Losing track of time was all too easy. Not that Daryl really paid much attention to the days of the week when he was drifting with Merle, or even before that. It didn't matter too much to him. Now the problem was that no one could exactly be sure of what month it was, especially in summer. It was hot out no matter which summer month it was and there was no way to tell them apart.

Daryl was out on a run with Michonne when she asked him. Was it July? Maybe it was August. Or possibly early September. Who the hell knew. No one kept track of that kind of stuff. Daryl didn't give it much thought. All he cared about was getting away from this run down cabin in the woods that reminded him of where he grew up. His home? No. It was never a home to him. He never had something like that, probably never would.

He indicated several times he didn't want to be there after finding the moonshine. She didn't want to leave just yet, and that bugged him. Like hello. What the fuck did she think this place had to offer? What did she even see in a shit hole like this? Daryl wasn't going into that cabin. No fucking way. Looking in through the door was enough for him. And he was not about to go wait in the car while Michonne looked around. He would leave Michonne here if he had to. All he wanted was to get away, run away like he always did, never able to face his demons. Too afraid to face them.

There was nothing there for them. Besides, they had already managed to hit a few more houses in the day so they had a bunch of necessary items they were bringing back to the prison.

Daryl trudged back through the woods more than agitated, hoping Michonne would get the hint that he was leaving and she better get over here.

Michonne and Daryl get back on the road, and since she was the one to drive in the morning, Daryl was now driving back to the prison. They had been out all day. And honestly, that made him kind of nervous. He didn't like being away for too long, thinking that anything could happen in his absence. He was anxious to get back to the prison, and he never thought that would be something that would enter his brain.

Happy to get back to a prison? What a joke.

Aside from that, yes, he drove a little bit faster than he should have, acquiring a side glare from Michonne who really wanted to sleep but was too freaked out by his fast driving to give that a shot. People these days apparently didn't have the best of luck with cars, which is ironic given the circumstances that the world was in.

But the good thing about Michonne is that she doesn't feel the need to fill in the silence on their trip. She was perfectly content with staring out the window and remaining quiet for most of the way out and back. He liked that. There was no need to make awkward small talk, something that Daryl hated the most.

When they get back to the gates of the prison it's nearly sunset, but Daryl is relieved that everything looked normal, you know, with all the dead people walking around and survivors living inside the safety of the prison. The usual.

Rick gets the gate open for them and Daryl drove though before any walkers could get too close. He parked close to the prison so they could unload all of the food and other things they got on the run. Daryl got out of the car and noticed that Beth was in the courtyard over in grass with Judith on her lap and Carl was sitting down across from her. She turned around and noticed Daryl watching her. She smiled at him, handing Judith over to Carl. When she started walking over, Daryl quickly turned around and popped open the trunk of the car. Michonne had found some baby clothes that would be able to fit Judith so he grabbed them out to give to her just as Beth walked up behind him.

"Think these will be good?" he asked.

Beth took the clothes from him and held them up. "Yes! They will be perfect. They'll fit her just fine."

Daryl couldn't help but stare at her bight smile. He was glad she was happy.

Rick walked up behind them and motioned for Daryl to hand him a box, which he did while saying he would go get some help from inside to unload.

Once he was gone, Beth spoke up. "You were gone a while," she commented, examining what all was in the trunk and in the backseat of the car.

"Michonne made us get lost," he told her.

Michonne came around the side of the car and grabbed up a pile of items that were in a box. "We weren't lost. I just wasn't sure where we were for about an hour. We made it back, didn't we?"

She didn't wait for an answer, settling for walking back into the prison. Daryl handed Beth a box full of shelf stable items before others came filing out of the prison. Everyone helped unload and Beth got lost in the crowd of people. He assumed she went to the kitchen to help stock the shelves. He told himself that's not the reason he decided to pick up another one of the boxes of food that was left after most of the others had grabbed boxes and took the items to their rightful spot in the prison.

Daryl found his way into the kitchen and saw that Beth was there alone and taking cans out of the six boxes that were scattered around her on the floor. "Everyone leave it up to you to put this away?"

