Show Me a Life With Blood and With Beauty

I sat there with Beth holding both babies and on the verge of crying. Daryl walked off after he let me go, and was gone a really long time. It started getting dark and he still wasn't back. I picked up the babies and helped Beth to her feet. 'Come on.. we should get inside.' - Beth shook her head and walked inside with me. I looked around, and I didn't think it was just the fact Daryl was drunk that set him off. I think it was a combination of being drunk, the questions, and the environment. Daryl said when he brought the moonshine out of the shed that his dad had a place just like this. I think the reason he overreacted was of the memories it brought back. I couldn't begin to imagine what he went through, as a kid. I broke down thinking about it. He has marks all over his back, which he thought that I'd think less than him because of them. I kept tracing each one with my fingers and said 'You're perfect. Imperfections are what make us unique. I'm sorry this even happened to someone like you. Nobody deserves that treatment.' He sort of smirked to me. 'Nah I'm not that perfect. Not even the bit special.' - The sound of the door being pushed open brought me out of my memory.

Daryl pushed the door open with a grunt. I breathed in and looked down at my daughter. My lip begin to quiver, because what would Daryl come up with now? I knew he didn't mean those things he said, the simplest things can bring up memories. I've suffered from depression before all this shit happened and these people dying didn't help that at all. The day Daryl found me I seriously thought about ending it all, I just couldn't get away from Daryl long enough to do anything. He watched my every move, it was creepy I thought but hey he saved my life up til this point. I have a daughter and she's changed my entire outlook on life. Anytime I wanted to give up my mind wondered to her. She needs someone to protect her and Daryl couldn't do it all on his own, true he was a great dad but yeah nobody should have to take on the burden of being a single parent. He just sat in the chair and couldn't look at us. I was going to ask if he was okay until Beth touched my shoulder and whispered something in my ear. Daryl must have seen it because he got all defensive again 'What cha all saying about me now?' - I looked back at Beth and at Daryl 'Nothing, we're just talking about moving on down the line. Ya know? Get out of this place.' - He just grunted. 'If you guys want to go then we go.' That night I tried to find a comfortable place to sleep in the tiny space and curled up into a little ball and drifted off to sleep, if you could call it that. I remember being woken up by someone shaking me. I saw that it was Daryl. 'Wha- what's the matter?' - 'You were screaming in your sleep and not the good kind. It was like you were in trouble.' - I just looked at him and went and felt the sweat making my clothes stick to my skin. 'What were you dreaming about?' he asked holding me. I sat there looking and knew exactly what I was dreaming about. I looked down at my hands and then up at him 'I dreamed that I never met you, and that sick bastard left me there broken and bleeding and crying and those monsters were coming closer.' I burst into tears. He held me tighter and whispered over and over in my ear 'Don't worry I won't let anything ever happen to you.' I looked at Miracle laying on the small backpack. I leaned over and picked her up and sat there waiting for daylight in Daryl's arms. We stayed in the shed for a few more days, long enough so Daryl could get his grumpiness out.

We sat outside for one more day and decided we'd start out first thing in the morning. We sat outside and talked about our lives up until this point. Beth talked about her dad and how she wished he was still here and how she thought he'd die the natural way, and how she thought Maggie and Glenn would have their own children. I just kept looking at Daryl and he sat there listening to everything. Daryl spoke up and said 'You wanna know what I was before all this? I was nothing. Nobody. An asshole with a bigger asshole for a brother.' I knew that was sadly true but Daryl didn't need to blame himself. He went and told stories about him and Merle's misadventures. I could sense that was a touchy subject seeing as how his brother was murdered by the son of a bitch that destoried our home. I grabbed his hand and said 'Its okay.' He broke down and cried 'Maybe.. I could have done something. If I didn't look away.. I could have...' Me and Beth both looked at him and said 'Daryl it's not on you.' We heard moans getting closer and Daryl said 'We should get inside.' We picked up what we brought out, Beth was busy drawing and picked up her supplies and hurried inside. I was surprised that the babies didn't cry as much today. The three of us sat up together and we knew we needed sleep, but we also knew we needed to leave.

We sat up until we saw what looked like dawn on the horizon and we got ready to leave and Beth stopped us and said 'We should burn it down.' - Me and Daryl both looked at her like she was crazy, while she had a big smile on her face. 'We should burn it down.' She picked up a jar of moonshine and looked at it. Daryl got a smile on his face and carried the remaining jars out and lit something inside the shed and we each threw the remaining jars inside. Pretty soon the whole thing was in flames. Beth said this was us saying goodbye to our pasts and hello to our futures. She flipped the flames off and Daryl gave in yet again. We hurried off sure that the flames would attract walkers. We walked until the middle of the day and then we stopped for a break, I was exhausted to say the least. I wanted to curl up and sleep, but with no walls to keep out the dead we had to push on. We killed a few walkers if they walked into our path. Surprisingly me and Beth were pretty good with only one arm. We kept walking and walking until we had to stop for the night. I sat up most of the night holding my daughter watching Daryl just sit there listening for the slightest sound. 'You should get some sleep' I heard him whisper to me 'Nah, I'm fine.' I said. I couldn't really make out my daughter's facial features in the pitch darkness, but as long as she was breathing I decided she was fine. I leaned against the tree and just sighed. I looked at Beth asleep with Judith in her arms and looked at Daryl and said 'What life do you think these 2 have now? Do you think we'll ever be safe? Do you think they'll live til the end? Do you-' - 'Hey, don't talk like that. We're going to make it. I don't know how but we will, and these 2 will be perfectly fine as long as you both are around I don't see what could happen.' I smiled and tried to believe that, but since we've seen so many people die unexpectantly it was hard.

