Two days ago Daryl told Beth that Zach had been killed by walkers out on a run. She had taken it well, which was the most shocking part of it all. Beth had always been soft when it came to losing people, Daryl still remembered when Shane opened the doors to the barn and they let their bullets rip through her family as she watched, sobbing. He remembered how she ran over to her mother's corpse and almost got bit and to be pulled away while she watched T-Dog smash her skull. He was a different person then, really, he knows that. They all were. If he was then who he is now, he might've tried to stop Shane, get him to try a different way.

But Beth, sweet, innocent Beth, just looked at him and changed that number on her accident countdown like she spilled some of Judith's formula or someone tripped on the loose grate in the bathroom again. She'd hardened, kind of. Not like Maggie and definitely not like him, but in her own way. He guessed she finally learned to accept what she couldn't control—losing people.

Her hands move through Judith's hair, parting off the short pieces into manageable sections before taking the comb in one hand and her other lightly on Judith's shoulder. Daryl recognizes the song she's singing as she pulls the red comb through Judith's dark brown hair as 'The Clouded Day' it played at his mom's memorial service, he's pretty sure, he's tried to distance himself from that memory.

Daryl continues to watch as she grabs a small elastic out of its container (he's the one who grabbed those on the run before last, Judith's hair was wild like her mama's and her brother's, all dark and thick, figured she'd want it off her at some point) and pulls one side of her hair into a small pigtail, looping the elastic around quickly. There's just a little nub, not even half an inch of hair.

She looks up while still singing, twisting the elastic around the other part of Judith's hair. "Hi Daryl." She blushes a little, grabbing the comb and taping her fingers against the plastic. "Didn't know you were in here. I was just doing Judith's hair, thanks for the elastics, by the way."
Daryl shrugs off the thanks, in a way it made him uncomfortable, he was just doing what he needed to do. He didn't need a damned parade because he grabbed something for Judith; it was his job. "Hey."

"Did you come to play with her? I think she's getting bored of me and my singing."

"Nah, just…" He watches as she tucks her long blond hair behind her ear. "came to see if you was alright."

"Cause'a Zach? Told you I'm fine." There's part of him that wants to believe her, that when she told him that she doesn't cry anymore, she was telling the truth. But she's still soft Beth to him with a song in her heart and her head in the clouds. Doesn't matter how well she takes her boyfriend's death.

"Alright." He nods, and runs a finger along the metal railing of the stairs. "Guess I'll get back to work then."

Beth nods. "Okay."

"See you at supper."

It's warm and sunny outside when Beth slides Judith's too big jacket on, they had been cooped up in this prison for too long because of the winter, Judith needed to get some fresh air that wasn't going to give her a chill and make her sick.
Beth doesn't have to bend over much like Rick and Daryl do when Judith takes their hand to walk, instead she stands nearly straight and leads her outside, helping her along the four steps out of the cell block.

Carol's walking to the cell block when she sees them coming down the hallway, she smiles and waves to the two girls, causing Judith to giggle. Despite all of what happened when she was born, she was glad there was a reason for people to smile. She still remembers the first time Daryl held her, after he and Maggie came back from the daycare. The smile and excitement in his voice and he cuddled her close and fed her. That was the first time she's ever really saw him smile, ever heard him talk sweetly.

Beth pushes open the door that leads to the main yard, the sound of chopping wood makes her ears perk as the fresh air hits her cheeks. Daryl is about ten feet in front of the pig house, logs all around him, swinging an ax above his head and chopping the wood in two. When he's satisfied with the size he lay the ax down and adds the pieces to the pile. He's in his normal flannel with no sleeves, his leather kutte slung carefully over the fence of the garden. His muscles are slick and shiny from the sweat, Beth isn't going to lie and say that it doesn't make her heart race a little faster.

"Hey, Daryl."

Daryl looks up and moves his gloved right hand above his eyes so he could see. "What're you two doing?"

"Thought I'd let Judith be outside for a little while since it's nice. Do you mind?"

"Nah, I've got enough wood chopped."

Beth smiles and picks Judith up so she doesn't roll down the slight decline to where Daryl and his wood piles were. She watches as he picks up the ax and walks over to the fence, placing it inside the garden so Judith won't accidentally touch it and hurt herself. "What's it for?"

"Cook with. Carol says we're running out. Don't got anything else to do so I told her I'd chop some."

"That's nice'a you." She sets Judith down and she wanders over to the fence and squeals at the pigs, making them quickly run to the other side.

Daryl grunts. "Saw some flowers down by the driveway."

"Really?"

He nods. "Shepherd's needles."

"We had some of those on the farm." Beth smiles. "Always saw butterflies near 'em. They're pretty."

Daryl nods and watches as Judith attempts to stick her arm through the fence, wanting to touch the nearest pig. "Should'a called her lil' troublemaker."

A week later, Beth spends the morning making a meal for the group going on the run in the afternoon. They were back to searching houses and they could possibly be gone all day and maybe into the morning.

"Glenn doesn't like mustard." Beth reminds Carol as she cuts a few more slices from the loaf of bread Carol had made. "Daryl'll eat anything, though."

Carol laughs. "That's true, it's kind of gross."

Beth smiles. "Remember before we found this place and he ate that chicken liver cat food? And it said it was good. Ick."

"Oh, that was vile. I've been trying to erase it from my memory." Carol teases.

"Brought you your lunch." Beth extends the plastic bag with his name written on the side to him.

"What is it?"

"Deer sandwich with some vegetables and fruit. Real balanced."

"Thank God." He scoffs as he looks over the plastic bag. "Spelt my name wrong." He mumbles.

"No I didn't."

Daryl turns the bag back to her. "Says Darly, name's Daryl."

Beth sighs, feeling slightly embarrassed. She had been so focused on making sure she had everyone's food correct, she overlooked the spelling. "Sorry."

"It's fine." He smirks. "Just funny."

"Glad you aren't mad."

"Got a lot of things to be mad about, you switchin' up two letters ain't one."

She's glad he's changed. She remembers when she first met him, he rolled onto her daddy's farm on that loud motorcycle and an even louder mouth. He had a bad attitude and was rude. Beth honestly didn't understand why she thought he was cute at all. He was dirty and smelled awful and was constantly disobeying daddy carrying that weapon around.

"You need anything?" He asks. "Rick has a list but if you need somethin' I can keep an eye out."

"Paper."

"Paper?"

"Yeah, to write on." She stops to think for a minute, lightly nibbling at her bottom lip. "And daddy needs socks, he wore a hole through his last pair, I'm trying to fix it but in case I can't he'll need a back-up pair."

Daryl nods and resists the urge to ask if he should just get one sock. "Alright."

"Be safe."

The next morning there's a stack of notebooks outside her cell door. She hadn't even heard him drop them off in the middle of the night she had been sleeping so well, which was a rarity now. She picked them up and noticed a small piece of paper folded in half resting on the top. She sets them on her bed and picks it up.

these should last ya a while.
darly

She laughs at his intentional misspelling. Daryl's handwriting is exactly what she expected. It wasn't pretty and neat like hers, but shaky and jagged and hard to read. Exactly like him.

"Thank you for my notebooks." Beth sets her plate of toast and roasted squirrel next to Daryl's.

"Ain't a big deal. They were in a closet in some kid's room."

Beth looks down, it was kind of sad, honestly. This kid probably had them to start school. "Well thank you anyway, it was very nice of you."

"All ya gotta do is ask." He shrugs and picks up his piece of squirrel and begins to eat.

A bonfire didn't seem like the most practical use of wood, but they needed a distraction. It was just changing from winter into spring, they could finally be outside without the worry of sickness, they had some medicine stashed away, but not enough for everyone in the prison to get sick at the same time.

It was Hershel's idea, they had lost a lot of people over the winter, they'd use this as a memorial service. Everyone could write the names of people they lost that were important to them, then they'd throw the names into the fire. Not to forget them, but to help let go of the sadness.

Beth had written Patricia, Zach, and Jimmy on hers, they never got a real funeral. She remembered being on the road after they left the farm, praying and praying. Praying for Jimmy, praying for Patricia. She wasn't sure if it even mattered anymore, but it was all she could do.

She had three slips of paper, Daryl, who was next to her, had one. She knew Merle's name was the one scrawled in Daryl's messy handwriting. She had never liked Merle, she thought that he was absolutely terrible, but she knew that he meant a lot to Daryl, even if he didn't talk about it. She knew they didn't have the type of relationship that she had with Maggie and Shawn.

