AN: Hmmm, don't have much to say here. This chapter has the showdown between Hershel and Maggie versus Beth. Let me know what you think of it! Plus I'm moving the storyline right along, I'm anxious to get to the Woodbury and other character POVs. :3

Warnings: Smut! :) And violence and all that jazz.

Chapter Fourteen

Beth didn't want to move. Rick's warmth was pressed along her spine and he had an arm around her, anchoring her to his chest. She was comfortable and yesterday had been so emotionally draining that she just wanted to stay in Rick's arms forever. But the sun was starting to stream in through the high windows, brightening up the cell block and soon everyone would be waking up. She didn't want to hide her relationship with Rick, absolutely not, she was proud of their relationship. But she wanted to ease her father into it. Rick had plans to scout more of the prison today, and Beth imagined Rick returning with armloads of crucial medical supplies or food to last all of them months and her father being so grateful that he would weep with joy with Beth and Rick held hands and told her daddy about their relationship. Beth sighed, she could dream, right?

She finally stirred, attempting to wiggle out of Rick's arms but he instead tightened his arm and tugged her flush against him. "Rick," Beth whispered exasperated, "It's morning, I've got to go."

"Five more minutes," Rick's sleep heavy voice rumbled into her hair.

"Rick, any minute people are gonna wake up—oh!" Rick's hand, which had been resting on the bare skin of her stomach, trailed up her skin to cup her right breast and then lightly pinched her nipple. She sucked in a low breath trying not to make any noise and Rick's lips pressed a light kiss behind her ear.

"Five more minutes," his low voice, heavy now with something else, murmured in her ear. Beth bit her lip, she was torn between rolling out of bed before they got caught and pressing back into Rick. Rick's hand snuck south while she was debating, and slipped boldly under her sleep pants and panties. Beth whimpered as his fingers stroked against her clit and his other hand, previously trapped between them, eased her pants down from the back. Beth was wet with anticipation and the fear of getting caught sang in her veins. She didn't want Rick to stop, she never wanted him to stop.

Beth turned her face to muffle her heavy breathing in the pillow while she blindly groped for Rick's hip for leverage. Rick slid his cock slowly against her cheeks. Beth hooked her leg over Rick's knee to grant him easier access and he rocked against her. His fingers steadily worked her clit and with each rock Rick's tip brushed against her lips. It was maddening, barely enough stimulation but it felt divine. Rick's hand moved from her clit and soon he was working his fingers in and out of her, his thumb against her clit and rutting his cock between her thighs. It didn't take long for Beth, soon she was spasming around Rick's fingers, cries muffled in the pillow. Rick held her tight against him for several more thrusts and spilled over her sensitive skin and his own fingers. Rick rolled her to her back and they exchanged languid kisses while Rick cleaned them up the best he could with his shirt.

Beth successfully snuck back into her cell with Sasha. The older girl was still sleeping soundly, clearly unware of what had transpired in the next cell. Beth changed her clothes and ran a brush through her hair as quickly as possible before heading out to begin the day.

Beth was doing her best to keep herself distracted. Rick, Michonne and Sasha were deep in the prison with Shane, Merle, Daryl and T-Dog clearing and exploring the prison. She tried not to think of Rick in the dark hallways with walkers sneaking up behind him, or these new people abandoning Rick and the others in the dark halls at the first sign of trouble. She shook herself from her paranoid thoughts and continued on her way to Duane and Carl. "Here is all the entertainment we have," Beth announced as she put down the ball, deck of cards, and a couple of books.

Duane gave her a classic preteen look of annoyance, "Beth, books aren't entertainment. They're learning."

Beth lightly punched Duane in the arm, "well, I'm sorry we didn't take any board games while we were scavenging." She responded cheekily. Of course Carl and Duane had already scoured Duane's meager comic collection. Beth thought there may be more out in the jeep but their vehicles were still parked out behind the prison. The potential for medical or food supplies took priority over extra comics, unfortunately.

"My dad and I used to play catch with a football," Carl said as he picked up the football and studied it with yearning. Beth had been formally introduced to Carl during breakfast. Her father had been in a serious looking discussion with her sister and Beth had hesitated to interrupt. Instead she went outside to join Rick, Morgan, Duane, and Carl eating canned fruit cocktail. Rick had cleared his throat and stood as Beth approached, "Carl, I want you to meet someone special, this is Beth. She is—"

"Your girlfriend," Carl interrupted sullenly. The group descended into an awkward silence that had Duane shifting guiltily.

