Beth cracked the door open and the slight, almost unsure movement made Daryl look up cautiously as he reached for his knife, relaxing when he saw her face poke through with a wide smile."What?" It was a quiet question, not betraying any of the humor that he felt looking at her beaming face peering in.

She disappeared for a moment before stepping in, wielding his crossbow on her back and held a rabbit up. "Got dinner!" She said proudly.

"Hm." Was his reply. He was a little surprised, sure she said she was going to get something for dinner and had asked him to load the bow, but he really didn't think she could get something with the single shot. "Here?" He held out his hand and she quickly crossed and dropped the rabbit in his hand. He took it turning it over and was a little impressed to see the clean shot through the shoulder. "Good shot."

Beth bounced slightly on her feet. "I know...gonna give it back? I gotta clean it up...unless you want to eat it like that?" She smiled. Daryl didn't move, so she reached forward and carefully took it, crossing to the sink and pulling her knife from her waist before slicing the rabbit down its stomach, removing the innards and slopping them in a bowl.

She paused as she realized Daryl had crossed the room also and was looking over her shoulder. "Bit messy." He commented, only saying it because he was quite impressed and thought she needed to be taken down a peg or two.

Beth shrugged. "It's not too bad...for the first one on my own." She answered as she pulled the skin off. She turned it over in her hand and rubbed her hand over the soft fur, then she noticed how clean that hand still was, the other was messy from the innards, but this one was clean, just like he had told her it should be after skinning. She looked to Daryl who was poking the innards, inspecting them carefully. "Didn't nick them at all!" She commented as she held her hand over the bowl, now forcing him to focus on it as further proof of her competence.

Daryl let the smallest of smiles play on his lips as she chopped the head off with a crunch as the blade separated the bone. He slapped her hand away playfully. "Show off."

She shrugged. "Ain't nothin'." She smiled a little too broadly. "Seems a shame, though." He looked at her asking what she had meant. "To waste it." She answered looking to the skin again. "Just so pretty." She smiled.

Daryl grumbled in the way that he did whenever she did something equally stupid, but then he looked at her and he thought he would burst with admiration as she skewered the meat. "Why don' ya keep it?" She looked to him with a question on her face. He shrugged. "Make OneEye a jacket or sumfin."

She looked to the dog with a wide smile as she put the innards down for him to pick through. "I'll have to catch a few more." She answered, crossing to put the rabbit on the fire. She returned, washed her hands and retrieved some canned jumped a little as she felt Daryl'sfingers grasping her elbow; it wasn't uncomfortable, just that she hadn't expected it.

She looked to her arm and noticed the blood splatter on it. "Run into trouble?" He questioned and Beth smiled at the worry playing in his eyes.

She shrugged. "Just two of them, no stress." She shrugged taking the vegetables to the fire to warm them.

Daryl knew he was staring, but regardless of Beth's sideway uncomfortable glances, he didn't want to look away. Hecouldn't look away, because he felt in this moment he was witnessing something that he hadn't seen before, that the world hadn't seen before; he was looking, not at a sweet and gentle girl who was afraid of this world, he wasn't looking at a dead girl anymore. He was looking at her and shewas so strong, so competent; able to catch and prepare her own food, protect herself from walkers...and people. She was right when she said pretty soon she wasn't going to need him; that time had come, looking at her now, she didn't need him, or anyone. She was amazing. "Daryl!" Her voice warning, shocked him back to reality, he raised his eyebrows.

"You're staring." She stated, and then her face softened. "What are you thinking about?"

He wiped his chin, while placing his hand over his chest which was mysteriously thudding again. "Jus' thinkin'...ya were right." She didn't reply, just crinkled her eyebrows; he shrugged in response. "Ya don' need me anymore."

She shook her head. "I never said that."

"Mhm...when I was teachin' ya to shoot, ya know right b'fore ya did your foot in." He reminded her.

"Ohh." She shook her head; she forgot sometimes how much he thought about each word; there was no speaking for the point of it when you were with Daryl. "I didn't mean it."

Daryl sat on the wooden chair by him, his wound beginning to ache a little again. "'S true though."

Beth felt something like sadness flick in her; he was probably right she really could look after herself now, he had taught her so well, and when she thought about it, it was something more than that, she wasn't even afraid when she saw the walkers, she just acted. She still needed him, though, she'd always need him; he taught her to survive, sure, but how was she supposed to live without him, without the friendship that had grown between them? "It's not,Daryl." She reaffirmed, and she saw something like a smile.

She shrugged before changing the direction of the conversation. "Is it okay if it's easy?" She asked, receiving a strange look. "Killing them...the walkers?" She asked...then she clarified, not because she hadn't said what she thought but because she realized she meant more. "The people." It wasn't the same question she had asked the other day, but it was so similar that he knew it was playing on her mind.

Daryl shrugged a little,"I don't know..."

"Was it always for you?" She questioned, not looking at him.

"Killing people?...nah." He wondered what she meant but decided to answer honestly anyway. "Been hunting my whole life, ya know; huntin' ta live, huntin' animals. When the first walker came at me I saw it, they weren't no different to a starving, rabid dog, it was easy ta shoot, wasn't easy to look at it, the human-like thing layin' there, but then I realized they ain't human. Then, you know, first time I had to shoot the living...was 'cause they weren't no better than the walkers. That's the only reason I've shot the living...that's not hard." He paused for a moment, realizing she was looking at him and he felt a little ashamed. "Then, it's because I gotta,' n sometimes I don't wanna."

Beth nodded, she got it, she understood; she let her tongue dart out licking her bottom lip, a little nervous as she continued. "Is it okay if you're not sorry? If you don't feel when you do it?"

And he understood, he understood more than what she was saying; that she was different now, that she had changed, and when she caught his eye he felt a surge of something, because he had played a hand in it, and he was here to witness it, and that was special. It was special that she shared that moment with him; that meant something. He couldn't answer that for her, though, because while his answer was 'yes it's okay, it has to be,' that was the defining difference between them and he wanted more than anything for that not to change, although he knew it had to, so he used words that a wise old man had told him once, "You don't get to feel." She smiled lightly, recognizing her father's words.

He nodded back to the sink. "C'mon, I'll teach ya how to tan that rabbit."