Quick Update: Daryl is determined to keep Beth safe after their escape from the Prison.

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Surviving was getting harder. Daryl only needed to find food and water for two, but the towns near the prison had been picked over months ago, no longer could you stroll into a store to collect food and bottled water. Many houses too had been emptied of anything useful, either by their owners who were about to go on the run or by desperate survivors. So often he and Beth found empty kitchens and frustration grew in him everytime it happened.

Hunting was difficult because Daryl refused to leave Beth alone while he hunted, she was light on her feet, but not used to the woods. Squirrels were few and far between anyway, the amount of meat on them and the time it took hunting them was making it not worth the trouble, especially as he didn't want to risk lighting a fire to cook the little animal.

Gas was easy to find, there were plenty of cars around but collecting it was time consuming. It became a regular chore as they drove through the area searching for fellow prison inmates and avoiding anyone who might be trouble. They couldn't carry any stores of gas on the bike, it was awkward enough stowing away their weapons. Any food they found they either ate immediately or Beth carried in Michonne's rucksack, while balancing on the pillion. Everytime Beth got off the bike she stretched awkwardly, Daryl knew she found it uncomfortable, but she didn't complain. He actually considered picking out a car and ditching his brother's bike, but they wouldn't be able to move around so easily, so he quickly scrapped that plan.

They saw very few walkers, he assumed they'd moved towards the prison, following the noise. He expected they would be occupied there for days. It wasn't walkers that worried Daryl, it was humans, particularly the surviving male population. He had beaten a confession of gang rape out of a kid called Randall once, Beth would be a wet dream to a group like that. It soured his stomach to think about it, but it made him cautious.

He wanted to take care of Beth, to get her back to the group and her sister, but most nights she went to a makeshift bed, exhausted and hungry, with no sign of her sister. It made Daryl more determined than ever not to fail her and her father. A week on the road, eating little, sleeping rough and above all mourning her father and worrying about her sister was taking it's toll on her, she had always looked beautiful but delicate, now he thought she looked more fragile than ever. He could not fail her.

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No one would ever say either Daryl or Beth were chatty, with Beth in shock from her loss and Daryl concentrating on surviving and finding their people, most of their time together was spent without much conversation. Although there was one conversation that they repeated regularly in various forms, to Beth it seemed like a deadly serious version of Where's Wally merged with Twenty Questions.

"Tell me again, you were at the bus with your sister but neither of you stayed there?"

"Maggie went to find Glenn, I went to get Judith. I didn't see her or Glenn again." Beth's voice was strained, but Daryl needed answers.

"Did you see the bus again?"

"No, it was gone when I came back outside. I only saw you after that..."

"So Maggie and Glenn could have got on the bus just like we planned?"

"I hope so." Beth said fervently.

"The bus left before us, so I thought we would catch up with it. Could they have gone to Woodbury? Why would they do that?"

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Beth had her own questions, "Were you near to Carl? Where did he go?"

"He went down the lawn to his dad. I lost track of him after that." Daryl shook his head. "I got totally distracted by that damn tank!"

"It was a tank, Daryl. Very distracting! If you hadn't destroyed it, things could have been worse for all of us."

Daryl appreciated the support but it didn't make him feel any better about loosing track of people.

"So Carl should be with Rick, he should be ok?" Beth tried to sound hopeful.

"I think he'd be alright on his own too, but yeah, if he's with Rick there's a good chance the two of 'em are good. Michonne was down there too." Daryl hesitated to mention Michonne as she had been so close to Hershel when he'd been killed.

"You said you didn't see what happened to her?"

"I didn't, not totally, but she was moving away from… the trouble." Daryl said awkwardly.

"You think she's alive?"

He nodded, "She's the surviving type."

Daryl was surprised when Beth managed a small smile. "So she was quite near Rick and Carl. They could have met up?"

"Maybe, but this is real guesswork now, sweetheart, try not to get too excited."

