"This is ridiculous!" Stein shouted as Beth missed her target yet again.
Rick, Daryl, Glenn, Maggie T-Dog and Hershel watched on with pained expressions as Beth, Lori and Carol were chastised for what Stein had deemed 'ineptitude' with weapons.
"This is a waste of my time." Stein called over Christie who grimaced at the site of Beth's last shot. "Take 'em to the damn Bunny Slopes."
"I'm not taking them to the Bunny Slopes!" Christie snapped.
"Well they sure as hell aren't gonna be doin' any watches or goin' out on patrol, not when they can't shoot for shit." he informed her.
"Bunny Slopes?" Beth asked Carol, who looked to Lori who could only shrug in confusion and annoyance.
"I'll give them some lessons, but I won't send them to the Bunny Slopes." Christie argued. "You just go on and do your thing, let me talk to them."
"Come on, gentlemen." Stein motioned to the others, seemingly forgetting that Maggie was not in fact a man, shooting a look of disgust back at the women as he left.
"Bunny Slopes?" Lori asked, her hand on her hip as she stared at the younger woman.
"It's where your boy is training." Christie emptied each of their clips.
"They want us to train with children." Carol couldn't help but feel a bit ashamed and disappointed in herself.
"I'm not gonna send you to train with the kids." Christie assured her. "Head home, rest up, get something to eat and meet me at my place at 7:30, I'll bring you all back here and we can have our own little training session."
"That should be fun." Lori groaned as she headed off, Carol and Beth not far behind her.
"Beth, come here a sec." Christie shooed the other two away. "Listen, Stein is an ass, like I said when you first got here." she put her arm around the girl. "He's a bully who likes to throw his weight around, so when he starts in like that, just tell him to go to hell."
"I can't do that." Beth said as she looked at the other woman, eyes wide.
"Trust me, it's either that or he'll make your life hell." Christie started heading towards the gun shed. "He pulled the same crap with me when I first got here, it took me a while, but I finally got fed up and told him to shove it and he hasn't bothered me since."
Beth had been raised to speak to people with respect and what Christie was suggesting went against that completely. "I don't know if I can."
"You're a sweet kid, but that sweetness is gonna get you eaten alive, Beth." Christie placed the guns back in their rightful place and shut the door behind her. "Not just with Stein, but in general. I'm not saying be a total bitch to everyone, all the time." she laughed. "Just don't take crap from anyone. Just stand up for yourself once in a while. Okay?"
Beth just nodded and turned to catch up with Lori and Carol. She knew what Christie was saying was true. It was the same thing Daryl had said just a couple of nights before. She knew that others saw her as weak, but she just wasn't the assertive type. All of those genes seemed to have been scooped up by Maggie years before. She had never had to be assertive. No one had really given her a hard time until all of this had started. She hated not being able to stand up and speak her mind, to stand up for herself when someone was putting her down unnecessarily.
She did want to be more like Maggie. Maggie had people's respect, not just because she was a good shot who could keep them safe, but because she didn't put up with attitude from anyone. She earned that respect and Beth was afraid she'd never be able to do that.
"What did she have to say?" Lori asked, breaking Beth out of her thoughts.
"Huh?" Beth looked up, startled, not having realized that Lori had waited for her. "Oh, just to tell the Stein guy to shut up essentially."
"That's all?" Lori pressed, hoping that Beth would say something that she could hold against Christie.
"Yeah." Beth looked at Lori in confusion. "You really don't like her, do you?"
"No." Lori looked back and saw Rick and the others heading their way, Christie in stride with him, talking as they walked.
"I like her." Beth spoke up, gaining Lori's attention again. She really did like the woman. It wasn't her that made Beth nervous about being in their little colony. It was something else, that as Daryl put it, she couldn't put her finger on. She followed Lori's gaze and could only assume Lori was lashing out as a jealous wife.
"I don't, no." she smiled at Beth. "To each his own, right?" she shrugged and linked arms with Beth and led them back to their new home.
Beth glanced back over her shoulder and couldn't see what there was to be jealous of. Rick and Christie were just speaking, but she assumed that perhaps Lori feared that Rick was looking to get somehow get her back for her fling with Shane. Rick waved when he noticed them ahead and she waved back as Lori turned them down the sidewalk towards the yard where Carl stood waiting for his parents.
"I don't wanna go back to that stupid kiddy group!" Carl hissed as his mother approached.
"What happened?" Lori asked as she steered him inside.
"What's goin' on?" Rick asked as he walked up.
"I guess practice didn't go well for him either." Beth shrugged as Rick walked past.
"You're a lousy shot." Daryl said as he fell into step beside her.
"Gee, thanks. I don't think that was pointed out to me enough today." she sighed.
"That Stein needs to be taken down a peg or two."
"That's what Christie said." Beth glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "Said I needed to grow a backbone."
"Imagine that." he chuckled. "I actually agree with her on something."
"I know both of you are right." Beth stopped at the foot of the stairs as they walked into the house. "It just doesn't come as naturally to me as it does to the rest of ya."
"Figure somethin' out, girl." Daryl didn't look at her as he spoke and Beth realized, for the first time really, he rarely made eye contact with any of the women, aside from Carol, and that was only from time to time.
"You know, my weakness is a problem, but so is your tough guy act." she started heading up the stairs.
"What did you just say?" he asked, grabbing her wrist.
"You act tough all the time, but I know you're not." she said quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear what she was saying. "I've come down during the night to get a drink and..."
"And what?" he asked, letting her go.
"And I've heard you callin' for your brother." Beth leaned in and whispered. "You're not as tough as you like to think, or that you want everyone else to think."
Daryl stared at her with a mixture of anger and a tiny bit of respect. She'd been told to stand up for herself, and to a point that's what she'd just done. He didn't like the idea that she was watching him sleep and heard things that even he himself had no idea he was saying, though. "Don't you dare say anythin'..."
"I won't." she promised. "But there's nothin' to be ashamed of. He's your brother and you miss him."
"Just don't say nothin' to anyone." he repeated once more before heading back out the front door.
She felt like she'd gone too far. It had been a bad couple of days with Stein shaming her for her lack of skills, and Daryl making snide remarks about her being spineless. She didn't judge him for the dreams he seemed to have. It was only natural that he'd dream about his missing brother. She just didn't understand why he could only express that longing in his sleep.
Beth was sure that just as her mild-mannered ways would cause her problems, Daryl's inability to open up to anyone would cause him just as many.