Daryl brought his hand down to rest on his knee that he had drawn up close to his chest.

"Did they stop fightin'? When you shot that gun?"

"Sure did. You don't mess with a farmer's daughter, right?"

Daryl's scoff was humor-filled and he grinned at Beth's light chuckles that followed his response. He looked over at her again when she had quieted down.

She had lifted herself up to sit cross-legged beside him. There was a pensive look about her pale face and her brows were turned up in a frown.

"Yeah?" Daryl asked, almost concerned. Beth looked at him calculatingly, her blue eyes stern, all traces of mirth gone. It caused Daryl to look away and around the abandoned trailer park. He had no idea what could be going on through that little blonde head of hers when she knew the goings-on of his mind almost better than he did himself.

"I told you that story 'cause I need you to know that I'm serious, Mr. Dixon. I have always looked in your direction… even when there were others around. I don't need you thinkin' that as soon as I can I'm goin' to up and leave you. I don't want you doubtin' my reasons for caring about you," Beth had let her voice drop down into a whisper at her confession. Daryl's eyes had immediately darted over to her face at those words and her own piercing eyes only served to heighten the intensity of her statement.

Daryl regarded her with his ever-present stare, his gaze narrow and his heart thumping a mile a minute. She was still looking at him as if she was challenging him to discount all that she had just said. He wouldn't do that, though.

She would just argue with him until he conceded anyway. Besides, the look in her bright blues told him that she was serious, that she truly did care.

And so, the dark-haired man found himself sliding his hand across that old, red and white checkerboard patterned blanket to meet hers.

Author's Note:

*PREVIOUSLY, a one-shot. I'm not sure how many chapters I'm going for but I will be adding on. I've updated this chapter with more details to a point that I'm much happier with it.

I have been reading A LOT of Bethyl fics and I've been wanting to write one myself but…I'm not even finished with my other fics yet so I've been holding out. But, I was watching an episode of TWD today and in that particular episode, Beth took initiative over a situation that was getting out of hand (as described in the fic).

In review of other episodes featuring her character, while she's in the background, I still find that she has a strong presence so I wanted to highlight that. I'm sick of the fics where she's some invalid who has to be taught every single thing. She's a smart girl so I'm sure she learned a few things despite being Judith's caretaker. Of course she doesn't know how to hunt or use a crossbow but I feel that her personal strengths are just as strong as Maggie's.