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Beth knew that people made assumptions about her but she let them slide. She was young and she knew it. She also knew that everybody was still holding on to the old way of thinking about youth. She supposed that with everything they once knew gone they had to protect something of the past, especially for youngins.

"Watch your language around Beth."

"Don't talk about that in front of Beth."

"Beth don't need to know what's going on. Let her be a kid."

"Don't let Beth taste the wine we brought back."

"Don't look, Beth. Cover your eyes."

She doesn't resent it even if it got aggravating sometimes. Well...all the time.

The only two people who didn't treat her like that was Maggie and Daryl. Maggie used to but she stopped went things got bad. She remembered what it was to try to grow up and have everybody hold her back. She remembered what it was to actually want to fall in love and then cry when your heart got broke because "Them there's growin' pains," as Patricia would say. Beth really missed her sometimes.

Actually it was Maggie who caught Jimmy with his hand down her pants in the barn when the turn first happened. His family had just died and her attempt to comfort him had gotten a little out of hand. That was before Otis started putting walkers in the barn. Maggie came in to get a bag of oats for the horses and caught them. Beth was sure Maggie would drag 'em before their daddy for a talking to but she didn't.

"Why ain't you told on us?" Jimmy asked. Maggie just told him to go to the stables and work off his excitement before he washed his hands for dinner.

"I know what y'all was doing and I know why," Maggie said. "Comfort sex. Fear fucking. Whatever. The point is ya gotta be careful Beth. This is the worst time in the world to get yourself knocked up. I'm coming to your room before bed. You two's gonna do what you're gonna do so I wanna make sure you know how to do it safe."

She told Beth more than she'd ever heard in sex ed. She also brought a box of condoms and showed her how to put one on. Made Beth roll it over a vibrator to her horror and embarrassment and also amusement. By the time Jimmy died they'd had enough comfort sex to go through ten condoms.

After Daryl made out with Beth he left her cell and didn't come back. He still talked to her. If there was alcohol, he offered it. She always turned it down but he at least offered for her to get a sip and see what it tasted like. He didn't tell her not to look at the bad stuff and if she wanted to know how precarious their food situation was he told her. But she gave up on him ever kissing her again.

So, when Beth went on one of her explorations of the prison offices, looking for little things that could be useful, to her if nobody else, and she found a rotting old leather purse in a locker that had three pack of condoms in it, she decided not to give up on Daryl just yet. She wasn't no baby. She had needs like anybody else, like he did, and she put the condoms in her pocket and left to find Daryl.

"You feeling guilty for kissing me?"

"No."

Daryl was in the garage seeking shelter from a steady, cold drizzle to do an oil change on his bike. It was a depressing winter day. All gray and wet and chilly. She pulled out their thermos, since he'd never come back for it, and shook it.

"Coffee. Brewed fresh. I mean, it's decaf but it's better than room temperature boiled water."

He finished up and then sat beside her on the old couch. Actually, it wasn't a couch but a bench seat from an old van. It was soft, though. Sometimes, when the weather was good, she'd catch Daryl sleeping on it.

"If you ain't feeling guilty how come you quit coming to see me?"

"I don't think people would understand, Beth. Especially your daddy."

"It ain't their business, Daryl. Besides, Daddy knows we're friends. If he had a problem he'd say something and he ain't. Come by tonight. I...I miss you."

She suddenly felt hot under his gaze, embarrassed at what she owned up to. She looked around and made sure wasn't nobody looking and kissed him long and deep. He started to respond, cupped her face with his hand that smelled of motor oil but she didn't care. That was just part of who he was. She liked all of who he was.

And he must have liked all of her, too, because he was into it more now than he had been a couple weeks ago. He pressed into her, slipping his tongue in deep and she let him push her onto her back. She wanted him there. She liked the solid feel of his body, the way he smelled, like fresh air and rain, and grass with that light scent of motor oil. She liked how he fit well between her legs and how he'd started to roll his hips and made her pant and grab tight to his broad shoulders.

Like so many moments it didn't last. Footsteps approached, meaning somebody was coming to demand more of their time. Another stolen moment was over and done with. By the time Rick came into the garage Daryl was kneeling next to his bike putting tools away and Beth was sipping coffee. Rick smiled and asked for a moment with Daryl to discuss grown-up stuff. She left Daryl the thermos and went back to help out with chores. She couldn't wait for that night.