"Uh, yes," Rick finished lamely.

"Hi Carl," Beth stuck her hand out for a shake because she had no idea what to do. At the rate the news was spreading, she would have to tell her family sooner rather than later about her and Rick, she didn't want them to find out through rumors. Carl shook her hand reluctantly.

"Duane says you're cool," Carl told the table, not looking at Beth or Rick. Duane nodded enthusiastically.

"Well, not as cool as Michonne, but I'm glad I pass muster," Beth had said lightly. Mentioning Michonne prompted Duane into a story about Michonne and her former pets that had Carl riveted, his mood relaxing a bit. Rick looked relieved that Carl's mood was softening and Beth settled at the table and stole Rick's can of fruit.

So Beth had spent her morning keeping Carl and Duane entertained to prove her coolness and smooth things over with Carl. Beth had tons of experience babysitting and running summer day camps with her old church, so she knew the best way to win over a kid Carl's age was give them attention. She wanted to show Carl that he wouldn't be ignored in the face of her relationship with his dad. It seemed to be working thus far.

"Can we get a game together?" Duane asked eagerly, interrupting Beth's thoughts, and then he turned to Carl, "Tyreese used to play for the Falcons when he was younger. Beth arranged a game on an actual field a few months ago. It was my dad, Rick and me against Tyreese, Sasha and Beth. It was a lot of fun!"

Beth watched Carl's face fill with longing. She wondered when the last time he had any fun was, Shane didn't really seem the type to go out of his way to keep a kid entertained. "We'll try to arrange it for tonight after the others get back and have had a chance to rest. I'll talk to Tyreese about it." Beth offered.

Carl's face lit up, "you think they'll allow it?"

"Of course!" Beth nodded. She could imagine Rick being thrilled to have fun and play a game with his son. Beth took a moment to daydream bout Rick's grin.

Beth caught Lori staring at her from the next table over. She and Andrea were sorting the supplies of their group. Beth shifted nervously wondering if she would say something about her and Rick or tell her she didn't want Beth around her son. Rick hadn't elaborated about how Lori felt about Beth, and Beth had been to relieved that she and Rick were staying together to ask. She didn't want the kids to pick up on her apprehension, so she looked for an excuse to leave, "Tyreese is outside, I'll go see what he thinks." Beth left the two boys discussing football, thankful to get away from Lori's intense stare.

On her way outside she ran into her dad and Maggie. Glenn was lurking behind them looking uncomfortable. "Hey, what's up?" Beth asked curiously.

"Beth, can we talk to you for a moment?" Her father asked.

"Of course!" Beth felt a tad guilty that she hadn't been spending all her time with her family, yesterday she had felt smothered by them even though she was so thankful they were alive and well. It was just that she had been without them for so long and was used to only being with only her group that it was tough to adjust to their new situation.

They walked further outside, Tyreese was visible from the guard tower leaning against the railing and Morgan was walking the fence line of the outer yard. Beth walked with her family to one of the benches and Maggie sat down pulling Beth next to her. She sat at an angle to face Beth. Glenn hovered behind Maggie's shoulder and Hershel stood in front of Beth and it made Beth feel like she was about to be interrogated. "What's going on? Am in trouble for something?" She asked nervously.

"No, sweetie, no. You aren't in trouble." Maggie clutched one of Beth's hands and had a sad smile on her face. "We just want to talk is all."

"Okay…" Beth replied slowly. Maggie's behavior was doing the opposite of calming her down.

"I saw you this morning, with Rick, sleeping." Hershel's voice and expression were calm.

Beth blushed bright red. Here she was the one that didn't want her family to know about their relationship yet and she was the one that revealed it to her family because she couldn't spend one night without Rick. It must have been before they were awake, and thank god for that. What if her father had seen Rick getting her off while he rutted against her? They needed to invest in some curtains or something, first thing. "This is so not how I wanted you guys to find out," Beth said through her blush.

"It's okay, we're here for you now, so you don't have to do this any longer," Maggie said in a soothing voice.

