Wife Swap
Chapter 4

Lori shifted Judith on her hip as she walked across the park to where the picnic tables were.

Shane stood up and smiled as he reached out for Judith. "Thanks for lettin' me see her earlier than usual. I hope there wasn't no problems with Rick or gettin' up here."

"There wasn't any problems at all," Lori said, taking a seat at the table across from Shane and Judith.

The little girl cooed and pulled at his hair as Lori reached into her diaper bag and pulled out a bottle, handing it over to Shane.

"Does Rick know why you're here?" he asked after giving the bottle to Judith.

"No," Lori shook her head. "He thinks I'm here for the same reason I always am. It's so hard to come here knowin' he doesn't trust me."

Shane shrugged. "We haven't exactly given him a reason to trust us."

"I know," Lori muttered.

"Andrea should be here soon," Shane finally said, breaking the silence they had settled into as Judith ate.

"Do you know how long this will take?"

"It shouldn't take long. We just need to sign the papers."

"No, Shane, not that. The whole process of this."

"I'm not sure but she said it shouldn't take too long."

They both fell quiet again until they heard footsteps approaching them.

"Andrea!" Lori squealed and jumped up at the sight of her. "Oh my God, you look beautiful!"

Andrea placed her hand on her stomach and let out a small laugh. "Well I certainly don't feel it. I'm huge and always uncomfortable."

"Don't worry, that's normal but it's worth it. Now sit," Lori ushered her over to the table.

"Okay," Andrea sighed once she had taken a seat and Lori had sat back down next to her. "I'm just going to go ahead and jump into this because we need to get it taken care of as soon as possible. Now, I know because of the paternity test, the name of Judith's father on her birth certificate was changed though she kept the last name Grimes, because of that, this whole process shouldn't take too long. I'm sure the court will grant the termination of parental rights and have Rick's name put back on her birth certificate. Lori, you do understand that you will no longer receive child support from Shane once this goes through?"

"I understand," Lori quickly said. "That's never been something I cared about."

Andrea reached into her purse and pulled out two stacks of papers and sat them on the table. "These papers are the ones you need to sign to terminate your rights," she said, picking up one stack and handing them to Shane. "And these," she picked up the other stack and handed them to Lori, "are the papers Rick will need to sign. I know it is crazy for him to have to adopt Judith but the only way this will work is if he legally adopts her. I'll file the termination papers first thing Monday and then I'll drive down some time next week and have Rick sign the adoption papers and get them to the judge for review. Are both of you sure this is what you want? Not just for yourselves but for Judith?"

"Yeah," Shane and Lori agreed at the same time.

"Okay then," Andrea stood. "I'll let you two discuss things while I use the little girl's room."

Beth exhaled a deep breath as she tossed the mail onto the kitchen table and sat the grocery bags down beside it.

She knew Daryl wouldn't be home for dinner tonight, just like he hadn't been the last two nights, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to cook. She'd just make him a plate, stick it in the fridge with the rest of the food and then wash his empty plate out in the morning.

As she took the items out of the bags, she stopped and dug her fingers into the loaf of bread before throwing it across the room.

She was being stupid, this whole damn situation was stupid, but she couldn't walk away. Not after everything they've been through.

None of this was entirely Daryl's fault, she knew that and had told him that many times. They were both screwed up, they both had their own problems and bringing those problems together under one roof was like mixing fire and gasoline.

"Glad I wasn't here when you decided to throw this," Rick said, startling Beth, as he picked up the loaf of bread.

She stared at Rick, neither of them saying anything until she muttered, "Oh God. No."

"Now Beth, that's not…."

"What happened? Where is he?" She said, fearing the worst and wanting to rush out of the door but finding herself unable to move.

Rick took a step towards her and shook his head. "Beth, it's not Daryl. I'm here because Merle took an overdose and is in ICU. Daryl's his next of kin so I have to notify him. I'm assuming he's not here, do you know where he is?"

She let out a shaky breath and swallowed, "He's at work."

