Beth tugged at the end of her fishing rod, trying to manoeuvre it slightly. Flustered, she put her hand up to shade her eyes from the bright early morning sun.

"Nah, you need to move it in a little." Maggie said a little bossily, from where she was sat beside her, fishing rod in hand too.

Beth ignored her older sister, pressing her lips together as she half heartedly followed her instructions. The two women had strayed just a stones throw away from their camp to try and catch some fish in a near by stream. It wasn't something either was particularly practiced at and it was kind of a long shot, but worth a try.

Glenn had managed to put some fishing equipment together for them, he was keeping watch back at the camp, having originally planned to go with Maggie, Beth had persuaded him to let her go in his place. She had been going out of her mind a little back at their latest make shift camp. She knew everyone was worried for her and Maggie's safety now that they were the only two remaining girls left. But Beth wanted to contribute. Plus, there was something she wanted to talk to Maggie about alone too.

They'd been homeless again for a few weeks. Their plans to go to the nearest town put on hold, whilst they tried to work out who had captured their friends. How they could get them back. They knew they needed to lie low, while they tried to figure out who the mysterious men with guns were, what they could do. Beth and Maggie being particularly vulnerable.

"Something on you mind?" Maggie questioned, noting her sister's unusually quiet mood.

"Umm..nah," Beth said hesitantly, looking down at the stream in front of her, avoiding eye contact..

"Okay, spit it out," Maggie responded. She knew her sister, and she knew there was something playing on her mind. Beth had always been the more reserved of the two, she could appear quiet and thoughtful when she was worried about something, compared to Maggie's open and more outgoing nature.

Beth fidgeted a little nervously, before turning to look straight at her sister this time, still gripping her fishing rod with one hand, brushing a strand of stray hair away from her eye with the other. Before eventually she worked up the courage, "I was just wonderin, what you do, for, y'know…contraception and stuff.." she said, embarrassment flashing across her face, her cheeks turning pink.

Maggie nearly dropped her fishing rod straight out of her hands as she immediately stopped what she was doing, her mouth gaping open, her eyes wide and surprised, turning to look at her younger sister, presenting her with her full attention. She had certainly not been expecting her to come out with that. The small seemingly innocent question had more than aroused Maggie's curiosity and also slight suspicion.

"You're sleeping with someone?" she questioned directly.

"No," Beth was quick to protest firmly, looking back at her sister.

"You're planning to sleep with someone?" Maggie was quick to respond back.

This time Beth didn't answer, allowing her silence to confirm her sister's suspicions. Choosing to look away and back at the stream in front of her. She had known this conversation was never going to be easy.

"Who?" Maggie questioned further.

Again Beth remained silent. She wasn't quite sure why she was finding this so difficult, but she was. Waiting for Maggie to say the inevitable.

"Rick," Maggie said confidently. Thinking their leader was clearly the obvious and only choice for her sister to get involved with in that way. He was older than Beth, but he was single now, good looking, and he was also brave and strong, he led them all, and Maggie could easily see how he could become attractive to Beth.

"No," Beth exclaimed, shaking her head. Putting her rod down, feeling a rush of butterflies. Bracing herself for Maggie to say 'his' name next.

Instead Maggie fell quiet for a second, searching through the remaining male members of their group in her head. If it wasn't Rick, then who?

"Tyreese" she suddenly said, thinking again how it wouldn't be outside the realms of possibility for her sister to get romantically involved with him. Again he was older than Beth, but he wasn't bad looking either, he was also a decent guy, clearly experienced in how to treat the opposite sex.

"Nooo," Beth protested, a little louder this time.

"Abraham," Maggie then reeled off immediately after. He wouldn't have been the first person that came to mind, and she'd be surprised, but he clearly had a thing for younger women, he was smooth, if not a little sleazy.

"Nooo-oo," Beth said, raising her voice even more this time, almost whining. How could her sister possibly think she would want to sleep with Abraham?

"Then who?" Maggie said, looking even more confused.

Going over again who was left in her head, she said slowly," That only leaves, Eugene, Daryl…" looking as though a light bulb had just been switched on in her head, she slowly repeated, "Daryl!," the expression on her sister's face telling Maggie all she needed to know. How could she have over looked that? It was Daryl. Of course it was Daryl. How could it not have been Daryl? He should have been the first person she had thought of. The obvious choice.

Since they had rescued her from the hospital, Daryl had shown nothing but concern for her sister, different to before back at the prison, but Maggie had just put it down to him feeling responsible for her after he'd been with her when the prison had fallen, and also wanting to look out for her now that their father wasn't around, nothing else, it was Daryl, he wasn't exactly a lady's man so Maggie has just figured they were friends. But since their new smaller group had been lying low in the woods, she couldn't deny, Beth had spent more time with him than anyone else. He had been teaching her skills, they had gone off alone together at times. It all fitted now.

