I wrote the end of this chapter on my lunch break. I wonder what my colleagues would think if they realized what I was actually working on in my cube . . . you'll see why when you get to it. Haha! ;) Enjoy!

Beth sorted through their stash of first aid supplies and picked out a few packages of gauze, some rubbing alcohol, and a bottle of painkillers. She tossed them into the plastic bag she was holding and went out into the living room where Daryl was loading a decent supply of dried rabbit meat into another bag.

"Where is the sewing kit you used to stitch me up when we first got here?" Beth asked. "I think it would be good to put in here, just in case."

"End table in the living room," Daryl replied, and Beth made her way over to the end table and tossed the small sewing kit into the bag.

It had now been almost two weeks since Cara's death, and although they had experienced no issues with people finding the cabin, they decided that it would be a good idea to put a few bags of emergency supplies in the truck in case they had to make a quick getaway, whether from threats living or dead. It had been Beth's idea, and Daryl wholeheartedly supported the plan. He was surprised that neither of them had thought of it sooner.

Daryl had also showed Beth how to hot wire the truck. Since they didn't have the keys for the vehicle, she needed to know how to start it in case they had to run and Daryl wasn't able to go with her. At first, Beth refused to acknowledge that she would ever leave the cabin without him, but Daryl insisted that she had to learn just in case. He had no intentions of splitting up with her either, but in their world, things rarely went the way they were supposed to. It put Daryl's mind more at ease to know that Beth could escape in the truck without him if it really came down to it.

"What'd you put in the bag?" Daryl asked her as he came over with a bag full of food and bottled water in one hand and one of their cooking pots in the other. He grabbed his crossbow from by the door and shouldered it, not wanting to leave the house without a weapon, no matter how close by they were going.

"First aid supplies, the map, a flashlight with extra batteries, and condoms."

Daryl arched his eyebrows at the mention of the final item.

"What?" Beth said innocently. "You said pack the essentials!"

He gave her an amused smirk and slipped past her to take his stash of supplies out to the truck. He still found it hard to believe that Beth was really his. They had only been sleeping together for two weeks (technically one due to Beth's period the week before), but already he was addicted to her, and he couldn't believe that she felt the same need. He kept thinking that he would wake up and it would all be a dream. It seemed impossible that such a beautiful, pure woman like Beth wanted him to put his dirty hands on her all the time.

It wasn't just about the sex, however. Daryl knew he had feelings for Beth, but he wasn't sure how deep they ran. Having feelings for a woman was an entirely new concept to him. It felt foreign, and he wasn't sure what it all meant. He knew that his chest felt tight whenever she flashed one of her genuine, warm smiles at him. He knew that his heart sped up when she said anything even remotely romantic, and that the corners of his mouth always seemed to twitch upward whenever he heard her sing. Most importantly, she made him feel like a good man, which was a big step for him. And he knew that he should probably tell her all of these things that she made him feel, but the thought made him clam up and forget everything he wanted to say. He wasn't sure he could even put his feelings into words. He was in completely uncharted territory, blindly trying to find his way.

Daryl heard Beth following behind him to take her own bag of supplies out to the truck. They wove their way through both of their fences and walked over to the truck. Daryl opened the passenger side door and placed his bag of food and water on the floorboards, along with the cooking pot. Beth put her own bag down next to his and stretched, looking around the quiet woods for signs of walkers. Suddenly Daryl felt her hand grasp his arm, and he immediately looked in the direction of her line of sight.

A doe stood about two hundred feet away, her head down grazing on the forest floor in front of her. Daryl glanced quickly at Beth, who was smiling. He slowly pulled his crossbow from its place on his back and raised the loaded bow. He took careful aim and took in a deep breath, letting the arrow fly as he exhaled. The arrow sailed through the air and struck the doe in the neck, immediately downing his prey. Daryl shared a wide smile with Beth before running toward his kill. He pulled out his hunting knife and quickly finished the job and ended the deer's misery. Beth appeared at his side, still smiling.

