A/N: I really like this chapter. I like it level "I'm going to bury my face and giggle".
Disclaimer: TWD and its characters aren't mine. I wish, because fifth season was HELL.
There had passed another couple of days since Daryl and Beth's water fight, and she couldn't stop thinking about that time spent with the youngest Dixon. It had been a while since the last time she had had so much fun. When Annette had suggested Hershel they could spend their summer in Lincoln, her excuse for that sudden idea was "a change of scene", even though everyone in their family knew they really meant Beth, who had been so deeply absorbed by herself those last months that her parents had even thought of taking her to a doctor, both of them terrified because suddenly her little girl had turned from a sweet and happy girl to be silent and wanting to be alone.
So that evening, after dinner, Beth decided that she wanted to live the world that she had been watching from her bedroom's window, and she got out without telling everyone. She started walking in the same direction that she took the other day, climbing the only slope in that small town, but that time, instead of heading towards the forests, she kept going to the dirt road until she reached the zone full of dilapidated houses where she had come in her first day there. She didn't need long to spot the bar where Maggie and her new friends used to go: it was the only bar in the town, and also, it was known for its bad reputation.
She looked at herself and suddenly regretted her outfit choice when she was about to open the door. She was wearing a sky-blue blouse with jeans and her cowboy boots. It wasn't like she was going to come back home to change, of course, but she was thinking of looking like an older person, or at least a person of her age, but now she looked like she was ten.
She was about to open the door when a masculine voice stopped her.
"Huh, look who's here" Beth froze when she heard Len's voice behind her. She turned her head to squint at him. Len was approaching her with a shit-eating grin, "Maggie's baby sister".
"Hello" she greeted him as she tried to be nice and smile, but for some reason, she couldn't bring herself to.
"What is a kid like you 'round here?"
"'M not a kid" Beth replied immediately, and Len bursted out laughing dryly.
"Course not" and the way he leered at her showed her his real thoughts. Beth's stomach dropped suddenly, "Damn shame you're jailbait, gorgeous".
"Not really" Beth answered tensely. Len's smile faded.
"But if you're illegal you can't go in there, can you, girl?" he lifted a hand and pinched her cheek. Beth moved away brusquely, "Don't be rude, Bethy, your sister's more eager to touch".
Beth's hands clenched into fists.
"Don't think she lets you" she was honestly surprised by her own words and the firmness of her voice. Now Len looked pissed. He grabbed her by her arm and moved her towards him, trying to intimidate her.
"You'd be surprised to know what she lets guys do" he grunted. Beth straightened up, willing to send a comeback.
Just in that instant the door opened and Daryl appeared, fidgeting in his pockets. He lifted his head and stared at Len, then at Beth, and then at Len again, now frowning.
"What're you doin'?" he asked. Len grinned and dropped Beth's arm. She rubbed it, feeling extremely annoyed.
"Just talkin' with Maggie's baby sister" he answered, shrugging. Beth felt Daryl's eyes on her for a second before he spoke.
"She doesn't look like she wanna talk with you" Daryl countered, and both boys looked at her, "I'd better leave if I were you".
"Or what?" they approached each other until their foreheads were almost together, staring daggers at one another. Beth felt a bit scared when she thought one of them was going to punch the other, but she couldn't move or intervene.
"Or I'll make you leave" Daryl grunted. A few really tense seconds passed, until finally Len moved away, chuckling and shaking his head.
"All yours, Dixon" he told him, "Too prissy for me" and he pushed Beth lightly so she would move towards Daryl. She turned around and opened her mouth, but Len had already gotten into the bar.
The both of them stayed silent for a few moments in which Beth tried to find the proper words. Daryl seemed to be more interested in taking out of his pocket a lighter to light up a cigarette he had suddenly produced than in looking at her.
"He always acts like a jerk?" she finally asked. Daryl shrugged as he exhaled a smoke snuff, "Thanks".
