The Walking Deth - Part I

Only Way Onward - Chapter VII

AN: No, the chapter title doesn't mean what you think it means ;) Although there is some love triangle stuff going on in there.
Once again, I love you Carol.

*Warning* No sex or violence in here, just women acting crazy.

Swinging

I was so embarrassed about what happened last night down in the mess hall with Daryl. I don't even know what had come over me. I only intended to go down there and make sure he was okay and say goodnight. But then he had been lying back with his hair all messy and wild, and scratches on his face, and his muscular shoulders were peeping out from under the blankets and I just couldn't help myself. Then Carol had caught us out right at the worst possible time. I had high tailed it out of there and left Daryl to deal with her, and I spent the rest of the night wondering what had gone down after I left.

I woke up fairly early that morning. My stomach was all cramped up, probably because of the anxiety from last night, or maybe that little bit of human meat I tasted was still twisting in my stomach. I went downstairs to the toilet, and thought about going in to see Daryl, but I was stopped outside the bathroom door by Rick handing me Judith and asking me to watch her while he took care of business. It gave me a happy feeling getting back into the routines we had at the prison. Me taking care of Judith, and Rick feeling like he could handle the responsibility of leadership again.

I had popped my head in to the mess hall to see how Daryl was going and saw he was sleeping soundly, so I decided to take Judith back up to my room. Judith played happily on the floor while I lay beside her on the mattress writing in my journal. It was torn and tattered and dirty from being dragged halfway through Georgia, but the pages were still white. I dared to write in my hopes and dreams about being able to stay safely at Terminus, but I ended up cutting it short when I realised the page was covered in little love hearts, 'Daryl and Beth 4eva' and 'Beth Ann Dixon'. That page was ripped out screwed into a ball and stuffed under the mattress for lack of a bin. I was cringing thinking about how juvenile that was, and Daryl would feel even more like a creep if he ever found it.

I lay back on the mattress and let Judith climb over me, babbling and drooling and mouthing at my shoulder. That little girl always knew how to make me smile. I started singing her favourite lullaby to her, for old time's sake.

When I'm lyin' in my bed at night
I don't wanna grow up
Nothin' ever seems to turn out right
I don't wanna grow up
How do you move in a world of fog
That's always changing…

I was interrupted by a tapping on the window pane in the door.

"Can I come in." Came a gruff voice I recognised as Daryl.

"Uhuh." I called, pushing Judith of me and sitting up.

He opened the door slowly and stuck his head in, looking a little sheepish. He was probably still embarrassed about what happened last night. He stepped in the door and lingered next to the doorway leaning on the wall. He was looking down at his feet like he had done something wrong.

"What is it?" I asked. Hoping he wasn't trying to end it all after what had happened.

"They all know." He answered looking up at me and chewing on the side of his lip.

"They? …who...Who knows what?" I had a pretty good idea what he was talking about, but I needed him to confirm it.

"They all know 'bout us. Carol told 'em."

I put my hands to face that was heating face in embarrassment. "Oh no! Did she tell them what happened?"

Daryl shook his head, but was still chewing on his lip. "Nah, didn't have to. But they know we're…ah…doin' it."

I pulled Judith into my arms and stood up and started pacing nervously, bouncing Judith on my hip.

"What are we gonna do? What am I gonna say to Maggie? Oh this is so Awkward." I thought out loud.

"It's gonna get more awkward." He said standing up straight and pushing the door open. "You're comin' to your first council meetin'."

When I walked in the room of familiar faces all staring up at me, I felt like I was going to be sat down like a school kid and lectured on my behaviour. But after Daryl escorted me in and pulled a chair out for me to sit, everyone looked away from me and back to Rick waiting for him to get on with it.

Abraham and Eugene were lingering in the corner of the office by the window. I only knew a little about the two. Eugene was some kind of scientist who had been studying the virus that caused all this mess, and Abraham was some kind of body guard.

Apparently Eugene was keeping in contact with folks up in DC, and they were working on a cure. Abraham wanted us all to escort Eugene up there so he could share his 'classified information' with them.

