A/N: In reference to the last line of the last chapter. It was a little bit cryptic and ambiguous. As far as Daryl knows she was talking about Austin, Winnie and Judith, but Beth was also thinking of someone else...
The Walking Deth - Part IV
Here and Home - Chapter XI
Live
I was wrapped in a cocoon of warmth and softness, and the familiar smells or Daryl's unwashed hair. All of the comforts that I was loathe to leave in the mornings. I stretched my toes downwards exploring the cold depths, and then stretched an arm out reaching for something I wanted to pull myself into and finding the space was empty and unexpectedly cold.
I forced an eye open to examine the space beside me, the space that had been filled with Daryl's body warmth only moments earlier. It was empty now, twisted sheets being the only evidence that sleeping last night, nuzzled against his chest, was not all in my imagination.
A thin line of light seeped between the thick drapes of the bedroom window, signalling it was day time, and from behind me I heard the tell-tale screech of a tap being shut off, and then the shuffling of a shower curtain being drawn back.
I balled my hands into fists and rubbed them against my eyes, clearing away the blurs, then I stretched my hands high above my head, arched my back and groaned at the release of tension, catching my breath shortly when the stretch pulled too hard on the healing wound on my hip.
The light in the room changed, and I turned towards its source, the shadow of Daryl silhouetted in the bathroom doorway, his ever lengthening hair pasted damply to his brow, a towel hanging loosely off his hips, his chest still glistening wet.
"Mornin'." I murmured sleepily as I pulled myself into a seated position allowing the covers to fall to my waist.
Daryl's eyes examined my face and then drifted over my exposed breasts, his lips quirking slightly.
"Mornin'." He said jerking his head away and stepping towards the dresser, where his clothes had fallen on the floor, not quite making it into the drawers as I had suggested.
Dr Cloyd had told us to take it easy. No strenuous activity. Daryl had taken it quite literal, avoiding touching me in any place that might excite him enough to ignore doctor's orders, or excite me enough to force him to.
Of course my need to be with him had only intensified since we had got into our own place, with our own bed. I had chosen to torture him by sleeping naked and pressing my backside into him several times throughout the night, to see if I could get a reaction. His body reacted without fail, but his willpower was too strong, and his only response was to grunt at me in frustration.
I crawled over the blankets, prowling like an alley cat, then balancing on the edge of the bed I tugged his towel, drawing him into me and removing it from his hips in one motion.
"Beth." He chastised, grabbing for the towel that was slipping around his knees.
"I'm feeling much better." I insisted, bringing my body upright so that my lips could reach his.
Grabbing his whiskered chin between my thumb and forefinger, I pulled his jaw down, opening his mouth and allowing access for a tender flick of my tongue.
He groaned and shuddered and then swallowed hard as he took a reluctant step back.
"Doctor's orders." He pulled his eyes from my lips, down to his crumpled jeans on the floor, and began to tug them on in a rushed fumbling motion.
I scoffed in annoyance, and slipped off the bed, catching my hand in his jeans as he attempted to button them up.
"These are Beth's orders." I murmured as I dipped my hand in and wrapped it around the length of him. The feel of him hardening in my hand gave away that his desire was as strong as mine.
"God damn it, Beth." He grunted, dropping his pants to the floor then stepping forward, catching me behind the back and lowering me down on the bed.
His teeth bit roughly on my lower lip, as if in punishment, and then he trailed a line of nips and licks and moistened kisses over my chin and to the column of my throat, while his hand pushed back gently on my collar bone forcing my back to meet the dishevelled covers of the bed.
I gasped in anticipation, and in surprise, not thinking it would be so easy to seduce him when he had been so well in control of his urges up until this point.
I lifted my arms over my head, and dropping my knees out to the side in a display of absolute surrender, and closed my eyes so that I could focus entirely on the sensation of his warm, moist lips moving over my body.
"You, Miss Greene." He muttered blowing ticklish air against my sensitized skin. "Are god damn insatiable."
"I am." I murmured in agreement, arching my back to meet his gentle touch.
"Sometimes I think what's between y' legs takes over what's between y' ears." He nipped lightly at the skin above my naval, causing me to squirm and giggle.
"Mmm Hmm."
His kisses became softer and slower as he approached the wound site on my hip; The tickling sensation mingling with a dull ache to produce an unusually warm and pleasant tingling sensation.
His lips finally stopped, unfelt, just on top of the padded gauze that covered the still tender gunshot wound.
"Lucky, one of us has some sense, 'ey?"
I opened my eyes as the bed rocked and the warmth of his body pulled away from me.
"What?" I asked, stunned, propping myself up on my elbows.
"Doctor's orders." He said waving a commanding finger at me, before turning to his clothes on the floor.
I huffed, blowing the strands of hair that crossed my face up and away.
"It's been over a week, I'm dyin' here." All the built up sexual frustration and tension was apparent in my tight voice.
