A/N: I'm kinda very excited for this chapter, it's been a long journey.

XXII.

His knuckles tore apart open, he was leaving blood trails over the tree's trunk with his fists. The sight took Beth out of her stupor and she rushed at him bodily, grabbing his arm in the same way he'd done to her. "Stop!" she cried out, "What are you doing?"

It was all wrong. It was all wrong. He was never meant to find it out. How he'd realized, she couldn't even guess.

But the question got him even madder. He turned to her, and stepped into her personal space. "What I am doin'?" he hissed at her face, "Are ya shittin' me, girl?" He grasped her arm and raised it at her face, her eyes falling over the slashes over her skin from the wrist to the elbow, "What the fuck are ya doin'?"

She yanked her arm free, and stepped back. She couldn't talk about this. It was just too much. Why the hell he couldn't just leave her alone. She couldn't do this, not with him. "It's nothing, forget about it."

"Forget about it?" he sneered, coming at her once again.

She covered her arm, pulling her cardigan down, and pushed her hair out of her face, shaking her head defiant. "Yeah, forget about it. It's nothing."

"You ain't left any unbroken skin over your damn arm, and you call it nothing?! Beth, are ya really fuckin' kiddin' me?"

Anger was finding her, singing in her blood, and it felt…good, very good… "It's my damn arm," she barked out, seething, "and I can do whatever I damn please with it. Who the hell are you thinking that you can get into my business, coming and going whenever you please?" He hadn't wanted her. He cared but not that much, so he didn't have the rights now, not anymore. "You've got no rights," and she told him just that, it felt very good, too.

And her words made him even angrier, and it also felt good. "I ain't got no rights?" he hissed out, walking in on her again, looking down at her as their noses just touched at each other. She stayed where she was, not backing down. She felt like a dam had broken inside, and all the bitterness and anger they'd been harboring for days started rushing out forward, and she didn't even stop to think that the flood would drown them. She didn't care. She couldn't stop, and he didn't look like, he could, either.

"I ran after you for hours in the middle of the night," he roughed out, his breath hissing at her face, "I came to look for you in the damn city. I searched all your body for a tiny scratch while you thought I wasn't even there. I held you in my arms a whole damn night, keeping your pulse so I would know you ain't dead, girl." He shook his head, "Don't fucking tell me now I ain't got no rights!"

There were unshed tears inside her eyes now, because she knew he'd done all those things, and it was the exact reason why it was this hard. "You did," she said, something inside her was twisting, her mouth was ashes, the truth tasted like ashes, "you had every right then, Daryl, but it's gone when you decided that you don't want this—us."

He grabbed her wrist again, and shoved her arm between them at her face. "And is this what you're doing? Cutting yourself up? Are ya fucking stupid?" His hand other hand yanked off her sleeve, showing off a part of angry slashes, "This—this ain't gonna make it better."

She took a step back. "You don't understand. You never do." She shook her head, "You even thought I tried to kill myself for attention. You don't understand how I feel."

He barked at her a laugh and pulled out his shirt's sleeve over his forearm. There were scars over his arms too, but scars were always a part of him, too. Beth had even seen his back when he'd been shot bringing him to food. He never showed them, but Beth knew they were there.

"Ya think?" he asked rising his hand toward her. "You see the little burn at the back of my wrist?" he asked but continued without waiting her reply, "I was thirteen when I first burned myself with a cigarette," he told her, "Merle was just gone again, old man was getting worse… and it'd stopped even hurting when he belted me, just felt numb… I do get it, Beth." He rolled down his shirt as Beth stared at him, the world a blur before her eyes… "But it ain't make it better. Even pain became…familiar, you got use to it at the end." He took a step closer to her, "You gotta stop this. Don't do this yourself, please."

She let out a shaking breath, "Daryl-" Her voice broke, her lips trembled, her eyes hurting, the world getting even more of a blur, and she finally felt wetness over her cheeks. "I don't want to," she murmured, bowing her head, "I want to stop. I don't know how. Everything—everything is so much. I keep telling myself it's gonna be okay—but—" she stopped, shaking her head, rising her palms over her face, couldn't even complete her sentence.

As she cried, she felt his arms wrapping her. "It's okay," he told her then slowly, "It's gonna be okay, Beth. We're gonna be okay, girl."