"I just went by…." Rick stopped and watched Beth as she composed herself and turned to the fridge.

"If he's not at work then he may have stopped by Shorty's for a drink," she said as she began putting the food away.

Rick thought of telling her that he had already been by there and every other place he could think of where Daryl might be and he was nowhere to be found but he thought better of it.

He was friends with both Daryl and Beth but he knew they were having problems and he knew it would cause more problems if he told her the truth so he simply nodded to himself and said, "Alright, I'll run by there and see if I can get him to go see Merle. Thanks Beth."

She stood there looking inside the fridge until she heard the front door shut then she broke down.

She knew he wasn't at work and she knew he wasn't at Shorty's, she was sure Rick had already known that and had already checked the places he knew Daryl would have gone, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything about where she thought he may be.

Daryl sat there under that tree, one hand curled around a bottle of whiskey and the other dug into the earth beneath him.

He hadn't taken a drink but he wanted to, he wanted to sit there and do more than hate himself. He wanted to drink himself to death for telling that doctor what he had told her. It was something he didn't talk about with anyone, especially strangers and Beth.

"Fuck," he muttered at that thought.

Here he was, going behind his wife's back to see a shrink, telling her things he didn't want to say to Beth, things he really couldn't say to her.

His wife hated him, of that he was sure. After everything he put her through, how could she not? How could she not hate him every time he ran from her, every time he yelled or threw something her way?

He was his father's son, maybe even more than Merle was sometimes.

Lori and Rick arrived at Dr. Linson's office five minutes before eight and were quickly shown to a room in the back.

As soon as they sat down, Dr. Linson stepped in and shut the door. She sat down and waited a couple of minutes before she began.

"I've had the chance to speak with each of you individually, and though I will not say what was discussed in the individual sessions, you both know that you will need to discuss it with each other at some point. You may think it would be easier to do this at home but clearly that hasn't been working so I am providing you with a safe place to express your feelings, talk about your problems, and to figure out if you want to save your marriage. I've said it many times but I'll say it again, talking and communicating isn't all that a marriage is built on. It may be necessary but it's not everything. I'm only going to ask this of each of you once today before I give you an assignment to work on tonight, is there anything that has happened in the last week either of you would like to talk about?"

She watched them both as Lori flicked her eyes to Rick and he looked away nervously. Neither of them said a word so Dr. Linson continued.

"I want you both to read over this carefully," she said, handing them each an envelope. "Each envelope contains two sheets of paper with a separate assignment. You are to do exactly as it says on the first page, seal it in an envelope and return it to my office at your appointment on Friday. And the second page is for you to do on your own and it will be discussed on Friday. Now, I want you to both understand that I have given you each separate assignments and I do not want either of you knowing what they are. This is the first step of many. You need to trust your spouse and trust yourself."

"Is that it?" Lori asked.

"Yes ma'am, it is. I'll see you both on Friday to discuss these assignments. They will determine what the next steps will be."

Beth woke up to her cell phone ringing. She rubbed her eyes and hesitated to answer it but she did anyway.

"Hello?" she said sleepily.

"Mrs. Dixon, this is D. Linson. I was calling to see if you would be able to come in for a session around eleven," the woman said before Beth even had a chance to process who was speaking.

"Uh…," she tilted her head to look at the clock on her nightstand. "You want me to be there in twenty minutes?"

"Yes, I do. It's very important that we talk and discuss whether or not you and your husband will try going through my program."

She sat up and rubbed her eyes again. "Dr. Linson, I really don't think we're goin' to need your help. We can't seem to agree….."

"I'll see you at eleven," Dr. Linson interrupted her and promptly ended the call.

She sat there for a minute, stunned and still half asleep.

She quickly dressed and hurried to Dr. Linson's office, hoping the woman would be understanding when she told her they weren't going to go through with her treatment.

When she arrived, she took a deep breath and calmly walked inside.

Dr. Linson was behind the front desk talking to the receptionist. She looked up and smiled when she saw Beth enter.

