Chapter 12

It started out as a fun night. It was their last night at the beach and they had decided to stay in; again. She smiled to herself getting the pizza out of the oven thinking about how they had become virtual hermits since they had been here. She figured they'd be the only couple ever to come back from the beach with less color on their skin than when they had gotten there. The only thing their bodies had seen the past two days especially was each other mixed with the occasional dual shower or like last night when they'd had sex in the hot tub out on the deck. She blushed remembering how loud she had been when she had come. Daryl had sworn she'd probably roused the dead from their eternal slumber.

It was Friday night and they had decided to have their normal Friday Night Friend night and Daryl had joked and said they'd have to come up with something else since they weren't just friends anymore. Beth didn't know why it niggled her brain so much that he had said that. They were friends and they were trying out this relationship thing. For the most part, Beth had opened up to the idea but there was still something holding her back and she could not put a finger on it. The only time she didn't feel any trepidation at all about their relationship was when she was on top of him, riding out their passion together or when he was looking into her eyes as he slid himself inside her for the fourth time of the night. She felt connected to him in a way that was more than sexual though. It scared the hell out of her if she thought about it too long. That was to say nothing of the fact that she steered her brain clear of what happened in the future if he did want something more. Marriage and all that came with it.

"You comin' or not Greene, the movie will be out of date if we don't watch it soon." Daryl's voice came from the living room where he'd picked out a movie from her uncle's considerable collection. They had decided on Mr. and Mrs. Smith. She had seen it before and it was passable but not her favorite. She was feeling melancholy tonight for whatever reason. Maybe she was going to get her period soon.

She carried their plates in from the kitchen and smirked at the whiskey he had poured for them. "Sorry ta make you wait your highness. I thought it might be nice if we ate the pizza while it was hot." She grinned at him as she sat down next to him on the sofa, placing the plates on the coffee table in front of them.

She held out her hand and accepted the shot glass he offered, the amber liquid still sloshing around a bit. "Confession time Greene." Beth smiled at him.

"Is it your turn or mine?" Beth beamed at him, tucking her feet up under her on the sofa.

"It's yours." He wiggled his eyebrows at her.

Beth giggled. She didn't know in that moment why she had thought herself melancholy. Sitting here with Daryl now, she couldn't imagine being happier. She thought for a moment. "Okay but don't me mad." She winced as she looked at him. She had decided on her confession a few minutes ago. She didn't think he'd be totally pissed but it was a good confession and she'd kept this secret long enough."

"I won't be mad." He assured her.

"Yeah, you've said that before." She reminded him. He'd gotten mad at her a few times when she spilled something she had kept from him before, like the time she had lied and told him she didn't steal his pack of cigarettes when she was fourteen. She and Mary Jane Giles had and had smoked the whole thing between the two of them. Beth had thrown up for nearly an hour. When she'd finally confessed it all to him he'd been mad, but only because he had been worried about her.

"I promise I won't be mad." Daryl said. He didn't know why she worried about such things. He figured they were past all that now anyway.

"Okay. I confess I stole your truck that time it got the dent in it." She looked at him quickly tipping back the contents of her glass and poured herself another shot and downed it as well.

Daryl felt the color creep up in his cheeks for a moment. He had known it. That shit for brains move had her fingerprint all over it. "Dammit Beth, I knew it. I always did. Why?" He had to know why at the age of sixteen she'd felt the need to steal his truck on a random Tuesday night. He'd known the truck had to have gone missing after the dent appeared but there was a considerable amount of gas missing as well when he'd gotten up that morning. He'd asked her about it but she had feigned innocence. Damn her blonde hair and blue eyes for aiding her in that notion anyway.

Beth looked at him a little uncertainly. "I wanted to meet Jimmy. His Dad slept with his truck keys in the bed on account his brothers were always up to no good and we really wanted to see each other."