She didn't speak. She knew it was a lie, and she didn't care. She just stood in his arms, her face pressed at his chest, shaking with cries as he held her, caressing her hair. "I got you now," he roughed out into her ear, and one part of her wanted to believe him, wanted to believe the words, but the other part was telling her he was be gone came the morning, fleeing, but Beth couldn't even bring herself to listen to it anymore. She just wanted to cry—cry her heart out. She couldn't do this alone… no one could, even Amanda had seen that at the end. They needed each other, but she needed Daryl, she needed him more than anyone in this suck-ass world, to make her believe.

"Daryl," she mumbled out, "Don't leave me, please." She begged, even not caring a bit.

She felt him shaking his head, "I ain't," he promised.

And Beth believed in him. She didn't know how long they stayed in that way, not moving an inch, just within each other's embrace, but she felt herself getting heavy, the strain and the toll of the last days weighing on her, and she slowly rested into his chest further, and she felt she was falling—slowly—but it was okay, he got her… they were falling together… On the ground, she closed her eyes, nesting against his chest as he wrapped her in a protective cocoon from behind, her head resting on his arm.

Then she slept.

When she came around the next, it was the sunlight slowly creeping through her lashes—she fluttered her eyes open against the breaking sun. The dawn had broken. She was cold with the morning chill but she was hot at the same time, still enfolded within his arms, secured, his smell—leather and forest in her nostrils. "D—Daryl?" she mumbled out, holding the arm across her belly, wrapping it around her tighter as she felt the leather vest across her, too.

Understanding her, Daryl pulled her against his back further, tightening his arms, "Shss- 'm here," he whispered into her ear, rough voice barely recognizable, "Go back to sleep."

"You stayed," she mumbled out, closing her eyes.

"I stayed," he said back, and promised, "I ain't goin' nowhere."

Closing her eyes with content, Beth went back to sleep.

# # #

When she woke up fully, it was a bit warmer, the frost of the morning had turned out, and she was hearing light footsteps around the camp, but they were still alone just outside of the perimeters. Daryl was still holding her tightly, but he was fully awake, too, she sensed, a semi-hardness pressed on her lower back. She didn't move, and he didn't move, either, and the wordless gesture made another surge of relief coursing through her. They were still good.

But she was still lying on his arm, and that must hurt like a bitch. He'd let her sleep on his arm whole night. She would need to make him stop these stupid things, too. She half twisted her head, and met with his already opened eyes, and realized that he'd been watching her sleep. Her stomach flip flopped, and she half smiled, running her eyes away, "Mornin'," she murmured.

He let out a noncommittal grunt which she'd taken as a good morning, as well, then tried to move away so he could free his arm but before she could move an inch, he clenched his arms, and pulled her back against him. "Nah…stay."

"Your arm—"

"'s 'kay," he rasped out.

She smiled further, but halted, concern coming to her, wondering if he wanted her to stay so they could talk about last night, about what she had done. She knew he was going to make her stop doing it, and she was going to stop, she hadn't even wanted to do it before, but now… no, she'd seen how much it'd hurt Daryl seeing her like that, she could never do this to him, if nothing else. But she didn't want to talk about it, either. She was still…ashamed. But she couldn't run away, either, not from this, never. So she waited, but he didn't speak, just continued to hold her. She then realized he just wanted her to stay—a bit longer…to hold her.

Her chest swelling, she twisted around herself and faced with him. They were inches apart now, her head still on his arm, his vest falling over her loosely. She could feel his huff of breaths over her—and she wondered if he was going to kiss her—because right now it seemed to her a good time for a kiss, their first kiss. But he wasn't still moving—just watching her—then his other hand slowly crept over shoulder, and he started playing with her locks.

"You got nice hair," he mumbled out, looking at her.

"It's caked with dirt, blood, mud, Daryl—" Beth said in return, smiling.

He shrugged, "Still nice…"

She smiled more, and snugged on in him an inch further, and lifted her head up, "Daryl—" she whispered out, "Are you ever going to kiss me?"

He stared at her—his hand stopped playing with her hair, "I don't know—" he rasped out, and her hearth sunk a bit, "It's—The last time I tried to kiss you, you threw up on me," he told her, looking at her eyes, "I'm kinda worried."

