Disclaimer- I don't own the Walking Dead.

Chapter 2.

The following week once more held avoidance between Beth and Daryl. Beth had hunted the hunter down, once, only to have him spot her and then immediately engage the person closest to him, which happened to be Carl, in conversation.

She caught small bits of the conversation, Daryl asking the boy how his shooting had been, and if there was any problems between him and Rick lately, and in that regard, how was Rick?

She knew she was being avoided, but she couldn't figure out why. 'We almost kissed, why doesn't he want to talk about it?' She caught herself wondering several times that week before realizing how stupid she sounded. 'Of course Daryl is going to want to avoid me, he doesn't like to discuss his feelings, plus it was probably just a mistake.' She frowned suddenly upset and resolved herself to stay away from him, as it was only going to hurt her more. She decided to find Rick and take Judith off his hands. She rounded a corner and cried out a weak no. The Governor was sitting at their gate with a tank, and with Michonne and her father at his knees. He was saying something to Rick and held Michonne's sword in his hand.

She spotted Maggie and the others loading onto their escape bus and she ran to her. "Where is everyone?!" Maggie had no answer, Glenn was just recovering and was sitting on the front seat of the bus, and she didn't see all the kids and ran to find them, as Maggie also dashed off to help in the fight.

Beth and Maggie both froze in their tracks however as they glanced towards the gates to see the Governor hacking at their father's head. She could imagine the sickening thud the sharp blade was making against his throat and even from her distance could see the thick blood spurting out of the wound.

In another hack Herschel's head flew off and rolled to a stop a few feet away from Rick, separated only by the prison gates. She felt the bile rising in the back of her throat, could feel the large lump forming in her throat as she tried to choke both down. She collapsed to her knees trying to stop the tears from escaping and looked to Maggie for guidance, only to see the other Greene girl engaged in battle with the men in the Governor's army.

"C'mon girl, git it together." She heard a gruff but pleasant voice whisper from behind her and turned to meet Daryl's soft blue eyes. "We have to get out of here Beth." He pulled her up by her elbow, giving the grieving girl no time to protest. Daryl dragged her behind him and she could see the battle coming to its climax. Rick and the Governor were locking in a fist fight; she'd seen Rick get shot and was worried. The bus was gone, along with the children that had hopefully made it out. Her father was dead. Her father was dead. Her father was dead, and she couldn't get that thought out of her head. She realized Daryl had stopped and saw he was in the process of shooting down several men, and a few walkers that had made their way around the prison. She knew she should be scared, also knew that Daryl would protect her with his life, but she couldn't bring herself to feel anything. She watched as Daryl ran someone through with his knife, before she felt him take hold of her wrist and turning away from the battle.

She couldn't bring herself to run without his help, knew that she was holding him back, but also knew that he wouldn't leave her behind. He dragged her for what felt like miles, it had be late morning when the Governor attacked and it was closing on dusk. He finally let her go, finally let her fall to her knees and sob as he stood silently watching.

Over the course of the next several days Daryl reverted more and more as Beth started to regain consciousness. Her constant crying had been reduced to only crying herself to sleep, and his silence remained constant. He'd made a small makeshift camp in the woods, and the two of them slept in the small shelter he'd built. He pretended not to notice her small frame wracking with sobs at night, and pretended not to hear her quiet moans in the night that signified her nightmares. She tried to speak to him a few times, ending in him giving her nasty glares and her sighing in defeat, wishing anyone else would have been with her to help her through this process.

She'd finally had enough as he sat eating his rattlesnake in the forced, uncomfortable silence once more. "I need a drink." She declared, strongly even though inside she could feel herself breaking. He tossed her the bottle of water he had at his feet and she immediately picked it up and threw it back at him, hard. He looked up, this had his attention. "I mean a real drink. An alcoholic drink." She hissed before standing, looking at him pointedly.

He didn't move at all and she glared before stalking off into the woods. She hoped he would follow, but if not she'd just go out on her own, who needed Daryl Dixon? She huffed before she realized she wasn't alone, she could hear muffled moaning, and the shuffling of feet against the ground. 'Oh no. What do I do?' She instinctively reached for her knife that was attached to her belt, when she realized with a panic that her belt was back at camp. 'Okay, maybe I need Daryl Dixon.' She frowned, before pushing herself up against a tree, hoping that the walkers would just keep shuffling past her.

