Bethyl Week Day 5 – Wonder

Beth let out a sad, tired sigh. Judith had barely slept in the past three days, waking the blonde at all hours of the day, only permitting her thirty minutes to an hour's rest at a time. The poor infant had developed an ear infection and she let the blonde know it. Beth hated when she got this tired. Her brain would start feeling bad about herself, telling her terrible things about herself when she was this tired. Her eyes burned as she grabbed a bowl of deer meat and rice from Carol, her mind telling her that she needed to step up more around the prison. She should help cook or clean more often. She should help with fence duty. She let out another sigh and shook her head, trying to force the thoughts out of her head and to help wake herself up.

The blonde took her bowl out of the shaded eating area and walked to a secluded corner where no one could watch her. Rick was feeding Judith so that Beth could eat and take a break from the fussy baby and she fully intended to take the time to enjoy some silence. Beth settled herself down on the hard ground and leaned against the wall of the prison. Whenever she didn't have Judith in her arms, she was invisible to the people in the prison, so she knew she wouldn't be missed from the lunch. She had just taken her first bite when the sound of footsteps on the gravel approached her corner and her eyes looked up to meet Daryl's. He paused slightly in his steps, his eyes taking in her exhausted and disheveled appearance.

"Hey," she greeted and he nodded in return, his eyes never leaving her face. "You okay?" she asked and he quirked a brow at her, his lips lifting slightly in amusement.

"You're the exhausted one and you're asking if I'm okay?" Beth smiled slightly, turning to focus back on her food. "Want me to leave ya?" he asked and she shook her head.

"I can go, I know you need the silence too." The blonde began to push herself but his hand stopped her. He slid down the wall to sit a few feet away and began eating his lunch in silence. Beth watched him for a minute before smiling and resuming her lunch as well. She fought to stifle numerous yawns while they ate and she swore she could see Daryl smirk more with each attempt.

"What's so funny?" she finally asked, her exhaustion only fueling her annoyance with the man.

"Why don't you go take a nap, I can sit with Lil Ass Kicker for a while. Don't got anything else to do." The blonde frowned, her brain's annoying negative comments rushing through her brain.

"We all got jobs to do, Daryl. Mine is taking care of Judith," she told him, her voice heavier than she had planned. Daryl's head whipped to look at her so quickly, she was worried he might have given himself whiplash.

"That ain't your only job here, Beth," he told her in his gruff voice. She snorted before she could stop herself and she saw his frown deepen.

"I'm…I'm just tired, Daryl, and when I'm tired, I think…things. I'm fine, I just need sleep." He stared at her for a moment before looking at the trees outside the fence.

"People always told me that what a drunk says when they're drunk, is what they're thinking when they're sober," he told her and she quirked her head in confusion. "Maybe you thinkin these things tired is the same thing…and I'm tellin' you, that those thoughts ain't true. You've got a bigger job here than any of us." Beth shook her head at him.

"You bring home food, you go out for supplies, you keep those fences standing…You're the one with the bigger job. I'm just…the baby sitter. I love Judith and the kids, I love taking care of them…but it's not enough. It doesn't feed us or protect us." Daryl grunted and Beth could see his frustration with her in his face. She sighed and mumbled an apology that he shrugged off.

"When I came back from that run with that deep cut that needed stitchin, who did it?" his voice was deeper than normal when he asked the question and Beth turned to look at him. His eyes met hers and held them, making a weird tight feeling appear in her stomach. "Who followed me around and nagged at me about keeping the stitches clean and made me take it easy to keep from ripping the stitches?" Beth could feel her face warming as she remembered how she had harassed him and followed him around with Judith in her arms, keeping him from straining the injury until it had healed.

"You take care of our injuries and our health as much as your old man. You help with the cooking and cleaning when Judith is down nappin' or you keep her playing nearby while you help. You've helped clear the fence when Judith is down or is with Carl. That brain a yours forgets all you do around here, Beth. Need I go on?" Beth realized that her mouth was open in shock and she snapped it shut. She didn't realize that the hunter had paid that much attention to her. She could see his cheeks pink slightly as he realized how much he had shared with her and that confirmed her suspicions.

"I…I didn't realize anyone paid attention to that…" she murmured and he gave her a confused glance. "Everyone's just busy…being busy, ya know? They're focusing on surviving. I didn't think anyone paid any attention to anything outside of that…" Daryl snorted and he shook his head.

"I do." Beth felt her cheeks warm again and she smiled shyly, a gesture she noticed the man returned slightly. She leaned her head back against the wall of the building, the negative voice in her head silent as Daryl's words replayed in her mind. She hoped that her being a negative nelly wouldn't chase him off from future conversations. She wondered if he would be willing to spend more time with her, whether it was in silence or talking didn't matter to her. She just wanted to spend more time with the hunter, hear more of his thoughts and stories.

The blonde missed the look Daryl gave her, his eyes hovering over her exhausted face and the smile quirking his lips. He hoped to be able to have more talks with the blonde in the future.

Over the course of several months, the two would become fast friends as Beth cared for the stubborn hunter when he was injured, or when he refused to stop working to eat, or the one time he caught a cold from baby Judith. Their hearts soared to new heights with each conversation, their thoughts consumed by the other.

"You'll be careful, won't you?" Beth asked through the door as she bounced Judith. She could hear Daryl's feet shuffle slightly on the other side of the door.

"Yeah. Got somethin' to come home to now," his gruff voice answered and Beth felt her throat tighten at the words. She put her hand on the glass of the door, knowing Daryl could see it from his side of the door. A shadow lifted and placed itself on the other side of the door. "Don't you go getting' sick while I'm gone."

"Don't you go die while you're gone," she responded. His finger tapped the glass twice before he turned away from the door. Beth sighed and bounced Judith.

"He'll come home, Judith. He'll be okay, for us."

"For you," his voice mumbled and she smiled at his shape through the glass as it became fuzzier before it disappeared.