Everyone went around and put their pieces in one by one, when it got to Beth she walked up with confidence to the small fire, but she hesitated. She knew that putting this names in the fire wouldn't change the fact she missed her mom and brother and Patricia and Jimmy and Zach.

Finally, she tosses them in, right on top and then steps back, turning away from the fire. Daryl is looking at her, he gives her a nod as she walks back to her place to next him. She watches as Daryl walks up to the fire and tosses his paper in, no hesitation. She's surprised by the little pieces of sadness poking through his tough exterior. His eyes looking a bit heavy and his relaxed shoulders.

He resumes his place next to her, adjusting his crossbow as he looks forward, truthfully, he thought this whole thing was stupid and a waste of wood.

She makes the decision quick, she extends her hand and grabs his, forcefully interlacing their fingers together.

Daryl doesn't move his hand away.

The next night Daryl found Beth out by the pigs, she was lightly humming as she scratched the sow's ears. He had never seen her in the pig pen before, occasionally she would help Hershel and Rick with the gardening if Judith was down for a nap or they just had a lot to do. But in the pen? No way.

He didn't want to interrupt her serenade of the pigs, but curiosity was getting the better of him. "What're you doing out here?"

She turns to look at him, a smile on her face, right hand still scratching the pig's ears. "Just needed to be reminded of home."

"The farm?"

"Mmhmm." She nods as she gives the pig a final pat on the head before wiping her hand on her thigh. "Last night made me realize how much I missed it. Thought being around the pigs would help."

"Did it?" He leans against the fence, watching as she steps over one of the sleeping piglets.

"A little. It's not exactly the same. Shawn's not here to threaten to throw me in the mud and mama's not here to scold him and hit him with her tea towel." Her smile gets a little bigger and a dreamier. "Rather'd have them than the pigs, as cute as they are."

Daryl always envied the Greenes. He always thought about how it might be to have a loving family. A mom who cared more about her kids than her booze and cigarettes. A dad who didn't take his work related frustrations on his wife and sons. A brother that wasn't a dick. Maybe his life would've been different. "Sorry."

"You ever miss your mama?" She asks as she walks through the gate, making sure it was closed and locked when she got to the other side.

"Sometimes, I guess. She wasn't like yours. Didn't make me a cake on my birthday or buy me shoes. She just drank her wine and smoked her smokes. Too young to remember anything else. Weren't like Lori or Carol or your mama."

"And your daddy?" She asks tentatively, the smile on her face had been removed by Daryl's story.

"Biggest piece'a shit to walk the earth." He says simply, adjusting the crossbow on his back.

"I'm sorry Daryl, I—"

"Ain't nothing." He cuts her off. "Grateful for it, wouldn't know what I know. You all'd be dead."

A small grin returns to Beth's face and her cheeks get a little warm. They fall into a comfortable silence while looking at each other, the pigs snorting and sniffing in the background.

"What're you doing out here anyway?" She finally asks.

"Was checkin' the perimeter, then I saw you over here."

"You're nosy like Maggie."

"Ain't nosy. I was making sure you weren't dead or somethin'."

Beth laughs and it makes Daryl's stomach flip. "Can I ask you somethin'?"

"Might not have'a answer."

She nods. "Can you take me outside the gates?"

"The hell you wanna go out there for?"

"Haven't been outside since we got here, tired of it, s'all."

"You're gonna have'ta ask your daddy."

"Daryl, I'm eighteen, don't need his permission."

"Ain't taking you out unless he says it's okay."

Hershel wasn't convinced. He sat stoic as she leaned against the wall in his cell. "It's just not safe, Bethie."

"I'll be with Daryl. He'll protect me."

"I don't understand why you need to go outside, it's safe in here."

"You let Glenn go, Maggie, too."

"It's different, Beth."

"Why's it different? Because Glenn's a boy and Maggie's tough?"

"No, Bethie." He sighs. "They know what they're doing, know how to use weapons."

Beth stops for a minute, trying to come up with something quickly or her outside time wasn't going to happen. "Daryl's going to teach me how to use his bow." She lies. "He thinks it'll be better to do it outside the fences, safer."

"Can't really argue with that, it being safer." He smooths down his pillow. "I suppose you can go, Beth. But you need to promise me that you will be safe and listen to Daryl."

"Thought maybe we could eat lunch under the trees." Beth smiles and moves her backpack to her side and lifts one out. "Spelled your name right this time." The bag he had from the last run had a big, black scribble over Darly and Daryl was written below it in slightly smaller handwriting. He could still smell the permanent marker scent coming off it.

Daryl arches his eyebrow, he thought they were just going for a ride, he wasn't aware of this picnic business. "Whatever you want, girl." He'd go with it, though. She hadn't really been out, if she wanted to eat her sandwich under a tree while he stayed on watch, then that's what they'd do. "Let's go, burning daylight." He walks over to his parked bike and climbs on, looking back as he situates himself, checking to see if she was coming.

Beth's eyes are wide and her heart his beating quickly. "Thought we were walking."

"Bike's faster. C'mon."

She swallows the lump in her throat and walks over, tracing the leather seat with her finger. "How do I get on?"

Daryl scoffs. "Like a fucking bike, Beth."

She nods to herself and climbs on, straddling the seat, sliding into the groove right behind Daryl. She can feel his red kerchief/sweat rag pushed against her thigh.

"Put your arms around me." He grabs her right hand and brings it to his front, pushing it against the leather of his jacket. Beth brings her left around and claps them together like she did when she would sing in the choir at church. "Don't let go. Ain't explaining to your daddy how you fell off my bike, got it?"

She nods against his patched angel wings. "Trust me, I'm not letting go."

He revs the engine and pushes the kickstand and he's off towards the gate, waving at Carl as he goes.

They ride for a few miles, the wind blowing through Beth's blonde curls as they headed down the highway, weaving in and out of parked cars. Beth had gotten a little more confident and wasn't pressed against Daryl's leather, she had pushed herself back so she could see the sights. She'd been on this road a couple of times before the turn, sitting in the backseat of her daddy's truck, squished between Maggie and Shawn while she tried to look out the window. Now she was out in it, attached to Daryl, free to look around any direction she pleased. Her eyes were focused on her right, watching as the trees passed by quickly, forming a blur.

She notices an area ahead where the trees were cut out, she figured there must be a building or something up there and she wanted to see it. Beth frees her right hand, keeping her left pushed against Daryl and taps him lightly, catching his attention before she points to the alcove ahead.

It's an old gas station, pushed off the road about thirty feet by a gravel driveway up to the two old fashion gas pumps. The paint on the siding is starting to chip and flake and the foundation is cracking under the weight of a building that has to be at least seventy years old.

"Ain't never seen this place before." Daryl comments as flips the kickstand down.

"Really?" Beth asks as she climbs off the now quiet bike, stretching her arms above her head, making her polka dot t-shirt rise over her tummy.

"Usually go the other way." Daryl slides off the bike with ease.

"Can we go in?" Beth runs her thumbs down her backpack's straps, settling in where the nylon formed a loop.

Daryl grabs his cross bow off the back of the bike. "Might as well. Stay behind me."

Beth follows Daryl up the creaky steps, avoiding the spot on the side where the wood had rotted through. She feels for the knife on her hip, making sure it was there and ready to be used if necessary. It had been a while since she had had to use it—she was hoping being holed up in the prison on baby duty hadn't made her soft. Daryl signals for her to go to the door so she could open it and he could shoot anything that came out.

Her heart raced as she grabbed on to the door knob, twisting it and flinging it open. Bells that had been hung on the store side of the door banged into a drink cooler.

Nothing came to the door.

Daryl heads in, crossbow at the ready, signaling for her to follow closely—but not too closely—behind him.

The store is old and smells of mold and rotting wood. The shelves have been ripped off the wall and snacks of all sorts were strewn across the floor. Cooler doors were open and the cash register had been thrown onto the floor. The magazine rack had been flipped over and broken bottles of tea were smashed on top, soaking the paper and warping it when it dried.

There's a door with a restroom sign off to the side, as well as a door that probably led to storage at the back, half blocked by some of the still-standing racks.

Deciding there was no threat in this room, Daryl lowers his bow slightly. "See anything we can use?"

"Might be some unopened chips over here, Carl'll love those." She smiles and tucks the strand of hair that wasn't quite long enough to be swooped up in her ponytail behind her ear. "Should we check behind the doors? Just to be safe?"

