Daryl sat at the breakfast table, a bit tired from a long night of staying out with Beth – but his mind was full of all those sweet moments they'd shared together and he was more excited than ever to think about the future that they'd have together. He still couldn't believe that Beth would give him the time of day, yet alone love him, but he'd learned not to question it, to just be grateful and hopeful about what they had together.
He listened as Beth gushed to her family about the necklace Daryl had given her, as well as the conversation they'd had about eventually moving back to the area. She left out all of the intimate details, but somehow still told them enough for them to get the message, the message that they were planning a long-term future together. He didn't mind her sharing it all with them like this – he'd already spoken with Hershel about it, and he knew Beth was close to her family and would want to talk to them about it all. He smiled listening to her talk about it, glad that she seemed so excited, so hopeful about what was to come for the two of them. Her mother seemed over the moon to hear Beth and Daryl's news, and even Maggie hugged Beth, telling her how happy she was for her.
They all ate and talked, enjoying one last meal together before Beth and Daryl were to head back to South Carolina. Beth must have been incredibly hungry, Daryl thought, because it seemed like she just couldn't get enough to eat. Since the first day they'd met, when they at lunch together at the beachside grill, he'd known that Beth had an incredibly big appetite for such a small person. But he'd noticed over the last couple of days that it seemed that she was eating even more than she had before, something he hadn't really thought was possible. Annette kept graciously offering Beth more and more food, always seeming to have prepared much more for meals than they'd ever actually eat – but Daryl guessed Beth was just trying to enjoy the good home cooking from her mother while it lasted.
As Daryl watched Beth eat breakfast, all of a sudden, he had a strange string of memories from the past few days, all converging into a highlight reel of sorts – and all those of those memories strung together brought him to one insane-seeming conclusion. Was Beth pregnant? His mind was swimming thinking about it now, and the conversation around him melted away to the screams of his own thoughts.
Daryl couldn't be sure, of course, but it all added up now. The mood swings, the slight weight gain, especially in her breasts, her complaints about being nauseous, her increased appetite, her unwillingness to drink the wine he'd offered her the previous night – it all lead him to one shocking conclusion. Even her horniness, which Daryl would never complain about, might be related, he thought. He wasn't sure that was a true sign, but he'd heard guy friends over the years talk about their wives or girlfriends being super horny during pregnancy.
He was suddenly consumed by those thoughts, and he couldn't think about anything else. Maybe it wasn't true, but everything seemed to point to that. Maybe it was something else – it probably was, he told himself. Because if Beth was pregnant, if she was having his baby, wouldn't she have told him right away? That was the type of relationship they had, even since the day they me, they'd told each other everything, didn't keep secrets, didn't need to hide things. And last night, when they'd talked about their future, when he'd asked her to keep his heart safe, and they'd talked about moving back to Georgia, building a life together – wouldn't that have been the time to tell him, Daryl questioned?
So why wouldn't she have told him, he wondered. Unless, well, it wasn't his, he realized. And while he knew that thought shouldn't have struck him so much, shouldn't have bothered him because he knew it couldn't possibly be true, for some reason it did. Beth had been depressed, had been lost in herself and needing comfort for weeks and weeks – maybe what he'd given her hadn't been enough, maybe she'd turned to someone else?
And now he was the nauseous one.
Beth and Daryl said their goodbyes to Annette and Hershel before climbing into Daryl's truck and starting their drive back to South Carolina. Daryl was polite but he'd been lost in his own head since his realization at the breakfast table – he couldn't stop thinking about whether Beth was pregnant. Maggie had left right before them, wanting to head off as early as possible to see Glenn during one of his few visitation weekends.
As they drove down the road, Daryl was lost in his own mind, but Beth chattered away. Daryl heard her voice, but couldn't follow what she was saying and couldn't bring himself to care. He was full of every possible emotion he could imagine – fear, uncertainty, anxiety, but also maybe a bit of hope and joy. He couldn't explain those latter feelings – he wouldn't have guessed that he'd be excited about being a father right now, but for some reason, there was a small part of him that liked the idea, liked the idea of he and Beth being parents together, bringing a little person into the world that would represent a little part of each of them.
He told himself he needed to get himself together, needed to figure out how to bring this up to Beth. He wanted to ask her about it, but he also didn't know how, and didn't know how to bring it up without it being incredibly awkward. He'd convinced himself that she was definitely pregnant, but he didn't want to breech the subject in a weird way – and in the very rare chance that she wasn't, he didn't want to alienate her, especially by suggesting that she'd gained weight, was eating a lot, and was moody. He didn't know any woman that would take kindly to hearing that from a man, especially the one she loved.
