I am back with my second story. It is loosely based on my previous story "People Always Meet Twice in Life". While i wrote that one, I always wondered how things would have gone if Daryl and Jarah had started dating back in the "real world" e.g. without the Zombie Apocalypse happening. The title is taken from one of my favorite Godsmack songs "Releasing the Demons". It fits Daryl and Jarah.

To the readers who read my first story, the beginning of this chapter will seem familiar. Some things will be altered though. For example Jarah won't suffer from the same medical conditions she mentioned in my first story. Those complications damn near immobilized her and it wouldn't benefit this story. I want those two to have some fun together before the baby arrives;-)

I am writing this on the go, letting the characters take me wherever they want to go. So your input as a reader does matter and is really taken into consideration. So don't be shy about voicing your opinions. I am glad about feedback and criticism.

Enough from me, let's get this started!

############ ############# #############

Chapter 1

Jarah Mason felt dead on her feet. She probably could have fallen asleep standing up right on those stairs, but that was not an option right now, she had to get herself and her groceries upstairs.

"Come on, only 10 or 15 more steps and then just down the hall to your apartment. You can do it!" she tried to motivate herself. The problem was, that she was just lacking the physical strength right now. She was 24 weeks pregnant and she was just exhausted and still a little weak. Morning sickness had been more like 24/7 sickness up until pretty much a week ago. She was still working on getting her strength back, but she wasn't able to rest all day long, she had appointments, she needed to get the nursery ready and she needed groceries and since there was no one around to help her she had to do it herself.

She took another deep breath and grabbed the handle of her shopping trolly cart with both hands and pulled. Step by step she slowly tried to work her way from the second, up to the third floor.

She had only managed to climb two steps, when she heard somebody else coming up the stairs. A moment later she saw that it was the hot guy from the construction crew. The one with those amazing blue eyes and even more amazing arms.

The landlord had hired a company to remodel some of the empty apartments in the building to make them more look better in hopes to being able to rent them out faster. They were tiny and not very appealing. For Jarah it had been an emergency measure after leaving her husband practically overnight. As soon as her son would be born, she would move into another, bigger, apartment. Right now she just couldn't handle a move. She couldn't risk carrying any more heavy boxes. The groceries were enough.

The guy looked up at her and she started to panic internally. She was blocking the way and he was busy and had work to do and didn't have time to wait another 5 minutes for her to climb the fucking stairs. He had to hate her by now, this was the second time she would be part of an unpleasant encounter with him. Well unpleasant for him, she happily took in the couple of seconds during which she had a nice view of his eyes and ruggedly handsome face, before guilt swept through her. She hated being a nuisance and she was about to start apologizing profusely, but before she could even open her mouth, he had grabbed the handle out of her hand and was carrying her cart up the stairs.

"Why don't you order that shit online or something?"

Uh-oh, he wasn't happy and understandably so. Damn, she always fucked everything up for everybody, but man look at those bunching muscles! Then she mentally slapped herself upside the head. Order that shit online... why hadn't she thought of that before? That pregnancy brain had to be a real thing.

"Thank you!", she sighed in relief and slowly started to climb the stairs again. "Hey wait,... I am really grateful for your help. Can I offer you a drink maybe?"

"Gotta work!" was his gruff response.

"After work? I am in apartment 3B,..."

He stopped for a moment and looked back at her, before he kept walking.

'Was that a nod? That was a nod, right? RIGHT?' she just wasn't sure if he really had nodded or if she had imagined it. The movement had been barely detectable, therefore it was entirely possible, that it had been a figment of her imagination.

She started dragging the cart down the hall to her apartment, greeting one of the neighbors that passed her on her way there. She didn't know his name, the people in this building kept to themselves, except for an elderly lady called Mrs. Wilhelmina Larson.

Jarah knew her from work. She used to work in a nursing home and Mrs. Larson's brother had been one of the residents for a couple of years now. When Jarah had moved into the building about two and a half months ago, the old lady had immediately recognized her and had swarmed her with questions. 'How come she was living here now? How come she hadn't been at work since New Years? You are getting a divorce? But why? I thought your husband was that nice doctor that had treated Mrs. Black's fractured hip? You are pregnant? Aw how wonderful? But are you ready to be a single mother?'

