"I've never…" Beth paused as she thought over her response, chewing on her lower lip as her brow furrowed in concentration. Daryl tried very hard not to stare at her mouth as he waited for her to complete her turn, instead he focused heavily on the beer bottle in his hand.
Alexandria seemed to have a large supply of alcoholic beverages which Daryl personally found to be a very poorly thought out idea. In this world there wasn't very much to stop people from getting addicted to things and offering alcohol freely to whoever wandered through their gates seemed like poor planning. Booze had a never failing ability to bring out the worst in people.
Well expect perhaps Beth, who was now smiling at him across the low table they sat huddled around, her blue eyes shining with drink and merriment. "I've never ridden a motorcycle." she announced proudly, her grin widening when Daryl rolled his eyes and took a sip from his bottle.
"Gonna have to fix that one Greene." he told her, pleased when her smile only grew wider at the idea. Truth be told he missed the freedom of his motorbike, the way the air lashed and pulled at his clothes and hair. He wanted Beth to experience the feeling of damn near flying, that was all. He didn't want to ride a bike with her just so he could feel her pressed close to him, to be the only thing in the world preventing her from a disastrous collision with the road.
"Its your turn." Beth said as she shifted to sit on her knees, leaning her elbows on the table. Her slim fingers tapped tunelessly on the glass bottle as she grinned at him. It reminded him of the night, the night he thought would be the last time he ever saw her, when she played the piano for him.
"Never played a piano." he grunted as he tried hard not to remember the way she had looked so beautiful as she had sang, the candlelight flickering off of her blonde hair, or of what his subconscious had finally brought to the forefront of his mind in that moment.
Beth grinned as she took a sip, opening her mouth to offer a rebuttal when their peace in the room was interrupted by their companions' laughter in the kitchen. Beth shot a curious look over at them before turning back to Daryl.
He cleared his throat and gestured over his shoulder at the doorway to the kitchen.
"Wanna see what's going on?" he offered, hoping very much that she would refuse. Even though they had all been reunited for nearly six weeks, alone time with Beth was a rare and treasured gift. When she shook her head Daryl had to hide his grin with a hurried sip from his bottle. She would rather spend time with him than join in on the raucous laughter in the other room. Daryl tried to convince himself it didn't mean anything but he still couldn't help but feel pleased.
Beth tapped her finger against her lip as she thought and once again he had to force himself not to look at her mouth. Daryl knew how he felt about Beth, had known since that night in the funeral home when he damn near almost told her, but he had no idea how she felt about him. He was sure she could not return his feelings, for why would she? Beth was a pure ball of hope and he was a dirty tainted redneck. She would never want to be with someone like him.
He shifted uncomfortably at the darkening thoughts racing through his mind and took another swig of his beer in an attempt to drown out his brain's sudden self loathing. Beth shot him a worried look, as if she could read his troubles on his face, before she spoke.
"I've never…" Daryl couldn't be sure but it seemed as though her face was reddening as she stared at him. Before she could finish her statement the laughter came closer and their friends began to spill into the room. Daryl stifled a groan as they approached the low table he and Beth sat at.
"What are you two doing in here?" Carl asked with a grin as he sat down on the couch behind Beth. "You should have seen how stupid they're all being."
Daryl snorted as the others all began to protest to one of the two sober people in the room. Daryl shot a quick look at Bob, pleased to see he was still sipping from his glass of water.
"What are guys doing?" Maggie asked as she sat down next to her sister who instinctively scooted over to allow her room at the small table before them.
Beth opened her mouth to answer but Daryl beat her too it, hoping that the others would leave if he put enough roughness in his tone.
"Playin' a game." he grunted, trying to shoot a look at Rick. Of all the people in their group Rick was the only one who had any notion that Daryl might think of Beth as more than a friend. Unfortunately, the man was apparently in a deep conversation with Michonne, their heads tilted close as they talked at the fringe of the group. Daryl fought back a sigh as he looked back at Beth, surprised to see that she looked as disappointed as he felt by their sudden company.
