Ch.35

Beth very slowly walked down the stairs, rubbing her eyes and yawning. She was still tired, but she knew that she had to go and eat something. She heard the stairs creaking behind her as Daryl followed her down, a small smile tugging at her lips when he placed his hand against her back and gently coaxed her towards the dining room when she had stopped walking.

"Sit," Maggie commanded when they reached the dining room. "I'll get your plate ready."

Before Beth could pull a chair out, Daryl had already done it for her, motioning for her to sit down. Beth obliged and took a seat, watching as Maggie began putting food onto a plate.

"You have some squirrel and fruit," Maggie said, setting a plate down in front of Beth.

"Thank you," Beth said quietly, taking a small bite.

Maggie smiled and sat down across from Beth, watching her as she ate, casting a quick glance over at Daryl when he sat down next to Beth. Beth hadn't realized how hungry she was, but as soon as she took that first bite of squirrel, her stomach started growling, causing Daryl to chuckle.

"What?" Beth mumbled, her cheeks turning a rosy shade of red.

"You. When was the last time ya' ate?"

"I'dunno. Yesterday."

"You need to eat more…you're thin enough as it is," Maggie commented.

Beth nodded a little, continuing to eat, extremely thankful that Daryl had managed to bring back squirrel from his hunt. They didn't get to eat meat everyday, in fact, most days they ate canned food, and Beth was getting tired of it.

"Rick and Tyreese are burying the bodies…" Maggie said hesitantly.

Beth didn't miss the way Maggie's eyes watched her, waiting for her reaction. She knew that Maggie was hesitant to bring up anything that may cause Beth to think about what had happened, anything that would make the memories come back.

But Beth didn't think about it. In fact, she rarely thought about what had happened to her. Sure, there were those moments where she would find her mind wandering back to those memories, back to what Eric had done to her, but she could push the memories away, which was something that she once thought she would never be able to do.

"Good. I'm glad that they're bein' buried."

She could feel both Daryl and Maggie's eyes on her. She could only assume that Daryl wasn't happy with her decision to have the men buried, and for some reason she felt the need to explain herself to him.

"It's just…I don't want to be like them," she said, turning her head slightly so that she could look at Daryl. "I don't want to lose my humanity. What they did…it's horrible and I'll never forgive them...and yeah, maybe they deserve to be left for the walkers or burned and just forgotten about. But I don't wanna be like them…I want to be stronger than what they thought I was. I don't want to let what happened to me take my humanity. That's why they need to be buried…"

Daryl looked at her for a long moment before saying anything. "I know, Beth. Ya' don't have to explain it to me. And you…you're never gonna lose your humanity…you're too damn stubborn to let yourself lose that."

Beth smiled softly, taking another bite. "And you need to go out hunting more…this squirrel is really good."

"Yeah, I can tell. You haven't stopped stuffin' your face with it," he joked, reaching over and taking a smile piece of squirrel from her plate before popping it into his mouth, a victorious smirk on his face.

"Hey!" Beth said. "That's my squirrel."

"You ain't the one who killed it."

Beth pouted slightly, defeated, before starting to giggle.

"You two are like a bunch of kids," Maggie said, pushing away from the table and standing up. "I'm going out with Sasha to make a run into town. We're going to see if there's anything left in the pharmacy. Think you'll be okay without me here, Beth?"

"Y-yeah…I'll be fine," Beth whispered.

She knew that Maggie could handle herself. A trip into town wouldn't take long, and Maggie would probably be back in a few hours. But she was nervous. She didn't like when people left her.

"Daryl will stay here with you. He'll keep you occupied."

"I don't need a babysitter, Maggie."

"I know that you don't, but it'd make me feel better if I knew that there was someone here who was gonna be keeping an eye on you while I was gone."

Maggie slowly walked around the table, stopping when she was standing beside Beth. She bent down slightly and placed a light kiss on the top of Beth's hair, using one of her hands to brush a stray strand of hair from Beth's face.

"I gotta go. I'll come find you when we get back," she said, walking off.

Beth looked over at Daryl. He was looking at her, motioning for her to continue eating.

"Eat up and then we'll clean up."

"You rhymed," Beth said, smiling. "Didn't know that Daryl Dixon knew how to rhyme," she said playfully.

"I'm full of surprises. Now eat," he said, smirking at her.

Beth quickly finished the rest of the food on her plate. She wasn't tired anymore. Her and Daryl were still the only ones in the house. She figured that everyone else was outside either keeping watch or just enjoying the nice weather.

"Here," Daryl said, grabbing Beth's plate. "We'll get this cleaned up, and then maybe we can go check on Judith or something. Rick said that she's been missin' you."

Beth slowly stood up and followed Daryl over to the sink. She was still surprised that the farm had running water, and she was grateful that the generators still worked. Daryl placed the plate in the sink and began to wash it as Beth grabbed a dishtowel, waiting until Daryl was finished to start drying the dishes.

Daryl took a step back as Beth began to put the dishes away. She didn't miss the way he chuckled when Beth attempted to put the plate up. The cupboard was too high for her to reach, and she jumped slightly when Daryl came up behind her and took the plate from her.

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"I-it's fine."

And it was. She wasn't scared. There had been a moment of fear, but it didn't last. And she had a weird tingly sensation in her stomach, her body lingering on the way his fingers felt as they had brushed against hers when he had taken the plate from her. She didn't know what this feeling was. It reminded her of what she had felt when Jimmy or Zach had touched her. But this was Daryl, and there relationship wasn't like that.

Author's Note: I am so sorry for the long delay in posting! School has been crazy! I have been getting so many projects and papers, and I've barely had any time to do anything other than school and work! But, I finally managed to sit down and write this chapter...I hope it's decent.

Please leave a review and tell me what you think!