So, someone sent me a message saying that the way I wrote the South and their "pride" made me very racist. I've never been called racist before, so I am not entirely sure how to react to that. I'm not, but if I have ever come across that way, please accept my endless apologies. That was not my intent at all. My muse for "By the Book" is gone at the moment, but I hope for it to return eventually.
In the meantime, this is the sequel to "Band Aids and Coconut Cake". I have a trilogy planned so I hope you're happy to see the people of Dogwood, Georgia again, and I hope you enjoy this first chapter! Beth and Daryl are very much in the honeymoon part of their relationship.
…
One.
When he was a little kid, he remembered going to church with his mom every Sunday morning. He didn't know if they went because Paulie was religious or just because she wanted to get out of the house and away from the old man for a while. Daryl had never asked. He just knew that once Will Dixon was gone from their lives, Paulie kept going to church services, but she didn't make Daryl come with her anymore. Sometimes, he would, but other times, he didn't feel like sitting on a hard wooden bench for a couple hours in a hot room and he would much rather be out in the woods, hunting or just walking.
But now that he was in a pretty serious relationship with Beth Greene, Daryl found himself going to church service once again every Sunday because he was dating a girl who had a deep faith and even though he didn't share it – if anything, he had all of his faith in her – he admitted that he just liked spending time with her and being around her and if that meant spending a couple of hours of his time in a church on Sundays to be around her, then that's what he would do.
The church was close to the farm so if the weather was nice enough, they just wound up walking with Louis, their chocolate Labrador, trotting at their side. And Beth would always slip her hand into Daryl's, interlacing her fingers with his, and Daryl would be the one to give it a squeeze. Beth smiled up at him and stepped in a little closer to him. He didn't know what it was. He still wasn't used to it. But with Beth walking beside him, holding his hand and looking so damn happy to be with him, it always made him feel as if he was walking a little bit taller. This girl made him feel like he was the most important guy in the world and he didn't get how she could do that just by holding his hand.
"So, after service, we're going to your mom and Dale's for Sunday lunch," Beth reminded him even though he couldn't possibly have forgotten with both Beth and Paulie reminding him at least once a day of the plans the two women had made.
"I know. Damn, woman," he grunted and smirked a little when Beth knocked her hand into his shoulder.
They could see the white steeple of the church over the tops of the trees. The bells were ringing, signaling that they had five minutes before the beginning of service.
Daryl wondered what he would think about for the next two hours. It's not like he didn't listen to the guy up on the altar behind the podium. Sometimes, he did. Sometimes, he listened when the guy talked about judgment and Hell and Daryl's thoughts couldn't seem to help but wander to those of Will Dixon and he knew it wasn't his place to pass judgment – he had learned that much from going to church – but he figured that if anyone was in Hell, it was the old man. And then from there, his thoughts turned to trying to imagine what things would have been like if his mom had been the one to die and his dad had been the one in his life.
And that was probably why he wasn't the biggest fan of going to church. It gave him too much time to just sit there and think about things he sure as hell didn't want to think about.
Louis knew the drill. When they reached the church, the dog trotted ahead and plopped himself beside the bottom of the steps, where he would obediently sit and wait until they came out again and walked back home. He panted his tongue, happily smiling, as Daryl and Beth both gave him ear rubs before heading up the stairs and going inside. And others on their way up the steps smiled at Louis and gave him pets as they passed him and it was the dog's idea of heaven – so much affection and attention from so many different people.
In the church, Daryl followed Beth up the aisle as she went to their usual pew – third from the back and she slid in first and Daryl sat down next to her. Others who came in smiled in their direction and Beth smiled warmly in return as they took their own seats. Daryl honestly already wasn't paying attention. It was cool outside – summer fading away and slipping into fall – but the church was stifling. Someone had turned on the damn heater instead of just opening the windows, allowing for the cool breeze from outside to come in.
He snapped out of it when he felt Beth's hand and he looked down to see that Beth had slid her hand over his, interlacing their fingers together. He looked at her – the question in his eyes, but not leaving his mouth. She didn't need him to ask though.
She gave him a small smile. "You're frowning," she whispered to him.
He leaned in closer to her, his lips to her ear. "You think they make it so hot in here so we're always thinkin' 'bout fire and brimstone?" He asked, completely serious, and he could hear the soft giggle that bubbled behind Beth's pursed lips.
