…

When Dale first hired him at the garage, Daryl was renting an apartment in town that he didn't like – not liking the idea of having so many people living around him. He had always liked his space and his privacy, but in a small town in the middle of nowhere Georgia, there weren't exactly a lot of options for real estate. At the garage, another of the mechanics, Axel, and his wife had an apartment above their garage that Axel was willing to rent out to Daryl if he wanted it. And Daryl was damn tempted to take it. At least above Axel's detached garage, it would give him a bit more privacy; not much more, but at least more than he had now.

"You looking for a place?" Dale asked in the break room, having overheard Daryl and Axel talking about it.

"Not really," Daryl answered with a slight shrug.

He was still getting a feel for the older man who owned the garage and was now his boss. Dale seemed fine – gruff, but he had no problem with complimenting one of his mechanics if they did something particularly good. As far as bosses went, that made Dale a damn good one – not that Daryl had that much experience with having too many bosses in his life.

"Jus' lookin' for somethin' a bit more…" he trailed off, unsure of how to express his thoughts. Talking his thoughts out had never been a strength of his.

Dale smiled as if he understood exactly what Daryl was getting at. "I own a piece of land outside of town," he told Daryl as he poured himself another cup of coffee. Daryl knew that it was the man's fourth of the day, but he only knew that because Daryl noticed things like that about people. He always had. "Mostly woods. A good-size pond. Nothing much more than that, but I bought it on a whim a few years back. There's a trailer there. It's yours to rent if you want. You can keep an eye on the property for me."

Daryl had grown still at Dale's words and could only stare at the man.

"The trailer's nothing fancy," Dale pushed on, thinking Daryl's silence was his need of having to be convinced more of the offer. Dale was still getting used to Daryl and knowing the man's different silences.

This silence was because Dale's offer sounded absolutely perfect to Daryl and he couldn't quite believe it.

"We can head out there after work tonight and I can show you-"

"I'll take it," Daryl burst out. He didn't need to see it. He didn't even need to know how much rent would be. All Dale had to say was he had a place in the woods that Daryl could rent and that was enough for him.

…

A few years later, and it was still enough for Daryl. Dale had been right. The trailer wasn't anything special. Daryl wasn't sure when it happened, but a lot of people started calling trailers "mobile homes"; as if that sounded better than telling someone they lived in a trailer. It didn't matter what it was called, but mobile wasn't the right word either considering it was cemented to the ground and sure as hell wasn't going anywhere. Mobile home or trailer, it didn't matter to Daryl. He would live in a falling-down shack if it meant he could live in the woods.

Beth moved in and they got married about a year after that and Beth seemed to love their home as much as him. Dale's property bumped up against her pops' farm so they were close to her family while still having her own home with her husband. Daryl sometimes had to wonder though if she would ever want to move out of there and get themselves another home; an actual kind of home and not something with "trailer" used when being described to others of where they lived.

She never said anything though that made Daryl think she was anything, but happy with where they lived, but still, he sometimes wondered because this was Beth Greene-Dixon and she deserved everything in this world and he's seen the size of the farmhouse where she spent all of those years of her life before she married Daryl. He didn't want to say "downgrade", but just because he didn't say it didn't mean he wouldn't think it.

Their home was small, but it worked for the both of them. If he was annoying her, he'd go out in the woods for a little and if she was annoying him, she'd head to the farm for a little bit. But thankfully, in Daryl's opinion, they didn't annoy each other too often despite working in the same garage and living practically on top of each other. He didn't think he and Beth needed a whole lot of space anyway. People tended to think they needed sprawling houses and more room than what was actually true.

It was raining out and it being Saturday, Daryl and Beth didn't have any plans except puttering around their place, doing things they didn't do during the week. Daryl sat on the couch in their living area, watching the television across the small space from him, eating a bowl of Spaghettios for lunch and watching HGTV. He liked watching all of the home flipping shows and they were having a marathon of Fixer Upper on that Daryl had gotten sucked into for the past couple of hours.

Beth had already eaten her bowl of Spaghettios and sat on the other end of the couch, leaning against the arm of it and reading a book, the lamp on the table next to the couch giving her the light.

He liked this show, but the problem with it is they didn't renovate smaller houses. Really small houses. Daryl watched these kinds of shows and got his own ideas, wondering what he would be able to do to his and Beth's trailer if he was able to do something. He would talk to Dale before changing anything and then, he'd have to see if he and Beth had the money to spare in their bank account, but… he thought about it more than he probably should, he knew.