He let his mind drift back to what Beth was saying, telling himself he at least needed to wait until they got home to talk to her. That'd give him time to get his mind right about it all, and figure out exactly what to say. Beth was talking about the apartment, the one where Daryl used to live, and where she thought they would be living together. She had all these ideas, apparently, about how to change things around to give them more room, as well as changing the "feng shui", whatever that meant. She was rattling through some of her ideas, seemingly not looking for any response or affirmation from Daryl, talking about paint colors and comforter types and all sorts of other things that Daryl didn't even understand. And while at first Daryl thought it was incredibly cute that she was so excited about all of these things, even though the place she was thinking of wasn't actually the placed they'd be living, it started to drive him a bit crazy that she was probably pregnant, hadn't told him, and was just chattering on about all these useless things that were far less important than the real conversation that they needed to be having.
And ultimately, he reached his boiling point.
"Are you pregnant?" Daryl interjected, while Beth had been debating out loud the merits of robin's egg blue and conventry gray. Daryl tensed a bit after hearing himself, realizing that he'd almost erupted with his words, a tone of frustration and anxiety in his voice that he didn't want to be there.
"What?" Beth asked, turning to look at him with a confused look on her face. Her tone had changed quickly – while she'd sounded so carefree and hopeful before, she all of a sudden mirrored Daryl's tone, which he realized was his fault.
"I… I need to know, Beth. Are you pregnant?" he asked. He sounded a bit calmer now, having gotten control of himself enough to change his tone. His heart was racing though, maybe worse than it ever had in his entire life. He needed to have an answer from Beth, whether it was affirmative or not, and he'd deal with the consequences of his sudden outburst later.
"Daryl… What? Why would you ask that?" Beth said, seemingly confused by Daryl's question. Daryl was instantly just a tad calmer – he knew Beth wouldn't try to play dumb, not about something this serious, so her confusion gave him a clue to the answer to his question.
"I… I dunno. I just… There's just been some things… I thought…." Daryl said. He didn't know what to say, he didn't want to list out all of the things he'd noticed, didn't want to upset Beth or make her feel self-conscious.
"Like what?" Beth asked. And that was the worst possible thing she could have asked him. How did he word all of these things in a way that wouldn't hurt Beth's feelings?
"Well… you didn't want to have any wine last night… and… well… your boobs are bigger… a lot bigger actually…" Daryl said, thinking carefully about his words. He laughed, not intentionally, but because of his nerves, and maybe a little bit because he was thinking about her breasts.
"Yeah…?" Beth said, a little incredulously. And Daryl was worried now that he was in deep trouble with her.
"And… well… your appetite seems really large, even for you… and, um… you complained a couple of times about feeling sick on your stomach…. And you've been so unbelievably horny… It… It just all seemed like too much of a coincidence, Beth" Daryl said. He wanted her to understand why he'd asked this, wanted her to see that he wasn't crazy for thinking this.
"I… I guess that's true…" Beth said, a bit contemplative now. He could tell that she was really thinking about what he was saying, hopefully understanding what he'd seen and how he'd misunderstood.
"Damn, baby… Look… I'm sorry… I… I just didn't know what else to think…" Daryl started to say, reaching across the seat towards her, taking her hand and pulling it up towards his chest. He knew he needed to apologize, even though he really hadn't done anything wrong. He shouldn't have just blurted his question out like this, though, and he was really sorry for that. He saw a place on the side of the road where he could pull off, a little dirt road where he pull his truck off a bit into the woods a little ways, giving them a little time to get this all straightened out.
"Daryl… Where...? What are you doing?" Beth asked, confusion registering on her voice as he pulled the truck off of the road.
"I just wanna talk to you for a minute. I wanna give this my full attention. It's important." Daryl said seriously. And Beth seemed to agree, she just nodded her head, shifting a bit in her seat to face Daryl a bit more, although she was looking down into her lap, a solemn expression on her face.
"I… uh… I know some things have been different…" Beth said meekly, still looking down shyly. "I… I know I've gained a little weight… and that I've been moody… maybe seemed a bit off even…".
"You haven't seemed off, baby girl… Just… just a few things seemed kinda out of place. And it all hit me this morning. That maybe you were… ya know… pregnant. I'm sorry… I guess I just kinda freaked out all of a sudden." Daryl said.
"Yeah… Well… I'm not… pregnant." Beth said. She sounded sad and Daryl couldn't quite figure out what she might have been thinking. "It's… it's my medicine. It causes a lot of those things you mentioned. I… I guess I should have mentioned it to you earlier. I'm just… I'm kinda self-conscious about it all… it's all so new. And the weight gain makes me feel kinda anxious. I was… hoping you just wouldn't notice it."
