Note: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the positive response on the first chapter! I'm so happy and thankful for the lovely reviews you left me and they inspired me to write this chapter as quick as possible! I've had it in my possession for a few days, but I wanted to wait until Sunday to post it! So, here I am! :)

Just a quick little thing: I researched the climate of Alabama, Georgia, North/South Carolina and Virginia AFTER I wrote this chapter. I know that the Winters there are supposed to be milder than what I describe in this story, but the world has changed, which I suppose means that the climate can change with it. So, please, over-look the fact that the weather reports in this story might not be fully correct. After all, it is fiction! :)

Enjoy!


A Sharp Intake Of Breath (And A Memory Forgotten)

Chapter 2

As they drove away from the farmland, Daryl observed the few straggling walkers who had been making their way toward the farm. It was a good thing that he and Beth had taken their attention by driving past them although it was clear just how much they had been slowed down by the winter season.

Snow still laid on the ground and from a calendar that they had started on their own, they figured that they were somewhere close to January now. Daryl remembered how the winter had been before and for some reason he had a feeling that it wasn't just the fact that the dead had started roaming the world that had changed, but also the fact that the winter seemed a lot harsher in this part of the country nowadays. Or perhaps it had something to do with then not being as well supplied as they were back then when the world was normal? Still, he couldn't remember a time when it had been this cold in Georgia, with this much snow around and all… Then again, the farmhouse had been located in Northern Alabama and they were still a long drive from the border to Georgia, so he couldn't really say that he knew much about how the weather was around here. It still didn't change the fact that he knew that the climate, in general, seemed to have changed a lot over the past years.

He remembered that first winter that they had spent running. The one after they had fled from Hershel's farm. It had definitely been a tough one. Lori had been pregnant and she and Rick hadn't been on speaking terms because of the way that she had reacted after she had found out the truth about how Shane had died. Rick had declared that democracy no longer existed and Daryl had been kind of glad to see him step up as a leader so that he could have someone to follow. It could have had to do with the fact that he had been so used to following Merle around that he had forgotten what it meant to make decisions of his own. Naturally, he was a hunter and knew things that most people didn't about nature; he could have been fine on his own if he had decided to keep to himself. Yet, there had just been something about the group that had made him re-think the whole thing about being on his own. Carol might have had something to do with it too, because he couldn't deny the fact that he had grown attached to the woman in a way after he had spent so much time looking for her little girl. After Sophia had been found dead, he had lashed out at the woman though, maybe because he had felt like she had given up on her daughter too soon and maybe, just maybe, he could have done things differently and found her sooner.

It didn't matter much now though because it felt as if years and years had passed, even though it couldn't be more than two. So much had happened since then, so much had changed. They had been through so much that they were different and he knew now for sure that he had made the right call by sticking around and not leaving in the middle of the night like he had thought about doing so many times while they had been freezing on the road.

When they had found the prison, Daryl had thought that they had hit the jackpot. It became a place of stability and for a while before the Governor came tearing down their gates, Daryl had felt like someone who was worth something because he had helped to form that community alongside Hershel, Rick and everyone else. After they lost it, he felt like he had lost himself once again. He hated the fact that he was back to being nobody again and felt that he had failed the people who had trusted him to keep them safe. Beth had seen him at his darkest, when he had been lit like a Christmas tree, yelling and crying about how he wished he could have done things differently. She had relived almost the same conversation just a couple of months ago, when he had finally broken down and admitted to her how he had felt after he had thought that he had lost her forever.

She had picked him up then and given back the thing he had thought he had lost. She had given him a purpose again. He had known that she could hold her own if needed, but he had wanted to make her even better at doing so, which had been why he had decided to teach her how to hunt. Later, after they had been reunited, when he had told her again how he felt, she had picked him up again; this time putting together the broken pieces that had been left of him after he had thought that he had lost her forever.

Daryl glanced her way, smiling to himself when he saw her looking through the maps that Eugene had marked out a route for them to follow. Sometimes it was still difficult for him to believe that he got to wake up next to her every morning. When he thought back to the first time he laid eyes on her, he never would have expected things to turn out the way they had. If someone would have told him that he would be falling in love with Beth Greene, he probably would have laughed in their face before breaking their nose.

