A/N: I do NOT own the characters or places, except for Kayla, Brutus, Chase and Mitch. Thank you to everyone for favoriting, following and reviewing. I'm sorry it's taken me a minute to update but I hope you guys enjoy this chapter. Some parts were a little difficult to write just because they didn't want to be and that's what took so long. But things should start progressing fairly quickly soon. If you have any questions, suggestions, comments or criticisms feel free to leave a review. Another thing, if a character or event isn't mentioned in the story then it didn't happen or they don't exist. At least until it's mentioned specifically. Some things and people may only get a "nod" or be mentioned in passing because they aren't vital to the story but they're there. But this is a Daryl/Beth story, not Team Family, even though I love all of them equally. Sorry for the long A/N but I felt that maybe I should let everyone know what's up. Thank you everyone for reading and enjoying my story. If you would like to read a Bethyl AU I'm thinking of writing, let me know. And if you'd like a soundtrack for this fic, let me know. Also, I don't use a Beta so all mistakes are mine.
BPOV
A hot shower seemed like such a luxury these days. At Grady we'd had showers, they were rushed and lukewarm at best, but we were clean. And then on the road with Morgan, it was almost impossible to find a shower, but we had stayed as clean as possible.
I dried off quickly and braided my hair before twisting it into a bun. I slipped on my last pair of clean jeans and pulled on a white tank top before adding a light gray long sleeved button up. I rolled the sleeves up, exposing my forearms, before pulling on socks and my combat boots. The weather was cooling off but it wasn't quite cold yet.
Walking into my room, I carefully looked through my weapons, deciding which ones to carry. I put an Uncle Mike's inner pants holster at the small off my back and slid a Lady Browning 9mm into it before sliding a knife into my boot. I strapped a small hatchet with it's holster to my hip and figured that was enough weaponry to meet my family for lunch.
I heard footsteps in the hallway and then there was a knock on my door frame and I turned around to see Daryl Dixon looking at me. As he started at me I began to feel self-conscious so I looked down at myself to make sure nothing was missing or out of place.
"Is something wrong?" I asked him finally.
"No. I'm just not over the fact that your actually here." He said as he looked down to the floor.
Stepping over to him slowly, I stopped in front of him with a small smile on my face. I let myself look him over, really look at him, for the first time since being back. He was more muscular than I remembered and his hair was longer. He was wearing a black "Punisher" t-shirt with his leather vest over it and some worn jeans. His boots were black motorcycle boots but they looked well worn. He had quite a few new scars but I skipped over them without a thought. It wasn't my business unless he chose to make it my business.
As I looked back into his deep blue eyes I felt my breathing hitch for just a moment. And suddenly I was back in that funeral home, wanting him to kiss me but knowing he wouldn't. I took a small step forward and put one hand on his bicep to steady myself. He stayed as still as a statue as I started to lift into my toes.
His gaze moved from my eyes to my lips and my mouth went dry. When his tongue darted out to lick his lips I felt a small shiver go down my spine. As I got closer I could feel his breath on my lips and knew he could feel mine as well. His hand raised up and touched the small off my back as he started to lean down achingly slow.
Just before his lips touched mine there was a knock on the front door and I heard it open. Daryl quickly let go of me and stepped back, almost hitting the wall. He turned around and hurried out of the room as I tried to calm my heart and regulate my breathing. I'd almost kissed Daryl Dixon. And he'd almost let me. I felt a small smile slip onto my lips and I tried to control it before anyone saw me.
Daryl looked everywhere but at me as I walked into the living room where he was sitting with Rick. I grinned at Rick and gave him a hug when he stood up to greet me. Daryl did look at me then but quickly looked away when he saw I noticed.
We all left the house, Brutus included, and headed to a gazebo where everyone else was already getting ready to eat. As I approached, everyone's conversation slowly fell silent and I began to feel anxious with all the eyes on me.
Brutus pressed his weight against me and his lips started to twitch but he didn't growl. My fingers instantly twisted into his fur and my shoulders relaxed marginally.
Maggie was the first to approach me and I didn't hesitate in wrapping my arms around my sister. My throat felt tight but I couldn't bring myself to release her or even care when my eyes started to burn. My bottom lip started to quiver and I bit down on it as tears fell from my eyes.
