Starting Over, Again Chapter 4
Daryl and Aaron couldn't believe their luck. This Moran guy had shown up just as Daryl had started to lose hope. He honestly thought they'd never make it back to Alexandria and Beth. They had asked Morgan to come back with them and had been shocked when he said no. He pulled a map out and asked them directions and Daryl noticed the message on the map. He explained he was tracking his friend Rick Grimes.
"Rick is back in Alexandria." Daryl said explaining about the prison and their journey to Alexandria. It matched the path Morgan had taken before losing Rick's trail. Morgan agreed to come back and check out their community. Daryl was a little upset that they had lost Aaron's backpack and a few supplies they had found but at least he still had his crossbow and pack. He had found a pack of tank tops that he though would fit Beth and a bottle of lotion. Her skin had been a dry and she had taken to rubbing a drop or two of olive oil into her skin. He knew she'd appreciate it. Daryl drove up to the gate and waited. No one came to open it.
"That's weird." Aaron said as he pulled up to the wall. Daryl climbed up to the roof of the RV and looked over the wall. There appeared to be a town meeting going on in the courtyard around a bonfire. Daryl hoisted himself over the fence and opened the gate so Aaron could drive through. Moran walked his bike through for him and he quickly locked up. He pulled his hand away and noticed walked blood on the gate.
"Beth." Daryl said leaving his bike and taking off towards the fire. Aaron and Morgan followed behind him, skidding to a stop when they saw Rick beside a walker body covered in guts and Michonne and Maggie trying to save Reg, his throat had been slit with Michonne's sword. Morgan and Aaron flinched when Deanna tearful asked Rick to do it and he whipped out a gun and shot Pete in the head. Daryl quickly scanned the crowd. "Where's Beth?" He asked eyeing the walker. "Walkers got in here where is she?"
"She stayed back at the house with the baby." Carol said. Daryl took off down the street and Rick and Abraham trailed behind him. Daryl skidded to a stop when he saw Beth shivering in the roof in a towel with the baby in her arms wrapped in her housecoat. Daryl saw their door had been pushed open and a walker was standing in their yard, dragging his broken leg behind him. He guessed that he had followed Beth out the window to their room that was open. He whistled and Beth looked up. 'Stay put." Daryl said notching his crossbow and taking out the walker.
'There's another two inside." Beth said through her chattering teeth. "I killed one and barely got to the baby in time." Beth added keeping her head down against the baby. Abraham pounded on the wall beside their open door and through the walkers over the rail as they came out. Rick quickly shot them in the head and Daryl carefully made his way through the house, making sure it was clear. He grabbed a blanket and made his way to the roof. He quickly wrapped the blanket around Beth and the baby and helped them back into the house. Rick and Abraham were removing the walker from their room. Beth kept her head down and let Daryl lead her to the bathroom. He plugged the tub and started filling it with very warm water. Beth climbed in while it filled with the baby. She still had her bra and panties on and she quickly stripped the baby to warm her up.
"What happened to your face?" Daryl asked lifting her chin so he could check her eye out. It was almost swollen completely shut and the darkest shade of purple Daryl had seen as a bruise. Beth explained about Pete and Rick's fight and how no one tried to stop them. "Pete hit you?" Daryl asked, no longer really caring that Rick had just blown the brains out of one of the only doctors possibly left in the USA.
"It's worse than it looks. Maggie felt around, nothing's broken." Beth said as she shivered in the tub. Daryl turned the taps off.
"I'm gonna go heat up a blanket and some towels for you in the dryer." Daryl said making his way down stairs. He listened as Rick explained what he had discovered at the gate and the situation with Pete. Morgan stood in silence at the door and watched as Daryl grabbed the carpet shampooer Beth had found in their basement. "I want a list of everyone that went in and out today." Daryl said. He'd find out who the idiot was that left the gate open. "Who ever pulled gate duty needs to be taken off duty. He's at fault to. Reassign the guard to garden duty." Daryl made his way back up the stairs and quickly treated the stain the walker had left on their rug. He began to lose his temper when he heard Beth sobbing in the bathroom. Daryl finished on the floor and made his way back the kitchen and grabbed the warm towels and blanket. He ignored Rick and walked back to Beth.
"I got soft." Beth said as she handed the baby to Daryl. Judy sighed and smiled when he wrapped her in the warm towel.
