I really love this chapter and I hope you love it too! Thank you everyone for your reviews on last chapter, they made my week much better :)
Beth couldn't fall asleep that night. She was finally back home, a gold medal around her neck and a ticket to Sectionals, but the adrenaline still hadn't left her tired body. The long program had exceeded all expectations, awarding them with a 123, an unprecedented result in her skating career.
With her mind, she kept going back to that amazing moment when the music had stopped, and she had realised what a performance they had just delivered.
She had turned towards Daryl, and his eyes were burning, full of passion and hunger, planted on her face before he roughly grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him in a bone-crushing hug.
Despite all the amazing events of that day, that was the moment that was making her lie in her bed still awake at 4 a.m., her mind playing it over and over again looking for something she herself didn't know what it was.
They had to wait for tomorrow morning to read the first articles about them, but Sasha had excitedly showed her the twitter feed and the youtube comments about their performance, and people had loved it.
Everyone was praising the chemistry between them, and the noticeable improvements in her performance. Everyone was incredibly surprised at Daryl's performance, too, calling it the 'comeback of a lifetime'.
Of course, there were comments made by the supporters of other couples that made a horrifying read, especially those made by Shane and Amy's fans, still mad at Daryl for what had happened with Andrea, but Beth didn't care at all.
Nothing could make her care about that when Daryl's eyes were still burning in the back of her mind, an electric blue that was as hot as fire.
Once again, she wondered what it meant, but had no answer to her unspoken question.
The day after the competition, Beth and Daryl were greeted by fans, waiting for them outside the ice-rink.
It had happened to Beth before, with Zach, especially after the big competitions, but she wasn't expecting such a response in such a short amount of time.
She had signed autographs and snapped pictures with everyone, and she was still outside when Daryl had parked his truck next to her car.
Beth wasn't sure how he was gonna react to this: he was a really reserved person, and she had noticed how he didn't like being touched by people –for some reason that didn't include her, and he often initiated casual touches between them,- and he definitely hated the attention.
She looked at the young girls waiting for him excitedly and hoped he could make an effort for them.
His eyes darted over the scene with their usual observing look, and he seemed to debate with himself before he slowly made his way towards Beth and the fans.
Beth beamed at him, and he gave her a small nod before taking pictures with everyone who wanted one, Beth turning into a photographer for the occasion and encouraging him to smile, only gaining glares from him, or better, failed attempts at glares.
When they finally made it inside, Glenn was the first to greet them and congratulate them, followed by Jacqui and Karen.
Beth slipped a note in Glenn's hand. It was a note from Maggie. She hadn't read it, but she was dying to know what it said, and from Glenn's blush and dreamy smile she guessed it was good news.
"Can I just say, I didn't expect your date to lead to this?" she told him, a playful nudge to his shoulder.
Glenn shook his head, incredulous, telling her "I didn't either, trust me. No one expected this less than I did."
Beth grinned at him, lifting a hand in the air and giving him a high-five.
"You obviously must be great at first dates, Glenn Rhee. I must get you to teach me one or two things," she laughed.
"Stop it!" Glenn laughed, a hand on the back of his head as he blushed, embarrassed.
Rick entered the building in that moment, looking perplexed to find everyone still at the reception.
"So one win and you decide it's time to stop training?" he asked, but he was smiling, scratching his short, well kept beard.
He finally looked more relaxed, Beth noticed, and she smiled at him when he put a hand on her shoulder.
"I know I'm repeating myself, but I'm really proud of the two of you. It can only get better from now. We got a month and a half before Sectionals, let's make the most of it."
Oh, Rick. Ever the motivator, the leader. Daryl nodded at him, and Beth smiled at both of them. And just like that, they were back to practicing.
"Do you miss it?"
He turned around, looking at her inquisitively.
"Georgia. The wild. Do you miss it much?"
They were eating their lunch alone, sitting on a wooden picnic table in the park that was just a few minutes away from the rink. The leaves were bright orange, and he had to admit that autumn in New England had a whole different charm to it.
She had asked him to go with her, told him she liked to eat outside every now and then, and he had agreed to go with her. Hell, he couldn't have refused her if he had wanted to.
