Re-edited As always tell me what you think, this one took me a little bit longer. I appreciate all reviews. It's on peeps!

Ch6

Daryl spent the entire night unable to sleep. 'You fucking idiot,' he repeated that thought countless times while the hours passed. 'You could have stopped her. You DID stop her… then you caved.' He was a grown man for fuck's sake, and he just let that happen. Now he wasn't sure if he hated himself more for doing it in the first place or how much he really wanted a girl he knew he shouldn't be involved with…at all.

He winced when he thought of Carol imagining her reaction if she found out. 'Fuck.' He could vividly picture the disappointment in her eyes already. Daryl wished he didn't, but he fucking cared what Carol thought of him. They'd grown close enough that he felt the same protectiveness and love towards her as he had with Merle; she was kin to him. He could deal with the wrath of Maggie, Hershel and probably Rick too, but not Carol.

And then, of course there was Beth. He feared she'd be clingy and think some kind of real relationship would come of this. He wracked his brain trying to remember how girls that age usually acted. Thank fucking god she wasn't a virgin.

"Great, now I gotta fuckin' talk it out," he muttered.

She began to grow on him, and the sex wasn't what he expected at all, in a really good way.

'Doesn't matter. Can't do it again,' he told himself. She had all these little quirks that he never noticed before, and was pretty sure no one else paid any attention to either. But what really interested Daryl was how she physically reacted when he commanded her. He started to feel guilty for actually liking it, afraid of where that actually could lead to. 'Wonder what else I could make her do,' he smirked for a second then growled at himself, irritated with his own lack of control.

Judith refused to settle down. Carol finally passed the infant off after numerous attempts to calm her down. Beth tried carrying her around the prison, in and outside. She bounced a little as she walked, yawning from lack of sleep. She barely had the energy to hum some sort of melody, but Judith didn't seem to want to hear her sing anyway. Each step was still painful from the night before. Luckily, she was smart enough to put on a pair of capris pants that were low enough to cover the bruising.

Beth's mind vetoed all thoughts that didn't involve last night. 'It was amazing, even if it started out a little weird.' She hadn't even seen a glimpse of Daryl that day, and was anxious about how about how he was going to act towards her. Beth was also paranoid that everyone had some idea of what went down, especially whenever she saw Michonne.

But the thought of Michonne gossiping from person to person about their tryst in everyone's ear like a high school girl was comical and completely ridiculous. She really worried that things were possibly ruined between Daryl and her.

'This isn't going to go well,' she thought, and had now blocked out the sound of the baby's cries.

Beth, basically oblivious to the world, the perfect mindset to care for an infant, now operated on auto-pilot. She turned the corner and almost ran right into a person.

"Oh Sorry!" She shouted out, but didn't have to look up at his face to know who it was. The clothing told all; only one person wears a vest over a sleeveless shirt.

"Hey, we gotta talk," Daryl said quickly, glancing around for anyone nearby. "About the shit that went down yesterday."

Beth looked down at the baby, who was still crying. "Now?"

"What, does she know English already?" He asked sarcastically. "Give her here," his impatience annoyed her.

'Ugh, just get it over with,' she told herself, and let Daryl take the baby.

He cradled Judith gently in his arms. "Shh, it's okay. I got ya," his tone became soothing enough that even Beth got a small chill. "You're getting' heavy ain't ya, lil' asskicker?"

Beth realized she was just staring at him. How was it so easy it for him to calm Judith down when she'd been at it for over an hour?

"What is it?" Beth finally asked. She was already resigned to the inevitable, 'it was a mistake' or 'I was drunk' conversation.

"First of all, what did you mean it's gonna 'be okay 'during all that?" The intense look in his eyes let her know he'd been worrying about it for probably the entire time.

"Oh," that was an easy one at least. "Maggie and Glenn cleared out all the pharmacies in the area for antibiotics and stuff. She has a decade's worth of birth control pills, and I thought she wouldn't miss some. I've been taking them for a while. You know back when the other prisoners here, just in case somethin' bad happened."