"You stay and get warmer." Daryl said cradling the baby and turning on the hot water. Beth settled back in the tub and pulled her knees to her chest. Daryl made his way down stairs with a clean par of warm pajamas, a diaper and Judy all wrapped in the towels. He handed her off to Carl. "Deal with her." Daryl said not feeling guilty since the baby was happy and smiling. He made his way back up the stars and hung the wet bra and panties Beth had taken off in the shower to dry. He held the towel up and waited till Beth backed up into him before lifting her up and out of the tub. "I got a blanket all warmed up for you too." Daryl said leading her to the bed. "What do you mean you got soft?"
"I haven't seen a walker in months. I've been living like things are fine. I saw a walker making for the bed and I panicked. He almost had his hands on the baby before I could get something to kill it with." Daryl helped her into her sweat pants and a long sleeved shirt he had found on his recruiting tip.
"You still killed it." Daryl said thinking of the towel rack she had ripped off the wall in the bathroom. She had caved in the walkers rotting head. She must have planned on running but found the few walkers downstairs. Carl had cleaned the walker blood off the steps; it looked like it had pulled itself up the steps.
"And panicked and hide on the roof from the other three." Beth said as Daryl tucked her into bed. "When that one came out the window, for a split second I thought I'd have to jump off the roof with the baby." Beth added. "Where is the baby?"
"Down with Carl. He'll bring her up soon. Rick, Abe and I want to walk through town, make sure we got all the walkers that got in." Daryl said. "You going to be ok if I leave?"
"Carl was supposed to stay here with me while everyone else was at the meeting. He wasn't here when they got in here and either he or Rick left the door open so they got in." Beth said. "I don't want you thinking we're safe with Carl on watch. Rick is losing it again." Beth added.
"Morgan is going to be staying with us." Daryl added. "Noah didn't make it back." He said rubbing along Beth's back. He filled her in on what Abe had told him about their run for solar panel supplies. "We're going to be talking about that too. Aiden didn't survive either." Beth took a few deep breaths and tried not to cry. "You can cry you know. I cried. Both times, when I thought I lost you." Beth wiped her eyes off as she crawled into Daryl's lap.
"I want to start going outside the walls with you on your days off." Beth said hugging him close. "I want to keep training like we were." Daryl tenses up at her request. "Not very far. Just around here." Beth said letting him drop her back in the bed.
"I'll think about it ok? I want you to think about it too; don't make any decisions tonight, not after what happened. We ain't going out till your eye opens either. You know you need both open to aim my bow."
"I can agree to that. Go get my—the baby before you leave." Beth added. "And her bottle." Daryl came back a few minutes later with the baby and handed her over. He kept himself from saying anything when Beth settled the baby in bed with her and started to feed her nighttime bottle. "Be careful out there." Beth said as Daryl made his way back out the door.
"I always am." Daryl said closing the door. He made his way back to the kitchen. "Carl where the fuck were you? Beth said you were supposed to be here?" Daryl asked reloading his crossbow with bolts.
"I was out with the other kids." Carl said. "I didn't think it'd be a big deal. I wanted to say goodbye in case we had to leave. I won't leave again tonight." Carl promised.
"I'll stay." Morgan said. "With the boy and Beth."
"Beth don't know you." Daryl said. "Let me just let her know so she's not afraid." Daryl pounded his way up to the room again and let Beth know that Morgan was going to stay with her and Carl and explained who Morgan was.
"Do we trust him?" She asked. Daryl smiled at her question; it just showed how much she trusted him. Without even meeting Morgan she'd trust Daryl's judgment.
"Yeah we trust him." Daryl said, he'd save the story of how Aaron and he met Morgan for another night. Beth curled around the baby again and hummed her to sleep. She placed the bottle on the nightstand and carefully stood with the baby and made her way over to the closet and laid her down in her crib. She left the door open and made her way down the stairs.
"Hi." She said as she walked into the kitchen. "I'm Beth. Are you hungry?" She asked opening the fridge. "I got some leftover casserole. It's rabbit, potatoes, carrots and some kind of cream of soup. It's not too bad." Beth said holding the covered dish.
"That sounds nice. You didn't have to come down. I'd have lasted till morning." Morgan said. Beth handed him a juice box and scooped some of the food on a plate and put it in the microwave. They stayed silent while the food heated up. Carl was staring out the front windows, watching for any trouble.
"How do you know Rick?" Beth asked as he grabbed a clean dishtowel to take the hot plate from the microwave. She set it down in front of Morgan and brought him the salt and pepper and a fork.
"Happened upon each other after the outbreak. We were lucky enough to run into each other again and I was lucky to run into Daryl and Aaron. They brought me here." Beth sat across from him and played with a place setting. "How do you know Rick?"