That slip of a girl had managed to tame him. She had started with smiling at him, talking to him, holding his hand. The touch of her cool hand on his cheek before their short program was still very much burning on his face.
He was a surly, bad tempered man but he turned into putty in her hands. Let her touch him, let her pet him, let her talk with him instead of to him. As much as he tried to save the appearances, it was fucking obvious.
"Yeah. Miss bein' alone in the woods."
He did, there was no denying it, but the truth was that when he was with her he didn't miss it as bad. He actually found himself wanting to take her in the woods with him, one day. She looked like the kind of girl who would have hated it, but he knew better than holding prejudices against her. He had in the past, and he had been damn wrong.
"I miss Georgia too. We should go back together some time. I'd like to see your house in the wild," she said with a sparkle in her big, blue eyes.
His heart clenched in his chest, and he cursed himself for allowing his mind to believe that she could feel for him the same thing that he felt for her.
"It'd be nice," he just muttered, without looking at her.
Lori had called him out on it. He knew she had noticed it immediately, since that first dinner they had together at the Grimes. He suspected that Rick could see it too, and Maggie had sensed something after only a couple of days.
But Lori had been the only one with enough guts to call him out on it, to try and get him to fucking talk about his feelings.
He hadn't denied it. He knew Lori knew better than that, and there was no point in trying to deceive her. He hadn't confirmed it, either.
It had happened one night after training. Lori had come to pick up her husband, and Daryl was still at the rink. He was just about to leave, but Lori stopped him on his way out, while Rick finished some paperwork before he could leave. That man had always a shit ton of paperwork, Daryl couldn't even comprehend how the hell that was possible.
Lori had started chatting with him, and she had invited him for dinner, like she did every time she saw him. He had declined, too tired to make the effort to be civil during dinner and not wanting to be rude.
"The programs are looking amazing, Daryl," she had told him then.
He had just nodded, and grunted something as a reply.
"You and Beth really do have amazing chemistry together. I couldn't picture it at first, but when I saw you skating it just was so beautiful, the way you two just seem to find each other."
Daryl really hadn't known what to say then, starting to feel really uncomfortable.
Lori had just smiled at him, putting a hand on his arm.
"It's okay to like her, you know. We all do. I know you always think you don't deserve good things, but Daryl: you do."
He had just stood there, dumbfounded, staring at the floor and stealing an occasional glance to Lori's dark, warm eyes. She looked serious, and kind.
"Look, all I'm saying is… don't give up before you've tried."
And with that, she had walked away, giving him one last smile.
Her ankle had started hurting again.
It was a mild pain, barely there, but it was getting constant and Beth was terrified. She hadn't told Rick or Daryl yet, but she had decided to go to Michonne and get herself checked.
"I think you overdid it, preparing two programs in such a short amount of time. Not to mention the fact that Daryl is much stronger and taller than Zach, which puts more pressure on your ankle every time he throws you on the ice."
Beth nodded, feeling tears prickling her eyes. Michonne was looking at her seriously, but with kindness in her black eyes.
"It's not bad. The results of the rays don't show anything abnormal," she said, trying to calm her down.
"So… what do I do?" Beth asked, nervously.
"You slow down a bit. Whenever you feel like it's starting to hurt abnormally, you stop. And no throws for at least one week."
Beth sighed. She really wanted to rehearse more and prepare for sectionals, but she didn't have a choice.
Daryl hadn't taken the news well, and Beth knew that no matter how hard she tried to get it into his thick skull that it wasn't his fault, he was gonna keep feeling guilty about this until the end of time.
Their training that week, after she had delivered the news, hadn't been going well, mainly because Daryl was so nervous and snappy.
She wasn't sure what to think. Athletes always had physical problems, she wasn't the first and she wasn't gonna be the last, but Daryl always seemed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders, and she could see him eying her ankle with worried looks every single time they did something that wasn't walking on the ice.
On Friday afternoon, she couldn't take it anymore.
They were in the middle of a routine when she realized that he was basically keeping her from skating, practically holding her above the ice every time it was possible.
She exploded.
"Daryl, we can't go on like this," she had snapped, facing him.
"What're ya talkin' bout girl?" he had replied, sounding ready for a fight.