"You're dyin'?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes up to the ceiling. "I ain't the one forcin' my hot ass up against y' cock e'ry night."
He backed his way to the chair by the bedroom window, where his ragged sleeveless shirt and leather vest lay.
"Why don't you wear the uniform Rick gave you?" I nodded to the pile of clothes on the dresser, still neatly folded and untouched.
He scoffed and shook his head. "I ain't wearin' no collars and ties."
"Why not? I think you'd look mighty sexy in a uniform."
He smirked up at me, slipping his arms into his angel winged vest. "Last thing I need is to be encouragin' your libido."
He turned to the window and pulled back the drapes, filling the room with cool morning light, and then looked down into the street below.
"How's it look out there?" I asked, referring to the weather.
It was starting to warm up, approaching summer, and I was keen to be able to wear a summer dress without feeling the chill. Due to my inability to dress properly, I had been living in nothing but dresses over the past week.
Daryl stared out the window, still and focused. "Perfect." He mumbled, emotionless.
Sensing his discomfort I dragged myself from the bed and limped up behind him, holding him around the waist, and lifting myself to my tip toes so I could rest my chin on his shoulder.
"Perfect is supposed to be good, you know."
He shook his head. "I don't know how t' do perfect. I'm better when everythin' is shit. 'least I know shit."
I dropped my feet back flat on the floor, and grabbed both of his shoulders to turn him around to face me.
"Now that's a lie if I ever heard one, you've been perfect for both the good and the bad."
He fought the smile, but the side of his lip quirked as evidence he at least partially believed me.
"Guess I just gotta get used t' havin' a perfect life, with a perfect house and a perfect job…" His hands dropped down and gripped me roughly on the behind drawing him against me. "… and a perfect girl pushin' her perfect ass into me at night."
Wriggling away from him slightly to relieve the pressure on my wound, I looked up into his eyes and teased playfully, "We'll have a perfect family, and our perfect dog will play on the perfect lawn, and I'll pack my husband a perfect lunch before he goes to work."
Daryl's body tensed beneath my grip, his eyes suddenly going wide and focused. He looked angry, or confused, or scared.
Yes, that was fear I saw.
"I was just playin'." I said waving a casual hand through the air to shift away the tension.
Dropping his eyes, his hands left my backside and went to his hips, and slipped down into his pockets. His left hand fumbled around for a moment, the denim of his jeans jumping with movement. It was a nervous habit he had picked up ever since we had come to the safe zone.
He looked back up at me frowning. "I know y' were."
He pushed past me gently and moved to the nightstand where he collected his knife and slipped it into the sheath on his belt. He glanced up at me quickly, the muscles in his face still held tight as if something was on his mind.
"Get dressed so I can help y' down the stairs 'fore I go."
I did as I was told going to the tall dresser to find an outfit to wear that day. I smiled to myself while I lifted up the pale blue collared shirt Rick had given Daryl and held it up against my chest.
"Do you think I would look good in a policewoman's outfit?" I asked playfully with a purse of my lips, as I modelled the shirt.
Smiling, he sat on the bed to pull on his worn leather boots. I had insisted he leave them by the front door, but he wasn't one to follow house rules.
"I think you'd look good in anythin'."
I folded the shirt back up and put it back on the dresser on top the navy slacks and opened the drawers to rummage through for an outfit to wear.
"What should I do?" I asked, pushing aside a pair of jeans I wished I was able to pull on.
"What should y' do?"
"Yeah. For work. Maggie works in the depository, Sasha works in the tower, Eugene works in the factory, Glenn goes on runs, you're a cop. What should I do?"
I heard him scoff behind me. "Y' won't be doin' nothin' for a while yet."
I shrugged. "I know, but I'll have to eventually. Rick, Michonne and Carl seem to be able to handle Judith without me now." I frowned down to the folded clothing as I thought about the little girl who I no longer had to myself. It was better that way of course, she should be with her family, and I needed to focus on our little ragtag family anyway.
"Winnie and Austin are goin' to school. It makes no sense for me to sit around and be a…housewife."
I felt Daryl come up behind me, and his strong arms crossed me over my chest.
"Runs, Tower, Wall, Policewoman." He spoke softly into my ear. "You can do anythin' y' wanna do."
I turned my head to face him. "Really? You would let me?"
He scoffed and stepped away, smiling. "Whattaya mean let you. You're a big girl, you can handle y'self."
I flashed him a grin, and then went back to the task of dressing, deciding on a yellow cotton summer dress, embroidered with small flowers.
It was much easier to tug something over my head than it was to pull something over my legs. Although I still had to get Daryl to help me with my underwear, and he squirmed with discomfort as his eyes tried to look everywhere but at what the underwear was covering.
Satisfied I had tormented him enough for the morning, I limped into the bathroom, brushed my teeth, washed my face and tried to wrangle the mess of my hair into a pony tail.