"I'm not gonna make anyone do anythin' they don't want to. I know we only just got settled in here, and we've been out on the long road for some time. So I'm puttin' it to a vote to decide what we do here." Rick explained to us all, after Abraham had given his spiel.

"Do we go to DC with Eugene, and help save humanity and what not?" Rick looked around to everyone waiting for them to raise their hands.

Sasha, Bob, Maggie and Glenn shot their hands straight up, along with Carl who looked excited to be included in the discussion. They were followed more slowly by Rick and Michonne. Judith babbled and slapped her hands on the table.

I did like the idea of being settled in a new place, and Terminus was starting to grow on me now the man eaters were taken care of. But at the same time the opportunity to find a cure for this whole mess was too good to pass up. If we found a cure we wouldn't need a place like Terminus anymore. We could go back to living our lives. We could even go back to the farm, even though it would be empty without daddy there.

I stuck my hand straight into the air, and turned my head behind me to see what Daryl was doing. Daryl was watching me carefully, and raised his arm slowly when I turned to look at him.

What's the other choice?" Tyreese asked, swaying slightly from side to side in his chair.

"We stay here and try to make Terminus our home." Rick said looking to him, while he lowered his hand.

Tyreese put his hand up, followed more slowly by Carol. Sasha let out a sigh and then raised her hand too with Bob following.

"You only get one vote." Rick said to Sasha.

"Well I said I would go with them to DC, to help out, but I only want to go if we all are." She explained, looking to Tyreese. "I don't want to get split again."

"Maybe the vote should be unanimous?" Suggested Bob.

"Oh come on folks, we're already way behind schedule." Abraham pleaded stepping forward towards the table and laying a heavy hand down on it.

"I'm easy." Daryl said from behind me. "I'll go wherever the rest of you go."

"We're talking about a cure here guys, a real cure! We won't need a place like Terminus if they find a cure." Maggie insisted, thinking just like a Greene.

"If they find a cure." Pointed out Tyreese

"They have no chance without Eugene." Abraham said glancing over his shoulder at the stern faced scientist.

Bickering broke out, with everyone arguing the points for and against going to DC and for and against staying at Terminus. Rick just glanced above my head at Daryl casually while the bickering continued. I expected Rick to be the one who stopped it, but it was Eugene who spoke up.

"We don't need to argue about this right now." He called out raising his hands for quiet. He pointed to his radio sticking out of the front pocket of his vest.

"I haven't heard anythin' from the folk over in DC for some time now, since before we were locked up. I don't know what's goin' on there, or if the facility is even still up and running."

Everyone started groaning in disbelief and he held up a hand for silence. "I don't think that means hope is lost, but there's no rush for us to get there. If you want we can stay here a bit, recover, give it some more thought, and then we can all head out together." Eugene continued.

Abraham grumbled something under his breath and turned and stared out the window.

Rick looked around at all of us with his hands pressed together thoughtfully. "Sounds reasonable. We stay here for a bit, recover some, and we'll vote on it again, in say a week's time?"

There were a few groans and mumbles, and then everyone raised their hands to agree. Abraham cussed and then stormed out the door, and Eugene slunk out after him leaving the council alone.

"Next order of business." Rick looked to all of us. "We have an issue with food. There are a few fresh vegetables, that might last us a few days, a good supply of milk and still a few cartons of cereal, but it won't last us long. That deer Daryl shot down yesterday would have been a huge help, but no one else has seen anything else around these parts. We're gonna have to do something about food."

I didn't bother correcting them that it was actually me who shot the deer, not Daryl.

"I can do a run tomorrow, check out the nearby towns." Suggested Glenn.

"I'll go too." Daryl offered from behind me.

"Only If you're strong enough." Rick said to Daryl with concern on his face.

"I'm fine. Feel much better after last night." Daryl said. I blushed and took note of Carol glaring at the pair of us.

"You should take David. He knows these parts." I suggested, trying to take my mind of my embarrassment.

"I'll talk to David and the three of you can go out tomorrow see what you can find and we'll take it from there." Rick said, looking around to the group, and grinning when no one protested.

"The last thing we need to bring up is our captives in the train car." His grin left his face and turned into a scowl. "David, wants us to let them go, or at least feed them, but I ain't willin' to give up our little food. So do we let them go?"

