Author's note: It's me again! New chapter for you guys. I'm really excited about this one.

Thank you again for all of those who have written comments, followed, etc.

Disclaimer: I've said it once, I've said it a million times, I do not own anything from The Walking Dead. Sadly.

She stared at the ceiling, unmoving. She had been doing this for the last three hours or so, laid down on her bed. As she stared, the words crossed her mind incredibly fast, one after the other. Words spoken by no one other than Daryl. Daryl. Daryl. His face appeared in her mind, a face contorted with anger and disgust. Beth would remember his face for the rest of her life, no matter how short it was.

The thing was, he had been somewhat right. Not that she'd done it for attention, but that she had been weak. Beth gave up on everything; she'd given up on her sister, her father, Jimmy... But, worst of all, she had given up on herself. She had been weak. Daryl was right, and that hurt. She didn't want any of those horrible things spoken to be true, but they were.

She raised her wrist and looked at the scar there. The scar, the first and only in Beth's body. It was somewhat ironic that she had self-inflicted the only blemish on her. As she touched it, Beth could almost feel the blood that had rushed through the cut, and that made her sick. What if she'd died? What was going to be the memory people had of her? She knew what they would think, Daryl's words were like a knife through her brain. "A little princess who had it easy all your life... as soon as things get a little harsh, you can't handle it..."

She moved her eyes around her bedroom, passing' through the pink walls, the pink wardrobe and finally setting on the mirror — her favorite thing in all the room. It was a huge mirror that had belonged to her great-grandmother and was given to her after Maggie moved away to college. She had always wanted it — spending hours looking at herself in the mirror singing to it. After it had been moved to her bedroom, Beth put her prom tiara on top of it. She could see why Daryl had said she was a little princess; it was a princess' bedroom. A princess' life. God, she had been spoiled all her life. She saw it now, and the whole thing disgusted her. She didn't want this room anymore, this life anymore.

She got up and made her way to the window. Outside she could see Daryl talking to his brother, Merle. Merle Dixon didn't appear to be someone who needed to be protected, sheltered. On the contrary, he was the one who protected himself and anyone else he wanted. He was made for this life; one only needed to see him to realize his life before the whole 'walkers' thing hadn't been any better. He was strong, reliable, secure. He was everything she was not.

He was what everyone wanted to be, what she wanted to be. At that moment Beth decided that Merle was the answer to her problems, he was going to teach her, even if she had to beg.

XxXxXXxxxXxXxXxX

Ok, so maybe she hadn't really thought it through. As she walked to where Merle was sitting and smoking, she began to regret her decision. He wasn't going to do anything except saying no. She was about to turn around when he noticed her presence and looked right at her. She froze mid step.

"Shouldn't you be cooking, washin' or doin' whatever shit you women do these days?" He almost looked vaguely amused.

God, what was with those Dixons? Did they have to be so insufferable?

"That's really sexist," She stated the obvious.

"Sexist? Is that a new word you learned in school, kiddo?" He gave a short mocking laugh.

Was she actually putting herself through that? Even if he, by some miracle, decided to accept her offer, she wasn't going to stand him. Two seconds and she was already thinking about kicking his nuts.

But, before she could decide to leave, she remembered why she was there in the first place. Daryl's words still fresh in her mind. She needed his help.

"Yes, just yesterday. It was such a nice normal day; the lunch was pizza," She replied sarcastically.

He almost looked surprised, she thought smugly. Apparently, he didn't think she had in her to talk back.

He recovered fast, though, and said: "Whatever."

He went back to smoke as if she wasn't even there.

"I... I actually wanted to talk to you." She wasn't going to give up so easily.

He turned and raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to continue.

Dammit. She hadn't thought what exactly she was going to say. He didn't appear to be a guy that would put up with a long story, so she kept it short and to the point.

"I want you to teach me how to fight," She looked right into his eyes.

Honestly, she had imagined a lot of possibilities for his answer, but what he did next was just as surprising as it was insulting. He burst into laughter. Loudly.

"Oh, kiddo, I've got to admit, you're a funny one." He let out one more laugh. "Teach you... Good one!"

"It isn't a joke!" She almost screamed. "I want you to teach me."

"Please, girl; you couldn't hold a knife to save your life. Ask someone else to play with you. I ain't got the time to teach you how to slap a bitch." He went from amused to condescending in a minute.

