The second part of this chapter will be up soon guys!

Chapter 6- Sickness

Beth had stepped out into the forest when she spotted him, he was stood near a tree. Having the tracking and hunting skills that he did, he heard her approaching him. She felt a pang of relief once she knew that he hadn't ran away.

"The hell ya doin' out 'ere! I'm tryin' ta take a piss!" He raised his voice at her, trying to hold back a wince from the pain he felt doing so.

The truth was, Daryl felt even worse, his head was spinning and he felt hot, too hot. His whole body was shaking slightly and he felt exhausted.

"Daryl..." Beth said softly, reaching for his forearm when she approached.

He retracted his hand and stepped back. "Go back inside, I'll be back.." He said gruffly, motioning towards the direction she came in.

She sighed, shaking her head in defeat, knowing that he was too stubborn to listen to her. "Fine. But be careful" she said to which he scoffed. Beth started walking away slowly on bare foot when Daryl placed his hand over his eyes. He was sweating and he swore that he had never felt this bad in a while. Daryl knew what it was though; he wanted Beth Greene so much that he was holding back from changing because he didn't want to hurt her. This and the fact that he hadn't turned since the Prison was taking a toll on him and this had only ever happened to him once when he was not turning at school. He scoffed at the foul memory.

"Ya just need fresh air" he told himself as he tried to stop the pounding in his head that was already getting worse by the second, making his eyesight blurry. He leaned onto the tree for more support now; standing up for dear life when suddenly he felt his muscles become slack and the last thing he saw was black.

Beth heard a thud and froze where she was. "Daryl?"

No answer. "Daryl?!" She called, this time more demanding. There was a dead silence and Beth started to panic. She turned back around and walked as fast as she could manage towards where he was. She saw him, lead on the ground breathing quickly and she figured that he must of blacked out. She had no idea what this was; whether it was dehydration, exhaustion, lack of food or just a genuine virus and she was scared. Scared that she would lose Daryl, the person she had fallen for, hard. It was just him and her and she needed to act fast in order to help him.

She rushed down to his side and placed her hand onto his shoulder, shaking him lightly. "Daryl, Daryl please wake up." She pleaded as her eyes filled with tears. There was no response, just him breathing. He still had a strong pulse and Beth was slightly relieved at that. She slowly lifted him up, putting his arm around her shoulder and her arm around his waist; supporting him. He was heavier when unconscious, and she had to stay level headed in order not to get herself in a state. She carried him slowly through the forest and back towards the cabin.

When Daryl woke up, he felt even worse than he did before he passed out. His head was less dizzy but he felt sick. He looked around the room frantically, looking for Beth and noticed that he was in the cabin; lead on the bed.

"Beth-" he choked out, weakly. As if on cue, Beth opened the door and her eyes widened when she saw him awake. His eyes were not as piercing; the blue was more of a faded blue now. She stood next to him and placed a cold cloth on his head, smiling softly which immediately relaxed him. Feeling the bile start to rise up in his throat, he squeezed his eyes tight and Beth looked at him questioningly.

"M' gonna be sick." He growled. Beth picked up the trashcan and placed it underneath him as he emptied his stomach contents into the can.

Beth just rubbed circles into his back as she soothed him. "That's it, that's it. You're gonna be okay." She said, calmly. Once he was finished, he let her lower him back down, clearly too weak to argue with her. Daryl lead back down and felt cold now, pulling the blanket up over him. Beth tucked it around his form and he grunted. He felt slightly better that he had gotten that out of his system but now he just felt cold and tired. He hated showing this side of him to Beth, having to be taken care of like a little bitch. Beth didn't like it either, seeing Daryl vulnerable and sick made her chest tighten for him. She shook her head; she couldn't cry again.

"Beth... Ya shouldn'ta carried me back here, somethin' coulda happened." He rasped out, noticing the remains of tears on her cheeks. He was confused as to why she had been crying as he looked at her with pain filled eyes. She walked towards the other side of the bed before climbing onto it and sitting down next to him.

