Ch. 13

Thank you all so much for the reviews last chapter! I hope you enjoy this one, too!

The winter sun was an unforgiving bitch that was sending lightening bolts of pain through Beth's head as she struggled to open her eyes.

She was warm, and Daryl's arm was wrapped around her waist, so she tried to fight through the pain. It could be a lot worse.

That's when she remembered she had cried the night before, and she curled into a tight ball. Good lord, she was never drinking again. She was self-conscious and jealous, and she had no right to be the latter.

Daryl was hers, though. And it didn't feel right to think of him with anyone but her.

"Then don't think about it, Christ Almighty, girl," he muttered and hugged her closer to him. "There ain't anythin' to be jealous over. A few blowjobs and getting jerked off a couple of times don't really count for shit in the grand scheme of things."

"I didn't know I said that out loud," she groaned and her stomach rolled.

"Don't matter none," he said. "Gotta move past it. It's easier to get it out of the way now instead of lettin' it shimmer between us for days. Ain't got time for that bullshit."

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"Me, too. I shouldn't've said that about your last time. That was a dick move."

Beth shrugged. "It's not far from the truth, but I'm pretty sure it was just a reaction to what happened and not real feelings."

"How can ya say that?" He asked and turned her to face him.

"'Cause I said it back without thinkin', and I've been with you a few weeks and feel more for you than I ever felt for him, so I don't know what to do with it." Beth opened her eyes to meet his stormy blue ones.

"Ya don't gotta do anythin' with it," he whispered. Daryl pushed back the hair from her forehead then cupped her cheek. The rough skin of his hand, reminding her of how they felt other places, lots of other places the night before and she blushed. "Nothin' changes 'cause we're like this. We're still the same people. We're still partners."

"I love you," she whispered, finally letting the words meet the freezing air around them. "I know it might seem like I want ya to say it back, but I don't. Not unless ya mean it, but I want ya to know that I love you. I said it before to tick a box, and now I'm sayin' it 'cause I feel it."

She watched as different emotions shifted through his eyes: shock, disbelief, terror. Not one of them was soft and giving. Not one was a look of love. She tried not to let it hurt her feelings, so she closed her eyes, severing that connection.

"I'm gonna be sick," she said and pushed his shoulder so he would roll away. Beth stood up on shaky legs and she gripped the edge of the desk, trying to steady herself. Daryl stayed covering the hatch with his body, and Beth's stomach finally gave up the fight.

She turned and ran out onto the ledge, holding onto the railing as she vomited right over the side.

His hands were on her hips to keep her from going over.

That's what he told himself at least.

She got it all out of her system in one go that lasted a few minutes, drawing a straggling walker from the woods with all the noise she was making.

"Causin' trouble," he teased her and pointed to the rotter.

"I'm dyin'."

"Ya ain't dyin'," he said, ignoring his own headache. He had plenty of hangovers. This was just the next one in a long list. "Ya need to get somethin' in your stomach. Somethin' good and greasy."

"Well, take the cruiser down to McDonald's and buy me some hash browns, okay?" She snarked then laid her head against the railing.

"That your favorite breakfast food?" He asked, trying to take her mind off of her stomach.

"No, I like scrambled eggs with Tabasco sauce."

Daryl's stomach rumbled. "I liked waffles with lots of butter and syrup. When I's a boy, my momma used to make them on Saturday mornin's. My old man would go out on Fridays and wouldn't come back until Sunday afternoon usually, so things were good then."

"That's a nice memory of your mom," she said.

"Yeah," he agreed, ignoring the lots of terrible memories that started to close in on the good ones. "Ya done here?"

"I think so." Beth nodded and stood up straight.

"Why don't ya lay down, and I'll go check the snares, okay?"

"Yeah, I think that's for the best," she said, and Daryl watched as she swallowed hard.

He wrapped his arms around her and rocked her slowly. "Poor, baby girl," he whispered into her ear.

"You can take the rest of that stuff and throw it out."

