Chapter Fourteen
You

The leaves were scrunched under her boot as she took a step closer to finding Daryl sitting idly on a fallen log. "DARYL-"
"'m here!" He huffed to her and Beth stopped in her tracks, listening for more sound, "Beth..." His voice lead her through the roughage to his fallen tree. He had displaced the mound of dirt and the wriggling worm on top of the log as he carved into its side with a sharp rock.
"Hey, you..." She sighed and walked slowly towards him, trembling with fear in case he lashed out, swung for her and clawed at her. But he didn't move. Daryl reminded Beth of one of the kids she would look after during her work experiences at different day-cares. No matter where she went, there was one. The one kid that sat away from the others, would scrawl paint all over their paper and wipe his hands on his cargos afterward. But now, with permanently stained jeans and a sharp rock instead of a brush, the young introvert sat. Daryl hummed in reply and didn't seem to flinch when the groan of a walker popped out of nowhere. It was far off enough for Beth to sit with him and try and drag him back to camp.
"Daryl..."
"Nah...Don't even try," He snapped in a quiet voice.
"Daryl! Come on! She didn't know what she was sayin'-"
"Don't d'fend h'r. She's righ'. Y' don' me hangin' over y'-"
"Daryl, you aren't!" Beth's brows were knit together tightly and she almost scowled at Daryl before noticing that the worm had wriggled out of the dirt. Her heart swelled and her eyebrows relaxed. Beth reached out her hand to pick up the worm and for a few moments, she debated her next move. After putting the frown back on and gently slapping Daryl's shoulder, Beth thrust the worm in his face until he looked up, "If anythin', y're hangin' over him! Y're hangin' over Wormy!" Her scorn turned into a bright smile which Daryl copied but only slightly. A laugh escaped his throat which he coughed off to nothing but Beth retracted her arms proudly. They sat for a while watching the worm in Beth's creamy white hands before she spoke, "If you were to leave... You'd have to come back with me and get supplies and say 'bye' to everyone..."
"Nah. I could take off in that direction and you'd go in the other direction. I could survive-"
"Daryl..." Beth started to plead as though fighting a losing battle, but she shrugged it off and put on her strong voice, "Look. Fine. If you really want to leave this group because of Maggie- of all people- then... finish digging the holes withme. Can't leave any unfinished business behind you."
"So I'm y're workhorse now?" Daryl chuckled darkly to himself and Beth shrugged silently.
Daryl tilted his head to look at her. She raised a brow and pressed her lips together, "It'd help the group a lot..." Beth went on to drone when Daryl turned back to chipping at the bark of the tree. "We could find Wormy a family..." She continued and caught a glimmer of Daryl's smile from under his hair.
"If I come back, will you stop callin' him Wormy?!" He asked in almost an angry manner. Beth widened her eyes as Daryl spoke again, "God...His name is Eric!"Daryl laughed which gave Beth a sigh of relief.
"Yes! Promise!" She quickly said and got to her feet. Beth offered out one of her hands to help him up as the worm danced around in her other.

There was a rush to the church windows and door. People climbed over one-another to investigate Abrahams gun-cock. Beth eventually emerged with Daryl just behind, the worm still in tact in her hands. Rick turned to Michonne, who then turned to Maggie who was sitting on Daryl's pew, staring at the large Jesus statue on the front wall. The bright sun shone down on them both back out in the greenery, resuming what they had started. Rick took his hand from his gun eventually and took a step out into the sunshine. Carl and Tara followed behind, armed with other tools to reinforce the outsides of the windows and door. Rick instructed them to start out back, taking Abe and Espinosa for back-up. The foursome went swimmingly. Like nothing before had happened, Daryl was thudding into the dirt and Beth was holding the trowel for him. Proudly, Rick stood out on the steps with his hands on his hips, overseeing the duo. "Hey... What's gonna happen now? He left and it didn't look like he was comin' back." Michonne was quiet with her words, trying not to let Maggie hear,
"Yeah, well, sometimes things change. I'll talk to him later. Make sure it's all ironed out." Rick was smiling gently out at them both but it slowly melted when there was a screech of wood on wood and a gurgle from Judith.
"I gotta apologise." Maggie said from behind him.
"Nope. Y' don't. Beth said leave 'em alone so you leave 'em alone... But then, you won't listen to me so why should you listen to her?" Rick seethed at Maggie before hopping down the steps and going round to the back of the church to be with Carl.

