A/N: It has taken so long to get back into the groove of writing, but in the meantime, I have all kinds of random Bethyl on my brain… so what has happened is that I feel like SO MUCH TIME has passed for Daryl and Beth in this AU. But then I re-read everything last night to get back into the story before I attempted this chapter, and realized that actually… if Beth was in the hospital over Thanksgiving and it's only December 12th, it's only been like three weeks for them. So, a little less than a month since Zach. [Or as I mentally dub "The Zach Attack" because I'm a dork. Hah!]

But, crap. I've kind of been writing like a lot have time has passed. So I apologize for the inconsistencies. I've got my head on straight again. Hopefully I can keep it that way for the rest of this story. ;)

Thaaaank you for the awesome reviews. I always love reading them. I think every time I post a chapter, I'm kind of unsure of how it'll be received, so it's always a relief when I see everyone going "I liked it! Keep going!" Phew! Haha. Thanks also to all of the people who cared enough to favorite/follow the story. That's awesome. You guys rock.

Anyway, on to the next:

Chapter 28

As the song on the speakers came to an end, Beth and Sasha clung to each other, howling with laughter at their terrible rendition of "Uma Thurman." Fall Out Boy, Beth decided, would have been ashamed of them. The girls handed off the microphone to the next drunkard ready to attempt a song, and they stumbled their way over to the table where they'd abandoned their drinks.

When Beth and Daryl had first arrived at her party hours ago, because they were running late, plenty of the guests had already had their fill of the liquor, beer, and food. Luckily, there was still plenty to go around, so Beth had done her best to catch up to her friends, all of whom felt the need to unwind after the past week they'd all shared.

Some people showed up even after Beth and Daryl, while most of the older crowd had departed already; including Dale, which put Beth at ease. She'd been keeping an eye on him all evening to make sure he didn't try to finish what he started with Daryl. Luckily, he'd kept up the appearance of holding true to his word that he'd try to give Daryl a chance, and at least left him be.

Dale had always struck Beth as a sweet older gentleman, although very opinioned; and apparently very negatively opinionated when it came to Daryl, which twisted her up a little inside. Sometimes, she just felt like grabbing people by their shoulders and shaking them vigorously while she shouted, Why can't you see what I see?!

She knew Daryl was a grown man. Especially after their afternoon foray… Daryl was a very hard, very tasty, very grown, grown man. Regardless, though, she couldn't imagine anyone going their entire life being shunned and despised and cut down by the very people who were supposed to help you thrive. His family didn't seem that loving and caring, and even the community in the place he should have been able to call his childhood hometown was poisoned against him.

It was true that Daryl was often moody and prickly, and boasted a very intimating, menacing exterior; but anyone else in Daryl's position would have developed armor just as thick and difficult to penetrate. Or, they'd end up desensitized to the bad things in life, and prone to repeat the mistakes of those before them, much like Daryl's poor wayward brother.

In any normal situation, Beth would never have stubbornly pursued a man even half as long as she'd chased Daryl. But this was no normal situation, and Daryl Dixon was no normal man.

She'd found over the months that dealing with Daryl was tricky, but exciting. Every time she got a glimpse passed a crack in his armor, she felt like she'd won another battle against the dark forces that threatened to consume him.

She still thought of Zach often, too, with the incident fresh in her mind, and couldn't help but sometimes compare the both of them. It was unfathomable that Daryl and his giant heart should grow up in an abusive, poverty-stricken household while Zach and his tainted soul had been handed a life of luxury and opportunity; with entitlements he squandered every opportunity he'd gotten, and a good path that he'd ruined for himself. How Daryl might've flourished, she often pondered, had he grown up in a house that celebrated him as a person, rather than tear him down.

And here they were, she thought, looking across the crowd for Daryl's handsome face. A man who'd been brought up without morals or scruples, Daryl still somehow found a way to nurture himself as a person; a man who, despite all of his sharp words and rough exterior, wouldn't just take what she was offering him, because he didn't feel worthy enough of it yet. After all of the shit he'd done for her, after all of the crap they'd been through; after he nearly killed another man just to save her life, and here they still were: him keeping a comfortable distance from her, too afraid to get too close.

