I am truly sorry for the delay on this update. I've been going through a rough patch lately when it comes to both my mental health, and my writer's block; both of which seem to be annoyingly wrapped up in each other. Of course that also only means I've got all kinds of self doubt when it comes to this chapter, so I hope it doesn't disappoint, especially the first half which I think is lacking in comparison to the first. But hey, I'm updating, right? And I hope you enjoy it.
Though speaking of enjoying, if you're not already reading it, you should all go check out Fall Right In, by Abelina, (/s/11016532) which is Chasing Car's "sister fic" as we like to call them. It's an incredible and beautifully written Alone-divergence fic that I know you'll all love, if you enjoy my fic even slightly.
It was undeniable, really. There was just something about Daryl's hands. Big, firm, roughened by the life he had lead even before all of this… and lord, did they feel good on her skin. The way that hint of roughness in his palm that seemed to create friction against her smooth skin, building up a heat that fizzled under her skin even when he simply ran his hand under her arm, or across her side...
And it had been something else entirely when that hand had been cupping the soft curve of her breast. Even with the thin worn cotton of her bra between them she had felt it; that warmth, that hint of roughness, the way the fabric of her bra caught just slightly against his hand. It made it easy to imagine just what his palm might feel like there with nothing between them, how the roughness might tease her sensitive breast, might coax her nipples into hardening, might create a little shiver of warmth and pleasure that would go through her if he grazed the pad of his thumb just across the pert bud and…
"Beth. Hello? Earth t' Beth. Y' in there, girl?"
Slowly but surely Daryl's gruff, low voice penetrated Beth's dazed and hazy mind, pulling her from the heated thoughts that consumed her and drawing her back to the real world. Granted it was still hot here, but the warmth of a Georgia autumn still clinging to summer wasn't exactly the kinda warmth she'd been feeling when she'd gotten caught up in thinking about Daryl's hands.
Reality had intruded however, and the more aware she became of her surroundings, the more embarrassed Beth became. She was crouched on the ground in the middle of the woods, hands pressed to her jean-clad knees, peering down at a rough map that Daryl had scratched into the dirt. Or at least, she was supposed to be peering down at said map. Instead she'd gotten distracted watching his hands; the way his fingers curled around the stick he was using, the way they clenched as he dragged it through the dirt to form the shapes on the ground, making the muscles in his arms flex…
A hint of a flush stained her cheeks as she realized she was about to get distracted again. Blinking up at him, Beth cleared her throat and murmured, "Yeah, I'm here. Sorry. I got, umm… distracted."
"Yeah," he remarked, the tilt of his lips into a hint of a smirk unexpectedly making something in her stomach flutter as her cheeks flushed a little warmer. "I noticed."
Lord. She wanted to believe he didn't know just why or how she'd gotten distracted, but she wasn't naive and neither was he. Beth was well aware of how observant Daryl was, after all. There was no doubt he'd noticed the straying of her gaze, the way they'd followed the path of his hands until her gaze went all hazy. There was similarly no doubt that he could have imagined the sort of connections her mind might have made, the memories twining through her thoughts, darkening her eyes and flushing her cheeks.
Well, there wasn't much to be done about it now. Except to meet his gaze as firmly as she could, a hint of a smile playing across her own lips when she saw the smile on his. It wasn't like he seemed mad, after all, that she'd been staring at him. If anything he only seemed amused, and Beth was never one to complain when Daryl looked amused. Heck, nevermind his hands, there was something about the way Daryl Dixon looked when he was smiling- even just a little- that did something to her, too. Something all pleasant and fluttery and warm and...
But now really wasn't the time to think about the things Daryl Dixon did to her. Now was the time to think about… what was it again?
Beth glanced up at Daryl to see his eyebrow raise, his arm slowly lifting as his hand gestured pointedly at the ground. The amusement was even more prominent in his expression now, and she blushed again as she cleared her throat and looked down at the dirt in front of her. Right. The map. The map of where they were, where they had been, and where they were going.
Readjusting to peer down at it, Beth asked, "Okay so we're…"
"Here." Daryl crouched down on his haunches, draping one arm loosely over his knee as the other reached out with the other to point with the stick to a spot on the dirt map. "Reckon we're somewhere near'bouts Macon, or so."
