"honestly babe, I just want to go home and crawl into bed." Beth's tired voice came over the phone.
"That's fine sweetheart. We can just lay in bed and watch some movie."
Daryl knew Beth was having a rough day. He always knew right from the start. They had been together for over three years, spending nearly every spare moment with each other. After that long, they were both so in tune with the other's mood, they were one unit.
Beth's alarm hadn't gone off so when he called her worried, having not received his usual morning phone call, she had been jumping out of bed.
There had been a few texts through out the day, all of a similar nature. Simply nothing was going right for his poor girl.
Today would be a great reason to do something nice for her.
Daryl picked himself off the couch and wandered towards the kitchen. "Come on Patch, we got an hour til our favorite girl gets home."
Patch wagged his tail but otherwise remained immobile, until he heard Daryl rummaging about in the kitchen.
The dog walked over and sat at his designated waiting spot just outside of the tiny kitchen.
Daryl fed the dog and started making spaghetti, considering it was the only half way decent meal he could cook.
"Jesus mutt, all you do is beg for food, like your damn bowl isn't siting there FULL all day." Daryl tossed a meatball at the dog, regardless of the slight insult. Beth was, of course, correct in saying that the damn dog would wiggle his way into the hunter's heart.
Having started the spaghetti, he washed the dishes, cleaning up his mess along with the rest of the kitchen.
He stepped over the dog and walked the apartment gathering cups and bowls from late night Coffee and Ice cream. Daryl loaded all of it into the dish washer and started it running.
Wandering back into the living room he picked up and folded the blanket they always left laying wherever it fell. As artfully as he could he fluffed the pillows and tossed them onto their respective sides of the couch, straightening the coffee table and putting everything back in its place. They weren't total slobs but Beth and Daryl definitely weren't the neatest two people on the planet either.
In the bedroom Daryl put all the dirty laundry into its bag for the Laundromat and made the bed.
Finally, he made his way into the bathroom. Putting all of Beth's 'girly things' under the sink wiping down the counters and scrubbing the toilet bowl.
"Hey Patch, ya know what'll really make her day?" The dog stared at him. "Ima make her a fucking bath."
Patch heard the word 'bath' and ran to hide under the bed.
"CHICKEN SHIT" Daryl yelled down after the dog.
He knew Beth likes her bath hot because he always felt like he was burning when he climbed in with her, Daryl plugged the tub and turned on the hot water.
"Think I can just...let this go?" Daryl mumbled to himself. "Damn, how much of this bubble shit does she use?" He stared at the offensive bottle, thinking back on all the times he had watched her pour bubbles into the tub, before deciding to simply pour the whole thing in. "If a little is good, more must be better. Now, time to put the noodles on." Daryl turned around and headed back into the kitchen where he filled a pot with water, threw in a handful of spaghetti noodles, turned on the heat and left.
"Patch! Get out from under the damn bed!" He got down at level with the floor to coax out the dog. "come on. You know mama hates when you get under there." The now timid white dog, army crawled out, before jumping on the man licking his face repeatedly. "Tha's disgustin' and you know it mongrel. Now, going to check the tub." He picks up the indignant dog and carries him into the bathroom. To see, bubbles pouring out of the tub, rapidly filling the already small bathroom.
"Son of a bitch!" Daryl half drops the dog in his haste to the tub.
Disoriented, Patch tries to help Daryl by running after him.
Bare feet, a tile floor, over abundance of bubbles, and a concerned dog, never add up to anything good happening. Daryl trips on Patch, causing him to slip on the floor and land hard on his tailbone. There is a frantic scramble where Daryl tries to gain traction again, before he can reach the faucet turning it off. He laid on his back. Staring at the ceiling catching his breath, while Patch happily jumped in and out of pile upon piles of bubbles.
The smoke detector goes off.
The door opens.
Beth walks in to a smoke detector beeping and fire on top of her stove. She quickly puts the burning noodles out and turns off the gas stove, before wandering down the hall.
She stands in the bathroom door staring at her boyfriend. He's laying on his back with an arm thrown over his eyes.
"I was trying to do something nice. It didn't work." He mumbles.
She smiles softly before going to lay down next to him, among the bubble filled mess.
"I love you, you know that?" She whispered.
"I love you too." He grins, wrapping an arm around her, pulling her flush against himself. "What happened today?"
She sighed before sitting up, as he moved his arm from his eyes to behind his head.
"you know how I was anemic, and had that blood test yesterday to see if the Iron meds were doing anything?"
He sat up, and sat cross legged in front of her, "Yeah? What happened with that? Did they?"
"Mmmmm. They ran a full blood test just to make sure everything is ok."
"That's good right?" Daryl leaned forward, grabbing her hand, tracing the lines in it.
"We're gonna be parents."