Ch.35

They were just finishing up the dishes when he heard the front door open. Both he and Maggie turned to see who it was at the same time, a grin forming on Maggie's lips when she saw Glenn standing in the doorway to the kitchen, Rick standing just behind him. But Daryl immediately knew that something was wrong.

"Where's Beth?" Glenn demanded.

"Upstairs sleeping. Why?" Maggie asked confusedly.

"I don't want him going near her," Glenn said sternly, pointing an accusatory finger at Daryl.

"Glenn, it's fine."

"It's not fine, Maggie!"

"Yes, it is."

"He's sleeping with her," Glenn stated, venom lacing his voice.

"I know that he is."

"She's 18! And he's what? 80?" he said, raising his voice, obviously exaggerating the age difference to prove his point.

"I ain't 80," Daryl corrected.

"Close enough," Glenn spat.

"Glenn, stop. I talked to him about it, and I talked to Beth about it."

"And you're okay with it? H-he's using her just so that he can get off!"

"I ain't using her."

"Then what're you doing? Huh?" Glenn bellowed, taking a threatening step towards Daryl. "You wanna call that love? Did you not see her, Maggie?" he asked, glancing at Maggie quickly before looking back to Daryl.

"Yeah, I did see her."

"He probably forced himself on her. Probably got into her head and convinced her that it's what she wants."

"Glen! Stop!" Maggie yelled, starting to get angry with what he was implying.

"I didn't force myself on nobody," Daryl said, letting out a shaky breath, doing his best to contain his anger.

"You're saying she wanted it?" Glenn yelled.

"Yeah, I am!"

"She's 18, Daryl! She doesn't know what she wants!"

"And how would you know that? Beth knows exactly what she wants!"

"Daryl. Glenn," Rick warned, seeing that the tension in the room was growing.

"And what do you think Hershel would think about it?"

"Glenn!" Maggie yelled again, grabbing onto his arm, clearly mad that he had brought her father into this.

Glenn opened his mouth to say more, but immediately closed it when he noticed Maggie glaring at him. He took a step backwards, away from Daryl.

"Daryl, I think we need to have a talk," Rick said quietly, taking a step into the room. "In private."

"Whatever," Daryl mumbled.

Daryl watched as Maggie tightened her grip on Glenn's arm as she began dragging him from the room. Daryl knew that Glenn was going to get yelled at. He had definitely said the wrong thing when he had brought up Hershel, and despite being angry at him, part of Daryl felt bad for Glenn knowing how angry Maggie was with him.

Rick sighed heavily and slowly walked to the table, pulling out a chair and sitting down. He ran his hands through his hair and tapped his fingertips on the table a few times before bringing his eyes to meet Daryl's.

"She wanted it?"

"Of course she did. I didn't force myself on her," Daryl said, leaning back against the counter.

"And Maggie's okay with it?"

Daryl nodded. "We talked about it. She talked to Beth. She's fine with it."

They both remained silent for a moment, neither of them saying anything. Daryl kept his eyes glued to Rick, but Rick wasn't looking at him. Daryl knew that Rick was trying to process the news of his relationship with Beth, and Daryl didn't blame him, he was surprised that he was in a relationship with Beth, too.

"I ain't lookin' for your approval," Daryl muttered. "I don't need your approval or the groups approval. You can hate it all you want, but I ain't gonna stop being with Beth unless she tells me that she wants us to stop."

"I'm not going to tell you to stop. I don't really have a say. Beth's an adult; she's proven that. It's just…it's a lot to take in. You're the last two people I thought would ever get together," Rick said, chuckling softly.

"Yeah, I know."

"The others…you know that they might not react that well to the news, right?"

"I know."

"It's not because they think you're bad or anything, it's just that everyone feels the need to protect Beth."

"She doesn't need protecting, she can protect herself."

"I know that she can, but I still…"

"You still feel the need to protect, because you feel like you owe it to Hershel."

"Yeah."

"And the others, they still see her as the girl on farm, at the prison, the girl that they protected and kept sheltered. Carol treats her almost like a daughter."

Rick nodded slowly.

"I got all the approval that I need, Rick. Maggie's fine with it. She trusts me, trusts that Beth's capable of making her own decisions. That's all that I need. If nobody else accepts it, I don't care."

Rick looked at Daryl again, nodding slowly. "Are you going to tell the others, or are you going to wait for them to find out by themselves?"

"I'dunno. I'll do whatever Beth wants us to do. If she wants to tell everyone, then we'll tell everyone, but if she wants to keep it a secret, then we'll keep it a secret. It doesn't really matter to me."

"I'm sorry for how I reacted…"

"It's fine."

"And Glenn, he'll get over it."

Daryl laughed a little. "Glenn's gonna get a good yelling from Maggie."

Rick began to stand up from his chair, shaking his head slightly, a small smirk on his face.

"Hey," Daryl said before Rick could leave the kitchen. "Maggie and I were talking. We need to go on a run soon. We're starting to run low on things. I was thinking of going on a run in a few days. We need to put a list together of what we need."

"Alright. I'll check the supplies."

"I'm gonna take Beth with me. She'll know what Judith needs."

"It's just gonna be the two of you?"

"Don't know. Maggie said that she might come. She's nervous about Beth going on a run, wants to be there in case something goes wrong."

"I'll ask around, see what everyone needs. I'll get you a list by tomorrow."

"Thanks," Daryl mumbled, watching as Rick walked away.

Author's Note: I'm just going to apologize first before I say anything else. I'm sorry that this chapter is so short, just like the last few chapters have been short. I don't know what's wrong with me. I don't want to say that I've lost interest in this story, because I haven't, I think I'm just having a stretch of writer's block when it comes to this story...maybe it has to do with all of the school work I've had lately or maybe it has to do with the lack of Beth in TWD (I'm still anxiously awaiting her return!), I don't really know. I may rewrite this chapter, but I'm not sure yet. I'm hoping that the next chapter will spark a few more ideas in my mind and give me more direction with this story. The next chapter will be more action packed, so it will be a change from the last few chapters.

Please stick with me through this! I just need to collect my thoughts and figure out which direction I want to go with this story! Once again, the next chapter will have more action, so it should be a nice change of pace and will hopefully allow me to write a longer chapter!

Please leave a review! I really want to know what you think. Reviews honestly give me and idea of what I'm doing right and what I'm doing wrong. Constructive criticism...maybe that's what I need right now. Is there a direction you want me to take this story? Is there something you want to see happen? Is there something from a previous chapter that you really like? Is there something that you want to see more of? Is there something that you absolutely hated?