"Hell no." Daryl barked behind me. He had the most reason to hate them. They had very nearly eaten him.

"No." Came a choir of voices.

Everyone looked to me waiting for an answer. "I don't really know. I mean, I think they're not all bad people. David seemed to think they were just trying to get by in their own way." I could feel Daryl's eyes burning a hole in the back of my neck. I pictured him hanging there naked, with the body of a woman hanging nearby him and a man cut to pieces on the table.

"No." I ended up saying flatly.

"I think we should let them go." Carol added in. Everyone looked to her.

"They were just trying to survive. We've all done terrible things, because it was necessary to survive." She explained glancing over to Tyreese.

"We ain't gonna have those freaks wanderin' 'round 'ere. What happens when they get a bit peckish, hmm? We gonna invite them in for a snack?" Daryl snarled angrily from behind me. "Ain't we got enough things 'round 'ere tryna eat us?" He added.

"I have to agree with Daryl on this one." Rick said leaning forward and putting an authoritative finger to the table. "We just can't have that type roamin' around. We have to put ourselves first."

It reminded me of something I had heard before and I let it slip out of my mouth as I thought it over.

"Never again. Never trust. We first. Always."

I was relieved to get through that whole meeting without anyone mentioning anything about Daryl and I. When we all walked out the room and Daryl lingered behind waiting for me, I noticed Maggie watching me carefully, and I knew she had something to say to me. Glenn grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away before she could. Rick walked past and took the babbling Judith out of my arms.

"Give you guys some time to talk." He said giving me a smile that made me blush. "You make sure he takes it easy today." He said nodding his head towards a sheepish looking Daryl.

"What have we got to talk about?" I asked turning towards him.

"Sleepin' arrangements." He stated simply.

"Oh yeah? What about them."

"My place or yours?" He asked with a sideways smile.

I turned my head to see if anyone was watching us. They had all turned down the stairway and out of sight, so I gave Daryl a quick peck on the lips.

"I'm already settled in to my room." I said. I wasn't really that settled, but my room was on the opposite side from Maggie and Glenn's room and there was nobody in the room next door to us. We would have the most privacy there.

"I'll get my stuff." Daryl said patting down his pockets on his shirt and pants. "You know where I put my bow?" He asked playfully.

"In there?" I said thumbing over my shoulder to the armory.

Daryl collected the bow, saying he felt safer sleeping beside it. I decided to take my new crossbow over too. Not that I would ever feel unsafe with Daryl sleeping beside me.

When we got back to the room, Daryl was straight to closing the door and pushing me on to the bed. It creaked loudly when I fell on to it, and creaked and groaned again when Daryl got on top.

"I need to punish you for what you did to me last night." He said leaning down and kissing me roughly.

"Stop it." I said playfully pushing him away "It's the middle of the day someone will hear us."

"You didn't seem to mind when we were in the middle of the mess hall and anyone could walk in." He looked up thoughtfully, and rubbed his chin in an exaggerated manner. "Infact I think someone did." He added

"That was so embaressin'." I said trying to cover my face. He pulled my hands away and started kissing on my neck and moving his hands down towards my belt buckle.

"How do you think it was for me? I was the one with my dick hanging out, 'least you had clothes on."

I giggled thinking about Daryl trying to make a grab for the covers with his bare behind sticking up in the air.

"Oh that's funny is it?" He said pulling my belt open roughly.

"Stop." I insisted again, trying to pull his strong hands away from my jeans. "I can actually hear people outside."

"C'mon what's the matter Greene, can't keep up with an old man?" He grabbed my hands and pulled them together and then held them at the wrists in one hand, while with the other he started tugging at my jeans. I tried to wriggle my wrists free from his grip but he was too strong. Then a feeling, something like fear, shot through my body.

"Stop." I said more firmly.

He was kissing on my neck now, while forcing my jeans down my thighs. I started kicking my legs trying to get him off. He put his knees on top of my shins so I couldn't move them either.

"I'm gonna make you moan so loud, girl. You're not gonna be able to look no-one in the eye for a week." He chuckled into my ear.

