**A/N: Sorry for the delay in this, trying to balance a lot of fics at once. I hope it was worth the wait! It's choc-full of fluff.

"Is that what you're wearing to take your girl to the fair tonight?" Mrs. Wilson's voice cut into the silence of Daryl's room, and if he hadn't heard her coming up the stairs (every one of them creaked louder than her old bones did), he'd have probably jumped. Hell, he wasn't even sure how she'd made it up the stairs at all, let alone why she was here, but there she was standing there in the doorway eying him up and down.

He turned towards her slowly, a frown furrowing his brow. "Yeah. Why?" At the question he looked down at his clothes in confusion. He was wearing his nicest pair of jeans (they only had one hole in them), and a simple black t-shirt. It was pretty much the nicest casual clothing he owned, considering he'd ripped the sleeves off most of his other shirts. "I ain't got nothin' nice to wear," he said, launching into a defensive tone before she could reply, "An' it's just a fair, ain't it?"

"Don't sass me, boy." Mrs. Wilson eyed him for a moment until he straightened up and uncrossed his arms, and though he didn't say anything there was an apologetic look on his face she must have seen, because after a moment she went on, "I guess it isn't bad, all things considered. You stop to think about how it might get cold later tonight?"

"S'only September," Daryl remarked with a raise of his eyebrow. "When I went out earlier, was hotter than h- heck." He corrected himself at the last minute, and the tips of his ears burned at the knowing look the older woman gave him. If it were anyone else he'd never have bothered, but something about Mrs. Wilson always put him on his best manners. Granted, Daryl Dixon's best manners weren't much, but he did have them.

"You're forgettin' it gets right nippy at night, 'round these parts."

"I guess I might have a flannel, somewhere…" Daryl turned and started to look, that furrow appearing in his brow again.

But before he could really search, Mrs. Wilson was cutting in once more in a firm voice, "You bring that leather jacket of yours, boy." She raised her cane and pointed the tip of it at him. "And don't you go askin' me why. Just think about your girl getting cold at night, and how nice it'd feel puttin' that jacket on her like a gentlemen."

"She ain't my girl," Daryl said after a moment, his voice low and gruff though he knew she could hear him just like she could see him already reaching to pick up his jacket from the chair in the corner. "And I ain't no gentlemen."

"She isn't yet, maybe," the woman said in an infuriatingly knowing tone as she turned and made her way back to the stairs. "And you're more of a gentleman than a lot of men I know, Mr. Dixon. Now come on and help me, you wouldn't let a poor old lady climb all these stairs on your own, would you?"

With a sigh, he hooked the jacket over his arm and followed after her, muttering as he went, "Made it up the stairs just fine on your own…"

"I heard that!" She called from the hallway. "I'm not so old that my hearings gone, boy."

"Yeah, yeah," Daryl drawled, a hint of a smirk on his lips as he came out onto the landing and offered her his arm. "Come on, ma'am, let's get you down all these stairs."

Sure enough she didn't seem to need his help, but he offered it anyway, letting her lean on his arm until they reached the bottom of the stairs and he turned to walk with her to the kitchen. "There," he remarked as they reached the table, hesitating only a moment before asking, "Y' want me t' put the kettle on?"

Mrs. Wilson lowered herself into her seat at the table with a faint creak of her old bones, and replied, "If you don't mind, boy." If it was anyone else, he would have said of course he damn well minded, but then again, if it were anyone else he'd never have asked in the first place. Mrs. Wilson was different, she always had been. She'd given him a home without questioning him, she'd never once judged him like everyone else in town did, and though he'd probably never admit it out loud, he kinda liked listening to all her stories sometimes. The old broad had lived a long and surprisingly exciting life.

So though he was quiet about it, he moved around the kitchen with the ease of having done it numerous times before; moving through the routine of filling the kettle and setting it on the stove-top before turning on the burner. As he moved to get her favorite tea from the little pantry cabinet, he heard her ask from behind him, "So, what exactly are your plans for tonight, boy?"

