Disclaimer: A nod to the genius Robert Kirkman for creating this wonderfully dark, post-apocalyptic world. I do not own or have rights to any of the characters/plot of this series. I'm simply a fan indulging in my post-apocalyptic fantasies.

Thank you Nicole137137 for editing this and assuring me that the chapter was worthy of posting!

I HAVE NEW FANART! Orange Autumn was kind enough to draw me some fantastic artwork! I have a link to the fanart on my profile page if you're interested! I am so flattered to have inspired two people to create a scene from my story. I always thought it was so cool when writers had fanart so it's unreal to think I would get to be one of those authors! Thank you guys so much! You're amazing!

...

The sun gleaming through the small, rectangular window woke Beth's peaceful slumber. Blinking several times, Beth sat up feeling oddly at ease. She had slept through the night for the first time in months. Utterly perplexed and not used to feeling so rested, Beth tried to remember what had been so different. A sound coming from the floor beside her made her jump and the fog of being still half-sleep immediately cleared.

"Daryl? You awake?" Beth whispered.

"Hell yes. Barely slept a wink on this hard ass floor," Daryl grumbled, but didn't move from where he laid on his stomach, head facing away from her.

"I told you I didn't mind sharin' the bed," Beth replied calmly.

Daryl rose up, using his forearms to hold his weight, and turned his head in Beth's direction. The look he gave her had Beth pressing her lips into a thin line, keeping any other smart comments she had thought of securely locked away.

Beth watched him push off his forearms and sit up, attempting to smooth down his sleep tousled hair. Daryl wasn't one to care for his appearance, so to see him put effort into grooming had Beth smiling from ear to ear. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain as the more he brushed through his hair, the more unruly it became.

"Here," Beth offered, slipping her legs off the side of the bed.

Her bare feet tingled on the cold tile floor as she padded over to where Daryl sat. He glanced at her incredulously, but said nothing when she moved around behind him and began combing through his hair with her fingers.

"When was the last time you had a haircut?" Beth asked, working her fingers through an unruly snare.

"Been a while. 'Fore the world went t'shit I guess," Daryl answered after a moment of thought.

"Your hair's longer than Carol's. Probably same length as Maggie's now," Beth teased.

"You suggestin' soemthin'?" Daryl glared up at her.

"Nope. I like it longer. Suits you," Beth smiled down at him.

Beth saw his lips press together a few times, before his gaze returned to the front, and she wondered what he had contemplated saying. When he reached up and scratched the back of his neck, Beth knew her compliment had him flustered.

"There," Beth ruffled his hair with her hand in an attempt to ease his tension, "You look presentable enough now."

"Presentable enough?" Daryl repeated sardonically.

"Sadly we're without the luxury of shampoo," Beth waved him off nonchalantly, "but it wasn't as dirty as I've seen in tha' past," she finished with a playful smile.

She could feel Daryl's eyes glaring into her back as she moved around to sit on his bed and put on her boots.

"You're one t'talk Miss Greene," his words accentuating her last name.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Beth looked up at him as she pulled on her first boot.

"I was nice enough t'let you sleep in my bed. Walker blood 'n all. Least I rinsed off yesterday," Daryl replied smugly.

Beth blinked. Having no witty comeback, she grumbled under her breath and pulled on her second boot.

She had been so distracted yesterday that she had completely forgotten to shower. How her world had indeed changed. Not only did she find herself unperturbed by Daryl's lack of hygiene, but she herself hadn't thought twice about needing to shower and wash the walker blood from her skin.

"Where ya' goin'?" She heard Daryl ask as she stormed toward his door.

Pushing the door open, she stopped long enough to glare over her shoulder, "T'shower."

She could hear Daryl's chuckling even after she shut his door.

…

After taking a shower, which consisted of scrubbing her skin with a wet rag as soap and shampoo were a rare commodity, Beth felt relatively clean when she dried off and got dressed. Not having an elaborate wardrobe, she had settled with slipping on a pair of jeans that had holes warn in the knees and the shirt she had been wearing. She told herself it was that the only other long-sleeved shirt she had was covered in more walker blood than the flannel shirt Daryl had inadvertently given her. Her hair, now reaching the middle of her back, was left down to finish drying and when Beth returned to her room she found Daryl sitting on her bed examining her new bolts.

