I have reworked my outline and I have removed the Karen part from the last chapter and all of her from the rest of the story.

*Please remember: This is not a story of S4-S5 Beth. This is a story about Beth becoming S4-S5 Beth. Anorexia, and all eating disorders, are complicated and I feel like those calling Beth weak as they read are not being as understanding or compassionate to the disease as they could be.*

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Chapter Twenty-Three.

After church and breakfast, Beth and Rosita spent the day around the farm, playing with the baby lamb that had just been born that week and teaching Rosita how to ride a horse though she said time and again that she was a city girl and there was no way she was getting onto a moving object that didn't come with an actual brake. But she got onto the horse and trotted alongside Beth as they rode to one of the hills that overlooked most of Hershel's lands and the woods surrounding it.

They sat in the grass together and as Rosita lay on her back, watching the white puffs of clouds slowly passing by in the sky, Beth sat up, braiding a head wreath with a lapful of dandelions she had plucked.

"So, how was it?" Rosita asked.

"How was what?" Beth looked at her, her fingers never stopping tying the flowers together. She had never considered dandelions weeds – even when her mama tried to correct her when she was little and said dandelions were her favorite flower.

Rosita turned her head and smiled at her. "The sex."

Beth immediately felt her face warm and she darted her eyes back down to the dandelions. "Daryl and I didn't have sex," she shook her head as she said it and she felt a tugging in her stomach that she could almost mistake for disappointment.

She wondered when they would; if they would. Daryl didn't seem like he was in a hurry to do that with her and if he was, he seemed to be hiding it rather well. She felt her brow furrow. Did Daryl want to have sex with her? He had surprised her last night, seeing her body and not turning away from her completely. She had just assumed… she had to stop doing that. Daryl Dixon surprised her again and again.

Rosita pushed herself up on her elbows. "You didn't?" She looked genuinely surprised. "But you… you've been glowing all day."

"I have?" Beth lifted a hand to her cheek as if she could actually feel it.

Rosita grinned. "So, there was no sex but there was definitely something, right?"

Beth immediately opened her mouth to deny it but she found something stopping herself. This was Rosita and Rosita was her best friend and if anyone could give her some advice, it was Rosita.

She normally would have gone to Maggie but she couldn't talk to her sister about this. Beth was not blind. She knew she and her sister were no longer friends and they probably never would be again because to Maggie, nothing mattered. It didn't matter that Beth was slowly getting herself better because to Maggie, she would never be better. She would always be a girl who had come close to starving herself to death and Beth knew that no matter what she did or said, nothing would change Maggie's opinion of her. And Beth wanted to snap at her and yell at her to open her eyes. That she had made a mistake but she was still here and she was trying but she couldn't. Maybe someday, she would be able to but right now, she felt more comfortable with avoiding her sister altogether.

"There was something," Beth nodded her head, smiling faintly, blushing shyly.

Rosita let out a laugh and pushed herself from the grass, sitting up. "I knew it!" She beamed and she seemed almost proud of herself for having guessed correctly. "How was it? What did you do?"

Beth felt her blush deepen. "It was wonderful but… it wasn't the first time," she said.

Rosita gasped at that. "Elizabeth Greene!" She swatted at Beth's knee playfully and this time, Beth found herself laughing a little, too. "I mean, I could tell you were absolutely crazy for one another but now, you're hot, too! Tell me everything." She turned to Beth and drew her knees up to her chest, hugging her arms around them.

Beth looked down to the dandelions in her lap. "He's used his fingers a few times."

Rosita let out a dreamy sigh. "There's something so dirty about that, isn't there? I mean, especially with Daryl. Just think about it. He's working on cars all day, his hands covered in grease and oil, and then he puts those same fingers inside of you."

"Rosita," Beth laughed, from embarrassment this time though a part of her was definitely agreeing with her. There was something dirty about it and hot and oddly enough, something romantic that she still couldn't completely figure out herself.

"And what else?" Rosita kept smiling as she looked at her.

"Last night… my breasts…" Beth tried to say but she wasn't able to get the words out. Her fingers began braiding the dandelions together again.

Rosita stared at her, her mouth slightly hanging open and for a moment, it seemed as if she wouldn't be able to see anything. "You let… without a shirt?" She asked.

Beth nodded and looked at her again. She understood Rosita's surprise. If Beth could, she probably would have taken a shower wearing a bathing suit.

"How was it?" Rosita was able to ask.

"It was… nice," she settled on. "More than nice," she was quick to amend and felt a blush creeping up her cheeks again. "He didn't run away so that was a good sign."

"Of course he didn't," Rosita smiled easily now. "He's in love with you." Beth's eyes widened as she looked at her. Rosita just smiled. "What?" She laughed a little. "It's pretty damn obvious, Beth."

