Merle would call him a pussy, that's what Merle would do.

His brother would ask him why in the seven hells he's losing sleep over a woman when he should just be grateful he's getting some for the first time in his sorry life.

Merle would say boy if you're so damn sweet on this girl stop belly achin' an' do somethin about it.

Daryl finds himself wishing Merle was here so he could tell him to fuck off. He'd give just about anything to see that sorry son of a bitch right now.

He'd be right about one thing: Daryl isn't sleeping. He isn't even trying. Sitting on his bunk with his back against the cold wall, he's grinding his teeth down to the enamel and thinking so hard his head hurts trying to decipher the mystery that is Beth Greene.

Eventually Daryl comes to a decision. The next time Beth comes around looking to use him as her very own personal plaything, he's gonna introduce a few rules of his own.

The sound of bare feet on concrete turns his head. He watches as Beth phases through his privacy curtain, all doe eyes and bare skin, instantly rendering him incapacitated on a cognitive level. Her hair is loose around her shoulders, straighter and smoother than he's ever seen it as though she's been sat brushing it. She's wearing a thin night dress that does little to conceal her peaked nipples, hard and pointed from the cool night air. Even in shadows, her eyes are glowing, reflecting light from somewhere as she fixes him with her penetrating gaze.

His heartrate quickens in anticipation as she reaches the foot of the bed, his breath hitching as he feels the mattress dip. Her eyes never leave his as she stalks towards him on all fours. He releases a shuddering exhale through his nose as her hands fall to his belt, quickly tugging the buckle undone. At some point between her walking into his cell and popping the button on his jeans his dick has grown hard enough to cut glass. He swallows down a whimper as she wraps her delicate fingers around his length and draws him out. His eyes flutter like they want to close as she gives him a gentle pump with her closed fist, making his cock twitch in her grip and sparks dance up his spine. When she finally blinks and lowers her gaze, he drags air into his lungs until they ache.

In the next moment, everything stops. Thought, breath, heartbeat; they are all obliterated as Daryl watches Beth lean forward and wrap her pretty pink lips around the head of his cock.

Is she serious?

Here?

He bites his lip to stifle a deep moan as she runs her tongue along his sensitive slit. His hands twitch at his sides and his hips stutter, suppressing the urge to buck up and bury himself in her throat. His head hits the wall with a hard thud that forces his eyes closed and throbs across the back of his skull. The pain does nothing to dull the bonfire of pleasure that Beth is bestowing upon his dick with her mouth. She's merciless as she alternates between softly lapping at his tip and sucking hard enough to make his spine tingle. The result is overwhelming; pleasure that possesses his body like a demon, making him twist and shake, shudder and moan uncontrollably. He doesn't recognise the sounds coming out of his mouth. If he was able to, he'd worry about Rick on the other side of the wall hearing and coming in to check that he isn't being murdered. But as it stands he can't get a grip of his own breathing, can't control his trembling muscles and can't think about anything beyond Beth's mouth.

Finding the strength to peel his eyes open, he glances down and almost comes down her throat when he finds her hot blue gaze staring back at him. His hand comes up to rest on her back, stroking down her spine and digging his fingertips into her soft skin when she swirls her tongue across his tip.

When their eyes connect and blaze in a white heat, her hips rock forward as though in search of friction. Without thinking he reaches between her legs to give it to her.

He chokes as his questing fingers find coarse hairs instead of panties, causing his dick to throb wildly against her tongue. His fingers trace the soft skin of her slit and tremble as they start to glide through the wetness pooling between her lips. Sinking a finger between them he finds her cunt soaking wet. His tongue slides out to wet his lips, his mouth suddenly dry and gasping.

"Jesus," He croaks, eyes flicking back to hers in disbelief, "S'this all caus'a me?"

The eyes that meet his are dark and rippling with want.

For him.

