Wow, so chapter 7 seemed to be a success! I'm glad you guys liked it and thank you all for the reviews, follows, and favorites! I've been sitting here listening to music and I've watched "Still" and "Alone" at least twice so here's what I got. Hope you like it.
Well, well… Look who it is... Officer Friendly.
Rick brushed his way passed Eugene and stopped in front of a laughing Daryl. He noticed Beth behind him and a body covered completely in a sleeping bag next to the fire.
"Just the three of ya?" Rick asked his guard not fully down.
"Ya, just us. Man, where the hell have ya been?" Daryl punched Rick in the shoulder as he questioned. "And who all's with ya?" Beth walked up and took Daryl's hand, hope flashing brightly in her eyes but her face was steeled and cold. Daryl noticed she was preparing for the worst. Rick grinned and turned around. Daryl glanced over at Father Gabriel who was just poking his head out of the sleeping bag.
"Clear." Rick waved his hand to the tree line and three bodies emerged first. A redheaded man and a small dark haired woman came up and stood behind Eugene. They kept their guns ready as if they were protecting his guy. Carl came up behind Rick and caught a glimpse of who they were in front of. He ran over to Beth and pulled her into a tight embrace and shook hands with Daryl. Daryl smirked at the kid.
Next to appear was Sasha and another dark haired woman they didn't recognize. Bob limped closely behind Sasha, his hand on her hip. Beth waited for anyone else to come out. She hoped for Maggie or Glenn but they never emerged.
"Just the eight of ya?" Daryl asked. Rick shook his head.
"Michonne is just behind us."
Daryl looked over at Beth and saw the light drain from her eyes. She smiled and hugged Rick, Sasha, and Bob and introduced herself to the rest but he could tell her heart was breaking again. "Hey preacher, get yer ass up an' meet our guests!" Daryl shouted over the voices. Gabriel sat up with his cross clutched tightly in his hand and extracted himself from the warmth. His eyes darted hesitantly over the people and Beth and Daryl caught his fear and smirked to one another. He was happy to see that smirk.
"Carl and I got out after the fall and met up with Michonne a few days later." He pulled Daryl aside, out of ear shot and Beth watched them from the other side of the camp like a hawk. "We met up with the others at this place called Terminus. They promised sanctuary for all those who were alive. Maggie and Glenn were there. They met up with Eugene, Abraham," He pointed to the redheaded man, "and Rosita" The smaller dark haired woman with the combat Barbie outfit on, "And Tara." Rick didn't need to point to her. "Turned out to be a trap. We were caged for about a week. They took Glenn and Maggie and we attacked. We got out but lost sight of them. We think they're alive but we have no idea where they are. They do know where we're headed so we're hoping they follow." Rick concluded.
"What was up with those people? They still out there?" Daryl asked, his hand gripping tighter on his gun and wishing he had his crossbow on his back.
"We think they were eating people. We didn't kill them. There were too many. We just got out and kept moving. Eugene, over there, apparently knows how to stop this shit. We're going to DC with their group." Daryl rolled his eyes as he studied Eugene from the firelight.
"Ya really think mullet man knows how to make the world right again?" Rick shrugged.
"What about you?" He asked pointing to Beth as he did.
"We got out together. Was just us for a while then…" He paused and ran a hand down his face. "We were in a place, got overrun with walkers an' Father Hero over there took her. Tracked her for weeks an' finally we found each other. Been headed north for the last month." Daryl didn't feel like going into every detail but his mind thought back to the night at the moonshine still, the funeral home, the feelings she inspired in him that kept him going. That wasn't Rick's business.
"That it?" Rick raised a brow at him. Daryl nodded. Beth walked over and reached for Daryl. He obliged without question and took her hand only to keep Rick's brow up.
"Yea, that's it." He responded. Rick nodded. Beth looked at Rick with pleading eyes.
