It's a week before he works up the courage to kiss her.
It's not that he fears rejection. He knows... he thinks he knows, how Beth feels about him, that she's just as deep into this as he is.
But part of him feels that things like this, they should be done right. The right moment, the right place - he wants to be able to give that to her. He struggles with it though, to know how he can possibly give her everything she deserves. It's been years now since he's been with a woman, and even before the turn it wasn't like those encounters were romantic, were anything but brief and quickly forgotten. He doesn't know how to do all this, how to be something to someone, how to be her somebody. But he's going to try, oh god is he going to try.
It's not like she expects it, he knows she doesn't, knows she'd be fine with it if he was just to walk up one day, plant one right on her lips and that'd be that. It's him that wants to do better, wants to do right by her, so he hesitates and fumbles while she waits patiently for him to get up the nerve.
Nobody's commented on their new sleeping arrangements to him yet. He's not even sure if any of them know except for his flat mates and hers. He'd expected Maggie at least to come up to him when she found out, asking what he was doin' in her little sister's bedroom, but Maggie's not even side eyed him over it. Seems happy enough whenever she sees the two of them together, which they mostly are.
He's not worried about being subtle, doesn't want to hide it from anyone, doesn't think there is anything to hide. So he sticks by her side when they're assigned to work detail together, always sits beside her during their communal dinners, and follows her back to her apartment without fail once it's time to sleep.
How could he not once she'd granted him a taste of it, of what it is like to rest with her secure in his arms, to wake up with her face the first thing he sees? They've remained perfectly chaste despite their shared bed - he won't put his hands where they're not wanted, and he needs that reassurance from her before he can even try.
But a kiss, he knows they're both ready for a kiss, knows that he's been working his way up to it since the time he found her, that maybe she has too.
He's been thinking and planning, but when it finally happens he's not prepared for it at all, hadn't known that he would kiss her until he actually leans across and does so.
It's been a hard week. Morgan has picked one of the nearest towns as his first clearing project, one of the bigger towns in the area that actually has a Walmart, relatively untouched due to the walkers roaming around inside.
Beth, Daryl and Glenn had volunteered to help him set up traps, knowing that the extra supplies can't hurt the community, that maybe there'll be some luxuries as well as essentials there that everyone could do with. They can think of that now, from behind the safety of walls, they can focus not just on surviving but on making a proper life.
And so they've been working to get things into place, setting traps and clearing as they go. It's been hard work, both physically and mentally, and they've earned this afternoon off, to do exactly as they please.
He follows her through the woods, her footsteps light, quiet, as she places her feet carefully to avoid rustling leaves or disturbing tracks. Beth holds the compound bow in front of her, alert and ready for when they find their prey. He couldn't be prouder than he is right then, watching her. She has a quiet confidence in herself now, a surety that she knows what she's doing which can only come from having made it on her own. While he was losing himself on the way to Alexandria, losing pieces every which way, she had been finding herself instead, beginning to understand exactly what she can be.
Daryl knows that Beth's tough, thinks she's tougher than he'll ever be.
Maybe that's the way it had to be, that she had to lose them all before she could find that strength in herself. Maybe that's the way it had to be, but he's never gonna let it happen again, never gonna let her too far out of his sight if he can help it. She might have found her own strength, but just as surely he's realised that she's his, that he can't do without her.
He pauses when she does, waits while she aims the bow and fires, the bolt easily bringing down the rabbit they've been tracking. Beth turns to give him a victorious grin, and Daryl nods in acknowledgement, his lips quirking upwards before she turns to retrieve her prize.
"You were right, Greene, you really don't need me now." Daryl comments, his mind turning back to long ago conversations.
He's expecting a flippant response, but Beth stops in her tracks before she even reaches the rabbit, turning around to face him.
"You know that's never gonna be true," she says softly, taking a step towards him. "It wasn't then and it isn't now. You know that, don't you?"
He know what she's trying to tell him, what they've been hinting at to each other over the past week without ever actually saying the words.
"Beth.." He tries to begin, but it's difficult to get it out, and there she is standing in front of him, stepping into his space, and it's suddenly the easiest thing in the world to lean down towards her, and with one shuddering breath, to touch his lips to hers.
He's not sure if she's been expecting it or not, but at the very moment that he hesitates, pulling backwards to check that it really is okay, she's surging forward, her right hand reaching up to the back of his neck to push his head back down to hers, her lips soft against his and then parting, inviting him further in.
He'd forgotten that there could be such a feeling as this, or maybe he'd never known it to begin with. He knows that he's awkward, that he doesn't have much idea how he should be taking things or where he should put his hands. He fumbles, putting.a hand to her hip, then doubting himself, and moving to pull it away. Beth grabs his hand, placing it back upon her hip again, and pulls herself back to shake her head at him.
"Don't think too much, Daryl." She tells him, and he surrenders then, the permission that he's been looking for finally received. He clutches her waist then, his fingers slipping beneath her shirt to dig into her skin, his other hand coming up to tangle in her hair as he kisses her once again. He keeps it slow, almost reverent, as she bends to him and he to her. There's no hurry, even though the afternoon light is slowly fading, and there could be danger lurking nearby. He finds himself thinking of all the ways he still wants to kiss her, of lips trailing down her neck and the soft sighs she might give.
When they break apart, Beth leans against him, tucks her head underneath his neck, and he can practically feel her smiling. He wraps his arms around her, and brushes his lips against her hair before resting his cheek there.
"I've been waiting for that," she tells him, "I've been waiting so very long."
He holds her tighter.
