Beth crept through the prison compound on silent feet. She couldn't sleep and just needed some fresh air. Escaping to the yard for a moment seemed like the best solution given it was the only place that open area and still secured by the fence. She still marveled that they'd even found this place. It had been rough going once the farm had "fallen." It had taken them a good five months to find this place, and then another month to completely clean a cell block to the point where they could make it habitable. It was still surprising they hadn't found any humans inside, but once one person had become a walker, it was just a matter of time.

Their group had worked non-stop to clear a cell-block, the showers, and the mess hall so that they could carve out a little nook to start life again. Beth had been livid through most of the process. She'd been relegated to tending camp and looking after a very-pregnant Lori. No one trusted her to be able take down a fly, much less a walker, and Beth hadn't been able to argue her way around it. Of course, Maggie was in the lead on that argument, so Beth honestly had no way of winning.

"What are doin' out here?" Beth froze as she rounded the corner of the compound. She could hear the walkers milling around the fenced perimeter now that she was outside. The sticky air of early fall felt good against her skin, but Beth couldn't quite enjoy it as her eyes landed on Rick and Daryl making their way towards her. "Everything ok inside?" She let out a pent up breath as her eyes landed on Rick who came to a stop right in front of her.

"Yeah." She gently stuffed her hands into her pockets to keep from fidgeting. "Just wanted to get some fresh air." She offered with a shrug. "Can't sleep…" Daryl stood behind Rick watching; always watching. Even in the six months to find the prison he'd done little more than grunt at her in passing. When they'd been at the farm it felt like he was starting to think maybe she could be taught to hold her own. Now...it felt like he couldn't be bothered to even stand near her.

"Y'shouldn't be out here." He grumbled, never taking his eyes away from the fence line. She grit her teeth but nodded.

"Figured this was better than outside the fence." She retorted rolling her eyes and turning away from him. Daryl's eyes darted to her quickly, his pulse rising at the thought of her being outside the fence.

During the fall of the farm Daryl had been faced with some perterbing thoughts and feelings. Seeing the stark fear and panic on Beth's face as everyone fought the herd to get away had made his insides twist and go cold. He was flooded with images of her getting caught, getting hurt, dying and he'd nearly taken a knee at the fear that had choked him. Getting her on that motorcycle had been priority number one. He may not have been able to do much to save her home, but he'd be damned if he let her fall in the process.

When the group had reconnected Daryl had watched as family wrapped each other in comforting embraces and for the first time he watched Beth fall apart. It affected him in a way he still couldn't quite understand and absolutely refused to analyze. After seeing her so emotional, he understood the sister's (damn...what was her name again? Maggie.) need to protect Beth. She was so small and fragile and her whole illusion of safety and normalcy had just come crashing down around her. She was still so sheltered; so innocent. She was still so much a child, even at the age of seventeen. She didn't need to be trained, she needed to be protected. There was so much death, and dark, and decay in this world, protecting the little bit of light and innocence Beth brought along with her was a necessity.

During the search for new camp Daryl had avoided the little blond like the plague. He knew she'd want to continue learning, and he just didn't have it in him to argue with her. He let Maggie do it for him. For once, it seemed, he and his soulmate were on the same page with regards to her little sister.

"Now Beth-" Rick's voice pulled him back to the present and he watched her as her shoulders seemed to sag.

"I was just bein' sarcastic. I wouldn't go outside the fence." She said on a sigh. Really, honestly, did they think she was stupid? She knew better than that. "Honest, I couldn't sleep and figured a walk around would help tire me out. I wasn't up to anything." Rick pinned her with a stern glare. "I won't go near the fence." She held up her hands in surrender.

"Your daddy would want you back inside where it's safe." Daryl rumbled. Her blue eyes darted to him and even in the silver light of the moon he could see the daggers she was shooting at him.

"My daddy also wanted me to grow up and old on the farm. Last time I checked that ain't gonna happen either." She snarked at him, propping her hands on her hips.

"Now, Beth-" Rick started.

"I know. I know." She huffed. "It's just a precaution to keep me safe. But you know, if someone trained me y'all wouldn't have to worry about me taking a night stroll." She reasoned. "Besides, I'm inside the compound. What's the worse that can happen? I trip on my own shoelace and skin my knee?" Daryl wanted to agree with her, but he'd be damned if he said a word towards putting her anywhere near a dangerous situation, no matter how unlikely.