She wasn't offended by the questions. She'd had years of experience with the elderly and that was just how most of them were, alone and thus very invested in other people's lives. She had learned to just shrug it off after dealing with it day after day on the job.

Right now, Jarah was actually happy to have somebody to talk to on occasion and share her pregnancy experiences with. She was alone. After leaving her husband, Jackson, she had broken off all communication with him and she wasn't much for socializing in her personal life so the only people she had talked to in almost three months had only been doctors, Mrs. Larson once or twice a week and her dad once, to let him know she could no longer be reached under her old number. Not that he ever called, but he had taught her manners and she thought it had been the polite thing to let him know what was going on.

He didn't care. The divorce was just another disappointment and somehow he had found a way to make her feel guilty for not being able to speed up the pregnancy. He wanted to meet his grandchild as fast as possible. And it better be a boy. He didn't have much use for girls.

Jarah had been a tomboy growing up. More interested in cars and Ninja Turtles than in Barbie dolls, that was pretty much the only thing she had ever done to make him proud. Act like a boy. He still faulted her though for wanting to wear pretty dresses while she helped him change tires or clean their cars. By now she should have learned that there just was absolutely no way to make that man happy. He always found the negative, even in the most positive things. But she still hadn't given up hope. She thought finally giving him a grandchild would get her in his good graces once and for all.

########### ########## ######## ######### ######## ########

As soon as she had finished putting all the groceries away and was on her way to the couch to put her feet up, Jarah just froze. She was standing in the middle of the room, a glass filled with iced decaf vanilla latte in her hand, stopped dead in her tracks and just groaned.

"What the hell am I thinking? I just invited a complete stranger into my apartment for a drink? What the hell is wrong with me? That's not me at all! Boy, this pregnancy really IS doing a number on my head! What if he really shows up? Then what? I don't do small talk! Well I do, but I am really bad at it. What if he is an ex-convict or something? Sure he is hot, he helped me out once, I've seen him every day for two weeks, but he barely ever says good morning back, when I walk by. I don't know anything about him, not even his name! Shit! Oh God, a pregnant woman he doesn't know, who almost knocked him flat on his ass when he first ran into her, asked him to her apartment for drinks? I can just imagine what he is thinking. Great Jarah, it's been a while, but you did it again. You made a gigantic fool out of yourself. Awesome!"

Jarah stood there, arguing with herself out loud, almost spilling her latte from waving her hands around while she was talking to herself. Maybe she WAS finally going insane. Was she really that desperate for company now? Well, he almost never said good morning and she was sure she had imagined his nod, so what were the chances that he would actually show up?

######## ########### ######## ######## ######## ########

Daryl Dixon was still waiting for someone to jump out from one of the apartments and tell him that he was on candid camera or something.

The girl that had taken up permanent residence in his mind about two weeks ago had asked him to come to her apartment for a drink after work. He was a Dixon, and Dixons didn't get that lucky, so it had to be a joke, right?

His infatuation with her had been instant. One look into her large brown eyes with little flecks of green in them, that looked like beautiful tiny green oceans he could get lost in, and he hadn't been himself anymore. He found himself thinking about her constantly. Even though he tried to keep his mind off of her, she always found a way to sneak back in. He didn't care that she was pregnant, she was absolutely stunning with her shiny dark brown locks that went down to the middle of her back and her beautiful full lips. They were just right, pouty, but not too big to look unnatural and fake, just sexy and sensual.

Her body type was not the type that Daryl usually found attractive. He loved curves and apart from her round belly, she was not the overly curvy type. Her breasts looked to be just about a handful in size and her hips seemed more straight than curvy. She was tiny, but she did have a nice butt and legs that went on for miles and his mouth kept watering at the thought of grabbing that firm ass in his hands and lifting her up to have her wrap her long slim legs around his waist.

She even invaded his dreams, leading to an extremely embarrassing incident involving his brother Merle a couple of days ago. Daryl had dreamed about her, he was still able to remember it vividly, like it really happened. He had banged her doggy style on his bed, getting a kick out of the moans, that erupted from her sexy little mouth every single time he slapped those perfectly round butt cheeks.

