Red River Blue
Chapter 45
Daryl felt bad for the way he had treated the girl. Getting sloppy drunk and being nasty to Beth was just another thing to add to his long list of regrets. He was trying his best to be kinder to her. She had just watched her father get his head chopped off. The least Daryl could do was show her some compassion. It wasn't her fault he got stuck alone with her and it wasn't her fault that the governor attacked the prison before Daryl had a chance to make Rick tell him where he had left Carol. Daryl was a skilled tracker but implementing those skills required a trail or at least a spot to start from.
"Maybe we could just stay here a while?," Daryl suggested. He didn't really think that staying another night in the funeral home was the his best plan ever. But Beth's injured ankle wasn't leaving them with a lot of other options. Forcing her to walk on it while it was still swollen was only going to make it worse and end up leaving them stuck for potentially longer than a few days.
Beth pulled another 2 liter of coke down from the shelf and smiled at him. Daryl smiled back, glad to see that she still seemed to be comfortable in his presence despite his drunken behavior at the moonshine shack. He still remembered how his mother used to flinch when his father got close to her and Daryl didn't think he could bear to have a woman react to him in that way. Especially Hershel's youngest daughter, a girl that Daryl knew had been raised by kind and loving parents.
Noises from the front porch alerted Daryl. He had set up a few tin cans on strings across the front door of the large house. They wouldn't keep anyone out, but they would make noise if too many walkers showed up. Daryl told Beth to stay put and darted for the front door, loading his crossbow as he went. He pulled the door open to find that a scraggly stray dog was the one that had set off his hillbilly security system.
"It's just a dog," he called out. Daryl held his hand out for the dog to sniff, hoping to coax the animal into coming close enough for him to grab it. The dog was either hand shy or wise to his trick because the moment Daryl reached for it, the damn animal took off running. Daryl sighed. He wasn't sure what he would have done with a flea ridden dog even if he had caught it. But in the moment, his childhood wish for a pet overtook the need to be practical. Standing up, Daryl shut and locked the door. He turned to find Beth hovering the hallway behind him.
"I thought I told you to stay back," he reminded her. She smiled, grinning sheepishly.
"But Daryl," she countered, "you said there was a dog." Daryl wasn't sure how old Beth was. He had never gave it much thought. But as she stared hopefully at him with her big blue eyes she looked so much more like a hopeful little girl than she resembled a grown woman. He felt even worse for being so rough with her before. In that moment Daryl made himself a promise. Beth was his responsibility now. Getting her back safe to her family was going to be his new mission. After that he would figure out his next move would be.
The food and the drinks were all room temperature. There was no safe place in the large house to start a fire even if they weren't already too hungry to wait until they got the soup heated up. Daryl used a spoon this time. A little peanut butter with some grape jelly, all washed down with warm soda. It wasn't gourmet but it was better than overcooked rattlesnake. Daryl and Beth sat at the table, eating in silence. He was letting his mind wander, thinking about some stupid shit he and Merle had done when they were kids.
"What made you change your mind?," Beth asked. Daryl swallowed down the mouthful of peanut butter he was working on. Her question had taken him by surprise and at first he wasn't sure what she meant. He had changed his mind about staying in the house. But he wasn't sure why. Part of it was because Beth needed to rest her ankle. Part of it was the fact that he was sick and dog tired of running. But there was something else. Beth's strong belief that there were still good people in the world and that maybe the person that had hidden the stash of food in the cupboard was one of them. Daryl wanted to believe that. Maybe he even needed to believe it.
"I'm sorry," Beth added. She stared down at her hands.
"Fer what?," Daryl asked. As far as he could see he was the one that had things to be sorry for.
"You would rather be out looking for her and you're stuck here with me," Beth explained. She was toying with the lid of an open can, running the tip of her finger along the sharpened edge. Her long blonde ponytail was falling forward over her shoulder, blocking part of her face from Daryl's view.
"Who ya mean?," he asked. Daryl wasn't playing stupid. He really had no idea what in the hell Beth was talking about. He wanted to go look for Carol. But he was convinced that Beth would have no idea of his intentions.
Beth didn't answer. Instead she started giggling. Her laughter made Daryl realize that perhaps he had not been as discreet about his feelings for Carol as he thought he had been. Merle knew. Daryl had never directly admitted anything to the man. But Merle knew. Which meant River knew if she hadn't already suspected. But other than his immediate family Daryl was under the impression that the rest of the prison group was oblivious to his love life or more appropriately his lack of a love life.
"Carol," Beth managed to spit out once her giggle fit was under control. She peeked out from under her hair and almost started laughing all over again at how red Daryl's ears were getting. "It's okay," she added, "I won't tell anyone you like her." Everyone with half a brain pretty much already knew about his not so subtle crush on the woman but Beth knew mentioning that wouldn't help Daryl to feel less embarrassed. Most people assumed that something was already going on between Daryl and Carol. Carol lived with the Dixons like she was part of their family. And their rooms were close together. Beth had assumed the same thing. But now that she saw how funny Daryl was acting, she realized that he had yet to make his move on the woman in question.
"I'm sorry Daryl," Beth said. She set what was left in her can of peaches down on the table and reached for his hand. He snorted at her but grudgingly allowed the contact. "I didn't mean to embarrass you," Beth apologized as she pinned his hand between her own.
Daryl squeezed back, holding Beth's small hand in his own larger one. He snorted again but this time he let the noise transform into a bit of laughter. What was really funny about the whole thing was Beth promising not to tell anyone about his crush. There was no one around to tell except the dead.
"Don't hav'ta feel bad," Daryl told the girl. "Gonna get ya back to yer family and then I will go on an' look fer her." There was no point in trying to deny what he was planning anymore. And it felt better than he thought it would to actually be able to talk about the things he had been holding inside for so long.
"No," Beth said. She said the word with a lot more conviction than Daryl had come to expect from the girl. "As soon as my ankle is better we are going to look for her together. You helped me and now I want to help you." Daryl was touched by her offer. He never put much time or effort into getting to know Beth. Since spending more time with her, Daryl was starting to realize that she reminded him of a little blonde mini version of her father. Everyone had loved and respected Hershel. Even Merle. And that was saying a lot. Daryl decided that if he had to be stuck with someone, maybe he hadn't drawn such a short stick after all.
Anther noise from the front porch drew Daryl's attention. He dropped Beth's hands and jumped to his feet, grabbing the opened jar of pigs feet from the table. Fishing one out he headed for the hallway as he called back to Beth, "Gonna give that mangy mut one more chance!"
**I'm not changing much from Daryl's storyline but I didn't want to leave him out entirely, sorry for the chapter being so short and big thanks to anyone that left a review.**