The sound of the car's tires hitting gravel woke Beth.

She sat up straight in her seat, wondering how long she'd slept, and looked up at the sun's position in the sky. It was late afternoon.

She glanced over at Daryl as he put the car in park. "Sorry. I didn't mean to sleep that long."

Daryl shrugged and grabbed his crossbow. "Don't worry about it. You snored just loud enough to keep me awake."

Beth's mouth dropped open as he pulled the latch on his door and got out, but when he leaned down to looked in the window she could see the smirk on his face.

She giggled and stuck her tongue out at him. "I do not snore, Daryl Dixon."

She stepped out of the car and looked around. Rick had chosen a secluded rest stop for them to spend the night. There were no houses in sight, just forest on either side, but she thought she saw a lake through the trees across the road.

Daryl joined Rick at the back of the truck as he lifted up the door, letting the rest of their group out.

Beth saw Noah jump down carefully on his good leg and stretch, and she walked over to join him as everyone milled around. "Hey. You hangin' in there?"

Noah grimaced as he tried to work the kinks out from being cooped up for most of the day. "Yeah." He leaned against the side of the truck and rubbed his neck, speaking in a softer voice. "Your family, they seem like good people."

Beth smiled. "They are. There's still a few I need to get to know, but they seem okay." She watched Abraham and Rosita sit down at one of the picnic tables, but didn't see Eugene. He must still be in the truck.

"I'm just grateful to be here." He folded his arms and looked down at his feet solemnly. "I got no one left, so…I don't know where I woulda gone if I hadn't wound up with you guys."

"Hey." Beth put a hand on his arm, waiting for Noah to look up at her. "You're the reason I found my way back to them, so we're grateful you're here." She smiled up at him reassuringly. "And they're not just my family anymore, they're yours, too."

Noah nodded and smiled at Beth timidly.

She gave his arm a squeeze and walked to the rear of the truck where Daryl and Rick were looking in at the small pile of canned goods left.

Rick's hands were on his hips and he looked worried. "I had hoped we'd find more food today. That's not gonna go very far with a group this size. And we've got another couple days' drive yet. Maybe more."

Daryl loaded his crossbow and nodded at Beth. "We'll see what we can find if somebody wants to get a fire started."

"Alright." Rick waved them off. "Think I'll fill the gas tanks, too, before it gets dark, so we can get off to a quick start in the mornin'."

Beth followed Daryl into the woods and they walked quietly for over a mile, but didn't see any signs of wildlife. All the scat they came across looked weeks old.

Daryl looked back at Beth, and she could tell he was getting frustrated. He enjoyed the hunting, and being the sole provider for the group when other resources failed was a weight he didn't mind bearing as long as game could be found, but when it was scarce he hated returning empty handed.

He adjusted his crossbow in his hands and stopped for a minute. "See anythin'?"

Beth shook her head and sighed. "I don't get it. All these woods and nothin'?"

"Mmmm." Daryl looked at the forest floor around him. "Used to be. It's like somethin's picked it clean."

Beth opened her mouth to say something but there was a faint noise in the woods nearby; a noise that seemed familiar for some reason, but she couldn't put a finger on why.

She paused, turning to the direction she thought it came from and waited, holding her breath and staring into the trees. Daryl came to stand beside her without a word and followed her gaze, but the woods were eerily silent.

She exhaled quietly, her hand having come to rest on the hilt of her knife without thinking.

Daryl raised his brows at Beth's puzzled expression and she shrugged. "Thought I heard somethin'." She let her hand fall back to her side. "Just bein' paranoid, I guess."

"What do you mean?" He looked at her, curious.

"I'm not sure what it was." Beth shrugged again, still feeling unsettled. "More of a bad feelin' than anythin' else."

Daryl nodded and looked back into the woods one more time, chewing on his lip thoughtfully, and jerked his head in the direction they'd been heading. "C'mon. We'll just go a little further and then turn back. We're startin' to lose the light."

After a few minutes they stepped into an open field covered with tall grass. They both scanned the area, hoping to find some prey, and Daryl spotted it first. A deer was grazing about 150 feet away, her back only just visible over the top of the grass.