She watched him as he sat at the opposite end of the courtyard at one of the round tables, accompanied by Oscar, Bob, and Mark. A couple of the boys laughed when Oscar spouted something ridiculous, waving his arms around animatedly. Daryl, in typical fashion, cracked nothing more than a grin at the antics, and took another pull from his plastic cup.

His crazy co-workers hadn't been there initially; it wasn't until after Sasha made an inebriated slip regarding the cute mechanic they met on Halloween, Bob, that made Beth call Oscar and invite the whole crew up to help celebrate her birthday. Bob showed up with Oscar, who brought along his wife Bertha, and they had Mark in tow; presumably as their designated driver, as always. Mark was more than happy to oblige them, though. He didn't drink anyway, and enjoyed being part of their shenanigans. Beth was a little surprised Ian didn't join them, but she wasn't entirely sure where he stood with Daryl after their incident a month back, when Ian attempted to ask Beth out while she was at the shop signing papers on the Jeep. Steven, she certainly wouldn't mind if she never saw again. There was something about him that rubbed her the wrong way. None of the other guys from the shop came, either, but Beth didn't really think they were part of Daryl's inner crew.

When guys had first arrived that evening, Oscar, who has no shame, actually lifted Daryl off of the ground when he scooped him up for a giant hug. Daryl, with his arms pinned to his sides and beer sloshing out of his crushed red cup, looked like a grumpy bear as Oscar's massive form swung him around in circles. The sight had been absolutely hilarious, but Beth's affection surged as she watched Daryl trying to hide the fact that he seemed pleased to be greeted as though he'd been missed around the shop.

Beth suspected Daryl hadn't had many real friends when he was growing up.

Suddenly, as she was pondering all of this, Daryl's attention shifted elsewhere, and he scanned the crowd until he caught her gaze on him. His face melted into a warm smile, and Beth's heart seemed to double in speed.

While they had been out in the woods earlier, she'd sworn to herself that she was going to make him pay for leaving her hanging and rushing them back to the Jeep. However, once they had gotten back on the highway and Daryl had glanced at the clock on the dashboard three times in forty seconds, Beth knew something else was up. It wasn't a massively intelligent leap from there to "surprise party" with the way he'd been acting all day, so she'd just worked on concealing her grin and rolled with it.

She supposed that punishing him wasn't really appropriate anymore, in light of that, so she had decided to shift her focus from getting him back, to her previous goal of just getting him, period.

Their connection was shattered when the music morphed into an energetic electronic dance mix, and Beth was suddenly carried off in a whirlwind of Sasha, Tara, and Karen.

Pulling her into the midst of the drunken guests already moving to the music, the girls began dancing with each other. Laughing, they danced like there was no one watching; badly and lacking in rhythm, spinning together in circles, trying to keep each other upright. Beth closed her eyes as they moved, giving herself over to the music. The alcohol coursing through her helped her feel detached and enhanced all at once, like she was in a meditative trance where there was nothing in the world but the beat, the dirt beneath her boots, and the lonely huntsman sitting close and cozy in the back of her mind.

Finally, the music shifted into a slower, somber beat, and Beth broke away from the group just as Tyreese was sauntering over to ask his wife for a dance. Smiling at how beautifully the night had gone, Beth threaded her way over to the drink bar where she grabbed a bottle of water out of an ice bucket. It was kind of silly they even had an ice bucket, she mused. As long as the drink bar was away from the large heaters, then everything in it would stay chilly. Despite their best efforts to secure the little courtyard from the elements, nature and her persistence were closing in on them; even the heaters couldn't banish the outside temperature, and Beth seemed to hit pockets of the freezing air as she made her way over to Daryl.

Oscar's wife had dragged him off to dance, and Bob was missing from the table already, too. For some odd reason, Mark's eyebrows went up when he spotted Beth moving in on Daryl, so he made some bumbling excuse and exited the area as well.

"He doesn't have to leave," Beth said to Daryl as he glanced at Mark's retreating back and then looked over at her as she stopped next to him.

"No, he don't," Daryl agreed lightly, although making no move to call on Mark.

"Having fun?" she asked.

"Yeah," he replied quite honestly, taking another sip of his drink. From above him, she could tell that whatever liquid was in his cup was clear; he wasn't drinking beer anymore. Her frozen nose couldn't smell anything, though, so she wasn't sure if he was onto vodka already, or had backed off and was sipping water.

