A few days later…

Daryl was in the garage one late afternoon working on the bike when the door opened. There stood Abby in jeans a t-shirt clutching multiple drinks in her arms.

"I thought I heard you out here," she said smiling. "Thirsty? I have water, soda or a beer."

"Water is fine, thanks," said Daryl. Abby let the garage door close behind her and walked further into the room setting down the drinks on a nearby workbench and walking closer to Daryl to hand him the bottle water. He opened it and took a long sip. To his surprise, she didn't leave. Instead, she leaned up against the workbench and said, "So what are you trying to do?"

"Just trying to get it running, I guess," Daryl responded.

"What's that you are working on," Abby asked pointing to the pieces he had in his hands. Daryl wasn't used to chatting, which is what she was doing, but he didn't want to be rude. And truth be told, he didn't want her to leave.

"It's the carburetor," he responded. "It's shot to hell. I'm trying to figure out which parts I can salvage and what I can be on the lookout for on runs that might get her going."

"Cool," Abby replied. "You sure seem to be in your element. Were you a mechanic?"

Daryl felt a stirring in his chest. He was touched that she seemed truly interested in him.

"No, but I've worked on cars and other stuff – lawn mowers, bikes, you name it, pretty much my whole life. My dad always had some junker lying around," he answered. He was about to continue for some reason moved to tell her about the time when he was 14 and sold a dirt bike he fixed for $100 bucks just to buy more parts when the door opened again. This time Aaron stood in the doorway. He smiled at them both.

"I was going to see if you needed anything, but I see you are well tended," he said nodding at the drinks.

"Yep, we're good," Abby responded. Daryl could tell that Aaron was just as much of a brother to her as Eric.

"Okay," Aaron responded. He then added a bit cautiously, "Abby, Daryl is trying to work, so don't bother him, okay?" Aaron knew it was hard for Daryl to get to know people, and he didn't want Abby to spook him.

"I'm not bothering him," she bit back. Then she looked at Daryl and batted her long eyelashes. "Daryl, am I bothering you?" Daryl looked back and her then turned to Aaron and said, "She's not bothering me."

"Fine," Aaron conceded laughing. "Abby, don't forget it's your turn to cook dinner." Abby rolled her eyes and said, "I know, dad," in an overdramatic way. Aaron laughed again and shut the door quietly behind him.

"So where were we," she asked Daryl smiling. Daryl decided he should ask her something about herself. "You not working today," he asked. He wasn't sure what her role was in this place. "Already finished," she responded. "I'm the teacher for the elementary school kids." Daryl noted that made sense as she was clearly an educated woman. "I teach every weekday from 8 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Keeps me busy. Sometimes I fill in for the high school classes that meet in the afternoon until 5 if Mrs. Price's arthritis is acting up. Not today though."

"Cool," Daryl responded. "I'm sure the kids love you," he added surprising them both. Abby laughed. "They tolerate me. The oldest ones don't understand why it matters to keep learning in this world. I try to reassure them that it won't be like the forever, and they still need their education. I sure hope that's true." She added the last sentence quietly, almost sadly. She sighed then moved on quickly, so tell me more about all this she said gesturing to the bike and parts lying around.

Daryl talked her through the parts of the engine he planned to work on and named a few things he would need. He told her about the bike and how he'd had one like before and it was one of his favorites. Daryl wasn't generally much of a talker, but he understood and liked bikes, so he was happy to share. Abby listened intently smiling and asking a few follow-ups. Finally when Daryl felt like he was rambling, and his stomach told him it was getting close to dinnertime, he paused and looked up at her.

"So, are you interested in bikes?" he asked her.

She laughed warmly. "Not really," she responded honestly.

"Oh," Daryl said a bit taken aback. "Then why are you here?" He didn't say it meanly, just matter of factly because he really wanted to know.

She laughed again and leaned a bit closer to him so she could answer in a loud whisper. She looked right in his eyes and said smiling, "Because I'm interested in you."

Daryl blinked a few times registering her words. He didn't know what to say, so he just smiled back. He couldn't believe this pretty, smart young woman was interested in him, but he wasn't complaining.

"Well," she announced. "I'd better go make dinner before Aaron puts me in detention," she joked. "Will you stay? I'm making meatloaf."