Beth looked up, a bit startled by him. She bended over to pick up a few more cans to put on the shelf and in the process he realized that she was organizing them on the shelf in a specific order. "I offered to. Carl begged me to let him have some time with Judith so I figured I'd make myself useful and do something else."

Beth leaned up against the shelving so that she faced him. "You got a lot of stuff this time," she remarked, holding up a can of fruit. "And it's not even expired yet."

"You can thank Michonne for that. Her gettin' us lost made us stumble across a few houses that were untouched." And by untouched he meant that the residents had committed suicide inside the house making a real nice mess, but he was not about to tell Beth that. "Lucky we found our way back."

"You, lost? I doubt that has ever happened before?"

"It did," he admitted. "When I was a kid. Got lost in the woods for nine days."

Oh shit. Had he just told her that? The words had rolled out of his mouth like that was a completely normal thing that happened during childhood.

Beth's face fell. He could see the concern on her face, as well as the shock. "Oh my. Nine? That must have been so scary."

Daryl shrugged one of his shoulders. "Wasn't that bad. Found my way back eventually. Walked in the house and, damn, I don't think I had ever been so happy in my life to see a loaf of bread. Berries weren't exactly the greatest meal all the time when I was out in the woods."

"I bet everyone was glad to know you were safe when you got back."

Daryl stared blankly into the box of cans. He remembered that day as if it were yesterday. "Merle was in juvie at the time, my mom was already dead, and my dad…he didn't realize I was gone. Too drunk all the time. Can't be happy 'bout somethin' returning that you didn't know was missing in the first place."

He didn't want to look at her after that. Revealing that to her would make her think he was crazy and serious messed up. Damaged, as Merle liked to tell him, reminding him whenever he had a chance to. His brother was an asshole. He was right though. He was damaged. But he didn't exactly love to be reminded of it by his own brother. He wouldn't admit it but Merle and him being separated for so long did Daryl some good. He got out from Merle's shadow. He got away from all that bullshit.

"I feel like I should say I'm sorry...but I have the feeling you don't want me to," she said softly.

"Nothin' to be sorry for."

Daryl felt so vulnerable right this minute. He hated that feeling. It felt like the weight of the world was pressed down onto him. He spilled his guts to this girl out of the blue like one of those lonely people checking out at the grocery store who won't stop talking to the cashier. He had been behind those people plenty of times, annoyed that they were telling some random stranger about their life story and all he wanted to do was pay for his shit and get out of there. Now he was that person, standing there disclosing part of his past to Beth unexpectedly while stocking canned food.

Beth held out her hand so he could pass her the can of carrots that he had picked out of the box. "So is that why you got so good a hunting? The being lost part trigger that?"

He never thought about it that way before. Maybe Beth was right, and the fear of getting lost again as a child made him determined to learn everything there was to know about surviving in the wilderness, and surviving in general. "I guess so," he concluded, the thought sticking with him.

They continued to stock the shelves until everything was up on them. Part of Daryl felt strange because he had revealed a sliver of information about his past, and the not so good part, though there was not really a good part to share anyways. He never did something like. Never felt secure enough in the moment to divulge such kind of information. What was it about Beth that made him feel like he could do that?

His thought process was interrupted when Carol came around the corner and greeted Beth, and the unexpectedly said hello to him. The look in her eye bordered a mixture of concern and confusion. Clearly, she was not anticipating Daryl to be in the pantry stocking shelves with Beth. It was something way out of the norm. She looked at him as if to say, 'what the fuck are you doing in here?' It made him feel like he had been caught doing something bad.

"Ready to get dinner started?" Carol asked Beth, examining the shelves that were lined with new ingredients. She picked up one of the packages of raw pasta and then took the can of beans that was sitting next to it. "We could do chili or pasta tonight? What do you think?"

Beth shifted her position so she looked back at Daryl. "What would you rather have? You're the one who has been out all day and brought it back. You decide."