She watched silently praying that they wouldn't look back as they all dragged by. Finally it seemed that the walkers were gone and she took a chance to glance around the tree she was pressed against only to come face to face with the dead eyes of a walker. Its eyes seemed to light up as it saw her, and she fell backwards at the shock of the straggler. It moaned excitedly, happy to finally have a new meal, it had been a long time, and its mouth snapping towards her exposed throat. Her tears began to build, but she wouldn't let them come out as she was faced with death. She was actually happy that she would be reunited with her father; she just hoped it would be a quick death.

Just as the walkers teeth grazed her throat she felt it sag, before falling on top of her. She gasped at the sudden weight and saw that a bolt had pierced the walker's skull, and she glanced into Daryl's scowling face. He made no sound as he yanked the bolt out and snatched her up, once more dragging her in the direction he deemed necessary. She was still in shock, and didn't realize where they were going immediately, but once she grasped the situation she yanked her arm back before informing him. "I'm not going back to that shitty camp Daryl. I'm going to find myself a drink, with, or without your help, prick."

His silence spoke volumes and she snatched her belt and knife from his other hand before turning on her heel and heading back to where she'd almost faced her death. She was on her own once more, fortunately with her knife this time. She'd seen a small town before she'd run into the small heard of walkers, and was headed in that direction. Suddenly a large hand clamped down on her shoulder, spinning her around and she hissed out a loud breath, afraid, before she met a pair of piercing blue eyes. "I'm not gonna leave ya out here alone, Beth." He grumbled, speaking to her for the first time since he'd forced her away from the prison. She forced a smile, before replacing it with determination, and gave him a tight nod.

The silence continued painfully as they headed for the country club she'd spotted across town. As they entered Daryl began looting, she regarded him with confusion before directing her attention towards her mission; to find alcohol. She changed into fresh clothes, before finding a small bottle of wine. She cheered silently to herself before backing out of the small closet that she was in, where she promptly walked straight into a walker. She cried out loud, causing Daryl to run to her aid, though she didn't need him as she crashed the bottle of wine over the walker's head before running her knife to the hilt through its eye.

Daryl nodded briefly before returning to his own task of looting. She'd followed him to find him shoving a walker down to the floor before taking a golf club and beating the already mushy skull into the ground with it, covering her new sweater in blood. She shot him a glare, before taking removing said article of clothing. She could feel her undershirt riding up her stomach, but she didn't care, Daryl wouldn't be looking anyway.

She had just thrown the sweater to the ground and looked up to meet his cool blue eyes to see that he had been looking, and she could tell he appreciated her body. She could feel her face heating as she remember a time when he wasn't being a complete asshole, when he'd almost kissed her. She remembered a time before that when he'd likely seen her bra covered chest. She could feel herself getting hot and decided that she needed to direct her thoughts elsewhere before her arousal took control of her brain.

Together the two of them walked to the center of the Country club, where the bar must have been because the room was littered with liquor bottles. He didn't even look at her, he was embarrassed to be caught staring at her. He picked up some darts and began throwing them at the wall, where the presidents of the club where pictured. He could hear her looking through the bottles and picking up glasses. "Peach Schnapps. Is it any good?" Her soft voice reached his ears and he found himself compelled to reply. "Hell no." He knew she'd be making a face and he couldn't help but allow his lips to perk up into a small smile.

He heard her mutter "Who needs a glass anyways?" Before he heard her quiet sobs. He could ignore her pain no longer, he decided. "C'mon girl, 'm not gonna have yer first drink be no goddamn peach schnapps."

He pushed open the exit he was standing next to and beckoned her over to him. They made their way to a small still, which as Daryl spoke, told her that it was exactly like his child hood home. She was happy that he was finally talking to her and decided that she would do anything she could not to ruin it. This unfortunately didn't take her long. They'd been drinking moonshine, and playing 'I never.'