"Okay. And the town where your bike was…"
"To the east," he grunted, shifting the stick to point to another spot to her right. "Here. Thomson, Georgia. Reckon it's about…" He squinted his eyes down at the dirt scratched map as if he were visualizing the topography perhaps, or a real map instead. "Little over 80 miles. Maybe closer to 90, if we ain't followin' the main roads. 'Bout a two hour drive, if we had a car anyway."
"And if we walk it?"
At Beth's question, Daryl shifted on his haunches and brought the stick up, curling his fingers around it and propping the butt of it in the dirt so he could lean against it like a cane for a moment. "Maybe two days or so. Ain't too bad." He paused and gave her a faint twist of a smile. "Nothin' compared t' walking up to D.C."
"True." She leaned forward briefly onto her toes, rocking on her haunches as she hummed to herself and examined the little Georgia map he'd drawn in the dirt. Now that she studied it without her thoughts getting carried away, the shape of it became clearer, and she reached out with her finger to draw a circle up above the mark for where they currently were. "Atlanta would be right about here, right?"
"Mm." His free hand came up to scratch at his beard thoughtfully as his gaze lingered on the spot she drew. "Would avoid that anyway, even if we didn't have t' go East first. Last time w- I was there, it was overrun."
She knew instinctively what he'd stopped himself from saying. We. Last time we were there- him, Rick, their family. Or at least, who the family had been before they'd ever even come to her family's farm. Lori, T-dog, Dale, Carol, Rick… Beth's stomach lurched and her heart gave a little clenching ache, and it was all she could do to bite back a sad little sigh. Sorrow wouldn't help either of them right now, especially not Daryl.
"Last time I went, it was fine." She paused just long enough for him to see the smile tugging at her lips, and remarked, "Granted, I was about ten. Though come to think of it, there were some odd lookin' people around even then…"
"That's cities for y'," he remarked, his voice low but his faint chuckle indicating she'd averted the painful topic successfully.
Relieved, Beth reached out again to the dusty dirt ground, and dragged her finger through up to make a line. "So we go east, get your bike hopefully and then-" Her finger twisted, drawing a line upwards now, "Straight up North first, right?"
"Mmm, 'ccording to that map from the church, we should head up to Anderson, South Carolina or so. Then we'll be back on path."
"On their path." She looked up at him, settling both her forearms back onto her knees even as a furrow set itself faintly into her brow. "If they're still on it."
"If they're still on it," he agreed, his gaze holding hers for a long moment. She could see the same worry hidden in the blue of his eyes that she knew was probably reflected in her own. If, if, if. This whole thing, this whole plan of theirs, it was full of ifs. Maybe too many ifs.
If his bike was still there.
If it was still running.
If they could make their way back to the right path.
If their family was still following it.
If nothing could go wrong or did go wrong or would go wrong.
If, if, if.
But what was the world they were living in now, if not just a bunch of, well, ifs? If we survive, one more day, if we make it, if nothing goes wrong.
Might as well chase the 'ifs' that could lead them to something good, in the end. Might as well follow the big 'if' that was their long-lost family.
It was their driving motivation these days, second only to their desire to keep each other safe, and stick together. And it was second to that, no doubt, but that didn't mean it wasn't still a driving factor. After all, it was what had caused them to leave that map behind, along with the note it contained. Daryl and Beth both had looked it over, memorizing the path it followed; Daryl in his mind, of course, while Beth scribbled down the names of towns along the way on the inside cover of one of her books. But after that they'd left it behind, in silent agreement that it might be needed by the very woman who it had originally been intended for.
Carol. After all, their hope for their family and their desire to find them, it all extended to her, too. How could it not?
Pulled from her thoughts again, Beth looked over at Daryl, who had broken their shared gaze to peer down at the ground. "Let's just hope the road ain't too bad on the way there. Especially gettin' into South Carolina."
"Why there?"
"The way we're goin', we'll be headin' right over the Savannah River." He rose to his feet slowly, curling his fingers around the strap of his crossbow as he tossed the stick off to the side and into the brush. Flashing her a smirk, he added, "Better hope th' bridge is still standin'. Ain't no bike I know of that can swim a good stream, let alone a river."
"And here I figured a bike that belonged to Daryl Dixon could do just about anything," Beth joked right back at him, a smile flashing across her lips as she rose to her feet to join him. After scuffing out the map in the dirt with her foot, she adjusted the straps of her bag and bow with her good hand, keeping her still-sore wrist tucked against her stomach as she strode out beside him through the woods that paralleled the road they would follow in the direction of Thomson.