I felt Maggie starting to shake and then a sob came from her throat. I felt my own shoulders begin to shake as I finally let myself believe that I was here, with my sister and the rest of my family. This wasn't a dream like it had been so many other times. This was real.
Letting myself feel wasn't something I'd been able to do in a long time and now that I could a flood of emotions hit me and I just held Maggie tighter. We cried and everyone let us without saying a word.
When we finally separated I sat down at a large round table whet the others were already seated. Everyone passed around different dishes of food and soon I had a plate full of beans, pasta, cornbread, fried chicken and potatoes. We all had glasses of lemonade and it felt almost surreal to be sitting here like nothing had happened, like the dead didn't walk around.
Except Rick had a pistol and a knife, Daryl had his crossbow, Carol had her knife, Maggie had a pistol, everyone had different weapons. It was also comforting to see that I wasn't the only one armed, that they hadn't gone soft.
I felt an almost physical jolt when my eyes landed on a small girl with Rick's curly brown hair and blue eyes. When Rick caught my look he stood up and brought Judith over to me. She looked at me shyly as I smiled at her but soon her attention was caught by someone else.
"Mama!" She said with a squeal.
I turned around and I saw Michonne approaching with a smile on her face.
I must have looked as shocked as I felt when Michonne grabbed Judith after kissing Rick on the cheek because she laughed slightly and just touched my shoulder. Then she sent a look to Daryl and I saw his cheeks turn a light pink. I furrowed my brow in a questioning look but he just turned away so I tried to shrug it off.
As lunch progressed I noticed almost every person gave Daryl the same look at least once. The more he avoided my eyes the more I wanted to know what was going on but I knew better than to ask him in front of everyone because he'd just shut down. Even though they seemed to know what was going on.
DPOV
I felt Beth's eyes on me through out lunch but I refused to look back at her. I couldn't bring myself to answer the question in her eyes. As the meal began to wrap up I decided to make myself scarce.
"I'm gonna go work on my bike." I said to no one in particular.
Beth started to stand but without looking at her I turned around and left. When I'd almost kissed her, I'd thought I'd been ready to tell her how I felt. The more I thought about it though, maybe I wasn't good for her. I had been emotionally damaged before the end of the world and everything that had happened since then had just made that exponentially worse.
When I got to the garage where my bike was currently being stored I saw Mitch, a younger man that no one really seemed to know a lot about. He never gave a last name and since those weren't used too much anymore no one seemed to care. He seemed like an okay person and he liked to work so I'd taught him a few things about engines.
"How's it goin', man?" He asked when he saw me.
I grunted an acknowledgement but didn't really give an answer as I walked over to my bike. We worked in silence for a moment until he cleared his throat. I looked up, knowing he was getting ready to speak.
"Who was that girl this morning?" He asked without looking at me.
"Maggie's sister. Beth." I told him, knowing he could only be asking about one person.
"Beth? I thought she died." He said.
"We thought so, too." I mumbled as I looked back down at my bike.
"Is she, uh, you know, like, with anyone?" He stuttered and I felt my jaw clench painfully.
I tried to act like I didn't understand the meaning of his question when I answered him.
"She came in with a guy named Morgan."
"Oh, so she's taken." His voice sounded disappointed when he spoke.
"Who's taken?" A voice asked and I felt my body tense.
When I turned around Beth was standing at the opening to the garage with her hands in her pockets and Brutus was sniffing around the vehicle parts. She looked between Mitch and me before finally settling on me.
"Nobody." Mitch said with a sigh and I felt my shoulders slightly relax.
Beth made an "mmm" noise and looked around the shop. She slowly walked around until she came to a stop at my side. I could feel her body heat and realized she was standing almost uncomfortably close to me. I looked down at her and she was looking up at me with a thoughtful expression.
"Can we talk?" She asked me.
"About what?" I asked her as I started messing with my bike again, hoping she'd just leave.
"About earlier, before Rick showed up." She said, obviously trying not to say too much in front of Mitch.
"There ain't nothin' to talk about." I told her without looking at her.
"Really? Is that what you think?" She said in an irritated voice.
"Yeah. There ain't nothin' to say." I tried not to notice that Mitch was listening to everything we said.