"Gonna pick her up 'round seven or so," Daryl remarked lowly, casting a quick glance over his shoulder before he set the tea on the counter and went to fetch her tea tray. Resting upon it was her favorite tea pot; a delicate white china with a pattern of blue flowers on it. The two cups matched it, each with a gold rim; the set had belonged to her great-grandmother, as she'd told him the first time she'd convinced him to have tea with her. He moved carefully, afraid as always that his rough, dirty hands would turn clumsy and drop the tray or knock the heirlooms over, like a literal bull with her precious, perfectly pristine china. Only when he'd settled the tray on the counter did he add, "Made plans last night, over text."

"Pah, texting." Mrs. Wilson snorted behind him. "In my day, your feller came by in person, to make plans to take you out. Of course, he could ring you up on the telephone, but everyone knew a true Southern gentleman made the effort to come by in person." She peered at him from over the rim of her glasses, and added pointedly, "And he brought flowers, if he really wanted to make a nice impression."

"I ain't the flower bringin' type," Daryl's response was gruff and short, and he furrowed his brow as he kept his focus down on the kettle on the stove, waiting for it to boil. All this talk of proper dating and being a 'gentleman' was only serving to remind him that he was far from a gentleman, which in his mind meant that he was far from the kind of guy a girl like Beth should be dating. He was rough hands and a loud motorcycle, the kind of guy more at home in the woods than at a country fair, and she, well… she was sweet and kind and pretty, the kinda girl who deserved a guy who brought her flowers and took her to fairs and slung his jacket casually across her shoulders.

His hands, with nothing to keep them busy, curled tightly around the edge of the counter as the furrow deepened in his brow. He was dimly aware that Mrs. Wilson was talking behind him still, but her voice faded into the background of his thoughts as they continued to churn around in his mind forming a new and agitating loop: Flowers and manners and gentlemen, not good enough, you're not good enough for her and everyone knows it, they'll all know it, they'll be staring at you the whole time, staring at you with her and all thinking the same thing, all wondering why she's with you, thinking she deserves better, she does deserve better, so much better than you…

And despite the care he took handling Mrs. Wilson's china and serving the tea, despite how gently he held the tiny fragile cup in his large hand as he perched in the ridiculously small kitchen chair, those thoughts still lingered as a buzz in the back of his mind that he couldn't quite shake.

...

"Okay, I swear this is the final one, what do you think?" Beth spun around slowly, showing her roommate her latest outfit; her favorite skinny jeans under her brown cowboy boots, with a coral colored button-down short-sleeve blouse on top, and a matching brown belt.

"Wait," Amy glanced up from the magazine on her lap and raised an eyebrow. As she brushed her blonde hair out of her eyes, she asked, "What happened to the sundress, I loved the sundress, why did we ditch that?"

"Hello, ferris wheel, remember?" Beth raised her eyebrows right back at Amy, and went on, "I decided it was too risky, being up in a ferris wheel or any of the other rides in a skirt?"

"Yeah but you could wear some shorts or something underneath, no one would know…" With a purse of her lips, Amy added, "Besides, that little blue and green sundress with the flowers looks so good with your eyes, and you could still wear your boots…"

Happy as she'd been with the current outfit combo, at Amy's words Beth couldn't help casting a glance back over at her shoulder where the aforementioned sundress was still tossed on top of her comforter. She nibbled at her lip and fiddled with the small braid she'd done into her drawn-back hair, but just as she started to say 'well...' she was interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle from outside, effectvely making the decision for her.

"Oh, that's him!"

"No, really? You don't say." Amy grinned at her. "I mean it's not like he's the only motorcycle-riding hottie in town."

"Daryl is not the kinda guy you call a hottie," Beth remarked, bouncing on her toes a bit in excitement even as she darted to snatch her purse off the couch. (No, not a 'hottie' in the way she'd ever applied it to anyone else before. Daryl was handsome, and rugged, and sweet, and… sexy, too.)

"That's not what you were saying last night after your daaate..." As she drew out the word teasingly, Amy rolled off her stomach and onto her knees, climbing up from the floor with a mischievous grin on her lips. "Maybe I should go out and say hello myself, hm? Scope out the official hottie status?"