Neither of them lead the way down the path, instead they walked side-by-side at an even pace, backpacks and bows slung across their backs, jostling in unison along with their firm strides as they moved almost silently through the woods. After a few moments of walking accented by the chirping of birds in the trees above and the rustle of leaves in the late-morning breeze, Beth broke the silence to ask, "So… if you were in Thomson before all this… how'd you end up near Atlanta? That's where the group was originally, right? When you first all met up?"
To the last question he gave an 'mm' and a nod of agreement. The first question, however, took a few moments more of silence before he gave a faint shrug and replied, "Plan was to head North. I had th' truck, Merle had his bike. We were gonna get up into the mountains. Both of us knew how t' track, how t' hunt. Reckoned it'd be safer. Would have been, probably only we didn't count on all th' traffic. Got stalled tryin' t' get up there, ended up outside of Atlanta. Came on th' others trying t' fight their way out of the city and got out with 'em."
"And that was that?"
"Somethin' like that. Well. 'Cept Merle wanted t' rob 'em all and run."
With her gaze on him, Beth saw the way he darted a glance at her, as if he were expecting her to judge him or something, even after all this time. But instead she just gave a faint smile and a hum of her own, and remarked lightly, "Sounds about right for Merle, I guess…"
He chuckled at that, the laughter rumbling in his chest as he guided them around the trunk of a tree in their path."Then he got left on that roof in Atlanta-" His expression sobered faintly, and the lightness in his voice faltered. "An' I guess that was that, from there anyway. Y' pretty much know the rest."
She did. Just as well as she knew that look in his eyes; that sober hint of sorrow, a distant glint of what if. What if Merle hadn't gotten chained to that roof, what if he hadn't cut his hand off to get away, what if he'd lived... where would Daryl be now?
Her own thoughts were tempted to run down that same path, but Beth cut herself off, because she knew. Knew she wouldn't like it, knew thoughts like that would only lead her to wonder if he and she would ever be here right now, if that- or anything else in their pasts- had been changed.
That was a thing she didn't want to consider, because it didn't matter anymore. They were here now, because of everything that had come before that they couldn't change, and in the end, she was more than happy with that. More than happy to walk side-by-side with him, through the woods, heading towards a distant city that was the future and the past all at the same time.
His past, of course. But their future. Together. Wherever this path they were on was going to lead, Beth knew in her gut and her heart that they would meet it together.
Midway through the day, with a few of their water bottles getting low, Daryl began to steer them in the direction of what he hoped would be a suitable water source. The game trail they followed seemed promising, even more so when they spotted a thicker line of trees in the distance. Originally he thought the first faint hint of babbling water might lead to a stream, or maybe a brook. In the end he wasn't wrong about that, at least not entirely. It was a stream of water that they came up alongside at the end, however it was the true source of the sudden rise in the volume of running water up ahead that had both of them coming to a stop in surprise.
Up ahead, surrounded by tall trees and a set into a sharply sloping rocky hill, was a waterfall. The water poured down from the rocky outcrop at the top, spilling over the water-smoothed stones and down the flat face into a pool below, which funnelled towards them to form the stream they now stood beside. The waterfall was gorgeous, without a doubt, accented as it was by the glint of sunlight on the water, the slightly reddening foliage surrounding it, and the swooping shadow of a bird fluttering across it to alight on the branch of a tree.
But the waterfall itself only held his gaze for a few moments.
What truly had Daryl mesmerized was the sight of Beth beside him, her eyes wide, her whole face lighting up at the waterfall before them. "Daryl," she breathed out without pulling her gaze from the scene, "Oh, it's beautiful."
He bit back the cheesy, trite reply that very nearly slipped from his lips, though he couldn't stop himself from thinking it anyway. Couldn't stop himself from thinking about just what was truly beautiful as he watched her, drinking in the sight of her, her prettiness only enhanced by the delight that played across her face.
What finally dragged him out of that haze was the way she turned to him, fixing her bright blue gaze on him just long enough for him to spot the hint of mischief echoed in her voice as she exhaled in a breathy voice, "We should go for a swim."
Daryl's eyebrow raised almost instantly, mirth tugging at one corner of his lips as he silently asked: What?