"You still want to have a Thanksgiving?" Daryl grinned up at her.

Their meal was a simple one, but it seemed like it would be the best meal either of them had had in a long time. Daryl had butchered up some large deer steaks from the doe, and he planned to smoke and dry the rest of the meat the next day. He took care of preparing the protein, frying the steaks in a large skillet over the fire with ample salt and pepper, and Beth handled the rest of the meal: sautéed dandelion leaves and candied hickory nuts for dessert. She was especially excited to have something sweet to snack on after the meal, because it wouldn't be Thanksgiving without dessert. Beth had stumbled upon the hickory nuts when she was picking dandelion leaves, and Daryl had identified several large hickory trees near the cabin that had littered the ground with nuts. All she had to candy them with was sugar and water, and roasting them with the wood stove had been difficult, but she was still looking forward to the treats anyway.

Preparing the meal made Beth feel like they were just a normal couple living a normal life, and for a while, she had been able to forget all the dangers that constantly threatened them. Daryl had hovered over her while she candied the hickory nuts, and the way she had needed to constantly bat his hands away from sampling the goodies reminded her of how her family's Thanksgivings had been, except it had always been her father and brother who had been trying to snatch tastes of things all day. Beth had sung while she worked, and more than once she had caught Daryl smiling softly at her as she did.

"Meat's almost done," Daryl called to her from beside the fire. She gave the dandelion leaves a final stir and pulled them from the heat.

"Dandelion is done, too. Bring the deer over here and we'll serve it up."

Daryl brought the hot skillet into the kitchen and set it down on the stove. The smell of candied nuts and now the cooked deer steaks filled the cabin, and Beth couldn't stop inhaling the wonderful homey scent. She grabbed two plates from the cupboard and served them up with the meat and greens. She wished they had a starch of some kind, but she was still grateful for what they did have.

The pair of them took their full plates over to the coffee table, as the cabin didn't have a real kitchen table, and sat down next to each other. Daryl looked at Beth with an uncertain expression.

"Ain't we supposed to say grace or some shit like that?" he asked.

Beth laughed a little. "At my house we always did, but I know you're not really into that. How about we just say what we're thankful for?"

Daryl scoffed. "That's lame."

"Yeah, well, it's what you do on Thanksgiving," Beth argued with a playful nudge to his side. "You give thanks."

"You go first."

"Okay. I'm thankful for this amazing cabin, for the defenses we were able to put in place, for all the supplies we've found, for your amazing hunting skills," she listed off, nudging him playfully again, "and most of all, I'm thankful for you and this relationship we have. I'm thankful that I got out of the prison with you. Even though we haven't found the rest of our group, and we might not ever find them, I'm still thankful that we're together. I haven't been this happy in . . . well, probably not since the turn, and that's a pretty big deal."

She smiled brightly at him, and Daryl felt that familiar tightness in his chest that this time threatened to be almost overwhelming. He swallowed hard and cleared his throat.

"Well, now I regret makin' you go first 'cause I dunno how I'm gonna follow that," he muttered, and Beth giggled. "I'm thankful for all that, too. And for you. I'm thankful that I got you back and didn't lose you. I ain't ever gonna lose you again, I'm gonna make sure of it."

Beth leaned into him and he pressed his lips to hers in a gentle kiss. They broke apart soon after and Beth smiled at him.

"Well, happy Thanksgiving," she said. "I hope it makes up for all the Thanksgivings you missed growing up."

"It already has," Daryl smiled at her.

The two of them ate until they could eat no more, and even after they had reached their limits, they still couldn't keep their hands off of the candied hickory nuts until Beth finally put them in a container and stashed them away out of their reach. Beth had changed into one of her sleep flannels shortly after their meal, and both of them had been stretched out on the same couch for almost two hours now, Daryl in the center of the couch with his feet propped on the coffee table and Beth laying lengthwise with her legs across his lap. She was reading aloud from Interview with the Vampire, and Daryl was tracing patterns on the smooth skin of her legs.

