I have been doing some thinking in regards to my stories and with this one and Anything We Want, I think they're both going to be around 15 or so chapters. And after that, I am already brainstorming my next story idea but at this time, I don't know if I'm actually going to write it. Thank you so much to everyone reading my stories and continuing with your reviews and encouragement. It means more to me than I can say.

…

Chapter Twelve.

She's not going to cry. She tells herself this over and over again. She's not going to cry. She's eighteen and she's married and did she really think she would stay on the farm with her parents for the rest of her life? Daryl's her husband and they have to go where the work is. She can't expect him to be alright with living off her parents. He wants to move to California and she's supporting him completely with this decision.

She doesn't cry when Hershel surprises them and gifts them with the pickup truck. She can tell that Daryl wants to refuse but Hershel won't hear of it as he pushes the key into Daryl's hand. Or when Annette gives them a camera – another wedding present she explains.

She doesn't cry as Daryl and Otis load their two trunks into the back bed of the truck. Trunks which contain their clothes and her entire life – to be moved across the country and won't be opened again until they're in their new home in California. A new home that she can't even imagine in her mind yet, having absolutely no concept or idea of what it will be like.

She doesn't cry as she hugs Otis, Patricia and Jimmy goodbye. Jimmy promises that he'll come out and visit her one day. He wants to try and meet a movie star – preferably Rita Hayworth – and Beth laughs, forgetting for a moment all about wanting to just sit down and cry.

And when it does happen, she can't help it and she does begin to cry when she hugs her parents goodbye. Her mom is crying, too, and her dad has unshed tears in his eyes and she hugs them long and tight and she promises that she and Daryl will visit . How true that promise is though, she doesn't known. None of them do. She also promises to write at least once a week.

And after Daryl says his own goodbyes, and Beth hugs her parents one more time, Daryl holds the door open for her and she gets into the truck. Daryl walks around and slides into the seat behind the wheel and the truck rumbles beneath them as he turns the key and the engine roars to life.

As he drives down the dirt road, Beth turns in her seat and sticks her head out the window, waving as they all watch them drive away and looking at the farm for the last time, wanting to remember every single detail of it.

…

Sometime, when they're still in Georgia but exactly where, she has no idea, Daryl reaches his right hand across the bench seat, his left still on the wheel, and he rests it over Beth's hand as it rests on the seat next to her.

Beth had been looking out the window, tears brimming her eyes but no more are falling, and when she feels his hand, she turns and he's looking at her and she gives him a small smile. His eyes go back to the road and she turns her hand over so she can grasp his, him grasping hers in return.

"I'm so used to eating apples all of the time," Beth says, wiping at her cheeks with her other hand though they are dry. "I suppose oranges will be the fruit of our house now." She feels her lips twitching in an almost smile.

Daryl looks at her again before back to the road. "Won't ever have to worry about scurvy," he says and Beth feels laughter bubble in her throat – as if they ever worried about that in the first place. He squeezes her hand again.

She lets out a soft breath. "I'm sorry for crying."

Daryl shrugs. "I'd be more worried if you didn' cry when we left," he admitted. He looks at her again but can only do so for a moment before his eyes go back to the road. "If you ain't happy out there, you tell me and we'll get you on a bus to come home," he then says.

Beth shakes her head and she moves across the seat so she's right next to him. He glances at her and then his hand slowly slips from hers so he can lift his arm and put it around her shoulders, holding her to him. For the first time that day, Beth does smile and she burrows herself into his side.

"I won't be going anywhere, Daryl. California is going to be our home," she tells him quietly and then turns her head to look at him. "You're my home," she then adds in a whisper and Daryl's eyes move from the road once more to look at her.

She's not sure what his particular expression is. She can't decipher it but his eyes are dark and intense as they stare at her and she feels her stomach tighten. And then, despite driving, Daryl glances back quickly to the road to make sure nothing's coming before back at her and he presses his lips to hers.

…

He drives them all day and finally stop at a roadside motel for the night somewhere in Mississippi. He gets them a room for the night and they eat a dinner of cold chicken and slices of apple pie that Beth had packed on their bed.