Beth didn't know what to say to that so she didn't say anything. Was it obvious? It had taken her a bit of time to figure it out for herself and now, she wondered how long he had loved her; how long she had loved him. Maybe it was just one of those things that happened. Slowly and naturally and she had never been in love before so perhaps she had been expecting fireworks or some huge revelation but it seemed like falling in love with Daryl Dixon happened like everything else with him had.

Quietly.

They walked the horses back instead of riding and when they were in the barn, Beth showing Rosita how to brush them down, they could hear footsteps approaching across the barn floor and Beth lifted her head, instantly smiling upon seeing Daryl, his crossbow on his back.

"Hi," she said, well aware that she was smiling widely and probably looking like an idiot but she couldn't seem to help herself. "I thought you would be hunting."

"Hey," he said in his grunt as he approached them. "I was. Your dad gave me a call."

Her brow furrowed at that before she thought for a moment and then couldn't help but groan softly. "He's probably going to give you the talk now."

"The talk?" Daryl's lips weighed down in a frown.

Beth sighed. "The talk that he's given to all of Maggie's boyfriends. The "you break her heart and I break you" talk."

"Feel like I've already had that talk with him," Daryl said.

"Really?" Beth couldn't help but be surprised. "When?"

He shrugged. "Couple of times, it feels like. I got you a rabbit," he then said.

Beth smiled at that. "For me?"

"Not as a pet," he said. "Got a bolt through it."

She laughed. "A dead animal is as almost romantic as a chocolate bar," she teased and he smirked at that.

"I'll 'member that," he said.

The three left the barn and headed towards the house, Daryl grabbing the door and holding it open for them. Rosita walked in but Beth lingered behind, looking up at him. He stared down at her and didn't say anything and she pushed herself up on her toes and kissed him. Just a small, short kiss but it gave her the same tingles that kissing Daryl always gave her. When she pulled her lips back, she looked at him and he was still staring at her and she gave him a small smile.

"Are you staying here for dinner?" She asked.

"Guess if your pops kills me, I'll be here anyway," he shrugged.

She smiled, almost laughed a little. "I always thought underneath the pecan trees in back would be a beautiful final resting place. I'll talk to Merle. See if he agrees."

"I've figured you out, girl," he said with his lips twitching upwards. "You might have everyone else fooled but not me."

She laughed then, soft and light, and she knew her eyes were twinkling as she looked at him; could practically feel them. "And what have you figured out?"

He leaned his head in closer to hers then as if about to tell her some great secret and Beth looked into his eyes, feeling her heart thump at the base of her throat. He was so handsome. The most handsome boy she had ever seen. No. Man. And this man loved her. She knew he did. And she apparently wasn't the only one to see it. She wondered if Daryl even knew that he loved her or it he was completely unaware of it. It didn't matter either way because she knew that he would come to that realization eventually; probably as suddenly as it had struck Beth.

"You're not some sweet girl at all," he told her in a low voice that gave her shivers.

"I'm not?" She kept smiling faintly, her eyes looking up at him and he leaned his head down a little closer to her.

"Everyone thinks you're just some weaklin'," Daryl continued. "But you ain't. You're gonna be the last girl standin'."

Beth couldn't help it. How could she after he said such a thing to her?

She put her hands on his cheeks and she didn't care that they were standing in the front doorway of her daddy's farmhouse. She stretched her neck out and kissed him and she felt his hand lightly cupping her elbow as he pressed his lips back to hers.

"Ah, Dixon, I thought I heard someone defiling my little sister in the hallway," Shawn said, approaching them from down the hallway with a grin on his face.

Daryl instantly yanked his head back at the sound of his voice and Beth turned hers to look at her brother with a frown.

"Shawn, do you have to be so annoying?" She asked.

"Yep," he just kept grinning. He took a step closer to him and leaned in, lowering his voice to a whisper. "So I know you've already told me, but Rosita…"

"Not a chance," Beth shook her head.

She wouldn't dare tell Shawn that someone else had caught her eye and had confided in her about it when they had been at the trailer the night before.

"He's married, Rosita," Beth said, trying to keep the frown from her face.

"I know!" Rosita was quick to defend herself. "And I would never even think about going after him because of that. I just think he's very nice… hot. It's the uniform."

Beth had never understood that when other girls had said that. She had never looked at a man wearing some sort of uniform and having to fan herself because of it. Although she did admit that Daryl's Dale's Garage tee-shirt did make her feel warm, that was completely different because that was Daryl. Even now, in jeans with a hole in the knee and a sleeveless flannel shirt and dirt streaked on his skin, he was making her feel as if she was tingling all over.

"Dad's in the backyard, checking out the generator. Asked for you to meet him out there," Shawn said to Daryl, pointing a thumb over his shoulder.