He took a large relieved breath, and she almost found it cute. That seemed to have calmed him quite a bit, and he passed the temporarily calm Judith back to her arms.

"Thank god for that. But listen," he ran a hand over his face and sighed. "All that happened last night? It can't ever, ever happen again."

She nodded, unable to look him in the eye, and used Judith as the distraction. So far nothing he said was a surprise.

"You get what I'm sayin' right? We can't do this with," he waved his hand to the surroundings. "Everyone else."

So she didn't understand if he meant other people knowing were the problem, their age difference, or if he really wasn't interested in her on any level and just bad at making excuses.

"I'm never gonna be your boyfriend," he said dismissively.

Beth didn't like his intonation. "Who said I wanted that?" She spoke back in an angry but quiet whisper, so not to upset the baby again. "You think I'm still in high school, in some world where all of this didn't happen. We're all going to die sooner rather than later, so why not try to find some sort of fun or happiness? I like you, if you don't like me that's fine, but do you honestly think I want everyone to know, like my sister or my dad? I'm not an idiot." She shook her head, sad that he would think so little of her.

"Then you know there's no point to doing this."

His words actually made her laugh bitterly. When had she gotten so morbid?

"Daryl, there's no point to anything anymore." That was her honest opinion; she watched his brow furrow in consternation.

"Are you serious?" Maybe it was the disheartened look on his face that made her think that this was for the best.

Beth looked down, and turned away from him. "You heard me," she said, walking back to the prison. She sighed irritably, now realizing how that could have been taken. She hoped he kept his mouth shut; she didn't need to be on suicide watch again.

Just as she expected, Daryl kept his distance, and would barely give her recognition if he entered a room and their eyes happened to meet. It wasn't until that moment that she felt like she did something wrong. Was she a bad person? Self-doubt began to creep into her head. She had no one to talk to and felt cast out even more from the group.

Maggie was worried about Beth's sudden emotional turn for the next couple weeks. Not that she moped around, but she was back to just the sober, solemn Beth that said little and kind of just….existed. It bothered her enough to go after Rick.

"Rick, what do you think of putting Beth back out on a run?" She asked, cornering him alone after clearing out another few hallways of walkers.

"I'll keep her in mind for the next one," he assured her. "How is she? Not as bubbly as before, I never saw her like that, it was nice to have around here." Rick honestly really liked the girl. She practically the mother of his child at this point, so the happier she was then even better for Judith.

Maggie gave him a sad smile. "That's how she used to be before all of this. I saw my little sister again, and now she's gone. And I don't know what happened. I don't think she's gonna do anything, but it worries me."

Rick had nothing to say. He was the last person to comment on someone's mental state after all he went through. "Just keep an eye on her; I'm sure it will all pass."

Maggie gave him a thankful smile and glanced behind him. "How far you'd clear out now?"

"Almost to the showers. Still not completely secure, but we'll have it soon enough."

"Showers?" Maggie's eyes widened. "Well give me a holler and I'll definitely give ya hand."

Beth had to pretend she was grateful when she was told the news that she was going on a run. The thought of going anywhere with Daryl again, especially alone, filled her with dread.

Carol gave the spaced out looking Beth a concerned once over before finally saying something. "Sweetie are you okay?"

Beth looked up startled, and gave Carol a half-hearted attempt at a smile. "Yeah, I'm fine."

The older woman gave her a knowing look, "You know you can talk to me if you want to. Just putting that out there."

"Thanks….I just think I might have screwed up a good thing I had going." Beth knew that was way too vague, and hoped she wouldn't press her for details.

"Well, just sitting there dwelling on it, isn't going to fix a thing. And you can't let whatever happened bring you down, not when things are so unpredictable out there. Can't waste time over the little things when each day isn't promised."

Beth smiled a little at her, "Yeah, I know. I shouldn't let it bring me down."

The door opened from the outside and Maggie popped her head in and called to her, "Beth, can you lend a hand? Gotta get the car through, need a distraction!"

"Sure thing," She popped up, but Carol grasped her hand quickly.

