Author's Note: As always, I wanted to thank all of you who take the time to read and review. I appreciate each and every single comment you leave. This chapter, guys... this chapter... hope you're ready!

"I'm tellin' ya, girl, the answer is none," Daryl groused, feeling his cheeks turn ruddy. "Sorry if it ain't the interesting story y'wanted!"

"Daryl, don't get upset," Beth said soothingly. "I've only had the one boyfriend. I mean, it's not a big deal."

"In case you hadn't noticed, I've got a few years on ya," Daryl said.

Beth shrugged and pulled her feet up onto the chair, tucking them under her. They had been sitting in the living room for a while, just talking, when Beth had brought it up. Well, how many girlfriends have you had? Just so easy, and so innocently, that Daryl knew she meant nothin' by it - but still, it embarrassed him all the same.

"Yeah, maybe you're a bit older than me, but at least you can still find someone," Beth said softly.

"So can you," he replied.

"Well, in the last couple years I've only come across you and..." Beth trailed off. "Not to mention, guys won't exactly be lining up to date me now."

Daryl rubbed his hand on the back of his neck. He didn't know what to say. Of course, he wanted to reassure her; wanted to tell her she was crazy if she thought some guy wouldn't want her just because she'd been... Daryl clenched his fist.

"If a guy couldn't survive in this world," Daryl said instead, "or handle all the shit that goes along with it, then he don't deserve you."

"Why, Daryl Dixon, that might just be the nicest thing you've ever said to me."

"Nicest thing I prob'bly said to anyone," he muttered, looking down at his feet.

Beth played with her bandage - the edges of it were beginning to fray. After he had helped her re-wrap her arm, they had spent most of the day putting up traps along the house. Daryl didn't want to leave if they didn't have to, and the best way to ensure that was getting off his ass and protecting them. With Beth's help, they had been able to almost fully fence the property, though it was far from pretty. As well, there were now a few trenches and traps.

So today they had both been aching and lazy. Breakfast had been spent smothering yawns and talking over their next run into town - what they needed to bring, and what they could carry back if the truck broke down. Eventually the conversation had turned into a game of questions, with Beth at the helm. Daryl hated talking about himself, but he let Beth have her fun.

"So," Beth said cautiously, breaking the silence, "does that mean...?"

"What?" Daryl questioned, not getting where she was going.

"Well, if you've never had a proper girlfriend, does that mean you've never... you know...?"

"Y'asking me if I'm a virgin?" Daryl said, eyebrows shooting up.

"I'm sorry," Beth squeaked out. "You don't have to answer that -"

"Y'know you don't have to be dating someone to sleep with them?"

"I'm aware of that," Beth muttered. "Very aware."

"Shit," Daryl curse. "Beth -"

"No, it's fine. It was an inappropriate question."

"I've had sex," Daryl said uncomfortably, "just... not a lot of it. I'm not... y'know... that guy."

"What guy?'

"The guy that had his pick of women," Daryl muttered. "Christ, don't know why I'm tellin' you this. I swear, if Merle could see me now he'd think you have me totally whipped."

"Yeah?" Beth asked, smile gracing her face.

"You ain't gotta sound so happy about it," Daryl said. "And... those guys... I mean... they weren't your...?"

"No," Beth said blushing. "Jimmy was my first."

Though Daryl was relieved she at least would have some good memories to hold onto, he still felt a gnawing in his gut. He didn't really like to think about Beth with anyone - and Daryl wasn't about to question why.

"Who was your first?" Beth asked, resting her chin in her cupped palm.

"I'unno," Daryl mumbled.

"You don't know?"

"Well, I remember her alright, but I just didn't know'er name," Daryl said, face burning.

"Oh," Beth said.

"We were both pretty wasted. Don't think names ever got exchanged," Daryl explained. "Like I told ya, I wasn't a good guy before all this."

"Being lost isn't the same thing as being a bad person," Beth replied easily.

"Guess so," he said, not wanting to argue with her.

"And if you met someone..." Beth started, "I mean, in this chaos, would you still...?"

"Long as you're not hurtin' no one, I say, you gotta take your happiness where y'can."

"What about me?" Beth asked.

"What? ... you're... Beth," Daryl stuttered, heart hammering in his chest, brain insisting What about her?

"Don't swallow your tongue," Beth said laughing. "I meant, if you met someone... would we be going our separate ways?"

"Beth," Daryl said, palms sweating, "I ain't lookin' for no one."

"But if..."

"Well, if they're gon' be stupid enough to love me, we could prob'bly sneak you in, too," he said, tossing a pillow at her.

"Hey!" Beth protested.

"I told you a million times, girl, we ain't splittin' up."

"Okay," Beth agreed. "Good."

"Good, huh?" Daryl said. "I remember back when I had to chase you down every other hour."

"No way to know goin' on your own wouldn't have been what was best for you," she reasoned. "You could've found the others."

"And ain't nothin' to say we both wouldn't be dead by now if we weren't together. No sense in playin' the What If game, girl."

Beth hummed in agreement and their conversation burned out like the flame of a candle. While Daryl was busy on the couch, sharpening sticks into crude arrows, he hadn't noticed Beth had fallen asleep - head resting on the arm of the chair. Before he could stop himself, he was pushing her hair back from her face with the tips of his calloused fingers.

What about me? Beth had asked. Daryl hadn't had the courage to tell her what he could barely even admit to himself. That it had always been about Beth. That it would always be about Beth. That he would never meet anyone else, because even when they were apart, every square inch of this God forsaken earth had been about her - the trees, the sky, the lakes... they were all full of her absence; just like his heart.