a_littlefaith | (no subject)

The apartment looks amazing, so at least there's that.

Beth has put a lot of work into the decorations, the lights and the tree. There are wrapped gifts under the tree, most of them for Judith and Carl, and there are cookies and candies and chocolates on the table. The rest of the apartment is more or less the same, she doesn't have a lot of extra money to be buying Christmas place settings or anything like that, but she thinks she's done a good job regardless.

And it's a good thing, too, because she's not sure dinner is going to turn out the way it's supposed to.

It's not bad, not from what she can tell, but it's just not very good either. Nothing is burned or overflowing, nothing is undercooked and nothing looks like it might possibly poison someone accidentally. But she's tasted everything and it's all just kind of bland.

The only thing this dinner has going for it is dessert, which is apple crumble and the one thing Beth did learn how to bake from her mother. It's still in the oven and it smells delicious and she's sort of hoping no one will notice that cinnamon and apple is the only smell in the apartment when they arrive for dinner.

She doesn't say anything about it, not to Daryl, but she sits down at the piano and plays a soft, melancholy song, something that's got no place at a bright, cheery Christmas dinner.

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It's crossed his mind, watching her with Judith, that this comes so naturally to her. And knowing about her and Daryl, he wonders if the thought has crossed Beth's mind, if she's hoping to have a baby of her own someday. Of course, if he had it his way, someday wouldn't be for a long while yet, until she's finished school completely. But he doesn't get a final say in all of that.

"Plannin' to teach music? You'll be good at it, Beth. Got a knack with people, I could see you teachin' others and lovin' it." He likes knowing she'll be doing something she loves, something that's her true passion.

She's quiet for a moment, still looking down at Judith as she tries to imagine the sort of future she actually has a chance at here. There's college and a real career waiting for her, maybe one day a wedding and a family. For a long time, no matter how positive she was, she hadn't been able to hope for anything like this. Living, finding the others, making it day to day and maybe finding some bit of happiness was all they'd been able to hope for back home. She had tried, she'd done her best to find that happiness every single day, she'd kept believing she and Daryl would find everyone again, but she knows, no matter what they do back there, nothing will be like this.

Not for a very, very long time.

"I think so, too," she says finally, looking up at Rick again. "Is that kinda arrogant to say?" Her daddy might have told her not to get ahead of herself, but Maggie would tell her to believe that she's capable of doing anything.

"Ain't arrogant," he shakes his head.

Possible she could be setting herself up to be disappointed, but she's got a good head on her shoulders; hell, she's smarter than him in some things. She sees the world in a way that he can't, and that means she can do anything she puts her mind to. She's got everything ahead of her, and he'll be damned if he lets anyone or anything stand in the way of that.

"You love somethin' and you know you're good at it, it'll push you forward." He smirks a little then. "You're gonna have to teach Judith some music."

"Of course I will. Got a piano now to teach her on and everything," she says and she can't even begin to hide just how pleased she is with that particular gift. The watch Daryl had given her for her birthday is wonderful and she wears it every single day, but she never could have expected something like the piano. That's something really special.

"You wanna do that, Judith?" she asks, moving over toward the piano and sitting down on the bench. Setting the little girl carefully on her lap, she takes her fingers and lays them on the keys, pressing down so Judith is the one making noise.

It's something so simple, and yet the moment that Beth sits at the piano with Judith, Rick realizes he could honestly stand there for a good long while and watch them, and need nothing else to be happy; just his kids, his family. Judith is cooing and making the happiest sounds. With Beth helping her, her hands and fingers are fairly steady against the piano keys, and the sound makes her even happier. She actually turns her head to smile over at Rick, as if to say, Look at me, daddy, which draws Rick closer with a smile on his face.

He kneels down close to them, at Judith's eye level, and she focuses her attention back on the piano keys now that he's close by. At one point, though, she tilts her head up, trying to see Beth, too.