"Come on!" Beth grinned, tipping her head in a way that had her ponytail spilling down her shoulder in a mirror of the fall of water beyond. "How long has it been since we'd gotten to even wash off, let alone actually fully submerse ourselves in water?" Before she even finished speaking she was reaching for him, fingers curling around his arm to tug him determinedly towards the bank of the waterfall's pool. "Let's live a little! I mean, just imagine how amazing it will feel!" With a grin and a little breathy laugh, she teased, "I mean I know you like bein' all dirty, Daryl, but even you can't deny it'd be nice to cool off and clean up a little, right?"
Maybe she had him there, although he bristled at the mention of his own cleanliness, or rather his lack thereof. He wasn't that bad… was he?
Not that it mattered. His brain instantly launched into a litany of reasons why they couldn't- or shouldn't- dive into that pool. It wasn't safe, for one, at least not without one of them standing watch. Walkers could come by while they were swimming, trapping them in the water, exposed and vulnerable. On top of that, neither of them knew what was in that pond; what if it had snapping turtles, or somethin'? And besides, even if he decided to forgo safety… he knew the kinda clean she meant, the kinda 'full submersion' she had in mind. It would involve him stripping off his own shirt, and there weren't no way in hell he was gonna let her see what was hidden under his shirt. There was no way he could bear the sight of those blue eyes darkening and going gray at the first glimpse of the old wounds that slashed across his back...
But even as he stood there running through excuse after excuse in his mind, Beth kept moving, and the racing of his mind stuttered to a stop as she stood at the edge of the water, set down her bow and her bag, and toed off her boots. When she reached down to strip off her shirt and toss it to the ground, he felt the excuses begin to slip from his mind, as if the same fingers that had curled into her tank top to strip it off had also tightly gripped the thoughts in his mind and tugged to pull them free, tossing them out the window to leave them discarded on the ground; forgotten.
By the time she reached down to unbutton her pants and slip them down her hips to reveal the pale, worn blue fabric of her panties, there wasn't a single thought in Daryl's mind besides Beth and maybe also: Yes.
His fingers clenched reflexively around the strap of his crossbow, and as she took a step towards the edge of the water, he grunted out without thinking, "Beth…"
But she just turned, looking over her shoulder at him with a twist of her body that revealed the gentle swell of her breast beneath the thin fabric of her bra. The sight of her was enough to make the tips of his ears burn as she remarked lowly, "Come on, Daryl. We should live a little."
For once, he didn't argue. He didn't let the excuses rush through his mind again. He felt instead like he had that night on the porch when she'd looked at him, eyes moonshine bright, and breathed up at him with a grin and a giggle: We should burn it down. His physical eyes watched as she took one step and then another into the cool forest water, but in his mind's eye he saw her lit up with laughter tossing moonshine around that grimy cabin, and later, lit up by the crackling fire as she lifted her hand to thrust her middle finger up into the sky.
If all of that had, in essence, lead them right to this moment, then how could he say no to her when it came to this now? No, he couldn't. And he realized as he stood there, that he had no desire to.
With one slow look around the clearing to make sure there wasn't a walker in sight, Daryl set his crossbow down on the ground, making sure it was in reach of the edge of the pool of water. Trying not to stumble (a hard task when he couldn't fully manage to tear his gaze away from her pale body submerging inch by inch into the pool), he toed off his own shoes, and slipped off his vest, following it with his long-sleeved shirt. Leaving on only the sleeveless undershirt he wore beneath them, Daryl's hands fumbled at the waistband of his pants for just a moment before he got them undone and let them fall to the ground.
For a moment he felt exposed standing there in nothing but a ratty, hole-spotted undershirt and his worn and sagging black boxer-briefs. His skin rippled with goosepimples in the breeze, and he felt acutely aware of the gangliness of his hairy legs. Then Beth, standing up to her waist in the water, turned to face him and he was struck nearly dumb yet again.
The sun above glinted on the surface of the water, reflecting on the ripples that surrounded her like a water-nymph's skirt. Her long hair, coming undone from its ponytail, fanned around her shoulders; so long now that the ends of it dipped into the water at her back. She held her bandaged wrist close to her chest, snug between the twin curves of her breasts where they were encased in the same bra that he'd felt under his palm last night when he'd caressed her into soft breathy moans.
"Daryl!" She exclaimed, tipping back her head in a sweet laugh that had him stepping forward even before she went on, "What are you waiting for? The water is incredible!"
It wasn't the only thing that was incredible. Hell, the view wasn't so damn bad either. But there was another danger inherent in standing here watching her like this, barely dressed as he was; the kind of thing that would be much easier to hide if he was waist-deep in water.