Beth whines around his cock as his fingertips nudge her swollen hood, sending her hips arching into his hand. The sound of Beth's arousal cracks through him like a whip, sending his blood racing around his body and awakening a desperate primal urge to provide the release she's seeking.

His fingers start to move, rubbing furiously at her clit until she's moaning around his dick, sending a shivers down to his aching balls. He slides his fingers down to her entrance and plunges them inside. Her walls clench around his knuckles and she groans, her low moans vibrating across his cockhead. His hips stutter in response and jerk upwards, fucking deep into her mouth. She gags as his dick hits the back of her throat, blocking her airway.

"Shit, m'sorry," He hisses.

He moves to pull his hips back but Beth hands fist in his jeans, holding him in place. She keeps going, choking herself on his cock as she sucks him deeper. A whimper escapes him as she swallows and the walls of her throat squeeze his cockhead just as her cunt tightens around his fingers. Dragging air through her nose in shallows pants, she bobs up and down on his cock and his fingers, pushing them to their limits. He answers every muffled moan with a louder, increasingly more desperate sound of his own. Each vibration of her mouth against his tender tip is echoed by a tremor of her inner walls. She's close, so close. He screws his fingers in deeper and harder hurtling her towards her release. She sucks him deeper in return, her swollen lips brushing his balls as his cock slides down the back of her throat.

Feeling his orgasm coil close to breaking point, he curls his fingers around her shoulder and jerks his hips back, pulling his cock out of her mouth with a wet pop.

"Was gonna cum," he pants, eyes locking onto the string of saliva linking her parted lips to his swollen tip.

She stares up at him with blown out pupils, her eyes dark and questioning.

"I wanna fuck you," Daryl rasps between ragged pants. "Please," He adds, voice dripping with desperation as he squeezes the base of his angry red cock.

Wordlessly, Beth stares back at him, face set and serious as she slides backwards off the bed.

Daryl's heart sinks as she turns around. Shit, now you've really blown it.

He's leaning forward, hand coming up to reach out and stop her from leaving, when she takes a step forward and presses her palms down on his desk.

He freezes as she arches her back, tilting her pelvis so that her bare ass turns up to face him in nothing short of an invitation.

Slowly, she turns her head to look over her shoulder and catch his gaze. "Well, what are you waiting for?" She asks huskily, the corners of her mouth turning up in a teasing smile.

Daryl is on his feet and shoving his jeans down so fast he almost falls over them.

He places his hands on her outer thighs, enjoying the feeling of her skin hot beneath his palms before he slides them up, pushing her nightdress over her hips. Slowly, he keeps going, up her back and up her shoulders until she tilts her heads and straightens her arms, letting the night dress fall down onto the desk. Looking down, his breath stutters at the miles and miles of perfect skin in front of him. His hands fall to her back, stroking in soft circles before drifting around to cup her small breasts in his huge palms, breathing hard against the back of her neck as her nipples pebble against his hot skin.

Teasing her hard nipple between his fingers in one hand, he uses his other hand to guide his straining cock to the apex of her thighs. When his bulging cockhead brushes her pulsing hole they both inhale sharply, their bodies hot and aching with need. He slowly strokes himself through her wetness to her clit and rubs until her hand flies up and fists in his hair. She pulls him forward, covering her back with his chest until his nose grazes the side of her face.

"Daryl," She whispers with just enough urgency to make him bury his face in the cradle of her shoulder, arousal pouring down his spine.

He presses his forehead against the back of her neck and plunges his cock inside her. Her cunt is dangerously tight, swallowing him like a vice. He's halfway buried inside her when he finds he can hardly breathe and frantically pushes at her inner thigh for her to part for him. The pressure becomes sweet agony when she parts her legs wider, opening herself and allowing him to thrust all the way inside her.

They've fucked before, but not like this. Not so tight that he can feel every inch of her walls pulsing around him. Not with his chest covering her back and his lips on her neck so that more of their bodies are touching than not. Not in a way that made him feel so involved.