Daryl crouched down slightly, his crossbow raised, taking slow careful steps to try and get closer without spooking her into flight. They had only advanced about twenty feet when her head shot up, ears twitching as she chewed, a mild breeze blowing the long grass around her in waves.

They froze in their tracks, and Beth knew they would have to get closer for Daryl to get an accurate shot. If he missed they'd have next to nothing for their supper and he'd be down to two bolts if one got lost in the grass.

Daryl took another step, his foot pressing down on a dried twig hiding underneath, and the snap made the doe stand even taller. She turned her head and was looking right at them now, ears pricked forward, not chewing any more as she weighed the danger.

He squeezed the trigger just as the deer made its first leap to begin bounding away. The bolt landed on the side of her rump, not a kill shot, and Daryl cursed as the doe continued her escape over the field. He started loading his crossbow again, prepared to track it, but Beth put her hand on his arm.

"Just wait."

In the short time she was in high school, biology was never Beth's strongest subject. In fact, next to math, it was probably her worst. Regardless, as the daughter of a veterinarian she knew approximately where the heart would be in the deer's chest. There was no debate in her mind if what she was considering was possible or not; she only listened to the instinct that told her it was.

Beth looked across the field and pictured the heart pumping inside the doe's ribcage as the animal sprung upward. She imagined the muscular walls contracting, its chambers emptying and filling, and she willed the organ to stop. Stop pumping blood. Stop beating. Just stop.

The doe took one final leap into the air and descended gracelessly in the long grass, disappearing from sight.

Daryl had just finished loading his crossbow but he lowered it, squinting at Beth. She looked at him with a blank stare and started making her way across the field without a word.

Beth didn't remember walking through the grass, or hearing Daryl follow her. She didn't recall the times she stumbled or swatted a fly away from her face. Her entire body was numb when she found the deer.

Beth dropped to her knees beside it, reaching a hand out and laying it on the doe's shoulder, trying to grasp what she'd just done.

Daryl swung his crossbow over his shoulder and examined the body, unsure of what to say.

Beth pulled her hand back in her lap, her face frozen in disbelief. "I…I stopped her heart. I stopped her heart, Daryl."

"You saved her from a lot of pain."

Her eyes darted up to meet his, and he crouched down, nodding at the bolt protruding from the doe's hind quarters. "If she'd gotten away, she woulda suffered with that. Probably died a bad death. You made it quick and painless, even if it did scare ya that you were able to."

Beth swallowed and looked back at the deer, nodding and taking the hand he offered to help her up. Daryl pulled out the bolt and glanced around. "Might as well dress it here," and dropped the crossbow onto the grass.

"Um, Daryl?"

"Mmmm." He pulled out his knife and started to make the first cut.

"Maybe you should shoot it again first, but in the right place this time?" Beth felt silly suggesting it, but if it prevented questions when they got back, then so be it.

Daryl looked up at her, puzzled, but caught on when he saw her shrug. Not that anyone would examine it too closely, but if they did, it was unlikely that the deer died from just a shot to the ass.

He picked up the crossbow and fired a bolt into its lungs, snorting as he bent over again to continue dressing it. "Ain't never had to shoot a dead deer before."

Beth folded her arms and kept watch while he worked, sighing as she said, "First time for everythin', ."

Ten minutes later Daryl was done. He slung his Stryker over his shoulder, grabbing the front feet while Beth took the hind ones, and they were soon back to camp.

While Daryl started cutting up the deer to be roasted over the fire, Beth walked over to the car to grab their bedding before it got dark. Tara came over as she closed the trunk and asked, "What's up?"

Beth smiled back at her but the crinkling of a wrapper from the back of the truck distracted her from replying. It was Eugene, hunched over a chocolate bar.

They walked closer and saw the pile of wrappers at his feet, and as he took another bite Tara yelled at him. "Eugene. What the hell?"

He chewed with his mouth open, looking up at her guiltily as a few others came over to see what was wrong. "I admit, I enjoyed some, but so did you all."

"We each had one, Eugene." Tara reached in and separated the wrappers roughly. "Not eight."

His eyes darted up at her and then down at his last bite, which he shoved in his mouth and talked around. "I will not apologize for bein' hungry."

"We're all hungry, dumbass." Abraham reached in and hauled him out by the arm, even though Eugene flinched as he grabbed him. "Doesn't mean we steal food that's meant for everybody."