So with a hum and a wave of his hand- calm down, girl!- he stepped foot by foot into the cool water, stopping only when it reached his waist.
Beth waded towards him, lips curved into a smile as she exclaimed, "Isn't it perfect?" At his hum in reply, her gaze shifted down to her bandaged wrist. Brow furrowed, she asked, "It probably doesn't matter if I get this wet, right?" She glanced up at him, answering herself before he could respond, "I mean it's not a cast, it's just a bandage. It'll dry. Besides-" She looked longingly down at the water, and added with a sigh, "I reallywanna just dive under…"
"Go for it," he remarked gruffly, but with a faint smile tugging at his lips. "Ain't gonna stop you." Maybe if her wrist were more sensitive still, but it had been weeks since she'd injured it and it was well on it's way to healing. Plus she was right; it would dry, just like her underwear and his shirt would.
Of course, there was another benefit to agreeing with her right now, namely the sight of Beth diving down under the water, and the glimpse of her pale skinned body fluttering beneath the shiny surface. It lasted only a few moments before she rose up, water running in rivulets down the slender curves of her body as she slicked back her wet hair and flashed him a grin. "Okay that was amazing. You have to try it."
"'m just fine," he grunted, eyeing her as she took a step towards him with a mischievous light in her eyes he didn't quite trust.
"Oh c'mon, Daryl! Dive in, really feel the water!" She tread another step closer, moving deeper into the water with him until it rose up to cover her navel and then creep higher. "I mean, if you don't… I could always splash you instead…"
"Beth…"
Judging by the mirth in her eyes and the playful expression on her face, Beth didn't seem inclined to mind the warning in his voice. Her hands skimmed over the surface of the water as she watched him, eyebrows raised, still coming slowly towards him as she teased back, "Daryl..."
"You do that-' He pointed to her hands, "-you ain't gonna get away with it, Greene."
"Oh yeah?" Eyes wide with innocence, her fingers skimmed hard enough over the water to make faint splashing sounds that time as she went on, "Is that so?"
"Y' know it is…" He took a step back, watching as she drew back her hand, and exhaling in a half-growl, half-laugh, "Beth..."
He didn't manage to get another word out before she brough her hand forward, scooping up water and splashing it in his direction with a giggle and a bright and playful, "C'mon, Dixon. Don't turn chicken on me, now!"
"That's it-" He growled as she splashed him again, raising his forearm to block his face as he shook droplets from his shaggy hair. "You're gonna get it now, Greene!"
"I'd like to see you try, Dixon!" But her words turned into a squeal the moment he lunged towards her, scooping her quickly up into his arms. "Daryl!"
With a growl that rumbled in his chest he slung her over his shoulder, holding her tightly with one arm wrapped beneath her underwear-clad ass, feeling her wet hair tangling against his back as he turned and began to stride deeper and deeper into the pool of water.
"Daryl!" She squealed, her mock-annoyance ruined by the laughter in her voice as she pretended to push at his back through his damp shirt. "Put me down! Where are you going!"
"Said y' weren't gonna get away with it, didn't I?" Despite the gruffness of his voice there was a smirk on his lips, and as the pool deepened he made sure to shift her up a bit on his shoulder so that her head stayed above the chest-high water as they neared the waterfall, which grew louder with each step he took, echoing in his ears now as it splashed just a few feet away.
He felt her head lift behind him, and he knew the moment she spotted the fall of water so close, because as soon as she did she squealed, "Daryl Dixon, don't you dare!"
But before the last word even left her lips he was stepping right under the spray, dunking her upper body in the shower of water that managed to soak him nearly as much. 'Punishment' it might have been, but he wasn't really trying to be cruel, wasn't holding her under there with any sort of menace. The roar of the water was accented by both their laughter as he pulled her back over his shoulder, feeling the front of her body sliding down against his own, first her hips, then her stomach, and then her breasts brushing over his chest, until she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and met his gaze. Chest to chest he held her, keeping her close as he stepped back just enough so that they were both fully under the spray of water.
Now they tipped their heads back in unison into the water, and her joyous laughter echoed around them as they stood beneath the waterfall, letting it run over them in heavy, soaking rivulets. It was the first shower either of them'd had since the prison and he had to admit that standing here in the water with Beth's nearly-naked body pressed to his, her arms holding him tight and her laughter all around him… well, it was far better than any quick, lonely shower within the prison's walls.