Daryl nods. "Good idea." He wasn't planning on teaching her how to scavenge and clear buildings today, but while he had her out here, he might as well try. She needed to know in case something happened, and her daddy thought she was learning something anyway, he'd hate to lie to him. "You wanna take the lead?"

Beth looks at him with wide eyes. "Go in there alone?"

"Not alone. I'll be behind you."

She sighs. "You're gonna make me, aren't you?"

"Ain't gonna make you."
She trusted Daryl, she knew she'd be safe. "I'll do it."

Daryl watches as she tentatively heads towards the door, her right hand grasping onto her knife for dear life, her left reaching towards the once shiny knob of the door. "You coverin' me?" She asks quietly, her hand shaking a little. "Got you." He keeps his finger on the trigger, pointing the serving towards the door. Nothing was happening to her on his watch. She twists the handle and pushes it open, stepping back as she does.

Beth can hear it snarling in the tiny room, she rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet, waiting for it to make its way toward her, if she went in, she wouldn't have the advantage. Daryl listens as the snarls get louder and the shuffling gets closer, then he watches as Beth pushes it against the wall, shrieking as it attempts to grab her. "I got it!" She calls struggling to keep it in place. Daryl doesn't move, he watches—Beth could do this, he knows she can.

She stabs it, but in the cheek, which really made it angry. Dark brown-red blood got all over her light shirt and her face, which made her angry. Daryl could see it as she gritted her teeth and let out a yell, stabbing it in the temple and letting it fall.

"Gross." She mumbles as she leans down to get her knife, it's stuck, or maybe she's just not strong enough to pull it out quickly like Maggie can.

Daryl heard the shuffling steps, but he was pretty sure Beth didn't. "Leave it! Get behind me!"

"What?" Beth turns around and sees a walker coming towards her, she attempts to move away from the corpse on the floor, but the new walker is coming too quickly.

Daryl pulls the trigger and lets his arrow do the dirty work, the walker falls to the ground, shaking the old planks beneath him. "Get your knife, I'm leading this."

Beth grabs her knife and pulls it out, wiping the blood on the walker's shirt. "Thanks." She mumbles breathily.

They check the rest of the old gas station quickly, there's no other walkers. Beth is relieved. There was a difference between them being out in the open and being on the fence where there was no real danger.

Daryl watches as Beth wipes at her face, attempting to get the dried walker blood off. There are tears forming in her eyes as she scrubs with her thumb and palm. He grabs his red kerchief and his water bottle and pours a little on before handing it to her. "You're making it worse."

She sniffs and takes it, rubbing her forehead before Daryl tells her she's in the wrong place and she moves to her cheek and she still can't get it. "Can you help?" She asks finally, accepting defeat.

He takes the kerchief back from her and steps closer, lightly wiping the blood off her forehead—she wasn't even close to the right area.

"Thank you."

Daryl doesn't say anything, instead he continues wiping at her face, making sure to get all the blood off. He was used to it by now. And blood never really bothered him, all his years of hunting had taken the gross factor out of it.

"You've got blood on your face, too."

"Don't bother me."

"Well, it bothers me." She holds her hand out for the kerchief and Daryl reluctantly hands it over. She moves the fabric, flipping it so she can find a cleaner place. Then she brings it right above his brow, standing on her tippy-toes she can reach, she lightly places her hand on Daryl's chest she doesn't fall on top of him. It's intimate, in a way, how she lightly drags the cloth against his skin, lightly humming as she does. She's in his personal space and normally that would make him back up a couple feet, but he doesn't mind when it's Beth. Her presence is calming.

She falls back on her feet, removing her hand and Daryl immediately misses the small amount of warmth that radiated from her palm to his leather. She moves that hand up to his cheek and cups it. "Think this is the cleanest I've ever seen your face." She teases.

"Ain't that bad." He scoffs, trying to move his face away from her touch, even though he likes it.

"You look so nice when you're clean." She states with a smile.

"Gee, thanks."

"I didn't mean it like that." She still has her hand on his face. "Just meant you clean up well. You're handsome."

Beth doesn't comment on the slight pink tint to Daryl's cheeks as he mumbles a 'thanks' that's barely audible. She leans up on her tippy-toes once again and presses a kiss where his straggly facial hair and his pink tinted cheeks meet. It's quick and soft, but they both feel a tingle on their skin. She drops down, her own cheeks matching his. It's the closest they've been since the hug after Zach died, when he elected himself to be the bearer of bad news. That hug, that fucking hug and the way her sweater slipped from her shoulder. That was why he was suddenly wanting to be around her, he wanted that contact. It wasn't even a sexual thing, it just was just her and the vibe she gave off. He was just about as over the moon as he could get it. "We should probably see what we can use." She backs away and heads over to the pile of snacks on the ground.

"Did you learn anything, honey?" Hershel asks as he sits next to his youngest daughter at dinner.

"Yeah, daddy." She smiles and picks up her fork.

"That's good, it's a good idea you learning how to take care of yourself. Maybe Daryl will take you out again?"

When Beth returns to her cell she finds a small cup filled with shepherd's needles placed precariously on the flat part of the bars. She immediately knows it's from Daryl before she even picks it up. There's a note under it, jagged and torn from a much larger piece of paper, just like the one that was with her notebooks. Carefully, she grabs the cup and the paper and heads inside, she sets the note on her bed and sets the cup on the filing cabinet 'dresser' that creates a nice display for her stuff.

After pouring some of water into the cup she flops on her bed, grabbing the note. The one side has print on it, a form from the prison. Sunset. Pigs. is all it read in that shaky handwriting on the other.

Beth pulled her white sweater a little closer as she walked out of the cell block door. Spring had sprung, but there was still a slight chill in the evening. She can see him standing down by the pigs, his masculine frame darkening the pinkish-purple sky, he's not looking at her, he's looking out to the fences down below where a small group of four walkers had formed on the fence.

She wished that they could just have one day of peace.

He turns around when he hears her stomping through the grass, he shakes his head; she has so much to learn.

"Hey Daryl." She smiles when she gets a few feet away.

"Hey."

Beth may not be able to read weird imprints on the dirt of the forest floor and figure out what kind of animal is nearby, but she can read people, and Daryl was nervous. He was rubbing his neck when he looked at her, his eyes weren't looking at hers; instead they peered over head towards the prison. "I'm glad it's not freezing."

He nods and turns back to the pigs, tracing the woodgrain on the fence. Beth was looking especially pretty the day he and Rick and Glenn put it up. She brought them water and damp cloths to wipe their sweat. Her hair was similar to the way it was tonight, braided, but to the left side, those few stubborn strands poking out around her face, catching the light when she stood a certain way. "Hate the cold, actually. Rather it'd be hot."

"Hm." Daryl grunts. He was starting to think this was a bad idea, asking her out here with this plan of kissing her. So he continues to stare at the fence below, watching as a walker comes stumbling out of the woods.

"Um, Daryl."

"Huh?"

"Is there a reason you wanted me out here? I'm happy to watch the pigs with you but..."

"You look pretty." He's not even sure why he says it, but he's never really had a way with words anyhow.

"Thank you." She smiles and walks up to the fence next to him, watching the same walker mosey through the tall grass to where the others were. Her cheeks burn a little as she watches as his pointer finger moves around the fence. The space between his bare arm and her sweater clad one is maybe two inches at most. "You're pretty handsome, too." She lightly bumps his arm before looking over at him, his cheeks matching hers, slightly pink.

He looks over and the options start weighing in his mind; if he kissed her and she was totally repulsed, he could easily go back to ignoring her like he had up until recently. It'd kill him inside, but he could do it.

That stupid strand of hair is falling in her face again and if there was ever a sign to just do it, this was it. "Hair's in your face." He mumbles before lifting his hand and tucking it behind her ear. She lightly leans into his touch, feeling his warm hands on the side of her head. Then he's leaning in, closing the already small gap between them, and lightly ghosting his lips over hers, moving his hand down to her neck so his thumb could move over her jawline.

Beth is the one that makes it an official kiss, pressing her lips against his, her hand still on the wooden fence, and her other one pressed against his leather kutte.

It's quick and chaste, just lips on lips, before Daryl pulls away, his hand still on her face, his other getting ready to sneak around to her hip. Beth's eyes are wider than normal and there's a tiny grin plastered on her lips.

Neither one wants to ruin the moment, so they stay quiet, looking at each other in the pinky-purple tones from the sky. Daryl still tracing her jaw his with his dirt-covered thumb, Beth running her fingers along the seams on the front of his kutte.