"It wasn't for you" he grunted immediately, "Len seem willing to press my buttons to see how much I let him before he loses his teeth".
"Oh" Beth muttered, "Thanks anyway".
"What are you doin here?" Daryl asked her, pointing at her with a finger from the hand that was holding the lighter.
"I was taking a walk" she just answered, praying so Daryl wouldn't see through his lie. However, he pierced her with those blue eyes that seemed to be able to read her thoughts and nodded slowly, taking another drag of the cigarette.
"A walk" he repeated. Beth smiled, blushing softly, and he smirked lightly, raising an eyebrow.
"Hmm-mm" he muttered, exhaling again before he dropped the cigarette to the ground, "Weird place to take a walk" he said with a jokingly tone.
"Why do you always my walk's decisions?" she answered in the same tone.
"You don't have a good judgment" he shrugged. Beth nodded, biting her lower lip.
"You should enlighten me then" she finally answered, feeling brave. Daryl seemed to think about it before he nodded. He took two steps forward until he was beside her, and then, he turned towards the woods.
"Follow the creek and keep goin' til you find a bridge" he indicated her. Beth blinked, confused, but then she saw Daryl's smirk and she started laughing.
"Very funny".
He just shrugged and took a step back. A thunder was heard in the distance, and Beth lifted her head, surprised.
"It's gonna rain?" she muttered, almost to herself, but then Daryl nodded.
"It's gonna pour" he confirmed.
Just like the sky had heard him, the first drops started falling. Beth couldn't help laughing, and then rain intensified.
"We should go in" Beth said, but he shook his head.
"Do you wanna go in there with Joe and his buddies?" he asked her, raising his eyebrows, "Le's go".
"Where to?"
But he didn't answer. Instead, he started walking towards the houses, and even though Beth was lightly confused, she followed him immediately. However, and unlike Beth's thoughts, Daryl didn't keep that way much longer, deviating instead for a trail hidden by the bushes that Beth hadn't seen. Despite it was covered by green, the rest of the way didn't have a single tree or any vegetation at all. Daryl was climbing towards one of the mountains.
"Are we gonna climb while it's raining?" she asked him. Daryl just pointed at a half-ruined barn in the middle of a clearing. He picked up the pace and she did the same.
When they arrived there, Daryl just had to get rid of a wood table that was blocking the doors to open them. Beth felt a sudden nostalgia when she remembered the barn of her farmhouse. Daryl closed the doors after she came in and started shaking his head like a dog to get rid of the water in his hair. Beth was soaking wet too, but she just squeezed her braid carefully and started trying to separate the fabric of the blouse from her body.
"How come I always wind up drippin' when I'm with ya?" he grunted, and Beth smiled.
"Don't say it like it's a bad thing, you have fun with me" she teased him lightly. Daryl grunted again something unintelligible and Beth started climbing the wooden mobile stairs to get to the hayloft.
"Where are you going?"
"Here's so much better. C'mon" she encouraged him when she reached her destination, "Are you afraid of heights?"
Daryl snorted.
"'M afraid of nothing" he answered as he started climbing. Beth couldn't help smiling before Daryl's bravado. Once he got there too, she moved so he could sit beside her, "Now what?"
"How do you know this place?" she asked him suddenly.
"It's a barn, not Narnia" he avoided her question.
"It reminds me of my home".
"You live in a barn?"
"In a farmhouse" she replied, giggling, "But I spend so much time in the barn that it's almost like my home, so yeah. What about you?"
"What about me?"
"Do you live in one of those houses 'round the bar?"
"In one of the trailers" he answered, lying down against a haystack. Beth turned her head to look at him, bringing her knees to her chest to hug herself, "Your parents told something when you got home soakin' wet?"
"They didn't find out. They were having dinner at a neighbors' house" Beth answered. She had had to have dinner on her own that night, since no one from her family had appeared until much later. She didn't tell him that, of course. However, he looked at her and nodded, as if he just knew.