We waited for Beth to wake up and I fed both babies before our long trek to find potential shelter. We walked and walked and walked. The same old things. Daryl seemed to know where he was going, and he looked at the ground and I could tell he was tracking something just of how closely he was watching the ground. We took a mini break and got right back up and kept walking. Daryl ended up trying to teach Beth how to track and he stood back with me and had her in front. 'What are we tracking?' Beth asked him. 'I don't know you're the one who wanted to learn you tell me.' She looked at the foot prints in the dirt and said 'Well, the prints are all zig zaggy... so IT'S A WALKER!' she said with a huge smile on her face. 'Pretty soon I won't need you anymore.' I heard her say under her breath. 'Yeah..yeah. Just keep going' I heard Daryl say. Daryl had one baby and I had the other. He kept looking over at me and whispering 'Are you okay?' I shook my head and he let it go for a few minutes and kept asking over and over. I pushed on. Until we came up to this small campsite, and right dead in the center was a walker eating the flesh of an unlucky person. I started to cry and turned around not wanting to see the horror scene anymore and as I did so I heard a loud crunch sound and felt the pain go through my body and I realized I was on ground and I still had my daughter clutched in my arms. Daryl watched Beth struggle until she finally got the walker straight in the skull and ran over to me and asked me questions and I looked up at him as he pryed the trap off my ankle. I went to go try to get up but realized how badly I had falled and what happened. 'I think I broke my wrist.' I looked into Daryl's eyes and he looked at my wrist and saw that it was bruised really bad. 'I think it may just be bruised really bad.' - I used Daryl as a crutch and carried on.

We sat down that night and I was in so much pain but I pressed on. Nothing hurt as bad as labor, and I finally realized that saying was true. Daryl sat beside me and I just laid my head on his shoulder and realized I drifted off to sleep. He waited until I woke up the next morning and asked if I wanted to stay here or push on. I wanted to push on. We kept walking, same as the previous days before. Daryl had me use him to keep walking and whenever we rested he would check my ankle to see if it was infected or not. I tried to walk by myself and did a pretty good job at it, but Daryl still insisted on helping. We finally got to an open area and saw a building in the distance. I looked around and saw graves, all over. My stomach dropped. A graveyard and funeral home isn't the safest place to be during the end of the world. We realized this was our best chance. We hurried across the yard as best we could and Beth stopped and looked down at this one. 'A Loveing Father' was written on it. I went and grabbed Beth's hand and Daryl put his hand on her shoulder. I couldn't imagine what was going through her mind. We've all lost people but Beth lost her father. We got into the funeral home and it looked untouched. We walked around and we came to a room with a body in a suit laying on a table. Beth went up and touched it and it didn't move. 'This is beauitful' - Daryl looked at her and said 'Your defintion of beauitful is lacking girl if you think this counts.' - 'This is beautiful because whoever did this cared. They did this out of the love in their heart.' I kind of agreed with her, because who else would have gotten this close to one of those things. Me and Daryl walked around and looked at all the stuff that was in each room. 'We could be safe here..' I told him. He looked at me and shrugged his shoulders. - We realized we were alone in the room and heard Beth singing faintly in the other. I bit my lip and looked at Daryl. He looked in my eyes and whispered 'If you didn't have our daughter in your arms I'd throw you on this table and do unspeakable things to you.' I blushed. - I remembered we found a map with some places marked on it in one of the other rooms. 'Hang on..' I pulled the map out of my bag and put it on the table. 'Daryl there's a store marked on here.. what do you say we do a supply run? Just you and me.' His eyes shot up to me. 'Pretty sure I can swing Beth watching both babies while we go on a supply run. How long do you think it'll take?' - Daryl looked at the map and said '2 - 3 hours to get there, but more to get back.' He smirked at me and I slapped him on the shoulder playfully.