Open-mouthed, Beth stared at him, wondering at what world she'd woken up. Because it couldn't be the world she'd been at last night, because in this one there wasn't a Daryl Dixon holding her in his arms even after the dawn, but there was a Daryl Dixon who was teasing her while doing it in the meantime.

Surely, she must've died in her sleep and gone to heaven, or perhaps she was in a dream. If it was a dream, she never wanted to wake up. "I don't know, Daryl," she said back in return, "My father said once every breath we take now is a risk. So…" she drawled out, "Will you take the risk?"

He smirked at her, and leaned in on her… "I'll try…" he murmured before pressing his lips on hers.

She really must've been in heaven, she couldn't think anything else than that as his starched lips softly wandered over hers, his beard chafing at her skin, and it was a good feeling. A very good feeling. Sighing softly, she snugged at him even closer, resting herself completely against him like she'd dreamed so many times before, and opened her mouth to invite him in.

Much to her surprise, and her content, he didn't hesitate. He dived in. Their tongues clashed, and she hummed softly inside his mouth with pleasure, a warmness slowly spreading over her but her soft hum made him tenser. He stilled for a split of second just before he twisted his side, and grabbing her tighter, he hauled her up over at his chest and deepened the kiss.

Then it became something else entirely. It wasn't sweet anymore, it was demanding, and he was persistence and hungry, looking more with each stroke of tongue. His hand moved to the back of her neck, moving her head for a better angle, for a deeper connection, and Beth tried to return his hunger as much as she could, suddenly feeling torn because as a part of her was just asking for more—the other part started panicking again.

And it was stupid. She'd been just wanting him to scratching her inch so badly a few days ago. At the end, her own hunger won over her panic too, pleasure striking at every cord inside her, and she raised her own arms, and looped them over his neck tightly, and started grinding over him.

He hissed, an inch parting off of her—just over her lips, and looked at her with dark blue eyes. In response, she rubbed over him again.

She didn't need to do anything else. With a swift motion, he rolled them over and she was under him, and his hands started working over her body as Beth started unbuttoning his shirt. They were going to do it, she then realized. She was going to have sex with Daryl Dixon. Open in the woods, naked in the dirt…a thrill of anticipating surged through her—and she stretched out, then the virginity part came to her mind. She wasn't afraid; she was waiting for this, for a long, long time, but still…

The panic started rising again, but she pushed it down. Goddammit, she wanted this. Very badly. If he just realized she was getting over her head—he would stop…and she didn't want him to stop—she let out a whimper, moaning as his mouth moved away over from her lips to the back of her ear as he nibbled the sensitive flesh behind there.

Nope… she definitely didn't want him to stop.

She quickened her hands, unbuttoning him—but before she could finish it, he went completely still.

His hand reached back toward his knife then Beth heard it…footsteps approaching.

Then they stopped too. Beth lifted her head, to see Amanda who just stood there watching them with a clouded expression. Beth frowned, shifting her shirt down and raised up. "Rick's looking for you," Amanda explained plainly, "We need to talk what we'll do."

Something was wrong with her, Beth noticed. The Amanda Shepherd she knew should've been flashing at them derisive smiles right now, smirking down at them knowingly. Instead, she was just acting like she'd caught them gutting some squirrels, not like they were about to have sex.

Standing up, Beth asked, "Are you okay?"

From her side, Beth saw Daryl pulling back on his feet, too, taking his vest from the ground. "There're leaves in your hair, Beth," Amanda said in return, without answering her back. Daryl ignored her as he put his vest on, buttoning himself up. Beth shot up a look at Amanda, saw that there was a hickey at the corner of her mouth, and something looked like…teeth marks. Amanda caught up her gaze, and they shared a look, but before Beth could go to her and asked what had happened, Amanda spun on her heels and started walking away.

Well, that was weird. Beth turned to Daryl, and let out a sigh. "What's her deal?" Daryl asked, closing the last button of his short.

