Beth woke up to Daryl thrashing and mumbling in his sleep.
"Leave her alone.. Let her go! Beth, I…." Beth shook him.
"Daryl?"
He sat up and rubbed his face.
"Bad dream?" she asked.
He nodded. He put his feet over the edge of the bed. She didn't say anything about him calling out her name. She moved to get off the bed. Daryl reached out for her hand.
"How's your wrist?" he asked.
She sat beside him. He held her wrist and rubbed it. Her hand looked so small in his.
"It's okay I think. It doesn't hurt." she said.
He looked at her forehead. She reached up and put her hand on his cheek and he leaned into it.
"Daryl?"
"Mmhmm?" he murmured.
"Maggie asked me if I love you?" she said.
He lifted his head up and looked at her, his mouth suddenly dry.
"She did?" he asked.
Beth nodded.
"Why'd she ask you something like that?" he glanced at her and looked down at his hand where her wrist lay.
"Because I went looking for you I guess." she said.
"Was kinda stupid and dangerous." Daryl said.
"Would you have gone looking for me?" she asked.
"I never would have let you leave alone in the first place." he said looking at her.
She sat silent for a moment and then stood up and stretched.
"We should see what everyone is doing. I wonder how long we slept?" She reached for the door knob.
"Beth?" Her name sounded so different when he said it. She turned around and looked at him.
"Yeah?"
"What did you tell you sister?" he asked. He glanced at her nervously.
"I, uh, I didn't say anything. I didn't think it was right talking to her about that. I mean before I talked to you." she said.
Daryl nodded. "Ok."
She turned to leave again but suddenly stopped. She walked back over to Daryl and stood in front of him. She took a deep breath. She looked down at him sitting on the bed.
"But I do." she said.
He watched her warily.
"Love you. I do." She brushed a lock of hair from her face.
Daryl stood up shaking his head. He reached out for her and pulled her against him.
"I wanna tell you not too.." he said his mouth against her hair. "But I can't. I love you too Beth."
She put her arms around his neck and he put his hands in her hair. This time they kissed like it was the last time they'd ever be able to. He picked her up and sat on the bed with her on his lap. He kissed her neck slowly and softly and she held on tightly to his shoulders. A knock at the door made them both jump.
"Hey are you guys up?" Carl called through the door. Beth rolled off Daryl's lap and onto the bed. Daryl put his head in in his hands.
"Yeah. Come in." he called back.
Carl walked in holding Judith and looked at them suspiciously.
"Judith really needs to take a nap in here." he said. The baby saw Daryl and immediately broke out a toothless smile. Daryl couldn't help but smile back. He held out his arms to the baby.
"Hey little ass kicker!"
Carl went over to the playpen.
""What's everyone doing?" Beth asked Carl.
"Carol has been cooking stuff all day. There's some food here. A group went out scouting to see how far from the next town we are." Carl said.
"Damn I was supposed to go." Daryl said.
"Yeah Maggie made everyone leave you guys alone. I'm sorry about Noah Beth." he looked at the girl on the bed.
"Thank you Carl." she smiled sadly. Judith squealed as Daryl tickled her feet. She crawled across the bed to Beth. Daryl laid back on the bed and watched Beth play peek a boo with the baby.
"Do me a favor and put her to sleep?" Carl asked. "I'm gonna go help my dad outside."
"Sure." Beth said.
"Tell him I will be right out." Daryl said.
This was one of those "rare" normal moments when the world seemed to be quiet and calm and walker free. Daryl rolled over and poked Judith's belly and she giggled. His eyes met Beth's.
"She's never gonna know a world without walkers." he mused.
"Maybe not. Or maybe someday things will change." Beth said.
He smiled and leaned over and kissed her. He needed her hope. They all did.
Life during an apocalypse is hardly ever normal or quiet and never walker free for very long. Beth and Daryl had to get up and leave the safe haven of the bedroom with Judith and face the realities of the life they were living now. The one thing that had changed was that Beth refused to sit in the cabin and watch as the others did what she considered the hard stuff. She went down to where the firetruck was with Carl and made sure there was still plenty of foliage camouflaging the vehicle. The came across a couple of walkers and Beth took them both out with her knife. Her jeans were splattered with blood and when she walked back into the camp Daryl confronted her.
"What happened?" he scrutinized her pants.
"Walkers Daryl. I'm fine." she pushed past him.
Carl walked up.
"She's ok?" Daryl asked the boy.
"Yeah. She's tough. But maybe you could take her out and work with her? Her wrist was bothering her. She tried to hide it from me." he said.