"True, but it ain't like the fence is fortified. Enough of them walkers and it could come down on us." Rick answered before turning to Daryl. "Stick with her? I'll continue to check the perimeter. We can meet up after." Daryl gave a grunt before watching Rick walk off to double check the perimeter security. While their new hold-up had been a fortified prison back in the day, the fence was in need of repair in certain areas, and the whole back half of the building was destroyed. They'd had to blockade certain parts of the prison to keep walkers out of their little cellblock home. To keep everything protected and up-kept, Rick and Daryl had taken to walking the perimeter during the night.

Beth rolled her eyes and started her march towards the open area in the middle of the quad. She stopped at the edge of the grass and just stared for a moment. She started when she heard Daryl clear his throat and looked over at him.

"You gonna keep walkin' or are you tired now?" She rolled her eyes again.

"Neither." She grinned at him. "I like to come out here and imagine." She noticed that he quirked an eyebrow at her. "I'm a farmer's daughter at heart I guess." She felt her insides start to twist. So far she hadn't told a soul about her vision for this part of the yard. "Sorry. It's nothin', just the stupid plans of a silly girl." She tried to play it off like it wasn't a big deal to her. He was silent for so long she chanced a glance at him. When she was met with an expectant look and cast her eyes back to the plot of grass.

"Well?"

"Well…" she took a deep breath, "realistically we don't want to have to be on the run all the time. 'Specially not with Lori so close to giving birth. So I figure, we wanna hunker down and make this place a home, a place we can call our own for a while." She saw him nod. "Well, when we were on the farm it was easier because we had all of daddy's crops and fruit trees on the property, so even when protein was low we still had food to put in our stomachs. Here, it ain't so easy. There's a lot of us, and once Lori has the baby, and we all settle in, there will be more mouths to feed, but no real way to feed 'em." He gave another nod. "Well, I wanna cultivate this plot of the yard." She heard him snort. "No, hear me out." She challenged when she could tell he was about to agree that this was indeed a stupid idea. "This is the best place to do it. We dig up the grass and plant right into the soil underneath. While everyone is makin' runs for food and scavenging, we can plant seeds to start a little garden to help get this place to be self-sustaining."

"And why is this the best place to do it?"

"I've been watching the grounds since we found this place." She grinned at him again. "This is the only section of the yard that doesn't get covered by shade from either the building or the surrounding trees. It's also at the bottom of the slope so any water runoff from rain can help water it, and we could even build a water catch to help water the garden and get us through the summers."

"So you're expectin' people to just drop what they're doin' and scoop up little packets of seeds from the garden department so you can build your little garden?" He knew he was being unfair and gruff. He knew he was tearing down this idea for no good reason other than he didn't want anyone to get their hopes up only to have them ripped to shreds if they lost this place.

"No!" She sassed right back. "All it takes is one tomato from an overgrown garden nearby and we have tomato plants. A potato with some eyes can be buried to grow more potatoes. Same with peppers, wild berries, lettuce; you name it." She looked up at him. "And it don't have to be all at once, and it don't have to be just veggies and fruit. My daddy's farm ain't the only farm around here that was overrun or went fallow since the world went to shit." She paused and then took a deep breath, letting it out real slow. "Like I said, stupid plans of a silly farmer's daughter I guess." She shook her head and turned on her heel, "I wouldn't expect anyone to take it seriously, especially not you." She mumbled as she marched her way up the grounds and back towards the cellblock. No, she didn't expect anyone to take it seriously, much less agree with it, that was why she hadn't breathed a word about her idea to anyone else. She didn't know why she told Daryl of all people. Next to Maggie he was the biggest proponent of the 'Beth is a delicate flower' movement.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw him still standing by the plot of grass where she'd left him. When they'd been on the farm she thought he'd be the one person to really see who she was; who she could become. Now...he was just like the rest of them. And it was a damn shame. She shook her head and made her way inside to her cell so she could try to get some sleep for the night.

Daryl stood by the plot of grass, trying to see the vision she painted in his mind's eye. It was a lofty goal to try to cultivate this area, but he could tell she'd really sunk some time and effort into her plans, and, truth be told, it would make this place a helluvalot easier to survive in. They were barely making it. Even Lori, who was pregnant, was showing ribs in a fashion no healthy human being should, and she was being given double portions. He heard her close the heavy metal door as she made her way inside and turned to go find Rick. He still needed to finish checking to make sure everything was secure for the night.

Rick, Daryl, Carol, Hershel, and Glenn all sat together around the table. It wasn't much, but together they'd formed a council to help make decisions for their group.

"We need food, Rick." Carol said sternly. "We're not gonna make it if we don't do something to feed ourselves. Lori is dangerously thin, and if she doesn't put on some weight, she might not make it through delivery." Rick gave a grave nod.

"We can send some scouts out for a run, but we're not gonna find much canned food around. We've already scavenged what we could." Rick rubbed his chin in thought. "Daryl you think you can find some game in the forest?" Daryl gave slight shrug.