Leaning against the door jam, Beth watched as he took each bolt and held it at eye level so he could look down the shaft. He then checked the tip of the point before running his thumb across the fletching. Beth wasn't sure if he was choosing to ignore her or if he was just so consumed in making sure there were no faults in her bolts that he hadn't noticed her. After moving to check the third bolt, Beth pushed off the wall, pulling her door shut behind her, and moved to sit beside him.

"What're you doin'?" She asked dubiously.

"What's it look like?" Daryl countered with a question.

Beth gave him a flat look when he glanced at her, "I already checked 'em. I took off the points of the two that had a cracked shaft. I managed to save a few of the fletching's too."

"Seems you were listenin' to all those lessons I gave ya'," Daryl smirked.

Beth nudged his shoulder and smiled, "You weren't a half bad teacher."

"That supposed t'be a compliment?" Daryl grumbled.

"Means you could'a been worse," Beth smiled wider.

Daryl's smirk slowly fell and Beth could feel the tension growing between them. She was immediately taken back to the night before. She still remembered exactly how warm his rough hands were against her skin and the way he tasted as she kissed him.

"I've never seen ya' with your hair down," Daryl admitted.

Beth tilted her head to the side, trying to think of a time she might have left it down for anyone to see. Her mother had always commented on how beautiful and soft her hair felt. It was why she had always kept her hair long even before. However with the world the way it was, it wasn't safe to leave her hair loose. It wasn't really safe to have long hair period, giving walkers something to grab ahold of, but she refused to let the world take everything from her.

"Really? I guess I don't ever leave it down anymore," Beth said more to herself than him.

She continued to stare at him while his eyes travelled from her face to her hair and back again. When he tentatively reached up and encircled his fingers around her hair, Beth felt a nervous energy rushing through her system.

"Suits you," Daryl echoed the compliment she had given him earlier.

She felt her lips lift as another smile broke free.

"Thanks," she half-whispered.

She wasn't sure when she had begun moving, but she found herself being drawn closer to Daryl. He too seemed to be closing the distance between them and all thoughts left her mind when his lips brushed against hers.

It was soft…chaste…and not enough.

Beth reached out and gripped a handful of Daryl's shirt, pulling him toward her, deepening their kiss. He obliged by releasing the strands of her hair he had been holding to wrap his hand around the back of her head and gently bring her closer. It still wasn't enough.

The temperature in the room seemed to have risen to an uncomfortable degree. Sighing when his free hand pressed against the skin of her lower back, Beth wasn't even aware that his hand had found the hem of her shirt. She was doing all she could just to focus on keeping with the rhythm of their kiss. Her skin tingled and when she still wasn't satisfied with their proximity, she felt herself leaning back on the bed and Daryl following her.

She wouldn't claim to be very experienced in the romance department, only having had one serious boyfriend and another who helped take her mind off the dreariness of the apocalypse, but neither held a flame to the man gently pressing his weight atop her now.

She felt his hand move from her hip and skimmed up her jeans to grasp her knee. Even through the worn denim material she could feel her skin burning. Going on instinct, she wrapped her ankles around the back of his legs, effectively pulling him closer from where he hovered above her. She had never been in this sort of situation before and while the idea of whatever happened next made her nervous, the emotions she felt every time Daryl made a sound or pressed against her far outweighed any of her anxieties.

A ghost of a sound escaped her lips when Daryl's hand traveled back up her leg to grip the flesh of her hip under her shirt. When his hand began moving higher up, she whispered his name. Everything was hazy. She felt like the earth was falling away and the only solid anchor she had was the man wrapped in her arms.

Feeling brave and riding the sensations she was feeling, Beth dropped her arms to reach under Daryl's shirt. Her hands explored the hard planes of his stomach and trailed up to his back. When her fingers brushed against a soft, puckered area of skin, she felt Daryl tense above her. His hand tightened over her skin and his movements halted.

Dropping her head against the mattress, Beth furrowed her brows and looked up at him. His face was unreadable, his lips pressed into a firm line, and his eyes bore into a spot next to her shoulder. Removing one of her hands from his back, keeping her other against the scarred tissue, Beth placed her hand on his cheek. His eyes darted to hers and she gave him a small smile.

