Thank you so much to those who are reading and commenting this story! I hope you like this chapter - it's a little slow but it's Daryl and Beth building themselves a life here and this chapter is one of my personal favorites.
xxx
Chapter Ten.
Beth smiled as she moved away more dead leaves from the dirt bed to find another green bud. Spring was here – finally – and the woman who had lived here before had planted bulbs in a flower bed against the back of the house. Beth couldn't wait to see what they would bloom into. She hoped for tulips. Tulips had always been her favorite.
She lifted her head and turned to look at Daryl for a moment. He was working on the fence. They weren't just using bricks but now rocks they had gathered from one house's landscaping and the sun was warm enough to cook their cement; and warm enough for Daryl to work in a shirt with no sleeves. She tried not to settle her eyes on his arms – particularly his biceps – but she honestly didn't know where else to look. The muscles were straining and stretching under dirt and sweat stained skin and she forced herself to quickly turn her eyes back to her bulbs even as she felt her face warm and she knew she couldn't blame it on the sun.
She didn't know why she was looking at him at all like that. He was handsome, yes. She had admitted that to herself a while ago but even though it was just the two of them, she knew she couldn't look at him like that. It was Daryl. They were… friends. She assumed they were anyway. They actually hadn't had a discussion about it because having a discussion with Daryl about anything like that would never happen but it was just them and they were staying here – for a while though they hadn't discussed that either – and they were the only family they had left and it only made sense that they would be friends. And she couldn't be looking at her friend's arms like that. Like she was dying of thirst and he was the only glass of water around for miles.
She heard movement coming closer to her then and she almost reluctantly lifted her head from the flowerbeds to turn to see him approaching her, wiping at his sweaty face with that red bandana of his. They had brought out a bottle of water with them and it was left near her and he came to it now and Beth did her best to not look as he squirted the water into his mouth or the way sweat slowly trickled down his arms.
"How it look?" Daryl then asked and it took Beth a second longer than it should have to realize that he was talking about the fence.
And when she did, she stood up with pink cheeks and looked to the fence. They were almost done with the back; finding those landscaping rocks had been a Godsend. With the added height, the fence now came to her chest and she felt so much more safe.
Beth nodded and looked back to him. "It looks perfect," she said and her lips upturned in a little smile and Daryl's lips twitched in a responding smile.
The back gate had also been nailed shut and they added more wood and rock to that as well so no one coming out from the woods could see the gate and sneak in. Now, for Beth and Daryl, their entrance and exit in and out of the house would be the door in the garage that led out on the side of the house. The garage also conveniently had another door that led into the backyard and Beth had noticed that most of these houses had doors like that from the garage.
These houses were like a Pinterest board's dream and yes, their family was still out there and she didn't doubt it and she and Daryl would go out and try to find them again once more. But right now, they were settling here and… and things were good. For the most part. They were making themselves – and this house – protected and they had flowers and vegetables and water and a fence and… Beth felt terrible for not wanting to be more eager to get back out there again.
She wondered how long Daryl wanted them to stay here.
"We'll start work on the front fence in a couple a days," Daryl said and Beth nodded in agreement, still looking at all of the work they had been able to accomplish – just the two of them and her mind wandered back to the prison for a moment and all that they had been able to do there, too. "How's this goin'?" He then asked and she followed his eyes down to the flower beds and the garden beds she had been weeding that morning.
She smiled at her work. "We're going to have flowers," she told him even though she knew he really wouldn't care.
But Daryl surprised her by looking at her and looking like he wanted to smile. "'member how you and the kids planted all those flowers at the prison. Looked nice."
And Beth felt her smile widen at that because not only did he remember that but that he had even noticed those flowers in the first place. She looked down to the flower beds before she found herself staring at Daryl and unable to look away.
"I've missed flowers," she then said in a soft voice, staring down at the green buds for a moment, imagining how beautiful they would be in a few more days. She cleared her throat, as if embarrassed for having said that to him. "And it's warm enough so after lunch, I'll be planting our tomatoes and green beans and the squash seeds."
"I can help you with that," Daryl offered.
"Oh, you don't have to," she was quick to shake her head. "I'm sure you have other things you probably need to see to."
Daryl just shrugged though. "'s my garden, too. 's our garden. Gonna be eatin' whatever vegetables come from it. Need to earn what I eat."