As she read, Daryl hardly focused on the words, but instead on the sweet way her voice sounded, and how the light from the fire made her blonde hair seem to almost glow. Eventually his touch started to wander farther up her legs, his fingertips caressing her skin closer and closer to her center, but never touching her there. He knew Beth was aware of what he was doing; he caught the tiny smirks on her face each time his fingers ghosted near her center.

"'I went down into the street after Lestat and walked for blocks,'" she continued reading, biting her lip for just a moment when Daryl's fingers inched closer between her legs. "'The streets were muddy then, the actual blocks islands above the gutters, and the entire city so dark compared to the cities of today. The lights were—'"

She gasped suddenly as Daryl's touch finally reached her sensitive center. He rubbed her through the fabric of her underwear, and he could already feel the moisture gathering between her legs from the anticipation of his touch. He ran his other hand up beneath the flannel, over her flat stomach, and to her small, firm breasts. Daryl's calloused fingertips gently circled one of her hardened nipples, and Beth let out a small, quiet moan. He slipped his other hand beneath the dampening fabric of her panties, and the book tumbled from Beth's hands to the floor as he slowly slid one finger inside her.

The light from the fire softly illuminated her face as he slowly slipped his middle finger in and out of her wetness, and Daryl found himself almost enthralled with the way her lips parted and her eyes found his, looking up at him through her lashes as her eyelids threatened to flutter closed. He slid his moistened finger up to her clit, and Beth sucked in a breath as he began to gently circle it. He felt a sudden need to pleasure her in ways he had never done before, and he quickly tugged her panties down her legs and discarded them on the floor.

Daryl leaned over Beth on the couch, and her lips immediately found his in a passionate kiss. He went to work on unbuttoning her flannel as she quickly tugged his shirt over his head, and before long, he felt the wonderful feeling of her bare skin against his chest. She was naked, and by the light of the fire, she looked even more perfect than she ever had before. Her hands went to the button on his pants, but he stilled her movements. She frowned in confusion.

"Not yet," he said, his voice rough. "Wanna make this about you first."

She smiled a little as he began kissing down her chest, stopping only briefly to roll his tongue over each of her small, hardened nipples, before continuing lower down her abdomen. He dipped his tongue into the hollows of each hip bone, earning small moans from Beth, and soon he was positioned where he wanted to be between her legs with her thighs on either side of his head. He planted small, open-mouthed kisses along her inner thighs, slowly moving closer toward her center. He felt Beth begin to tense up, and her tension only increased the closer his mouth got to its destination. He glanced up at her and noticed that she was squeezing her eyes shut.

"Beth," he said softly, and she opened her eyes to meet his gaze. "Relax."

"Sorry," she murmured. "I'm trying. I've never . . . no one's ever . . . it's just nerve-racking."

Daryl's eyes widened a little in realization, and he found an inexplicable sense of pride that he would be the first man to ever go down on her. But he understood her anxiety, and he needed her to relax or she would never be able to enjoy the pleasure he so desperately wanted to give her.

"Do you trust me?" he asked, and Beth frowned.

"Of course I do," she answered quickly. "You know I do."

"Then just let go," he urged. "Just relax. Ain't got nothin' to be scared of. You're beautiful."

Beth nodded and exhaled slowly. He felt the tension ease in her thighs as she forced herself to relax. He smiled softly at her, and she returned the gesture, her cheeks flushing a little in anticipation. Daryl lowered his head and began kissing her inner thighs again, working her up to the actual act. Beth's eyes fluttered closed, and though he felt her tense again as he neared her sex, the tension wasn't nearly as severe as it had been before. Finally Daryl placed a delicate, open-mouthed kiss between her legs, causing Beth's breath to hitch in her throat at the feeling of the contact. She didn't push him away, however, and Daryl slowly ran the tip of his tongue over her clit, touching her as softly as he could. Beth gasped; he had barely touched her, yet the pleasure she had felt from one swipe of his tongue had given her more pleasure than she thought possible. She forced herself to relax again, biting down on her lip as his tongue began to delicately swirl around her swollen clit.

