Beth's sittin' on the bathroom sink. It's the first time we've been in here. Ain't like it does you much good when it ain't got no runnin' water. I have a cup of stream water, a bar of soap, alcohol an' peroxide spread along the counter. Abraham did a damn good job stockin' shit up. I quickly cleaned up the scratches on my hand before I turned to her legs. She bites her lip when I rub the towel over her cuts. I told her the alcohol would burn. But she ain't shed a tear. My girl's tough as nails.

As I look at her bloodied up leg, I have to fight back the bile in my throat. She coulda died today. She slipped right through my fingers an' into the hands of death. I meant every word I said when I told her how scared I'd been. If she was bitten, if I lost her...there's no words for how that would destroy me. Keepin' her safe's been my top priority since we left the prison. I can't help but think how many times she's faced danger while I was at her side. I'm s'posed to protect her. It ain't just makin' it up to Hershel no more. I'm in love with her. She's the only person who could ever save me, an' I only barely save her. She speaks up an' pulls me from my thoughts.

"What're we gonna do, now? More security measures?" Even when she's anxious, she's beautiful. Her voice's become my favorite sound in the world, it always guides me from the darker side. It's a sound I hold close to my heart. Mostly 'cause I always think when I hear it, it might be the last time I do. I look away from her cuts, up to her. Despite what happened, she still looks beautiful. Her hair's pulled back from her face, her eyes large an' bright. She's in her underwear an' a sweatshirt that's too big on her. Everything's too big on her.

"Meetin' tonight in the kitchen. Figure out our next move." I start applyin' the peroxide. Now that the bleedin's stopped, it don't look so bad. We shoulda cleaned her up when we first got to the cabin. I can kick myself the rest of the night for actin' on impulse an' bein' so irresponsible, but that don't make me regret what we did. I can completely forget the shit we been through when I'm with her. It's almost unnervin' just how bad I need that connection.

"Alright. You're all cleaned up. Let's go." I help her off the sink, take her back in the bedroom. Her jeans were scrubbed by her sister an' now hang to dry over the deck, from what I could tell she ain't got but the one pair. I throw her a pair of my pants to put on. More big clothes on her, but I like her wearin' my shit. Gotta be that possessiveness, again. I grab her hand an' we make our way to the kitchen.

Almost everybody's already there. The only person I don't see is Rosita. Musta taken some pain meds or somethin'. Beth stands in front of me, my arm wraps 'round her waist. Maybe it's the same possessiveness, maybe it's 'cause I almost lost her this afternoon. All I know is I have to have her next to me. It's like I told her a few nights ago, she's mine. Rick clears his throat to get our attention. I can't look him in the eye, not after our argument earlier.

"Daryl, if she was bitten there may still be time to amputate the leg." I felt sick to my stomach. I knocked over one of the barstools in my rage.

"She ain't bit! I woulda known!" I couldn't even hide the uncertainty in my voice. He crossed his arms over his chest, kept his voice lower than mine.

"If she was? Would you be able to handle that? I'm offerin' a chance to save her. Hershel survived it." I felt my eyes burnin'. I shoved him away from me, Michonne got between us. When she spoke, it was calm.

"If she was bitten, she'll turn."

It made me remember a nightmare I had once. Beth had been dead, she'd turned. An' she tried to rip me apart. All because I failed her. I could feel what little life I had in my heart slip away from me. It was wrong. How can I finally find a light in such a dark world, after such a dark life, only to have the flame put out before it could ever grow? That's when I first noticed I'd started cryin'. I musta looked like such a pussy to them. But all I could think was, 'Not her,'. I shouldered past Rick, he had told me to sort this shit out, that we were havin' a meetin' tonight to decide what needs to be done. I didn't answer him, only went to Beth.

I know I can't be mad at Rick. I know he was right. I'm ashamed of how I reacted. He won't ever hold that shit against me. We're brothers, now.

"This place ain't as safe as we originally thought. Daryl an' Beth had a run in with a group of walkers. It could've been an isolated incident or it could mean a potential larger threat. That's why we're here, tonight. We have some decisions to make." The room is silent. Everybody's already been informed of the details. Ain't no need for him to go into that. Beth leans back into my chest. She's tired. I just want this to be over so she can get some sleep. I rub her shoulders. Abraham speaks up.

"Look, this place was nice for a rest stop, but we still have the mission at hand. I vote we move on. The sooner we get Eugene to Washington, the sooner we ain't gotta worry about the dead anymore."

"I have to agree with Abraham. Bob and I both told him we'd follow them when we left Terminus. We now know this place isn't a complete safe haven, I say it's worth it to leave." Sasha's voice is confident, an' Bob obviously stands by her.