"What are you talking about? I couldn't just leave you there, Daryl. As stubborn as you are, People care about you- I care about you! Way too much to let you die! If you can't see that by now-"

Her ramblings were cut short when he reached for her, squeezing her hand lightly, wincing as he did so. She stopped mid sentence and just looked at him, with eyes the size of saucers and that was when he realised it; she was truly terrified of losing him. Beth now had a few stray tears leaking from her eyes.

"Hey.." He said softly, brushing his thumb over her knuckles. "C'mere.."

She nodded snd moved so that she was tucked up into his side, looking up at him. He swiped the remaining tear away with the pad of his thumb and put his arm on her waist gently. "I'm sorry. I ain't going anywhere, Beth." He said, kissing her forehead, his limbs still shaking slightly.

"I can't lose you, Daryl. You don't understand how much you mean to me." She admitted, her face flushed. He smiled slightly, Daryl knew Beth wasn't lying, she was always so sincere. He felt his heart swell at her words and just held her tighter. He decided that he would never be apart from this girl, even when the group reunited he would stay near Beth Greene.

Beth moved slightly, getting io from the bed. "I'm just gonna get your antibiotics, you feeling better?" She asked.

Daryl nodded and added "Don' get me pills Beth. I don' need 'em"

Beth sighed. "Yes, you do Daryl. You need to recover, I need to be sure you're okay." She said, smiling at him shyly. He knew that she was concerned; he tried to cover up his fear at the fact that later on he will probably experience severe scorching pains in his muscles and bones as they shift around in his body. He had these shifts the previous time and he knew that he had to prepare for them later on tonight. He wouldn't tell Beth that though, she would just worry even more than she had to. He just had to get as much sleep as possible so that he wouldn't lose sleep tonight.

"Naw, I ain't sick." He paused for a moment "S' a wolf thing."

Beth appeared perplexed as she processed what he just told her. She turned around to fully face him. "What?"

"You heard."

"Yeah but Daryl, What wolf thing?" She asked, quoting his earlier words.

He seemed to be struggling with his words. "If I haven't turned in a while, It ain't good fer me- ta hold back I mean." He stuttered.

"So you don't have a virus? Why have you stopped turning, Daryl?" It was hard for her to process this information.

Daryl shook his head no. "I haven' turned since the farm" he said before mumbling something else, barely audible.

"What was that last part?" Beth asked.

"I didn' wanna hurt ya, Beth. We ain't supposed ta be friendly." Daryl said, bowing his head.

Beth moved closer to him. "Daryl, you saved me, twice. And you still protect me and I know you always will. If you were dangerous I don't thunk you would have saved me. You're still you and you gotta stay who you are, not who you were." She whispered, squeezing his shoulder reassuringly.

"S' not jus' that. When I see ya when m' in ma other form" he was chewing his thumb nervously, clearly out of his comfort zone. "I want ya jus' as much an' I don' wanna hurt ya."

She giggled and grinned at him. "You're so cute, Daryl."

He scoffed and grunted "I sure as hell ain't cute."

"You think you'll hurt me because you want me and... I don't know... want to... Mate with me?" She asked smiling at him brightly. "I trust you Daryl. You would never hurt me. You turn when you need to."

Daryl smirked at her. "Ya sure?" He asked, his eyes searching hers.

"Yes Daryl, I promise. Now you need to rest and get better. I'm going to go and try to start that fire in there" she motioned towards the door with her hand. "Do you need anything?"

"Naw."

Beth had just reached the door and was turning the handle when Daryl called out. "Beth?" She turned around to look at him, tucked into the bed. She thought he looked really adorable like this, but she would never admit that to him.

"Stay..." He spoke, softer than he usually did. She stepped around the bed and peeled the blanket back off of the mattress. Beth removed her cardigan and removed her jeans and put some jogging bottoms on before slipping inside of the cool material. She moved close beside Daryl again and lead on her side; resting on an elbow so that she was looking at him. He reached out and placed his hand back onto her hip, feeling the silk soft skin there.