"I can try. I got some traps set, but they aren't a sure thing."

"I know, but…"

"There may be a solution." Daryl hedged slowly. "It ain't gonna fix the situation right away, but it's more of a long-term solution." Everyone turned to look at him.

"Like what, son?" Hershel asked.

"Well, actually, hold on a second. It ain't my idea." He stood and turned, "I'll be right back." With that he left the room. Daryl found Beth laying in her bunk in her cell, writing in a notebook that had been brought back for her on one of their runs for food. "Got a sec?" She looked up at him with a question in her eyes. "Just...c'mon." She got up and followed him.

Beth entered the room where everyone on the council was sitting and instantly felt butterflies in her tummy. "Tell 'em." Daryl said as he sat back down at the table.

"Tell us what?" Hershel asked, looking between Beth and Daryl. "Bethy?"

"Tell 'em what you told me last night."

"Last night?" Hershel's voice seemed to raise a little. Beth held up her hands.

"It ain't like that daddy. I went into the yard last night." Hershel narrowed his eyes. "I couldn't sleep, so I wanted to get some air. Rick made sure I was safe, and had Daryl stay with me." The butterflies intensified.

"Tell 'em what you told me."

"Oh, but...it's just a stupid fantasy." She insisted and looked around from Daryl everyone else's expectant faces. "Oh…" she sighed. "Since we got here I've been thinkin'. The farm was a good place to settle, but it wasn't very secure. This place is a secure, but it ain't a good place to settle. But we could make it one." She could tell they wanted to interrupt but she forged ahead. "On the farm we were able to survive because we had all the crops and fruit trees. Well, I found a spot in the yard that could help us. It gets sun pretty much from sun-up to sun-down. The grass is deep green…" She saw her daddy flinch and realized what she'd said. "Or, what I mean is, it's darker than some of the surrounding areas. So we know it's got good soil. And it's at the bottom of a slope so we can use that to help with watering during wet seasons. We could build a rain catch to help during dry months. The rain catch could also serve to help provide drinking water for us all year round, depending on how much we get during the rains." Her heart thudded quickly in her chest. It sounded like such a long shot. She looked at her daddy, knowing he'd be her best bet for support. "It wouldn't take much to start some small batches of crops. A few tomatoes, potatoes, peppers, whatever we can find in nearby gardens, fallow farms, wild in the forest."

"I don't know, Beth." Carol said cautiously. "We need a right now solution."

"Carol's right. That doesn't help us right now." Rick supplied slowly.

"But it's a long-term solution that could help us avoid starving come winter." Daryl replied. Beth jerked to look at him in surprise. "We can't keep relying on a right now solution because we'll never focus on a long-term one. There will always be a need for a right now solution." Carol opened her mouth to reply.

"We already need to send out scouts for a supply run," Hershel started, "it wouldn't be much trouble to scout some of the local garden or markets for seeds or plants that can be planted. Bethy, Maggie, and I know what to look for and how to make it into a viable crop." He looked at his fellow council members in ernest. "They're right. We gotta start lookin' long-term to ensure our survival, even if it's just through the winter. We'll have to live thin for a while longer, but I think it'll pay off. I think we could really make it work." Beth watched as Rick struggled before looking to Carol and Glenn.

"Maggie and I could go scout out a couple of the farms nearby." Glenn weighed in. "If anything, trying isn't going to put us in any worse shape than we currently are. We already need food, trying to salvage some from gardens will help us either way."

"We still need food right now." Carol argued.

"And we can send out another set of scouts to loot cans and wild edibles to get us by." Hershel replied. "We got enough people to be able to send out two sets with similar objectives." Carol frowned.

"I think our top priority should be feedin' us right now, but you are right. We do need to start focusing on a long term." She sighed. "How do we feel about trying to clear the kitchen to see what kind of bulk can items we may have available?"

"We should do that before we send out scavengers. That way we know how dire our need really is, and if we can spare any people at all to go." Rick answered. "It's goin' to be dangerous to clear the kitchen, but ultimately it will help make this place more viable for us." He nodded. "We'll take it to the group." Everyone nodded in agreement and then turned to look at Beth. "Thank you Beth." She smiled and watched as everyone left. She turned to look at Daryl who was still quietly standing next to her.

"Thank you Daryl." He gave a shrug.

"Don't thank me. It was your idea."

"Still...not many people would have believed in a silly little farm girl." He felt his ears go hot and hoped to God they weren't turning red. "It means a lot."

"It was a good idea," he turned to leave the room, "and you ain't just a silly little farm girl."