"Amy Rose Harrison, don't you dare!" Beth was giggling as she said it, but after a moment she sighed, and added more seriously, "You'll just frighten him off, okay? And I really, really don't wanna frighten him off…"

The moment her tone got serious, Amy stopped to look her over, and the mischievous smile on her lips turned more fond and almost knowing. "You've got it bad, don't you Greene?"

"I have no idea what you mean," Beth remarked primly as she grabbed her keys from the yellow daisy-shaped bowl that sat on the small table near the door. She popped them into her bag and then looped the strap of it over her shoulder, taking one moment to check her lipgloss in the small round mirror that hung above the table before she added softly, "But I do know that he's sweet, and shy, and funnier than you'd expect, and so clever and incredibly handsome, and I really want tonight to go well, okay?"

"Yeah yeah, I know," Amy said simply. "Go on and greet your man, but I expect all the giggly details when you get back tonight, deal?"

"Deal." Beth had lost track of how many times she'd curled up on Amy's bed with a pint of ice cream shared between them as they went over the details of one of Amy's dates. It had pretty much never been her doing the divulging, and it hit her suddenly that she wasn't even sure how much she'd say tonight, if it went as well as she expected. There was just something about Daryl that made Beth want to keep what she shared with him private, nice and close to her heart.

With one more look over her shoulder at her smiling best friend, Beth pulled open the door and stepped outside just as Daryl was coming up the walkway towards her. For a moment all she could do was grin so bright she was sure it lit up her face, because she just couldn't help beaming when she saw him. The truth was she was still amazed he'd asked her out yesterday at the diner, nevermind that she'd had a crush on him pretty much since the first day she'd started at the diner. She couldn't help it, once she'd found the sweetness under the gruff exterior, once she'd realized that her gut instinct was right about him being a good man.

Looking at him now, she was well aware he wasn't the type of man anyone might have expected her fall for. Back home the only person she'd dated was Jimmy; sweet, simple, cute Jimmy, who never protested when she held his hand and pretty much always claimed to like the things she liked. She'd gone on two other dates since moving here for school, both of them with a boy named Zach; he'd been cute, in the same clean-cut sort of way, but there'd been no sizzle between them. Not like this.

And neither of them had looked a thing like Daryl Dixon, with his heavy black boots and his sturdy frame, his muscled arms peeking out from his short-sleeved shirt and his hair falling faintly into his eyes before he brushed it back to reveal… a frown? There was a furrow in his brow without a doubt, that became clearer the closer he got, and Beth could feel one dimpling her own as he got closer.

"Hey," she murmured softly, feeling unease curling low in her belly. "Everything okay? You look…"

"M'fine." He grunted out the reply to her, but she saw him pause a second after he'd done it as if reconsidering. A shift went over him almost immediately; she saw his shoulders hunch as he looked down at the ground and scuffed his foot on the walkway, before he asked lowly, "You sure you really wanna go to this fair tonight, with me?"

Blinking at him in confusion, Beth replied softly, "Why wouldn't I?"

"It's just…" He sighed and half-mumbled in his apparent rush to try and get the words out, "I ain't the kinda guy to go to fairs. Ain't the kinda guy that girls like you should be goin' to fairs with."

"Daryl…" She started, only to trail off when she actually saw him flinch faintly in anticipation of her reply. For a moment, Beth couldn't help wondering what sort of life he'd had before coming here. She knew on some level that it had been nothing like her own, she knew that from the very few stories he'd told her, but she didn't know much else. Despite not knowing, Beth felt an ache in her heart at the idea that a guy as sweet as him might think he didn't have a place beside her. She shifted tactics and reached gently for him, not grabbing his hand but instead tugging lightly on his shirt for a moment as she said. "C'mere. Sit with me."

Beth lowered herself to the top step of their tiny little porch, and looked expectantly up at him until he cleared his throat and moved to join her. She had to tuck herself right up against the railing so both of them could fit, but Beth was far from minding given that it meant having his side pressed right against hers, from his shoulder to his arm to his thigh. The warmth of it distracted her for just a moment, until she looked out over the lawn and began, "First of all, we don't have to go to the fair if you don't wanna go. To be honest… I don't care where we go tonight. I suggested the fair because I knew it was tonight and I thought it would be fun, but Daryl…" She glanced back to him and nudged his arm lightly against his. "All I really want to do tonight is spend it with you. Where we go, doesn't really matter."