"Have you seen Maggie?" She begged. "The others wouldn't say anything." Rick looked to Daryl who only nodded. He took his hand from hers and wrapped it around her waist as Rick retold their story to her with more detail. Beth's body never faltered, her face never gave as if she would cry. She accepted what Rick said and turned to Daryl with an appreciative smile and walked over to Father Gabriel. Daryl heard her ask him to pray for her sister, something Beth hadn't asked of him since they had been traveling. She was searching for her hope and he knew it.
"She's changed." Rick said. Daryl only grunted in response. There was a whistle from behind them and Rick's head snapped as he realized Michonne had caught up. "Clear!" His voice was hushed as he shouted. She made her way through the tree line with her hand on her sword. When her eyes caught Daryl's she dropped it immediately and walked over to him with a large smile.
"I knew the redneck would survive." She mumbled as she pulled him into a hug. Daryl laughed and muttered something about how impossible it is to kill samurais.
"Let's save the rest of this for in the morning. We need to keep quiet before we attract any walkers. I can take watch." Rick offered. Michonne nodded and headed over to Carl and gave Beth a quick squeeze of her shoulder. Daryl stopped him.
"Nah, Beth's on watch tonight. Ya'll sleep."
"She up for it?"
"She heard ya'll before I did. She's fine." Daryl muttered and walked back over to her. He pulled her up from Gabriel and told her what the plan was for the night. She smiled to him, nodded, and sat back down where she had been before the others had arrived. Rick didn't protest at the idea of sleeping and if Daryl trusted her, he would to. She obviously wasn't the same girl from the prison and the girl from the farm was long since dead. Rick told his group to set up camp and get some sleep. They'd all talk more in the morning. Within ten minutes everyone had a spot picked out and the camp was quiet. Daryl walked the perimeter of the camp before heading back to Beth and lay down with his head in her lap again. She laughed as he tossed his tattered sheet over his body again.
"We really need to find you a new one." She whispered as she played with the tears over his chest.
"Ain't worried about it." He brought his left arm up to rest on his forehead, obviously too much going through his mind to sleep. "Ya alright?" He asked.
"I'm ok." Her voice was hard but her eyes were bright in the firelight. She wasn't but he wasn't going to press her while she was on watch.
"Ya need me to stay up with ya?" She shook her head and ran her hand through his hair. He nodded and closed his eyes and tried to sleep.
When Daryl awoke a few hours later Beth's hands were still playing in his hair. Her eyes darted around the tree line and would fall on the embers in the fire and the bodies surrounding it. He watched smiles rise and fall from her lips but he never saw sorrow. She was trying not to fold in on herself. She didn't realize he was awake until he reached up and touched her cheek.
"You still have at least another hour. Go back to sleep" She whispered as her hands never stilled. She looked down at him and back up and around several times.
"Need ta piss. See ya soon." He whispered as he sat up and walked away. He noticed as he walked just to the edge of camp that it was earlier than they both thought. The darkness was fading and light was breaking through the trees. He took a moment to take in the view. It was quiet and peaceful. This was usually his favorite time of the day. Before the turn he would wake every day before sunrise, when he wasn't passed out drunk, to sit in the woods and watch the bright orange orb rise into view.
He turned back to camp and noticed that Beth wasn't sitting where he left her. His eyes scanned the camp and the only activity was Rick sleepily walking around and keeping watch over the rest of them.
"Rick, where'd she go?" Daryl asked as he approached.
"She said she needed to sit by the lake and asked me to tell you she'd see ya soon."
"Shit" Daryl muttered and ran off towards the lake. He didn't know why but he felt a sense of fear at her just wondering off like that. He was sure she was armed but something didn't feel right. He picked up his cross bow as he ran through the camp with Rick hot on his trail shouting for the rest to wake up.
Daryl heard him and turned and stopped. "No, I got this." He growled and halted Rick in his place and turned back towards the direction of the lake. He was there in less than a minute and noticed her sitting there, next to a corpse, just humming softly. She stopped and turned when she heard him come up on her.
"The hell, ya just get up an' ran off. Ya scared me." Daryl admitted without shame.