Apparently his pelvis had been mimicking the movements from his dream and when his brother came in late after a visit to his favorite bar, he had entered Daryl's bedroom to investigate the weird noises and found his little brother humping the hell out of his mattress, moaning and groaning like a little bitch.

He got torn out of his hot dream by Merle's roaring laughter. The man almost cried from laughing so hard, while Daryl felt like his face was going to burn off his skull, he was blushing so hard. He had been absolutely mortified, he had briefly considered leaving the country. He knew Merle wouldn't let him live that down for weeks, especially knowing that Daryl had fantasized about the pregnant girl Merle had caught him staring at the week before. One of the few times Daryl hated their shared penchant for being observant.

Of course Merle had blabbed that little incident to everybody who was and wasn't interested. Little Darylina had fucked his mattress damn near into the ground, because he was perving out on some fat, pregnant chick, whose first name he didn't even know. Daryl hadn't shown his face at the bar for days, preferring to not be humiliated EVERY night.

If Merle found out that his little brother had gone to see her, the elder Dixon would have a field day. Daryl would give Merle even more ammunition to be used against him. On the other hand, Merle didn't have to know. Especially if it was just a one time thing, which he figured it would be. The woman just wanted to be polite and say thanks. And maybe if he accepted the invitation and got to know her a little tonight, maybe he would lose interest, because she would no longer be this mystical creature to him or maybe he would find out something about her, that would absolutely turn him off. It might be a way to kick her out of his screwed up mind.

But deep down he knew that very probably wasn't going to happen. What had happened with her that first day had never happened to him before. Ever. She was not really his type and from the looks of it she was also out of his league after having been married to some fancy-ass doctor, but once he had looked directly into her eyes, there had been a connection, like she was a kindred soul. Daryl had felt like a major pussy even thinking words that might just as well have come fresh out of a damn romance novel, but it' was exactly what it felt like. There were no other ways to describe it Something about her was special, she was able to make him feel something positive inside of him, and he didn't even know her yet, which was why he was so damn intrigued and infatuated.

Still, what would they even talk about? He wasn't big on talking, much less initiating a conversation. That would be up to her, but she was a woman, so she should be good with that kind of stuff, he figured. Women were supposed to be all chatty and shit. He would just sit there and have a drink and listen. He was good at listening and she would be too absorbed in talking to notice that he was staring at her, painstakingly studying her every feature.

In the next four hours Daryl went back and forth between deciding to go and then deciding not to go about 127 times, before ultimately deciding not to take her up on her invitation. He finished his work, went down the stairs, left the building, sat in his truck, put the key in the ignition and started the car. However, he wasn't able to bring himself to go home. At least not yet. Contrary to popular belief he wasn't stupid. This was a chance. Dixons don't get very many chances. He would be the biggest moron on the planet to pass it up. He had nothing to lose. He killed the engine and got out of the truck and went back into the building. He was nervous as fuck, but hell, he was gonna go through with it. Dixons aren't cowards.

############ ############# ########### ############

The loud knock on the door nearly gave Jarah a heart attack. She was happy and in a panic at the same time. This was happening, she really had invited a stranger to come to her apartment for drinks and he really had accepted.

"Holy fucking shit. What now? Do I shake his hand or what? No, better not, my hands are sweaty as fuck." she muttered to herself on her way to the door. She was so nervous it was ridiculous. Why hadn't she just baked him some muffins or her kick-ass Cream Cheese Brownies instead of inviting him into her home? That was what she would have usually done. Had to be the pregnancy brain or his eyes and/or arms had put some spell on her. She wasn't the kind of girl that got swept off her feet just by a man looking at her, but this guy? There was something about him, other than just being insanely attractive.

'Well, here goes nothing!' Jarah took one last deep breath before yanking the door open.

"Hi,... nice to see you. Uumm, wanna come in?" She stepped aside and let him enter the apartment after he had given her a little nod.

"Thanks,..." he went a few steps past her and looked around. Boy this was awkward. Why hadn't he just gone home?