Rosita lead him over to a picnic table and pushed him down beside her, where he sat with a sullen expression. Beth turned to Tara, her eyebrows raised, not quite knowing what to make of him.

Tara let out an exasperated sigh and shook her head. "Eugene really is a nice guy. He's just not the type who handles roughing it very well."

Beth glanced doubtfully at the strange man as she walked over to join Daryl, and spread out the sleeping bag and blanket close to the fire.

Daryl was just laying out the pieces of venison to cook, so she joined Maggie and Glenn who were on their way to the lake to get cleaned up. She hooked her arm through her sister's. "Mind if I come? Unless you two wanna be alone?"

Maggie smiled tiredly and said, "You don't have to worry about that. We're both too exhausted. It's been a couple days since we had any real sleep to speak of."

When they got down to the shore line Glenn offered to let them go first, but Beth shook her head and went to stand up by a tree, turning her back. "No, you guys go ahead. I'll keep watch."

Beth folded her arms and looked through the trees, just barely able to see Daryl where he stood over the fire, wiping his hands on his red rag.

Clothes were discarded behind her and Maggie squealed from the temperature of the water, making Beth giggle, and the sound must have carried because Daryl's head snapped up. His eyes zeroed in on her where she leaned against the tree, and she held his gaze. Even across this distance she could feel the pull between them.

Someone asked Daryl a question, breaking his focus on her, and Beth glanced cautiously over her shoulder when the splashing in the water stopped. Maggie's arms were wrapped around Glenn's neck, and she whispered something as he brushed strands of wet hair off her cheek.

Beth felt a rush of envy and turned away, making eye contact with Daryl again and wondering what his skin would feel like against hers.

A few minutes later, Beth heard Maggie and Glenn wading to the shore and waited patiently for them to get dressed. She couldn't see Daryl anymore, and when Maggie finally touched her arm she scampered to the water's edge, checking to make sure Glenn was turned around before hastily stripping down to her faded bra and panties.

Beth dipped a cautious foot in the water and shuddered at how cold it was.

She waded in carefully, the water almost up to her behind when she heard a gruff voice calling out behind her. "Thought I told you let me know when you're steppin' away from the group? Shouldn't be out here on your own…"

Beth spun around in shock, seeing Daryl ducking under a branch and coming to an abrupt halt when he saw she was almost naked. His eyes went wide before he squeezed them shut, turning around and covering them with his hands, muttering, "Jesus Christ."

Shrieking with embarrassment, Beth dunked herself down in the water so only her head and shoulders were visible, gasping from the sudden cold.

Maggie looked annoyed at first, but a cheeky grin spread across her face at how mortified Daryl was seeing her sister with next to nothing on. He ground his palms into his eyes and kept on swearing. "Fuck. FUCK. M'sorry."

Maggie lead Glenn over, jabbing a finger into Daryl's shoulder and resisting the urge to cackle evilly when he peeked at her through his fingers. "You watch over my little sister while she cleans up."

She turned to leave and Daryl dropped his hands in a panic. "What? Hell no. I ain't stayin' here."

Maggie pointed her finger at him with authority and he focused on it like it was a snake about to bite him. "Anythin' happens to her while she's under your watch and you answer to me. You hear?"

Daryl nodded reluctantly and put his hands back over his eyes, feeling even more guilt as the image of Beth in just her bra and panties flashed on the back of his eyelids.

Beth had moved out to deeper water, watching her sister speaking to Daryl and fearing the worst, but when Maggie and Glenn started walking away she froze, realizing they were leaving her and Daryl alone. "Maggie!"

She saw Glenn give Daryl an apologetic look, and her older sister lifted her hand up in the air, smiling over her shoulder. "See you back at camp, Bethy."

Beth groaned and hurriedly scrubbed herself, taking out the elastic in her ponytail and dunking her hair in the water, working the tangles out with her fingers. Daryl was still standing with his back to her, hands covering his face, and she rolled her eyes. Fat lot of good it would do having him on watch like that if a threat came along.

She called out to him, "Daryl, you can turn around. I'm completely in the water now."

He still didn't move, and she huffed with annoyance as she pulled apart a knot in her hair. "You're not gonna be able to save me or yourself from a walker if you're standin' there with your eyes shut."

