Lessons

This is not from any fic. It's just something that popped into my head.

I hope you like it! It's my last official submission for Bethyl Smut Week.

Beth had a crush on him for a long time. She didn't act on it, though. He would think she was too young and probably wasn't even on his radar at all besides being another mouth to feed.

Now though, they were at the prison and settled. She was taking care of Judith and had a place.

Daryl would look her way a little longer each day or at least, she thought so. She tried to catch his eye, and she wouldn't deny it if someone asked.

In fact, Maggie had made a snarky comment about how she was making heart eyes his way, and Beth just smiled.

"Who wouldn't?" She asked and went about folding up Judith's freshly clean clothes.

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

"Huh," her sister said. "Get it, Bethy."

"Oh, I plan to try," Beth admitted.

That was a lot harder than she had anticipated, though. Daryl was always busy, either on runs or out hunting. So, she needed an excuse to get close to him since mooning over him as he ate on his perch wasn't going to cut it.

Beth knew he was looking at her, too. He was just a lot less obvious about it.

"Daddy," she said as they sat down for dinner.

"Yes?" He asked and turned to face her. Hershel Greene was a good man and great father, but he wasn't as observant as he thought he was when it came to his youngest.

"I'd like to learn to hunt so I can help Daryl. Do you think he'd teach me?"

Hershel eyed her for a moment then nodded. "Doesn't hurt to ask."

Beth smiled. "You're right! I think I'll go up and talk to him now."

She picked up her bowl of stew and walked up the stairs that led to the second landing of cells, and Daryl's sleeping area.

"Hey," she said with a small smile.

He grunted and kept eating. His eyes never left his food.

Beth sat beside him and cleared her throat. "I want ya to teach me how to hunt and track."

That got his attention, and he turn his head to face her. "What?" He asked with his brow furrowed in confusion.

"I want ya to teach me how to hunt," she said again, slower this time.

"Why?"

It was the most he had ever spoken to her while meeting her gaze, and it made her a little nervous. He was intimidating and direct. And the way he was looking at her now made her wonder if she were imagining the longing glances on his part.

"You shouldn't have to do everythin' on your own," she said. "Besides, I'm real quiet and I learn fast."

Daryl moved his spoon around his bowl and scrunched up his forehead. He looked like he was thinking so hard, and she wanted to tell him to stop. Her mind screamed at him to say yes and look at her like he had earlier that day.

Please, God, don't let this be one-sided.

"Okay," he said quietly. "We'll start tomorrow mornin'."

She couldn't stop the huge smile that crossed her face. "Great!" Beth bumped his shoulder with hers, and he tensed up a little. "I'm really excited."

"'S just huntin'. Ain't nothin' special."

"Will ya teach me to shoot your bow?"

He looked at her from the corner of his eye and shrugged. "You're gonna have to use somethin'. Maybe if ya get any good, we'll get ya one of your own someday."

"Maybe so." Beth leaned her arms on her knees and grinned at him.

She saw his lips quirk up slightly, but he squashed it just as fast as it appeared.

There was definitely something there.

Daryl spent a good portion of the following morning showing her how to aim his bow in the prison yard before taking her out to check the snares. They were empty, so he took them all down and moved them a little bit further out.

She watched him as he tied the knots and gave her detailed instructions. The second snare she had to tie herself, but failed miserably.

"It's okay. Can't always get it on the first try."

"It's a lot harder than you make it look," she admitted as she untied a portion of the rope.

"I've had years of practice."

"I know," she muttered then looked up at him. "I'm good at everythin', though."

Her words hung in the air between them then she looked at their position and flushed. She was kneeling in front of him and he was eye level with his zipper.

Daryl backed away and cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I'll show ya some tracks," he mumbled and walked away as quickly as he could.

"Yeah, okay." She stood up and dusted off her jeans.

The tension between them lasted until they got back to the prison and went their separate ways. He agreed to meet with her again the next day, so at least there was that to look forward to.

The next few days followed the course of the first, minus the innuendo.

She learned quickly, just like she told him she would, and by the the end of the first week, she was tying snares on her own and could properly identify rabbit and walker tracks.

"You're doin' good," he said as she finished the last snare of the day. "Next, I'll teach ya how to skin 'em." Beth wrinkled her nose, and he just laughed. "Ya need to learn. Ya might not always have me around."

"Don't say that," she said with a shake of her head. "You're gonna be the last man standin' I bet."

"Don't say that," he whispered her words back at her.

"Why? It's the truth." She looked at him confused.

"Yeah, 'cause losin' everyone and bein' alone's a good thing?"