"No, stop." I said, with my chest getting tight and my breaths getting quick and shallow. I was dead serious now, but he still thought it was all a game.

"I'm gonna make you scream." He whispered into my ear.

And I lost all control at that point. All I could see was Len's hairy face looking down on me while he was standing between my legs, pushing at me and trying to get in. And then I saw Anton's twisted grin as he was on top of me, overpowering me the same way I was being overpowered now, with my wrists being held in one hand and having my shins pinned down by large and strong knees. Then both of the visions of Anton and Len merged in to one, and they both spoke to me in unison.

"I'm gonna make you scream." They whispered.

And I did. I squeezed my eyes shut and I screamed as loud as I could. I shrieked and cried and threw my head about and bucked my body up and down doing anything I could to get my attackers off me. I felt the weight lift off me and the bed creaked again and then I heard a familiar voice call.

"I was only playin' girl. I ain't gonna do nothin'."

I was gasping and panting and trembling and trying to tell myself that it was okay, that I was safe. But I still felt terrified. I drew my legs in to my body and began rocking back and forth on the bed like a child, sobbing and repeating "stop." to myself over and over again.

I heard the bed creak again and warm, strong arms wrap around my chest and drag me off the bed and pull me in to a familiar smelling body. I opened my eyes to see Daryl's face, twisted in concern, looking down on me. He was cradling me in his arms rocking me back and forth and stroking my hair.

"I'm such a dumb fuck, Beth." He declared passionately. "I didn't even think…"

"Beth." I heard someone call from outside. Then the door was flung open and Maggie was storming in, taking in the sight of Daryl holding me on the floor, and then lunging towards him.

Glenn dove in to the room after her, trying to grab at her raging fists that were pummelling down on Daryl's shoulders. Daryl tried to fend her off with his forearm.

"What the fuck are you doing?" She was shrieking while she clawed at the skin on the arm he was holding up defensively.

I had to pull myself together to defend Daryl before Maggie killed him. "It's okay." I called out to Maggie. "I was just having…a nightmare."

Maggie fell back to the floor toppling on to Glenn, and then studied my face, trying to get the truth out of it. Daryl reached up for the blanket on the bed and dragged it over my legs, trying to cover my exposed thighs.

"About Len, and Anton." I added, trying to convince Maggie, that Daryl was doing no wrong.

She went to her knees and began brushing her wild hair away from her face. Her eyes were darting between Daryl and Myself, and she was panting noticeably.

"Sorry." She finally said in between pants, while looking at Daryl.

"It's okay. Feelin' like I deserve it right 'bout now." He replied while still holding me firmly against his chest.

"I just, I heard you screamin' and I…well… I don't know what I thought." Maggie was looking a little ashamed at her actions. I was angry at her for thinking Daryl would hurt me, but at the same time it was a comfort to know she would defend me so passionately.

"I was coming to talk to Beth." She said, gulping in air trying to catch her breath.

Daryl nodded his head at her.

"Sure." He replied, but kept me wrapped in his arms.

"Alone if possible." She added.

Daryl loosened his grip and dipped his head to look at my face. "You okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine now, just had a bit of a freak out." I tried to manage a weak grin, and then pulled myself off Daryl's lap and sat on the floor leaning against the cot bed, and trying to pull my jeans up under the blanket.

"Come on, man." Glenn said tapping Daryl on the shoulder and then holding a hand out to help him up. Daryl took hold of the hand and gave me one more glance before getting up and following Glenn out the door.

"Jeez Beth, you have no idea how bad that looked comin' in like that." Maggie explained to me while shuffling in close to me where I sat leaning on the bed.

"Daryl would never hurt me." I assured her.

"I know, but for a moment there..." She trailed off while looking around the room deep in thought. "So you two are like together or somethin'?" She asked, her line of conversation suddenly changing direction.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess."

"And you're havin' sex?"

I blushed, and wondered if it would be worse having this conversation with Maggie or with my dad. I gave a dip of my head, and hoped this discussion would be over quickly.

"Do you know what you're getting yourself in to?" She continued.

I bobbed my head up and down in response, even though I was really just playing it as it came.

