Bethy Week Day 3: Numb
Daryl tried to wiggle his fingers but found that while he could see them moving he could not feel them at all. They had long since gone numb from the pressure of the sleeping form over his arm. Raising his other, and thankfully still movable arm, Daryl brushed a strand of long blonde hair off of Beth's peaceful face. The look on her face was the reason he did not wake her up or move her off of his arm, despite the numbness of his fingers. He could not remember the last time he had seen her look so calm and Daryl could not bare the idea of being the one to drag her from it.
The sky around them began to lighten and Daryl knew that soon he was going to have to move her off of him anyway. As it was Abraham, who had replaced Daryl on watch, had already seen their compromising sleeping position. Well truthfully it wasn't that compromising. Beth was simply curled into his chest and using his arm as a pillow. But to Daryl it felt that they might as well make a neon sign to show the others that there was something going on between the two of them.
Or at least Daryl felt like there was.
He had realized that he had more than just friendship feelings for Beth Greene the day that they had holed up in the funeral home where he almost confessed those very same feelings to her. Before he had a chance she was taken from him. With her gone it was like his whole body had gone as numb as his hand was at this moment. He woke up every morning not remembering that she was gone, it was like a stab in the gut every time.
Upon being reunited with her the feeling returned to his body so painfully that he actually thought about crying, he only just managed to hold it together although he did have to tuck his face into her tangled hair for a moment to gain control of himself. Daryl was shocked to realize that his feelings for her seemed to have only grown stronger in her absence.
Beth was not in any position to be told about them of course. She refused to talk about the people who had taken her or what had happened other than the fact to say she had gotten away and they would not be coming after her again. Daryl did not have to guess at what she meant by that. The first few nights she had been with them he noticed that she never once closed her eyes to sleep. She just lay a foot from Maggie and stared off into the woods as though waiting for something to jump out at her.
It seemed as though his numbness had passed over to her.
One night Beth gave up on the act of being asleep and joined him on watch where they sat in a silence that felt much more companionable then when they had left the prison together. Daryl did not have the words to help her but Beth did not seem to need anything from him but his company. Soon after that at nights after Maggie fell asleep Beth would come and lay next to him, where he was relieved to notice that she was beginning to get some sleep. In the daylight she was becoming the same Beth as she used to be, only a bit tougher, a bit stronger than Daryl remembered. At night, however, the terrors she had lived through always seemed to make an appearance.
Daryl did not know when or how she started to curl her body against his when she slept but never once did her push her away. Every morning when he woke up she was already awake and usually trying to scrounge up some food for the rest of them .Daryl did not know if anyone but Abraham knew where Beth slept at night. So far he had not said anything about it, merely giving the two of them knowing looks at times.
Daryl heard stirring coming from behind him but he assumed it was just someone shifting in their sleep. Beth moved a little at the sound, curling her body closer into his and wrapping her arm around his waist. He sucked in a surprised breath at that. He was always the one who held Beth, she had never held him before.
He was so shocked by this change that he did not hear the footsteps approaching him until he heard Abraham cough loudly. Daryl looked up in surprise to see Maggie staring down at them with sleep clouded eyes.
Daryl felt the urge to push Beth off of him even though Maggie had already seen them. He also felt the urge to reassure her that it wasn't what it looked like but found he could not find the words.
He wanted for it to be what it looked liked.
As such Maggie and him simply stared at each other for a few seconds in silence until she whispered, "You're good for each other." before turning her back and walking away.
Daryl let out a sigh of relief as his head fell back down onto the dirt. Beth's arm clutched him tighter and Daryl welcomed the numbness of his fingers if it meant he got to hold her.