Beth sucked in a quick breath. "I wasn't thinkin' like that. I just meant you've got more of a chance to survive than anyone. You're strong and capable. It's one of the reasons I wanted to learn this from you. I want to be able to take of myself if need be."

Daryl was staring at the ground, clutching a bolt in his hands. "What's the other reason?" He asked.

The air was sucked from her lungs, and she watched his knuckles turn white. "I think you know that."

He raised his head slowly, and Beth forced herself not to blink or look away. They stood there in silence for several beats before he said, "I don't understand."

"Understand what?" She asked cautiously.

"Why you want this."

"I think you're the best man I've ever met," she said and took a few steps towards him. "A woman would be crazy not to see that."

"Girl, I'm too old for ya." He shook his head and backed away. "Ya deserve a lot better than me."

"Daryl?" Her voice was solid, and he looked back up at her. "I like you. I'd like to get to know you better, and I'd like to kiss you right now." He stood stock still, and Beth asked, "Can I kiss you?"

The bolt he had been holding in his hands fell to the ground, and he moved toward her. "I don't know about this," he whispered. "Out here's different from in there."

Beth smiled at him and watched as he eyes widened a little and settled on her lips. "It doesn't have to be," she said and slowly popped up on her toes and brushed her lips with his. His hands went to her hips and he held her steady as he kissed her back.

It wasn't fireworks and sparks, but a slow and steady burn that built up between them and for a few minutes, the world was just them.

During their time in the prison, he would sit beside her during meals. Most people figured it was because they had grown close due to their hunting, but she knew that her sister and Carol knew better. Beth saw the sly smiles they sent her way and little winks when Daryl was looking at his food.

Apparently, the group was on board with this relationship, and the way it seemed to bring Daryl a little more peace than he had before and give Beth a bit more strength and sure-footing. They went out every morning, and by lunch, they returned. Most of the time they'd have something to offer the group, but some days they weren't lucky.

He taught her a lot and talked even more. He gave her tips and hints, little secrets that he had learned all on his own. The more time they spent outside the fence, the more comfortable he was with small touches on her hand or back. Their kisses grew less tentative and more passionate. It never went further than that, though.

One day came, a few weeks after they started, that Daryl told her that he was going on a run, and that she was going to check the snares on her own the next morning.

"Remember," he said as they reached the tree line. "Listen, be quiet, and don't take any risks. The object is—"

"Bring back food and keep our people alive. If we're dead, who's gonna do that?"

"Exactly." He stopped and took her hand. "Be safe out there." He squeezed her fingers. "I'll prolly worry about ya."

Beth nodded. "And I'll worry about you, too."

The corner of his lip turned up. "Ain't we just too fuckin' sweet."

"Like a damn romance novel or somethin'."

Daryl snorted and dropped her hand. "Let's get on back. Gotta skin these before we take 'em to Carol." He poked her side. "You're up, Greene."

She groaned and leaned her shoulder into him as they walked. "The things I do for you."

He laughed quietly, and Beth giggled, too, at that small victory.

Being out in the woods on her own was unsettling.

Every time a twig would snap, she'd look all around before talking herself back down. Both snares were empty, but she straightened them back up and hid them a little better before starting on her way back to the prison. Without Daryl, she had no bow, only a gun she would use as an emergency weapon and a knife to deal with any walker that got too close.

She had almost made it back to the tree line when she heard the overwhelming sound of a herd behind her. Beth could see them from the trees several hundred yards back and they were moving fast. Without a second thought she ran out in the clearing and shot her gun into the forest behind her.

The person in the guard tower yelled, "What's wrong?"

"It's a herd! Get everyone inside and lock it all up!"

Maggie popped out from the bottom door of the tower. "Run, Beth! You can make it!"

"No! They'll follow me!"

She turned and ran back into the trees, trying to shut off her sister's panicked screams. Beth ran toward the herd a little before taking off parallel to them, firing her gun a long the way. Once a good portion of them stumbled after her, she lowered her weapon and sprinted until she found a tree with a low enough branch she could climb.

She didn't stop in the middle of the tree, she climbed almost to the top, curling herself up as small as she could without losing her grip on the limb. It felt like hours as the herd passed under her tree, and during that time, it started raining.

This was good. Daryl taught her that rain covered up scents, and the last thing she needed was some stragglers hanging around her perch because they had caught a whiff of smelly, needed a shower Beth Greene.

In a way, the rain was nice. It was warm out, so she wasn't shivering all that bad, and the water washed away a lot of the dirt from her skin and hair.