"Good mornin'."
Both Daryl and Beth's eyes flew up when they saw Daryl's mom, Paulie, and her husband, Dale, standing in the aisle at their pew, smiling at them.
"Good morning," Beth smiled happily up at them.
"Mornin'," Daryl said after.
"Morning, you two," Dale smiled warmly down at the couple.
"You two are still comin' over today, right?" Paulie asked and she gave her son a pointed look as if he had somehow forgotten between her and Beth reminding him every hour of the day.
"What the hell is with you two?" Daryl frowned at both his mom and then turned his head to give his girlfriend the same frown. Beth frowned back and pinched his wrist.
Dale chuckled and gently guided Paulie down the aisle towards their own pew.
"Stop being such a baby," Beth said to him in a quiet voice. "Your mom is real excited about having us over today."
"Why? 's jus' lunch. Ain't like she's never had us over 'fore and it ain't like she can give us a big announcement like she's pregnant or somethin'."
Beth rolled her eyes at that and pinched his wrist. Daryl pinched her leg in response.
"Stop abusin' me, woman," he grumbled and Beth pursed her lips together again to keep from laughing and she leaned in, resting her head on his shoulder.
Daryl smiled a little to himself. He had never been the biggest fan of displays of affection out in the open. It had always made him a little uncomfortable and he felt like everyone was looking at him and judging him, but with Beth, he found himself not really caring if someone was looking. Let them look. The prettiest girl in all of Dogwood, Georgia – and probably the state of Georgia, too – had her head on his shoulder and looked pretty damn content and happy with having it there and Daryl wanted people to see that, he admitted. When it came to Beth, he liked bragging.
Father Gabriel stepped up onto the altar then and everyone stood up, singing the first song of the morning. Daryl just stood there. It was big enough he was going to church now every Sunday. He had never sung and he wasn't going to start now. He actually didn't even know what his singing voice sounded like, but he wouldn't be surprised if it cracked the stained glass windows in the church. Besides, if he sang, he wouldn't be able to listen to Beth singing next to him and he was thinking that listening to her sing church songs was the main reason why he came to church.
He owned his own contracting business and he had one guy who worked with him: Theodore Douglas – T-Dog – and nearly every Sunday, and every day other than that, T-Dog was after Beth to join the church choir and he promised her all of the solos, as if that was the reason Beth wouldn't join.
Daryl had asked her once why she didn't want to join and she had shrugged a shoulder before staying quiet for a moment.
"My daddy always wanted me to join the church choir and I told him that I would once I got back from college," she said quietly after a moment.
Daryl didn't ask her about it anymore after that. Beth would join T-Dog in the church choir if that was what she wanted, but he knew now that she probably didn't because it still hurt her too much to think of herself in the choir without seeing her dad out in the congregation, watching and listening to her.
Sometimes, Daryl would hear her sing particular a song in church and her voice would start to shake and he knew that she was thinking of her mom or dad or both and she would have to swallow in an effort to compose herself, but she never stopped singing the song. She always kept going.
Her voice didn't tremble this morning and she sang with the rest of the congregation and among all of the other voices, Daryl listened to only hers. Church songs weren't his favorite, but some were pretty good – especially when Beth was singing them. He wondered if when they had kids, would they be musical like Beth?
And there he was again. It wasn't the first time he had had a thought like that. Kids. More specifically, kids with Beth. When he had been younger, he had never thought of having kids. Why the hell would he want to share the Dixon blood with anyone? Why subject anyone to that? And then he dated Amy and thought things were pretty damn serious with her and not only had he thought about marriage, but he had thought about having kids with her because that was usually what people did when they got married. And Daryl had been pretty certain he wanted those things – everything – with the girl who was now his ex-girlfriend.
Thank God for that. He didn't thank God for a lot, but when it came to Amy showing him her true colors, Daryl made sure he did, because Amy being Amy, Daryl now found himself here, with Beth, and it made him realize, being with her, that he wasn't nearly as happy or in love with Amy as he had originally thought.
The song and singing stopped and everyone sat down once again and Father Gabriel began his preaching. Daryl's mind almost immediately wandered – thinking of all sorts of things. He wondered if Louis was still sitting outside at the bottom of the steps or if he had run off into the trees like he had done a couple of weeks ago, returning with a dead rabbit in his mouth and dropping it at Daryl's feet as if he had brought him a present. Daryl had taken that rabbit to his mom and Paulie had made a rabbit pot pie for Sunday dinner that evening.