"Don't get why," he remarked after a moment, "I ain't… I ain't the kinda guy a girl like you…"

"Should like? Should be seen with?" She furrowed her brow at him again. "Why would you say that?"

"Mm." He shrugged. "S'what everyone else in town will say, once they see you with me."

"Well I don't think everyone in town will say that, I don't think they're all as bad as you might think." Beth studied his profile, her gaze tracing over the strong lines of his jaw as she went on firmly, "But so what if they do? I don't care what they think. Do you?"

The way he blinked at her reminded Beth of a surprised owl or something, and she had to fight to keep from smiling too much when he finally glanced over at her. "No. I dunno. Maybe. But… you deserve better'n having people gossip about you."

"People who gossip are always gonna gossip," Beth remarked with a faint smile. "Honestly. I don't wanna let that stop me from having fun with people I like. And I do, you know… like you." Her smile grew shy and sweet, but she was pleased when he held her gaze a moment longer this time, looking away only when the tips of his ears began to go faintly pink.

Quiet settled between them for a few moments, broken only by the chirping buzz of cicadas in the trees that lines the road she lived on. Above them the stars were appearing in the evening sky, and for a moment Beth just tipped her head up and looked at them contentedly, before she found herself murmuring, "What do you like to do, for fun?"

It took him a minute to answer; she was just wondering whether he couldn't think of anything or if he were debating what the 'right' thing to say was. In the end she could only assume he went for the honest answer, because she'd never known Daryl Dixon to be anything but honest with her. "Like watchin' movies, sometimes. Mrs. Wilson, she's got a whole room full of books an' sometimes I'll find one in there, ain't too bad. Mystery ones, or crime solvers, or sometimes the action ones. But mostly, I like to go out in the woods. Huntin', or sometimes just explorin'."

"I've never gone hunting…" Judging by the expression on his face, that didn't surprise him, and with a little smile Beth found herself nudging her knee against his as she added, "I know how to set a trap for a rabbit, though."

He began to chuckle, but when his head turned to her and he saw her just staring right back at him with her eyebrow arched, his laughter trailed off into surprise. "Wait, really?"

"Well I wouldn't lie, would I? We get lots of rabbits around the farm, and my Mama loves to make rabbit stew about as much as she loves having her cabbages and lettuce last long enough t pick. I had Otis teach me once, my dad's farm-hand, I think I mentioned him before. Anyway, he showed me, although I never actually got to set one out in the wild." She watched him with amusement at the look on his face- some mix of surprise, but also a hint of pleasure that had Beth's cheeks faintly flushed- and then teased him again, "You might find out I'm full of surprises, Daryl Dixon."

"I bet you are," he replied in a voice that was just a little bit lower, and with a look in his eyes that had the flush staying on her cheeks until she had to look away and back up at the stars.

"What if we stay in tonight and watch a movie? Amy is gonna go out soon and meet up with some friends on campus, we'd have the living room to ourselves." She looked over at him again and a slow smile curved up her lips, "And maybe for our third… are we calling them dates yet?" She giggled. "For our third, whatever-we-wanna-call-it, you could take me hunting, see how good I am at setting a rabbit trap, hm?"

There he was again, blinking over at her in complete surprise. "You wanna go huntin', with me. As a date."

"See?" Her arm nudged his and this time she tipped her head so her ponytail lightly grazed his shoulder as she joked, "Full of surprises. And yes, I'd love to spend a day learning to hunt with you."

For a moment he just surveyed her, a mix of surprise and curiosity and amusement in his eyes, until a hint of a smile quirked at the corner of his lips and he replied, "Alright. But tonight, we'll go to the fair."

Now it was her turn to blink at him like a little surprised owl, even as a grin formed on her lips. "Really? I meant it, we don't have to, if you don't want to…"

"You want to," Daryl murmured, as if that were what mattered most. "And I guess it wouldn't be so bad, walking through the fair with the prettiest girl there on my arm."

