Disclaimer: I do not own anything you recognise.

The morning dawned bright and quiet, the soft noises of Beth's father on the stairs so deliberate Beth had to smile to herself as she lay awake in bed. It was her 18th birthday, and her father did not want to disturb her sleep on her 18th birthday. She nestled down into her bed, not wanting to get up just yet. The clicking of her fan was steady and constant, the heavy curtains drawn to block out the sun. It was going to be a beautiful day, and she couldn't wait to see what her parents had bought for her. Beth's mother had only smiled slyly when she had asked for a hint, and even Maggie had refused to say anything or spy for her. Beth had known better than to ask her father. A stubborn man, if the present was to be a surprise, she wouldn't hear anything about it from him. He had given her a few knowing smiles which had only fed her curiosity. Maggie had gotten a new phone and concert tickets for her 18th, and Shawn had gotten new stereo for his truck and one of those Swiss army knives (which it was safe to say she could rule out). Maybe a new phone? Or an iPod? Maggie's phone had eventually been passed on to her, and was one of those old Nokia's. She often wished she had an iPod or something so she could listen to music on her way to class. She felt like such a dork when she brought her Discman once, and had quickly gotten bored of the album she was listening to. She had never been so excited for her birthday, which is possibly why she had woken of her own accord at 5 am. Her birthday had luckily fallen on a day with no classes, so Beth had planned on sleeping in – a rarity in her family. "Everyone has jobs to do", her father would say. You could not simply laze around. Today however, that is just what Beth Greene was doing. She must have dozed off again because the next thing she knew was awaking to the soft sound of knocking.

"Beth?" Her mother slowly opened her door. "You awake honey? Breakfast is ready."

When Beth finally came downstairs she found the whole family in the dining room as well as Otis and Patricia, and what could pass as a spectacular breakfast buffet on the kitchen bench.

"Happy Birthday Bethy," her father kissed her on the cheek. Beth beamed at everybody as they wished her happy birthday, as well as Maggie's boyfriend Glenn who arrived late (apologising profusely), and they enjoyed eating the breakfast Beth's mother had spent all morning putting together. Beth wasn't sure if she should be surprised or not that Maggie had stayed over the night before, as she knew she had class in the morning; then again, she knew that Maggie often skipped class anyway. She didn't miss the looks that Maggie and Glenn exchanged, and it made her truly happy to know that Maggie had found such a great guy. Glenn was struggling to pay his way through college, working as a pizza delivery boy. Beth admired him, he did what he had to do to make a better life for himself, and possibly one day for Maggie too. Otis and Patricia were really sweet; they had brought some homemade jam to go with the scones Annette had baked and some muffins. Beth couldn't have asked for a better way to start her birthday. Finally though, when the dishes were cleared and the girls cleaned everything up (Beth included, she insisted), Hershel appeared in the doorway.

"Bethy, come on outside," he smiled. Slightly puzzled, Beth and her mother and sister followed Hershel outside where Beth stopped in shock. Parked in front of the house was a car she hadn't seen before, next to Patricia and Otis' truck. Somebody had stuck one of the red wrapping bows they used to wrap Christmas presents on the hood, which made the car look slightly comical. It was one of those Jeeps with the top you could take down that looked to be around 10 years old, but well maintained. Beth couldn't stop the face splitting grin that broke out.

"Thank you Daddy!" Beth turned to Hershel and hugged him tightly. He chuckled, and watched her fondly as she turned to Annette.

"Thank you Momma," she hugged her mother. "This is really…too much," she said as she turned back to stare at the car.

"You're telling me," Maggie said dryly, but smiling nonetheless. Both Maggie and Shawn had saved up and bought their own cars by the time they were 18, but Beth had never been interested. She had never needed one, until she had started going to college. She had been saving her money for a while, and the hour and a half it took to get to college by public transport, or more specifically by car, bus and train, was starting to really wear on her.

"You can thank Maggie and Shawn too," her mother whispered to Beth. She bounded over to Shawn and practically tackled him, laughing.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She cried, as Maggie joined the hug.

"Otis got a good bargain on it from a friend…it's about time you got a car." Hershel nodded at Otis while he talked.

