CHAPTER 1
Daryl Dixon was annoyed. It really wasn't that unusual, all things considered; even he'd admit that 'annoyed' was sort of his default emotion, but this run was not going easily. Not only did he, Glen and Michonne have four newbies with them, but somehow Daryl had ended up with this guy named Mike who talked constantly and seemed unfazed by the hunter's grunts in response to his enthusiastic nattering. If he hadn't known better, Daryl might have attributed the younger man's verbal diarrhea to nerves, but he did know better; Mike talked to everyone and everything, even the walkers when he was killing them along the fences. Idiot could probably just talk them to death, the hunter thought bitterly.
Part of the problem was that they all had to stay alert to what was going on around them and Daryl couldn't allow himself to just tune out the talk like so much droning; the other was that there was some quality in Mike's voice that his hyper-sensitive hearing couldn't seem to ignore. Probably know more about this moron's family history than my own, he thought, jobs and ex-girlfriends, too his mind reminded him. Girlfriends were the current subject of the former heating and air technician's current monologue and Daryl was wondering vaguely if the girls were all deaf mutes because he really couldn't picture anyone else who'd be willing to spend a lot of time around this douche. They were currently clearing what they could from a good-sized, stand-alone department store that had a lot of items left after killing nearly twenty walkers they'd found inside the building as quietly and cleanly as possible.
They'd filled up nearly twelve carts already and taken them forward where Glen and the two people with him, Carlie and John, were packing their take into boxes and large plastic bins that had been carefully selected for how well the fit in the backs of the three SUVs they'd brought on the run, which were getting full. Taking a last look through the store the men had found a cosmetics counter that looked almost like its own little store and which had shelf after shelf of shampoos, body washes and skincare items, even a bunch of lip balms, all of which had been in short supply in many of the stores they'd found. The men loaded everything they could into the carts they had and were rolling them toward the front of the store when Daryl noticed the fine jewelry counter once more. Gold and gems meant next to nothing in the world as it was, but when he spied gold and platinum bracelets covered in clear or colored stones he knew he had to grab some of them. He had his personal pack with him as they all did and had shoved some other things into it, but now he slipped behind the counter, quickly broke the locks with his Busse and grabbed handfuls of whatever jewelry he could find, shoving a last handful of items into one of his pockets when the remaining space in the bag was almost full. Hell, if nobody else wants it the kids can use it to play dress-up, he told himself as they rejoined the group at the front.
It wasn't in his plan at all to end up in the SUV with Mike on the way back to the prison. No, the plan had been to shove Mike into the SUV good-natured Glen was driving and let the young Korean deal with the guy; however, both Glen and Michonne had seemed to sense Daryl's scheme and used the simple strategy of letting Daryl and Mike place the last two loaded containers into their SUV themselves while the others locked up their vehicles and started to roll slowly toward the exit from the parking lot to the road. The hunter cursed under his breath and accepted his fate, but did allow some internal debate about the merits of simply dumping the Man Who Wouldn't Shut Up by the side of the road and speeding into the distance.
Probably not much, he reluctantly concluded. If he survived, Mike would simply return to the prison, likely having run off all other beings with his talking, and rejoin the group. It sure seemed to Daryl as though somehow the man had gotten through his life up until now without anyone telling him to shut up, possibly because they couldn't fit the words into the non-existent breaks in the flow from his fat lips. Mike certainly didn't seem to know the effect he had on others and would probably consider Daryl stopping the vehicle and forcibly ejecting the other man to be some kind of game and not a sign he was no longer welcome at the prison.
Daryl had wandered into a fantasy of creative ways to kill the other man and stop the noise when he heard "Beth" and his attention sharpened back to what the other man was actually saying. Did he just use the word 'do-able' about the youngest Greene? Before he could think, the redneck had slammed on the brakes and turned to glare at the younger man, who'd been startled into silence.
"Don't you fuckin' talk about her like that" he snarled at the other man who regarded him with startled brown eyes. "In fact, don't you fuckin' talk about her again, or to her…I catch you talking to her I'm gonna rip your arms off and beat you to death with them."
"I was just…"
"I don't fuckin' care what you were 'just.' Don't you talk about any of our women like that, especially Beth; have some respect. In fact, just shut up until we get back to the prison." Slamming his right foot back down on the accelerator, they were soon back in their position behind the others who'd slowed down when Daryl's vehicle had stopped.
Something in the hunter's voice must have told Mike the older man was serious when he'd said for Mike to shut up and the other man shockingly remained silent for a few moments.
Daryl thought for a moment he was going to crack his teeth grinding them when he heard "Sorry, man, I didn't know about the two of you." He's about to object, but the other man astonishingly does shut up after saying it and the hunter leaves it alone because the last thing he wants is to get the other man talking again.
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The younger Greene daughter is a sore subject for Daryl, not because he doesn't like her, he does (very much so, in fact), it's just that he worries about her constantly. It's not like anyone's ever said to him that he was suddenly responsible for her or anything and made him her guardian; in fact, she has her dad, sister, brother-in-law, Rick (who'd scared some guy to death with just that particular look he got sometimes for saying something inappropriate to the blonde within the former deputy's hearing), Carl and Carol all looking out for her to the point he's sure sometimes he doesn't imagine the haunted look in her eyes. No, looking after her is something he'd taken upon himself from the first time he'd seen her scrubbing his clothes down at a creek while they'd been on the road while the others ignored her absence as they got the camp ready. He'd meant to do them himself the next time he had a chance only to find them gone and Beth alone at the water cleaning them for him, humming some song as she did so, never noticing the approaching walker or Daryl killing it, then standing guard while she finished working and squeezed out as much water as she could, all while he killed three more walkers before they had a chance to get anywhere near her tender flesh.