"He ended up on my family farm. He saved us from a heard and found the prison." Beth said knowing he likely knew the rest. She didn't offer anything else about her situation or Grady.
"Rick's a good man. He helped keep a lot of you alive. It's not easy in this world."
"No it's not. You got bad people making survival harder. You got to kill the dead and fear the living when we should be all working together to deal with the walkers." Beth said. "Like we're trying to do here."
"I think there's more good people left than bad." Morgan said. "Even good people follow the bad sometimes." Beth looked up. "Sometimes you don't know they're bad at first. I've run into people like that."
"We all have." Beth said. "I just wanted to make sure you got something to eat." Beth said pushing away from the table. "I better go check on the baby." She left the kitchen and quickly climbed the stairs and shut the door to her room. Morgan was too Zen. She almost felt like he was warning her about him, but she remembered that Daryl trusted him and she was sure she would trust him too soon enough. She wondered what kind of job he would be doing in Alexandria. She dumped Daryl's pack on the bed and started sorting through his dirty laundry. He had been gone for four days with Aaron. She smiled when she came across the pack of tank tops and lotion. She knew Daryl had found them for her. He had found a pack of both Nicorette gum and Nicotine patches. He was trying to quit smoking, or at least cut back. Beth tossed his clothes in the separate piles she had for laundry, it wasn't much, just some socks and his shirts that he didn't wear for weeks on end anymore and one pair of jeans. She still couldn't get him to wear boxers other then when he was sleeping and she knew that he had likely slept with his clothes on in the RV, if he had slept at all. He had found a few children's books and a rubber duck. She added them to the small basket she had for Judy's toys and went to the bathroom to grab a damp rag and got to work on his vest. He had run in to walkers, but she knew he would. He hadn't been that bloody though, so she was sure it wasn't anything too serious.
"You didn't have to do that." Daryl said as he made his way back into the room. He set his bow on top of the dresser where the baby couldn't reach it and sat beside her on the floor.
"I know." Beth said wiping down his leather. She stood and carefully hung it on a hanger before hanging it from a hook on the back of the door by itself. "You better not have almost killed yourself for the gifts you brought back." Beth said with a smile.
"Nah, we ran into a small cabin. Had a few useful things. Aaron kept some stuff to hand back. I pulled the lotion from his hand and told him I'd find it a good home. He knows how stingy they've been with toys. He let me pack up all the books and the duck. He took the board games though."
"We got the deck of cards." Beth said, "I should probably share the tank tops."
"No way. They still haven't given you a bra; your old one is trash. You said the tight tank tops were better than nothing." Daryl said. "I keep my eyes out for those sport bras we had at the prison, I swear guys must be wearing them now."
"I don't want you killing yourself finding me underwear either. I'll just go without like you." Beth said holding her hands out and pulling him to his feet. "You find anymore condoms?" Daryl shook his head.
"How many we got left?" he asked shrugging out of the clothes he was wearing and tossing them in their respective piles.
"Five." Beth said looking through the drawer. "And three packs of the morning after pill. I might be able to get more tomorrow." Beth added. "I've taken back the responsibilities of going to the pantry since Rick and Pete fought." Daryl nodded and grabbed the towel Beth had used and made his way to the bathroom.
"You want to get clean again?" Daryl asked. Beth smiled and shook her head crawling into the bed.
"I'll wait for you here." Beth said. "My hair is finally done dripping." Beth added. Daryl smirked at her and walked into the bathroom, leaving the door open so he'd hear any little sound. "You want me to bring in a change of clothes?"
"Nah, go to sleep." Daryl said turning off the bedroom light. Beth settled against the pillows and listened to the water flow, but she couldn't fall asleep. Each creek in the floor from Morgan, Rick and Carl made her think another walker had gotten into the house. Beth slipped quietly from the bed and started pushing the dresser across the floor.
"What are you doing?" Daryl asked flicking the light back on. Beth looked over her shoulder.
"I'll sleep better." Beth said before shoving harder. Daryl came over and helped her push the dresser in front of the door. While holding his towel around his waist. Beth looked back at him and reached over and ripped the towel off of him. Daryl let her jump into his arms. She always wanted to be close after a "close call" as she called them. Beth leaned back so they fell on the bed and kept Daryl pressed against her as she kissed him. Daryl rolled over so they were both on their side and let her take control as she frantically kissed him. Daryl was surprised when she pressed him back and laid her head against his chest.