"Thanks Otis!" Beth couldn't stop grinning, and hugged Otis and Patricia too. Shawn and Maggie were grinning broadly as they watched Beth practically bounce around the yard.

"Now, it's not perfect Beth. It needs a couple of things fixing, and new tyres. A car is a lot of responsibility, and you need to take care of it. Now, Bill will do a good deal for you, we've been going to him for 30 odd years now so –" Hershel stopped as Glenn made a noise. "Glenn?"

"Uh…well, I guess you didn't hear…but Bill's is closed." Glenn shuffled his way through the sentence, and it alerted everyone that Bill hadn't just gone fishing for the day. "Burnt down, last night. I drove past it this morning, had a look. All the windows were smashed and it was set on fire, place was completely destroyed."

Hershel stared at Glenn for a moment, as Annette covered her mouth in shock. Beth was speechless.

"Um…but Dixon's do a good deal," Glenn offered, upon seeing everyone's shocked faces. Hershel seemed to snap out of his reverie. Beth looked across at Glenn sharply at the name 'Dixon'.

"No one is going to Dixon's, I'll bet any money Merle Dixon is the one that lit the match." Hershel's voice shook as fury took hold of him.

"Well Daddy where is Bethy gonna take her car? Nearest one 'sides Dixon's isn't for miles." Maggie put her hands on her hips, now examining the car as though hoping a mechanic would pop out from under the hood.

"Daryl's all right, he helped me out when my car was stuffing up." Glenn said quietly, not looking at Hershel anymore but at Beth, who he had noticed wasn't looking at her father but was listening to him closely.

"That the younger one?" Hershel asked, eyes still narrowed. Glenn nodded, and Hershel scoffed. "He been in jail too?"

Glenn looked confused for a second, and shrugged. "He's not much of a talker, he just replaced the alternator."

"Sounds like Dixon's is my only option for now," Beth said to no one in particular. Hershel sighed, looking at the car, which now seemed to be a source of tension.

"Beth, you are not to talk to Merle Dixon. I don't even really want you talking to Daryl Dixon, so keep it short, tell him what you want and leave."

"I can go with you Bethy, if you want," Shawn offered.

"No, that's ok, thank you," Beth smiled at her brother. Inwardly, Beth was nervous. Sure, she knew about Merle and Daryl Dixon, just like everyone else in their town. Rick's Café, the diner Beth worked at a few times a week, was just a few doors down from Dixon's (as you could say for just about any shop in the small town centre) and she had seen the Dixon brothers around, usually covered in grease, and had even served Daryl Dixon coffee once. It had been a couple of years ago, when she had started working at the diner and first been warned to stay away from the Dixon's. Her hand had shaken as she had poured the coffee and she swore his eyes had shone with amusement as he'd taken the cup from her. He had never come into the diner again, at least not when she was working. Rick's had exactly two pictures on the wall: one a poster for Casablanca, and one of their local Sheriff, Rick Grimes, from some community event years ago. The latter was behind the counter, because otherwise he'd have been defaced ages ago. Sheriff Grimes was a regular at the diner and at Dixon's, but not because he needed his car fixed. Both Dixon brothers were regular participants in bar brawls, and warrants had been issued a number of times to search the premises. They never found anything. Merle Dixon had been dishonourably discharged from the army years ago and had come home to take over their father's business, bitter and simmering with rage. Merle Dixon never came to the diner and Beth seriously doubted he drank anything other than liquor. Of course…despite their reputation, a couple of the girls at the diner did not mind when Daryl Dixon would walk by, at which Beth would just shake her head. You couldn't take him home, he was nothing like her ex-boyfriend Jimmy. Clean cut, polite and content. They'd had an amicable break up, and she didn't regret their time together. Jimmy had been good with cars too, she recalled, as she looked at her new responsibility. She wanted it fixed and ready to go for that weekend, as Maggie, Glenn and a couple of her friends were going out to celebrate her 18th somewhere in the city. And now she had to go and ask Daryl Dixon to fix it?

Daryl Dixon slammed the hood shut, while dragging his arm across his forehead, spreading the newly formed sweat and mixing it in with grease. Beth felt queasy looking at him.

