Happy New Years!

So the wait was longer than I expected, but hopefully this makes up for it. I had to rework this chapter a few times but I think it turned out pretty well.

Next chapter will be out within a week, I'm just finishing it off now.

Please continue to let me know what you think- and hopefully you like it.

-Lexi


They ended up taking residence for the night on one of the higher floors of an old office building. The building had been abandoned a long time ago, leaving only a few Walkers to be cleared. They chose the floor that must have been given to executives, figuring that the walls, doors, and couches would make for a decent set up overnight.

There were enough offices that the group could separate into duos, trios, etc. After a quick dinner of assorted canned items, they splintered off into their designated offices. The bigger groups took the CEO offices and such, while pairs took the smaller rooms.

Beth and Daryl took one such smaller room. It was still a decent size with hardwood floors and taupe walls that made it seem bigger than it was. There was a single desk facing a couple worn looking chairs that they pushed to the side to lay out their sleeping bags on the floor.

Neither had been comfortable taking a bigger room with a couch. At one time Beth would have been adamant about taking the comfier rooms, but now she was almost twitchy in such lush surroundings. Even though they'd established the building was empty- she refused the nicer room if only for superstitious reasoning. Maybe she'd be safer in this little, empty area- especially with what had happened last time. The last time she'd taken comfort in an open, well furnished home had been with Daryl at the funeral home and she was still scarred from that.

Plus, the only person she could bare to be around at the moment was Daryl. She couldn't bring herself to look the rest of her family in the eyes, not with what she had done earlier. She hadn't come to terms with it yet, even with Daryl's reassurances that she had done what she needed to to protect them. One day she would, but she was still afraid of what the others thought of her.

So, now she laid herself down on the hard floor as Daryl locked the door and pushed a chair under the handle. While it was only their family in the building (supposedly), she knew he would still take every precaution to keep them safe. No matter what- he would keep her safe.

As he prowled about the room, Beth got the sense that the hunter was kind of nervous. They hadn't been completely alone at night for weeks. While they may have been used to it before, and they still slept near each other every night- they hadn't had the opportunity to be alone. Neither seemed to know what to do with it, but Daryl ironically was the one to show his nerves.

"Daryl, your pacing is making me tired. Just go to sleep." Beth murmured quietly from the floor, stopping the older redneck in his tracks. He'd been consumed with thoughts about what might happen now that they were alone. There were so many things unsaid between the two of them, so many things he didn't have the words or actions for that his mind was a hive of activity. Yet, the moment she said his name, everything went quiet and he focused on her voice.

He knelt down onto his sleeping bag. It was the same distance from hers as always. She was looking at him the same way as always. Her hair hung over her shoulder, shining a little in the moonlight like always. But, her eyes were bigger than always. More haunted than always. So, instead of lying on his back holding one of her hands and waiting for sleep to find him like always, he turned towards her and with her big blue eyes almost begging him, he stretched one arm out and gestured for her to crawl closer.

She moved immediately, curling into his side like she needed to convince herself he wasn't going to leave her. And he understood. He had seen her that afternoon, had told her what he thought but he knew she wouldn't accept it immediately. It wasn't the time for more words, she needed his physical actions to show her that he didn't see her any differently. She needed to believe he saw her the same as always.

So, she fit into his side, almost like she was made to be there. Her small frame lightly brushed his, and one arm hesitantly reached over his stomach to curl around his waist. She was soft but also hard against him, feminine lines and lean muscle. Her hair fell over his arm and she blinked up at him like she had those years ago when he'd come to tell her that they'd lost Zach. Just like then, she pushed his boundaries a little, this time brushing the hair out of his eyes before he could do it. He smiled a little down at her.

It wasn't only for her that he let her cling to him. He wrapped himself around her as well, finally allowing himself to believe that she was okay and there with him. She'd almost been lost to him again. Twice. Viktor had tried to take her physically and then she had almost locked herself up and away- never to come back.

Daryl knew he wouldn't have been able to handle either. If Beth was taken again, he would lose every ounce of sanity he had left. It took him a while to understand what Beth meant to him, but he'd figured it out somewhere along the way after the moonshine shack. He couldn't pinpoint it exactly but he began to realize that Beth Greene was the light he had so badly missed all his life. She shone so brightly sometimes he almost wanted to close his eyes in fear of being blinded by her. Yet, the fear of being blinded by her goodness was nothing compared to the tragedy of looking into his darkness and seeing nothing but night and black.