"Daryl is a really nice guy. We all love him dearly, but he's got a past, he's got a shit load of skeletons in that closet of his." Maggie explained to me.

"I've met some of them." I said with a weak smile.

She smiled back at me, and wrapped her arm around my shoulders.

"I don't think I need to ask you if you care about him."

"No, you don't. I care about him a lot." I told her.

"And it seems he cares about you." She added.

"He's told me as much." I said, feeling my cheeks flush.

"Well I guess, there's really nothing else to say then." She said with a shrug of her shoulders.

I smiled at her, relieved that the conversation was soon to be over. She wasn't angry at me, and she was going to accept my relationship with Daryl. It couldn't have gone any better really, except maybe if she didn't try to kill Daryl.

"You've been safe right?" She asked suddenly, while narrowing her eyes at me.

I tried not to think on it for too long. We had been fairly safe, but I guess we could have been safer. I nodded my head anyway trying to get this part of the conversation over.

"So he's been using condoms?"

I tried not to hesitate too long on that one either, and nodded my head even faster, hoping she wouldn't see past the lie.

"That's a relief. You may not be too young for Daryl. But you are far too young to be having his baby."

I was still a little shaken after the incident with Daryl that morning. I felt like I should go seek out Daryl for comfort, but when I found him in the mess hall, flicking through an old magazine in front of the furnace, there was some odd sinking feeling that stopped me from going to him. I decided to seek comfort in the next best thing, and went looking for Judith.

I found her directly outside in the courtyard, playing in the sun on a blanket, chewing on the brim of Carl's hat, with Carl lying next to her reading a comic. I lay down on my belly next to him and propped my head up on my hands.
"What you readin?" I asked.

"Invincible. Some super hero comic." He said glancing up at me.

"What's it about?" I asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. "He's a teen with super human strength, and he can fly, saves the world that kind of stuff..." He paused for a second and then looked back at me. "Do you think that Dr Eugene could find a cure?"

I shrugged my shoulders, and he looked away sullenly.

"We shouldn't stay here. We should be going to Washington." He said while rubbing his thumb over the pages of the comic.

"We will." I assured him. I was certain we would end up there sooner or later, but I was going to enjoy our time here at Terminus as much as possible.

Carl frowned at me and then crawled to his knees, collected his hat and stood up.

"I'm gonna find my dad, can you watch Judith?" He asked looking down on me.

"Sure." I said, giving him a friendly smile. Carl made a weak effort to return the smile and then went off in search of his dad.

I rolled on to my back and let Judith crawl over me, while I enjoyed the sun and tried to take my mind of the twisting cramps in my belly.

My sun was blocked out by an unexpected shadow. I took a hand to my face to block the glare and try to make out the features of the person standing over me and found Carol staring down.

I cringed thinking about the conversation we were about to have. Carol dropped down on the blanket beside me and started playing with Judith.

"She's a cute baby." She commented, sounding like she was meeting Judith for the first time. I nodded silently, anxious to do away with the small talk and get this discussion out of the way.

"You know that Anton talked a lot about a blonde girl when we were locked up." She said, and then glanced up at me. "Didn't know he was talking about you." She added

That was a bit unexpected. I didn't think she would be talking about Anton of all possible subjects. I shrugged my shoulders wondering exactly what he had said about me in there.

"You know the way he spoke about you, I think he really loved you." Carol went on.

"He didn't love me Carol! He tried to rape me." I snapped back angrily.

Carol raised an eyebrow at me. "Are you sure? Maybe you gave him the wrong idea, maybe he thought you wanted it. I saw the way you were all over Daryl last night."

I scoffed angrily at her conclusions. "No Carol, he chased me through the woods and pinned me to the ground. I'm pretty sure he knew I didn't want it." I growled.

Carol looked away from my glare and back to Judith. "Two sides." She said with a shrug.

I was so shocked that she was taking Anton's side over mine that I couldn't even respond. So I just glared at her.

"It's a pity you feel that way. He was a really nice guy. So warm and friendly. He sang to me in there you know? kept my spirits up. He would be a better match for you than Daryl, he's much more like you, more your age." She explained to me casually, like we were talking about some boy next door.