"Mrs. Dixon," she called out, opening the door to the waiting room. "Follow me."

Beth did as she was told and followed Dr. Linson to her office.

Before she opened the door, Dr. Linson turned to her and smiled again. "You go on in and I'll be with you in a moment."

When she walked away, Beth hesitantly turned the doorknob and stepped inside, nearly jumping when she notice someone else was in the room.

"Daryl? What are you doin' here?" she asked.

He shrugged and looked down. "Uh…tha doc….she called me an' asked if I could come in, said she wanted ta talk ta us."

She nodded and sighed as she took a seat on the couch next to him.

"You didn't come home last night," she said, not looking his way. "Rick came by lookin' for you but I didn't tell him where you were. He said Merle was in the hospital."

"I know," he muttered.

"Did you go see him?"

"First thing this mornin'."

She turned to him then. "Why does he hate me so much?"

"He doesn't hate ya, Beth."

"Really? He doesn't hate me? After everythin' he's said and done, you don't think he hates me? Every time he's around, he smarts off and talks shit, Daryl. He stood up at our wedding and said he didn't think we should get married. He told you in front of all of our friends and family that you were making a mistake."

She went quiet, giving him the chance to answer, to object to what she said but he didn't. He sat there, looking down at his hands and bouncing his knee until the door opened.

"Am I interrupting?" Dr. Linson asked as she stepped into her office.

"Nope," Beth answered quickly.

"Alright. I would like to start with some questions for you Mrs. Dixon."

Beth gave her a little nod.

"Mrs. Dixon, where do you see yourself in ten years? More importantly, where do you see your marriage in ten years?"

Beth glanced over at Daryl who hadn't looked up from his hands then back to the doctor. "Well, I've thought about it before and in ten years I would like for us to be in a good place. To be together and to be able to talk without either of us getting' mad or leavin'."

"That's great. But that doesn't answer my question. Where do you see your marriage going? Where do you see it at in ten years? I don't want to know what you've thought about, I want to know what you see happening."

She looked down at her own hands and muttered, "I don't see us together."

"And why is that?"

"I….I don't see how we could be together. I've tried tellin' myself that things will work out but lately everythin' has gotten worse and I just don't see how we could live ten more years like this," she looked over at Daryl to see him staring at her.

"Daryl, where do you see your marriage in ten years?" Dr. Linson then asked.

He continued to stare at Beth. "Same."

Dr. Linson watched as Beth let out a deep, ragged breath and Daryl just sat there quietly.

"Neither one of you see your marriage working out?"

"No," Beth replied.

"Well then, I can't help you," she said.

"You….You're givin' up on us?" Beth asked.

"No. I'm not giving up on you but it's obvious the two of you have given up and when that happens, there's really nothing I can do. I can advise you both to quit wasting your time. Talk it over, talk to lawyers, and move on."

Beth was horrified at what Dr. Linson had said but she wasn't at all surprised, not until Daryl jumped up to leave and Dr. Linson stopped him.

"You still have your appointment next week, Daryl," she said. "I expect to see you there."

He nodded and rushed out of the room with Beth right behind him.

"Daryl," she called out when the stepped into the parking lot. "Daryl, please wait."

He stopped and turned around, waiting for her to speak.

"Daryl, I….I'm sorry."

He chuckled. "No you're not an' neither am I."

"Don't say that," she began to cry. "She didn't let me finish. I haven't given up on us but with the way things have been lately I can't see us being together in ten years but that doesn't mean I've given up."

Rick shook his head, shoving the papers back across the table to Lori.

"You want me to adopt my own daughter?"

She looked down at the papers then back up at him.

"Yes. It's the only way I can find to fix what I've done."

He stood. "I get it now, why you're doin' this, I get it. You want to make things right so you don't have to feel bad about what you did. Is that it? You want me to pretend you don't run off to see him every chance you get?"

"That's not why I'm doin' this, Rick."

"Then tell me why you are doin' it."