"If you're going out there, can you give this to Daryl for me? He was looking for them earlier. I had to search through a lot of cases of ammo to find that kind." Carol said handing her a box of bullets.

"Sure," she said trying hard to keep her smile. But Carol was right, she didn't need to be afraid of him, or avoid him. If things were going to be weird then fine, but it would be on him.

Beth ran outside, Maggie pointed to the usual spot, and she ran down the path, picking up a steel piece of rebar lying out in the area for just this purpose. She put the box of ammo at her feet and smacked the chain linked fence.

"Hey, over here!" She shouted out at the walkers in the area, trying to draw any attention she could.

As a couple walkers shambled over she used both hands and rammed the rebar through the links and into the walkers head, yanking it out then taking a breath before going on to the next one. It was amazing how much confidence a stupid fence gave her. After the car was safely in the gate and locked, Beth trekked back up to meet the others.

"Beth, you got a minute? Want to talk about the run tomorrow," Rick asked, but it wasn't really a question.

"Yeah sure," she glanced around and realized Michonne, Daryl and Rick were all going. 'Daryl too…great.'

"Alright so I was thinking Michonne, Beth and I cover the west shopping center, and Daryl could leave a little earlier, go further ahead to that small town in Allen, then he'll meet us back where we are before we head home," Rick said. "That plan work for you, Daryl?"

"Fine with me," he said simply.

It was pretty straightforward, but Beth still held onto what she was supposed to deliver. She walked over to Daryl who was finishing talking to Rick about directions.

"Hey," she said as normal as possible, and watched him glance over at her, and then back to putting his gear together.

"Hey," he returned with the same response, but didn't even look at her.

"Here," she thrusted her hand out with the bullets, even though he wasn't facing her. "Carol wanted me to give these to you."

"Thanks. You can leave 'em on the bike."

She wanted to throw them at his head instead. Here she was trying to keep things a little normal, and he was having none of it. 'Can't he even try?!'

Now it hurt. Beth sniffed as she walked back to her cell and sat on her bed staring straight ahead. Her hands clenched the thin mattress, hating herself for being so upset over him. She buried her face into her pillow, hoping everyone would just leave her alone.

Even in the morning Beth awoke agitated, at least until she saw something sitting at the foot of her bed. She narrowed her eyes in confusion, and picked up a leather sheath. Inside was a very large buck knife, and it unmistakably belonged to Daryl.

"Did he leave this here for me?" She tilted her head staring at it some more as if it would come to life and answer her back. 'Don't read too much into it. He knows you don't have a weapon and doesn't want you to die, that doesn't mean we're back to being BFFs.' She smiled at the ridiculous notion; Carol took that spot a long time ago.

Beth apprehensively looked out the window of the backseat while Michonne drove. She wasn't familiar with the area, as usual. But in rural Georgia you could count on a lot of little towns. It was better that way, less populous where walkers would be in smaller numbers so they could get in and out easy. Michonne eyed her knife and gave her a small smile as she exited the car.

"Dixon taught you good," she said drawing her sword.

Beth gave her a small nod, and followed them silently. She was still pissed off at him, and not going to offer any praise.

"Alright Beth, take the two stores to the left. Michonne on the right and I'm gonna check around back real quick," Rick said.

A nervous chill ran through her. 'All by myself?'

"You can do that, right?" Rick's questioning eyes were on her.

"Yeah, sure." Beth walked to the door, with as much false confidence as she could muster. Even after talking herself up she cringed stepping inside. 'What am I here for again?' Her brain wasn't working right, and she just wanted to leave.

She paused and listened for any movement before she took a few steps further inside. It was mostly low standing empty shelves, half knocked over.

'Well at least this should be pretty quick.' Useless cheap knickacks and home décor were strewn about haphazardly. She picked up a tacky vase, turning it in her hands as she walked down an aisle the other side. A slight sound made her freeze and adrenaline spike. Beth spun around and scanned the area behind her, but nothing was there. Slowly and quietly she tiptoed ahead and peeked around the corner. Nothing. God, now she was imagining things.

