Faith

Beth left Daryl alone for the first day and a half. They ran for hours through the forest, ducking and dodging the walkers that were far and few in between. It seemed like every walker within earshot of the prison had started heading that way. They farther they ran from the prison, the less walkers they had to deal with.

Beth didn't complain about how badly her legs ached, didn't say she wanted to just stop for a moment, didn't tell Daryl she needed him to be with her right now.

Daryl didn't say anything at all the night the left. He just stopped runnin' eventually. The entire night, Daryl's intense speed never faltered. Beth struggled to keep up with him, but she somehow was able to keep him in her line of sight the whole time. She kept prayin' in her head that he would look back to check on her and see her struggles to match his pace. But he didn't look back.

Even when Daryl sat down next to her, wrapping his arms around Beth as she sobbed into her elbow, neither of them spoke. She tried to control herself for him, wiping her eyes on the dry part of her sleeve. Daryl lifted her slightly and laid back in the grass, taking her down with him. She turned into him, stretching her arm over his chest, tucking her head into his shoulder. The hand that Daryl had placed on Beth's back traced circles gently, soothing Beth. She shut her eyes and sniffed, and the exhaustion that she felt all afternoon melted into sleep.

When Beth woke up the next morning, it took her a moment to realize why she was in the middle of the woods. She didn't wake up to Daryl holding her this time. She propped herself up with her hands, looking around for him, finding him sitting up against a tree, crossbow at the ready.

Once Daryl saw she was awake, he stood up. "Let's go," he told her, the first thing he'd say since they left the prison. Beth climbed to her feet, every muscle in her legs aching, and picked up her rifle, following him quietly, just thankful they weren't runnin' anymore.

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Daryl had wondered how long it would be before Beth spoke to him. It turned out that Beth kept her mouth shut for almost two days, even when Daryl told her what to do, what they needed to make a half-assed camp.

Daryl had spotted a snake early the next morning. He was quick to slice its head off and skin it while Beth used a a broken mirror to get a fire going. After he cooked the snake, he cut it in half, handing a piece to Beth. She didn't take it.

"I need a drink," Beth spoke finally. Daryl bit down into the snake meat, letting her ramble on about how she never had one. She suggested that they find someplace for her to get booze. Daryl kept eating, wanting to tell her alcohol wouldn't solve any of their problems.

He even let her walk away from the camp. She didn't look back at Daryl as she walked away, his knife in her hand. Daryl gave her a few moments, waiting to see if she'd turn back, and when she didn't, he stood up and grabbed his bow.

He quietly tracked her, watching his steps carefully and seeing that she kept East. Barely ten feet later, he spotted her and three walkers through the dense tree line, watching as she feverishly threw as a distraction. Daryl kept his bow lined up to take out the walkers, but her distraction worked. The walkers staggered to the side, following the sound. Daryl took a quick steps toward the blonde, accidentally giving himself up when he snapped a twig with his boot.

After that, they bickered back and forth. When he led her back to camp, she cussed and flipped him off, trying to turn away.

He grabbed her hand, yanking her back. "Hey! You had your fun," he told her.

Beth snatched her arm from him and made no hesitation to snap at him. "What the hell is wrong with you? Do you feel anythin'?" Beth asked, eyes wide, like she was looking at a stranger.

Daryl had let Beth down, probably more than anyone else that they lost. His throat felt tight from the cold look she gave him. Daryl let Beth holler at him. He deserved a lot worse than what she was throwing at him.

"I can take care of myself, and I'm gettin' a damn drink." Beth said, leaving the camp again. Daryl didn't wait to follow her after her this time.

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"Just kill it!" Beth pleaded with Daryl, wanting to go back inside.

After a piss poor attempt at finding booze at a country club, Daryl took her to a moonshine shack he'd found once with Merle. He wasn't gonna let her first drink be some damn peach schnapps.

Daryl hadn't been drunk in a long time. Beth didn't have to say much to convince him to have some moonshine with her. The alcohol made him fuzzy and raw with emotion, heightening his feeling of self-hatred. He was too aware of how badly he fucked everything up. And of course he showed Beth that he was an even bigger asshole than before.

