I'm SO sorry about the long wait. This days are really messy and stressful and I'm focusing on not having a meltdown. I'm so humbled and grateful for all the reviews for last chapter, and although I'm having a rough week I hope this doesn't disappoint too much Thank you so much for reading!

They were halfway through training that morning when Michonne showed up.

Beth really liked her, even though the physiotherapist used to intimidate her quite a bit at first, with her firm voice and falcon-like eyes. Getting to know her better, though, she had learned to really appreciate her, not only because she was great at her job, but because she was a good person.

"Short Program's looking good, Rick" was the first thing she said after the music stopped and the skaters and coach noticed her presence.

"You like it?" Rick asked her, giving her a hug.

She nodded before looking at Daryl and staring at him for a good moment. He seemed uncomfortable, but he held her eyes.

"You" she addressed him "Didn't you think that maybe after years of inactivity it would have been a good idea to get yourself checked?"

Daryl shrugged, but Beth knew Michonne wasn't gonna have none of that.

"I want you to come and get yourself checked today after training" she said, an authoritative tone in her voice that didn't leave much space to a negative answer.

Daryl grunted something that Michonne interpreted as a yes, but the woman wasn't done.

"That counts for you as well, Beth. It's been almost three weeks since your last check-up, you know you need more than that, with your ankle especially"

Daryl's head snapped towards Beth, and she knew she was in trouble.

"What's with your ankle, girl?" he asked, barely managing to hide the nervous edge of his voice.

"Nothing. It just… A couple years ago I had an accident during a throw and sometimes it hurts a bit" she said, voice small.

"An' you didn' tell me?!" Daryl sounded pretty mad, as his eyes darted from her to Rick, who didn'd dare looking at him.

"It's nothing major…"

"Y' didn' think I wanted to know last week when we tried all those throws?" Daryl snapped, looking more and more menacing.

Beth didn't know what to say, so she just looked at the ground mumbling some apologies.

Michonne was looking at them with one brow arched "It seems like you all need to talk. I'll see you tonight. Both of you."

Once she had left, Rick took a step towards Daryl.

"Look, Daryl…"

"Let's train" was all he said, grunting.

He turned around, and headed towards the ice.

The training had been a disaster.

Apparently, Daryl was a pretty emotional skater, because when nothing had seemed to work once he was pissed off.

The choreography was sloppy, the throws ended up with Beth falling more than a couple times, which seemed to piss him off even further.

By the end of the day Rick was exasperated, and sent both skaters to Michonne's earlier then they should have gone.

Beth didn't know what to do, she understood that Daryl's anger came out of concern, but really she didn't think it was such a big deal: nothing had happened to her and nothing was going to happen either, under Michonne's care.

Now they were both sitting in the waiting room, early, and the silence between them weighted a thousand pounds. Beth didn't know what to do, but she knew she hated conflict and she had to do something about this or she was gonna go crazy.

She couldn't accept Daryl not talking to her after all the progress they had made.

"Daryl?"

No reply.

"Daryl. Are you not gonna talk to me until the Olympics? Cause that's a long time of not talking, you know"

Still nothing, but she could see his eyes glancing towards her a couple times, although his face was unreadable.

"Daryl, please"

"How could ya think it wasn' important t'tell me ya have an injured ankle?" he asked, and she could sense the anger in his voice.

"I know. I'm sorry. But my ankle hasn't given me problems in a long, long time. I just thought-"

"Well ya thought wrong."

He was looking at her now, fully turned towards her.

She probably should have been scared, or at least intimidated, but in fact she felt like she wanted to smile sweetly at him. He was so outraged that he hadn't been informed, and it was all out of concern for her: in fact, she thought it was kinda cute.

She timidly smiled at him.

"I'm sorry, okay? Besides…"

"What?"

She thought really well about what she wanted to say. It probably wasn't gonna help her deal with him, but she felt like it was something she needed to get out.

"Besides, it's not as if you've told me everything about your past as a skater."

The moment the words left her mouth, she saw how much of a bad move that had been, from the way his blue eyes flashed. Still, she didn't regret it. She trusted him, but she didn't want him to keep secrets from her. Not secret this big and that could affect her deeply.

"That's none of yer business, girl" he hissed, through bared, gritted teeth.

"It is though. You know it is. You know they're gonna ask about it at the press conference, and I won't have any idea what to say. And I wanna know, Daryl. I wanna know what happened."

Without saying a word, Daryl got up and moved to leave. He was almost out of the door when he turned around, a deadly cold stare in his eyes.

"I thought ya said ya trusted me."

His voice was icy, and Beth felt the cold flow through her as well. And she felt guilty.

Sure, she wanted to know, but maybe he wasn't ready. They barely knew each other, after all. She was a nobody to him.

All the feelings she had while skating with him, her stupid crush, none of it entitled her to ask anything about his life. They weren't friends, he didn't owe her any explanation.

She got up, panic rising into her and blatantly audible in her voice.

"Daryl, wait, I didn't mean-"

But he was gone.

The Rolling Stones were blasting in Daryl's hotel room.

He was so fucking pissed right now that Mick Jagger's voice was really all the human contact he could stand.