Beth walked back outside still antsy. Taking some steps to the next store in a daze, she heard Rick's panicked whisper.

"Beth, get down!"

She ducked down behind a car, now able to see two walkers coming her way. Beth clenched the knife in her hand. 'Why did I ever think I'd want this? I'm not one of them!" The thought of dying helpless and alone pervaded her thoughts. The walkers split up; one was going around the car straight for her, its rasping noises got louder as it advanced.

'You've done this before, so what if there's no fence?' She told herself and carefully watched the shuffling feet from under the car start to round the corner. As soon as it got into her direct line of sight Beth sprung up ready to stab its face in like she'd done a few times before. She instantly halted and backed quickly away. The walker towered over her, of course it just had to be freakishly tall.

'No way to reach his head!' Beth panicked and reeled back as he grabbed at her. 'Now what?!' Beth only had one idea, and hoped this one wasn't very spry. She darted to her left and using all her strength viciously side kicked its knee. It exploded in a mess of tendons and ligaments. The walker fell to the ground, its hands still reaching around to get to food. She quickly brought the knife blade down into the back of its head. She stared fearfully at the motionless body for a moment, and then wrestled the knife out of its skull. Beth panted hard with all the exertion. It was a lot different than stabbing walkers through the fence with a stick.

"Impressive," Michonne looked pleasantly surprised, already pulling her sword out of the other walker she killed in probably a quarter of the time Beth did.

"She's a Greene girl. Look at Maggie now, Beth's on her way up too," Rick smiled and put his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Beth nodded, bizarrely numb after all that.

"There's another one comin'." Michonne pointed her sword in the direction of a smaller lone walker staggering down the street. "All yours," Michonne turned the blade and offered Beth the hilt.

"You serious?" Beth gaped. 'Do they think I like killing these things?' "I'm good," she answered with her hands up.

Michonne pressed the hilt into her palm. "It wasn't a question."

Beth helplessly looked to Rick, the sword weighed a ton, and she could barely wield it with both hands.

Rick and Michonne shared a look. "Go ahead, Beth." Rick wasn't letting her out of it.

'Do they want me to die?' She seriously mulled the thought over, because she'd prefer getting shot in the head to being eaten alive by this walker. The tough love bullshit wore her out. Beth stomped down the street, prepared to fail. She hoped they had a good time explaining her death to her sister and dad.

"Gotta hold it higher, and when you thrust it forward you need to take into account it being buried in the walker, worse than a knife. You don't want that thing fallin' on you, especially if it's still biting." Michonne threw in some last minute advice walking a few steps behind her.

Beth glared at her over her shoulder.

"Decapitation is always your best bet," Michonne added and slowed her pace, so Beth was going at it all alone.

"Thanks," She muttered sarcastically, hefting the blade up as she got closer.

Beth was close enough to determine the walker used to be a young woman, probably around her age. She still had some of her long dark hair, and wore a skirt, that was all she could discern from what was left. The sword was too heavy to try and aim to just run-through her face. Beth lifted it even higher over her shoulder and turned the blade sideways.

'Maybe I can just go for just takin' off the whole head?'

Daryl made a joke about her and a bat before. Beth never told him she was on the softball team for a little bit. She just needed to pretend it was a heavier and sharper bat. She recognized she needed to make up for her lack of strength with some momentum.

"Daryl, you are the best teacher," she said aloud. It wasn't the greatest accolade since it was in comparison to the two traitors behind her. She resituated her grip on the sword, now feeling like everything was in slow motion. She ran at the girl, screaming out frustration and swung the blade as hard as she could. It hit its mark, right in the neck, but Beth forgot concentrating on deceleration. The weight and force of the swing turned her entire body. Walker blood and pieces splattered her shoulders and face.

Beth involuntarily spit out, with her eyes squeezed shut. The slimy liquid on her lips and rotten smell almost made her gag immediately. She dropped the sword, feeling a very strange, but familiar tingling all over. After wiping her eyes she saw Rick and Michonne on their way to her. A black haze began to cloud her periphery vision. It got thicker and thicker.