She had been that light, showing him where to look for his hope, burning into his mind and then she was ripped from him leaving him with nothing but hands the colour of soot. If she was taken from him again he would be nothing but ashes, no matter how hard he tried to stay standing. He could withstand bullets but he could not take losing this girl again. He wouldn't let her leave him, physically or mentally.

He pulled her closer, reminding him she was still here with him. And so, with his arms around her he drifted off to sleep.

Beth felt Daryl's breathing even out as he fell asleep with her clutched tightly to him. She knew she was clinging to him but she also felt the pressure equally returned. They were pressed so tightly together that she felt the exact moment he began to dream.

When his breathing started picking up it wasn't anything new to her. Daryl had nightmares sometimes. They usually passed, or he woke himself up. This one lasted slightly longer than the others and then he whimpered.

The sound jerked Beth to full awareness of her surroundings, but her heart broke when he whispered "Beth, no."

She looked up to see tears streaming from his closed eyes as his head shook back and forth as if he could banish the thought from his mind.

"Daryl?" She asked quietly, hoping it would wake him. She knew better than to shake him. Sometimes his nightmares became night terrors and she knew how bad it was to shake someone into consciousness.

Daryl almost thought he heard Beth call his name but he knew that was impossible.

Beth lay on the floor in front of him, blood pooling around her head as the gunshot soaked her blonde hair a sickening red. He'd shot her killer immediately but he felt his heart drop out as her skull shattered as the bullet made contact.

"Beth, no" he'd whispered but now he couldn't breathe. He couldn't make his lungs expand as he scooped her up as though she were made of glass. Viktor lay further away, dead by Daryl's hand. He was the first living human Daryl had killed but he didn't dwell on it.

Beth was too heavy. Not matter what he'd joked about her weight when he gave her the piggyback ride she'd always been light. Now she lay limply, supporting no weight. One of his hands wrapped around her back while the other lifted her under her knees.

He almost trembled with the weight of the loss he carried. With the weight of his almosts. His maybes. Those few times he'd let himself think he deserved better- that he deserved her.

Now he could feel the warmth leave her body in his arms as he carried her, tucking her to his chest as though he could transfer some of his life to hers.

He didn't want to be the last man standing without her. She'd told him she'd be gone one day and he hadn't believed her. Then she'd been taken and he'd followed her without a thought. He couldn't follow her where ever she was now.

He prayed she was happy. He prayed someone would take care of her, that she found Herschel. Her mom. Shawn. He prayed that she would watch over him.

He prayed she would become the wings on his back because he was in ruins and could barely stand. Sobs wracked him as he failed to keep himself together. He was ripping at the seams and where was Beth stitch him up? Where was Beth to keep all the pieces of him from splintering and scattering across his body and mind like glass? Where was Beth to tell him his scars didn't scare her, that he was worthy of being whole, that she wouldn't leave him?

Why did she have to leave him?

"Daryl?" Beth was slightly more insistent as the sobs wracking his body turned to shudders and he started hyperventilating.

"No, no, no." He started muttering to himself, so she spoke at full volume, this time squeezing gently with the arm wrapped around his waist.

"Daryl!" He jerked to a sitting position and and she was dragged up with him.

The whites of his eyes showed as he stared at her wide eyed. He let go of her immediately, pulling away, pushing himself into the wall.

"How?" His voice broke. "Yer gone."

He was covered in a light sheen of sweat as Beth moved towards him slowly, making no sudden movements. She'd been around a skittish Daryl before. He wouldn't hurt her or himself, but he did need to calm down before he passed out from lack of air by his hyperventilating.

"I'm right here." She stopped crawling forwards, kneeling in front of him.

"No, you're dead. You died. I watched ya, watched him shoot ya straight in the head." Tears continued to pour down his face.

Beth had never seen Daryl look so small, even when he'd allowed her to treat his back. He'd never looked so broken. Daryl was always so strong, afraid of nothing. This Daryl was terrified of something, and it dawned on her that something was losing her.