It was all she could do not to hug him right then and there and even still that big grin was back and lighting up her face as she teased right back, "Well then, I'd love to get to walk through the fair on the arm of the handsomest man there."

He rolled his eyes, but she knew what to look for now and sure enough the tips of his ears had gone all pink as he pushed off from his knees and rose to his feet. Standing above her he offered her his hand and helped her up beside him, and as they walked slowly down the walkway towards his bike, he ran his fingers through his hair and muttered, "Sorry I ain't brought you flowers, or nothin'."

"That's fine," she replied easily and honestly. "I don't need flowers, Daryl. I meant it when I said I just wanna spend time with you. Besides," she added, quick to diffuse the compliment so he didn't get too flustered, "I kinda prefer flowers where they are, you know? I'd rather get to walk by a field of blooming flowers every day for a week, then have them wither and wilt in two days in a vase, you know?"

He chuckled and gave her a once-over that had her grin lingering on her lips as he climbed onto his bike and gestured for her to join him, "You really are full of surprises, Greene. I like it. And I know exactly what you mean."

...

If anyone was giving them funny looks when they arrived at the Fair together, Daryl didn't actually notice. The truth was he was just too busy watching Beth and that wasn't really a surprise. The girl just damn well lit up when she was happy, shining like the sun itself, and she had been beaming pretty much since they'd gotten off his bike. It only took a couple minutes to buy their tickets and get inside, and since the moment they'd stepped through that opening gate, he was riveted to her.

Beth's blue eyes were wide as she drank in the booths, the rides, the chattering and laughing crowds, the twinkle lights hung here and there glinting in the evening light. Without even hesitating, she'd linked her arm through his and now they were walking side by side through the fair. The lights glinted in her shining blonde hair, and her blue eyes were even more brilliant tonight, like a piece of the sky itself, perfectly set against the flushed apples of her cheeks. He really did have the prettiest girl on his arm, and he couldn't look away from her.

At first they just made a round of the fair, to get the lay of the land as Beth had put it, making him smile. "What should we do now?" Beth turned to him when they ended up back by the entrance, leaning into him with a smile that had him struggling to focus on the question. "We could go look at the booths with all the crafts and stuff people made more closely? Or we could get some food, or… oh! We could play some games! Let's play some games, Daryl."

Despite the fact that a part of him still believed he wasn't the kinda man for a country fair like this, with a girl like her, there was another part of him that sort of wanted to be. Or at least there was a part of him that wanted to make sure Beth had the best damn time ever. So when she headed up to a ring toss game, he was right there behind her, smiling as she tried again and again to hook a ring onto one of the moving soda bottles.

"Here," he said, coming up beside her. "You gotta anticipate where it's gonna be, okay. Pick a bottle, right?" He leaned in closer, his words murmured nearer to her ear as he pointed at the slowly moving 'pond' the bottles were resting in, each perched on a fake lillypad. "Look where it is now, then look where it is in about two seconds, okay? That's about how long it takes you to throw it. Now when it comes around and hits that first spot again, you toss it, but aim for the second spot. Just flick your wrist, nice and easy…"

He wasn't sure what was better, the fact that Beth actually hooked the ring on the bottle or the way she turned around towards him immediately, jumping up and down and clapping with delight. Lord, she was so damn… adorable, with her cheeks all flushed and a little giggled squeal escaping her lips. Even more so when she happily took the bright green plastic sunglasses they gave her as a prize and perched them on top of her head like they were the best thing she'd ever seen.

"I've never won at a fair game before," she remarked as she slipped her arm back through his and they made their way down the path.

Daryl cleared his throat, and then asked without thinking, "You ever had anyone win yout somethin' before?"

"No." She smiled at him. "Never even had anyone try. My high school boyfriend, Jimmy, he was always wantin' to go see the horse shows or the cattle, he never wanted to play the games or go on any rides."

Daryl didn't know who this Jimmy kid was, but he had to be a damn idiot to prefer cows to the look of delight on Beth's face right now as she walked with him through the crowd. Suddenly, all he could think about was keeping that look on her face, or maybe making it shine even brighter, and before he could overthink it he was scanning the booths ahead and tugging her gently towards one. "Well come on, then."

