First of all, I am so sorry it's been so long since an update! I want to get back to regular ones now that I've got a better idea of where to go with this story. Thank you for your patience and for bearing with me, and thank you to those who commented with words of encouragement and pushed me to keep this going! :) I sincerely hope it was worth the wait, and I hope you enjoy.

Her eyes fluttered open to birdsong and blue skies, the world washed clean, her and Daryl right along with it. She giggled quietly at that little thought, a soft silly smile lighting up her pale face as her eyes flickered up to the snoring redneck beside her. Beneath her, really, since they were a tangle of limbs, and she was splayed over his thick broad chest. She snorted a laugh as a snore loud enough to startle a foghorn rumbled out of him, fitting back a fresh wave of giggles when he jumped and damn near startled himself.

He blinked sleepily, squinting at the bright sun lighting up her up with a golden halo behind her, before tossing one arm over his face and grumbling lazily. "Morning, Beth," he drawled, that sweet low rumble she was never gonna get enough of anymore.

She giggled, delicate fingers coming up to trace slow circles over his chest as she peaked up at him beneath sooty lashes. "Good Morning, Daryl," she whispered back, all blue eyes and blonde curls and sweet smiles after the night they shared and the day yet to come.

Because, if there was one thing she was certain of, as she shifted her weight to innocently slide her soft thigh along his thick erection, it was that they were going to have quite a day exploring this delicious new side of their relationship.

But the growl rolling up out of her belly brought her thoughts up short, and she blushed crimson when that arm raised up and he peered down at her with a grunt of amusement, eyebrows raised clear to the sky. "Ya tryin' to tell me somethin', woman?"

Then she was a mess of giggles once more, sprawled all over him, lounging like a cat in the sunshine while he rolled his eyes and shook his head and tried to hold back a smile. "I'm hungry," she said breezily, her giggle breaking off in a shriek when he rolled her on her back and hovered less than an inch above her.

"Me too," he growled back, rasping in her ear, and then he was a trail of fiery kisses from her neck to her navel and back up again, leaving her breathless and aching as she wrapped her arms and legs around him and tried to hold on tight.

His darkened eyes met hers as he grasped himself and stroked his head over her clit, teasing himself in the wetness of her slit as her breath stuttered in her chest and her heart pounded so loud she was sure you could hear it miles away. She bit back a whine, arching her back and shifting her hips as he continued to tease, slowly, oh so slowly, until she was a breathless please, Daryl and he was sliding right on in to her core, right on in to home.

She tossed back her curls with a soundless "oh" as he worked into her slowly, hips driving almost lazily as he smiled down into rays of sunshine while she twined her fingers through his hair, watched the way a bead of sweat dripped down the tip of his nose to leave a salty trail down her breast. Then her belly was tightening in that oh so familiar sensation, and her mind was spinning, and his hips were snapping, and she was drowning in pleasure, drowning in Daryl, drowning in love in the sweet morning sunlight.

She came quietly this time, but it was no less impactful in its sweet culmination, and she was whispering his name like a prayer in his ear as he shuddered and grunted and lost himself in the wet softness that was Beth in the morning, wrapped around him like a vine, loving him like he was the last man on earth.

He kissed her lazily, sloppy from their passion, a mess of lips and tongues and teeth until he was hardening in her once more, until she was shifting her hips and her nails her digging into his shoulders and she was begging him please and he was thrusting again as they chased their passion and collapsed once more, a little louder this time, coming together and forgetting for a morning all the death and destruction hovering just outside the barn doors.

They'd dozed once more in each other's arms, ignoring the insistent rumblings of their aching bellies, naked limbs beneath rough wool blankets, a mixture of breath and sweat and sweet nothings in each other's ears. But the sound of the click clack of boots on the wood floor had them shooting up in alarm, and Daryl's crossbow came face to face with something Beth had yet to even consider a possibility in this world anymore.

Her eyes were bright, face a mask of equal parts horror and fury, while she cocked the pistol and gestured it wildly at the face of Beth's man. Her own man hovered behind her, a wide grin splitting open his face, eyebrows raised clear to the sky as he clapped his hand on his head and lowered his gun.

"Care to tell me what your doing with my sister, Daryl?" She ground out fiercely, eyes determinedly not drifting further south than the naked chest peaking out of the blanket wrapped around his waist.