'This happened before,' Beth tried to take a deep breath, then another. She wheezed, not understanding why she wasn't getting enough oxygen. She remembered being in the kitchen at the farm, doing dishes when it first occurred. Rick and Michonne spoke as they approached, but their voices were distant. Beth had nothing to grasp onto when everything went black and she collapsed in the middle of an empty street.

Daryl didn't see what Rick and Michonne were hunched over, until he got off his bike. As he walked closer, Rick stood up and turned to him. His motion revealed Beth's pale face and blonde hair covered in blood, while she lay motionless on the ground.

He immediately raced up to them, "What the fuck happened?!" Daryl couldn't give her body more than a quick look. He directed his anger at the closest person to him, Rick.

"Daryl, calm down," Rick put his hands on his shoulders, but Daryl shoved them off violently.

"Is she fuckin' dead? Is she bit?!" Daryl looked her back over again, afraid to see bite marks on her skin.

"She's okay," Michonne responded calmly and looked up at him from Beth's side.

"Just passed out is all," Rick hoped that would alleviate him somewhat, but noted Daryl's clenched fists as he eyed the area.

"Three walkers," Daryl began, calmer. "She's covered in blood, and this one here is..." He gave the messily decapitated body a questioning look. "Obviously not done by you," he looked up at Michonne. "You sent her to kill 'em?"

"You said it yourself, Daryl. She needed to be toughened up," Rick was secretly awed of how he could just figure shit out that easily.

"She needs to know how to handle herself. You know she won't last otherwise," Michonne rose to her feet, and looked him straight in the eye.

Daryl hated how she was always so fucking right all the time, and how matter of fact it all came out of her mouth.

"She never even lifted a damn sword in her life-" Daryl had to stop himself, he was getting really pissed off again. He shut down to reign it back in, but wasn't going to just stand there and wait for her to wake up. He took a knee next to her.

"Beth," Daryl shook her shoulder. "Come on, wake up," he patted her cheek with his hand, and wiped away some of the walker gore from her face. "Beth!" He tried sterner and louder. She went catatonic with shock at the farm, and he had no idea if it was easier for her to fall back into that state.

"I'll put her in the car, we can head back," Rick offered.

"I got her," Daryl said, "I'm already down here."

Beth's eyelids flickered open to the blue cloudless sky and people overhead. She burst upwards panting and confused. Her vision blacked out for a second from the sudden rush, and she gripped her head.

"Beth."

She heard her name but fear still flooded her eyes looking at these people. It took a second to recognize she even knew them. "

Why am I in the street?" She mumbled.

The smell hit her first; Beth scrunched up her nose at the putrid smell of decaying flesh. She coughed, and lifted a hand to her face, but discovered it covered in shades of red and black viscous slime.

"What?" She whispered woozily to the mess on herself, and stiffened when two arms tried to lift her up. Rick and Daryl hoisted her up onto her feet, but she tore herself away. Beth stepped back, and put a hand on her head; she staggered still not seeing straight.

"Hey there, Beth, just calm down a sec," Rick gently tried to guide her back.

Daryl caught her shoulders from behind and escorted her forward to the car, helping keep her balance. "No one's gonna hurt ya, kid. It's just us. Just me. Hate me that much now?"

"Let me go, I'm fine," she tried to shake him free, but he just gripped her tighter.

"I'm sure you're just fine, but you're still gonna listen." Daryl stopped to open the back door of the car. He could feel her tremble from the chill of her sweat soaked skin and clothes.

"Daryl!" Beth put her hands on the sides of the car door. It momentarily reminded Daryl of trying to shove a cat in a carrier, but he still knew something was wrong.

"I'm gonna-" She choked out, and hunched over. Daryl pulled her back from the car so she could throw up. He kept his arm around her, and held back the hair that fell into her face.

Was it the saddest thing in the world that she found so much comfort in that? Beth was too exhausted to be embarrassed anymore. She was drenched in sweat, covered in walker fluids, and now spit the taste of vomit out of her mouth. And he was the one taking care of her.