Daryl laughed softly. "Oh no, sweetheart. You're a fun drunk."

"Except when I'm not."

"Guess I just can't mess around with ya when you're drunk anymore."

"We should definitely get condoms," she said quietly.

He cleared his throat, allowing himself to admit what he had done the night before. "Pretty slim chances, right?"

"Yeah," she said and nodded. "It was just that once, and we'll be careful from now on."

"We will."

Once she was settled on the blankets away from the hatch, Daryl made his way down the ladder and out of the tower. He walked slowly, carefully looking over the ground for any sign of walkers during the night but finding none. He used his crossbow to kill the walker that was wondering around from Beth's noise, and then set off into the woods.

The silence was nice for his pounding head, but the snares were empty and the animals were tucked away in their homes. More canned food for them, and not anything that would cure a hangover.

Tomorrow, after they both felt back up to speed, they would take the car and go through some houses nearby. He didn't want to go into the towns at all. It was cold and anyone still alive would be desperate as hell trying to find food. They would go into towns and cities. They would die.

Daryl caught sight of the tower and sighed. He wasn't going to let her die, but he sure as hell wasn't taking great care of her either.

Just make it to the end of winter, he kept reminding himself. After winter, they could plant crops, they could really look for her family, they would sleep with the tower door open because it was too damn hot instead of letting the smoke out.

His thoughts went briefly to the prison and the cache of supplies inside. There would be an infirmary, a cafeteria, beds, blankets. Probably a generator. The thought of chancing it with Beth didn't sit well with him, though.

Two people against whatever could have been inside there?

Once he was inside the gates, he looked out toward the prison. Beth was laying down, probably asleep again, she would be useless today.

He wasn't.

Her words had seemed to light a fire in him. One that he didn't know how to tend to, but he also didn't know how to burn out either. Before last night, they were having fun and friends, but that crossed some line, and as much as he didn't understand it, he couldn't deny it.

Daryl took his crossbow off his shoulder and opened up the second gate that led into the prison yard. He used the carabineers to lock it back into place once he had slipped through, and he started walking toward the prison.

Yeah, if Beth went with him, he'd be too worried about getting her out if rotters showed up. If it was just him, he could do a little looking around without worrying.

It was the best thing for him to spend his time doing. Otherwise, he'd sit up there in the tower, driving himself insane over Beth Greene and her words.

Beth yawned and stretched, finally making herself wake-up after spending a while longer sleeping. She hoped that since Daryl had been gone so long that meant that he had managed to track something for dinner.

Her stomach wasn't sick anymore, but her head still hurt a little. She decided that while she waited for him, she would get some practice in with her bow, so she slipped on her boots and started down the ladder.

Everything was set up, so she took an arrow and placed it just like Daryl had taught her. She took a cleansing breath and drew back the bowstring then let it fly. It struck the target, but not the center. She must have had her elbow too far out.

Beth adjusted her stance and tried again.

Closer.

Another adjustment.

Closer again.

Finally, she was hitting consistently inside the middle two rings.

"That's some good shootin'," Daryl's voice floated to her from the wrong side of the fence.

Beth turned and saw him jogging across the prison yard.

"What're ya doin'?" She asked and ran for the gate, trying to get it unlocked.

"Just wanted to look around," he said as he moved through the small opening she made for him.

"By yourself?" She was completely shocked at his behavior.

"There wasn't anythin' out in the woods, and we need food. Got a treasure trove in our backyard but can't get in the motherfucker."

Beth sighed. "It might have stuff inside, but we don't know what stands between us and it."

Daryl was quiet for a long moment then said, "We will now. I had to leave the door open."

"Excuse me?" She said, her voice was deathly quiet and unfamiliar to her own ears.

As if the walkers within heard their conversation, the first one stumbled out of C Block, growling and moving toward them as if it had been following Daryl all along.

"I went inside, but I may have found a few more than I could take care of myself when I got down into the middle of the prison."

"What?" Her voice was bordering on hysterical as two more walkers came out.