"Yeah. Ok. " Daryl nodded.
For the second night in a row Beth and Daryl slept together on the pull out couch. They both still felt awkward about showing affection around the others. Even though it seemed that no one cared or seemed surprised that they were together. He had held her hand under the covers the first night. And on the second morning she woke up with his arm draped across her and his face in her hair. It was early and quiet. Beth rolled over and into his arms.
"You wanna go out and shoot the bow? We can take the fence watch this morning." Daryl asked.
"Sure." she said. She sat up and instead of getting up on her side of the bed she climbed teasingly over Daryl. He grabbed her hips and held her sitting on top of him. The look he gave her drove the butterflies in her stomach into a frenzy. Most of the time he was hard to read, but it was clear exactly what was on his mind right then. And he knew by the look on her face that she was fully aware of the affect she was having on him. She leaned over and kissed him. Neither noticed Abraham at the table cleaning his gun.
"Hey you two- get a room." he chuckled. Beth looked up at him with wide eyes.
"We tried man, no rooms available." Daryl said. Beth laughed.
And Abraham said, "And the man's got a sense of humor!"
They got up and got ready and headed out. Rick was lookout. He watched them walk towards the back gate.
"We're gonna walk the fence." Daryl called up to Rick.
"Ok. We're gonna meet at lunch time and come up with a plan." Rick said.
Daryl followed Beth out the gate. They went left and into the trees. In just their short time here they'd already begun to wear a path along the fence. Beth followed along where others had already walked. They had walked almost the entire fence when Daryl touched her lightly on the back. She glanced at him and he was pointing through the trees. She expected to see a walker but it was a deer. He took off his crossbow and held it out to her. She raised it to her shoulder and felt Daryl's arms come up around hers.
"You got him in your sight?" he whispered, his warm breath giving her goosebumps. She nodded slightly.
"Okay, take your time, aim and shoot." She leaned slightly backwards, her finger on the trigger. Daryl heard her breath hitch and saw her bite her lip. She started to lower the bow. He took it and leaned it against the tree behind them. He stepped up behind her.
"I, I couldn't.. If it was a walker.." she said softly. Daryl leaned against her and kissed her neck. She laid her head back against his shoulder.
"S'okay." he breathed and slid his arms around her waist. She turned in his arms and took his face in her hands. She looked in his eyes and he looked into hers. Clearly neither of them had quite forgotten that morning in bed.
"Beth, I want you so bad…" he said softly. She leaned into him and kissed him fervently. Her hands were in his hair and she tugged at his bottom lip with her teeth. Daryl groaned and held her against him. A loud crack made him open his eyes and over Beth's shoulder he saw a vehicle, a large truck making its way through the trees. He grabbed Beth and pulled her behind him.
"What the hell?" he whispered.
"What is it?" Beth asked quietly.
"Don't know." Daryl backed them both up behind some trees and against the fence.
"Can you make it back?" he whispered.
"No! I am not leaving you." she said.
A lone driver climbed from the cab. He walked around the truck. Daryl looked at Beth and held his finger to his lips. He motioned to her to follow him. They made their way to the cab of the the truck. Once they got close Daryl leaned in to grab the door handle and suddenly the door opened and slammed into Daryl's head. He fell on the ground unconscious. Beth screamed in anger and stepped protectively over Daryl's body and pulled out her gun just as a young blond man emerged from the truck. He held a knife in his hands.
"Drop it!" Beth yelled. When he hesitated she fired off a warning bullet just to the left of his foot.
"I said drop it! I will kill you!" she screamed. Behind her she heard footsteps in the brush. Her stomach sank. If there were more she was in trouble.
"We've got your back Beth!" It was Rick's voice. She felt relief wash over her. She sank to her knees beside Daryl. He was out cold and there was a gash on his forehead. Beth took off her flannel and held to the wound.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Rick asked the stranger while he slowly moved in closer.
Tyreese was checking out the other side of the truck.
"I'm not here to harm anyone.." the man began to explain.
"Are you with anyone else?" Rick asked him.
"No, I'm alone." he said. Tyreese disappeared around the truck.
"I'm from a sanctuary, a safe place not far from here. I'm looking for survivors…" he said.
"Why?" Rick asked.
"All clear here." Tyreese said coming from around the back of the truck. He hurried over to Beth looking at Daryl lying on the ground.
"How bad is it?" he knelt beside her.
"I don't know. It's bleeding bad and he's unconscious. We need to get him back Tyreese!" she brushed the tears away and checked the bleeding again. She brushed blood soaked hair from his forehead. "Oh god Daryl.. wake up, please wake up!"