This chapter is super fluffy, but heads up, conflict is coming soon! I wanted to give you some extra fluff to make the conflict easier when it arrives. ;)

The days turned into weeks, and Beth and Daryl had settled into a fairly routine life at the cabin. Most mornings, they would begin the day with a hunt, as Daryl would still not let Beth out of his sight for longer than a few minutes. The warm coats they had found a month prior proved to be great protection from the elements, and Beth found that she was rarely cold while outside with Daryl. Her tracking skills were also vastly improving, as was her ability to use Daryl's crossbow. With as much practice as she was getting, Beth was sure that she would be able to go out and hunt down a meal on her own if she ever needed to.

The only conflict they had run into as of late had been a passing herd that had come through the woods a few weeks back. The pair had been inside the cabin playing a card game when they had heard the moans coming through the woods. The herd was large, but nowhere near the size of the one that had driven them off the farm so long ago, and they had decided to stay put and stay quiet to hopefully wait the horde of walkers out. Their plan had worked, and after several hours of staying as still and quiet as possible, the herd had moved on with only a few stragglers getting snagged on the sharpened fence posts outside the cabin. The fact that they had been able to survive a passing herd without leaving the sanctuary of the cabin made them both feel more confident in the ability of their shelter to keep them safe.

Things had been going so well that Beth had even managed to convince Daryl to go on another supply run the week before. Their vast supply of condoms had begun to dwindle, seeing as their lustful appetites for one another were seemingly insatiable, and the pair had made a successful run to the Greenville pharmacy to remedy the situation. They had returned home with another large supply of condoms, as well as many months' worth of birth control pills for Beth. The run had gone without a hitch, and Beth hoped that Daryl would be willing to start making more runs soon. She had almost exhausted her supply of books and she hoped she would be able to go search for more before she read through them all.

One morning, Daryl shook Beth awake from under her large pile of blankets in the bed. The living room and kitchen were able to be decently heated by the wood stove and the fireplace, but the bedroom lacked such comforts, and Beth had piled as many blankets as she could find on the bed to combat the chilly room. Sleeping next to Daryl provided some warmth, but he often woke before her, prompting her to burrow deeper into the stack of blankets when he rose each morning.

"What is it?" Beth mumbled sleepily, not wanting to come out of her warm little haven beneath the covers.

"Come see," Daryl replied with a smile, and Beth sighed and rubbed her eyes.

"Why do you always have to get up so early?" she mumbled grumpily, and Daryl grinned cheekily at her.

"This is worth getting up for. C'mon."

Beth sighed again and tossed back her warm covers, shivering as the cold morning air washed over her. She had taken to wearing her old sweatpants she had taken from the farmhouse all those weeks ago, but even the sweatpants couldn't keep the chill of the room at bay. She stretched and shuffled out of the bedroom on sock-covered feet. Daryl had already lit a fire in the fireplace, and it was starting to warm the cold air in the cabin.

Daryl went to the front door and opened it, stepping aside to reveal what he had woken Beth to see. A thin layer of snow had fallen overnight, blanketing the woods around them in white. The snow was still falling, and though it was light, the sight was magical to Beth. She grinned excitedly at Daryl, who shared the smile. Snow was a rare thing in Georgia, and it had been a long time since Beth had witnessed it.

"Wow," she breathed, reveling in how beautiful the snow made everything seem.

"Thought it'd be worth wakin' you for," Daryl shrugged, the smile still on his face.

Beth nodded excitedly and took a step forward out onto the porch.

"You're gonna get your socks wet," Daryl said, and Beth shrugged.

"I don't care. I want to feel the snow on my face."

Daryl laughed a little and stepped forward, motioning for her to climb on his back.

"C'mon, hop up."