"How long have you been like this, Daryl?"

His eyes snapped up to hers and he rubbed his fingers over his stubble; in thought. "Fer s'long as I can 'member." He shrugged.

"So you were born like it? That's amazing." She said, gazing up at him.

"Nah it ain't. Jus' got used ta it."

"I'd love to be like you, Daryl. I thinks it's a gift and it's special." She said warmly. He gave her a half smile before closing his eyes. She looked at him like he hung the moon and stars and he knew that he didn't deserve her but in this moment he couldn't care. He was selfish for it but he needed Beth Greene, she brought him out of the dark and he didn't think he could survive without her.

"'ve never met anyone like you, Greene." He smirked. She grinned at him and rested her head onto his chest.

Eventually Daryl's breathing evened out and he was snoring softly. His chest rising and falling rhythmically with each breath and it calmed Beth. She stayed with him like she said she would. Daryl had to recover and she wanted him to rest as much as possible until he was himself again.

Beth woke up when it was dark; the moon was full and high in the sky at this point, shining in through the window. She was no longer lead on Daryl's chest; his side of the bed was empty and being that she had awoken to a noise, she started to panic. She could hear a soft thudding sound and got out of bed, in a bra and jogging bottoms, grabbing her sweater as she quickly walked down the stairs to where the sound was coming from.

She was surprised to see Daryl curled into a foetal position on the floor in the middle of the dim, candle-lit room , breathing rapidly, in a lot of pain. Beth all but ran over to him and crouched down next to him.

"Daryl! What's wrong?" She said frantically.

He looked up at her, trying and failing to hide his pained expression. There were streaks of tears on his cheeks and some brimming In his eyes.

"Beth- Ya need- ta go…" he managed out, panting heavily.

"No! What's wrong?"

"S' Nothin'"

Beth scoffed. "Daryl, this isn't nothing! What's Happening to you?"

"S' ma bones an' shit.. Told ya I haven' changed in a whil-" he was cut off by what looked like some sort of seizure in his body, shaking there was a loud crack and his back started shifting in weird non-human ways. More tears escaped his eyes as he cried out in pain, breathing heavily as sobs wracked his form. Beth had never seen him in such a state. It brought tears to her eyes. She wiped them away as they blurred in her eyes. She wiped them away and traced her hands over his skin.

"D- Daryl, W- what do I do?" She sobbed. "I don't know what to do!" She cried.

As his tremor passed, he turned slowly to look at her, still panting. "Go. Ya need ta go." He choked out, but she shook her head.

"I'm not leaving you Daryl." She replied.

He felt another sharp pain shoot through his limbs as he shifted in and out. Scared he would kick out at her he snapped at her through the unbearable agony "Beth jus' go, I'll hurt ya!"

"No!" She shifted so that she was sat on her knees on the floor and moved his head gently so that it rested in her lap. "I'm staying with you."

"Beth-" he coughed out before she cut him off; gently placing her fingers on his lips, silencing him. She started to stroke his head, still crying softly because she knew how much this was torturing him. Beth wanted to take some of his pain away, she felt physically sick at the thought of how much pain he was in right now; he had been through so much today already. She just held him as strongly as she could, absorbing some of the discomfort.

Glancing down at his fists that were clenching and unclenching, Beth noticed that he had clenched them so tight that he drew blood on the centre of them, at the joints of his fingers and palms. She gently opened them up and looked at the scarlet coloured blood that was much lighter that normal human blood dripping onto his tanned skin. It glistened and Beth gathered that it was due to him being a wolf; it looked oddly beautiful. Beth was fascinated and swiped the liquid with the pad of her thumb. Still glittery on her thumb now, she had a sudden urge to taste it. As her eyebrows knitted together, she brought her thumb to her lips and tasted it. Surprisingly, it tasted sweet, almost sugary. Not the usual iron taste that human blood possessed.

Beth just continued to hold him all night, bushing her hands over his skin and hair as he experienced the tremors running through his body. She brushed his tears away, metaphorically taking his torment away as he cried out here and there from the pain.