Daryl smiled at my presentable appearance, handed me my new knife and belt that he insisted I not leave the house without, and then slipped an arm behind my back and half supported half carried me down the stairs.
Winnie and Austin had moved in with us the day after we had come to the safe zone; Winnie willingly, and Austin with encouragement. We had set them up in their own rooms on the ground floor, while Daryl and I took the bedroom in the upper floor. I had kind of regretted that idea afterward, tackling the stairs had been painful with my injured hip, but it was nice to have our own space.
My crutches were waiting for me at the foot of the stairs where I had left them every day. They were old wooden ones, scratched and drawn on, and the padding was losing its stuffing. As ugly and uncomfortable as they were, every time I used them my heart would flutter a little, remembering daddy and the way he used to swing himself around the prison after his leg was amputated.
The children were already up and dressed and playing on the floor of the living room when Daryl and I entered.
Daryl gave Austin a pat on the shoulder to say goodbye, who now seemed to be warming back up to him since his hunting trip the other day. He caught Winnie as she bounded of the sofa and into his arms to hug him goodbye, kissed me and reminded me we were having dinner with Rick that night, and went off to his job as a safe zone police officer.
I spent the rest of the morning, fixing the children the best breakfast I could with only tinned fruit, stale cereal and powdered milk available. Then I brushed Winnie's tangle of hair while drilling Austin on his timetables. It seemed he didn't remember much of what I taught him back at the school, or he liked to pretend he didn't.
We left the house about an hour after Daryl, walking across our porch past the white painted wicker lounge chairs with the tropical leave printed cushions that Mix had claimed as his bed. We descended the creaking steps and walked down our cobblestone path, past our neat gardens filled with violet hued vincas, and out through the gate of our white picket fence.
It seemed that Daryl wouldn't need to build me that picket fence after all, but he may need to give it a coat of paint.
Smiling to myself at the thought of Daryl in overalls with white paint splashed over his face and in his hair, I followed Austin and Mix down the sidewalk, with Winnie walking slowly beside me on her recovering leg, while I swung myself along on the crutches.
The neighbours waved at us as we past, some of them calling out our names, and I called back to the ones whose names I could remember. Giving up entirely as we turned down the street the school was on. I simply hadn't been here long enough to remember the names of people who didn't live on our street.
The school house had been converted from a regular house, just like the medical clinic, but this one had an array of playground equipment made from scrap material, and huddles of children playing skipping and ball games on the front lawn.
The inside of the building was cleared of all regular furniture and filled with lines of mix matched dining and patio furnishings that served as school desks and chairs.
The school teacher was a woman of about Daryl's age named Deidre who had worked as a high school teacher before the turn. I always found it intimidating when I spoke to her. If the world hadn't fallen apart, she could have been teaching me.
As intimidating as she was, I still found the strength to stand proud as a mature woman and approach her when I dropped the kids off.
She was marching through the tables, grizzling at the kids that wouldn't settle into their places and looking more frazzled than usual.
She glanced up at me as she past, noticing me watching her.
"We've got another three students joining us today." She blurted out along with an exasperated breath. "I've asked to split the classes and have students attend on alternate days, but Douglas won't have it. Says the kids need to be kept busy so the parents can work."
Frustrated, she tossed the bundle of books in her hands onto a nearby desk. "That's all teachers are I guess; Glorified babysitters."
"No." I protested. "Teachers are much more than that. You hold the future generation in your hands. What you teach them now is what they'll use to repair this world in the future."
She pressed her lips into a firm line of doubt. "I won't be able to teach them anything if I don't get some help."
I went to touch her hand in support and stopped short as a thought hit me. "You know, I was a teacher. Before."
She peered down her nose at me in scrutiny.
"I mean. I worked at a school. I taught eleven children." I swallowed back the lump of tension that grew in my throat at the memory of the lost children. The joy of finding Winnie and Austin had only numbed some of the pain.
"I could help you." I insisted.
Deidre eyed over my crutches and screwed her nose up distastefully. "The kids will run you off your feet."
"Maybe not today." I said with a shrug. "But when I'm better, I would be delighted to help you."
Deidre's face slowly softened into a smile.
"I would be delighted to have your help."
After I had said goodbye to the children I took the short stroll ─ or swing─ into the centre of town, smiling all the way as I thought about my new job as a teacher. It was perfect really, as much as I would love to help protect the town, it wasn't in my nature to be violent, it was just for necessity, and I had had my fair share of violence anyway.
There were more purpose built buildings in the centre of the town; A town hall with a large bell tower that was used to alert the safe zone of emergencies, a factory where Eugene worked on projects to better the community, and a large warehouse that served as the depository where Maggie worked.
Maggie had insisted I meet her there that morning to show me something exciting. I had no idea what it could be, but given the depository served as something of a store, I figured it would be shoes or clothes, or something that I might have been interested in before the turn.