Beth nearly smiled at that. She could have told him again that he didn't have to but she knew it wouldn't do any good. Daryl Dixon did what Daryl Dixon wanted to do and nothing anyone said could change his mind. Except for maybe words from Rick but she definitely wasn't Rick and Daryl wouldn't be listening to her like she was.
"Thank you," she then said and she felt his eyes on her but she was feeling shy all of a sudden and she couldn't bring herself to look at him.
She didn't know what the hell was going on and she didn't really want to think about it. This was Daryl and he was all she had. She couldn't mess anything up by getting something as stupid as a crush on him. The word alone made her want to grimace. A crush. Like they were two kids in high school.
She went into the house first and he followed after her and she didn't care if he thought she was acting weird. She tried to hurry ahead and put a little bit of space between them. They were both clean. They had been bathing themselves every couple of days in the stream now that it was getting warmer and even though he had been working all morning, making mud cement and lugging around landscaping rocks, Beth swore that she could still smell the soap clinging to him past the dirt and sweat.
They had spread out a bit more. It was day eighty together and they had been here for almost a month now and they weren't just in the family room. They were in the kitchen now, too, and she wanted this place to feel more like a home and Beth went there now where they had put most of the food. They had left some in the plastic bin that had been the Doomsday kit and they had put away some in their backpacks – just in case they had to run from here at a moment's notice.
They ate a can of beans for lunch and they usually ate tuna or rice or whatever meat Daryl had been able to hunt for dinner and she couldn't wait until they started having fresh vegetables that could break up the monotony. Not that she would ever think of complaining. There was nothing to complain about. She and Daryl were lucky and they had plenty of food for the both of them. They weren't starving and having to eat snake.
Or bark.
Her throat instantly went dry at the thought and she did her best to swallow it down. People who had to survive by eating tree bark did desperate things. Terrible things.
Beth was quick to shut her mind down on any thoughts like that. She didn't want to think about anything that had happened to her. It would be better if she just forgot that any of it had happened. Nothing had happened – because of Daryl and coming back in time to stop that man from…
She jumped when she felt a gentle hand on her elbow and she spun around to see that it was Daryl; as if it would have been anyone else. He was looking at her with a slight frown on his face and a wrinkle between his eyebrows.
"Hey," he then said softly as if she was a wild animal in the woods he had stumbled upon. "You okay?" He asked and she realized he had been talking to her but about what, she had no idea because she hadn't heard a single word.
She refrained from closing her eyes and exhaling a deep breath.
He didn't need to know where her mind had been traveling to. She didn't need Daryl to know that she had been thinking about what had happened; what had almost happened. He would worry about her and she didn't want him to do that. They had bigger things to think about than her. Like keeping this house and themselves safe.
Beth nodded and did her best to give him a genuine smile. "I'm fine," she said and her voice sounded fake and overly-perky but Daryl probably wouldn't notice. "You want to eat outside? It's so nice today."
Daryl wouldn't stop looking at her, his eyes studying her closely, and she stood there, looking at him in return. She had given him another haircut but again, not too much was taken off. Just a little bit because he really did look good with the longer hair and they were both cleaner and eating at least two meals every day and they were doing good here. For being here just short of one month, they were doing so good here and she was proud of all they had been able to find and accomplish. She wasn't going to allow herself to ruin anything for them.
"Come on," Beth said because she didn't know why Daryl was looking at her like that and his eyes focused on her so intently was giving her a knot in her stomach. She wasn't used to him looking at her like that and she felt a flush on the back of her neck and she felt like an idiot because of it.
She took their pot and can of baked beans and moved to the fire they kept lit in the fireplace in the family room and she could feel his eyes following her but she made sure not to look at him again as she held the pot over the flames, warming the beans up.
His arm suddenly appeared in her line of sight and he was holding the plastic bowls out to her and she was aware of how close he was standing to her. Still, she didn't look at him as she scooped the beans evenly between the two bowls. And then, taking the now empty pot with her to wash out later, she handed him one of the bowls and took one for herself and headed out the back door.
They sat at the picnic table on the patio and ate their lunch for a few minutes in silence.
"What you think that tree is?" Daryl asked, breaking the silence, and she lifted her head to look at the tree growing in the back corner of the yard, the buds on the branches days away from blossoming.
"I think it might be a cherry tree," she said, remembering Jimmy's parents had had several squat trees that looked like that growing on their farm.
"Think it'll actually give us cherries?" Daryl asked, looking at the tree for another moment before looking back to her.