"It's a lemon." He waved his arm at the car, stepping back.

Beth blinked, on hearing the last words she expected to hear come out of his mouth.

"What?" She stuttered.

"Lemon." He grunted, now squinting at her. Otis had towed the car over to the Dixon's garage early as Beth had class that afternoon, and luckily Merle Dixon was nowhere to be seen. Probably keeping low since he burned down Bill's, she thought angrily.

"What…does that mean? Can't you fix it?" Beth asked.

"Should'a had it checked 'fore you bought it. This here's been smashed in, and the body replaced, ya see the paint spray here?" He ran a finger along the wheel, and sure enough Beth could see faint marks. "Someone did a half assed job puttin' it back together. Looks like a sweet ride till ya turn the engine on, so no, I can't just fix it." Daryl Dixon looked around the garage as he spoke, never really meeting her eyes.

Beth was starting to feel really irritated. Just yesterday she'd been on top of the world, telling all her friends she had a car, and now Daryl Dixon was telling her how it was a lemon and that she should have had the car checked like it was all her fault.

"I didn't buy it, it was a present," she snapped, before catching herself. He stared at her before snorting.

"'Scuse me princess, didn't realise. Well, ya Daddy should'a checked it."

Beth shook her head. "They bought it off a friend." Some friend, Beth thought. She looked up at him then, an imploring look in her eyes.

"Isn't there anything you can do? Can't you replace the parts? I've been saving money," she spoke almost desperately. He was silent for a while.

"Is it ya birthday?" He finally asked, shifting awkwardly on his feet. Beth blinked in surprise again.

"It was…yesterday. My 18th birthday." She smiled hesitantly, resting her hand on the side mirror of the car. It looked like such a good car; surely he could make it work. He just nodded slowly, sucking his lips in.

"I can sell the parts, take it to a scrapyard…get ya some money for it." He mumbled, chewing on his thumb for a second.

Beth sighed, taking her hand off the side mirror. "Uh…how much money?"

He squinted at her. It seemed that was Daryl Dixon's usual look.

"Ya don't get much for scrap…I reckon 4 or 5 hundred at the most, stripped down."

"Minus your cut…" Beth murmured.

"Don't worry 'bout it. 4 or 5 hundred." He stated flatly. It was Beth's turn to squint at him, before she smiled shyly.

"Thanks…Daryl."

He didn't say anything, simply motioned for her to follow him out of the garage. She filled out some paperwork in the shop and wrote her contact details down while she heard Daryl outside barking orders at someone named Martinez, whom he didn't seem to care much for. Although it was possible that barking was his standard way of communicating. She was already dreading telling Daddy that the car was faulty, and it looked like Maggie would have to drive this weekend. Beth was pondering the weekend's plans when Daryl stomped back in, stopping short at seeing Beth still leaning against the counter. He seemed to wrestle with himself for a second, before he stepped forward and abruptly took the papers from her. He snatched a pen from the opposite end of the counter and started scribbling something. Beth watched with wide eyes, wondering how exhausting life must be when anger has seeped into every action. He thrust the papers at Beth, glaring at her.

"If ya got any questions, ring this number, 'kay?"

Beth took the papers slowly, curiosity plain on her face. "'Kay…why?"

He sighed, and started backing away from her. "Just don't ring here, all right? I'm doin' you a favour." Daryl snapped as he glared at her again, before stepping out of the shop. Beth crossed the shop and stood in the doorway watching him join Martinez (she assumed) in front of a car, thumb in his mouth as he glared at the car while Martinez talked. Daryl glanced back at the shop, and Beth stepped back abruptly, but too late for him not to have seen her. She grabbed her bag from the counter and left quickly.

Beth walked the familiar walk to the bus stop, sitting down heavily. She felt a bit confused…why couldn't she call the shop?

A/N I've been writing this since mid December, and I was going to wait until I had basically finished the story but I have a bad feeling about the end of this season so I thought I'd post this now in case I get pissed off and delete the whole thing. This is basically a coming of age story, hopefully for both Beth and Daryl. Updates will be random, as I don't get a lot of time to write. Also, I know nothing about cars or scrap metal, which is probably quite obvious, and I will use Australian English.

Thank you for reading.