Alright, guys, here's the chapter. The title song is "Don't Make Me Wait" by This World Fair (which some of you may recognize from Disturbia). It's kind of a cheesy song but I think it fits perfectly with this chapter. I really, really hope you like this one, guys, so let me know if you do, and make sure to keep your eye out for the next chapter which I hope to be coming out with soon!

12. Don't Make Me Wait

Mason ignored everything- the heat crawling up her spine, the snarling behind her, the tickle of sweat running down her neck. She ignored everything but the sound of cautious approach through the tombs.

Daryl stood beside her, gun in hand, one hand paused near the door behind them. The footsteps drew closer, and the whispers of those who could not keep quiet in the eerie darkness. Mason steadied her grip on her own gun, heart pounding.

Suddenly, an alarm rent the quiet. Emergency lights flashed red. Mason nodded at Daryl and leapt into action, darting around the corner and tossing an improvised smoke bomb at the intruders. Behind her, Daryl kicked open the door and quickly got out of the way, as walkers began streaming out.

The intruders erupted in a panic, screaming and fleeing back the way they'd come. The walkers trailed after them. Mason and Daryl disappeared down a side hallway, which joined up again with the passage taken by the Governor's soldiers. At the sight of the two of them, most of them bolted in the opposite direction but a few raised their weapons. Mason and Daryl took them down without hesitation.

They chased them through the tombs and into the cell block, shooting at their feet to keep them moving in the right direction. At one point one of men tried to hide in a corner, but Mason sent a bullet in his direction.

"Get the fuck out of my home."

She'd never seen a man scurry away so quickly.

Out in the yard, Maggie and Glenn herded the intruders from their spot on the catwalk, ducking behind pallets when the intruders got feisty. Daryl and Mason halted at the fence, watching as the Governor and his people loaded back into their cars and wheeled away.

"Holy shit," Mason panted. She felt the first timid creeping of hope in her chest but didn't dare give into it. Not yet.

"We did it?" Maggie hollered.

"We did it," Glenn replied.

Rick, Carol and Michonne emerged from the prison, where they had stationed themselves at strategic intervals to nudge the intruders out the door. At the sight of Michonne, the hope in Mason's chest swelled. She had come back yesterday, alone, and told everyone how Merle had let her go. Daryl had returned a few hours later. Also alone.

She looked at him now, trying not to let the pity show on her face. His brother was dead, murdered while trying to take out the Governor and his men. Despite being an asshole, she couldn't help feeling a stab of sorrow at the loss. At who he could've been.

"Good work," Rick said.

"Beth's a genius," Mason said, grinning proudly.

Glenn and Maggie joined them, looking troubled.

"We should go after them," Glenn said.

Maggie shook her head. "No."

"We need to finish this," Daryl said.

"We barely made it back the last time."

"But this time they're on the run, they're rattled," Mason said.

Rick nodded. "We should finish this while we have the chance."

Though Maggie still looked uncertain, everyone else seemed to be in agreement. They rushed back to the cell block to gather weapons and check on the others.

A knot unraveled in Mason's stomach at the sight of Beth, perfectly unscathed. As she handed Little Asskicker to Rick, her eyes darted up to meet Mason's. Something else unraveled inside of her, and her knees weakened.

"Hey."

Mason jumped and took the gun that Daryl offered her. She didn't miss it when Beth frowned.

"What are you doin'?" she asked.

"We're gonna finish this," Mason replied.

"You're followin' them?"

"We have to," Daryl said. "We can't have loose ends."

Beth's forehead was pinched in a way that had become dearly familiar. With a soft smile, Mason took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Don't worry," she said. "I'm coming back."

~m~

It was raining, the first time in nearly a month. Mason had her iPod tucked in a plastic bag to keep it dry, the music so low that it was merely a background melody to the drizzle.

Since coming home with the Woodbury survivors, her time had been filled running around, setting them up in D block and clearing the field of walkers. Now, to be afforded this moment of peace, she didn't know what to do with it. The calm was dizzying.

A twig cracked behind her. She spun around, heart pounding with adrenaline. At the sight of Beth, however, it continued to pound for a whole other reason.

"Hey," she said.

"Hey."

Beth stood a few feet away, her expression unreadable. With her hair soaked and her clothes clinging to her frame, she looked smaller, fragile. Mason ached to reach out, wrap her arms around her, but she held herself back.

"So that was a really amazing plan you came up with," she said when the silence became oppressive. "You saved our skins, you know."

