Pause

She felt sick to her stomach. Of course that had something to do with the secret she was keeping, but as she saw Zach walking over to her she had to force a smile and pretend to be happy to see him. She knew it was killing Daryl, it was killing her too. He didn't know, and he wouldn't know for a while. At least not until she absolutely had to tell him. He didn't want to tell the group yet, so she had to pretend, had to act like nothing was wrong, even though she was slowly dying on the inside. She didn't hear what Zach asked her but nodded her head when he slipped his hand into hers and led her off. She just wanted to cry. She wanted to scream, she wanted to throw her hands in the air and just give up. She wanted him to know what was wrong with her. She wanted him to stop giving her evil looks every time she walked off with Zach. None of it was her fault. He's the one who was afraid; he's the one who wanted her to be his dirty little secret. It wasn't her fault.

…

He was pissed off all of the time now and it was all her fault. He hated watching her let him touch her. He just wanted to walk over there and punch the kid and let him know who she really belonged to. He decided that he had enough running around behind their friends' backs and was going to do something about it. He was tired of not being able to touch her, sick of hiding, sick of not being able to just hold her. He was going to have a talk with both of them. He corned Zach, alone in the kitchen. "We need to talk." Zach looked at him and nodded, leaning against the counter. "Stay away from Beth."

"What? Why?" he demanded.

Daryl growled, getting in his face, threatening him. "Don't ask questions. I catch you with her again, I'm gonna throw you a beatin', understand?" The poor kid looked like he was going to wet himself but nodded his head in understanding. "Good." He stalked off to find Beth. He found her in the showers, huddled over and wiping her mouth. He swore she was crying, but he didn't pay much attention, needing to get this out before he forgot it. "Beth."

She turned and looked at him, her eyes going wide. Was it him or did she look scared? "I can't talk right now," she told him, trying to push past him.

He grabbed her arm and threw her against the wall. "You're going to stay away from Zach," he told her. "You ain't gonna go around him no more."

She looked up at him, tears running from her eyes. Had he been too rough? "I'm pregnant," she blurted out. Daryl just stared at her, blinking at her. At first he'd though he'd heard her wrong but as he studied her he realized he hadn't she was pregnant… She pulled her arm away from him, pushed him off of her. "You won't tell anyone what's going on and I'm going to start showing. I can lie and say it's Zach's but we've never had sex, he'd know." Tears were falling from her eyes as she looked at him. "I can't keep doing this, I'm going crazy, I'm having panic attacks, and I'm always throwing up, my emotions are all over the place and I just can't stop crying."

He pulled her into him and held her close. "It's okay baby, we're gonna tell them," he promised. He had really messed up this time.