Lately, he had been meaning to go hunting with Louis. It had been a couple of weeks and neither Daryl or the dog were used to going so long without doing so. Daryl was a hunter and he had trained Louis to be a hunting dog and they used to go every weekend and it was obvious to Daryl that now that they weren't, Louis was missing it. Maybe, depending on when they got back from Paulie and Dale's, if there was enough light, he'd take the dog for a short trip to the woods. And maybe this next weekend, they'd go camping. He wondered if Beth would want to come with them.
She might be too busy, though, even if she did want to go. Within the past couple of months, Beth's veterinary practice had exploded. Apparently, the vet that had worked in the next town over had retired and now, Beth was the only vet around for miles. And people were pouring over to bring their animals to her. She was always getting more calls to see animals on a lot of the surrounding farms.
Beth was a damn good vet, though, and she was more than happy to be this busy, caring for all sorts of animals that people brought to her. At the moment, they had a mallard duck toddling around their house. A couple of kids had been in the Commons, the large park in the middle of their little town, Dogwood, when they had seen the bird not able to fly or even really walk. They had been able to scoop it up and bring it to the Doc to take a look at. Beth had wrapped the leg and had invited the animal to stay with them until the broken leg had healed up and she made Louis promise that the dog wouldn't kill him. So far, surprisingly, Louis was curious about the duck, but he had left him pretty much alone.
Beth had named the duck Matt – Daryl nearly grinning when he heard – and Matt had more than made himself at home; sometimes waddling down to the little pond behind the farmhouse or just staying inside, making himself comfortable on the floor in front of the fireplace in the living room and eating the corn and oyster crackers Beth gave him. Both Daryl and Beth had a feeling that Matt would stick around even when the leg was healed. In just a short time, that damn duck had been domesticated and it was amazing to him that for a hunting dog, Louis had requested Beth's wishes and hadn't shaken the bird to death with his teeth. Of course, Daryl knew that his dog loved Beth as much as he did.
With Beth being so busy, she had searched out and had found another guy to help. A recent veterinary school graduate, his name was Paul though he joked that his friends often called him Jesus because of his long brown hair. Beth had smiled at that while teasing him that that was slightly blasphemous, but she did call him Jesus sometimes as well as Paul.
Daryl didn't know him that well even though the Greene Veterinary Practice was in the same house where Daryl lived. Daryl had his own job and business to see to and he left the house every morning and didn't come home until that evening and by then, Paul was usually almost always gone for the day. Beth seemed to like him though. She didn't talk about him a lot, but what she did say, telling Daryl stories about her day as they ate dinner together, the guy seemed like he was competent enough and Daryl really only cared that the guy was a help rather than a burden because Beth worked too hard and she needed help.
Beth's familiar laughter brought Daryl from his thoughts and Daryl turned his head to look over at her, she smiling and looking up at him.
"Where on earth have you been?" She teased him. "Service is over."
Daryl looked around and sure enough, the church was emptying out.
He looked back to Beth and gave a shrug. "Thinkin' 'bout you," he said honestly and Beth's cheeks turned a noticeable pink at that as she blushed. "What'd I miss?"
"Mary and Martha," Beth told him as they stepped from the pew and began heading up the aisle towards the doors. "You'd probably like the story. Two sisters, one does everything while the other sits and listen as Jesus tells stories."
Daryl smirked a little at that. "You callin' me and Merle sisters?"
Beth smiled and shook her head. "I'm just saying that there are certain things that you'd understand more than you would think."
"So stop thinkin' 'bout you in church?"
They stepped outside, avoiding the crowd of people as they lingered in groups, talking and gossiping with one another. Daryl took hold of Beth's hand and Louis was waiting for them, standing up and wagging his tail when he saw them coming down the steps towards him.
"I didn't say that," Beth smiled and Daryl smirked at her.
"See you two in a bit!" They heard Paulie call out to them as she and Dale made their way to the car in the gravel parking lot and Beth waved at her with a wide smile.
They began their walk home, Louis trotting happily in front of them, occasionally getting distracted by a scent he would catch, his nose going to the ground to investigate. The dog missed hunting, that was obvious to Daryl.
