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I Will Follow You Into The Dark

Chapter 43

~Author's Note: So, some more fluff, some more stuff, and maybe a few "thangs"...sorry...I forgot, this isn't a story about Rick! Some of the things in this chapter might seem stupid and irrelevant, but I promise, they are leading somewhere. Hope you all plan to stick around! As always, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy! I love you guys!~


Beth perched on the bed beside him. Breakfast was done, and he was still asleep. He was usually the one awake first, the morning person, so he must have needed it...he deserved it. The opportunity was right there in front of her...it was too good to pass up. This would probably be a once in a lifetime chance knowing Daryl, so she looked carefully through the screen of the little digital camera, focusing on the image of Daryl she wanted to capture, and pressed down on the button. The bright light emitted from the flash even startled her...and she was expecting it. Daryl however...Beth found herself pinned under him, his arm pressed firmly across her chest as his eyes fluttered, adjusting to the half light in the room coming through the curtain...her camera discarded on the bed beside her. Her heart was beating so fast...she wasn't afraid, she just hadn't expected...it had been a bad idea from the start...

Beth gently rested her hand at the center of his chest, not pushing him away, just making a connection.

"Daryl...Daryl, it's me..."

His eyes finally opened all the way; he was fully awake, moving his arm and freeing her.

"Beth...what the Hell?" He was hoarse...clearly recovering from being startled, and she couldn't help but wonder if it had been something more than just the flash from the camera. "I'm...I didn't mean to..."

Daryl rolled away from her, onto his back, throwing an arm over his eyes like he was trying to block something dark and horrible. Their demons ran deep...there was no denying that. She wanted to ask him what it was, talk to him about it...help him through it...but asking might make it worse. If Daryl wanted to talk about it, he would. Instead, she turned over to him, took his free hand in hers, and waited. With Daryl, holding hands, it never really turned out to be her holding his...his hand always dominated the embrace which he went to so easily now...but her intent, her support and love, they were there.

"Beth...you okay?" He pulled his arm away from his eyes, glancing at her hesitantly, probably waiting for the worst.

"Umm-hmm," Beth flashed him a reassuring smile.

"What was that?"

"A camera."

"A camera?"

"Yeah...a digital one. I charged it yesterday...and it has its own printing dock and everything!" Beth had been so excited by the find.

"I thought we were gonna go easy on the electricity...Jeez, you gotta go and bring out a camera." His words were serious, but his tone wasn't.

Daryl sat up, leaning over her, grabbing the small silver camera from the bed.

"We're making a life...making memories...pictures are part of that, at least while we have the chance."

"Well, this memory's just gonna get unmade," Daryl asserted, pushing random buttons on the back of the camera.

"No, Daryl, don't!" She was desperate. She didn't want to lose that...she didn't want to lose him.

Beth grabbed for the camera, but her serious attempted quickly turned into a playful struggle as she realized Daryl didn't intend to erase anything. She could never win the struggle either way...his arms were too long and he was too strong...all she accomplished was pressing her body hard against him and being trapped in Daryl's possessive embrace until he stilled her.

"You want that picture?"

Beth shook her head. How could she not? That was the first picture she ever took of him. It could be the only picture. In the old world, pictures were important. Now they were an impossible gift.

"Lay back..." She shivered when she heard his husky voice and he released her from his grip.

"What...why?"

Daryl pressed a firm hand against her shoulder, forcing her back until her head was resting against a soft pillow and he was close over her.

"What's fair is fair..." Daryl answered just loud enough to hear.

"No...I look horrible...I'm a mess." Beth tried to escape, but it was no use.

"Shhh..."

Daryl gently arranged her mussed hair around her face, bringing some of it up over her shoulders, letting it spill through his fingers as he watched it fall.

"You said we're makin' memories...I wanna remember this about you...wakin' up next to you..."

Beth conceded.

After Daryl snapped more than enough pictures of her in her morning disarray, he fell down on the bed beside her.

"Come here..." he gestured, and she didn't refuse his offer. "Ain't no picture of me worth having without you in it."

She might not agree...but they needed a picture together.