Beth grinned and obliged, and she couldn't help remembering the last time Daryl had given her a piggyback outside the funeral home over two months ago. She wrapped her arms around his broad shoulders and leaned her head against him, enjoying the smell of sweat and leather coming from his angel wing vest. Daryl strode out onto the porch and down the steps, stopping in front of the barbed wire fence so that Beth could feel the snow. The tiny flakes melted as they landed on her skin, and she couldn't wipe the smile from her face.

Beth could see Daryl's profile and knew that he was smiling, too. She giggled at the way the snowflakes stood out against his dark hair and wrapped her arms tighter around him. She felt her chest swell with happiness. During the past month, Beth's feelings for Daryl had only grown stronger, and for the past week or so, she had been questioning whether she was still falling in love with him or whether she was already there. She had never been in love with a man before, and she wasn't sure when things changed from falling for someone to being in love with someone. It was new territory for her, and she wasn't sure how to interpret her own feelings. But in that moment, Beth suddenly knew. She knew without a doubt that she was 100% in love with Daryl Dixon.

The revelation was groundbreaking for her, but she kept her mouth shut. As much as she wanted to blurt out her feelings right then and there, she knew that probably wasn't the wisest idea. Daryl never talked about his feelings, and granted, neither did she, but she knew that such a declaration could make him very uncomfortable. She knew Daryl cared for her deeply; she could tell from the way he spoke to her, the way he touched her, and the way he looked at her. But talking about feelings was something Daryl had always avoided, and the last thing she wanted to do was to scare him away. Beth decided she would tell him eventually, but for now, she was satisfied to keep the revelation of her feelings to herself.

She planted a kiss on his cheek and shivered a little, prompting Daryl to turn and head back up the porch steps, setting her down again when they reached the doorway. Beth flashed him a grateful smile and felt her cheeks flushing a bit when he smiled back at her, something that had to be due to her very recent realization of the depth of her feelings for him. She turned away from him to hide her blushing cheeks and went to warm her hands by the fire.

"You know, it's been about a month since we celebrated Thanksgiving," she observed. "Maybe we should make today our Christmas. So we can have a white Christmas. It'd be a first for me."

Beth glanced at Daryl and saw him shrug a little. She remembered his admission that he had never gotten anything for Christmas during their first game of "I Never," and although she had nothing to give him, she wanted to celebrate with him anyway. He walked over and stood next to her by the fire, but said nothing.

"I could go search for more hickory nuts to candy as a sweet treat," Beth suggested, attempting to persuade him.

"Okay," he said finally, giving a single nod. Beth grinned happily. She leaned against him and he wrapped an arm around her as they warmed themselves by the fire.

"I wish I had a gift for you," Beth sighed, but Daryl immediately shook his head.

"Don't need nothin'. I got everything I could ever want right here," he said, giving her shoulder a squeeze.

"Are you saying that all you want for Christmas is me?" Beth teased, and she began humming the song that had been one of her Christmas favorites. Daryl rolled his eyes.

"You're corny. But yeah."

She giggled and turned to stand in front of him, wrapping her arms around his neck.

"Merry Christmas, Daryl," she murmured as she looked up at him with a dazzling smile. "My heart is yours."

The light snow continued to fall throughout the morning. After a light breakfast, the pair had bundled up and headed out to hunt down their Christmas dinner. Beth had also taken a small bag to collect hickory nuts to candy for dessert, and her good mood was contagious. Daryl had never been happy that it was Christmas before, but Beth made it impossible for him not to be. He followed behind her as they walked through the woods, allowing her to take the lead on the tracking effort as he so often did these days, and listened to her talk about her family's Christmas traditions.

Daryl's thoughts kept wandering back to the sparrow ring that he still kept hidden from Beth back at the cabin. He had stashed the small ring in a box of nails that he kept in the toolbox, knowing she was not likely to accidentally stumble across it there. Over the past month, there had been a few moments when he had wanted to spontaneously give the ring to her, but each time, he had chickened out, still unsure of how she would react to it. But now, considering that Beth had declared the day to be Christmas, it seemed like the perfect day to give it to her. The thought of doing so filled him with anxiety.

