Someone to Call Her Angel

The rain had finally stopped and the sun was streaming through the window bathing Beth's body in a heavenly light. Daryl might not be the most romantic man left in the world, but he did know how to appreciate a woman's body. He really didn't want to get out of bed the hardwood floors were going to send the freezing chill deeper into his body than it already was. Not to mention he had a pretty painful hard-on and he wanted nothing more than to wake Beth with kisses and playful touches, but he couldn't let that happen again, ever. Sighing deeply, he slipped from the covers and shivers as the cold seeped into him and walked across the room and quickly pulled his shirt on before Beth could wake up and see his back. That was the last thing he wanted, there was no reason that angel needed to see all of that hell.

He didn't bother pulling all of his clothes on. Beth needed to sleep so he wasn't going to rush her out of the door. He still has the car he'd taken from Joe, so finding a camp wasn't a problem anymore. They were going to need to find more gas soon though. Daryl stretched and grabbed his crossbow, going to the door. "Daryl?" He froze with one foot out of the door. He looked at her over his shoulder and had to bite his lip. She was leaning up on her elbows and the sheets had fallen around her waist, giving him a beautiful view of her perfect breasts. Her pale hair was falling around her shoulders in tangles he just knew she would try to work out.

"You should sleep some more," he grunted, finally able to take his eyes off of her. "We'll leave later." He walked out before she could protest and try to get him to stay. If he stayed any longer he was going to crawl right back into that bed with her. He went straight to the kitchen and started pulling what was left of the food off the shelves and laying it out on the table. He was going to have to look around to find another bag, they couldn't fit all of this in the two they had, and they had to take it all with them.

He heard Beth come into the kitchen and gritted his teeth. He wasn't ready to face her yet. She should have just gone back to sleep. "We need another bag," he mumbled when she stood next to him. She didn't say a word to him, wouldn't even look at him, she pulled her knife out, just in case, and he watched her leave the room to go downstairs and start looking. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. You're a real piece of work Dixon.

xXx

Beth slowly crept down the stairs, shining her flashlight around. There were dead walkers all over the place, but she didn't miss the few live ones buried under the dead. She squared her shoulders and walked over to them. As soon as they caught her sent they all started to go crazy, trying to reach out and grab her. One by one, Beth moved to each one and stabbed it in the skull, eliminating the threat. Once the walkers were quiet, she started to look through the cupboards for something they could use to transport the food in. She figured there had to be a medical bag of some sort in the house, and it gave her something to do other than wallow in self-pity. It kept her mind busy, so she couldn't think about Daryl and how cold he was acting towards her. Although, just giving her hands something to do and not her brain was proving to be no help.

She replayed the last two days in her head. He didn't seem being close to her when they were naked in a bed together, so why was he so distant during the day? It didn't make sense. Daryl wasn't the kind to use a woman…at least, Beth didn't think so. She realized with a shock that she didn't really know that much about Daryl. Sure, they'd spent all that time at the prison together, and there had been that one night after they'd gotten drunk off moonshine, but that wasn't enough. Usually, after spending the amount of time with a person that she'd spent with Daryl since he walked onto their farm she'd know just about everything there was to know about a person.

But Daryl, Daryl was different. He was a closed person by nature, the life he'd lived had taught him to be that way, not to show his emotions, not to let people get too close, not to get too close to other people. Maybe he really was the kind of man to use women. That revelation sent an anxiety through her that had her shaking and regretting every moment from the past two days. She'd known it wasn't the best idea to ask Daryl to sleep with her the first time, but last night, last night had been all him. She could have told him no and he would have backed off, she didn't doubt that for a second. But she'd gone along with it, because if she was being honest to herself, she'd wanted it too. He made her feel something other than the anxiety and fear that was draped around her like a wet blanket. But, now that it seemed like he didn't want anything to do with her she didn't know what to do.

She found a few empty bags and put them on the counter, taking another minute to fill one of them with all of the medical supplies she could find in the cupboards before heading back upstairs. Daryl was pulling the last of the food out of the cupboard and laying it on the table. "Here," she mumbled, dropping the bags onto the table. She didn't wait for him to thank her, not that she was expecting him to. Instead, she went back to the bedroom and cleared the rest of their things, bringing it back to the kitchen. Daryl already had the food loaded up.

"We could stay here a bit," he mumbled as she started to put some extra knives into her bag.

She rolled her eyes. "What's the point?" She threw her bag over her shoulder and grabbed the medical bag. He could handle the heavy lifting; they were just going to the car. "Let's just go." She didn't wait for him to answer; she walked out of the door and headed to the car he'd taken from Joe. The same car they'd used to kidnap her in. She thought she'd be fine, but the closer she got to the car, the worse her anxiety got. Her hand was shaking as she reached out to the handle of the back seat door. She swallowed thickly and wrapped her hand around it, pulling it open. It was stupid, she knew it was. She was getting in willingly, with Daryl, but she couldn't fight the anxiety that was racing through her.

Quickly she threw the bags in the back and climbed into the front seat, shutting her eyes tightly and taking deep breaths through her nose, trying to fight off the panic attack she could feel creeping up on her. She refused to breakdown in front of Daryl again. She was sick of being weak and needing protection and codling. She needed to be like Maggie and Michonne. She heard Daryl get in and start the car. The engine roared to life and she flinched back into the seat. "You okay?" Beth nodded her head, refusing to open her eyes to look at him, or out of the window. He grunted but didn't press the matter as he drove off.

xXx

When they pulled over for the night Beth thought she had a pretty good handle on her emotions. She'd made it nearly eight hours in the car with him, so she figured she was good for now. "Why don't ya climb in the back and sleep?" Daryl looked at her as he unbuckled his seatbelt and reclined the seat back, putting his hands behind his head. Beth sighed and looked back at the seats. It looked so small, and dark. She shook her head and reclined her own seat back as far as it was go. While she was okay with being in the car, she didn't want to be back there alone.

She looked over at Daryl as she curled on her side facing him. "What was last night about?" She hasn't meant to blurt it out like that, but part of her was glad she did.

He looked over at her and snorted. "You needed to get warm."

Beth shook her head. "There are ways of getting warm without having sex," she pointed out. She was shaking from nerves, but she needed to get some answers out of him. "Is it because I'm the only woman around?"

"What? No." Daryl sat up and leaned over, opening the glove box and digging around.

"What are you doing?" Beth sat up and pulled her kneed to her chest.

"Looking for some smokes," he grunted.

Beth sighed and looked at him. "Why wouldn't you take your shirt off that first night?" Daryl froze for a half a second, but he went back to digging, swearing when he came up empty and slammed the glove box shut. He didn't answer her. "Daryl, talk to me." She felt the tears pricking at her eyes. She needed to know what she was to him. "I'm always afraid; I'm always fighting off a panic attack. But when you hold me…I don't feel like that. I can't keep going on like this. I need to know what's going on with us before I completely fall apart." She couldn't fight the tears anymore and she hated herself for it.

Daryl sat up and looked at her, those eyes boring right into her. "I ain't no good for ya, Beth." He rubbed his eyes. "That ain't ever gonna happen again, ya hear me?" She nodded her head and watched him lie back down and close his eyes. She bit her lip and turned her back on him, curling up and holding herself. She did her best to stay quiet as her emotions swamped her. Things went from bad to worse in the matter of a few seconds.

Notes:

Sorry this chapter is so short. I wanted to get something up for you guys. Tomorrow I've got more time to work on things, so hopefully I'll get something better up.