I entered the building, pushing through a small huddle of people collecting their rations, and made my way over to the counter that Maggie was standing behind folding clothes, and arranging them by against labels of size and gender.
I scanned over the shelves of goods varying form necessities such as food and clothing and toiletries, to luxuries, such as alcohol, sporting equipment, and stationary. My eyes rested on a Polaroid camera, sitting on a shelf among other pieces of electrical equipment which wouldn't be used unless Eugene came up with a way to produce enough power to waste on luxuries.
"Hey Maggie. Do you think I could have that camera?"
Maggie jumped at the sound of my voice, not realising I had been standing there. She glanced at the camera and then back to me.
"You have to barter for everythin' in here that isn't part of your ration allocation. I doubt you wanna give up any food with four mouths to feed."
"No I don't…but you are my sister."
Maggie, swung her head from side to side, examining the other workers in the depository. "I shouldn't."
"Daryl would really love it." I insisted.
"Daryl?"
"Yeah he's quite the photographer."
"Daryl a photographer?" She laughed to herself, turning to grab the camera. "This I have to see."
She slipped the camera secretively into her canvas bag, glancing over her shoulder to see if anyone was watching, and then swung the bag over her shoulder and ushered me away from the counter and out of the depository.
Once outside and walking down the sidewalk she produced the camera and handed it to me.
"Here you go. Now you make sure you show me some of these pictures photographer Daryl takes."
Lacking a bag or anywhere else to put the thing, I looped the strap around my belt and let it hang against my good hip.
"So what was so important today? Why did you want me to meet you?"
Maggie grinned and skipped her step a little. "Dr Cloyd has finally figured out how to work the ultrasound machine Glenn and Heath picked up the other day."
Both excitement and apprehension built up in my belly and slipped through my mouth as a squeal, "We get to see the baby?"
Maggie nodded. "I hope so, as long as she knows what she's doin'."
Glenn had been waiting for us outside the clinic, leaning against the timber siding by the door. He straightened himself and smiled to the pair of us as we made our way up the steps, leaning forward to help me up with my crutches.
The clinic was empty of the sick this morning, only Jane was in the front room sifting through bottles and assorted medical equipment. She looked up from her work and smiled sweetly as we entered.
"She's ready for you." She said, pointing down the hall. "I think she's more excited about it than you are."
"I doubt that." Glenn said, "Maggie was up all night threatening to neuter me if I didn't make it here on time."
Maggie playfully pushed him forward and I followed the pair of them into the same room I had been taken to when we first arrived at the safe zone.
"Oh you're here!" Dr Cloyd said jumping up excitedly from her spot on a stool in front of a piece of machinery I assumed was for the ultrasound. "Lay down and loosen your jeans for me, I need to get down low." She demanded, pushing Maggie towards the bed.
Maggie obeyed, laying back and unzipping her jeans to expose the slight curve of her belly.
Dr Cloyd turned up a bottle and squirted a small bit of liquid onto Maggie's exposed skin. "We're supposed to use a lot of lubrication to help the transducer move about, but we don't know how long this is going to last us, so we'll keep it minimal for now. You'll have to excuse me if it rubs."
She picked up the handpiece attached to the larger machine by a long coiled wire and smoothed the liquid around on Maggie's belly.
"I had to use these machines before you know?" Dr Cloyd informed us, as she moved the handpiece from side to side, and the image of grey and black lines shifted on the screen. "Of course I used mine mainly to view muscles and ligaments. But the principal is all the same, I just have to find a ─ oh look, there it is."
Dr Cloyd pointed her finger to the screen to a dark jelly bean shaped blob.
"What is it?" Glenn asked, his eyebrow raised in confusion.
"Look that's the head, that's the body, these are the arms there ─ look its waving."
Sure enough I could make out on the screen the form of a little person with a head and body and limbs, and it was moving. A lot.
"I see it." Glenn said, a huge smile spreading over his face. He reached for Maggie's hand and squeezed it so hard I could see her fingers turning white. Maggie didn't seem to mind, she just stared at the screen wide eyed.
"Is it supposed to move that much?" She asked.
"Sure, why not. But it may make it difficult for me to measure."
With a look of concentration on her face Dr Cloyd, began clicking buttons on her machine, and moving cursors around on the screen.
"There we go. From crown to rump it's a little over three inches. That means you are about fourteen weeks pregnant."
I pulled my eyes away from the screen to smile proudly back at Maggie, who was now sobbing into her hand, her eyes bright with joy.
"Is it a boy?" Glenn asked excitedly, before getting a jab in the ribs by Maggies elbow.
Dr Cloyd laughed and shook her head. "I can't tell yet, it's too early. Maybe if I knew more about what I was doing… For now I think you might have to wait until it's bigger for me to find out finer details like that."
"We don't need to know." Maggie insisted, glaring at Glenn before turning her eyes back at the doctor. "Thank you for showin' us what you could. It's a relief to know that everythin' is okay, and to know how much time we got to prepare." She expelled a shaky, anxious sounding breath.