Daryl nodded and looked at Beth and she gave him a small smile, squeezing his hand. She watched him walk towards the back of the house and then a moment later, the screen door screeched open on its hinges and slapped shut again. Beth exhaled a deep breath she hadn't even realized she was holding and her eyes caught Shawn, her brother just looking at her with a grin.

"What?" She tried to frown and not act so nervous.

"Dad already gave you permission to live with the guy," Shawn said. "He's not going to shoot him now."

"What do you think he wants to talk with him about then?" Beth couldn't help fidgeting with her fingers in front of her.

Shawn shrugged. "Probably just wants to know what his intentions towards you are," he said rather casually but his answer just made Beth feel sick.

His intentions? Is that really what Hershel walked to talk with Daryl about? And what on earth would Daryl's answer be to that if that was the question? What would the right answer be and what did Beth want the answer to be? She realized she had no idea. She hadn't thought about it. She tried not to think too much of the future. She put her focus on living each day and getting through that one without worrying about all of the days could come she couldn't see yet. She didn't plan for things – not anymore. She had learned that planning for things was always so useless and if her daddy asked her right now what her future with Daryl was, Beth wouldn't know.

Would Daryl?

After dinner, Daryl left again to go back into the woods to hunt a little bit more before the sun was completely gone and Beth spent a couple of more hours with Rosita before hugging her and her family goodnight before she stared home. Hershel had told Shawn to drive her but Beth had told them not to be silly. She wasn't even a mile away and she knew the way by heart now – even in the evening twilight. They didn't need to baby her.

When she came through the woods upon the trailer, Daryl was sitting on the front steps, smoking a cigarette, and she smiled, her heart beating a little bit faster as she came to him. Without a word, she sat down beside him and Daryl was quick to turn his head, exhaling a stream of smoke away from her.

"Did my daddy scare you?" Beth asked after a few minutes of quiet between them – the sounds of the woods around them, now familiar to her, filling the air instead.

He smirked a little. "Your daddy could scare anyone if he wanted to. Man may look like Santa Claus but when it comes to you…" he trailed off then and inhaled another puff from his cigarette. "Told him you were strong and you could kick my ass if you ever wanted to."

Beth's eyes widened though at his words. "Did he think you would… hurt me?"

"Yeah," he gave a single nod. "Not just with my fists either."

"You would never hurt me." Beth felt her frown grow heavier and her stomach began churning with anger.

How dare her daddy say those things to Daryl! Daryl may have been a Dixon and some of the Dixons had a certain reputation but Daryl was not like that and she had thought her daddy knew that already. He must have if he didn't put up a fight about Beth moving in to live with this man.

"He didn't mean much by it," Daryl looked at her as if reading her thoughts and then shrugged. "Just a dad sayin' somethin' to a guy who's datin' his daughter."

Beth felt almost all of the anger evaporate though some of it still lingered at the base of her spine. She looked at him as he put the cigarette butt under the heel of his boot and he extinguished it before turning his head and looking at her, too.

"Is that what we're doing? Dating?" She asked and she sounded almost breathless.

"I still gotta take you out on that date but… yeah. I mean, ain't we?" He asked, his brow crinkling a little as he frowned as if the whole thing confused him.

And she knew exactly how he felt because it was always making her head spin.

"It ain't like I'm askin' every other girl to come and live with me," he added and she laughed softly at that before leaning in and pressing her lips to his in a quick kiss.

"You're very sweet to me, Daryl Dixon," she then told him in a quiet voice as if she didn't want anything else around them to hear.

He snorted at that, shaking his head. "We really got to raise your standards, Beth."

"Don't do that," she looked at him and he kept his eyes locked with hers. "You're amazing, Daryl, and you've been nothing but kind to me. Most people… they treat me like I'm about to break or I'm crazy or they avoid even looking me in the eye as if I'll give them some disease but now you."

"I avoided you for a while," Daryl pointed out to her in a low voice.

"But then you didn't and the day we started talking to each other, really talking to each other, I know that that is still one of the best days of my life," she said. "And don't talk about standards," she quickly added and he smirked at that.

She leaned into him then and she found herself staring into his eyes and she wasn't able to get herself to look away. She realized she really didn't want to look anywhere else but him in that moment – and maybe all of the moments from now on.

"I love you," she whispered to him then.

If her mom's sudden death had taught her anything, it was that life was too short and keeping feelings bottled in without ever letting them out and expressing them to the person they were about was such a waste. Life was too short to waste it.

He didn't say anything – just stared at her, his face blank and his eyes dark – but she wasn't going to take it back. Why would she ever do that? Her stomach churned as if she had eaten the wrong thing at dinner and her heart was pounding so loudly, she wondered if he could hear it as it drowned in her own ears. He didn't say anything and she hadn't expected him to. But that didn't mean that she wouldn't say anything.

She took a deep breath and exhaled it out softly and stared into his eyes.

"I love you, Daryl Dixon."

…

Thank you so much for reading and please review!