That night we slept comfortably and didn't fear the monsters outside of our door. Morning hit fast and Daryl was up early. I rubbed my eyes and sat up. 'Beth could you watch the babies for a little while? We found a map and there's a small store marked on here and we were going to check it out.' - Beth smiled at me with that iconic smile and said 'Sure. We just need to work on a secret knock or something so I know it's you guys.' - Daryl suggested just banging on the door and saying 'Beth it's us.' - Yeah really original I thought. I thought of like 1 knock a kick and another knock. So I'll knock, Daryl will kick the door, and I'll knock again. 'Sounds like a plan. - We hurried off to try to find some supplies. We walked for hours and talked about little things. I kept my eyes straight in front of me and Daryl started to lag behind. 'Come on Daryl.. we need to get there and back before dusk.' I knew he just lagged behind to watch me walk, hell his brain was in that mode. - He walked beside me and tried not to stare at my chest, my boobs were still swollen like hell and I knew he couldn't help but notice them. 'Daryl..' - He quickly looked at me 'Yeah?' - 'Keep your eyes on the prize big boy.' - He looked at me and laughed 'I thought you were the prize.' I playfully hit his shoulder again.

We finally reached the store and went inside and found a buggy and started throwing things that were easy to carry into it. I found little things like meds, water bottles, chips, stuff like that. I read the signs over the aisles and read one that said 'Babies' and walked down and found toys and little things. I started throwing little things into the buggy and I noticed Daryl wasn't anywhere to be found. I went and stocked up on other meaningless things and heard a random noise from behind me. I grabbed my knife and was ready and then Daryl came out of no where. 'Daryl.. I could have killed you.' - 'Sorry, I was checking the back and look what I found. He pulled out some baby harnesses. My eyes lit up. 'OH MY GOD DARYL! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!' and he put them in the buggy. I was about to turn back around to see what else I could find and he said 'Oh I also found these...' and I looked at the condom box in his hand. I blushed. 'Seriously? Here?' - 'Hey this was your idea girl.' Me and Daryl hadn't really had sex since a little bit after we found out that I was pregnant, come on a prison isn't really sound proof. I lef the buggy in the aisle and Daryl pushed me over to a counter top. My hands went directly towards his shirt and started to pull it off. He broke the kiss long enough to pull it over his head. His hands went directly to my shirt and he put his hands on my bare skin and I shivered. 'Daryl... wait' - He looked at me and said 'What?' - 'I.. well.. my scar and my stretch marks.. and can we leave it on please?' - 'What? Why? Cause you don't think you're sexy? You're plenty sexy girl.' - I gave in and started to pull my shirt off and I stood there in my pants and a bra which was barely holding me, apparently my boobs had gotten so swollen that the bra couldn't support them. Daryl struggled and finally got my bra off. I stood there holding myself and Daryl finally started messing with my pants and I grabbed Daryl's pants and unzipped them and we were finally standing there in front of each other with no clothes. 'Damn, you've still got it girl. Pregnancy worked great on you.' I blushed. I still had a bit of weight to lose, but Daryl saying this made me smile. He grabbed my ass and put me up on the counter top and lined up between my legs and looked in my eyes and said 'If you want me to stop just say it and I'll stop. Okay?' - I shook my head and he eased into me and I let out a low moan. He thrusted into me a couple times and I dug my nails into his back. 'Shit girl.. you're still tight.' I heard his animalistic sounds and I stuttered 'Harder..' and Daryl went even harder and faster with his thrusts. I sucked on his neck and he went and started kissing his way down my chest and started sucking on my breasts and I bit into the soft spot of his neck and moaned 'Daryl?' - 'Ye-yeah?- he said with a stutter 'I.. I love you' - 'I love you too.' - Daryl kept a single pace of thrusting in and out of me. I forgot how great sex felt. Daryl flipped me around to where my face was away from his and pinned me face down on the counter. I moaned and ended up crying from the extascy. After a while I pinned Daryl down on the floor and rode him until both of our orgasms hit. We stayed on the floor for a little while and figured Beth would be wondering where we were and we got dressed and headed on our way back to where we were. We got up and realized we both left hickeys on each other. I blushed and grabbed some extra clothes and a few new bras. We were out the door and back to the place we were going to call home for however long we could. Daryl looked at me and stuffed the opened box and an extra box of condoms into our bag. 'Wow Mr. Dixon you already planning another go around?' I said with a smile. 'Always.' He said with a smirk.

We arrived back to the shelther and heard the babies crying from inside. We knocked on the door and Beth came to the door with a smile. I went and grabbed my daughter up. 'Was she to much for you?' I asked Beth concernly. 'Nah. Well unless you count that she cried the whole time you guys were gone. What took so long?' - Me and Daryl looked at each other and said 'Uh well we ran into a few walkers and you know how it goes, you see one and then you see a whole bunch.' - 'Yeah...' I could tell Beth saw the marks. We pulled the buggy inside and went through everything. 'Oh man you got this?!' I looked at Beth's eyes light up when she saw the make up and coloring books at the bottom of the pile. Daryl glanced at me annoyingly. 'Yeah, I thought we could share the make up and coloring books. Ya know keep a peice of who we used to be before all this hit.' Beth hugged me tight. We celebrated what little materials we had because we knew that some people didn't get to even have this stuff in this damned world.