12 Days of Bethyl

Day One: Gift

Daryl Dixon was a lot of things and Beth Greene took an exorbitant amount of pride in knowing she was one of the very few people who knew just how complicated of a person he really was.

Daryl was smart(but quietly so. Many people looked at him and saw a dumb redneck and he knew it. He tended to keep his intelligence quiet until it was needed), he was kind (if he liked you of course. Lord help you if he didn't), he was funny (even though he claimed he wasn't), he was brave (so so brave. Beth could still feel his hands as he shoved her out of the way of the bullet Dawn had fired that should have ended her life), he was attractive (well everyone could see that but Beth liked to point it out because everyone else only got to look while she got to touch), and as Beth had recently learned: Daryl Dixon was impossible to Christmas shop for.

She knew it did not help that he had never truly had a Christmas. Certainly not before the turn and not really even after. Sure they had had a small Christmas at the prison but Beth had not been in charge of picking out Daryl's gift that year. She couldn't even remember what he had gotten or who gave it to him. She could not bring herself to ask the others for ideas as she began to spend every waking moment trying to pick something out for him.

It also did not help that Christmas shopping now was nothing like it used to be. She could not drag Maggie and her mother (perhaps even Shawn if she had good enough dirt on him) through department store after department store looking for a gift for her boyfriend. The word boyfriendstill sent tingles up and down her spine even if it didn't feel like a strong enough word for the bond her and Daryl shared.

No their version of 'shopping' today was joining the run teams to find something (or asking someone to pick something up for you if you were lucky enough to be close to a runner) or making something yourself. Beth knew three people on three different run teams. She knew that Glenn would grab whatever she asked him to with only a little teasing and Michonne would as well, she wouldn't even tease her just give Beth that knowing smile she loved to cast at Daryl and her. Abraham would, well Beth didn't really know what the red haired man would do. He never seemed to follow her expectations He would likely be her last resort if she ended up getting her gift from the run team.

Beth was crafty, she always had been, she could easily make Daryl something. The problem was that he wasn't the crafts type of person. She had even considered writing him a song but she would only able to perform it for him on occasion and the only guitar at ASZ still had broken strings (Glenn was looking for new ones everywhere they went but so far no luck).

No, Beth wanted to give Daryl something lasting, something he could hold onto if something ever happened to her. When something happened to her. Beth had already had one close call the day she had left that awful hospital, she knew all to well how short life had become.

Finally two weeks before Christmas Beth gave up on what she had always thought was her secret skill, her superpower. She always knew how to find people the perfect Christmas gift. The skill had worked for everyone else in their group but it seemed as though Daryl Dixon was her kryptonite.

The man in question was currently shaping arrows and sitting beside the fireplace of the home they shared with Maggie, Glenn and Tara. Beth could still remember the shocked looks on the group as they moved in together, even though they weren't even sharing a room. Well, usually. Beth huffed out a sigh as she sat down beside him on the couch and crossed her arms, mildly irritated that she was going to have to do this.

Daryl cast her a look out of the corner of his eye. "What's the matter Greene?" he drawled rather unconcernedly. He knew her moods to well by this point, knew she wasn't actually mad about something and just annoyed. He just didn't seem to know the annoyance was at him.

Because of course she was annoyed at him. It was his fault she was going to have to break her nineteen year streak of never having to ask this question out loud. Beth knew it was a silly thing to be upset about just as she knew it was in no way his fault but it had been one of the very few things left from her life before. It was for that reason that the question came out through clenched teeth, "What do you want for Christmas?"

Daryl blinked and simply stared at her for a long moment. Beth bit back a groan because of course he had to make this hard for her! Couldn't he just say he wanted arrows or a book or something so she could go find out a way to get it and not have to sit here with her shame?

Her superpower was over, she had lost.

But it seemed Daryl was going to make it even harder for her because he merely shrugged and turned back to his arrows.

"You ain't need to get me anything."

Beth stared at him open mouthed, watching as he turned back to the sticks he was painstakingly shaping into arrows for his crossbow. She had not expected that answer because of course she had to get him something! Its what people did when they were safe, its what she did. And even if she wasn't the gift giving type she thought that girlfriends were always supposed to give their surly older boyfriends presents, especially ones who had already said that they had never really gotten presents in their whole lives. That answer was simply…

"Unacceptable." Daryl looked up at her with a crinkled brow and Beth blushed as she realized she said the word aloud. To hide her embarrassment she quickly elaborated. "I have to get you a gift Daryl."

She did not bother to tell him that she had to get him the perfect gift. She had to get him a gift that would make up for all the years he never got anything. Beth knew he would not want her to think like that, would not want his past to be tainting her holiday, but she couldn't help it. She needed to get him something spectacular.

He was still just staring at her with those deep blue eyes not saying anything. Beth jumped to her feet, standing before him with her hands on her hips. She just wanted to do something nice for him, to give him new memories of Christmas to help replace the bad ones but it seemed Daryl didn't care about that. She simply had to get him something but Daryl didn't seem to see it that way.

Beth was just about to tell him that if he didn't give her any ideas she was going to get him numerous presents in the hopes one would be the right thing when he carefully placed the arrow down on the floor by his feet.

"What would I need a gift for?" Daryl finally grunted, reaching up to place his hands above her own on her hips. The last bits of lingering annoyance drained out of her at his touch. Beth opened her mouth to tell him she had to get him a gift, that it was just what she did, when Daryl suddenly pulled her down into his lap.

Despite her lingering sadness at the loss of her superpower Beth couldn't help giggling as Daryl wrapped his arms around her waist before resting his head in the crook of her shoulder. His lips brushed against her skin and her heart began to beat faster as he whispered, "I've already got you."