"Daryl!" Beth giggled but followed after him until they reached a booth and he came to a stop. tugging his arm free of hers to slide into a seat on an empty stool. "What are you doing?"

"Thought that was obvious," he replied as he reached for the toy pellet gun and began to line up a shot on the moving ducks behind the booth. "Gonna win you a prize, Greene." He looked up just in time to catch sight of the soft and (to be honest) absolutely beautiful smile that curved up her lips. When his ears started to burn yet again, he pointed up at the prizes hanging on the walls of the booth to distract himself. "Which one do you want, girl?"

Beth bit her lip and shifted in place, before pointing to a stuffed teddy bear with dark brown fur and a little plaid vest on. "That one," she said with another sweet smile.

"Alright," Daryl said easily. With a nod to the man running the booth, he asked, "How many do I need to hit to get this pretty lady that teddy bear, hm?"

With an amiable grin, the tall, pot-bellied man drawled, "You hit all in one row you can have 'em, son."

That was just what he did. With Beth beside him watching with that sweet little smile, Daryl lined up and took each shot one after the other until she was clapping her hands together and jumping up and down yet again. The moment he hit the last duck, he lowered the gun and leaned back with a little smirk to look up at her and drawl, "Easy as… peach pie."

And she grinned, and damn if that wasn't the best grin he'd ever seen even before she closed the distance between them and wrapped her arms around him in a squeal of delight. "That was amazing! I can't believe you hit every single one!"

"Weren't nothing," he muttered as the tips of his ears began to burn again, making him pull slowly back from that hug. But his reticence disappeared the moment the booth-owner handed her that bear, and she lit up all over again and hugged it to her chest.

"I'm gonna name him Daryl," she breathed out, with a smile that was both happy and playful and silly all at once.

"Aww, why'd you wanna do a thing like that," Daryl remarked, half amused but also a bit baffled, too.

"He reminds me of you, that's why I picked him!" The way Beth said it was as if it were the most obvious thing ever. "See? His fur is the same color as your hair, and his little flannel vest? You have a shirt like this, I saw you once coming into work…" She blushed, suddenly, and added quickly, "Not that I'm, you know, not that I'm memorizing what you wear or nothing…"

Really all he could do was chuckle, despite the faint heat still tingling in his ears as he climbed out of his seat. Doing his best to distract them both from the idea of her naming a teddy bear after him of all people, he gestured to the stool and asked, "You wanna take a try?"

"Really?"

"C'mere, I bet you can do it. I'll show you, it ain't too tough." And it really wasn't. There was nothing tough about Beth lining up that gun while he leaned over her from behind, his hands guiding her arms and his lips by her ear, breathing out instructions. She wasn't so bad, either, though she missed quite a few shots at first they were all near misses… until, to both their delights, she hit one single duck and knocked it down and damned if she didn't squeal almost right in his ear.

"See? Knew you could do it." He stood back with a chuckle as she bounced to her feet and instantly scooped up the bear he'd won her. She kept it tucked into the crook of her arm as the man behind the booth offered her a small prize for getting her first shot. After perusing the selection she took another pair of neon sunglasses, this time yellow.

"Ain't one pair of those enough for you?" Daryl asked with a chuckle.

"There are for you," she giggled, leaning up on her tip-toes to perch them on top of his head. "Yellow is my favorite color." For a moment he was almost achingly aware of how close they were, how her eyes were just inches from his, which meant that so was her perfect little nose and her rosy cheeks and of course, her full soft lips. There were a few seconds where she lingered there so close to him and the heated excitement in her eyes seemed to flash between them, and he wondered if he should just lean in, and kiss her…

But he couldn't do it, not yet, and after a second Beth dropped back to her feet. That smile of hers never faded though, it even grew as she tapped the glasses resting on her own head and joked, "See? Now we match." With her bear tucked into one arm, she slid the other through his and lead him back onto the path as she asked, "Where to next?"

...