He walks her back to her cell ten minutes later, when they heard the large door to the cellblock slam shut and saw Tyreese heading out to the main tower for guard duty. That meant that Glenn would be coming down at any minute and Beth really didn't want to explain why she was out next to the pigs with Daryl to her brother-in-law.

Daryl wants to kiss her when she backs up against the bars, that smile on her face, basically daring him. That was a risk he wasn't willing to take, though. At least not yet. Hershel was known to hobble down to get a book at this time of night.

"That was nice." Beth rubs her lips together. "We should do it again sometime?"

Daryl smirks. "Maybe."

"Maybe?" She asks with a laugh.

"I'll walk to breakfast in the morning, if you want."

Beth nods. "I'd like that. Goodnight, Daryl."

"Night."

"Mornin'." Daryl leans against the bars to Beth's cell, sticking his face between them.

"Good morning, Daryl." She smiles. "Ready to go to breakfast?"

He moves back, removing his face from the bars, and nods. "Yeah, hope it's good."

Breakfast went by quickly, Beth and Daryl ate with Rick, then Beth was handed Judith right as she crapped her pants, so she had to run back to the cell block quickly.

"You know how to ruin a moment, huh?" She asks Judith as she attaches the safety pin through the piece of cut of sheet they were using for her diapers. "Lucky you're cute." Beth grabs the pair of pink leggings she was wearing before she pooped all over them, and tosses them into the laundry bag.

"You get any on you?"

Beth looks over to the staircase where Daryl is standing. "No, her diaper and pants caught most of it, thank goodness."

"You'd still look cute."

"Glad to hear it." She teases. "Want to grab me a pair of pants for her out Rick's cell? They should be in the top drawer."

Daryl nods and heads into the cell block, he could hear Judith and Beth giggling as he walked. He always felt so weird going to into the other's cells, it felt like an invasion of privacy somehow, even though he was pretty sure he's see Rick's bare ass more times than he's seen Merle's, and Merle went through a phase where he mooned everyone and everything.

He opened the filing cabinet drawer and pulled out the first pair of Judith sized pants he could find before closing it and heading back. He didn't want to mess with anything and wanted to get out of there quickly.

"Thanks." Beth takes them and rolls the legs up to get them over Judith's chubby legs easier.

"Wanna do something later?" He asks, leaning against the railing to the stairs.

"You gonna take me to the movies?" She teases, pulling Judith's pants over her diaper and grabbing her shoes to slip them on.

"Would if I could." He scratches his arm. "Maybe teach you how to actually use the bow? Wouldn't want to lie to your daddy."

"Who's going to watch Judith?"

Daryl shrugs. "Her dad, maybe? Brother?"

"If I can find someone to look after her, I'd like that."

"Need you to watch Judith." Daryl leans against the garden fence.

Rick looks up and squints, hands in the dirt. "What's Beth doing?"

"I was going to teach her how to use the bow. Figured she needed a break."

Their eyes meet and Daryl would never admit, but he was silently begging Rick to just do it—take care of his kid for two hours so he could have some alone time with Beth. So Tyreese or Glenn or her father wouldn't interrupt them.

"You won't be gone that long?"

"Two hours at the most."

Rick nods. "Guess I could have Carl stop reading those damn comics for a little to come down here and help me."

"Thanks, Rick."

"She ask you?" He asks as he stands up, wiping his hands on his thighs. "To teach her?"

"Kinda."

Rick nods, a smile forming on his lips. Like he knew. "Mind bringing Judith down here? And getting Carl? Don't want to bring dirt in, Tyreese will kill me."

"Sure thing, boss."

Beth is sitting on the floor with Judith at her side when he comes back inside to the prison. They're reading a book about pigs doing crafts—Daryl remembers the triumphant look on Rick's face when he found the stack of books back in a house they searched, holding them above his head like he found the goddamn Holy Grail, a huge smile on his face.

"Got you off babysitting duty."

Beth looks up, staring at him quizzically. "How?"

"Rick and Carl are watching her. Asked Rick if he could."

"Really?" Beth closes the book and stands up before grabbing Judith.

"Gotta take her to him, Rick's a lazy son'a'bitch." Daryl nods. "Know where Carl is?"

"Library, probably." She walks over to Daryl, placing the book on the table as she walks.

"I'll go get 'im."

Beth nods. "I'll get her ready."

Daryl hesitates for a minute before kissing her lightly, just like the kiss from last night—except quicker. He couldn't help but think he could get used to kissing her every day.

"What did Carl say?" Beth asks as they head down to the gates.

"Same thing as his dad—wanted to know why you couldn't watch her."

"Oh."

"Told both of them you needed a break. That shut them up quick."

"Thanks, Daryl."

They walk in silence the rest of the way to the gate, Daryl cautiously looking around as he did. It's not that he didn't trust the gates—as weak as they were—it was just a force of habit.

Sasha opens the gates and waves at them, Beth mimics and follows Daryl out.

Daryl moves the bow off his back and extends it to her. "Take it."

"You were serious?" She asks, staring at the hunk of black and camo painted metal.

He squints. "Yeah, I told you I was going to teach you."

"I thought you were joking."

"Wasn't." He shakes it, shoving it at her. "Rick said we got two hours."

She sighs, grabbing the crossbow from him, expecting it to be lightweight the way he flips it around like it was nothing. It's not heavy, especially after lifting Judith up and down about a hundred times a day, but it's not as light as she was expecting. "How do I hold it?"

"Don't you pay attention?"

"To you? No." She teases.

He gets behind her, helping her position the bow before stepping back; hands off.

They walk around the woods for a while, Beth practicing looking for clues of different animals in the area. There wasn't anything out; Daryl knew there wouldn't be, he had probably single-handedly killed all the squirrels in this part of the woods.

After about forty-five minutes of the basic tracking course, Daryl brought out the piece of chalk he had stolen from Judith's toys and made marks at various heights on the trees, allowing Beth to get some practice in on hitting targets as well as learning how to cock the bow when necessary. Mostly she just missed.

"One more, c'mon Beth." He points to the mark in the middle of the tree. "Don't want Rick getting his panties in a bunch 'cause we're late."

"I'm gonna miss." She sighs and heaves the bow back into place. "You just want to laugh again."

Daryl smirks. "You were off by twenty feet, course I laughed."

"It wasn't twenty feet. I'm bad but not that bad."

"You're doing good." He points to the target again. "One more."

She breathes slow and steady, letting her finger move over the trigger, watching as Daryl moves a safe distance from the tree. Another breath; in and out. Eyes moving back to the target, pointer finger pressing down on the trigger. The arrow zooms out, hitting the tree with a thunk. It's not on the target, it's actually a few inches higher, but she's elated. She did it, finally.

Beth lowers the bow, a smile on her face as Daryl walks over to the tree. "I hit it!"

Daryl isn't going to be the one to point out that she didn't hit the mark on the tree, her excitement was too cute. If it was Rick or Carl, he'd shove it in their face, but this is Beth who can shoot, but not as well as the rest of the group. She needed practice and he's more than willing to help her.

He likes the alone time with her, where she talks about the colors of the leaves and asks him if he remembers some popular song before the turn, where he mostly just grumbles a no, and then she'll sing a few bars.

She bounces over to the tree and yanks the arrow out of the bark, somehow it was easier than the walker skull. "Didn't hit the mark." Her smile is replaced by a frown for all of two seconds before the smile appears again. "At least I didn't hit you." She extends the bow to him, which he takes, slinging it on his back.

"I think I finally figured out the next part to that song." She twirls the arrow between her fingers.

"I'll sleep easy tonight knowing that."

She playfully scoffs and leans against the tree. "You gonna wash your hair anytime soon?"

"Nah."

"I'll wash it for you."

"Ain't dirty." He reaches for the arrow but she pulls her arm back. "You gonna give that back?"

"Nah." She mocks him and places it behind her back.

"Girl." He steps forward, until he's right on top of her, looming over her small frame, right hand flat against the tree to support his weight.

Beth looks up, a smirk on her face, enjoying Daryl's annoyance. She's practically daring him to kiss her. He almost doesn't want to give her the satisfaction, but she's looking at him with those wide eyes and that stupid smirk, but he had a plan.

Daryl leans down and kisses her, his left hand sneaking around to her waist, fingers moving under her pink camisole. He hears the arrow drop to the forest floor, landing on a small pile of rocks, with her now free hand, Beth cups his face, running her soft skin against his prickly facial hair. They move against the tree, Daryl lightly running his tongue against her lips, hoping to give her what she wanted.