"You're welcome." Dr Cloyd said as she put the handpiece back on the machine. "I'm just as curious as you to know how everything is going. This machine is going to be my new favourite toy."
"We'll leave you to play with it then. Maggie said as she pulled herself to a seating position. "We've got to get back to our shifts."
"Would you like a picture?" Dr Cloyd asked as she fiddled around with her machine.
Maggie's eyes were wide with surprise once again. "Can you do that?"
"Sure. I can't give you a heap, but I'm sure I could manage one." Dr Cloyd fussed around with a flap of paper sticking out of a horizontal slot in the machine.
She pressed a button and after a wind and a click, the paper slipped through producing an image of about four by four inches. She tore it off and handed it to Maggie.
"There you go, baby's first picture."
Maggie examined the picture and then beamed at Glenn. "You'll have to get a frame on your next run."
Smiling at the picture, Glenn nodded and then pulled my sister in for a kiss on the cheek.
They looked so happy and contented with the news of a new bundle of joy, as if the fears of the outside world had all disappeared and the only thing that mattered in this world was the three of them.
The sinking feeling I had felt ever since I had been shot started to grow in my belly again. I had never confirmed what had been going on with me, why I had been so sick and emotional and why my body was changing. I hadn't bled for months, which wasn't all that unusual, but I hadn't bled since I had been shot either, which I guessed was a good sign.
Maggie and Glenn stepped towards the doorway, stopping when they realised I wasn't following.
"Aren't you comin'?" Maggie inquired with a quirk of her brow.
I shook my head. "No I need to speak to Dr Cloyd about somethin'. Get her to check somethin' out."
Maggie shrugged. "Okay, we'll see you tonight at Rick's place then."
I waved her off and then turned back to Doctor Cloyd, watching me with a look of confusion on her face.
"I only saw you yesterday. Is the wound bothering you?"
I shook my head. "No I just thought you could use your machine. To check everything is okay."
Dr Cloyd smiled reassuringly. "Everything's fine Beth, I don't need a machine to tell me that."
"No." I said clasping my hand over the slight curve of my belly. "I need you to check if everything is okay."
The afternoon sun was low in the sky and casting orange light throughout the living room when Daryl finally arrived home.
I had been holding my body tight with nervous anticipation all day, and I had spent the afternoon pacing out my tension in the living room. I had sent the children in the back yard to play so they didn't have to see me as anxious as I was and start worrying that something bad had happened. It wasn't bad, it was good, but it was also scary.
Daryl had barely put his crossbow on the floor before I had limped over to him and thrown my free arm around his neck to draw him in for a kiss, and squeeze out some of my tension against his chest.
"I have a surprise for you." I said producing the camera. I hoped it might help sweeten the news he was about to hear.
He took it, his features set in stone, and examined it.
"Don't know that there's a point. The batteries won't last long, and neither will the film."
I stepped back and crossed my arms over my chest. "Is that a thank you?"
Daryl's brow jumped, as if he had just come to realise something. "Sorry, Beth." He stepped forward and kissed me on the cheek. "Thanks."
"And I got somethin' else for you too." Giddy excitement took over me as I pulled out the slip of paper from its hiding place inside of my bra.
I was about to present it to him, when the sullen look on his face caught my attention.
"Is somethin' the matter?"
He shook his head and mumbled, "No."
He tried to step past me, but I grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him back towards me.
"Did somethin' happen at work today?"
"No." He muttered. "Nothin' happened."
"That's good right?"
He sighed and turned his eyes up to the ceiling. "I guess so."
"Why wouldn't it be?"
"I dunno, Beth. Everythin's great. Everythin's perfect. You and I both know when everythin's goin' right for us, somethin' always comes along t' change it all."
"Not all change is bad." I insisted. "Sometimes it's for the better."
"There's no way things could get any better. The way things are now, it's better than I could've ever had it b'fore. I got a house, a job, a girl, kids, a dog." He smirked and shook the camera in his hand. "It's like picture perfect."
He placed the camera down carefully on the entry table. "Things are just the way I like 'em. I don't want anythin' comin' along and screwin' with it. I just wanna enjoy it, just for a lil' while, at least."
I felt like my whole body had tuned to ice. I was riveted to the spot. I didn't even think I could speak. My news would bring a huge change to us both, and I wasn't so sure that Daryl would be happy about it, even if it was supposed to be good news.
I turned away from him and pressed the picture to my chest. I would have to tell him eventually, but I had forgotten everything I had prepared to say to him, to assure him it would all be okay. Maybe if I gave him a little more time, just like he had asked for.
"What's that?" He said peeking over my shoulder towards the object clenched in my hand. "Did y' take a picture?"
I hesitantly pulled the picture away from my chest and presented it to him. "Yeah. An ultrasound picture of…Maggie's baby." I lied.