"You okay now?" Daryl asked filled with concern. "Thought we lost you."

"Uh huh," Beth fought the urge to cry, even though she really wanted to. "Sorry about all that. I'm still here," she whispered, and stood upright so he could finally let her go.

"Shut up. There's nothin' to apologize for."

She managed a small smile. He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a tight, quick hug. It almost felt like it was all okay again between them. How the hell could he be this close to her with the smell and the grossness?

"I think I'm 0-2 now on not having meltdowns on runs," her voice wavered slightly from her exhaustion.

Daryl pushed a piece of blood and gut covered hair out of her now paler than usual face. "You look like hell. Fuck, Andrea would've shot you twice by now."

Rick shook his head disapprovingly at the joke, but still had his lips quirked fighting back the smile. "Alright, I'd rather Daryl take Beth on the bike to avoid ruining the backseat of the car, but I know she's barely conscious. Good thing we cleared out about half that section of the prison earlier, gonna need those showers."

"Showers?!" Beth perked up with her second wind. "Really?" Or was she just halluncinating?

Rick smiled at her sudden enthusiasm. "Not sure how warm the water's gonna be, but yeah. We haven't cleared the whole area, so there are plenty of walkers around. Gonna need a body guard for you."

"I can do it," Michonne volunteered. "I've already been down there and the girl deserves it." Michonne smacked Beth's shoulder in sisterly solidarity, and then wiped her hand on her pants leg. "Yeah, let's make sure to keep the windows down overnight too."

After getting back into the car Beth rested her head against the window, and smearing the glass with blood. She was ready to pass out once she got home cleaned off.

"Beth you really did good out there," Rick looked at her in the rearview mirror.

She closed her eyes, not wanting to hear it, no more lies.

"We're not fuckin' with you," Michonne's voice made her eyes snap open. "I don't waste my time blowing smoke up people's asses. For no experience, you were good, real good. Didn't choke, that's what really matters."

The prison showers were all that kept her going when they arrived back at the prison. Rick told her to stay in the car so he could go in first and tell everyone, before they flipped out, that she was fine.

That didn't stop Maggie's horrified face.

"It's okay!" Beth consoled Maggie and held her hands. "I'm fine." Beth tried to give her father a comforting smile as well, but he looked just as bad. Luckily, Michonne grabbed her arm and dragged her out of there.

"Come on. You earned this at least," Michonne opened the gate to the unsafe hallways. She was one the few people that would be willing to go down there.

Beth still hid behind her; the corridors were dark even in the midday, so evening was even worse. She kept a hand on the swordswoman's back the entire time as they crept down the hallways. She still had Daryl's knife in her hands, and realized she had to return it to him as soon as she was done. Once they arrived at the door to the bathrooms, Michonne unlatched a chain.

"Cleared this out before, should be no worries in there, but I'll give a quick run-through."

Now Beth had the chance to wash the blood and guts out of her hair and off her body. She had a small flashlight, and the tiny window that had only a hint of light coming in through it.

Michonne's voice echoed off the tiled walls. "I'm gonna keep watch outside. Come out when you're done."

Beth didn't like the sound of that. "Outside?" But her answer was the click of the door closing. "Michonne? Goddamn it."

Beth scrubbed her hair ferociously, trying to get every bit of dead person out of the tangled tresses. Every now and then she glanced at the knife she rested on the side of the separation of the shower. She let the water spray over her head and face and it never felt so good. A sound caught her attention; it sounded like a voice. She leaned her head out of the stream and blinked away the droplets skewing her eyesight.

"What?" She asked softly and it echoed back unpleasantly. There was no reply, and it was creeping her out. But she wasn't going to let her overexcited system to freak her out and continued to shower thoroughly.

Beth turned the dial, hoping for warmer water, when she heard a distinct sound behind her. She reached out for the knife, but a hand grasped her wrist. She lashed out with a yelp and hit something that felt human, followed by a live human groan of pain.

"Fuck, Girl. You a badass now too?"

Beth squinted in the dim light, recognizing that throaty drawl, but still denying it. "Daryl?"