"Michonne?"

"I think we should head out. Soon as possible. We stay here, we might get carried away in the false hope of a normal life. Least when we're on the road, we keep our guards up."

"Maggie and I agreed already that we need to go to Washington. There's nothing to stop a herd from getting to us. If that's the case, we'll be trapped here. It isn't worth the risk." Glenn squeezes Maggie's shoulder as she nods. Now Rick turns to me.

"Daryl?" I feel Beth's hand close 'round mine. I knew all along we couldn't stay here. It was only a matter of time before somethin' bad would happen. I can't take losin' any more of our own. I take a deep breath, there's only one way I see us goin'.

"The original plan was D.C. I say we follow through." Rick smiles at me an' it makes me feel even worst for goin' off on him earlier. He looks 'round all of us as he speaks.

"It's settled then. We'll head out first thing in the mornin', set off to South Carolina. It's too risky to leave tonight. We'll stay close to the mountains for protection and food." An' that was it. There weren't any arguin', we all knew what needed to be done. The anxiety of settin' out again is mixed with relief. I want to believe we'll be okay. I'm not fool enough to bet on luck bein' on our side. What little luck we've had has always been misfortune disguised as a good thing. I don't rely on fuckin' luck anymore. Everybody slowly started to slip away for the night. I grabbed Rick by the elbow.

"Hey. 'Bout earlier," but he wouldn't let me finish. He smiled at me an' put his hand on my shoulder.

"I've been there, Daryl. I know what it feels like to have those kinda fears. You never left my side, I ain't leavin' yours." An' with that, he went to the room him an' Carl were sharin'. It was just me an' Beth now. I tugged at the little braid in her ponytail, nodded towards the bedroom. She stood still. I followed her gaze to the fireplace.

"It's a shame we never got to build a fire in there." I wonder what coulda brought that up. She sounded sad. It hits me, I know Beth saw this place as some safe house, I think everybody did. She still wants a normal life. I want more than just to keep her alive, I wanna keep her happy. So there's no hesitation as I lift her in my arms an' carry her over there. I set her down on the floor just in front of the fireplace. Once I get a fire goin' with two of the logs, I lean back against the couch an' pull her to me. She sits with her back to my chest, her hands on my legs. The fire makes the whole room glow. It felt like we sat in front of that damn blaze for hours when she finally spoke to me.

"Daryl?" It's stupid how much I love hearin' her say my name. I love how it sounds. If I ain't careful, I'm gonna end up as some sappy fucker like Glenn.

"Hmm?" She takes a deep breath, like she has to talk herself into whatever she has to say.

"You were right. About this place? I should know better than to doubt your instincts, they've never been wrong before."

I think 'bout what she's sayin'. I've always trusted my gut. It's gotten me through a lotta shit. Even before the turn, I could trust my instincts to save my skin. I always thought my upbringin' made me more alert to the shit 'round me, that I had some heightened sense of awareness to my surroundin's. Instinct made me a good hunter, a good tracker, an' a survivor. My whole life, it's all I've followed. 'Til now.

I can feel my heart beatin' at a steady pace. It ain't always been somethin' I paid attention to, mostly forgot I even had the fuckin' thing. For so long I only relied on it to pump blood through my veins so I could keep movin' forward. But that's changed. It's like she interferes with the signal my gut tries to put out, like bein' 'round her rewires the course of my actions from my instincts to my heart.

"Everybody wanted this to be more, Beth. Even me. But we'll be good. I'll take care of us."

"I meant what I said earlier, Daryl. I'm sick of livin' just to survive. I want life to be more than that. I'm tired of always bein' on the run." I was molded from birth into a person who lives by survivin'. I never knew there was more than that. Everyday was survival of the fittest. There's always casualties in that way of livin', but I somehow managed to keep gettin' the upper hand. Even now, sittin' with her in an actual house, I just want us to live to see another day. I thought we were already lucky enough to have each other, an' I always thought luck was against me.

I look up to the ceilin', like there's gonna be some fuckin' divine instruction on what I've gotta say to her. But I know better than that, any answer I ever got I came up with myself. I know this: she's my more. There's no other way to describe it. I kiss the top of her head as I sit up, pullin' her up with me. I speak into her hair.

"Let's go to bed." I help her stand, then bend my knees. She hops on my back an' giggles in my ear as I carry her down the hall.

"See, Daryl? It's just like everything was normal. Like we're just two people, hopelessly in love an' tryin' to figure everything out along the way." I set her down when we're in the room, an' she continues as I slip my pants off her hips. "We're not like Maggie an' Glenn, I know that. I think that's the way I want it, honestly. I love how this is new to both of us. You an' I get closer an' work things out in our own way. We're beautiful together, Daryl."