He thought she was dead and it was breaking him.

"Daryl, look at me. I'm right here. Please, I'm alive. I'm okay." His head shook and his breathing increased as the flurry of thoughts running through his mind increased.

As she looked at him it wasn't that he didn't want to believe her, he couldn't.

He didn't flinch when she got a little closer, still not touching him, just hovering. "Ya can't be. You were so cold. So heavy. Gone. Ya left me. Again!"

By now he was scaring her. Beth wasn't afraid of Daryl, she was scared for him. He had no colour, and his entire body was shaking.

"I'm right here. I'm not gonna leave you. Daryl, please. Look at me." The man finally looked up to meet her eyes and the sadness threatened to drown her. He was drowning and she didn't know how to save him.

Until she did.

Beth didn't break eye contact as she leaned forward, placing one hand on his knee bent in front of him, and letting the other come up to wipe some of the tears from his cheek as she leaned into him, over the leg that was draped on the floor.

"I'm with ya til the end." She murmured and then she pressed her lips softly to his.

At first her kiss went unreciprocated as he froze in shock. The shudders stopped, as did his breathing.

Then he kissed her back as though she was air. He gasped against her as his arms reached out to grab her and pull her to him. He moved his legs out of the way as he wound her into his lap and his embrace.

His grip bordered on painful but Beth ignored it, drowning in him.

There was no finesse. Neither of them cared to be careful, no they kissed each other like they had waited their whole lives to come together and it was their last chance. It was a hello, a good bye, a saving grace.

Beth's fingers wound into Daryl's hair as one of his did the same, tangling in her blonde locks. The other remained locked around her waist.

Daryl tilted his head to deepen the kiss, Beth yielding immediately as he slipped his tongue into her mouth. She couldn't get close enough to him and he seemed to feel the same.

The only way to describe Daryl's kisses were like he was hunting her. He reacted immediately to any indication she made. He was precise but also wild, and Beth met him each time their lips slipped over one another. He was rough, she was soft. He was breathing, she was drowning and it was easy.

It didn't scare Beth or Daryl with how easily they fit together. Their kisses may have been slightly clumsy in their frantic need to get closer but somehow they still managed to fit like pieces of a puzzle that had finally fallen into place.

They had both lost each other and this was a homecoming. They breathed together, their chests heaving as she pulled back to look at him.

Daryl stared in amazement at the girl wound around him. She was wrapped around his body and soul. There was no way to tell when she got there, but Beth had taken up residence in his heart and if that kiss had been any indication she would never be leaving. He had never cared about anyone so much in his life.

Daryl had never been much for kissing but even after one, he was addicted to Beth. The memory of his dream still lingered but as he took in the moment he felt her heart racing against his, the warmth of her body, the strength in her muscles as she sat in his lap. She was real. She was alive.

He couldn't stop the words if he tried as they came up and out into the open. He almost didn't recognize the shaky, husky sound of his voice, "I don't wanna be the last man standing. I can't do it."

Beth nodded, her lips quirking up slightly. "I already told you, I'm with you till the end. I'll be right there with you."

It was like the final weight was lifted off his chest as the only other thing that came to mind left his mouth, "Ya know you were what changed my mind righ'?"

Beth didn't say anything, she just leaned forward and kissed him softly, so sweetly, his heart skipped and the warmth in his chest spread throughout the rest of him.

"Come on, let's sleep again." Her voice was quiet, but as he looked down at her he could see she was tired. Her big blue eyes blinked up at him as he nodded and she went to shift back to the sleeping bags.

He knew he wasn't going to sleep, so he just shook his head. "Nah, stay here."

Beth seemed to understand what he was saying so she just burrowed further into his arms, tucked her head into his neck, her eyelashes brushing his neck and his heart stuttered again.

Her leps draped over his and he tightened his grip on her, shifting slightly to make her more comfortable as he continued to lean back against the wall.

"G'night Beth."

"Night Daryl." She murmured and he couldn't resist leaning down to peck her forehead. A small smile slipped onto her features as her breathing evened out and she fell asleep in his arms.

He hoped one day this would be their new always.


Thanks for reading! Hopefully you liked it- please let me know :)