There's a rustle from behind them, Daryl reluctantly pulls away, lifting his bow as he turns. Beth looks around his broad shoulders the best she can as he pulls the trigger, hitting the walker in the head.

"Guess we should get back, huh?" Beth asks quietly, lowering herself to grab the arrow from the ground.

"Guess so."

Daryl Dixon was not the romantic type—never in his life did he think he would be sneaking some candles from the stash and heading to Beth's cell in the middle of the night.
There were four guard towers along the fences of the prison that they could actually get to, the fifth was in the back, surrounded by rocks and debris. The one next to the gate was their lookout, and the other two contained some of their automatic weapons in case they need to put up a fight. But Daryl had come across a pile of pillows and old quilts in the third tower, which was right in front of the garden. He figured it was where Glenn and Maggie came to fool around sometimes—even though he was sure they did it wherever they wanted.

"Ready?" He asks as Beth stands in front of her door, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, been ready for about an hour."

It was Beth's idea. Daryl had told her about the guard tower as a kind of 'can you believe that, people are having sex in there' thing, but then Beth said she wanted to go up there. Needless to say, he wasn't really expecting that.

She looked different tonight—her hair was down and fluffy, the normal curls brushed out. She was wearing her long, yellow tank top over some black, stretchy pants that he was pretty sure belonged to Maggie at some point since they were folded over at her ankle and a little loose around her thighs.

Daryl opens the door and goes in first, knife at the ready. They've cleared this tower before, but he wasn't going to risk it. He heads up the stairs and Beth follows.

The room is blank, painted the same color as the outside walls, a dingy gray. The floor is concrete, but is broken up by the quilts on the floor and the pillows against the wall. The large windows let in some light from the moon, but Daryl's glad he brought the candles.

"It smells in here." She laughs and walks over to the makeshift bed, toeing her shoes off.

Daryl doesn't want to say that its' probably Glenn's cum, so he doesn't, and instead keeps that beautiful image to himself. "Planning on staying?" He lights one of the candles and places it on the window sill across from the pile of blankets.

Beth smiles and nods. "Might as well. It'd be nice to sleep somewhere else for a change."

He wasn't going to let her sleep in here. He didn't want her to get in trouble.

She sits down on the bed and pats the place next to her. "C'mon."

He toes his own boots off as well before sitting down in the midst of the pillows, where the head of the bed would be. There's no outside noise, the hissing of the walkers outside the gate had been cancelled out by the thick walls of the tower. Beth breathes, letting her breath out slow and steady as she looks at him, his skin purple-y in the moonlight. She imagines hers looks similar in hue.

Daryl watches as she moves to her knees and shuffles over the quilt before positioning herself in-between his folded knees, his sock feet near her shins. She slowly traces his dirt and sweat laden arms, strong and powerful. "Daryl." There's a hint of singsong in her quiet voice.

He's not going to kiss her. If he starts this it might go too far, he's not going to push her into anything.

She scoots closer, as close as she can get until she's only inches from his face, her hand now on his bicep, lightly moving over the goosebumped skin. "Daryl."

"What?"

Beth leans in and kisses him softly before pulling back and giving him a small smile. "We should." She whispers.

And Daryl wants to ask her if she's absolutely nuts, but doesn't. "What?" He asks again, looking into her eyes the best he can.

"Have sex. It makes sense, don't you think?"

It makes a lot of sense to him, of course he would love to have his way with her. "I don't know, Beth."

"You don't want to?"

He's silent for a minute, trying to figure out how to answer this. "No, I do."

"Then what's the problem?"

"You're sure?"

"Daryl I'm not a kid. I know what I want."

His breath hitches in his throat and he watches as she moves her hands down to the hemline of her yellow tank top and slowly pushes it up until there's just a sliver of skin showing. "Beth."

"What?" She pulls it up a little more, right below her belly button.

"Stop."

Beth's face falls and she lets go of the yellow fabric. "Sorr—"

"I wanna do it."

He leans in and kisses her; it's soft. Beth cups his face, moving her fingers against his facial hair. It doesn't take long before Beth starts to nibble at his bottom lip, begging to deepen the kiss.

Daryl's fingers move swiftly to her tank top, he carefully moves under the thin fabric, applying his calloused finger tips to her soft skin. He could keep his hands there forever, just pressed lightly on her skin, feeling the warmth come off her body even though the temperature was slowly climbing inside this concrete room. He pulls back from their kiss, watching as he pulls the fabric up over her pale skin, she lifts her arms to help him. Then she's kneeling there in her beige bra that looked to be a cup size too big, she looks like an angel. Her hair still poofy and her skin shiny with sweat, lips swollen. "Lay down."

Beth moves from between his legs to the other side of the quilt, carefully putting a pillow behind her head. She takes a deep breath as Daryl moves on top of her, this time between her legs. He shrugs his kutte off, laying it on the ground next to her top, then starts to unbutton his flannel, watching as Beth scoots into place, watching his fingers. He tosses it in the pile when he gets it off and leans down, kissing her, moving his right hand down her chest to her pants. His fingers move beneath the stretchy fabric, just going in enough to feel the lacy waistband of her panties. He's waiting for her to push him off, to tell him to stop. It doesn't happen, instead she weaves her fingers through his hair and lifts her hips half an inch off the quilt so he can use his hand to pull the fabric down over her hips.

Daryl pulls back so he's kneeling on his knees to take her pants all the way off, and gets a good look at her in her in her black underwear and beige bra. He's quiet, taking it all in, even with a raging hard-on. Beth rises up on her elbows, looking at him looking at her. Zach never did this—he was more of a 'get it in and get it done' kind of guy, and that was fine, that was kind of what their relationship was. "You're pretty."

She blushes and thankfully with this light Daryl can't see it. She pushes herself up, their faces only inches away, her legs still spread on either side of him. He leans in and kisses her, moving his hand around to her bra to unhook it. He's not embarrassed when it takes him a few tries, it has been a while since Merle threw a girl at him in some dingy biker bar.

The bra falls from her arms and Daryl can't help but look down. Her breasts are smaller than he's used to, but they fit Beth just fine.

He's not expecting it when she grabs his belt and quickly undoes it, tossing it in the direction of their other clothes before popping the button his jeans and pushing them down. She giggles a bit at his underwear—they're bright blue, not what she was expecting. "Always thought those were Rick's."

"Don't talk about him right now."

She leans forward and kisses him again, deeper, her hands on both of his cheeks while she leans back; bringing him with her. With the hand that wasn't supporting his weight, he moves down to the black fabric, fumbling past it to the inside of her thigh, lightly running his fingers on the soft skin. Beth lightly moans against his lips, moving her right hand down his neck, lightly rubbing at the skin. Daryl moves his hand up, rubbing at the black fabric, he could feel the wetness through it; he breaks the kiss so he can watch her as he slips a finger in, rubbing at the skin of her lips. Her breath catches in her throat as he moves his hand out, moving to the lace at the top and rolling it down on her hips. She moves her hips and legs so he can remove the godforsaken fabric to the pile beside them.

Then his fingers are back to her pussy, two of them moving up side-by-side on the lips as he pulls away from the kiss, watching her as he moves the two fingers to ghost over her clit.

"Daryl, please." She whines, eyes closed, back flat against the softness of the quilts.

"You sure?" He asks one more time, moving his slick fingers up her thigh.

"Yes, just…come on." She opens her eyes a little, looking at him. "I mean it."

He nods and leans back, pushing his bright blue underwear down. They were his favorite pair but now that Beth was making fun of him, he might have to get rid of them. He doesn't even bother pulling them all of the way off, instead he drops down over her, his left hand supporting himself above her as his right hand resting lightly on her hip as he pushed in slowly.

"Good?" He asks.

Beth leans up and kisses him, fingers going to his hair. "Yeah, just…go slow."

Beth pulls her tank top from the pile shortly after, pulling it on as Daryl rolls over on his side, watching her in the candlelight. "You ain't gonna ignore me are you?"

She laughs and shakes her head. "Nope. You aren't gonna ignore me are you?"

"Maggie probably beat me if I tried."

"She'll probably beat you anyway."

He sighs. "Prolly."

"You should get dressed, I need to get back inside before daddy finds out I'm gone."

The next couple of days go by without much going on, Daryl and Beth had met in the guard tower two times since the first night, the first time was just to talk, since they could hardly ever get a moment together, the second time was a less awkward sensual goodbye before Daryl left on a scouting mission with Glenn, Michonne, and Tyreese. There was a Supercenter that they wanted to check out; see if it was worth it.