The flash made it real.

"Kiss me..." Daryl was clearly having too much fun with the camera, but what did they have to lose.

Beth kissed him and hoped the camera could capture what she felt.

Beth struggled, pulling as hard as she could. She'd won the right to ride out with Daryl to check the fences; Daryl had given in, but she was losing the war with his crossbow. It was really chilly, but she was getting warm under her coat from the effort of trying to draw back the bowstring to load the stupid crossbow.

"Come on Lil' Bit, you can do better than that!" Daryl tried to motivate from his position behind her.

"I'm trying..." Beth really didn't want him to know how much she was struggling, but he did.
"Step harder into the stirrup."

His suggestion was genuine, but it wasn't like she wasn't doing that already. It was hopeless. She hadn't heard him get closer...he was so silent in the woods...but she felt his body press at her from behind, his hands coming to rest on her hips.

"I guess it would help if you weighed more than the draw weight of the bow," he offered.

Beth straightened, looking over her shoulder at him, unconsciously biting her lower lip, waiting to be kissed...but he was all serious, except for his hands...but she was probably misreading that.

"Let's focus, Beth...you were the one who wanted to learn how to shoot."

"Yeah...shoot, not load...I didn't know it was going to be this hard."

Daryl got a little awkward look on his face, and it took a second for her to understand why.

"Let's focus..." Daryl repeated. "Spread your legs."

"Umm..." Beth was confused. Hadn't he just told her to focus? "Are you serious?"

"Always serious 'bout my crossbow. Take your foot off it, and spread your legs."

Beth didn't question him again, removing her foot from the crossbow stirrup and widening her stance. Daryl's hands still resting on her hips were driving her to distraction. Daryl moved closer behind her though there was very little distance to close. That didn't stop him. Beth felt his chest pressing against her back, urging her to bend back down over the bow. His booted foot emerged between hers, stepping into the crossbow's footbed. That was the reason he wanted her legs spread...her mind really was in the gutter. Daryl reached around her, grabbing the bowstring on each side.

"Grab the string and pull," he instructed, his words almost seductive in tone.

Daryl barely made her pull at all, and just like that, the bow was cocked, and she loaded it. Daryl straightened, and she did too, but he was still so close that he was touching her. She once heard Shawn say that guys thought about sex at least five times a minute. She'd been worse than that the past few days with Daryl. Maybe there was something wrong with her.

"Now you're ready to go and conquer the world." He was so close she could feel his breath on her neck. "You got your target in sight?"

Beth nodded.

"Okay, take your aim, just like with a rifle, sight in your target...steady...take in a breath, hold...breathe out when you pull the trigger..."

The thrum of the bowstring being released and slight swishing sound of the bolt flying was much less startling than a gun, although she'd gotten used to those. Beth looked to find the bolt protruding from a tree, smiling at her success.

"Good...that was the tree you were aiming at?" Daryl praised before he knew the truth.

"Yeah."

"Good job Lil' Bit." Daryl headed down range to retrieve the bolt. "Okay, let's go again, make sure that wasn't just beginner's luck!"

Beth's continued success with shooting, not loading, left Daryl with something she could only describe as pride written on his face. She watched as he pulled her last bolt out of the tree. He examined it before he snapped it in two, letting it fall to the ground.

"What did you do that for?" Beth questioned, confused.

"Bolt splintered, ain't no good anymore. You can only use a bolt so many times before it breaks."

"Is it because of me...learning?" Beth would hate herself if she ruined Daryl's-their primary means of survival.

"No, doesn't have anything to do with you." Daryl touched her reassuringly on the shoulder before he took his crossbow back and reloaded it. "They're just being used too hard...too much. They're made for hunting, not constant combat. I'll need to make a run soon to..."

Daryl stopped, pointing for her to look. It was a doe, so pretty, standing just past the tree she'd used as her target. She couldn't take her eyes off the doe, and the doe, frozen, couldn't take its eyes off of them. Beth was waiting for it to fall, fatally pierced by one of Daryl's bolts, but it didn't. The serene moment was broken when one of the horses behind them whinnied and stomped, the deer, startled, bounded off into the woods, in turn, startling the horses. One stayed and one bolted, snapping is lead, heading back in the direction of home. Neither of them made a move to chase the runaway horse; they weren't going to catch it. Daryl glanced her way, looking all satisfied.

