Summary: Out on the road, constantly moving from place to place, things look pretty bleak for the family as every day the weather gets worse and Lori’s belly grows bigger. With dark clouds gathering overhead, they find shelter from the storm just in time. But as tough as things are right now, Beth knows that every cloud has a silver lining.
Rating: MA
Words: 3,971
“There’s a storm comin’,” Daryl murmurs. His head is turned up towards the dark clouds chasing each other across the sky. As if on cue, a faint crack of thunder rumbles ominously in the distance.
Rick’s piercing blue eyes flick from Daryl to the house in front of them.
“Looks like we found this place just in time,” He says in a voice rough from dehydration and through a jaw clenched from the tension that’s coming off him in waves.
A low hum of agreement chases Rick’s weary sigh of relief.
The sound of rustling leaves causes their heads to snap sharply sideways just as a lone walker emerges stumbling from the treeline.
Both men straighten instinctively, but before Daryl’s crossbow meets his shoulder or Rick’s palm curves around the grip of his Python, Beth is striding forward and swinging her axe up into the air. She brings it down hard on the top of the walker’s head, splitting it’s protruding skull clean in two and sending it’s rotting body tumbling to the ground.
Spinning on her heel, Beth strides back towards the car and the rest of the group. She finds Rick and Daryl staring back at her and looking a little impressed, but not remotely surprised.
“Jus’ like choppin’ firewood,” She quips.
The corners of her mouth curl up as she walks back past them and her eyes connect with Daryl’s.
Her gaze lingers for a brief moment before she pulls it front and focuses on the task at hand.
They’ve done this enough times that everybody knows exactly what to do. Maggie and Glenn are already making their way out of their car to head inside the house with Rick and Daryl.
Once the house is cleared the rest of the group make their way inside with practised efficiency. Nobody lets an increasingly pregnant Lori carry anything, shuffling her indoors to the sound of her huffed frustration.
Rick and Daryl secure the porch with wire traps and noise alarms that will alert them to any intruders, alive or dead, while the rest base themselves in the living room. The space is large and dusty, but nobody minds a bit of dust. They’ve seen their fair share of living rooms by now and they’ll take dust over blood stains any day of the week. There’s even a fireplace, which Beth and Carol start building. It’s not cold yet, but it will be freezing come nightfall.
Once the fire is lit and everyone is settled around it, Beth stands and places a gentle hand on her father’s shoulder.
He turns to her, blinking slowly with fatigue from weeks of moving from place to place far too quickly.
“Daddy, I’m gonna go upstairs and lie down,” She says softly, “I have a headache.”
Hershel’s face pulls into a frown, “You’ve had a lot of headaches since we’ve been out on the road.”
Beth swallows, eyes glancing around the room self-consciously, but nobody is looking at anything besides the crackling fire.
She meets her daddy’s eyes again and smiles gently, but doesn’t say anything. Her father will always worry about his youngest daughter, and deep down she will always appreciate knowing how truly loved she is. Even if it grows a little tiresome from time to time. After a long moment, Hershel sighs and covers her hand with his own.
“Okay, doodlebug, you go and get some rest,” He says, giving her hand a gentle squeeze.
“I’ll try,” Beth smiles, squeezing back before stepping away.
With a mindful tread, Beth makes her way up the staircase and across the creaky floorboards to the main bedroom. The door is open which indicates it’s already been cleared, but she still tightens her grip on the knife in her hand as she crosses the threshold.
Finding the room empty, she closes the door behind her and as she does so her eyes trail up the double bed, still neatly made by whoever used to live here. She spares a thought for the people that called this place home and hopes that they are safe wherever they are, be it in this world or the next. She wonders if someone might come across the farm someday and use its walls for protection against the elements and the dead.
Maybe someone is there right now, lighting their fire and exploring their bedrooms. That thought makes her heart ache.
A soft tap at the window steals her attention.
At first Beth thinks it’s the rain, which has started to fall in sheets, thrown against the window by the wind. Then she hears it again; louder and more deliberate this time.
Stepping closer, she sees a pair of bright blue eyes peering through the glass.
Eyes that send a bolt of excitement cracking through her like a whip.
Eyes that belong to Daryl.
She hurries to the window and unlocks it, pushing it open and letting the rain splash against her face.
“Thought I’d come see if you needed some Tylenol or somethin’,” Daryl rumbles from where he’s perched on the roof, windswept and wet with water dripping from his hair, “For y’re headache.”
“Or somethin’,” Beth grins as she grabs him by his leather vest and drags him through the window.
Before he’s even fully inside she’s already covered his mouth with hers and claimed his lips in a heated kiss that’s hot and wet and demanding.
