There's not a 'prompt' for this, so much as "I was talking to Abelina about something, and suddenly I got around to joking about a certain silly way Beth might wake up, and Abby said 'doooo itttt', so here it is!" This is a short but sweet one. Also there's a REALLY cute header I made for this but unfortunately, as you know, FFnet doesn't allow images. You could go over to Archive of Our Own, find me at "burningupasun" and see it, though!

On any given day, there were a number of ways Beth might be woken up in the morning. Sometimes it was just by the warmth of the sun coming through their bedroom window and warming up the tiny space. Other times, it was by the gentle brush of Daryl's hand over the flat of her belly or perhaps her back, if she was curled up close facing him with her thigh wedged between his.

Every once in awhile he would wake her with kisses across her forehead and cheeks, until she hummed softly and tilted her head up to kiss his lips, and each time he woke her, Beth's eyes would flutter open just a little bit. Just enough to see the look he had on his face, that glimpse of soft awe, as if after all this time he was still amazed to be waking up beside her.

However it happened, usually Daryl woke up first; they didn't need alarm clocks when his internal sense of time was as keen as it was. True to form, he was the first one to wake up this morning. But rather than feeling the shifting of the bed beneath her, or the brush of his hand over her hip or side or back, or the warmth of his lips on her skin, what stirred Beth instead was a confused sound from beside her, followed by a low grunt.

Beth's eyes fluttered open slowly at the sound and she turned slightly, tilting her head as her blurry vision focused on Daryl to see what it was that was bothering him. She was half asleep and still a bit out of it, humming sleepily as she turned to look him over… but when her eyes finally cleared, it was all she could do to hold back the giggles that threatened to bubble free.

It seemed that Scrap had decided to give Daryl his wakeup call today… but instead of doing so by climbing up his chest or mewling into one of their ears or walking over their heads (as he'd done many times before), the little black fluff of a kitten had curled up right on top of Daryl's face… and gone happily to sleep himself. All she could see was the edges of Daryl's long hair and a glimpse of the line of his jaw; everything else was covered by the black fluff that was Scrap, pulled into a little perfect circle with his paws tucked under his tiny face and his eyes shut.

"Oh my gosh…" Beth pressed her hand over her mouth, a few giggles slipping free as Daryl gave another grunt beside her. His jaw worked tensely as Beth managed to get out, "How is that even comfortable?"

"It's not," Daryl grunted, although his low response was muffled against Scrap's fur and sounded for like 'snot'. "Damn it, now I've got fur on my- blech!- on my tongue."

"Well I meant how is it comfortable for him, but-" Her shoulders shook with her attempt to repress her laughter, but the sight of Scrap remaining happily asleep even as Daryl talked and shifted slightly beneath him, was too much to bear. She burst out laughing, rolling onto her belly and pressing her face into her pillow to muffle it.

Despite the pillow she was pressing her face half-into, Beth's laughter filled the small, sun-warmed room. Grumpy though he was, even Daryl gave a little rumble of amusement beside her; his chest rising and falling with his chuckle, though still Scrap didn't stir, which only sent Beth into another round of laughter. She only stopped giggling when Daryl reached out, hand fumbling across the bed until he found her butt and gave it a playful little tap, catching her attention as he grunted, "Hah hah, very funny..."

"Well," Beth murmured in a breathy voice as she rolled onto her side again, propping her head on one hand as she looked over at him… or what she could see of him beneath Scrap. Still faintly chuckling in between words, she asked, "Why don't you just pick him up?"

There was a moment of silence, and then his answer came hesitantly and quietly, "He's just so snug and happy and I'd feel bad movin' him…"

"Awww, Daryl! You big softie…" She teased him, but the truth was it made her heart swell with love for him; the sort of sensation that usually made her want to cover him in kisses. Given that the part of him she currently wanted to kiss was covered by their little fur ball, though, it seemed Beth would have to take action.

"Alright, sugar… I'm sorry to have to move you, but you're in the way of my morning kisses and I'm starting to get jealous!" Gently she curled her fingers under the sleeping kitten, lifting him up and shifting him against her warm chest. To her amusement Scrap barely stirred, just long enough to give a faint, sleepy 'mew' before she tucked him into her tank top (one of his favorite spots) where he curled right against her chest and fell promptly back to sleep, cradled by her hand.

As Daryl brushed a few stray black hairs from his face, he looked down at Beth and the tuft of dark fur revealed by the scoop neck of her tank top and then, with a flash of a smirk, he teased, "See, now I'm just jealous."

And with a laugh Beth just reached for him with her free hand, curling her fingers into his shirt and tugging him towards her. "C'mere, mister. I missed out on my morning kisses and now you owe me…"

Because no matter how she woke up, whether it was by Daryl himself or the warmth of the sun or the mewling of Scrap, Beth always liked to start her day with a few kisses from Daryl… and she had to admit, adding a purring kitten to the mix definitely didn't hurt.