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Could you stay and settle down?
Just to pass the time with me
Could you rid your devils?
Run through fields and meadows
Does it scare you when you think, when you think?
They were everywhere, the flowers, wild bursts of yellow, pink, and red. Technically, they were weeds, but what did that matter? They were pretty, and Beth liked pretty things. Pretty things for a pretty girl.
It was Spring. What month, Daryl had no clue. All he knew was that the air was still slightly cold, particularly in the mornings, but it was full of mud and dew and wet bark. And in the afternoons, the sun usually burned through whatever chill was left. Lately they’d all been tugging off their jackets and wiping at their sweaty necks by high noon, even though they’d been shivering when they woke up.
But the flowers and the heat weren’t the only signposts of Spring. The birdsong was heavier than it’d been for the last few months. Rooks dashed among the trees with twigs and rocks in their mouths, building their nests. Freshly-woken bees made the forest tense. And, of course, everyone had been itchy-eyed and sneezing for the last couple of days. The pollen was so thick, they could see it floating when the sun cut through the trees above.
On that particular morning, Daryl had taken Liam hunting with him. Beth was awake and preparing a fire back at camp. She’d offered to accompany them, but the pregnancy was starting to take its toll. She couldn’t walk as long of distances as she used to. She panted quietly as they walked, supported herself against the trees, and practically collapsed whenever they took a break. Of course, she never complained, but Daryl saw how exhausted she was. Normally, he would’ve insisted that Liam stay with her at camp, because the kid had grown just as protective over her as Daryl himself. And unlike Daryl, he said exactly what was on his mind. If Beth overexerted herself, Liam would not only call her out on it, but he would tell Daryl the moment he got back.
But Liam wanted to learn more about tracking, and even though it was still early in the day, he could tell from the boy’s ceaseless talking and movement around camp that he was getting antsy. So he let him come.
Daryl’d found the wildflower patch on the walk back. It was located in a field where the sun came through so bright that everything was a dizzying gold. They hadn’t come across it while tracking the rabbit that Daryl now had slung across his back, but he’d wanted to take a shortcut, still uneasy with leaving Beth alone for too long.
(Yes, she was smart, yes, she could defend herself, but after everything they’d been through, after Joe, he needed her proximity just as much as she needed his. Besides, smart and capable as she may be, there was no denying how much more vulnerable she was the further along she got.)
“It’s pretty,” Liam said as they moved through the field, somewhat slower than necessary.
Daryl sniffed slightly and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah.”
Beth’s pretty, he thought.
Their relationship was getting better, he supposed, even if he didn’t know exactly what they were doing, and she didn’t seem to, either. They still hadn’t tried to have sex, but they were holding hands more than ever, and they could no longer pretend that their sleeping together at night was simply to keep warm or ward off nightmares. Sometimes, when Liam was asleep in another room, they kissed. Their hands never wandered below their belts, the furthest either would venture was touching each other beneath their shirts. Sometimes it left Daryl painfully hard, but he didn’t care. He liked it like this. He was still unsure how he felt about it, about the fact that he wanted this, he still felt like a dirty redneck creeping on a teenage girl, but more and more he was realizing that yes, Beth was young, but she wasn’t a child, and maybe the shame he felt wasn’t entirely earned.
And besides, if she wasn’t ready, he didn’t want to go any further. He wasn’t sure if he was ready, either. Joe forcing him to watch was nothing compared to what he’d done to Beth, but it was still something. It still crept up on him too, the same way his old man did from time to time.
Whatever they were doing, they’d do it slowly, and that was fine.
By the time they reached the end of the field, and were back in the cover of the woods, Daryl stopped. He hunched down and plucked a handful of wildflowers, careful not to pull up any roots with them. They only made it a few steps further before Liam stopped and smirked.
“Are those for Beth?” He said.
Daryl frowned, then focused back on the trail and kept moving. “Maybe.”
Their pace, suddenly somewhat accelerated, did nothing to discourage Liam. He said nothing, but his tiny mouth was screwed in a look that screamed I knew it.
Barely even a minute later, after they crossed a gently-babbling stream, Liam piped up again.
“Are you going to get married?”
Daryl sighed and looked down at him.
“Anyone ever tell you it’s rude to ask questions?”
For a moment, he feared he’d been too harsh with the kid, but Liam seemed unfazed. He seemed unbothered both by Daryl’s reproach and by his own nosiness, like it was the most natural thing in the world to just ask something like that. It wasn’t long before Daryl wished that Liam kept talking, because his silence implied a smug satisfaction. He’d already gotten his answer, no more interrogation necessary, Daryl’s flustered response had said it all, hell, he was probably gonna something to Beth the minute they-
“Yeah, they’re for her,” he suddenly said, stopping and leaning down so they were eye-level. “S’just somethin’ nice for her, alright? A lil’ thank you.”
Again, the boy said nothing. Just smiled with his eyes narrowed. Christ.
“And anyway, it’s none’a your business what they’re for, got it? It’s something between grownups. Nothin’ you need to be askin’ about.”
And then Liam just shrugged. And kept walking.
Dear god, the attitude on this kid.
And again, not even a minute later, he stopped again.
“Here,” he said, and handed Liam two flowers, one pink and one red. “You can give her some too.”
Though he said nothing, his face brightened into a smile, one that was no longer smug, just delighted. Of course, the smugness returned only seconds later.
Daryl straightened back up and sighed. Liam was already walking towards camp, chin held high, clearly pleased as could be with himself.
He’s five, Daryl. Beth’s voice emerged in his brain.
Yeah, a five-year-old pain in the ass.
But weirdly enough, as they moved in silence, Daryl chewing on the inside of his lip and clutching the flowers so hard that his palm was beginning to sweat, he realized that flustered, and floored, and, yes, annoyed as he was with the kid, he wasn’t angry. Not in the slightest.
In fact, if he didn’t know any better, he’d say it was almost adorable.