Been on here a couple months feeding my hopeless romantic side with Ships that are destined never to leave the port of Headcannon, and finally decided to post something!
I havenât seen anything past early season six of TWD and YouTube clips, but I know what happens in the long run because spoilers donât bother me (cries and laughs with the knowledge I started watching a show specifically for a ship, ïżŒknowing full well one di*s mid season five and I would only ever have two full episodes of that ship in the main show)!
So hereâŠ(gently pushed a piece of myself out there with Bethyl in the description, knowing people have complained about haters, but hoping and praying no one tries to take a bite out of me like their some kind of Walker)
A longish pre-relationship oneshot I wrote thatâs connected to my longer, and yet to be posted, What If The Prison Never Fell - Bethyl fanfic.
The Last KitKat in Georgia State
Description: after a run that provides a candy stash to the prison, Beth sneaks out to enjoy hers in private, but a break in the fence interrupts her secret escapade and puts her and Judith in danger. Thankfully their Guardian Archer is watching out for them. They share some chocolate at the end and some sweet inklings of future feelings.
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It was late now, moonlight shining in from the high barred windows of C Block, the moon full above the resting prison.
Maggie and Glenn were on watch, which meant they probably werenât actually âon watchâ, at least beyond âwatchingâ each other in the tower.
But with no sign of the Governor so far through the light winter, Woodbury settling both in and their differences, and the Walkers seemingly slowing down due to the couple snows theyâd managed to have, there probably wasnât all too much to watch for now anyway.
At least, Beth hoped as much whenever her sister and brother-in-law took guard duty with that glint in their eyes and red tinge to Glennâs ears.
Beth had taken care of Judith all day, moving between the family cell block and the old common room, now repurposed as a dining hall, doing small miscellaneous chores when the baby girlâs attitude provided.
Though Judith was calm now, she was still awake, which meant Beth was still awake, but she didnât mind. She had a plan.
Two weeks ago, Maggie, Glenn, Daryl and Sasha had brought back someoneâs stash of Halloween candy. Carol and Beth had been in charge of passing out a piece to each of the kids.
Some devoured it on the spot, others managed to make their piece stretch out for a few hours, some even days, one nibble or lick at a time. But by now it was all eaten, savored and enjoyed, and now missed by all. All except Beth Greene.
Beth had been sure by the smidge of chocolate smeared at the corner of Maggieâs mouth and on the other fingers, not all the stash had made it back to the prison. Then sheâd seen Carol slip a couple of Hershey kisses into her jacket pocket before calling the children into the dining hall to receive their pieces, so Beth hardly thought twice about snatching up the last piece of candy for herself.
A square of KitKats. Far from her favorite, but it was still chocolate, and all hers.
She had resisted opening it until tonight, but she chose to no longer. She slipped the red plastic parcel into her back pocket, grabbing a second blanket for Judith, and crept out of her cell with the baby and her prize.
She carefully made her way through the echoey dining hall and out the door. The night air was still cool, but Judith had on footie jammies, and Beth had her coat. She kept them close to the wall till they got to the edge before it dropped back into an alcove, placing them just a few yards from the fence and an unoccupied guard tower.
Beth leaned her back against the brick wall, holding Judith close to her chest, and slid down the wall until her butt hit the cement under foot. She kept her knees up and close together, laying Judith back against them like a chair, and letting the little girl quietly gurgle at her.
She gently maneuvered so she could pull the coveted candy bar from her back pocket. The bright red of its wrapper seemed to glow in the moonlight, each crinkle sounded impossibly loud, leaving Beth certain someone would hear or see, and she would feel like crap if she didnât share.
But no one came. Slowly she pulled open the top of the wrapper, savoring the missed sound of the plastic coming apart, letting herself hum in delight. Pulling gently, she caught a glimpse of the milk chocolate goodness inside.
Then Judith whimpered, crashing Beth out of her daydream state and back to reality. Beth soon realized that Judith was crying at a small pile up of walkers, about five, rattling and moaning at a corner of the chain link fence between the prisonâs brick wall and the abandoned guard tower.
That was an odd place for them to gather. The groans of the dead had become so ambient these days, Beth hadn't noticed them until they started rattling the fence.
âShhhh.â Beth hushed Judith with a soft bounce. âWeâll go back inside and have somebody else deal with them, okay? Itâs alright, sweet pea.â
The fence creaked louder and Beth hurried to scoot herself upright again. Walkers bunched up at the fence, in the dead of night, at a quiet point? Something was very wrong, and Beth was not sticking around to find out. Not with Judith.
