Quick Update: After painting the "Lil' Ass Kicker" sign, Beth and Daryl killed three men who threatened Beth.

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When Beth woke next it was morning, she could hear Daryl moving around, but she pretended to sleep a little more. She wasn't prepared to face the day yet, so lay still for a while hoping for sleep, but eventually Daryl came to her side and left a fruit tea. "How you feeling?"

"I ache," she admitted, embarrassed that he had known she was awake.

"I opened fruit for breakfast, if you want some?"

Beth nodded against her pillow. "We going into town today?"

"Nah, I figure they'll be plenty of walkers feeding after yesterday. We'd best stay away. Go tomorrow, check our sign and paint another, in another part of town."

"Right."

"I want to get our walker buried and get the rotten stuff out of the kitchen." Daryl waited for Beth to respond. It took her a while.

"I might try sleep a little longer."

That wasn't what he expected, Beth was all about helping out, doing what she should for the group. He decided to leave her be and get some work done.

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The stench in the kitchen was still strong, it wasn't going to fade. When they had returned yesterday he'd noticed it more than when they had been on the house a couple of days. He opened the windows and the door, then went to the garage hoping to find gardening gloves because even he wasn't prepared to do this bare handed.

The voices in his head were beginning to argue. 'You giving her an easy time cos she's a pretty girl?' 'I'm giving her an easy time cos she almost got gang-raped yesterday.' 'Shit like that happens these days.' 'Well in the old days she'd need years of therapy to get through what she's been through the last couple o'weeks.' 'I suppose it's okay to give her the day off.' 'How's she gonna deal with all this, with only you to help her?'

"She'll handle it," he growled out loud.

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The sweet smell of the fruit tea made it impossible for Beth to sleep. She sat in the huge bed, sipping her tea and mused over yesterday's events. She's killed a man, felt his warm blood on her hands, seen the life go out of his eyes.

It crossed her mind that Andy was an innocent in this, the two older men may have persuaded him to talk to her and keep her calm. He may have surrendered after Daryl killed the others, but she had sliced into his stomach without giving him a chance to speak.

Should she pray for forgiveness? Feeling guilty, she admitted to herself that she hadn't done a great deal of praying recently. Could you hope to be forgiven for murder? Should she pray for the souls of the dead men? Maybe she should just offer thanks for her own life? A smile crossed her face as she thought "Should I thank God for Daryl?" Without him she would be dead or worse.

An awful thought ran through her mind. She hadn't actually thanked Daryl! She was sitting here, drinking tea in bed, while he was cleaning out that disgusting kitchen. She hadn't even thanked him for the tea!

Despite the aches and pains she felt, it wasn't long before she was jogging down the stairs.

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Daryl had closed the doors between the kitchen and the rest of the house to try and keep in the stench. When Beth entered she had to pause to get used to the smell of rotten food, mixed with kitchen cleaner, which had been liberally sprayed over the surfaces.

He was relieved to see her, but noticed she looked awkward moving from one foot to another, "What's up?"

"I didn't say 'thank you' and I really should have done. I'm sorry, but thank you…" Beth blurted out, then realised Daryl was looking confused, "Thank you for yesterday, saving me from those three."

"Thank me? There's no need. It's just the two of us, we gotta look out for each other."

"I didn't even thank you for my tea!"

"You reason enough to be a bit distracted this morning. You don't have to thank me… What you do have to do is explain what you're wearing?" Daryl decided to change the conversation.

"I'm here to help you clean, I didn't want to get anything dirty that I might want to wear again." In her hurry, Beth had picked a bright pink pair of Mrs Grant's yoga pants and a huge white shirt that Mr Grant might have worn with a suit.

Trying not to smile at the splash of colour, Daryl asked, "You sure you're okay, you still look pale. Did you eat?"

"I had the tea you made."

"You need more than that to get through today, go finish up that fruit and do you mind grabbing me one of those shirts. You're probably right, this is gonna get messy."

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Beth worked in pink rubber gloves that she found in a kitchen drawer. Daryl had laughed, saying she looked very glamorous and that "Mrs Grant would be proud," he was pleased to see Beth smile but then he worried if she would take the teasing the wrong way. Did it sound like he was flirting? After yesterday that was the last thing he should be doing. Maybe he should be more careful with what he said to her?

It was hard work, both of them were glad to keep themselves occupied. After a few hours the kitchen was cleared and smelled more of bleach than anything else. They buried the body of the walker in the plot at the front of their house, adding the rotten food and the white shirts they had both worn over their clothes to the shallow grave, then decided they deserved a late lunch.

So far cooking had been just heating up tinned food, this time Beth enjoyed the simple process of pasta with tinned Bolognese sauce, she added herbs and dried garlic to try to make it more interesting and was pleased with the results.

"It's weird feeling full again," Daryl said after lunch. "That was really good. Thank you."

"Would have been better with parmesan," Beth decided.

"Won't be tasting that for a long while," Daryl replied absently, while flexing his injured hand.

"Your hand okay?"

"Aches a bit," he admitted.