"You alright?" Daryl asked running his hand up her back. Beth nodded against him and sat up pulling off the shirt she had on and settled back against him on her side and draped one arm across his body and pick up his length with the other and leisurely pumped her hand up and down. Daryl reached over and tugged on her sweatpants. Beth lifted her hips as she leaned over to softly run her tongue against his tip. "Damn girl." Daryl said ripping the pants down her legs as she settled back on her side and leaned up against him. She took him in her mouth and sucked as Daryl let his hand wander down her back and worked it between her leg and one hand through her hair guiding her up and down his length. Beth squeezed his hand between her legs when he cupped her and pressed his palm against her moving it back and forth. "You ain't wet yet." Daryl said moving his hands around to her hips and lifting her to her knees. He nudged one leg over his body and pulled her back over his mouth.
Beth wiggled back so she was straddling his chest and turned grabbing her pillows. "Shove these under your head and shoulders so I can keep my mouth on you." She said waiting till he was propped up before letting him pull her back. She settled back down against his stomach and cupped his balls and shaft with both hands and worked her mouth down his shaft as Daryl spread her open with one hand and lightly traced over her with his fingers. Beth stuck her tongue out and licked up and down his shaft and over his balls. Beth wiggled her hips and looked back over her shoulder. "Why'd you move me if your just going to look?" Beth asked. Daryl smirked at her and let his hand fall against her cheek. Beth jumped at the slap and laughed letting Daryl pull her a bit closer. She turned her attention forward again when she felt his breath on her and moaned around him at the first swipe of his tongue.
"You've had enough." Daryl said sliding his hands under her chest and pulling her up to a sitting position. "I don't want to come in your mouth." He said as Beth kept her hands on him and worked him slowly as he continued to swirl his tongue around. Beth let go of his length and placed her hands on his stomach so she could brace herself as she moved lightly against his tongue. Daryl slipped his hands up to her chest and palmed at her nipples.
"I think I'm wet now." Beth whimpered as she grabbed a hold of Daryl hands and leaned forward so her breasts filled his palms. He squeezed her chest and let her climbed off his face. He kept one of her hands in his and stopped her from settling on her hands and knees.
"Face to face alright?" Daryl asked sitting up against the headboard so he could lean back against it as Beth settled on top of him again. She nodded and let him guide her onto his length. Daryl let out a hiss as Beth let her head roll back. He ran his arm around her and reached up and splayed them across her shoulder blades as she moved against him. Daryl suddenly lifted her up and off of him and reached over into the drawer. Beth took the condom from him and ripped it open, sliding it on quickly before settling back.
"Keep going." She said moving her hips. Daryl grunted against her and leaned his head down to lick and suck a nipple into his mouth. Beth bit her lip and let her legs spread apart a little more. She let out a cry as Daryl moved deeper. She grabbed a handful of his hair and wrapped her arm tightly across his shoulders. "Please fuck me." Beth whispered arching into him. Daryl moved one hand to the small of her back and pressed her down and used his hand on her hip to move her back up. Beth let go of his hair and moved both of his hands to her hip. "Harder." She said keeping her fingers locked around his forearm as he started to move her harder and faster. Daryl settled his forehead against Beth's and kissed the tip of her nose Beth titled her head down and captured his mouth and moaned between kisses. Beth whimpered and placed her head down on his shoulder as she trembled. Daryl moved up to his knees and laid her down on her back and continued to move as she clutched at him and kept him close.
"You good?" Daryl asked smoothing the hair out of her eyes as he continued to move slowly. Beth smiled up at him and nodded. Daryl grabbed her hips again and thrust hard and deep a few times before losing his rhythm and coming with a groan. Daryl gripped the condom and slide out of Beth with a moan before falling beside her. Beth let her knee fall against Daryl's side as she caught her breath. Daryl ran his fingers across her knee and reached for a napkin out of the baby bag that was on the floor beside him. He wrapped the condom up and tossed it towards the bathroom.
"I better not step on that in the morning." Beth said with a smile as she crawled over him and walked towards the bathroom. Daryl watched her snatch up the napkin and close the door enough so he couldn't see her pee. Beth washed up at the sink and ran a warm cloth over her skin. She walked back to the room and smiled as she wiped around Daryl's mouth before wiping off his thighs and package softly. "It wouldn't be so bad would it?" She asked tossing the facecloth over to the laundry piles. She'd have to work on the laundry in the morning.
"What?" Daryl asked slipping on a pair of pajama pants and a shirt. Beth grabbed her sweat pants and shirt and put them back on before walking over and checking on the baby.
"If we just stopped being careful and had a baby."