He falls through the window with uncharacteristic clumsiness, following her lips blindly into the room as his feet slide across the window sill and onto the floor. There’s a squeak of rubber against wood as his boots clamber for purchase and his huge hands find her waist, not to hold her to him, but as though he needs something to hold onto.
The warmth of his lips and his palms rolls through her like a wave, sending her blood coursing hot and too fast around her body.
When they break apart and pant into each other’s open mouths, Daryl’s eyes sear into hers with a fire she feels between her legs.Then a strong gust of wind throws more rain through the window and into their faces, prompting him to turn and pull it closed behind them.
When he turns back, Beth is edging slowly backwards. His eyes drop to her belt as her hands find the buckle and tug it open before throwing herself back onto the bed. His eyes descend lower still as she toes off her boots to land on the floor with a soft thud. Leaning back, Beth pushes her jeans down her thighs, freeing her soft skin from the tight denim she’s been wearing for over a week.
Daryl’s nostrils flare as water drips from his leather vest onto the floor by the window, lip caught between his teeth.
Some might think he’s hesitating, but they’d be wrong. Beth knows he’s just waiting. Waiting for her explicit invitation.
He knows she wants him. She knows he knows; Daryl doesn’t miss a thing. Still, he always waits. He always checks. It makes her stomach flutter knowing nothing will happen in this room without her say so. When, in her short little life, has that ever been the case?
He remains stood by the window, motionless, transfixed, until she extends her arm to beckon him closer. And then he’s off like a shot.
As Daryl strides across the room, Beth rolls into her front, pushing up on all fours and crawling up the bed. Turning her head, she blinks owlishly at him over her shoulder, lips parting on a grin as his nostrils flare again on another heavy exhale. Seeing her want mirrored back at her makes her stomach flip.
She watches him place his crossbow at the foot of the bed and then feels the mattress dip as he comes to kneel behind her.
“You wan’ it like this?” He asks thickly, eyes tracking down the curves of her body in front of him. His voice is low and rough and she feels each syllable vibrate down the back of her neck.
“Yes,” Beth nods before leaning forward to rest her chin on her forearms, arching her spine and pushing her ass up in the air in front of him. She hopes that invitation is explicit enough.
Apparently it is – because the next thing she knows is Daryl’s heavy palm coming down to give her ass a little slap and force a soft moan from between her lips. The growl he emits in response makes her eyelids flutter.
The flutter rolls down her spine as he pulls her panties down her thighs and strokes his hand across her bare cheeks. She pushes back into his touch, all heat and rough calluses as he squeezes her ass before dipping between her legs and curling his fingers up into her centre.
Beth moans softly as his questing fingers slide between her lips and push inside.
She’s already wet in simmering anticipation and his fingers glide through the evidence of her arousal as he enters her.
She could come like this, around his knuckles. It wouldn’t take long. But she wants more of him than that, and he knows it.
Her clutching entrance makes a sucking sound as he starts to move his fingers in and out of her wet hole. She feels herself stretch as he pushes and twists, widening her in preparation, getting her ready. She can feel his breathing getting more laboured as he slides his digits in her growing wetness and her walls squeeze him desperately in response.
“Y’re so wet,” He whispers breathlessly, trailing his fingers along her damp slit before pushing them back inside. She doesn’t miss the awe in his voice as her cheeks grow hot with it.
“It’s for you,” She whispers back huskily, her mouth suddenly dry, tongue flicking out to wet her lips, “It’s all for you, Daryl, fuck.”
As her walls give a warning pulse, Daryl pulls his fingers all the way out of her and she bites back a whine at the ache they leave behind.
She knows he won’t keep her waiting for long. The jangle of his belt fills her ears as he hastily fumbles to get it undone. Her pussy throbs with raw need in anticipation of what’s to come and when his hot palms curl around her thighs she pushes them farther apart eagerly. Desperately.
How long has it been since he was last inside her? Since they started doing this? Not long enough to justify the deep ache that’s screaming between her legs or the burning need she feels for him to fill it; to fill her with himself.
She chokes on a gasp when his cockhead finally nudges her begging pussy lips.
He doesn’t waste his time and she’s grateful for that because they don’t have any time to waste. This is a stolen moment and like their lives, it could be cut short.
Beth blinks and then finally he’s inside her; hot and hard as he buries himself in her slick walls. They both let out a satisfied groan as their bodies slot together and the frenzied ache disappears in an instant. Now there’s just a shared desire, bodies working as one to chase their release, each and every movement sating the need making their skin burn hot against the cool air of the borrowed bedroom.
As Daryl starts to move, Beth can’t help the array of sounds that bubble up from behind her lips anymore than Daryl can help the way his dick twitches at every single one.
Beth’s moan starts as a soft whimper but grows louder with every inch of his throbbing cock that drags across the back of her clit, and when he thrusts and buries himself to the hilt she can’t stop herself from keening his name high and needy.