Before, he had flinched away every time someone would touch him. He remembered that time that Carol had kissed his cheek and thanked him for looking for Sophia, or the time that Hershel cleaned up his wound after he had shot himself with an arrow. It had felt as if his skin had been burning whenever someone touched him and all he had been able to think about had been the flames that had once engulfed his childhood home and burned his mother alive. The fire had been connected to nothing but pain and grief and he had loathed the burn more than anything. Every touch had felt like the burn of the belt that his father had used to beat him with and he hadn't wanted the reminder.

Now though, things were different. Over the time that he had spent with the group he had learned that things didn't always have to hurt. He had allowed Rick and Hershel to pat his back every once in a while as they expressed their gratitude for something or when they were praising him, he let Carol stand close to him and tease him about things without flying off the handle thinking that she was making fun of him somehow.

He thinks, however, that one of the biggest turning points was that evening that he went to Beth's cell and the girl he considered a part of his family – without actually thinking much about her other than how to keep her safe along with the rest – hugged him, without much thought. It had been a simple display of affection, but her had never actually been shown such a thing, except for that time when Carol had kissed his cheek. Somehow though, that little hug had felt different. Daryl hadn't thought about Beth in a romantic way back then. Those feelings had been developed later on. Sure, that hug may have sparked something inside of him that had made him notice her a little more, but he had buried that feeling deep down so that he wouldn't have to think about it ever again. The only other time that he may have thought a little more about Beth in the prison, had been that one time when he hadn't been able to sleep and he had heard her singing Judith a song as she tried to put her to bed. But that had been weeks before their first hug.

Daryl was still a very private person and he wasn't one for public displays of affection. When he and Beth had returned to the farmhouse after they had confessed their feelings for one another, he knew that they hadn't had to announce anything. He had held on to Beth's hand, for the first time deciding that he had something that was worth showing. After that though, they kept mostly to themselves. Sure, Carol and some others may or may not have walked in on them once or twice, but he figured that with as many times as they had walked in on Maggie and Glenn, they could take a simple kiss between him and Beth. It wasn't as if they showed off in front of them though. Everyone knew they were together and that was enough.

But the way that Beth made him feel whenever she touched him. He thought about that burning fire that he had used to associate with nothing but pain and misery and realized that Beth's fire burned him differently. It ignited something inside of him that made it feel like it was worth burning because he would be reborn again as something better. Sometimes he thought back to that first fire she had lit inside of him, when she had suggested that they burn down that old shack in the woods. It had been crazy and dangerous, but he had done it and with it, his past had burned. After that, every time someone touched him, it didn't feel like pain anymore, because he had let go of that as he had watched the flames rise to the night sky before he and Beth had run off together.

Things were different now than how they had been before. He was different and Beth was different. She had been changed after she had lost her memories and been forced to create a new persona, not knowing that she was still very much the same good person that she had been before deep inside, and he had changed when he had lost her in that damned hospital.

When he thought about that first time that he had seen her on Hershel's farm, he remembered how he had thought that she was someone who wouldn't last a day out in the real world where the walkers prowled. Then later, she had proven to not only be resourceful, but also as much of a survivor as any of them. She became a fighter and someone he was proud to call his partner in every way. Despite what many might think, she was his equal and he loved her for it because he had never thought that he would be able to find someone like her.

Daryl looked at her again, hearing her hum a small tune that he couldn't remember if he had ever heard before and he smiled a little to himself. Rick and the others were more than equipped to take care of themselves on the farm. The wall was secure and the pits that they had dug would be good enough to hold off any walkers that wandered toward them, even though there seemed to be less and less every day.

All that Daryl needed to focus on now was the mission that he and Beth had been sent on and the road.

-§-

Beth flipped the map she was looking at, eyes moving over the route that Eugene had marked up for them. The farmhouse that they had left behind, along with their family had been located in North Alabama and they were heading to Georgia right now. The border hadn't been too far away, but Beth figured that they would reach it some time tomorrow. She could feel Daryl's eyes on her, although she knew that his mind was going a mile a minute, so she didn't want to interrupt whatever it was he was thinking about. Besides, she needed to figure out where they were right now, since they had been driving for approximately three hours and all the signs on the road seemed to have been destroyed somehow.

