Not 100% on this one. I put my other story on hold indefinitely. Gonna see what the response is and see how I wanna handle this one.

AU all Caryl. Hope you enjoy. BTW-I'm not an expert on prison, or do I know anything about the town I talk about in this fiction. All of it except the fact that Reidsville is 10 minutes from the prison is made up by me. And the name of the Dixon grandfather explains Norman's chest tattoo.

If you asked him years later Daryl Dixon could remember the exact moment his life changed forever. It was the moment his brother decided that getting high before going before a judge was a smart move.

Despite what Merle thought, it was obvious when he was high. The judge was furious. Instead of getting perhaps 6-10 months on a possession change, Merle Dixon got 5 years. Daryl remembered the phone call he got from Merle. They were taking him to jail again to charge him with possession, and then he was going almost straight to the state prison about 100 miles away. Him and Merle had been all over the state of Georgia. Once they moved somewhere Merle would get some kinda drug connection and after he was busted for either assault or possession, Merle would want to move again. Daryl couldn't count the number of shitty apartments they'd had to bail on in the middle of the night because Merle had pissed off the wrong person. Merle liked to piss important people off, especially when he was high or drunk. If it wasn't that Daryl had to get up at all hours and spend all their money on bailing Merle out. Didn't exactly give you much free time. Any job Daryl had either got sick of the emergency calls, or the constant time off needed. Another thing Daryl had gotten used to was bosses telling him they hated to do it because he was such a good worker, but he was fired. Bad example and all that. He'd given up long ago on getting any good job and settling for whatever he could pick up on the side.

Now things were different. For five years, Daryl could plan. No more running, no more late night calls, no more bail money. Daryl had hung up the phone and sat there in his truck for a while thinking about what all this meant. 5 years was way longer than any stint Merle had ever done. Not to mention he'd never been sent up state before either.

His mind went to the conversation he'd had a week ago with a friend of his. Hank had offered him a job, a great job, fixing bikes. The problem at the time was that not only was it a long ways away, but it was a job that required permanence. That was something he could never have before. This job was 10 minutes away from the state prison in Reidsville. Now, it was all perfect.

Daryl picked up his phone and called Hank immediately.

To say Alexander 'Bud' McGill was having a bad day was an understatement. He was sitting at his desk at his repair shop staring at the bills piling up. He then thought about the multitude of unfinished projects he had out back and sighed. He had thought today would be a good day. The new guy Hank set up was coming. His last motorcycle guy had left suddenly and it was a good thing. Jerry never finished a damn bike he started. Alex liked to tell the boys at the club that he could get them someone to fix their damn bikes and custom order others. That hadn't been true for a while now and he was really starting to get shit back from his friends.

The life went entirely to shit with the first phone call he got last week. It was from a neighbor at one of his properties. Alex liked to own and rent our houses around town. Some tenants he had thought were just late with rent hadn't been living at his damn house in two months. He'd run right over to a disaster. The formerly pristine two bedroom was a disaster. There were gigantic holes in the ceiling. Now he'd finally gotten a call back from his contractor and the pest control guy. They'd removed a family of raccoons from the attic, but not before they'd caused thousands of dollars in damage. The contractor had fixed the damage and the house was livable again, but he needed to get someone in there to maintain it. It was an older house and needed to be lived in. Bills were piling up and thanks to Jerry he had nothing coming up to get them paid off. Money wasn't coming in. He ran his hands over his face and sighed.

One of his auto guys knocked on his door then and distracted him out of his misery. He nodded to open the door.

The man, Jimmy, peeked his head in, "New guys here boss."

Alex sighed, "Thanks Jim."

Jim nodded and snuck back out.

Alex heaved his body out of his chair and went towards the front. Hank better be right about this guy.

The first sight wouldn't have impressed most people. The guy was slumped hunched next to a beat up old truck with a chopper in the bed of it. Alex's practiced eye looked past the ripped and dirty clothes and the rusted bumper to see something more. The truck may not look like much, but it ran. Anyone that can get a truck that old to still run was good enough, and the interior, other than a few bags that probably contained the kids stuff, was clean. The kid was strong, and not some pompous asshole who was too full of himself to really do a good job. The kid stood up straight and looked at him sideways as he approached.