"I'm sorry. I just needed to get away. When you left I started to feel like I was suffocating." She reached up and grabbed his hand and pulled him down next to her.
"An' sittin' next to a corpse was yer solution?" He grumbled as he sat down next to her on the bank of the lake. She looked over at the man Gabriel had described and shuddered. To be honest, she wasn't sure why she had sat here.
"You remember that night at the shack?" She asked avoiding his question. He nodded thinking about how just a few hours ago he had thought about that very night. "You told me you were used to things being shit. That it was just the way you're life had been. I told you that you had gotten out and you asked me to remind you of that every now and again." He nodded again wondering where she was going with this. "I think I need you to remind me, too."
"Yer life wasn't shit." His voice was soft and gentle as he brushed his hand over her shoulder and behind her neck.
"No, I know. It wasn't. Now, there is nothing but death and sorrow. We have most of our family back but all I could think to do was run because Maggie wasn't there. All that pain is coming back." He reached over to her other shoulder and pulled her to him. She waited until she was nestled up against him before she continued. "I think I need you to remind me to not shut down when things get bad. Last night, while you were asleep, I thought about how easy it would be to turn in like I did at the farm and how you did after the prison. But then I remembered the promises we made to each other when it was just us. And I realized I didn't know how to keep those promises now that everyone was falling back together."
"Nothin' has'ta change." He murmured into her hair. "I told ya I'd keep ya alive. Ya just needed to tell me how. Don't stop at walkers an' murders, ya know. 'Sides, they know where we're goin' an' they could be headed there." She lifted her head from his shoulder and smiled at his words and his thoughtfulness.
"Thank you." She whispered with a weary voice.
"Ya need to rest. Watch took more out of ya then it should have." He tried to pull himself up to help her back to camp but she wouldn't let him leave her. He gave her a questioning look and she smiled.
"I'll see you soon." Her voice was deep and sultry and he knew what she was telling him. She leaned towards him and pressed her lips to his. There was no hesitation in her kiss as she immediately opened her mouth to him. He didn't need anything else as his tongue slipped passed her lips and across her own. They both moaned into the other as his other hand released the crossbow and both hands snaked their way into her hair pulling her closer to him. She her body seemed to burn and she felt like it wasn't enough. She grabbed his vest and used it to pull herself onto his lap, her hips grinding against his as she did. She smirked into his mouth as she felt him gasp. He pulled his mouth from hers and ran a kiss down her neck and her head fell back. His hands dropped from her hair and ran down her back and up under her shirt. His fingers pressed hard into the small of her back and chills ran though out her entire body. She rocked against him as he nipped at her collarbone.
Take her. I've been dying to see what she's like.
"Fuck!" He groaned into her neck and she pulled her face back to his. "I can't." She squirmed a little in his lap silently telling him she could feel that he could. "I can't." He mumbled again pointing to his head. She understood instantly and climbed off him. He sighed deeply and laid back on the grass groaning in frustration.
She lay down next to him; her body curled into this and ran a hand over his chest. "It's ok. When we're safe." She reassured him. She wasn't upset.
"Rest. I'll stay here with ya." She nodded her head and closed her eyes against the rising sun. "I'll see ya soon." He whispered as she slipped into a peaceful, albeit short, sleep.
Michonne stepped back into the woods and walked back to camp with a smile. Rick greeted her before she could get to their clearing.
"Everything ok?" He demanded.
"They are working out their demons. Everything will be fine." Michonne reached out and grabbed Rick's hand and gave him a firm squeeze reminding him that they both had been there. They both knew they could come back.
"I'll give them an hour. If they're not back I'll go get them." She nodded. "I guess we should go get to know this priest." Rick smiled and held Michonne's hand as they walked over to the praying man by the fire.
So, I needed to add a little bit of steam in there because, with most of the group reunited the Bethyl moments will probably be few and far between. Tell me what ya think! And to Cybil2113: Is that what you had in mind?