-Daryl-

Three blondes. All reeked of cigarettes, booze, and leather. It's just the way he liked his girls, and it's definitely not the first time he's had multiple women fill his bed. Daryl Dixon was the talk of the town. Whether it was someone slandering his Dixon name or one of the many girls who flocked to him because of his "bad boy" personality, he'd never know, but everyone knew his name. Daryl got out of his bed - just a mattress on the bare floor - and threw the blanket off the women. "Time to go, ladies, parties done." He grumbled as he reached for a cigarette to light. As the smoke filled the air, the ladies woke up, but Daryl just left. Like he usually did. Crossbow on his back, knife attached to his boot, he was just ready to get out of the town for a bit. He jumped in his pick up truck and headed out of town.

His lake house wasn't too far away. Although it was actually Merle's place, Daryl liked to claim it since Merle went to prison. He'd be in there for at least a decade, so might as well keep up the place, right? It was a simple cabin, two bedrooms, minimal furniture, but an extraordinary deck out back. The deck had always been the Dixon brothers favorite. It sat right on the perfect lot, secluded in the woods, right next to a small but beautiful lake. It was enough for Daryl to fish or hunt around, and it was his getaway for the time being.

The sound of his pick up filled the woods, he lit another cigarette and immediately went through the house to the back porch to embrace the Georgia air, the quietness of the - "G'damnit" came out of his mouth as soon as he hit the porch. Sounds of machinery started up, men walking around, loud banging to build what appeared to be a new cabin. He stared, fury enraged him, as he watched the scenery he grew to love become nothing but chunks of trees and piles of leaves. Whoever this was, they would definitely get a piece of his mind. He jumped off the deck and stomped towards his truck as a bright green Jeep pulled into his yard. The color stopped him. The car looked brand new and there was a petite little blonde girl with something in her hands getting out.

"Hi, new neighbor! I'm Beth, Beth Greene! I'm building right across from you and I thought I'd bake you some cookies and maybe get to know you a bit!" This chick was too damn bubbly, bouncing around in her little cut up shirt and shorts, god she looked like a dream. That didn't help his anger at all though, if anything it made it grow to an unbearable level, "G' the hell off my property, girl." Beth was taken back by this, she's never been talked to in such a manner. She just sat the cookies down in front of her car and got in her car and left to her side of the lake.

Daryl got this little container of cookies and headed back inside. His whole day, hell probably his whole month was shot to hell at this point. Couldn't ever get any kind of serenity. He sat down in front of his little boxed TV with a microwave meal and after that, devoured the entirety of those delicious cookies. Maybe if she kept bringing shit like that over, this wouldn't be such a bad deal after all. Besides, her little body was perfect and "good girls", especially the blonde variety, was his weakness.

He moved over to the window and just watched. The construction was going pretty quickly, looked like they just had a few more logs to put into place and then plumbing and electricity. Simple stuff. A few men walked around, one he pegged as Beth's father - older, long white beard with white hair to match. There was also a girl, maybe a little older than Beth, but she had dark hair and she was a little taller. She stood with who Daryl presumed to be her boyfriend, different ethnicity - dark hair, too. Then the two sheriff's, Rick and Shane, Daryl and his family knew the two officers very well. And of course, there was Beth. Her hair was pinned back into a braid and she was starring in awe of the house being built before her. That's when she caught the peering eyes of Daryl. He just moved back to the one love seat that sat in his living room. Cursing the girl and her family for ruining the one good thing in his life.

A few hours later, as the sound of labor stopped and the sun started to go down, he heard a small knock on his door. It took a few minutes, but as he opened it, little Beth Greene was pulling out of his driveway and on her way back to town - at his feet were more of those cookies he had devoured earlier in the day - and damn, did he know he was in for trouble. How could he stay mad at a girl like her? All he knew is that he would continue being mad until he couldn't handle it anymore. Beth was definitely going to be in for the cold shoulder. Wow, what is he? A teenager? And with that, Daryl went to the hammock on the back porch and took in what would be one of his last nights of being alone out here.

- Beth -

It had been a long night. The Georgia air is hot and humid and definitely not something Beth would ever want to build another house in, but man was she excited to finally have her own place. Her family, the Greene's, had always lived together on a big farm outside of Atlanta. They always stuck together - that was until Maggie, Beth's sister, had gotten married to Glenn. When they moved out, Beth decided it was her turn too. She was fresh out of high school, starting college in the Fall. She had just gotten a job at a local grocer - she'd never needed the money, as her family paid her way, but she felt more dependent and confident having some sort of income. As a graduation gift, her daddy bought her a brand new, fully upgraded, Jeep Wrangler. Just what she wanted, and in her favorite color. And now her daddy was building her a cabin on a lake that they scooped out last year when going fishing.

Everything in Beth's life had seemed to be going perfect. That was until she had met Daryl, earlier in the day. She had been as nice as she normally is but he just came off so rude and vulgar. She hated people like that, but after the families friend - Rick Grimes, sheriff - had explained to her who Daryl was, she felt some sort of sickness in her stomach. She knew he slept around a lot and got himself into a lot of trouble, his last name didn't help who he was either - but Beth had always been one to feel bad for those people looked down on. So, she left him more cookies on her way back to the farm.

Three more days had passed, every day Beth would drop off cookies before and after finishing up at her cabin. Today was the day, though. Instead of building, she would finally be moving. This was probably one of the biggest ventures of her life, but she couldn't have felt safer with everything her family did to the house. Security cameras, alarm systems, privacy fencing, you name it - she had it. She even got to go to the local animal shelter and pick out a dog. A pitbull/mastiff, Jack. He was a sweet heart, kind of timid, but very off putting to people who didn't like the breed. So she felt safe, and as she got to know him, she knew Jack would make for the best protector.

As she moved the boxes out of her new home and set everything up where it was supposed to go, she heard Jack growling at something by the front window. She peeked through to see a familiar pick up truck - Daryl's. She got a little nervous, but walked outside, keeping Jack in the house, since he was a new dog and she didn't know how he would react to strangers, especially since he could probably feel the nervous energy radiating off of Beth. "Can I help you?" she managed to get out as Daryl got out of the truck, holding two tubberware containers. "Jus' came to return em', damn good cookies" Daryl replied, holding out her containers. She took them rather quickly and just nodded, then turned her way back to her home and locked the door. Why she ran, she didn't really know, but she didn't like the unfamiliar, nervous feeling in her stomach.