When they reach the clearing, Daryl sets Beth down and mutters "wait here" before heading into the barn with Rick to check that it's still safe.
Beth feels a soothing tingle on her bare shoulder and when she turns her head she feels another roll down her nose. She holds her arms out, palms up, and feels a sprinkle of cool drops on her skin. In an instant the sprinkle grows to a shower and the solemn faces break into smiles one by one. She watches two of the girls she just met, Rosita and Tara, lie down on the ground, laughing and letting the summer rain soak through their clothes.
Carl is opening his mouth, catching rain drops on his tongue while Judith waves her chubby arms up and down excitedly. Beth closes her eyes and tips her head back, with arms outstretched she lets the summer rain wash the layers of dirt and grime from her body, revelling in the fresh feeling of water on her skin after so long. She sighs and wipes her hands down her face, welcoming the change in mood as well as the weather.
When she opens her eyes Daryl is stood frozen outside the entrance to the barn with Rick following close behind. His overgrown hair is pasted to the side of his face for once not obscuring his pale blue gaze, locked on her and staring. He's staring at her like he's never seen her before as the rain comes down in sheets between them. Beth feels her heart speed up. There's something in his eyes that she doesn't recognise . He's looking at her and he looks enraptured. Beth stares back, unable to look away and feels her cheeks grow hot under the cool rain splashing down on her face.
Thunder rumbles overhead, forcing their eyes up as the heavens open and rain pours down hard from the sky. As the others scramble to get out of the down pour, Daryl steps forward and then they're the only people left outside. Out of the corner of her eye Beth can see Rick and Maggie staring from the entrance to the barn, brows drawn in confusion as they wait for them to come inside. Instead, Beth and Daryl just continue to stand there caught in the rain, staring at each other as they let themselves get completely drenched. Beth has always loved summer rain.
Sometimes back at the farm she would run outside and dance around in it. With the sound of rain like white noise in her ears she almost feels like a normal teenage girl again. Beth feels her cheeks ache as a grin spreads across her face and she watches Daryl's mouth curve into a smile.
Beth hears Rick shout something that gets lost in the downpour and then Daryl is closing the distance between them and scooping her up in his arms. She feels his breath catch when she clumsily wraps her arms around his neck, slips and brings her mouth just a breaths distance away from his. He's held her like this countless times but suddenly there's something between them that feels as charged as the storm brewing above. In a few short strides they're back in the barn and Daryl is setting her down before turning to help Rick secure the door.
Beth can feel Maggie's eyes drilling holes in the side of her face as she tries to swallows down the excited fluttering feeling in her stomach. She smiles as she watches Daryl stand back from the door, spraying water everywhere as he shakes his head from drenched to dripping. Her smile fades to a mere curve of her lips when her eyes meet Rick's to find him watching her intently.
She ducks her head, feels her cheeks flush and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear. She suddenly feels self conscious, as though maybe she isn't supposed to be watching Daryl, and she doesn't like that feeling. She thinks she liked it better when it was just her and Daryl and she could keep her eyes on him and it wasn't weird. It was comforting knowing he was there but now under Rick and Maggie's narrowed gaze she feels several shades of uncomfortable. She just got her family back and she must be a terrible person because all of a sudden she just wants them all to leave so that it can just be her and Daryl again.
"C'mon let's get a fire goin'," Daryl says, his eyes sweeping the room in a way that Beth knows will catch anything they can use , "It's startin' to smell like wet dog in here."
Beth snorts and one side of Daryl's mouth slides and Tara help by gathering dried wood from inside the barn. Daryl won't let Beth help, telling her to sit her ass down and rest her damned ankle, so she rolls her eyes and goes to sit with Carl and Judith. Beth gives the baby some more water and feeds her the last candy bar from her rucksack. As Daryl gets the fire going the rest of the group start to gather around it. Soon Judith's rubbing at her eyes and without realising it Beth starts to sing her a lullaby.
Beth glances up to find lots of eyes watching her including Daryl's and before he can look away their eyes catch. Hold. Burn with a heat that has nothing to do with the fire he's building.
When she finishes singing Judith's soft snores fill the silence. Daryl drags his eyes away from her then, looking as though it takes real effort to do so and heaves himself up to his feet.
Beth drops her gaze to the baby in her arms and strokes a hand across her crown. She didn't think she'd ever see those little pink cheeks again and she feels tears standing in her eyes as she watches the baby's eyelids flutter in her sleep.
"I'll take her," Carl says softly. Beth carefully passes the sleeping baby into his arms and watches him take her over by the wall, laying her down gently on a blanket before curving his body around her.
She blinks and feels tears spill from her eyes, quickly rubbing them away with the heel of her palm. It's just this day she thinks as more tears replace the ones she wipes away.
"Hey," Daryl's wide hand cups her jaw and turns her face to where he's now sat beside her. He looks worried, his eyes raging like the sea as they scan her face.
"It's nothin'," she says quickly, blinking the tears away but they only roll down her cheeks.
He bites his lip as his thumb wipes the water from beneath her eye. She feels his rough callouses glide across her skin as he blinks and looks like he's tying himself in knots over what to say to her. What he doesn't realise is that he doesn't need to say anything at all. Just having him there, at her side, brings her back to whatever passes for ok these days. She draws in a shaky breath and swallows, looking up at him. He tilts his head, looking a little less distraught as he senses her mood shift.