Out of curiosity, she pulled the cup slowly out of his hand. He watched her with an eyebrow raised, but said nothing as she brought it to her lips and took a sip.

It was plain Sprite. She wouldn't have guessed that.

"Wha's the matter? Didn' like your water?" he asked, eying the bottle she'd just grabbed from the bar.

"Just curious about what you were drinking, that's all," she admitted, smiling as she sat in the chair next to him and handed his drink back.

He smirked like she was a little strange, but didn't comment.

They sat in companionable silence for a bit, watching their friends laugh and mingle; Beth noticed Sasha entwined with Bob, swaying back and forth to the sensual music flooding the courtyard. She was happy that Bob seemed just as interested in Sasha as she was him; although, he'd certainly have his hands full with her. Sasha was a spitfire.

As they relaxed, Beth felt her euphoria beginning to wear off, to be replaced by fatigue. She wasn't even sure how many hours of sleep they'd gotten the night before, but it couldn't have been much. And even in the couple of weeks she'd been out of the hospital, Beth hadn't achieved a full eight hours of good shut-eye. She woke at every little sound, and every little bad dream.

She looked over at Daryl and noticed that he looked a little worn down, too. He was being polite about it, keeping his suffering to himself; but she could see it on him anyway. He was beat.

Beth laid her hand gently on Daryl's uninjured forearm, causing him to look over at her with a questioning frown on his handsome face.

"Thank you," she said softly. They'd sung her 'Happy Birthday' and had her blow out all of her candles hours ago. She'd opened presents and thanked everyone; and then there was eating, then the drinking which led to the merriment and the dancing. She'd gotten her fill; truth be told, she had more fun in one night than the previous couple of birthdays combined, which made her feel immensely thankful and loved. But despite how fun her party had been, her heart still beat erratically when she let her mind wander back to their stint at the river earlier in the day.

She knew that Daryl hadn't needed to go so far to please her or keep her busy until Sasha had the party set up. In fact, if Daryl Dixon had been any normal man, he'd probably just have shown up with a bouquet of flowers and then taken her to see a movie or two until it was time for the main event. But he hadn't, because of what Beth had known about him all along; Daryl Dixon was special.

"Wasn' nothin'," Daryl mumbled as he shrugged a shoulder. But he chewed his lip nervously, and Beth suspected that what she said meant more to him than he was letting on.

Leaning over, Beth kissed him on his scruffy jawbone.

Daryl ducked his head after she did it, and said somberly, "You shouldn' do stuff like tha', Beth."

"Why? Are you worried people will see us?" she asked, teasingly. She knew he wasn't one for displays of affection, public or otherwise, but it had just been a small peck on the cheek!

"You should be," he answered back. His words were spoken softly and without his usual bite to them, but somehow, that made them all the worse.

She wasn't sure how to even respond to that, so she said nothing. Putting her hand on his cheek, she turned his face to her. As his troubled, icy blue eyes met with hers, she stared at him for a few seconds, trying to gauge the situation; trying to make him really see her. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips to his, savoring the taste of him when he didn't immediately pull away from her. She felt one of his warm hands rest against the outside of her knee, and it sent sparks through her body.

In the background, the music came to an end, and the chattering of what was left of the party-goers swelled. Daryl disengaged himself from their kiss and took an unsteady breath. He leaned back in his chair, removing his hand from her leg, and stared up at her through the hair hanging in his face.

She couldn't help but think that he looked incredibly lost.

Just then, their crew made it back to the table, and Daryl broke eye contact with her, suddenly snatching up his red cup and seeming very interested in its contents.

"Ballin' party, Jeep girl!" Oscar announced as he came over and clapped her roughly on the back. Despite the cool temperature, he was red-faced and sweating profusely, but looked like he'd had a great time out in the dance area.

"We're going to head out," Oscar's wife, Bertha, supplied as she stepped forward.

Beth stood from her chair and gave the smaller woman an affectionate hug. "Well, thank you so much for coming, you guys," she said. "Bertha, it was so nice to meet you!"

"The same goes for you. It'll be nice to finally have a smart, interesting woman around to talk to! Most of Oscar's friend's girlfriends are dumb, like rocks. Daryl did good," Bertha announced unassumingly as she threw her jacket on and then grabbed at Oscar's arm. "Let's go before both of my feet fall off and you leave me for a younger woman who has all ten toes."