She shrugged, not wanting to get her hopes up. "They'll probably be too sour to eat."
"Still," Daryl shoveled another spoon of beans into his mouth. "Sour cherries are better than no cherries," he said and she felt herself wanting to smile so she did.
"Have you ever had sour cherries? Because if you have, you wouldn't be saying that."
And Daryl smiled then at her, an actual smile as if pleased with what she had said.
After eating, they put their bowls and plastic spoons into the pot so they could go down to the creek later to wash everything out and they then went to what would be their new vegetable garden. Beth took a moment to look it over.
"I pulled all of the weeds and dead plants out but see this?" She asked, pointing to little green sprouts poking out of the dirt. "Those aren't weeds. Those are going to be something. I don't know what yet but it's something that was able to rot and replant itself so since we don't know what they're going to be, we'll give them plenty of room."
Daryl nodded, looking at the sprouts and then at her and he was quiet, waiting for her to give him direction and she realized that he had no idea how to do this. She was the one with farming in her blood and right now, Daryl was going to be following her. She didn't know why because it was just some little vegetable garden but she felt proud of herself then. Important. And she felt something surge upwards in her chest.
They worked on their knees in the dirt, side by side for the rest of the afternoon. Digging and planting and making rows for their tomato, green bean and squash plants and seeds. And when it was all said and done, Beth sat back and she smiled and she thought of her daddy. He would have smiled and would have been mighty proud of this garden.
She turned her head and looked at Daryl beside her and smiled and after a moment of looking at her, he smiled a little, too.
"We're gonna be a'right here for a while," he said and it was an echo of the words he had said to her once already – just without the I think in front of them. Now, he sounded certain and Beth was going to believe that, too.
They would be alright here for a while and she wanted that while to last.
Beth smiled and nodded her head and she didn't think about it. She just leaned into him and wrapped her arms around his sweaty shoulders and hugged him. And this time, she didn't feel his usual hesitation any time she touched him. This time, she hugged him and Daryl didn't seem to wait at until to hug her back. She felt his arms – warm and heavy – around her back and she couldn't help but close her eyes.
She missed physical contact with people. She had gone through the first years of life, getting hugs and kisses on the head from her parents or siblings. And then there was Jimmy… and Zach… and now there was Daryl, who flinched that first time she had hugged him in the doorway of her cell after he gave her the news of Zach but she had been far more concerned about him because he had just looked so down about it all.
But now, they were here. They had a house and a fence and a soon-to-be vegetable garden and she had his arms around her. She felt safe.
xxx
In the late afternoon, before dusk, they went to the creek to wash themselves and dishes off. Daryl took the first watch and turned his back as Beth began stripping her clothes off to get into the water.
"Is this some kind of record for you? Three baths in a week?" She teased him once she was submerged up to her shoulders in the water.
"Quiet," he grumbled but she didn't hear a bite in his tone and she laughed softly.
The truth was, she liked that he was keeping clean. She remembered in the prison, after they had been there and had made it a home, Daryl had bathed regularly, too, and wore clean clothes. It was only after it fell and they had to run and he was slipping away did he go back to not caring whether he was clean or not. But now… maybe, now, he was starting to look at this place as their home.
Once she was hidden beneath the water, Daryl turned towards the creek but she noticed that he made sure his eyes didn't linger anywhere below her face. He had his crossbow in his hands, always ready, and she began humming a soft song as she scrubbed at her body with the wash cloth and lavender soap and washed her hair. The water was still cold but not freezing like before and working all day, it was refreshing.
She hoped the family was somewhere with water, too. And food and shelter and again, she felt the little gnawing in the pit of her stomach that told her that she and Daryl shouldn't stay here; that they should get back out there and start their search again. They were probably all still looking for Daryl. Not for her but definitely Daryl. Who on earth would give up on Daryl?
"Beth," Daryl then said her name in a quiet voice and she instantly stopped her humming and looked to him. He put a finger to his lips, telling her to stay quiet, and she went completely still in the water, making sure she didn't move a muscle even though she was certain he could probably hear the pounding of her heart in her chest.
He was looking to his left and he crept forward a few silent steps, his crossbow aimed and ready, directed towards a tree and she knew, with that, that it wasn't a walker or a man. It was an animal and he was hunting them their dinner. She held her breath, watching him, wondering what it was. She saw the way his entire body was tight and the way his muscles were flexed and how slow and patient he moved. She couldn't take her eyes off of him. He was a good-looking man but when Daryl hunted, he was beautiful.