When the last of the walkers had wandered out of sight, she started slowly down the tree. She jumped from the bottom branch and started making her way back to the prison. Beth figured she was nearly halfway there then Daryl came running out from behind a tree.

He stared at her for a beat before crossing the distance and taking her in his arms and pressing her to him.

"The one time I leave ya on your own," he muttered. "Gave me a fuckin' heart attack, girl."

Beth shrugged. "You don't need to worry about me. I learned from the best."

Daryl stood over her breathing heavy and his eyes wide and scared. He squeezed his eyes shut then leaned forward and planted his lips on hers as he backed her into a tree. The bark scratched her through her shirt, but she didn't mind. His hands were in her hair tugging, and his lips were slanted over hers. returning her kiss with just as much force as she was giving.

She was tempted to wrap a leg around his hip when he let her go.

"Tomorrow, you're goin' on a run with me," he said in that no nonsense voice of his.

"Okay. It'll be good to get out for a little while. I don't think I've left the prison or these woods since I got here."

"I know," he said quietly. "Never wanted ya to."

"Why? I could've been good back up."

Daryl sighed. "I—Beth, you're special here. To a lot of people. Riskin' your life is a last resort."

Beth scoffed. "Why? I get it. I'm not like Maggie or Carol or Michonne, but I've made it, Daryl! I can handle myself. I'm not just another dead girl. I can be useful for things other than babysittin'."

"You don't get it," he said and took off walking.

"I don't get what?" She demanded and sped after him.

Daryl stopped and shook his head. "Ya've got a job to do, Beth, and it's not just babysittin'. Ya know one of the reasons I took ya on?" She shook her heard. "Shit goes down? Who's gonna have that baby with 'em? Ya needed to learn all this to take care of both of y'all."

Beth nodded and realized just how important these lessons were. Not just for the feeding of the prison now or helping Daryl carry the load, but for Judith if the prison ever fell.

"What's the other reason?" She asked him the same question he once asked her.

Daryl smirked just a little. "I think ya know the answer to that." Beth smiled and looked away, heat filling her cheeks. "Ya still want this?"

"Yes," she answered softly. "I want all of you."

This time the tips of Daryl's ears turned red, but he nodded anyway. "Let's get ya back. Don't want your daddy worryin' no more."

They walked back through the woods, hand in hand. This time when they broke the tree line, he didn't let go.

The car was a tight squeeze, but she didn't care one bit. It had taken them weeks to get to this point, and she wasn't about to let something as trivial as a steering wheel pressing into her bottom stop her from straddling Daryl's lap while he sat in the driver's seat of the car.

It was supposed to be a simple run. Just to the pharmacy and the grocery store to look for formula for Judith, and any other item that she thought the baby would need. That took all of thirty minutes before they were back on the road to the prison. Half a mile away, he pulled off the road and into the woods a little ways before he pulled her over to him.

"Like this," he mumbled against her lips.

Beth nodded and went to work unbuckling his belt and trying to shift his jeans down his thighs. "What if someone sees? She asked.

"No one's here but us," he told her before tugging her toward him and kissing her deeply. "Just me and you, girl."

Her jeans went next, and when she threw her leg back over his hip, her knee hit the door, and she cursed under her breath.

"Got a mouth on ya, huh?" He laughed quietly and picked her up.

She wasn't ready, not by any means, so he sucked his fingers into his mouth, drenching them with saliva then rubbed her sex a few times before pumping his shaft. Beth placed her hands on his shoulders as he lowered her over him, groaning as he did so.

It stung a little, but she just turned her face into his neck and bit down softly. Once he got to moving, the feelings spread again, and she was tingling from head to toe.

"Harder," she begged him, but there was only so much space in the car. "Hold me tighter."

That was an easy one to accomplish. His grip on her hips turned from guiding to bruising, and she moaned his name as he brought her down over him in fast strokes.

"I can't last like this," he said in a gasp. "It's been too long."

"I don't care," she whispered. "It's okay."

A few quick thrusts later, he was stilling against her, his face in her neck as he panted her name into her skin. She shivered and played with the hair on his neck as he caught his breath. Her body still reeling from how quickly it had taken place.

"Why now?" She asked softly.

"Just didn't wanna wait. Don't think we get second chances anymore."

Beth hummed against his shoulder then moved off of him as sticky, white liquid ran down the inside of her thighs. He took his rag from his pocket and wiped it off of her.

"I'm sorry it wasn't good for ya," he said in an almost shy voice.

"No, it was really good," she argued.

"Ya don't gotta lie."

"If ya feel so bad about it, next time, you can set the bar higher."

Daryl gave a gruff laugh and pulled her closer to him. "Oh, trust me, I will."