"You and Daryl?" Maggie said her eyes still fixed on her sister. Her face deadly serious, "You're sleeping with him?"

"No, I said it's not like that. I mean we've kissed but nothing else," Beth replied with almost relief. She had no idea how her sister would react to her revelation, but at least it was out in the open. Although, she still felt a little embarrassed when she thought of what Daryl would think if he could hear her now.

Daryl had no idea that Beth would be having this type of conversation about them. But the truth was, she wanted to sleep with him. She didn't want to wait anymore. Since they had started camping in the woods, they had grown even closer. He'd barely let her out of his sight. Beth knew he was concerned about her being abducted like the other women had been, but it was more than that too.

Maggie had insisted Beth slept in her tent alongside her and Glenn. Which considering how cramped it was, was more than a little awkward. But there wasn't really an alternative it wouldn't have been appropriate for her to have squeezed in with anyone else. Beth had found herself, on more than one occasion staying up to keep watch with Daryl instead, then somehow she had found herself sleeping in Daryl's small one man battered tent instead of her sisters, sometimes with him, but mostly without, while he stayed up. Being that close to him gave her a strange sense of comfort. It was the same tent that he'd had when they had been alone together before, one of the few he had managed to scavenge from an old camping store on one of his supply runs. When they had slept in it together nothing had happened at first they had just huddled together, chatted a little. They had kissed, but despite Beth desperately wanting him to, he hadn't tried anything else. But it was different to before, she knew something had changed. It felt more real now.

Another long silence fell between the two sisters.

Beth started to panic a little, the air between them turning tense. Maybe she shouldn't have said anything, she thought, an uneasy feeling hitting her stomach as she silently willed her sister to say something further, anything.

Eventually after what seemed like a lifetime, Maggie looked up, "We're careful," she said a faint smile appearing on her lips.

"Wh-what?" Beth stammered, her eyes narrowing with confusion.

"Contraception, we just have to be careful. When we get the chance that is, which aint that often. There are actually only a few days in your cycle that you can realistically fall pregnant, so you just have to watch for those days and make sure he.."

"Yeah, I get it," Beth interrupted, embarrassed again. Even more glad Daryl had taken himself off hunting that morning, she would be mortified if he could hear their conversation now.

"I mean, we use condoms if we can get a hold of em, but they're pretty hard to come by these days, guess everyone wanted to have a little fun whilst the world was ending," Maggie said with a small laugh, lightening the atmosphere as Beth broke in to an amused smile too.

"Daryl's a good guy," Maggie than said more seriously, the laughing trailing off, as she added. "He'll look after you," and she meant it. At one time Daryl would have been the last person she would have paired her sweet and innocent younger sister with, but she knew him better now and the rules from their old world no longer applied. Now that she'd had the chance to wrap her head around it, it made perfect sense to Maggie.

"I mean it, Beth. He's one of the good ones. Just make sure he takes a damn bath occasionally," Maggie teased with a twinkle in her eye.

Beth looked away shaking her head as they both erupted in to fresh laughter.

"I got us a feast for lunch, squirrel and rabbit," a triumphant male voice suddenly said. Causing the two sisters to look up to see Daryl walking out of the trees behind them, his crossbow slung across his back, holding up an assortment of dead mammals, the proud look on his face, quickly turning to one of suspicion, "What's so funny?" he said accusingly as they continued to laugh, a sound so rare these days.

"Nothing," Maggie replied pressing her lips together her eyes sparkling still, catching Beth's eye briefly before they both looked away sniggering.

Four years later

Beth shifted a little closer to Daryl on the sofa, her head rested on his shoulder, her arm draped around his chest. On first impressions she would never have had him down for the cuddling on the sofa type, even back when they had first started to become involved with each other he was never going to be the perfect boyfriend, but Beth liked that. Now, over the years he'd softened slightly, he was no longer the gruff redneck loner that he'd appeared to be back when he'd first appeared on her father's farm with Rick and the others at the start of the outbreak. Now he was a husband, her husband.

"So, Noah," she started lazily, about to launch in to a story, but checking she had his full attention first. He didn't even flinch just continued staring mindlessly at the flickering screen in front of them, some old movie Beth didn't have a clue about. Their TV was a little temperamental with nothing like the amount of channels that had been on offer to them at one time in their lives, but still most of the time it managed to hold out enough for them to watch a movie every now and then or a repeat of some episode of a trashy television show.