She stood and reached out for him. "I'm doin' this because I want what's best for our daughter. Judith is your daughter, she always has been, but this will make it official."

"And what if the doc is right?" He asked. "What if she's right and we can't work things out? Are you goin' to run back to Savannah, to Shane, if we can't work things out?"

"No, Rick. I'm not goin' to run and I haven't been goin' back to Shane. What happened between me and him was a mistake. I won't apologize for Judith but it was a mistake, one I will never make again. You have to believe me."

"I don't have to do anythin'. You don't think I want Judith? She's my daughter but havin' me sign adoption papers doesn't mean I can forget what you did, Lori. I trusted you and I trusted Shane. You both went behind my back and left me lookin' like a fool."

Lori placed her hand over the papers on the table and tapped her finger on them.

"I'm not runnin' away, I'm not leavin' this time but I am leavin' these here. Andrea will be down in a few days, you can sign them if you want and if not, well, I don't know what to do from there."

He watched her walk away, standing firm in his place until he heard their bedroom door shut.

"You and Beth ever get around to talkin' to that crazy doctor?" Rick asked Daryl as the both sat down with a beer.

"Yeah, we did."

"And?"

"An' she all but told us we didn't have a chance in hell at makin' it."

"Shit," Rick mumbled. "She said the same thing to me and Lori. I'm startin' to think I maybe that's her thing. She fucks things up, makes shit worse for marriages, and then she swoops in and tries to fix the shit she caused."

Daryl shook his head. "Naw man. Me an' Beth ain't been workin' out an' it ain't got nothin' ta do with that doc. She jus' got Beth ta say what I've been 'fraid she was thinkin'."

Rick took one look at his friend, his brother, and took a big swallow of his beer and tried to change the subject.

"Have you had a chance to talk to Merle about rehab?"

"Yeah, I tried ta talk 'im in ta goin' but he didn't want ta hear it."

"Why not? You did tell him he's only got two choices, right?"

"I told 'im he could either go ta rehab or jail but he started talkin' shit, sayin' he knew Beth was tha reason I was talkin' to 'im 'bout goin' ta rehab an' he'd rather be in jail."

"Well, have you talked to Beth about it?"

"Naw man, I ain't. Tha day after you stopped by tha house is when we met with tha doc. She asked me then why Merle hated 'er but that's all that was said 'bout 'im. I'm startin' ta think he was right though. I shouldn't a married 'er."

Rick snorted. "Man, I know he's your brother but do you really think you should be takin' marriage advice from him? He's fucked up three marriages and those were just his own. I tell ya, Carol was a saint for puttin' up with him as long as she did but Merle Dixon, he's not made for marriage and he sure as hell ain't someone you should be listenin' to when it comes to yours and Beth's marriage."

"It's really over, Lori," Beth cried. "Daryl hates me."

"Sweetie," Lori said, putting her arms around Beth's shoulders and pulling her to her. "Daryl doesn't hate you. That man loves you more than I've seen anyone love somebody. You just need to sit him down and tell him how you feel, how sorry you are for what you said. You'll look back on this and see that it was just a bump in the road."

"I….I don't think it's just a bump in the road, Lori. We're done, over with, and it's all my fault. I've pushed him so much."

Lori pulled away from Beth but kept her arms around her.

"Bethie, I'm goin' to tell you something that I haven't told anyone. It's one of the reasons Rick and I have been having trouble and it's why I sought out Dr. Linson for help." Beth nodded and Lori took a deep breath before she continued. "Rick isn't Judith's biological father."

Beth pulled away from her friend and stared at her in confusion. "What?"

"Well, long story short, Shane and I had an affair. I regret it every day but Rick hasn't forgiven me for it and honestly, I'm not sure that he ever will."

"Wait," Beth held up her hand. "You cheated on Rick? With Shane? What the hell is wrong with you, Lori? Why would you ever cheat on Rick?"

"Beth, we were having problems, same as you and Daryl, but I chose to run from them. I thought our marriage was over, that nothing could salvage what little of it was left so I ran and did something foolish."