And that was even before she tipped her head down, looked into his eyes for a long moment, and then rose up on her toes to press her lips softly and sweetly to his own. They kissed like that for what felt like hours but was probably more like a few minutes; just the two of them standing under the waterfall, kissing as water showered down onto them and washed in little streams down their cheeks and even between their lips every time they broke to catch their breath.
Eventually, albeit somewhat reluctantly, they moved out of the spray and back into the pool, both of them diving deep and taking the opportunity to wash the grime and dirt and sweat from their skin, as best they could anyway. It was still afternoon when they climbed out of the water and fell onto the sun-warmed grass, stretching out side-by-side together. When he looked over at her, long legs stretched out and blonde hair fanned out above her head, it was almost too much. It was as if the sight of her endless pale skin was blinding, not for its whiteness but for the beauty of it; so smooth and soft and perfect that it hit him like a sweet stab to his heart, making his eyes ache.
But rather than turn away, he found himself instinctively moving towards her, or at least turning his head to watch her where she was stretched out on the grass like a cat, soaking up the sun.
"Don't say we should get up," she murmured, stretch her arm up and then resting it over her face, like a pale wing of flesh shading her eyes from the sun.
"Wasn't gonna," he remarked lowly, mimicking her movements by shading his eyes with his own arm, though his gaze stayed on her.
"Good," Beth replied with a satisfied smile, turning beneath the shade of her arm to smile at him. "We should make use of the sun while we can. Get all nice and dry. No one wants to go walking in wet underthings, right?"
His mmm of agreement caught briefly in his chest, not because he disagreed in any way, but because the mention of wet underthings seemed to draw his gaze instinctively down, over the sharp jut of her collarbones to the soft pale swells of her breasts where they were contained within her bra. The already thin fabric seemed thinner, soaked as it was from their swim. Thin enough to be almost see-through, providing a glimpse of a delicate rosy nipple beneath the fabric that seemed to conjure up a low sound in the back of Daryl's throat before he could stop it.
She was so beautiful. Too beautiful. It was like he was standing too close to the sun; his eyes ached and his throat was suddenly dry, only it wasn't crackling flames and molten rock causing it, but the expanse of gorgeous pale skin, a fall of blonde hair, the gentle curve of a breast and that tempting hint of dusky rose beneath the thin, wet fabric. It was too much and yet he couldn't seem to look away- didn't want to, despite thinking that maybe he should. You were never supposed to look at the sun too long, after all, and yet when it came to her he couldn't seem to help himself.
"My skin feels so nice and cool," she murmured, her voice breathy and mellow with contentment. "Even with the sun, you know?" Before he could respond- though he did, in fact, know what she meant- Beth reached for him, stretching her arm over her stomach and rolling half onto her side in order to curl her fingers around his wrist and pull his hand back with her. While she fell onto her back again she brought his hand up to rest on her stomach and breathed out, "See?"
He did see. Or rather, he felt. He felt the cool of her smooth skin beneath the rough of his palm as his fingers splayed out across her belly, felt the thrum of heat that went through him in response, felt the shiver that fluttered over his skin like a ripple across the surface of the water they had just swam in. The same water that had cooled her skin so perfectly, that had rendered the scant fabric covering her slick and see-through as a result.
And it seemed as if she saw something too. Beneath the curve of her arm Beth turned to look at him, the shadows falling on the planes of her face and darkening the blue of her eyes as they studied him, seeing the way he watched her, the way his breath hitched and his pulse thrummed a little bit more quickly beneath the spot where his adam's apple bobbed with his heavy swallow. Maybe she saw more than just what was on the surface. Maybe she dove beneath, just like she'd dived under the shining surface of the water before; maybe she saw his hesitancy as much as his worshipful awe, his deep affection as well as the heat of his desire.
He could only assume she saw something, because whatever it was caused her to move in response. Her body shifted beneath his hand, which slid across her belly to rest on the dip just above her hip as Beth rolled onto her side to face him. Her arm slipped from her face to rest under her head, her cheek pillowed on the curve of it as she shifted closer to him, bare, slick skin sliding somewhat on the grass beneath her.
When she spoke, she was close enough for him to feel the ghost of her breath across his face as she murmured, "This is one of those moments, you know?"
"Hm?" His fingers traced across the dip of her side, dancing dangerously close to the damp waistband of her panties.