Alex wasn't a stupid man, he knew how he looked. At 6'2 he was a very large man. The gut and tattoos didn't help him look all warm and cuddly either. The beard, long hair and leather vest just made it all come together. But the kid didn't blink, didn't even look away. Alex didn't say a word as he made his way to look at the bike in the bed of the truck. As they talked, even though the outside didn't reflect it, Alex got more and more excited.

Overall, Daryl wasn't sure what to think. This guy, who said to call him Bud, looked a lot like his grandpa, in Norm hadn't been dead for 3 years now. He was quiet, only asking a couple questions. He asked about restoring the bike in the bed of the truck. Daryl had told him about that and his brother's bike. That one was in storage. Wasn't no way Daryl was touching that one without Merle's say so. Bud just nodded and murmured a bit the whole time Daryl was talking. He stopped nodding when Daryl was done.

"Few things I don't tolerate. If'n you are useless to me, you're gone. Ain't got time for that shit."

Daryl nodded.

"Two, I don't give a shit what you do on weekends but you best not be comin in high or shitfaced, you got me boy?"

Daryl bristled a little, but let it go. "Don't do no damn drugs. Ain't gonna work drunk neither."

Bud nodded again, "Other than that, you do the same job you did on this bike for me, the salary is twenty percent of sales plus hourly."

Daryl narrowed his eyes, "Don't do sales."

Bud chuckled, "I sell um son, you make um. Custom ordered, ain't to hard to sell around here. Got lots of orders already lined up if you's interested."

Daryl nodded and shrugged, "Sounds good."

Bud nodded and went to walk inside, "Gotta do some damn paperwork boy follow me."

Daryl grimaced as he followed, "Ain't got no address yet."

Bud stopped and slowly turned, "You lookin'?"

Daryl was uncomfortable. He'd only be able to look for somewhere after Bud paid him his first paycheck. He shrugged.

Bud almost smiled. Almost. "Got a deal for ya."

Daryl looked around the living room in awe. He'd never stayed somewhere this nice. Bid had showed him around. It was a two bedroom house on the edge of town. It backed up against the woods and was huge.

Bud saw the almost fear in Daryl's eyes, "I got a problem though. I need to rent this place quick. Being right up against those woods and older it needs maintenance. This bitch is costing me a lot of money empty. Long as ya'll working for me I can rent it to ya $100 a month."

Daryl looked shocked, "Bullshit. You can rent this to anyone for a whole hell of a lot more than that!"

Bud sighed, "You'd think, but no one is renting in Reidsville right now, and you bout the only one movin here. I need someone to take care of the place. And, to be honest, I kinda need ya to stick around."

Daryl looked at him confused.

Bud sighed again, "Before Hank called me I was a bit screwed. Didn't have a chopper mechanic worth shit and needed one like nobody's business. If you can do half the crap I think you can I need ya around. I'm more than willing to take less on this place if I can keep you here."

Daryl looked at his feet and shrugged, "Ok I guess. I ain't goin no where. Can keep the place up for ya."

Bud nodded, clearly pleased, "I think this is gonna work out good."

A week later Daryl stood on the porch of the nicest house he'd ever so much as been in, smoking. The new job was great. It was something Daryl loved to do, it was good money, and his weekends were his. For the first time in ever he knew for certain where he was going to be for a while. Bud had even furnished the damn place for him. Just the basics, but that's all Daryl needed. A bed, a table, a couch and a TV. He could have even gone without the TV, but Bud insisted. He also insisted on the phone and a cell phone for Daryl. Bud really needed him to stick around.

He'd also proven to be a good boss. Didn't give you crap unless you deserved it, let you work your way as long as you got shit done.

Daryl chuckled. All it took was Merle getting sent to State for Daryl's life to look up. He was about to turn around and go inside when he heard a crash from the house next door. Soon after the front door was thrown open and an overweight man stomped out and to his car. Daryl had heard yelling coming from next door but that wasn't his business. Houses were far enough away he could hear what was said anyway.

He turned and went back inside to get himself ready for work. He locked up the house and got into his truck in the garage, something else he wasn't used to.

He was backing out when he saw her. A small woman with short hair was taking out the garbage next door. He barely glanced in her direction, but he quickly looked back. The side of the woman's face was bruised. So that's what the yelling was for. His blood boiled at the thought of someone hitting a woman like that, but he heard Merle's voice in his head, "Ain't your damn problem little brother."

He looked away again and started towards work, putting the petite woman out of his head.