"In my defense, C Block is really clean. A few rotters locked in cells, but I took care of them like that," he snapped his fingers to illustrate his point.

Beth didn't even second-guess herself as she started slapping his chest. "I can't believe you, Daryl Dixon. Just what the hell are ya tryin' to prove? You coulda died!"

"But I didn't, and we're one step closer to food."

She growled then and pushed him hard. "It's not worth it! Look at them!" She waved her hand to the walkers that were now spilling out of the prison. There were more than behind that fence that had broken in the workout yard.

"It'll be okay," he said and started chewing on his thumbnail. "We'll just let 'em out."

"You really think it's that simple?" She asked breathless and starting to get scared.

"Get your bolts," he motioned to the target, and Beth took off running for them. "We'll open up the gates, and let 'em go."

"I don't think it's gonna work," she hollered back. "I think they'll stick around the bottom of the tower."

"If you keep yellin' like that, they sure as hell ain't gonna leave," he yelled back and opened up the gate toward the woods.

"If you weren't such a freakin' man and hadn't went in there on your own, we wouldn't be doin' this right now."

Daryl let out a frustrated growl and strode across the expanse of yard to the gate. "Yeah, well, I'm a fuckin' moron, okay? Must have sucked all my brains out through my dick or somethin'."

"Why do ya gotta be such a crude asshole?" She walked right past him as he threw open the gate to the prison yard.

"Guess it's just in my blood," he said and flipped her off as he walked to the tower, throwing the door open. "Get your ass in here before we end up runnin' through the fuckin' woods to get away from these biters."

"Screw you," she said and started to walk past him as the walkers made it to the halfway point between the prison and the fence.

"Yes, please," he said with a smirk firmly in place.

"Why do I love you?" She asked as he shut the door and locked it behind them then rolled the bike in front of it.

"Must be my sterlin' personality," he retorted and crossed his arms over his chest.

Beth eyed him up and down then shook her head. "Right now, if you'd just stop talkin' and look pretty, it'd be better for both of us."

Daryl's smartass shell cracked, and he smiled widely at her. "I bet I look a lot prettier if you get on your knees."

"Ugh, no," she muttered and started up the ladder. "God knows when the last time you washed your balls was."

"What the hell?" He asked and stormed up after her. "I went down on you last night."

Beth got up to the top of the tower and watched as the walkers made their way through the gate, some continued on, others shuffled outside the tower, clearly smelling their presence.

"I'm sorry I didn't realize we were keepin' a tally." She turned her head right as he opened his mouth. "If ya say the word 'tally whacker' anywhere in this next sentence, I swear on all things good and holy, I'll toss ya over the ledge."

He huffed. "Actin' like ya know my ass."

Beth eyed the dead as the moved from the prison through the gates. Daryl did the same from the other side of the tower.

Some walkers got turned around and started walking down between the fences, so they would have to take care of them at some point if they didn't walk out.

Surprisingly, it only took a few hours for the walkers to disappear except for maybe ten of them. In that time, Daryl and her remained stuck in an awkward silence.

"Guess it's time ya learned to shoot a movin' target from a long distance," Daryl said and handed her her bow. "I made a mistake about the cellblock," he mumbled.

"I shouldn't have hit you." She set up an arrow and whispered, "I still sorta love you."

"Then I've been lucky all over the place today," he said and felt a little bit warmer at her words.

"So, what now?" She asked and went out onto the ledge.

"I think we need to get down on the ground, close the gates, and take care of the ones in the middle first. I count four in and six inside the prison yard."

Beth counted each walker. Carefully making sure that she didn't miss any. "That's what I got, too."

"Okay, you close the fence toward the woods, I'll do the other. Then we'll see what ya can do, Greene."

Beth didn't like the sound of that at all.

The fences were easy to close, but it got the attention of all the walkers. Luckily there were only four in the middle, so Daryl stood with his back to Beth's and held his crossbow waiting until they got closer.

"Keep your breathin' steady," he reminded her in a whisper as he heard her normal breathing turn to pants.

