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Chapter Five. Potato Peels.

"You're doin' what?"

Daryl had to ask and make sure that he heard her right because what she just said seemed too good to be actually true. Yes, this girl had already mastered the art of making her own yeast and making loaves of bread and she could read a book, go out in the woods and find what they needed to actually make them a filling dinner but this was something else.

Beth smiled – almost laughed – and kept peeling the potato. "I'm making potato chips. Is that alright?" She asked even though it obviously was SO alright. He just looked ridiculously excited and he had been the same when she had baked that first loaf of bread but mentioning her attempt at making them potato chips, Daryl looked downright giddy and Beth never thought she would ever use that adjective to ever describe a Daryl Dixon mood. "They're not going to be the potato chips we were used to but I'm going to do my best," she felt the need to explain.

But Daryl seemed to hardly hear her as he was watching her peel a potato – obviously, it was the most fascinating thing he had ever seen anyone do.

"I'm going to make a small batch this first time and if it turns out alright… One potato, I'll use the water and make more yeast, we'll mash the potato for dinner and the peels, these will be the potato chips," she said.

That made Daryl lift his eyes. "The peels?"

Beth gave a nod. "I hate the idea of wasting anything nowadays and it took me a while to find it in the book. What can I do with potato peels? I saw this and thought it was worth a try. Sometimes…" she lifted her eyes to him and smiled. "I miss really salty and greasy Lays potato chips where I have to lick my fingers afterwards because they're such a mess. It's so silly to me – the things I've wound up actually missing."

He broke into a grin at that and Beth, as always, felt so proud. She loved when she could get him to do that. A Daryl Dixon grin was a beautiful thing to see.

"Yeah, I miss that, too," he agreed. He was quiet a moment, watching her finishing peeling, and then, with a deep breath, he pushed himself off the counter. "Alrigh'. Guess I got things to do, too." He had finished on the fence in the back, mixing cement and adding more bricks to it and now, he had to fortify the front fencing, too. "You'll lemme know if you need anything?"

Beth looked up at him as he stared his eyes down to her. "Of course," she smiled.

He always told her that before he left the house and her response was always the same but it always made her feel warm whenever he said it to her. It was so important to Beth that Daryl knew that she could absolutely take care of herself and things around her and after all of this time together, she finally knew that Daryl did know all of that.

Maggie would probably have a fit over how "1950s" it all was but Daryl and Beth had seemed to fall into this unspoken living arrangement that worked perfectly for both of them. Beth took care of things inside while Daryl saw to things outside.

She had showed him how to make cement and now, Daryl had become damn good at doing it himself and while fortifying their house, he also went scavenging through houses, adding to their stocks, and taking care of any walker he saw. Beth put herself in charge of the food. She researched and went foraging and figured out how to make things without being able to run down to Wal-Mart. This was what was going to keep her and Daryl alive. They had to stop eating out of cans. They shouldn't even be looking at cans anymore. She had already made them bread – BREAD! – and she was trying different soups and now there was going to be this. Potato chips. If this worked, she could add it to the cinnamon bark on their list of snack foods.

One potato peeled gave her a very small amount of shavings so she decided she would peel a second. That would give them extra mashed potatoes tonight for dinner with the rabbit Daryl had already planned on getting and that would give her plenty of potato water to make more yeast.

She scrubbed and cleaned the potato thoroughly and then peeled it, making sure she kept every bit of potato peel that came from it. Setting the two now-naked potatoes aside for now, she patted the peels dry. Taking a little bit of olive oil – she had tasted a drop of it and it didn't taste like it had gone bad – she tossed the peels into it, making sure each had been coated. She laid them out on a baking tray and lightly began sprinkling the salt over them.

She carried the tray to the fire in the family room and slid them into the rack that they had drilled over the flames for Beth to cook all sorts of things there. She didn't leave as they baked. She watched them carefully. They were so thin and could burn within a second.

It took just a few minutes and with her oven mitt, Beth smiled as she pulled the tray out again. They were baked and crisped and looked like potato chips. They also smelled amazing – liked little baked potatoes – and her mouth was already watering for them. She hoped she hadn't added too much salt. They had curled a bit and Beth figured that with the two potatoes, there were probably a cup or so – there about – for her and Daryl to split evenly.

She didn't mean to. She knew so much better but she couldn't help it. She was excited.

"Daryl!" She called out. The book said that these would be best to eat while still warm and she didn't want Daryl to miss that chance. She set the tray on the kitchen counter and went to the back door. "Daryl!" She called out again while telling herself that she really shouldn't be doing that but not stopping.

He came a moment later, rushing around the side of the house, Jack on his heels. He didn't seem panicked though like how he usually would be if Beth called for him like that. He actually seemed excited and she was seeing that more and more on his face when she had cooked something new.

"Are they done? 's only been a few minutes."

"A few minutes is all it takes and we have to eat them while they're warm," she smiled.

She went back into the kitchen with Daryl right behind her. His eyes gleamed when he looked to the baked potato peels on the baking tray and Beth just felt so proud. They had been ridiculously easy to eat but just last night, they hadn't had potato chips to eat and now, they do and that was something. Every time she made them something to eat, she felt proud and she thought she had every right in the world to feel that.

Beth watched as Daryl picked up a peel and brought it to his mouth. She watched as he chewed and she watched as he swallowed. She watched as he instantly reached for a second peel and she burst into a smile. Not that she thought they would turn out awful – three pretty standard ingredients and how could they have been awful – but she would never get tired of Daryl trying anything she made and just being so hungry for it.

She told herself to not do it but she obviously didn't listen to herself as she came around the counter. Standing on her toes, Beth then wrapped her arms around Daryl's shoulders. She didn't know why she hugged him – so many reasons, she knew, deep down – and after a moment, when she felt Daryl's hands on her back, Beth closed her eyes and breathed with relief.

"We gotta make sure we grow as many potatoes as we can," he told her, his breath brushing against her hair.

Beth nodded, her head still against his shoulder.

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