Taking the picture in his hand he screwed up his face and cocked his head to the side to examine it.
"Looks kinda like an alien."
I clenched onto the embroidered neckline of my dress in an effort not to slap him.
"Yeah, I guess it does."
He turned the picture to the side to examine it closer. "How old is it?"
"Around twelve weeks."
"hmm" He mumbled before thrusting the picture back toward me.
"Don't care how safe it is in 'ere, with what there is out there, ain't no time to be havin' more babies."
I swallowed back my protest and lowered my eyes to the ground, hoping he didn't see my guilt.
He didn't seem to notice, walking past me and heading towards the back door to where the kids could be heard playing outside. "Throw a sweater or somethin' on." He called over his shoulder to me. "Rick's slaughtered the cow and fired up the grill. We're havin' real meat tonight."
Upon our arrival to the safe zone, Rick had insisted we have a party to celebrate us being together again. Our prison family and those we had met on the way to the safe zone, and some of the new friends we had made here. However as I had been out of commission, not being able to walk for the first couple of days, it was decided a party would be held as soon as I was able to enjoy the festivities.
The smell of chargrilled beef was mouth-watering, and the taste of it was like heaven in my mouth. I had not had beef for two years as it seemed so few cows had survived the outbreak, I figured they were as slow as walkers. Rick, Daryl, Austin and Carl had gone out on a hunting trip two days before and shot down a few deer in order to barter for the meat, and it was a welcome treat to us all.
I had never heard a room of people as quiet as we were chewing on our steaks, only the occasional moan of pleasure, and slurping of tongues over lips broke through the silence every once in a while.
Once the eating was done with the real celebration began, with Rick putting rock music on the stereo and pulling out scavenged, saved and traded bottles of scotch and wine, and an ancient case of beer with the cardboard all sun faded and peeling.
I avoided drinking any of it, and sipped on flat ginger beer along with Maggie, and Bob who seemed to be trying his hardest to stay away from the various shades of alcoholic liquid.
By the time I had refused my third glass of wine Maggie's eyes began to get narrower and she watched me with more scrutiny.
"Why aren't you drinkin' Beth?" She asked me suspiciously.
I turned my back to her quickly, and pushed the can to my lips in an effort to cover my giveaway facial expression.
She waited for an answer, her eyes not leaving me.
I wiped my lips theatrically and shrugged. "Well, I'm not twenty one yet…so."
"So?" Maggie quirked a brow at me. "Your boyfriend is old enough to be your daddy and you think you're too young to drink?"
I glared at her angrily for the reference to Daryl's age.
"Sorry." She held up her hands placating. "But it is kinda silly don't you think? Daddy wouldn't mind, Officer Grimes won't mind, I don't think Daryl would care or even notice."
We both looked towards Daryl who was standing at the kitchen table, wildly slapping cards down and yelling playful insults towards Abraham, Glenn and Heath, while the other men sat back and cheered him on.
He had started off light with a few beers and then dug into a bottle of scotch with Rick, disappearing for a time into the rear yard and returning pink faced and stumbling…
And smiling and laughing and doing all the things I never thought I would see Daryl do.
He was now stuck into a game of poker that had started off friendly, but was now getting progressively more competitive with Daryl playing for cigarettes, and offering up a future catch of squirrels in exchange.
I shook my head. "It's not that." I insisted. "You know how Daddy was with the drink, I just don't think it interests me much."
Maggie scrutinised me for a few seconds before smiling and turning her gaze back to the men playing their game. I couldn't help but notice her eyes resting on my belly for the slightest of seconds. Feeling like my secret may be out; I backed my way away from her.
"Think I might check on the kids." I said, excusing myself.
I stepped back into the living room where the children were. Austin, Carl, Jane and another one of the neighbourhood girls were playing a mock game of poker which seemed much friendlier and more mature than the one the adults were playing in the kitchen.
I jumped, startled when a muscular arm gripped me around the waist and tugged me back into a firm hard chest. His liquor smelling breath blew hot against my ear, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand to attention. He planted a wet, whisker tickling kiss on my shoulder, and then loosened his grip so I could spin around to face him.
His cheeks were bright red, his eyes were all glazed over, and his smile was so high and wide, that his eyes creased at the side under the force of his raised cheek bones.
"How's my girl?" He asked, as he placed his hands under my arms and on my shoulder blades, tugging me towards him so we were standing chest to chest ─ or chest to shoulder in our case.
I wrapped my free arm around his neck. "I'm fine, but not as good as you it seems."
"Come for a walk with me." He insisted, loosening one arm, and using the other to pull me along.
I let him guide me through the living area and out on to the front porch into the cool night air. I shivered and tugged my sweater across my chest tighter as the cold nipped on my bare skin.
Daryl slipped his hand into my palm, loosening my hold on the empty can of ginger beer and balanced it on the porch banister before pulling me into him.