Her hands brushed over his back, ignoring the various areas of blemished skin, and she leaned up to press her lips softly against his. He followed her as she leaned back against her bed, never breaking the gentle kiss. When he finally pulled back, his eyes held a light that Beth hadn't seen before.

No words were necessary. She was willing to accept him, scars and all, just as he had accepted her. While most of his scars were visible, hers were not. He was well aware that she wasn't the same innocent girl she had been at the prison and he had wordlessly accepted her regardless.

Her heart finally settling down, she cleared her throat, and smiled, "We should go talk to Rick. I have a few things I wanna' set him straight on."

Daryl smirked and pushed off the bed. Beth accepted the hand he extended down to her and stood on shaky legs. The adrenaline having erupted so suddenly and leaving just as fast left her slightly out of sorts.

Although she wasn't really sure where she had wanted things to go, she was happy where they had ended up. She felt like she was finally beginning to get past some of the walls Daryl had built around himself. In the same sense, she felt her own walls crumbling. There was no doubt left in her mind; Daryl meant more to her than anyone else left in the world. She loved her sister, but the feelings she was discovering she had for Daryl broached the sentiment in a completely new light.

Tying her hair up, she followed behind Daryl as he left her room. Squaring her shoulders, Beth was more than determined to let Rick know exactly what she planned to do in regards to the group going to Washington.

…

"I'm coming with y'all," Beth said as soon as she walked through the door to the room she had stormed out of the day before.

She caught the smirk on Michonne's face before Rick looked up to see her.

"You talk her into this?" Rick looked to Daryl.

Somewhere along the way Beth had passed Daryl as they walked toward the building just off the courtyard.

"You know them Greene girls. They got a mind 'ah their own," Daryl scoffed at Rick's accusation.

"I had someone help me realize that I have a choice to stay or go. Someone we trust will have to stay behind with Carl and Judith, but that someone doesn't have to be me," Beth said firmly.

Rick sighed, running his hand down his beard, "You're absolutely right. I was hopin' you would stay so I'd know you'd be safe, but I should'ah expected it after the earful Maggie gave me."

"You asked Maggie to stay behind too? Why?" Beth couldn't understand why Rick wouldn't want Maggie to come. She was strong, much stronger than Beth felt she was herself, and reliable. It only made sense to assume Maggie was going with them.

"I told you I promised Hershel I'd look after ya'. Both of ya'. I aim to keep that promise," Rick confessed, "I'm not going t'pretend like I'm the greatest dad in the world, but everything I've done, I've done tryin' to keep our people…our family alive."

Suddenly Beth felt guilty for being so angry the day before.

"I know you're lookin' out for us, but I'm capable of makin' my own decisions. I've come into my own and I can help. Me and Daryl make a good team and having two people able to take out walkers or…whatever else," Beth worded vaguely at the possible need to eliminate another human being, "is more beneficial than me staying here."

Rick stared at her for a long moment. When he finally dropped his head, bobbing it up and down a few times in consent to her explanation, Beth knew she had won.

"Alright. If you're sure you want t'go, I'll happily accept your help," Rick said as he looked back up at her.

Beth beamed and turned to Daryl who nodded his agreement.

"I'm glad you're coming," Michonne added with a knowing smirk.

"Thanks…for the help yesterday," Beth said as sincerely as she could manage.

"Anytime," Michonne replied with a rare smile.

"So it was you?" Beth heard the accusation in Rick's tone.

She didn't wait around to hear Michonne's reply. Dealing with that issue, Beth knew she needed to tell them about the car.

"Um…" Beth faltered for a second when Michonne and Rick both turned their attention back to her, "Yesterday, Daryl told you about the car we saw?"

"He did. I've told everyone on watch to pay extra attention for any signs of activity," Rick confirmed.

"I recognized the driver," Beth managed to say calmly.

"What do you mean? Like someone from the prison?" Michonne furrowed her brows.

Beth shook her head.

Daryl, having been positioned against the wall behind her, was now standing at her side, "What're you talkin' about? You didn't say nothin' about the driver the other day."