"C'mere, Greene," Daryl taunted the blonde, "Let's pull these out! Get a little more target practice."

Beth pulled her knife out, stomping over to the walker and putting it down. "What the hell you do that for? I was havin' fun!"

"No, you were bein' a jackass!" She told him. "If anyone found my dad-"

"Don't!" He barked at her. "That ain't remotely the same."

"Killing them is not supposed to be ifun!/i" Beth scolded him.

He walked closer to her. "What do you want from me, girl, huh?"

Daryl kept moving closer towards her, and Beth didn't flinch away, getting back in his face. "I want you to stop actin' like you don't give a crap about anything! Like nothing we went through mattered! Like none of the people we lost meant anythin' to you! It's bullshit!" She cried out.

"Is that what you think?" Daryl asked her, disgusted with himself.

"That's what I know." Her voice broke, a few tears rolling down her cheeks.

"You don't know nothin'." Daryl said, lying to her face.

"I know now that when you look at me you just see another dead girl." She told him, causing Daryl to scoff in disagreement, but she continued. "I'm not Michonne, I'm not Carol, I'm not Maggie." She spat the other woman's out. "I survived and you don't get it 'cause… I'm not like you or them! But I made it! And you don't get to treat me like crap just because you're afraid 'cause you love me!"

Daryl wondered how long his face had been hot, and he wasn't sure if it was the booze warming him up, or Beth putting him in his place. "I ain't afraid of inothin'./i" Daryl growled at her.

"I remember." Her voice shook as she spoke. "When that little girl came out of the barn. After my mom? You were like me," Beth told him. Daryl's eye never left her as she spoke to him. "And now God forbid you ever let anybody get to close."

"Too close, huh? You know all about that. You lost your boyfriend and never even shed a tear! Your whole families gone, and all you can do is go out looking for hooch like some dumb college bitch!" Daryl snapped, waving his arm in emphasis.

"Screw you, you don't get it." She said, shaking her head at him. "It ain't fair for you to treat me like this, Daryl!"

"No, you don't get it!" He yelled at her, tossing her cross bow to the ground. "Everyone we know is dead!"

"You don't know that!" She argued. They were back in each other's faces, both flushed red, both upset and drunk.

"Might as well be, 'cause you ain't never gonna see'm again!" Sweat was dripping in little beads down Daryl's face. Beth let out a choked sob, still standing her ground.

"Rick," He reminded her, shoving his finger at her. "You ain't never gonna see Maggie again!"

"Daryl, just stop," Beth asked, reaching for him.

"No!" He barked, shrugging her off and looking away. "The Governor rolled right up to our gates." His breathes were quick huffs. "Maybe if I wouldn't have stopped lookin'," his voice broke as he admitted his rejects to Beth. "Maybe 'cause I gave up. That's on me!"

Daryl," Beth reached out again but he shrugged her off, refusing to look at her.

"No," Any strength Daryl held in his voice throughout the conversation was gone, feeling pathetic. "And your dad? Maybe- maybe I could've done somethin'." He cried out.

Beth couldn't take it anymore. She leaped forward, embracing him from behind. She held him close, feeling his body move with each sob. Beth held him for a long time, until Daryl was only sniffling and wiping his face. It was Daryl who broke the hug, turning around and picking up his crossbow. He moved past and went inside.

Beth followed him in, watching him put his cross bow back down and picking up a mason jar of moonshine, taking several gulps to finish it off. Beth picked up a jar, mimicking him, but not knocking it back as easy as Daryl.

"Disgusting," Beth shuddered, shaking her head. "C'mon." Beth grabbed his hand, pulling him over to the couch. The both sat down together. Daryl felt a little more confident with more moonshine in his belly, turning towards her. She pulled her feet up and crossed them, looking up at Daryl.

"All that stuff you said about yourself," Daryl finally muttered, "All the stuff I said to you last week at the prison," he stopped, shaking his head. "Ain't none of it true. Weren't right of me to speak to you like that, you never did anythin' wrong.