Beth lied down beside him and turned her neck to him.
"You're not like the other boys" she told him in a suddenly down voice. Daryl brought his arm behind his head, his gaze fixed on the ceiling.
"I told you they're Merle's friends, not mine".
"I know. But you look… intimidating too" she giggled when he stared at her questioningly, "You know, looking pissed off and grunting".
"I scare you" there wasn't any hardness in his tone, just amusement. Beth blushed.
"'M afraid of nothing" she quoted him, and he smirked, "But you looked mad at the whole world".
Daryl didn't answer, instead turning his head towards the ceiling again.
"It reminds me of when my daddy married Annette" she started, and Daryl looked at her, "I was eleven, but Maggie was thirteen, and suddenly she didn't wanna be with anyone. She hated all of us, she sneaked out… I think she just changed in the 'I hate the world' part" and she smiled.
"The happy family".
"We weren't happy at all" Beth countered, shaking her head, "But we are now. Yeah, we fight, but we love each other. That's what family is about, I guess. But you know that already" she shrugged, "I mean, with Merle".
Daryl didn't answer and Beth started toying with her pendant. They were in silence, but it wasn't awkward. They were both thinking about their own stuff, with the rain sounding low inside the barn.
"What're you singing?"
Beth frowned and turned her neck.
"I was singing out loud?" he nodded, and Beth couldn't help but flush, "Tom Waits. You know" she insisted before his confused expression, and she started humming a few bars of a song.
"Dunno".
Beth's eyes widened.
"Daryl Dixon" she started, her voice just an indignant whisper, "you can't go out there without knowing Tom Waits".
That seemed to amuse him. Beth inhaled deeply.
When I'm lying in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothing ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
"That's a hell of a song" he muttered, and Beth bursted out laughing.
"He has more… hopeful songs"
"How does this one finish?" he asked her then. Beth tried to remember the rest of it before she continued. She was singing quietly, staring at him intently to watch his reaction, but Daryl's face was blank.
"The only thing I live for is today…" her voice started fading slowly as she stared at him goofily. Now that she looked at him, she realized he was handsome. Okay, he was really handsome. Beth found herself lifting her hand lightly to brush his stubble lightly, but she moved it away immediately, "Sorry" she whispered, almost scared to talk louder.
"Don't matter" he answered just as quietly as her, and Beth smiled. Just in that instant another thunder cracked, and Beth shuddered and closed her eyes. When she shut them open again, she found Daryl grinning, "I thought you weren't afraid of anything".
"I'm not afraid" she protested, but he raised an eyebrow and she smiled lightly, "Just a bit".
Another thunder, this one closer, and Beth grabbed Daryl's arm strongly, hiding her face.
"I used to build a pillow fort when I was little" she explained to him, still holding onto him, unaware of the way Daryl had stiffened, "I used to hug one of 'em and cover myself with blankets until I fell asleep".
She raised her eyes and found Daryl surprisingly close and visibly uncomfortable.
"Oh, I'm sorry" she tried to move, but then another thunder cracked, and she dug her nails into his arm unconsciously, "Sorry".
Daryl snorted.
"You can grab my arm if you promise you won't tear it every time a thunder cracks".
"Okay" she agreed immediately, cuddling beside him and hiding her face against his shoulder. She couldn't help inhaling him softly. He felt like woods. She moved a bit closer and squeezed his arm, "You're a lot better than a pillow".
Even with her face firmly pressed against him, Beth felt him blushing.
A/N: Okay, now do you understand what I really meant with open mind? Think in these two things:
1) Daryl is in his twenties. That means that he's angry, but he hasn't been through most of the tough shit (yet). My poor baby.
2) Like I said, this is a happy and fluffly story. And I write it mostly for myself, because I think I need to start writing more happy stories, since "I know it now" and another fic of mine are pretty dark.
Thanks for reading and please review!
