Beth and Daryl: Mature Stories💕👌🏽🤘🏾

Exhausted

They all were. They felt it set deep in their bones, to the point where everyone collapsed on the barn ground, unable to stay awake any longer. Beth had slept a little bit next to Maggie's side, but woke up to the sound of thunder overhead again, the storm close. The loud clashing sound made her eyes flash open, jolting her out of some dream that made no sense, just images all put together. The sound of thunder, the loud crack of noise from above, it reminded her of the sound of the gun going off right before the bullet went through her head.

She flinched. Not a memory she wanted to relive.

But then again, she wasn't there for the worst part—the aftermath. Maggie had let it slip she thought she didn't want to go on anymore after that, how she thought about giving up and joining the rest of the family. She also told her how Daryl had carried Beth down all those flights of stairs until they got outside. Torture, that was what it must have been for him. He had felt responsible, even for her silly mistake with Dawn. Shot her right in the head too, right after Beth hit the floor, that was what Glenn told her.

Eye for an eye.

Yeah, that was not the reason he took her life and Beth knew it. It wasn't purely revenge. Daryl shot Dawn out of heartbreak.

She didn't blame him. Beth would have done the same had the situation been reversed. She really would have. That was because she was different now, and he meant more to her now than ever before. She couldn't imagine losing him, not in the way that he did with her.

But there was other things to concern herself with other than imaginary situations. She had been back with the group for not even twenty four hours and their lives had already been threatened numerous times, by numerous elements. Could she really complain though? They were all together again, with the exception of Bob and Tyreese, who had fallen victims to the world's unkind side. She said a prayer for them and for Sasha, even though she had questioned her own faith in the past couple of months.

Beth tried to close her eyes again and get some more sleep but she couldn't and knew why. Looking around, Daryl wasn't among those sleeping and it unnerved her. Not having him close made her feel uneasy to the point where she placed her palms onto the ground and hoisted herself up so she could search for him.

Lightening flashed through the old barn doors, the same ones that they held a herd of walkers back from hours before, until the pressure from the other side dwindled and then vanished when the storm got violent. They didn't open the doors at all, didn't need to compromise their safety. For once, the weather was on their side and the wind must have torn the dead away from their safe place for the night.

Beth wandered around a few dark corners until she found him sitting all by himself on the far side of the barn, away from anyone's eyes. She watched him for a little bit, cheek leaned up against the wooden beam of the barn. He looked tired too, yet refused to go to sleep. She lightly cleared her throat to alert him of her presence, to which Daryl seemed not too surprised about.

There was a tension between them, more intense than before and more centralized. They both knew it, felt it. There was no questioning about what it was either, they could tell.

Beth licked her lips before she approached. "You need some rest," she acknowledged, keeping her voice down, though she was sure the others would not wake.

"Someone's gotta keep watch."

They both froze.

He didn't mean to repeat it, just happened that those words all came together. Still, the memories all flooded back and Beth found herself reminiscing all the time alone spent with Daryl. Well, most of the memories, at least. Her prior memories were a little fuzzy do to the bullet. There were many things about the past she didn't remember, but Daryl was not one of them. The memories about him and the shack, the porch, the woods, the funeral home, they were crystal clear.