Without saying anything, or giving two fucks about Maggie's or Rick's watchful eyes, Beth leans forward and buries her face in Daryl's neck. She hears a small gasp from somewhere around the fire and Daryl freezes. Beth fists a hand in the front of his shirt and holds her breath. There's a beat. Two. And then she feels Daryl's hand come to land on her back. She smiles against his throat, feels his hot palm moving back and forth across her back, and slides out of consciousness.
...
A few days later the group find themselves walking into a community with walls, seemingly untouched by the turn inside. It's surreal, like going back in time. Daryl's back is up the moment the gate closes behind them and he starts hunching in on himself like a caged animal.
The community's leader, Deanna, insists on interviewing everyone separately. But when it comes to Beth's turn she looks at Daryl and he follows her in. Deanna doesn't ask him to leave, merely regards him with raised eyebrows and seems intrigued.
She gives them houses, big beautiful houses, plural, but the group settle themselves altogether in one room. In the Alexandria Safe Zone they have hot running water and food to spare. They don't, however, seem to understand the real value of those things and the whole place starts to remind Beth of playing house when she was a little girl.
The luxury of a hot shower and fresh clothes isn't lost on the group though and soon they begin taking turns to scrub the dirt from their hair and brush the plaque from their teeth.
There's even a travel cot waiting for them in the house and Beth settles Judith down in it before joining Daryl where he's stewing on the floor under the window. He looks decidedly uncomfortable, tightly wound and gnawing at his fingers.
"Shower's free," Rosita announces, running a towel through her hair as she comes down the stairs. "I can't remember the last time I had a hot shower, that was better than sex." She moans, causing Abe's head to spin around.
Beth drags a hand through her own hair and grimaces. She can't remember the last time she had a hot shower either, the showers at the prison were warm at best, and she's not about to pass up the opportunity. Beth stands and she isn't halfway across the room before Daryl gets up and follows her. There's a lull in the murmured conversations of the group as Beth heads up the stairs, with Daryl close behind.
On the landing Beth sees Tara coming out of a bedroom. Maggie told her that Tara helped Glenn find her. She also told her that Tara was part of the group led by The Governor that killed her daddy. Beth forces a thin smile across her face. Tara smiles back, then freezes as her eyes travel past Beth's shoulder, catch sight of Daryl and grow wide.
As they cross paths Tara reaches out and grabs Beth's arm.
"Just because you owe him your life it doesn't mean you owe him your body as well," she whispers, looking Beth in the eye, her gaze an attempt at caring but coming in at pitying. She knows what Tara sees, just a helpless little girl that needs saving. But that's not her, and that's not this. This isn't something she needs saving from, it's something that's saving her.
Daryl looks down, shame colouring his face. What he doesn't look is surprised, as though the suspicion is expected, maybe even deserved. But he does look hurt, his eyebrows knitting together in a deep frown. His jaw tenses as though he is physically offended at the thought of Beth giving herself to him out of some kind of obligation.
Beth feels her blood boil in seething fury.
"What's your problem?" She hisses.
Tara gapes at her, as Beth jerks her arm away.
"My daddy says only God can judge a person," Beth looks Tara hard in the eye, her gaze sharp enough to cut, "or at least that's what he used to say."
Tara reels back like she's just been slapped as Beth straightens her gaze, steps past her and into the bedroom. When Daryl follows a moment later he glances at her and glances again like he wants to say something but can't find his voice. Being told to shut the hell up your entire childhood will do that to a person. Beth sighs and shakes her head, suddenly feeling exhausted. She busies herself with finding fresh clothes from the drawers as Daryl stands in the middle of the room growing more uncomfortable by the second.
Holding a pile of clothes under her arm Beth walks up to the bathroom door and stops. Her hands tighten into fists. She takes a long breath, pulls the door open and takes a step inside. It's so clean. Beth's sense of taste and smell had become desensitised to the stench of the world around them but she's wholly aware that this room smells nice. Only it's too clean and it smells too good and Beth's stomach clenches as she half expects a walker to emerge from the bath tub. It doesn't. That would be normal. This is starting to creep her out.
She looks back over her shoulder at Daryl. His face is flushed and he's worrying his lip. He looks about ready to bolt when his eyes meet hers. She thinks it should surprise her but it doesn't when he steps forward and joins her in the bathroom. She closes the bathroom door behind them and locks it, as Daryl glances around the room before leaning himself against the sink.
He tries to make himself as small as possible, pressing back into the porcelain bowl and hunching forward as he sets his crossbow down on the white tiled floor. Beth smiles when she sees the trail of muddy foot prints leading to Daryl's boots.
Beth drops the pile of clothes on the toilet seat next to him before reaching into the shower and turning the water on. Daryl looks down and away as Beth kicks off her boots and peels the dirty clothes from her body. She moans, making Daryl twitch, as she steps under the spray and feels the hot water beat down on her bare chest . She ducks her head and watches the water turn brown as it swirls down the drain, taking weeks worth of dirt with it. As she watches the water turn clear again a thought occurs to her and before she can second guess herself she's sticking her head around the shower guard.
Daryl's head lifts up from where it's hanging between his shoulders and before he can look away her eyes catch his.
"You should come in too," she says.
Daryl blinks and shifts against the sink. He looks ready to fly out of his own skin.
"If you want to," she smiles, "It won't be weird."
Beth feels her face flushing under Daryl's blank stare so she disappears back behind the shower guard and steps under the spray. The water is as hot as it was a moment ago and she starts to wonder how on earth that is possible before reminding herself that it's just indoor plumbing not witchcraft.
Then Beth's breath catches in the back of her throat, feeling heat against her back as Daryl steps into the shower behind her.