She's loosened her control on the situation, allowed for something more mutual, and he will make sure she doesn't regret it.

His arms tighten around her and he starts to move.

He jackhammers into her with one arm wrapped around her chest holding her against him, and the other tilting her jaw up so he can kiss her. And he does; with every thrust he moves his lips against hers, sucking her tongue into his mouth and taking everything he can get. She's moving her lips against his, her chest heaving beneath his palm as her hips rock back to meet him.

"Fuck," She pants against his mouth as he slams into her, forcing their mouths to part on a gasp.

He leans forward, bending her over the desk while keeping himself pressed against her back. Her pussy tremors as his dick presses against the back of her clit.

"Do that again," She gasps, flattening herself against the desk and pushing back against him.

Daryl growls into her throat, mouthing at her collar bone as her inner walls vibrate around him.

"Not gonna do it for long," He grunts, thrusting inside her harder and deeper than before, "If you keep doin' that."

He chokes as her walls clench and pulse around him.

"Don't stop," She whispers, arching her spine as another tremor runs through her, "I'm so close. Oh God"

Daryl bites his lip until he tastes copper. He pounds into her, groaning as her walls pulse around him in an almost continuous vibration that he feels at the base of his spine.

Beth's soft moans keep getting higher and more frenzied, her walls clenching him tighter and tighter.

"Christ, girl," He groans against her ear as he drags himself out and drives back into her, sweat trickling down his temple, "You're gonna ruin me."

His eyes screw shut as her pussy clamps down around him and she keens, high and breathless, violently arching back against him. In the next moment, he feels her melt in his arms, her walls releasing him just in time to drag his cock out of her before he comes. As he feels the aftershocks ripple through her body he finally lets go and his orgasm tears through him. A howl spills from his throat into hers as ropes of hot cum gush out of him and down her inner thigh. His head spins, arms tightening around Beth's burning hot body in his arms as his vision flickers black for a moment.

He braces his arms on either side of her as he drags in hard, short breaths that tingle in his lungs. He feels Beth's back expand against his chest as she catches her breath in soft open mouthed gasps. When her breathing has evened out, he straightens up, bringing her with him, his arms still wrapped loosely around her chest. She leans back against his chest, tipping her head back against his shoulder.

Rolling her head to the side, her heavy lidded eyes drift up to his and her mouth pulls into a lopsided smile.

"Wow," She breathes, blinking heavily.

The eyes that hold his are cracked open and raw, rippling for a long moment before she pulls away.

As Daryl yanks up his jeans, Beth picks her night dress from the desk. When she lifts it towards her head he reaches out and catches her arm.

Her head spins back to look at him over her shoulder, eyes wide with surprise as they connect with his.

His eyes never leave hers as he pulls his red rag from his back pocket and stoops to gently drag it up her inner thigh, wiping his sticky cum from her skin.

He doesn't miss the way her breath hitches as he tenderly brushes her swollen lips, causing her hips to rock back towards him. He presses a kiss to her shoulder, his eyes flickering with all the things he wants to say to her, as he pulls the rag from between her legs and stuffs it into his back pocket.

She doesn't blink as her eyes hold his, soft and open, guard still down but he can feel it coming up as her spine straightens against his chest.

He feels his stomach twist with trepidation, an awareness of their time together starting to draw to a close, and the fact that he really doesn't fucking want it to.

"I don't wanna stop doin' this," he murmurs, stroking her back. The words spill out without him meaning them to, the powerful undercurrent of his emotions starting to seep out through the cracks.

Beth's face tightens into a frown, her eyes growing sad.

"That might not be your choice to make," She says almost flatly, a forced coldness, but it doesn't reach her eyes. With her guard still relaxed he sees a flicker of something like fear behind the steel.

In that moment something clicks and finally, he gets it. How could he have been so blind? All these barriers. Keeping him at arm's length. She doesn't want to get attached in case he dies the way people so easily do now. Like a whole bunch of people she cared about; her mama, brother, boyfriend. Lori. Her daddy, almost. She doesn't want to lose anyone else. He gets it. A coping mechanism she's constructed in order to make it in this world.

