Beth enjoyed her last few minutes in Daryl's cell. When the door opened she knew she needed to get back to her own cell and get to work for the day. She hoped that Maggie, Glenn, and Rick would make it back that day so she could finally ask about learning to fight. More than that, she hoped that they were alright. They had said they would be back the day before, but hadn't come.
Daryl followed closely behind her and caught himself staring at the way her hips swayed when she walked. With her clothes on it hardly looked like she had hips at all. They made it to the end of the block before Daryl broke away from her to head back to the guard post to check on Hershel. In the guard post, he found Hershel sitting exactly where he had left him, with his eyes trained on the front gates.
"Nothin'?" Daryl asked, even though he knew the answer already.
"No," Hershel replied, "I'm starting to worry about them."
"They're tough. They'll be alright."
Hershel nodded slightly, but Daryl could tell he didn't entirely believe that. In this new world, sometimes being tough just wasn't enough. It had been days and he knew they hadn't taken much food with them when they left.
He was pulled from his thoughts by the sound of an engine at the gates and he saw Carl and Beth running down to open the gate for their people. Daryl and Hershel headed down there together as fast as they could, neither one daring to look at who was getting out of the truck until they were standing in front of them.
Carl gave his father a quick hug before heading to the bed of the truck to help them unload the materials they had brought back. Meanwhile, Beth had trapped Maggie and Glenn in a group hug and pulled Rick in to join them.
"We're okay, Beth," Maggie assured her, "The truck broke down and we didn't want to leave everything behind."
When Beth finally let them go, they relayed the details of what they had found and what was still there to be gone over in the town they had scouted. They had found plenty of materials to reinforce the fences, including some sheet metal to help keep the walkers from piling up against the chain links. The whole time they were talking, though, Daryl had one eye on Beth whose eyes were sparkling with tears of joy from finally seeing that her sister was alright.
They finished talking and Maggie and Glenn headed inside to eat something and sleep for a while. Rick, however, motioned for Daryl to stay with him in the yard and walked toward the fence to go over where they needed to reinforce first. Beth stayed back with Carl, listening to the the men go over their plan of action for the next several weeks.
After they finished, Beth approached them with a look of determination on her face. She had been waiting too long to do this and she needed to do it before she lost her nerve.
"Rick, I been meanin' to ask ya somethin'."
"What's goin' on, Beth," he looked worried.
"I just want someone to teach me how to fight them. I hate not knowin' what to do if I ever get caught alone."
"We won't let anything happen to ya," he started and saw her scowling, "but I can see your point."
"She's right," Daryl spoke up, "needs to learn."
Rick nodded in agreement and Beth could feel herself smiling.
"You talked to your daddy yet?"
"No. I ain't a kid. I don't need permission to defend myself."
Rick looked embarrassed by her tone and looked to Daryl who could do nothing but shrug meekly. They both knew they weren't going to win this one with her, but neither wanted to face Hershel if he found out about it and got angry.
"I'll teach her," Daryl finally said.
"It's settled, then," Rick agreed.
The next few days were spent setting up the sheet metal to reinforce the fences during the early morning hours before it was scalding hot. They had learned the first day that if they touched the metal when it was hottest out their hands would regret it. So, Daryl and Beth used that time to set up wooden targets so she could learn to shoot.
At first Daryl had to stand behind her with his hands on her hips to show her how she should stand. To anyone else, it probably looked like he was worried about his crossbow. It wasn't often that someone other than him was allowed to touch it. If anyone asked, though, it was to save ammo for the real deal.
The truth, though, was that when they were out there and he had his hands on her hips she drove him wild talking to him. Sometimes she talked about things she wanted to do to him, sometimes she just cooed how much she loved him. No matter what, she always seemed to know exactly what he needed to hear. Her words still found their way right into his chest and wrapped around his heart.
One day when they were practicing, Beth stopped and looked at him with that determined look she got when she wanted something. He thought she looked so sexy like that, the way she planted her feet and set her jaw. He'd give her anything even if she didn't put on that tough face but he tried not to let her know that.
"Daryl, I wanna learn how to use a knife," she said bluntly.
"What for?"
"Walkers might be easy enough to shoot from far away but what about people? There's bad people out there too."
"How's we s'posed to practice for that," he asked her.
"You attack me and teach me how to get away."
The idea of rolling around on the grass with little Beth Greene excited him a bit more than it rightfully should have. It made him feel so dirty, thinking about pinning her to the ground and having her while she kicked and screamed. He thought there must be something wrong with him to think like that, especially about her.
"If that's what ya want," he shrugged and motioned for her to come close to her.
They started with him grabbing her wrist or her arm and him telling her how to break away. She was almost a natural. Every few tries when he came in to grab her again she would slip her arm away before he got a grip on her and laugh when he fumbled. Under different circumstances it might have been a game for them.
Daryl did his best to hide the bulge in his pants when he could actually get ahold of her and pin her down. He had no idea what she would think if she found out, but he wasn't taking any chances. This girl had shocked him so many times already and she could only be so perfect. Even she had to have limits and he wasn't planning on pushing them.