Ch.14

Daryl was surprised when they found the road Beth had told them about. She was right, there was nothing blocking the road, unlike the main roads where pile-ups made it impossible to pass through. Everyone was talking about what they needed to get on the run; going over the list to make sure they wouldn't forget anything. Normally Daryl would join the conversation, but today he remained quiet, he couldn't get Beth's wrist out of his mind. He thought she was over doing that, but he was wrong, because there was no mistaking the evidence on her wrist. He didn't know what to do about her.

He pushed his thoughts to the side when the street gave way to the town they had been talking about for the last few days. It was tinier than Daryl thought, and just like Beth had said, the grocery store was less than a minutes drive once they got on the main road. It didn't really even look like a grocery store, at least not one he had ever been to. It was brick, fitting in with the style of the buildings adjacent to it. He parked the truck, getting out as Tyreese parked the car behind them.

Before going in, Daryl tapped his elbow against the glass at the front of the store. They all waited until they heard the noises they were all too familiar with; he was relieved to find that the place wasn't packed full of walkers, only three came to the front, which they easily took down.

Upon entering the store he was pleasantly surprised to see that almost all of the shelves were still stocked full. This run was going to be a success, and he was already thinking about planning another trip here in a few days to stock up on what they didn't have room to bring back with them.

They each had their own things they were responsible for getting, and Daryl was supposed to get the canned goods. He had a big bag, which he took off of his shoulder, ready to fill it full. He carefully put all of the cans he could fit in the bag. They were going to be eating well with the variety of canned food. They had been so used to eating beans and mixed fruit, but this grocery still had canned vegetables, which they hadn't been able to find since leaving the prison.

He was almost ready to head back to the truck when Beth flickered through his mind again. And without knowing it he was headed in the opposite direction of the door. He knew what he was looking for; it was just a matter of finding the aisle. He finally found the beauty products, and was a little embarrassed to find himself venturing down it, hoping nobody would notice. His eyes fluttered to the left, and he caught a glimpse of what he was looking for.

Standing before all of the colors he didn't know what to grab. She had said she missed nail polish, but she never mentioned what color. He thought about grabbing her favorite color, but then realized he had no idea what that was. He stared at the bottles blankly, trying to think of what a teenage girl would pick. His hand reached for one that was light pink; he looked at the name of the color, eyes wide. Tutti Frutti Tonga. What in the world is a Tutti Frutti Tonga? He heard feet approaching and quickly hid the bottle in his back pocket and exited the aisle.

"You ready?" Sasha asked, not even giving a questioning glance at the aisle he had just come from.

"Yeah. You get everything?"

"We got more than enough. We should be set for a while."

They walked to the truck and started the drive back. Daryl could feel the bottle in his pocket; maybe putting it in his back pocket wasn't such a good idea. The drive home was relatively quiet compared to the drive there. Everyone was tired and decided to relax; making the occasional comment on how well the run had went. By the time they made it to the driveway of the Greene family farm, they had fallen into complete silence.

As soon as he brought the truck to a complete stop he got out, scanning the yard for any sign of Beth. When he didn't see her he grabbed his bag and crossbow and went in the house, setting the bag on the table. Rick tried to talk to him, but Daryl brushed him off, heading up the stairs. If Beth wasn't outside and wasn't downstairs, she would be in her room.

He silently crept up the stairs, tiptoeing until he reached her room. The door was cracked, just wide enough for Daryl to catch a glimpse of Beth sitting cross-legged on her bed, a pen in hand writing in her journal. He slowly opened the door, and watched as she jumped and shut the journal when it creaked.

"Hey."

"Oh, hey," she said, turning her attention away from him.

"I want to talk."

"I don't mean to be disrespectful Daryl, but I'm not really feeling up to it," she said as her hand wrapped around her wrist.

He crept further into the room. "You don't got a choice." He looked at her before pulling the chair in her room next to her bed. "You want to tell me what happened there?" He asked, pointing to her wrist.

"No." She avoided looking at him, keeping her eyes on her closed journal.

"Look, Beth, I'm not accusing you of anything and I'm not gonna' judge you. But if you are starting this up again somebody needs to know."

"I'm not." She was quick to answer, but it was barely a whisper. "It was an accident."

"I know that's not true. You can tell me."

She met his eyes for the first time, but waited before she spoke, almost like she was trying to see if he was lying. "I did it yesterday, when you guys were burying Brett. I got into a fight with Maggie." She looked to him, and he nodded for her to go on. "I was thinking of everyone we've lost; Patricia, Otis, Lori…my daddy, and I knew that we would lose more, and I didn't want to go through it again. And then when I closed my eyes I saw The Governor with Michonne's sword swinging it at my daddy's neck. I felt like I did back then. I felt like the world was caving in and I was going with it. And then I got out my little pocketknife and put it to my wrist. I tried to do it Daryl, I tried to cut myself again, but I couldn't do it all the way; I stopped myself. I realized that I have to be strong for everyone, that I can't put Maggie through another loss. I'm not going to do it again."

Daryl sat there looking at her, taking in everything she had just said, knowing she was telling the truth. He then reached into his back pocket and grabbed the bottle, handing it to her.

"Here, I got this for you." He saw her eyes look down to the bottle, the excitement starting to spark in them. "I didn't know what color to get; I just grabbed one that looked like you."

"Thank you," she said as she took the nail polish from him. "Tutti Frutti Tonga? It's pretty. Thanks, Daryl."

Daryl got up and started walking to the door. Before he was out of the doorway he heard her small voice, barely audible.

"Are you going to tell Maggie?"

He looked at her again; her eyes were boring into him. "No." Before she could say anything else he left.

Author's Note: Aw, Daryl actually listened to Beth. I thought they had kind of had a cute moment together this chapter.