Beth pulled the elastic out of her hair, letting it tumble down her shoulders before she removed her clothes. She'd been back inside these walls less than a half hour, only pausing to let Maggie know she had returned, before retreating to the washroom. She felt hot and sticky from both the hike and from her and Merle's earlier activities.

Beth turned on the water to the shower, barely allowing it to reach lukewarm before stepping under the spray. Drops flowed freely down her face and onto her chest. Her nipples were still sensitive and the feel of the water reminded her of the recent feeling of Merle's tongue sucking them into his mouth, the dandelion seeds raining down around them as the July sun beat down on them. Beth didn't know if it was a one-time thing or not. She didn't know if she wanted it to be a one-time thing or not...but God did she love the weight of him on top of her.

Maybe she did want it to happen again...

The hike back hadn't been awkward, but it had been quiet. They had shared the packet of dried fish on the walk home, and he had left her with a quiet ''Night Blondie' as he had gone into to the house next door.

Beth shut off the water and wrapped a big white towel snugly around her small frame before walking quietly down the stairs to her bedroom. It was only just after nightfall, but the house was dark; only Carl still awake and sitting in the living room with a comic book in his lap.

Beth closed the door to her bedroom and hung the towel on the doorknob. She didn't bother with night clothes, it was too warm for them. She simply slid underneath the pebbly fabric of her blanket and stared up at the ceiling illuminated only by the sliver of moonlight that snuck through the blinds.

She breathed in...

And out.

Breathe in...

Crimson drops landed freely on the pavement in front of her before a hand reached to turn her over. Beth retracted violently and tried to pull the remaining scraps of her clothing over herself.

"Hey, hey! It's over, he's dead. He's dead."

Daryl had a large gash on his forehead that was still bleeding, and several bruises blooming down his throat. He hastily pulled a thin blanket out of his pack, handed it to her, and turned his back to busy himself with a stray walker that had wandered a dozen feet near them so that she could cover herself with it. Beth knotted the blanket securely around her waist in a makeshift skirt before coming to stare down at the corpse of the man who was raping her mere moments ago. She stared at the body that had been beaten to death by Daryl as he wandered back to stand next to her. Beth dropped to her knees, her knife drawn in her hand, and plunged the blade of it into the corpse's throat. She withdrew the blade and cooling sticky blood spattered onto her as she plunged it in again, and again, not bothering to notice where she hit the body. Each stroke of her arm was harder than the one before, and before long her sobs were coming out of her chest in pants as she beat the corpse into a pile of flesh.

Someone pounded at the door jolted her awake and she lifted the blanket over herself instinctually.

"Beth?" She heard Maggie ask through the door, "You commin' down for breakfast?"

"Um...yeah, I'll be right down." Beth answered, trying to shake off the memory of her dream.

She pulled on a short sleeved black cotton dress; the neckline strewn with little green embroidered flowers. She didn't bother with undergarments. It was already warm and the hem was long enough to give her plenty of privacy. While their house did have air conditioning, Rick was hesitant to turn it on unless the temperature was actually hot enough to cause concern. Rick may have no longer been their leader, but their group always trusted that he had their best interests at heart. The electricity needed to be saved for more important things like cooking and light.

She had no plans to go outside of the walls and no work to do other than watching Judith and taking care of a few things around the house while the others were at work. She had never minded cleaning before, and doing it now made her feel almost normal; a regular woman doing regular chores.

Beth found Maggie and Rick downstairs at the table.

"It's late," Maggie said, and Beth looked out the window and saw that Maggie was right. The sun was already high above the horizon.

"Yeah, I guess the hike must have taken it out of me yesterday," Beth replied.

"You feelin' alright?" Rick asked looking concerned, "Normally y'ain't like that. Maybe should take some rest today. And there should be some ginseng in the cupboard... "

"No, no. Really, I'm ok. Just tired."

"You goin' out there today?" Maggie asked.

"No, not today. Got everything done for this week. Cashe's should be good for at least a week or two. How're things going with scoping out a safe house? Y'all find anything good yet?"