She sighed to herself, wondering whether the world would ever get some of it normalcy back. Or perhaps, this would be the new normal? Fighting dead people until they no longer wandered the Earth and then taking care of those who died before they could turn. It didn't seem so bad when she thought about it, but the fact was that she felt as if humanity might have been lost since the apocalypse began.

Sure, she couldn't remember everything from when it had all begun, but she still had a feeling that people were different now. Those who had survived so far were far more messed up than the psychopaths who had walked the Earth before. Beth remembered those men who had attacked her group and almost killed them all. She remembered everything since she had dug herself out of her own grave and those men hadn't been the first bad ones that she had come across. Together with Morgan she had been through quite a lot when they had been on their own on the road. There had been some close calls, but she knew that that was a part of her story; a story that she had shared at least some parts of with Daryl. It had taken time for her to open up to him about it, though, she knew that he understood her reluctance didn't mean that she didn't trust him or love him. Basically, it was all about her simply not wanting to talk about it yet because it was in the past. Just like Daryl wasn't pressuring her to remember how things had been between them before, he wasn't pressuring her to tell him how she had fought her way to becoming the woman she was today. Of course, that didn't mean that he didn't enjoy listening to her when she finally did share something with him. Either way, they were moving forward together and that was what was most important.

"You're gonna burn a hole through those maps if you keep glarin' at them the way you are," Daryl teased her, making her look up at him.

"I was just looking at this route," Beth sighed. "Eugene really went out of his way to mark up emergency exit routes for us."

"He's a good man..." Daryl mumbled. "Took him a while to step up and admit that he'd been lyin'. Took a good while for me to trust him. But he's good."

Beth knew that story. Daryl had told her about it all one night when they had been laying in bed together. It wasn't very unusual for her to ask him to tell her something – anything – about the things he had been through when he had been on the road and she hadn't been there. Sometimes she asked him to tell her things about them too, but when they had talked it over, they had decided that it was just better to let things come up naturally, in case she ever remembered anything on her own.

"Good man indeed," Beth agreed. "I know he was a little bit creepy at first, the way he followed me around and all that… But after I confronted him he turned out to be all right. He's just a little awkward sometimes."

"'S a good thing he learned to keep his hands off of ya," Daryl gruffly said, but he sounded like he was hiding a smile.

"Oh, please," Beth scoffed. "Don't tell me that you were ready to defend my honor." She couldn't help but giggle lightly, raising an eyebrow at Daryl.

He turned his head in her direction and shot her a smirk. "Nah, I know you would'a beat him up by yourself, if needed," he half chuckled.

She loved how playful they could get with each other sometimes. The fact that Daryl was able to feel so relaxed around her that he could actually joke around like that meant everything to her. It just showed how far he had come as a person as well and how their relationship continued to grow and develop daily.

Beth didn't need to think twice about leaning over to press a light kiss against his cheek. She could almost see a hint of red on his face when she pulled back and she heard him let out a small breath. "It's a good thing you know it," she winked, turning back to the maps again. "You know there are probably a lot of places in-between the spots that Eugene marked for us that we can make a stop. It'll be like out very own road trip."

"Yeah, if a road trip included dead people tryin' to eat us alive," Daryl muttered. "Best we just stick to the plan."

"Oh, come on," Beth nudged him lightly with her fist. "Don't be like that. I know this is serious business and everything but the walkers are slowed down by the cold and we'll stick to the places we think are safe. We'll be fine, Daryl."

Daryl remained quiet, but Beth knew that they would without a doubt be making some stops along the way that weren't part of the plan. It was inevitable because who knew if they would need more food or just a day or two to rest somewhere. They couldn't just drive and drive and hope to find what they were looking for in one place. It wouldn't make sense.

"Okay," Daryl finally said. "We'll see if we can make a couple of stop along the way… But we ain't riskin' our lives just because you wanna see a Chuck E. Cheese or whatever. 'Sides, that robotic shit with singing animals always freaked me out when I saw the commercials..."

Beth grinned to herself but didn't say anything about it. "Just remember that we need to make sure that we'll be able to go back home before Maggie gives birth," she said instead.

"Ya know that ain't gonna be a problem, Beth," Daryl nodded. "We'll be back before ya know it, so why don't we just enjoy this little bit of peace an' quiet we got now?"

