Daryl sat back and whittled away the piece of wood he had been working on for the past three nights. He didn't know what it was going to be yet, he was just letting it take the natural grain of the wood.

He kept sneaking glances at Beth stringing the popcorn along painstakingly on the thread she had found in an upstairs bedroom. She'd had him haul in a tree that morning and they had set about trying to find things to put on it. They had found a paltry box of Christmas ornaments in the attic but it still looked more like a Charlie Brown special than anything that ought to be proudly displayed in someone's living room. But Beth had wanted a tree and hell if he was going to deny her anything she wanted. Not after all they had been through.

He sat down his knife and piece of wood and cleared his throat. "Why don'tcha hand me a piece of that thread and a needle and I'll help ya out?"

Beth looked up in surprise from where she sat a few feet away on the sofa beside him and smiled. "That would be great. I may be goin' blind soon if I don't get this strand finished." She grinned as she held up her long line of popcorn garland. It had taken a bit of time to pop it all and it seemed a waste but as Beth had pointed out, they could always use it to feed the chickens with. They had several out in the backyard of their Alexandria house. He had moved in with her sometime after she had arrived, coming in with Morgan Jones, an old friend from Rick's past.

Rick had met him just after the world had gone to hell and they had met up sometime during their time at the prison but they'd lost touch. Then he'd strolled in like some modern day biblical figure with a staff and pulling behind him a girl on a horse, her blonde hair tied in a ponytail and it was as if that horrible day in that hospital hallway had never taken place; like maybe it had been a dream. Daryl had thought in that moment he saw her that maybe seeing her again was a dream but then he heard Rick from behind him. "Beth? Morgan!"

She had slid to the ground as they approached her and Daryl looked to Rick. "It's okay Daryl. She's here."

Rick knew. He knew the months of torment. He knew the heartache Daryl had felt. He knew how far he'd gone to the edge and he had just barely started to pull back from that cliff when he saw her.

He'd sobbed for what seemed like hours and she had held him. It had been the best moment of his entire life. And every moment since then just got better.

"I see what ya mean about going blind." Daryl said, looking at her in surprise, but it was too late. He felt like a shit for bringing up a painful memory. There had been a time when they'd thought that she wouldn't recover her eyesight fully. She had long spells of blurry vision for a long time after the accident she said and they'd only started to subside when she arrived in Alexandria. She still had an occasional blurry spot appear in her vision but it always went away.

"It's okay Daryl, I said it myself. And besides I'm not blind." She laughed and he looked up in surprise.

"What's funny about that?" Daryl didn't mean for his voice to come out as gruff as he did but it had been a hard thing to watch her recover her vision and some of her memories. She said that she hadn't remembered much at first and it was like watching strung together Polaroids floating by her face every once in a while.

"Just thinkin' about the last time I talked about going blind." Beth giggled. "Remember the shine shack?"

Daryl chuckled. "Yeah I remember alright. You were a spitfire. I remember thinkin' you didn't have that kind of fight in ya. You've proved me wrong time and time again."

She smiled softly at him. "Well I learned how to fight from the best."

Daryl snorted. "Girl you survived a gunshot to the head. That's a damn miracle. And then you made it here."

Beth nodded as she thread another piece of popcorn onto the garland. She sat down her project and met his eyes. "It looks like we got a couple of Christmas miracles this year. But you forgot one."

"What's that?" Daryl held his breath as Beth scooted closer to him. They'd not been this close. Not since he'd hugged her the day she arrived. Though they lived in the same house, they'd not done more than hold hands and even then that was never talked about as something. But lately it seemed like everything with Beth was something.

Beth's face was inches from his as she looked deep into his eyes. "That we're together. Here." She reached down and stilled his hands of their movements. He left the popcorn string in his lap and reached for her hands in a bold spontaneous movement. He looked at her eyes and he just knew that she could hear his heart pounding away in his chest because it's the only sound he heard as she closed her eyes and brought her lips to his.

Soft. Beth Greene's lips were soft. And warm, kissing her felt like the warmest feeling spreading all the way through him and he found his hands left her fingers in his lap and they drifted up to each side of her face, his fingers finding their way to thread through her hair. He didn't let go of her face even when they had to break apart just to be able to breathe.

"Together huh?" He couldn't quite help the slight upturn of his lips.

Beth nodded resolutely. "Together."

She was perfect in every way his, Beth. He didn't know why it surprised him she always had the perfect thing to say. She was just like that. Perfect.

This fic will have 3 parts I think for this Christmas mini series. Hope you enjoyed it. Also hope you like this next bit. I know a lot of you have expressed your concern for A Shady Affair and I promise you I am hard at work on the next two chapters. I thought I would include a small snippet that does not give too much away but just in case this is considered your warning so SPOILER ALERT AHEAD: Scroll past or click out if you don't want to be spoiled. Okay here goes:

Shady Affair (chapter 21 excerpt)

"You sure your Dad isn't gonna kill me?" Daryl moved his thumb up to his mouth, his other hand firmly on the steering wheel.

Beth shook her head. "No baby I think he's going to love you. Maggie and Glenn too." Beth promptly reached over and took his hand from his mouth and thread her fingers through his, locking their hands together and placing them into her lap. The summer day had gotten hot and the air in his truck had gone out on the way down and Beth was currently fighting the fly aways whipping around her face on the ride down to Senoia. They had the windows rolled down and it was still sweltering inside the cab of the truck.

She smiled softly at him, squeezing his hand slightly.

Daryl looked back out the dash. He couldn't imagine someone liking him as much as she believed her family would. He was used to people actually wanting to get to know him and he usually avoided situations like these but he knew Beth really wanted him to meet her family. And he wanted to meet them. He did. He just wasn't used to stuff like this.

"Didn't think there was anything to scare the big bad Daryl Dixon." Beth teased then faltered as she saw the look come across his face.

Daryl shrugged. "I don't know why they would like me. Nothin' special about me." He tried not to look at her, he tried. But he turned his head slightly and caught her stare, caught for a second in her loving gaze. His heart flipped over despite himself.

"Daryl Dixon, you are a good man. They will love you because I love you."

He hoped she was right. He had never been so nervous in his entire life.

That's it; it's all ya get! ;) Until next time, loves! xoxxoxoxoxo