Her cheeks exploded with a blush at the thought but he wouldn't notice. Right now, everything in the woods had fallen away from him except for the animal being hunted.
She couldn't help but jump a little when he suddenly fired the bow and a bolt sailed through the air, and she watched as it landed into the side of an unfortunate raccoon. And the old her would have been horrified at the thought of killing an adorable raccoon and eating it but the person she was now, her stomach almost grumbled at the thought of having a filling dinner tonight to eat.
Daryl went to go collect the bolt and the animal and when he looked back at her, Beth burst into a smile and Daryl smiled easily, too.
xxx
She finished bathing as Daryl dressed the raccoon and then once she was dried off and dressed once more, Daryl took his turn in the creek, scrubbing himself until his skin had a slight tint of pink to it – not that Beth was looking at his bare skin. She never mentioned the scars all over his body – especially the ones on his back – and Daryl didn't mention them either even though he knew that she had seen them. She may have been younger than him but that didn't make her an idiot. She knew what those scars were and where they had come from. There was no reason to talk about them unless Daryl mentioned them first and she knew he probably never would. It was as if she had told him once. He was made for the way the world was now – and it was because of those scars on his back and that he had survived them.
After Daryl was finishing cleaning himself off and the pot, bowls and spoons were clean as well, they gathered their things and headed for home. Just saying that, it made Beth's steps feel lighter to her. Home. She and Daryl were making a home for themselves and as they stepped through the woods and she saw their fence of wood and brick and stone, she couldn't stop the smile from blooming across her face.
They were doing pretty alright for themselves here.
Inside, they cooked the raccoon meat over the fire and tonight, they sat on the floor in front of the fire drying their hair and they ate their dinner and had a square each of chocolate for dessert and she felt full and light and happy. She actually felt like reading tonight and she hadn't felt that since those men had been here. But she wasn't going to think about that right now. She never wanted to think about it again and as she reached for the paperback book, she could have sworn she saw Daryl's lips twitch.
"… she did not scream. She yelled and ran for Frisque with all the speed she had, and as the wolf broke from the tree line, Mary reached the little dog and snatched him up and wheeled about and went on running, with her lungs on fire. Macpherson, from the river, yelled as well, "Get down!" She did not understand. Her gaze in panic fell upon him, standing in the water to his knees, the long gun leveled to his shoulder as he sighted down its barrel. "Mary!" He called out more strongly. "Down!" She did as ordered, dropping with her body curled round Frisque, the wolf so close behind she heard it panting. And MacPherson fired."
"You can't stop there," Daryl frowned as she closed the book.
"It's the end of the chapter and I've already read three tonight," she said, wanting to laugh if her throat didn't feel a little tender.
Daryl just kept on frowning though, clearly not pleased with her reasoning.
She almost wanted to laugh. "You know MacPherson got the wolf and Mary is safe."
"Do you know?" He cocked an eyebrow up at her.
"Yes," she stated confidently even though she had never read the book. "MacPherson and Mary are going to get together. You can't kill one half of the couple before it happens," she then said matter-of-factly.
Daryl now looked confused. "MacPherson and Mary? Really?"
"Can't you see it?" Beth asked with a slight tilt of her head, looking at him.
"She's scared out of her mind 'round him," Daryl pointed out to her.
"Maybe at first," Beth shrugged and she looked down to the book in her lap, smoothing her hand over the front cover. "But you can tell she's curious about him now and she's realizing that he keeps her safe. He may seem scary but she's seeing now that he seems to be doing anything to keep her safe."
Daryl was quiet at that and she lifted her eyes to see him looking into the fire, not saying anything to what she had said and she wondered – far from the first time – what was going on in Daryl Dixon's mind. She didn't ask though. She didn't expect Daryl to tell her if she did. Even though it had been just them for eighty days now, there was still so much of Daryl that was a mystery to her and probably always would be.
"Do you want to play a game of checkers?" Beth then asked, breaking the silence.
Daryl cleared his throat. "Yeah," he agreed and moved away from her to get the checkerboard from the coffee table where they kept it and Beth was well aware that he barely met her eyes for the rest of the evening.
xxx
Thank you so much for reading and please review!
(Daryl and Beth are reading books by Susanna Kearsley and right now, they're in the middle of my favorite, A Desperate Fortune. I cannot recommend her books enough.)