She's right. I already knew we weren't nothin' like those two. What they had came natural. Beth an' I had to overcome so much shit to get to where we are now. It's changed us both. She kisses my cheek as she turns to the bed. When crawls onto the mattress, her small hand takes mine as she pulls me down next to her. I rub her shoulder as we stare out into the night. That view is the reason I picked this room. I don't feel caged in when I can look right outside. Past that deck ain't nothin' but woods, an' the wild will always call to me.

The comfort don't last long. A thought that this may be our last peaceful night for a while exhausts me. I can feel the worry down to my bones. A feelin' I just can't shake. Shit. Is it too much to ask for one more decent fuckin' night? I know what I need.

"You should sing to me."

I can see the muscles in her face pull up, I know she's smilin'. She turns to face me now, eyes dancin' wildly in the dark.

"What should I sing?" I tell her to sing anything to me, I just wanna hear her voice fill our room. She sits up an' tries to pull me to her lap. I almost laugh at her attempt to drag me. But I find myself between her legs, my arms outline her thighs. I lay my head back on her chest as her fingers massage my scalp. When she sings, it's hauntin' an' beautiful all at once. I close my eyes.

"I hurt myself today to see if I still feel. I focus on the pain, the only thing that's real. The needle tears a hole, the old familiar sting. Try to kill it all away but I remember everything." I know this song. It was one of my brother's favorites. The voice is beautiful, but it's painful. It's like an angel's stabbed me. The words are a dagger in my heart.

"Everyone I know goes away in the end. An' you could have it all, my empire of dirt. I will let you down. I will make you hurt." It's too depressin'. I look up to her face.

"Don't you know any happier songs?" She lets out a small laugh.

"Hurt is a classic, Daryl. I thought you told me to sing whatever I wanted?"

"Sing whatever you want that ain't so fuckin' sad." Her gigglin' warms my entire body, it melts away the ache I felt. She thinks for a moment before she starts to sing that Amazin' Grace song. I remember the first time she sung that to me in the funeral home. It was the same night I realized I loved her. I know she remembers it, too. It's like she said, we're hopeless with this love thing. But it's right for us. This is her way of showin' me that. When she finishes, I pull her to me an' I kiss her with all the emotion I have in me. I fall asleep in her arms.

We're finally restin'. It's been a long fuckin' mornin'. The others are hungry, I know we need food. Beth an' I walk up a little ways before headin' into the woods. I just told her how this was probably far enough when I realized she'd already stopped.

"What is it?"

"We've found it." I follow her eyes to see the large pile of stones, must be almost as tall as her. She bends down an' picks up two rocks from the road, handin' one to me. She takes my free hand an' leads me over to the pile. I know what this is. She remembered what I told her. I can't believe she woulda even known to look for it out here. When I speak, my voice is low, tryin' to hide my surprise.

"Trahlyta's grave." She turns 'round an' smiles at me.

"So, how does this work? Do we place the stones an' make silent wishes, like blowin' out the candles on a birthday cake? Maybe we should speak them so she can hear us. What do you think, Daryl?"

"Think in your head. Feels like sayin' somethin' like that out loud could jinx it." She goes up to the pile, I see her squeeze the rock to her heart, eyes closed as though she's puttin' everything she's got into this. She places the small stone at the top an' turns to me, smilin'.

"I wished for Washington to be a safe an' peaceful place for us. Your turn."

"Thought we weren't sayin' it out loud?" She rolls her eyes at me an' shrugs.

"I don't see the harm in it."

I step up to the pile, turnin' the jagged little rock in my hand. When I had told her 'bout this place, I'd said that I'd wish for no one else I cared 'bout to die. It's the truth, an' it's almost too much to think 'bout losin' her. I can't bring myself to look at her as I place my own stone on the pile.

"What'd you wish for?"

"Naw. Keepin' it a secret. Too important to jinx." I take her hand an' set out into the woods. She talks 'bout what a good thing D.C. could be for us. Her hope will never be burned out. She says that she wants it to be more than what we've had before. Safer, more food, good people. She stops an' looks at me.

"Wouldn't that be great? No longer havin' to struggle to live? To finally have more?" I don't have an answer for her because I've learned not to take my chances on luck, hopes an' stones. But I nod anyways. I want her to be happy. I need her to be safe. Beth's the most important thing in my life now. She wants more than what we got, an' I already got more than I've ever had.

***EDITED*** A/N: "Hurt" belongs to Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails (I'm going for the Johnny Cash cover). I do not own that song or any of Robert Kirkman's characters.

***Thanks, Genroxanne for the FYI! Lol you very well could've just saved my skin! :)***