He looked back to Beth when there was a commercial. "Do you want anything different in this place?" He asked and Beth smiled, keeping her eyes on her book. "What?" Daryl wondered.

Beth looked at him, still smiling. "Do you realize that you ask me that every time you watch these shows?"

Daryl's brow furrowed. "I do?"

A slight laugh broke past her lips. "You do," she confirmed, her eyes going back down to her book.

Daryl ate a spoonful of Spaghettios and let Beth read her book without pointing out to her that she hadn't actually answered his question.

…

Later that night, Daryl was already changed into sweatpants and a tee-shirt and after making sure their front door is locked, and he was lying in their bed in their minuscule bedroom. The rain was still falling and he liked when it rained at night and he could hear it tapping on the roof over his head as he dozed off.

Beth came into the bedroom a few minutes later, her hair wet and a towel wrapped around her freshly showered body. Daryl turned his head on the pillow to look at her, his eyes instantly spotting it.

"You nicked your knee," he noted.

"Hmmmm?" Beth looked down to her knee and the small line of blood left there from shaving. "Oh." She then shrugged as she went to her dresser for fresh underwear. "I always nick my knee in that shower."

Their bathroom was like a closet – big enough for a sink counter and cabinet, a toilet and a shower stall. He knew Beth struggled to shave her legs in the small space, but she never complained about it. Daryl noticed that Beth complained about so little in their life, but that didn't mean that Daryl didn't take note of things. It was what he did. He noticed things. And Beth always nicking her knee while shaving was definitely something Daryl had taken note of more than once.

She never said it, but Daryl knew that his wife would like a bigger shower to shave her legs in. Daryl wondered how he'd be able to do that in the small space offered. Maybe he could talk to Dale tomorrow.

…

With Beth manning the desk in the front office, answering phones, setting appointments and taking care of customers' payments, Daryl knocked on Dale's open office door when he had a break in between cars.

"Got a second?" Daryl asked the man sitting behind his desk.

"Always," Dale gave him a smile and Daryl stepped in, glancing back to Beth before closing the door. "Is everything alright?" Dale asked, pushing his glasses up to the top of his head as Daryl came to stand in front of him on the other side of the desk.

"Had a favor to ask you. 'bout the trailer," Daryl said.

He had called the bank on his break an hour earlier, giving the woman his and Beth's account number and finding out how much they had in savings. They didn't have that many expenses and it didn't surprise him that they had been able to save a pretty good amount. Daryl knew that he should talk to Beth about this. It's their money; not just his. But Daryl thought he might be able to do this without spending all of it and hopefully, Beth would be so surprised and happy, she wouldn't think to yell at him too much for spending some of their savings.

"I was wantin' to do some renovations to it, but wanted to run it by you first."

Dale looked at him for a moment and then smiled. "It's funny you bring this up. I've actually been wanting to talk to you and Beth about this." Daryl looked at him, feeling a little tense, just because he had no idea what was going to be said. But Dale was still smiling so it couldn't be that bad. "Daryl, you've been living there for years and you're still paying me rent. You've bought that trailer at least twice over by now."

Daryl couldn't hide his surprise at that, honestly having never even thought of that.

"The trailer's yours. I take the rent money and consider it a fee for the land and the water you use from the pond," Dale said.

"Huh," Daryl commented and Dale smiled. "Well… thanks for lettin' us live on your land."

Dale smiled again. "I couldn't ask for better tenants," he said. "And, even if it was still my trailer and I had any say in it, you would have my permission to do whatever you want to it. Just invite me over when you're done so I can see what you've done."

"Yeah, I can do that. Thanks, Dale," he said with a small smile. "Uh, can you not mention this to Beth? I'm wantin' to surprise her with it."

"Not a word, I promise," Dale said and Daryl gave the man a nod before opening the door and stepping out of Dale's office into the front office again.

Beth was standing at one of her file cabinets, stapling a customer's paperwork and invoice together before placing it into their folder once again. She smiled when she saw him. She was wearing a dress and a cardigan sweater as she did every other day and Daryl could see the tiny Band-Aid she wore on her knee.

"Everything okay?" She asked him.

Daryl gave his wife a single nod. "It will be," he promised her though she had no idea he was.

…

"Mmmmm," Beth hummed, still asleep, as Daryl leaned over and kissed her on the cheek before pulling himself from their bed and heading for the bathroom.

