Thank you to those who have loved this universe as much I do.
…
Ten. Family.
"If I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with."
It wasn't as if Beth needed coffee.
She had gone many years without it and besides, there was something of a substitute she had been using. With the roots of a chicory plant, she washed and peeled them before grinding them down and roasting them in the oven. It wasn't exactly Starbucks, but it was good enough. Not to say that she wasn't happy with the containers of instant coffee that Daryl had brought back. Happy would be an understatement for what she was. But she wasn't going to be stupid and drink cup after cup of the instant coffee and not ration it.
She had already decided that everyone who wanted one would have one cup of the instant coffee once a week and then the rest of the week, she would make coffee from chicory roots. And oddly enough, having gone so many years without real coffee, there was a part of her that almost preferred chicory coffee.
She didn't admit that to anyone though.
Beth hadn't been able to sleep well the night before for whatever reason. It was cold outside and even without looking out the frosted windows, she knew that it was snowing. The wood in the stove popped away and with the quilts over her and Daryl next to her, she was more than warm enough. She just couldn't sleep and she didn't know why because there actually wasn't anything racing in her mind. For once, it seemed as everything was going as well for them as they could. Maybe she was just used to her mind racing over one thing or another and when it didn't have anything, it didn't know what else to do.
They had had a good harvest and had been able to can more than enough to get them through winter. Plus, the run to Crispin had given them supplies that had already made their lives a little easier. They all had "new" winter coats and long underwear to get them through the cold months that seemed to last longer and longer with each passing year up in these mountains.
When the sky began to turn a faint gray, Beth sat up, knowing that sleep wasn't going to be coming to her anytime soon and she eased herself from the bed, Daryl remaining heavily asleep beside her. He shifted a little and Beth made sure he was covered with the quilts.
The night before, she had taken their underwear and had washed it in their metal tub with a scrub board and a bar of marigold soap and had then hung them on a line near the fire to dry as they slept. The run to Crispin had also produced packs of new underwear for everyone – a definite luxury since they wore the underwear they had until it literally fell off – but like with the coffee, they all wanted to treat the new underwear wisely. They still took to wearing the same pair a few days in a row, washing them every night before bed. They didn't want to wear everything they now had completely out because once they did, that would be it and they always wanted to have the luxury of underwear.
Beth squeezed each pair, seeing that they were now dry, and she took her pair, returning to where she and Daryl slept and behind the curtain, she got dressed. Her underwear was toasty and she smiled as she pulled it on. She then tugged on her long underwear and then took a pair of blue jeans and a wool sweater to wear that day that Rosita had knit for her for Christmas the winter before last.
She sat down on the edge of bed to pull on her warm wool socks and Daryl began to stir.
"Mornin' already?" Daryl mumbled, still half-asleep.
She smiled and shook her head. "Just dawn. I'm going down to the cabin," she told him. "You keep sleeping." She leaned over and brushing hair back from his face, she kissed his temple.
"Nah. If you're up, I'm up," he said.
"You were working on the fence all day yesterday. You need rest," Beth reminded him though she was actually more like giving him an order and even exhausted, Daryl could tell the difference and he smirked a little, peeling his eyes open to look up at her.
"Have you always been this damn bossy?" He asked, smirking a little to show her that he was teasing as if she couldn't read him like a book and already knew that.
Beth laughed a little. "Always and you know it, too." She leaned down and kissed him once more. "Get some more rest. I'm just going to be in the kitchen."
Daryl looked at her for a moment and even in the growing grayness of dawn starting to light up the room and his obvious tiredness, his eyes were still dark and intense, focused on her, and Beth sat, letting him look his fill. Sometimes, Daryl did this. Sometimes, he would just stare at her as if he couldn't quite that she was here. She always wanted to ask him.
Where else would she be if not here with him?
She grabbed her heavy winter coat with the fur-trimmed hood and tugged on her boots before wrapping herself up in her scarf and mittens. It might have been a short walk to the cabin, but with the snow and the sun not even being up yet, she could already feel the cold.
Just as she had known, it was snowing that morning and Beth stood there for a moment, tilting her face upwards and feeling the cold flakes hit her face. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to imagine being back at the farm, looking out the window on Christmas Eve and hoping that they would get just a little bit of snow for a white Christmas. It had never happened though and she remembered being disappointed every year about it.