"In other words, you stole my truck so you two could fuck." Daryl looked at her, sitting there in his button up shirt, tied in a knot, tiny little shorts with her legs all folded up under her, looking no older than that girl who'd stolen away in the night to meet a boy. Here she was all grown up and he loved her. Loved her like he had never loved another human being. And he couldn't be mad at her. Not in any way that counted. "I ain't mad."

"Yeah, I'm sorry. I'll pay for the damages to her. Soon as I get out of debt from my student loans that is." She gave him a crooked smile and he folded, opening his arms to her.

"I ain't gonna care now about the money. Thanks for tellin' me, Greene. But how'd you get the dent in her." Daryl looked sideways at her as she flushed. She looked so pretty all fired up red like she was.

"Hit the mailbox on the way back in." She giggled at the memory. She had been almost home free until she'd hit the stone mailbox at the top of the drive. It had just been a plain stake in the ground mailbox for years until the year previous when her Daddy had finally had it with the mailman knocking it down in the winter and had put up the stone enclosure one.

Daryl shook his head. "Damn women drivers." He couldn't hide the smirk as Beth playfully smacked him in the shoulder.

"Hey now." She warned him. "Okay, your turn Dixon."

Daryl thought for a moment, weighing his words carefully before looking at her, the light in her eyes drawing him in, like he couldn't be anywhere else even if he tried. "I confess I love ya, Beth Greene. I'm in love with ya so much it makes me feel all sorts of things and I don't ever want to be without ya. I wanna make ya mine. Marry me." It was a statement, not a question. He looked at her, letting the full weight of his words hang between them. What happened next surprised even Beth he guessed by the look on her face.

She hauled off and hit him in the arm, hard too, not one of those sissy girl punches she was always throwing at him. It didn't hurt him, not really, but he knew she meant it. "You can't do that, Daryl Dixon. You can't change the game right in the middle of everything."

Beth was fuming. How dare he do this. Everything was going great. They hadn't even declared real feelings not yet, not really. She couldn't even think straight. She didn't know what they'd said between all the things they didn't say. All the things in their glances.

"Ain't a game to me, Beth." Daryl's voice was low, but held no threat. Just quiet. Defeated almost. And that made her even madder and she smacked him again and then again.

Beth kept throwing punches at him until she was just pummeling his arm with her tiny fists and it made him laugh. And then that pissed her off more. "You can't fight me!" He drawled. "You fight like a squirrel!"

Daryl had seen Beth mad before but not like this. When he hurled that last insult at her, implying that she was weak, she just let her hands fall back to her sides, her fists clenched as she stood up and stared at him, the tears welling up in her eyes. He could tell how hard she was fighting to hold them back by the curl of her lip, the face she always made when she was trying not to bawl like a baby.

"You ruined everything." That was her last word before she stalked back to the bedroom. Daryl sat there for a long time, his head in his hands. He wondered what the hell he had just done in one thought and had himself convinced things would be okay in the next. But the thing was, it was making his head ache something awful thinking about it so he went for a walk on the beach to clear his head. It didn't work but when he got back, Beth was asleep, a pile of tissues around her on the bed. He quietly disposed of all of them and tiptoed to the bed, careful not to jostle the mattress. He knew she probably didn't want him in there but he didn't care. He needed to be close to her right now whether she liked it or not. He'd face her wrath in the morning. Lord knew, he'd dealt with angry Beth Greene on enough occasions to know that the morning after was often the worst. He threw his arm over his forehead and stared at the ceiling, his thoughts swirling in his brain. It was going to be a long night.

She woke up with a start and by Daryl stirring next to her she thought she had probably woken him up as well. The dream came back to her in spurts and then like a dam had burst, all at once and she dissolved into tears thinking about the life she almost had. Sobs wracked her body, thinking about what she had lost and how she had vowed that she would never feel that helpless again. It had hurt too much then. And it still hurt now. What the hell was she going to do?

Runs and hides! Don't hate me, you knew it had to come at some point right?

Don't worry, it won't be long. Beth will figure it out. ;) So yeah, hiding now. You'll never find meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Xoxoxoxo