"Please have a seat!" she motioned towards the big comfy-looking gray couch. "What can I get you? I have Jack Daniels, wine, Southern Comfort and if you prefer something non-alcoholic water, orange juice, apple juice, Seven Up and Coca Cola."

"JD and Coke would be good." he mumbled and went right back to chewing the inside of his lip nervously after he had gotten the words out.

"No problem, you want ice?" Another little nod. "Alright, make yourself at home, I'll be right back!" She gave him a little smile and left for the kitchen.

Daryl kept looking around for a bit, but there wasn't much to see. No personal pictures, no posters, no paintings. Nothing but blank white walls staring back at him. No little trinkets people bought at the 99 cent store to fill their lives with possessions to make them seem less lonely. Nothing to tell him something about the woman who was fixing their drinks in the kitchen.

Finally he spotted some CD's, DVD's and a couple of books on a shelf. He went over and skimmed over the band names. Korn, Korn, Korn, Korn,... well not hard to figure out what her favorite band was. Some Metallica albums, some Limp Bizkit and other bands whose names he didn't recognize. She liked it loud and hard. They might have something in common there.

He picked up a DVD box set, looking at the pictures on the back. Six Feet Under, he wasn't familiar with that show. Dexter, he knew that one. Wasn't bad. Supernatural, True Blood, American Beauty, Queen of the Damned, ALF. He smiled at the last one. Had to be a childhood favorite. He had liked it too when he was a kid.

He skipped the rest of the DVDs and skimmed the book titles. Nothing familiar. Guilty Pleasures, The Laughing Corpse, Circus of the Damned, More Hot Sex: How to Do It Longer, Better, and Hotter Than Ever, Fif- Wait what?! His eyes snapped back to the previous book. Sweet jesus, she had some kind of manual for having hot sex? Man, that gave him all kinds of bad ideas. He was tempted to pick up the book and look at exactly what kind of tips she had read up on.

"Sorry I took so long, first the bottle didn't want to be opened and then the ice gave me a hard time, but here you go." She handed him his glass before seating herself on the couch, waiting for him to follow her. She took a sip of her orange juice while he sat down on the other end of the couch and smiled.

"Thank you for your help today and sorry for being a bother."

"It was nothing, don't have to apologize. Can't just yank that stuff up the stairs in one go in your condition."

"Yeah, I guess. You know, I didn't even think about ordering stuff online until you mentioned it today."

Daryl looked at her in surprise. "Seriously? Should have been the first thing you thought about. This is the third floor. How long did you want to keep lugging the stuff upstairs?"

He sounded almost like he was scolding her, he even had the matching scowl on his face and Jarah was a little intimidated.

"Well, I've always done fine without help. I figured I would just go out more often and buy less, so I wouldn't have to drag too much weight up the stairs." she explained the plan she had come up with.

"That's stupid. Putting that kids health in danger. Just have that shit delivered. Or ask someone to help out. Don't you have any friends?"

"I do, but my best friend isn't in town. Her grandpa is dying and she flew out to spend his last days with him. Should be back in a week or two, but still. I don't like asking for help."

"Well if she's a friend, it shouldn't be a problem. That's what friends are for, right?" he looked at her and Jarah could see that despite of the gruff voice, his eyes held a soft expression. He didn't seem to be mad, it was probably just the way he talked.

"Right,..." she looked at him for a moment while he took a sip of his Jack and Coke. She could loose herself in looking at him. Jarah had never been into "pretty boys" she liked her men manly and rough and with an edge. Exactly like the man sitting on her couch. Not that she would ever pursue it, she was pregnant and he was certainly not interested, but it didn't hurt to look at him.

"Hey, uhm" she paused for a moment. Had he already said what his name was? Damn, she had been so forgetful lately, if he had mentioned it, she didn't remember.

"Daryl." his raspy voice tore her out of her thoughts. Obviously he was a mind reader.

"Right, sorry!"

"Why sorry? Haven't told you before!"

"Really? Good, I've been such a scatterbrain recently. I'm Jarah."

"Jarah? Don't think I've ever heard that one before."