"Trow'l..." Daryl muttered and lay down the shovel beside the dirt pile and held out his muddy hands. An uneasy groan came from Beth and she slowly placed it into his hand, "W's goin' on?" He laughed, having to take a second look up at Maggie coming towards them both. The laughter was non-existant now as Daryl straightened up, throwing the trowel down beside the shovel.
"What?!" Daryl almost shouted, clearly hurting from her words of poison earlier. Maggie shook her hands out in front of her and looked Beth in the eye,
"I just want to apologise-"
"Like you did last night?! Apologies don't meant shit to you, Maggie!" Daryl argued and threw down his hand, Beth slowly moving between them both.
"I meant it last night and I want to mean it now, Daryl!" She retaliated with deep, sad eyes. Daryl shook his head and turned to face the sun for a second,
"Maggie, I told you- leave us both alone. We are fine alone, believe it or not." Beth stepped forward towards Maggie and put her hand on her shoulder, "Please. I'm safe out here. I'm safe now. I've got this."
Maggie rubbed her lips and scruched her hair back off of her face before taking a step back with a nod. Thank you Beth mouthed before Maggie strutted away back in to the church. Beth sucked air through her teeth and spun on her heel to make her way towards Daryl. "I'm sorry..." She sighed.
"No. She cares. Like everybody else does..." Daryl defended after taking in a couple of calming breaths, "She wants you to be safe."
"I am safe with you. And she knows that." Beth looked up to Daryl in the sun and leaned her head against his shoulder. "Can it just stay like this?" Beth hummed to herself and pushed back off of his shoulder to put her hands on her hips. "Warm and sunny. It's perfect." Beth fluttered her eyes closed and felt the warm air around her. As best as she could, she ignored the buzz of insects around her and he stench of death everywhere.
"It's Georgia." Daryl bluntly said with a smile in his voice. Beth opened one eye and glanced to him, "It's always warm and sunny in Georgia!". She shook her head and smiled before looking back to the sun,
"You know what I mean!" She laughed, "Everything to stay still and warm and no more people storming off!" She peeked out of one eye again and seen Daryl smiling to himself with his hands in his pockets, "Y're needed here, Daryl. We wouldn't be here without you." Beth whispered to him, taking her hands away from her hips and going to him, gently pressing her lips to his shoulder.

Where her lips touched his olive skin, it set alight the rest of his arm and then the rest of his body. It wasn't a painful, blistering burn. It was satisfying, like the internal burn after an intense work out you had done the day before. Where you could feel every muscle, joint and tendon squeak and creak all at once. Daryl could feel it even standing still, rooted to the ground, he felt everything jolt inside of him.
"Come on. Let's finish diggin' and get somethin' to eat." She sighed onto his skin and patted his arm ever so softly, her fingertips lingering at his bronzed shoulder. The tips slid down the rest of his arm slowly and then Beth continued on digging with the trowel.
Daryl brought his hand out of his dirty pocket and reached across his collar bones to grip onto his shoulder like it was suddenly going to dislocate itself and drop to the floor. What was once frozen deep inside of him now started to glisten in the heat of her lips on his skin which seemed to be everlasting.

(AN/ This chapter was kind of slow, I know, I'm sorry. But I'm glad you're still reading this far so that's something I'm doing right. Thank you all so much for your support and everything that comes with it! I love you guys! Thank you! Read and Review!xx)