Beth shrugged, "Probably got into another fight with Rick," she answered, scowling, remembering what the older woman had said yesterday, but judging by the sullen expression over Amanda's face, Beth wasn't sure what exactly had happened, there was one thing certain, Amanda had a mark at her lips. She wondered if she was ever going to have one of those marks on her, too, and she felt her blood rush again of the prospect—marked by Daryl—and seriously, they just needed to find a place they would be alone before she lost it.

Daryl gave her a look. "Howddya know?" he asked.

Beth smiled, walked to him, and wrapped her arms around his torso. "It's a girl thing," she said, "We just do." She felt happy, and it felt weird too, because just last night she'd had a break down, but things had changed since then. She got now Daryl, who slept with her all night, who stayed even after the dawn, who caressed her hair softly, who teased her, who kissed her like that, who she had been just about to have sex, who understood her better than anyone in this world. She lifted her head up at him. "Daryl, how did you know?" she asked, not clarifying what she had meant.

Her gave her a loaded look, his eyes darkening, but proved once again she didn't need to, "Signs were all there, you gotta read 'em," he quoted.

"And you can?" Beth asked, lifting her eyebrow up, but she didn't really need an answer for that question.

"I can read everything about ya, girl."

# # #

If anyone noticed that they'd spent the night sleeping together, no one mentioned it. Beth was…glad. She didn't care what they thought of them, but she knew it was still a sore point for Daryl, so she was glad that they didn't have to deal them, at least for now. She didn't even know if anyone would care, either. It was a different world now. If things were different, if she'd been still an eighteen years old girl, securely wrapped in her daddy's home, the idea of being with someone like Daryl would have been hard to deal with. If it'd been one of her friends, Beth would have objected the idea, too, she'd always understood Daryl's reluctance, too, and like they both knew, it was the end of the world, and it didn't matter anymore.

She gave him a quick look, hoping he was feeling the same as she sat on the ground in the circle. His face was expressionless, not the man who had teasing, kissing her a few minutes ago, but turning into his usual blandness, as he watched every sign around him, without any word.

She wondered what he was thinking. He'd made up his mind, he'd stayed, but it was still hard to get Daryl Dixon to open up, and she vaguely wondered if he ever would have done it, would have broken his reservation if she hadn't turned out as broken as she ended up, cutting herself… the thought broke over the happy feelings inside her—and her hand almost found her left arm again, but she stopped it even before it moved. She shouldn't think such stuff. It was her depression speaking, not real, not healthy, either. They were together, they were at it. The reasons didn't matter, either. All things considered, she just wanted to be with him.

"Standard recon," Rick explained, standing in the middle of the circle, a stick in his hands, as he laid out the plan, "We send a team out first, they screen the road then we move like a searching party. Either way, it's the best not to move without knowing what lay ahead."

"If they don't return?" Carol asked.

"We wait a day, then go and look for them," Rick answered.

"The teams?" Maggie asked, and Beth remembered her. Last night she'd been looking for then things got carried away. She still needed to talk with Maggie. Well, even that didn't sound so bad to her now.

"Of two. Each day a group takes the search. Me, Daryl, Abraham, and Amanda," Rick counted, his eyes skipping at the owner of the last name, as Amanda quickly ran her eyes away from his glance.

Beth stared. Amanda Shepherd had just run her eyes away. Something was definitely going on with her. "The rest will stay here," Rick continued, turning his eyes away from her, and Beth frowned.

She recognized Rick had chosen to go with people had experience with such stuff, recons and such, he even left Michonne out, Amanda and he were cops, Abraham was a soldier, and Daryl was…Daryl, but Beth didn't like it, didn't like the exclusion

"I want to come to me. It's my plan." Well, it was Amanda's plan more likely, but Amanda was going, and she was staying.

Rick gave her a look, but it was Daryl who spoke in his stead, shaking his head. "Nah. You stay."

She returned his look too, her eyes heating, because there was a hidden meaning beneath the words, and seriously it was just a night passed, and he was turning into a protective prick.

And they were all watching them, it was a common knowledge in the group that there was something going on between them, Beth knew, but no one had seen Daryl being open about it like this. Beth felt a hotness spreading over her, she liked that protectiveness, and she liked that openness, even though she didn't like it. It was hard to explain.

Though she shouldn't be surprised, she guessed. Everything concerning Daryl Dixon was hard to explain.

