A/N: I'm sorry if that was a tease... again. I originally wrote that chapter to be THE chapter but it just didn't feel right anymore, I thought Daryl and Beth deserved something a little better. Don't worry, it'll come. To make up for moving it later in the story, I did super sized it two chapters :)

Disclaimer - I own nothing of TWD.

Daryl did not understand the feeling, the swell he was trying to contain in his chest. It was so different from the emotions that had plagued him last night and all this morning. This feeling, while still more than a little scary, wasn't the same. It didn't hold the same sensation of worry and trepidation as the other did, this new one was different. It was… it was good? Daryl wasn't quite able to put a label to it yet but it was there, same as the sunshine blonde that was keeping stride next to him.

A quick glance at her sent a fire bolting to below his belt. Daryl had almost lost it when Beth had whispered that she wanted him. Damn. Just the memory made his dick to start to stiffen. The alluring woman was going to be the death of him, he was sure of it. He could listen to her utter those words all night long… hell, if he was incredibly lucky, he might actually get to some night. But those weren't really the words he longed to hear, not if he was going to be candid with himself, which probably wasn't a good idea. If he was honest, he didn't want to hear her say I want you. Daryl want to hear the other words again, the ones she had expressed so openly a few nights before. I love you.

Beth had not repeated the fateful words since the first time. And Daryl wanted them said again, to hear the words slip from her soft, pink lips. He couldn't blame her for not saying them again. Beth had declared herself, uttering her vulnerability out loud as she stated her feelings and he had stood there like an idiot after his mauling of her and said nothing. It wasn't as if he didn't care or that he didn't want her. He just couldn't… he couldn't say words to her that he himself didn't understand. What the hell was love? How could he ask that of her, to have her explain the emotion to him? If he still had Rick, he might have… Yes, Beth was that important that he might have actually asked the man who was more than a leader to him. He knew Rick had loved Lori, Daryl had seen the effects that had toiled the man after her death. Rick loved Carl and Judith also. Rick would have done anything for his children. He protected them, hugged them and cared for them. Daryl saw it all but still didn't understand, envious of even the slightest approving clap to the back.

It had been hard to leave that house, agonizing to force himself and Beth out the door, but he knew it was the right choice. He was growing tired of making the right choices. It never seemed to get him what he wanted.

They hadn't found much after leaving the house with the cat and had searched several more of the surrounding homes. Neither wanted to go far from the tattered group they had left behind and the sun was starting to settle lower in the sky. There was only one shining find in their seeking; they had located a stash of homemade canned pickles and carrots in a crawl space of the last house. It was more than they could actually carry, having to leave some behind. It wasn't great but it was at least something to bring back.

With their heavy bags, Beth and Daryl returned to the yellow house and nodded to Terrance, who was on watch, as they entered. They walked into the living room and into a conversation. No, not a conversation but a planning session of sorts. Jonah had the entire group gathered in the living room. They were discussing a plan to go back to their compound.

Jess, Marie, and Karl looked up for a moment from the discussion to nod their greeting to the returning pair. Daryl and Beth joined the group, lowering their heavy bags to the floor at their feet. Daryl listened, hearing the plan the young, vengeful man was setting forth. He listened to the direction given to gather information, a foolishly planned assault and the delusion of retaking the compound.

He had enough of listening to this crap. "No," Daryl said, his voice stopping all conversation as everyone turned to look at him. All eyes were on him and his heavy tone; expectant blue ones, weighty brown and dire green ones.

Jonah spoke up, his voice edged with anger and irritation. "What are you talking about? Of course we are going back and saving our people."

"No, we aren't goin' back," Daryl returned bluntly. There was no way in hell he was risking losing Beth again on this foolishness.

"We can't leave our people to those men," snapped Jonah, not appreciating the difference in Daryl's strong opinion.

"We can't risk any more people," countered Daryl, sending a hard and directed look at the agitated Jonah.

Roslyn scooted to the edge of her seat, her hands clenching tightly into little fists. "What if it was your sister? Your daughter, like Beth there? Huh?"

Daryl could barely contain the growl in his chest. "Beth ain't my daughter. Said that before." From the moment he met that pudgy woman, Daryl had an instantaneous dislike for her. It wasn't exactly reassuring to know his first instinct had been right.