You can't lose what isn't yours.

"Girl, I ain't goin' anywhere," He huffs, his face twisting with something like offence at the very notion, "If my own Pa couldn't kill me it's gonna take more'n some other brainless, stumblin' bastard to put me down."

Beth's frown is smoothed out as her eyebrows float up towards her hairline, visibly taken aback. He leans back, giving her room as she turns to face him, her hands falling to grip the edge of the desk.

"We ain't just survivin' no more," He says earnestly, voice softer as he rests his hands on either side of hers, "We're livin' an' I ain't plannin on dyin' any time soon."

Beth shakes her head, "You don't get to decide-"

"I do. I do get to," He cuts her off sharply, "I'm choosin' to live and so did you, back on the farm."

Beth inhales sharply, her grip on the edge of the desk tightening, but she continues to hold his gaze, her expressive eyes flooding with emotions that he can't name.

Daryl sighs, feeling the air between them teeter on the edge of something hostile. "I want more'n this," He confesses, his voice a hoarse whisper as his thumbs gingerly stroke across her knuckles, "More'n just a quick fuck every now and then."

Relaxing her grip on the desk, Beth's eyes soften back at his.

"I want you in my bed," Daryl murmurs, his hands circling her wrists, "An' not jus' cause you're a firecracker in the sack. It ain't about that."

He feels Beth's pulse quicken against his palms. "What's it about?" She whispers.

Daryl worries his bottom lip, his throat squeezing tight and threatening to close.

Don't be a pussy, Merle snaps.

"S'about wantin' to hold you after," He blurts out, surprising them both. "An' fall' asleep with you," He continues, hands sliding up to cup her elbows, "Hell, I wanna wake up with you."

Beth is staring at him, seemingly frozen in place until she sways a little closer. Daryl tilts his head down as she turns hers up, bringing their faces barely an inch apart.

"I want mornin's, an' nights an' everythin' in between," He rumbles, "I want you, Beth."

"Daryl…" She warns, her breath fluttering across his lips.

"Will you stop bein' so goddamn stubborn an' jus' let me care about you?" He growls, accent growing thick with his anger.

Beth leans back against the desk, her eyes flaring with surprise.

His heart is pounding; scared he's pushed her too far. Then her mouth twitches and she suddenly blinks like she's fighting back tears, her eyes deep and shining.

"What if you die?" She whispers, her arms crossing as she wraps them around herself.

His hand comes up to cup her face, fingers curling into the soft space under her jaw as his rough thumb brushes her cheekbone.

"What if I don't?" He asks on a held breath, lip catching between his teeth as her head sags against his palm.

He can see her wrestling with it; brows knitting together over her deep blue eyes, trembling with emotions she can no longer contain.

"Jesus, Beth, I'm crazy about you," He sighs, "You're all I can think about."

The tension stretches unbearably tight for one fraught moment, his heart crawling into his throat as she stares back at him, her eyes suddenly glazing over. She doesn't blink, she doesn't breathe.

And then she surges forward, closing the distance between them and claiming his mouth in a fierce kiss. Her hands fly up to fist in his shirt, dragging him closer as she moves her mouth against his hungrily, biting his lips in her desperation. He lets out the breath he's been holding, riding on a moan out of his chest into hers and taking the unbearable tightness with it.

When they finally break apart, she presses her forehead against his, brushing their noses together as they pant sharply into each other's mouths. "I think about you too," She whispers against his lips, "What it'd be like to stay. What it'd be like to wake up with you."

Daryl's heart stutters.

"Wanna find out?" He asks, tipping his head back to meet her eyes with his own tentatively imploring gaze.

She draws in a trembling breath and pushes it out across his jaw. Blinking slowly, her eyes take on the calmness of still water and her lips curl into a small smile.

"Yes."