This story was never meant to be a long one. Probably just about ten chapters. I really just wrote it to get Daryl and Beth on their own again away from everyone else. I'm going to focus on this story and finish it up and then get back to The White House and see what new story comes after that. An idea struck me last night that I'm going to start mapping out and seeing if it will work. Thank you!
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Inside, it felt as if the house was covered in an inch of dust and Beth heard herself sigh softly in relief when both she and Daryl saw that. It looked as if no one had been in the house for years, everything sitting there in silence, undisturbed as if waiting for someone to return.
After banging on the front door's frame and waiting a moment, they heard a shuffling coming down the hallway from the back of the house, and a walker of a man headed their way, his eyes milky white as he focused on them and his mouth open as if ready to take a bite, letting out his hungry growls. Before he could get any closer, Daryl fired his crossbow, a bolt flying and hitting the walker between the eyes. It fell with a heavy thud, a cloud of dust flying up from the floor, and it tickled Beth's nose. She turned her head and sneezed into the crook of her arm and they stood there, waiting for another moment, but it seemed like that was the only one.
Daryl stepped in first, Beth right behind him, and she took the flashlight out of her bag, turning it on as she closed the front door behind them. The wind was picking up outside and they could hear it colliding with the walls of the house. It creaked like any old house would and it was cold like one, too. Beth felt herself shiver involuntarily when she heard the first rain drops hit the roof above their heads.
She shined the light past Daryl's shoulder, lighting the way as they first went to the living room to the right of the front door, Daryl leading the way as they swept through the room. Everything was covered in at least an inch of dust and Beth realized that it made her breathe a little easier even as her nose began to tickle again. It looked like no one had been in here for a very long time and that was all she cared about. There was an upright piano against the far wall and her fingers itched to brush along the keys but she didn't dare until they checked the rest of the house.
The house was small – a kitchen and living room on the first floor and then upstairs, a bathroom and one bedroom. It took no time in clearing it out and they paused when they were back on the main floor, standing at the top of the stairs that led into the cellar, Beth shining the flashlight down into the thick darkness.
Daryl exhaled a deep breath and he looked to her. "Hold it a little higher," he said and she did as he said, her eyes watching him.
It was obvious he wasn't looking forward to doing this and she didn't blame him. This was never their favorite thing to do – having to explore the black basements of whatever house they were holed up in for the night but it was something that always had to be done.
"Want me to go first?" She offered.
"Yeah," he answered without hesitation, his eyes going to her and she noticed a slight smirk tugging at one corner of his mouth. "Already got shot in the head. Would seem to me you're damn near invincible."
She felt a giggle bubbling in her throat and she couldn't help but smile a little proudly at that. She couldn't really remember it exactly. Only a searing pain and then darkness and now, sometimes, she would get the worst headaches but the thing she knew for certain was that she had survived. She had lived.
She had made it.
And she knew she had just fallen in love with Daryl Dixon a little bit more right then and there because even though she knew he was trying to joke around and make the situation a little bit lighter, she knew that while he didn't really think she was invincible, she knew he thought she was tough. And Beth didn't realize how important that was to her to have him know that then that very moment.
"I will go first if you want me to," she said, her eyes unable to leave his.
He gave his head a slight nod. "I know you will. But I'll go first. Don't wantcha to forget that I'm brave, too," he said, his lips twitching again, and she laughed softly.
They both knew there wasn't a walker down there. They had been making too much noise at the top of the stairs to go unnoticed but they still moved down the stairs cautiously, Daryl leading the way and Beth right behind him, her knife clasped in one hand and the flashlight in her other, shining over Daryl's shoulder and spreading a thin beam through the darkness that threatened to swallow them.
As suspected, the basement was void of any walkers and once Daryl deemed it to be all clear, Beth began sweeping the light around slower, taking it all in. Just dust and cobwebs and some old wooden shelves. She stepped closer to those, seeing a few glass jars lined up. She sheathed her knife and then picked up one jar, swiping her thumb over the dust that was so thick, she couldn't see what was inside.
"Daryl!" She gasped, nearly dropping the jar once she did see the contents.
"What?" He was instantly at her side.
"Pickles! Look, pickles!" She eagerly handed him the jar and then quickly looked to the others. "Apple slices but those have gone bad… another jar of pickles… oh my goodness, beets, too!"
"Beets?" He echoed.
"You don't like beets?"
He shrugged. "Never tried 'em before."
"They're good. Have the same vinegar taste like pickles almost. When I was a kid, I had never tried them before because yuck, beets. Kids are supposed to hate beets. But then, once, momma had cut them up so small and had slipped them into a salad and I never knew it and just ate them all up." She felt herself smiling faintly at the memory of her momma laughing in the kitchen as Beth said that the salad was delicious and asking her what she had put in it.