First, Beth hadn't told him about her ankle being a delicate spot for her, and, Christ, wasn't that something he should have known before putting her at risk by throwing her on the ice with new strength and speed and height?

He had been so damn worried that day, and it could've ended with tiny Beth Greene fuckin' destroying her ankle because of him.

What the hell was she thinking? And Rick, too.

But he was gonna forgive her.

Sitting in Michonne's waiting room, she had said sorry and given him that tiny, sweet smile that made her baby blues look bigger, and he was a goner.

Butterflies or whatever the hell that was that he felt in his stomach and all that.

But then.

Then she had said that thing and he felt like such a fucking moron.

He had believed her when she had told him that she trusted him. For the first time in his whole life he had really believed it. When he was with Andrea, she was always waiting for him to screw up, like he eventually had, but when Beth Greene, with her sweet smile, had told him that she trusted him, he had believed her.

It scared him just how easily he had believed it was true, especially now that he knew it wasn't. Hell, had he been fucking wrong.

But she had been there, all smiles and big eyes and sweet smell, telling him she trusted him and he had fallen for it like a damn idiot.

Being with Beth was easy, as easy as breathing. She was kind, and smart, and beautiful. She had never treated him like some sort of wild animal she had to tame, and there was no denying that he liked her, at least to himself.

Skating with her was exciting, but being in her presence was a blessing he knew damn well he didn't deserve. Which was probably what she had realized herself, deciding he wasn't to be trusted.

He was so absorbed in his messy thoughts of Beth, that it took him a while to hear the pounding at his door. Rick was probably mad at him for skipping Michonne's check up, but he didn't give a shit. Rick was not in the list of his favourite people right now. No one was.

He opened the door, ready to tell him to go fuck himself, but in front of him was little Beth Greene.

For a moment, he was surprised that such a small girl could pound so loudly on the door, but then again, Beth was much stronger than she looked.

"I'm not leaving until we get through this" she announced, and she looked so cute trying to be determined.

Daryl shook his head: how could he be mad at her and find her cute at the same time? How the hell was he supposed to win this?

Without a word, he let her in, 'cause he knew from the start there was no way he was gonna be able not to.

He closed the door behind him and stared at her, crossing his arms in front of him and reminding himself that she had told him she trusted him when it was a lie.

Beth stared back at him, from the other side of the room, looking calm and determined.

"We need to talk about things, Daryl. You can't just storm off whenever you don't like something" she began, and her patient tone was stupidly irritating.

"I can do whatever the hell I want, girl."

"Stop calling me girl! You never have before and I don't like it. I'm not just some girl, and I'm your partner, so we need to deal with this things."

She was starting to get mad as well, but he wasn't gonna budge, no matter how tempting it sounded.

"One hell of a partner ya are" he said, sharply.

"Daryl, I'm sorry about the ankle. I know I should have told you-"

"Hell yeah ya should have!"

He didn't mean to raise his voice, but he couldn't help himself. Immediately though, he feared he was gonna scare her, just like his dad used to scare him when he shouted.

If she was scared, though, she didn't show it. She waited a second, and then she continued.

"I'm also sorry about the way I said that thing about your past." He opened his mouth to say something, but she continued "However, I am not sorry for wanting to know."

She took a couple steps in his direction, and he felt himself tense, his heart beating faster for no particular reason.

"I want to get to know you Daryl. And I mean really know you. We're partners now, we are a family. And being part of a family means we tell each other the things that matter, and I think that knowing the reason why you quit matters."

Beth was almost in front of him now, looking at him fervently, and Daryl felt himself holding his breath.

"It's okay if you don't wanna tell me yet, though" she said, quietly. "I'll wait."

And just like that, he believed her again.

He was gonna fucking hate himself for it in the future, he knew that, but he just couldn't help it. All his life, he had been really good at calling bullshit and recognize when people lied to him. Hell, he had been lied to all his life. But he just couldn't help thinking that Beth Greene was different, maybe because she was.

He didn't know what to say, so instead, he nodded slowly, never letting his eyes look anywhere else but her.

She seemed relieved, and she blushed a little when she realised how close she had gotten during her speech.

Clearing her throat, she took a step back, and started fidgeting with the straps of her bag.

"So, uhm… I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Gotta make up for today's shitty practice" he heard himself say, and she smiled.

God, it had to be the most beautiful smile in the whole fucking world, and it was there just for him. Suddenly, he realized all he wanted was to get her to smile for him again, and again, and again…

"I'm surprised Rick hasn't ditched us yet" Beth said, with a giggle.

He felt the corners of his mouth pulling, he felt like he wanted to smile, too, with her.

"Nah. We're his only chance. Man's stuck with us."

Beth nodded, and after a second she started walking towards the door.

She was about to leave, but she turned around and, her blue eyes looking right at him, she murmured:

"I hope that one day you can trust me, too."

And with that, she disappeared, leaving him staring at the door like an idiot for five good minutes, trying to make sense of it all.

So! A lot of Beth and Daryl in this chapter! Next we'll have the Press Conference, then Maggie's visit and then the Qualifications! Exciting times :) If you liked it please review! It'll cheer me up during this stressful times xx