"How'd you get Daryl to agree to that?" Glenn asked with a laugh as he settled down behind Maggie, who leaned back against his chest with a look of contentment Daryl tried very hard not to be jealous of.
Daryl glared at them, more annoyed by their presence than their actual words. "Played before."
"This beer tastes better than that moonshine though." Beth said, she was so busy sharing a grin with Daryl that she missed the look of shock on Maggie face.
"You drank moonshine?" she asked with a gasp, sitting up to stare at her sister. "Bethy, you could've gone blind."
Beth blinked in surprise at her sister's reaction before whispering, so soft Daryl almost didn't hear her. "Ain't nothing worth seeing in this world anyway."
Hearing his words slip past her lips felt like a punch to the gut. She didn't look like she believed them at all but still, he wished he could tell her how wrong he had been. There was still thing worth seeing. As long as she was in the world, there would always be things worth seeing.
Maggie didn't comment on Beth's words, instead she shot a look between her sister and Daryl. Her eyes seemed suddenly accusatory. "This was when you got out from the prison." it wasn't a question but still Beth and Daryl both nodded a bit sheepishly. The room had gone quiet as everyone watched Maggie try to come to terms with the fact that Daryl had apparently been irresponsible enough to let her baby sister drink moonshine in their absence.
"What else did you two get up too? Try some drugs, start some fires?!" Maggie cried, ignoring the placating hand that Glenn placed on her arm as she overreacted. Daryl felt a brush of annoyance that she suddenly thought he would have been so careless with Beth but before he could even defend himself all attention was drawn to Beth who was trying very hard to stifle her laughter behind her hand.
Maggie turned her glare from Daryl to stare at her baby sister who upon seeing the look of disbelief on her Maggie's face abandoned all hope of hiding her laughter.
Daryl fought very hard to keep his features straight as Beth giggled.
"I've never." she finally choked out once she had calmed her giggles down. She shared a small smile with Daryl before she continued. "I've never started a fire."
Maggie opened her mouth to continue arguing but closed it when both Beth and Daryl rose their bottles to their lips and drank. The elder Greene stared at them both for a moment before shaking her head and leaning back against Glenn.
"I don't think I want to know." she finally sighed causing Beth to bite back another smile.
"I do." Carl pipped up from the couch, for once looking as young as he was as he waited eagerly for their story.
Daryl shrugged and mumbled something incoherent as he stood. Suddenly explaining why they burned down a house seemed like a private secret he didn't want to share. He headed for the door tossing back something about going out for a smoke as he stepped outside. Beth could explain the house however she wanted to.
The winter air bit at him as he fumbled the nearly empty pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He still couldn't believe he had been lucky enough to find smokes at all, they were one of the rarest commodities these days.
The sound of the match striking seemed loud in the stillness that was the Alexandria Safe Zone. Even though they had been their nearly a month Daryl had yet to grow used to the sight of houses with candlelight filling their windows. Of streets clear of corpses and debris. The muted sound of his friends in the house behind him just barely reached his ears as he inhaled the smoke deeply into his lungs. Daryl cursed himself for fleeing the room as he had but he didn't want to have to explain to anyone what burning down that houses had signified to him. His past had been reduced to ashes that day and he had felt like a man a drift at seas, clinging to the one thing he had left as an anchor.
But Daryl couldn't keep clinging to Beth Greene forever.
When she had been taken from him he had thought that was it, that was the moment that he would never come back from. He kept going because he did not know how to stop, because he knew she would not want him to. If he hadn't found Rick, the others, Daryl would not have lasted very much longer out there. It wasn't just because of the men he was with, Daryl just found that the routine of living wasn't enough to make him get up each morning.
After he had been reunited with the others things got easier. It gave him a reason to keep going, keep fighting what had always felt like a losing battle. But even after that Daryl couldn't help but feel as though crucial parts of him were missing.
And then they found Beth and Daryl truly felt whole again.
Which of course, was exactly the reason he had never told her how he felt. He couldn't risk losing her, not again.