Daryl must have been replaying the panic in her voice when she had told him not to slow down because the look on his face had become very dark. He had uncrossed his arms and was practically looming over her. Beth took a deep breath and held her ground.

"It was him. I will never forget his face until the day I die," Beth answered his unspoken question.

"Who?" Rick was now standing straight behind the desk covered in maps.

"It was the man who abducted me when Daryl and I got separated. I managed to get away from him. I didn't kill him…I couldn't kill him, but I will never forget what he looks like. The car may have been different, but it was him. I'm sure of it," Beth explained, her voice only shaking twice while she spoke.

"You think he recognized you?" Michonne asked, concerned etched on her face.

"I recognized him," Beth countered.

"Why the fuck didn't you say somethin' sooner?" Daryl seethed beside her.

"I meant to tell you yesterday, when we came to talk with Rick, but I got sidetracked with everything that happened," Beth defended.

Daryl glared, "That's not tha' kind of shit you keep t'yourself."

"You think I don't know that?" Beth met his glare with a scowl of her own.

"We know now," Rick interjected, "Nothing's happened between yesterday and today. We know and we'll decide what to do about it."

"Was anyone else in the car?" Michonne asked.

"Not that I could see," Beth answered.

"He have anyone with him when he took you?" Rick inquired next.

"He brought me to some rundown house. I got away from him and took off in his car before he got me inside. I didn't wait around to see if anyone was in there waitin' on him," Beth replied honestly.

"We've got to get those signs downs," Michonne stated, "No telling how many more people have been scoping us out and we not even know it."

"I agree," Rick said while looking down at the map, "I'll get some people started on that now. You think you two can go back to where you saw tha' car and see if you can come up with any clues? Anything that would give us an idea of where's he's at and if he's got other people?"

Beth glanced up at Daryl. She could practically see the anger rolling off of him. With his jaw clamped so tight that she could see the muscles bulging, Daryl gave a nod to Rick.

"Good. Let me know if you find anything," Rick glanced between the two of them.

Without another word, Daryl turned and exited the room, leaving Beth without so much as a glance.

"Give him time. He'll cool off," Rick said without looking up from the papers spread on the desk before him.

Beth clenched her fists and squared her shoulders, "I can handle him."

Moving to the door, she felt her pride swell at Rick's simple reply.

"I know you can."

She threw open the door and started after the angry Dixon.

…

While trying to catch up with Daryl, Beth ran into everyone else except the man she was looking for. She had a quick conversation with Bob, promising to come back to the clinic after she sorted out her current situation. Stumbled upon Sasha and Carol who were getting Judith some fresh air in the courtyard, said a quick hello to several people they had released from the boxcars, and literally bumped into Tyreese when she was entering the building of their sleeping quarters.

"Sorry," she said while regaining her footing.

"Oh, my bad," Tyreese quickly apologized, "Hey Beth."

"Hey," Beth replied as she shifted her weight from one foot to the other.

"Everything okay?" Tyreese asked, obviously picking up on her behavior.

"Ah, yeah. I'm just trying to catch up with Daryl," Beth waved her hands in front of her in an attempt to cover her urgency.

"Oh, okay. I didn't see him in the hallway so maybe he's in his room?" Tyreese suggested while stepping aside to allow Beth room to enter the doorway.

"Thanks, I'll go check," Beth gave a small smile as she strode past him.

She quickly made her way to Daryl's room and knocked on his door only to be met with silence. She knocked again and again there was no answer. Cracking the door open she found his room empty. His crossbow and bag were also missing and Beth's stomach plummeted.

It would be just like him to go off on his own to hunt down the man who had taken her, effectively putting an end to Beth's recurring nightmare. However, they didn't know anything about her attacker. She didn't know if he was in fact with a group, or had joined one since he had abducted her, and she didn't have any idea where to start looking for him after he'd driven off out of her sight.

Her mind raced as she concluded that Daryl couldn't have gone far. If she ran after him now, she could catch him and talk some sense into him. Rushing to her room and grabbing her crossbow, she decided to chance taking the back exit out of the building. If no one had mentioned seeing him leaving, then the only probable explanation was he had snuck out of the back.