Her mama had always smiled and kissed her head and said that perhaps when she was older, she would find a home she wanted to live in somewhere north where they always got lots of snow every year and just not on Christmas. Beth had always smiled back at Annette, but had shaken her head. She couldn't imagine living anywhere except right there.
What a lifetime ago that had been. Was it even the same life? Sometimes, it certainly didn't feel like it.
Hurrying inside, Beth shivered as she stepped into the kitchen and quickly closed the door behind her. The fire in the living room was roaring in the hearth and on the floor in front of it, Aiden was lying on his stomach, a book open in front of him, and Lily was sleeping next to him, their massive wolf resting her head on the boy's thigh.
"Aiden?" Beth said and couldn't help, but frown a little, confused.
Aiden turned his head and saw her, smiling. "Good morning."
"Sweetie, what are you doing up?"
"I couldn't sleep and I had a cough."
That made Beth frown and pulling her mittens off, she went to him and kneeled down, shaking her hand so it would warm up, and she then placed it to his forehead. No fever.
"I'm alright, Beth. Mom checked on me already," Aiden gave her a tired smile. "Just a cough. I swear."
"I'm making you a tea," she said, standing back up and Aiden nodded without argument. "I'll get started on breakfast, too. Any requests?"
Aiden thought for a moment and then broke into a smile. "Corn pone?"
Beth smiled, almost laughing. "I think that's a great idea. It'll stick to our bones today."
He grinned at that and she looked at him for a moment. If Eli was already ten, then Aiden was twelve and it still amazed her to look at him sometimes. He had his dad's lighter brown hair, but his mom's dark brown eyes and they had all been so scared during the labor even though Beth had studied and been preparing for it for months. When he had been born that night in the basement of their home in St. George's, it had been one of the most amazing things that had ever happened to any of them.
When Aiden had been born – healthy and safe – he had given them all hope that maybe, things did have the possibility of being okay.
She stood up and went into the kitchen, hanging her coat and scarf on one of the pegs on the wall, tucking her mittens into the coat pockets, and then began gathering everything she would need to both make Aiden's tea and breakfast for everyone.
From her jars that lined the shelves, she had just ground up some ginger root when the back door opened and Beth's eyes widened upon seeing Anna hurry inside.
"What are you doing?" She asked and knew it had been a bit too loudly, but she didn't care.
"I couldn't stay in that room anymore," Anna shook her head and Beth went to help her take off her coat and scarf. Wrapped in a blanket, warm against her chest, baby Carrie was awake, her beautiful blue eyes blinking, and Beth smiled when she saw the baby girl.
She was a quiet baby – just as all of the kids had been when they were babies. Beth wondered if they were born with some sort of natural knowledge that they had to be quiet in this world they had been born into.
"Go sit by the fire," Beth ordered her. "I'm making Aiden some tea and then I'm going to get started on breakfast."
"I'll feed her and then I'll help," Anna said, moving towards the couch. "Morning, Aiden."
"Morning, Anna. Morning, Carrie," he said with a smile before going back to his book.
Anna sat down and adjusted her daughter in her arms before lifting her sweater up and Carrie latched onto her breast without much coaxing, wanting her breakfast.
"What are you reading?" Anna asked.
"The Art of War," Aiden answered without lifting his eyes and that made Anna smile because of course he would be reading that.
Matt hadn't told her everything that had happened in Crispin months earlier, but he had told her enough – mainly what the kids had been able to do and apparently, Eli may have been the one to fire the arrows, but Aiden had studied the situation and had told him when the opportunity had presented itself to fire.
They all heard hurried steps on the floor above and then within a moment, Bee had flown down, running straight for the door.
"Good morning!" The girl called out and then went outside, hurrying for the outhouse.
Beth made sure the door closed behind her and then returned to the stove where the pot of water was just beginning to heat up. With the ground up ginger roots, she did not boil the water, but add the powered root to a cup of water that was very hot. She then added a dollop of honey from another of her jars for flavor and stirred.
"Aiden," she called for him and he came a moment later, holding the cup with both hands and taking his first sip.
"Thank you, Beth," he gave her a smile and she smiled, too, even as she felt his forehead one more time though he definitely didn't have a fever. Just the mountain winter clinging to his lungs and wanting to stay there.
Beth took the jar of chicory root that was almost empty – they thankfully had plenty more stored downstairs in their cellar – and she began washing and peeling them for the coffee when Bee came back inside with rosy cheeks and a bright smile.