In her hurry to get up and back inside though, the half opened KitKat slipped from her lap and fell to the cement, causing it to bounce at just the right angle to land out of reach just around the dark corner.
Beth huffed in frustration, before holding Judith tight to her chest and taking a step around the corner to bend down to retrieve it.
Just as your fingers touched the wrapper, a walker groaned louder than the rest, and Bethâs head snapped up. Now that she was closer, Beth could see a small opening where the fence had pulled away from the tower, leaving a gap that a Walker was now pushing itself through.
Beth gasped, still bent over with Judith in her arms, but her attention was pulled towards the dark corner inside the fence, where a rattle and groan sounded, attracted to her soft sound.
Three Walkers, who had already broken in, hunkered in the shadows of the far corner. They dropped the rodent carcass they had been gnawing on, and slowly turned to the one that had just broken through, moving towards Beth and the whimpering baby in her arms.
Beth froze, brain running a mile a minute trying to figure out how to get her legs moving again and get Judith to safety. The Walkers staggered out of the far corner, one lifting its tattered arm, fingered curling and reaching towards them, grasping at the air.
Beth finally shook herself from her shock, and straightened, taking a step back and using the arm not holding Judith to pull the blanket over the little girlâs head, protecting her from scratches.
Beth didnât want to attract anymore Walkers by shouting for help. She needed to make a run for it.
She took another step back to keep distance between her and the dead, though the Walkers followed them into the moonlight, snapping their rotting jaws at her, and she braced herself to run, tightening her grip on Judith.
But before she could actually run, a sharp woosh of air whipped by her head and she gasped, an arrow sinking dead center of the closest Walkerâs head, its decaying body crumpling to the ground before her.
Daryl ran past her an instant later, using his crossbow as a club on the second closest Walker, before pulling the bolt from the first and planting it downward into the head of the third.
âDaryl! Beside you!â
Daryl turned just in time to reswing his crossbow, completely decapitating the fourth Walker, the one Beth had first seen break through the fence.
He whirled around to face her. âWhereâd they get in?â
She pointed to the small section of fence between the tower and wall. âThere. They pushed it in next to the tower.â
Daryl quickly stored his arrow back in its bow compartment, before dropping the weapon in the grass, running over to the cart of tools used for fence duty. He pulled out a long pipe and started taking out the Walkers still piled up at the fence.
âGet lilâasskicker back inside.â He told her over his shoulder, driving the metal rod into the head of a female Walker, âThen get Sasha and Tyreese.â He pulled the pipe back out. âTell âem-â Then plunged it into another rotting head. âTo get some of them Woodbury folks, and-â Another pull, another plunge. âSomething to fix this fence!â
âOkay.â Was all she could say, running the instructions back over in her head as she took a deep breath and turned to run.
But before she could, Darylâs voice dipped and a he practically growled, âWho the hell âs on watch?!â
Beth grimaced, âMaggie and Glenn.â
âFigures.â Daryl didnât say it with any of the usual humor he would have. Break-ins can happen, but this one really had the archer pissed off.
Beth took Judith and finally ran, only briefly registering the flash of red wrapper left abandoned on the pavement.
Once inside, she went first to her Daddyâs cell. âDaddy! Daddy!â She probably shouldâve taken Judith to Rick, or even Carl, but she knew her daddy was a light sleeper and would be decently dressed and quick to wake up.
She pushed aside his privacy curtain and stepped inside, Hershel already pulling himself up by the rails on the top bunk. âWhat is it, Bethy?â
âI need you to take Judith.â She handed the now quiet child to him and he took her, Beth giving him a speedy explanation. â A part of the fence broke. Daryl is holding the Walkers back, but I need to get Sasha and Tyreese, and some folks to fix it.â
Hershel bounced Judith on his good leg to keep her happy. âGood girl. Hurry; Iâll let Rick and the others here know.â
Beth did hurry. She ran as fast as she could to Cell Block D, where most of Woodbury had set up. Sasha was in the first cell on the bottom row, Tyreese in the one next to that.
She woke Sasha first, quickly explaining the break and where to find it. She didnât have to explain to Tyreese, Sasha shouting an urgent, âTy!â then a half dozen other names. In barely a minute everyone called was ground level and Sasha was giving out orders. She and Tyreese took two straight out to help Daryl, two went to get wire, and the two left went for tools.
Beth returned to C Block to take Judith back from her daddy. Carol was headed out with a rifle and Rick was trying to convince Carl to stay inside instead of going out to help.