Daryl had no problems acknowledging that he had deep feelings for Beth. He had never felt this way about anyone in his entire life. She even meant more to him than family, which, for Daryl, was saying something. Still, he found that he was completely lost when it came to describing his feelings for her. Was he in love with her? He really had no idea. He had never known what it felt like to be in love with a woman, and maybe, just maybe, these feelings he had for Beth were just that: love. The thought scared the shit out of him.

Suddenly, Beth's hand on his arm jerked him out of his thoughts. She nodded her head toward a rabbit sitting nearby. It hadn't taken them long to find the rabbit, as the fresh snow had made tracking a lot easier. He slowly handed Beth his loaded crossbow and watched as she took aim and released the bolt into her target.

"Hello, Christmas dinner!" she exclaimed triumphantly. He took the crossbow back from her while she bounded away to collect her kill. As she made her way back toward him, he was struck by her beauty, as he often was these days. The cold had flushed her cheeks, and the snow had collected in her blonde hair and on her ritzy black coat. The way her smile completely lit up her eyes made his heart squeeze painfully in his chest, and he couldn't help smiling happily back at her as she handed him the bolt to his crossbow and the freshly killed rabbit, which he tied to his belt.

Beth held her hand out to him, which he gladly took, lacing their gloved fingers together. They walked back to the cabin hand in hand, Beth still chattering away about Christmas memories, and Daryl was unable to stop himself from smiling the whole way home.

Though the fire was almost out when they arrived back at the cabin, it had heated the room nicely. Beth placed the bag of hickory nuts she had managed to find on the kitchen counter, and Daryl left the rabbit on the porch to skin and gut later. His eyes landed on the toolbox, which also remained on the porch, and before he could rethink things, he quickly opened it and fished the small sparrow ring out of the box of nails. He slipped the ring into his pocket and followed Beth back inside.

"I wonder how much snow is going to fall," Beth mused as she removed her coat and went to warm her hands by the dying fire. Daryl removed his own coat and went to stand beside her, his throat constricting a little in anxiety. Beth seemed to sense his tension and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. He cleared his throat awkwardly and felt the back of his neck turning red.

"I, um," he stammered, feeling like an idiot all of a sudden. "I have somethin' for you. Somethin' I thought you might like."

"What do you mean?" Beth asked with a frown.

"I been holdin' onto it for a while 'cause I wasn't sure if I was gonna give it to you, but since it's Christmas and all, I thought I should."

"Daryl, what are you talking about?"

He reached into his pocket and pulled out the small rose gold ring, the sparrow glinting in the light. He thrust it toward her awkwardly, chewing on his lip as he waited for her to take it. Beth looked down to the small piece of jewelry in his hand and her eyes widened. She reached forward and took the ring from his grasp, a smile spreading across her face.

"Saw it in the house where we found the coats. Reminded me of you."

"Daryl, it's perfect," she murmured softly, quickly slipping it onto her ring finger on her right hand. It fit perfectly and shimmered in the light as she held up her hand to observe it. "I love it."

"Really?"

"Yes, really. Thank you!"

She lifted her hands and cupped his face between them, bringing his lips to hers for a soft kiss. Daryl could feel the cool metal of the ring against his cheek and smiled a little into the kiss, feeling immensely relieved that she liked the ring. Beth pulled away and shared his smile, her blue eyes staring into his own.

"Who knew Daryl Dixon could be a romantic?" she teased, and Daryl scoffed, the back of his neck reddening again. He could only imagine what Merle or anyone else who knew him would say about this, but then again, he didn't care. Beth made him able to be many things that he wasn't able to be before, and if that included a romantic, that was fine by him if it meant it would make her happy.

If anyone is curious about what the ring looks like, I got the inspiration from a ring made by a seller on Etsy by the name of ShopEliAndLeah! Since the site doesn't permit outside links, you'll have to look it up yourself if you are curious. It's the sparrow bird ring in 14K rose gold. :)