"Let me take a look." Before he could disagree, Beth went inside to collect everything she would need. "I'm sorry, I should have done this last night."

"You had enough on your mind."

Once Beth took off the bandage, they were both relieved to see that the cut on his hand looked to be healing well, he had lost one stitch but the wound looked clean. "It looks good, maybe you could leave the bandage off this afternoon. Do you think you could keep it clean?"

"I wanna check the house next door, so probably not. I think we need to know if we have neighbours." From his seat on the balcony Daryl could see the walls around the garden next door. The other two houses could wait, but he wanted to know what was so close by.

"Okay, but will you sit still for a little while? You can watch out for walkers." Beth waved her arm at the view, trying to be persuasive. From their spot on the balcony they had only seen three walkers wander aimlessly by, but Daryl had watched their every step. This time he seemed to agree with her, leant back in his chair and stretched out his legs in front of him, in a show of relaxation.

"There's something I wanted to ask you about yesterday, and those men."

Daryl looked surprised, "Go ahead."

"The third man that I killed, maybe I shouldn't have killed him. He was trying to be nicer than the others, maybe he would have surrendered if I had given him a chance to?"

"I'm sure he would have loved the chance to surrender, but he didn't deserve it." Daryl sounded amazed that she had asked this. "He was only 'trying to be nicer' so you didn't panic, that doesn't mean he was nice, he was just a tiny bit smarter than the other two."

Beth still looked uncomfortable. "I thought the other two may have persuaded him?"

"There was no time for that. I was watching them, I heard them when I came out of the store and got out of their way. I hoped they'd just keep going, but they saw you and didn't hesitate. No one was persuaded, they were all grinning at what they thought they were going to do, even your 'nice' guy." Daryl hoped he hadn't gone too far in trying to convince her. Beth was quiet, looking out at their view.

Eventually she asked quietly, "If they didn't need to talk about what they were planning, could they have done it before?"

"We'll never know, but they won't do it again. There's a chance women from our group are alone around here..." Daryl left that thought hanging in the air.

Beth thought about girls that might have already met the three men, girls that weren't lucky enough to have someone like Daryl to even out the odds. She thought about Maggie who might have met them. Sasha, Carol and even Michonne too. Her feelings of guilt ebbed away. It didn't take long for her to decide, "I'm glad we killed them."

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Beth was impressed with herself for convincing Daryl to sit while she washed up after lunch, although not long after that he asked for his hand to be bandaged up again and they set off to the house next door.

Daryl had clearly been planning, they collected a stepladder and a wheelbarrow from Mr Grant's garage to make their trip next door easier. It wasn't long before they were both sitting astride the neighbour's garden wall. It was clear from the damage to the overgrown garden that it had been walked on recently. Daryl made a sharp whistle through his fingers and prepared his crossbow. They didn't have to wait long before a male walker shambled around the corner of the house. Daryl raised his bow, but quickly realised this was a perfect practice opportunity. "You should try that little gun," he suggested to Beth. She shot him a look that didn't display confidence, but got the gun out of her pocket.

A female walker followed the male and Beth's first shot went high. Daryl could see her frustration but as he was about to advise her to keep relaxed, Beth seemed to settle. She let out a long breath and shot off the top of the walkers head. She angled straight to her second target and her third shot was even better, right between the female's eyes.

"Nice shooting," Daryl announced.

"Two out of three." Beth couldn't keep the disappointment out of her voice.

"Two out of three with a new gun is 'nice shooting'," Daryl insisted.

"Thanks… Did you see that?" Beth interrupted herself as a curtain in an upstairs room stirred. Daryl's answer was to raise his bow, while she aimed the gun again. "Could it be a survivor?"

"Doubt it," Daryl was conscious that they were sitting upon a wall like targets to be shot at, but despite the movement was convinced there were no humans around. "Anyone with common sense would check the next door houses for food."

"A survivor who's lost their common sense?"

"More likely a walker who doesn't know how a curtain works. Let's go find out." Daryl swung the stepladder over the wall so they could get down without risk of breaking an ankle and get out quickly if necessary. They did a quick sweep of the garden and the back of the house, there was a garden shed that looked promising for the barbecue coals that they needed.

Spread over the paved patio by the house were the dried remains of an animal. "Do you think something got over the wall?" Beth asked, more in hope than expectation.

"More likely their own dog." Daryl pointed out a collar.

Beth winced in distaste and was glad to return to the front of the house.

The door was as easy to open as the door to their own house was, everything seemed to be neat and tidy inside. Daryl whistled again, inviting any walkers to come and get them, but none appeared. After checking the downstairs rooms and finding nothing to worry about, they went up the grand staircase which was similar to the one next door. Upstairs, most doors were open and the bedrooms easy to check, as they were flooded by light from the afternoon sun shining through most windows. Only one door was closed and it seemed to be the room at the front where they had seen movement.