Beth placed her hand on his knee and she could feel him move slightly in his seat. "Whatever you say, Mr. Dixon," she smirked before laughing at the exasperated look he sent her way.

-§-

Daryl stared ahead at the road, but he could feel that his vision was beginning to get a bit blurry. His shoulders were tense and they had been like that for the past hour. There was an uncomfortable feeling in his neck from straining so much that he wondered if it was possible for him to actually acquire an injury from sitting too long.

He blinked a couple of times, trying to ease the burning in his eyes. His throat was feeling a little dry, despite the fact that he had been taking regular sips from his water bottle. Beth had offered to drive a couple of times, but for some reason he didn't want her driving. He didn't doubt her skills; it wasn't about that at all. It was just that he wanted her to rest and relax. They would have enough to do later and he knew that he would be fine.

"We should stop for a while," Beth spoke through the haze that was beginning to wash over him. "You've been driving for hours and you're tired."

"I'm fine," he protested, but his voice was a little too raspy for it to be convincing.

"Daryl, pull this car over before you crash," Beth told him sternly. "It doesn't matter that it isn't night yet. It's better for us to rest now and then we can get up earlier and keep going."

"We should drive while there's still light out," he said.

"We haven't stopped for hours, Daryl," Beth repeated. "The only time we stopped was when I was close to peeing myself and that was like a five-minute break. Don't kill yourself because this is just the beginning of our trip."

He knew that what he was doing was just plain stupid and as Michonne had said so many times, stupidity was what got one killed in this world. Daryl nodded solemnly and checked the rear-view mirror before looking around once. There were no walkers in sight, but there was snow everywhere. He pulled over on the side of the road before turning off the engine.

"I'll keep watch first so you can get some sleep," he told Beth.

Beth shook her head, removing her seatbelt as she turned to face him fully, reaching over to cup his cheek. "Daryl, please," she said. "Stop being so stubborn all the time. You're the one who needs to sleep. You don't have to make sure that I'm okay all of the time. You're not my chaperone, you're my… My partner," she told him, hesitating a little on which word to use to describe the two of them. Daryl liked that word though: partners. "You aren't alone anymore," Beth continued, saying the one thing that she tried to remind him of every single day. He wasn't alone anymore, because he had her. He had found her again, after he had thought that he had lost her forever and he wasn't the one who needed to always take care of her. Sometimes, it was all right for him to be taken care of too.

"Okay, you're right," he finally conceded. The smile Beth gave him was worth it and when she leaned over and pressed her lips to his softly, he didn't hesitate in kissing her back.

He liked those kisses the best, he decided then. The kind of kiss that wasn't too heated or sloppy, the kind that was soft and sweet and just slow. For some reason, it confirmed the fact that they were more than just lovers. Those kinds of kisses told him that the thing between him and Beth ran deeper than just sex and love. It was something so deeply embedded in his core then that he honestly didn't even have any words for it.

It had something to do with his soul, he thought. She had given him a piece of herself and thus, he had somehow managed to find himself in all of this madness that surrounded them. Loving Beth was just a part of something bigger. It was a part that meant a hell of a lot to him, but the feelings he had for her… He didn't want to limit them to just love. However, that was probably the easiest way to express it, so he would have to keep telling her that he loved her and let all those other feelings be shown through his actions.

He didn't get to tell her that he loved her though, because as soon as Beth had pulled away from him, he had leaned back in his seat and fallen asleep.

-§-

Beth gazed at Daryl, taking in his sleeping form. He looked comfortable, despite being crammed up in his seat. She had wanted to tell him to push it back, but he had fallen asleep on her before she had even gotten a word in after they had pulled apart from their sweet kiss. He looked so peaceful that Beth couldn't help but smile to herself before she took out her gun and her knife, looking out the window to make sure that no walkers – or people for that matter – would be able to sneak up at them. Daryl had parked the car close to a large pile of snow, so she only had to look three ways to make sure that nothing was coming at them, but it seemed to be peaceful tonight.

The walkers were slowed down and Beth could only assume that the survivors who were out there somewhere had done the same as her family and found a safe place to stay over the winter. Beth glanced over toward Daryl who was still peacefully sleeping and she reached down into her backpack and took out one of the blankets they had taken with them, covering him up with it. He mumbled her name in his sleep and Beth smiled to herself again, silently wondering why he continued to be so damn stubborn about taking care of her sometimes. He needed to know that it was okay for him to let go sometimes too.