"Yeah, it's not that common. I looked it up once, it's a unisex name and it's got like Aboriginal and Hebrew origins. I think it was some kind of tree. Eucalyptus or something like that." Daryl nodded at her explanation and they both fell silent again. Jarah wasn't comfortable with that and sighed. "Well, I like the smell of eucalyptus..."

They looked at each other for a moment before Jarah burst into laughter.

"Sorry! Good Lord I have no idea why I said that. Stupid. I'm not the best small talker as you can probably tell by now."

A smile tugged at the corners of Daryl's mouth. Her carefree laugh was contagious.

"It's okay, neither am I. Always listen more than I talk." he told her with the tiniest smile.

"Great, then we can just sit here and listen to the other one listening." She giggled as she reached for her glass.

"Yeah, I guess,... can I ask you something?" she nodded while she drank some juice, giving him the go ahead. "Why'd you invite me? I mean, I could be a serial killer for all you know."

"I don't know, actually. It's totally not something I usually do. I just... I just appreciated your help and wanted to thank you. Guess I felt like just saying the words didn't cut it. Can't really explain."

"Like I said, it was nothing. Everybody would have done that!"

'But I wouldn't have invited everybody into my home for a drink' Jarah thought.

"Yeah, maybe, but today it was you!"

"And tomorrow it might be Joey,... you gonna invite him, too?" Daryl didn't even know why he asked or why the thought of her saying yes made him want to strangle Joey.

"The guy with the bandana? Hell no, I don't trust that pretty smile!"

"Why not? The women in this building are wetting their panties over him all the time!" Daryl had witnessed on more than one occasion how some of Jarah's female neighbors had been all over him. Young, tall guy with a killer smile and a six pack, that's what pretty women like Jarah went for in his opinion.

"Nah, not me. I've met guys like him. Pretty on the outside, but mean sons of bitches on the inside. I don't do perfect."

Daryl liked that answer. He far from perfect and he was far from being pretty. Merle might have been wrong in saying that a girl like her wouldn't even touch him with a stick.

"Anyway, how long have you been working for the construction company?" Jarah changed the topic before it got too personal.

"Started the same time we started work on this building. Friend of mine got me in."

"What did you do before that?"

Damn. Now she would find out what a loser he really was.

"Was between jobs for some time. Used to do a lot of stuff here and there. Worked as a mechanic, first cars, then bikes, even did some plumbing for some time."

"Wow, multi-talented, that's cool!" she smiled and he was surprised that she seemed genuine and didn't seem to think he was a loser for not having a career or not having stuck to one thing.

"Yeah, I get to do a lot of different things on this job, too. I like it."

"I can imagine. I can get bored pretty quickly, too. It's why I liked my job. I worked in a nursing home and had specialized in caring for people suffering from dementia and Alzheimers. Never gets boring, I can tell you that."

"So why'd you quit?"

"Oh I didn't, it's just not very pregnancy-friendly occupation. Constantly lifting people to transfer them from their beds into their wheelchairs, rolling them over in bed to change their positions so they don't get bedsores, crouching down in front of them to put their pants and socks and shoes on... Some of them were sick and contagious. As soon as my doctor confirmed the pregnancy he banned me from working."

"Right,... did you tell your doctor that you still do the heavy lifting?" he looked at her suspiciously and had his suspicions confirmed when she blushed.

"Erm, no... she doesn't need to know that! She'll just give me a looong looong lecture about keeping my baby and myself healthy."

"Well she's the doc, so she's gotta be right. Just stop doing that shit or you might as well go back to work or get a fucking abortion or whatever."

"Yes sir!" she laughed a little, but was only met with a gaze that couldn't exactly be described as soft.

"It's not funny. You're gonna be a momma. It's your job to take care of the kid and that starts before it's born!" Daryl slammed his glass on her coffee table and got up.

"Gotta go, thanks for the drink!"

"Umm, okay... sorry if I said something wrong!" she followed him to the door, confused why he was suddenly so upset.

"Just stop being stupid!" he muttered before he slammed the door behind him.

########### ########### ########## #######

Whew and off he goes. What do you think. Worth to keep going?

Happy Walking Dead Sunday! Just has to be a good Daryl episode!