Beth now knew what Maggie went through when Glenn went away on runs. She didn't have enough of an emotional connection to Zach to worry this badly. Zach was kind of just there; the only real reason she agreed to be his girlfriend was because he was cute and they were about the same age. They didn't have much in common other than a sex drive.
But with Daryl, she found herself worrying every second she was awake, she could hardly keep her mind focused on anything but Daryl—what if something happens to him, what would she do without him. It was weird being this wrapped up in another person—especially Daryl.

Judith interrupted her thoughts by pointing to the door telling Beth she wanted to go outside.

"Wanna go see the piggies?" Beth asks.

"Gies!" Judith recites with a smile.

Judith thought the pigs were hilarious, every time one of them did something other than just stand in the mud she erupted in a fit of giggles, which made Hershel and Rick laugh too as they worked in the garden.

It's not long until they hear the truck approaching the driveway, walkers moving quickly towards the vehicle, and Rick starting to run down to the gate to let them in before they had a buildup on their hands.

Beth watches patiently, trying to make out how many people are in the truck, she can see two in the front, but none in the back. Her heart beats a little faster, she knows she shouldn't get worked up over something that's that far away, besides the back windows on the truck are darker anyhow, not like she could see.

The truck pulls up the driveway, parking in front of the entrance to the prison, Rick jogging up behind them.

The two doors closest to Beth, the two she could see, open and Tyreese and Michonne climb out, both of them heading into the prison. Oh God, what if it was Glenn? Maggie would die. The driver door opens and the person gets out and Rick yells something at them before being cut off from view.

Judith pulls on her hand, causing her to look down. She's pulled some grass out of the ground and is handing it to her. "Oh, thank you Jude." She smiles, taking the few pieces of grass into her hand before looking up. Glenn, Rick, and Daryl are all walking towards them, Rick and Glenn are laughing and Daryl has his normal Daryl look on his face. Thank God no one was hurt.

"Boys." Hershel smiles as they approach the garden. "Glad you made it back."

"Thanks Hersh." Glenn smiles. "Wasn't too bad, actually. Lot of walkers at the Supercenter, but we've got it rigged like the Big Spot with the stereo to lead them away if we go back."

"If?" Hershel asks. "It look run down?"

"No," Daryl shakes his head. "All we saw was a broken window. No sign of anyone trying to get in. Too many walkers."

"We'd need a big team; like all of us. If it's still 100%, who knows what's in there. It's a huge store." Glenn states, looking at Daryl.

"Need to get in and out quick. Divide and conquer—all that bullshit." Daryl looks at Beth quickly. "Prolly have some baby stuff too, medicine, food. Toilet paper—that prison one-ply is the worst."

"Yeah, a literal pain in the ass." Glenn adds. "I think it'd be a lot of work, but we should try it. Get some of the new people to help, they need to learn this stuff, we can't baby them forever."

Rick nods. "We'll take a vote, but I bet it passes. Sold me on the toilet paper." He claps his hand on Daryl's back before entering the garden. "We'll do it tomorrow. It's getting late."

Daryl runs his finger along the bars of Beth's cell as she writes in her journal. "Miss me?" He asks.

"No." Beth continues writing in her journal.

"Damn."

"I'm kidding, of course I did." She closes the journal and looks up at him. "You miss me?"

"When I had the time."

"Busy?"

He nods, moving into her doorway. "Glenn might be Asian but he sure ain't that good with electronics."

"Daryl."

"Took him at least an hour to figure out how to hook up the damn speaker."

"Least he did it."

"Guess so."

"I wanna go, Daryl."

"Where?"

She sighs. "On the run. I've never been on one."

Daryl shakes his head. "No way Hershel or Rick is gonna let you go."

"Glenn said you'd need all the help you could get. I'm volunteering."

"Don't work like that, not with you."

"You said there was baby stuff, who knows what Judith needs more than me? I'm with her every day all day. I can do this, Daryl. With how you've been training me. Please."

Daryl knows she's right, she could do it. It's not like she'd be clearing the whole store by herself, she'd have someone with her. "I'll talk to Rick. No promises."

The next day Daryl prepares his argument to let Beth go with them on the run to the Supercenter. Truthfully, he didn't want her to go, he would be distracted the whole time worrying about her even though he was well aware she could hold her own.

"Need to talk to you." Daryl sits down in the council's meeting room while Rick moves the chairs back into their spots. Sometimes the kids came in here to do school work. It didn't happen often, but when it did the room was a disaster afterward.

"About?"

"The run."

"Haven't taken the vote yet."

"I know." Daryl moves in his chair. "Beth wants to go."

Rick lets out a chuckle as he pushes Hershel's chair in. "Why?"

"She knows what Judith needs, don't she? She's the one that watches her while we all go off and do other stuff. Do you even know what size clothes she wears?" Daryl asks, he doesn't mean to sound rude; but he felt it was a valid question.

Rick supports himself on the chair; thinking. "No, I don't."

"See? She needs to come, knows exactly what she needs, probably knows what the other kids need, too. Toys and shit. She can handle it, Rick."

"Who is gonna stay with her?"

"I will."
"No, I need you in the weapons department."

"How you know there's gonna be weapons?"

"It's a Superstore in Georgia, Daryl, there's gonna be some kind of weaponry. Not very good, but we'll take what we can get." He sighs. "She can go, but I'm putting Tyreese with her. She doesn't leave his sight."

"Fair enough."

The run passed unanimously, not that it was surprising. They've taken on walkers in this amount before; getting to the prison, clearing it, going out on runs. It was a skill they had acquired.

The Supercenter was a little less than halfway from the prison to Macon. Michonne had passed it on her excursions out, but never went in because of the amount of walkers on the outside. In a way, it was a lot like the Big Spot, except no military safe zone outside its doors. Just a bunch of dead people guarding the entrance.

Daryl was leading the caravan of cars—three in total, not including his bike—to the Supercenter, it was easier that way, so he could weave in and out of broken down cars if need be. Beth wishes she was on the back of his bike, late spring air flowing through her hair, but instead she sat squished against Maggie in the back of Rick's SUV.

There were five of them packed into this car, with Tyreese in the passenger seat and Glenn sitting next to Maggie.

The car behind them held Bob, Sasha, Michonne, and two others, and the car behind them was full of newcomers that volunteered; a grand total of sixteen.

With the radio playing some awful CD they found in a car luring the walkers away, they made it in the Supercenter without anyone dying. Hardly any of the walkers paid attention to them pulling their cars quietly into parking lot and as close to the door as possible. The ones that did were promptly killed off by Sasha's assault rifle before they even thought about breaching the buffer zone.

The inside was another story, the Supercenter had become home to about two dozen walkers, they looked like people who had come in right when shit was hitting the fan to get supplies, only to be bitten before they could escape. There were items on the ground that supported this theory. Since they hadn't eaten in a while, they were easy enough to kill, Beth even got in a headshot with her knife without anyone's help; thankfully her knife didn't get stuck this time.

They all stood in the main area of the Supercenter. It had two sets of electronic doors which they couldn't get to budge, so they had to climb in through the broken window, it would make getting things out a little harder, but they had such good luck until now, it would almost be unfair for them not to have some trouble.

Sasha and two of the newcomers, David and Cara were standing at the door as guards, making sure nothing got in that wasn't supposed to.

Rick and Glenn were on toilet paper duty, along with other cleaning supplies they might need at the prison.

Bob, Charlie, and Sierra were to get everything from the pharmacy as well as the items that Dr. S had listed for them so they could better stock the infirmary.

Michonne and Nadia were to get food; all of it. Anything that wasn't opened or noticeably spoiled was coming with them.

Marc and Chloe were to get clothes, shoes, and check other places in the store for batteries when they were done.

Maggie and Daryl were on weapons and flashlights, which Daryl kind of dreaded. He liked Maggie, it was just awkward with Beth.

Beth and Tyreese were to get Judith new clothes first, stuff that would fit her now and stuff that would fit later. Batteries in the electronics were second on their list, and then if they had time they were to circle back to the baby stuff and load up on anything else Beth thought they might need; whether it be smaller clothes in case a new baby came, formula, diapers, anything.

Beth and Tyreese each had a cart, the wheels squeaking as they headed to the back of the store. She thought about running back there to get it done quicker, but she thought Tyreese would only want to run if necessary.

"What size she in?" Tyreese asks as they push their carts onto the carpeted areas that outlined the baby and child section.