"Yeah, okay," Daryl responded shaking his head yes.

"Good," she said back. "I'll come back and give you a 10-minute warning when it's almost ready." With that, she whisked out of the garage.

Daryl kept working on the bike but was quite distracted. He smiled to himself. This girl could be big trouble for me in a good way he thought to himself.

About a half hour later, Abby returned to tell him that dinner was almost ready. He washed up and joined her, Eric and Aaron in the kitchen. A plate of meatloaf, mashed potatoes and green beans was waiting for him along with a large glass of tea. "This is really good," Daryl said looking at Abby after he had taken a few bites. "Thanks," she responded happily. "My secret ingredient is a can of tomato soup. It makes the meatloaf super flavorful." Daryl was pleased he had managed to compliment her. He wasn't great at stuff like that. He didn't talk much the rest of dinner just enjoyed listening to the three of them carrying on with each other. It dawned on him that it had been a long time since he had felt happiness of any kind. Could he find that here? With Abby potentially? Was that even possible anymore?

When dinner was over, Daryl knew he should get back to him family. They knew he was a loner, but to not come home to eat – now that they had a steady food supply was unusual and if he lingered too long they would worry.

"I'm going to head out. Thanks for dinner," he said to Abby. "You're welcome anytime," she responded. All three of them had now said that same thing to him in one form or another, and the crazy thing was he actually wholeheartedly believed them.

"I'll walk you home," Aaron said. "I've got to chat with Abraham about something anyway. I want him to help with cleaning some weapons at the armory if he's open. Olivia could use the help." Daryl had quickly realized that Aaron was responsible for quite a bit of the organizing and recruiting inside Alexandria as well as outside. He wasn't surprised given Aaron's nature. He was easy to be around.

"Okay," Daryl responded. "See y'all later," he called to Abby and Eric. "Bye," they both chimed in unison.

As they walked the few block to Daryl's house, Aaron said, "It's nice of you to spend time with Abby. I know she comes on strong, but she's really very sweet."

Uh oh, Daryl thought to himself. Is this a warning? She's very sweet?

"Do you want me to stay away from her," Daryl said quietly.

"What?" Aaron responded clearly shocked. "No, why would I want that."

"Well, I don't figure I'm exactly her usual type," Daryl answered.

Aaron turned to him and smiled, "Daryl, I really hope that one day you can see yourself the way other people see you. No, I don't mind if you get close to Abby and neither does Eric. Okay?"

"Okay," Daryl responded and gave him a slight smile.

"For what it's worth, it wouldn't matter if we minded," Aaron added laughing. "Abby is the type of girl who doesn't take no for an answer. She wants what she wants, and she usually gets it. And, my friend, it's pretty clear she wants you."

They both laughed.

"Yeah," Daryl responded. "She's not exactly what you would call shy is she?" "Nope," Aaron answered. "Not one bit."

"It's been a really long time since I've dated anyone, since way before the world went crazy even," Daryl admits to Aaron. "I feel stupid even saying the word dated."

"That's okay," Aaron said. "I think a lot of the rules for dating went out the window when people starting turning into zombies. It's not like you can go out to dinner and a movie anyone."

"Yeah," Daryl said quietly as they walked up the stairs to the porch.

"You could still ask her on a date though, you know?" Aaron added. "She would love that."

"How? Where would we go?" Daryl asked.

"Walk around the neighborhood, go on a picnic lunch, it doesn't have to be fancy. I've found that half the battle with a relationship is simply making an effort. I think that would go a long way with Abby" Aaron said.

"I'll think about it," Daryl responded and Aaron smiled.

Daryl opened the door and found his entire family having dinner in the living room with plates on their laps. "We were wondering if you were coming," Maggie said.

"I had dinner at Aaron's," Daryl responded. "He's here to talk to Abraham about a job." "Hey man," Abraham said. "Come on over," he said scooting over a bit on the couch so Aaron could sit down. Before Aaron made his way over, Daryl looked at him and said, "Thanks, man." Two simple words that meant so much. Daryl was grateful to Aaron for his new role, his kindness, his advice and for thinking he was good enough for his sister-in-law. Now to contemplate if he actually had the courage to ask Abby out.