The sound of the door opening drew him from his thoughts. Daryl cast a curious look over his shoulder, an excuse for leaving the house so frantically already forming on his tongue. He'd been expecting Rick, maybe Glenn, so it took his brain a moment to comprehend that it wasn't either of them standing shivering in the doorway.
Beth stood before the closed door, her arms crossed tight to battle the cold as she gave him a sheepish smile
"I'm sorry about Maggie." she whispered, as attune to the serene silence of the outdoors as Daryl was. "Maggie's just been really over protective since the prison."
"S'alright." Daryl muttered as he put his cigarette out in the small pile of snow on porch.. "Sides thought you missed her bossing you around."
A small sound of surprise caused Daryl to look over at Beth who was staring over at him with wide eyes. "You remembered?" she whispered.
He shrugged, suddenly fascinated with his boots. Sometimes he would forget to hide how much she meant to him and Daryl could tell this was one of those moments. Daryl grunted something about going inside and stepped towards the door but Beth hadn't moved an inch so he stopped a foot from her, shifting his weight unsuredly when she kept staring up at him.
Neither of them said anything as they stood in the darkness, their eyes trained on each other's faces despite how little they could see. Daryl swallowed roughly, certain that Beth could see in his face everything he had been trying to keep hidden. But her eyes were wide and earnest and unless he was mistaken Daryl thought he could see something like longing in her gaze as she looked back at him.
A fluttering of white caught his eye and suddenly a small flurry of snowflakes began to fall down upon them. Daryl opened his mouth to tell Beth again that they should get inside, she didn't even have a coat on, but she was staring up at the sky with a look of pure serenity on her face. He didn't think he had ever seen something so beautiful.
Daryl knew he had to get them inside because if he had to be around her alone for much longer he didn't know if he could stop himself from saying something disastrous. "Beth." he whispered, wincing when his voice came out rougher than usual.
Beth turned her blue gaze back onto him as she leaned back against the door behind her. A small shy smile spread across her face as she whispered. "I've never been kissed in the snow."
Daryl stared at her uncomprehendingly for a moment, maybe it was the alcohol slowly his brain but more than likely in was his proximity to her. The snow crunched under Beth's feet as she straightened and took the smallest of steps towards him, biting her lip once again as Daryl's mind suddenly clicked everything into place.
He took a small step and suddenly there was only an inch or so between them. He wasn't even touching her but Daryl found that he could hardly breath as she stared up at him, the snow falling onto her face. Daryl reached up to brush a flake off of her skin, watching in amazement as Beth's eyes drifted shut as his thumb brushed the flake off her face.
This couldn't be real.
He rose his other hand to cup the other side of her face taking a deep breath of surprise as Beth rose her hands to grip the front of his vest.
This couldn't be happening.
Daryl bent his head down towards hers as the snow began to fall faster around them. Beth rose up on her tiptoes to meet him halfway and suddenly, before he could even fully wrap his mind around the idea, their lips were pressed together.
Even though her lips were cold from the snow it felt as though they ignited a fire within him. Beth pressed herself closer to him and he dropped his hands from her face to wrap them around her waist as her hands trailed up his chest to cling to his shoulders. Daryl's mind went haywire at the feel of her, all thoughts of the cold or of walkers or how he wasn't good enough for her flew out of his brain at her touch. Everything was Beth, there was nothing else.
Expect of course there was because suddenly the door behind Beth was thrown open and the candlelight from inside fell across them. Beth kept her arms around his neck as she pulled away enough to look over her shoulder to see an open mouthed Glenn staring at them.
Daryl felt like he should move, the door was open wide enough that everyone inside the house could see them, but his hands only tightened around Beth's waist as everyone stared at them.
"Its snowing." Glenn finally said as he shook his head. "You guys should come in soon."
"We will." Beth said with a smile as Glenn began to shut the door again. Before the door was even fully closed Beth was kissing him again, her cold fingers twisting into his hair. Before his senses numbed out everything but her Daryl very clearly heard Carl's voice.
"Why are you all so surprised? I've been telling you they were a thing for weeks!"