What's up Walkers?!

This is my first Walking Dead fanfic. I'm obsessed! Even though they're going to air season 9 soon, I miss the days when Beth was around. I'm not opposed to Carol and Daryl but I do prefer Beth and Daryl. Please let me know if you're interested. This idea has been in my head for the last week and it's about time I put it in writing!

Thanks,

Angelic-Bitch

Chapter One: Favour

Beth was in the prison canteen helping Carol serve dinner. On their last run, to everyone's delight, Michonne and Glenn had found many packets of instant noodles. They were serving it with a generous portion of venison from the deer that Daryl had brought back that morning and some leafy greens from the veggie patch they had set up. It was a feast.

Once they had served everyone, Beth and Carol served themselves and sat down at the nearest table.

"Have you asked Daryl yet?" Carol asked curiously before swirling the noodles around her fork to take a bite.

"Not yet," replied Beth looking to her older friend. "I'm not really sure how to ask him."

Carol smiled at that and watched Beth cut her meat into smaller pieces.

"I know he can seem…unapproachable at times - "

Beth scoffed at that.

"But, he doesn't bite. Just ask him like you asked me. It was easy."

Beth nodded but restrained herself from pointing out to Carol that asking her for a favour and asking Daryl Dixon for a favour were two very different things.

Mika and Lizzie came to sit with them and they moved on to other topics. Mika asked Beth to do a plait in her hair and Beth couldn't refuse. She adored Mika and the feeling was mutual. Once they had finished their meals Carol suggested that Beth take a plate to Daryl while he was on watch in the guard tower. Beth knew it was the older woman's way of pushing her to talk to him.

Beth entered the guard tower and climbed the stairs carefully so as not to spill the plate of food she was carrying. As she reached the door she felt a jolt of nervous energy run through her system but she pushed forward trying to ignore it and opened the door.

Daryl's eyebrows raised slightly when he saw that it was her.

"Brought you dinner." Beth explained as she walked over to him, even though it was obvious. He nodded and clicked the safety on the rifle he was holding and lay the gun against the wall. Beth watched him move and noticed the muscles in his arms ripple.

He took the plate and fork from her without saying anything and started to eat. He looked up and his brow furrowed. Why was she still standing there?

"Thanks." He mumbled gruffly.

"Sure," came her automatic response. She still didn't move.

"Sumthin wrong?" He asked abandoning the fork to pick up the piece of meat to take a big bite.

"Uh no," she began. She took a breath. Just get it over with. "I, uh, actually wanted to talk to you about somethin."

His eyes connected with hers and she felt a strong sense of alertness course through her body.

"I wanted to ask you a favour," Beth continued. "I was wonderin if you would be willin to teach me how to fight and possibly hunt?" There, I said it.

His brows furrowed and he continued to stare at her. It was unnerving and then she realised that he could have taken her question as an insult so she rushed to explain.

"It's not that I don't think we're protected here. Far from it. I feel totally safe here. I just, I – I think it would be a good idea."

He put the plate on the floor and moved closer to her until he was towering over her slightly.

"You wanna go outside the fence? You bored here? S'that it princess?" his voice was soft and low, but the look it his eyes showed that he was annoyed.

"N-no that's not it."

"You wanna go out there and risk your life? For what? To get away from those kids? Babysitting too hard for you?"

Beth felt her back stiffen. His condescending tone and the implication that looking after Judith and the other kids was easy made her temper flare. She felt the urge to slap him but she was too intimidated to follow through or even give him a piece of her mind. He didn't understand her. He still saw her as the immature, selfish girl who had cut her wrist back on the farm. He didn't understand that those kids were her life now.

She shrugged and took a few steps back.

"Forget it!" she stated icily and turned around to leave.

As she reached the door, Judith's face floated into her mind, then Mika's, then Luke's, then those of all the children in her charge. She sighed. She turned back around and walked forcefully up to the hunter and folded her arms.

She didn't look at him or say anything as she gathered her thoughts. He didn't say anything either, he just studied her silently. He was surprised that the girl hadn't run off crying.

What could she say to convince him? She decided that the truth was the only way. She didn't want to share her fears with him, she didn't want to give him more ammunition to mock her but she had to try for the kid's sake.

She took a deep breath and voiced what she hadn't said aloud to anyone.

"I keep havin this dream." She spoke quietly and didn't look him in the eye. "It's a nightmare really." She bit her lip nervously and forced herself to continue. Daryl couldn't take his eyes off her. In that moment she looked so vulnerable and he noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

"Somethin happens to the prison. Like what happened to the farm. And we're all split up. And because I'm always with the kids. I'm with them and no one else. We're always in the woods and I've got Judith in my arms and – and - "

Daryl understood in an instant what she was getting at and he felt a wave of guilt pass over him for biting her head off earlier.

"They're all scared and looking at me to protect them," she continued shakily. Daryl watched as she lifted her hand up to tuck a tendril of her golden hair behind her ear.

"But I don't know how." She whispered the last part, her eyes to the floor, unable to look at him.

He remained silent and continued to study her. She had changed and he had never noticed. He brought his hand up and ran a finger over his upper lip.

"Why me?" he asked in a low tone but not unkindly. "You could ask Carol or - "

"I already have." She stated and she looked directly at him. Her voice was more confident now. "Carol's going to teach me how to shoot properly. I mean, I'm ok at it but I'm not great. Michonne is going to teach me too. She wants me to develop some knife skills before I try her katana. I don't want to ask Maggie or Glenn because I know they'd worry about me. And I thought if you were willin, you could teach me to fight in close combat and to find food."

He nodded slowly.

"Okay, I'll teach ya." Their eyes locked and Beth gave him a small smile. Daryl wondered if her eyes had always been so blue.

"Really?"

"Hmm," he nodded. "It ain't gonna be easy girl."

Beth nodded. "It's not goin to be easy for you either," she said with a slight smile. "I'm not a good student when it comes to this kind of thing. It really doesn't come natural to me but I'll practice until I get it. Anyway, I've got to go heat up Judith's formula."

Before he could blink she was gone. As he continued his shift his thoughts continued to drift to the youngest Greene girl. It annoyed him. They had barely said any words to each other since they met on the farm. She had always been there, a part of the group, but he had never really noticed her. He couldn't say that anymore.

So, what do you think?