"Noah had another hold up at his bar yesterday, but they didn't take anything this time, the police actually managed to show up and stop it," she said, pausing, glancing back at her husband, putting her thumbnail up to her mouth to chew on it awaiting his reaction as a sudden wave of nausea hit her, reminding her she hadn't eaten all day, she'd been a little off her food with one thing and another.

He didn't say anything at first, but she could tell from the look in his eye he had heard her. He had one hand on a beer, the other wrapped around her back. Beth took in a breath, if there was one thing that infuriated her about Daryl still, it was his lack of conversation skills, not like the old days when he had been unsure of how to express himself. These days it was more deliberate, almost like if he didn't want to respond, he wouldn't.

"You aint goin there no more," he eventually muttered gruffly, "aint safe."

"It's fine, like I said the cops got there, they stopped any trouble from starting," she protested, tensing a little. She knew it came from a place of well meaning, but she didn't like it when Daryl tried to tell her what to do.

He didn't look up, just scoffed, "Police are all corrupt scum now," putting his beer up to his mouth to drink.

Wriggling out of his arms, Beth got up a little sulkily, noting his eyes were still glued to the television screen. Whatever the damn movie was it was obviously more alluring than having a proper conversation with her she thought, making her way out the room and in to the adjacent bathroom.

"Oh damn it," Beth screamed a little louder than she had anticipated from the bathroom. Looking down she was met with the unwelcome sight of a few small bright red spots appearing on her underwear. She had been due a period for some time now, but she'd kind of lost track of dates. Having regular periods was like a lot of things a complete novelty to her these days. Beth was pretty sure she'd only had about two cycles in the entire time of the outbreak. She had kind of figured her body had given up in that area.

"Everything okay?" Beth then heard Daryl say from the other side of the door.

"I'm fine," she mumbled back, a little embarrassed she'd made such a big deal of it as she rummaged around to try and desperately find some tampons. He might act a little indifferent at times, but Daryl was always still so quick to be protective of her. It was almost as though he half expected a dozen walkers to suddenly crash through their bathroom window again, she thought.

"You sure?" he persisted from the other side of the door.

Beth sighed and cursed, she still couldn't find any tampons, must have slipped her mind to have stocked up on them, she poked her head around the door, "Just came on my period, can't find any tampons."

"Oh," Daryl replied, this time his turn to look a little embarrassed.

"I'll need to pop to the store, pick some up," she said looking flustered.

"You aint goin no-where at this time of night," he said forcefully. They didn't live in a bad neighbourhood but it wasn't the best either. The streets were no place to be at night. There might be a new sense of order in the city now, but there were still some survivors from the dark times unable to quite shake off their new found sense of feral survival instinct. It would be a long time before they could claim to live in a completely civilised society again.

"I'll go, needed to pick up a few more beers anyway," he mumbled.

"You sure? Will you know what to get?"

"Just write it down or somethin," he responded, his tone indicating he was far from comfortable with the situation as she thrust a small slip of paper in to his hand.

"Okay," Beth replied, closing the bathroom door again to discover the bleeding had all but stopped now, shaking her head a little, she wondered what just what the hell was going on with her body, as she shouted out a quick, "Be safe," to Daryl. He was right, the streets were dangerous at night still. Beth knew he more than knew how to look after himself, but that still didn't stop her from experiencing a small flutter of anxiety every time he went out.

….

The store was pretty empty just one old guy working behind the counter. Daryl quickly made his way along the aisles of household cleaning products, diapers, hair care, before finally stopping at the feminine hygiene section, scanning it briefly before clumsily reaching out and dropping his desired purchase in to his basket. Making his way over to the till to pay, eyes down, avoiding eye contact with anyone, feeling the reassuring metal of his hand gun from where it sat inside his trouser pocket.

Reaching it to his other pocket to find a note to exchange for his shopping, nodding in acknowledgment to the grey haired shop owner. He was abruptly swept to one side as suddenly the door to the front entrance swung open and two hooded figures burst in.

"Give us all your alcohol and tobacco, Grandpa," one of them yelled, pointing a gun at the old man stood behind the counter, turning to his companion saying, "Quick empty the shelves."

Daryl didn't move, thinking fast, it was always the same these days, no-one was interested in money, it was always physical goods, looting was no longer acceptable but that didn't stop a high percentage of the population from thinking the rules didn't apply. They were few honest people left now, Daryl knew that. People were changed and out to get whatever they could.

"Oh come on, that's my livelihood you punks," the older man said, his eyes flashing fiercely. Daryl could see a fire in him, he wasn't about to be intimated easily.