"Carol, you're not listening to me! Anton tried to rape me, and he would have killed me! And besides that crucial point, he's dead! We fed him to the Termites!" I was almost shrieking now.

"He's not dead, I just talked to him." Carol said calmly.

"You what?" I gasped.

"Now don't get jealous. You've got Daryl, right? You can't have both at the same time." Carol said smiling back at me.

I stared at her in complete disbelief at what I was hearing. I could feel my eyes widening and my jaw hanging low. She studied my face and then pursed her lips together and narrowed her eyes.

"You're acting weird today." She commented.

I was thinking the same about you.

When I failed to respond, she got up and brushed off her knees.

"I've got things to do, Beth. You take care of that little girl of yours." She said before turning and walking away.

That whole conversation was crazy, but the way she said 'that little girl of yours', made me think that she didn't even know who Judith was.

I spent most of the day looking after Judith while the others did what they needed to. They were moving rooms around, arranging rosters for watches, organising weapons, and food, doing their washing, preparing garden beds. Generally doing all the stuff we used to do back at the prison.

I had met a few more of the other survivors. There was Kara and Jason, a brother and sister who were a little older than me, who had lost their parents right at the beginning of the turn. They had come here with a married older couple, Doug and Heather, who had a seventeen year old daughter named Jane. I had come to the conclusion that Jason had a crush on Jane the way he followed her around the place with lost puppy eyes.

There were also three older men; Harry, Noel and Dean. They had been involved in some kind of military operation that went bad. Abraham spent most of his time with them trying to convince them to go to Washington with him and Eugene.

The other survivors were just a mix of people with different backgrounds, but they had all experienced some kind of loss on the way here. They all seemed like nice respectable people, and they were more than willing to help out with any job that Rick gave them.

David spent his time in the worship room talking to God. I still found the place creepy, so I chose not to go in there. Mix spent his time bounding around Terminus, making friends with everyone he came across. He even alerted the watch to a few approaching walkers, and they were able to take them out before they got close.

Daryl avoided me all day. He was most likely embarrassed about everyone knowing about us, and probably still felt bad about what happened in the morning. It might have bothered me that he wasn't talking to me, but I found that I didn't really want to talk to him either.

I didn't eat much that night as my belly was still cramping up and making me feel awful. I decided I would head up to my room early and do some writing before I went to bed. Before heading up there I went past Rick's room to say goodnight to Judith.

I could hear Judith crying as I approached, and when I came to the open door, I found a frazzled looking Rick bouncing her up and down nervously.

"What's wrong with her?" I asked stepping in to the room and holding out my arms for her.

Rick gratefully handed her over to me.

"I don't know. She's been real unsettled. Especially at night, Maybe she's getting some new teeth in."

I examined the dark hollows of Rick's eyes, and figured he must be really tired and run down with trying to get Terminus in to order and keeping up with everyone's demands.

"Do you want me to take her for the night?" I offered.

"Could you?" He said with a grateful sigh.

"No problem." I said, reaching down for the bag of diapers.

Back in my room I found it didn't take long for me to get her settled. Maybe Rick's stress was making her unsettled. When she was sleeping soundly, I lay her down on the cot bed and went to the desk to write. Daryl came in about an hour later knocking on the door as he opened it.

"You don't have to knock you know, it's your room too." I hissed, a little on edge that he might wake Judith up.

"Sorry." He whispered, while peering down on Judith.

"No watch tonight?" I asked, while turning back to my journal.

"Nope, Rick says I need to rest. I am pretty tired, still recoverin' from yesterday I think."

Daryl closed the door quietly and then sat carefully on the edge of the cot bed and started taking off his boots.

"Didn't seem that way this morning." I said in a voice that was a little harsher than I intended it to be.

"I'm real sorry 'bout that Beth. I don't know what I was thinkin'. Truth is I weren't gonna do nothin' anyway, I was just playin' with ya."

"Well you scared me." I snapped again. I don't know why I was so grumpy at him, I knew he didn't mean anything by it.

He got up off the bed and came behind me and wrapped his arms around me. I shrugged him away.

