Find Your Balance

Summary: Post Mid Season Final. Daryl and Beth are alone, hungry and trying to survive. After their escape from the Prison, the unlikely pair try and make it in an unknown world. Beth x Daryl focus.

Warnings: Rated M for language, violence, blood and gore, sexual references and themes. I'm going to try and keep the characters in character as much as I can. The story will be set post Mid Season Final, ie, after the Prison attack. The story will only be from the POVs of Daryl and Beth, so none of the other groups, so if you're looking for one of those stories, you won't find it here - sorry.

Notes: So, I honestly cannot wait for February to come around and the return of my current favorite tv show so I am writing this baby. I have no idea how long it is going to be, what is going to happen or the length of each chapter. I do, however, intend to have the story finished before the return of Walking Dead in February. Also, please don't send any flames about not liking a relationship between a young woman (18) and older man (40). This is my story and I'll write what and how I want.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead - if I had, Beth and Daryl would have been shagging back at the farm and Daryl would be daddy Dixon by now.

SPOILERS: Please do not read if you have not seen the Season 4 Episode 8 " Too Far Gone," as this will set directly afterwards and contains references to the episode.

ONE

"We gotta go beth - we gotta go." His words were strong and to the point and the blonde didn't answer back as she followed behind him, watching as he took out walker after walker with only his hunting knife. Beth wondered why he wasn't using the Horton but soon realised it would be time consuming to retrieve each bolt once they had hit their mark - and Daryl always hit his mark.

The gun in her arms felt heavy and unfamiliar as they ran towards the yard that held his motorcycle. Rick and Carl had both tried to teach her to shoot but it had been Carol who had taken the young woman under her wing and taught her how to use simple handguns. When Daryl had handed her the semi-automatic before the firefight, it had felt too heavy for her small arms but she had used it to save her family - save Maggie, Judith, the kids and maybe even get out in the field and help her father. Her father - he was dead, he had to be. Beth had seen the madman they called the Governor slice through half her fathers neck and watched as he fell to the ground, Michonne screaming loudly and then hearing nothing but bullet fire and explosions.

It wasn't until Maggie had left to find Glenn that Beth had thought of the kids, of Judith. Maggie had said they all had jobs to do and Judith had been Beth's job from the minute Lori had given birth to her. The little girl was Rick's world, all he had left of his wife and Beth had left Judith in the safety of the Woodberry residents but when she had seen many of them on the bus already without Judith or the other kids, Beth had panicked and ran off in a hurry, back into the cell block to find them.

After searching for what felt like forever, Beth managed to get back outside, taking out a few walkers who had managed to get into the yard before spotting Daryl, effortlessly taking out one of the Governor's men with an arrow to the chest. "I was trying to get to the kids, to get them on the bus." Her words were rushed and panicked and she wondered if he even cared - from what little she knew of Daryl Dixon, it was that he was very secretive and didn't share his thoughts or emotions with others.

He had acknowledged her statement with a curt nod and quickly spoken of how they needed to leave, Beth seeing the countless number of walkers slowly ambling towards them. The freshly dead bodies of the fallen men and women would give them enough time to get away - maybe to find the others.

Daryl straddled his bike while Beth took watch, keeping an eye out for stragglers or strays. Her gun pointed forward she listened and her heart fluttered when she heard the rumble of the engine and Daryl yelling, "Hop on!" Beth jumped on, clutched her gun to her chest with one hand while the other grasped the bar at the back of the bike. In all her time spent with Daryl, Beth had never seen him take anyone besides Carol on his bike. She had to wonder what had happened to their friend.

She had gone off on a run with Rick a few days ago but when he returned, Carol was no longer with him. "She left," was all her father had said. Beth hadn't pushed, knew her father didn't want to pry and the young woman knew her place. She wasn't a member of the "Council" that her father and the others had set up, Beth was Judith's caregiver. A job, up until recently, she had shared with Carol.

"Right there, girl?" Daryl asked over the rumbling of the engine as they barrelled down the old road that led away from the Prison. Beth nodded, realised he couldn't see and simply responded, "Yeah."

Her reply sounded sullen, Daryl noticed and she had every reason to feel sad. She had just watched her father be murdered. Well, she hadn't seen as much as he had. Daryl had been at the right angle to see the Governor continue his assault on Hershel, ending him the way that barbarians and maniacs do. Daryl had felt a little better when he saw Michonne bury her sword into his chest, twisting it and watching him fall. He was dead. The mad man was dead and gone and had taken one of their own and countless others with him.

"Need to find a place to hole up. Work out what 'ta do," he called to her as he pulled off down a dirt road. Beth simply stayed silent as they made their way down the road. Daryl pointed to a house, one that looked barely plundered and veered the bike to park in front of the house. He supposed should anyone else from their group came across the bike, they would know where the two of them were. Daryl parked the bike, placed down the kickstand and turned the engine off.

He hopped off first, held a hand out to Beth to help her off and watched as she placed her shaking feet on the ground. Gently, he removed the powerful weapon from her arms and threw the strap over one of his shoulders. "Hey, come on, lets check the house out." Beth nodded and bit her bottom lip, Daryl sighed heavily. "Here, take my knife. I'll use the bow." She nodded and softly took the knife from his hand. Daryl ignored how cold and sweaty her fingers felt.

"Follow in behind me, attack quick and don't miss," he instructed and they began their journey inside the house.

Sorry to leave it there guys but there will be much more. Hope everyone enjoys this, I've had it in my head since I watched the Mid Season Final. I'm so glad they put my ship together - they better not ruin it by having Beth die or having Carol come back. Which may happen in my story, the Carol part, not Beth dying. I haven't quite worked out how I want this story to go. I have a few different paths I could go on but haven't found one that I like, so for now we're just having simple Beth x Daryl moments and interactions with some plot popping its head in every so often. And no, I haven't forgotten about Judith or the fact that Hershel is dead but remember - some characters haven't seen certain things. So like Beth didn't see her daddy actually be beheaded and the two of them never saw the blood covered car seat that Judith had been in. This is my rendition, and things will happen - eventually.

Next chapter: They explore the house and will Daryl tell Beth about Hershel?