After sitting in the car for a couple of hours, Beth picked out the radio phone that Eugene had fixed for them and pulled her jacket closer around herself. She looked at Daryl one more time before quietly slipping out of the car, closing the door slowly so that it would slam and wake Daryl. Pressing the button on the side, she swallowed thickly, praying to whatever was out there that the thing would work at this range.

"Come in home base, come in," she spoke into the device slowly. "This is… Little bird, come in." She almost rolled her eyes at the name she had given herself and suddenly she felt incredibly silly about getting out of the car alone. Just as she was about to head inside though, something crackled in the device.

"Home base to Little bird," came a slightly disoriented, but amused, voice that sounded a lot like Rick Grimes. "Home base to Little bird, are you there? Over."

"I'm here," Beth replied, a smile covering her features. "Rick is that you?"

"Sure is," Rick replied. "It's so good to hear your voice. Everything okay? Where are you guys? Where's Daryl?" The questions were coming in quickly, but from time to time the words were a cut off halfway. Although Beth understood him perfectly fine.

"Everything's good," she told him. "We're somewhere close to the border of Georgia. Daryl's asleep since he exhausted himself driving all day."

"That's good," Rick said. "The signal isn't the best but at least it's somethin'. Everyone's good here too by the way."

"Good to hear," Beth grinned to herself. "I'm gonna head inside the car now. It's freezing out here but I just wanted to check in."

"We should keep in touch for as long as it's possible. I like that codename, 'Little bird'," he added then, as a second thought. Beth chuckled before shaking her head. Daryl had slipped up once and called her that in front of everyone else. Morgan had liked it so much that he had almost stopped calling her lil' Lady in favor of the new name, but Beth had made sure that they all knew that only Daryl was allowed to call her that. Later, she had told Daryl that he was only allowed to call her that when they were alone, but she had made sure that he knew that she loved it.

"Don't let him forget about himself out there, Beth," Rick said before Beth could fall into the memory of what she and Daryl had done that particular night.

"I won't, Rick," she promised, more to herself than anyone else. "Tell everyone that I said 'hi' and we'll keep in touch. We'll radio in tomorrow morning before we start driving again."

"Sounds good. G'night and stay safe."

"You too, good night."

Beth got inside the car again, put the radio phone away and rubbed her hands together to get warm again. She knew she should have put on some gloves before stepping outside.

"Where were ya?" Daryl asked from beside her and Beth turned her head in his direction only to see that he was awake.

"I was just outside," she replied. "I radioed Rick and told him where we were and that we were fine."

"That's good," Daryl mumbled, reaching over to take her hands in his. She let him hold them as he slowly massaged heat into them again and she sighed in content before leaning into him a little.

"Did you get some rest at least?" she wondered.

"Yeah," he said, voice still laced with some sleep. "You were right. I needed it." He pressed a light kiss to the top of her head. "Why don't you sleep some now and I'll keep watch for about an hour or so and then start drivin'?"

"Okay," Beth yawned, finally feeling her own tiredness seeping into her bones. "But we'll switch mid-day tomorrow. You can't be the only one who drives, Daryl."

"I know, I know," he said, pressing another soft kiss to her forehead this time. "We're a team, so we'll switch. Promise."

Beth's lips turned up and she pecked him on the lips lightly before pulling her hands – which he'd warmed up for her – away from him. She pulled on her gloves and leaned back in her seat, settling herself so that she too could get some sleep. After just a moment, she felt his rough fingers brushing over the scar on her cheek and she did her best not to open her eyes again.

"Love ya so damn much, girl," Daryl whispered to her quietly.

Beth couldn't help but smile as sleep finally took over.


Note: Thank you so much for reading! I really hope you're liking it so far! The next chapter is gonna involve a memory that I've kind of explored a little bit in the first story, but this time around, Beth is gonna get hit with the full blast of it! Either way, there's gonna be a lot of Bethyl sweetness in the chapter, so I hope you're looking forward to it! :)

Thank you for reading and don't forget to drop a comment to tell me what you thought about the chapter! ;) xx