Daryl turned around begrudgingly, refusing to look in her direction as she kept scrubbing.

Beth ran her hands over her stomach, and dammit if her thoughts didn't go back to the dream she had this morning when it was his hand travelling across the skin there. She bit down on her lip thinking about his mouth and fingers playing with her nipples, and suddenly the water didn't seem so cold anymore.

Beth lowered her panties a bit to wash down below and slipped a finger between her legs, feeling the slickness there that had nothing to do with the water; her breath hitching as she pressed a fingertip against her clit. Turning around so Daryl couldn't see her face, she toyed with the idea of masturbating while he stood, oblivious, only twenty feet away, but decided against it. That's all she needed was him thinking she was drowning if she had an orgasm, and charging into the water to save her.

Beth sighed and cursed her hormones. She liked the playful banter that she and Daryl had, and she would never trade their friendship for anything, but she couldn't let go of the idea that it could be more. And that it would be good. She knew it would be. If only he'd stop fighting the feelings she knew he had for her.

Her gut told her she would need to be the one to initiate the next step in their relationship, and she was okay with that, but how to go about it was another thing.

Beth finished washing and pulled up her panties, feeling frustrated. "I'm comin' out now."

Darryl spun around to face the trees again, one hand covering his eyes while the other adjusted the front of his pants.

Beth stepped gingerly over the pebbles lining the shore and squeezed into her jeans, hopping up and down to make them fit where her skin was wet. She pulled her boots and the rest of her clothes on, and walked over to Daryl, shivering.

He still had his hand up and she tugged it away gently, smirking. "I know I'm too skinny, but did I look that bad?"

Daryl's face was awash with guilt, and he still wouldn't meet her gaze. "Beth, I…."

"It's okay." Beth shook her head, not wanting him to keep beating himself up over it. "You didn't know," she glanced down at her chest with a wry look, "it's not like I've got much to hide, anyway."

His eyes darted to her downcast face while they walked back, and he blurted out, "I never liked big tits."

Beth giggled and looked up at his red cheeks, hardly believing what he'd just said. "Really?"

Daryl stared ahead, clearly embarrassed. "Nah." He shrugged a shoulder. "Just get in the way."

Beth smiled down at the ground, feeling her own face getting flushed, and not really caring.

It had been dark for several hours, and everyone was spread out around the fire when Rick came to get Daryl to take watch.

He and Beth made their way to the far picnic table that had the best view of the site, and sat on top next to each other. Daryl faced the fire and the road, and Beth covered the woods, leaning her back against his shoulder.

There was no moon out, and other than the stars the only source of light was the dying fire; anything beyond its reach was swallowed by the night. Beth waited for her eyes to adjust to the pitch black in the woods, but it was impossible to see anything so instead she focused on the sounds she heard; the buzzing of the insects and the leaves fluttering from the light breeze coming off the lake.

A couple hours passed, and by then the wind had died down to nothing, making the crickets around them seem that much louder. The sound of them comforted Beth. It made her think back to the farm where their fields were always filled with them.

When she was really small, she had wanted one for a pet so bad, but whenever she got close they would all go silent and be impossible to find. Shawn had found her one day in the long grass with an open jar clutched in one hand, snot running out of her nose and sobbing uncontrollably because she couldn't catch one.

Beth smiled at the memory…God, how she missed her brother, and leaned forward to stretch her back but paused because something was different. The crickets had all stopped, and the woods had gone utterly quiet.

She reached her hand back for Daryl's arm, but he was already standing next to the picnic table, staring into the trees. They both waited, ears straining to hear whatever movement had silenced the crickets.

From the woods on the far side of their camp site came the faint sound of dried leaves being crunched underfoot, and immediately after, the same noise Beth had heard and been unable to identify earlier came from their right.

This time it sparked a memory.

It was the sound of someone spitting chaw. One summer, her Daddy had hired a local man to help with the haying, and he was always spitting out that dark disgusting juice. It had made Beth's stomach turn, but that disgust was now replaced by fear because it left no doubt in her mind.

They were being watched.

Uh oh. Being watched isn't usually a good sign.

It was fun to write Daryl's reaction to stumbling across Beth in just her skivvies. The poor guy never saw it coming.

Please let me know what you thought of the chapter!