"You hear what they're playin'?"
I listened in to the sound of the stereo that travelled through the house.
"Bon Jovi?"
Daryl nodded and started swaying slowly from side to side.
"Daryl Dixon, are you dancin' with me?" I interlocked my hands behind his neck and let myself be moved along with his motion.
"Guess I am." He made a fumbling attempt to dip me, almost dropping me, but saving me from a fall by putting out his knee.
I grunted in pain, as my leg sprung out in front of me, stretching my wound.
"Shit sorry." He grumbled, before setting me upright.
I giggled at him and his cute attempt to pull off a dance move he surely had only ever seen on TV. "You're really drunk." I said, stating the obvious.
"I'm shit faced!" He exclaimed with exaggerated enthusiasm.
"You better behave yourself, Mr Dixon; you can be a real jerk when you drink." I teased.
He shook his head, and set serious looking eyes on me. "I ain't got nothin' to be a jerk about."
I let my fingers creep up into his locks of hair and rubbed them into the back of his head. "So you're gettin' used to everythin' bein' nice?"
His broad shoulder shrugged under my arms. "Yeah ─ I mean─ might 's well enjoy it while it lasts, huh?"
I nodded, and dropped my head onto his shoulder, trying to hide the guilty look I could feel growing on my face.
His chest rumbled low and soft and I smiled to myself as the sound developed into an off key croon.
And I ,
will love you,
baby
Always
And I'll be there
forever and a day
Always
I'll be there till the stars don't shine
Till the heavens burst
and the words don't rhyme
And I when I die, you'll be on my mind
And I'll love you
Always
We stood out there for a few moments swaying softly, with the cool night breeze blowing across the backs of my bare legs. I listening in to the steady thud of his heart beat mixed in with the drone of the music, the murmur of drunken voices, the chirping of crickets and the croaking of frogs that lived in the gardens surrounding the home.
The swaying came to a stop and Daryl took in a quick sharp breath, which made me pull my head back and look up at him.
"What d' y' say we get outta 'ere." He said with a sly grin, cocking his head towards our house next door.
I returned the sly grin. "To do what exactly?"
"I'll show y' when we get there." He murmured slowly, with a quirk of his brow.
I giggled and shrugged my shoulders in an innocent gesture.
"But what about the kids?" I said as I twirled my finger across his chest.
"Leave 'em, they're havin' fun."
I glanced back though the screen door to the room crowded with our friends and family. Austin was still playing his card game with the older kids, and Winnie was playing momma with Judith, chasing her around the coffee table.
"Okay." I said with a shrug. "Guess they know where to find us."
"Hope they don't come lookin' too soon." Daryl said, the side of his lip curling. He tugged me towards the porch steps, and wrapped an arm around my waist to assist me down.
I followed him across the damp lawn and stifled my giggle when he leapt over the fence in one bound, stumbling as he landed in the bushes that surrounded our fence. When he had recovered he turned back and scooped me up to lift me over, more gracefully than his acrobatic attempt.
I wriggled for him to put me back down, but he merely grinned and held me tighter and marched me to the front door of our home carrying me as if I was weightless, and helping me to kick of my shoes by the front door, where I liked them to be.
The inside of the house was dark, being well past dusk now, but the drapes had all been left open during the day, and allowed the room to be filled with silvery moonlight.
Daryl carefully let my feet fall to the floor, and then pulled me in forcefully, pushing his hot and wet lips against mine, his sweet and sour tasting tongue prying into my mouth.
The kiss was long and lingering wet and rough, involving the use of drunken tongue and lips and teeth, and it left me trembling at the knees and quivering between the legs.
I gasped for air when he finally moved his mouth away from mine, "So you're not scared to…touch me anymore?"
"You're fine Miss Greene, I seen the way y' were dancin'."
Pulling me hard up into his chest, and gripping my face between his hot and damp hands, he turned my head and kissed me again, starting behind my ear then turning my face again so he could find my mouth, then tilting my head back so he could trail kisses over my chin and end them at the base of my neck.
When I had gathered some kind of hold on my elated senses, I opened my eyes to see he had dragged me across the room to the base of the staircase.
His kisses moved across my collar and to my freshly exposed shoulders as he slipped my sweater off and let it drop to the floor. He continued to nip at my skin, moving down lower over my chest as he stepped forward, urging me back up the stairs.
A combination of my heels being caught on the steps, and him being a fumbling drunk, ended me up on my backside halfway up the staircase.
I let out a quick yelp as pain shattered through my hip, but the sound was muffled out by Daryl dropping to his knees before me and placing his mouth over mine.
"Are you okay?" He murmured as he drew away, asking more out of formality than out of true concern.
I nodded, and allowed him to kiss me again, turning my head to the side to allow him access to my ear, which he nibbled lightly, his deep breaths stimulating my sensitive spots and making me arch my back and sigh with exhilaration.
