Love will keep us alive. (A bethyl fanfiction- TWD)

Never Looked At You That Way

Growing up, Daryl Dixon never had the type of family he always wanted; only had Merle besides him and life wasn't exactly great. Even before the apocalyptic world, Daryl Dixon's life has always been bumpy and not so affluent, which contributed to his aloof personality. But somehow he feels at home with his new family, even though he didn't like to admit it. After losing Sophia, Dale, Lori, T-Dog and Andrea, the mere thought of losing anyone from the group made him cringe, but 'losing' people you care for has become inevitable in this world. And today they lost Zach, a former Woodbury resident and Beth's boyfriend who got bitten by a walker on their run today.

Daryl as always, stepping up to execute the harder tasks which others couldn't bear to act upon, took the responsibility of cracking the news to Beth. Typically, he was not the type of person to get involved in these, what he considers as 'teenage love-tale shits' but today, he himself was quite distraught by the whole incident, as he knew that it would probably crush the young blonde who had already lost two members of her family.

"Hey Beth, need ta talk ta ya about somethin'" Daryl said in his low gruff voice as he entered halfway into Beth's cell.

It was rarely on a very few occasions that the two interacted, and so it all somehow made him feel awkward to be in her cell at the moment, trying to tell her about her boyfriend's death.

Beth was scribbling on what appeared to be journal at the time when Daryl entered her cell and called out to her. She stood up and approached towards him.

Looking from the dejected look on his face, Beth took no time to realize that something was off. "What is it?" she asked trying to appear bold and walked up to stand next to him "Is it about Zach?"

"Ya," Daryl hesitated for a second, "walker got him." he sighed as he stared at the concrete floor trying not to make eye contact. He always felt guilty when they lose someone, for not being able to protect them and Beth knew how much he cursed himself for it.

"Is he dead?" Beth asked trying to maintain her calmness.

"Yes"

Daryl was totally convinced that Beth would break down at this point and genuinely had no idea how to console a eighteen year old in such a situation. He has never been good when it came to women even though he had been in a few casual relationships before. Just casual.

Beth held her ground and replied "I knew it was coming one day or the other,"

It was hard for her to not break down at that moment. It really did hurt her but she knew it was coming and was prepared to face it.

"Nothing is permanent in this world now Mr Dixon; friends, family relationships, everything will come and go and we will have to live with it." Beth continued in a low but steady voice. "We can't do anything to make it the way it used to be, but we could make the best out of the days we've got."

Daryl had now averted his gaze onto Beth, somewhat stunned at her words. Just before few months ago she had slited her wrists and now she was the one speaking words of optimism. It amazed him slightly.

"I know" he replied finding himself at a loss of words.

An awkward silence crept between them and Daryl decided to make his exit from the cell but Beth stopped him midway, "Daryl, I know you hate losing people, everybody does but don't be so hard on yourself"

Daryl said nothing but stood there wondering why was he even listening to a dumb teenager whose life had been all about fairytales and happy endings. What would she know about life and the struggles of it. He didn't move but stood there absorbing the words, which didn't falter to incite him deep inside.

"You're a good man and stop blaming yourself. I know you did everything you could to protect us" Beth assured as she knew how hard he is on himself.

She had noticed his aloofness and how distant he was sometimes. She was unable to make out why at that moment she awanted to soothe him as if she could sense his bitter memories, his anger, his frustration and everything that made him different from the others.

Daryl stood stunned. He wasn't sure if he was agitated or comforted by her words. He was just captivated by how fearlessly yet simply she spoke.

"Yer know nothin' about me" he stated flatly trying not to sound rude.

At that moment Beth went out and hugged him. She said nothing but wondered why she needed to do that and why with Daryl Dixon, who was far from being a social creature and with whom she never had a proper conversation before.

Daryl hesitated but he didn't retract from it. Even though he liked the embrace he didn't return it back. He was confused and tried to chuck away the entire thing, being unsure of how to react.

"Um. . . I should go." Daryl informed, as Beth withdrew herself from the embrace. She nodded and gave him an innocent smile.

"Tell me if ya need any help, lil songbird." Daryl uttered as he exited Beth's cell, leaving the young blonde to smile widely at the new nick name she had just earned.