Beth takes a shower to wash the day of traveling off her body and when she comes out of the bathroom again, clutching the towel around her wet body, Daryl is on the bed in his boxers and white undershirt, staring up at the ceiling. It's a cool night and Daryl has turned on the radiator so there's a slow stream of heat flowing into the room. Nonetheless, Beth shivers and hurries to her suitcase on the dresser. She drops the towel and slips her nightgown on and when she turns around, she sees that Daryl is now sitting up, watching her.

She gives him a small smile – almost a shy smile – and she picks the towel up to return it to the bathroom, rubbing it over her hair one more time. She then comes out and takes her brush, sitting on the edge of the bed beside him. She hums to herself as she begins to untangle her damp hair and she can feel Daryl watching her.

"I'm excited," she then admits in a quiet voice.

"You are?" He asks and she turns her head to look at him, smiling a little easier.

"It will be weird at first. And scary. All I know is Georgia. But it's California, Daryl. It always looks so glamorous in the reels shown before the movies. And hundreds of people are going there every day so there must be something about it that's good," she tells him.

"Hmmmm," Daryl muses but doesn't say anything else.

She finishes with her hair and sets her brush down before turning herself more towards him. "Are you excited?"

Daryl hesitates, as if he doesn't want to admit that he is, but then he nods his head once. "Shane says there's a ton of money out there. Excited to make some for us."

"I can't wait to see our new home," she says with a smile. "I wonder what it will be like, living on an orange grove."

"Prob'ly not that different from livin' on an apple orchard," he says.

"No," she shakes her head and a dreamy smile creeps across her face. "I bet it's different. Maybe it's even a little better."

…

The motel has a diner attached and for breakfast, they eat scrambled eggs and pieces of toast and she blushes as Daryl reaches across the table and wipes at a smudge of strawberry jam from her chin with his thumb.

Outside, before he can get into the truck, Beth hurries to the trunk where she has packed the camera and she pulls it out.

"Wait, Daryl," she says with laughter in her voice.

He sees the camera in her hand and immediately shakes his head. "No one wan's to see my picture."

"I do," she disagrees, giving him a smile. "I want to show our children one day what their daddy looked like when we moved west."

She hasn't mentioned children to him since that night in their cabin. A part of her hasn't wanted to, treating her animal like a startled rabbit she didn't want to scare away further and the topic of children definitely didn't seem as if it was his favorite. She means everything she had said to him though.

She does want children and he isn't anything like his father. Her husband doesn't have a mean bone in his body, it seems to her.

She has always wanted to be a mother and can't imagine her and Daryl not having any – especially with how many times they have made love since they have gotten married. She has only been able to hope that if she does find herself pregnant – sooner rather than later – Daryl will find himself happy once he hears the news.

Daryl blinks at her and doesn't say anything. He doesn't protest either and instead, he stands beside the truck, clearly not too sure what to do with himself. Beth smiles at him and then looks into the box, making sure the picture is lined up and clear before she presses the button.

"There," she beams at him. "Absolutely painless."

His lips twitch in a small smile at that and he steps forward, taking the camera from her. He waves his hand towards the truck. "Now you," he says.

Beth practically skips to the truck, turning around and straightening her skirt and fixing her hair before looking at the camera and beaming brightly. And he looks into the box and smiles as he presses the button and the camera snaps her picture.

She takes the camera back from him and gives him a quick peck on his lips, pulling away before he can even really react to it. "We're going to have to get someone to take our picture for us so we can be in one together."

Daryl doesn't argue. Just nods his head. And this time, Beth kisses him long enough for him to react and he does, one of his hands cupping the back of her head and she loops her arms around his shoulders, smiling against his lips.

…

"How can a farm girl like you not know how to drive?" Daryl grumbles as they it on some random back road somewhere in Louisiana.

She just shrugs and feels a little embarrassed. "I never needed to know," she says. "I had Nellie or someone else who was always driving."

"A'right," Daryl said after a moment. "Looks like it's up to me then. I'm not gonna have you stuck at home all day while I'm workin'. I don't know how close everythin' we need is gonna be and I don't wan' you walkin' until we get to know the place."

Beth nods as she sits in the seat behind the steering wheel, getting herself comfortable. Daryl sits close beside her and takes her hand from her lap, guiding them to the wheel, which she wraps her fingers around. He points to the pedals.

"Gas. Brake. And make sure you got your gear stick on the "D"," he tells her and Beth nods her head rapidly, looking at everything he is referring to. "Le's see what you got," he says and no sooner do the words leave his mouth that Beth presses the gas pedal all the way down to the floor.