He'd been behind some trees killing two of the walkers when she'd finished wringing out the last item and headed back toward camp, breaking into a soft song, and it seemed she never saw him. A few days later she'd been helping them clear a house that had some water damage when he'd snatched her away right before a wobbling bookshelf had crashed down where she'd just been standing. The group had gone from that house to others along the same road and there'd obviously been a flood because the other homes were also in bad shape. One home had a basement that still had about a foot of standing water from when it had flooded and Beth had started to put her weight onto the first step to shine her light around and see if it was worth investigating when Daryl moved almost before consciously hearing the sound of wood cracking to pull the little blonde back onto the more solid kitchen floor.
Somewhere along the way the hunter had count of how many times he'd pulled the young woman out of scrapes or saved her when she seemed oblivious to any problems. Merle had teased him about it while he'd been at the prison, saying the two of them reminded him of some old cartoons in which a rough older bulldog had been put in charge of a small, danger-prone kitten who'd walked through scrape after scrape while the dog nearly died protecting her until the two had finally settled safely back at home for the night. Daryl had vaguely remembered the cartoons and hadn't quite managed to shake the idea of Beth as a small blonde cat, especially when she'd fallen asleep against him one night when she'd come up to his perch to sit with him after he'd had to put Merle down. He'd slept sitting up that night, back against the wall, while Beth lay curled partway in his lap for anyone going past to see. Rick had looked at them with a small smile as he quirked his head, which was better than Carol's smirk which reminded him strongly of Merle's in spite of the sympathy he saw in her eyes.
Beth had her own protective instincts, though, and she was more than willing to try to defend any of the others in the group, particularly baby Judith or Carl; also, Hershel was teaching her how to take care of minor injuries, medications and herb lore so that she could work as his nurse and she seemed to actively enjoy being able to care for others. Daryl also couldn't forget how the small blonde had stood up to Rick when he'd hesitated about going to Woodbury to retrieve Maggie, Glen and Merle…okay, she hadn't initially said Merle's name, but he'd also found out later that she'd insisted they go back for him as well as Merle once they'd verified it was really him, even over Maggie and Glen's objections. She was no more willing than he was to lose anyone, she was just more easily restrained from doing anything about it, usually when someone placed a small, squirming Judith in her arms and told her she was needed there, especially if it was Rick or Carl doing it and they looked at her with their sad eyes missing Lori. The redneck had little trouble telling the others to fuck off when he felt they needed to hear it, but even he had a hard time refusing the Grimes' anything they asked at that point, except in what he'd done for Merle…or Beth.
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Once the SUVs were unloaded and all the boxes set aside to be gone through and the spoils divided up the next day, Daryl took his pack to his cell (where he'd moved from his perch after Beth had spent the night sleeping against him). If she did it again, he didn't want every passerby smirking at them…not that he anticipated her doing it again, but still; he's pretty sure Hershel looks at him funny sometimes and Glen had made some comment about men involved with Greene girls to him the other day after Maggie had snapped at him about something, almost as though the Korean thought they were conspirators. (Now that he thought back on it, probably his eye roll and grunt hadn't really done anything to lessen that impression.) Once in his cell he pulled out some things of shampoo, conditioner and lotion that all had a sweet fresh strawberry scent that had immediately reminded him of Beth, leaving the things he'd gotten for himself and the jewelry in the bag on his bed.
He carried the things for Beth to her cell, but she wasn't there so he left the bottles, grabbed some supper with the others, attended the Council meeting and gone to bed, where he'd found a small note with "Thank you" neatly written and small heart with angel wings on it and had settled in and managed to sleep a couple hours before one of his nightmares woke him up.
The next morning dawned bright and clear while Daryl sat in the watch tower, having taken guard duty from Carol to give her a few extra hours of sleep. He saw the doors open and Maggie, Glen, Hershel and Beth step outside; the first three heading for one of the picnic tables while the young blonde heads toward the clotheslines to get some of Judith's clothes and bedding she'd washed for the baby the day before. A couple other things are on the line as well, Daryl sees, including some of his clothes. With a sigh, he pushes himself up and heads downstairs to help her out. As he walks he feels something in his pocket knock against his leg and reaches in to find the handful of jewelry he'd thrust in there the day before and grins a little. It'll be a nice surprise for her after what she's done to help everyone this week, but as he gets right up to her and she turns with her arms full of things he lets go of the jewelry so that he can reach out and take the laundry from her, but as he withdraws his hand something comes out of his pocket along with it and hits the ground. Before he thinks he steps around her as she turns to see what he's doing and he drops to one knee to grab the small object and instinctively holds it up to see what it is, but the expression on Beth's face as she looks down at him seems stunned and he looks past her angled body to see delighted expressions dawning on the faces of the others, though none look as pleased as Hershel and he looks at his hand and realizes he's holding a diamond engagement ring up to Beth Greene.
"What the hell, Daryl?" she hisses at him softly..
When his eyes dart behind her, Beth glances over her shoulder at her family (as well as the Grimes' and Carol who have magically appeared), then looks back at him and he thinks he probably looks as shocked as she does. She takes a second glance at her family and the next thing he knows she's saying yes and he's putting the ring on her finger while she whispers to him that they'll talk later and he's suddenly engaged to Beth Greene and, although he thinks she's possibly the most beautiful woman he's ever seen and definitely the sweetest and she smells distractingly good, he has only one thought running through his brain….
What the actual FUCK?
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