Daryl listened at the door, whispering to Beth, "Stay back, but keep your gun out." He wasn't surprised that it was locked, he had to shove though it but couldn't do that with his crossbow ready, so took out his knife and put his shoulder to the door. The walker who had been locked inside was still stood at the window. She turned slowly but once she realised the intruder was food, she came towards Daryl without hesitation. He wouldn't normally waste time or energy dealing with a trapped walker, but this one was a little too close to home for comfort. He used his knife as she reached him and the walker crumpled to the floor.

There were two beds in the room, one still tidily made with a pale pink throw and cushions, the one closest to the door spoiled by the remains of a girls body.

Beth appeared at Daryl's shoulder, he would have liked to have hidden this from her, but he was too late. She stood shocked for a moment, then left the room.

Daryl assumed the two girls were sisters or friends who decided to opt out once the adult couple downstairs had turned, they might have even seen them eat the dog. There were a selection of pill bottles on the night stand and empty glasses. The walker must have turned first and eaten the other girl, but then got trapped in the locked room for a couple of years.

There was a slight consolation for seeing this, Daryl noticed a set of keys on the floor by the bed. Hopefully one would open the driveway gates and he wouldn't have to carry anything they wanted from the house over the garden wall. He closed the door on the scene and found Beth waiting for him at the top of the stairs.

She looked closed down and tense, he was worried that seeing this might be bringing memories back for her. Of course, Daryl had heard about Beth's attempt to end her own life, Lori had told Carol, and Carol had told him. No one had secrets anymore.

"Let's go check out the kitchen and that shed, then get out of here." Daryl suggested.

Beth nodded, she would have liked to have left immediately but there were things they needed. It was wrong to run away from four dead bodies and a dog.

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The kitchen smelled better than many they had encountered, the family must have been running out of fresh food. Daryl opened up the back door and asked "Do you want me to help out in here, or should I check the shed?"

Beth reminded herself that the house was safe, only filled with the actual dead now so she agreed that Daryl should start collecting from outside and started her hunt through the cupboards.

This family seemed to have used their kitchen more than Mrs Grant had, the cupboards were stocked with flour, sugar, oats, honey and even powdered milk. Beth was hoping she could make porridge, maybe even some version of flat bread. They were eating so many soups and stews that bread would be a great addition to their canned diet. She took a heavy griddle pan, a battered cookery book and began to piling stocks by the door to add to Daryl's loaded wheelbarrow.

"No promises," she said to him. "But I might be able to make porridge tomorrow and maybe bread, but it will be very trial and error on a barbecue."

He grinned in appreciation. "You know you don't have to do all the cooking?"

"I know, and you certainly do your fair share, although if I'm not just opening cans I quite enjoy it… and it looks like we have enough fuel to keep us going?"

Daryl had found a good stock of charcoal and piled it into the wheelbarrow, carefully they placed bags of food on top. Slowly, they walked back to their house with Beth carrying the stepladder and making sure nothing fell off the barrow.

Beth still looked pale, and she was quiet again. Daryl supposed there could be many reasons. "This is a good haul from one house..." He tried to sound positive.

"Yeah, I wish we hadn't had to see all that though."

"You shouldn't feel sorry for the walkers."

Beth took a moment before her reply. "Yes, but I want to feel sorry for the people they once were. I suppose I got used to killing them when they're at the prison fence or even walking the street, but seeing them in their homes makes me think of them as people or the remains of people. They lived here."

"But we do need to kill them though..."

"Of course, but I want to kill them for them, as much as for us. They deserve to rest."

Daryl wasn't quite sure what he thought about that, but as long as she was prepared to kill walkers he didn't plan on arguing. It was his turn to be quiet, and for the rest of the walk back he mulled over what she had said.

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They had put bottled water in the kitchen sink and filled it with icy cold tap water. Daryl found it very welcome after their afternoon out, but the cold didn't feel too good to Beth who was beginning to ache now she had stopped moving. She was thinking tea and painkillers would be ideal, but that involved walking upstairs and she wasn't quite ready to do that yet. She could see Daryl shooting her concerned glances and decided maybe it was time to talk about her past. She'd heard a lot of women say that your period was a great time to 'take care of business'.

"I suppose you heard that I tried to kill myself?"

"I heard," Daryl said, taking another sip from his bottle and not prepared to comment.

"I changed my mind, but I understand why those girls did what they did. Being trapped up there like that."

"You regret changing your mind?"

"No, no, not at all. I realised I did have options. I still had family and we found a life. The prison was hard, but it was a life, something to live for."

Daryl knew she was trying to be positive, but needed to test her resolve. "But now what? We've lost the prison."

"But the prison proved it's possible, so I think we can find a life again. I won't give up so easy this time... I'm guessing you won't either?"

Daryl grinned, "No, I won't be giving up." It was impossible for Beth not to grin along with him.

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Don't know how I managed not to go totally overboard in house details. I think I stuck vaguely to the plot! More next weekend...

Thanks again for all the comments and follows, they're always appreciated.

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Can't wait to see this weeks TWD – Beth and Daryl by firelight!

In the UK we get to see it about 20 hours after the US so please try to avoid sharing any spoilers in any comments – Thank you!

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15th February 2014 ~ FanOTheFang on Twitter and Tumblr