The tires squeal on the pavement and the truck shoots forward roughly and Beth lets out a squeak of surprise as they fire forward. She slams down on the brake just as quickly and the truck slams to a stop, Daryl and Beth shooting forward and Daryl slaps his hand on the front dashboard to stop himself. He looks at her and she's panting and her cheeks are flushed. He seems to be a little out of breath, too.

"Sorry," she almost grimaces.

Daryl looks at her for a moment and then chuckles softly, shaking his head and Beth exhales a breath she hadn't realized she's holding.

He settles himself back beside her. "Le's try again. Slower this time," he then adds and Beth nods, her heart still beating like a drum in her chest and her palms feel sweaty as she circles her fingers around the wheel this time. He scoots even closer to her until his side is pressed to hers. "Pretend it's Nelly and you can't be approachin' her too fast or she'll get nervous and run away. You gotta be gentle."

Beth nods and tries to concentrate even as his breath is warm across her skin and his words are so soft, she nearly shivers, and she just wants to turn and kiss him on this empty road with no one around for miles.

…

It rains through most of Texas and their radio is nothing but static so Beth sings every song she can think of and when the radio signal does come back, she's grateful because her throat is starting to scratch.

"We're gonna have to find someone out there you can sing for," Daryl says.

"No," she quickly shakes her head and feels herself blush as she keeps her eyes straight ahead through the windshield. "I just want to sing for you."

"Movin' to California. Chance for people to become somebodies," he looks to her and she turns her head, looking to him. "You could be somebody, too."

"I am somebody," she tells him.

He's quiet for a few minutes after that. "I guess you not wantin' to be famous isn't a bad thing. You'd prob'ly leave my ass for Clark Gable. No famous singer would stay married to a man who picks oranges."

Beth stares at him and she can't help the heavy frown that takes over her face. Daryl, seeming to sense it, glances at her and then quickly looks to the road again.

"Is that what you really think? Of me?" She asks him in a low voice. "That I'm just the kind of girl to be with someone until someone else comes along?"

"I didn' say that," he said, now frowning as well.

Beth sighs softly and turns her head to look out the passenger side window. "Yes, you did."

She watches the rain droplets chance one another down the glass and she doesn't say anything else. The further they have gotten away from Georgia, the more time they have spent together, just the two of them, she has felt her sadness ebb away and as they drive through swamp and prairie and now the dessert, things she has only ever seen as pictures in books, her excitement and happiness have grown.

But now, her mood matches the heaviness of the dark gray rain clouds outside.

She wonders when her husband will finally believe that she truly loves him.

…

Somewhere in New Mexico, they get a flat tire and Daryl manages to get them to the nearest service station so they can buy a new one. Daryl changes it himself and the owner of the garage asks if Daryl is looking for a job but Daryl just shakes his head and thanks him for the tire.

"Let's go eat," Beth says, taking his hand and pulling him towards the small diner next to the station.

Inside, they sit on vinyl stools at the lunch counter and order hamburgers and Beth orders herself a vanilla milkshake and she can see Daryl watching her as she closes her lips around the straw. She moves her eyes to him and gives him a small smile.

"What?" She asks, slightly unnerved as he keeps looking at her and not saying anything. "Daryl, what?" She laughs a little and pushes a hand on his knee.

For a moment – she can't explain it – but for a moment, she thinks he's about to tell her that he loves her.

Daryl still doesn't say anything though. He just shakes his head and then leans in, a hand sliding onto the back of her head and it's not like him to kiss her when there are other people around like this but she certainly doesn't complain as he leans into her and his lips meet hers.

…

They get the man at the service station to take their picture – standing beside their truck, her arms around his waist and his arm around her shoulders. She smiles broadly and Daryl's lips twist slightly into his own version of a smile and the man counts to three before snapping the picture.

Beth begins to step away to go and collect the camera but Daryl stops her, keeping to her side and he hugs her. Beth smiles faintly up at him, not entirely sure why he is showing her so much affection like this in front of others all of a sudden but she isn't going to ask him.

She just hugs him in return, closing her eyes and pressing her nose into his shoulder, and she only hopes he keeps with these open displays when they finally arrive in their new life.

…

Thank you so much for reading and please review!