"You wanna go campin' this next weekend?" Daryl asked, looking to Beth.
She had been humming a song that had been sung in church that morning and she kept humming after he asked, but he knew she wasn't ignoring him. Dating her and living with her, Daryl had learned that Beth was nearly always humming.
"Friday night into Saturday or Saturday night into Sunday?" She asked. "Or the whole weekend?"
Daryl shrugged. "Hadn't thought that far ahead yet."
When he and Louis went hunting, he packed a pack with some food, water, and a blanket and made sure he had plenty of bolts for his crossbow and then he and Louis would go. There hadn't been any planning going into it. But Beth was different and though she liked her surprises, she also liked her plans.
"I'll check and see what the weather is predicted to be next weekend," Beth said. "I bet a whole weekend camping would be so much fun. We'll have to go grocery shopping and I think Shawn has a tent in the back of his closet somewhere. If not, I'll have to buy one because I know you don't use one. We can make s'mores, too! Would you mind if Rosita and Spencer came?"
It took a moment for Daryl's mind to catch up on everything she had just said. Weather had never mattered to him. Him and Louis had been out in the woods when it had been raining plenty of times. As for food, he knew he couldn't expect Beth to eat granola bars and squirrel meat all weekend like he did when he went out there. And as for s'mores, he had actually never had one.
"Sure," he said to all of it and she smiled happily up at him and that was more than enough for Daryl. He knew he'd agree to anything she wanted for that smile alone.
Beth probably knew that about him, too, but because she was Beth, she would never even think about using that to her advantage. She wasn't like another blonde Daryl had dated before. Sometimes, Daryl still couldn't believe how much he loved Beth. He honestly hadn't even known that loving someone this much was even possible.
Reaching the large white farmhouse once again, Louis raced up the steps and Daryl pulled the keys from his pocket, opening the screen door and unlocking the front door. Dogwood, Georgia was a little town – everyone knowing everyone – and most of those people didn't lock their doors most times. But Beth always made sure the doors were locked. She had medicine in the exam room that people could steal and sell and make a handsome profit for themselves.
As they stepped inside, Matt was there, ruffling his feathers and quacking at them, showing off his irritation for being left alone for so long.
"Yeah, yeah," Daryl muttered and both he and Beth stepped aside as Matt waddled past them and headed outside. "Damn housebroken duck," he muttered and Beth laughed. She slipped out of her heels and headed up the stairs, barefoot. "Wonder what you'll bring home next," Daryl wondered out loud as he followed behind her and Beth's soft, light laugh was her only response.
This was his favorite part of Sunday. The right after church part.
It had once been Beth's bedroom, but it was now theirs, and he followed her in there now. With the slightest nip of fall in the air now, Beth had turned off the air conditioning and had opened the windows in the house, the white lace curtains dancing and fluttering in the breeze. He learned something new about her nearly every day and he now knew that Beth loved falling asleep when it was cool outside and she could open the windows. She loved waking up curled up like a little burrito, buried beneath the covers – her words, not his.
Every Sunday, after getting home from service, Beth laid down for a nap and today, with the windows open in the bedroom, she took a quilt she had folded over the back of the chair in the corner and still in her dress, she laid down on the bed. He also now knew that Beth liked the way her bare, smooth legs felt against bedding. Daryl took his own shoes off and leaving himself in his pants and button shirt, he loosened the tie around his neck, but also left that one, as he climbed in beside her.
Beth set the alarm on her cell phone so they would wake up in an hour with plenty of time to get themselves to Paulie and Dale for Sunday lunch and she then laid down on her side, Daryl curving his body right up behind hers. He could feel the cool breeze coming in through the windows, tickling across their skin, and Beth made sure they were both covered with the quilt. She relaxed with a contented sigh and Daryl closed his eyes, putting his nose to the hair on the back of her head and it smelled like the cherry shampoo she used each morning.
She found his hand and pulling his arm over her hip, she snuggled back in as close to the curve of his body as she could and he wrapped his arm around her middle, tucking his hand in between her hip and the mattress.
Daryl knew he probably didn't believe in God and he didn't know what would happen once he died, but, if by some miracle, he managed to get himself into heaven, he knew that this would probably be it.
…
Thank you so much for reading and please take a moment to review!
PS - The Greene family is a family of faith on the show so I'm carrying Beth's belief into this story since it's such a part of her character.
