A/N - It's been playing on my mind, that I really needed to update this story! It's really close to my heart as it was my first TWD fanfiction! So, I apologise to anyone still following, and really hope you like this chap :)
Daryl had to face it, game hunting was in his veins. He found the thrill of the chase and catch, exciting, challenging and rewarding and it had provided him with many a tasty meal, both before and after the virus outbreak. He was a traditional bowhunter and his heart still skipped a beat whenever he drew back his crossbow to fire at something real and moving, something within reach that he could claim as his own.
He had to admit to himself, that he never felt as free as he did in the outdoors. Being out in the big wide open, breathing in the fresh natural air. With nothing but the rustle of the trees and the sound of the occasional twittering of the birds overhead, for company.
….
Creeping slowly and carefully, with perfect precision, all his sense alerted, Daryl's eyes were scanning the branches and bushes around him, for any visible signs of life. He was out looking to catch some real meat to take back for him and Beth.
Him and Beth!
The sound of that still amazed him. It really was just the two of them now. Alone in their fucked up world. Everyone else gone.
He wouldn't have thought it possible at the start. Back when he'd been dark and sullen, barely able to bring himself to utter a single word to her after the prison had fallen.
But once they had stumbled across the seemingly uninhabited mortuary, their new temporary home, and were finally able to relax. He had surprised himself even when he had told her he had thought they could build a life together. Buying in to her dream of finding something good.
Now, more than ever, Daryl was starting to believe that could be the case. That they could build a life together. Him and Beth.
The past week, spent at the funeral home, had felt more like a year to Daryl. Everything had changed.
He couldn't be further now from the hardened, broken and miserable man, that he had been at first, after the Governor had destroyed their old life.
Right now, Daryl felt fitter and healthier than he had done in a very long time. He felt, alive, thriving and fully satisfied.
He hadn't realised, what being with someone, the way he had been with Beth for the past week, could do to a person. It wasn't just the physical side to it. The regular sex, which just seemed to be getting better and better, the more they got to know each other's bodies. It was the feeling that he wasn't alone in the world anymore.
In some capacity Daryl had felt alone his whole life. Even back at the prison, there had been times when he had felt disconnected to everyone. But now, he was no longer alone, he had Beth. Sweet Beth.
He wasn't quite sure what this thing between them now was, or quite how it had started. They had gone from being friends, to lovers. Despite his better judgement he had given in to her.
It felt good.
He never would have dreamed of touching her back when they were around the rest of their group. When her father had still been alive. When she'd had boyfriends her own age.
Things were different now. He had thought he would have felt weird about being with her in that way, like he was taking advantage, or something.
But he didn't. It just felt right.
He wasn't sure exactly how old she was. He guessed around 18 or 19. But he knew one thing. She was a woman now. His woman.
The way she responded to his touch. Together with the gaze of those goddam big dreamy blue eyes of hers, following his every move. It did things to Daryl, things he hadn't even thought possible.
…..
He shuddered, looking up at the sky. It would be getting dark soon. He needed to get back to her. It wasn't like before, when he had left to go hunting back at the prison. There had been a whole group back then. A place with secure walls and weapons. A leader. Now Beth was relying solely on him, Daryl thought.
Making his way back along the same route he had come, Daryl thought back to what Beth had been saying earlier. About finding the rest of their group. In many ways, there was nothing Daryl wanted more than to meet up with Rick and the others again. They were good people, their people, and there was safety in numbers. They'd have a better chance that way.
But Daryl also knew, things would inevitably have to change somewhat between him and Beth, if they were around the others again. For that reason alone, he wasn't in a rush to start chasing after their ghosts.
He had meant in when he had said to Beth he thought they could stick around here for a while longer. The idea had seemed a little crazy at the time he had said it, until things had just naturally developed. Now, as much as it made him sad to think of their old friends, it would seem crazy to him, to do anything but stay put here with Beth.
….
The natural light was fading fast as the funeral home came in to sight. Daryl found himself quickening his pace as his made his way back to the front door.
He wasn't sure what he had been expecting but the place looked eerily quiet. Beth was probably busying herself with something indoors he told himself. Of course she had to keep a low profile so as not to attract any un-wanted attention.
Walking up the steps, he was suddenly hit with the feeling that something wasn't quite right. He felt something brushing at his legs. He looked down to see black fur and bright green eyes.
"What you doing out here? Huh," he muttered to the little cat, they seemed to have adopted.
The cat let a small mewing sound, it's eyes fixed intently on Daryl's face.
"You trying tell me soothing, girl?" He grunted, looking at the little feline curiously. "Where's Beth?" He asked, shuffling forwards and inside the house. Concerned she hadn't come out to greet him.
Indoors, he was met with more silence, as he glanced around, remaining quiet. Something told him not to shout out.
Walking further inside. He could make out the sound of a voice, voices even.
One sounded like Beth. They were coming from the kitchen.