Bursting through her doorway, she had almost hoped to see him sitting on her bed, but wasn't surprised to see her room devoid of Daryl. Slinging her crossbow over her shoulder and yanking her bag off the floor she spun on her heel and nearly plowed over Maggie.

"Hey," Maggie said with an expression of surprise.

"Hey," Beth replied a little too quickly.

"I was just comin' to check on you. Is…everythin' okay?" Maggie asked the same question she had heard from Tyreese moments before.

"You'll have to get Rick to fill you in on the details, but right now I have to catch up with Daryl. He's runnin' off to go be a hero and he's gonna' end up gettin' himself killed," Beth grumpled.

"Oh, alright," Maggie nodded, "You gonna' be gone long?"

Beth brushed past her sister, turning to answer her as she walked toward the exit around the corner from her room, "Can't say for sure. Rick can tell you what happened."

Beth didn't have time to explain everything. Maggie would want answers that Beth didn't have and each moment she stood here talking allowed Daryl to get that much further ahead. The look on Maggie's face gnawed at Beth's conscious. Stopping at the corner, she turned back to her sister who was following close on her heels.

"When I get back, we'll talk…about Tara…and about what's goin' on here. I shouldn't be gone long," Beth forced her voice to remain even.

"Okay," Maggie said with a forced smile, "Be careful."

"Always," Beth reached for her sister.

Giving Maggie a firm hug, and with the promise of a serious discussion when she got back, Beth released her and dashed out of the door. Hearing the roar of an engine had Beth running as fast as her legs could carry her to where they had parked the motorcycle upon their return to Terminus. Rounding the corner of the last building on the east side of the compound, Beth glowered at Daryl's expectant stare.

"Took you long enough," he yelled over the loud grumble of the bike.

"You didn't leave," Beth stated the obvious.

Daryl's face took a pensive expression, but instead of replying, he jerked his head, signaling her to sit behind him on the motorcycle.

After the adrenaline rush she'd just felt, worrying herself sick that Daryl had gone off on a suicide mission in order to relieve some of the guilt he continued to harbor from opening the door at the mortuary, Beth felt her muscles go lax as fatigue set in.

Ambling over and climbing on the bike, Beth wrapped her arms around Daryl's middle and flattened her cheek against his back. Her face held a scowl, annoyed with the man driving them out of Terminus, but she was content with the sound of his heartbeat that she could feel steadily thrumming in his chest.

"I wasn't tryin' to keep anything from you," Beth spoke loud enough for him to hear.

She felt him glance back at her before his words sounded over the roar of the engine.

"I know."

With that, Beth felt any residual tightness in her chest evaporate. Daryl wasn't angry with her. She knew he was upset that she hadn't immediately told him about the driver, but he understood that yesterday had been a mentally exhausting day and she had inadvertently pushed the information to the back of her mind.

"Next time," feeling his voice as it reverberated through his body, "don't keep stuff like that to yer'self."

Squeezing her arms a little tighter than necessary, giving them both comfort, Beth nodded her head into his back. In the back of her mind she just kept hoping there wouldn't be a 'next time.'

…

"You see anythin'?" Beth asked as she stood where the car had been stopped when they rode past.

"Not ah' damn thing," Daryl replied while examining the road in the direction the car had traveled.

"I don't even know what t'look for," Beth sighed, glancing around her.

The street they were on was relatively open. A pasture of tall, thick grass was at her back, and a few houses lined the street in front of her. The handful of vehicles on the side of the road had been stripped of the useable parts and left to rust.

"Not much here. Trail's over ah' day old. If it had been a dirt road, we could'ah followed the tracks. No tracks t'follow on asphalt," Daryl grumbled.

"We know he went that way," Beth pointed down the road, "but there's no tellin' how far."

"Gas is pretty scarce. They can't be travelin' too far," Daryl pointed out, "but cars can go a ways on ah' tank of gas."

Beth nodded in agreement and walked around the general area of where the car they were tailing had been sitting.

They were several miles from the railroad intersection they had come from. With no streets or back roads leading to their new home, the tracks were the only way into Terminus. Either seeing the man in the car here had been purely coincidence, or he had seen the sign at the intersection about Terminus and was snooping around the area.