As they walked off, Beth chuckled at the crazy duo and looked down at Daryl to share in the amusement of them, but he was staring straight ahead without a hint of humor on his handsome face. His cheeks were a little pink, and she wondered if the girlfriend comment could possibly have bothered him. Or perhaps he was more drunk than he was letting on.

Before she could ask him about it, though, Sasha and Bob were the next to stumble over, followed by Mark. Bob said something quietly to Sasha before wandering over to the bar for a couple of bottled waters, and she sighed contentedly as she leaned on Beth and threw an arm around her waist.

"I am exhausted," she announced to no one in particular.

"Ready to finally call it a night?" Ty asked as he walked over to them.

Beth wrapped both arms around Sasha and gave her a huge squeeze.

"Absolutely. I'm exhausted, too. I think we probably all are," Beth amended, thinking about how tired Daryl looked, even.

"So much fun, though," Sasha mumbled against Beth's shoulder.

Laughing, Beth agreed.

"Thank you both, so incredibly much for this wonderful birthday party," she said, looking from Sasha to Ty. "I honestly never expected anything like this, and it's the best birthday I've had in years and years. It was absolutely wonderful."

Tyreese smiled affectionately at her and nodded his head, while Sasha turned her big, dark, glassy eyes onto Beth.

"I'm so glad you enjoyed it," she said, tears filling her eyes. "You haven't even been here that long, but I feel like we've been friends for ages, and you've already been through such horrible things in such a short period of time. I just wanted you to have a nice birthday, at least."

"I did," Beth said, smiling. It was silly for Sasha to be getting so worked up over the whole thing, but then Beth felt her eyes begin to sting as they filled with tears, as well. "I feel like we've been friends for ages, too. Spending the day with all of you… it was the perfect birthday, Sash. I'm so lucky I met you."

Clearing his throat uncomfortably as the girls gushed over each other, Tyreese brought up driving arrangements. He and Karen had opted out of drinking anything so that they could act as designated drivers, in case any were needed. He'd already planned on driving Sasha home, he informed them, but he'd be more than willing to drive Daryl and Beth home, as well.

Beth opened her mouth to object, but wasn't sure how to turn him down politely without making Daryl feel weird. She didn't think Daryl had had a lot to drink, and he seemed like he'd been sipping Sprite for the last couple of hours. Truth be told, Beth wanted Daryl to drive her back to the cabin so she could finish what she started with him. Even the thought of it sent her blood burning through her veins like molten lava.

"Oh, Beth! You could stay at my house tonight! It'd be like a slumber party!" Sasha exclaimed, rounding drunkenly on her friend.

"Oh, well… I actually… Daryl drove my Jeep over here, so…" Beth pressed her lips together, realizing that she wasn't being very smooth about it. Then she just blurted out, "Daryl should probably drive me home."

"Nah," Daryl supplied, rather quickly. "I lef' my truck over at Sasha's this mornin' when I got your Jeep anyway. I'll jus' follow you o'er with the Jeep, an' then I can take my truck home."

Although Beth ran through other scenarios in her head, none made more sense than what Daryl proposed, and she frowned a little at being outmaneuvered. Finally, with everyone staring at her for some sort of a confirmation, she just nodded.

"Alright, then that's the plan. I'll meet you girls out at the car in a couple of minutes," Ty said before he lumbered away. Sasha gave her another side hug and then wandered off, presumably to gather her personal affects and to say goodbye to Bob.

Everyone else seemed to have gotten the same notion, and a few people waved and smiled in Beth's direction before they lumbered off to their respective cars; which had apparently been parked in front of all of the other businesses on the other side of the block, to avert suspicion of the surprise party. Beth smiled and waved back politely, and before long, the place looked almost deserted.

Before Beth could say anything more to Daryl once her distraction subsided, he stood and announced, "I'mma go get your Jeep loaded."

XxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

After getting smacked on the hand by Sasha for attempting to throw away all of the random beer cups lying around, Beth gathered up her jacket and climbed into the back of Tyreese's car. With Karen off helping someone else get safely home, Sasha plopped herself into the vacant front seat and immediately began fiddling with all of the heating controls and the stereo. Once Ty was in, he readjusted all of the heating controls and turned the stereo back off, much to Beth's amusement. Then, they started off through the dark streets, heading for the other end of town.