They talked about more about goings and trails, and they could leave, but decided that they should stay at least one or another day before Tyreese got better enough to stand up again. Daryl came to her side when the meeting was finished. "I'm goin' hunting," Daryl told her back, looking at her, "Will ya come?"

A redness crept over her cheeks, even though she knew he didn't mean it like this, but the idea just stuck in her, deep in the woods they wouldn't have been disturbed…or her mind was really in the gutter. But she shook her head, "I need to talk with Maggie," Beth said, "I was looking for her, you know, before you jumped at me."

Daryl gave her a wary look. "Ya gonna talk with her?"

She let out a sigh. "It's Amanda. She says I owe her one, and making me talk to Maggie. She says I can't stay mad at her forever."

Daryl gave her a half nod, "'kay," he said, "It's good."

Beth shrugged. "You be careful out there, okay?" she asked, looking at his eyes.

He gave her another half nod, "Uh huh," and she rose on her toes to peck him at the cheek, a quick brush of lips across his stub of bread. He stilled for a moment, and she could sense everyone was watching them with the corner of their eyes, and it felt like the air tensed in the silence, too, and it was too silent—too silent for a moment, she realized she was holding her breath too, waiting for him to see what he would.

Then adjusting his crossbow over his shoulder, he nodded at her again, then leaning down an inch, he pecked her at the lips back.

Then he was gone—and Beth smiled at his back, watching him vanishing in the woods.

It was going to be an interesting day.

# # #

"Well, wasn't that romantic?" Amanda asked behind her back as she stood still watching the woods. She turned out and looked at a half smiling Amanda, who looked like more like the Amanda she knew. "How did happen?" she asked then.

Beth shrugged, "We had a fight," she explained vaguely. She couldn't tell about her arm even to her.

"Hmm—" Amanda hummed, "Did you do it?"

Beth frowned, "No."

"Why?"

"I don't know," Beth snarled, "Maybe because a nosy woman just walked onto us."

Amanda snorted, "Well, it's not my fault you like it in public, Beth."

Beth sighed. "I'm starting to get why you hate the woods, really," she mumbled. Amanda made a noncommittal voice. Beth looked at her. "And who did this?" she pointed at the other woman's lips, even though she knew who it was. She wanted to hear the confirmation from Amanda.

Suddenly flushed, Amanda shook her head, "It's nothing."

"Nothing?" Beth asked, raising an eyebrow at her, "It doesn't look like nothing," she said, remember all the time she used to say the same word whenever Daryl had done something she didn't like, "In fact, it looks like a hickey—" she pointed at her lips again, and asked, "Was it Rick?"

Amanda shot at her a glare in response. It was Rick. But she really couldn't understand why Amanda was acting like this… like…like as if she was avoiding him now. During the whole meeting, she sat there demurely, and whenever Rick had shot at her a glance, and he'd done it more than once, she ran her eyes away, avoiding to meet with his look. "Did you-?" Beth then asked.

Amanda let out a breath, shaking her head, and accepted, "No."

Beth frowned, "Amanda, how did it happen?"

Amanda stared at her for a while, and said, "He bit me."

"He bit you...?" Beth echoed the statement in a question, then looking at her dour expression, Beth started laughing.

Amanda pursed her lips down with a glare. "It's not funny."

"But it is," she shook her head back, "Oh my god, he really bit you. What did you do? Another test? Is that why're avoiding him now?"

She flinched back as if Beth had hit her. "I'm not avoiding him," she said curtly.

"Oh you're," Beth said, and she really couldn't believe it, it was as if she'd really woken up another world, a world which Daryl Dixon was giving her goodbye kisses in public, a world which Amanda Shepherd was avoiding a man like a virgin. "What's really happening between you two, Amanda?" Beth asked then.

"Nothing—" Amanda seethed out, "Nothing's happening."

Beth gave her friend a smile after that. "Funny, you know, that was exactly what I kept telling whenever Daryl made me mad with his antics."

Seething out through her teeth again, Amanda turned and stormed off away.

It was definitely being an interesting day.

Turning to the other side, Beth started looking for Maggie.

A/N: Oh, so, it's. Beth and Daryl is finally at it! This fight at the beginning was one of the reasons why I wanted to continue the story, too, hope you've enjoyed it.