"Yes, there is. What happened wasn't nothin' and you know it." She said as her voice raised. "I almost died, Daryl. Don't you get that?"
"I get that, Beth! I get that more than anybody! I carried your goddamn body out of that hospital!"
"Then why are you doing this? Why are you pushing me away when you of all people should know that it could all be ripped away at any second?" She yelled at me and for a moment I was back at that moonshine shack.
"I can't do this, Beth." I told her as I moved to walk past her.
"No, you don't get to walk away, Daryl. You don't get to do that to me." She said and I heard her voice crack on the last word.
When I turned to look at her I could see the shine to her eyes and I felt horrible for making her cry. I let out a sigh and hung my head, staring hard at my boots.
"Fine. We'll talk later, though." I told her and left the shop.
KPOV
When I saw the new girl eating lunch with Daryl I wanted to claw her eyes out. How dare she just show up and try to move in on him? Who did she think she was? I'd seen Daryl get up and walk away from the girl but it didn't take her long to follow him. So, I followed her.
I'd seen the way she'd handled Abraham so I wasn't stupid enough to approach her on my own. I'd have to find a way to get her alone soon though, and make sure I had something on me or some one with me. We would have to talk about personal property at some point and I didn't want to get shredded by her dog either.
As she approached the garage she stopped but didn't announce her presence. I crept closer and it only took me a moment to find out why.
"Who was that girl this morning?" I heard Mitch ask.
Good question. Who was Beth?
"Maggie's sister. Beth." I heard from Daryl.
Hmm. Okay. Interesting. Queen Maggie's sister was dead, though.
"Beth? I thought she died." Mitch said, voicing my thoughts.
"We thought so, too." Daryl mumbled.
I really hated when people did that. It made it so much harder to eavesdrop on them.
"Is she, uh, you know, like, with anyone?" Mitch stuttered over his question and I rolled my eyes as I listened for the very important answer.
"She came in with a guy named Morgan." Daryl said and I felt slightly better until I remembered that no one had been with her at the gym or at lunch. And then I remembered the way she'd looked at Daryl. As if. She couldn't possibly be his type.
"Oh, so she's taken." Mitch sounded disappointed when he spoke and I rolled my eyes again. I mean, really, he'd turned me down but wanted her? How did something like that even happen? Whatever.
"Who's taken?" She finally let them know she was standing there.
"Nobody." I heard Mitch say with a sigh. Ugh.
Beth made an "mmm" noise and walked into the shop. I looked through a dirty window and watched the scene before me. She walked over to Daryl and he didn't even look at her. Ha. When he finally did look at her he didn't speak. Just glared. I almost smiled at her expression. She was obviously disappointed at the lack of attention.
"Can we talk?" She asked him.
"About what?" Daryl asked her and then he started working on his bike again. Ha. I loved this.
"About earlier, before Rick showed up." She said and I narrowed my eyes.
"There ain't nothin' to talk about." He told her without looking at her and I felt a grin come over my lips. Ah. I knew he didn't want her.
"Really? Is that what you think?" She asked in a childish voice. I really didn't like this girl. She needed to realize her place.
"Yeah. There ain't nothin' to say." Daryl told her.
"Yes, there is. What happened wasn't nothin' and you know it." She screeched. "I almost died, Daryl. Don't you get that?"
"I get that, Beth! I get that more than anybody! I carried your goddamn body out of that hospital!"
I cringed at that. Why in the world would he want to do something like that? And obviousy he didn't really care or he would've noticed she wasn't dead. I mean, come on.
"Then why are you doing this? Why are you pushing me away when you of all people should know that it could all be ripped away at any second?" She yelled at him and he looked angry.
He was definitely about to put her in her place. She couldn't just talk to people like that.
"I can't do this, Beth." Daryl told her before moving away from her.
"No, you don't get to walk away, Daryl. You don't get to do that to me." She said and her voice cracked.
Maybe she'd cry.
When Daryl turned to look at her I hoped that he'd finally tell her he didn't care or just walk away and leave the stupid girl standing there. Instead he let out a sigh and looked down.
"Fine. We'll talk later, though." He told her before walking towards the exit.
Shit. Shit. Shit. I had to hide. I looked around frantically before falling behind the bushes planted against the edge of the garage. All I could do was pray no one spotted me.