"I was thinkin' about what you told me, our first day trainin'," Beth said quietly. "About how you won your fights because you knew a few tricks. Because you taught me how to improvise."

Mason blinked. "Oh. Well. Awesome. Now I can claim all the glory."

Beth didn't smile like Mason was hoping she would. Her eyes were serious, almost solemn. Mason tried not to fidget.

"Um. So, what brings you out here?"

"You."

"How'd you know I'd be out here?"

Beth laughed a little. "You always come out here, Mason. When are you gonna stop pretendin' I don't know you?"

Heat flamed along Mason's neck and into her cheeks. "I guess you do know me pretty well," she said lamely.

"And you found a way to take your iPod out in the rain," Beth said, taking a step closer. Mason didn't know why, but she was overcome with an odd urge to retreat.

Ignoring this, she held her ground and said, "Yep. Genius points to me."

"Anythin' I know?" Another step closer.

"Pardon?"

"The song. Are you playin' anythin' I know?" Another.

"Oh, um, no. I-I don't think so. Beth."

"Yeah?"

"I'm…I'm sorry. About that day, with Merle. I just had a lot of shit on my mind and I needed an escape."

Beth's eyes softened. "I know. I'm sorry I got so mad. It just seemed like, after that night on the roof, you and I…"

Mason went absolutely still. Even her heart paused. "Y-you and I what?"

"Were different. And I liked it. I didn't want things to go back to how they were before you let us in. I didn't want you to disappear again."

Mason swallowed around the lump in her throat. "I'm sorry," she mumbled. "Sometimes I really suck at dealing with. You know. Emotions."

Beth smiled. "You say that like they're a bad thing."

Sometimes they are, Mason thought, but she kept this to herself.

"I know you think you feel too much," Beth continued. "But you don't. It's…it's one of the things I love about you."

That word, love, resonated in her chest like a bell rung. She blinked stupidly, and her words started to run together while her mind bleated in panic.

"O-oh, that's good. Yeah, I love…I mean, you're great, too. So many things are great. About you, I mean. You're, uh, you're sweet and smart and pretty… I mean, no. I-I mean, yes! You are, but, like…"

"Mason."

Mason dimly registered the tremor in Beth's voice, but it was secondary to the horror she felt at her own inability to shut the fuck up.

"I'm sorry, I don't…I don't know why I'm rambling…"

Beth just repeated her name, so softly, like she was sharing a secret.

Then her eyes fixed like steel on Mason's and she strode purposefully forward, closing the difference between the two of them, grabbed Mason's face between her hands and kissed her.

There was a moment in which shock overrode everything. Mason's eyes flared wide as her breath caught in her lungs. Her heart hung suspended, scorched by the impossibility of the moment.

I'm dreaming, she thought. But…

Beth's lips were soft and insistent, determined to shape themselves exactly around Mason's. Her hands were gentle but firm. The ridge of her scar brushed distinctly along Mason's jawline. It was everything she'd ever dreamed.

It was too real to be a dream. And with this recognition everything inside of her came alive all at once.

Her eyes closed. Her fingers wove through the sodden strands of Beth's hair, pulling her closer. Her heart thundered in a new rhythm, lashing her veins with fire.

Everything was fire. Heat. Beth. Everything was Beth. The smell of her, the perfume of the rain, the music building to crescendo. They were an island in their kiss, their world no bigger and no less idyllic than that of a snow globe.

It was forever, and it was much too short.

Eventually, Beth pulled away, breathless. Her eyes were the brightest, loveliest things Mason had ever seen. They leaned their foreheads together, bumping noses.

"I'm sorry," Beth said.

Mason stared. "What in the hell for?"

"I didn't ask permission. I thought I'd think of somethin'…I don't know…romantic to say but then I just…" She trailed off, shrugging shyly.

"Well, you did kind of attack me…"

Beth punched her arm playfully. "You're always harpin' on me to expect the unexpected."

"I guess we'll just have to add attack kisses to our training."

Even saying it turned her face beet red, but she didn't try to take it back.

"That's a good idea," Beth said, pink-cheeked and glistening in the rain. "Maybe we could start now?"

"That is a good idea."

They kissed as long as the rain continued, which was a very long time. The western sky was a golden blaze by the time they returned to the prison. They had to make up a story about why their clothes were covered in mud, why their hair was mottled with grass and leaves, but this didn't bother them in the slightest.

As Mason fell asleep that night, curled up with Beth in the bottom bunk, she let her heart kindle the hope she'd thought dead for so long.

She was no longer afraid to feel it.