Daryl Dixon had been insistent that the last place on earth he had wanted to be that night was inside that haunted house in town, but Dale had insisted (damn near demanded, honestly) that he joined the rest of the guys on their escapade to the annual attraction. He had finally, and reluctantly, agreed to accompany his boss and coworkers. It wasn't that he didn't like the people, he had just abhorred the idea of walking into a dark place and letting people jump out at him for fun. He simply didn't understand why anyone would find entertainment in such a thing.

That was how he had found himself walking cautiously through a dark house, alone, having been separated from the people he'd come with. He wasn't sure if he should be thankful or not. Some of the men had screamed louder than the teenage girls that entered before them. He continued into the next room after peering around the doorway to make sure there wasn't anyone waiting to jump out at him, when /she/ ran into the room, barely avoiding knocking into him.

Daryl knew the girl, of course he did. He wasn't sure there was a person in the entire town that didn't know Beth Greene. Whether she was your neighbor, a friend, friend's daughter, or she was simply that sweetheart who'd stopped you on the street to make sure you'd been having a good day, you knew her somehow. Daryl wasn't sure she'd have it any other way. In his case, she was the adorable blonde neighbor who had insisted on befriending him because "everyone needs a friend, Daryl, and I'm gonna make sure you have at least one!" He didn't mind her near as much as he thought he would.

"Hey Beth?" Daryl muttered quietly, as if she'd startle and run if he was too loud. Beth whirled around to face him. Even in the dark he could tell she was scared, and for some reason, he just wanted to make that fear go away. The thought shocked him.

"Oh goodness, Daryl, its just you." She slumped with relief and took a step towards him.

"Yeah, 's just me." He said. Beth jumped and reached down to grip his hand tightly when the speakers above their head started back up with their scary music. Music that was, in his Daryl's opinion, not scary at all.

"Sorry." She breathed, but didn't let go of him. "Will you help me get outta here? Maggie made me come with her and Glenn, but I lost them."

"Ain't much more rooms anyway, I think. Jus' this one then one more if the layout down here is the same as upstairs." Daryl shrugged and moved across the room.

Beth was at his side still clinging to him, not that he minded. He squeezed her hand back as they left the last room, more than happy to have gotten out of there without incident.

He took a deep breath of the cool fresh air, thankful to breathe something other than the sweaty, fog-filled atmosphere of the house. He glanced over at Beth, noticing that all the tension that she held herself with had disappeared when they left, and he was glad for it.

"Thanks for that." Beth smiled up at him like he'd hung the moon and stars for him, blue eyes shining brightly, and Daryl felt his chest constrict. This girl was going to be the death of him.

"'S nothin'." He grunted, dropping his gaze from hers, and looked at their still-intertwined fingers instead.

"Its not nothing, Daryl. It was real sweet." She said softly. "Thank you."

Daryl snapped his gaze back to hers at that. "You best not tell anyone I ever did anythin' sweet. I got a reputation, you know."

Beth giggled and he smirked when she nodded.

"You wanna go grab a bite to eat?" Daryl offered, not quite ready to let her go.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'd like that." Beth grinned. With that, they started the trek across the town to the local diner, chatting and holding hands as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Suddenly, Daryl wasn't so against going to haunted houses, especially if it resulted in having Beth Greene at his side, smiling brightly, smiling at him.