"Good morning!" She greeted everyone again as she began taking off her coat and boots.
They had all discovered that at just six – almost seven – Bee was quite the morning person.
"What do you need?" She then asked Beth.
"Good morning," Beth smiled at her. "Could you go into the cellar and bring me up some of the ground corn? Two cups."
"I'll come," Aiden said and then paused to down the rest of his ginger tea. "You'll need a candle," he told her and Bee nodded, plucking one from the kitchen table and going to the fireplace, lighting it before following her brother.
Adding a log to the oven, Beth waited a moment for it to heat up a bit more and then slid the ground chicory roots inside to roast. Finished with her breakfast, Anna gently turned Carrie in her arms and making sure the rag was over her shoulder, Anna began to burp her.
Carrie was just a couple of weeks old and Anna wondered if the complete sense of wonderment she felt every time she looked at her daughter would ever pass. She doubted that it would though. She wasn't even twenty yet and she already had a baby while it seemed that just yesterday, she was Bee's age and sitting in Daryl's lap as she drank warm milk and listened to one of the others read.
The labor had been terrifying, of course, and it was amazing to her that Beth and Rosita had done it more than once because Anna couldn't imagine herself ever wanting to go through it again. It had lasted all day and night and good God, it had hurt even with Beth's herbs and she understood that the pain had been worth it because she loved Carrie more than absolutely anything else in this world, but why would she want to go through that again?
One of the bedroom doors opened and Aaron stepped out, his eyes falling on her on the couch, and he gave her a tired smile. "Good morning," he greeted her and she smiled back.
"Good morning," she returned as she stood up.
"Good morning, Beth," Aaron said towards the kitchen.
"Good morning, Aaron. I'll have coffee soon," Beth told him.
"Do you need help?" Aaron asked, but either Beth didn't hear him or she was ignoring him because she didn't answer. Knowing Beth, he was going to think she was ignoring him.
Without a word, Anna slipped the baby into his arms and he smiled down at Carrie in his arms. The baby remained quiet as she blinked up at him and Aaron kept smiling down at her. Lily got up and nudged his knee as Aaron slowly sat down on the couch next to her and Anna leaned forward, rubbing the wolf behind her ears.
"How are you feeling?" Aaron asked, his eyes never lifting from Carrie.
"I'm going to kill Matt," Anna replied.
"Fine with us. We weren't that attached to that one anyway," Spencer said, having overheard as he and Rosita left their own bedroom.
As Bee and Aiden were coming up the cellar steps with the corn meal and Beth was checking on the roasting ground-up roots from the oven, the back door opened again, a blustery wind rushing in with them. Matt walked in with the bucket of goat's milk and Eli was behind him with a basket of eggs and Daryl brought up the rear with the twins in his arms, both bundled up warmly against the snow.
Looking out over the window above the sink, Beth saw the sky turning a beautiful pink with the rising sun, but the grey clouds were also hanging around. It was probably going to snow all day. Matt was holding the bucket with one hand and his other was held against his stomach as if he had an ache.
"I thought I told you to stay in bed," Matt frowned when he saw Anna sitting on the couch.
Anna didn't say anything to him, but she gave Aaron a look and Aaron grinned.
"What's wrong?" Beth immediately asked, coming to Matt, looking at his arm.
"Nothing," Matt shook his head and then setting the bucket down, he unzipped his coat and gently, he pulled out the little wolf that they had found the week before.
Lily immediately came trotting over. Unfortunately, she hadn't been able to nurse it, but the wolf pup seemed fine with goat's milk and with Lily's own pups – Buck and Spitz – grown and gone to join their own packs, she liked having another pup around. Daryl and Aaron had found it in a hollowed tree, the female wolf and every other pup in the litter dead; this the only one alive, but barely at that. Taking the time to nurse him back to health, the pup was already almost as good as new.
"Snow was too deep for him to walk in and he was yapping at my heels, not wanting to stay in the barn," Matt said and then handed the pup into Bee's waiting arms. The girl smiled and nuzzled at the pup and then carried him into the living room, Lily following, where they both sat down on the floor and Bee let the pup go, giggling as he bounded excitedly around the rug, stopping to smell everything.
