On their fourth day in the cabin, Beth had gotten a little bored and decided to go rummaging through the closets. She told herself it was just to see if there were supplies, and that was partially true. The rest of it was that she was curious, and had nothing to do, and... she liked this place. She never would have said anything to Daryl, because she knew he thought this place was as temporary as everything else, but sometimes she found herself wishing they could stay here.

There was a closet in the living room that they hadn't gone through yet, except just a cursory glance through to make sure there was no food, and then once to borrow a coat. Beth was on her knees in front of it now, pulling out one of the boxes inside. "Look, photographs..." She glanced over her shoulder at Daryl, who was sitting on the floor with his back to the couch and his legs stretched out in front of him. Her rarely seemed to relax or sit still long, so she relished the sight.

When he just raised an eyebrow in question, Beth picked up the box and got to her feet, bringing it with her to sit down beside of him. It didn't even phase her anymore to sit nice and close to him. Their arms and thighs were brushing faintly, but Beth just gave him a smile as she settled the box into her lap and lifted out a photo album. "See?" The front cover had a pretty flower pattern on it, and Beth smiled as she opened it slowly.

The pictures inside were of the same couple she'd seen in a photo here their first day; a young man with dark brown hair, and a pretty red-haired woman. Most of them were at the cabin; there were pictures of it being built, pictures of them inside of it having a small party with friends and family (she assumed), pictures of just the two of them, or even cute ones of just him or her that were clearly taken by the other. There was even one of the couple down by the waterfall that Daryl had found, which made Beth smile as she tapped it.

"They were in love," she murmured, glancing up at him quickly before looking down at the photographs again. "I think this was their vacation spot. I bet... I bet it was really their favorite spot, and they wished they could live here all the time, but they had to work, you know? So they only got to come here sometimes, which made it more special." She ran her fingertips lightly over the last photo, and sighed. "I think that's really beautiful."

Daryl said nothing beside her, but after a moment she heard a faint 'mm'. If it was agreement or otherwise, she didn't know, but she'd take it for now and not question him. Beth just set the photo album aside, and continued rummaging through the box. There was a stack of loose photographs in a small box, a half-carved wooden sign that looked like it was going to say 'The Wilsons', a neatly folded up blanket, and at the very bottom, a string of Christmas lights.

"Oh! Daryl, look!" Beth tugged them out of the box and let them twine around her fingers, examining them with a soft smile on her lips. "Oh I always loved Christmas lights. I wonder if maybe they came up here for Christmas once? I bet Christmas would be beautiful, up here. All peaceful in the woods, with a crackling fire and Christmas lights and a tiny little tree..."

It was only when she glanced over at Daryl that she remembered Christmas was far from a big deal to him. She was almost worried she might make him mad, bringing it up, but he just nodded at her, as if expecting her to go on. "I used to have some of these just for my room," Beth said after a moment, still curling them through her fingers. "I'd wrap them around my headboard and turn them on at night. It was so beautiful... Kind of like the stars, you know, but in my room." Beth fiddled with the plug, and sighed. "I wish we had electricity. I know it's silly, but it'd be nice to see them one more time. I dunno."

After a long moment, she stuffed them back into the box. "It's stupid, how many little things I keep missing, randomly. I mean, it's big things, too, but at least those make sense. The little things are just... silly."

She settled everything back into the box and set the photo album gingerly on the surface. As she rose to her feet to carry it back to the closet, she heard Daryl murmur behind her, "It ain't stupid or silly. Missin' the little things... hits y' harder sometimes, cause it's so unexpected."

Beth hid her smile as she bent over and gently put the box away. "Yeah, I guess so. Cause it's so random and unexpected, and there's never anything you can do about it." She wanted to ask what little things he missed, but Beth was afraid of saying the wrong thing and touching on an emotional subject. Considering how unexpectedly emotional those lights had made her, Beth didn't want to risk it.

When his only reply was another 'mm', Beth stood up and closed the closet door. "I'm gonna go upstairs for a bit. I just wanna make sure I didn't miss anything in the closet up there, okay?"

Really she just needed a minute or two to get her emotions under control. The truth was, going up there without him just felt a bit lonely. Beth only lasted about ten minutes before she gave in, closed the bedroom closet door (having found nothing but clothes inside it), and headed back downstairs. But when she rounded the base of the steps and came into the living room, she stopped short. There was a new light, flickering on the coffee table, different from the light of the fire.

Beth took a couple steps closer and then stopped when she saw it; a row of little tea-light candles, lined up and lit, flickering in a pretty little row. "What- Daryl?"

As she came around the edge of the couch, Beth saw him just sitting there in almost the same spot he had been before. He shrugged at her questioning voice, but after a moment or two he replied softly, "Ain't Christmas lights, I know, but... I thought maybe you'd like it a little. Found 'em in the kitchen the other day."

She couldn't find the words to reply, for once. Beth just drew in a slow breath and then exhaled in a soft sigh as she came around to sit beside him. Her gaze stayed on the beautiful flickering lights for a long moment, until she tipped her head to rest on his shoulder and just breathed out, "Thank you."

"S'nothing..." He sounded almost gruff, but Beth could hear the hint of pleasure in his voice and knew he was glad she'd liked it.

"No," she shook her head and smiled, "It's beautiful."

It was even more beautiful than she thought the Christmas lights had ever been.