Tears streamed down Beth's face as she burst into an overwhelming combination of laughter and sobs, and she leapt from the floor without a stitch and wrapped around her sister like an octopus. The gun clattered to the floor and they collapsed together in a whirl of tears and sighs and you're alive and Daryl, really Beth and you're alive once more, until they were so caught up they didn't even see the two objects of their affection as they slipped from the barn and headed out to hunt for their meal, clapping each other on the back and exchanging a series of exaggerated wagging eyebrows and eye rolls and grins.

Beth pulled back from Maggie with a happy sigh, squealing as she remembered her state of undress and quickly got to her feet and yanked on her top and jeans.

Maggie was laughing, her arm curled around her belly as she wiped the tears from her eyes. "It ain't like it's something I haven't seen before, Bethy," she teased her with a wide grin, before a look of disgust passed over her face and she blinked up at her with wide eyes. "Oh god, and apparently now neither has Daryl. Daryl. Really, Beth?!"

Beth only grinned back, smile so wide it just about touched her ears, and casually shrugged her shoulders with a twinkle in her eyes. "If it makes you feel any better, I had to twist his arm more than a little to get him to come running," she teased, bursting into another fit of giggles that left tears in her eyes at the look of pure horror lighting up Maggie's face.

"Ew, seriously Beth? I do not need all your dirty little details," she teased, rolling her eyes when Beth only laughed more and plopped down to sit cross-legged across from her on the dirty floor.

Maggie took each of Beth's hands tightly in her own, holding her so hard and squeezing her so tight Beth's fingers began to throb with the force of it. "But seriously, Beth," she said quietly, eyes searching as she scanned Beth's face. "He didn't… I mean, you both… It's not-"

But Beth caught her off with widening eyes and a fierce shake of her head, blushing crimson as she reassured her sister. "Oh no, Maggie. It's not- he didn't force me or take advantage of me or anything. I… You know Daryl, Maggie. You know the kinda man he is."

Beth blushed hotly when Maggie rolled her eyes and mumbled about how she now knew more than she'd ever needed to know walking in on them like that, but she pressed on, eyes flashing as she thought of all Daryl did for her, all he meant, all they were to each other now. "I love him, Maggie," she said softly, a dreamy smile on her face that turned into a full blown grin when Maggie said well, it certainly sounded like you enjoyed him, and then they were a fit of giggles once more, holding each other tight and whispering about boys like it was years ago and they were up in the attic of the farmhouse, instead of at the end of the world curled up on a dirty barn floor.

A little while later they were holding hands and swinging their legs from where they'd climbed up in the rafters of the barn, sharing their stories of how they'd each made it this far. "So Daryl got you out of the prison?" Maggie asked, face carefully expressionless as she watched her feet go back and forth, back and forth, over the floorboards below.

Beth swallowed back the thickness swelling in her throat, nodding as she squeezed Maggie's hand with her own. "Yep. It was hard, Maggie, so hard for both of us." And then it was spilling out of her, the silence, the lodge, Wally and the men and burning it down to the ground, the fights, and then last night in the rain. Maggie just swung her legs and held on to Beth's hand, eyes soft as their mother's as she stroked back the hair from Beth's face, gave her a shoulder to lean on in the tough parts, gave her laughs at the funny ones.

They sat in silence for awhile, each lost in their own recollections, until the boys walked in with arms full of a nice little buck they'd tracked down for dinner. "Ya'll didn' think to keep the fire goin', I see," Daryl said with mock annoyance, rolling his eyes at the titters drifting down from the rafters above.

"It would have been the least they could do, seeing as we left them to giggle while we went out and found them dinner," Glenn joined in, setting to work on the fire while Daryl set to work on the skin.

"Ya bein' awfully generous with the term we I see," he teased, eyes flashing as Glenn huffed in annoyance and he tried to bite back a smile. Until he glanced up once more and came face to face with Beth's smiling eyes and sunshine grin as she strolled up and planted a big kiss right on his salty, cracked lips.

"Thanks for being my hero and bringing us dinner, Daryl," she said loudly, chest puffed out proud as can be with a twinkle in her eye, ignoring the ew and get a room from behind her.

But his face was all soft and sweet, his eyes all serious and steady, and she was leaning in for another kiss when he whispered to her. "Anything for you, Beth. Anything at all."