"I ain't ever thought of you as a dead girl. I was tryna to do right by you, Beth. I ain't the man you like to think I am." He sighed, looking away. He felt a little dizzy. "I ain't right for a girl like you."

Beth's eyes were wide, drinking in every word Daryl said. "I know exactly what kinda man you are," she told him. "and I think you're wrong. Daddy would've agreed with me. I think you're just the thing I need."

Daryl shook his head in disagreement. Beth didn't give up. "Daryl, I know you aren't perfect. That don't matter to me. Don't you know I love you no matter what?" Her petite hand found his own, curling around it. His hand felt electrified and she trace over the lines on it.

Beth looked up from his hand, looking into his eyes. "And I know you love me, too. Even though I'm not like Michonne and Carol and Maggie."

Daryl shifted his shoulders, clearing his throat, thinking carefully of his response. "I love you 'cause you're Beth. Wouidn't want it any other way."

After the sun went down, Beth tried to open one of the windows to let the cool air in, only to find it closed. "Well, crap." She said after a moment.

Daryl smirked at her. "You done cussin' now?"

Beth rolled her eyes. "I'm sorry I sweared at you. A lot."

Daryl laughed. "Almost couldn't take you seriously hearin' them words comin' out of your mouth."

"Hey!" Beth said, laughing too. "I was really upset with you!"

"Yeah, I know," He told her, standing up from the couch and grabbing two opened jars of moonshine. "Hey, c'mon."

Daryl walked over to the rooms screen door, managing to open it with moonshine in both hands. The cool air rushed into the room and Daryl stepped outside, sitting on the edge of the deck. Beth followed suit, sitting across from him, taking one of the jars on moonshine. She took a swig, getting used to the burn in her throat, starting to enjoy it.

"I get why my dad stopped drinkin'," Beth spoke, now that she'd experienced the ups and downs of alcohol in her first sitting.

"You feel sick?" Daryl asked, thinking maybe there was somethin' in the kitchen that she could eat to settle her stomach.

"Nope. I wish I could feel like this all the time." Beth admitted. "That's bad."

"Hmm," Daryl agreed. "You're lucky you're a happy drunk."

"Yeah, I'm lucky. Some people can be real jerks when they drink." Beth shot him an accusing glance, sticking her foot out to kick his leg playfully.

"Yeah. I'm a dick when I'm drunk," Daryl told her, as if she hadn't learned the hard way. He was playing with his knife, carving out squares on the wooden deck. "You wanna know what I was before all this?" Daryl asked her, staring at her face, wondering how her skin always seemed to shine, even in the moonlight.

"I was just drifting around with Merle… doing whatever he said we we were gonna be doin' that day." He was quite and spoke a little softer. "I was nobody. Nothin'. Some redneck asshole with an even bigger asshole for a brother."

"You miss him, don't you," Beth said. It wasn't a question. Beth missed Merle, too. And Carol. "I miss Maggie. I miss her bossin' me around." She let out a laugh. "I miss my big brother Shawn. He was so annoying and overprotective." She laughed again, thinking about how much her siblings used to get on her nerve, and how she'd give anything to have them back now. "And my dad."

"I thought- I hoped he just lived the rest of his life in peace, you know? I thought… Glenn and Maggie would have a baby, and he'd get to be a grandpa," She drawled out. "And we'd have birthdays and holidays and summer picnics. And Daddy would give you the same speech that he gave Glenn one day. And he'd get really old. And it'd happen, but… it'd be quiet. It'd be okay. He'd surround by people he loved." She looked up at the sky, laughing at herself, feeling her eyes burn with tears. "That's how unbelievably stupid I am." Her voice squeaked and she laughed at herself, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. She picked up her mason jar and took a long drink, sniffling afterword.

"That's how it's supposed to be." Daryl told her, hatin' that she felt stupid for wanting a nice life for her family.

"I wish I could just… change." She told him.

"You did," Daryl insisted. She definitely wasn't the same girl he met when Carl got shot.

"Not enough. Not like you, it's like… You were made for how things are now." Beth confessed.

"I'm just used to it, things bein' ugly. Growing up in a place like this," Daryl said, pointing at the house.