But it only confused Beth, why weren't they angry? And what did she mean? "Um… do what? We were going to tell you guys but I wanted to wait until things were more settled. Let you guys get to know Rick," Beth said slowly.

"You don't have to be with Rick anymore now that we're here. Daddy and I, and even Glenn, We'll all protect you," Maggie practically cooed at her.

Beth just stared at her sister for a moment not really processing what her sister was trying to say. Now she was really confused. "What?"

"We understand you had to do it, we don't blame you." Maggie's words did not clear Beth's confusion.

"I really don't understand what you all are trying to say," Beth said as she glanced at everyone around her. "And why would I stop being with Rick now that you're here?"

"You're with Rick for the protection, right? He keeps you safe in exchange for…" Maggie trailed off awkwardly after voicing her thoughts.

Beth stared at her again with her mouth open in shock. "What? No! Rick isn't like that! He keeps me safe, sure, but it's not in exchange for sex!" Beth stood in indignation and ripped free from his sister's tight grip.

"Then why were you with him?" Hershel asked.

"The same reason anyone gets together, because I like him! And he likes me!" She responded angrily. The fact that they thought Rick would use her like that, or that Beth would whore herself out for safety, infuriated her. Beth was perfectly capable of taking care of herself. And where would they get such a horrible idea?

"But… he's twice your age." Maggie pointed out. She came to stand as well and poor Glenn standing behind her looked even more uncomfortable at the conversation. "And he's married."

"Yeah, I know. It took him months to overlook those facts," Beth grumbled without thinking.

"What do you mean?" Maggie's tone was finally turning angry.

"I mean, I pursued Rick. Because I like him. I like how he took in two clueless kids like me and Jimmy because it was the right thing to do. I like how he smiles and laughs with Duane. I like his curly hair and his blue eyes. I like how polite and kind he is to me, and how patient he was teaching me and Duane to protect ourselves. I like the sound of his voice when he would get angry or tense in a bad situation. And I like how when faced with a horde of walkers, when Jimmy pushed me out of the way in his hurry to flee, Rick saved me no hesitation because it was the right thing to do, not because he wanted something from me." Beth ranted, "And it took me months to get him to think of me that way," She finished with a glare and her arms crossed over her chest.

"You went after him?" Maggie asked incredulously.

"Well, not really, it wasn't until Sasha, Tyreese and Morgan reassured him that it was okay before he gave in."

"Beth, he's married. They have a son." Hershel's tone was angry now too.

"Yes, because Lori has been so faithful to Rick. Besides, she knows," Beth held her ground as her father's face reddened in anger.

"Lori knows about you and Rick?" Maggie asked clearly in disbelief.

"Of course. We're happy together. Our relationship is strong," Beth said resolutely.

"Relationship? What do you know about relationships? You're still a kid!" Maggie's face was as red as their fathers, and they both had strong glares fixed on Beth.

A year ago, Beth would have cowed early in this argument to keep her father and sister happy. But this was Beth's life. They had no idea what she'd been through this past year. "A kid? Do you think I've been skipping through the trees dreaming about prom and baking cookies? At least I didn't start sleeping with Rick because I was bored," Beth threw in Maggie's face. Maggie had confessed to Beth while they were alone and talking about Maggie's relationship with Glenn about how it all started because Maggie was bored and Glenn had condoms.

"Is everything okay here?" Tyreese's voice interrupted. He had left the guard tower and approached them unnoticed.

Before anyone could reply the door to the cellblock slammed open and Andrea was calling for them. The others were back, and they found other survivors.

Rick and the others found the kitchen and dining mess before they found the infirmary. And with the kitchen they found survivors. Five men, still wearing their prison issued jumpsuits, stood before Rick in various states. A few of them looked glad to see other living people. A few of them, one in particular, looked like a fox in a chicken coop. And none of them had any real idea about what had happened to the world. They were worse than when Rick first woke up from his coma, and none of them wanted to believe Rick and the rest as they tried to explain what had happened. So a demonstration was necessary.

"We should take 'em out," Shane said in a low voice at Rick's side.

"Take 'em out as in, let 'em out of the prison or kill 'em?" Rick asked in an equally low voice. He and Shane were several steps behind the prisoners while Merle demonstrated crudely how only a blow to the head could take out a walker. They had ended up in the prison's large laundry room, Rick and the others had been assessing the prisoners for close to a half hour now. No one had mentioned the rest of their group and they had steered the prisoners away from their claimed cellblock.

