This chapter took a long time. I had to do some research about the way the Qualifications work in America, and writing the skating bit was a real pain, I gotta tell you. I finally have some free time so hopefully I can update a bit faster. I can't promise anything, but I'll try :) Thank you SO MUCH for reviewing and following and for all the love, it means the world
The weeks leading to the Qualifications flew away fast, or at least it seemed to Beth.
Maggie had left, after a visit that turned out to be almost a week long. Beth didn't like speculating, but she secretly thought that the fact that her sister's date with Glenn had turned out to go much, much better than both of them expected had something to do with it.
Maggie had promised to come see the competition together with their parents and Shawn, and that made Beth feel a bit more confident.
In order to qualify for the National Championship, Daryl and Beth would have to place fourth to first in the regional competition, and then make the top 4 in the Sectionals. This year New England Regionals were gonna be held in Connecticut.
Beth didn't wanna say it out loud out, but she knew that the real competition wasn't at the qualification rounds. If she were still skating with Zach, she wouldn't even have to do the Qualifications, having earned the right to a spot after making the top 5 at the previous nationals. Considering the level that she and Daryl were at, if they didn't mess up really bad there was no way they weren't gonna go to National: their routines were World Championship level, after all.
Because of this rule, Amy and Shane were already qualified, and so were Rosita and Carlos and all the other main competitors. If on one hand Beth was glad of having more time to perfection their program before they competed against the bigger names, on the other she was eager to prove herself against them.
The Long Program was ready, and it was by far the best she had ever performed in her life. She was confident that she and Daryl could achieve great things with it, and although Daryl hardly ever expressed his opinions, she could tell that he thought so too.
All they had to do now was compete.
The choice of their costumes had been way harder than Beth expected, and Daryl was to blame entirely for it.
He had rejected pretty much ANY costume that they had presented to him, sending Carol and Beth on the edge of a nervous breakdown. In the end, he had decided to wear black for both programs, and there had been no way of making him change his mind. Beth was wearing a silver and periwinkle dress for the short, and a beautiful and simple white one for the long, having to interpret the role of Christine Daae.
Three days before they left for the Regionals, their costumes had finally been completed, and Rick had insisted for a dress rehearsal.
Beth had walked out of her locker room with hair, dress, and make-up done perfectly with Carol's help. When Daryl had seen her, Beth had noticed his eyes skimming over her body before turning of a darker shade, and that had sent a jolt of electricity down her spine.
He looked really handsome with his black shirt and black trousers, and Beth noticed how, when he placed himself behind her and put his hands on her waist before the music started, his heart was beating a little faster than usual, and his hands had been stronger on her. She had tried really hard not to shiver at his touch.
She could swear he had shivered too.
Things had changed between him and Beth, over the past few weeks.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, she had made her way under his skin, inside his heart and his mind, and there was no way in hell he was gonna be able to shake her away from him.
The words Maggie had told him, fast and whispered, when she had stopped him on their way to the rink still echoed in his head loud and clear, as if she had shouted them to him instead.
"My sister likes you. You seem like a decent guy, but remember that if you break her heart you're gonna have to deal with me. And I'm not nearly as sweet and nice as she is."
He still didn't believe it, that Beth could like him. Hell, he didn't think he was ever gonna be able to believe it. Beth Greene was the most beautiful girl he had ever met, and she was kind and just so good he almost felt too dirty to touch her.
And touch her he did. Obviously he had to, every single training was becoming like a sweet torture that he never wanted to end, but now he touched her even outside of the ice. He didn't know how it had started, or when, considering he had never felt comfortable with physical contact because of his abusive past. One day, he had just found himself putting a hand on Beth's arm to direct her somewhere, or just lightly touching her shoulder when he was talking to her.
She touched him too, always delicately and with those huge blue eyes looking at him intensely, and he was quickly getting addicted to that. She smelled so damn sweet, and she was just so... so Beth.
Did she like him? It didn't matter. It couldn't matter. Rick would have killed him, and he could already read the news calling him a dirty ol' redneck trying to ruin the life of the innocent blonde. And he wasn't gonna disagree with that: it's what it would look like, and it was the truth.
Jus' too good for ya, lil' brother, Merle's voice rang in his head.
Too fucking good.