When he was sure Beth was comfortable with what he was doing, Daryl moved a hand to the top of her mound and used his thumb to pull up her hood, revealing more of her clit to him. He circled the little nub with the tip of his tongue, gradually applying more pressure, and Beth gave a breathy moan as he did so. He began flicking his tongue across her clit faster, and Beth's breathing became labored and heavy. Her fingers suddenly fisted themselves in his hair, and Daryl had to fight the urge to grin as he realized how much she was enjoying what he was doing. He flattened his tongue and pressed it against her, moving his head from side to side, and Beth had to control herself from bucking her hips against him. The pleasure was almost too intense, and she could feel that she was already close to orgasm.

Daryl could sense she was close, too. Her thighs were twitching and her grip had tightened on his hair. He paused for a brief moment and slid two fingers inside her, and Beth let loose a loud moan when he returned his tongue to her clit. He alternated between light, fast licks and more pressure with the flat of his tongue while he pumped his fingers in and out of her. She was impossibly wet, and the scent of her combined with the feeling of her juices coating his chin was making his erection almost painful. He hooked his fingers inside her toward her stomach and began rubbing against her sensitive spot inside, and the combination of his fingers and tongue sent Beth exploding over the edge. She let loose a moan so loud that it could have been a scream, her orgasm tearing through her and making her see stars. Daryl pressed his tongue firmly against her clit as she rode out her orgasm.

Beth felt as though she had tunnel vision and her hearing even seemed muffled as she came back to her senses. She had never in her life experienced an orgasm that intense. She looked down at Daryl, who was grinning triumphantly from between her legs, and she felt that she couldn't even form words to describe how she felt. Her whole body felt like jelly, and all she could do was release a few breathy moans as she attempted to gain control of herself. When she finally felt that she could move again, she feverishly grabbed Daryl by the shoulders and pulled him on top of her. She kissed him fiercely and was strangely turned on by the taste of herself on his mouth. Her hands fumbled with the button on his pants and she frantically tugged them down, needing to feel him filling her completely.

Daryl produced a condom from somewhere, and Beth hardly had time to wonder where it had come from before he rolled it on and quickly sheathed himself inside her with a single thrust, causing her to cry out in surprise. He didn't wait for her to adjust, instead immediately pounding into her hard and fast. Beth clawed at his back and tried her best to move her hips to keep up with him. Both of them released almost animalistic moans as he continued to thrust into her harder than he ever had before. It was almost painful when he bottomed out inside her, but Beth didn't care. An orgasm was quickly building inside her and she didn't want him to stop.

It didn't take long before Beth felt herself reach her peak. Her walls clamped tightly around his cock and she dug her nails into his back as she saw stars for the second time that night, calling out his name as she came. Daryl gave several loud, primal groans before thrusting himself as deep inside her as he could go, his motions stilling and his eyes squeezing shut as he reached his own release. He stayed still for several moments until he felt he was able to think straight again. When he moved to pull out of her, Beth hooked her legs around him and held him in place, not wanting to feel the emptiness from him leaving her just yet.

"Not yet," she panted. "Just stay like this with me, just for a few more moments."

He nodded, feeling unable to speak, and lowered himself onto his elbows so he could look at her. She was grinning widely, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling, and Daryl felt the familiar tightening in his chest again at the sight.

"You just rocked my world, Daryl Dixon," Beth breathed out with a giggle, and he chuckled, unable to stop his own grin from spreading across his face.

And now somehow I have to get back to work after writing this. Focusing is going to be difficult! haha!

Thanks for reading and please review! :)