Eventually they ended up cycling around to the food area, where the look of delight on Beth's face had Daryl getting them a large cotton-candy to share. He wasn't sure how he felt about the sugar-sweet taste of it or how it melted kinda funny on his tongue, but he had to admit that seeing Beth with a mouth all sticky with pink was pretty damn good… not to mention appealing, and apparently yet another reason to make him want to kiss her.

They shared the cotton candy between them as they circled the fair again, this time drifting to the booths where people had laid out their wares. Beth, he was amused to find, seemed delighted in the biggest range of things; from horse blankets to jewelry to paintings and wood carvings and more. It was at the wood carving booth that she lingered the longest, though, fingering little figurines of cats and dogs, deers, bears, birds, and pretty much every animal you could find in the state and beyond.

"They're just so pretty," she remarked when he came up beside her and silently raised an eyebrow at her lingering."Don't you think so? They must have spent so much time on these, carving them just right, putting so much love into them... I think they're beautiful."

It seemed so like her, to notice the beauty in something like that. He looked and them and saw trinkets, albeit ones with obvious skill. But she saw the time someone put into it, the care and love, even the animation and personality in the faces of certain wood carvings… like the little bunny, small enough to nestle in the palm of her hand, which according to Beth looked like it was wrinkling up it's nose and smiling.

Beth might have seen things like that, but she didn't see the way he lingered behind as she moved ahead, giving him just enough time to hand over a few bucks to the owner of the booth and slip the wooden bunny into the pocket of his jeans. He couldn't resist, not after the way she'd practically made up a story for the thing.

But it lingered in his pocket for now as they wound their way through the fair, linking arms again once the cotton candy was finished. Sure enough, the later it got the cooler the air got, and as soon as he felt Beth give a faint shiver next to him, he heard Mrs. Wilson's voice whispering in his mind: Just think about your girl getting cold at night, and how nice it'd feel puttin' that jacket on her like a gentlemen.

It was nonsense, silly nonsense now just as it had been then, and yet without hesitation he found himself shrugging off the jacket the instant he felt her shiver. "Here," he murmured, settling it onto her shoulders before she could protest. "You need it more, I've always run hot." He waited until she slipped her arms over it, and then gave her a once-over. "Looks better on you, anyway."

And fuck if that weren't the truth. He didn't think he'd ever seen a sight better than little Beth Greene in his big leather jacket, swimming in it but managing to look sweet and sexy at the same time as she curled her fingers in the lapels and drew them closer to her chest. Her eyes were shining as she thanked him and for the third time that night he just wanted to lean in and press her lips to his.

(He wanted to. He really did. But he just still couldn't shake that niggling voice in the back of his mind that insisted a guy like him had no right kissing a girl as sweet as her.)

"Let's ride that." Beth's voice cut into his thoughts, and it took him a moment to blink and focus on her outstretched hand, pointing up at the ferris wheel that towered above them, it's lights flashing invitingly.

In a slow drawl, he asked, "That what you wanna do next?"

"Can we?"

"If that's what you want, then that's what we'll do." He took her arm again and gave her a faint little smile. "C'mon, Greene. Hope you ain't afraid of heights."

"I'm not afraid of anything," she said boldly. But then her eyes found his and a shy smile curved up those pretty pink lips as she admitted, "Least, not when I'm with you, anyway."

Somewhere in the daze left behind with her words they ended up on the ferris wheel, riding it slowly up to the top. The crowd was slow with everyone having gone to watch one of the shows, and so they were almost the only ones on the ride, but when they reached the peak and he felt the wheel shudder to a slow stop he was still caught completely by surprise.

"I asked him if he could stop it at the top, just for a bit," Beth murmured, suddenly making him very aware of the press of her arm to his and the way she was tilting her head to rest on his shoulder. "Isn't the view beautiful?"

"Yeah," he murmured, never once taking his eyes from the blonde tucked up against his side, wisps of her hair blowing in the breeze. "Best view I've seen in ages."

If she realized what he truly meant, she didn't react. She just stayed there for a few moments, drinking in the view she had her eyes on until finally she sat up straight and pulled her phone from her pocket. "I want a picture of this. I wish I'd remembered to take more, before."