The idea that her once-captor was so close that she had been able to identify him sent her senses into overdrive. How long had he been in the area? Had he been stalking her or was this merely the strings of their fate crossing each other once more? Was he out there now, watching her, waiting for an opportunity to ambush them? Was she being paranoid? Was it really him?

She felt her breath growing short and she struggled to keep her head on straight. Placing a palm to her forehead, her other hand subconsciously covering the area of her neck where the man had drugged her, she closed her eyes and tried to take a deep breath. Her heart was pounding in her chest. She could feel the hairs on the back of her neck standing on ends as the sensation she was being watched kept growing stronger.

"Hey," strong hands gripped both of her shoulders.

Beth's eyes snapped open in surprise. She hadn't even heard Daryl approach her.

"It's gonna' be alright. Just take ah' deep breath," his rough voice enveloped her.

Her eyes never left his, even when his hands moved up from her shoulders to hold her face.

"I'm not gonna' let nothin' happen to ya'," Daryl said firmly.

"Somethin' always happens" Beth whispered, her hands falling to her sides.

Beth knew she was being pessimistic, contrary to her normal outlook on life, but she didn't want to encourage Daryl. He had a habit of going out of his way to protect the group and then placed all the blame on himself when things went wrong. The reality of it was that something was always going to happen, whether it was his fault or not, good or bad, and they'd just have to keep adapting in order to survive.

"It's not gonna' be like last time," Daryl's voice, sounding coarser than a moment ago, broke through her thoughts.

She knew he was referring to the mortuary. There was nothing she could say that would release him from the guilt he felt because he had carelessly opened the front door.

"I told you, that wasn't your fault," Beth's voice quivering slightly as she spoke.

Daryl furrowed his brows at her and even though she still felt uneasy, she found herself regaining her composure. Reaching up and placing her hands over his, Beth pulled his grip away from her face. With his hands held within hers at their side, she leaned forward and pressed her forehead into his chest, inhaling the same scent she had slept so soundly with the night before.

Finally trusting her voice to speak, she mumbled a phrase that had come to mean so much more into his shirt, "I've got your back too."

Daryl didn't reply, but he didn't move away from her either, allowing her a moment of much needed comfort.

With her thoughts clearing and her heart rate returning to normal, Beth pulled back and took a deep breath, "Alright. Let's check further down the road and see if we find anything."

Daryl eyed her for a moment, but eventually acquiesced to her request.

They fell into a comfortable silence as they walked down the road, searching for any hint at where the car might have gone. Glancing back, Beth noticed they had walked a decent distance from where they had parked; the motorcycle a black dot on the side of the road. As she opened her mouth to say they should start back, a sound began in the distance. Beth's eyes whipped from the road in front of them over to Daryl as the sound continued to grow closer.

The steady hum was unmistakable. It was a sound that she had heard every day of her life for sixteen years, but hearing it now had her on edge all over again. They were too far from the motorcycle to drive away without being seen and at the rate of the approaching vehicle; they didn't have much time to hide themselves.

Running across the road, Daryl tugged her behind him as they hid behind an abandoned car. Beth held her breath as the vehicle got closer. Minutes ticked by and the vehicle still wasn't anywhere to be seen.

"Where are they?" Beth found herself whispering regardless of the fact it was just the two of them.

"Should be comin' into view any second now," Daryl whispered back.

It felt like hours before Daryl squeezed her hand, signaling that he could see the vehicle. They both ducked down as the pick-up drove past them, but Beth was able to get a decent look at the driver and felt immense relief when she didn't recognize the person behind the wheel.

The moment it was safe enough for them to lean away from the cover of the neglected vehicle they were hiding behind, the blood running through Beth's veins turned to ice. There, on the back of the black, Chevy Silverado was a white cross. Her worst fear had been realized.

There were others.

...

A/N: And there you have it! Not a lot of action in the chapter, but there was some development as we transition to the last segment of the story! I'm only planning to have around twenty or so chapters for the second book. Probably more depending on how neatly I can wrap things up. Don't worry...I have a third book already planned out! This will be a trilogy so after a short break, I'll start with book three! Until then, we'll have the rest of book two!