This chapter is somewhat of a filler chapter (but at least there is some smut!). I haven't been able to update the past few days and I didn't want to leave you hanging for too long. Enjoy! :)

Beth woke the next morning to the sound of running water. She sighed and stretched and realized suddenly that the sound meant that Daryl was taking a shower. Beth didn't mind that Daryl tended to shower only every few days, despite their access to clean running water, but she looked forward to running her fingers through his clean, soft hair when he was done. The man looked good in grime, but she loved how soft his hair was when it was clean.

She rolled over in bed and felt her cheeks flushing a bit as she recalled the night before. The pleasure Daryl had been able to give her with her tongue was like nothing she had ever felt before. The thought of oral sex used to intimidate her, and she had never felt comfortable enough around Zach to let him go down on her. The thought of having a man's face down there had formerly made her feel embarrassed just thinking about it. But now, she was incredibly glad that she had been able to let go of her insecurities with Daryl so that she could experience it. Once again, Daryl Dixon had completely changed her idea of what good sex was. It felt like he knew more about her body than she did, and she was very eager to learn more about what she liked in bed.

Beth knew she wanted to return the favor for Daryl, but she was just as inexperienced with giving oral sex as she was receiving it. She knew the general idea of what to do, but she had never tried it. The thought of putting her lips around his large, hard cock actually made her throb between her legs, and she bit her lip in sudden determination. An impish grin suddenly spread across her face as an idea came to her. She jumped out of bed and carefully snuck into the bathroom where Daryl was still showering, the shower curtain hiding her from view. Beth spotted his clothes in a pile on the floor and she quickly snatched them up, trying to stifle a giggle as she hurried out of the bathroom with the clothes in her arms.

She tossed his clothing unceremoniously on the ground and pulled her flannel over her head, leaving her in just a pair of gray lace panties. She settled herself back on the bed and waited. The water shut off a moment later, and she heard Daryl move the shower curtain aside and mumble something, likely profanities. He appeared in the doorway a few moments later with a towel around his waist, looking irritated.

"You take my clothes?" he asked, not failing to notice her lack of clothing as his eyes traveled down her body.

"Mmhmm," Beth nodded. "Didn't want you getting dressed yet."

"Oh yeah?" he smirked, his irritation vanishing as he moved toward the bed. "Why's that?"

Beth rose to her knees and crawled to the edge of the bed. She untucked the towel from his body and let it fall to the floor. He was already half hard, and Beth grinned up at him wickedly at the sight of his growing erection.

"Wanna return the favor from last night," she murmured, taking him in her hand and giving him a long, slow stroke. He exhaled a deep breath.

"Beth, you don't have to do that," he said, shaking his head. "I wanted to do that for you. You don't gotta do anythin' in return."

"But I want to," she said.

"You ever done that before?" he grunted out, finding it a little difficult to focus as she continued to slowly stroke his now full erection. Beth shook her head.

"Gotta learn sometime," she winked up at him, and Daryl shook his head again.

"No, Beth, you seriously don't have to . . ."

Daryl hissed and trailed off as Beth suddenly bent down and gave the underside of his cock one long lick from the base to the tip.

"I know I don't have to," she said, looking up at him with darkened eyes. "I want to. And it seems like you also want me to," she teased, giving his erection a squeeze with her hand.

Daryl grunted in response, unable to say anything else. Beth gave him another devilish grin and grabbed his arms, pulling him down onto the bed with her. She maneuvered him so that he was sitting with his back against the wall by the pillows, and she placed herself between his legs, staring up at him through her lashes with his erect manhood inches from her soft mouth.

"I'm learning as I go," she said. "Please tell me if I'm doing anything wrong."

"Just don't use your teeth," Daryl muttered, and Beth giggled.

"Roger that."

She propped herself up better on her elbows and took firm hold of his shaft, glancing up at him to see him watching her with darkened eyes, his pupils bleeding out into the icy blue. Beth licked her lips and looked back to his cock in front of her. She tried to remember the pointers she had read in women's magazines over the years, but decided to just go with it. There was no way she would be able to fit all of him in her mouth (it wasn't as if she was going to try to deep throat him on her first try), so she kept a hand wrapped around the base of his shaft as she tentatively placed her lips around the head of his cock. She sucked on the head a few times and then began to swirl her tongue delicately around the tip as she took more of him in her mouth. Daryl released a long breath, and she glanced up at him to see that he was watching her hungrily. The expression on his face gave her a boost of confidence.

She lowered her mouth and took as much of him as she could, pulling back up just before she felt herself almost gag. She moved her mouth up and down slowly, loving the way his hardness felt between her lips. She began moving her hand in sync with her mouth to make up for the length of him she was not able to take in her mouth, and Daryl groaned a little at the feeling. The sound encouraged her, and she increased her pace slightly. She sucked on the head every now and then as she came back up, and Daryl's breathing became heavier. Beth remembered how much she had enjoyed the way Daryl had varied the motions of his tongue the night before, and she began taking small breaks from moving her head up and down to lick the length of him, swirling her tongue around the tip. She remembered reading that the head was more sensitive than the rest, and she made sure to pay extra attention to it. After a few minutes, Daryl began to tense, his hands clutching the sheets around him tightly.

"Beth, you better stop," he croaked out.