Beth had brought up the idea of a safe house with Rick a couple of weeks ago as an extension of the cashe system; a place near Alexandria for new recruits to wait until they were assigned a place to live inside of the walls and a job to do in their new home. What Beth hadn't mentioned to Rick was that the safe house might would also give Daryl a chance to watch the newcomers like a hawk before they ever came inside the wall. Perhaps it was paranoia, but Beth didn't care. She might have trusted Aaron's judgement, but there were times he traveled without Daryl and brought back a person that was yet to come under the scrutinising eyes of Daryl Dixon. While the lines between 'them' and 'us' were slowly but surely dissolving, Beth would ultimately trust the opinions of her own group over the native Alexandrians.

"Nah, nothin' real good yet. But I've got people keepin' an eye out for anything good out there. We'll find somethin' sooner or later." Rick said before downing the last of the contents of a coffee mug, "Gotta get goin'. You still alright to mind Judith today?"

"Yep, I've got her."

"Great, thank you. Oh, and I think we're out o' formula. Olivia should have some down at the pantry for you."

"I'll go and pick it up after breakfast."

Rick nodded to both her and Maggie before pulling his windbreaker on.

"I should get goin' too," Maggie said, "Deanna's proll'y waitin' for me. See you tonight Bethy, alright?"

"Yeah, see you t'night."

With Judith held to her side, Beth made her way up the steps to the pantry. She heard his voice before she saw him. He was talking to Tobin while sifting through a tray of bullets. His metal arm squeaked against the drawer as he shoved the tray back into place. When Judith let out a shrill cry at the unpleasant noise, Merle's head snapped towards the noise. He smirked when he saw her lean up against the front of the door frame. Olivia was standing behind her in the farthest reach of the space that could still be considered part of the room. Tobin was between Olivia and Merle, and neither of them seemed to be happy about his presence; though Merle seemed unbothered by their discomfort.

"If you're lookin' for the tea party it's down the hall Sweetheart," Merle teased.

Beth cocked an eyebrow at him, "I'm up here for baby formula. You best hide those boots if you plan on botherin' me."

Merle barked out a laugh, "I'll keep that in mind. You goin' out there today?"

"No, not today. Not unless somethin' comes up. You?"

"Yeah, gotta fix up a couple o' panels on the wall, then pro'lly some roofing on the guard tower. Been takin' that crew forever so they called in ole' Merle to get 'em back on track. Like half o' them ne'er held a goddamned drill."

Beth caught the dirty look that Tobin tried to hide before he handed a sign-out sheet to Olivia and strode out of the room. Olivia seemed to shrink even more without Tobin to act as a buffer between her and Merle so Beth pushed off of the door frame and went to stand between the pair.

"Y'know, not everyone came out o' the womb holdin' a socket wrench right?" Beth joked

"Ain't my damn problem," He replied, though there was no real heat to his words, "The little one 'ere'd pro'lly do a better job than that lot," Merle said pointing to Judith, "Only one worth a damn on tha' whole crew is Abraham."

"You just sayin' that 'cause he was in the army?" Beth asked jokingly.

Merle snorted, "Well, it don' hurt. Least he can hold is liquor better then 'em other boys out there 'n' he don't whinin' every time some walker wanders up."

Beth was about to retort when Judith began fussing and dropped a long thick glob of saliva down the front of Beth's chest. Merle laughed before handing her an old bandana from his back pocket and moving to take Judith so she could clean the mess of of her. Olivia looked mildly horrified that Beth had so willingly let this gruff-looking man take the baby from her, and Beth was surprised to find herself irritated at the older woman's judgement.

"Thanks," She said, passing the bandana.

"Keep it. You'll need it if she's fussin'."

He dug through another drawer before asking Olivia, "Where's the rivet gun? Y'all got one?"

"I-I think Tobin took it," she said shakily.

"Right. Hey, y'still makin' that fish jerky?"

"Mhmm, y-yes."

"Next time I bring in a catfish I'mma get you to make me some alright?"

"Oh...um, ok. I guess that's fine."

Merle nodded at Olivia and Beth smiled at him, acknowledging his attempt.

"Oh, 'n' Blondie? I got that bottle for you. Stop by later on. I got that bottle for you."

"Sure, I'll come by later tonight." she called after him. And Beth was pleasantly surprised that he had actually gone through the effort to make the alcohol for her.

"You here for formula Beth?" Olivia asked after a moment of quiet.

"Right, yeah I am." She said, though she had all but forgotten Olivia's presence. Her mind was somewhere else.