Bubbles

"But Daryl…we need it."

Daryl squinted his eyes playfully in Beth Greene's direction. They were standing in the checkout line at a local convenience store, and Daryl had just spotted a purple bottle filled with some sort of bubble-bath concoction in their basket. Beth had clearly tried (and failed) to hide it under the toothpaste and shampoo they were buying.

"For what?" he asked her, amused.

"For….for…stuff," Beth didn't seem to have a good answer, "and things.."

Daryl let out a low snort of laughter on proceeded to stick the purple bottle next to the register. Their cashier was smiling at them, waiting.

"Go on," Daryl said, nodding at the cashier. "You heard the woman, she needs it."

"Thank you, my love," Beth said, grabbing his arm and standing on her toes to plant a kiss on his cheek.

Daryl felt his face grow a little warm. He still loved it when she called him that, even though it happened all the time. He had spent his whole life feeling the absence of love, until Beth found him. And finally he had understood what all the fuss was about. It was nice to be reminded that now he belonged to someone.

They were on the second week of their very first vacation together. It was the first vacation Daryl had ever been on in his life. They had decided to do a road-trip of the United States – after Beth had discovered that he'd never been out of Georgia before, she had started making plans immediately. They'd been together for about 8 months at this point, and the going was good. In fact, the going was exceptional. Daryl didn't think his life had ever been better than this.

This week, they had finally made it to the east coast. They had planned a month-long trip – Beth had the summer off because she worked at an elementary school, and Daryl had racked up enough vacation days at the shop to last a long time. They only brought a few things with them in their pickup truck – some clothes, a map, and too many CD's to count. "Any motel room will feel like a 5 star hotel with the right tunes," Beth had said to him when he'd raised his eyebrows at the stack of music she wanted to bring.

And she'd been right. She was always right.

On this particular night, they were staying at a Super 8 Motel in Cape Cod, with a rather beautiful view of the Bass River. They planned to stay a few nights, and had decided to go out to pick up some dinner to eat by the river. On the way back to the motel, Daryl had made the rational choice to pick up some essentials from a local convenience store – the motel only stocked crappy, tiny bottles of shampoo.

When they finally got back to their room, Beth wandered inside to put away their new things, while Daryl remained outside for a quick smoke. The sun had finally set, and the cool air on the coast soothed him.

Yesterday afternoon, when they had arrived, Daryl finally got to see the ocean. It had been a long time since Daryl been to a beach. He had a faint memory of running through sand with Merle as a small child, but it had been ages ago, and he'd never gone since.

He loved the beach. He decided it the minute he saw the water on the horizon. Beth had been sitting next to him in their truck when they first spotted the coast, and upon seeing his face, she'd whipped out her phone and instantly started filming his reaction.

"So you can see how perfect you are when you're happy," she'd explained.

When they finally arrived, the beach was empty – the sun was going down, and they had parked at the side of the road to look at the view. And then, Beth started pulling off her clothes.

"What – "

"C'mon, let's go swimming!"

And suddenly Beth Greene was stark naked and running towards the water, laughing maniacally. Daryl followed after her as quickly as he could. It was the perfect evening. The water was warm, Beth wouldn't stop laughing, and they'd ended the night tangled up together in the back of the truck, still naked but for a blanket, and looking at the stars. Daryl knew a lot about the stars, and he pointed out the different constellations to Beth, who was snuggled up next to him.

As Daryl put out the stub of his cigarette, he decided that last night had been the best night of the trip so far.

He turned to walk into their room, and stopped when he got inside. The smell of lavender was everywhere, and the bathroom light was on. He moved towards the bathroom and opened the door, poking his head inside. And suddenly he was roaring with laughter.

Beth Greene was sitting in the tiny little tub. She had filled it with water and bubble bath, and the bubbles were spilling over the edge. Then, she'd promptly covered herself in bubbles, making a makeshift bubble hat and beard to match. She'd covered her chest in a bubble-bikini.

She grinned at him and scooped up more bubbles, trying to make a bubble mustache for herself. "Hey, babe, how do you like my new look?"

"Hmm," he responded with a grin, "it's good, but you're missin' somethin."

He walked over to the tub and sat down on the edge. He reached over and scooped up a handful of bubbles. Then he placed spot on her nose, and dumped the rest on the top of her head, shaping it to make it look like a cone.

"There ya go," he said with a laugh, "now you're perfect."

Suddenly, Beth got a mischievously glint in her eye.

"Your turn!" she exclaimed, before grabbing him by the wrist and tugging him straight into the tub with her, clothes and all. Daryl spluttered as he fell ass-first into the soapy water – causing a huge splash that soaked the floor.

Beth was laughing hysterically, there were actual tears pooling in her eyes.

"You should see your face," she managed to choke out through her laughter, "that was the best thing I think I've ever se—"

But Daryl cut her off by splashing a huge amount of water at her, effectively wiping off her bubble-beard.

Beth was still for a moment. They locked eyes and grinned at the same time. Suddenly the bathroom was filled with playful shouting as they threw bubbles at each other and splashed each other as fast as they could. Beth was winning – Daryl's entire body was now drenched, including the sopping hair that was now matted to his head.

The bath really was too small to fit the both of them, and after about 5 minutes of their splash-war, there were more suds in the tub than there was actual water. The water had ended up all over the floor.

"We're gonna hafta clean that up…" Daryl noted casually, nodding at the floor.

Beth grinned and plopped a heaping pile of bubbles on his head. "We'll worry about that later…"

And then she was unbuttoning his soaking shirt and pulling it off him, while simultaneously straddling him in the tiny tub. Her mouth was on his in an instant, and he forgot about the mess they had just made. He forgot about everything except Beth and how perfect she was, especially now, stark naked, covered in bubbles, and all his.

She was right about getting the bubble-bath mix. She was always right.

…

I just wanted to say thanks to everyone who has favorited my stories, commented, or started following me! You guys are super sweet and I love hearing your feedback! Thank you so so much!