"Well, you got away from it." Beth said proudly.

"I didn't." Daryl disagreed.

"You did!" Beth insisted.

Daryl grunted. "Maybe you gotta keep on remindin' me sometimes."

"No," Beth said, using his own words against him. "You can't depend on anybody for anything, right?" Daryl said nothing. "I'll be gone someday," She told him.

"Stop." Daryl said immediately. Considering that wasn't even an option for him right now.

"I will." She said with a shrug. "You're gonna be the last man standing." Daryl didn't look convinced. "You are!"

Each of their eyes swarmed with affection for one another. Beth never wanted to forget this moment with Daryl, never wanted to forget how a drunken fight turned into heartfelt confession to one another all night. Beth rested her head back on the side of the deck, tilting her head a little, not taking her eyes off him. She smiled softly at him. "You're gonna miss me so bad when I'm gone, Daryl Dixon."

Daryl looked down, knowing she was right. If somethin' ever happened to Beth, if he lost her, he knew it would eat at him for the rest of his life. "You ain't a happy drunk at all."

"Yeah, I'm happy, I'm just not blind." Beth corrected. "Daryl… You gotta stay who you are, not who you were. Places like this… you have to put it away."

Daryl looked out into the yard. "What if you can't?"

"You have to. Or it kills you," Daryl looked back at her, constantly amazed by the girls wisdom.

"We should go inside." Daryl said after a while of lookin' at each other.

Beth's eyes lit up as she had a better idea. "We should burn it down," She grinned at him, giggling at the idea. Daryl had been carving up a wooden pole on the deck before standing up, grabbing his jar of moonshine.

He stepped towards the door and looked down at her before opening it. "We're gonna need more booze."

Beth grinned, astonished that she took her up on ridiculous offer. She watched him go inside, biting her lip thinkin' about how lucky she was to have Daryl be the person she found after the prison fell. She pulled herself up, legs feeling a little wobblier than she wanted to admit, but hell- she was pretty drunk.

Daryl was waiting for her with two bigger jars in his hand, handing one to her when she reached him. He twisted off the jar and started splashing the moonshine around the room. Beth did the same, coating the walls, the couch and the curtains.

They did this with jar after jar until there was only one jar left, and the room overwhelming reeked of booze.

Walking out into the front yard, each of them tossed their empty glasses on the porch, each of them shattering.

"You wanna?" Daryl asked, hanging her the matches.

"Hell yeah," She mused as Daryl pulled a wad of $100 dollar pills out of his back pocket. He had picked it up during their stop at the country club. Beth struck a match, holding the flame under the cash until the fire seeped onto the cloth, slowly spreading out over the bills. Beth shook the match to extinguish the flame.

Then Daryl tossed the flaming hundred dollar bills onto the porch, the house quickly igniting. Beth took a few steps back from the house, while Daryl threw the last mason jar of moonshine onto the fire, watching the deck's fire grow bigger.

Beth and Daryl stood at the path that led into the forest. Beth watched the house burn up and stuck her middle finger up in the air. She looked over at Daryl, who smirked at her, tapping his arm and gesturing to her finger. Daryl held his hand up high and flipped off the house, too.

They stood like that until they saw walkers come around from behind the house.

They turned to leave, Daryl placing his hand on the small of her back before reaching down and grabbing her hand and pulling her close to him. His moved his other hand from his bow strap to placing it on the back of her neck. He leaned down with an unfamiliar confidence and locked his lips on hers. He felt her smile wide, wrapping her arms around his neck (mindful of the cross bow) and pushing herself onto her tippy toes, bringing them closer together. Each of them had closed their eyes, and one of Beth's hands played with Daryl's hair. Beth made happy little hums as they kissed, and Daryl could feel the vibrations on his own lips. Drunk and happy, the couple kissed until their lips were swollen. When they broke apart, Daryl moved his arms around her waist, picking her up and spinning her around. She squealed happily and he steadied her back onto the ground. The interlocked hands and walked into the forest for the night.

Daryl Dixon thought maybe he was the luckiest man in the world to have ended up with Beth after everything.