The gray light of dawn should have caused Beth's features to blur together, to become bland and muted into the background like it did with most everything else but it didn't. Even before the first rays of the sun hit the horizon Daryl knew that they could shine nonstop for days and still never come close to being as bright as her.

As if she could feel his eyes on her(but really these days when weren't they?) Beth turned to give him a small smile before signing him their signal for heading back to camp. They had already caught three squirrels, a large catch these days, and it had been hours since any game had crossed their paths.

Still Daryl found himself shaking his head, his fingers taunt on his crossbow as he tried to muster up his courage to ask her the question that had been dancing through his mind for weeks.

Of course he had been trying for the last week to actually ask her so he didn't know why this morning would be any different. His ears were tuned in to every sound around them; waiting for the growl of a walker, an animal crashing through the underbrush, or one of their companions voices to interrupt them as had become custom during these rare moments of quiet with just the two of them. But as Beth closed the small distance between them the only sound he could hear was the soft sound of her footfalls.

One of his hands dropped from his bow to slip into his pocket where a small golden band rested. He had been carrying this ring for six days, ever since Abraham had caught him lifting it off of the dresser of the house they were scouting. The two of them had their differences and the man never knew when to shut his damn mouth but that time it seemed that he did. He hadn't breathed a word of it to anyone as far as Daryl could tell but he had noticed the older man looking at Beth's finger with an increasing look of exasperation.

Daryl didn't care, as long as he didn't say anything about it he could be as exasperated as he damn well pleased.

Beth stopped in front of him and the first rays of sunshine crossed over the horizon adding a orange glow to the trees behind her. "Are you okay?" she whispered, her small hand cupping his chin as he nodded erratically.

Just do it already. Daryl's mind yelled at him before calling himself some names in a voice that sounded more like Merle's than his own. He swallowed his fear and forced himself to remember that this was Beth. This was the best thing in his life and he needed to take this chance to tell her that before something decided to screw it up again.

He dropped to his knee before he could let himself think it over any more. Beth let out a gasp of surprise, more at his sudden movement than his position on the ground he assumed. Daryl struggled to pull the ring from his pocket before he spared one last look around them for any dangers.

Now that the moment was actually happening he wasn't going to let any damn thing interrupt them.

He reached for her hand and she gave it to him with a smile as he held the ring up for her to see. Beth barely glanced at, her eyes glued to his in wonder.

Daryl had never been the best with words and he found that every speech he had struggled to write for this moment had suddenly fled his brain. But Beth was looking down at him so expectantly that he simply let himself say the first thing that popped into his brain.

"I love you." Daryl mentally chided himself, he needed to give her more than that. She already knew that. "You give me hope." he swallowed hard as he thought of what to say. Beth was looking down at him with her wide blue eyes and while he knew she would never expect some eloquent proposal from him that was what he wanted to give her. "You make me a better man. Make me want to be a better man."

The words would have once made Daryl feel stupid for admitting out loud but in that moment all he felt was her hand in his. She was still smiling which Daryl took to be a good sign but his knees were growing stiff and he didn't know what he was supposed to do in this situation. He found himself desperately wishing he had asked Rick for suggestions when the next phrase rushed out of his mouth.

"This world may be shit but together we can make our lives it into something worth living."

He hadn't thought her smile could widen but it did and Daryl found that the small fear he had had about her saying no was fleeing. Part of him wanted to say something else but the dampness of the ground was soaking into his pants and Daryl knew that this gift of a calm moment wasn't going to last forever so he rushed the last part of it out in nearly one breath.

"MarrymeBeth."

And then she was nodding, three little letters passing through her lips. "Yes."

As Daryl slid the ring up her finger he didn't think any word had ever sounded so sweet.