Beth looks at the clothes, hardly touched. Judith was the first priority, but with everyone coupling up; Tyreese and Karen, Glenn and Maggie, some of the newcomers, there was bound to be a new baby at some point. "Just grab one of every size."

"One of everything?" He asks.

She nods. "Yeah, you never know. Besides, when are we ever going to have luck this good again? We have nothing but room at the prison."

"That's true."

They can hear Michonne and Nadia shoving things into their carts, the food section was right across from where they were, as Tyreese and Beth grab one of everything from the racks, shoving the items in their carts. Pajamas, socks, cute little dresses, jeans. Judith would be set for a while and they wouldn't need to make clothes for her.

Beth looks up and across from the baby and toddler section is the intimates and sleepwear. No one even thought to grab this stuff, and if any of the other girls in the prison were like her, they were sick of wearing the same bra every day. They were right there, while Tyreese was grabbing some toys and smaller clothes just in case, she could easily run over there grab stuff for everyone—Daryl had said he hated the prison issue boxers, hence his beautiful blue boxer briefs he lifted from a house a while back.

As they got closer to the edge of the baby section, Beth turned to Tyreese as he was hurrying through the racks. "I have an idea."

"What?" He asks with a laugh. "Am I going to get in trouble with Rick? I got strict orders to keep my eye on you."

"No, it's just." She throws pair of dinosaur pajamas into the cart. "The girls need underwear, like bras and stuff, you know? No one thought to send someone to get them and they're right there."

"You want to take a detour?"

She nods. "It's like five feet away from the baby toys, you could load up on that stuff and I can quickly go get some bras and stuff."

He adds some more clothes to the basket. "Ten minutes." He stops. "And then I'm coming to help you, those prison boxers make my thighs chafe."

Beth smiles and takes her cart over to the underwear, throwing random stuff in. Packages of underwear in all different sizes, bras too. She knew Maggie was going to jump for joy when she saw the new stuff.

That's when she saw them; a pair of white panties with little black motorcycles all over them. Daryl would love them; hell, she thought they were cute. And with the way the three pair she had were starting to get a little threadbare from constant wear, she thought they would be a major step up. She digs through and finds two pair in different sizes that could fit, because she had no idea what size she was anymore, and threw them in her bag. She looked through the other bins, finding stuff she knew she and Maggie (and grossly enough, Glenn) would like and tossed a few of those in her bag as well. There was nothing wrong with her taking a few nice things for herself and for Maggie.

She turns her back, looking at the brightly colored bras to see if she could find one that fit better than her beige one she stole from Maggie a while back when the clasps on hers broke. She finds a couple in white with brightly colored lace and really pretty aqua color when she senses Tyreese behind her. Her ten minutes were probably up and he wanted to get going.

But then she smells it—the unmistakable scent of rotting flesh and dried blood. She turns quickly, dropping the two bras to the ground and grabs her knife. Luckily, it's on the other side of the cart, she could yell, Tyreese was twelve feet away throwing a baby doll in the cart for Judith, but she decides to take this on her own.

With her knife at the ready she pushes the cart at the walker, making it slightly lose its balance, but it's not enough to knock it over like she planned. Instead, it snarls and reaches its hands at her as it walks around the cart.

She takes a deep breath out and lets it come to her before she grabs the collar of its blue work shirt and holds it steady as she shoves the knife in the temple with a loud groan. It falls on the cart, getting blood on some of the underwear packages when she pulls the knife out.

Beth pulls it off the cart, some of its rotting flesh getting caught on the wires. "Gross." She wipes the blood off the knife on the walker's shirt before putting it back in her holster and grabbing the bras off the floor when Tyreese walks over.

"Did this just happen?" He asks as Beth puts the bras in her pack.

"Yeah, it snuck up on me." She breathes in deeply. "Took care of it."

"Any more?"

She shakes her head. "Nope."

Tyreese is visibly impressed, he saw her take one out earlier, but he didn't know she had it in her to do it again. "Think you've had enough of privacy then. Let's finish up here and move onto the batteries or Rick'll kill us."

Maggie hops over the counter back in the hunting section while Daryl watches. "It cleaned out?" Daryl asks, nodding his head towards the gun and ammo cabinet behind the counter. It was a little taller than Maggie and covered in glass. Inside were a couple of rifles used for hunting and the ammo for all of the guns in both that case and the guns under the glass that was built into the counter.

"Locked up." She bends down to look under the counter. "Don't see a key, one of those walkers outside probably has it."

"It glass?" He asks.

"Think so. We could probably break it."

Daryl nods and lays his crossbow on the counter before shrugging off his leather jacket and handing it to Maggie. "It'll protect your arms."

"Thanks." She nods and puts it on, a little taken back by how heavy it is. "How should I break it?"

"Use the butt of your gun, tap the glass."

She pulls the gun out of the back of her pants and raises it to the glass.

"Wait."

Maggie looks over as Daryl turns and heads down the aisle one up from where he was standing. "What?" He doesn't answer, instead walks further down grabbing two pairs of safety glasses. He slips a pair on while he walks back up to her, extending the other pair. "Don't want you to get glass in your eye."

She breathes out a laugh and takes the glasses and slides them on. "Okay, ready?"

"Yep."

She swings the butt against the glass, cracking it. "Easier than I thought."

"Better you get cut on that than me." Daryl grunts as she pushes her leather clad arm against the glass, pushing the shards inside.

"Such a gentleman."

"You're the one who hopped over that counter like a goddamn Easter bunny."

Maggie rolls her eyes. "Bring that cart over here?"

Daryl does what he's told, pushing the cart over to the counter as Maggie sticks her arm in and undoes the lock. "You do this, I'll get some of them cleaning kits over there."

"Good idea."

They both do their respective jobs; Maggie carefully loading the cart with the cheap rifles and ammo, and Daryl grabbing what he could that was close enough by. He would've gone down the aisles, but he didn't want to leave her by herself. He was pretty sure there were no walkers inside the store, they had all come to the front when they came busting in.

"Think I got it all." Maggie climbs over the counter again. "No idea if any of this ammo will go with the stuff we've already got, but at least we have it."

Daryl takes a quick look in the cart at the blue and red boxes of ammo sitting in the cart, mixed in with bullet pullers and cleaning wipes. "Should fit at least some of it."

"Wanna see what else is around here?" She asks, grabbing the empty cart, leaving the heavy one for Daryl; she had done enough heavy lifting.

"Ain't that our job?"

They head down the first aisle, it's mostly sports equipment. Maggie throws a couple basketballs in the cart, the ones at the prison were deflated and at least fifteen years old. She watches Daryl walks in front of her, looking at things but not grabbing anything. She's nosy and she knows she shouldn't meddle, but her curiosity was getting the better of her. "Can I ask you somethin', Daryl?"

"Somethin' tells me you gonna ask even if I say no."

"Is something going on with you and Beth?" She asks, turning away from him in case he turns around. She didn't really want to see the annoyance on his face.

"What?" He asks with a laugh.

"You two hang out a lot, is all."

"No, nothing." He lies.

"Oh." She grabs a blade sharpener off the shelf and throws it. "It's just you two never really talked before."

"Teaching her to use the bow, nothing else." He lies again as he turns the corner to lead them into the next aisle. He was going to keep his relationship with Beth—whatever it was—to himself for now. He didn't need Maggie breathing down his neck.

When Beth and Tyreese get to the front of the store, Rick and Glenn are packing their stuff into huge plastic bins.

"Find anything good?" Tyreese asks as he gets one from the pile for his and Beth's loot.

"Yeah, toilet paper." Glenn smiles as he rips into another package. "No more prison one-ply for a while."

"Between that and the underwear Beth and I found, this is the best day my ass has had in a while."

Beth laughs as she starts to take clothes off the hangers, throwing things into the bin.

It's not long before more groups start to meet them in the front of the store and start loading their own hauls into the giant bins while Rick went around with a permanent marker and wrote what was in each bin and where they were to go when they unloaded back at the prison tonight. Clothes—laundry, weapons—front room, medicine—infirmary, toilet paper and cleaning supplies—laundry, food—kitchen, other (batteries, books, flashlights)—library.

The cars were full—too full, if that was even possible. They had one bin that didn't have a place to go. Beth looks at the car she rode in on the way here and then looks at Rick. "If you put the seat down in our car, you can fit that last bin in." She tells him. "The seats aren't all connected, you can put one down without putting the other down."

