Sorry for the wait, guys. I've been distracted. Also, this chapter is pretty short and I'm sorry for that too. Hope you guys like it. Thanks for reading.

When Daryl opened his eyes, the first thing he noticed was the smell of cinnamon heavy in the air. The next thing he noticed was that he wasn't at home, he was on Rick's couch. Memories of last night flooded his mind and he forced himself upright. It was still dark on the other side of the windows in the room. Daryl guessed it was around 5:30 in the morning. He looked across the room to the opening on the far wall and saw a little blonde head bobbing around the lit kitchen.

He hadn't meant to actually sleep the whole night here. He originally planned to leave once she was fast asleep, but Daryl couldn't manage the nerve to go to her room to check. He knew that either she would be sleeping and he would be free to go home, or she wouldn't be sleeping and he would have voluntarily taken himself into her room in the middle of the night. Would she have kicked him out for peeking into her room like a creep? Probably. Though a part of him hoped that if he had chosen to go to her room last night, she would have welcomed him. Daryl shook himself out of his thoughts and silently stood up and made his way to the bathroom to take a piss.

Beth was making breakfast in the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible. She knew that Daryl was still asleep but he would have to wake up soon if he didn't want Rick coming home to find him here. It's not like they did anything wrong, but it still didn't look good. Besides, it wasn't entirely innocent on her part. She had practically begged him to stay the night and it wasn't just because she was scared. She was hoping for… something, she just wasn't sure what that something was. But she knew now that nothing was going to happen if she didn't make it known that she wanted something to happen.

Beth had hoped that Daryl would sit with her on the couch during the movie so she could subtly scoot closer during the real scary parts, but the stubborn man sat on the floor the whole time. She wondered if she should take that as a sign that he's not interested but she also couldn't deny the tension that filled the air when she caught him staring. He had to feel it too, or at least notice the way she blushed every time.

Beth pulled the cinnamon buns out of the oven and released her hands from the oven mitts. She decided that she needed to wake Daryl up now but just as she turned to make her way out of the kitchen, her body ran into another, much bigger and harder body. She nearly fell back but rough hands grabbed her by the waist, steadying her, before she could fall. Beth moved her hands to lay over Daryl's on her waist. She slowly brought her eyes up to meet his and for a moment, she thought he was going to kiss her. His eyes were trained on her lips and the tension was thick around them again.

When Daryl didn't make a move towards her, Beth gathered up all of her nerve and decided that she would be the one to make the move. She followed his example by moving her eyes to his lips and inched her face closer to his, leaning in for a kiss. But he didn't give her the chance. He saw her face moving towards his and quickly back away, letting go of her waist. The pain of rejection was clear on her face.

"We can't." Daryl said, avoiding eye contact with Beth.

"It's okay. I get it now." Beth said with bitterness in her tone as she nodded her head.

"It ain't right." He tried to reason with her.

"How would you know if you won't give it a try?" She argued.

Daryl wanted to say something, try to make her see, but he could hear the garage door opening. Rick was home. Beth must have heard it too because she quickly turned away from him to attend to the cinnamon rolls. Daryl rushed to the couch to grab the sheet he used as a blanket last night and took long strides towards Beth room to throw it inside. He paused for a moment at her door frame to take in the sight before him. Despite only living her for a short while, her room appeared as though she had been here her whole her life. Pictures of her friends and family were hung on the walls and an assortment of stuffed animals were placed on her neatly made bed. She had trophies and awards placed on the shelves and her vanity was covered in perfumes and beauty supplies.

Daryl closed the door and walked into the kitchen just in time. Rick appeared a moment later and shot Daryl a questioning look.

"You're here early." Rick observed but it sounded more like a question.

"Got in a fight with Merle." Daryl hated lying to his friend but he didn't know how Rick would feel if he knew that Daryl stayed for Beth.

"At six in the morning?" Rick was skeptical.

"Dumbass has been up since yesterday, high on dope again." Daryl hoped Rick would drop it. He wasn't a good liar.

Rick nodded and greeted Beth.

"Cinnamon rolls aren't much of a meal but it's all we have. We need to shop for groceries soon." Beth said innocently like she hadn't just tried to kiss his best friend.

Rick excused himself to change out of his work clothes, leaving Beth and Daryl alone together again. The tension that filled the air earlier turned awkward and uncomfortable. Daryl really didn't want to stop her advance but he had to do the right thing despite how hard it had been. He thought about spewing hurtful words at her but he had done that before and it did nothing but cause trouble. He swore to himself weeks ago that he wouldn't try to push her away again but he never imagined that not pushing her away would lead to her trying to get too close.

Daryl thought that the attraction he felt was one-sided but he was wrong. If it was one-sided, he could handle it. Being around a woman that he desperately wanted was easy to ignore or push aside. But now that he knows that she wants him too, it's going to be hard to keep his distance. Every time he looks at her, he's going to be reminded of what it could have been like to let her kiss him.

"Beth…" Daryl started.

"I'll be gone someday." Beth interrupted.

"Stop." He pleaded.

"I will. I'll be eighteen soon, a legal adult, and I'm graduating in the spring. Nothing's keeping me here. You're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon." She swore and walked away.