As she snapped a picture of the view, the fields and forests stretched out around the fair grounds which winked with a light to match the stars above, he couldn't help asking, "Why?"

"Cause I wanna remember all of it." Beth spoke in that 'isn't it obvious' tone again as she turned and took a picture right down at the flickering lights of the fair beneath them. "I wanna remember every last moment of tonight and never let any of it fade away. Don't you?"

"I…" Daryl swallowed hard, his eyes on her as she looked back to him. "I ain't never wanted to remember much of nothin' before, but… I reckon I wouldn't mind rememberin' this."

It was hard, saying things like that when he usually kept it all in, but yet again it was worth it to see her smile. Especially when she went on, "We need a picture of us, then."

"Of us?"

"Yeah, the two of us, right now!"

"I, er… okay." He shifted in the ferris wheel seat. "I ain't got a camera on my phone, though…" His was an ancient thing, some busted up flip phone he'd gotten once so he and Merle could keep in touch. No camera, not even any internet, though it could make calls and text, at least. Sort of.

"It's okay, mine is great!" She shifted close to him, so close that it only seemed natural for him to slide his arm over her shoulder and let her fit her body right against his side. Beth held the camera up facing him, and in an instant he saw the two of them filling the screen. He thought he'd flinch, though all he'd be able to notice was how strange the pair of them looked together…

But when she pressed her cheek to his and smiled at the camera, all he could think was that somehow, he looked as happy as she did. And it was good. Really good. So when she took that picture and lowered the phone into her lap and murmured, "I'll save this. So you know, if you ever get a newer phone, I can send it to you," he couldn't help thinking that maybe having a newer, fancier phone wouldn't feel so useless if he could fill it with pictures like that.

If she wanted to take more pictures like that with him, anyway. Judging by the smile on her face, he had a feeling she did… which was what prompted him, suddenly, to reach into his pocket and pull out his closed hand.

"Here, got you somethin'. Hold out your hands."

"What?" Even as she cupped her hands for him, Beth kept saying, "Daryl, you didn't have to-" But then he dropped that little wooden bunny into her hands, and her protest turned into a soft gasp, followed by an exhaled sigh as the pad of her finger ran across the little, delicately carved ears. "Oh Daryl, you got me the bunny! Oh I love it, it's perfect. Thank you!"

"Yeah well…" He ran his fingers through his hair, wishing he could cover up the tips of his ears that just wouldn't stop burning when she was looking at him like that. "Figured you deserved somethin' extra special… bein' as this is our second date, and all."

"Date, huh? We callin' them that, now?" Beth was looking at him all sweet smiles and shining blue eyes, and as the ferris wheel began to move beneath them again, all he could do was quirk his lips right back at her.

"Yeah. If you want, I guess."

"I do." She reached out and laced her fingers through his, and as she tipped her head back against his shoulder he heard her murmur, "This is the most perfect second date I've ever had."

Daryl just chuckled. "This is the only second date I've ever had. But definitely the best."

"I really beat out that complete lack of competition, didn't I?" Beth giggled beside him.

In between his low, rumbling laughter, the words just spilled free, "Greene, you'd beat out any competition in a heartbeat, with a smile like yours."

This time, when she looked up at him and tilted her head and he saw those soft lips part just faintly in a sigh, he gave in more than he ever had before. He lifted his hand, cupped her cheek, and leaned down until his lips were less than an inch from hers… and only then did he hesitate. But it only lasted for a second and Beth was there meeting him halfway, closing the distance and pressing her lips to his instead.

And he was pretty sure that the fireworks that went off in front of them were just a very conveniently timed coincidence, because of course, they had to be. It wasn't like they'd made them go off with the heat that flashed between them.

Though to be fair, it had taken him until her lips parted from his for Daryl to realize that they were actual fireworks, and not just the ones that had gone sizzling under his skin from the moment her mouth met his.

"Wow," she breathed out, looking up at him with a breathless smile.

She definitely had that one right.

**A/N: I tried to get a balance of 'understandable Daryl issues' mixed with sweet happy fluff, so I hope it worked out well. I think this is my favorite chapter so far, gosh.