"You know, those moments. The ones you'll always remember." She reached out with her injured arm, water dripping from the bandages as she gently brushed a strand of wet hair away from his face. "The ones that become stories. Like the time I jumped down from the loft of the barn as a dare. The first time I rode a horse. The day I saw you for the first tim, driving up to the farm on your bike. The time I got my foot caught in a bear trap and twisted my ankle." Her lips twisted mirthfully, but after a second she went on again, softer and lower with each word, "The day you gave me my first ever drink. The night we burned down that shack. The first time we kissed in that barn, and in that abandoned van while the rain poured around us, and in the church with the light shinin' through the stained glass window…"
His hand shifted up, fingers grazing over her cheek down, following the curve of it and letting her presence and nearness and sweetness pull the words out of him in a low murmur, "The afternoon we found that waterfall in the middle of the woods and you dared me to go for a swim then splashed me, and got punished for it when I dragged you under the waterfall?"
There was a husky quality to her voice, but her usual sweet, melodic southern accent deepened to a rough drawl that mimicked his own, just as her words were an echo of a question he'd once asked her, "Ain't a story if it's still happenin', is it?"
With a smile that turned up the corners of his lips, Daryl looked into her eyes and breathed right back, "Of course it is." His fingers shifted down to graze across the fullness of her lower lip as he added, "Besides…" But the words trailed away and instead he leaned in and pressed his lips to hers.
Though soft at first, the kiss deepened as his hand cupped her cheek and then brushed back to tangle in her long, damp hair. Her lips parted against his and after a moment he felt her tongue, light and playful, darting into his mouth to tease his own. With a groan he leaned in to meet her, rolling onto his side so that he senses were filled not only with the taste of her on his tongue but the warmth of her bare, wet skin against his own.
It wasn't enough. He needed to feel her. He rolled again but instead of pressing her onto her back he moved onto his own, hands wrapping around her slender body to pull her with him so that she ended up on top. Her legs slotted between his and her arms reached up so her fingers could tangle in his wet hair, in the process stretching out her body on top of him so that he could feel the sharp bones of her hips pressing into his waist, and the softness of her breasts where they molded to his chest.
"Beth..." He groaned her name as reflexively as his fingers curled against her back; the words were lost between her lips but his touch had her humming in return, fingers twisting into his hair as she pressed herself down on top of him even more firmly.
She tasted like the very sunshine he had named her; no longer blinding him or drying his throat but filling him with warmth and light, as if it radiated from her and through him in turn. His hands brushed up and down over the curve of her warm back, and he kissed her until he was breathless, until his lungs ached as if from the same lack of air he might suffer if he were right up there in space with the brilliant, bright sun.
But he wasn't, despite the lightness in his head. He was right here with her in the damp grass, grounded by her weight above him; as real and true as the emotion in her eyes when she broke the kiss with a gasp and looked down at him.
Her cheeks were flushed, her lips swollen from their kisses, and the blue of her eyes was something mesmerizing; deeper than the sky, warmer than the petal of a cornflower, and more expressive than anyone he had ever known before her. He could see everything she was feeling, he always could, but it hit him even harder in moments like this because the look in her eyes was almost an exact reflection of what he knew was in his own.
So when she looked down at him with a smile, and breathed out in question, "Besides…?" He just smiled right back at her.
"Besides," he murmured back, rolling them over so that she was on her back in the grass now, spread out beneath him and so damn radiant that she made the sun pale in comparison, "Besides, this is one of the best afternoons I've ever had." He kissed her lips, swallowing her breathy giggle of delight as his fingers ghosted over the ticklish spot on her belly, and adding lowly against her mouth, "It'll make a good story, one day."
When she flicked her tongue against his lip with a giggle as sweet as syrup and as bright as a ray of sunlight, he just shook his head and finished with a smirk, "Though maybe the kinda story we keep to ourselves."
Which in the end, was perfect as far as he was concerned. After all there was no one else he wanted to share these moments with, except her.
I can already feel the comments coming with regards to the "lack" of progress when it comes to Beth and Daryl's physical relationship. It's one of the things that makes me feel the most doubtful and unsure when writing this story. But this is, as previously mentioned, a slow burn fic. To me their progress feels natural to how I see them in my mind, especially considering Daryl's near-asexuality. Please, if you love them and/or enjoy this fic, have patience! I promise that they will move ahead with that part of their relationship soon, and in the meantime I hope you enjoy all the other many levels to them!
That said, thank you as always for reading this fic. Your enthusiastic comments and thoughts are what keep me going and writing, and I appreciate it so much!