"Come here…" Daryl said softly, using the hand that was holding hers to pull her towards him, signaling to signal to Beth that he wanted her to slide over into the seat next to him.
And cautiously, she did, removing her seatbelt and sliding over next to him, while he took off his own seatbelt and reached towards her, pulling her until him.
"Baby… You are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. And a few points won't change that. Hell… you could weigh 300 pounds and I'd still love you." Daryl said sweetly into her ear. "I… well… I actually think it's a good thing you gained a little bit. You're so tiny, baby… still are."
"Yeah?" Beth asked tentatively.
"Yeah… And… Well… I can't complain about your boobs being bigger, that's for sure." They both giggled a little at his comment and Beth squeezed him just a little tighter. And he knew everything was okay between them.
They sat that way for a few quiet minutes, both obviously deep in thought, with their chests pressed together and Beth's legs having been pulled across Daryl's lap. Beth's chin rested over Daryl's shoulder and his leaned his head against the top of hers.
Daryl's emotions were still all over the place, but he felt better knowing that Beth wasn't mad at him. He knew things happened between couples, knew they'd argue or disagree or have uncomfortable conversations, but he couldn't stand the thought of her being unhappy with him, or unhappy at all really. And he felt a bit of relief knowing that Beth wasn't pregnant, knowing that he wasn't going to become a father just yet. But it wasn't the kind of relief he'd thought he'd feel in this moment. Sure, he was glad that they wouldn't have that added issue to deal with so early on in their relationship, and he especially glad for Beth, knowing that a pregnancy would have carried with it some concerns about how she'd finish school and graduate, and what the next few years might look like. But Daryl also found that he was, somehow, a bit disappointed too. It shocked him when he recognized that emotion in himself in those moments, realizing that at least a small part of him liked the idea of him and Beth bringing a little life into the world. Even the thought of it now brought a small smile to his face.
"We could've…" Daryl said, finally breaking the silence between them, pressing his lips into the side of her head and holding them there, taking in the feel and the smell of Beth. Beth looked up at him, a questioning look on her face. "We could've done it… you could've been pregnant. It would've been okay, ya know?"
Beth pulled away from him a little, just enough so that she could look him in the eye. "You're not just saying that?" Beth asked shyly.
"No, baby… I'm not. I want that… want it with you. I know we haven't talked about it… and the time might not have been ideal. But it would've been okay." Daryl said, trying to reassure her.
And Daryl had barely gotten those words out of her mouth before Beth's mouth was crashing into his. Her hands came up to grab the sides of Daryl's face as she stroked his lips with her tongue, causing Daryl to moan softly as he opened his mouth for her, allowing their tongues to collide. Beth eventually crawled over into Daryl's lap, straddling him, her knees resting on the seat of the truck on either side of his hips, her body hovering slightly over his. Daryl pulled away then, unsure what was happening, and feeling overheated and breathless from their intense moments of kissing.
Beth slowed things down, but continued kissing, placing little kisses all over Daryl's face, neck, and ears. "How did I get so lucky?" she asked in between kisses. "I love you so much, Daryl."
"I love you too, baby girl…" Daryl said, simply enjoying this moment.
Beth stopped her kisses and looked at Daryl, intently in the eyes, her arms draped loosely around his neck. "I do wanna have kids, Daryl… with you." she said, still staring into his eyes.
"Yeah?" Daryl asked.
"Yeah…" Beth affirmed, a sweet smile spreading across her face. "Just… maybe not right now. I wanna finish school first. And… and get married." Beth seemed a little shy all of a sudden, and Daryl couldn't help but think it was because of the mention of marriage.
He brought his hand up to her face, sweetly and softly brushing his thumb over one of her cheeks. "That's what I want too" he said softly, a reassuring tone in his voice. Beth smiled at him then, and he knew she'd gotten the message – he would do whatever she wanted, as long as he could be with her. Beth was still so young, Daryl reminded himself, and if she wanted to wait 10 years to have kids, that'd be okay with him.
"That doesn't mean we can't practice though, right?" Beth said, biting her lip and running her hands through Daryl's hair. She had a bit of a mischievous look on her face now and Daryl couldn't help but kiss her.
"As much as you want, baby…" he said in between kisses.
He hadn't intended his comment to mean that they should start practicing right in that moment, but Beth seemed to have other ideas. And Daryl knew well enough that once Beth got aroused, once her mind and her body started down that road, there was no stopping her. She was starting to grind her hips against his now, and before he realized it, he was running his hands up her legs and under the bottom of the sundress that she was wearing, his hands seeking out the soft skin of her butt cheeks. But when he reached his destination, he was in for a big surprise, although one he could definitely learn to love.