The Arena where the Regionals were gonna be held wasn't at its fullest, on that first day. Beth, Dary, Rick and Carol had arrived the day before to test the ice and to do some press duties. Sasha had come with them to make sure they got the best interviews so that their sponsors were gonna be happy about it, and Michonne had travelled with them too, to take care of their bodies and prevent any incident.
They had all had an early night, resting for the first day of competition, and now, here it was. The big moment, the moment of truth. It was make it or break it, and Beth found herself really nervous for the first time since she had gotten here.
She and Daryl were sitting together, warming up in one of the backrooms. Their costumes were on, the make-up ready, and they were going over the choreography with Rick and Carol.
"…And Daryl, remember that after the triple-double combo you gotta be faster so that you and Beth can prepare the lift properly," Rick was saying.
Daryl just nodded. Beth could tell he was nervous too, his first time skating in front of a public in five years. They were both conscious that all the eyes would have been on them. There was an unusual amount of press, and that was definitely because of them.
"You go up in fifteen minutes. Finish warming up and then we have to start going," Rick finished, before going to talk to Carol. Beth knew he wanted to give the two of them a moment together.
She looked at Daryl and took his hand, big and rough, in both of hers, smaller and pale.
He looked at her with such a raw intensity that it took her breath away: he seemed so vulnerable in that moment that she felt her heart clench, and she squeezed his hand tightly.
"We'll make it," she whispered.
He didn't say anything, so she moved one hand and placed it on his face, feeling his rough stubble and his sharp cheekbone.
"Together," was all she said, because she knew she didn't need to say more with him. She knew he got it.
He nodded, slowly, and for a second it seemed to Beth like he was slightly leaning into her touch, and it was his turn to squeeze her hand.
"Whatever happens," Beth said then, because she knew it was now or never, "I'm happy that I'm doing this with you."
He blushed slightly, never ceasing looking at her, before mumbling, "Me too".
Rick reached them then, and her hand dropped slowly from Daryl's burning face. He nodded at her. It was time to go.
When they made their entry the public cheered loudly, but Beth could hear everyone buzzing as well, and it wasn't like she hadn't expected this, but it also made her a bit nervous.
She and Daryl skated towards the centre of the ice, holding hands, and, in a surreal moment of absolute silence and stillness, they proceeded to set themselves in the initial pose.
The music started, with violins exploding right at the very beginning of the song. So did Beth and Daryl, skating in two different directions at full speed, before turning towards each other: Beth skated towards him, he grabbed her waist and, after the preparation, they had their first thrown triple twist, one of the hardest things in their program.
It went amazingly, Beth felt herself flying before Daryl caught her safely in his arms. They kept skating, fast, and soon their triple-double jump combo came. It was a delicate and crucial passage, and once again it went smoothly.
They started a more choreographed part, with Daryl skating with an intensity and a passion that Beth had never seen before in him: it was like he had transformed, and every time their eyes met he looked at her as if he was about to devour her.
She didn't have time to dwell on such thoughts though, because the music was rising and it was time for another triple throw, and this she had to land on her own.
She gathered all her strength and focus, and that throw that had caused such pain during practice went smoothly, and she couldn't hold a smile towards Daryl, skating towards her after she landed.
The worst had passed: now she could enjoy bringing Carol's beautiful choreography to life, and she realised that the public was cheering for them louder and louder with every new lift, or jump, or spin.
She couldn't believe that Daryl, usually so reserved and shy, was skating with such fire within him, but that had just helped ignite her as well: she had never skated with this intensity, and she hoped that her family in the audience was gonna see that.
The music was coming to an end, as the choreography got more and more intense, and she prepared herself for the final lift that was gonna close their program.
Daryl's hands found her as they were skating, and seconds later she was soaring over the ice, and she could hear the crowd roar but all she could think about was how happy this made her: skating, the hard work paying off, but most of all doing all of this with Daryl.
He put her down and it was over.
They had made it.
Beth would have never forgotten the moments after the music ended: the way Daryl had raised an arm, looking almost angry in his celebration while she jumped up and down before throwing herself in his arms. He had kissed the top of her head and held her tightly to him, and she hadn't felt this happy in a long time.
She knew it had gone well. She could tell by Rick's satisfied smile as he hugged them and in Carol's proud expression.
They obviously had to keep perfecting this, but it being their very first competition as a pair and after only a month and a half training together, it had gone amazingly.