She looked up at him and met his eyes, but didn't stop her ministrations. She maintained eye contact while she continued to move her mouth up and down his length, using the tip of her tongue to stimulate his sensitive tip each time she reached the top of his shaft. She wanted him to cum; she wanted to find out what he tasted like. The thought was strangely erotic to her, and she felt herself throb between her legs as he tensed up more.

"Beth, I'm serious, I'm gonna—"

Spurts of warm liquid hit the back of her throat suddenly, and Beth made sure to keep her lips tightly sealed around Daryl's cock. He moaned as he released himself in her warm mouth, and he was surprised when she swallowed every last drop. She sat up when he was finished and grinned at him mischievously, the salty-sweet taste of him still on her tongue.

"Fuck, Beth," Daryl panted. Her lips were swollen and pink, and he was in awe of her. "You sure you never done that before?"

She nodded and her grin became wider.

"That means it was good, right?"

Daryl released a deep breath, feeling almost lightheaded.

"Better than good."

She beamed at him, feeling happy with herself. Daryl shook his head and pulled her down to his chest. He wrapped an arm around her and held her to him.

"You're somethin' else," he muttered, and Beth laughed a little. "Gonna take a minute before I'm ready to go again, but I can take care of you in a minute, too."

"It's okay," Beth smiled up at him. "I'm actually a little tender from last night. Don't get me wrong, it was amazing, but I'm feeling the aftereffects today."

"You know I can get you off without being inside you at all," Daryl smirked, and Beth flushed a little, knowing all too well how skilled he was in that department.

"I know, but really, it's fine. You made last night about me, so I wanted to make this morning about you. But I'll take a raincheck for later today."

Daryl nodded and planted a soft kiss on the side of her head. Beth snuggled closer to him and enjoyed how warm his skin felt against hers. The cabin was quite chilly that morning, just another constant reminder that winter was upon them.

"We're gonna need to make more tripods for drying meat today. Got a lot of venison to dry. With the temperatures the way they are, it can probably keep outside for a few days, but just in case things warm up, I wanna dry as much as we can."

"Okay. I'll help you make more tripods," Beth agreed. She shivered a little at the thought of going outside in the cold and decided that despite Daryl's hesitance to go on any runs in the near future, coats were a necessity. Layering up in old flannel shirts only did so much, and she was growing weary of constantly freezing whenever she had to go outside for something, especially the long treks through the woods when Daryl made her accompany him to go hunting. She propped herself up on her elbow to look at him.

"We need to go out and find coats," she said. Daryl didn't reply, and Beth could sense his resistance to the idea. "I know you aren't keen on the idea of making a run, but it needs to happen. It's only going to get colder and neither of us have a winter coat to keep us warm outside."

Daryl sighed. "I know. It can wait another week or so though."

Beth huffed a little in irritation. "Maybe you're fine with just layering up on shirts, but I'm tired of freezing. And if you're going to keep making me come with you to hunt, I want a coat, Daryl."

"I know. Going out on a run just makes me nervous. I wanna put it off as long as we can."

"What if we have to run or something?" Beth said. "What if a herd comes through, or Cara's attackers find us and we have to make a quick getaway? Without coats, we wouldn't last long out in the elements. It's stupid not to have them, Daryl. We have to be able to protect ourselves just in case we're forced out of our shelter."

Daryl nodded. He hadn't thought about that scenario. "You're right," he sighed.

"We don't even have to go all the way into a town. We could just raid a few houses on the outskirts of Greenville or something. They're bound to have something. The coats don't have to fit well or anything, we just need something."

"Okay," Daryl reluctantly agreed. "We'll check out a few houses."

"Can we go today?"

Daryl exhaled, wishing he could put off this run for longer, but knowing Beth wouldn't give up until he agreed.

"All right. Let's get it over with today."

Beth smiled triumphantly and Daryl rolled his eyes at her.

"Let's get moving then," she said happily. "After a quick breakfast, we'll head out. If we find something usable right away, we can head back here with plenty of time to start drying the venison, too."

Daryl nodded and stood from the bed to get dressed, Beth following suit. He knew she was right, they really did need winter coats, but the thought of leaving the cabin made him uneasy. He hated not knowing how close Cara's attackers were. He hoped they had moved on from the area, but if they really were the same group as Randall's, it would seem that the group hadn't wandered far in the past year. He hoped that Beth's idea of just raiding houses on the outskirts of town would allow them to avoid any encounters, but he couldn't help feeling nervous about the whole thing. They hadn't left the cabin since they had found Cara. His need to protect Beth was stronger than ever as his feelings grew for her, and he hated not knowing if he would be able to keep her safe.

He sighed heavily and tried to take Beth's lead and be more positive about the whole thing. Just a quick run and they would be back. The initial outbreak had been in summer, so the houses would be bound to still have some coats stashed away somewhere. Daryl tried to convince himself that nothing bad would happen, that they would be back with coats in hand before midday. But convincing himself of that was harder said than done.

Don't freak out too much. Daryl is just being paranoid. I'm not sure I'm ready to throw more conflict into the story just yet. It will come, but probably not in the next chapter.

Also, just to clarify the timeline of events in this story, Daryl and Beth have been at the cabin for a little over a month now. I know I've had some chapters all spanning one day and others that skip ahead in time, so I just wanted to clear that up for anyone who is confused about the timeline. :)

Thanks for reading and please review!