Moving quickly now, he darted to the kitchen door. Edging it open, he could tell it was definitely Beth's voice. But she didn't sound distressed, instead it sounded like she was laughing.
He opened the door fully, to see Beth was sat in there. She looked up at him smiling, as he stood in the doorway.
"You're back," she gushed.
"Yeah," Daryl replied suspiciously, his eyes moving curiously over to where an older guy with gray hair was sat next to Beth.
"This is Jeff, he lives here," Beth quickly explained.
"You must be Daryl," Jeff said, putting his hand up to his mouth to cough loudly. "Care to tell me what you're doing in my home?"
Daryl was lost for words for a second, looking from the stranger to Beth, then back to the older man again. A deep scowl forming on his face.
"You been watching us?" He said, his voice low and rough.
Beth's lips twitched up in to a nervous smile, "It's okay, Daryl. Jeff used to own this place, before the change. He worked here with his family, as funeral directors," she explained.
"That's right," Jeff interrupted, addressing a stony faced Daryl. "Before the world went to hell, this was my business. Now, I go out there to gather the dead when I can, bring them back here to give them a decent send off. Just like I used to in the old world."
"I think it's beautiful," Beth exclaimed.
Daryl furrowed his brown and grimaced, remembering the day they had arrived here, and they had found dead bodies down in the mortuary with funeral makeup on. He had presumed whomever had done it, would have come back by now and with everything else that had happened, he had put it to the back of his mind.
"You here alone?" he asked the older man.
"Used to run this place with my wife and two sons. Now it's just me," Jeff replied sombrely.
"Wh-where are they?" Beth stammered, already knowing the answer.
"Buried out the back," the old man replied sadly.
"I'm sorry," Beth said, her wide blue eyes blinking.
"Best place for em…" Jeff responded. "This world is no place for them now."
"Where you getting all the stuff?" Daryl cut in, questioning the old man gruffly.
Jeff broke in to a small smile. "I'm not as stupid as I look. They said I was crazy, but I saw all this coming a long time ago. The day the world was going to hell. So, I prepared for it. I had a small underground bunker built out back. Built up enough supplies to last a good twenty years. It has beds, water, food, weapons, medicine."
Daryl and Beth exchanged a look. Could he be telling the truth? Was that even possible?
"That where you been?" Daryl questioned some more. His face still deadly serious.
"What, whilst you've been making yourselves at home here? Eating my food, sleeping in my bed," Jeff remarked, raising an eyebrow.
Daryl continued to stare at him coldly, choosing not to respond, mentally going over a plan in his head to take the old guy out, should he need to, if things went wrong here. Daryl knew his reactions were fast, he could shoot the other guy in the head in a flash. From what Daryl could make out, the stranger didn't have a weapon he could easily access, and Daryl knew that he did, and he was fast and a good shot.
But before it came to that, Daryl wanted to be sure. Beth seemed to have made her mind up already, so Daryl needed to play along too.
"Yeah, I've been down there, some of the time. I prefer it there, it's peaceful. Away from the dead and the feral," Jeff eventually explained, speaking slowly. "The rest of the time, I'm out looking for newly dead to bring back here."
"You're still doing that? Bringing back dead people?" Beth asked.
Jeff shook his head. "In the early days it was easier, but now, there's just too many of them," he said quietly.
"It's madness," Daryl muttered.
"Rosie," Jeff suddenly exclaimed, as the little black and white cat Beth and Daryl had adopted, jumped up and in to his lap.
"Thought, I'd lost this one," he said, stroking her head and smiling.
"She belongs to you?' Beth asked.
"She belongs to herself," he replied. "The rest of her family, her mother and brothers and sisters are taking shelter down with me, but this one just kept disappearing. I named her Rosie, after my granddaughter, she was a real live-wire too," Jeff explained a sad smile appearing on his face.
"You're a special one, aren't you," the older man said, turning to look directly at the small cat on his lap, tickling her chin. The same cat Beth had named Lucky.
"Here, have some soup," Beth said, standing up to hand Daryl a cup. Trying to ease the tense atmosphere.
"Thanks," he said as he took it from her. Before tugging her gently on the elbow and gesturing with his head for her to follow him out the room.
He had been gone less than a day, and she seemed to have be-friended the first stranger that came her way. He wanted to know what the hell was going on!
"You trust him?" Daryl asked quietly and suspiciously, his eyes looking deeply in to hers, trying to work out after everything, why she seemed so calm with the sudden appearance of this old man.
"Yeah, he scared the life out of me at first, but he means us no harm," Beth replied directly, nodding her head.
"How can you be so sure?" Daryl asked, shaking his head, his hand still on her arm.
He wanted to trust Beth's instincts too, but he just couldn't, not straight away. If this world had taught him anything. It was to trust no-one. He was in two minds whether to match back in to the kitchen with a gun pointed straight at the old man's head, demanding to know what his intentions really were.