His hands slipped from the small of my back, over my backside and down over my thighs, then up the hem of my dress until they had found my hips, where they fumbled at the waistband of my underpants.
"Don't you want to wait 'til we get upstairs. To the bed?" I suggested, while allowing him to slip my underwear over my knees and then toss them over his shoulder, landing them at the foot of the stairs on top on my sweater.
"Ah, so now you wanna wait for a bed?"
I giggled and pushed him away playfully. "That was different. There wasn't a bed only a few yards away." I said nodding my head up to the open bedroom door.
"Live a little, Greene." He hooked one of my legs over his shoulder, and began slowly pressing soft wet kisses into the inner side of my thigh.
I moaned with anticipation as I felt his hot breath getting closer to the sweet spot, and cried out loud when his lips finally brushed against it.
He pulled his face away from me, and looked up, the moonlight catching the blue in his eyes. "Is it your hip? Want me to stop?"
"It's not my hip." I weaved my fingers through the hair on the back of his head and tugged his face forward so he could resume what he had been doing before he dared stop to speak.
Daryl slipped his arm under my other leg, so that now both my thighs were resting on his shoulders, my backside was balanced precariously on the step and my feet were rubbing against the stitched on angel wings on his back as it bobbed up and down, while he worshipped my sweet spot with his tongue.
With my free hand I gripped on to the wooden baluster, to hold myself steady as my body rocked and arched and shuddered as the heat built deep in my belly and exploded between my legs in recurrent bursts, increasing with intensity with each wave.
It was the barking of the dog that made him finally stop and come up for air, the moisture in his whiskered chin glistening in the moonlight.
I tried to hold on to my gasping breaths while we listened to Mix's barks slowly fade away.
"Think there's trouble?"
Daryl shook his head. "Prob'ly saw a possum."
He crawled himself forward, pushing himself between my legs and kissing me on the lips allowing me to taste my sweetness, mixed in with the taste of scotch and beer and tobacco.
I felt him fumbling down between my legs and heard the clanking of metal as he loosened his belt, and then crinkling of plastic as he dug his hand into his pocket.
His arm froze for a moment and his face drew tight. I wondered if he had suddenly come to realise that he no longer needed one.
"Somethin' the matter?" I asked, wanting him to be the one who figured it out on his own, to save me the trouble of confessing.
He shook his head. "Nothin' to worry y'self about. I'll talk to y' 'bout it when I ain't been drinkin'."
He pulled out his hand to reveal a square condom package pinched between his fingers.
"Here?" I asked as I lifted myself up onto the next step trying to retreat to the bedroom and to the comfort of a bed.
"Why not?" He asked, as he followed me, tearing at the packet with his teeth.
"There are steps in my back." I said, lifting myself quickly up several more steps.
He took a moment to roll the condom down over the bulging length of him, and then crawled up the steps after me.
"We can't have that can we?" He slipped his arm behind my back, and tugged me to the side so I rolled onto my stomach.
I stifled the cry of pain with my hand as my hip hit the step, not wanting to discourage him from his sudden spontaneity.
I braced my hands against the top step, and angled my backside towards him so he could enter me from behind and he did so, pushing through the tight muscles, that hadn't been used in days, with a long and deep groan.
I let out my own moan, as his full length buried itself within me, hitting my deepest depths and making my insides squirm in ecstasy.
His hand slipped under my chest and found its place gripping onto my breast, and I gripped onto the nearest baluster to hold myself steady as he began to withdraw and insert himself slowly at first and the harder and faster.
"Don't…think…I'm gonna…last…long." He grunted into my ear as he continued to thrust into me
"Uhrm." Was the only thing I managed to reply.
He gripped me on the hips, his good hand on my good side a good deal rougher than his injured hand near my wound. As he built up momentum, his breaths grew more laboured and his groans grew deeper.
When he had reached just the right speed and forcefulness, I was tipped over the edge of my climax, gripping onto the baluster tight, feeling as though the solid wood would crumble in my hands, I threw my head back and let out a high pitched moan into the darkness that shadowed the ceiling.
Mingled with the sensation of my own convulsions, I could feel him throbbing within me too, as he let out his own loud groan, and then with a cry of relief, he collapsed heavily on top of me, forcing me into the carpet on the landing of the stairs.
I lay there for a moment, allowing myself to catch my breath and listening to Daryl's breaths steady and slow.
His breath eventually grew so slow and steady, I thought he had fallen asleep.
"Daryl?" I whispered.
He shifted slightly above me and mumbled, "Yeah?"
"I've got somethin' to tell you."
He body pressed against me grew tense. I thought maybe he knew what I was going to say, but then I noticed he was holding his breath as if he was listening to something off in the distance.
"You hear that?" He asked.
I held my breath and listened to the sounds of the night.
Starting of low and gradually getting louder was the urgent hollow clang of the town halls emergency bell.