"I've never been outta Georgia." His husky voice murmured. "Really?" She mused as she sipped on the drink in her hand.

"Okay, I've never had sex."

He quirked an eye brow, took a sip of his moonshine, before pointedly ignoring her statement. He opened his mouth to take his turn, but she cut him off, the moonshine making her bold. "I've never been kissed by a real man, Daryl." He didn't drink this time, his eye brow only rising higher. He quickly changed the subject. "I've never been on vacation." He replied and she sighed as she drank, realizing he was not taking the bait, even drunk.

"I've never been to jail, as an inmate, I mean." She quickly supplied as she realized how bad that sounded. His eye brow looked as if it was going to leave his face it had raised so high. When he didn't drink she spoke quietly, "Even my daddy had been, for speeding. I just meant…"

"Meant what? Is that what ya think of me Beth? You think of me as some low life scum, hmm? 'Ve gotta take a piss."

He loudly made his way across the room, and she hushed him. "I can't hear ya I'm takin' a piss!" he called, and she nervously looked across the room to the windows. By then he'd made his way back to her. "You never been kissed by a real man before, huh? Well how bout we change that?"

Her eyes lit up a tiny bit, but when he grabbed her arm roughly and yanked her up she realized what he was doing. His mouth was hot on hers, and it lit her skin on fire, his tongue invaded her space and the two of them wrestled for dominance. His hands grabbed at her hips and she threw her arms around his neck. He roughly stroked the skin of her hips and she gasped as the pleasure filled her body. His hand slowly moved upwards towards her covered boobs as they continued the heated kiss, his hands left trails of fire every where they touched and when he first grabbed her bra covered tits she moaned into his mouth. He yanked her shirt over her head, and she realized what was happening. She shoved lightly at his chest, but he didn't move. "Daryl. No." She muttered quietly, she could feel his erection pressing into her stomach, hard and demanding. He didn't reply, and he didn't stop kissing her mouth, cheeks, neck, and anything he could readily reach.

She was scared, but didn't reply, she thought maybe she could enjoy it, if she tried, however she was frightened by his lack of reply. "Daryl, please… Stop." This time he met her gaze, could see the frightened look in her eyes.

"What's wrong babygirl? You said you've never been kissed by a real man. You've never had sex, you didn' wanna die a virgin. Where's that bravado now? I knew you weren't ready to have sex, 'specially not with Zach." He kissed her mouth gently once more before he shoved her away.

"You just scared me Daryl. You were so angry, and you wouldn't stop." Tears began leaking out of her eyes as she continued. "You've been so mad at me this whole time, and my daddy just died, and I know you just see me as another dead girl, Daryl!" She shouted, and this time it was his turn to break down.

"It's my fault! It's all my fault, the G'vnor strolled right up to our gates, maybe if I hadn' stopped lookin'. Maybe if I hadn' have stopped Beth." She could see the tears welling up in his own eyes as she saw the tremendous guilt that he'd been holding in for days. "Maybe your pa would still be alive."

She hushed him, wrapping her arms around his back as he turned away from her. "Daryl, there's nothing you could have done, please don't be so hard on yourself. You and Michonne looked for weeks."

He didn't reply and she didn't move, she could feel his soft shakes as he cried, and she just held him.

The two of them sat on the porch, Daryl had quit drinking long ago, but Beth still clutched a glass of moonshine.

"Sorry 'bout earlier, 'm kind of a dick… When 'm drunk."

She smiled gently. "It's okay, I started it, besides, it wasn't all bad, and you didn't force me into anything."

He just nodded, and she voiced her thoughts once more. "Let's burn it down."

"What?" He replied, shocked.

"Let's burn it down!"

And they did, they used all the moonshine to soak the walls and the ceilings and the floor, and then Daryl lit the money he'd found on fire, before throwing it into the moonshine filled building. It immediately burst into flames and lit up the entire sky. Beth flipped the building off, and when she turned her brilliant smile to Daryl he too flipped the building off.

The two grinned at one another before seeing walkers drawn in by the flames, and Daryl informed her that it was time to go. She agreed with him and they walked silently into the underbrush, she was hopeful for a change between her and the hunter.