The older woman let a haughty, dark scoff escape her pursed lips. "Yes, seems you have said that before. You also said she wasn't your wife." Roslyn's green eyes narrowed onto Beth pointedly. "Seems like you weren't exactly telling the truth there… Or maybe you were, she's just not your wife but your wh-"

Daryl took a fuming step forward, his finger raised and pointed at Roslyn. "Do not go there, lady. Just don't go there. You won't like where I go," he snarled at Roslyn. Beth grabbed at him, holding him back by his arm.

"Stop!" demanded Marie from the floor with Oscar in her lap. "Just stop. It's new between those two, so just stop." Marie shot a disapproving look to the rabid Roslyn.

There was division amongst the group, Daryl could see it. They could not be divided, not with how few of them there were. If he knew anything, he knew they needed people for protection and to make some sort of life. Daryl knew he had to convince the, and himself, that there was no going back. He had to try for everyone's safety. He could not lose his temper again, he needed to explain to them there was no outcome that included going back to that compound.

Daryl let out a harsh breath, getting everyone's attention focused back on him again. "What the hell do we know about what happened? Huh? Yesterday at dawn, Elijah went out of the fence. He ran into men or walkers or both. He probably set this whole damn thing off." Daryl received a damning glare from the mother, her lips pressed into a thin line between her jowly cheeks. He dared her with his own hard eyes, even pausing for her rebuttal, but it did not come.

He returned his focus back to the group, letting his gaze travel over them all. Lindy was on the couch, his leg up on a pillow and bandaged. Marie and Oscar were on the floor, resting up against the couch. Roslyn was on the recliner with Jonah seated on the arm next to her. Jess and Karl both stood off to the side. Beth was still standing next to him, a partner in every sense.

"These men. They were plannin' this. They were comin' for us. Why?" Daryl questioned.

"Women," answered Beth quietly as the entire group turned their eyes to her. She took in a quick, shaky breath before explaining. "I heard them talkin', the men who came for me and Oscar. They wanted… women."

"No," gasped the dismayed Roslyn. "Not my Rebecca, my poor young, innocent Rebecca. No!" She started to weep, her hands covering her face. Jonah wrapped his good arm around his mother, trying to comfort her as his own features skewed and his eyes shut tightly.

Lindy spoke gravely from the couch. "They were organized. They had heavy gun power. A bomb or somethin' to open up the fences. More men came in afterwards." He was still pale from the blood loss from his leg wound.

"Yes," agreed Daryl. "Been up against shit like this before."

Beth shifted next to him. "Yes, and we were able to fight back last time," offered Beth. "Couldn't we again?"

Daryl was a little taken back from Beth's divergence from his attempt to get the group on the same page. "Different situation. We surprised them. And it didn't exactly go right when we did." The memory of he and Merle set against each other while people chanted for them to kill one another was brought forward. "Even then we had the right people, right weapons and a base to go back to. What we got here? None of that."

Beth shied her eyes from Daryl's at his retort. It sent a jolt to his center, removing all the levity and goodness from earlier. He took a pause, wiping his hands along his jawline before he continued, "This is what we have. Two injured men. An injured woman and a child. An old lady that's probably never been outside the fence. Leaves us with five good bodies. Can't take you all back there to the compound, we'd need to leave at least one to protect those who couldn't come. And shit but not all of you are good enough to go up against those men. What can three or four do against all those men? Hell, we don't even all have guns. Fuck."

"We have to try, don't we?" asked Marie softly. "We can't leave them…"

No one answered her. Daryl knew that was what he was pushing for, what he knew they needed to do to survive, but even that knowledge didn't stop the clench he felt low in his gut. Jess shifted her weight from one leg to the other in the corner of the room; she was being strangely quiet. There was no emotion on her stoic face.

Marie must have noticed her usually vocal cousin was quiet too because she turned to her. "Jessica, we need to…"

Jess looked down at her shoes and then back up at Marie. "No. I'm with Daryl here. Priority is to keep you all safe. We can't do that splitting our forces by going back on a suicide run. Hell, we don't even have enough supplies to keep us alive for a couple of days right now. We can't go saving everyone. Just can't."