"No panties?" Daryl asked against Beth's mouth, smiling at her ever-increasing daringness.
Beth didn't respond, but he could feel her smiling against his lips as she continued kissing him.
"What am I gonna do with you? You're so naughty sometimes…" Daryl teased as she starting kissing around his face again. She kissed over towards his ear, plunging her tongue into his ear, eliciting an involuntary groan from Daryl.
"What are you gonna do with me?" Beth asked seductively. And Daryl knew there was no stopping this now. He continued rubbing her backside, loving the feel of her bare skin against his hands, the excitement of the situation contributing to his own arousal. Beth was only growing bolder and wilder with her actions, grinding down on Daryl with more and more force and speed and kissing him with increasing fervor.
"Tell me what you want, baby… Tell me." Daryl finally managed to say. He wanted to give Beth exactly what she wanted and he loved hearing her talk to him, hearing her say exactly what she wanted.
"I wanna ride you… just like this." Beth said, and before Daryl could get over the shock of what she'd just said, Beth was grabbing the hem of her dress and pulling it off. That, of course, had been the only garment of clothing she'd been wearing and Daryl wasn't sure in that moment if he'd ever been more turned on in his life as he was right then. Beth was completely naked and writhing against him, all while they sat in the cab of his truck in broad daylight. And now that her dress was gone, he could see how incredibly wet she was. And Daryl felt like he couldn't be inside of her fast enough, moving his hands instinctively towards his belt, loosening it quickly.
But Beth pushed his hands away, and he was momentarily confused.
"I wanna do it…" she whined and he nodded to her as she started to unbutton and then unzip his jeans. She reached in, wrapping her hand around him and pulling him through his boxers, obviously not having the desire to take the time to actually get his jeans off. "You're so hard…" she said, stroking him up and down, using her thumb to brush over the time occasionally.
"I want you so bad…" Daryl said. He couldn't take it anymore – he needed to be inside of Beth, and he couldn't take her torturing him with her hand.
She sat up on her knees a bit, allowing Daryl to line himself up with her entrance, and in one swift movement, she sunk completely down onto him, his manhood plunging deep inside her. Simultaneously, Beth gasped and Daryl groaned. Neither of them moved for a moment, but then Beth started moving, up and then down, working to pull Daryl almost completely out of her before sinking back down and pushing him deep inside.
This was much different, Daryl thought, than the way it'd been before when they'd been together. The two times they'd made love before were slow and sweet and tender – but this, Daryl thought, was fast and messy and animalistic and needy. And the sight of sweet little Beth Greene riding him, her breasts bouncing, her back arching, her increasingly loud moans, and the sweat that started to from around her face – it was the hottest thing Daryl had ever seen. And the best part of it all, he thought, was that the only thing on her body in those moments was that tiny gold necklace he'd given her. He knew he wouldn't last long, not like this. And from his position it was easy for him to reach down to touch Beth in her most sensitive place, using his fingers to push her further and further towards her climax.
She chanted his name over and over, growing louder and louder, signaling to Daryl that she was growing close to her release. And far too soon, Daryl thought, they were both crashing into that pleasurable place together, her tightening muscles milking his release from him. Beth collapsed against him, seemingly exhausted from her exertion. Daryl could feel his cum gathering on his jeans as it ran out of Beth, but he couldn't find it in himself to move or to care.
He held her there for a long time, whispering to her as she recovered and relaxed from what they'd just done. She was sweaty and completely exhausted, her muscles seemingly spent of all their energy. Daryl was momentarily a bit relieved that she'd done so much of the work – they still had about 3 hours to drive to get home and he knew if he'd been in Beth's situation he would have needed to rest before getting back on the road. But luckily, she could rest now while he drove.
"God… that was amazing…" Beth finally said, the first words she'd spoken since their orgasms.
"Mmmmmhmmmm…" Daryl hummed out, still reeling a bit from the pleasure they'd experienced.
"Wanna do it again?" Beth said. And for a minute, Daryl thought she was kidding. But one look into her eyes told him that she wasn't – she was far from kidding now, in fact.
Daryl wasn't sure he'd recovered enough from round one to start again so soon on round two – and he also really wanted to get them home. "I'll tell you what… Let's just get ourselves home… and then… we can do it again and again and again. As many times as you want. Alright?"
"You promise?" Beth said, drawing her words out, seeming almost childlike as she grinned up at him, that now familiar mischievous look plastered on her face.
"You're gonna be the death of me, girl…" he said, teasing her.
"That's my plan…" she said in response. And Daryl knew it that moment that no truer statement had ever been spoken.