They come back with two rabbits, slung over his shoulder, and she reaches out and takes his hand as they approach the apartment building. He understands what she means by it, that she wants the others to know, that she wants to show that they've become something more to each other. It would take a stronger man than him to refuse her, and he finds that he actually doesn't mind at all. He's hers, isn't he? Hers to do with as she wishes, and if she wants the others to know that she's his, then nothing could make him prouder.
There's no comments when they arrive that way, hands still clasped, though Michonne gives him a pointed look, and Ash smirks. For the rest of the evening they remain as they are, her hand in his, and when they settle onto the floor to eat their portions of the rabbit, she curls up against him, tucked into his side.
He can spot Carol watching them then, with a soft smile on her face. Maggie seems thoughtful, while Rick pretends not to pay them any mind. The only person who seems upset by the development is Eugene, who mutters under his breath and avoids them both for the rest of the night.
Nothing changes, the earth doesn't shatter, and as simple as that they've become a unit in the eyes of the others, in the same way that Maggie and Glenn are. He wasn't sure what he'd expected - that someone might object, that they'd think he wasn't good enough for her, that there would be some awkwardness once it came out in the open.
He should've known that their family wouldn't be surprised. The way that he'd mourned her, it must have been obvious that he'd loved her, obvious that he would've preferred to die in her place. Just as Beth had been waiting for this, perhaps the others were too, waiting for when they would work things out.
And so he lets himself enjoy it, to enjoy these moments that he's finally earned. Beth isn't overly demonstrative, maybe she guesses how that would embarrass him, or maybe she's shy herself, but they limit themselves to hand holding, and her head leaning on his shoulder, until it's time to sleep.
Once they've moved to her bedroom however, it's a different story. His lips are upon her almost as soon as the door is shut, one hand reaching to pull her closer, the other caressing her cheek, knuckles brushing softly over the scar there. There's no urgency, and he allows himself to linger over her, kissing her slowly, deepening it as she parts her mouth, a small sigh escaping.
He doesn't think he's ever kissed a girl like this before, is surprised at himself that he even knows how to. There's something about Beth that encourages it though, that makes him want to learn her as thoroughly as possible, to take his time in knowing exactly how best to please her.
He's hard and aching, but he knows they're going no further tonight. Even if she were to encourage it he wouldn't, not until they've had time to properly process all this, not until he's absolutely certain that she's ready.
So he parts from her, pulling back so that he can look down into her face, his hand still upon her hip, his thumb absentmindedly rubbing circles there.
"I've never been kissed like that before," Beth tells him, her eyes filled with what he thinks might be wonder.
"Me neither," he admits, "I ain't never kissed anybody like that before, ain't never wanted to."
He tugs her backwards until his legs hit the bed and he sits, spreading his knees apart so that she can stand between his legs. Daryl keeps his hands on her hips, fingers slipping beneath the edges of her shirt to rest against the smoothness of her skin. He keeps his touch purposefully light, his thumbs caressing lightly up and down, but he can't miss the slight shiver that runs through her.
Beth leans down and kisses him, sweetly, oh so sweetly, one hand cupping his jaw, while she runs the other through his hair, lightly caressing his scalp. He leans into her touch, unable to stop the sigh that escapes his lips. It reminds him of a long ago dream from when they were on the road and he believed her dead, of her voice singing him to sleep.
Pulling back, he brings a hand up to grasp one of her wrists, bringing it to his lips to kiss the inside of it, and tilting his head to look up at her.
"Reckon I'm about the luckiest man left alive." Daryl tells her, and her lips quirk in a smile before she bends to kiss him once more. He knows that it's true, knows that in one of those strange twists of fate, he could never have had this if the world as they knew it hadn't ended, if everything they'd been through from that time to now hadn't happened, no matter how bad it was.
"This is us from now on," Beth replies, "This is how we'll live, and no matter what happens, we'll have each other."
It's as close to a declaration of love as either of them is ready for, and for a moment he stares at her, unable to move. He's still holding her wrist and he tugs it closer to him once again, this time pressing a kiss to her palm.
"C'mon, best get some rest before Morgan has us busting our backs again tomorrow." He grouses good naturedly, and releasing her, bends down to undo his boots.
When they're both ready they climb into bed, and with a gesture, Daryl indicates that Beth should turn her back to him, scooting closer once she's done so, his body pressed against hers, his hand warm against her stomach as he nuzzles her neck.
A year ago he could never have imagined himself in such a position, would never have realised the comfort that could be had from such closeness. He's avoided physical touch for most of his life, unable to reconcile it with what he'd known of love and pain, but Daryl also knows that at the same time he'd craved it, hungered for it, burying the desire deep inside him where he wouldn't have to acknowledge it. He's been starved of any type of affection ever since he was a boy, and now that he has it, has her, warm and willing and full of so much love that he could drown in it, he intends to have his fill. He might not be comfortable enough to show it in front of the others, but here in their own room, in this quiet space that is theirs alone, he'll allow himself to do just what he wishes.
"Sing somethin'," he murmurs into her shoulder, before placing a kiss there. There is a moment of silence as Beth thinks before she begins, choosing her song carefully, and then her hand tightens over his where it lies splayed across her stomach, and she begins.
" 'Twas in another lifetime,
One of toil and blood,
When blackness was a virtue
And the road was full of mud
I came in from the wilderness,
A creature void of for,
'Come in,' she said, 'I'll give you shelter from the storm..."
A/N: a big thank you to the reviewers, particularly to Natercia and CITigerfan who I couldn't reply to! If you have enjoyed this then please do leave a review :) Not too long to go with this story now, I'm estimating maybe three more chapters though I'm not certain!