“Daryl!”
She feels his hands tighten on her thighs when his name spills from her lips a second time.
“Quiet, girl. They’ll hear,” He hushes, voice pulling tight with panic.
“I can’t help it,” She pants wildly, arching her spine and pushing back to take more of him.
“When you do that,” Her breath catches as he thrusts forward to meet her, sinking even deeper inside her, “It feels so good, you make me feel so good.”
Daryl growls in response, bitten nails pressing into her skin as his fingers tighten around her hip bones and pull her closer still.
“Jesus, Beth, ya gonna be the death of me,” He groans, pounding into her and filling the air that surrounds them with the repetitive sound of skin hitting skin.
Beth tilts her head back as she feels a quickening inside, pooling hot and thick at the base of her spine.
“Ain’t anythin’ left to live for now anyway,” She says as her eyes fall closed on a hard thrust.
“There is,” He says breathlessly, “There’s this. There’s you.”
The last part comes out so low it’s barely audible and Beth almost doesn’t hear it, as though maybe he doesn’t want her to. But she does hear it, and it tugs at a thread inside her, unravelling something entirely unexpected.
Yes, there’s this. There’s you.
Turning, Beth grabs him roughly by the back of the neck and presses the most bruising kiss to his lips. The rhythm of his thrusts falters as his mouth parts on a moan. His hand slides into her hair and holds her face against his as he kisses her back fiercely, sloppy and with too much teeth as his desperation mirrors hers.
She fists her hand in his hair and moans around his tongue as he snaps his hips up into her, causing the simmering heat in her pelvis to flare throughout her body.
When they break apart, gasping for breath, she turns and grabs hold of the headboard.
Wrapping her hands around the wooden bars, Beth pushes back to meet his next thrust, slamming herself hard onto his cock.
“Jesus Christ,” Daryl grunts as his grip loosens on her canting hips and his hands slide under her vest, caressing the body that moves between them as she ruts back against him.
Sliding his trembling hands up to cup her breasts, the calluses of his huge palms drag across her nipples and turn them into hard points that sing against his hot skin. As Beth’s fluttering walls tighten around his cock, a shudder rolls through him and rips a broken moan from his chest.
“Now who needs to be quiet?” She teases on a gasp.
With a growl, Daryl leans forward, caging her in with his arms and burying his face in the back of her neck. He muffles his next moan against her skin and she feels it trickle hot down her spine.
His mouth is gentle as it moves again her skin. He’s so strong; there’s force behind his touch more powerful than the storm building outside. But when his skin meets hers it’s more gentle than she could ever have imagined, his mouth and his hands running over her skin like it’s something to be savoured.
She can feel his breath searing the back of her neck, his pulse hammering in his veins where his chest is pressed again her back, his body buzzing with a frenzied excitement that borders on fear.
The very real fear that they could get caught. That someone could climb those stairs and walk through the door as his cock disappears between the apex of her thighs. She can’t even comprehend the consequences of what they’re doing right now. They’re risking it all every time they do this. And they keep risking it all every time they get the chance, because this is the first thing that’s made either of them feel alive since the farm fell. Since the whole world fell apart. Somehow Beth just knows that Daryl feels the same way she does. That this makes him feel alive in a way that nothing else does in this new world full of death. That this is worth the risk, to feel truly alive even for just a moment.
It’s forbidden, yes, but it’s shared, and right now, it’s the only thing Beth really gives a fuck about.
Reaching beneath their joined bodies, Daryl finds her clit with his rough fingers and begins to rub furiously as she fucks herself on and off his cock. Within seconds, her thighs start to shake and her knees buckle. She falls forward and he follows her, pounding her into the mattress and grinding her against his fingers as he keeps circling her pulsing clit.
Even as he pounds into her from behind his lips are tender against her skin. She doesn’t know which touch is responsible for taking her apart; whether it’s his cock driving into her pulsing cunt, his rough fingertips rubbing her swollen clit, or his tongue as it swirls across the bare skin he’s sucked into his mouth on a broken moan.
The combination shatters all of the tension in her body and when she comes, she screams. The sound is absorbed by the mattress as her whole body tightens and shudders with her release.
With a strained moan, Daryl yanks his cock out of her constricting walls and pulls up onto his knees
“Shit, m’gonna come,” He pants.
Rolling over and pushing up on her palms, Beth springs up off the mattress towards him.
Daryl chokes as she suddenly grabs him by the hips and buries his cock in her mouth. Hollowing her cheeks as she sucks hard, Beth bobs her head and moans around his shaft, but not for long. Within a minute his hips are shuddering to a stop in her grip as he starts to come.