Beth jumped up from her seat, tear still glistening in her eyes. "How dare you compare our marriages?! Daryl has never once cheated on me and I have never cheated on him!"

Lori stood and reached out to her. "That's not what I meant, Beth. The whole point of me telling you this was for you to see that you shouldn't give up on your marriage. That's what I did, that's where I went wrong, and now there's nothing I can do to make things right. I don't want to see you give up. You and Daryl love each other so much and I know it may not seem like it now, but there is still hope. You just have to believe there is and do absolutely everything and anything to work it out."

"No," Beth snapped and pushed Lori away when she reached out for her again. "I gotta go."

Beth was pissed, hurt, and a little scared when she left Lori and Rick's. She knew Rick would be at her house with Daryl and she really didn't feel up to facing either of them after talking to Lori.

When she had finally stopped crying, she was surprised to see that she had managed to make it safely to where she hadn't expected to go.

She wiped her eyes with her hands, reached into the console and pulled out her gun. When she opened the car door and stepped out, she tucked it into the back of her jeans and began walking towards the house.

She knocked twice before she heard someone shuffling around on the other side, then the door swung open and she reached for the gun, pulling it out and pointing it at the man's face before her.

"Don't say a word," she told the man. "Step back inside and sit down."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Damn girl, ya plan on killin' me?"

"No, I am not goin' to kill you. I'm here to talk."

He back up until he was at the couch and flopped down with Beth still pointing the gun at him.

"Now, let's get one thing straight, Merle. I don't give a fuck if you do drugs, I don't give a fuck if you fuck every woman in town, or if you don't like me but Daryl is my husband and your brother so whatever the hell is so horrible about me, you need to tell me. We need to fix this shit now because you will not come between us anymore. You will not fill Daryl's head with whatever shit it is you have to say."

He grinned and tipped his head towards the chair in front of him. "Why don't ya put that gun down then ya can have a seat so we can talk 'bout this."

"I'm fine with standin'," she said but lowered the gun to her side.

"I don't hate ya but I do hate what ya've done ta my baby brother. He ain't tha same since he got with you." He chuckled. "Man, I thought our pop fucked us up in tha head with all tha shit he did but you, you got 'im beat, Darlin'. You fucked with his head so much he don't know his own ass from a hole in tha ground."

"How have I fucked him up? You're the one who fills his head with bullshit ideas. You're the one who gives him drugs, gets him thrown in jail, and you're the one that always disappears and then when you do come back you end up pullin' him down with you."

Merle jumped up and yelled, "You fucked him up when you made 'im marry you! You fucked 'im up when ya told 'im ya wanted kids. Daryl ain't tha daddy type, Darlin'. Hell, you know that. You know what kind a daddy he'd be, all ya gotta do is take one look at 'is back ta see that."

She chocked back her tears. "Daryl is not your dad and he is not you!"

Merle grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her before she could bring the gun up towards him. He held her arm in place and whispered, "That night when you was in that wreck with your folks, Daryl was home. He was fuckin' Heidi in your bed."

"No he wasn't. He was with Rick. They took Carl to Talladega that weekend," she said more to herself than to him.

"Really? He got ya believin' that? How tha hell do ya think he got back 'ere so fast after he got tha call?"

"He was with Rick," she repeated in a whisper.

Merle let her go then and shoved her away with a laugh. "Believe what ya want, Darlin', but I know what happened. I's there with 'im, even had that lil' friend of yers on tha couch but hell that was after Daryl had already had 'er."

Beth steeled herself, kept the tears from falling as she stared at Merle.

She still had her gun in her hand but as much as she wanted to raise it and pull the trigger, she couldn't. She couldn't do that to Daryl.

A/N: So...it's been a while since I've updated this story so I hope this chapter wasn't a disappointment. There was a lot of things going on here and some of it will be explained in the next chapter.

As always, please leave reviews.

And, a very big thank you goes out to gneebee for being so amazing!