Beth could have ridden in her Jeep with Daryl, who was following right behind them, but since he had done his best to avoid even making eye contact with her after their last kiss, she felt it was best to just give him some space. While she was normally better at reading his moods, she feared that the alcohol in her system had thrown her off, and she honestly couldn't tell if something she'd done that night had made Daryl uncomfortable. Since avoidance had been his strategy ever since they left the table, she never got the opportunity to ask him about it, either.

The air outside of the courtyard had been a little bit of a shock once they left the comfort of the heating lamps; the air was much more frigid than she'd thought earlier. Despite the cold, though, Beth felt a little clammy and worried she was coming down with something. (Or she was having a bad reaction to Daryl and his stubbornness; she hadn't decided.)

Finally, they pulled into Sasha's driveway, and Beth saw Daryl's dark truck gleam against their headlights; he'd left it parked on the side street, around the corner of the yard.

Beth climbed out, shuddering as the cold air hit her. She heard her Jeep shut off and the door creak and shut as Daryl got out and locked everything up.

"Hurry inside, it's soooo cold!" Sasha shouted at Beth before she dashed to the door and then into her house.

"I'm goin' to grab Karen before heading home. Do you need anythin' else?" Ty asked politely, although she noticed his eyes flicker briefly to Daryl, who'd stopped at her back.

"No, we're alright," she told him, mustering up a smile to put him at ease. "Thank you again for my party. I really appreciate all of the work you guys went through."

"Any time," he answered. Waving a little before backing out of the driveway and heading off into the night.

Beth finally turned to take in Daryl, who stood quietly in the darkness, his face unreadable. He shifted his weight a bit and cleared his throat as she stared at him.

"Well, thank you for bringing me my Jeep today," she said, trying to keep everything light. She was a little concerned that something had shifted, and Daryl had kind of reverted backward a bit, but she couldn't be sure.

He nodded in reply, holding out the keys in question for her to take.

"I really appreciated you showing me the river today, too. It was very beautiful there. The party was a lot of fun, but… the river was my favorite part." She smiled at him warmly as he lifted his gaze to hers.

"You're welcome," he said quietly.

"Well…" Beth hesitated. She didn't really know how to end the night. Daryl seemed a little distant, though, so she opted to take his lead and not press her luck any more with him today.

"Have a good night," she said simply.

She turned to make her way across Sasha's lawn, feeling eager to lie down and finally get some long over-due sleep.

"Wait," Daryl blurted out. As Beth turned to see what else he had to say, he came toward her, looking irritated.

As she stood and waited, he opened his mouth to say something to her, but then shut it again. She could see the contours of his face shift as he clenched his jaw and the muscles under his skin rippled and tightened.

"What is it, Daryl?" She asked softly, noting how tense and agitated he seemed. Had she really done something wrong?

Suddenly, he plunged one hand into her loose curls to cup the back of her head as he brought his mouth hungrily down over hers. His other hand slid behind her back and he pressed his palm into the curve of her spine as he pulled her tight against his hard body.

Beth didn't even have the time to yelp in surprise, and then she was melting against him, one hand sliding up the back of his shirt to press against his scalding skin, the other, bunched on his belt to draw him even closer against her.

His lips were soft, but his kiss firm and bold as he tasted her and explored her mouth, gripping the back of her hair briefly before sliding his hands down across her back.

She nipped his bottom lip a little when his calloused hands wandered up her ribcage under her jacket and one of his thumbs brushed across the side of her breast through her thin dress, sending her whole nervous system into overdrive.

Finally, they broke apart as he cupped her face in both hands and laid his forehead against hers. His breathing was unsteady and she could feel his heartbeat thrumming erratically through her hands that she still had splayed on his body.

He exhaled as he lifted his face and kissed her solidly on her forehead.

"Happy birthday," he said in a thick, gravely tone of voice. Then she stumbled, a little unbalanced, as he suddenly released her and made his way across the yard to his truck without bothering to look back.

Beth watched him, dumbfounded, as he climbed into the cab and drove off.

Happy birthday, indeed, she thought, as she finally made her way into Sasha's house.