When I was a child, I heard voices

[dirtyredneck]

WHO: Daryl & Beth
WHERE: Warehouse
WHEN: Wed 16 (backdated)
WARNINGS: emotions
SUMMARY: Daryl apologizes to Beth

Daryl hadn't seen her since he yelled at her. He'd been avoiding her. Scared of going near. But he knew the general schedule she'd been keeping to. It's how he'd been able to keep out of her hair and keep her out of his. It also meant that when he was ready, he was able to find her.

She was in one of the apartments on the second floor. He couldn't tell if she was cleaning it up in an attempt to claim it, or just to have something to do. But she was there, and he was... he was there, too.

He stood in the door for a while before clearing his throat and waving, "Most of us are sleeping on the other side of the building. Places here don't got a lot of walls between beds, but we managed to get some screens made."

Daryl didn't look at her, kept his head down, arms crossed, but he was talking a lot more casually. Forced as it may have been.

Comments

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl's eyes drifted, focusing in on the stitches as his brows furrowed, "Boiled water not good enough?"

He wasn't upset if it wasn't. Just concerned. A huff of air came out and he straightened, "You do a run, you do it with a partner. The rain's been coming down about two weeks now and there's no sign it's letting up. Glenn's been scouting when he can. The rain and the bastards from the desert's been complicating things. Half of us used to stay at the hotel, but they came here once them pricks got into the city."

[peacekeep]

"It'll work for now." She wasn't her daddy, she didn't know as much about medicine as he did. But she knew that supplies were likely in short demand, and from the look of the city she had seen so far, medical supplies had probably long since ruined or expired. Boiled water was likely all she had, and that would do.

"But any runs I go on?" She made direct eye contact with him, eyebrows arching as she nodded. "You're coming with me. I'm not letting you out of my sight again." The last time she had, they wound up separated and apparently awful things had happened that scarred him. They didn't need a repeat of that happening here.

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl bit at his lip, cringing a little and turning his head to hide it as his nose crinkled. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other and back again before he started pacing in short, shallow circles.

"Can't promise that," he said eventually, sighing as he did. "Not enough people and all of them are looking to me to lead them. I need to put the people I trust to watch themselves with the people who ain't there yet."

[peacekeep]

"Am I someone you trust to do that?" The question was direct, and she knew it. But she wanted to know where she stood. It was important for her to figure out what she had to do in order to earn Daryl's trust and respect, since she looked up to him and wanted him to do both.

[dirtyredneck]

"Who else would you be?" He asked back, surprised she felt the need to clarify. Of course she was one of those he needed helping the others learn the ropes. Everything she'd been through? Even before leaving the prison, he'd trusted her to step up and do her fair share if it was needed.

[peacekeep]

"A kid," she quickly responded, averting her eyes briefly as she felt color rise to her cheeks. She felt silly, blushing in front of him after asking a dumb question. "One that needed to learn things still."

Feeling self-conscious about having asked what she did, she reached up to tuck some hair behind her ear. "I thought about being a teacher once, when I was little. It'll be good to get a chance to do it now."

[dirtyredneck]

"You are a kid," he scoffed, smiling just a little. She was still young. Still learning. "Just 'cause I let you have a drink, don't go thinking it changes that. But it don't mean you can't be trusted, neither. You learned good."

[peacekeep]

That pulled a laugh out of her and she gave him a mock-cross look. "I'm eighteen, you know!" Her continued laughter was a sign that she didn't really mind, and as she shoved both hands into her back pockets she stood up a little taller as if that would make her instantly look like a real adult.

"Speaking of drinks, you got anything here?" After the past few weeks she's had, she could use a strong drink.

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl made a face that was clearly meant to mock her high and mighty declaration of adulthood. As if age had anything to do with being an adult and he found that idea downright laughable and offensive. Mostly it just screwed his face up in a stupid way that ended with him almost rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

"What little I found's been broken open," he answered with genuine disappointment. "No good anymore. Could probably set up a still, but it ain't really a luxury most people would consider important."

[peacekeep]

"That's cause it isn't," Beth teased him a little, unable to stop from smiling. She had her hope back, and it showed in her relaxed posture and the lightness about her that hadn't been there since back at the prison.

"What's important is staying together. Making sure everybody's got food and ways to keep warm when the weather's like this." With the rain coming down nonstop, she knew she was thin and exhausted enough to feel chilled to the bone.

[dirtyredneck]

"I don't know..." he reached up to run his index finger along her stitches, lightly, no pressure. "Alcohol's good for disinfecting shit. Could be useful."

He paused, then grinned - yes, actually grinned, "When we ain't drinking it."

[peacekeep]

Her eyes slid closed at the touch, because the last time someone other than herself had touched at her injury was Dawn, and it had been a slap that tore it right open again. She had quickly become used to the coldness of the hospital, and to have the warmth of family back was overwhelming.

"I'll find a way to get some then." It was a promise, given as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "I'll head out tomorrow, see what I can find." If she couldn't find any bottles, maybe she could get what he needed to set up a way to make his own.

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl had to stop himself from protesting, instead squeezing his lips into a thin line before he nodded and said, "Take someone with you to watch your back. Bucky or Steven if they're willin'. Newt or Thomas, maybe. Padme. You met any of them, yet?"

He wasn't going to suggest Glenn because he didn't want to presume anything for his friend. That was something Glenn would have to approach on his own.

[peacekeep]

"I met Padme." Beth nodded, deciding that she would ask the other woman to go along with her. They both looked like people who shouldn't go out on supply trips, so why not pair off together and manage to make it work?

"I'll ask her to go along." She seemed to have the same idea in thinking about Glenn, because she frowned a little and fidgeted before asking, "Do you think Glenn might want to go with me next time?"

[dirtyredneck]

"Don't know," he answered truthfully and in a quiet voice. "He seemed happy with the idea of you being real. But I don't know if he'd want to go out with you. Or have you go out."

Not that it was Glenn's call to make. That was Daryl's. But Daryl didn't want to be at odds with Glenn over Beth and what she was allowed to help with.

[peacekeep]

"It's not his choice to make." Her voice trembled slightly, but she tried to be firm on the sentiment. After Dawn, no one was going to tell her how to make herself useful or what she could do ever again. Her daddy was long gone and Maggie wasn't here, and Beth trusted Daryl to make the right choices to keep her safe. But she was going to decide her own fate.

"I just want to be able to see him up close and hug him again, that's all." She missed him, and had been lonely since arriving. She didn't want to make him upset with her presence, but also wasn't sure how much longer she could keep her distance.

[dirtyredneck]

"Gotta work that out with him," Daryl said, keeping his tone calm. Soft. "But he does want to see you."

[peacekeep]

She nodded in response, turning her head to try and hide a smile. "Good. That's...that's real good. I was worried he wouldn't want to."

[dirtyredneck]

Daryl straightened up, taking a deep breath, "Come on. Get your shit. We'll move you in with the rest of us."

[peacekeep]

"I don't have anything." The smirk she gave him was most definitely cheeky, and she laughed as she moved past him, grabbing hold of his hand to drag him along after her. She knew exactly where everyone else was staying, and was more than excited to get to be a part of them at last.