He buries his teeth in his lip, biting back a moan as she sucks him deeper and swallows his cock as he spills his load down the back of her throat. Beth reaches between his legs to cup his balls and roll them in her palm, swallowing his cum, before leaning back and letting his cock slip from her mouth.
Licking her tingling lips, she presses a kiss to the tip of his spent cock and the whimper that follows drags her eyes upwards.
Daryl’s pupils are pulsing wildly when they connect with hers, blue searing into blue. His hand comes up to cup her face and tilt her jaw up towards him, panting heavily through his open mouth as he stares down at her.
“You didn’ hafta do that,” He croaks, thumb absently brushing across her swollen lips.
The thought that she did that to his voice sends a fresh wave of heat rolling down Beth’s spine.
Blinking slowly, she pushes up on her knees, bringing them face to face. Daryl’s hand curls around the back of her neck as she edges forward and lessens the distance between them.
Her tongue flicks out to lick her lips and roll around the taste of him that lingers in her mouth. She doesn’t miss the way that Daryl’s hot blue eyes drop and follow the movement, his chest expanding broadly on a deep inhale.
“I wanted to know what you taste like,” She says, a little huskily, “An’ now I do.”
When Daryl’s eyes fly up to connect with hers he looks completely wrecked.
There’s a beat and then he’s pulling her forward roughly and crashing their mouths together. Beth gasps and he pushes his tongue between her parted lips, hand tightening on the back of her neck as he dives hungrily into her mouth. She can still taste his cum in her mouth and it makes her feel a little dizzy knowing he must be able to taste himself too.
He’s frenzied as he mouths his way across her jaw and down her neck. His huge, rough hands slide down to cup her ass and nudge at her swollen pussy lips, fingertips gently pulling her slick folds apart until she’s moaning softly in his ear.
“Would you let me taste you?” He murmurs against her throat.
A sudden tap at the door causes his hands to freeze and her breath to catch in her throat.
“Beth, are you awake? Can I come in?” Maggie’s voice carries through the door.
“Shit,” Beth mouths, head snapping up to stare with eyes flaring in the middle of her flushed face that mirror Daryl’s own.
“Hang on, I’m gettin’ changed,” Beth calls out as they fumble with their clothes and scramble off the bed, “I’ll jus’ be a minute.”
Daryl hastily grabs his crossbow and hurries across the room to the window. Beth is behind him as he pushes the window up, inviting the rain back into the room and across their flushed faces.
Daryl’s half way out when Beth suddenly grabs his arm, causing his darting eyes to fly up and catch hers over his winged shoulder.
“You forgot somethin’,” She whispers.
As his brow furrows in confusion she leans in and presses her lips quickly against his.
“Next time, I want your head between my legs, Daryl Dixon,” She whispers in his ear.
His eyes are flickering when she pulls back, frozen in place until she gives him a gentle push.
“Next time,” He whispers roughly, voice drenched in promise like he’s swearing a blood oath.
Beth smiles as Daryl slides out of the window and into the rain. She watches him make his way down the roof for a moment before she hears her sister’s voice on the other side of the door, and quickly yanks the window closed.
She’s damn near grinning from ear to ear as she walks over to the door and pulls it open.
Less than an hour later, Beth is sat around the fireplace with the rest of the group, wedged between her father and her sister as she stares into the dancing flames.
“Bethy, you look flushed, are you sure you’re feeling okay?” Hershel asks, regarding Beth warily.
Turning to face him, her lips twitch with a smile that she’s struggling to contain. Even entering the room filled with worried faces and enough tension to make her straighten her spine couldn’t quell the almost giddy feeling that seems to have moved into her chest.
“I feel more than okay,” Beth answers softly, “I feel good.”
Daryl looks up from the rabbit he’s skinning to stare at her from across the room.
“So good,” She adds, letting the smile wriggle free and stretch across her face as her eyes connect with his.
From behind his hair, Daryl’s bright blue eyes pulse into hers for a moment before he quickly drags them down to his lap. She watches the tips of his ears burn a deep shade of pink before dragging her own gaze back to the fire.
But it’s true. Beth finds herself feeling good for the first time since her world was brutally torn apart in front of her. She’s actually smiling, a real genuine smile, and she can’t seem to stop.
She feels relaxed in a way that shouldn’t be possible, given the circumstances. And for the first time since she lost her home, she feels excited about what tomorrow will bring. Scared, yes, but not just scared anymore.
Because now she has at least one thing to look forward to. The first thing she’s had to look forward to since the world ended. The first thing that stopped it feeling like the end of the world. One good thing. If you can call a person a thing.
She never would have known Daryl if it wasn’t for The Turn, so she reckons you could call that a silver lining, if you were so inclined. And Beth definitely is.
The first silver lining. The first of many, she hopes. They just need to have a little faith.
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