But Daryl wanted to give Beth the benefit of the doubt first. So, instead he remained stood in front of her, his deep blue eyes, searching her face.
"Don't look at me like that," Beth protested, frowning a little.
"Like what?" Daryl responded, in a low gruff voice.
"Like you think I'm a complete idiot," Beth whispered fiercely, glancing down at his grip on her arm.
"I don't think you're an idiot," Daryl mumbled, releasing his hold on her. "I just think we need to be sure we can trust him. That he really is who he says he is." Daryl continued.
"He is," Beth insisted, looking flustered. "He showed me photos, of him and his family, his grandkids. This used to be his business. Now he's left all on his own, he's doing the only thing he knows how."
Daryl looked away, thinking. He had always known that this day was looming. When the rightful owner of the property could return. It did seem the old guy was who he said he was. Daryl just wasn't sure what they were meant to do about it.
"You seen this bunker he's talking about?" he asked, his eyes back on Beth.
"Not yet. Daryl, I aint an idiot," Beth replied, arching her eyebrows and rolling her eyes a little. "I said I'd wait until you got back, before I went to any underground bunker with him."
"Okay," Daryl nodded again, satisfied.
Daryl's plan had always been to wait until whoever had been keeping this place up came back, to try and make it work with them, to negotiate for him and Beth to stay there. If he was honest, he'd always felt deep down, that was a little unrealistic, but he'd thought he had to try, if the opportunity should present itself.
"He's okay, Daryl….Besides, Lucks wouldn't go near him if he was bad, cat's got a sixth sense y'know," Beth added, smiling with a twinkle her eye.
….
"You decided yet?" Jeff said, without looking up from where he was still playing with the cat as Beth and Daryl walked back in to the kitchen. 'What you're going to do?" he added.
"This bunker of yours, you care to show us where it is?" Daryl asked, his voice calmer now.
Jeff looked up and over to them, about to say something, when he was overcome with a fit of coughing. He produced a hanky from his pocket, putting it to his mouth as he coughed and spluttered.
"You okay?" Beth asked, looking on in concern.
The older man waved his hand at her, as he withdrew the hanky, displaying it was stained in blood.
Beth looked to Daryl, to exchange an even more concerned look.
"Here you're going to need this," Jeff said, handing Daryl a piece of paper from his pocket.
"What's this?" Daryl mumbled, moving over to take it cautiously, glancing down in confusion. To see there was a sequence of numbers scribbled on it.
"The code to the bunker," Jeff said loudly, his eyes resting on Daryl's face.
Daryl looked up to meet the older man's eye.
"It's yours," Jeff said, "Your's and your girls," he explained, his lined mouth curling up in to a gentle smile, looking from Daryl to Beth.
"Seriously?" Beth asked in disbelief, her head spinning.
"I'm sick and getting sicker, I'm not long for this world. I want my hard work to have meant something, the things I have put in to place go to some good people, that deserve it. I don't want it all to just rot, or get in to the wrong hands," Jeff said, coughing some more.
"How d'you know you can trust us? That we're good?' Daryl questioned, his eyes narrowing.
"Same way you know you can trust me, and that I'm good," he replied, his eyes watering, still locked with Daryl's.
"I've been waiting for you for a while now. I know you'll make good use of this place, you're good people, you look out for each other, I can see that," Jeff continued, coughing even more.
"I'll get you some water," Beth said standing up, turning her back to the two men.
"You really are serious? There aint no-one else?" Daryl asked quietly and firmly, still trying to work the older man out.
"You have my word," the older man said.
"Everyone I've ever known is dead now. So, this is all yours. You just have to promise me, firstly you'll take good care of that girl," Jeff said, jerking his head in Beth's direction. "Because, you don't need me to tell you, she's gonna need protection in this world now."
Daryl didn't respond, he knew the older man wasn't done.
"And secondly….." Jeff said, leaning in to Daryl whispering something to him in a low voice.
Daryl's eyes narrowed, as he listened to what Jeff was saying to him.
"There you go," Beth said, turning around to hand Jeff some water.
"Thanks," he said, putting it to his lips and moving away from Daryl.
Beth's gaze moved away from Jeff and over to Daryl. Her lover, her protector. To see his face had softened. She trusted his judgement completely. If he believed in this guy, then she did too. When they had first arrived here and he had mentioned he felt they could build a life here. In part it had felt like a fairytale to Beth. The immaculate house, the two of them living together in it, as a couple, happy without the others.
Now she was starting to believe it could be real!
A/N - Thanks for reading. I really think Beth and Daryl deserved a break and something good for once, (in this fanfiction world) so hope you liked it. Please leave a review if you can:) The idea for Jeff was based on an interview I read with Robert Kirkman, where he was asked who had owned the funeral home Beth and Daryl had found on the show. He said an old guy had lived there and was collecting the dead to bury them properly, but he had died, which is why it was empty when they got there!