"Shut it or I blow your brains out," the first guy said.

"You think that's a threat,?" he said shaking his head, a small smirk creeping on to his lips. "Go ahead. Because you take my stuff over my dead body. I haven't been to hell and back, to lose it all to some weak little jerks like you."

Daryl had never spoken to the older guy before, but he'd seen him occasionally when he'd been in the store. There was something about him he liked, respected even. He was wise, there was more to him than met the eye, he hadn't always been a frail shop owner. In a funny way he reminded Daryl a little of Hershal, Beth's late father, he had been a fighter until the end too.

"Who you calling weak?" the younger guy said, letting off a shot. Narrowly missing the old man, his reactions fast as he ducked, causing the bullet to smash in to a row of bottles behind him instead, glass flying in to the air as they exploded dramatically.

"Drop it," Daryl said loudly, pointing his gun in to the back of the younger gunman. Daryl had promised Beth he wouldn't get involved in situations like this anymore, but right now he felt he had no choice.

"Listen, we don't want no trouble, we just want the stuff," the other young guy said from where he was stood further back in the store, shakily directing his weapon in Daryl's direction to block him from shooting his friend.

Daryl glanced back at him, he was young they both were probably around sixteen or seventeen, eighteen at the most, he was willing to bet they weren't the best shot either, if he was quick he could probably take them both out, if he'd had his crossbow he could have done it within seconds. But he hesitated; as he remembered what he had been like back at their age, without the excuse of a deadly virus nearly wiping out the entire human race.

"I said drop it," he repeated instead addressing the first guy, keeping his gun aimed at the back of his head.

"You heard the man, drop it," an all too familiar male voice said.

Out of the corner of his eye, Daryl looked to his left to see two police officers had arrived, skilfully pointing their weapons in the direction of the two younger men. It was over, as the younger guys reluctantly dropped their guns down on to the floor acknowledging they were clearly outnumbered.

Daryl felt a wave of relief wash over him. Somehow no-one had lost their lives. The store hadn't been robbed. He looked back at the first police officer, the one that had spoken. He looked errily familiar, and then it hit him. He looked significantly older than when Daryl had seen him last, but the eyes gave him away he was the spit of his mother. Daryl would recognise him anywhere.

"Carl," Daryl said unable to hide the emotion in his voice. How was that even possible? Surely he was too young to be in such a position of authority.

"Daryl," Carl replied in shock.

Daryl hung around whilst Carl and his partner dealt with the situation, taking the two young criminals out to their patrol car, before he came back in to the store to speak to Daryl properly.

"It's good to see you, Daryl," Carl said embracing Daryl in a brief warm hug. Carl wasn't big on displays of affection, but it felt so good to see such a welcome familiar face.

"Good to see you too, son. It's been a while. See you've gone and got yourself a sheriffs badge for real." Daryl responded raising his eyebrows, curling his lips up in to a half smile.

"Yeah," Carl said looking down at the badge on his chest proudly, nodding, breaking in to a small smile. A lot had happened to him over the past few years, he'd changed so much, but it sure felt good to run in to an old friend as true as Daryl.

"How-how's Beth?" Carl questioned glancing down for a split second at the big neon pink box of tampons in Daryl's shopping basket on the ground.

"She's good," Daryl replied, pretending he hadn't noticed Carl's wandering gaze. "We got a place near here, you should stop by, I know she'd love to see you."

"I'd like that," Carl said nodding some more.

Looking back at him Daryl was hit with a sudden rush of pride, Carl had just been a boy when he had seen him last, he couldn't be more than late teens now, but he had become a man.

"Well, looks like your quick thinking saved the day here, no casualties and we successfully stalled a robbery." Carl said, his eyes fixed on Daryl. He wasn't surprised. Daryl's speed and bravery had saved them on many occasions back when they had been surviving together during the outbreak.

"Just doin what anyone would," Daryl mumbled. Thinking how he hadn't exactly been any great hero, just doing what was necessary to stop those kids from taking off with all the old mans stuff.

"Y'know, Daryl, this might be a long shot, but we're looking to recruit new guys. We're trying to build up the police presence in the city, weed out the bad cops, and bring in some of the good ones." Carl said.

Daryl shook his head, he knew where this was heading, "I dunno," he replied.

"Well why don't you at least have a chat with my superior. I know he'd love to see you, here's his number, think about it," Carl added, pressing a card in to Daryl's palm.

Grunting in response, Daryl glanced down at the name on the card, Rick Grimes Chief of Police.

A/N - Thanks for reading. Would love to hear a review if you have the chance :) Will be updating again soon. There will be more drama coming up for Beth and Daryl!