"I'm tryna write." I told him

Geez Beth why are you being such a bitch.

"What's wrong with you?" He said holding his hands up defensively.

"I don't know, maybe I'm just tired. We should probably get some sleep." I said with a sigh.

I packed up my journal and blew out some of the candles so the room was only lit with a dim glow. Daryl stripped down to his jeans and stood by the bed waiting for me to get in. I edged in carefully to the cot bed curling up behind Judith. Daryl was standing over me watching me with a frown on his face.

"Not enough room in there for me." He said glumly.

"Well sleep on the floor." I snapped.

"Sheesh, okay then." He said, while dropping heavily on to the mattress and pulling the blanket over him. He turned to face me, with his head propped up on one hand.

"Why don't you come and lay down 'ere with me." He suggested.

"I don't have to have sex with you every night, Daryl." I growled back at him. Judith stirred a little at the harshness of my tone.

Daryl screwed up his face at me like he was about to growl something back, and then sighed and reached out a hand to the bed.

"I'm sorry that weren't what I was suggestin', I didn't think you would wanna after what happened this mornin'."

"Well you're right, so let's just get some sleep." I suggested, pressing my eye lids closed.

I could hear a crinkling sound like scrunched up paper, and my eyes flew open when I realised what it was.

Daryl had the note I had screwed up earlier, and put under the mattress, in his hand and he was reading it. I threw my arm forward and tried to snatch at it. Creaking the bed and jostling Judith around in the process. Judith gave a sigh and then went quiet again.

Daryl was chuckling to himself "Mrs Dixon, hey?" He said with a smirk on his face.

"Give it back, Daryl." I sneered, while I ripped it out of his hands, and stuffed it under my pillow.

Daryl's facial expression changed slowly from a grin to a frown. He must have been thinking about how juvenile I was writing notes like that and hiding them under my bed.

"G'night, Beth." He said gruffly while rolling away from me and pulling the blanket over his shoulder.

I rolled over towards Judith and closed my eyes. I felt a tear slip out from under my eyelids and roll down my cheek as a dozen different emotions swirled through my body.

Judith woke me up with a sudden wail in the middle of the night. I got her up and checked her nappy, and tried to offer her a bottle of water, but she refused it. I ended up getting off the bed and pacing around the room with her while Daryl watched me through eyes squinted against the dim candle light.

"What's wrong with lil ass kicker?" He finally asked.

"I don't know, maybe her teeth. This must be what Rick was talking about, why he needed rest." I said fretting over the wailing Judith.

"I need rest too. I gotta do a run tomorrow. Maybe you should just give 'er back." Daryl suggested while giving a tired groan.

"Give her back? What about when you have your own kids? Are you gonna give them back too? I guess it will be all my responsibility, huh?" I snarled at him, shocked once more at my sudden change in mood.

"Whatya mean, we don't have no darn kids." He snarled back at me. "Is that what that stupid note was, you wantin' to get married and have mothafuckin' babies with me?"

"Don't swear around Judith." I hissed while covering Judith's ears with my hands "And hell no I don't want no babies with you."

"Well good, cause I don't want no babies neither." He hissed back at me, and then rolled over pulling the blanket over his head.

"Yeah well maybe you should stop fu…screwing me without a condom then!" I snapped at the mountain of blanket.

He tugged the blanket down over his face, and looked up at me.

"Is that what this is all about? Are you worried or somethin'?" He asked in a softened tone.

I fell to the bed heavily, with the crying Judith on my lap. "No. I don't know what's wrong with me. I'm just tired, my belly is all upset, and everythin' has been drivin' me crazy today." I tried to hold back the sobs that I could feel starting to build up.

Daryl stood up and reached out his arms for Judith. "Let me take Judith for a walk. You try and get some rest." He suggested.

"Are you sure?" I asked, while willingly handing over the baby.

"Yeah. I need to clear my head anyway."

AN: I have the next chapter almost done, but its a looooong one. I'm trying to figure out if I want to cut some stuff out, or split it in two. The last part of it is really important, so I don't want to mess that up. Hopefully I'll have it all figured out soon.
Thank you for all your lovely comments :)