To make the corn pones, Beth took the grounded up corn, a ½ teaspoon of salt, some milk, a teaspoon of baking powder that was way expired, but she used it anyway, and mixing everything together, she then began dividing the stiff batter into little individual ovals. Normally, she would make corn cakes for breakfast, but this was a very good suggestion from Aiden this morning. It was freezing outside, it was snowing, and they needed heavy, warm food in their bellies to keep them going until dinner.
"Fried or scrambled?" Eli asked.
"Make them scrambled this morning," Beth said and Eli smiled, taking another bowl and beginning to crack a majority of the eggs.
She smiled as she watched him from the corner of her eye. Aaron had taught Eli how to cook eggs like he did – Aaron made the best eggs, they were convinced – and Beth liked when Eli helped her in the kitchen for breakfasts.
"Why are you going to kill me?" Matt asked, Spencer having relayed Anna's message to him.
"Because you're annoying the hell out of me," Anna frowned at him.
"I'm never getting married," Eli commented as he then added the tiniest splash of milk into the bowl and then began beating the yolks.
"No?" Beth asked with a raised eyebrow and a smile.
"No," Eli shook his head. "Women have babies and go crazy and blame the men for it."
Both of Beth's eyebrows raised now. "And where did you come up with that?"
"Dad," Eli shrugged nonchalantly.
Beth turned her head and looked at Daryl as he was crouched down, taking Jack and Ceci's outer layers off and hearing what their son was saying, he was smirking a little.
"I didn't make our babies by myself, Daryl Dixon," Beth pointed out to him.
"Nah, you didn'," Daryl agreed, standing up. "But 'm sure if you could, you would have."
"What is that supposed to mean?" Beth asked even though she knew exactly what he meant.
"Need help with anythin'?" Daryl asked.
"No," she answered and he smirked again. "Eli's making the eggs," she pointed out to him.
"Mm-hmm," Daryl said and there was still a smile playing at his lips.
"Do you want to bake the corn pones?" Beth asked.
"'m not an idiot. I know better than to step into your kitchen," he said.
Beth rolled her eyes and smiled and took his hand, pulling him to stand with her. "Watch me," she then instructed him and he did just that as she took a bit of the dough and molded it with her hands into an oval before putting it onto the baking sheet. "Easy, right? Now you try. Just enough to make a ball into your palm."
"My palm is bigger than yours," Daryl said. "My pone is goin' to be bigger than yours."
"Stop being difficult and make a pone," she told him and he smirked a little as he did.
"Not bad, dad," Eli commented, still beating the eggs, looking at Daryl's dough oval as Daryl carefully put it down on the sheet.
"Very good," Beth smiled warmly and then standing on her toes, she pressed her lips to his. Her hands were sticky with dough so she didn't want to touch him and Daryl reached out to touch her before he remembered the same thing. He kissed her a little harder.
"Yuck," Eli said and stepped down from the stool to go get one of the iron cast frying pans.
"I love that you're difficult," Beth murmured to him once their lips had parted.
Daryl smirked a little and leaned in, his forehead resting to hers. "I love that you're stubborn."
She smiled and let out a little giggle. "I'll remind you that you said that the next time you tell your son that all women are terrible."
"I never said that," Daryl denied and Beth turned back to finish making the rest of the corn pones from the remaining dough. "And if I did, 'm just encouragin' 'im. He's at the age where girls got cooties."
"Technically, we all have cooties," Spencer overheard.
"I can't wait for all of you kids to start going through puberty at the same time," Rosita said.
"I'm never going through puberty," Aiden informed his parents.
"Me, neither!" Eli agreed.
Spencer then took it upon himself to start telling stories of his own personal puberty experiences, which made the kids all frown and cringe and be even more adamant about not wanting to go through puberty, and Rosita and Aaron both reminded Spencer that they hadn't even had their coffee yet and it was too early for this.
Daryl held the oven door open for Beth and she carefully pulled the ground chicory roots out, having had them roasting long enough and as she slid them onto the top of the counter, Daryl held the sheet of corn pones and handed it to Beth when she was ready; she carefully sliding it in and she stood up as Daryl closed the oven door firmly.
"We make a pretty good team," Beth smiled up at him as if it had just now occurred to her.
Daryl smirked a little and shrugged. "Yeah, we do alrigh'," he agreed and even though her hands were still sticky with dough, Beth laughed and then standing on her toes, she looped her arms around Daryl's neck and kissed him.
…
The End.
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