"Who lost their horse this time?" Clearly referencing her use of his ill-fated trip on the farm where he came back without his horse.

Beth rolled her eyes, not saying anything, deciding to just let him have his moment.

"Why didn't you shoot her?"

"The doe?" Daryl turned to her. "Didn't need her."

"But you're a hunter...and you're always pushing me to eat more than I can..." Beth was trying to work it out in her head.

"We've got plenty of food at the house. If we killed her, she's dead. We let her go. If she makes it, come spring, she'll have a fawn or two. In a couple years, there will be a few generations of deer on this land. In a few years, we might still be here, and we might need the meat then."

"Oh." It made sense. How was it now that she was thinking about the immediate, and Daryl was thinking about life in the long run.

Daryl headed back to their remaining horse, checking the saddle as she waited closely behind.

"I never got hunting as a sport. Two weeks out of the year, anyone can buy a license and go kill a deer whether they need it or not just 'cause they want to. But people who need the meat to survive ain't allowed to hunt any other time or they're poaching and get a fine...why in the hell would they be breaking the law to get food if they didn't have too? Ain't no money to pay that fine."

Sometimes when Daryl got like this, talked about his life before, she really didn't know what to say. She knew now that he was thinking, remembering because he was quiet as he went about his task, but she didn't have any words. Beth always felt really sad thinking how Daryl's life had always been cruel. His life had really been no different before everything fell apart. Sure there had been less killing and death, but to a certain extent, Daryl was more capable of fighting and killing than what he had to deal in his life before. The death part...in any world, that was hard to deal with. And maybe now, no, not maybe...Daryl was happy. By the time she focused on Daryl again, he was mounted, offering his hand down to her.

"Beth...you coming?" Had he already asked her? She'd been lost in thought.

Beth took his arm allowing him to pull her up onto his lap. One arm around her waist to steady her, the other taking the reins, Daryl clicked to the horse to move it forward. If ever there was a fairytale moment in their lives, this was it.

"I can ride behind you...I can ride you know..." Beth didn't want him to feel uncomfortable.

"I know, but I'd rather you be gettin' all cozy with me instead of the crossbow on my back. Ain't gonna have you get all bruised up by it again."

Everything was calm and beautiful as they rode the fence line, following it back to the house. No disturbances, no broken fence, no signs of walkers or people, the birds were singing, small animals were scurrying in the woods...it was like another world...untouched...untainted by reality...and that scared her. Beth wasn't stupid. She knew at any moment it could all fall apart...and she didn't know if she could handle it...again...

"Like I said, I need to make a run sometime soon. My bolts are weak," Daryl broke the silence, finishing the conversation the doe had interrupted.

The idea of a run flooded her with panic.

"Why...we have everything we need...guns, bullets, food..." Beth knew the answer, but her protest seemed vital with her knowledge that everything could fall to pieces...

"My bolts are weak...we don't have bolts. If we run, this is how we survive, how I fight...always has been." Beth knew it was the truth. That didn't mean the idea didn't scare her. "I need to make this run, and it's not up for negotiation."

Beth knew she wouldn't be able to sway Daryl on this one. It was out of her hands.

Notes

Comments

@Smokey85
Awww...thank you so much for coming back to read! You are amazing. I truly appreciate it!

Aireabella Aireabella
3/30/19

I am so happy you are back! I love your stories and always look forward to your updates! Thank you for sharing your work :)

Smokey85 Smokey85
3/26/19

@McDrogoInaNewWorld
So glad that you enjoyed it! It always makes my day when I can make people happy by doing what I love! Thank you so much!

Aireabella Aireabella
6/14/18

Yay!!! Another great chapter on the books, can’t wait to see what happens next!!

@blesdirishangel
Thank you so much for coming back to my fic and for your comment! I am glad that you love the update. You are amazing!

Aireabella Aireabella
6/7/18