Last night, he had told Beth he was going out early this morning to hunt and while he was really going to be doing that, he was also going to be stopping by the farm to speak with his father-in-law. He had to ask Hershel if it was okay if he and Beth stayed with him for a couple of weeks while Daryl did the renovation work on the trailer. He knew Hershel would have no problem whatsoever, but still, Daryl had to ask.

Daryl took a quick shower and when he was done, he opened the bathroom door, poking his head out to see if Beth was still in bed. She wasn't. He looked the other way to see that she was in the kitchen. He knew she probably got up to start brewing the coffee.

"Are you shittin' me?" Daryl asked, stepping out with the towel around his waist and a frown on his face.

Beth knelt on the floor in front of the refrigerator, pulling things out and setting them on the counter behind her or throwing them out completely. "We knew it was going to happen sooner rather than later. This refrigerator has been here forever. We have to go see my dad today and see if he has some room in his refrigerator we can borrow until we buy a new one."

Daryl kept frowning. Of all of the times their refrigerator could decide to crap out and die on them, this was one of the worst. Daryl was just glad he hadn't taken that money out of their savings account yet.

…

This time, Beth was sitting at their small kitchen table, writing in her journal, and Daryl was sitting on the couch, watching tonight's marathon of Love It or List It. Their new refrigerator was humming away in the kitchen area and Daryl could almost hate the inanimate object for that.

He frowned as he watched the television show even when he told himself he has no reason to frown. He and Beth had a nice home. Beth called it warm and cozy; things in shades of brown, green and blue and since Beth had moved in, it always had a sweet fragrance hanging in the air – not overwhelming, but faint and sweet and it was their own Dixon home scent.

He had just wanted to give her new floors and maybe a new shower and some new shelves and countertops or something. No one can blame him for wanting to give his wife a nice home even if she would argue with him and tell him that they already had a nice home.

His eyes flicked over to Beth as she wrote before he looked back to the screen. Just in time. And what he saw on screen made him sit up and lean forward, watching what the renovators were doing on the television. Now that's an idea. And why the hell had it taken him this long to come up with it, he thinks to himself.

…

"You're acting very strange, Daryl Dixon," Beth laughed a little as he met his wife outside as soon as she came home from having gone to the library for a couple more books to read, opening her door for her before she could even turn off the engine.

"Come on," was all he said as he took her hand and began tugging her up the steps and inside. "Gotta show you somethin'."

Both of them in the bathroom at the same time was a tight squeeze, but they managed it.

"What is it?" Beth asked, smiling, laughing a little.

"Look," was all he said.

Beth looked around, taking note of everything still being the same; wondering if he had changed the shower curtain or something of the sort. But when her eyes fell on the shower, she saw it. She looked at it for a moment and then looked at Daryl as if needing him to confirm it.

"Take off your shoes," Daryl said, taking her books and purse so she could do just that.

After she kicked her shoes out of the bathroom, Daryl watched as Beth stepped into the shower and instantly lifted one up, her foot coming to a rest on the small porcelain shaving ledge he had installed onto the shower wall in just the hour that she had been gone.

"Not too high?" Daryl asked, setting her things down on the counter and then leaning into the shower so he could have a closer look.

"It's perfect," Beth whispered, switching legs so she could rest her other foot on it.

"Always nickin' your knees. Hopefully, this will help. Don't know why it took me so long to think of it." he said, more to himself complete with a head shake. "You really like it?" He then asked; just to make sure.

Beth looked at him and laughed a little at his question – silly in her opinion – and turning towards him, still standing in the shower in her socks, she hugged him tightly, Daryl more than happy to hug her in return.

"It's perfect," she said again. "Absolutely perfect. Thank you so, so much. I love it, Daryl. I love you."

Daryl dipped his head down and pressed his nose to her shoulder, holding her tight in his arms.

Hopefully, if their roof didn't fall in or the truck didn't break down or anything else catastrophic happen, their savings could start building again and maybe, he'd be able to surprise her with new kitchen countertops next.

…

Thank you so much for reading. An idea like this has been in my head forever now and though it turned out differently than what I originally planned, I still love it.

Also, a confession. I haven't watched TWD in a few seasons, but I saw the Daryl/Connie scene on Tumblr. I... didn't hate it, but not hating it just made me miss Beth so much so I had to write some happy, married Daryl/Beth. I still miss her and this pairing like hell and I miss the earlier seasons of this show.