The young teen was obviously still aggravated, but he finally huffed and nodded, going back inside his cell and yanking the privacy curtain back over the opening with an eye roll.
It reminded Beth of her daddy and Maggie when the eldest Greene daughter came back from college. Beth hoped Rick and Carl would work this power struggle out before Carl reached his 20s.
Beth prayed they all lived that long.
Tonight reminded her how quickly a future could come to a sudden and gruesome end. She held Judith, now drifting off at last, closer to her chest, dropping a kiss to the babyâs soft hair, starting to grow atop her little head. The kiss made Judith stir and Beth started walking with her and humming to fend off any fussing before it could start.
She climbed the stairs, bouncing Judith on the way up to keep her distracted from any jostling. Beth wanted to know if she could see the fence break and everyone there, but she could only see the tail end of the repair team, not the actual break.
What she did have a perfect view of was Daryl leaving the break point once it was under control and start storming off towards the far guard tower. He must have left his crossbow behind, Beth guessed, itâs added weight not altering his pace or adding to his build. He was moving fast and angry, but not quite running, but Beth could tell he was definitely pissed off.
Beth watched him push open the door and flinched as he let it slam shut behind him, though she couldnât hear it bang shut from inside.
She didnât want to think what state of undress her sister and brother-in-law where in. She still strained her eyes to try and see their and Darylâs shadowy outlines through the windows at the top of the tower, trying to figure out through the gestures, why on earth Daryl would storm in on them like he just had.
She figured why he wanted to hash it out with them. Everyone knew why they snuck around, they werenât fooling anyone by taking guard duties together and going on runs, or disappearing under the white lie of checking on the tombs for Walkers.
This time, it had actually put people at risk, and if Beth hadnât been out there, more Walkers could have gotten in unnoticed, and surprised the morning fence crew before they had weapons, that corner was where they were kept.
Five minutes later and Beth wasn the only one watching the guard tower. As people stepped back from the mended fence, they stopped and waited for Daryl to emerge again. She saw several flinch at different points and she wondered in shock if he was shouting loud for them to hear.
A couple more minutes and Daryl finally emerged, clearly still seething, and not bothering to close the door behind him. Following several paces behind him was the disheveled couple, heads bowed. They were headed to the prison. The crowd broke up, a couple headed to the tower to take over guard duty, the rest headed back inside.
Beth carefully took Judith back to her cell, the little girl effectively passed out on her shoulder. Judith was still in Bethâs cell, but Rick seemed close to being ready to have his daughter move into his room. But Beth wasnât gonna rush it.
She loved Judith as her own. It made her sick to think how close she came to losing her tonight. All over a piece of chocolate she didnât want to share. Serves her right for being selfish. She signed to herself, then eased Judith into her playpen, hushing her when she made a noise, but didnât wake.
She stepped out of her cell, just as Daryl walked into C Block with Maggie and Glenn in toe. Maggie went straight to her and wrapped her in a crushing hug. Beth returned it for her sister's sake, and tried not to feel like Maggie only hugged her after near death experiences.
Maggie pulled back, but held her by the shoulders. âYou okay, Bethy?â
âYeah. Judith is too.â
âWhy were you even out there?â Maggieâs tone had flipped from guilty to gentle domening. âWhyâd you have Judith out there with you?â
Beth was ashamed to tell her she had put Judith in danger over a candy bar. She didnât have to tell Maggie that, though, because Daryl stepped forward, face clouding over again with thinly restrained anger.
âShe took Judith out there cause she thought it would be safe since two people were suppâsed to be on guard duty, not fucking each otherâs brains out while everyone else whoâd put in a full days work were expecting the people who volunteered to keep an eye out for their asses to be keeping an eye out, while they got some rest.â
That shut everyone up.
Glenn stepped forward, but struggled to find his words. âBeth, weâre so sorry we never meant to- we didnât- Weâre just so sorry!â
Beth nodded and kept her mouth in a tight line. She would have told him it was all okay, no worse for wear, if Judith hadnât been in danger too. She just couldnât brush it off so easily thinking of that baby girl, or anyone other than herself, getting hurt because they didnât realize the fence was breached.
âI forgive you. Just donât let it happen again.â Beth stepped back and let go of her sister, Maggie letting her own hands drop off her shoulders.
She and Glenn shuffled away and up the stairs to their cell, leaving Beth alone with Daryl.
She gave the archer a tight lipped smile, praying he couldnât see her own shame. âThank you.â
Daryl seemed confused, brow furrowing and head tilting to the side. He was resting his right hand against his chest in the strap of his crossbow, the bow slung across his back.
