Chapter 4: Breaking the Barriers
"I love you Daryl Dixon."
The words echoed in Daryl's head. He was happy, who wouldn't be when the most wonderful and angelic girl in the world love him?
But at this point he didn't know what to say. She'd broken down every barrier he had put up over the years to protect himself, and he just couldn't stand to lose anyone else he loved, but once again she was breaking that barrier too.
With Beth's arms still around his neck, Daryl slowly stood up and turned around so he was facing her. The first thing he noticed was that tears were welling in her eyes. Oh god, he hated seeing her cry. But after a few moments he realized that they were tears of joy, happiness, love.
"I love you too." Daryl said as he leaned in and brought his lips down on hers.
Once Daryl had pulled away from the kiss, he rested his forehead against Beth's and they just stood there for a little while, taking everything in. Beth was the one to break the silence.
"You know, Daryl, I wouldn't mind if you came over to my tent tonight too," she whispered in Daryl's ear, "It's just gonna keep gettin' colder.".
Daryl nodded his head as soon as the words left her lips, almost excitedly. Maybe god did exist and had given Beth to him as a reward for living through all the shit in his life. It was certainly the only explanation, because after all, Beth was an angel.
Beth smiled and bit her lip the entire way back to camp. They both decided that they shouldn't go back together because it would look suspicious. The fact that Daryl loved her made her blush, the fact that they had kissed made her blush even more, and the fact that they could have a serious relationship made her pray that Maggie didn't see her blushing. She didn't know it was possible to blush this much.
And then she started thinking.
What was a serious relationship? She'd never really been in one. Was it going everywhere together? Making out? Was it… sleeping together?
And that scared the shit out of her.
Beth was a virgin and whenever she thought about it she'd always scare herself and pray that it would never happen, but if that's what a serious relationship meant, then she'd just have to deal with it.
By the time Beth had got back to camp she had stopped blushing. If she hadn't, it would have been an obvious giveaway.
When she sat down by the fire, mostly everyone greeted her with a warm smile, except for Maggie. She didn't even say anything. Now she knew that her sister was up to something.
Daryl got back to camp about ten minutes later and place himself down next to Beth, a little- a lot closer than usual, to the point where their shoulders were constantly rubbing together, but hell if either of them cared.
After quite a bit of silence, Rick finally decided to say something, "We need to ask you two somethin'." he said, glancing over at Maggie, "Are you two… together?" she could barely squeeze the words out of her mouth. Now things were about to get intense.
Neither one of them knew what to say, so they just sat there, shocked. The same thing was running through both of their heads: Did they see us kiss?
Right now that didn't matter, because they knew that they needed to cover it up.
"What in yer goddamn minds makes ya think that?" Daryl asked, practically yelling. "Glenn and I saw you walkin' out of Beth's tent when we were on watch this mornin'!" Maggie yelled, you could tell that she was pissed, "What the hell were you doin' with my baby sister?!" she tried to slap Daryl but Glenn held her back.
"Maggie, stop, nothin' happened. He just came in to give me a blanket, I was freezin'." now it was Beth's turn to do something, then Daryl stepped in.
"Ya really think I'd go sleep with yer sister?!" She's just a fuckin' kid!"
And as soon as those last two words left his lips he instantly regretted it, because when he turned around Beth was in tears. He had taken it too far.
"Beth- Shit- I-" he was too late to finish his sentence, because Beth was already in her tent and zipping it back up.
Later that night Daryl was lying in his tent, deciding whether or not he should go see Beth. On one hand he had said something he knew she was deeply offended by, but on the other hand they both needed some comforting. "Screw it if she don't want me there she can just tell me ta leave…" he mumbled to himself before unzipping his tent.
Daryl didn't bother announcing his presence before opening Beth's tent and stepping in.
She glared at Daryl as he closed the tent up. Beth sat up, "You come in here to tell me that I'm cryin' like a 'fuckin kid'?" she sobbed, looking away. She couldn't bare to look him in the eyes.
"I'm sorry."
Those were the last words Beth heard before Daryl's lips crashed down on hers.
He pushed her back down so she was lying on her back, not breaking the kiss. Daryl was hovering above her now, careful not to crush her with his body weight.
The kiss got more and more loving by the second. This was not a "makeout session", this was simply for comfort and love.
When Beth pulled away for air she tried to speak, "Daryl, I-" she couldn't finish her sentence because her breath was taken away when she felt him tugging at the bottom of her shirt. She knew exactly where this was going and it made her feel both excitement and fear all at once.
Daryl started kissing Beth's neck as he pulled up her shirt, "You ever done this before?" he asked, gazing into her eyes.
Now Beth had a decision to make. She could tell him the truth, but then he would stop, or she could lie and he would continue, but she was scared shitless.
But she really didn't want him to stop.
"Yeah I've done this a couple of times…" Beth felt so guilty for lying but she just didn't want this feeling to end so if that was the price, she'd take it.
"Good." Daryl said before pulling off Beth's shirt and throwing it in a random direction. Chills spread through her body as the cold air swept across her skin.
Daryl kissed a path from the waistband of Beth's jeans to her neck before crashing his lips back down on hers. He slowly used his tongue to part her lips and he slid his tongue into her mouth. Their tongues clashed together, like a passionate swordfight. Daryl moved his hands up and down Beth's body as their little swordfight continued. He suddenly popped the button free on her jeans and slid them down her legs, leaving them bunched up around her ankles. He didn't bother taking them all the way off.
Things were moving quickly now, and Daryl was just starting to tug at Beth's panties when he opened his eyes to find her staring right at him, wide eyed with fear.
"What's wrong, babygirl?" he asked, moving his hands up to cup her face. "I'm sorry Daryl… I-I lied." now she was feeling too guilty to even look at him, so she turned her head away.
"What did ya lie bout'?" he could hear her mumble something, "I can't hear ya babygirl." Daryl turned her head so now she was looking at him.
"Daryl… I'm a virgin…"
Daryl's eyes widened and he rolled off of her. He quickly collected Beth's clothing and re-dressed her.
"Daryl I'm just a bit scared, we don't have to stop…" Beth was trying desperately to get things back to normal but the more she talked the worse she made it.
"It's fine. Just go to bed."
"But Daryl-"
"Just go to bed, will ya?!"
Beth shut up after that. This was exactly what she was trying to avoid and now that it was reality it hurt her so much more than it did in her head.
Daryl laid down on one of the blankets on the other side of the tent. He threw the other blanket to Beth.
"Goodnight, Daryl."
She never did get a response.