"What do you think?" Shane rolled his eyes. "They're prisoners. They're all in here for a reason."

"So we should just kill 'em?" Rick snorted.

"Do you want these people around your girl Beth? What if one of 'em is a rapist? I know I sure as fuck don' want any of them around Lori or my baby," Shane reasoned.

Shane did have a point. It was unlikely the prisoners, if asked, would tell the truth about their incarceration. He bet all of them would claim grand theft or drug possession and who was Rick to know if that was true or not? "So we let 'em free. Should be a dream come true," Rick commented dryly.

Rick left Shane fuming and stepped forward beside T-Dog. "Looks like all y'all's lucky day, early parole. Merle here was nice enough to show you how to protect yourself and we'll let you take all the supplies you can carry."

"You're just gonna turn us out? With these things?" The tallest one, Oscar, asked in disbelief and gestured to the dead walker.

"This here is our prison. We were here first," the fox one, Tomas, glared.

"If it weren't for us, you'd still be cowering in the kitchen," Sasha pointed out. Tomas sneered at her but Sasha only raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

Before anyone could respond, the doors at the other end of the laundry room were pushed open by a mass of walkers. It was pure chaos, the prisoners seemed to forget everything they had just been shown and attached the walkers as if it was a fight in the prison yard. Rick exchanged a look of disbelief with T-Dog before they waded in and started putting walkers down, Merle and the others quick on their heels.

Rick's knife was in the skull of a walker when Tomas pushed a snarling walker into Rick. Rick's reflexes barely caught the walker and he struggled for a moment to unsheathe a second knife to dispatch the new walker. Tomas was waiting for him with a shiv and lunged as soon as the walker was on the ground. Rick fell backwards to dodge the attack. Before Rick could retaliate, an arrow sprouted from Tomas's eye socket.

Tomas's collapse caused the shortest prisoner, Andrew, to start yelling and he lunged at the closest person which happened to be Sasha. Oscar managed to trip Andrew, but Andrew caught himself on a metal wash bin and turned to throw the bin at Oscar. Andrew stilled when Michonne's blade slid through his back and out his chest and Andrew had a moment to blink in surprise before slipping off the blade and falling to the floor dead.

Daryl was at Rick's side and offered him his arm, which Rick accepted, and Daryl merely nodded at Rick before retrieving his arrow from Tomas's body. Rick took a moment to survey the three remaining prisoners. The big one, introduced as Big Tiny, was on his knees with his hands behind his head, as if Rick's group were just guards breaking up a riot. The twitchy, skinny one, Axel, hovered behind Big Tiny, eyes full of fear. Oscar was still on the ground, winded from the metal wash bin still.

"Ya see? We're takin' 'em out right now!" Shane roared.

Merle made a move towards Big Tiny and Axel but Rick managed to grab his arm and stop him. "Whoa, everyone just calm down for one god damn second!" Rick ordered.

The three remaining prisoners hadn't made a move against them, and Oscar had tried to help. Rick' wasn't going to reward them by killing them.

"What the hell, Rick?" Shane asked incredulous. "They just attacked us! They almost got you!"

"No, these two attacked us," Rick gestured to the two still bodies. Rick then turned to Oscar, who was now on his knees and eyeing them warily. "Thanks," Rick nodded at him. "If you want to leave, leave. If you want to stay, we'll help you clear out a different cellblock."

"A different cell block? Shouldn't we... I don't know, safety in numbers and all that?" Axel asked nervously. He was still standing behind Big Tiny warily.

Rick could feel the daggers Shane was glaring at him as he responded, "We ain't alone, this isn't all of us."

"If they're staying, then we should introduce them to the others. Make sure everyone knows who they are," Sasha suggested. Rick looked over at Michonne who gave a single nod in agreement.

"We're staying, right?" Oscar asked his fellow inmates. Axel nodded quickly and Big Tiny surveyed the dead walkers alongside his two former inmates before agreeing as well.

"Well then, let's move out."

AN: Looks like I'm keeping some people alive! I'm so nice! (Or, do I have something even worse planned?)

Review please?