"Where are you gonna ride?" He asks. "Maggie's lap?"

"I can ride on the back of Daryl's bike."

Rick looks over at Daryl. "That okay with you?"

"Don't bother me. Rather it be her than Glenn."

"Help me get this in the car then, Daryl? Then we'll head out."

"You good, girl?" Daryl asks as Beth climbs on, wrapping her arms around Daryl.

"Yep." She smiles, sliding against Daryl, her pack and his crossbow heavy against her back. "Ready to get home and shower."

He grunts as Rick honks the horn in his car, the signal it's time to go.

Daryl heads out of the parking lot, speeding up as the walkers that had pushed themselves against the cars in the lot came stumbling towards them. Beth holds onto his middle as he makes the sharp turn up the small incline, stopping at the top to wait for Rick's grandpa driving to catch up with him.

"I got you something." Beth tells him over the loud engine.

"Don't think I can fit in clothes made for Judith."

"No!" She laughs. "But you'll like it."

"Ain't nice to tease."

"I'm not teasing." Beth tells him as Rick finally makes it to the incline. "Guard tower, tomorrow night?" She asks as Daryl takes his feet off the concrete.

"Sounds good to me."

"You're with me today." Maggie enters Beth's cell and leans against the filing cabinet. "Rick said we have to go through all of the clothes. Sort and inventory."
Beth groans as she gets off her bed. "Lucky us."

"Yeah, there's a lot, too. And all of that underwear you scored for us? I'm so excited." Maggie smiles.

"Actually, I was going to give you these last night but we got back late." Beth lightly pushes her sister out of the way with a friendly shove and grabs her backpack, unzipping it to get to the pile of stuff she had grabbed for Maggie. Some of the stuff she had gotten her sister matched the stuff she got herself, it was just quicker that way, especially since her interruption by the walker and Tyreese being a couple feet away. She knew he wouldn't ask questions about why she was shoving four sets of underwear in her bag at a time, but she felt that she had to get it done quickly so she could help Tyreese gather stuff for the guys, which is where she found the stuff for Daryl.

The excitement was still running through her when they got everything loaded into the front room of the prison. She wanted to go see Daryl, but Hershel had caught her when she was coming from getting a shower and wanted to know everything about the run.

By the time her daddy stopped asking questions, the candle in Daryl's room was already out so she closed the privacy curtain to her room and went through the stuff she set aside for herself, Maggie, and Daryl. She put Maggie's back in the bag and the others in her bottom file cabinet drawer where no one would find them.

"Hopefully they fit; I guessed." She hands over the pile and rezips her bag.

"Bethie!" Maggie sets the pile on the cabinet's top and starts looking through the stuff, holding it up so she can see it. "You're so sneaky. Tyreese didn't notice?"

"No." Beth laughs. "Even if he did, I don't think he'd care."

"Thank you." She smiles and hugs her sister, bright orange underwear in hand.

After they drop Maggie's undergarments off in her cell, they head the laundry room where three and a half bins of stuff waited for them.

Beth slaps a notebook and a pen on the large table that stood in the middle of the laundry room. "You're older, how are we doing this?"

"I guess just pick a bin and go through it. We have to remove all of the tags and stickers." She pushes one of the blue bins over to the table and pops the lid, the bin is full to the top, she's surprised the lid even went on. "This is going to take forever."

Beth would take an item out of the bin, mark it down in the chart she made in her notebook, then hand it off to Maggie who would remove the stickers and tags, then add it to the pile on top of the washers; they'd fold everything in one go.

"Did you like going on the run?" Maggie finally asks after they had gotten a rhythm down. She knew Beth liked to get used to something before adding in the confusion of talking. Maggie used to annoy her when she did her homework by asking her questions while Beth sat at the kitchen table with her books sitting in front of her. Beth would start out asking Maggie to be quiet, and eventually it turned into a yelling match that Hershel and Annette had to break up while Shawn looked on laughing with Maggie at their annoyed little sister.

"Yeah, it was a nice change." Beth picks up another shirt, a pink flowy tank top with grey hearts all over. She was probably going to try and get this one for herself. "I love Judith but there's only so much I can take."

Maggie laughs as she pulls the tag off another shirt and throwing it into a bag. "And you got to ride on the back of Daryl's bike. That's fun."

"Yeah." Beth didn't say anything else, just slid the pink top over and pulled out another one. She knew where Maggie was going with this and honestly she didn't want to talk about it.

"He's been teaching how to use the bow?" She asks, looking over at her baby sister.

"Yeah, it's not as easy as he makes it look."

"You like him?"

"What?" Beth asks with a laugh.

"Daryl…do you like him?"

"He's nice, yeah."

"That's not what I meant and you know it."

"We're friends or whatever, Maggie. It's nothing."

"Okay." Maggie mumbles.

It took nearly all day, with a small break for lunch, to go through all of the clothes in the laundry room. Beth's arms hurt from folding and organizing, the lukewarm water from her after dinner shower helped a little, but not much.

Daryl had slipped her a note that said he would come by in about an hour and a half to get her so they could go to the guard tower.

Her bag was packed; candles, a lighter, and Daryl's new underwear.

Beth had drawn the privacy curtain closed about twenty minutes ago, but still hadn't decided what to wear over her motorcycle panties and new bra with the pink lace. She stood with her feet in the pink slippers Maggie had gotten her who knows how many months ago, looking in the mirror. It was weird to see herself in a bra that actually fit, it was weird to see the small, fading marks on her skin left by Daryl's lips and teeth.

She can hear someone moving around outside her cell and decides she needs to get dressed now before someone barges in her room and sees her standing half naked staring at her love marks.

Daryl walks behind Beth, watching the braids in her ponytail bounce around from the rest of her hair. He couldn't wait to touch it, her hair was always so soft and smelt like fresh picked raspberries and vanilla.

When she reached the door a couple steps before him, she turned and smiled widely at him. "You have the flashlight, you go first."

He snorts. "More like you want me to go first in case there's a walker."

"Well you are a big strong manly man." Beth teases as Daryl pulls on the handle to the door. "With your muscles and flannel and motorcycle."

"Keep it up." He teases right back, leading the way into the tower.

"You want your present now or later?" She asks as Daryl lights the three candles around the room.

"Ain't you my present?" He asks.

"Well, I guess." She smiles. "But I got you something at the store."

"Don't matter." He hands her the lighter and toes his shoes off. "Didn't need to get me anything."

"You're always getting me stuff, it's my turn to get you something." She drops the lighter in the bag. "Besides, you needed this."

"Now's fine." Daryl wouldn't admit it, but he was kind of excited. He couldn't even remember the last time he got a gift.

"Thought so." She digs in her bag and extends the package of boxer briefs to him. "I know it's not much, but you said you hated the prison issue."

Daryl smiles. "Thanks." He never thought he would get this excited over underwear.

"You like 'em?"

"One of Judith's diapers would be better than the prison boxers, so yeah."

"I got something else I think you're going to like." Beth tells him, dropping her bag on the floor.

"Yeah?" Daryl asks, dropping his package of underwear on top of her bag.

She nods. "Before I got those for you, I was looking at stuff for me." She unbuttons her jeans and starts to shimmy them off. "And I saw these and I immediately thought of you."

"Huh…" Daryl watches as she kicks off her jeans so she's standing there in a loose tank and stripey socks that don't match.

Beth pulls her tank top up, revealing her flat stomach and a white bra that nearly matched her skin. She feels a little strange standing in front of Daryl in her underwear while he's fully clothed and staring at her.

He steps forward and places his hand on her hip, moving his thumb over the band. Just when he thought he'd hit his excitement over underwear for the day. "I like these." He moves his other hand up and runs his finger over one of the small black motorcycles.

"You do?" She asks, moving her hands to his jeans, running her fingers over the frayed waistline.

Daryl chuckles a bit as she pops the button and unzips the zipper, letting the old jeans fall to the ground with a thud.

"No bright blue underwear?" She asks with a fake pout.

"They're dirty, got prison issue on."

She giggles as Daryl removes his hands from her hips and lifts his t-shirt over his head. It's discarded to the floor quickly then his hands are back on her hips, guiding her over to the mess of blankets as they step out of their jeans, Beth looking down to make sure she doesn't trip.

Daryl removes one hand and shoves his white boxers down before lowering himself onto the blankets, pulling her closer to him. "You ever been on top?" He asks, his voice low.

"What?" Beth asks. "No."

"You wanna be?" He asks before pressing a kiss on her hip, right above the white band of her panties.