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"Before everything started, Ass Kicker was with the other kids?" Daryl began one night as he was struggling to sleep.

"Yes, but she'd gone when I went back to get her. Her carrier too."

"So someone carried her out of there. Someone would have taken her to the bus. The girls all knew to do that."

"Yeah, she'll be safe." Tears swam in Beth's eyes as she prayed that was true. "I bet they've already met her Dad and Carl and Michonne. Maybe they're all wondering where we've gotten to."

"We'll find 'em."

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Another time Beth began their strange game. "I didn't see Carol at all."

"Carol wasn't there. She didn't come back with Rick." Daryl replied, Beth scowled in confusion but he didn't want to explain that part of the story to her. "Carol wanted a little time away."

"So she should be out of the prison? We might find her on the road?"

"Hope so."

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For the second time in her life, Beth's world had changed beyond recognition. Life in the prison was hard, but it become home and she had the comfort of her father and sister. That had all been snatched away from her by a psychopath with an eye patch.

During the day, she was still trying to block out thoughts of her father so she concentrated on doing what she was told. She hadn't been out of the prison since they arrived, Daryl seemed very aware of that and for the first couple of days he gave lots of instructions to her when they were scavenging through houses.

At night she was exhausted and slept better than she could have hoped. She even felt guilty for not laying awake at night crying over her loss or worrying about her sister. Crying and worrying took energy, Beth had very little.

The back of the bike had become her sanctuary. Going through towns she made sure she was aware of her surroundings, but on long stretches of road she let her mind go to her father. She wanted to mourn him, he didn't have a grave where she could go and pay her respects but she could remember him. The initial memories were filled with the horror of his murder, but eventually she thought of better times. Life on the farm before the turn, even some of the good days in the prison. She heard her daddy's laughter, she saw his encouraging smile, all the while leaning on Daryl, resting her cheek to his back.

There had been times in the last few months when Beth thought she would give anything to ride on Daryl Dixon's bike, to share some alone time with him.

She had told no one, not even her sister but she'd had a massive crush on Daryl for a long while, although there was absolutely no way she would do anything about it. She had told herself she was being a ridiculous school girl, and this crush was no more likely to come to fruition than the crush she'd had on her art teacher when she was fifteen. She could even compare her thoughts about Daryl, to Carl's thoughts about her. Never gonna happen.

Her infatuation with him had developed slowly, she'd been scared of him at first. He was one of the strangers camping on their land. The strangest of the strangers who had taken her favourite horse, gotten himself stabbed with his own arrow and almost shot in the head by one of his own group. At the time she had been struggling to cope with the way the world had turned on it's head and had thought of little of anything other than her own broken family circle.

It was when they reached the prison she began to realise she should be taking more notice of him. Of course he was keeping everyone safe and keeping the place supplied, if that wasn't enough, when Judith arrived he had been incredible with her. His proud face when he'd first fed the baby was etched on her mind. Beth had planned to have a baby at some time in her life, and when she did, she wanted the father to look at her child just like that.

She didn't fool herself, nothing was going to happen with Daryl. When he called by her room it was to see Lil' Ass Kicker, she knew that. It wasn't easy to forget about him though, she needed a little escapism from the hard life they had.

She began to see Zach because everyone thought she should. They were supposed to be a romance novel, but it didn't feel like that to her. He made he laugh, she could pretend with him that the world wasn't changed. He was fun, he was a friend. It was no surprise to her that he died, but it was a shock that Daryl came to tell her. He'd admitted he was grieving while she felt nothing. Hugging him felt right, although she could tell it was something he wasn't used to.

Still she knew that he was the hero, she was the nanny, never gonna happen.

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"Never gonna happen" we shall see!

This is another short chapter, just while I test the waters! Although everyone's been very kind so far. Thank you for the comments and follows, they are really appreciated.

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Happy New Year to Everyone! I hope 2014 brings you every happiness.

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2nd January 2014 ~ FanOTheFang on Twitter and Tumblr