"Chili's fine," he muttered, not meeting either of their gaze. All of a sudden the space in the pantry seemed to be suffocating him and he needed to get out before Carol said some kind of teasing joke about him spending time with Beth. "I'm, uh, gonna go check the perimeter."

"Thanks for the help," Beth added before he could turn and leave the pantry to let them start cooking dinner.

"Sure."

"See you later, pookie," Carol cooed. She knew he hated that stupid nickname. Daryl could hear a giggle from Beth as he walked away. "Come back soon! We could use some manliness in this kitchen."

Oh, just kill him now.

—

Daryl went to Beth's cell later that night. He handed over a notebook to Beth after she acknowledged him being there. She hadn't asked him for it but he had noticed she was running low on space in the old notebook to write down her thoughts or whatever she wrote about. Her face lit up when he held it out the dark blue notebook with a strap around it to keep it together.

"Thank you!" She exclaimed. "It's so sweet of you, Daryl. You didn't have to get me this."

"Didn't go out of my way or anythin'. Just saw it and figured you could use it," Daryl lied, knowing full well that he specifically had been looking for a notebook for Beth when he was going through those houses today. Why he couldn't have just told her that was a mystery to him.

"I'll consider it a birthday gift."

"Birthday gift?"

Beth opened up the notebook and flipped through the white pages. "I'm eighteen now, at least I'm pretty sure that I am. I was born on June third and considering the heat, I'd say it's around late July by now. It's too hot to still be early summer."

Beth continued to admire the notebook. It was strange to see how something to simple could make her so happy. "I can't wait to write in this." Beth took a step forward and threw her arms around Daryl. Oh no. He didn't know what to do. No one had ever really given him a proper and genuine hug before and the sensation was so foreign to him. He let his hand drift up tentatively to rest on her elbow.

Was that normal?

Beth's head was resting against his chest, her arms hugging tight around his mid-section. It was nice. "Thanks," she expressed, pulling away to look up at him. He immediately missed the contact and thought it was stupid of him to even think that. He tried to keep his gaze on the wall but he couldn't, giving in and meeting Beth's gorgeous blue eyes. "I really do appreciate you gettin' this for me."

Daryl nodded his head, not saying anything back.

"You know I was thinkin' about what you told me earlier about your family," she started in a gentle voice. "I'm sure it was hard for you to tell that to me. It sounds like you went through a lot, probably more than you told me, and more than I realize. You don't need to tell me anything you don't want to. And that's totally okay. I wanted you to know that I'm not gonna go around tellin' Maggie or Glenn or anyone about it. It's your business and you get to tell who you want. But I'm glad you told me. I'm glad you…felt like you could. Does that make sense?"

"It does," he assured her.

Beth didn't know about half of the other shit he went through as a child. She didn't know about how his mother caused the fire she died in and how that left him alone with his old man after Merle was gone. She didn't know about the drunken rage his father would be in and how he would take it all out on Daryl when he was little. All of the scars on his back were a reminder of that horrible childhood he had to go through. He never grew out of those scars. They followed him around everywhere.

Daryl had skeletons in his closet that he didn't want anyone to know about. He knew it wasn't good to hold onto shit like that and to hide from his past. Only problem was that he didn't know any better. He'd been doing the same thing for years now, keeping all of his secrets locked away for no one to know about except for him. Now it felt like some of them were pouring out, clawing their way to the surface until he couldn't keep it in anymore. Crazy thing was that he would let them.

Maybe it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world for someone to know who he truly was, whoever that is.

"Alright, good. I feel like I went on a tangent there," Beth admitted. She moved across the room to set down her new notebook. Judith stretched her arms up out of her makeshift cradle to signify that she wanted out of it. "This one never likes to sleep when other people are around. She likes to be in all the action and be the center of attention," she commented, picking Judith up into her arms and carrying her over to Daryl. The little girl clung onto Beth, her head resting against Beth's chest.

"I'm going to go walk around with her for a bit. Do you wanna come with?"

He probably shouldn't. No, he really shouldn't. Tell her you have something else to do.

"Sure," he agreed.

There we went again, going against his inner monologue.