âFor saving me and Judy.â She explained, âTaking out the Walkers. Holding the fence till the others got there.â
Daryl nodded in understanding, but shrugged it off, mumbling, âWasn't all that much.â
âIt was enough to chew Maggie and Glenn out over.â She pointed out, trying to sound joking.
Darylâs head shot up, completely somber. âThatâs different. They were fooling around at a more than dumb time. And people couldâve gotten hurt.â He took a deep breath and averted his eyes to the floor. âYou and lilâasskicker couldâve gotten hurt.â
Beth felt a weight land in her chest at the gentleness in Darylâs voice. He was being vulnerable, letting her glimpse the fear he must carry every day outside, and now inside, these walls. The fear of losing someone he couldnât save.
Beth noticed the sag in his shoulders was more than a crossbow and bolts. It was the weight of a prison full of people to feed and protect, mainly by him. She felt a sudden urge to hug him and squeeze all the loose pieces he seemed to slowly be crumbling into, back together again.
So she did.
She wrapped her arms tightly around his middle, avoiding the crossbow on his back, and rested her chin on his shoulder. âWe didnât.â She told him. âWe didnât die. Weâre okay. You protected us.â
ââŠThis time.â Daryl sounded more upset with himself than anything.
He wasnât hugging back either, but he had relaxed from the initial surprise. So Beth didnât fully let him go when she stepped back, leaving her hands to just barely rest on his upper arms
âAnd this time was enough. Thank you.â She smiled at him till he looked at her again and nodded. She let go of his biceps, and tucked some loose hair back behind her ear, the seriousness of the situation passing to a slight awkward silence.
Softly laughing at herself, she decided to confess, âSorry you had to come save us. It wasn't all Maggie and Glennâs fault. I was out there for stupid-â
âNo.â He cut her off. âThey were on the watch. There was trouble and they should have let us know instead of you and Judith. That was their job.â
Beth didnât know how to respond before he had started to turn away, caught off guard by his repeated defensiveness. âGood night, Daryl!â She finally tried.
He responded with a, âSame to you.â waved back over your shoulder with a grunt, before he stopped himself.
âWait, I got something for you.â He turned back around and Beth just looked at him, confused. âI picked it up outside while people were showing up.â He explained, holding out the perfectly unscathed KitKat, in its mockingly bright red wrapper. âFigured you dropped it.â
âOh.â Beth took it slowly, eyes wide, and staring at it in her open hand. âThanks.â She wasnât sure what else to say about the offending article.
Daryl just grunted and started leaving again.
âOh, Daryl!â Beth snapped out of her daze and reached out to stop him.
He paused and looked back over his shoulder at her. She suddenly felt shy, but quickly shook it off and broke the KitKat bar in half, extending her arm out, holding two of the four chocolate wafers towards him. âHere.â
He just stared at the pieces with furrowed brows, then looked up at her. âWhat fâr?â
âAs a thank you!â
He chuckled and shook his head. âGirl, you gotta stop thanking me for shit. Youâve done thanked me half a dozen times tonight already!â
âWhat?!â Beth laughed, pulling the chocolate away slightly, âYouâd turned down part of the last KitKat in Georgia state?!â
They were both smiling now, and for a moment you could almost think it was at each other. A silence settled over them, and the smiles softened. Beth extended the candy back out without looking away from Darylâs dark eyes.
Her voice was softer now, quieter, not ready to break this calming moment between them. âHere. Please. You deserve it.â
Staring at it a moment longer, Daryl finally took it. Glancing back up at her, after bouncing itâs weight in his hand a few seconds, he gave her a quick, not completely gruff, âThanks, Beth. âppreciate it.â
She nodded and smiled. He took a bite of his, and she took a nibble of hers. They were both soon leaning against the walls and either side of her cell door. Beth leaned back against the brick wall completely, then slid down like she had outside half an hour ago, sitting on the floor. She looked up at Daryl and patted the floor between them.
He hesitated, but not for extremely long. He joined her on the floor, opposite the cell curtain, his legs pulled up to mirror her own..
And thatâs where they stayed for a while. In silence and peace. Eating and enjoying, what could very well be, the last KitKat in Georgia state.
@thisisntmytardis Thank you! Iâm slowly getting to a point where Iâll be ready to post it. Iâm such a slow writer and am still new to using tumblr and Ao3 to post (so I havenât yetđŹ), but itâs nice to know the idea at least is exciting to someone!