"I can't," she whispered back.

He took out the nearest walker to him as the other growled on the other side of the fence. "Ya can. It's just a target."

"It's movin'." She cringed a little. "And growlin'."

Daryl tried his best not to laugh, but he failed. Her voice was getting high pitched, and he knew she was freaking the fuck out.

"Just aim and let it go."

He heard the bow release followed by a mumbled, "Shit."

"Reload," he told her and took out the second walker before turning to her. "Ya got two to kill. I done got mine."

"How do ya do it so fast?" She asked as she aimed.

"I haven't had much practice. I'll get better with time from what I understand," he joked.

Beth turned her head, looking confused before she snorted and returned to aim at the bitter who was getting much closer than he liked.

"Keep your elbow in. You're gonna yank it right."

"I know," she muttered in a clearly frustrated voice. The second arrow flew and went wide right of its head. "Motherfucker!" She growled. "Stop movin'!"

"I'm sure it'll listen," he said and went to the fence to stab the six that gathered there.

"I need your help," she said, backing away as the walker got closer.

He didn't know how to help. He wasn't ever given decent help or tips. Still, he didn't like the sound of powerlessness in her voice, so he walked to her and placed his hands on her hips. "Straighten up," he said quietly. "Pull it back slowly." She did as he said. "Let out that breath so ya don't pass out." A pause as the air flowed from her lungs. "Now."

The bolt struck its shoulder and pulled it back a little. "There ya go. Again. A little higher and little left."

Jaw this time.

"Little higher. Little bit left."

It wasn't an all the way clean shot, but it got the thing in the forehead and it fell over.

"Good girl," Daryl said and kissed the back of her neck.

The other walker she had was down at the far end of the fence, having been around the corner and slow as shit. "He's too far, Daryl."

Daryl hummed and nodded then went back to the fence. "Get your other arrows and wait for him."

He took care of the remaining three walkers inside the prison fence as Beth did what he told her. Once she was back in place, he laid his hands on her shoulders. "Ya look hot as hell pullin' back that bow."

"Oh yeah?" She laughed and turned her head to the side to look at him.

"Yeah," he said and pulled her back into his body. He had a semi already. Once this walker was taken care of, they could make it full on, he figured. They didn't have shit else to do with all the biters in the woods now.

"You seriously have a boner?" She asked in an amazed voice.

"Nah, that's my knife, pervert," he joked, and she flushed red. Daryl pressed against her harder. "Yeah," he told her quietly.

"I can't think when you're behind me like that," she whispered.

He stepped away and watched as she tried to take down this other walker. Four arrows before the fifth one hit right where she needed it to.

"We're gonna have to work on that. Ya can hit a stationary object. That's good for huntin' most of the time, but not for self-defense."

"How do we do that?" She asked as she retrieved the last of her arrows.

He shrugged. "We'll figure somethin' out. Ya wanna go up there with me and shut C Block up again?"

Beth nodded and took his hand as they walked up the driveway together. He was getting used to having her like this—getting used to being happy even with all the death around them.

They were a mile away from the damn prison when a herd came through the trees in front of them.

Everyone quietly rushed to hide behind the nearest trees. Rick held his finger to his lips, knowing these people were already well-versed in how to behave when there were walkers close but not being able to stop himself. As long as they stayed quiet, the walkers would move across the road and into the trees there.

Maybe instead of keeping to the road, they could go up through the woods to get a better look before they tried to go inside. He wasn't stupid and neither were the others with him. A lot of those men were wearing orange jumpsuits and they were close enough to the prison that either these guys had been roaming around for a while, or they had just gotten out. Judging with how clean their clothes were, he figured they had gotten out which meant that the fences that he was counting on might have fallen.

"Rick?" Glenn whispered.

He turned his head and noticed that Glenn was pointing into the woods, and he nodded. As quietly as a group their size could, the moved away from the road, away from the walkers, and toward the prison or maybe an even bigger herd.

They were desperate. This couldn't fall through, and despite what might be in front of them, they had to try.