She handed Daryl the flashlight so she could take the three jars in her arms and they left the cellar, heading for the first floor again. Daryl made sure the back door was secure and then checked the front door and despite the rain now pouring down, he opened the window in the living room that overlooked the back of the house a sliver so they could get out in a hurry if they had to.
No matter what though, if they had to run, he wouldn't tell her to run ahead and he would meet up with her.
"Wanted to go check that fence," Daryl said as he stood at the front window, looking out though he couldn't see more than a few feet in front of him through the rain.
"Don't worry," Beth said as she settled herself down on the floor in front of the empty fireplace. She took off her trash bag poncho and draped it over the piano bench. "The rain will confuse them and they can't smell us through it. And even if they could, we have a walker in here with us that will throw them off even more. We'll be fine for a few hours," she smiled up at him and held up the jar of beets as if they were back in that shack and she was offering him moonshine all over again. "Come and open this like the big strong man you are," she then teased him.
Daryl smirked and left the window to come lower himself on the floor beside her, also taking off his trash bag poncho and putting it beside hers on the bench. He took the jar and easily twisted the top off.
"You must 'ave loosened it for me," he smirked and she just smiled.
"Try one," she then urged him, sitting on her knees, looking eager.
He slipped his fingers into the jar as the whiff of vinegar hit him and he pulled out one of the dark red discs. Without a word, he bit off a mouthful and was surprised when it still crunched between his teeth.
"Well?" Beth asked after a moment of him chewing and then swallowing.
"They ain't terrible," he shrugged while reaching in for another one.
Beth smiled as if they were her very own beets and she had never received a higher compliment. He held the jar out to her and she took it, pulling out her own beet. He settled himself against the couch behind him and Beth slipped herself between his legs, nestling her back against his chest. For a moment, he wasn't too sure what to do with his hands before he rested them on her thighs.
Beth ate two beets before he reached into the jar in her hand for another for himself.
"Hopefully, the rain will stop by tomorrow morning and we can take a look around," she said, resting the back of her head against his shoulder. "Might not be a bad place for a little bit. It already has a fence and it's small so we could easily manage it."
"What about headin' to the mountains?" Daryl asked.
She shrugged. "That was just giving us somewhere to go. Didn't want us to wander. If you want to go to the mountains, we can definitely go."
It was his turn to shrug. "Might not be a bad idea. Them people in Appalachia, they're all pretty damn self-sufficient. Pretty much cut off from the rest of the world for the most part. Prob'ly have some useful stuff for us."
Beth didn't say anything to that but she nodded. She held the jar in between her hands but didn't eat any more.
"We promised everyone we would come back to visit," she said after a moment.
Daryl was quiet, not knowing what to say. He then cleared his throat, suddenly feeling thirsty and he knew they should probably collect some of the water falling outside. They had water but he knew all too well that the water would run out.
"We can head back if you want," he heard himself say.
Beth instantly turned her head to look at him. "No."
The word was said quietly and yet, there was a firmness to it and he recognized that tone. The "don't mess with me" tone. The tone that made her eyes light up with a blaze. He loved seeing that fire. He loved knowing that Beth Greene didn't put up with shit – especially from him.
"I don't ever want to go back, Daryl," she said.
He swallowed again. "Me, neither." He paused and his hands began rubbing her thighs before he even realized it. Once he did though, he didn't stop it. "Never felt comfortable there since the day we got there. Everyone took their showers and Rick cut his damn beard off but I didn't wanna do that. 's not good to smell clean anymore and they were all actin' like those walls were always goin' to be standin'."
"You think it's not going to last?" Beth asked quietly. She shifted against him, as if trying to move in even closer to him.
"You know just like me, Greene," he responded. "Nothin' lasts anymore."
"You and me, we're lasting," she then said in a quiet voice, almost in a whisper, and she moved her face a little closer towards his as she did.
Daryl turned his head, looking down to her face, his eyes instantly falling into hers and he found himself wanting to say all sorts of things to her. Things he didn't know if he would ever be brave enough to say because when it came to things like this – with her – it didn't matter that they got a second chance; that he got a second chance to say anything to her. He wasn't nearly as brave as Beth Greene.
Her nose brushed lightly against his chin and he felt himself shiver that he knew had nothing to do with the cold of the room. He lifted a hand then, his large hand cupping her small cheek, his thumb running along her scar, and he lowered his mouth to hers, kissing her first. For a split second, he wondered if he shouldn't have done that but then he felt Beth instantly responding, her lips pressing back against his, her hand lifting and snaking to the back of his head, fingers gripping his hair. His own hand slipped from her cheek, curving around the back of her neck, holding her tight and close. She moaned softly as he opened his mouth against hers and coaxed hers to open, too, before he slipped his tongue inside to meet hers.
He never would have guessed that vinegar was the sweetest damn thing he had ever tasted in this world.
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Thank you so much for reading and please review!
