They hadn't seen or heard from Merle since Daryl kicked him out. Beth was worried but Daryl assured her that he could take care of himself and would not be a bother to them.

That was good in Daryl's mind.

Once in a while Daryl and Beth would try and go make more trades in the settlements, get more of whatever Beth wanted. But it seemed that every visit seemed to be increasing in tension. On one visit many of the buildings had flyers on all the windows and doors, people were gathered around them yelling with such an uproar, Daryl was certain a riot was going to ensue.

"What's going on?" Beth asked.

"Dunno." Daryl was going to risk the dangerous crowds to find out the cause. "Stay back."

He couldn't get close to one of the flyers nor could he comprehend all the yelling.

"Dammit, what the hell y'all bitchin' about?"

One of the angry onlookers explained. "The gov changed the marriage law."

"What? What about it?"

"Says we don't got six months to confirm a pregnancy anymore. We got six weeks."

"Can't be serious."

"I am, man. Been with my wife for four months and hell knows we've been trying. I gotta get her outta here before they find out she's infertile."

Daryl pushed through the angry crowds to read one of those flyers for himself. Sadly everything he was told was true. He hurried back to Beth. "We gotta get home, now. I'll explain there."

Once they got home, Daryl wasn't sure how he was going to explain to her. But Beth knew it was bad because he angrily kicked at a wall until a hole appeared. Then he tried to calm himself. He doesn't want to go back to how they were their first night together. "They changed the law, Beth. We don't got six month anymore."

She understood immediately. "How much time do we have now?"

"Six weeks...from when we signed them papers. I'm sorry."

"But we...a month ago."

"I know," he said. "That don't give us much time."

"What are we gonna do?"

He looked at her. "Dunno."

As if on cue, they could hear a car pulling up to the house. It was Martinez doing his damn census check again. "You heard about the change?"

"I did, man. What the hell?"

"Hey, I'm just a messenger. Gov just wants to have more people and that ain't my problem, thank god."

"What happens if we don't?"

"You kiddin' me?" asked Martinez. "You two still haven't..."

"I asked what'll happen!"

"Same sh*t, I'm guessin'. But if I were you two, I'd just get it over with. No point in delaying the inevitable. Besides we got you in our records. Beth's due to take a pregnancy test in two weeks."

"What the f*ck?!" Daryl growled.

"Sorry man, just here to give you your notice. See ya in two weeks."

As soon as Martinez left, Daryl was angrily kicking at the ground again and Beth could only look on helplessly. The rest of the day was consumed by more tension as they sat on the bed trying to figure out what to do next.

"You know he's right, Daryl."

"So what?"

"I think I'm ready, Daryl...to do my maternal duty...that sort of thing."

Daryl shook his head. "Shouldn't haveta be like this."

Beth frowned. "Of course it shouldn't. But it is what it is. Am I not what you want in a..."

"Beth, it ain't like that."

"Then what's wrong, Daryl?"

He sighed. "What about what you want?"

"I want do want to be with my family again," Beth said. "And I'm willing to do what it takes."

"Maybe you should have somethin' to drink this time."

But Beth shook her head. "I won't need it."

To her surprise, Daryl nodded in agreement. "Okay..."

She leaned in closer to Daryl and studied him for a moment before she closed her eyes and pressed her lips to his. The feeling sent shockwaves through Daryl who found himself reacting naturally. He didn't think something so brief and so soft would have such an effect on him.

Beth then got up from the bed and went to a corner of the room. Daryl was no doubt studying her intensely as he chewed his fingers. He didn't think a grown man like himself would be as nervous as he was. Little did he know that Beth was feeling nervous to. With her back facing him, she unbuttoned her blouse then proceeded to strip down to her underwear. That was when she stopped to breathe. She didn't want to turn around to see what Daryl was thinking.

Instead, she continued further removing the last of her clothing until she was naked with her back still facing Daryl.

"Hold up."

At Daryl's command, Beth stayed where she was listening carefully to the sounds of Daryl undressing himself. She though she was going to freeze standing there until she felt the heat of Daryl's presence as he now stood behind her. He place his hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him.

They shyly took glimpses at one another before their eyes met again. Beth was a short thing compared to him. She reached her hands out placing them on his chest until she was able to wrap her arms around them.

They kissed again and this time with greater fury. Daryl was struggling to push the reality of the situation to the back of his mind: the fact that she was a virgin, the fact that he hadn't known her very long, ...but moreso, the fact that she was just so young. He hated that history was built on unions like this...all for the sake of making a baby.

And he hated even more that it would cause her pain. She deserved better than that. Yet he couldn't resist how good she felt, how it had been a long time, years before the fall even, that he had felt pleasure like this.

...

She couldn't lie. It did hurt a bit. But she knew that was to be expected and held it together the whole time. Daryl had done his best to ease things for her. Deep down, there really was a gentleman beneath that bitter rugged exterior of a man.

By the middle of the night, Beth felt quite exhausted and sweaty from their consummation. Had anyone told her that her first time would be with someone twice her age she would have laughed at them. Even with the apocalypse she thought surely a normal life could be had. The marriage law changed all of that but in a way, she was a bit grateful. She became more of an adult now for it.

And now she could say that she truly was married to Daryl, in every sense of the word.

There were no words to be said. She curled up closer to Daryl allowing him to fiddle with the strands of her long blonde hair with fascinating curiosity. For the first time, Beth could see a genuine smile across his face.

...

They knew one night would not be enough. There was no guarantee of results and they didn't want to take any chances. An agreement was made...one time a day so at least they could say they tried.

Daryl, with all of his past experience, had never been in a relationship one would call 'sexually active'. With Beth it became a lot harder to resist the ritual.

For Beth, it got better. The pain was gone and she began to enjoy their togetherness as much as Daryl did and not just because of the pleasure.

Outside of bed, they remained together...closer...happier than they had ever been. Daryl waited on Beth hand and foot. He couldn't give her everything she truly wanted or needed but he sure as hell went beyond what he could do.

Their time together was such that the two week deadline came right from under them.

Martinez wasn't there this time but some other dude from Woodbury who arrived on their doorstep with a case filled to the brim with unopened home pregnancy tests.

"Need me to go with you?" Daryl asked Beth.

"I'm okay," she said. "I need to do this on my own." With that, Beth went around the back of the house to the bushes. It was hard to do her business because of how incredibly nervous she was. But once she was done she had to get the pregnancy test back to the census taker. He was required to see the results the moment it happened as part of the confirmation.

Daryl and Beth were unable to do anything except wait out the longest five minutes of their lives. The man wrote something down on his clipboard as he continued to look at the pregnancy test.

"It's positive."

Beth collapsed in Daryl's arms at that very moment...feeling uncertain whether to feel relief or shock by it all. She knew then that she really had become a woman and there was no turning back now.

Well I sure do hope this makes up for my lousy update last time when my brain was dead of trying to write. I think I got places to go with this...maybe. I decided I didn't want to go too detailed or smutty with this considering this was their first time after all. Hope you enjoyed it though.