Now they were sitting in the booth waiting for their score, cameras pointed at their faces.
Beth's previous best with Zach was a 65, while she knew that Amy and Shane's record score was a 72. She had decided not to think about the Russian couple, Volosozhar-Trankov, whose new Short had scored an astonishing 83 in their very first outing that year.
Sitting there waiting, she felt Rick's hand on her shoulder while she was holding Daryl's- she hadn't let go of it since they had left the ice, and he didn't seem to mind.
He looked at her for a moment and she saw him winking at her with a reassuring nod. Instantly, her nervousness dissipated, and finally their score was announced.
They got a 70, and Beth felt like she was going to cry. Not only it was the highest score in her career, but it was a really competitive one, especially considering that it was likely to get higher. Much higher, if this was what they could get with only a month of training.
Everyone was hugging, the audience was roaring and they were in first place by a mile. Everything was going like in her wildest dreams.
She had never seen Daryl this relaxed, and she realized what a huge burden he had felt before they proved themselves and everyone that they could do this, that he could still do this.
They were all having dinner together at the hotel, since they couldn't properly celebrate: they had the long program tomorrow, and although they could afford to pretty much screw everything up and they still would have made the top 5, they needed to perform as best as possible to see how effective their program was on the judges.
Despite this, the Greene family had been invited over, and they had rented a private room so that they could all eat in peace.
Beth had been dying to introduce Daryl to her parents and brother, and although she could tell he was pretty nervous at the idea, he had acted like a civilized person to them, and she had seen her father nodding approvingly at Rick afterwards.
"So Glenn isn't coming?"
"Maggie, I told you, he's not competing at Regionals," Beth replied, amused, as she and Maggie stood together in front of the big window of the room, while the others chatted around behind them. "Besides, why don't you text him? I know he gave you his number."
Maggie shook her head "I don't know. It seems silly, considering how far apart we live."
"So you do like him?"
Maggie shrugged, but Beth read right through her.
"Maybe," Maggie admitted, before adding "But this thing isn't gonna go anywhere, Bethy."
"Not if you don't do something about it" she chirped, maliciously.
Her sister looked like she didn't wanna have her life under scrutiny anymore, so she turned the questions on her.
"What about you? Are you doing something about… you know who?"
Beth blushed, before shaking her head.
"No. I don't know, sometimes I get the feeling that he… he might like me too, maybe. But then I think 'what if he doesn't?' and if I ruin this… You saw how great we were today. I can't risk losing that."
Maggie sighed.
"I think if you really looked instead of freaking out about this, you would realize that he likes you back. But that's obviously just my opinion, and…"
Sasha approached them.
"Maggie? I have Glenn on the phone, and he wants to talk with you," she said, looking pretty confused herself.
Beth squealed "I KNEW IT!" while Maggie grabbed the phone and quickly made her way out of the room.
Beth's eyes searched for Daryl, and she was surprised to see that he was making conversation with her father.
Quickly, she made her way towards them, and smiled at both of them when she reached them.
"Hey daddy, hey Daryl. What were you talking about?"
Hershel put a hand on her head, stroking her hair before letting it fall.
"I was just telling your new partner how much I appreciate that he decided to unretired just to skate with you. It obviously was the right choice."
Beth looked at Daryl and found him nodding sheepishly and blushing.
"I got lucky, Daddy" she said then, beaming at Daryl.
Hershel left them saying that he needed to talk to Rick about something, and Beth finally had a moment with Daryl since the competition.
"We were pretty great today" she began, and he finally looked a bit less uncomfortable. Hershel could be intimidating.
"Yeah, we were. Y' did great, Beth," he mumbled, clearing his throat, eyes on the floor.
She took his hand for a second and forced him to look at her.
"You did great too. I really love skating with you, Daryl."
The tips of his ears turned red, and he didn't say anything for a minute, his eyes constantly falling on their joined hands.
She started to drag him towards the others, but he pulled at her hand.
Beth stopped, turning towards him curiously, and she could feel her heart thumping in her chest.
"Me too," he murmured.
I hope you enjoyed the first competition! Soon enough we'll start meating the real competition, don't you worry :) I know Daryl and Beth are very slow, but I always figured their romance would be a slow burn! :) If you want to, add me on tumblr francescadb! I would love to be friends with all of you lovely people :)