"Jessica."

"No, Marie. Hard choices gotta be made," Jess replied evenly, not dropping her gaze.

"No," said Karl, shaking his head in disbelief. "That can't be. We… we gotta go save Becky. We can't let those men hurt her."

"Kid, it's been more than a day. They've already hurt her." It was Terrance from the porch in a calm and direct voice. His back was still to them, he was much better at keeping watch and more focused than Karl was.

It was like watching the three of them getting punched hard in the gut at Terrance's statement. Karl visibly faltered, his hand going to the wall as the reality hit him and doubled him over. Roslyn collapsed in a weeping mess in the recliner with Jonah trying to comfort her as a stream of tears fell from his own green eyes. Daryl tried to feel pity for them, but he couldn't keep the malice away. These people had lost a lot, that much was true. A husband and a son for sure, they were confirmed dead. The boy and girl might as well wish they were. Shit, but hadn't everyone lost someone and now they wanted them to charge into certain death for a chance the two might still be alive. They wanted to risk everyone for a small probability.

"You just want to leave them, like-like this asshole," cried Karl in rebuttal to Terrance, pointing a shaking finger at Daryl.

"No, kid, I think we should try. But you gotta know going in. Know what we are going to find if we find anything when we go back." Terrance turned and looked back at the group, his steel grey eyes boring into Daryl and then moving onto Jess. "I definitely think we should go back. We need to find more of our people, save them if we can."

Jess put a hand to a cocked hip. "No. We need to protect what we have here."

Terrance gave her a more pointed stare before turning back to his watch. "Then you all gotta live with that."

That was the end of the discussion and Daryl knew what Terrance had just said was the truth. They were all going to have to learn to live with themselves and abandon the rest of the people from the compound. He couldn't see a way to go back and try to save people without sacrificing people from the group gathered here in front of him now. No one else talked, he could see he didn't exactly bring the group together by convincing them but at least he kept them all alive… for now.

Beth reached down and hauled up both heavy and brimming back packs. She moved swiftly through the group, bringing their find back to the kitchen area. Daryl followed the rushing Beth, entering the room behind her as she plunked the jars down on the table, a strange force in her movements. A trembling frustration was visible as she lined up the jars next to each other.

"Beth?"

Her face was flushed pink when she turned to face him, her breath hot and heaving. "I… I don't think I can just-"

Marie entered the room, causing Beth to stop mid-sentence. "What did you find? Food? Water?"

Beth nodded, still looking at Daryl with pained eyes. "Yes, a bit of both. Not a lot but enough to give everyone something tonight."

Daryl felt it then as Marie brushed by him to help Beth unload the rest of their find. Beth let her gaze linger on him for another moment before she turned away to help with the task. He knew from that look in Beth's baby blues, that there was a larger issue here but right now he knew they needed to get the food and water into these people. A quarter of an expired granola bar and a half a cup of water in thirty-six hours wasn't much.

He walked away, trying to ignore that he knew something was wrong between them. Daryl had seen it in Beth's eyes, that last look she had given him. The disappointment. The frustration. He knew he was not the man Beth thought he was. It was apparent in his decision to abandon the others in favor of the safety of… well, the safety of her. He knew he wasn't good enough for her, a fact he'd wrestled with more than once while trying to deny what was between them.

Daryl would always make the decision for her safety. He had to; it was built into him now. He couldn't stop himself from protecting her like at the gas station when he slammed her inside for safety while taking on the herd of walkers alone. Daryl knew he shouldn't have. Odds were that together they could have defeated them easier and safer than he could have alone. He knew Beth was strong, that she was completely capable of taking care of herself, a fact he had spent months ensuring during their time alone together. He just didn't trust the odds when it came to her. He couldn't, they had failed him so many times before.

So here he was again, making that decision for her safety without asking her. Here he was again with dread and fear filling his gut again. He had that same feeling of failing and losing. Daryl knew he should be used to it by now, he should expect it. Oddly enough, for the first time, he didn't want it. He wanted to fight it; he knew he had to if he wanted Beth. And God help him, he did.

A/N: Once again, special thanks to ElsaEditorial. She takes my mangled works and makes them pretty :)