Merle got up and started to walk to the trees, while Beth stood there, fuming. How dare he just brush her off like this? She wanted to learn; she needed it. She didn't have a purpose left in her life that wasn't surviving, and nothing was going to get in the way of that, not even Merle Dixon.

So she ran after him, but he wasn't anywhere.

She started whispering: "Merle, Merle, where are you?"

There wasn't an answer, so she continued to walk towards where he seemed to have headed.

"Merle?" She asked at the empty space a little more loudly.

She was suddenly slapped in the back of the head. "Quit with the screamin' girl, you crazy?"

She jumped back, her hand going to her heart when she saw him. "For the love of God, you scared me!"

"Well, you deserved that and more," He said, already smoking another cigarette.

"Ouch," She rubbed her head. "Didn't have to hit me, too."

"That little slap?" He asked, incredulous. "Don't be such a baby."

She tried to glare at him as angrily as she could. He didn't appear to be impressed, though.

"Go back to the house, kiddo; your old man is probably thinkin' you died by now." He smiled while saying that as if the thought amused him.

"No! I won't, not until you listen to me."

"Not this shit again. This is ridiculous, go back." He started walking away again.

Beth wasn't letting it go, however, so she hurried to keep up with him.

"It's not ridiculous. I really want to learn; I want to protect myself and my family. I know I can do it." She was pure determination.

"Kiddo, there are people takin' care of your ass already. Stop buggin' me, go bother someone else." He said as he pulled the last draw at the cigarette, threw it on the ground and stomp on it.

"No! I don't want to be protected. And stop calling me kiddo, you know my name, use it." She was getting angry at him. Couldn't he understand the importance of that?

But Beth had pushed too hard. Merle Dixon had a really short patience and, unfortunately for Beth, it was over.

He grabbed her arms firmly and pushed her near. "Look, I don't give a fuck about your name or what you want. I don't have the time for this bullshit, so just fuckin' leave. I don't get why you're so willin' to protect yourself now anyway, weren't you trying to kill yourself the other day, kiddo?" He said, sneering at her. He looked pointedly at her wrist.

She tried to break free of his hold, pushing her arm back, but he was too strong and wouldn't let go. "Let go of me!" She shouted.

"What? You wanted to learn how to fight but can't even take a little grabbin'?" He was all contempt for her.

Beth had reached the end of her emotional control. "You know nothing! You Dixons just think you're so superior, fuck that!" She was spittin' the words out like never before in her life. "I know I've tried to kill myself, believe it or not, I was there. But I decided to live; I want to live. Now that I saw how the world is like I want the chance to survive, is that too much to ask?"

"Girl, you haven't seen nothing of the world, wake up," He screamed right back at her.

She pushed her arm again, and he tightened his hold - her arm would have bruises the next day for sure. "But I want to be ready; I don't want to be a scared little girl anymore, I'm through with it. I know what you see when you look at me - what you all see, just another dead girl! Well, tough luck, I refuse to be that girl."

She was so close she had to tilt her head back a lot to look him in the eyes.

He released her brusquely, and she stumbled back a few steps. "Kiddo, the world doesn't care about what you refuse or not to be." He seemed deflated, almost sad.

The thing was, while they were too distracted screaming at each other they didn't notice the walker that was slowly but surely crawling closer, coming from behind Beth. So before she could say something, anything, the walker grabbed her ankle and pushed her down.

She fell and screamed, kicking the air, trying to free her leg.

"Merle!" She yelled, hoping he would save her in time.

The walker lunged for her ankle, intending to take a chunk out of her, but before he could, Merle had a knife plugged in its head. It was all too fast.

For a second they both stood still, Beth on the ground with her leg still being held by the now dead walker and Merle half on top of her with his hand on the handle of his knife, which was stuck in the head of the dead woman.

Suddenly the reality of almost being bitten seemed to crash into Beth, and she started to cry.

"No, no, no..." She just continued to repeat to herself as she cried in her hand.

The hand holding her leg was abruptly taken off. Merle got up and picked her up, bridal style, and started to go back to the farm. She pushed her head on his shoulder and cried more.

"I'll teach you," He whispered, so low she almost didn't hear him.

Beth was so shocked, she stopped crying and looked at him.

"Why?" She needed to know.

"Just won't let you be another dead girl," He said, very seriously.

She pushed her head on his shoulder again and whispered back "Thank you."

AN2: Beth and Merle give the first step of many.

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