"I'm talking about you treating me like I'm gonna break!" she didn't wanna raise her voice but she couldn't help it. His behaviour in the past few days had pushed her buttons and she couldn't hold it in anymore.
"An' what's gon' happen if ya break your ankle, huh? That's on me!" he was shouting back now, and Rick started moving towards them as if he wanted to separate them.
Beth wasn't scared though, not when she could see so clearly that the person that really was scared was Daryl. He was terrified.
"Daryl…" she started, a softer quality to her voice, reaching out for him like she always did now.
"No."
He jerked away from her touch and she flinched. He turned around and left, ignoring Rick's shouts at him to come back.
She had flinched. Just for a second, but she had. And in that moment, she reminded him of when a brisk move from his dad could send chills down his spine, freezing the blood in his veins. He remembered how he would flinch in his presence.
And he had made her flinch.
He had scared the one person that had managed to tame him, that had started to breech that damn wall he had so meticulously built.
He knew he was fucked the second he started to let her light shine through the breeches she had opened in that wall, and sometimes he wished he hadn't let her in at all, 'cause now he cared about her and with caring came the pain too.
Like seeing her flinch when he had jerked his arm away.
She had to hate him, now. He knew the moment she finally realised he was nothing, a nobody, just a stupid redneck asshole, would have come. He had prepared himself for it, but he found himself wishing it had come later.
What happened to someone after they had been tamed, if the person who had tamed them left? Did they went back to feral, or did they stay tamed, forever waiting for that one person to come back to them?
He didn't knew. He didn't fucking know any of those things.
All he knew was it was too late to go back to pretending he didn't care about Beth Greene.
She hadn't gone home after practice had ended so abruptly. She couldn't, not after seeing the hurt and the fear in Daryl's eyes that afternoon. Not when she knew that maybe she could do something about it, help him overcome some of it.
She hadn't driven immediately to his place, wanting to cool down a bit and to really think about what she wanted to tell him.
Now it was dark outside, and she was making her way to the apartment he had finally decided to rent a couple weeks ago. She felt her heart beating in her throat, but she wasn't scared. Daryl could never scare her.
She rang the bell and waited patiently for him to come open the door.
When he did, he didn't say anything for a long moment, his eyes scanning her intently in search of something. Slowly, he stepped aside and let her in.
His apartment was simple, but it smelled like him, like pine and spices. She walked to the centre of the living room, and then she sat down on the couch.
"Come sit with me" she said, softly, feeling strangely calm.
After a second, he obeyed, his head hanging a bit low, as if he felt ashamed of something. When he was beside her, Beth slowly but firmly put two fingers to his chin, raising it so he was looking at her.
"Take my hand," she said, offering him hers.
He was staring right into her soul, never for a second letting go of her eyes, and he took her hand in his bigger one. She squeezed it and stroked his palm with her thumb, slowly, as she spoke.
"Daryl, I need you to stop carrying everything on your shoulders. I need you to stop thinking that you're gonna hurt me, cause I know you'll never do that to me. You are a good person, Daryl. I trust you so much. But you can't take it all on you. It's not on you, it's on us. We're in this together."
He was looking at her intensely, and she could swear she felt him release a tense breath, as if he was finally letting go of some of that fear.
"I know you worry about me, but you gotta remember that I worry about you, too, and I can't stand seeing you take everything on yourself to keep the responsibility of everything off my shoulders. I can handle it. I want to handle it. Let me carry it with you."
He didn't say anything. His eyes were glistening a little, and he was almost shaking with every breath he drew in.
Beth did what felt the most natural to her in that moment: she let go of his hand and gently linked her arms around his neck, burying her face in his neck and hugging him tightly, rubbing his back soothingly.
He let her. He was stiff at first, and then he just melted under her hands, letting out ragged breaths and holding her back, tightly.
She couldn't help but think Daryl didn't get many hugs, but she definitely needed one, and she wanted to be the one giving it to him.
Because she was in love with him. She was in love with this beautiful, stubborn, rough and incredibly kind man, and she wasn't gonna let him sabotage himself anymore. Not under her watch.
I really hope you enjoyed it! I'm going home for Easter break for a month, so I hope I find some time to write from there, but updates might be a bit slower! We'll see about that! Please review if you liked this, it honestly makes my day :)